Chapter 96: Wishing Stone

“Divine Decree: Mark the mountain peak in the northeast corner of Kao Mountain Town as the territory of the Floating Cloud Sect. Handle the specific details by coordinating with the Floating Cloud Sect disciple Xu Shen, and ensure they feel completely at home.”

“Divine Decree: Establish a dock area near the Blackwater River in the northwest corner of Kao Mountain Town. Build a military port and defensive walls there. Invite the Floating Cloud Sect to participate in the construction, granting them thirty percent of the benefits. Permit the Floating Cloud Sect to construct one Temple in this area.”

“Divine Decree: Form the Temple’s Foot Knight Order. Appoint the former high priest Cheng Tianhao as its leader. Incorporate the original 790 Prisoners of War into its ranks. Station them in the dock area and on the aquatic fleet. Construct one Ancestor Kaoshan Temple in this location.”

“Divine Decree: The Temple’s Foot Knight Order shall immediately march south. Assist the Floating Cloud Sect in relocating and be responsible for perimeter security during the process. For the duration, all actions shall follow the command of the Floating Cloud Sect’s chief disciple, Xu Shen.”

—

Li Si issued many micro-management Divine Decrees in one breath. In short, he delegated power. He gave a gift, expecting kindness in return.

The Old Madam ordered the Floating Cloud Sect to move here, which was a huge honor for the Kaoshan Patriarch. Not to mention other benefits, just the Four Symbols Formation Array—placing those four great Formation Arrays around Kao Mountain Town could block tens of thousands of enemy troops.

Of course, the Floating Cloud Sect itself also gained greatly. Kao Mountain Town now had nearly five thousand people. All of them could perform auxiliary tasks; farming went without saying. Having a Spirit Cultivation Sect obediently serving here—wasn’t that wonderful?

So many children in Kao Mountain Town had undergone multiple Divine Grace Baptisms. Taking them in would provide talented cultivation disciples—wasn’t that wonderful?

Especially the newly established Temple’s Foot Knight Order. It contained one Golden Core cultivator, fifteen Foundation Building cultivators, three hundred and seventy Qi Refining cultivators, and the rest were all Black-Armored Warriors. Now, even the warships were handed over to the Floating Cloud Sect—wasn’t that wonderful?

With so many benefits, to be honest, not only the Floating Cloud Sect, even if Jiuxuanzi received them, he would probably be moved to tears.

As for appearing to meet the Old Madam and holding high-level talks—sorry, he had to go to the Illusory Realm to protect his Idol of Fortune. He needed to become an internet-addicted old man until he built a safe house in the Illusory Realm.

This was the most important matter at hand.

Even if he returned to the Mortal Realm, he would be a low-key, gentle, filial Floating Cloud Sect disciple who only focused on daily cultivation.

What?

The Four Heroes of Floating Cloud?

Brother, stop joking, he was the Second Dog of Floating Cloud.

After hastily settling matters, Li Si let out a long sigh and went into seclusion in the Quiet Room prepared for him by Wang Wu and the others.

He connected to a Divine Idol at random. The next second, his Soul Left the Body and entered the anchored Illusory Realm—specifically, the Phantom Bride’s home, next to that well.

Several hours had passed, but nothing had changed here. His Idol of Fortune was still buried in the dirt. The Phantom Bride showed no interest in it. Of course, if it upgraded to an Evil Immortal—oh, upgraded to a Ghost Immortal—then it would be different.

Li Si held his Idol of Fortune and felt like a low-budget version of a beggar.

“To build a safe house, one must first understand the basics here.”

Thinking this, he turned his back to the well and walked in another direction. After about three hundred steps, he nearly stepped right into the well.

But instead of being startled, Li Si was pleased. He was right, his guess was correct.

In the Illusory Realm, whether it was a World Guardian True Immortal or the local Evil Spirits and ghosts, all needed their own safe houses, commonly called domains.

This was the Phantom Bride’s safe house. He had followed it all the way back, just naturally entering its safe house.

At this stage, this was quite good.

Li Si decided to develop cautiously.

Holding the Idol of Fortune, he sat down cross-legged. The dirt on the ground squirmed beneath him, as if he were sitting on rotting flesh, but with limited conditions, he had to endure it.

Next, he began a series of tests. The first thing he did was toss out the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl, which was already equipped with tier-three armor. As expected, without the tier-three helmet, the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl was instantly corrupted by the Phantom Bride’s power. However, it still managed to complete its task, illuminating the Illusory Void and allowing him one last glimpse.

The scene was indescribable. All around him, at least a thousand Phantom Brides stood surrounding him. Their big red veils faced him. Some roared, some screamed, some tried to strangle him, some stabbed at his belly viciously with scissors, and some directly put ropes around his neck and pulled, as if in a tug-of-war…

This was strange.

He was currently in soul form, within the Illusory Realm, so he could see the Phantom Bride that belonged to the Illusory Void. But why couldn’t he see the other nine hundred and ninety-nine?

Could it be that the Illusory Realm was truly layered?

However, what surprised him was that the Phantom Bride never gave up its efforts, constantly attacking without interruption, but all were nullified.

Thinking about it, it was pitiful.

So Li Si felt at ease. Next, he began his second experiment. Carefully, he released a low-tier Evil-Warding Aura. It didn’t provoke a hornet’s nest. He only heard a unified sound, from at least a thousand sources.

Hei tu!

The Evil-Warding Aura, which had just lit up with a faint glow, was extinguished.

Damn, are numbers something to be proud of?

Li Si was happy. It proved that he could release Dao Techniques and Divine Abilities in the Illusory Realm. The cost would be deducted from the Mortal Realm through the Idol of Fortune.

There was no middleman, so there was no delay. The internet speed was terrific.

Just as he was about to test a Thunder-Summoning Curse, the Phantom Bride climbed out of the well, walked up to him, and stared at him through its big red veil. Information started flying everywhere again.

Nullified!

Li Si had figured out the pattern now. The previous thousand invisible Phantom Brides probably counted as normal basic attacks, so they didn’t even warrant nullification messages.

Now it was using ultimate skills…

Ah, why bother, why must you? I’m just borrowing a bit of your light.

After a long time, the Phantom Bride turned and left. Li Si decisively followed it.

Today, the Phantom Bride did not go to the ruins. Instead, it went to a large mountain. Actually, he couldn’t see the whole thing clearly. Li Si could only use the blind men touching an elephant method to guess it might be a mountain.

Here, the range of the blood light emitted by the Phantom Bride shrank. Whether actively or passively, it didn’t know, but it was only three meters in diameter now. In the darkness, it looked more like a lit incense stick.

It was easy to lose track. Li Si had to go all out, focusing completely to keep up. He had no time to pay attention to the surroundings.

Suddenly, the Phantom Bride stopped, as if it had noticed something. The next second, it pounced out like a flying zombie, fast as lightning. By the time Li Si hurriedly caught up, he saw it grabbing a piece of wood that was struggling desperately. Black blood gushed out from it. Inside the wood, a man, skin and bones, looking like a dregs of medicine, was crying for help, a pitiful sight.

But the Phantom Bride didn’t care at all. It just crunched and munched away, eating with great relish.

Soon, Li Si recognized it. That thing that looked like wood was probably a Peach Blossom Demon. Seduced by the Peach Blossom Evil Immortal, it became the lowest level Evil Entity—a Peach Blossom Demon.

Did the Phantom Bride feed on these?

Li Si grew a bit anxious. The Phantom Bride was leveling up and farming monsters, while he was wasting his days. That was no good. But he had no other choice because if he left the range of the Phantom Bride’s blood light, the surroundings became unbearably dark. It wasn’t that he feared the dark, but this kind of darkness always gave him a feeling that some great terror could appear at any moment.

By the way, it was worth mentioning that hiding within the Phantom Bride’s blood light range, even the mark of the Evil God seemed to blur. Of course, it might also be his body in the Mortal Realm that suffered.

Next, the Phantom Bride acted like a clever cat skilled at catching mice. It often caught a Peach Blossom Demon in a very short time, crunching it down with gusto.

Additionally, along the way, the Phantom Bride would collect some stones. Observing it, Li Si also started looking for similar stones while it ate the Peach Blossom Demons.

It went quite smoothly. He picked up a similar stone. At that moment, the Phantom Bride, which was munching on a Peach Blossom Demon, lifted its head and glanced at him. Was it anger or approval? It was hard to tell.

But Li Si didn’t have time to care about it because this stone was special.

“Obtained Wishing Stone ×1.”

“Description 1: A substance native to the Illusory Realm. It can be sent to the Mortal Realm, automatically finding a suitable person, appearing before them, letting them pick it up, and thus becoming a coordinate for interfering with the Mortal Realm.”

“Description 2: Collect Faith Power from the Mortal Realm and inject it into the Wishing Stone. This can block many malevolent forces from the Illusory Realm. In the Mortal Realm, it can be used to protect homes. In the Illusory Realm, it can be used to make foundations.”

—

“Excellent! Isn’t this the best material for building a safe house in the Illusory Realm?”

Li Si was overjoyed. This item was truly marvelous. Used for evil, it was the greatest wickedness. Used for good, it could safeguard homes and ensure peace. Such a good item—please give me hundreds of millions of them!

In a flash of thought, Li Si, relying on the super-fast internet speed provided by the Idol of Fortune, directly extracted one portion of Faith Power from his Statue Avatar in the Mortal Realm and infused it into this Wishing Stone. The whole process was very quick and convenient.

The key point was, when one portion of Faith Power was injected, this Wishing Stone actually emitted a soft glow. Although it couldn’t illuminate a large area, in this completely dark world, it was enough to make Li Si so excited he nearly shed tears. It was so damn hard; he had finally found the right direction.

No mistake about it. This kind of light was the same light that had once emanated from the Hall of Fate.

But—

Hei tu!

With that unified sound, the faint glow from the Wishing Stone was instantly extinguished.

Li Si was stunned, then couldn’t bear it. Damn it, did they think he had no ultimate move?

“If you don’t want to die, stop seeking death!”

A hoarse voice, like a cleaver scraping against steel, sounded, making Li Si freeze. Could the Phantom Bride communicate?

“You can talk?”

“I can sing too, idiot!”

“No, I mean, do you have normal human consciousness and thoughts?”

But this time, the Phantom Bride didn’t want to answer. It continued walking forward. Occasionally, it would grab a Peach Blossom Demon from the darkness, crunching it down. Li Si hurriedly searched the ground for Wishing Stones.

It was amazing. Near every Peach Blossom Demon, there was surely one Wishing Stone.

This seemed to represent a certain truth: they had all been ordinary people in the Mortal Realm, longing for intense love, so they were locked onto by a Wishing Stone. After some process… they later became Peach Blossom Demons. And this Wishing Stone, which had led them to ecstasy, just became a collectible.

After Li Si started looking for Wishing Stones, the Phantom Bride stopped picking them up.

It was unclear what its intention was, but Li Si simply took it as goodwill. What else could he do? He couldn’t hunt Peach Blossom Demons in the dark, so naturally, he couldn’t find Wishing Stones either.