Chapter 1 A Graceful Young Man

Beyond twenty *li* outside Anyang Prefecture, the official road bustled with people and endless streams of merchants.

"What an elegant and handsome young man..."

Someone inadvertently looked up and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration at the white-robed youth on the red horse not far away.

The young man wore a spotless white Daoist robe, with delicate features, fair and radiant skin, deep and bright eyes above a straight nose, long eyebrows slanted upwards towards his temples, and a head of black hair tied behind him, moving with the rhythm of the horse.

His entire being exuded an undeniable and vigorous vitality.

Many other passersby glanced at him more than once, and in some carriages, many women secretly sized him up.

When their gazes shifted, they hurriedly lowered the curtains.

"Indeed, a decrepit old Daoist priest is ultimately less appealing than a vigorous young man."

An Qisheng shook his head inwardly.

The white-robed youth was naturally him.

Long before comprehending *Dan Jin* (Inner Strength), he could subtly control the changes in his muscles and bones, let alone now.

By slightly circulating his blood and energy, and emitting a wisp of vitality, he had completely changed his aura and figure.

Even if there were any strange abilities in this world to determine a person's age from their bones, they would only see that he was in his twenties, and there was no way they could tell that he was nearly a hundred years old.

An Qisheng turned back to look at Anyang Prefecture.

In his eyes, the "qi" of Anyang Prefecture was extremely chaotic, with waves of war-like intent filling the sky, obviously indicating that his disappearance had greatly angered some people.

However, he didn't care about that at all. He urged the horse beneath him and walked along the official road at a leisurely pace.

From beginning to end, he had never taken the people tracking him from the Six Doors to heart.

His excellent appearance caused many passersby to glance at him, and also made the constables who galloped past exclude him from suspicion at first glance.

"The condensation of the Heart Sutra involves the five internal organs and the entire blood and energy circulation system. Even with my degree of control over the human body, it cannot be achieved overnight. The main reason is that my *zhenqi* (true energy) is insufficient...

However, this process itself is also of great benefit to the growth of my physical body..."

Riding on horseback, An Qisheng was still multitasking, thinking about problems, circulating blood and energy, condensing his *qi* channels, visualizing himself, and traveling at the same time.

After seeing the *Niwan* (Mud Pill Palace, referring to the upper *dantian* between the eyebrows), his control over his body had become extremely subtle, even down to every pore. With a thought, he could make the hairs all over his body make different movements.

Such mental power allowed him to handle anything with ease.

For example, the first time he rode a horse, he was already as skilled as if he had grown up on horseback.

After all, in his two lives combined, he had practiced the horse stance for many years.

With his current control, he could learn any complex skill as soon as he learned it, and become proficient as soon as he learned it. Not only was his horsemanship extremely skilled, but he could even use his own *jin* (internal force) to strengthen the horse's body while it was running and jumping, reducing its fatigue and increasing its stamina.

Whoosh~

The red horse galloped, and with the vibration of *jin* (internal force), it ran more and more smoothly. Soon, it had surpassed many passersby, and as the horse galloped, An Qisheng's body was extremely stable, as if he was one with the horse.

The speed of the journey was very fast, and none of the initial passersby could keep up with his pace.

As he moved farther away from Anyang Prefecture, the merchant caravans on the road became fewer and fewer, until later, he couldn't see a caravan for half a day.

"Huh? So many corpses..."

At a certain moment, An Qisheng raised his head from the horse's back.

On the official road more than thirty *zhang* away, many corpses lay scattered.

He swept his eyes over them and saw that they should be a group of bandits, numbering about thirty, and they all died in the same way, with holes in their foreheads and red and white matter flowing out.

"This is not a sword wound, but *jianqi* (sword energy) piercing through the head. The killer must have at least condensed the 'Hand Meridian' and knows the *jianqi* (sword energy) martial art..."

With a glance, a huge amount of information had restored the scene of these people being killed in his mind.

Even the order in which the corpses died and the time of death clearly appeared in his mind.

This was the effect of the spirit after seeing the *Niwan*.

"Ah! So many corpses!"

"Too tragic!"

"Who killed them?"

Dozens of *zhang* away, a caravan seemed to be passing by, and bursts of exclamations reached An Qisheng's ears through the wind.

"Traveling the world these days is a high-risk occupation..."

An Qisheng shook his head inwardly.

The red horse had already snorted and strode forward.

It was a large caravan, with dozens of guards alone, many of whom had steady auras and possessed inner strength.

Some were wary when they saw An Qisheng riding over.

An Qisheng didn't care at first, but under a quick glance, he saw several acquaintances in the caravan.

They were the guards of the caravan he had passed by a few months ago when he was helped down the mountain by two little fellows, one of whom seemed to be called "Old Zhou."

However, that "Old Zhou" naturally didn't recognize him at this time.

After this glance, the red horse stopped.

"Darkened *Yintang* (the space between the eyebrows), with a faint aura of death between his eyebrows..."

An Qisheng's eyes narrowed.

His spirit was strong, and he practiced the Myriad Luck Qi Observation Technique every day. Although he couldn't reach the point of peeking into the secrets of heaven and calculating the fate of a country, he could naturally see ordinary people very accurately.

With this one look, he could see that "Old Zhou" was afraid that he would face a tribulation of death.

"May I ask, where are you all going?"

With a thought, An Qisheng spoke.

His voice was clear and loud, clearly spreading throughout the caravan, and immediately suppressed all other noises.

Many in the caravan were people who traveled north and south, so they naturally knew that this skill must have profound inner strength as its support.

They couldn't help but become more cautious.

"Replying to the Daoist priest, we are going to Liang Prefecture for business. We were passing by this place and saw so many corpses, so we stopped."

A middle-aged guard who was closest to him answered, using his inner strength.

"Liang Prefecture? Liang Prefecture is adjacent to Central Prefecture, and this place, after Anyang Prefecture, is Feng Prefecture. Are you all on the wrong road?"

An Qisheng raised his eyebrows slightly, feeling a little strange.

Ordinary merchant caravans mostly traded between prefectures, and rarely traveled extremely far, after all, the farther the journey, the more dangerous it was.

Caravans had goods piled up, and they had to stop to trade in every city. Being able to cross a prefecture in five or six months was already a very fast speed.

And this place was much farther from Liang Prefecture than from Feng Prefecture.

He was traveling alone on horseback without rest, and it would take him more than half a month to warm up his horse with *zhenqi*. This caravan would probably take more than a year.

Such a long-term business trip was rare in Da Feng.

"Ah."

The middle-aged guard sighed and cupped his hands:

"Daoist priest, you don't know, a plague has broken out on the road that must be taken to Liang Prefecture along this official road. We had already arrived at Xiyan Prefecture, but when we heard this news, we had to turn back..."

"Plague..."

An Qisheng frowned slightly.

Whether it was in his previous life, Xuan Xing, or the Jiu Fu Realm, the word plague was always a word that made people turn pale.

Especially in the Jiu Fu Realm, the number of people who had died from plagues throughout history was probably more than the number of people who had died in wars.

However, with the reduction of wars in recent years and no years of major droughts or disasters, there shouldn't be a very large-scale plague.

He looked towards Qing Prefecture, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes, but he had already used the Myriad Luck Qi Observation Technique.

He saw that the black air mixed with blood light covered the sky and the sun in the distance, and the number of dead people had already been too many.

But that aura was not a plague.

In the Qi Observation Technique, a plague belonged to the evil, vile, and poisonous of heaven and earth, but that black air mixed with blood light had more death energy than those three kinds of qi.

Obviously, it was man-made.

"In this world, there are indeed more beasts..."

An Qisheng's eyes turned cold.

From just the bloodshot threads mixed in the sky, he could tell that no less than a thousand people had died in Qing Prefecture.

This made him have a worse impression of the people of this world.

"It is said that this plague originated in Qing Prefecture. It hasn't been long since it broke out, but many people have died. Although it hasn't spread here yet, the road has already been blocked..."

The guard smiled bitterly.

People with inner strength were extremely unlikely to be infected with the plague, and those who had achieved great success in blood exchange would not be infected.

He himself was naturally unwilling to turn back and change the route, but although he himself was not afraid because he possessed inner strength, there were quite a few ordinary people in the caravan.

He could only hurry on.

"May I be so bold as to ask, which route are you planning to take to Liang Prefecture?"

An Qisheng cupped his hands slightly.

During the conversation, he had already scanned everyone. Except for the people in the several carriages whom he could not see, most of the people present had darkened *Yintang* (the space between the eyebrows), and their death tribulations were obviously not far away.

"This..."

The caravan guard hesitated slightly.

In his heart, he cursed this little Daoist priest for not knowing what was good for him. How could he easily reveal the merchant route?

"Meeting is fate. This poor Daoist advises you all to change your route, or else you may have a bloody disaster..."

An Qisheng smiled slightly, not caring about his hesitation. He scanned everyone and said calmly:

"This poor Daoist has said all that I can say. I will take my leave!"

After saying that, he urged the horse beneath him, and was about to leave.

"What?"

Many people in the caravan changed their expressions drastically, and many had already drawn their swords. If it hadn't been for the hand of inner strength that An Qisheng had shown before, they would have probably rushed up together at this time.

"Daoist priest, wait a moment!"

After running for only a few steps, a clear cry came from the caravan.

In a carriage, a little chubby maid ran down, waving her handkerchief, jumping and shouting.

"Is there anything else?"

An Qisheng reined in his horse and stopped, turning back in surprise.

With his perception, he had naturally known who was in the carriage a long time ago.

This little chubby maid had given him several steamed buns.

He also remembered this matter in his heart.

"My young lady invites you in for a talk."

As An Qisheng's eyes shifted, the little chubby maid's face turned red, a little shy.

"No!"

"This person's origin is unknown, and he is talking nonsense. How can you let him see the young lady?"

"No, he can't be allowed to get close to the young lady!"

The guards near the carriage all changed their expressions drastically and spoke out to stop him.

Some of the guards on the periphery were hesitant, but they didn't say much.

"Old Zhou, please ask this Daoist priest to come over."

After the guards shouted a few times, a clear female voice came from the carriage.

Old Zhou hesitated for a moment, walked to the carriage and said a few words, before solemnly stopping his subordinates.

Forcing a smile, he cupped his hands and said:

"Daoist priest, please don't be offended. The brothers are just being careful and cautious, not deliberately offending you."

"There's no need to go over."

An Qisheng glanced at everyone and looked at the carriage, saying:

"This poor Daoist has said what I can say. Let's say goodbye here."

After saying that, without waiting for everyone to respond, An Qisheng pulled on the reins.

With a long neigh from the red horse, it had already sped away, not stopping despite the little chubby maid's repeated shouts.

Only dust rose, and amidst the whistling wind, the lingering sound that was condensed and did not dissipate floated over:

"Good advice is hard to persuade a dying ghost. Believe this poor Daoist's words or not, it is all your fate!"