Yin Na and Song Ying Jie walked the dirt roads of the village slowly towards the Wang family house.

“Is there anything on your mind, Song Ying Jie?” Yin Na asked.

“Huh? Should there be?” Song Ying Jie said.

“As I stated when we first met, I can sense there is a problem with you concerning a lack of direction and… love.”

Song Ying Jie was caught off guard by Yin Na’s words. He nearly tripped over his own legs, which was quite out of character concerning his excellent self-taught martial arts.

“This…” Song Ying Jie seemed at a loss at what to say.

“Do you not love her?” Yin Na asked bluntly.

“I do!” Song Ying Jie said. “I’ve known her all my life. We’ve grown up and played together, and I know she loves me back.”

“Does she really love you?”

“What kind of a question is that, Bro Crow? You will see yourself when you meet her-”

“Is there another man who loves her?”

Daoist Wayseeker Crow’s questions were so harsh in their directness! Song Ying Jie could almost sense killing intent arise within his companion with this last question.

“Why is Bro Crow emitting killing intent, as if he found out that there was another man that he’d kill him instantly? Bro Crow must really care about me a lot!”

In a strange way that he did not understand, Song Ying Jie appreciated Daoist Wayseeker Crow’s expression of violent care. Despite all of Grandma Peng Ling’s tales she had told him, he was still too ignorant of the dichotomy between Righteous and Demonic which permeated all of the Jiang Hu, and the Cultivation world beyond.

The Wang family’s house was noticeably better than the surrounding huts. It had its own gate and courtyard, and the house itself had multiple rooms.

The grandmother from the father’s side took notice of them first, who quickly called everyone in the house to attend to the guests.

“Oh, Xiao Ying Jie is here, everybody; Jin Lian; Xiao Ying Jie and a guest are here!” The grandmother looked at Yin Na’s strange, drab-robed appearance but decided not to talk about it any further.

The Wang Family’s two sons were away from home, as Grandma Peng Ling had told Yin Na the night before. Nevertheless, the younger son, and the three daughters emerged from separate corners of the house or fields in military fashion.

The younger son Wang Bojing looked unremarkable, like any other farmer hick, yet he stood tall and confident as if he were trying to make up for the strength and resolve that his two older brothers had left in their absence. Yin Na barely glanced at him.

Both the two older daughters looked average and nothing special, but Wang Jin Lian’s youth and innocent appearance instantly made her stand out among the three sisters. Wang Jin Lian did not appear to notice Song Ying Jie, but rather, her delicate facial features expressed timid anxiety over the introduction of a stranger, that is- Yin Na.

Standing beside the family were also cousins and the grandparents.

Just from the mere speed of their attention and assembly, Yin Na had the sense that the Wang family was like a proto-clan house developing within a tiny village. The family was united and loyal in thought and mind. This was the right kind of attitude to keep for a clan or Sect!

Such a trained response usually forms under the leadership of a strong figurehead of the family. Who was the patriarch or matriarch?

“Hello, Xiao Song,” a deep voice spoke. “Who is this stranger you’ve brought to our house?”

A middle-aged man with a graying beard emerged from the entrance beads of the house.

Wang Jian Jun and Yin Na stared at each other. They were both wearing their own pair of drab-colored robes. Whether to take it as flattering imitation or embarrassed recognition that both tried too hard, Yin Na chose to treat it like a coincidence and ignore the fact that they were matching clothes.

“Oh, Dad, this is Bro Crow! I mean, Daoist Wayseeker Crow.”

Yin Na gestured like a buddhist monk with his one left hand, and bowed.

“Indeed, my name is Wayseeker Crow, I am a wandering Daoist of the lands.”

Wang Jian Jun’s facial expression did not change a bit. “A Daoist? Interesting, may I ask what brings you to our village?”

“I stumbled upon this village during my travels, I happened to catch a glimpse of this young hero during his afternoon training. After a brief spar, I realized the immeasurable talent and courage of this youth, and got acquainted with his grandmother. They shared two dinners with me, one of which was made from a bear that he hunted personally last night.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Yin Na’s concise words painted Song Ying Jie as the ideal martial artist son-in-law. Wang Jian Jun looked at Song Ying Jie, and smiled.

“Very good, Ying Jie. You brought over a Daoist to our house today, how could this be anything other than auspicious? We should ask to have this Daoist join us for dinner as well.”

Without a word all the family members behind Wang Jian Jun scrambled to the house, presumably inside the kitchen. The last to disappear behind the entrance beads was Wang Jin Lian, who gave Song Ying Jie a quick, mysterious smile. Yin Na observed this with aloof indifference.

Yin Na and Song Ying Jie were left with Wang Jian Jun at the front of the house.

“Tell me, Daoist Wayseeker Crow,” Wang Jian Jun said. “Where are you from? Who was your master? Where did you train?”

Yin Na resisted a snort in contempt. “Yes, I am not originally from around here, as I was born and orphaned in the Western Desert, when a kind Daoist took me under his wing and trained me in martial arts and ways of the gentleman. That man was Timeless Swordsman Zhu Yuan. Since then I’ve taken to my master’s ways of wandering the Jiang Hu and following my own Dao.”

Timeless Swordsman Zhu Yuan was really a Righteous Cultivator that Yin Na had slain in the past, but there was no way for Wang Jian Jun to have even heard of his name.

“How interesting,” said Wang Jian Jun. “And what would your Dao be?”

Yin Na smirked beneath his face mask.

“To endlessly refine and cultivate martial arts; eventually breaking through into the world of Cultivation!”

Wang Jian Jun maintained a stoic expression until now. Dubious suspicion flickered across his thick eyebrows.

“You speak of the world of Immortals,” he said. “Has Daoist Wayseeker Crow personally seen Immortals before?”

Yin Na said: “When one has wandered under Heaven as long as I have, it is inevitable that he encounters the traces of Cultivators, or even comes into direct contact with Immortals. I’ve seen valleys that used to be mountains, flattened from the explosions left by a duel by Immortals. I’ve trekked through swamps poisoned by the deadly rituals and spell formations by Demonic cultivators. I’ve seen the blindingly fast flight of a Cultivator on his mount through the East Coast sky. I’ve spied on a transaction between two Cultivators, only to see one of them get stabbed by another in the back as soon as the deal was made.”

Yin Na spoke so simply yet so convincingly, because he had lived through all these experiences, if not being the direct catalyst for their occurrences!

“Astounding… in comparison to us common folk, what are Cultivators like?” Wang Jian Jun said.

“They are like humans, with a head and four limbs. However, one can say that most are more beautiful than us. Some have backgrounds in the Jiang Hu, having cultivated from scratch, but they live longer than us, and can dispatch our highest-skilled martial artists in the Jiang Hu with ease. Their accumulated qi is borrowed from Earth and the Heavens, and is awe-inspiring and worthy of mortal worship.”

Wang Jian Jun nodded slowly, absorbing every word.

“Of course, there are non-human cultivators as well. Yao Guai that have originated from animals, and Spirit Beasts which are evolved or mutated animals from our mortal plane born with a Dan Tian and unbelievable powers.”

Wang Jian Jun remarked: “Yao Guai have always been popular in folk tales and legends among the people. But Daoist Wayseeker Crow confirms that they are a real existence.”

“Yes,” Yin Na said. “You have not seen any Yao Guai yourself, sir Wang? Folk tales and rumors exist for a reason. However, Yao Guai aren’t just simple cannibalistic eaters of humans or seductresses, as they don’t really bother with the mortal population as much as they enjoy scaring themselves discussing their existence. In the same way that Cultivators don’t really spend their time among the mortals, it simply doesn’t benefit Yao Guai when their time is much better invested in matters of cultivation and competing amongst each other.”

Wang Jian Jun couldn’t stop nodding, while Song Ying Jie felt a slightly uncanny feeling from hearing a Daoist confirm the details in the tales his Grandma spoke after all this time.

“And, sir Daoist, what exactly are Spirit Beasts? Are they like the Dragon and the Phoenix?”

“They are those, and more,” Yin Na said. “What mortals like to venerate and worship as Dragons and Phoenixes are the diluted, simplified hearsay of accounts passed down from Immortals to Cultivators to Martial artists to the common folk. In reality, there are hundreds of different kinds of Dragons, each more powerful than each other in more ways than one. Same with Phoenixes. They are not uniform in appearance and certainly not in elemental alignment, because they are myriads of species. Now imagine this diversity of power and apperance applying to the ordinary mice, dogs, horses, wolves, and tigers that we are familiar with. A Spirit Tiger can have multiple hundred different subspecies, such as a rock golem Tiger to a Flame-Haired Twin-Headed Tiger. In the mortal Jiang Hu plane, martial artists view wild beasts as training partners. In the world of Cultivation and beyond, Spirit beasts and Cultivators are locked in eternal war, where the turn of the Earthly seasons shift the hormones and instincts of Spirit Beasts to produce phenomena known as ‘beast tides.’ There are more Spirit Beasts than there are Immortals, and most species are forever enemies to humans.”

Wang Jian Jun waited for Yin Na to continue, then spoke slowly: “Therefore, the tales and rumors shared among mortals… are not wild imagination, but passed-down residuals of the Cultivation world.”

“One could see it this way,” Yin Na said. “The Cultivation world is the REAL world, and the mortal plane that we live in is the reflection!”

“!!” Wang Jian Jun and even Song Ying Jie were taken aback.

This conclusion shook Wang Jian Jun to his core. His attitude towards Yin Na immediately blossomed to acceptance and admiration, but he could not just relinquish his doubt and embrace him on the spot. He had a face to maintain, after all.

However, he now mentally accepted Yin Na as a legitimate Daoist authority; as a stranger whose presence was a benefit to his house. Nevermind the fact that Yin Na did not display a single Daoist technique yet, nor even looks like one.

When you say the right things, people make their own conclusions. Let them!

“The world of Cultivation truly is profound,” said Wang Jian Jun.

Yin Na knew he had won over the Wang family head, as he said: “Indeed it is. Let us see your house.”

“Of course, please.” The Wang head lifted a bundle of entrance beads for Yin Na and Song Ying Jie to enter.

The cousins and elderly were preparing vegetables and arranging the kitchen. The two sisters and younger brother were feeding hay to the clay stove. Wang Jin Lian was leaning against the wall, who again flashed that mysterious smile to Song Ying Jie.

Yin Na paid close attention to Song Ying Jie, who looked quite happy at seeing Wang Jin Lian.

“Hey, Xiao Lian,” Song Ying Jie greeted her. “This is sir Daoist Wayseeker Crow.”

“Ah, hello, sir Daoist,” Wang Jin Lian smiled timidly.

Yin Na’s eyes narrowed. Beneath his face mask his lips were stretched into a frown, even over his toothless gums.