Chapter 176: The Sudden Turn for the Worse
Chapter 176: The Sudden Turn for the Worse
Li Si ran away.
Jiuxuanzi seemed quite agitated and kept shouting angrily.
Of course, as Jiuxuanzi was hidden deep in the Five-Tone Ruins, Li Si didn’t see him. He just felt something wasn’t right with the guy.
But what did that have to do with him?
So grabbing an opportune moment unnoticed, he swiftly escaped back to the Mortal Realm. Without the Yunhua Law Seal’s protection, he really didn’t feel comfortable.
Checking his gains, Li Si was quite satisfied. The white, black, and grey Fortune Fuel could be ignored for now. The truly valuable things were the Remnant Exuviae of the Living-Death Vine, contributing a solid 1.5 million bundles.
Testing them with his Heaven-Mending Magical Power, he found their medicinal effect was much stronger and purer than the Six Desires Radish Remnant Exuviae.
Drawing experience from previously refining Longevity Elixirs and Spirit Nourishing Pills, Li Si decided to store them away. This stuff required a higher cultivation level to refine; otherwise, it would be a waste.
Thump! Thump!
Just as he was feeling pleased with himself, Li Si’s heart gave two sudden, inexplicable leaps. It felt terrifying. Then, the constant passive defenses on him — the constant Calm Mind Buff, Disaster Dispelling Buff, Peace Buff, Heartguard Sword, Mind Stabilization, Inner Reflection — all began peeling away like snow melting under the spring sun.
Then, a damp, eerie, despairing, and decayed force coiled around his neck like a giant snake. For an instant, it choked Li Si so hard his eyes almost rolled back; he couldn’t catch his breath.
Luckily, at the critical moment, a piece of information struggled to appear, pulling him out of this state that felt like a waking nightmare.
“Jiuxuanzi is about to fall into demonic madness. The Mortal Realm is dying, resentment transforming into Calamity! As the Calamity-Bearing Human King, the total Calamity Qi on you exceeds ten billion bundles. You are no longer able to sustain it.”
Seeing this information, Li Si also faintly saw countless heads above him. They were all staring blankly at him…
And the Yunhua Law Seal, usually radiating divine light with mist swirling around it, now emitted a sickly white glow. Green, putrid mold grew directly from its outer surface, as if it was rotten through and through.
Without any hesitation, Li Si immediately drew two hundred bundles of the Fortune of Heaven and Earth from the Fate Forge and injected them into the Yunhua Law Seal. Only then did the Yunhua Law Seal return to normal. The countless heads above him vanished, and the chill disappeared too. It really felt like just a daydream.
But this time, Li Si was truly frightened. Cold sweat streamed down like a little river. For the first time, he realized the severity of the problem.
Really, if before this he had eighty percent confidence that he could save this Mortal Realm, Jiuxuanzi’s descent into madness was a brutal critical hit, chilling him to the bone!
Trembling, he summoned the remnant page within the Fate Forge to check the state of the Yunhua Law Seal. What he saw was a line of bleeding text.
“Mortal Realm Dying, Resentment Transforming into Calamity!
Suppression Effectiveness: 97%. Estimated Effective Time: Six months and nine days.”
And through this bleeding message, he saw endless wronged dead souls. They walked numbly in a grey Mist, with no end in sight and no origin visible.
Undoubtedly, this represented the Mist advancing.
At that moment, Li Si felt his thoughts freeze. Spending two hundred bundles of Fortune of Heaven and Earth could only sustain it for six months.
“Damn it, Jiuxuanzi! I hope your ancestors all burn!”
Li Si shouted in despair. He could guess what happened now. He’d felt earlier that Jiuxuanzi was off, but hadn’t paid it much mind. But what had Jiuxuanzi done over the past three thousand years?
If the Mist had come, fine. They’d wait for death, losers pay the price fairly.
But damn it! For three thousand years, in his pursuit of the so-called Spirit of Heaven and Earth, he masterminded the Devil Mushroom Evil God scheme. How many billions of humans died? That’s just humans! What about all the other living things in Heaven and Earth? The Demon Tribe, the Strange Tribe, plants, trees, birds, beasts… everything, completely dead!
He, Li Si, had dreamed of saving this world. But how could the accumulated merit from gathering these five million people compare to the hundreds of billions of dead humans?
It was a monstrous crime!
If he wanted to save this Mortal Realm, the first step was cleaning up the mess left by that bastard Jiuxuanzi.
Previously, he hadn’t realized this. But those three Veteran Deities and Demons definitely knew. Yet they said nothing, afraid to touch the Calamity Qi.
No, perhaps even they hadn’t expected Jiuxuanzi to fall into madness so quickly. Otherwise, they would never have shown their faces.
“Calm down, calm down!”
Li Si took a deep breath, thought seriously for a moment, then decisively refined another twenty thousand bundles of Purple Firewood. He gained another two hundred bundles of Fortune of Heaven and Earth and immediately injected them into the Yunhua Law Seal.
No matter what, he had to stabilize things here.
He absolutely could not afford to panic himself!
Thankfully, injecting a total of four hundred bundles of Fortune of Heaven and Earth successfully bought Li Si sixteen months of time.
The extra four months probably came from increased suppression effects.
Closing his eyes in anguish, Li Si instantly teleported back to the Floating Cloud Sect. He activated the most urgent measures to summon Zhao Qingxie back to the Mortal Realm.
Luckily, Old Zhao didn’t throw a tantrum and returned instantly.
“Only a day has passed! Don’t be ridiculous!”
It was clear she hadn’t noticed anything yet. That was normal. Only Li Si could detect it immediately, and he had suppressed it first. Those three Veteran Deities and Demons probably didn’t even know.
Li Si casually summoned the Yunhua Law Seal to seal the area, then spoke rapidly,
“Jiuxuanzi has fallen into demonic madness. This Mortal Realm has sixteen months left.”
“What?!” Zhao Qingxie was so shocked her Immortal Spirit wavered. But Li Si had already taken out the Immortal Artifact hairpin and handed it to her.
“Use this as your vessel for now. Do not return to the Hall of Fate anymore. Old Zhao, what do I do now? Should we recall Shendanzi and the others?”
Li Si was genuinely panicked. It was his first time dealing with such a situation.
“No!” Zhao Qingxie didn’t even correct his nickname now, immediately shouting sharply to stop him. “No way! This information must be kept as secret as possible. If it leaks, you won’t have sixteen months.”
“You don’t understand human hearts. You don’t know how crazy people can become when facing their death.”
“Right now, the most crucial thing for you is to find the reclusive Deity or Demon you trust the most. Trade the secret for a way out. They definitely have a way to take you safely out of here. As for others… there’s no chance. Keep this Immortal Artifact yourself too.”
Zhao Qingxie gave a bleak smile. “Don’t think I’m scaring you. This secret won’t stay hidden long. If other World Guardian True Immortals find out, their first move will be plundering the Fortune of Heaven and Earth and desperately fleeing deep into the Mist. The balance between the Mortal Realm and the Illusory Void the Illusory Realm will be shattered instantly. Then the Mist interferes, the Deities and Demons swoop in to devour everything left… and once that debt is called in, as the Calamity-Bearing Human King, the endless Calamity Qi will leave you without a place to even bury your corpse.”
“Believe me, this is your only way out.”
Li Si stared fixedly at her, then suddenly said, “Transfer the Fortune of Heaven and Earth you’re suppressing to me.”
“No!”
“Give it!”
“I wo—”
…
“Will you give it or not?” Li Si asserted his dominance for once. Seeing Zhao Qingxie’s flustered anger, his mind, for some reason, actually calmed down. And he truly thought of a plan.
“Old Zhao, listen to me. The biggest variable right now is Jiuxuanzi’s descent into madness. But Jiuxuanzi is currently trapped within the Five-Tone Ruins. For now, he can’t affect the Mortal Realm.”
“So the first thing we must do is maintain the balance between the Mortal Realm and the Illusory Void. I currently control five positions of the Righteous God of Heaven and Earth. Close to eighty hundred bundles of Fortune of Heaven and Earth are under my management. I’ve calculated it. As long as twelve thousand bundles of Fortune maintain suppression within the Mortal Realm, the most basic balance can be kept. That way, the Deities and Demons won’t have a chance to devour everything.”
“But even if I agree, the others won’t. Besides, if all the Fortune of Heaven and Earth is concentrated on you, once the Mortal Realm collapses, and the Mist invades… all others might escape, but you alone will be unable to.”
“We’re at this point now! Forget anyone else. If they refuse… we just kill them!”
Li Si radiated bloodlust. He was quite confident, especially since Zhao Qingxie now had that Immortal Artifact. With a surprise attack, they could definitely take care of them.
Seeing this, Zhao Qingxie finally surrendered. She swiftly transferred her position as a Righteous God of Heaven and Earth. A full two thousand bundles of Fortune of Heaven and Earth were transferred to the Yunhua Law Seal.
After the transfer, Zhao Qingxie’s Immortal Spirit entered the Immortal Artifact hairpin. Carried by Li Si, he instantly teleported to the Heaven-Mending Sect. Without saying a word, he subdued Shendanzi’s Mortal Realm avatar first, then summoned Shendanzi’s Immortal Spirit back from the Hall of Fate.
At this time, within the Hall of Fate, only Shendanzi and Zhao Qingxie resided permanently. The other True Immortals maintained their own Dao Foundation Immortal Bodies, so they weren’t there.
Shendanzi’s Immortal Spirit descended upon the Mortal Realm swiftly. He was in a good mood, humming a little tune cheerfully. But when Li Si quickly explained the situation, his face instantly turned ashen white. He spun around, trying to rush back to the Hall of Fate, but he was directly intercepted by Zhao Qingxie wielding her Immortal Artifact. Though she was using it for the first time, thunder magic was her specialty, making control effortless.
Shendanzi, lacking even a Dao Foundation Immortal Body, couldn’t withstand a single round.
“You treacherous couple! What the hell?! What are you trying to do? Instead of running, are you staying here waiting to die? Li Si, you wretch! I foolishly trusted you! I wasted my Dao Foundation Immortal Body for nothing! Get out of my way!”
“Brother Shendanzi, please be calm!”
“How in the hell can I be calm?!” Shendanzi wailed. He had been preparing his escape all along, but in his predictions, he would still need to hold out for fifty years at least. And then Jiuxuanzi had to go and fall into demon madness! Jiuxuanzi, I hope your ancestors all burn!
“I won’t spout grand words of righteousness now, Shendanzi. Hand over your Righteous God position. Transfer your Fortune of Heaven and Earth. Then we will spare your Immortal Spirit!”
Li Si didn’t even get a chance to speak before Zhao Qingxie delivered this cold, bloodthirsty threat.
Shendanzi puffed out his cheeks. He wanted to curse wildly, but ultimately didn’t dare. He finally remembered the fear of being dominated by this female demon several thousand years ago.
Right, be sensible. At least he could keep his Immortal Spirit.
He completed the transfer formalities with painful swiftness. Li Si, feeling a pang of conscience, tried to offer some comfort. But Zhao Qingxie, over there, said coldly, “Don’t think about leaking the secret. You should know that in these circumstances, the more stable the situation, the better it is for you. And Li Si here is now bearing twelve thousand bundles of Fortune of Heaven and Earth. He is the one least likely to escape.”
“I know! I know everything! Please, let me join you! I don’t have much else, but my Heaven-Mending Sect has plenty of experience escaping.” Shendanzi begged.
“We’ll find you if we have any further plans.” Zhao Qingxie cut off Li Si, who wanted to say something else. And so they just left proudly.