Chapter 135: The Thousand-Person Willow
Chapter 135: The Thousand-Person Willow
It was the middle of another night.
Li Si was contemplating his cultivation techniques and seeking the Dao when he suddenly felt a stirring in his heart. It was time for Mizhou’s agonized scream again.
For the past seven days, Mizhou had been normal during the day and night. Only when Jiuxuanzi returned from the Illusory Realm to the Mortal Realm would Mizhou involuntarily let out a piercing, miserable shriek.
So now, everyone in the Jiuxuan Sect had grown accustomed to it.
After Li Si used the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl to maintain 24/7 surveillance for seven days, he finally completed the elusive data collection on this eighth day.
It was an algorithm Li Si still didn’t quite understand. But based on the tiny, faint clue left the moment Mizhou screamed, the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl continuously calculated, simulated, and compared, ultimately pointing him towards three possible answers.
In other words, based on these three answers, Li Si could initiate a deduction. One of them had to be the truth.
Well, it wasn’t wise to be too certain. Maybe this was all just a big joke.
“What should I do?”
It was now confirmed that Mizhou, either on her body or within her soul, really had some mechanism left behind by the Big Fly. Should he proceed with the deduction?
Li Si thought seriously for a minute and decided to consult a professional instead.
Retrieving the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl, Li Si teleported back near Kaoshan City.
Then, his Soul Left the Body, preparing to enter the Hall of Fate in the Illusory Realm. But shockingly, he couldn’t get in. It was as if a decree was blocking him.
Damn it, what was going on?
Where was my Idol of Fortune? I am one of the Twelve Major Deities!
And now he actually couldn’t enter the Hall of Fate.
Was this some kind of joke?
Li Si didn’t panic too much, though. He didn’t go to his Fairy Leader or to the Herb Gatherer Xia Xiaowan. He quietly switched to his alternate identity: Xu Changsheng of the Yunhua Sect.
This account could still enter the Hall of Fate, and it had very high privileges.
Without any fanfare or drawing attention, after his soul entered the Hall of Fate, he restrained it forcefully, hiding inside the Idol of Fortune and refusing to come out no matter what.
His particular Idol of Fortune wasn’t as low-level as the Kaoshan Patriarch’s one. As long as he hid inside it, outsiders couldn’t know he was there. But he could still see and hear what was happening outside; he didn’t have to rely solely on the chat group for information.
The Hall of Fate was quite quiet at the moment, with no one inside. The younger generation members were banned, and his Kaoshan Patriarch alternate account was probably banned for the same reason.
But logically, given his relationship with the Herb Gatherer Xia Xiaowan, it was unreasonable for her to ban his account without notifying him during the days he was absent. This wasn’t done properly.
Of course, Xia Xiaowan hadn’t taken away his Hundred-League Law Seal; she had only forbidden him from entering the Hall of Fate. Combined with the fact that he had been on his Yunhua alternate account for the past seven days, he hadn’t noticed it before.
Li Si waited inside the Idol of Fortune for a while but didn’t notice anything unusual. It seemed the battlefront between the Illusory Realm and the Mortal Realm was very urgent, so hardly any World Guardian True Immortals were here chatting now.
Feeling a stir in his heart, Li Si’s soul stepped out of the Idol of Fortune. He looked around cautiously; nothing seemed amiss. This place was still quite sacred. Even a World Guardian True Immortal probably couldn’t set up traps here. The only interesting thing was that there were a few letters near his Xu Changsheng idol, likely someone asking him to repair a formation base.
Li Si wasn’t interested in that. He drifted lightly out of the Hall of Fate. Outside was pitch black; he couldn’t see anything. It seemed that to prevent other World Guardian True Immortals from secretly bringing disciples up, Xia Xiaowan had blocked the last path leading to the Palace Ruins Secret Realm.
This method was very effective, but Li Si secretly lamented. Currently, he only had two Soul Lamps left and was counting on going to the Palace Ruins Secret Realm to farm a bit.
“Forget it, I’ll go back and try to use my connections with Xia Xiaowan.”
Li Si ultimately lacked the courage to venture into the darkness alone. Just as he was about to turn back, a dark tentacle shot out from the darkness like lightning and directly dragged him into the black void!
This was— Holy crap!
So it was true, without Xia Xiaowan’s suppression, the depths of the Illusory Realm’s darkness were really filled with lurking dangers.
Li Si forcibly held back and did not light his Soul Lamp. He knew very well that if his Rock-Steady Soul Lamp were still here, breaking free would be easy.
Even if he had four Soul Lamps, he could struggle fiercely and escape back to the Hall of Fate.
But with only two Soul Lamps… it was like a small fish in a fisherman’s basket saying, “Hey, idiot, don’t you know I’m the prince of the aquatic tribe?”
Then he would die even more miserably.
“Your soul has been bound by the Void Evil Spirit Thousand-Person Willow and has suffered 1200% Soul Alienation Contamination.”
“Because you did not light your Soul Lamp, you cannot resist it.”
“Due to your Crystal Clear Dao Heart, you have resisted 50% of the contamination.”
“Your No. 102 Statue Avatar has borne 500% of the contamination for you. It is blackening.”
“Your No. 101 Statue Avatar has borne 500% of the contamination for you. It is blackening.”
“You have resisted this Soul Alienation Contamination. The resistance effect can last for 60 seconds.”
—
See, it was that simple.
Staying calm required having something solid to rely on. Li Si glanced back at the brightly lit Hall of Fate. Its light could even illuminate hundreds of miles away, so he didn’t have to worry about getting lost.
Provided he could break free, that is.
Another point: before, he could use all kinds of powerful moves in the Illusory Realm because he had the Hundred-League Law Seal and the Idol of Fortune connecting to his main body in the Mortal Realm.
But now, all he could use was the Fate Forge + 100,000 points of Soul Power + two Soul Lamps + the two Divine Abilities imprinted within the lamps: one was Palm Thunder, the other was Spirit Stabilization Curse.
Besides these, there were the four spells from the Lamp-Lighting Void-Crossing Scripture system: Spirit Stabilization Curse, Dispersal Curse, Heart-Interrogation Mantra, and Golden Radiance Chant.
“So you see, there are benefits to mastering an extra skill.”
Li Si sighed with emotion. He waited a moment longer until the Thousand-Person Willow had moved far away from the Hall of Fate and there were no other Evil Spirits around. Then he released a Golden Radiance Chant.
Instantly, ten thousand golden rays erupted. The tentacle gripping his soul trembled violently. Before it could let go, it was directly dissolved through.
With the aid of this golden light, Li Si also saw the form of this Void Evil Spirit. It was a monster resembling a large willow tree. He couldn’t tell how tall it was, but thousands of its branches extended for miles into the darkness.
Each branch was strung with dozens, even hundreds of corpses, like candied haws on a stick. There were human corpses, Demon Tribe corpses, and some things Li Si didn’t even recognize.
But the main point was, the Thousand-Person Willow was simply too huge, like an entire forest. Li Si’s Golden Radiance Chant was so bright, yet it didn’t penetrate very far. However, the Golden Radiance Chant was undoubtedly effective. Half of the Thousand-Person Willow’s branch was burned and melted away, and the corpses hanging from the branch started falling down with a series of ‘pata-pata’ sounds.
Then, they came to life!
The corpses on other nearby branches also came alive. They rushed over, piling on top of each other like a human pyramid, completely fearless of the Golden Radiance Chant’s damage, and buried Li Si underneath them in one go.
Even though Li Si instantly cast twelve Spirit Stabilization Curses and twelve Golden Radiance Chants, he couldn’t withstand their enthusiasm.
Most importantly, a viscous liquid poured down, like amber, enveloping Li Si and those corpses within it.
This liquid was the same stuff the Thousand-Eyed Evil Spirit had used against Li Si before, capable of instantly sealing magic.
Swish, swish, swish! Countless new branches grew out, tightly binding this amber cocoon.
“Ah, why make it so difficult?”
This time, Li Si gave up struggling. He directly used 1,000 units of White Fortune to increase the cultivation progress of the fourth level of the Lamp-Lighting Void-Crossing Scripture to 100%.
His realm instantly rose from the original Spirit Journey realm to the Lamp Lighting realm. But this was also the final level of the technique he could cultivate; there was nothing further after this.
In an instant, without Li Si even needing to summon his two Soul Lamps, his entire soul suddenly burst into radiant light, as if a bright lamp had been lit within him.
Simultaneously, his Soul Power upper limit also increased from the current 100,000 points to 1,100,000 points.
Yes, that was equivalent to the strength of the Nascent Soul Realm.
To be honest, this method increased power extremely quickly, but the cost was also huge. 1,000 units of White Fortune was equivalent to 10 units of Azure Fortune.
Unless absolutely necessary, Li Si was unwilling to do this.
But right now, what choice did he have?
Swish!
Consuming 1,000 units of Gray Fortune, his 1.1 million points of Soul Power were instantly replenished.
Li Si did nothing else, just quietly comprehended the changes brought by the Lamp Lighting realm. Within his soul, wisps of flame ignited, like a scorching sun traversing the sky.
The liquid that could seal him and prevent him from using Divine Abilities finally couldn’t withstand it and began to dissolve. Then the corpses dissolved, and then the binding branches.
Eerie and terrifying screeches sounded, carrying an indescribable power. But this time, this power was blocked before Li Si’s brightly burning flames. This meant it wouldn’t even trigger a status message; Li Si had directly resisted this wave of Soul Corruption.
The Soul Cultivation System really was the bane of Soul Alienation Contamination.
It was a pity there were only the first four levels of the technique!
Boom!
The bundled cocoon formed by countless branches exploded!
Li Si, like a sun in the darkness, charged violently forward, plunging into the Thousand-Person Willow’s trunk, which was at least several kilometers thick. And then, he regretted it.
Damn, this place was too evil. Even though he was like a sun, this place was like a damp sewer.
His Soul Power, measured in the millions, was being rapidly consumed here, about 100,000 points per second.
Sinister, eerie, distorted laughter echoed from all directions. Then, countless damp, tongue-like things, carrying foul-smelling saliva, swarmed over him. The more rampant his Soul Fire had been just moments before, the more pathetic his situation became now.
No other way. You forced me into this.
Li Si grew furious. What kind of world was this? Why couldn’t he get a chance to fully utilize his own strength and fight a fair battle?
Where was your conscience?
Swish!
Instantly, 1,000 points of Gray Fortune were deposited into Li Si’s ‘tip wallet’. A million points of Soul Power were injected. Come on then! Let’s fight if you disagree!
Instantaneously, Li Si’s Soul Fire blazed higher, his fighting spirit soared! The scorching flames and radiance slaughtered those unknown things extravagantly every moment.
But the Thousand-Person Willow was even more arrogant than him. It immediately doubled its efforts. The entire depth of the trunk churned, like a gigantic blender. The damp, magic-sealing viscous liquid poured down like a waterfall, along with even more filth, crashing down madly.
This consumption immediately increased Li Si’s Soul Power drain from 100,000 points per second to 200,000 points, eventually approaching the 500,000 points per second mark.
This meant an expert at the Nascent Soul level in the Soul Cultivation System could only last two seconds here before inevitably perishing.
But Li Si only felt heartache and pity. Why do this? Why suffer? I came with the intention of making friends. Friend, leave me your contact card, join my contact list, can’t we just part ways peacefully here?
And you know, I think you look a lot like a friend of mine, named the Peach Blossom Evil Immortal!
Unfortunately, reasonable and understanding friends were not common. This Thousand-Person Willow had truly gone crazy. Li Si could only see this through to the end.
Swish, swish, swish!
Wave after wave of Gray Fortune entered the scene.
Li Si’s ‘tip wallet’ was rapidly deflating. In such a short time, one three-thousandth of it was gone.
Ah, no words could describe the bitterness in my heart.
My tears couldn’t stop flowing.
There aren’t many kind people like me left. Why not cherish me properly?