Boom!
An Aura erupted from the man, directly sending Wang Shitou's Aunt flying.
Her plump body tumbled through the air, flying over ten meters before hitting the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Mother!" Wang Guzi ran over.
The man retracted his hand, weighed the money pouch, thought for a moment, then placed the money pouch into Wang Shitou's hand, saying, "Since that's the case, these one hundred taels of silver are yours to handle. You can keep them yourself, or give them to others."
"Don't worry, once you ascend the mountain and cultivate to become an Immortal, people like that will never be able to bully you again."
"Mm, thank you, Immortal Brother." Wang Shitou nodded vigorously.
He opened the money pouch and found ten silver ingots inside, each worth ten taels.
Wang Shitou pondered for a moment, then took out one ingot and closed the money pouch again.
He walked up to the old village chief, handed him the silver ingot, and said, "Grandpa Village Chief, thank you for taking care of me these past few years. I wish you good health and a long life."
"Ah, you child." The old village chief patted Wang Shitou's head, pushed the silver ingot back, and said, "Work hard on the mountain and be a good person."
"You and Ling Ling both came from our Qingxi Village, so you must support each other."
"Ling Ling is a girl, and you will become a man in the future, so take good care of her."
Wang Jialing's nose twitched, and she snorted, saying, "I'm much more capable than Little Shitou; I'll be the one taking care of him."
The old village chief couldn't help but smile, saying, "Alright, alright, you both take care of each other."
Wang Shitou still wanted to give the ingot to the old village chief, but the old village chief insisted on not taking it. After a few rounds of pushing and refusing, Wang Shitou could only give up.
Wang Shitou's Aunt was already motionless, and Wang Guzi was still wailing. The man didn't even spare a glance, leading Wang Jialing and Wang Shitou out of the crowd.
His deterrence just now had worked; no one dared to stop them, and the villagers cleared a wide Dao.
The three Immortals and two children walked out of the crowd. The leading man said to the two behind him, "You two, take them back to Chaoyang City and hand them over to your Junior Martial Uncle Chen."
"Yes, Junior Martial Uncle."
The two men raised their hands and formed hand seals. The long swords on their backs automatically flew out, landed under their feet, and gradually grew larger.
"Come, step on it." One of them said to Wang Shitou.
Wang Shitou cautiously stepped onto the Flying Sword, immediately feeling a suction force gripping his feet. Wang Jialing, meanwhile, got onto the other Disciple's Flying Sword.
The Flying Sword slowly took off, making Wang Shitou even more nervous.
He was going to fly!
"Don't be nervous, relax, and don't look down." The man instructed them twice, then led Wang Shitou to fly towards Chaoyang City.
The sound of rushing wind filled Wang Shitou's ears, but he couldn't feel the force of the wind. It seemed as if this kind of flight had somehow isolated the wind.
He truly didn't dare to look down.
He obediently stood on the Flying Sword and was carried to Chaoyang City.
Previously, Wang Shitou had only heard Grandpa Village Chief say that Qingxi Village was under Chaoyang City's jurisdiction, but he had never been to Chaoyang City nor seen it.
Upon seeing it, he realized that cities were like this.
The city walls were tall and neat, several people high, and the city gate was also three or four adults high, much, much larger than the entrance to his small wooden house.
The city was bustling with people. Wang Shitou had never seen so many people, so many large houses, nor so many delicious and fun things, and he continuously marveled.
The two Immortals brought Wang Shitou and Wang Jialing to the City Lord's Mansion.
The City Lord's Mansion was also very large, and the ground was very clean. Wang Shitou walked on the ground, his steps light, afraid of dirtying or damaging the stone bricks on the ground.
"Greetings, Junior Martial Uncle Chen."
The two Immortals handed Wang Shitou and Wang Jialing over to a female Immortal.
Wang Shitou felt that this female Immortal was too beautiful; he glanced at her and then didn't dare to look again, lowering his head bashfully.
"Two little Immortal children, come over." The female Immortal, Junior Martial Uncle Chen, had a very pleasant and gentle voice. She took Wang Shitou's and Wang Jialing's hands and led them into a spacious room.
In the center of this room, mysterious and complex patterns were drawn, making Wang Shitou dizzy just looking at them.
"This is called a teleportation array. It can send you to the Purple Cloud Sect's mountain gate plaza."
"Come, stand on it."
Wang Shitou and Wang Jialing obediently stood on it.
As the light illuminated, Wang Shitou only felt the scenery change, similar to how he felt when entering that cave.
"Am I going to enter that cave?" He couldn't help but feel a surge in his heart. He had long considered that cave his secret and didn't want others to know or enter it.
However, he was mistaken. When he opened his eyes, what greeted him was a flat plaza, towering mountains, and magnificent buildings.
"This is the Purple Cloud Sect, it's so beautiful!" Wang Jialing next to him cheered and jumped for joy, looking very excited.
"Little ones, come here." Another female Immortal came forward to greet them.
Wang Shitou glanced at her and then didn't dare to look again. This female Immortal was also very beautiful.
Although she was a bit different from the previous Immortal Chen, she was beautiful nonetheless. More beautiful than any woman in the village.
The female Immortal led the two of them to a male Immortal in front of the plaza.
This male Immortal sat behind a desk. Scrolls were placed on the desk. He, meanwhile, was engrossed in reading a scroll.
"Two more sent?"
"You," the male Immortal pointed at Wang Jialing and asked, "What's your name?"
"Replying to Immortal Elder, my name is Wang Jialing."
"A beautiful person with spirit, a good name." The male Immortal nodded, wrote down Wang Jialing's name, then asked her age and native place, recording them all.
Wang Jialing was also very proud. Her name was chosen by her grandfather, who went to Chaoyang City and spent quite a bit of money to ask a learned scholar to pick it. It wasn't like the names of other children in the village, which were all like Tie Zhu, Da Li, Mai Ya, Shi Tou, Gou Shen'er, and so on.
"And you?" The male Immortal looked at Wang Shitou.
"My name is Wang Shitou, I'm ten years old this year, and I'm also from Qingxi Village in Chaoyang City."
"Wang Shitou..." The male Immortal shook his head and said, "This name is too rustic. Let's change your name. Remove 'tou' and call you Wang Shi, how about that?"
Wang Shitou was stunned for a moment, then said, "Whatever Immortal Elder says."
But the male Immortal seemed still unsatisfied and pondered for a moment before saying, "Wang Shi... still ordinary. How about... Wang Pan?"
Wang Shitou: ...
He didn't know how to answer.
Would it still change?
Seeing Wang Shitou's lack of reaction, the male Immortal said, "There's a saying for this: 'A bulrush is as tough as silk, an unmoving rock.' Don't you think that's a beautiful phrase?"
"'Pan' can also represent your cultivation Dao heart, unshakeable like a rock."
Wang Shitou understood it halfway, but he asked, "Immortal Brother, how do you write the character 'Pan'?"
"You don't know how to read? Come, I'll teach you." The male Immortal took out a piece of paper and wrote a large character 'Pan' for Wang Shitou to see.
Wang Shitou looked at it and found the character very complex, but he liked it very much.
He felt that the more complex a character was, the more strokes it had, the more powerful it was.
"I'll listen to Immortal Brother and use this 'Pan' character. I'll be called Wang Pan."
"Good." The male Immortal felt greatly pleased, and his gaze towards Wang Shitou became increasingly favorable.
Hmm, now he should be called Wang Pan.
The male Immortal recorded Wang Pan's name, age, and native place, then had the female Immortal take them to rest.
The resting place consisted of rows of pavilions, where some people were already moving about.
The Purple Cloud Sect's recruitment this time was for Disciples under sixteen, so some were fifteen or sixteen years old, already quite tall young men.
Wang Pan was arranged on the male side, and Wang Jialing was arranged on the female side.
"After you're settled, come wait for me there." Before they parted, Wang Jialing pointed to a long sword sculpture not far away and told Wang Pan.
A male Immortal led Wang Pan into the pavilion, arranged a room for him, provided all the necessary toiletries, and gave him a book.
"A book." Wang Pan carefully held the book, reluctant to put it down.
He had heard Wang Jialing say before that with books, one could learn to read.
He recognized four characters on the book's cover: 'Men' (Gate), 'Di' (Disciple), 'Zi' (Child), 'Shou' (Hand).
After opening it, he could also recognize a few scattered characters.
These characters were all learned from Ling-jie before.
"Ling-jie told me to go find her. I'll just ask her what this book is about."
Wang Pan left his room, went down from the pavilion, and waited under the long sword sculpture.
He looked up at the giant sword sculpture, liking it more and more the longer he looked.
He had learned the character for 'sword' from Ling-jie before, and Wang Dali had drawn a simple image of a sword for him.
This statue must be a sword, then.
So big, so cool!
"Little Shitou!" Wang Jialing walked over.
"Ling-jie, I'm called Wang Pan now." Wang Pan scratched his hair and said.
"I don't care about you, I'll just call you Little Shitou." Wang Jialing said assertively, "Where's your room?"
"233." Wang Pan said, "Ling-jie, what about yours?"
"I'm not telling you." Wang Jialing said, "Let me tell you, that female Immortal told me that in a few days, we'll have to re-test our cultivation Aptitude."
"Have to re-test?" Wang Pan was puzzled. Could it be that cultivation Aptitude could be fake? Would he be eliminated?