Chapter 73: The Evil God’s Gift

Watching Xu Shen board the battleship, cutting through wind and waves straight toward Kao Mountain Town, Li Si let out a slight sigh of relief. The matter was settled. He eagerly anticipated the meeting between Xu Shen and Zhang San, the current leader of the Lanshan Sect. A clash between a Spirit Cultivation Sect and a True Cultivator Sect was bound to produce sparks.

After all, both sides were currently in a survival phase, so there was absolutely no room for sectarian biases.

Next, Li Si followed Ji Chang, both acting as if facing a great enemy, and transported all the supplies back to the Deserted Village. The entire process went by without any check-in incidents.

But that seemed normal. After all, from yesterday until now, the Evil God’s Mark had already triggered five check-in events.

They were: the Peach Blossom Evil Spirit, the Bat Demon Clan, the Fallen Demon, the changing Dark Mist plus the Greater Mist Demon, and then the Seven Emotions Tribulation this morning that he had blown up before it even fully formed…

Such frequent attacks, from so many angles and different levels, fully demonstrated the terror of the Evil God’s Mark.

“Junior Brother Li, do you have any more Mushroom Remnant Husk? Let your senior sister brew a few more pots of Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. Today, your senior brother is going to show off his skills.”

As soon as they returned, Ji Chang whispered excitedly, unable to suppress his joy. These resources were truly too important. Many talismans that couldn’t be made before could now be produced, even his Martial Arts Talisman Puppet… Ah, forget it, his cultivation level wasn’t high enough!

Ji Chang’s originally raised eyebrows instantly drooped. This was the reality. With insufficient cultivation, even the talismans he made would be much less powerful, wasting these precious resources for nothing.

Perhaps, he had to accept that he was getting old.

Li Si watched carefully from the side, not showing any expression. After a long while, he casually asked, “Senior Brother, what exactly is Dao Heart Purity? Why did Senior Brother Xu gain it after experiencing one Seven Emotions Tribulation?”

Ji Chang turned his head and glared at Li Si first. “Don’t you go causing trouble! Who told you that Dao Heart Purity can be obtained by forcefully enduring the Seven Emotions Tribulation? That kind of thing is purely a coincidence.”

“Dao Heart Purity is one of the seven great Dao Hearts that we cultivators dream of. Similarly, there are also the nine great Postnatal Dao Bodies; both are extremely rare.”

“If you spend your entire life cultivating but fail to comprehend any Dao Heart or obtain any Postnatal Dao Body, then you are either untalented or foolish.”

“Back in the day, I, your senior brother, actually cultivated the Flawless Dao Body. Unfortunately, it was later destroyed by Aberrant Corruption poison.”

“Relatively speaking, Postnatal Dao Bodies are easier to obtain, while the seven great Dao Hearts are far too difficult.”

“Is the Seven Emotions Tribulation specifically aimed at the seven great Dao Hearts?”

Li Si suddenly spoke up.

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t talk nonsense!”

Ji Chang hurriedly stopped him, then pointed guiltily at the sky and the ground. “You kid, you’ve only had a few good days and you’re getting cocky already. Is this something you can just say recklessly? Don’t you know that there are responses from the unseen realms? Especially now, maybe just a casual remark from you could sow the seeds of disaster. Work, get to work!”

Li Si blinked, a bold idea suddenly popping into his mind. What if he could tame the Seven Emotions Mushroom and specifically use it to temper the seven emotions, thereby obtaining the seven Dao Hearts? Tsk, tsk.

Having made up his mind, he cheerfully went to help. Wang Wu had sent a lot of supplies this time, with over a hundred different types just in quantity. They needed to be sorted and categorized, and their quality verified one by one. It was very complicated.

However, this was all Senior Sister Jiang Ying’s responsibility. She would sort the supplies and store them in the Floating Cloud Sect’s treasury.

Exactly which treasury was unknown. Anyway, nearly ten tons of supplies vanished into Jiang Ying’s sleeves before their eyes. There was no need to worry about them taking up space.

This kind of inventory management talent was truly impressive.

“Senior Brother Ji, with these materials, we need to build three more cultivation Quiet Rooms. Yue Shan, Qi Linger, and Bai Yu, these three junior brothers and sisters must also begin formal cultivation. In the future, they will also have the chance to advance to Foundation Building.”

“Also, Junior Brother Li, you need to calm your mind and cultivate properly. You are the most talented among the new generation of disciples in our Floating Cloud Sect. While the Aberrant Corruption poison accumulation is not yet deep, you must try to break through to the Golden Core Realm once.”

Senior Sister Jiang Ying was making arrangements again. With this batch of supplies stored, her confidence had grown by three parts.

“Golden Core? Senior Sister, are you joking?” Li Si’s heart stirred, but he feigned disbelief.

“How would you know if you don’t try? In matters of cultivation, talent is important, but diligence is equally important. If I see you slacking off again or running outside for no reason, I’ll break your legs! Go into seclusion in the Quiet Room immediately!”

Jiang Ying was very strict. Before, there was no choice; resources were insufficient, so they had to make do. But now, their Floating Cloud Sect finally had some resources, so they couldn’t slack off at all.

Li Si instantly surrendered and obediently went to the Quiet Room.

Ji Chang wanted to laugh, but Jiang Ying glared at him, so he hurried off to work. Building Quiet Rooms and such were his specialties.

However, although Li Si entered the Quiet Room, he secretly threw out the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl. Its detection effect and range were far inferior to that primary warning Dharma Seal, but it had another function that was comparable to a divine skill.

That was, whenever an Evil Entity or Evil Spirit appeared, the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl would be the first to be affected. It never failed.

As long as the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl was there, Li Si felt very at ease…

As it turned out, nothing happened the entire morning. Xu Shen’s affairs in Kao Mountain Town also proceeded smoothly, mainly because the Kaoshan Patriarch was too generous.

As long as Xu Shen deployed one formation array, he directly received a Divine Grace Baptism.

After he set up the Three Talents Demon-Purging Array, the Five Directions Confusion Array, and the Thunderlight Five-Calamity Slaughter Array, he received three Divine Grace Baptisms just for that. Faced with such gains, Xu Shen decisively began deploying formation arrays outside the original plan, like the Six Harmonies Mountain Shield Array, the Three Origins Demon Sealing Array, etc.

The materials used were all provided by Kao Mountain Town anyway. What he contributed was only his knowledge of setting up arrays, at most wasting some Magic Power to refine some array flags for controlling the formations, and incidentally teaching the control methods.

Having the control method didn’t mean mastering the secrets of the formation array. If there was damage in the future, he would still need to be the one to repair it!

Just like that, Xu Shen alone managed to obtain eight Divine Grace Baptisms from the Kaoshan Patriarch. Although he hadn’t yet restored his Flawless Dao Body, if he attempted to break through to the Golden Core Realm now, he had at least a fifty percent chance of success.

Most importantly, this was his own hard-earned reward, completely legitimate and clean.

Of course, his favorability towards the Kaoshan Patriarch also skyrocketed. He had never seen such a friendly senior expert.

Worship!

Finally, Xu Shen held a friendly meeting with Wang Wu, Song Qiao, Xu Sen, and Zhang San, the new four leaders of Kao Mountain Town, and reached many cooperative intentions.

Before leaving, Lanshan Sect Leader Zhang San gifted Xu Shen fifty Dispelling Talismans and ten Heart-Questioning Talismans.

Xu Shen reciprocated by giving the methods for preparing the Small Soul-Returning Broth, Great Soul-Returning Broth, and Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. These could all be popularized, allowing ordinary people to make food in this way too.

Wang Wu even personally dispatched a battleship to escort Xu Shen back. Only when Xu Shen safely returned to the Deserted Village did the entire transaction conclude perfectly.

Simultaneously, Li Si, who had been locked in the Quiet Room by Jiang Ying, let out a long sigh of relief. Damn, this kind of micro-management really wasn’t a job for humans. Fortunately, his goal was perfectly achieved.

Kao Mountain Town’s gains were also significant.

Xu Shen helped deploy two Three Talents Demon-Purging Arrays. Usually, one would be closed and one open, so they no longer feared the Dark Mist going berserk.

There were also two Five Directions Confusion Arrays. Although this formation wasn’t very effective in the Floating Cloud Sect’s Deserted Village, it was different in Kao Mountain Town. Because there were hundreds of Black-Armored Warriors here, they could enter the Five Directions Confusion Array when needed to intercept and kill enemies.

The main function of the Five Directions Confusion Array was to split large numbers of enemies apart, allowing one’s own side to always maintain a four-to-one advantage.

Four beating one; that was the concept of the ‘Five Directions’.

Then Xu Shen also set up the Thunderlight Five-Calamity Slaughter Array. This formation had immense power, capable of heavily injuring Golden Core Realm enemies, and it was simple to operate. Li Si gave the control authority for this formation to Wang Wu.

Next was the Six Harmonies Mountain Shield Array. This was mainly used to strengthen the town walls. Once the formation activated, the originally three-meter-high walls would instantly rise to twenty meters, and the sturdiness was quite good too. If they encountered a large-scale attack by Demon Men, just these walls could hold them off.

As for the Three Origins Demon Sealing Array, it was a formation similar to the Demon Sealing Aura. Once activated, the entire town would be very safe, without worrying about Evil Entities easily invading. Li Si gave the control authority for this formation to Zhang San; otherwise, as one of the four leaders, he would be very weak.

Zhang San’s spontaneous act of gifting the Dispelling Talismans and Heart-Questioning Talismans to Xu Shen was truly a masterstroke. Because the Dispelling Talismans were extremely important for the Floating Cloud Sect.

In the future, Zhang San’s Lanshan Sect, just by relying on the Dispelling Talismans, would become an essential trading partner that the Floating Cloud Sect had to maintain.

Not to mention, after Xu Shen returned, he explained the various situations to Ji Chang and Jiang Ying.

Meanwhile, in the Quiet Room, Li Si suddenly felt a sense of dread in his heart. He immediately knew that something threatening to him was about to happen. Moreover, with his current abilities, he probably still couldn’t avoid it.

In fact, even adding the entire Floating Cloud Sect wouldn’t be enough; it would bring catastrophic disaster upon the Floating Cloud Sect.

As soon as this thought occurred, Li Si immediately teleported back to Kao Mountain Town. Almost the next second, the nine layers of Annihilation Domain he had constantly maintained around him burst like popped balloons. One after another, they were all destroyed.

Immediately after, an icy, evil, and incomparably powerful aura firmly locked onto his position. Then, using this aura as a bridge, it seemed endless evil power was about to be delivered.

At the critical moment, the Fate Forge flashed, and information appeared, forcibly interrupting this aura.

“Your whereabouts were deduced personally by the Evil God. Your location is about to be exposed.”

“The Evil God is adjusting the Divine Idol network to pursue and intercept you.”

“Warning: You are about to be locked onto!”

At this moment, the sense of dread in Li Si’s heart surged like a tide, frightening him so much that he immediately activated teleportation again. He didn’t dare go to the Floating Cloud Sect, nor could he stay in Kao Mountain Town. He could only continuously teleport within the range of his own territory.

Then his third teleportation was directly interrupted. A blood-red coffin descending from the sky blocked his path.