Chapter 25: A Peaceful Mind with Every Step
Chapter 25: A Peaceful Mind with Every Step
Li Si expected that Ji Chang, the tall fool who was often stirred up by Xu Shen, would be the first to jump up and demand more benefits. But in reality, the guy was only stunned for a moment at first and then began crying as if his heart was breaking, making everyone who heard it tearful and those who saw it sad.
It was absolutely not an act!
Ji Chang was already like this, and Xu Shen was even worse. They cried loudly, causing Junior Brother Zhu, Junior Brother Shan, Little Girl, Little Bean, and Little Vegetable Root to weep along without understanding why.
The Stone House was filled with the sound of crying.
Finally, the Old Madam let out a long sigh and seemed to have arranged her ‘posthumous affairs,’ then closed her eyes and started slacking off again—and this time, it was genuinely slacking off.
But this was only the beginning.
“Senior Sister Sect Leader, the situation is dire now. How should we deal with it?” Ji Chang wiped away his snot and tears, bowed to Jiang Ying first, and then asked ‘sincerely.’
Xu Shen didn’t speak, but with tear-filled eyes he looked at her, making it impossible to deceive him.
Li Si watched from the side, thinking, wow, they’re pressuring her now. Going too far, their desperate look is just too ugly.
Sister Jiang at this moment was too worried and sad and hadn’t yet recovered from the Old Madam’s earlier words. How could she be any match for them?
But he was only a 14-year-old child, and at this moment, anything he said was useless. So, before Sister Jiang could come to her senses, he shouted innocently, “Sister Jiang, you kept watch all night yesterday. Let me take charge of the Five Tribulations Thunderlight Array today. Since you think that Demon Man is still hiding nearby, we must not be careless. What do you think, senior brothers?”
Saying this, Li Si took the Array Control Disk from Jiang Ying, who was still confused, and then turned to leave.
Then Ji Chang and Xu Shen immediately fell silent.
A few days earlier, although they had used the Five Tribulations Thunderlight Array to severely injure that Demon Man, they didn’t know when he escaped. Especially in the last two days, they had stayed in the Stone House while the outside matters were managed by Jiang Ying, so they knew even less about the Demon Man’s whereabouts.
“Senior Sister Sect Leader, is it really possible that the Demon Man is hiding nearby?” This time even Xu Shen couldn’t sit still and asked directly. After all, it was a Demon Man corrupted from a Golden Core Cultivator, whose fighting power was unimaginably strong. With such a monster lurking nearby, even if they wanted to divide the belongings and run away, it wouldn’t be safe.
You never know when you might be squashed into a pulp.
On the contrary, staying in this deserted village and relying on the Five Tribulations Thunderlight Array was the only chance of survival.
“I was only guessing…” Jiang Ying replied instinctively. In truth, she had no evidence; she had only used that reason yesterday afternoon to scare Li Si.
But it was enough. Both Ji Chang and Xu Shen slightly changed their expressions and stopped talking about the matter, sitting cross-legged to slack off.
Split up? Divide the luggage?
Nonsense, we are the most loyal and courageous disciples of the Floating Cloud Sect. Whoever dares to split up, we’ll confront them immediately!
Inside the Stone House was a mess, but once Li Si stepped out, it was surprisingly quiet. The world felt open and free!
With the Old Madam injured and preoccupied with her own troubles, he could be much bolder.
He did his usual patrol around the village, found a spot to relieve himself, and then went to the west end of the village. He stepped one foot out of the formation array while keeping the other foot in place. Then, unhurriedly, he performed a set of Great Joy and Sorrow Palm, followed by Anger Bodhisattva Fist, and finally a set of Lingering Thoughts Sword Technique.
But since he had gathered a batch just yesterday, the harvest today was a bit low.
Of course, Li Si was someone who knew contentment and thought this harvest was just fine.
Then, he reset his Mind-cleansing Aura and walked out of the village. He strolled leisurely at a distance of only ten steps from the Five Tribulations Thunderlight Array. Although it looked like he was wandering, his heart was tense.
Honestly, if he didn’t have the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl watching around and the double assurance of the Mind-cleansing Aura, he wouldn’t be this bold.
Hmm, he was using himself as bait.
Although Sister Jiang said yesterday that the Demon Man might still be hiding around the village, she might not have meant it seriously, but he was a scared listener.
That was a Demon Man corrupted from a Golden Core Cultivator—completely unreasonable and extremely strong.
With that thing lurking even for a day, Li Si simply wouldn’t dare to go outside. So how could he allow that?
Hence, his fishing attempt today.
The Wish-Fulfilling Pearl could ensure that he detected the Demon Man from a far distance, so he didn’t have to worry about ambushes.
The Mind-cleansing Aura and Steadfast Mountain Seal ensured that he wouldn’t be controlled remotely.
Keeping just ten steps away from the Five Tribulations Thunderlight Array ensured that if he sensed anything wrong, he could retreat immediately.
In short, he had prepared in every way before daring to come out.
Soon, Li Si slowly completed a circle around the village, and the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl didn’t detect any abnormalities nearby. But he didn’t relax nor rush back to the village. Instead, he started moving in irregular patterns.
That is, weaving back and forth between ten and fifty meters from the village…
He was quite confident in handling any emergencies until Junior Brother Zhu came out of the Stone House to relieve himself. Suddenly spotting Li Si swaggering outside the village, he shouted immediately.
“Sister Jiang, look, Li Si broke the rule and left the village!”
As soon as Junior Brother Zhu shouted, Li Si’s heart sank—oh no. Because that idiot’s voice was very loud, and even though he shouted from inside the formation array, Li Si was outside. Especially since he called out his name.
The next moment, Sister Jiang rushed out of the Stone House, but Li Si only had time to see her anxious expression before hearing, from far away, a voice very much like Sister Jiang’s calling out.
“Li Si, come back quickly, what are you doing?”
Along with that call, in that direction, a figure very much like Sister Jiang appeared, followed by what looked like the same village, the same scenery, and another Junior Brother Zhu.
In less than a few seconds, Li Si had mirror-like images on both his left and right. He couldn’t even tell which was real and which was fake.
The Sister Jiang on this side had a face full of shock, tightly covering her mouth.
The Sister Jiang on that side also looked shocked and tightly covered her mouth.
Li Si needed to make a choice, but if you thought he had a fifty-fifty chance of successfully returning to the village, you were badly mistaken. The moment that strange scene appeared, he was already affected, and all his senses failed.
Even though he stayed completely still from the start, if he took even one step next, no matter which way he went, he wouldn’t make it back.
At that moment, Li Si seemed terrified and immediately took a step. But before his foot touched the ground, his Steadfast Mountain Seal activated. The next second, the mirrored space around them cracked, showing several fissures. Through the cracks, he could see the real village—he could even see an anxious Sister Jiang and Zhuwa bleeding from all seven orifices.
Hmph, don’t think that kid had it easy. With his powerful Heart Cleansing Curse protecting him and the Steadfast Mountain Seal to break free from control, what did he have? The moment he shouted that line, an unknown curse had already clung to him.
When you start asking for trouble, even the formation array is useless.
“Whoosh!”
Like a gust of wind, the cracks suddenly disappeared, and the two mirrored villages became one. Inside the village stood an anxious Sister Jiang and Zhuwa lying on the ground vomiting blood. If he just ran forward, he would be safe.
For a brief moment, that thought unavoidably surfaced in Li Si’s mind, but then it was immediately dispelled by the Mind-cleansing Aura.
This powerful Mind-cleansing Aura was truly remarkable—unfortunately, it couldn’t help him escape this special illusion. Moreover, his Evil-Warding Aura hadn’t reacted at all, clearly showing it wasn’t the same as the Seven Emotions Mushroom.
“This monster is really strong.”
At this moment, Li Si wasn’t panicked. Instead, he was a little worried that his secrets might be exposed, but at this point, thinking about that seemed pretentious.
He took a step and cast another Heart Cleansing Curse. The Steadfast Mountain Seal instantly activated, and the previously merged reality-and-illusion scene immediately showed several cracks.
Although these cracks were rapidly closing, Li Si kept casting Heart Cleansing Curses fast and steadily.
Because he had plenty of Magic Power.
Even if each Heart Cleansing Curse cost 180 points of Magic Power, and even though only the Steadfast Mountain Seal was effective when the Mind-cleansing Aura was active, it didn’t matter.
He took one step and cast one Heart Cleansing Curse.
Li Si walked unhurriedly, his steps steady. Even though the cracks didn’t widen, they couldn’t merge either, so they gave him the true direction.
If his Magic Power ran out, he just replenished it.
Anyway, one step, one peace of mind—come what may.
He took a big loss this time; he’d make up for it from the mushroom troops. Ultimately, it’s not me who loses out.
In a short time, Li Si had taken twenty-four steps and cast Heart Cleansing Curse twenty-four times. Suddenly, the whole world shattered like a mirror, breaking into pieces and then vanishing completely.
Then Li Si looked at himself—he had already walked close to the village and entered the formation array.
Looking back, was there any abnormality?
“Junior Brother, come help!”
Over there, Sister Jiang called softly, seemingly unaware of what Li Si had gone through as she focused on rescuing Zhuwa. Even Ji Chang and Xu Shen had come out.
The former frowned angrily, quickly repairing the Stone House with a small brush, while the latter inspected the formation array, indifferent to Zhuwa’s plight.
Seeing Li Si, Xu Shen’s attitude turned even friendlier. He smiled slightly, “Well done, Junior Brother Li Si, you’re quite daring. If you’re willing to go out and hunt Alien Trees today, I’ll buy the Aberrant Wood Husks at double the price.”
“What happened to Junior Brother Zhu?” Li Si asked intentionally.
“He ran into an Evil Entity, he did it to himself—can’t blame anyone. We repeatedly warned not to shout or yell, but this Zhuwa ignored all of it.”
“The formation array didn’t protect him?”
“Hehe, Junior Brother Li Si, you should know—if the formation array could really defend against these invisible and formless Evil Entities, this world wouldn’t have been invaded by Evil Gods in the first place. He shouted himself, giving the Evil Entity an opportunity. Whether he was inside the formation array or not didn’t matter. But you, Junior Brother Li Si, were very cautious, keeping Heart Cleansing Curse and Evil-Warding Curse active. But listen to me: in the wild, sometimes even Heart Cleansing Curse is useless.”
Li Si fell silent. He still had the Mind-cleansing Aura and Evil-Warding Aura on him, but without the Steadfast Mountain Seal and the Evil-Warding Aura not triggering, Xu Shen couldn’t make out the details.
He didn’t talk further with Xu Shen and quickly walked over. But Sister Jiang had already given up the rescue effort, standing there with a furrowed brow.
On the ground, Zhuwa was still twitching, bleeding from all seven orifices, and remained unconscious as if trapped in a terrible nightmare. A gray shadow was slowly fading into nothingness.
“It’s hopeless. That one shout sent his spirit flying away.”
Sister Jiang shook her head and sighed, “When people seek their own doom, there’s really no helping it.”
“Why did he shout anyway?” Li Si asked.
“How should I know? While we were in the Stone House, all we heard was him shouting ‘Sister Jiang.’ Luckily, I was inside the Stone House, and the outside had Talisman Paper protection, otherwise I would’ve been affected too.” Sister Jiang was quite frustrated too—sitting safely in the Stone House, trouble almost fell from the sky. Who could you argue with?