Chapter 58: Schemes Everywhere
In the twilight glow, five Qi Refiners hurriedly flew towards the seaside outside the village, driving clouds in a fluster.
The two in front were carrying a covered statue emitting golden light;
Behind them, an old Taoist and a young Qi Refiner were supporting a trembling Wang Cai with shaky legs...
There was a clear fist mark on Wang Cai's chest, sunken three inches deep. His own magical power surged like tides, unable to calm down for a long time. As he flew, he would occasionally spurt blood to the side...
Luckily, he had already reached the Nascent Soul Realm, so this injury wouldn't kill him...
Puff!
Well, maybe it could really kill him.
The old Taoist quickly shouted, "Wang Cai! Wang Cai!"
Wang Cai, with blood in his mouth, turned his head and forced a smile at his master, tremblingly saying, "Master, I'm fine, we are Qi Refiners...
Master, can we... not come to this village anymore, okay?"
"We won't come, we won't come," the old Taoist was quite moved, "Quick, let's find a stable place, and you hurry to recover your strength.
Also, if you spit blood next time, spit it towards your senior brother. Your master just bought this robe not long ago."
Wang Cai weakly replied, "Yes, master... Can you give your disciple a healing pill?"
The old Taoist sighed, "This disciple only has a healing pill, not a qi-recovering pill. Endure it for a while, just sit and recover when we get back."
At the gate of the village, the group of villagers surged out;
Moments ago, they all had disdainful faces, but now they were gleaming with excitement, watching the backs of these five people in the air.
An auntie whispered softly, "Can they fly?"
"Could it be that they are really messengers sent by the gods to rescue us?"
"Hey, divine messenger, don't leave!"
"Quick, chase them, hurry!"
An uncle hunter roared, and the crowd at the gate rushed outwards in an instant, the gate shaking and collapsing with a loud crash.
The five in the air turned their heads and their faces changed simultaneously.
They saw a dense crowd of strong men and women chasing them from behind, raising a thick dust on the ground.
It was like a mighty army charging forward, each one shouting loudly;
"Don't go!"
"Stop!"
Their voices were too loud, the shouting was too noisy!
The old Taoist's face changed drastically, and he grabbed two talismans and threw them out. Suddenly, a strong wind blew in the air, and two white clouds quickly rose into the sky, leaving the group of villagers chasing from below far behind.
"Master, why are they chasing us? We haven't sold any talismans to them yet!" Wang Cai exclaimed.
The old Taoist scolded angrily, "Did you guys deceive the little girls in the village again?"
"Master, we've been jumping around all day, the boss still hasn't come, we didn't even have a chance to deceive anyone..."
"Cough! Cough cough!"
Wang Cai coughed weakly, "Can't deceive, absolutely can't deceive, acting cute can really kill people... Puff!"
"Spit over there!"
"I swallowed it back, master."
"Well done, my good disciple. Hurry, let me boost your power again," the old Taoist urged his magic again, "There are indeed many strange things in this remote place. Let's quickly go find the boss and gather with him before deciding what to do!"
Before long, these two white clouds flew further and further away in the sky;
The group of villagers chasing below returned without success, each one dejected and disheartened.
First, a Sea God ran away, then a Mud God left. When all the people in the village gathered for a meeting in the evening, they all seemed a bit downhearted.
Wasn't their village favored by the gods?
They were all weak mortals, and they all needed protection...
As one of the main participants in the two events, Xiong Lingli didn't get scolded, but was punished to serve tea and water to the elderly in the village.
The village chief, seeing that everyone was in low spirits, wearing the large golden chain left by Li Changshou, gradually had an idea in his heart.
"Everyone, cheer up. Don't we still have a Sea God?
In our village in recent years, most of the natural disasters and calamities occurred when fishing at sea. Generally, there are no accidents when hunting.
In my opinion, let's establish a statue of the Sea God and worship it regularly. We will definitely receive blessings!"
A few amateur Qi Refiners in the village, Xiong Lingli's father was about to speak, but was gently pressed down by the slender woman, a rare sight in the village, beside him, indicating that he should not speak.
Soon, the villagers of Xiong's village began to discuss how to worship and offer sacrifices to the Sea God;
When Xiong Lingli's mother, the slender woman, took out the portrait she drew on the animal skin while the Sea God was asleep...
The villagers were immediately excited, and they began to look for stones to make the statue, carrying large stones back to the village.
Late at night.
On the bed where Li Changshou lay down, Xiong Lingli was sound asleep, snoring loudly.
In the next room, the couple were cuddling by the bed.
Xiong San sighed, "Madam, why didn't you let me remind everyone earlier? That was an immortal, not a Sea God."
"Offering sacrifices is just to give everyone some peace of mind. Would an immortal care about us?"
The woman sighed softly, "I originally wanted Lingli to worship this immortal as her master and learn advanced cultivation techniques.
But I didn't expect that the immortal would leave as soon as he woke up."
"Madam, didn't you teach me cultivation techniques?" Xiong San chuckled, "Wouldn't it be the same if we passed them on to Lingli?"
"That's just rudimentary Qi refining techniques, which can't compare to the magical techniques of those immortals," the woman thought for a moment, "I've always wanted to send Lingli to a fairy sect to become a disciple, but the journey to Central Shenzhou is too far, and I can't bear to let her suffer along the way."
"In that case, madam, why don't we have another child?"
Xiong San grinned, "With a younger one, we can let the elder one go out and explore freely, right?"
"Annoying, don't. The child is in the next room..."
"I'll go knock her out!"
"Don't, just be careful."
"Hehe."
Before long, the soundly sleeping Xiong Lingli heard some familiar noises. She turned over and continued to sleep.
It seemed like she had dreamed of being scolded by her clan during the day. The girl sobbed softly a few times, sleeping even deeper...
A few months later, on that grassland.
After hurrying and meandering along the way, finding that the Western Church did not pursue him, and wandering around the mundane world for a while, Li Changshou finally returned here;
In this life, he made a simple earth cave next to his parents' grave, and decided to stay here for a while.
Although the secular world was full of impurities, he had no plans to improve his cultivation at the moment, and staying here was fine.
Walking through the world of mortals, there were bustling scenes, which should not have been so hasty, but he was afraid that the Western Church would come looking for him, so he never let his guard down.
In the vast Southern Yizhou, with its beautiful mountains and rivers, there was not a single beautiful scene that could make him stop his escape;
Countless cities and tribes, cultivated over the long years of the Primordial Era, had given birth to countless human cultural scenes, but not a single person could make him look back for even a moment...
My heart is for longevity, not for worldly feelings.
Sitting cross-legged in the cave, Li Changshou's heart was empty, contemplating his own path, pondering the method of controlling the power of Samadhi True Flame.
The fire seed of Samadhi True Flame was ignited by spirit, energy, and mind. It was theoretically impossible for his Samadhi True Flame to reduce its power.
However, there were a few other ways to approach the problem.
For example, after returning to the mountain, he could ask Ling E to help him produce a few strands of spirit, energy, and mind, which he could condense into fire seeds and then store them in his body.
But Ling E's cultivation was still shallow and had not reached the Return to Void Realm, so the fire seeds she produced would be too weak.
Too strong or too weak, neither was good;
And it could easily make little Ling E empty.
With a flick of his finger, Li Changshou's palm had an extra strand of Samadhi True Flame. He began to contemplate other methods.
A living person couldn't be urinated to death. It took Li Changshou a few days to comprehend the solution...
Just don't use it.
Ahem, just use Qi Flame.
Using the power of the divine spirit to simulate the fluctuations of divine and refined flames within Qi Flame. Although his Qi Flame alone was quite powerful at the moment, it wouldn't be too eye-catching.
Life was probably like this, rarely perfect.
His own strength had improved, covering his breath and simulating breath, could deceive higher-level predecessors, but also left a small loophole, Samadhi True Flame.
He had to be vigilant about this after going back.
Now that he was held by a true immortal, even if the other party deliberately probed, it would be difficult to see his true cultivation;
Touching a woman would cause convulsions. This illness could also be cured at the right time.
This journey in the secular world was not without gains for Li Changshou.
"When it comes to earning merit, it seems that making some inventions and throwing them into the human race might also earn merit."
Rubbing his chin in contemplation, he quickly rejected his own idea.
There were still relatively many opportunities to earn merit among the human race, such as medicine, production tools, and so on.
But the premise of doing so was that he must have enough strength.
With his current accumulation, as long as he received a great merit from Heaven or witnessed an omen, the six Holy Ones would know about it;
The most likely outcome for him was to be exposed by the Holy Ones, and then have his soul drawn out and dissected...
"Let's just practice cultivation honestly."
Li Changshou smiled lightly in his heart and dispelled these lively thoughts.
Sitting steady and firm, one could obtain freedom...
I'm going?
What's this?
Without warning, Li Changshou's heart appeared with some faint and blurry images, and he sensed a faint connection within himself.
In those images, a group of strong men and women were under his feet...
Kowtowing and praying?
He quickly calculated with his fingers, and soon became a bit amused.
What's going on here?
Did that Xiong's village really make a statue for him and sincerely worship him as the Sea God?
The resonance of the Heavenly Dao was happening to him now?
Does this mean that he has also received incense offerings from this place?
This seems to have a bit of a "forced buying and selling" vibe, right?
Li Changshou shook his head bitterly, initially not too worried about this matter;
After all, it was just a village of a thousand people, making an ineffective Sea God. After a few months, if they found it useless, they naturally wouldn't worship it anymore.
This doesn't involve too much karma.
But soon, Li Changshou realized that things were not so simple.
Now he was equivalent to being alone, competing with the Western Church for incense offerings?
If the Holy Ones of the Western Church sensed it and calculated it directly...
No, he must rush back to the Daoist Gate immediately, back to the territory of the Supreme Clarity Saint!
There's an old man covering me, so I'm not afraid of those two who go around brainwashing people and digging up other people's walls!
Among the six Holy Ones, only the Supreme Clarity Saint and Nuwa Empress could be considered direct disciples of the Dao Ancestor.
Of course, the Supreme Clarity Saint manifesting in the Daoist Gate was unlikely; But as long as the Western Church was wary, that was enough.
Li Changshou became alert, his figure disappeared in the earth cave, and he headed towards the Eastern Victory Divine Continent.
This journey was much faster than before, and there were fewer exciting things along the way.
Occasionally, he caught sight of mountain beasts and heard the songs of children, but he also saw a couple packing up and eloping, being chased by a group of villagers. The unending war was still bloody...
Leaving the Southern Yizhou and entering the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, Li Changshou skillfully controlled his movements, exploring and heading towards the Daoist Gate.
After two days of rushing, when he was still two thousand miles away from the Daoist Gate, he deliberately slowed down his earth escape speed, reaching the limit that a third or fourth stage disciple of the Return to Void Realm could achieve, slowly approaching his Daoist Gate.
Within a range of two thousand miles, Li Changshou finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Being sheltered by a Daoist Gate was truly a great fortune in life!
However, if he said he was going home to guard his parents' graves, and he couldn't persist for three years, he might attract attention after returning to the mountain.
Abnormality was not a good thing. Most disciples would spend two more years enjoying themselves in the secular world.
Now, he was finally safe.
Li Changshou found a mountain nest near a spiritual mine of the Daoist Gate and hid there, planning to cultivate here for two years before returning to the mountain.
The Primordial Era was truly treacherous!
The human heart is truly too complicated!
He clearly didn't do anything to Xiong's village, yet they worshiped him, forcibly competing with the Western Church for incense offerings!
Now that he had crossed the tribulation, he must adhere to the principle of dying old in the mountains!
The secular world was also dangerous, and there was no peace in the world!
If he went wandering again, he would...
Uh, the vows of the Primordial Era are quite effective. These thoughts must not be spoken casually.
...
"Senior Brother!"
Under the willow tree by the lake, Ling'e, dressed in loose practice clothes, suddenly opened her eyes, her breath slightly short.
"It's just a dream."
Ling'e breathed a sigh of relief. She had accidentally fallen asleep while meditating just now and had even dreamed that her Senior Brother was being trapped by a group of strong men, the scene was chaotic, and it looked like her Senior Brother was about to be pressed to the ground...
Fortunately, she sensed someone outside and woke up from her dream.
Huh?
Ling'e looked up at the person she sensed, a Senior Sister who looked somewhat familiar but whom she didn't recognize. She was riding a cloud and hesitating whether to enter the isolation array of the Small Qiong Peak.