Early in the morning, Fan Wubing saw Ai Yinian picking flowers and grass in the courtyard, humming a tune, looking delighted and quite happy.

"Good morning, Senior Brother Fan." As soon as he saw Fan Wubing, he greeted him proactively.

Fan Wubing asked with a smile,

"How is your recovery?"

Ai Yinian said, "My injuries aren't severe, I'm almost recovered."

"No wonder you're in such a good mood."

"Hehe, Senior Brother Wubing, it's not just because of that."

"Then what is it?"

Ai Yinian, without much scheming, simply said it,

"Actually, I had a stroke of fortune last night!"

"Fortune?"

"Yes. The fortune came into my room on its own, without running around, so I accepted it. Really lucky!"

"Oh?" Fan Wubing squinted slightly, "How does it feel?"

Ai Yinian said, "It feels very soothing. It's just a pity that my soul is too weak now, it might take some time to fully absorb the fortune."

"The cultivators recently have been hunting down monsters everywhere, probably causing a lot of fortune to scatter throughout the Peach Blossom Spring."

"Yes, I guess I'm really lucky to pick up one for free."

Fan Wubing didn't doubt much. Because such things do happen, doing nothing and fortune just comes your way. Ai Yinian might be such a person with a very strong destiny, after all, he even contains that mysterious rootless qi within him, so having a strong luck is not unreasonable.

...

Luo Qingyao was also in a much better mood today. The gloomy and sullen expression of yesterday was swept away, and early in the morning she asked Fan Wubing for food.

Seeing her face filled with smiles again, Fan Wubing thought, this was more in line with her usual demeanor.

But... why does it feel like she's pretending to be relaxed?

Jiang Maodian is currently focused on healing, so Fan Wubing implicitly became the new leader. After having their immortal breakfast, Fan Wubing started planning today's agenda,

"Our main goal now is to avoid conflicts and wait for Senior Brother Jiang to heal. However, we cannot completely hide here, we still need to constantly be aware of the situation within the Peach Blossom Spring, after all, the fundamental purpose of coming here is to seek fortune."

He turned to Ai Yinian,

"Junior Brother Yinian has a lower cultivation level, shouldn't act alone, stay in the courtyard."

"Alright." Ai Yinian was quite clear about his position, just follow the command.

"Manman is the only Golden Core besides Senior Brother Jiang, with the highest strength, staying here to protect."

"Hmm." Fu Manman nodded gently.

"What about me, what about me!" Luo Qingyao was eager to receive Fan Wubing's instructions.

Fan Wubing looked at her, "You... just do as you please."

"Why don't you order me!" Luo Qingyao was very dissatisfied.

"Don't you have your own task?"

Luo Qingyao pouted, "I want to hear Senior Brother's arrangement."

Fan Wubing said, "Then go and complete your task."

"Yay!" Luo Qingyao's little face instantly wrote "satisfied."

Ai Yinian couldn't help but ask,

"If it's the same task, does it make a difference whether Senior Brother Fan arranges it?"

Luo Qingyao said smugly, "It's about the sense of ceremony, the sense of ceremony, don't you get it!"

The three of them looked at her with different expressions.

Fan Wubing was already used to her liking to associate everything with him as her senior brother.

Fu Manman thought... how nice it is, Junior Sister Qingyao, to speak so boldly without any nerves.

Ai Yinian completely didn't understand what Luo Qingyao was thinking.

"Senior Brother, I'm heading out, think of me!"

Luo Qingyao left reluctantly.

Ai Yinian looked at Fan Wubing, "What about you, Senior Brother Fan?"

Fan Wubing said, "I plan to go out and observe the situation within the Peach Blossom Spring."

Fu Manman asked, "By yourself?"

"Hmm."

"But, if you're alone, it could be... very dangerous." Fu Manman furrowed her brows slightly, with a touch of worry in her voice, whispered, "Why not we go together instead."

Fan Wubing shook his head,

"No, you must stay, Senior Brother Jiang is fully focused on healing, someone needs to watch over him. Besides, don't worry, I'm just going to observe, I won't engage in any disputes. I managed to return safely last time, and it will be the same this time."

This made Fu Manman a little relieved, lowered her head and said:

"Alright."

She took a dark-colored jade talisman from the Qiankun Bag and handed it to Fan Wubing,

"This is a Sound Transmission Jade Talisman, although it's not high quality, it'll work fine in this Peach Blossom Spring, please contact me at the first sign of danger."

"Alright."

...

Fan Wubing made some disguises, then used the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill to completely mask his energy, walking through the streets of Nanlai City, looking no different from the native inhabitants.

He noticed a rather peculiar thing.

It seems the noise caused by cultivators hunting monsters and competing for fortune had little impact on the city's natives.

For two days, battles were everywhere, causing quite a commotion, but as soon as the natives woke up to a new day, they acted like nothing was amiss.

Not only that, even the buildings damaged due to the fights were all repaired overnight.

Could it be that the city's carpenters and masons worked overtime through the night to fix them?

Impossible!

No matter how it's done, human repairs can never achieve complete restoration.

This situation is more like the refresh of a game map.

It seems there's some kind of "rule" that invisibly governs all this.

In hindsight, it makes sense; without these so-called "rules," the county sealed within this blessed land's secret realm would have long been destroyed—how could it have endured for thousands of years?

After two days of observation and analysis, Fan Wubing found the source of the possible "rule"—that Parasol Tree.

He discovered that whenever a conflict among cultivators or with monsters affected the city's natives or damaged city buildings, a faint, almost imperceptible Qi would be released from the Parasol Tree, enveloping those impacted.

About an hour later, things "refreshed."

Even those who died from the battles would "refresh" and be resurrected. It was as if... the natives here were immortal. No... it would be more accurate to say that the natives here are not truly living beings but some phenomenon maintained on the surface.

Of course, even if the natives cannot truly be killed, those fortune seekers who harm them, whether intentionally or not, will be expelled due to the rules set by He Youyi.

Besides, during these two days, Fan Wubing discovered another strange thing, which is—

The fortunes in Peach Blossom Spring seemed... a bit plentiful.

He remembered Luo Qingyao had mentioned that Peach Blossom Spring would stop and open up once it nurtured forty-nine fortunes.

However, in just these two days, he had already discovered as many as thirty-one fortunes.

Moreover, the later it got, the more frequently fortunes appeared. Quite a few of these fortunes barely tried to escape, or if they did, fortune seekers quickly caught them. It looked... very fake.

It felt as if the fortunes were intentionally caught by the fortune seekers.

Most bizarre of all, he saw a fortune seeker obtain six fortunes in three hours with great ease. And this wasn't the only such person.

This left Fan Wubing, hiding in the shadows, questioning his own life.

Clearly, he faced fierce resistance while obtaining just his third fortune and had to forcefully seize it.

Could it be that all these people were chosen by destiny?

But how could there be so many chosen ones?

Too fake, it was just too fake.

Fan Wubing could no longer hold back. He quietly led a fortune towards him. He hadn't even activated the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill but merely let a bit of his Qi leak out to sense it. Then the fortune rushed over like a starving wolf.

"It's really this eager?"

This reaction made it seem as if the fortune seekers and fortune roles had switched places.

He was full of doubts and didn't dare to put it into his Purple Mansion easily, instead using the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill to thoroughly sense it.

In his probing, the fortune felt no different from the ones he'd obtained before. It held that same clear and mysterious aura of creation energy.

But...

Something felt off. He wasn't at ease and fully engaged the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill to "check" the fortune from all angles without omission.

The more he examined, the clearer the mysterious, esoteric aura of creation energy became.

As if it was saying, "I am a fortune, I am a fortune..."

Could it be too... deliberate? Afraid that others wouldn't recognize it as a fortune?

Something's not right, something's not right.

Fan Wubing concentrated intensely, continuing to delve deeper.

Layer by layer, he analyzed and dissected, reaching the very essence.

A familiar aura suddenly appeared!

It was,

"Evil Qi!"

Fan Wubing was shocked and quickly tossed the fortune aside.

No mistake, no mistake at all! He was sure that deep within the fortune lay a strand of Evil Qi. Moreover, the Evil Qi was authentic, the very same that Fu Manman had sensed from the paper figures with the red and white evil spirits.

This fortune was,

"An impostor! Containing Evil Qi, what's the intention?"

Fan Wubing quickly pondered.

After obtaining a fortune, fortune seekers usually store it in their Purple Mansion. The Purple Mansion houses one's soul, flying sword, and various life-bound items. If it gets contaminated, it means the person is contaminated!

He suddenly remembered that Ai Yinian had also casually obtained a fortune two days ago...

And, possibly, Manman and Senior Brother Jiang might have encountered such fortunes too!

This is bad!

He needed to inform them of the truth immediately!

Fan Wubing, feeling urgent, wanted to quickly... With no time to waste, he took out a Sound Transmission Talisman, intending to communicate directly with them.

But just as he retrieved the Sound Transmission Talisman, before he could send a message, he received one from Fu Manman. He paused to tune in, and Fu Manman's voice, somewhat anxious, sounded,

"Wubing, they've found us! Nearly ten people are coming! Xu Lengshi and Yi Shanhe are among them! Whatever you do, don't come back!"

He hurried towards the courtyard in the east part of the city, not hesitating to fully expose his Qi for maximum speed.

But he hadn't gone far when someone blocked his path. A girl in red, with gold petals on her brow. She frowned slightly,

"Finally found you! Fan Wubing. It took me quite some effort."

Fan Wubing asked in a deep voice,

"Who are you?"

She coldly replied,

"Look at my face, don't you find it familiar?"

Fan Wubing studied her face. She was beautiful, exuding an aura of nobility... indeed somewhat familiar.

He dug into his memory, trying to remember where he might have wronged such a person.

Then, suddenly, he recalled someone... Ye Yixian.

...

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