“Brother, looks like they’re her family,” Mo Xuanli said, meaning he didn’t want to meddle. From the looks of it, this was just a mischievous girl running away from home, her family anxious to find her. And judging by the concern in the leading uncle’s eyes, it was real care. Mo Xuanli thought it wasn’t right to interfere blindly in another family’s affairs.
In the original version, Mo Xuanli was even more guarded. When a girl blocked the road begging for help, his first question was: With so many people here, why did you only ask me?
The girl had replied directly: Because you’re handsome.
Indeed, when you look around, it’s only natural to seek help from the most good-looking person who looks the most righteous. Perfectly reasonable.
Unfortunately, whether in the original or now, Mo Xuanli was not the kind of hot-blooded youth whose sense of manliness would swell at a girl’s few words and make him charge forward recklessly.
Gu Baiqing rather liked that. When traveling outside, being cautious was never wrong.
Hearing Mo Xuanli say that, the girl grew desperate. She didn’t waste time, just pushed the two of them toward the approaching men and darted away herself.
Naturally, Mo Xuanli noticed Gu Baiqing deliberately acting a bit clumsy to slow those men down.
“Master?” Mo Xuanli asked in puzzlement.
Gu Baiqing said, “The little girl clearly doesn’t want to go back, so I gave her a small hand. Besides… following us won’t put her in danger.”
As he spoke, Gu Baiqing turned his head toward the second floor of a nearby building, where the corner of a robe flicked.
Mo Xuanli frowned. “Come out.”
Sure enough, Wu Hongxi leapt down—it turned out she had some skill.
The girl looked fifteen or sixteen, with fine, delicate features, big bright eyes that made her seem clever, and overall a striking appearance. But her red dress was nearly gray from dirt, and her long hair was casually tied up, making her seem very unruly.
“You two—are you even men? Where’s the hero rescuing the beauty? Where’s the righteous aid? You…”
Gu Baiqing cut in smoothly, “Those stories in painted books are all lies.”
Wu Hongxi choked, eyes wide as she stared at them.
Gu Baiqing went straight to the point: “You followed our carriage because you saw him, didn’t you?” Gu Baiqing pointed at Mo Xuanli, teasing, “Because he’s good-looking?”
Mo Xuanli was stunned, looking at Gu Baiqing as though his master had just teased him. Wu Hongxi’s face flared red, her thoughts exposed.
“N-no, that’s not it!” Wu Hongxi retorted.
Mo Xuanli, helpless, looked at Gu Baiqing. “Brother.”
Wu Hongxi immediately reacted. “Why do you call him brother sometimes, and master other times? What exactly is your relationship?”
Truly a sharp-eyed, curious girl.
“He’s my brother. I didn’t call him master—you misheard.” Mo Xuanli said.
Wu Hongxi gave him a doubtful look, then glanced at Gu Baiqing. “True, you don’t look old.”
Who says a master must be old? Otherwise, wouldn’t all master-disciple stories be doomed?
Gu Baiqing coughed lightly. “So why did you really follow us?”
Wu Hongxi snapped back to herself and quickly said, “It wasn’t because he’s good-looking that I followed you—I know! You two can use magic, right?”
This time it was Mo Xuanli’s turn to be surprised. “Why do you think that?”
Wu Hongxi smiled, the corners of her mouth curling up, and chirped like a proud magpie: “How could ordinary people look as good as you?” At this point, the little girl flushed with embarrassment, then said, “I saw it looked like you were wrapped in a layer of light, just like Uncle Zhu before—Uncle Zhu knows magic. But you seem not to…” As she spoke, Wu Hongxi looked over at Gu Baiqing.
At once Mo Xuanli understood—this girl probably had a spiritual root but had never had the chance to join a sect, so she could see a faint trace of spiritual energy flowing.
“Uncle Zhu?” Gu Baiqing asked.
“Yes, his name is Zhu Jian, he lives in Tianxian Prefecture.”
“You know Zhu Jian?” Mo Xuanli reacted immediately. “This Zhu Jian here?”
As he spoke, Mo Xuanli pointed toward the gate of the courtyard where their carriage had stopped. The little girl looked and at once gave a start. “Two peach trees planted at the gate—Zhu… this really is the place!”
Wu Hongxi was overjoyed. “I thought it would be hard to find. You’re here to see Uncle Zhu too? Are you the people from Zixiao Sect everyone talks about?”
Mo Xuanli froze. Now he could be sure Wu Hongxi had indeed met Zhu Jian, and that she had heard about Zixiao Sect from him.
But before Mo Xuanli could reply, Wu Hongxi frowned. “You’re not? You don’t have that cord on your foreheads… what to do? You have to find people from Zixiao Sect.”
As they were speaking, the Zhu family’s courtyard gate opened, and out came the eldest son.
After they explained their purpose, the eldest son quickly invited them in. The Zhu family had no immortal ties, so it was impossible for them to be involved in matters concerning stationed disciples. All they knew was that Zhu Jian was working for some important person above, and in daily life Zhu Jian never told them what he was doing. They only knew their father often went out and that the household received a stipend every month, living quite comfortably.
But this time Zhu Jian had been gone too long, and they were very worried, but they truly had no clue where their father had gone.
Some people had come to help look not long ago, but they also found no leads, only saying they’d notify the specialists to come help.
This time the ones sent were Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing. But seeing the two young men bringing along a little girl, the Zhu family became somewhat uneasy.
“You two… if you have any leads, could you tell us? He’s our father; naturally, we should be the ones to look for him,” the eldest son said anxiously.
“If there’s news, we’ll come inform you.” Mo Xuanli flatly refused to help, knowing they would definitely get no information here. It was better to focus on Wu Hongxi, who knew Zhu Jian and Zixiao Sect.
After the three left, they found a nearby inn to sit down and talk.
“From the looks of you, you’re also here to find Uncle Zhu. Just who are you…”
“We’re disciples of Zixiao Sect. You know where Zhu Jian is, don’t you?”
Wu Hongxi’s face lit up with delight. Only then did she speak. “So you really are. I do know. Actually, Uncle Zhu is in Linxun Town not far from here. It’s not that I didn’t want to say before, but Uncle Zhu didn’t want his family dragged into this. He wanted specialists to come, because there are demons in Linxun Town.”
At this, Wu Hongxi couldn’t help shuddering. By coincidence, at the next table people eating and drinking were speaking loudly, also mentioning Linxun Town.
“You’re also going to Linxun Town to worship the Immortal? What a coincidence, me too—shall we travel together later?”
“I hear the Immortal Statue in Linxun Town is very efficacious. As long as you sincerely pray, your wish will definitely come true.”
“Ah, you’re all outsiders. I’m from Linxun Town myself, I know. Those things are useless to outsiders—the Immortal only protects us residents of Linxun Town. And it doesn’t bless just anything—it only protects relationships between people.”
“Right, right, I heard about a woman praying for her philandering husband to return to her, an old grandmother praying for her son to obey her instead of his wife, and even a poor scholar with no money or power praying to marry a rich family’s daughter. Things that were originally impossible came true: the household flourished, relatives got along—so miraculous.”
“Because of this Immortal Temple, Linxun Town is now richer than our Tianxian Prefecture. I’m already trying to find a way to move to Linxun Town.”
The talk was lively. Many people, hearing Linxun Town mentioned, joined in the chatter. Only Wu Hongxi, sitting opposite them, had turned pale.
“Linxun Town…” Mo Xuanli spoke slowly.
“There’s definitely something wrong. It must be demons at work. The people in the town have been bewitched by that Immortal Temple.” Wu Hongxi immediately whispered anxiously. “The reason Uncle Zhu went to our Linxun Town was because he heard something was unusual and went to investigate.”
Wu Hongxi slowly recounted the events. About half a year ago, one day in Linxun Town, an Immortal Jade Statue suddenly appeared in a ruined temple. It looked noble and sacred. At first, local thugs thought the thing was valuable and wanted to haul it off and sell it, but before they could move it they died on the spot. Everyone started saying the Immortal Jade Statue had power—anyone who harbored bad intentions toward it would die.
Then one day, a woman, unable to bear her husband’s philandering and debauchery, wanted to commit suicide. She planned to hang herself in the ruined temple, but the beam she tied the white rope to broke. Thinking that since Heaven didn’t want her to die, she might as well ask Heaven for help to bring her husband back, she knelt before the Immortal Jade Statue and prayed for a long time until she fainted. She was found and taken home. The next day, her husband returned.
At this point Wu Hongxi’s expression was almost like she’d seen a ghost. “That husband was a complete wastrel, a frequent visitor to brothels, with a string of lovers, rarely home—he was famous for it in our area. I’d seen him a few times. But after that, he began treating his wife with utmost respect and courtesy, never leaving the house to see women again, staying home with her constantly.”
As this spread, more and more people went to kneel before the Immortal Jade Statue. Family after family saw their wishes to change the people around them fulfilled. It was as though by praying you could transform someone completely.
“It looks exactly like possession. I secretly observed a few people and found they were… not quite human, looking very strange. But no one else could see it. When I spoke of it, no one believed me. Instead the Immortal Jade Statue’s fame grew bigger and bigger. Until I met Uncle Zhu, who was also investigating this. Seeing me curious, Uncle Zhu once caught me and told me not to meddle, that it was dangerous. When I saw how mysterious he was, I knew he wasn’t an ordinary person. I followed him once, saw him using magic, and then encountered something strange,” Wu Hongxi said with a frown.
Gu Baiqing listened while thinking this little girl really had an unusually big courage.
“I followed Uncle Zhu on the road toward the Immortal’s Jade Statue, but ran into a ghost wall—I could never reach the Immortal Temple. I walked until I was exhausted and fell asleep, and when I woke the next day, Uncle Zhu was gone. I didn’t know if he had left on his own, or if everything was just a dream. Until one day, I saw Uncle Zhu on the street—he was wandering blankly. I called out to him, but he ignored me. So I followed to see what he was doing.”
“But all he did was walk in circles. Until evening, when the weather turned foul and a thunderbolt split the sky—then it was like he suddenly came back to himself. He grabbed me and told me to run, said Linxun Town was wrong, told me to go to the Zhu family in Tianxian Manor, stay there until people from Zixiao Sect arrived, and tell them the details. Otherwise, the whole town would be doomed.”
“At that moment Uncle Zhu seemed very anxious, but when I wanted to ask for more details, he turned dazed again. No matter what I asked, he wouldn’t answer. Later, he walked into the Immortal Temple again, I once more ran into the ghost wall, and Uncle Zhu disappeared.”
At this point Wu Hongxi’s face was very unpleasant. “After that I wanted to go out and pass along Uncle Zhu’s message, but I ran into trouble too.”
She told her family about Uncle Zhu. She partly believed him, because she also felt those changed people in town were strange, things seemed suspicious. But her family thought she was just being mischievous, making up lies to sneak out and play. After all, the child had always been wild. When she went to tell the town steward, she was scolded harshly, because by then the Immortal’s Jade Statue had already become a very important spiritual pillar for the townsfolk.
So, for such a headstrong girl, her family felt marrying her off early was best. Just at that time, they brought up a match with the boy next door.
The two had known each other long, and the young man liked Wu Hongxi. But she didn’t like him, and didn’t want to be engaged so early.
Perhaps from hearing the persuasion too many times, before Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli could say anything, Wu Hongxi cut in: “I know what you want to say—childhood sweethearts, a good match, my age is perfect for engagement, he treats me very well… but what he gives isn’t what I want. In short, I don’t like him, I don’t want to marry him. I still want to go out, explore, take risks. But he even pushed our elders to force me into the Immortal Temple to worship, so I’d become docile and obedient, marry him quietly. I knew I couldn’t count on them, so I ran away. Luckily, I met you two. Will you be going to Linxun Town?”
After hearing her story, Mo Xuanli more or less understood. Linxun Town really must have an evil spirit, and it had taken control of Zhu Jian. As for whether Zhu Jian was alive or dead, hard to say.
“We are of the same sect as Brother Zhu, of course we’ll go. What does Miss Wu plan to do next?” Mo Xuanli asked.
As he was speaking, noise suddenly came from outside the door.
“Hongxi is here!” Immediately four men rushed in.
Wu Hongxi instinctively tried to flee, but a young man grabbed her hand. “Hongxi, don’t run. I’m not forcing you into marriage. Why can’t you just give me a chance?”
Wu Hongxi’s face darkened. “Then why can’t you give me a chance? I don’t want to marry you.”
The young man’s face went pale, looking very sad and hurt.
“What’s wrong with little Zhou? I think this girl’s heart has run wild. Could it be she’s met some shady people outside?” Father Wu glanced at the two men eating with her—clearly not of the same kind—and couldn’t help scolding: “How can a young girl eat with strange men so casually? It’s only that little Zhou doesn’t mind and insists on marrying you. Look at your behavior—what decent man would dare marry you?”
“Enough, enough, stop talking. I’ll go with you. I can’t just abandon you anyway…” Wu Hongxi drooped her head, then turned to glance at Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli, her eyes silently pleading: I’m entrusting this to you.
In truth, Wu Hongxi could have escaped. She was nimble, and with the terrain she could have slipped away, or sought help from Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli. But she didn’t.
Because her purpose in leaving was to seek help—for Linxun Town. Since the goal was achieved, she couldn’t abandon her hometown to save herself. Her family and friends were still there.
Just like in the original, after giving the explanation, Wu Hongxi stepped aside for now.
Gu Baiqing and Mo Xuanli didn’t delay either. After finishing their meal, they went straight to Linxun Town.
Just past the town’s archway, Gu Baiqing was shocked by Linxun’s bustle. It really was more prosperous than Tianxian Prefecture. Even as evening fell, people didn’t go home—lively as if celebrating a festival. Clearly, as the fame spread, more and more people came to worship the Immortal’s Jade Statue.
As for the detailed plot here, Gu Baiqing didn’t know. Because that little brat had been sleeping in the carriage, their master had arrived unconscious, then Mo Xuanli had done his own thing, and when the master awoke, the scene was already different. But this time, things would definitely not be the same.
The two intended to go straight to the Immortal Temple and investigate. But upon reaching the outer area, they were stunned—the worshippers were truly many, incense smoke flourishing. Following the crowd inside, they saw a newly rebuilt temple, with all the proper decorations. At the very center sat a jade statue of a man.
Unlike the usual dignified seated immortal statues, this one was of a young man sitting cross-legged, one hand holding a scroll, the other teasing something with a wooden doll.
The youth’s expression was gentle, lips curved in a smile—he looked utterly warm and serene, his looks indeed worthy of being called an immortal’s.
Only…
“Looks familiar…” Mo Xuanli suddenly said, “Have I seen him somewhere before?”
Gu Baiqing froze. Indeed, it did look familiar to him too, but he couldn’t recall where.
The people behind them were already urging impatiently, so the two could only keep following the line out.
“Master, do you sense anything?”
“No trace of any unclean aura. Just an ordinary jade statue,” Gu Baiqing replied.
“I feel the same. But this jade is fine jade.”
“How fine?”
“Fine enough to buy the whole of Linxun Town.”
Gu Baiqing’s eyes went wide at once. The cost of making such a demonic trick was far too high.
“And why would a statue meant to bless human relationships look like this?” Mo Xuanli frowned in puzzlement. “It feels more like a private carving made out of longing for someone.”
Gu Baiqing shared the feeling. Yet in the original story the statue was barely mentioned—strange, considering everything began because of it, and then it wasn’t spoken of at the end.
“Master, with so many people here, it’s hard to do anything now. Let’s find a place to stay, set up a formation, and sense the situation in Linxun Town first,” Mo Xuanli suggested.
Gu Baiqing nodded and especially emphasized: “Find an inn.”
Mo Xuanli didn’t think too much—of course “a place to stay” meant an inn. But what they hadn’t expected was that with the crowd of pilgrims, the three or four inns the town had were naturally far from enough. Even at the very last one, not even a spot in a shared room remained. They tried asking to lodge with locals, offering money, but were refused everywhere. The households here were wary of outsiders, as though afraid strangers might cling to the town and steal away the blessings the Immortal bestowed.
Before long, as their carriage passed a busy spot, a duck-voiced man stepped forward. “Young masters, I see you’ve circled several times already—haven’t found a place to stay, have you? It’s already dark. Why not make do here for the night? Our lodging isn’t expensive, about the same as a regular inn.”
“No need. We’ll keep looking.”
“You won’t find one, I swear I’m not lying,” the man pressed.
Gu Baiqing lifted the curtain with a blank face. He looked at Mo Xuanli being pestered by the tout, then at the gaudy brothel beside them, and let out a sigh.
D*mn it, a setup! All a setup!
