Becoming an immortal against the will of heaven

After leaving the Ghost Dao Sect, Chen Tian headed south, eventually arriving at this Dingxiang Town.

Chen Tian was now dressed in a moon-white Confucian robe, his long hair combed up with a square scarf, and holding a folding fan, looking every bit the refined scholar.

Behind Chen Tian was a tall, ugly-looking strong man, following closely behind him, like his reading attendant.

It was Jia Yan.

The master looked like a celestial being, refined and cultured, but the attendant's eyes were fierce and his appearance was repulsive. Such a master-servant pairing was quite interesting.

In fact, that was indeed the case. On the way to Dingxiang Town, Chen Tian and Jia Yan had been watched countless times by passersby.

Fortunately, Jia Yan's appearance was too intimidating for these mortals. With just a glare, the onlookers would scatter like frightened birds and beasts.

What's more interesting is that Chen Tian had encountered several groups of robbers on the road. They rushed out looking mighty and fierce, but after taking one look at the tall and sturdy Jia Yan, they were scared out of their wits, gave up their robbery, and turned to flee.

Thanks to this, Chen Tian arrived at Dingxiang Town very easily and was not harassed too much along the way.

In fact, Chen Tian's purpose here was to go to the forest next to Dingxiang Town.

Many demon beasts lived in that forest, and Chen Tian had come to collect demonic energy.

Of course, after they saw Jia Yan, the smile on their faces would immediately turn into a look of horror, and they would stay away from Chen Tian and Jia Yan.

Chen Tian was already used to this scene, so he didn't pay too much attention to it, but walked forward leisurely with Jia Yan.

Chen Tian was now on the most prosperous street in Dingxiang Town, lined with various shops on both sides, and countless stalls along the street selling all kinds of goods.

Some were selling lanterns, some were selling incense candles, and there was even a delicate-looking woman playing the pipa and singing in the street. Her singing was melodious and moving, and soon attracted a large crowd of onlookers.

Chen Tian also found it interesting, so he stopped to listen.

The woman was singing a sad love story about a wealthy young master who fell in love with a peasant girl who came to work at his house. They fell in love and vowed to be together for life.

But unfortunately, their love was discovered by the wealthy young master's family, who resolutely opposed marrying the peasant girl and forcibly separated them.

What was unexpected was that the two were deeply in love. With no other choice, they came to the nearby mountains, held hands, and jumped to their deaths.

The story was already sad, and with the woman's slightly sobbing voice, everyone around who stopped to listen couldn't help but sigh.

After the song ended, the crowd wiped the tears from their eyes and took out a few coins, which they placed in the porcelain bowl in front of the singing woman as she knelt and thanked them.

Although Chen Tian was not sad enough to shed tears, he was also moved by the story in the song, so he took out a small piece of silver from his body, put it into the porcelain bowl, and then turned to leave.

Chen Tian had learned his lesson from Jicheng and no longer exchanged for large amounts of silver ingots like ten taels, but instead exchanged them for small pieces of loose silver, wanting to avoid attracting attention as much as possible.

But what Chen Tian didn't expect was that even though he had been careful enough, he still attracted the attention of some people.

In front of the singing woman, there was a small stall set up with a shed, and the stall owner was a thin old man of about fifty years old.

Like the others, the old man had just heard the woman's sad singing, but afterwards he didn't show any emotion. Instead, he yawned lazily, as if he hadn't been touched at all.

His interest was more focused on the porcelain bowl in front of the singing woman.

The old man's eyes were like rat's eyes, small but revealing a glimmer of light. At first, people only put one or two coins into the porcelain bowl, and at most five coins at a time, which was already considered generous.

But unexpectedly, when it was Chen Tian's turn, he took out a piece of broken silver weighing about two taels and put it in.

This made the old man's eyes widen all of a sudden. With his decades of experience, he immediately determined that Chen Tian was a rich and noble young master.

And just at this time, Chen Tian had already come to his stall. The old man's eyes rolled around, and then he greeted with a smiling face: "Young master... young master, please stop!"

Chen Tian saw that it was getting late, so he planned to find an inn to stay in first, but he didn't expect that he hadn't walked a few steps when he heard someone calling him.

This made Chen Tian slightly surprised. After seeing clearly that it was the old man calling him, he frowned, walked over and asked, "Old man, are you calling me?"

"That's right."

The old man stroked his beard and smiled, "This young master looks unfamiliar. Could it be a scholar going to the capital to take the imperial examination?"

Chen Tian was stunned when he heard this, and then smiled and said, "That's right, I am a student from the countryside who is going to Shengjing to take the imperial examination. It's just that when I passed by this Dingxiang Town, I was attracted by the simple folk customs and customs here, so I plan to stay for a while."

"Oh, so that's how it is."

The old man nodded, and then he smiled at Chen Tian again: "Then no wonder. I see that this young master is extraordinary, and he will definitely be successful in the imperial examination this time! So the old man has a request, I wonder if the young master can agree?"

"A request?"

Chen Tian frowned and asked, "I wonder what the old man wants to ask for?"

"It's like this, I make a living by painting. This time I accidentally met the young master, and I was immediately amazed by the wealth emanating from the young master. I know that the young master must not be an ordinary person, so I want to paint the young master's appearance. If the young master really becomes a dragon among men one day, then I can also regard the young master's portrait as a family heirloom and pass it down for generations. I wonder if the young master agrees?"

As he said that, the old man took a blank scroll and a brush full of ink from the stall, and looked up at Chen Tian, as if he was asking for his opinion.

After hearing the old man's words, Chen Tian carefully looked at the stall he was in. He saw that it was full of various figure paintings. It was indeed a stall specializing in painting portraits for people.

Chen Tian was originally not interested in portraits, but after hearing the old man's praise, Chen Tian found it interesting, so he nodded and agreed: "Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

"Oh, I really thank you, young master!"

After hearing Chen Tian's promise, the old man immediately became excited and bowed to Chen Tian from afar.

What Chen Tian didn't know was that in the old man's surprised eyes, a flash of ferocity suddenly flashed!