Chapter 00175: The Selfless Ding Huan
# The Selfless Ding Huan
Chapter 175
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 175: The Selfless Ding Huan
Once it was decided to follow Ding Huan, Yan Mei would run to him with various questions every time she saw him free.
As time passed, Ding Huan simply handed over the hunting tasks to Yan Mei.
Before each outing, she would just ask Ding Huan where to go and how far she could walk.
Recently, Ding Huan's mood had improved greatly.
He had learned to dispel simple restrictions and could even set up restrictions effortlessly.
At this moment, he understood that it had taken him more than a month just to dispel the restrictions of his Star House.
That month was spent merely removing the restrictions, and as for that iron pot, if he could not open it, it meant the restrictions inside were more formidable than those of his Star House.
Not being able to store it in the Star House also indicated that the rules of the iron pot surpassed those of the Star House.
However, these were not Ding Huan's main concerns; what he worried about most was his own Star House.
There were no restrictions; thus, any powerful cultivator could easily scan with their divine sense.
If someone noticed the Star House and their divine sense penetrated his clothes, they would discover it was an enormous space.
Fortunately, Quyue Mountain maintained some dignity in front of Elders Gu and Liu and did not use divine sense to pry into his every move.
Elder Liu and Elder Gu would never stoop to such despicable behavior.
However, once they stepped out of the Great Canyon, they could encounter various people, and then it would be hard to say.
If he placed restrictions on his Star House, as long as others' divine senses could not penetrate it, there would be no issue.
After all, possessing protective treasures with restrictions was quite normal, and wearing a protective pendant would be understandable.
Due to these concerns, Ding Huan devoted himself to studying restrictions day and night.
When he finally devised his first layer of defensive restriction, he immediately placed it on his Star House.
Upon triggering a skill, the knowledge in his mind would activate.
After half a month of traveling through the Great Canyon, whenever Ding Huan led the way, he would occasionally wander into the woods before returning to the main road.
However, no one questioned him anymore; wherever Ding Huan went, everyone followed.
Everyone held Ding Huan in high regard; they had traveled for such a long time without encountering a single cave trap, or even a group of demonic beasts.
It almost felt like dangers were deliberately avoiding them.
In half a month's time, Ding Huan's restriction level had risen to second rank, and the restrictions on his Star House had upgraded to second rank as well.
Ding Huan was certain that this time his understanding of second rank was genuine and not the false second rank he had previously thought.
The issues concerning his Star House made it urgent for Ding Huan to enhance his restriction skills.
Now that his restriction level had reached second rank, his formation skill had also improved.
Although he could not yet set up a second rank formation, he believed that with formation flags, he could establish a first rank defensive formation and a simple first rank attack formation.
Every time Elder Gu set up formations, Ding Huan watched closely.
He could now see that Elder Gu's formation skill was only capable of setting up second rank formations.
If he had some more time and could craft genuine formation flags, surpassing Elder Gu would be quite easy.
Elder Gu had a good impression of Ding Huan, so whenever Ding Huan observed, he would offer guidance.
In his view, even if he gave Ding Huan a formation jade slip, it would take Ding Huan at least ten or eight years to step into the realm of formations.
In reality, after receiving Elder Gu's formation jade slip, Ding Huan never came to ask him even once, which made Elder Gu realize that it would take even longer for Ding Huan to set up a first rank formation.
Without a master to guide him, that time could likely double.
He also did not remind Ding Huan that since he hadn’t been selected as a disciple, his spiritual root qualifications must be inadequate.
Since his spiritual root couldn’t cut it, becoming a formation master wasn’t so bad.
As long as he became a first rank formation master in the future, he could at least earn a living.
Not wanting to promote Ding Huan any further, Liu Yinzhu had been coming to see Ding Huan less and less recently.
Still, she respected him; since he had started to lead them, the group hadn’t experienced any casualties.
In fact, the second rank restrictions on the Star House were not something even Elder Gu could see through at a glance.
But Ding Huan’s awareness of danger was very strong; he thought it was still insecure.
His low cultivation level rendered him helpless as he had yet to find a path to foundation establishment.
If others uncovered his secret from the Star House, he would really have no one to blame but himself.
With this thought in mind, even while on the road, Ding Huan was frequently considering various issues about restrictions.
“Ding Dao Friend, we cannot go any further ahead,” Liu Yinzhu said, stopping Ding Huan who was lost in thought.
“What’s wrong, Elder Liu?” Ding Huan casually asked, only to realize the issue himself.
Ahead seemed to be a vast swamp.
As he looked, the swamp stretched out on both sides, and he could not see the end.
However, opposite them, he could vaguely see some trees and woods.
Liu Yinzhu looked at Ding Huan in exasperation, wondering if he ever paid attention to the path; they had clearly reached the Lost Swamp, which required scouting.
“Ding Dao Friend, up ahead is the Lost Swamp. Every year, one in ten new disciples gets trapped in the Lost Swamp and never escapes,” she explained.
Elder Gu stepped forward, his tone serious as he nodded in agreement.
“Normally, several sects team up to traverse the Lost Swamp without issue. But now, the situation is dire; Yan Yue Sect is down to only thirteen new disciples. Zixia Valley only has five left, while both the Shuanghun Sect and Tiangong Sect have just one new disciple.”
“Please enlighten us, Elders,” Ding Huan said earnestly, cupping his hands in respect.
Liu Yinzhu reluctantly continued, “There are spots in the Lost Swamp where stepping in means certain death, so each time, new disciples must scout ahead. Generally, most sects will wait until everyone gathers before forming teams to enter the swamp. Each team typically comprises a hundred people...”
“I'm afraid I don't understand,” Ding Huan confessed.
Elder Gu added, “This means that after opening a new path, a hundred people in a row can pass without issues. If there are more, a new path must be scouted.”
“Why’s that? Isn’t the path already scouted? Can’t people just follow?” Ding Huan probed.
Liu Yinzhu sighed, “The Lost Swamp is peculiar; not only can it not be flown over, but even the scouted paths change once more than a hundred people walk upon them.”
“Then who, might I ask, should risk their lives to scout?” Ding Huan questioned.
In the group, Ding Huan’s status was only second to the two elders, so no one found his question out of place.
“The chance of death for the one scouting is only fifty percent; if they survive and return to the sect, the rewards will be immense,” Liu Yinzhu explained further.
Ding Huan looked at Elder Gu with an odd expression, “Elder Gu, does that mean I didn’t even qualify to scout when the sect was recruiting disciples?”
Elder Gu smiled wryly, knowing that upon hearing this, Ding Huan would understand the underlying message.
Liu Yinzhu was also surprised, questioning whether this young chef was really that clever.
Every time the sect recruited disciples, they would accept a few who weren’t particularly gifted, specifically to scout the Lost Swamp.
This time was different; no sect had gathered here, and nearly all their disciples had perished.
Not selecting Ding Huan meant that his qualifications were too low even to be sent to scout.
Ding Huan was aware of his lack of qualifications; his intention in asking was to affirm to Elder Gu and Liu Yinzhu that he might have lower qualifications but definitely had some.
“I have one more question: did you also need to scout when you came over?”
Ding Huan wondered if they had to scout, then who would be the one risking their life.
Elder Gu explained, “The Lost Swamp has safe zones that appear twice a year, allowing passage without the need for scouting. This is also why the Dao community recruits disciples from the mortal realm every year.”
“Now I see,” Ding Huan acknowledged.
Liu Yinzhu’s tone grew grave, “Elder Gu, the fact that we’ve even made it here, let alone that a few disciples are still alive, is probably the most fortunate outcome from this recruitment from the mortal realm. Other sects likely…”
She did not finish her sentence, but everyone understood her meaning.
Their group had Ding Huan to show them the way; other sects were likely to have either perished under the cold poison or fallen victim to the Shuffling Zombie.
Given how perilous this expedition was and considering that other sects did not face complete annihilation, they probably would not have many disciples left.
Ding Huan's heart sank; he knew that Qi Xinyue and others he was familiar with, like Lou Buzhi and Ku Qi, were also coming to the Dao community.
“Ding Dao Friend, what do you think?” Liu Yinzhu turned her attention to Ding Huan.
In reality, Yan Mei would have been the best person to lead since she had been close to Ding Huan recently; however, Liu Yinzhu didn’t know Ding Huan's thoughts on the matter.
Yet Ding Huan was too anxious to care about that.
He urgently asked, “Elders, is there no other route from the mortal realm to the Dao community that we can take?”
Elder Gu shook his head, “That isn’t necessarily the case. It is true that to reach the Dao community from the mortal realm, one must pass through the Great Canyon. There are a total of seven routes from the Great Canyon to the Lost Swamp, and we are merely traveling one of them.”
“Then if other sects take different routes to reach the Lost Swamp, will they convene here as well?” Ding Huan asked.
“Not at all; the Lost Swamp stretches for millions of miles, without an end in sight. However, they too will need to send someone to scout,” Liu Yinzhu interjected.
Ding Huan let out a sigh of relief; he felt reassured.
“Elder Gu, Elder Liu, I am just a cook; this route is something I will scout,” Ding Huan declared.
He knew that these two elders wanted Yan Mei to scout, but Yan Mei had already planned to do so herself, leaving him with no choice in the matter.
To his surprise, it was now Ding Huan who was volunteering to scout.
“Ding Dao Friend, this is no joking matter,” Elder Gu expressed his reluctance to see Ding Huan perish in the Lost Swamp.
Ding Huan sighed, then bowed to everyone, saying, “You all possess the qualifications and are about to become new disciples of the sect; you may even become pillars of the sect in the future. Being able to come this far signifies that you all have great fortune. I possess low qualifications and am merely a cook, so let me take on the scouting duty. As long as I’m alive, I won’t allow anyone with a promising future like you to perish in the Lost Swamp.”
Ding Huan definitely would not perform a good deed without claiming the credit.
The purpose of saying these words was not to show off, but to hope that these people would have some conscience and not forget to bring him up to the Shuanghun Sect once they reached the sect.
(Today’s update ends here.
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(End of this chapter)