But what if there's a chance...

He was just about to state a name when the woman hurriedly clasped a hand over his mouth. "Don't refer to people directly by their names unless it's necessary! Your father told you that many times before we came here."

The boy pried the woman's hand aside with an excited look in his eyes as he lowered his voice and asked, "Has his clan really been passing down the prized armor and sword scripture for generations?"

The woman stroked his head with a doting expression as she said in a gentle voice, "The Lu Clan swore on half of their genealogy tree that those two things are still hidden in his home."

The boy suddenly began to behave like a spoiled child as he urged, "Mother, Mother, can we trade treasures with them? The suit of prized armor that we're trying to obtain is hideous! Think about it, Mother, if we can get our hands on that sword scripture instead, we'll be able to decapitate people with flying swords! That's way more badass than an ugly turtle shell!"

Before the woman had a chance to offer an explanation to the boy, the little girl next to them had already erupted into a fit of fury. "How dare you even think about trying to take the most prized treasure of our mountain! We came here to take back something that rightfully belongs to us. We're not completely shameless like you! You're a bandit, a thief, a beggar, even!"

The boy turned to her and made a mocking face, then sneered, "You said it yourself just now, you dumb lass. It's the most prized treasure of your 'mountain', which doesn't mean anything in my eyes!"

The boy suddenly stood up from the woman's lap, then looked down at the little girl with a sympathetic expression as he preached to her like a schoolteacher scolding a student. "The pursuit of the Great Dao is an endeavor that pits one against the natural order, so we must strive to secure every possible resource to help us on this journey.

"If you don't even understand such a simple concept, then how are you going to inherit your clan and uphold the teachings of your ancestors? Once every 30 years, the descendants of your Sun Scorch Mountain must elevate the mountain by at least 1,000 feet. Do you think that was an easy task for your father and your grandfather?"

The little girl was stumped by the boy's words, and she lowered her head with a defeated expression, not daring to look at him.

The white-haired old man said in a serious voice, "I understand that we shouldn't take offense to the words of children, but if our young mistress' Dao heart is tarnished by that boy's words, then you'll have to bear the consequences."

The woman gave an apologetic smile, then put on a stern expression as she tugged the boy back into her arms before giving a barbed response. "This is just an argument between children. There's no need to take it so seriously, Senior Yuan. Our two clans have been on friendly terms for over 1,000 years, it would be a complete travesty if that relationship were to be spoiled by such a trivial matter."

However, the old man had an extremely unyielding personality, and he retorted, "Our Sun Scorch Mountain has been around for 2,600 years, and we've always repaid those who have treated us with kindness, but similarly, we've never spared anyone who's dared to wrong us!"

The woman merely smiled in response and didn't argue any further.

Both of them had important tasks to complete on this trip to the small town. In particular, she was taking an extremely extravagant gamble, putting her own life, the future of her son, and everything in her parental family's possession on the line.

Even though the woman was dressed in very simple and unadorned attire, she was very graceful and elegant, but the uneducated residents of the town were oblivious to her refined disposition.

This entire time, Lu Zhengchun stood with his back facing the steps of the covered bridge.

He could still recall the first time that he had seen these esteemed guests in the Lu Manor. His younger brother was lacking in discipline and was unable to suppress his primal urges, leading him to forget their grandfather's warnings. He couldn't help but sneak a glance at the woman's chest, and their grandfather had instantly flown into such a violent rage that his entire body was trembling with fury. He immediately ordered for the young man to be dragged out into the yard and flogged to death.

It seemed that while the flogging was taking place, his mouth had been stuffed full of cotton so Lu Zhengchun didn't hear the agonized howls of his brother, nor did he witness the gruesome scene of his execution. Following the conclusion of their meeting with those esteemed guests, Lu Zhengchun stepped out of the room to find that all of the blood in the courtyard had already been cleaned up, and the four guests, even the pair of children, displayed no reaction to this, as if this were something completely ordinary and to be expected.

In that instant, Lu Zhengchun felt as if he were in a dream.

A living person from their family had just been killed, yet it was being played off as if nothing more than a stray dog had just been executed.

Just the night before, the two brothers had been drinking together, and Lu Zhengchun's younger brother had been extremely motivated and brimming with excitement, declaring that he was definitely going to become successful and bring honor to the clan, that the two of them were going to work together and make something out of themselves rather than spending their entire lives in the confines of the Lu Manor.

Even after making his way out of the Lu Manor, Lu Zhengchun's mind was still completely blank.

From that incident, the seed of fear was planted into his heart. Whenever any of those esteemed guests asked him anything, his voice would tremble when he answered, and whenever he took them anywhere, his legs would quiver. He knew that he was putting on an extremely embarrassing display and bringing shame upon his grandfather and his entire clan, but he was simply unable to control his own fear.

In their presence, he felt as if his entire body were constantly submerged in a glacial pit.

At the end of the previous year, his grandfather had taken him and his brother into a secret chamber and informed them that the Lu Clan was about to be tasked with doing something for a certain group of extremely important people. He told them that this was an enormous blessing, and that they had to exercise the utmost caution when serving these people.

If they could complete the assigned tasks successfully, then the Lu Clan would dedicate the entirety of the compensation that they received from those people to nurturing and developing the two brothers. 

All it would take would be a nod from those eminent figures, and a path leading straight to unimaginable heights would be paved beneath their feet, and they would be blessed with unfathomable wealth and glory. It was only then that he finally understood why he and his brother had been forced to learn so many types of strange dialects from a young age.

Lu Zhengchun watched as Liu Xianyang drew closer and closer to the covered bridge, and a sense of fierce resentment suddenly welled up in his heart. Liu Xianyang was nothing more than a piece of low-class scum that had once almost been beaten to death like a stray dog by him and his lackeys.

If it weren't for that meddling little bastard who had run out onto the street and called for help, he and his lackeys were already preparing to enact the punishment that they had agreed upon in advance, taking off their pants to give the arrogant young man a warm shower. 

Even now, Lu Zhengchun still couldn't understand why these high and mighty individuals had taken such a liking to Liu Xianyang. As for certain things that they mentioned like prized armor, sword scripture, Sun Scorch Mountain, the Great Dao to immortality, and fighting over resources and opportunities, Lu Zhengchun could understand everything, but at the same time, he had no idea what they were talking about.

However, there was one thing that Lu Zhengchun knew for certain, which was that he wanted nothing more than to see Liu Xianyang die here.

As for the true reason for his scorching resentment toward Liu Xianyang, he didn't dare to admit it to himself, nor did he dare to ponder the subject.

Deep down in his heart, Lu Zhengchun would almost rather die than allow a piece of lowly scum like Liu Xianyang to see him, an esteemed young master of the Lu Clan, acting like an obedient dog in front of others.

This was just about the most humiliating thing that he could think of.

Upon spotting Liu Xianyang, the woman murmured, "He's here."

Liu Xianyang was still practicing his fist techniques on the way to the bridge, and with each punch that he threw, he was doing so with increasing speed and power, to the point that he was stumbling around a little from the force that he was exerting.

Even though his techniques were still very rudimentary and unpolished, in the eyes of an expert, he was already displaying a knack for combining strength with subtlety, a trait that was only seen in masters.

In the art of the fist, there was a fundamental mantra, which stated that those who didn't know the true meaning of the fist could train for a century and still be a novice, while those who grasped the true meaning of the fist could strike down even demons and gods.

The woman was very relieved. As expected, Liu Xianyang was the person that they were looking for, and he did indeed possess remarkable aptitude. Even in immortal clans like theirs, his aptitude for cultivation was nothing to be scoffed at.

Of course, in the vast world that the woman and the old man were part of, there was also no lack of prodigal cultivation talents of Liu Xianyang's caliber.

The woman rose to her feet, then turned to Lu Zhengchun as she instructed, "Go and ask that young man what we would need to give him in exchange for the suit of armor and the scripture that have been passed down in his clan for generations."

Lu Zhengchun turned around and extended a respectful bow, replying in that dialect that was completely unintelligible to the town's residents, "Yes, Mistress."

"Make sure to speak to that young man with respect, and take care not to offend him," the woman added.

The boy also pointed a finger at Lu Zhengchun, regarding him like a servant as he warned, "If you screw this up, I'll skin you and pull out all of your tendons, then turn your soul into a flame to light a torch. Until that torch goes out, you'll constantly be in so much agony that you'll wish you were dead!"

Lu Zhengchun shuddered in horror upon hearing this, and he bowed even deeper as he hurriedly replied in a fearful voice, "I'll be sure to convince him!"

The little girl finally saw an opportunity to strike back at her tormentor, and she sneered, "You sure like to act tough in front of mere mortals! On the way here, you were called a vandal and a bastard by other cultivators, and you didn't even dare to strike back!"

The old man already had an extremely low opinion of the mother and son pair, and he added, "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Young Mistress. He wasn't too afraid to strike back, he was too afraid to talk back to them!"

The boy gritted his teeth tightly as he glowered at the girl with a sinister expression, but he didn't issue a retort. Instead, he suddenly put on a vibrant smile, as if he were completely unfazed by her mockery.

Meanwhile, the woman's gaze remained fixed on the path up ahead, and there was a tranquil and placid look on her face. As for whether she had taken what was said to heart, that was something that only she knew.

The little girl gave a cold harrumph, then ran down the steps and squatted down beside the creek to watch the fish swimming in the water.

Occasionally, there were schools of different numbers of red and green carp swimming past under her watchful gaze.

While chatting under the old locust tree, some of the older individuals in the town often mentioned that when passing over the covered bridge during lightning storms, they had all previously seen a golden carp swimming past.

However, some of them claimed that the golden carp was only around the same length as a human hand, while others proclaimed that the carp was enormous, half the length of a grown man at the very least, as if it were evolving into a higher life form.

The old people in the town were constantly arguing over who had the correct details in their story, and due to the conflicting accounts, none of the children were willing to believe that such a creature truly existed.

The water in the creek was so clear that one could see all the way to the bottom, and at this moment, the little girl was staring intently into the water with her cheeks resting on her hands.

The old man crouched down beside her as he chuckled, "Young Mistress, if the leader of the Lu Clan wasn't lying to us, then that creature has already fallen into someone else's hands."

The little girl turned to the old man with a grin as she countered, "Perhaps there's more than one of them, Grandpa Yuan!"

In doing so, she revealed the comical gap where one of her front teeth was missing, and she immediately realized this as she hurriedly clapped a hand over her own mouth.

The old man resisted the urge to laugh as he explained, "Before flood dragons make their way into rivers, they are extremely territorial and strictly prohibit their own kind from getting near them. Hence..."

The little girl gave a half-hearted response, then turned back around to continue staring into the water with her cheeks resting in her hands, and she murmured to herself, "But what if there's a chance..."

For the first time, a stern and authoritative look appeared on the benevolent old man's face, and he gently laid a hand onto the little girl's head as he said in a solemn voice, "Young Mistress, you must remember at all times that relying on luck and chance is a sure path to an early demise, and such a way of thinking cannot be allowed to take root in your mind! You are far too precious..."

The little girl pulled out a hand from under her cheek and waved it around vigorously as she grumbled in a disgruntled voice, "I know, I know! I've heard this so many times that my ears are about to grow calluses!"

"I'm going back to keep an eye on the proceedings, Young Mistress. On the surface, they're supposed to be allies of our Sun Scorch Mountain, but when it comes to their integrity and the way they conduct themselves... I won't mention it. It's not worth soiling your precious ears hearing about them."

The little girl waved a hand to dismiss the old man, and he could only depart with a resigned expression.

The old man appeared to be a servant of hers, and his back was slightly hunched over as he walked, while his hands trailed all the way down to his knees, as if he were carrying a heavy burden on his back.

All of a sudden, the little girl rubbed her own eyes in surprise.

The reason for her surprise was that the water level in the creek was slowly rising at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye!

If they weren't in this small town, then she wouldn't have been surprised at all by this. For example, if they were on Sun Scorch Mountain or anywhere in their home region, then she wouldn't have batted an eyelid even if an entire creek had dried up in the blink of an eye.

The little girl was rather perplexed as she murmured to herself, "Aren't all profound arts, mystical abilities, and powers naturally restricted here? And isn't it the case that the more advanced one's cultivation base is, the more backlash they suffer here? Grandpa Yuan told me that even that legendary figure has found himself in a severely weakened state after staying here for so long, so he won't be able to stop us from fighting over the prized artifacts..."

In the end, she shook her head to rid herself of that train of thought, no longer interested in pondering the matter.

She turned to look at the old man's imposing figure, and she gleefully thought to himself that once the restrictions here were completely lifted, she would ask him to carry that mountain by the name of Cloud Drape Mountain back home with them so that she could make it her own flower garden.