Chapter 127: Qingyan Zhenren

I'm still over 300 votes short of making the list! Sigh, seeing this, I, Wang Yu, truly feel my future is bleak. If I can't even get on the list, it will be impossible for me to continue taking leave to write full-time for everyone. I'll have to go back to working and updating at a rate of one 2K-word chapter per day. So, to those readers who haven't voted yet, or don't care who they vote for, please cast your votes for this book! After all, with over 6,000 saves, having so few votes is truly unreasonable. Since I didn't make the list, I should have only updated one chapter. But considering the readers who *did* vote, I'm providing another slightly shorter chapter to encourage those who haven't voted to do so quickly. If I still don't make the list by tomorrow, I'll honestly have to go back to work. After all, I still need to support my family. Prices are so high, it's really hard to get by without money!

Han Li had only walked a few steps when he heard someone calling him from a distance.

"Over here, Brother Han!"

Hearing the call, Han Li looked towards the voice and saw Wan Xiaoshan standing beside an old man in a green robe, continuously waving to him.

Han Li smiled slightly and quickened his pace. When he reached the old man in the green robe, Wan Xiaoshan introduced him:

"This is True Man Qing Yan from Taonan Valley. He's a close friend of my father, and this Taonan Minor Gathering is being co-hosted by him and several other seniors."

Upon hearing the young man's words, Han Li couldn't help but carefully observe True Man Qing Yan.

The old man was tall and slender, with broad shoulders and long arms, dressed in a scholarly green robe. He carried an air of an otherworldly immortal. However, his face, mottled with green patches, was quite striking!

Then, the young man turned to the elder and said, "Brother Han is someone I just met outside the valley. Although he's a rogue cultivator, we get along very well. Uncle, please look after him a bit more!"

The old man also sized up Han Li at this moment. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes and spoke to Han Li:

"Young friend Han, your wood-attribute cultivation technique is quite impressive! To have reached the eighth layer at such a young age is rare, even among cultivation families!"

Hearing True Man Qing Yan's praise, Han Li felt a wry smile inwardly. Without consuming large quantities of spiritual elixirs and good medicine, how could he possibly have reached the eighth layer? He'd probably still be struggling between the third and fourth layers!

However, outwardly, he humbly replied, "Elder Qing, you flatter me. I merely got lucky."

True Man Qing Yan nodded indifferently, saying nothing more to Han Li. Instead, he turned to Wan Xiaoshan and said:

"Youngster, the others from your family have already arrived. They've been very worried about you and asked me to bring you to them as soon as I saw you. Come with me now!"

Upon hearing this, Wan Xiaoshan couldn't help but pull a long face.

"No way my seventh sister and ninth brother are here too, are they? I dread their nagging the most. Can't I just not go?" Wan Xiaoshan looked at True Man Qing Yan, full of hope.

True Man Qing Yan's face stiffened. "What do you think?"

"Of course not!" Wan Xiaoshan answered himself, dejectedly.

"Hmph! You've got some nerve, daring to sneak out by yourself, hiding it from your family. If you'd run into some ill-intentioned cultivators on the way, you would have lost your life several times over!" As True Man Qing Yan said this, he subtly glanced at Han Li.

'This old man is rather unsavory,' Han Li thought, observing coolly from the side. 'His words clearly imply that I'm an ill-intentioned cultivator deliberately approaching this young master Wan.'

'Ah! It's rare to meet such an open young master, but it seems I'll have to part ways with him for now!' Han Li thought helplessly. 'Otherwise, True Man Qing Yan could easily make things difficult for me, and I'd be in serious trouble!'

"Since Brother Wan needs to meet his family, I'll go explore by myself for now. If there's an opportunity later, Brother Xiaoshan and I can share a drink and chat," Han Li said, cupping his fist to Wan Xiaoshan and True Man Qing Yan.

"Oh no! Don't rush off, I still wanted to introduce you to—"

"Young friend Han has important matters to attend to, so don't trouble him!"

Seeing Han Li about to leave, Wan Xiaoshan hastily tried to say something more, but True Man Qing Yan pulled him back, cutting him off.

Seeing this, Han Li gave Wan Xiaoshan a bright smile, then turned and continued towards the plaza.

The young man, meanwhile, followed True Man Qing Yan with a bitter expression, like a prisoner being led to the execution ground, slowly moving towards the pavilion.

Han Li wasn't particularly annoyed by True Man Qing Yan's treatment.

After all, any elder seeing an unfamiliar friend appear next to their young kinsman would naturally view them with suspicion, especially for a prominent cultivation family like Wan Xiaoshan's.

However, Han Li himself held no ill will towards Wan Xiaoshan; he simply wanted to learn more about the cultivation world from him. He didn't expect True Man Qing Yan to interfere like this, so he'd just have to find another opportunity with someone else.

As Han Li thought this, he gradually approached the plaza where the stalls were set up.

The cultivators' stalls were sparsely arranged around the spacious plaza, forming a winding path resembling the Chinese character '回' (hui, meaning 'return' or 'to go back'). People browsing for items strolled in twos and threes through the open space between the stalls on either side, coming and going, creating an atmosphere quite similar to a mundane marketplace.

By now, dusk was setting in, but the plaza was brightly lit. Most of the stalls had uniformly styled, large bronze lamps, ancient in appearance and about a meter tall.

However, these lamps contained no oil or other combustibles. Instead, each held a fist-sized white stone that emitted a soft glow.

The light emitted by these stones was far brighter than that of ordinary oil lamps. It illuminated the stalls beneath them as if it were daylight, and even the nearby paths were clearly visible. They were truly remarkable objects! Han Li couldn't help but secretly marvel at the sight.

Although it was late, the plaza was much more crowded than before. Not only had new stalls appeared, but the number of browsers had also sharply increased, with a large influx of cultivators pouring into the area, making the place exceptionally lively.

Han Li slowly approached the plaza but didn't enter immediately. Instead, he lingered nearby, observing the cultivators coming and going.

Being quite close, the appearances and attire of these cultivators truly broadened Han Li's horizons.

Some cultivators wore very simple clothes, with only a few vital areas covered, leaving the rest bare. Others, however, were completely wrapped from head to toe, with no skin exposed, exactly the opposite of the former. Even more bizarrely, he saw a cultivator who clearly had a man's appearance but wore women's clothing and accessories, which made Han Li feel a wave of nausea. Fortunately, such peculiar individuals were rare; most people's attire, though somewhat peculiar, was still acceptable to Han Li.

After observing for a while, Han Li's expression suddenly shifted, and a glint appeared in his eyes!

He realized that all the cultivators in the plaza, whether stallholders or browsers, were young people in their teens or twenties. He hadn't seen anyone older than about thirty.

Wan Xiaoshan's earlier statement that the 'Taonan Minor Gathering' was a five-yearly event specifically for the younger generation came to mind. It seemed that older, higher-ranking cultivators would not appear here, and True Man Qing Yan was probably only present because of his status as a host.

Realizing this, Han Li felt a sense of relief. After all, those older cultivators were truly difficult to deal with, and if they wanted to deal with him, it would likely be no more trouble than crushing an ant.

However, even these so-called junior cultivators were far from weak. Individuals like Han Li were only considered average in this crowd, and there was no shortage of highly skilled cultivators like the blue-robed man he had previously encountered. In just a short while, Han Li had seen five or six such experts, which made him feel quite inadequate.

(If readers find this book enjoyable, please don't forget to add it to your collection.)