Cultivation begins with earning spirit stones

Chapter 62 Interception

After finishing her noodles, Yu Youwei put down her bowl and glanced at him.

"Young Master Zhang, why did you help me?"

Zhang Lin opened his eyes and looked at her.

"What good will it do you to help me?" Yu Youwei asked. "We're no longer engaged, so you don't need to take responsibility for me."

"You will not gain any benefits by helping me join the Danxia Sect. On the contrary, you will bear the risks. If something happens to me, the Yu family will cause trouble for your family."

"You're right," Zhang Lin nodded. "Helping you won't do me any good."

"Then why are you helping me?"

Zhang Lin was silent for a moment, then said, "Because you dared to leave."

Yu Youwei was taken aback.

"You envy my courage to leave." Zhang Lin looked at her calmly. "I also admire your courage to leave."

"A woman abandoning a stable home and venturing alone into the unknown world of cultivation—not everyone possesses this kind of courage."

He paused, then added, "Moreover, I can see that you are no ordinary person; all you lack is an opportunity."

"Given the opportunity, you might just soar to great heights."

"I'm helping you not because of the engagement, not because of responsibility, but because... you deserve my help."

Yu Youwei looked at him and remained silent for a long time.

Her eyes held surprise, gratitude, and something else that was hard to describe.

"Young Master Zhang, you are a very special person."

"What's so special about it?"

"Ordinary men, upon seeing a woman, would either be lustful or utterly disdainful. You are different," Yu Youwei said calmly. "You look at me as if I were a person, not a woman."

Zhang Lin smiled slightly.

"Because in my eyes, cultivators are not divided by gender, but only by strength."

Yu Youwei paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint, yet it conveyed an indescribable sense of relief.

The sun was setting in the west, and dusk was deepening.

The outline of Qingyun Town was already in sight, the gray-blue houses glowing faintly in the setting sun.

The number of pedestrians on the official road gradually decreased, and occasionally merchants would hurry by on donkeys or horses, raising a trail of dust.

Zhang Lin rode his horse slowly, his gaze calmly fixed on the distance ahead, yet a sense of unease lingered in his heart.

I can't explain why, it's just a gut feeling.

Having cultivated the third-level Breath Concealment Technique for a long time, he was extremely sensitive to changes in his aura. This unease felt as if someone was secretly watching him.

Zhang Lin remained calm, his gaze sweeping over both sides of the official road.

To the left is a wheat field, stretching as far as the eye can see, the green wheat seedlings undulating like waves in the evening breeze.

To the right was a grove of trees, a mix of locust and willow trees, their branches and leaves lush and dense. The grove was dim and difficult to see clearly.

"Young Master Zhang," Yu Youwei suddenly spoke, her voice very low, "don't you feel something's amiss?"

Zhang Lin glanced at her sideways.

Yu Youwei's expression remained calm, but her eyes scanned her surroundings warily.

"You think so too?"

"Hmm." Yu Youwei nodded. "I have a feeling that someone is watching me, but I can't find where that person is."

Zhang Lin's heart stirred slightly.

This woman has a keen sense of perception.

"Be careful," he whispered, then looked away and continued riding forward.

After traveling another two miles, a gentle slope appeared ahead of the official road.

Several old locust trees grow on the slope, their branches gnarled and their canopies like canopies, obscuring half of the official road.

Zhang Lin pulled on the reins and stopped.

Yu Youwei also reined in her horse and looked at him.

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Lin did not answer, his gaze fixed on the old locust trees at the top of the slope.

He sensed a subtle mental fluctuation.

There are people there.

However, that person's aura was extremely subtle. If it weren't for his cultivation of the third-level concealment technique, which made him extremely sensitive to changes in aura, he would hardly have been able to detect it.

The fluctuations in mental energy indicate that one's spiritual energy has been fully cultivated and one's consciousness has been awakened.

Zhang Lin had already made up his mind.

Spiritual awareness is one of the signs of perfect spiritual cultivation.

Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage cultivate true Qi, which is as fine as silk or mist. It can be released to harm people, but it cannot perceive things in the distance.

Only when one has reached the point of perfect Qi cultivation, opened the four acupoints and three gates, and begun to develop spiritual awareness, can one project their senses outward and explore a radius of ten feet around their body.

This is spiritual consciousness.

Under the influence of spiritual awareness, there is nowhere to hide.

Zhang Lin activated his concealment technique, suppressing his aura to a minimum, and whispered to Yu Youwei, "There are people lying in ambush ahead. Step back and find a place to hide."

Yu Youwei's expression changed slightly, but she didn't ask any more questions. She turned her horse around and headed towards a wheat field beside the official road.

She dismounted, tied the horse to a willow tree by the field, and hid deep in the wheat field.

The green wheat seedlings completely covered her, making her invisible from the outside.

Zhang Lin dismounted, patted the horse's back, and let it walk away on its own.

He stood in the middle of the official road, hands behind his back, his gaze calmly fixed on the top of the slope.

"Come out."

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried far on the empty official road.

There was silence for a moment.

A figure emerged from behind the old locust tree at the top of the hill.

The man appeared to be in his thirties, with a robust build, square face, thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a short beard.

He was dressed in a black brocade robe, with a white jade pendant hanging at his waist and a long sword strapped to his back.

With his cultivation at its peak, his body radiated spiritual light.

He stood atop the slope, looking down at Zhang Lin with eyes as sharp as knives.

"You're Zhang Lin?"

His voice was deep and carried a hint of authority.

"Are you from the Zhou family?" Zhang Lin asked instead of answering.

The man neither denied nor admitted it, but simply said, "Someone wants your life."

He raised his hand, and the long sword behind him was drawn.

The sword is three feet long, entirely black, with faint blood-red runes flowing along its blade and shimmering with spiritual light.

The moment the flying sword was drawn, a sharp sword aura rushed towards them, stirring up dust on the official road.

Zhang Lin's gaze narrowed slightly.

This sword is no ordinary magical artifact.

The crimson runes on the sword are "Blood Refining Runes".

Nourished by essence and blood, and driven by true energy and spiritual awareness, the sword moves with the mind, its power far surpassing that of ordinary flying swords.

It's a mid-grade magic weapon, and a top-grade one at that, just one step away from being a high-grade one.

The man in the black brocade robe raised his hand and pointed, and the black flying sword transformed into a streak of dark light, shooting towards Zhang Lin.

It was so fast that it made a sound as it cut through the air.

Zhang Lin was prepared. With a sway of his body, he activated his Wind Control Technique and retreated three zhang as lightly as a falling leaf.

The dark light grazed his robes and struck a blue stone beside the official road.

"boom!"

The bluestone cracked instantly, scattering fragments that created a three-foot-deep crater in the ground.

The power of this sword strike would be such that even a cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refining would be severely injured, if not killed, upon being struck by it.

Zhang Lin's expression remained unchanged as he made a hand seal with his right hand, drawing his Azure Gang Sword.

A sky-blue sword light flew out from the storage bag, transforming into a streak of blue light that met the black flying sword.

"clang!"

The two swords clashed, sparks flying everywhere.

The Azure Gang Sword was knocked back three feet, while the black flying sword only paused slightly.

Zhang Lin frowned slightly.

His Azure Gang Sword is a top-grade magic weapon, and in terms of quality, it is superior to the black flying sword.

However, the opponent's cultivation level was at the peak of Qi Refining, with both true Qi and spiritual awareness enhancing his sword control ability.

With that one sword strike, he was at a disadvantage.

The man in the black brocade robe sneered, made a hand seal with his right hand, and sent the black flying sword spinning in the air before shooting towards Zhang Lin again.

This time, the sword strike was even more ferocious, crimson runes lit up, and a faint crimson light flowed across the blade.