Chapter 177: If Trouble Strikes, Find Friends
Chapter 177: If Trouble Strikes, Find Friends
The Yunhua Sect stronghold finally welcomed its mistress.
Li Si teleported back here with Zhao Qingxie. Only in this place was safety temporarily guaranteed.
“The Yunhua Sect. I never thought they moved their mountain gate here. I once hoped they might step forward to lead,” Zhao Qingxie remarked, gazing at the still-abandoned town with some nostalgia.
Then, she looked calmly at Li Si. “By now, you hold the divine positions of all seven Righteous Gods of Heaven and Earth. Have you gathered twelve thousand shares of the Fortune of Heaven and Earth?”
“Currently, it’s eleven thousand eight hundred. I used up eight hundred earlier and replenished four hundred. Shendanzi suppresses twenty-two hundred. That leaves only a two-hundred deficit; it’s manageable. We’ve secured the foundation.”
“So, you still hold two hundred shares?” Zhao Qingxie’s beautiful eyes lit up with surprise.
“Yes. I inherited everything from the Yunhua Sect. That Xu Changsheng was their last leader. They made a huge blunder and doomed themselves. However, a long time ago, the Yunhua Sect secured a deeply hidden divine position, allowing them to accumulate roughly five hundred shares of Heaven and Earth fortune.” Li Si’s explanation mixed truth and lies; the secret of the Fate Forge absolutely could not be revealed.
This matter was like a man’s secret savings—understood without being spoken. Those who grasped it did so intuitively.
Zhao Qingxie watched him silently for a long while before suddenly speaking. “Actually, I managed to save fifty shares myself. It took three thousand years. Now, I’ll give them all to you.”
“That doesn’t seem right!” Li Si wanted to refuse. Zhao Qingxie offered a faint smile. “We are one, rising or falling together. Right now, the crucial thing is stabilizing our foundation. Get the full twelve thousand shares. It’s vital.”
Li Si straightened up seriously and nodded. He first accepted Zhao Qingxie’s fifty shares, then extracted fifteen thousand units of Purple Firewood from the Fate Forge – equivalent to two hundred shares of Heaven and Earth Fortune – and poured it all into the Yunhua Law Seal.
At that moment, the Yunhua Law Seal’s power to suppress Calamity Qi was extended to ten years.
Even if one of those World Guardian True Immortals betrayed them right now, the balance between the Mortal Realm and the Illusory Realm would not be shaken.
“Moving forward, we have two choices,” she continued. “First, keeping the secret intact, we try to persuade Tianjizi to hand over the Heaven and Earth Fortune he suppresses. If this succeeds, we maintain secrecy and can prepare steadily, avoiding panic.”
“But if it fails, we must fight. Especially now that Tianjizi has been frequenting the Mortal Realm. If my Dao Foundation Immortal Body were intact and I held an Immortal Artifact, I could surely defeat him. As things stand, it would be an even match. Secrecy would be lost then. Though we hold the foundation, it would disadvantage us later.”
“Second, we go directly to Lingjingzi. Crush him, take it by force. He’s currently fifty thousand miles northwest. If your Yunhua Law Seal can reach that far, there’s an eighty percent chance of success. The downside is that given this imminent Great Calamity, Lingjingzi’s vengeful spirit will be intensely unwilling. Swept up by the Calamity Qi, he could swiftly transform into something as fierce as the Evil God Muan. There won’t be a second Tribulation-Bearing Dragon to intervene.”
“Both methods have pros and cons. I can’t decide for you, Li Si. It’s your call.”
Hearing this, Li Si mentally reviewed his remaining resources.
He still had fifteen thousand units of Purple Firewood.
Twenty-one thousand units of Golden Firewood.
Two hundred and fifteen shares of Azure Fortune.
The rest weren’t worth counting.
Overall, it was rather scarce. Why not try a different approach?
Thinking this, Li Si took out a page of the fake [Book of Life and Death] and offered it to Zhao Qingxie.
“Do you recognize this?”
But at the sight of it, Zhao Qingxie recoiled three steps in alarm, not daring to touch it.
“Li Si, put that away! If I’m right, that’s the Mist Ferry from the [Mist Ferryman]. This thing is sinister. Its appearance in any Mortal Realm foretells that realm’s destruction by the Mist. It should not be touched lightly. But you are the Calamity Bearer Human Emperor, which is why you received it… Ah, disasters come never singly.”
Li Si was stunned. Wait, what did she mean? Was someone delivering mail?
He possessed thousands of these [Book of Life and Death] pages, plus a complete copy. Would that spell even greater disaster? But he had stolen this…
Swiftly, Li Si stored the page away. He’d originally thought about taking Zhao Qingxie along to be ferrymen and hunt Void Demon Corpses.
“I believe,” Li Si stated, “since the foundation is stable now, the fewer who know, the better. Persuading Tianjizi or assaulting Lingjingzi are both unsuitable. So, I choose a third option. We go to the Five-Tone Ruins. Do you know a place called Peach Hill there?”
“Peach Hill? Yes. It’s home to a Peach Blossom Ancestor with one hundred and eight Peach Blossom Evil Immortals under him. Originally a major herb in the Seven Emotions Medicine Field, it was corrupted by Aberrant Corruption two thousand years ago. It managed to escape; otherwise, it would have become Peach Blossom Evil God instead of the Devil Mushroom.”
“We’ll kill it!”
“Are you joking?!” Zhao Qingxie thought she’d misheard.
“Not just him,” Li Si pressed on. “Around the Five-Tone Ruins, on the front line between the Illusory Realm and the Mortal Realm… there must be many Void Monsters comparable in power to the Peach Blossom Ancestor, right?”
“Many is an understatement! The Mist has brought powerful Void Monsters. Each rivals the Peach Blossom Ancestor; some might even match the Devil Mushroom. But they restrain themselves, lurking in the Mist. Otherwise, the Mortal Realm wouldn’t have just one Evil God; there would be thousands!”
“Thousands!” Li Si’s eyes widened dramatically.
Assuming he was terrified, Zhao Qingxie confirmed grimly, “That’s why Zhen Xiu like us hold the front line. We relied on Deity and Demon grand arrays to deter them. Jiuxuanzi’s corruption tragically tore through that defense.”
“They sensed Jiuxuanzi’s change. When Muan succumbed, his corpse likely contained Bizarre tricks planted by other Evil Gods. The Tribulation-Bearing Dragon absorbed them all. Had they hit you… it would have been a fate worse than death.”
Explaining this deepened Zhao Qingxie’s gloom – a hopeless situation. She glanced up and saw Li Si wiping… tears? Scared stiff? Wait… damn it, why was he drooling?
Did he think she was cooking?
“You…”
“It’s decided then! Kill the Peach Blossom Ancestor first!” Li Si made the final call.
Ordering the Yunhua Law Seal to protect his body, his soul left the flesh instantly. Grabbing the utterly bewildered Zhao Qingxie, he stepped across the Illusory Void, reaching the entrance of the Hall of Fate. Obstacle vines blocking the way didn’t even have time to react before being incinerated by his vast Soul Fire.
This time, he held back nothing.
“You… you…” Zhao Qingxie’s voice faltered.
In the Mortal Realm, she hadn’t dared to probe Li Si’s strength, but close contact suggested a mere Nascent Soul level. Yet… when had he cultivated Soul Cultivation techniques? That alone was surprising, but this level… World Salvation?
A World Salvation Soul Cultivator was powerful, roughly equivalent to the True Cultivator system’s Divine Transformation Realm. But in the Illusory Realm, a World Salvation Soul Cultivator could contend with ten Divine Transformation True Cultivators, thriving there like fish in water.
But this was definitely NOT World Salvation!
Zhao Qingxie racked her memory. Three thousand years ago, the strongest Soul Cultivator across sects was just World Salvation. Only one! A level beyond that… traced back hundreds of millennia. Also just one, because cultivation was immensely difficult.
The Heavenly Eye!
She’d never witnessed the Heavenly Eye stage of Soul Cultivation, but it felt truly mighty! If a World Salvation Soul Cultivator could defeat ten Divine Transformation True Cultivators in the Illusory Realm, then a Heavenly Eye Soul Cultivator should be able to rival a True Immortal! It felt stronger than she was. Soul Fire burning across thousands of miles… seas of lightning…
Her mind felt untethered. (Though in the Mortal Realm, she could defeat ten of him).
“So that’s why you boast about killing the Peach Blossom Ancestor! Li Si, you… you could! With a Spiritual Cultivation Celestial Eye, you could even flee the Mortal Realm alone and wander the Mist fearlessly!” Overcome by excitement, Zhao Qingxie found herself stammering.
What extraordinary fortune!
“Heavenly Eye?” Li Si brushed it off. He pulled Zhao Qingxie straight into the Hall of Fate. The Idols of Fortune belonging to Zhao Qingxie and Shendanzi were now gone.
“Should we seal it or dismantle it?”
“Seal it. Prevent Tianjizi and others from coming. Though they rarely visit now anyway; they’re all busy building cities in the Mortal Realm, vying to be Calamity-Bearing Human Kings.” Zhao Qingxie sighed, finally calming down a little, though her eyes kept darting toward Li Si.
“What happened to Xia Xiaowan later?” Li Si asked abruptly.
“That day, her bridal veil was suddenly lifted by someone, revealing a demon. We struck it down together. But Xia Xiaowan possesses the Undying Ghost King Physique. She recovered swiftly, stripped of all memories. We didn’t pay further attention,” Zhao Qingxie answered casually.
“Pitiable.” Li Si sighed, remembering his long stay in Xia Xiaowan’s courtyard. Well, without eating meals.
“Let’s go. Execute the Peach Blossom Ancestor. Before losing her memories, Xia Xiaowan hated him most. Killing him might offer some consolation.”
Li Si promptly used the authority of the Seven Righteous Gods to seal the Hall of Fate shut.
Stepping outside, they faced only darkness. The Palace Ruins Secret Realm was gone. He couldn’t recall the exact route to Peach Hill, but no matter. His Soul Fire erupted, sweeping across three thousand miles. Soon, the colossal Peach Hill came into view.
Long after the two departed, the Hall of Fate’s door creaked open. A red-clad bride, face concealed by a thick crimson veil, floated silently into view. She gazed in the direction Li Si had gone. Beneath the veil, dark red lips curved into an intensely eerie smile.