I forge immortality with spiritual treasures.

Chapter 58 The first clues

Ying Chan did not visit the State Council very often in the past year.

However, Master Zheng seemed to have some recollection of him. He looked up and said, "Is it... Junior Brother Ying?"

As she spoke, she glanced at the colorful bird on his shoulder.

When Cai Que'er first arrived at the Capital Affairs Office, she was initially very curious and looked around. However, when Zheng Daoren glanced at her, she immediately shrank back and hid in Ying Chan's clothes.

Ying Chan ignored it, bowed to Zheng Daoren, and replied, "That's right."

Master Zheng withdrew his gaze, nodded slightly, and then asked him for the wooden talisman. As he began to write, he asked, "Those who request the decree must have their cultivation level recorded."

"Junior brother, have you made any progress lately? How is your cultivation?"

"Although I can see the records from the Capital Examination Institute here, it is more than half a year old, so they cannot be completely reliable."

Ying Chan said, "I have now opened twenty-nine acupoints."

"Twenty-nine orifices?"

Zheng Daoren paused slightly, glancing at Ying Chan with surprise.

Ying Chan nodded calmly.

"...This is truly rare." Master Zheng shook his head, picked up his pen again, and continued, "Since Junior Brother has such cultivation, would you like to receive the academy's talisman?"

"Imperial edict?"

"That is, you will be directly assigned by the institute to be in charge of a large area."

Master Zheng explained, "Besides patrolling, if any disciple in the area encounters an out-of-control monster that they cannot handle, they should report it to the Capital Affairs Office, and the office will then assign you to deal with it."

"Of course, the academy will also reward you with more merits."

"I see," Ying Chan said, suddenly realizing, "So it should be the responsibility of a disciple with higher cultivation?"

“That’s right,” said Zheng Daoren. “Originally, the academy intended that one must at least open thirty acupoints before receiving this talisman.”

“But there aren’t many disciples who have reached this stage of cultivation. Many of them are busy in seclusion to seek perfection and break through to the Profound Light realm, so there are even fewer who can spare the time to take on this responsibility.”

Therefore, the Ministry of State Affairs had no choice but to relax some requirements. Although Ying Chan only opened twenty-nine acupoints, it was enough.

“In that case,” Ying Chan thought for a moment and then decisively said, “Please, senior brother, receive the talisman for me.”

Master Zheng nodded, scribbled a few notes on the paper, and with a flick of his sleeve, several items appeared on the table.

"This is a compass, which shows the terrain around the academy. The area you are responsible for is also marked on it."

Master Zheng said, "Junior brother, keep these safe, as they must be returned."

"I understand."

Ying Chan took everything into his hands and listened as Master Zheng gave instructions one by one: "This jade talisman can be used to send messages to the Capital Affairs Office."

"If there is anything that requires your attention, you will be notified through this jade talisman. Of course, if you are unable to handle it, do not try to be brave; immediately send a message to the academy..."

"This is a talismanic arrow, used for seeking help in critical moments. It is inscribed with divine runes. Once fired, the light can be seen from a hundred miles away, and the range is even wider at night..."

"This is the Jade Dew Pill, along with the seal of the Imperial Household Department. With these, you can go to Crane Pond and borrow a crane to accompany you..."

……

It wasn't until Ying Chan left the Capital Affairs Office that Cai Que'er poked her head out again, muttering, "That Taoist priest is so long-winded."

"Having received the imperial edict from the academy, one has responsibilities, and naturally there are many things to instruct one on."

Ying Chan shook his head, but his gaze fell on the tray in his hand.

He tried to delve into his thoughts and soon felt as if a scroll was unfolding before his eyes.

The three-dimensional mountains and peaks are revealed one by one, as if one were looking down from the clouds and gazing at all the mountains.

Master Zheng said that the map depicted the terrain around the Taoist temple, but Ying Chan only glanced at it briefly and realized that the so-called 'surrounding area' probably covered at least a thousand miles. And the area he was responsible for was actually hundreds of miles away from the Taoist temple, no wonder he had to borrow the cranes from Crane Pond to accompany him.

He packed up his palanquin and strode away.

He rushed to Hechifang, showed his seal to the Taoist priest on duty, and then went to look for the crane.

Before long, they entered Hechifang and saw a tall crane fly down, looking at Ying Chan and then at Cai Que'er.

"Taoist priest," Cai Que'er whispered, "does this crane recognize you?"

Ying Chan looked at the crane and found it quite familiar. Suddenly, he realized, "Ah, is that Crane Lord?"

Crane Lord immediately let out a clear cry.

Ying Chan had not expected such a coincidence, and hurriedly took out the Jade Dew Pill, saying, "Would you please, Lord Crane, accompany me?"

Crane Lord did not respond, but instead pecked the Jade Dew Pill from Ying Chan's hand and swallowed it.

Ying Chan was overjoyed upon seeing this. He explained the direction to He Jun, then lightly leaped onto He Jun's back and said to Cai Que'er, "Would the fairy like to come back to my arms?"

The colorful sparrow gave a soft hum and said, "I can fly by myself!"

Ying Chan tried to persuade him again, but Crane King suddenly spread his wings and soared into the sky.

To his even greater surprise, the colorful sparrow also transformed into a rainbow of light and chased straight into the clouds.

Ying Chan already knew that the colorful sparrow flew extremely fast, but he never expected it could fly so high.

You should know that it was just a sparrow that had not yet become a spirit.

Seeing this, Crane King seemed to become interested as well, flapping its wings repeatedly and moving faster and faster through the clouds.

Not only could the colorful sparrow keep up, but it also had plenty of time to fly far ahead every now and then, waiting for Crane Lord to catch up.

However, Ying Chan had assumed that the crane and the sparrow would keep racing each other along the way, but to his surprise, after only a short while, the colorful sparrow suddenly flew back into Ying Chan's arms, muttering, "So tired, I don't want to fly anymore..."

Upon hearing this, Ying Chan burst into laughter, and He Jun also let out a long cry.

After traversing the clouds for a long time, the Crane King finally descended from the clouds.

Ying Chan looked down and took out the map to compare it briefly. He then realized that they had indeed arrived at the area designated by the Capital Affairs Office.

He looked north and south, and saw that the area was full of clustered peaks and valleys, with a very complicated terrain, which made him feel a bit of a headache...

"That's all."

Ying Chan pondered, "Let's find a place to land first, then decide on a direction and route, and slowly patrol the area."

Having made up his mind, he pointed down into the mountains below, "Crane Lord, please land here first!"

He Jun responded and gradually descended.

The shady trees and flowing streams in the mountains, and all the beautiful scenery, soon became clearer and clearer before Ying Chan's eyes...

"what?"

Ying Chan raised an eyebrow, his gaze sharpening.

For some reason, this mountain area was in complete disarray.

Throughout the forest, trees were leaning, some even uprooted, their gnarled roots stirring up large patches of mud. Traces of dragging and collision could also be seen, with broken branches and twigs scattered everywhere.

There was complete silence all around; there was almost no movement.

Judging from this scene, it is not hard to guess that some kind of large and powerful beast must have been rampaging through the forest and causing a ruckus.

Fortunately, there were no corpses of creatures found in the mountains, nor could one smell any blood.

The air was filled with the strong scent of earth and vegetation.

(End of this chapter)