Chapter 77: And Bend Your Ear Closer

“Creak!”

The door of the Quiet Room opened. Li Si, who had just teleported back, walked out calmly with a peaceful expression.

Daylight was just beginning to dawn. The Dark Mist had just receded, but the situation in the small village seemed grim. Ji Chang and Senior Sister Jiang Ying had clearly stood guard outside all night.

Of course, they weren’t guarding Li Si’s Quiet Room, but Xu Shen’s. He was breaking through to the Golden Core Realm.

Li Si didn’t approach them. Instead, seizing the excuse of relieving himself, he went outside the village to greet the assortment of Little Mushrooms. Today’s mushroom varieties seemed unusually rich, and the numbers were higher too. Was it because of Xu Shen’s breakthrough influencing them?

Anyway, Li Si wasn’t polite. He harvested them all in one go. Nowadays, his daily gains from gathering mushrooms were pretty stable, around 100 to 150 units of Black Fate Fuel. Plus, he collected about 20 to 30 Mushroom Remnant Husks. This not only fully covered the daily needs of the Floating Cloud Sect but even left some extra to supply Kao Mountain Town.

An absolute star product.

Great! Amazingly good!

Soon after, Li Si returned feeling refreshed and energetic, only receiving a warning glance from Senior Sister Jiang Ying. Yep, he understood. In the Floating Cloud Sect, there truly wasn’t a more obedient junior brother than him.

Pushing open the Stone House door, Li Si lit the oil lamp first. Then he woke up Junior Brother Shan, Bai Yu, and Qi Linger who were sound asleep. He gave each a little kick with his foot to send them off to their Quiet Rooms to start the morning cultivation session. As a bonus, he gifted each a low-power Mind-cleansing Aura.

He returned, lit the bonfire, and started brewing the Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction. Just as it finished cooking, four-year-old Little Bean, five-year-old Little Vegetable Root, and six-month-old Little Radish woke up.

Darn it! Li Si hurried over. He made Little Bean and Little Vegetable Root go outside to pee first. Then, he helped Little Radish relieve himself.

After sorting that out, he had to feed Little Radish. It was a huge headache, truly giving him a head twice its size.

Finally, after the little one was fed, he had to walk back and forth singing a lullaby. Hell, others came back to immortality to be a mom; he had spare time from immortality and became a dad.

“You two, don’t slack off. Go copy the characters from the Heaven-Turning Scripture. I’ll check later,” Li Si urged Little Bean and Little Vegetable Root.

Only when Little Radish fell asleep again did Li Si get a chance to eat his own breakfast. After finishing, he had to brew two more pots to deliver meals to Yue Shan, Bai Yu, and Qi Linger cultivating in their Quiet Rooms. This included Ji Chang and Jiang Ying who also needed to eat. Even while drinking the soup, those two had their eyes wide open like lanterns.

The area outside Xu Shen’s Quiet Room was plastered with layer upon layer, several hundred Spirit Talismans, including quite a few premium-grade ones.

This showed just how important they considered this matter.

Li Si just sneered inwardly. This feeling of creating tools felt pretty good.

He returned to the Stone House only to find Little Radish awake… and he’d wet his bed.

Darn it!

Li Si scrambled around again to get things cleaned up. When he turned around, he saw the net-addicted Old Madam had logged out at some point and was now smiling at him.

“The diaper isn’t fastened that way; it’s too tight. And also… your master is hungry.”

Li Si: “Huh?”

“Go cook!”

“Yes, Master.”

After another flurry of activity, Li Si managed to cook a pot of the Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction and placed a full, large bowl in front of the Old Madam.

“The Hundred Herb Soul-Restoring Decoction… and those Devil Mushroom Remnant Husks… are those gathered by you?” The net-addicted Old Madam suddenly didn’t feel hungry anymore.

“I humbly report to you, Master. It’s just that I hunted some little Seven Emotions Devil Mushrooms in my spare time…” Li Si answered cautiously.

“Hunted? Little—Devil Mushrooms? You call those little mushrooms? It seems your courage is anything but little! Confess properly, exactly how many little Devil Mushrooms do you hunt every day?”

“Well… not really that many… just a few plants.” Li Si scaled the number down a hundred-fold. His gaze was sincere, his heart felt open, and his whole person shone as brightly as a true gentleman…

“A few plants?” The Old Madam’s lips twitched slightly. An Exalted Nine Commandments Heart Controlling Spirit-Response Talisman twitched in her sleeve. But ultimately, she didn’t have the courage to stick it on him. She really didn’t want to listen to the messy, downright rebellious, and utterly filthy inner thoughts of this rascal disciple; it was pure torture.

However… the boy didn’t seem possessed by an Evil Spirit.

Earlier, when tending to Little Radish, he’d been even gentler than Jiang Ying.

Besides, it was almost certain now that the repeated delays in her Seven Emotions Tribulation and Six Desires Tribulation traced back directly to this very troublesome disciple of hers.

That kid was clever, actually able to guess that the Seven Emotions Tribulation was related to the Seven Emotions Devil Mushrooms. All these days, constantly using himself as bait, luring various Devil Mushrooms… what enormous torment that must entail! Just thinking about it made her heart ache for him.

If it was just a dull, clumsy disciple, the Aberrant Corruption poison from the Seven Emotions Devil Mushrooms would have already killed him long ago. But he possessed an exceptionally perceptive heart. He first cultivated the Heart Cleansing Curse to half-step Divine Ability. Then building on that, he cultivated the half-step Divine Ability Calamity-Dispelling Curse. And now, unexpectedly using the Seven Emotions Devil Mushrooms as a catalyst to slay an Inner Demon, he had attained a Crystal Clear Dao Heart.

Forget it. She would observe him for a while longer.

Withdrawing her train of thought, the Old Madam looked at Li Si again, this time with a hint of approval. “Li Si, now that you’ve advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm… according to the Floating Cloud Sect’s rules, you may acquire one of our sect’s true lineage Divine Abilities. This true lineage Divine Ability is unlike ordinary Divine Abilities. Its power is immense, its potential extraordinary. When you advance to the Golden Core Realm in the future, you can directly transform it into your Primal Divine Ability. Do… do you wish to acquire it?”

“Disciple is willing!” Li Si was overjoyed. He had waited long for this day. How thoughtful of the Old Madam to remember. Truly, a good Old Madam.

The Old Madam smiled slightly. “Once, our Floating Cloud Sect possessed ninety thousand Dao Techniques, three thousand Divine Abilities, and three hundred secret arts. However… you may only choose one from among three specific Divine Abilities now.”

“The first is the Heaven and Earth Escape Technique. Escape a hundred miles away, undetectable by ghosts and spirits. It is primarily used for fleeing.”

“The second is the Six Directions Sword Control Art. This is a Divine Ability for killing enemies and combat. It incorporates Dao Technique Formations. Using six sword talismans as a foundation, it transforms into thirty-six sword energies, then casts three hundred and sixty sword clouds. Within a radius of ten miles… annihilate them all! However, this Divine Ability only affects the Mortal Realm and is useless against Phantasmal Aberrations.”

“The third is the Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique. This technique has six levels of control. First control births cloud Qi. Second control births wind and rain. Third control births divine thunder. Fourth control grants eye piercing illusion. Fifth control shocks Heaven and Earth. Sixth control exterminates ghosts and gods. Thunder techniques have always been among the hardest Dao Techniques and Divine Abilities to master, let alone the Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique. To cultivate this technique, you must first master six foundational Dao Techniques. They are: Water-Summoning Curse, Wind-Summoning Curse, Cloud-Gathering Rain-Conjuring Curse, Phantasmal-Breaking Curse, Thunder-Summoning Curse, and Palm Thunder.”

“Therefore, only a handful of Floating Cloud Sect disciples have mastered this Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique during the Foundation Establishment Realm. Most couldn’t grasp its basics until reaching the Golden Core Realm. To master it completely? One almost always required reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. Do… do you understand this master’s meaning?”

“Yes, disciple understands. Disciple is willing to study this Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique,” Li Si answered respectfully.

The Old Madam was silent, looking at him steadily for three full seconds. Then she laughed. “Good! Spirited! This master shall pass the Divine Heaven Thunder Control Technique to you. As for those six foundational Dao Techniques… you may seek out your Senior Sister Jiang Ying concerning those. Now… bend your ear closer…”