Chapter 16 - The Novelist.

Under Xiao Liu's pressure, Xu Xuan didn't even look at his own room and immediately found an excuse to leave the post station. For some reason, the eunuch named Xiao Liu exerted immense pressure on him...

The post station was located near the Royal Estate, and to enter the city, one first had to pass by the Royal Estate. Along the way, seeing the palace walls and the mechanical birds flying in and out, Xu Xuan inexplicably felt a sense of temporal displacement. He vaguely recalled that in his previous life, visiting such a palace exterior only required a ticket fee.

As for this world, ordinary people could never know what it looked like inside throughout their lives. However, Xu Xuan did gain something this time; the most crucial discovery was that the guards watching over the palace reacted much more normally. They were completely different from the soldiers guarding the gates and collecting grain and money everywhere. They seemed more like living people.

It was at this moment that Xu Xuan arrived at the outer wall of a royal garden. A girl, dressed quite casually yet seeming to have some inexplicable elegance, appeared before him.

Right in front of Xu Xuan, the girl wielded a paintbrush, seemingly drawing something on the garden wall. Seeing her serious expression, Xu Xuan couldn't help but step forward curiously to take a look. He saw two butterflies emerge from under her brush.

However, just as Xu Xuan wondered what else the girl would paint, he saw her casually toss aside her brush, then stretch, saying, "Ah, ah~ Have I really painted so much without realizing it? I'll stop here for today! Now it's time to enjoy life properly!!"

"Hmm?" Hearing the girl's words, Xu Xuan's gaze involuntarily turned back to the massive outer wall of the estate, where the two lonely butterflies were.

"Hey, kid with the ominous item on your back, you've been watching for a while now. How about it, want to buy me a drink? Hehe." Before Xu Xuan could react, the girl suddenly turned around and spoke to him, "Coming to the Eastern Chu State at this time isn't a good decision, you know!"

"Hmm?" Faced with the girl's words, Xu Xuan was momentarily at a loss for how to respond... whether to complain about her painting first or ask why it wasn't a good time to come. But in the end, Xu Xuan asked the question he most wanted to ask: "Why should I buy you a drink?"

"Because I'm cute," she replied, looking puzzled by Xu Xuan's words, "You saw such a cute girl like me and came over on your own, weren't you trying to invite me? But looking at you, you seem to be a virgin, so to prevent you from feeling shy, I've said it for you in advance. How about it? Isn't that friendly?"

"How on earth did you figure out I'm a virgin? No! I'm not here to discuss that, I was just curious what you were doing!"

"Didn't you see? I'm working, I'm the lacquer garden official here. My job is to paint for the garden and such," the girl said with a smile. "But my work for today is already done, and since you're the only one who came to invite me today, I can accept your invitation."

"Hey, hey, I only saw you draw two butterflies. Does that count as finished?"

"Two butterflies? What are you talking about?" The girl replied, looking confused by his words, "Didn't I paint a whole wall of butterflies?"

"Can two count as a whole wall?" Xu Xuan couldn't help but retort.

"It really is a whole wall! If you don't believe me, take a good look." Seeing Xu Xuan's attitude, the girl pouted, then pointed at the painting on the wall and said to Xu Xuan, "Kid, look closely and carefully!!!"

After speaking, she pulled Xu Xuan to the wall. And when Xu Xuan's gaze fell upon the wall, he couldn't help but rub his eyes.

Because right before his eyes, the butterflies on the wall came to life, dancing and intertwining together, then both died. But they gave birth to many caterpillars, and inexplicably, many small grasses and flowers grew on the ground. Immediately, the flowers and small grasses extended into the wall, combining with the caterpillars to form a bizarre scene.

But this wasn't the end; soon, with the growth of the plants, a sea of flowers bloomed on the wall, and within this sea of flowers, countless caterpillars transformed into cocoons. Finally, before Xu Xuan, they emerged as butterflies!!

In an instant, the sunlight from the sky seemed to be reflected into the wall, and accompanying the sunlight and gentle breeze was the swaying of countless flowers and wild grasses, followed by countless butterflies fluttering back and forth across this wall towards the sky. It formed a dynamic wall landscape.

"You, who exactly are you?" Looking at the painting on the wall, Xu Xuan hadn't noticed that the sky had already changed from noon to almost sunset. And when Xu Xuan turned to look at the girl, he was surprised to discover an even stranger thing.

That was, the girl was still the girl, but she didn't seem to be so 'big' before...

That's right, at noon he remembered her being a girl of fourteen or fifteen, but now, looking at her, her figure was so good that she resembled a beautiful woman of eighteen or nineteen...

"Then who are you? It's expected that Mo Li would come here, but for you to be able to walk with Mo Li all this way, in a sense, you're quite remarkable," the young woman asked, hearing Xu Xuan's question.

"Sword Hall, Jianxuan. May I ask who you are, esteemed senior?" Seeing her transformation and the living painting on the wall, Xu Xuan could no longer treat her as an ordinary girl.

"Daoist School, Earth Sect Qi Practitioner. You can just call me Xiaozhuang. Hehe, all my friends call me that, and I'm used to it."

"Eh? You're actually a Daoist?" Hearing her words, Xu Xuan's expression couldn't help but show some surprise.

"Speaking of which, you mentioned Mo Li? Do you know her?"

"That doesn't matter! But yes, I do know Mo Li. If you want to know, buy me a drink in the city, and I'll tell you slowly," the girl didn't directly answer Xu Xuan's question but led the way towards the market. "If it gets any later, the shops will close! After all, there aren't many people here at night."

Although he felt this girl was a bit strange, Xu Xuan ultimately followed her. After all, having read so many cultivation novels in his previous life, Xu Xuan still yearned greatly for the Daoist School. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

Especially stories like the Investiture of the Gods and the Primordial Era, or the commonly seen Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist schools in later novels. They were able to be passed down through generations without dying out, even under the premise of the later 'Banishment of the Hundred Schools'. It could be said that the Daoist School was the origin of many of these legendary tales.

So, with this curiosity about the Daoist School, Xu Xuan still followed Xiaozhuang towards the city market.

"Ah! Something dirty is following us!!" Just as the two of them entered the market, Xiaozhuang suddenly frowned and said to Xu Xuan.

"Dirty thing? What's that? A demonic evil?"

"No, but it's something that feels even dirtier than a demonic evil, and it's a very annoying kind of thing," Xiaozhuang said, her gaze fixed on a spot on the street. She then rushed over and delivered a flying kick with both legs to someone's waist. That person was directly sent flying by Xiaozhuang's kick, tumbling several times on the ground before finally stopping.

"Oh dear, I'm in so much pain, Xiaozhuang, why can't you be a little gentler with us! This will affect your reputation, you know!! Besides, I'm a civil servant with a proper royal appointment! Calling us, who diligently work every day, 'dirty things,' do you know how much psychological trauma that will cause me?"

The person who was kicked away stood up and brushed off the dust around them. They were clearly wearing a civil servant's uniform, but also a hood, and under the hood, their face was completely covered by a black cloth. On the black cloth, a giant eye was even painted with golden dye.

No matter how you looked at it, this attire resembled that of some cultists.

"He doesn't look like a good person at all," Xu Xuan couldn't help but say, looking at the person's appearance. "Is he spying on us?"

"Yes, as soon as we entered the market, I felt the gaze of this dirty thing," Xiaozhuang said with a cold tone, looking at the strange person before them.

"Who exactly are you? Why are you spying on us?" Xu Xuan asked.

"Oh? It seems the young man has only recently emerged from the mountains and doesn't know much about the outside world! A hermit who has lived deep in the mountains for a long time? Let me think, did he come down to avenge some grievance? Or perhaps to fulfill a destined marriage? Oh dear, there's so much room for imagination, let me just write this down." Saying this, the person actually took out a bamboo slip, ignored the two people present, and began to record things with a writing brush. Seeing the writing brush, Xu Xuan inexplicably felt a sense of temporal displacement; there was no paper, yet there was ink and a brush...

"What on earth is this thing? From what he says, it seems their attire is quite famous."

"Indeed, it's very famous, and it's a notorious reputation that's very unwelcome," Xiaozhuang said, looking at the person with eyes that regarded him as trash.

"No, no, no, the common people and the monarch actually like us very much. How can you say we're unwelcome?" the man retorted, standing up.

"Yes, the common people and the monarch often lack judgment, so they like you very much. However, among the Hundred Schools, your reputation is only second to that of the School of Diplomacy in terms of being terrible," Xiaozhuang said.

"Hmm? Only second to the School of Diplomacy? Is the School of Diplomacy's reputation the worst among the Hundred Schools?"

"How should I put it? If you see this guy, you can choose whether to fight him or not. But if you encounter someone from the School of Diplomacy, and they try to talk to you, don't listen to anything; just hit them. Absolutely do not listen to what they say, just act directly. This is common knowledge among the Hundred Schools. As for the school this guy belongs to, it's not very popular either," Xiaozhuang said, pointing at the person again. "Otherwise, why do you think they don't even dare to reveal their true faces? Once they reveal themselves, they'll most likely be beaten to death if someone gets the chance."

"Which school do they belong to, exactly? Their reputation is that bad?" Hearing Xiaozhuang's words, Xu Xuan looked at her, somewhat shocked.

"They are among the Ten Schools, but not among the Nine Streams." Looking at the strange person who was still writing on the bamboo slip, Xiaozhuang said, "This is someone from the Novelist School."