Chapter 6: Fishing

“What’s wrong with you, Junior Brother?”

Just as Li Si finished refining one hundred portions of Gray Firewood into one portion of Gray Fortune, Senior Sister Jiang’s voice suddenly rang out nearby. Li Si struggled to lift his head, but he naturally could not see Senior Sister Jiang, who was still under the effect of the Divine Concealment Talisman.

But what could he say?

Senior Sister Jiang’s water-fetching process was surprisingly smooth. She did not encounter any Fallen Demons, nor was she ambushed by Evil God Cultists. She returned in less than ten minutes.

But the experiences Li Si went through during this time could not be described in just a few words.

Luckily, Senior Sister Jiang did not seem interested in finding out more. Now that she had succeeded in fetching water, she was in a good mood. The Water Purification Pouch was a treasure from her Master. Although it had been continuously polluted by the Evil God’s power and had long lost its former power, one water-fetching was enough for a month’s needs.

A few minutes later, as Li Si regained some more Magic Power, he carried the invisible Senior Sister Jiang on his back and, without lingering, quickly headed back.

The journey was quite uneventful. Occasionally, he encountered a few Anomalous Weeds, but Li Si did not bother to kill them. When they returned to the Deserted Village, the effect of the Divine Concealment Talisman faded. Under Senior Sister Jiang’s guidance, he passed through two Formation Arrays, and from then on, he could come and go freely.

Inside the Stone House, everything was still the same. The Old Madam continued to rest with her eyes closed. Ji Chang and Xu Shen were meditating earnestly. When Zhuwa and Shanwa saw Li Si, they actually seemed a little embarrassed.

Only the three children were expectant, because Senior Sister Jiang had already started a fire to cook. This time, even Ji Chang and Xu Shen showed no interest in cooking.

This made Li Si involuntarily think of a saying.

“When the hearts of the people are scattered, the team becomes hard to lead.”

“Senior Sister Jiang, I will go gather some firewood and see if I can hunt some Anomalous Weeds outside the village to stock up on food.”

Li Si volunteered for a task. He had taken the Three Poison Pills earlier, and now was the time when his Magic Power was continuously flowing. He could not let it go to waste.

Senior Sister Jiang clearly understood this as well, so she only asked,

“Do you remember the steps to enter and exit the Formation Array?”

“I remember.”

“Good. Don’t go too far. Return immediately once your Magic Power is almost depleted.”

Li Si nodded, pushed the door open, and walked out of the Stone House.

Shortly after, Xu Shen suddenly opened his eyes and smiled slightly. “Junior Sister, did you give Sigouzi the Three Poison Pills?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Ha! No.” Xu Shen shook his head with a smile and continued meditating. It was very good to have such a foolish fellow helping to gather resources outside. Over the past few hundred years, if not for batches of such fools stepping forward one after another to help, their so-called Floating Cloud Sect would have long been wiped out from top to bottom.

It truly was a case of the iron-willed Old Madam and the ever-changing stream of little fools.

And if the little fools were all gone, it would be their three’s turn.

At that moment, inside the Deserted Village, Li Si walked slowly. He leisurely picked up firewood from the ruins of the houses while observing the surroundings of the village, and also waited for his Magic Power to fully recover. This was very important.

More than ten minutes later, he finally left the Deserted Village along the previous water-fetching route. He walked all the way to the spot where he had killed the first Alien Tree. There, he began to recall some very happy and joyful things in his mind.

Yes, he was now engaged in entrapment.

Although his previous encounter with the Joyous Mushroom had caused him great suffering, it also helped him find a way to quickly farm bugs.

Now, in theory, he only needed to pay at most 0.5% of Alienation Contamination Degree and 100 points of Magic Power to instantly kill a Joyous Mushroom. The one hundred portions of firewood obtained could just be refined into one portion of Gray Fortune.

This deal was definitely worthwhile.

Of course, the most important thing here was that Li Si could rely on the information prompts from the Fate Forge to forcibly break free from the illusion created by the Joyous Mushroom. Without this method, his entrapment would definitely turn into a meat bun delivery.

It had to be said, the Bizarre forces in this world were very rampant.

Li Si had not even spent a full minute recalling happy things in his mind before he felt himself becoming even happier. He himself did not feel the slightest bit unnatural and directly entered the joyful illusion.

“Alienation Contamination Degree +0.1%.”

“You have been locked onto by the Evil Entity Joyous Mushroom.”

At the critical moment, the information appeared. Li Si immediately snapped awake but did not rush to act. Instead, he quickly tried to guard his mind, mainly because if the Little Mushroom did not appear, he was afraid the fish wouldn’t bite.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, a swaying, charming little red mushroom cheerfully sprouted from Li Si’s arm.

He was pulled into the joyful illusion without any ability to resist…

But in an instant, the information from the Fate Forge pulled Li Si out.

This time, there was no need to go easy. Li Si started with a five-chain Evil-Warding Curse, afraid that the power might not be enough!

But in fact, he worried too much. As the five Evil-Warding Curses erupted in succession, the Little Mushroom was forcibly blasted to death without even time to react. However, the curse before its death still increased his Alienation Contamination Degree by 0.3%.

(Note: The previous kill resulted in 0.5% contamination because there was no Fate protection, so the damage was doubled.)

“Slain Evil Entity Joyous Mushroom. Obtained one hundred portions of Gray Firewood!”

Without another word, Li Si directly refined this one hundred portions of firewood, obtained one portion of Gray Fortune, and immediately continued to strengthen the Evil-Warding Curse.

Evil-Warding Curse: Consumes 30 points of Magic Power. Forms a powerful Evil-Warding Aura centered on oneself, covering a ten-meter radius. Can last for half an hour. Any Evil force entering it will automatically trigger an explosion, causing base damage +200% extra damage. Can also be made into Talisman Paper, possessing 80% of the power.

After the strengthening was complete, Li Si felt calm inside. He turned around and ran back. He now had no Magic Power left, so it was not suitable to lure those adorable Little Mushrooms.

Of course, he directly killed any Anomalous Weeds he encountered on the way. Carrying the Mutant Grass Molt, he returned to the Deserted Village. He seriously carried the dry firewood back to the Stone House once. After his Magic Power was fully recovered again, he slipped out through the Formation Array and, using the same method, killed another Little Mushroom.

It was worth mentioning that this time, to ensure complete success, Li Si directly cast the Evil-Warding Curse three times in a row. So, he did not know if there was overkill damage, but better safe than sorry. He could not afford to fail at a critical moment.

The Fortune refined this time, Li Si still used to strengthen the Evil-Warding Curse. The strengthening effect was: base damage +300% extra damage, but required 40 points of Magic Power to cast.

“Looking at the data, one cast of my Evil-Warding Curse now equals four of the original casts. But since my total Magic Power upper limit is fixed, this means that if I continue entrapment, I might actually end up with insufficient damage output. This is a bit troublesome.”

“Although the actual situation might not be like that, I have no room for trial and error.”

Back in the Deserted Village, Li Si felt somewhat conflicted. The Three Poison Pills he had taken earlier gave him a total of 600 points of Magic Power. Now, counting what he had used before and these two instances of entrapment, he only had about 260 points of Magic Power left.

Also, due to all his exertions today, his Alienation Contamination Degree had already risen to 37.425%, a full two percentage points more than yesterday.

It might not seem like much, but physically, he clearly felt much weaker. Especially when his Magic Power was exhausted, he distinctly felt the desolate sense of being forty years old, having the will to fight but lacking the strength to turn the tide.

As a poem attested: Once I could pee ten zhang against the wind, now I wet my shoes even with the wind.

“I need to increase my Bloodline and Bone Evolution Progress. Strengthening Dao Techniques is important, but without Magic Power, it’s like a castle in the air. I must first reduce the Alienation Contamination Degree, and then I can restore Magic Power through various foods.”

Next, Li Si quickly adjusted his tactics. He stopped the entrapment. Those adorable Little Mushrooms could wait for another day. He was going to sweep through the Anomalous Weeds and Alien Trees around the village, first securing the resources needed to restore his Magic Power.