Chapter 67: My Heart Was Set on the Moon
Chapter 67: My Heart Was Set on the Moon
“Swish!”
A figure flashed as Li Si teleported back to the Deserted Village, stumbling and almost falling flat on his face.
There was no helping it; the aftereffects of blowing up the Statue Avatar’s head were too intense.
But he had to come back. At the very least, he needed to collect his two senior brothers’ bodies and take the Ten-Thousand-Year Thunder-Struck Peach Wood Heart that belonged to him…
By now, the lightning storm had just dissipated, and the air still carried the scent of thunder and fire. Li Si rushed to the very center of the storm. There lay a twisted, black piece of wood over a meter long. Without a doubt, this was the Ten-Thousand-Year Thunder-Struck Peach Wood Heart.
He quickly picked it up.
“Obtained the Ten-Thousand-Year Thunder-Struck Peach Wood Heart. Can be used to craft magical instruments or treasures, and can resist Soul Corruption. However, it will suffer some loss after each use.”
“Loss?”
Li Si was taken aback. His initial thoughts of having the Old Madam help craft magical instruments or treasures, and even handing half over to the sect, immediately faded. The Old Madam was a True Immortal; she would definitely look down on such trivial items. He worked so hard and faced so much danger every day. So, where was this Ten-Thousand-Year Thunder-Struck Peach Wood Heart?
Who saw it?
Next, Li Si searched around but found no trace of the so-called Peach Blossom Mark. However, when he checked the remnant scroll’s information, it clearly stated: “You have gained the friendship of the Peach Blossom Evil Immortal!”
What kind of friendship was this? He didn’t want it.
Li Si’s face darkened, but there was nothing he could do. With so many debts, he couldn’t worry about them all; with so many lice, he didn’t feel the itch. If they had the ability, let them come at him—he knew how to run.
After that, Li Si hurried to check on his two senior brothers’ tragic corpses. Oh, wait—they were still alive. They were just still trapped in the Peach Blossom Evil Spirit’s reflection illusion. They weren’t seriously harmed, and their Soul Corruption was only in the single digits.
After a moment’s thought, Li Si cast two Heart-Interrogation Mantras to rescue them from the reflection illusion. Then, while they were still dazed, he directly used two Divine Grace Baptisms to erase their Soul Corruption. From then on, they could be considered to have gained fortune from misfortune.
After doing all this, Li Si finally couldn’t hold on anymore. His head hurt so badly that his eyes rolled back, foam came out of his mouth, and he “passed out” on the spot.
He had no choice but to do this because he hadn’t decided whether to confess everything to the Old Madam. After all, everyone had selfish thoughts. He didn’t care if the Old Madam took Kao Mountain Town, and he didn’t care about other matters, but the secret of the Fate Forge absolutely could not be revealed.
And since the Fate Forge couldn’t be mentioned, other things couldn’t be talked about either.
As a mere Foundation Building cultivator facing a True Immortal, things really weren’t fun.
Just a few minutes after Li Si fell unconscious, Xu Shen woke up, followed by Ji Chang.
“Damn it, we were so close! Under my Fiend-Slaying Sword Qi, that monster actually escaped.”
“Yeah, I used up all twenty Thunder Talismans I had hidden, but we still couldn’t keep it here.”
“Junior Brother Li?”
“Hmm, Junior Brother Li seems fine. He probably just got ambushed. Otherwise, with his strength, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
“Heh, this kid still lacks experience. I feel like he’s still having sweet dreams. I hope he doesn’t lose his primordial yang because of this.”
Ji Chang wore an expression that said “I know all about it.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem with young people. I saw at a glance that it wasn’t human and directly blasted it with a Fiend-Slaying Sword Qi! I forced that monster to reveal its true form.”
“Exactly. The woman that monster transformed into was absolutely stunning, but I still saw through its flaws. Such Evil Entities are so naive; do they think we cultivators are clumsy fools who have never seen a beautiful woman?”
“Back and forth, forth and back—either they do seductive dances or act like exhibitionists, or they take the ‘understanding big sister’ route. It’s always these three tricks. Ha, it kills me! Don’t these Evil Spirits know the meaning of keeping up with the times?”
Ji Chang and Xu Shen chatted, feeling quite accomplished as they carried the unconscious Li Si back to the Stone House. Fortunately, the people inside the Stone House had remained silent the whole time. Jiang Ying, especially experienced, didn’t even make a move to come out and look.
Only after the internet-addicted Old Madam went offline did Li Si immediately adjust his state, gradually waking up. Of course, his head still hurt—that part wasn’t fake.
“What happened?”
“Reporting to Master—”
Xu Shen stepped forward and rambled on for a while, with Ji chiming in to add a few sentences here and there. Thus, the complete event was presented. Li Si also woke up at the right moment.
“Ugh!”
His head hurt quite badly.
“Junior Brother, you’re awake?”
Instantly, two large heads appeared above Li Si—Xu Shen and Ji Chang. Ugh, gross!
Li Si couldn’t take it. After what he had seen earlier, he could never look at these two the same way again. It was just too disgusting.
Speaking of which, it was pitiful. Ji Chang and Xu Shen would never know that, from start to finish, they had been fighting the Peach Blossom Spirit to the death inside the reflection illusion.
That is, if Li Si didn’t tell them the truth.
“Ah, I…”
Xu Shen and Ji Chang were baffled. Just then, the Old Madam’s aged voice sounded, “You two, help him over here.”
The next moment, Li Si was hauled up by Xu Shen and Ji Chang and placed before the Old Madam.
Today, the Old Madam was unusually gentle. She used her withered claws to tug Li Si’s ears, pry open his eyelids, and finally touch the top of his head before saying, “Luckily, your soul is fine; it just suffered an impact. It seems what you encountered was just a small Peach Blossom Demon. Otherwise, our Floating Cloud Sect would have been wiped out today.”
“Xu Shen, you did well today. The Peach Blossom Demon is a peculiar type of Illusory Void Evil Spirit from the Illusory Realm. Ordinary Dao Techniques and Divine Abilities can hardly restrain it; only the Fiend-Slaying Sword Qi can seriously injure it. And Ji Chang also did very well. I never expected you to have hidden twenty Thunder Talismans. The combination of these two forces is what heavily injured this Peach Blossom Demon.”
Li Si: …
“But you must remember, once a Peach Blossom Demon advances, it becomes a Peach Blossom Evil Spirit. This kind of Evil Spirit is extremely terrifying. With just one look into its eyes, you would become its shadow. Then it would plant you as a peach tree, and in the future, you would turn into a new Peach Blossom Demon.”
“In a few days, I will try to get a few protective spirit marks for you. The Spirit Cultivation Sect is very effective against this kind of Illusory Void Evil Spirit.”
“Actually, our Floating Cloud Sect also has Divine Abilities that can counter Illusory Void Evil Spirits, and they are even more effective. But they all require at least Golden Core Realm cultivation. Fortunately, Peach Blossom Demons are not common, let alone Peach Blossom Evil Spirits.”
After saying this, the Old Madam glanced at Li Si, who wore a strange expression. “Why are you making faces here? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”
Li Si blinked, feeling very conflicted. In the end, his inner conscience overcame his selfish desires.
Especially when he thought of that majestic figure in the Illusory Realm, besieged by countless monsters, he felt a heavy responsibility. The rise and fall of the Human Race, the fate of heaven and earth—forget it.
He, Li Si, was just that great!
So he steeled his heart.
“Master, I have something to report!”
“Report what? That you stayed out all night, went to Kao Mountain Town in the north, and today when you returned, you attracted a Peach Blossom Demon and almost caused a disaster?”
The Old Madam glanced at him, nine parts scorn and one part frustration.
“Huh?”
Li Si was blown away. The Old Madam already knew everything.
“You, well, you were lucky. It just so happened that a Rogue Cultivator expert was establishing a Pure Land in Kao Mountain Town, so you managed to keep your life. From now on, don’t act so recklessly. Otherwise—you’ll be hung up and beaten!”
The Old Madam meaningfully threatened Li Si, then waved her hand for Ji Chang to help him away. Then she turned to Xu Shen and said, “In the coming days, be more vigilant. Cultivators from Kao Mountain Town in the north will likely come to make contact. Don’t be too surprised, but don’t let them enter the village either. Just agree on normal trade terms with them.”
“Besides normal trade, don’t have too much contact with Kao Mountain Town. That Ancestor Kaoshan—I can’t see through his background. I always feel this person is evasive, hiding something, as if he has ulterior motives. He doesn’t seem like a good person, especially since the location where he established the Pure Land is just too coincidental.”
“However, he managed to forcibly establish a Pure Land. This is equivalent to declaring war directly on the Evil God, which will undoubtedly reduce pressure on us. So seize the time, seize the opportunity, and accumulate resources. No matter what, we must restore our own Pure Land within three years. We absolutely cannot let this person seize the chance to take our Pure Land away.”
Li Si: …