Chapter 49 Ice Jade (1/2)

The next time Shen Lian returned to the Qielan mountain, the pair of father-daughter fox deities were gone without a trace; as if they were never once there.

The temple was old and abandoned. It was almost obliterated by cobwebs.

During his last trip, he was not able to tell that the cleaned and neat courtyard was just an illusion. It showed that the old fox's magical power was extremely sophisticated.

Although Shen Lian knew that the pair would have been gone, sooner or later, they would see each other again. Hopefully, by then, he had started his celestial studies.

Mingjian Peak was situated in the northeast region. The distance between the State Capital of Qing and Mingjian Peak was a whopping three thousand miles.

There were no oceans to cross. Shen Lian traveled by land.

Shen Lian stopped by a country called Dawei. The capital city was situated at the north. It had a rich tradition of roaming scholars who came here to study. Shen Lian had a beam belt, a sword across his waist and a clean face. By looks of him, one could tell that he was from a wealthy family.

The only odd thing about him was the absence of entourage.

Shen Lian brought nothing else but a pouch of golden leaves. He was traveling lighter than the so-called backpackers.

With three hundred miles to go, a sudden downpour halted Shen Lian's travel. He did not want to rush the trip so he went and look for a residence to avoid the rain.

The place that Shen Lian found was a manor with three striking characters of ”Su Jia Bao”, the Su's Fort.

He squinted his eyes as he felt overwhelmed by the three characters. He could not tell if the characters were carved using a knife, stick or sword in one stroke.

It was as natural as floating clouds and water streams.

”This family is probably a Jianghu family,” Shen Lian thought to himself. Even if they were not from Jianghu, the person who carved the writings was an inner Qi expert. It was not an easy feat to carve these characters so naturally.

The end of the martial arts road leads to the road to celestial studies.

Shen Lian had this feeling out of a sudden.

Only sensitive people like Shen Lian would be able to feel the flow and beauty of the three characters. If one judged it from a calligraphy point of view, these writings were just average.

Shen Lian entered the hall of Su Jia Bao to find a crowd seeking shelter from the rain.

Rain during spring was cold. The kind-hearted owner lighted the fireplace which brought some warmth to the room.

A group of neatly dressed men had their knives and sword by their side. Their eyebrows oozed a strong masculine aura.

Their leader was probably the man in his late twenties. Although he was surrounded by others in the middle and his figure was not the largest, he was somewhat charismatic. Shen Lian took a glance and could sense his vitality.

There was a fireplace in the hall but when Shen Lian took a seat, he noticed a young man who was like a stove, full of energy and vitality.

It took Ling Chongxiao a lot of practice to suppress his vitality from seeping out in order to look like a normal person. Should his vitality explode, he would still outdo this young man in terms of energy level.

Of course, Ling Chongxiao was of a different level. The young man can be considered as an expert as he can be slightly compared with Ling Chongxiao.

Besides that group of people, there was also a short haired monk.

When Shen Lian noticed him, the monk smiled back without any malicious intention.

There were three other guys whom Shen Lian could not figure out their backgrounds. They were tall and big with fierce faces on.

The three men were eyeing the youth who was surrounded in the middle.

They looked at him with the desire to kill, as if they would take action in any minute.