Chapter 156: This romantic luck is really bad!

“Whew, looks like I’m in the clear.”

On the mountain peak, Lu Changsheng opened his eyes and let out a light breath. The two medium-grade spirit stones in his hand turned into dust.

He had been staying on this mountain for over half a month.

During that time, apart from a few wild beasts that came for a meal, no one had come looking for him.

So, Lu Changsheng was ready to go back.

After all, if the other party truly had means, half a month would have been enough to find him.

Not being found after so long also meant he was safe.

Stepping out of the cave, Lu Changsheng released his Iron Feathered Eagle. Just as he was about to take off, he saw a small mountain village at the foot of the mountain, with flames soaring into the sky.

“Hmm, what’s happening? Bandits?”

Lu Changsheng frowned slightly and looked closely, faintly hearing cries and screams.

Seeing this, he put the Iron Feathered Eagle back into his spirit beast bag and transformed into a streak of light to investigate.

Although he wasn’t someone who meddled in others’ affairs.

But in this situation, it looked like bandits had entered the village, burning, killing, and plundering.

He had heard of such things when he was young, before he awakened his memories.

Now that he had encountered it, he might as well help if he could.

After all, being born human, one has basic morality.

Not to the point where after cultivating for a few years, one becomes arrogant and indifferent, seeing death but not saving, and ignoring the lives of ordinary people.

“Swish!”

Lu Changsheng turned into a stream of light and quickly fled towards the village.

Before he even got close, he saw a group of bandits dressed in black tight-fitting clothes, riding horses, slaughtering the villagers. Waves of wails and screams came out.

“They’re horse bandits.”

Lu Changsheng’s expression turned sharp.

Horse bandits were even more detestable than ordinary mountain bandits and robbers.

They had horses, coming and going without a trace.

So ordinary mountain bandits and robbers usually only plundered the surrounding villages a little before leaving.

It was a long-term, steady approach.

But when horse bandits plundered, it completely depended on their mood.

Slaughtering villages was a frequent occurrence.

“Audacious bandits, wantonly killing the innocent, face your death!”

Lu Changsheng shouted from the sky.

With the amplification of his magic power, his voice boomed like thunder, spreading throughout the entire village.

“Not good, it’s an immortal master, everyone retreat quickly!”

A tall and sturdy, fierce-looking one-eyed strong man holding a nine-ring broadsword, hearing this deafening sound, was immediately frightened out of his wits and shouted loudly.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw a pale white flying sword flying straight towards him.

The next moment.

“Poof!”

A head flew up, and blood splattered!

The other horse bandits who were burning, killing, and plundering were also terrified when they heard this.

Immediately, their expressions were panicked, and they fled like stray dogs.

“Immortal, it’s an immortal!”

“It’s an immortal! I heard my grandfather say before that the legendary immortals can fly on the wind… An immortal has come to save us.”

“Wuwuwu, Immortal, save us!”

The remaining villagers, hearing the shout, were like drowning people grasping at a life-saving straw.

They looked up at Lu Changsheng in the sky, shouting loudly and kneeling in worship.

“Poof! Poof! Poof—”

Lu Changsheng’s magic robe fluttered, and he stood in the air with an expressionless face. His pale white flying sword was like a swimming dragon, its sword energy crisscrossing, killing the horse bandits one by one.

The arrogant and tyrannical horse bandits who were slaughtering the villagers were like chickens and ducks waiting to be slaughtered under Lu Changsheng’s flying sword. As soon as the sword energy arrived, they died instantly.

“We, the Blood Cloud Bandits, were ignorant and did not know that an immortal master was passing by this place. We are willing to leave now. Please be merciful, Immortal!”

“Immortal, spare our lives!”

“Spare our lives!”

These horse bandits also knew that the methods of an immortal like Lu Changsheng were simply not something that they, mere mortals, could resist or deal with, so they begged for mercy loudly.

But Lu Changsheng did not show any mercy.

If he hadn’t happened to pass by today, who knows how many people these Blood Cloud Bandits would have killed.

At least this village would not have been spared.

The other villagers watched Lu Changsheng kill the horse bandits, feeling relieved but also couldn’t help but feel scared and their scalps tingle.

Although these horse bandits deserved to die.

But Lu Changsheng’s expressionless, indifferent look, killing the horse bandits one by one with his sword as if he were cutting grass, also shocked them.

They couldn’t help but feel both respect and fear towards this ‘Immortal’.

A moment later, Lu Changsheng had killed dozens of horse bandits.

Looking at the burning flames in the village, he waved his hand again.

Immediately, his magic power spread out from around him like a hurricane, extinguishing the roaring flames.

Then, he treated some injured villagers.

“Thank you, Immortal, thank you, Senior Immortal!”

“Thank you, Immortal, this old man will definitely repay your kindness by tying grass and holding rings in his mouth!”

“Thank you, Senior Immortal, I will definitely build a shrine for you at home and pray for your safety!”

These villagers all knelt down and thanked Lu Changsheng.

They knew their own situation.

They knew they couldn’t help Lu Changsheng.

They could only express their gratitude in this most simple way.

“Alas.”

Lu Changsheng looked at the many burnt thatched huts and dead bodies, sighing in his heart.

Even after cultivating for so many years and experiencing many things, his heart had become much more indifferent than at the beginning.

But seeing such a scene, he still couldn’t help but feel emotional and heavy-hearted.

Whether it was the cultivation world or the secular world, as long as one was at the bottom, it was always the most difficult.

It also made him once again grateful that he had obtained an immortal destiny and was able to cultivate and reach this stage.

“Hmm?”

Just as Lu Changsheng finished saving people and was about to leave, he saw a little girl in the crowd kneeling before him.

This girl was about ten years old.

Her face was a little dirty, and she was wearing a worn-out gray hemp robe.

But from such a small girl, Lu Changsheng actually felt a strange attraction.

This inexplicable feeling made Lu Changsheng’s heart skip a beat.

As a man who had been through many battles and seen countless things, Lu Changsheng was very confident in himself when it came to women.

He absolutely did not believe that he would inexplicably have feelings for a little girl.

Especially such a dirty little girl.

“There’s something wrong with this little girl!”

Lu Changsheng carefully examined the little girl.

He immediately discovered that under the girl’s worn-out gray hemp robe, on her neck and wrists, there were some white scales that looked like fish scales or snake scales.

“Half-demon?”

Seeing these scales, Lu Changsheng raised his eyebrows.

But he didn’t sense any demonic energy from the little girl.

He used his Spiritual Eye technique and looked at the little girl.

He saw that there was a faint spiritual energy surrounding her, indicating that she had spiritual roots.

“There’s a problem, there’s definitely a problem.”

At this moment, Lu Changsheng became even more aware that there was something wrong with this little girl.

Now that he had broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, shed his mortal body, his spiritual consciousness and five senses had all improved.

Even without using the Spiritual Eye technique, he could tell if a person had spiritual roots.

But he hadn’t seen that the little girl had spiritual roots just now.

Now that he had used the Spiritual Eye technique, he could see that the little girl possessed spiritual roots.

“Could it be some kind of special physique?”

Lu Changsheng looked at the little girl and thought to himself.

The little girl seemed to sense that Lu Changsheng was looking at her and shrank her small body in fear.

“Senior Immortal, it must be this monster that attracted the horse bandits!”

Some villagers also saw Lu Changsheng looking at the little girl and immediately spoke up.

“That’s right, she’s a jinx.”

“It’s this monster that almost harmed our village!”

“Please, Immortal, destroy this monster!”

Immediately, several other villagers spoke up.

When the little girl heard this, she immediately trembled with fear, her eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t cry, child, don’t cry.”

An old woman with graying hair and a gray hemp robe next to her immediately hugged the little girl and comforted her.

“Grandma Zhao, this monster is a jinx. It’s because you adopted this monster that your son and daughter-in-law went out to work and never came back.”

Another villager spoke up.

This immediately made the old woman’s body stiffen.

“What’s going on with this little girl?”

Lu Changsheng slightly raised his hand and asked, his tone calm.

He could see that there was something wrong with the little girl.

But he couldn’t see the specific situation.

Hearing the words of the crowd at this time, it seemed that the people in the village already knew that there was something wrong with this little girl.

“Reporting to the Immortal, this monster is originally Xu Er’s daughter.”

“Xu Er was originally a famous hunter in our village, but ever since this monster was born, his life has been miserable.”

“First, his wife had a difficult labor when she gave birth to her second child, and both the person and the baby were gone.”

“A few years later, Xu Er himself went hunting in the mountains and never came back.”

“Grandma Zhao saw that she was pitiful and adopted her, but when she was seven or eight years old, scales grew on her body, scales like a snake. What is this if not a monster?”

“Moreover, after Grandma Zhao adopted this monster, her son and daughter-in-law went to work in the city and have not returned since.”

“Now our village was doing well, and then it was attacked by horse bandits. It must be this jinx who brought it.”

Several villagers spoke up.

“Jinx, monster.”

As for monster, Lu Changsheng was noncommittal.

After all, the girl’s situation was indeed very strange.

But as for being a jinx, Lu Changsheng didn’t think so.

In this era, especially for poor families, giving birth was very risky.

And going hunting in the mountains and going out to work also carried significant risks.

“What’s your name, and are you willing to leave with me?”

Lu Changsheng looked at the little girl and said in a gentle tone.

He could see that this girl was not simple, there was something wrong with her.

Since this village could not accommodate this girl, it would be better to take her back and raise her.

To see what exactly was going on with this little girl.

Whether she possessed some kind of special physique or something else.

The little girl was slightly taken aback when she heard Lu Changsheng’s words.

From the young man before her, she felt an unprecedented warmth and peace.

It was a kind of aura and feeling.

Like a spring breeze, it made people instinctively feel close and develop a good impression.

She didn’t answer.

She just looked timidly at the grandma beside her.

“Immortal, the girl is very well-behaved, she’s not a monster.”

Grandma Zhao thought Lu Changsheng was going to slay demons and eliminate evil, so she said cautiously.

She naturally knew there was something wrong with the little girl.

But after so many years together, she had long since treated the little girl as her own granddaughter.

Not only was she obedient and well-behaved, but she would also proactively do farm work, wash clothes, and cook.

When she was wronged or bullied by other children, she would quietly endure it without telling her, which made her heart ache.

As for her son and daughter-in-law’s matter, although she was sad, some people from the village went out to work with merchant caravans every year and never returned.

So, she didn’t entirely blame this child.

“Heh heh, I see this child has an immortal destiny, so I thought of taking her with me,” Lu Changsheng said with a light chuckle.

“Immortal destiny!”

“What, this strange… girl actually has an immortal destiny.”

“Immortal, are you mistaken?”

The other villagers couldn’t help but exclaim upon hearing this, their voices filled with envy.

“Girl, quickly agree to the Immortal!”

Grandma Zhao, hearing Lu Changsheng say the little girl had an immortal destiny, quickly said to the little girl.

“But I’m a monster…”

The little girl said in a low voice.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to leave with Lu Changsheng.

But deep down, she also felt she was a monster who would cause trouble, making her somewhat uneasy.

“I said you’re not a monster. Are you willing to leave with me?” Lu Changsheng continued.

“The girl is willing to leave with the Immortal.”

Seeing Grandma Zhao urge her and Lu Changsheng speak like this, the little girl immediately looked up and said timidly and obediently.

After speaking, her eyes were expectant, and she said with a slight stutter and tremor in her voice, “Immortal, can you take Grandma with us?”

“Very good, your filial piety is commendable. Of course, you can.”

Lu Changsheng smiled and nodded.

Since the little girl was willing to leave with him, taking an extra old woman didn’t matter.

After all, it wasn’t much trouble.

He also wasn’t planning to place the little girl on Qingzhu Mountain.

Instead, he intended to settle her in Ruyi County first.

“Thank you, Immortal!”

“Thank you, Senior Immortal!”

The little girl was pleasantly surprised.

She didn’t expect Lu Changsheng to agree so readily.

After all, her hesitation just now was because she couldn’t bear to part with Grandma Zhao.

Grandma Zhao also had a look of joy and gratitude.

Her husband had passed away, and her son and daughter-in-law never returned.

Now that such an immortal destiny and fortune had arrived, she was naturally willing.

“Since that’s the case, let’s go.”

Seeing that an old woman and a child had agreed, Lu Changsheng said no more.

He patted his storage bag, and a spirit boat appeared.

He had a total of two spirit boats on him.

It was just that he usually found them conspicuous and wasteful of spirit stones.

Plus, they were stolen goods, so he didn’t use them much.

Now that there were two more people, the Iron Feathered Eagle was inconvenient, so using the spirit boat was natural.

With a wave of his sleeve, the two floated onto the spirit boat.

Then, under the congratulations of the other villagers, he steered the spirit boat, soaring into the sky and turning into a streak of light, flying towards Ruyi County.

And at this moment, Lu Changsheng sensed that the Peach Blossom Gu had harvested a wave of peach blossom luck.

This indicated that taking in this little girl also counted as peach blossom luck.

“This counts as peach blossom luck? This is really something.”

“Could this be the mysterious and profound luck in the dark?”

“Because my peach blossom luck is strong, I coincidentally landed on this mountain to rest, just happened to rest for half a month, just happened to encounter this matter, and met this little girl?”

Lu Changsheng mused inwardly.

Ever since he got the Peach Blossom Gu, whenever he encountered such matters, Lu Changsheng would wonder if it was related to the Peach Blossom Gu and if it was peach blossom luck.

Now that he saw the Peach Blossom Gu harvesting peach blossom luck, he was confirmed that this was indeed peach blossom luck.

Especially just now, if he hadn’t inexplicably felt a sense of allure from the little girl and noticed her abnormality, he wouldn’t have even noticed her.

Lu Changsheng looked at the gentle and timid little girl beside him and asked softly, “Little girl, you still haven’t told me your name.”

“I’m just called Girl,” the little girl said.

“Immortal, she doesn’t have a name, she’s just called Girl,” Grandma Zhao said cautiously at this moment.

“No name.”

Lu Changsheng was slightly startled upon hearing this.

He also recalled that in the countryside, simple names were given for easy upbringing.

A proper name would only be given when they reached a certain age.

And many girls didn’t even have a simple name.

“Since that’s the case, how about I give you a name?”

Lu Changsheng looked at the little girl and smiled.

“Girl, quickly agree and thank the Immortal for bestowing a name,” Grandma Zhao said to the little girl immediately upon hearing this.

“Thank you, Senior Immortal.”

The little girl also showed some happiness and hope upon hearing this.

The other children in the village all had names, but she never did.

Sometimes she would also wish for a name.

“From now on, you will be called ‘Bai Ling’. Bai as in white, and Ling as in spiritual. How about it?”

Lu Changsheng looked at the faint white scales showing on the little girl’s wrist and said.

“Bai Ling, girl, you’ll be called Bai Ling from now on. Quickly thank the Senior Immortal,” Grandma Zhao said to the little girl again.

“Bai Ling thanks Senior Immortal.”

The little girl listened to the name, repeated it twice, and said happily.

Lu Changsheng chuckled lightly, then waved his sleeve.

A gentle breeze blew.

Bai Ling’s dirty face looked as if it had been washed by a clear spring, becoming clean and fair.

Her features were delicate, and her eyes were clear with distinct black and white.

Especially her skin appeared very fair and delicate, like a porcelain doll.

Although she was still wearing that old, worn gray cloth dress, she looked like a completely different person, not at all like a girl from a small mountain village.

“Senior Immortal…”

Bai Ling looked at her small hands, then touched her flushed cheeks, feeling a bit shy.

When she was seven and scales started growing on her body, she discovered that her skin also gradually became fair and smooth.

Her appearance also became increasingly beautiful.

But Grandma Zhao said this was not good and had always used mud and ash to cover it for her.

So now that the dirt and grime were gone, revealing her true appearance, she was temporarily unaccustomed to it and felt shy.

Grandma Zhao was also a bit surprised to see this scene.

She had always known Bai Ling was beautiful, especially her skin, which was completely unlike a country person’s, even better than a young lady from the city.

So she would put some mud and ash on her every day.

This caused her to almost forget Bai Ling’s naturally beautiful appearance.

Looking at her like this now, she also thought to herself, no wonder this Senior Immortal took a liking to her.

“Don’t worry, in front of me from now on, you don’t need to hide it anymore,” Lu Changsheng stroked her head and said with a slight smile.

Although she was a little girl, everyone has a love for beauty.

She definitely didn’t like having mud and ash smeared on her face all day.

“Okay, okay, Bai Ling will listen to Senior Immortal.”

Bai Ling nodded obediently.

Her big eyes showed joy.

Just as Lu Changsheng had guessed, she also didn’t like it this way, having mud and ash smeared on her face every day.

What girl doesn’t love beauty?

At this moment, Lu Changsheng patted his storage bag again, and suddenly, one by one, beautiful and exquisite dresses appeared.

“Which one do you like?” Lu Changsheng smiled.

When he was at the Qingyun Market, he bought dozens of sets of magic robes for his own children.

Now that he had picked up a cute little girl, he naturally wouldn’t be stingy with a set of magic robes and would dress her up beautifully.

Besides, now that she was by his side, shouldn’t he give her some benefits?

“Senior Immortal is going to give me one?”

Bai Ling’s eyes widened instantly as she looked at the colorful, exquisite, and beautiful little dresses before her.

She had never seen such beautiful clothes in her life.

She didn’t know how to describe them at all; they simply dazzled her eyes.

“Why is Senior Immortal so good to me…”

Her eyes suddenly became moist as she said.

From childhood to adulthood, besides Grandma Zhao, he was the first person to be so good to her.

They had just met, and he not only gave her a name but also gave her such precious and beautiful clothes, making her feel a bit dizzy and too embarrassed to accept them.

“Since you are willing to go with me, I naturally have to be good to you.”

Lu Changsheng heard this, smiled, and rubbed her head.

Then he said gently, “You can just call me Gege from now on.”

“Gege.”

Bai Ling was stunned when she heard this, and her heart inexplicably fluttered.

Then she pursed her lips and shyly called out, “Gege…”

“Hahaha, good, so pick one.” Lu Changsheng heard this, rubbed her hair again, and smiled.

Immediately, Bai Ling looked around and finally chose a white dress.

Because she had never worn such a clean dress before.

Gege also said that she wouldn’t need to be dirty anymore, so she wanted to be clean all the time.

Grandma Zhao, seeing this scene from the side, was also filled with emotion and felt happy for the child’s future.