A Tale of Encounters with Immortals: A Peach Blossom Temple in the Martial World

I scooped a bowl of water from the water tank.

Zixia handed the bowl to the little girl and said, "You look tired. Have a bowl of water."

The little girl took it, drank a few big gulps, then looked at Zixia with sparkling eyes and blurted out, "It's so sweet!"

The cool well water wasn't sweet to begin with, but this bowl of water tasted very sweet when I put it in my mouth.

"It's delicious!"

The little girl put down the bowl and looked at Zixia with some delight.

"Are your parents home?" Zixia asked.

The little girl shook her head: "Only my father is here, my mother is gone. My father went to the market to earn money by writing for people."

Zixia asked in surprise, "Was your father a scholar?"

The little girl immediately said proudly, "My father was a student of the Imperial Academy, so I can read too."

Zixia nodded, carefully examined the young girl, and said, "I see you have excellent aptitude. Would you like to be my disciple? I can teach you cultivation."

The little girl's eyes crinkled with laughter.

"No one has ever said I'm good-looking!"

Zixia corrected, "I meant you have good aptitude."

The little girl smiled and said, "Anyway, they're just praising me, so I feel great and happy."

"Would you like to be my apprentice?"

The little girl thought for a moment and shook her head: "If I leave, Father will be all alone here. I'm afraid Father will be lonely and have no one to take care of him."

What a lovely young girl.

Zixia's heart softened.

“You don’t need to come with me. I’ll live in your town. You can come with me to study every day, for no more than half a day. If you agree, I’ll come to find you tomorrow.”

The little girl nodded, then hesitated before saying, "I need to ask my father."

Zixia agreed, saying, "I'll buy a house in town. If you agree, come find me." After saying that, she headed towards town.

The little girl stared blankly at Zixia's retreating figure for a long time.

This town isn't very big; calling it a town is more like calling it a village. However, it doesn't quite resemble a village either, because it has two streets, one running horizontally and the other vertically.

There are shops on both sides of the street, but not many.

Cloth shops, wineries, inns, rice and noodle shops, general stores...

There weren't many people, and not many passersby either.

The inn is now abandoned.

The owner of the nearby grocery store said that people had died in this shop. Six people died, all passing martial arts practitioners; no one knew which sect or faction they belonged to, and no one claimed the bodies.

The government didn't care; they just told the village head to find someone to bury him in a mass grave at the foot of the mountain.

However, from then on, every night, faint screams and cries for help could be heard from inside, which was quite eerie.

One of the later guests was so frightened that his gall bladder almost burst.

The shop owner lost a lot of money and eventually closed the shop.

"Sigh, this place is unsuitable for either opening a shop or living. Young lady, you're an outsider and don't know the situation. You wouldn't want to live here, would you?"

The grocery store owner advised.

"I think you'd better not stay here."

Zixia smiled and said, "Thank you. I am a person of the martial arts world, so I naturally know about things in the martial arts world. I will go find the shop owner first."

The shop owner lived not far away, so it was easy to find, and then we discussed buying the shop.

In order to sell the property and recoup her losses as quickly as possible, Zixia offered a high price and readily obtained the property deed. With the village head acting as guarantor, the transaction was completed.

Since it doesn't occupy any of the village's farmland, it's just buying a shop, so it doesn't need to be registered with the government.

That very night, Zixia moved in.

The shop has two floors. The lower floor has a small hall that was originally used to set up tables for serving meals, but the tables have long been moved away by the shop owner.

There are four guest rooms upstairs, which are also abandoned, but since someone died in one of the beds, the bed was not moved.

The shop owner was also afraid of bad luck.

However, this shop has one major advantage: it has a backyard.

There were still stables in the yard, which hadn't been removed. The backyard had a kitchen and a well, but someone had died in that well. According to the general store owner, it was a female knight-errant who died, because when she was pulled out, her body was so swollen—

The grocery store owner exaggeratedly spread his arms wide when he said it.

After finishing her inspection, Zixia casually chose a guest room upstairs to rest.

The oil lamp was lit, and the room's windows were illuminated.

She then used a spell to clean the room. Although there were no bedding or anything like that, Zixia had always been a wanderer in the martial world, a woman of the martial world, so she naturally didn't care about such things.

Lie down fully clothed.

The grocer stared at the lights in the guest room next door all night. Just as dawn was breaking, the lights went out. He touched his head, somewhat incredulous.

The lights were on all night, but no screams were heard.

There were no sounds of swords or screams.

Was this woman secretly murdered by a ghost?

Feeling dizzy, I went to sleep, and even called my wife, who had just gotten up, to go watch the shop.

The next morning, Zixia got up and opened the door to find many people standing there, all staring at her. As soon as the door opened, they all took several steps back with a "whoosh".

"He's not dead!"

An older woman screamed.

Another older woman, who was bolder, went up and squeezed her hand. Zixia didn't resist and smiled as she let her squeeze it. Then the older woman exclaimed in surprise, "It's warm, it's really warm, and it's alive!"

A cheer immediately erupted from the crowd.

"This girl can ward off evil spirits!"

The grocery store owner praised it.

Zixia cupped her hands in a respectful gesture and said with a smile, "From now on, we'll be neighbors. If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know, and I'll be there."

"Sure thing!"

"You're really brave, girl."

"What a beautiful girl! We have plenty of handsome young men around here..."

"Here you go, these are vegetables I grew myself, take some!"

……

Everyone seems to like this girl quite a bit.

Another, even bigger reason, is that this girl can ward off evil spirits.

Because the strange noises from this inn disturbed the residents of the entire town, many outsiders dared not pass through here and preferred to take a detour.

This is not a good reputation.

As a result, with few outsiders, business here isn't very good.

Now that a girl who can ward off evil spirits has arrived, we're bound to spread the word far and wide.

Furthermore, the fact that this girl might also know some martial arts made it even more likely that she possessed some magical powers, otherwise how could she suppress evil spirits?

Zixia asked some villagers to come and clean up, but the villagers were still a little scared.

So Zixia had to clean it herself.

He made a show of it, and when no one was around, he used magic to thoroughly clean the shop inside and out. He even bought some tables, plates, and other utensils.

She only lives there and doesn't run a shop, so she just tidied it up simply, enough for her to eat and sleep.

The backyard is perfect for disciplining that little girl named Chunhua.

That afternoon, Chunhua's father, a tall man in a long robe, led the little girl over.

He immediately performed the formal apprenticeship ceremony according to etiquette.

This further confirms Zixia's status among the villagers as a fairy with some magical powers.

However, this fairy is also very down-to-earth, and most people are willing to associate with her.

The autumn leaves have turned yellow, and the leaves on the big trees in the yard have fallen, covering the entire yard.

The little girl was sweeping the yard.

After cleaning, she took her sword and, under Zixia's supervision, began practicing. Once she finished, Zixia gave the little girl a lotus seed.

The little girl took it with a puzzled look, but did nothing; she just held it in her hand and looked at it.

Without Zixia's intervention, she wouldn't know how to handle the lotus seed.

Zixia said, "This lotus seed was given to me by a very powerful person. Eating it can change your constitution and make your future cultivation easier."

"Eat quickly!"

The little girl ate it without hesitation.

"Sit cross-legged and focus your energy on your dantian!"

With Zixia's guidance, the little girl felt the lotus seed turn into a stream of energy as soon as it entered her mouth. It flowed down her throat to her dantian, circulated there a few times, and then spread throughout her body.

It seems this energy...

Something familiar.

The little girl's body seemed to open up with every pore, swaying slightly in joy.

The wonderful feeling captivated the little girl.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but when the little girl opened her eyes, she suddenly saw the morning glow shining down on her face, making her face look exceptionally radiant with its orange-red hue.

"Oh dear, it's already morning?"

Zixia laughed and said, "You have been in meditation for three days and three nights."

The little girl exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no, my dad..."

Zixia said, "I've explained the situation to your father, and... he comes to see you every day. Don't worry, everything's fine. Go back now, take a shower, and then come back after you've rested for a day or two."

The little girl responded, deeply grateful to Zixia, and reluctantly turned and left.

Zixia was also very surprised.

This little girl seems to be in much better physical condition than I am.