Chapter 49: String You Up and Beat You
Chapter 49: String You Up and Beat You
They had been at it for quite a while and found no problems. Xu Shen and Ji Chang were especially pleased, as these supplies were critically important to the current Floating Cloud Sect.
Then, together with Li Si, they carried the supplies back into the stone house, only to find that the Old Madam had woken up and was currently checking the pulse of the newly rescued little girl.
Her cloudy eyes now faintly reflected a gleam of wisdom, which made Li Si shrink back in nervousness again…
“She is indeed a normal person, and most remarkably, the Evil God’s power hasn’t deeply corrupted you. Child, your mother was very intelligent. Are you seven or eight years old?”
The Old Madam asked kindly.
“Eight,” the little girl answered warmly toward the Old Madam. She was actually eight years old—Li Si was shocked, but the truth wasn’t difficult to figure out.
It must be that the little girl’s mother intentionally underfed her to reduce her Alienation Contamination Degree. But the consequence of that was an eight-year-old girl who looked as thin and frail as a four or five-year-old.
“Poor child, now that you’re here, you don’t have to worry anymore. Moreover, you have pretty good innate aptitude, and your soul is stable—you’re like an uncut gem. I suspect your mother’s ancestors were Cultivators, which is how they passed down such knowledge. How about you become my disciple? This is your Master’s gift for our first meeting.”
So saying, the Old Madam gave the little girl a Heart-Cleansing Blood-Refining Pill.
Wow, what a tactic—at least wait till she agrees! What if she doesn’t? What’s with this forced transaction? Why not give such benefits to me instead!
Li Si grumbled inwardly, but the Old Madam shot him a sharp look the very next second, frightening him into staring blankly ahead—was some ghostly trick about to happen?
“Now, that’s your Eldest Senior Brother. His name is Ji Chang. He’s foolish, stubborn, and loves complaining behind people’s backs. This is your Second Senior Brother, Xu Shen. He’s full of wicked schemes, though he has recently awakened to the error of his ways and can barely be considered reformed.”
“This is your Third Senior Sister, Jiang Ying. She’s straightforward, though a bit too much of a pushover.”
“And this here is your Fourth Senior Brother. His name is Li Si. He’s young and relatively clever, with quite a handsome face. But sometimes he’s shifty-eyed and insincere—be careful he doesn’t trick you.”
“Come on now, you good-for-nothings! It’s your first time meeting your little junior sister. As for welcoming gifts—nothing too much, just eight or ten items each will do.”
The Old Madam continued introducing the little girl while openly demanding gifts. Everyone exchanged awkward glances; Li Si was especially aggravated.
What did she mean, shifty-eyed and insincere?
Oh dear, Old Madam, you’re cutting off your own path like this.
Don’t you believe I could arrange a double whammy for you?
Don’t you believe, tomorrow I can make you meet your calamity at dusk, with disaster right over your head?
Old Madam: …
Li Si: Why are you staring at me? Master, I was wrong…
The atmosphere inside the stone house was still cheerful and harmonious, especially after Jiang Ying finished brewing the Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. Ji Chang, Xu Shen, and Li Si were all forced to give a gift each, which finally put the little girl—who still refused to tell her name—at ease.
This made Shanwazi, Little Girl, Little Bean, and Little Vegetable Root incredibly envious.
Indeed, they weren’t qualified to be taken as disciples by the Old Madam.
After everyone had a bowl of Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction—even the Old Madam happily drank a bowl and seemed quite energetic.
Maybe it was just a feeling, but today the Old Madam’s liveliness—well, it could only be described as liveliness—seemed much less like a clay figurine and more like a living person.
“Master, I think this matter is very serious.”
Xu Shen finally couldn’t hold back any longer. “Based on what Junior Brother Li and our new junior sister described, this situation is far too strange. That relocated village had three Evil God Priests, thirty Evil God Cultists, and an Evil God Idol—even a Golden Core Cultivator wouldn’t dare get close. But now it was wiped out by some unknown force in an extremely short time. Disciple believes…”
“Believes what? That we start preparing early and relocate, too? Nonsense! How can our Floating Cloud Sect still have resources to move? And where would we go even if we could?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Xu Shen said helplessly. But with such a suspicious incident, he couldn’t just ignore it.
Plus, they had to figure out exactly who destroyed that village. If the other party held no ill will toward them, fine; but if malicious…
“This is a good thing!” The Old Madam glanced at Xu Shen. “No matter who did it, or if some accident happened, the fact is the Evil God Idol was destroyed. These idols project the Evil God’s power into this world. One after another, they form a tightening net of annihilation. Now that one is broken, your Master’s calamity has eased somewhat. In the next few months, we should be safe.”
With that, the Old Madam glanced at Li Si, her eyes full of affectionate radiance.
“Li Si!”
“Your disciple is here.”
“Since you were nearby at the time, did you notice anything?”
Li Si didn’t even blink and replied immediately: “Reporting to Master, in order to successfully fetch water, I deliberately took a detour. But I got lost going around and around. Then I heard a child crying across the river and went to investigate. Only by your immense fortune was I lucky enough to rescue Junior Sister and the other.”
“Hmm, good. You rendered meritorious service fetching water, so your Master will now teach you the third layer of our sect’s Heaven-Turning Scripture. Once you successfully complete Foundation Building in the future, you may cultivate it yourself.” The Old Madam was unusually agreeable this time, but Li Si felt a sudden chill down his spine.
Anyway, after thanking her, he didn’t dare say another word.
And the Old Madam seemed to let him off, turning to give separate private instructions to Xu Shen, Jiang Ying, and Ji Chang.
To Xu Shen, her order was to stockpile resources and reinforce the Formation Array. If possible, it would be better to deploy another Fiend-Slaying Sword Qi formation. But to control this formation, one must first master the advanced Divine Ability Fiend-Slaying Sword Qi.
Xu Shen hesitated for a moment but finally agreed, even though the cost of cultivating this Divine Ability was substantial.
To Jiang Ying, her order was to oversee logistics well: supply large quantities of Great Soul-Returning Broth and Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction, and also take care of those little ones.
To Ji Chang, her order was to stockpile many Spirit Gathering Talismans and large amounts of blank Talisman Paper. At the same time, he was to cooperate with Li Si to carry out irregular patrols around the village, especially focusing on the southern river area.
“That’s all. Your Master will now enter seclusion for three months. You all take care.”
After saying this, the Old Madam waved a hand and closed her eyes in repose.
Li Si, Xu Shen, Ji Chang, and the others exchanged looks, then went about their own tasks. It was midday—the best time of day. If they didn’t hurry and get things done now, when would they?
Even Shanwazi and the others took the new little girl and the baby who just woke up outside for some fresh air. Inside the stone house, only the Old Madam and Jiang Ying remained.
Suddenly, the Old Madam opened her eyes—where was the cloudiness from before?
“This matter still feels a little strange. An Evil God Idol isn’t easily destroyed.”
“Master, do you mean—Junior Brother Li lied?” Jiang Ying said in surprise. In fact, after she heard about this incident, she also felt it was puzzling. An Evil God Idol could draw upon the Evil God’s original power. Even if just a small trace, it was enough to instantly kill a Golden Core True Cultivator—that had been proven countless times over the past hundreds of years.
“Li Si probably isn’t involved. Even if he is a cultivation prodigy I had overlooked, his current cultivation is merely at the Foundation Building stage. There’s no way he could survive an attack from an Evil God Idol. He probably just happened to be there and got incredibly lucky! So this might just be a coincidence—some depraved high-level Cultivator wandered nearby, triggered the Evil God Idol reflexively, and both perished together.”
The Old Madam shook her head, then glanced at the Nine-Restraint Heart-Monitoring Spirit Response Talisman in her hand, feeling a sudden burst of anger.
She had used this talisman today specifically to check whether Li Si might have been possessed by an Inner Demon—after all, the kid’s cultivation speed was unusually fast.
But in the end, not only did she fail to find anything wrong with the boy, she also uncovered his truly disrespectful side—outrageously arrogant, reckless, disdainful of elders, glib, stubbornly wicked, and utterly irredeemable!
What nonsense like “Treasure Old Lady,” “Clay Old Lady,” “Soy-Sauce Crone,” “Dozing Old Lady,” “Melon-Eating Old Lady”—just look at that string of rubbish!
He even dared boast credit regarding the calamity—how could the fate of this venerable one’s trial be decided by a mere brat like you?
Fine, such a fool, let him be!
If not for the Floating Cloud Sect’s decline to such a state—a motley crew where there’s truly no one else—she would’ve definitely expelled this brat from the sect, string him up and beat him soundly.
The Old Madam clenched her hand slightly, and that precious Nine-Restraint Heart-Monitoring Spirit Response Talisman turned to dust.