Chapter 91: Frost Festival

“…,” Li Tan took a deep breath, slowly reciting the sutra for salvation.

“If there are people in the future who lack clothing and food, and their requests are unfulfilled,” “such people, upon hearing the name of Ksitigarbha and seeing his image, should respectfully and sincerely worship him,” “and for twenty-one days, they should continuously gaze at and worship Ksitigarbha’s image and recite his name.” Li Tan’s voice sounded like a magical incantation echoing beneath the small parasol tree, bringing peace to people’s hearts.

“Thank you,” Jiang Xin’s face blossomed with a warm smile, her body gradually becoming transparent, finally transforming into a ball of light and scattering like rain onto the branches and leaves of the parasol tree.

“It’s over,” Li Tan looked up at the swaying leaves of the parasol tree, feeling a sense of melancholy.

Tang Leyin gazed silently at the parasol tree for a long time, suddenly feeling a chill on her cheeks, murmuring, “It’s raining.” “Yes, it’s raining,” Li Tan lowered his head, smiling slightly at Tang Leyin. “Let’s go back.”

“Go ahead, my lord. I’ll stay a bit longer.”

Tang Leyin turned her head to look at the river, whose flow had quickened due to the rain, lost in thought.

“Leyin, you’re still not at peace, aren’t you?” Li Tan placed his hand on Tang Leyin’s shoulder.

She was likely distracted and didn’t pay attention to how Li Tan addressed her, and she replied dispiritedly, “Yeah, after something like this happened, Sister Jiang Xin didn’t even try to find out the truth.” Thinking of Cui Hao, who stood proudly on the clouds with his sword, Li Tan mused, “If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t let it go like this. But it’s precisely because of this magnanimity that Brother Cui truly fell in love with her.”

Tang Leyin didn’t respond, instead focusing even more intently on the stream, though her thoughts were unknown.

The sky grew increasingly overcast, and large raindrops struck people’s faces, spreading a chill that seeped into their hearts.

Li Tan placed an oil-paper umbrella beside Tang Leyin, shivered slightly, and then briskly ran into the rain.

“Mr. Tang, finally, we’ve been waiting for you!”

“Sorry, I was delayed by some matters yesterday and couldn’t come.”

“No problem, no problem. I’m very happy you could come. Please sit down, I’ll make you some tea.”

“Excellent tea, is this agarwood?”

“Flattered, it is.”

“Let’s get down to business. How did the auction go?”

“It went very well. One Qi-enhancing Pill was bought by Li Zhen from the Li family, and the rest were purchased by Liu Zhengyi from the Liu family.”

“Li Zhen?”

“Yes, is there any problem?”

“No.” At the Lin residence, Jiang Xin’s former home.

The parasol tree in the courtyard was gone, replaced by a large pit that made the place seem even more desolate. A few sparrows perched on the well, chirping noisily.

The rain came quickly and left just as fast, leaving the unpaved ground muddy and the air unusually damp.

Li Tan sat on the dry well, listlessly staring at the large pit on the ground, muttering in regret: “Damn, I forgot to ask Brother Cui what the third treasure he left was.” A few days ago, a letter found in the cabinet clearly stated that Cui Hao had left three treasures. The first was the Soul Jade, the second was the Coiling Dragon Fist, and the third was still unknown, though vaguely related to the unusually low temperature inside the house.

Li Tan had suspected the bed itself, but no matter how he explored with his spiritual power, it was just an ordinary bed, with no hidden passages underneath as he had imagined.

To uncover the third treasure, he probably had to wait until he cultivated a Yuan Shen. Compared to that, it would be easier to just ask Cui Hao directly.

Sighing, Li Tan pushed himself up with his knees and slowly returned indoors.

Jiang Xin’s memorial tablet in the main hall had already been removed, and her guqin still remained in the bedroom, with only the painting on the wall left as a trace of her presence.

“Time to cultivate. I must breakthrough to the prenatal stage quickly.”

Li Tan sighed deeply. Earlier, he had specially gone to the auction house. The blood pills he had previously refined had nearly paid off all his debts, and it was quite effective to swindle the Liu family. However, he hadn’t expected Li Zhen to come as well. Li Tan had specifically asked about the medicinal ingredients, and Meng Tianhua had clearly stated that they couldn’t find those ingredients within the scheduled time. Since the matter in Linjiang was urgent, the idea of refining the Breakthrough Pill to reach the prenatal stage was completely ruined.

If he really couldn’t manage it, Li Tan would have no choice but to rely on Tang Leyin to deal with those people. That wouldn’t be a big problem in itself, after all, she was his wife, and her cultivation was essentially his cultivation. But letting a woman protect him, no man would want that, would he?

Locking the door behind him, Li Tan was about to start cultivating when someone knocked on the door.

Who could it be?

Lin Long or Lin Cui?

Li Tan impatiently shouted for the person to come in themselves.

“Umm, Master,” a young girl of about eleven or twelve timidly peeked her head in at the door.

“It’s Xiao Xue. What’s the matter?”

Li Tan instinctively softened his tone.

Xiao Xue obediently nodded and walked in, standing stiffly.

“Miss asked me to inform Master that the Frost Festival is the day after tomorrow, so it would be best to prepare in advance.”

The Frost Festival was a local celebration in Linjiang. It didn’t mean much to ordinary people, practically non-existent, but for the various families, it was different. According to tradition, all families would have their younger generations compete in martial arts, selecting the top ten most outstanding individuals.

If it were just that, it wouldn’t be too bad. Those selected would be recommended to the immensely powerful Feiyu Sect! Most people in Linjiang knew little about Feiyu Sect other than its immense power, but that was enough.

“I see. Go back and tell Lin Cui that I’ll consider it.”

After Xiao Xue left, Li Tan thought about the martial arts competition. Although joining Feiyu Sect held no appeal for him, he eventually decided to participate.

Perhaps he was doing this meaningless thing because of lingering regrets in his heart. Before his rebirth, he had always failed to prove himself.

This would be good, using this opportunity to tell everyone that Li Tan was no longer the person he was before. This would also give Li Zhen some comfort and, at the same time, intimidate the head elder.

Having made up his mind, Li Tan no longer wasted time pondering this matter and officially began his cultivation. This cultivation session lasted the entire day, but Li Tan still didn’t feel any sign of a breakthrough.

He lay helplessly on the bed, thinking back to his memories of the martial arts competition during the Frost Festival.

Linjiang was small, with few families. The martial arts competition participants, by tradition, would not exceed fifty people, meaning the final ten selected would account for one-fifth of the total participants.

So, these ten people selected wouldn’t be guaranteed to enter Feiyu Sect, but they would have a higher chance of being chosen compared to those who applied normally, and at least two of them would be accepted.

Li Tan had long considered this a waste of time. Why would the Feiyu Sect care about the rankings from such a pitiful Frost Festival? The two individuals who entered the Feiyu Sect from the top ten winners were solely chosen due to their strength. If the entire Linjiang couldn’t produce two qualified candidates, it might as well be leveled by the Yao Clan early on to save spiritual stones.

He had always been like this in his complaints.