"Truly miraculous! It healed my injuries in an instant. If I eat the remaining one, it will not only replenish my damaged foundation but also greatly increase my power!"
Without delay, Jiang Liu followed the fragrant blood and gave chase.
Following them to a very secluded crevice in the rocks, Jiang Liu peered inside and saw a small stone cave emanating from it, emitting a delicate fragrance. Upon closer inspection, he saw a lingzhi mushroom growing on the ground inside the cave, its five colors vibrant and its aroma intoxicating. Shaped like a fresh, fragrant mushroom, it was about a foot in diameter, with the mushroom in the center and four leaves around it.
Just as he was about to pick it, he suddenly felt a gust of fishy wind. Jiang Liu sat up straight and lashed out with his whip in the direction of the disturbance.
With a loud bang, a monster about a meter long was struck and slammed against the mountainside.
This monster had the head of a lion and the body of a dragon, six legs and one horn, with two exceptionally sharp golden teeth protruding from its shell. It roared repeatedly at the river. Looking up at his arm, he saw a wound inflicted by those sharp teeth.
"Good heavens, it's incredibly fierce!"
Wounded by a whip strike, the monster charged again without hesitation. Jiang Liu spared it, delivering a devastating blow that ripped its internal organs apart, turning its viscera into mud.
"The One-Horned Goddess Lin? She is indeed a strange beast!"
The storage space was now quite large, and Jiang Liu threw it in without a second thought. It seemed there was no way to escape being skinned and dismembered.
Just as they were about to pick the magical herb, the voices of a man and a woman came from afar.
Jiang Liu felt a chill run down his spine...
Chapter 86 They're all mine!
The male voice was clear and crisp like a child's, while the female voice was melodious and pleasant to listen to; they were clearly not very old either.
"Sister, that thunder magic was coming to capture Zhixian! We must not let such a villain go! Watch me, Jinwan, chop off his limbs and avenge Zhixian!"
The boy was about eleven or twelve years old. He had delicate features, a fair complexion, and wore his hair in two buns. He wore a pink short-sleeved shirt with a slightly open front, a gold necklace, white shorts, and multi-eared straw sandals. He had white teeth and red lips, and his entire being seemed to be adorned with jade.
Judging from his jumping around among the rocks, he's clearly someone who can't stay still.
"Brother Chan, that thunder magic is not to be underestimated. If a fight breaks out, don't be reckless. Zhi Xian was lucky to have met you; if it were an ordinary person, they would have been swallowed up long ago..."
The girl appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old. She wore a purple dress and held a Qinggang sword. She looked heroic and valiant. Although she was chatting and laughing with the boy, there was a hint of worry between her brows.
The boy shook his head and said, "He worshipped my Golden Cicada as his king. If you mention eating it again, I'll get angry!"
"Alright! Alright! Whatever you say. The most important thing now is to protect its original immortal herb, otherwise it will lose its immortal roots and become a tree without roots, a source without origin!"
The little man suddenly emerged from the ground, his face filled with horror. He had intended to use the strange beast, the one-horned god Lin, for protection, but to his surprise, not only was the beast killed, but his true form was also exposed.
The child picked up the little figure and saw that it was no different from a human, its body as white as jade, but with a bluish tinge and no blood. It had only a few dozen white hairs, but no eyebrows. Its face was very beautiful.
The little boy bowed repeatedly to the fairy in his hand, pointing impatiently at the cave where Jiang Liu was.
"Sister, hurry! Zhixian's true form has been exposed!"
Upon hearing voices, Jiang Liu dared not delay. He grabbed the Ganoderma lucidum and stuffed it into his spatial storage before leaving.
As soon as they emerged from the cave, a sharp sword shot towards them, its cold light flashing and its momentum like a dragon.
"A flying sword?!"
Jiang Liu was startled and suddenly leaped to the left, moving as swiftly as a rabbit, covering a distance of over ten zhang. Just as he thought he had escaped the attack of the flying sword, the sword, like a shadow, followed him and swung towards his neck with a speed no less than his own.
With this disturbance, the woman let out a sharp shout: "You scoundrel, don't run away!"
Jiang Liu dared not test the sharpness of the flying sword with his own body, so he immediately unleashed a palm lightning bolt. The flying sword seemed to possess a spirit, moving like a swimming dragon; the lightning bolt struck but missed, only shattering a boulder into dust. Seeing that this woman was aiming for his head with every strike, Jiang Liu was enraged, his anger surging.
"Just because I'm not showing my teeth doesn't mean I'm a pushover!"
While using his agile movements to dodge the flying swords, Jiang Liu simultaneously cast lightning talismans made from lightning-struck wood into the surrounding trees and soil. Had he not achieved mastery of martial arts in the "Dragon and Snake" world, he would have had no chance of escaping the flying sword attack.
After a dozen breaths, Jiang Liu had completed the lightning array. With a sudden reach of his hand, lightning flashed. The flying sword tried to escape, but Jiang Liu had already unleashed his fury. Several silver-white lightning bolts formed a lightning net and enveloped the flying sword.
With a loud "boom," the flying sword tried to escape, but it was enveloped by lightning, and electric arcs crackled on the sword.
The flying sword suddenly lost its spiritual power and stuck diagonally into the ground, its snow-white blade revealing a cold glint, seemingly still trembling as it flew up.
As expected, the woman in purple made a sword gesture, and the flying sword immediately flew up again, landing in her hand from afar.
"Sister, I'm here to help you!"
With a sudden shout, the boy threw a golden pellet from his hand, accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder, towards Jiang Liu.
Seeing that his first attack missed, he took out a dozen or so golden pellets and threw them at Jiang Liu in quick succession.
Jiang Liu caught them easily. The golden pills were incredibly powerful, but he had the skill of Tai Chi to deflect the force, and all twelve golden pills ended up in his storage space.
"Who are you? You've come to my Jiuhua Mountain to retrieve treasures. State your name!"
The woman in purple gripped her flying sword but no longer launched a full-scale attack. Instead, the sword in her hand whistled continuously, her killing intent boiling, clearly indicating her extraordinary strength.
"Sister, why are you wasting so much breath talking to this little thief? This Drunken Immortal Cliff is our family's back mountain, and all the rare and precious herbs on this mountain belong to our family. He destroyed the essence of the Ganoderma lucidum, severed its roots, and stole our family's property. If we don't kill him, what will the world think of you, what will they think of me, and what will they think of Mother? This Locking Cloud Cave on Mount Jiuhua isn't something you can just come and go as you please!"
After saying this, the boy took out a brocade pouch about a foot in size from his bosom, and with a shake, it fell out with a total of 108 small knives with three points and two blades, each only five or six inches long, exuding a chilling aura and gleaming coldly.
"Sister, do you know how to use this Demon-Slaying Blade?"
The woman frowned and said to the boy, "Be careful, Master Canxia might come back and skin you alive. Put them away! Since even my sword can't hurt him, these Demon-Slaying Blades are naturally useless."
As Jiang Liu listened to their conversation, he kept recalling the words in his mind, and finally the two large characters "Shushan" appeared in his mind.
Those who submit to Emei prosper, those who defy Emei perish. Anyone who refuses to kowtow, whether you are a demon, a heretic, or a wandering immortal from overseas, will be annihilated, body and soul, and never be reincarnated.
Everything that flies in the sky, swims in the water, or grows on the ground—all the natural treasures belong to Emei.
What's yours is mine, and what's mine is still mine. That's the code of conduct for Emei!
Jiang Liu looked at the three heroes, two clouds, and seven dwarfs in front of him, and his head started to ache.
So he tentatively asked, "The flood washed away the Dragon King Temple, could this be the separate residence of Qi Shuming, the True Man of the Emei Sect, who embodies the righteous spirit of heaven and earth?"
"Haha, this is indeed your great-grandfather's villa, the Lock Cloud Cave of Jiuhua Mountain! I am your grandfather, Qi Jinchan!" The child was sharp-tongued and witty, truly worthy of the name Qi Jinchan.
The woman in purple, Qi Lingyun, looked at Jiang Liu in the lightning array and said sternly, "This Immortal Zhi should not have been born today. You have disrupted the cause and effect, and I shall kill you!"
Jiang Liu's lips twitched a few times, his clenched fist repeatedly trying to rise and then fall. Anyone who had almost had their head chopped off several times, and was now being threatened, would still be in a good mood. He thought to himself, "If I weren't afraid of killing the younger ones and then the older ones coming, would I be afraid of you! Changmei should have the strength of a Celestial Immortal, and Qi Shuming should be no weaker than an Earth Immortal from the Journey to the West world... It's just that the worlds are different, so it's hard to make a specific comparison. My current strength is slightly stronger than Qi Lingyun's, but still some distance from the Three Immortals of the East Sea and the Two Elders of Mount Song. I'd better be patient for now!"
With this thought in mind, he waved his hand, and rolling thunderbolts rained down, blasting towards the cloud-covered and the short, scattering them in disarray. Jiang Liu, however, used the opportunity to escape Drunken Immortal Cliff.
As for stealing treasure from Suoyun Cave, Jiang Liu dared not even consider it. Qi Shuming's villa was not easy to enter, and Madam Miaoyi could return at any time. If he couldn't escape, he would definitely be in deep trouble. There was also Master Canxia in nearby Huangshan. This place was fraught with danger. Now that he had obtained the most important Zhima and the Zhixian's true form, there was nothing left to keep.
Chapter Eighty-Seven Ciyun Temple
After descending Jiuhua Mountain, Jiang Liu used local materials to weave a bamboo raft and floated downstream along a clear stream.
Before I knew it, I had arrived at the Yangtze River. Looking around, I saw the endless flow of the river.
Jiang Liu pondered for a moment, then thought to himself, "I do have some impression of the Legend of the Swordsmen of Shu Mountain; there are quite a few treasures... Wen Zhu's Fire Pearl is a treasure, and the Ten Thousand Year Azure Sky is also there. Which demon cave is the Heavenly Book Jade Box in? The Purple and Green Twin Swords, being top-tier flying swords, should be at the level of a high-grade spiritual weapon, right?"
He listed all the treasures he could remember, but in the end he realized he had no chance of getting any of them.
The thousand-year-old spider in Tiancan Ridge, Yunnan, has not yet reached the time to be born. Going there now would not yield the supreme Yang treasure, the Qian Tian Huo Ling Zhu, within the spider. The ten-thousand-year-old Kong Qing could be obtained, but making a trip to Yunnan for that would be a waste of time.
Keep in mind that this was the early Qing Dynasty, and people relied entirely on their own two legs to get around.
There is a chance to obtain the jade box containing the Heavenly Book in the Demon Cave, and you can also get Guang Chengzi's Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Ruler and Soul Gathering and Form Refining Pill along the way.
"But how would I know where that demon's lair is? I can only wait for the right opportunity! As for the Purple and Green Twin Swords, forget about them. If I were to retrieve them, they might kill me. It's best not to touch Master Changmei's things."
After much deliberation, Jiang Liu decided to go to CD and enter Ciyun Temple. If the plot hadn't changed, the Green-Robed Ancestor would have his lower body severed by the Blissful Immortal Li Jingxu at the end of the year, and he would have a Mysterious Female Pearl on the back of his head that could be refined into a second primordial spirit. This was a supernatural power of refining qi into spirit, essentially a weakened version of an external avatar.
"If I were to seize the upper body of the Green-Robed Ancestor, I would not only obtain the Mysterious Pearl, but I might also be able to take control of the Hundred Barbarian Mountains and then orchestrate the events of this world!"
"I've already fallen out with Emei, so it's impossible for me to curry favor with them anymore. Since that's the case, I'll go to Ciyun Temple in Chengdu. The evil path is bound to fail. I'll snatch the green robe and leave. Even if I can't, I'll leave before the duel, or my life will be in danger."
Jiang Liu planned his plundering scheme and then took the route to CD.
He possessed remarkable stamina, and instead of traveling by carriage or boat, he measured the ground solely with his own two feet. Furthermore, he had consumed the spirit mushroom, the very essence of the immortal spirit, and was taking this opportunity to refine it.
When he arrived in Badong, not only was his damaged foundation repaired, but his cultivation also reached the sixth level of Refining Essence into Qi. Thinking of the scenery of the Three Gorges, he bought a small boat and traveled up the Three Gorges.
Going against the current, the river flowed with remarkable ease. Admiring the perilous scenery on both banks, the only sounds were the rushing water and the cries of monkeys. Passing Shutan and Jiantan, it is said that this is where Lü Dongxuan, the founder of Wudang Mountain, hid the Heavenly Book and the Ancient Sword. We also saw the Kuimen Pass, where a Taoist saint rode a green ox backwards. This section of the waterway is a series of gorges within gorges, with large gorges enclosing smaller gorges, and large shoals swallowing small shoals.
After passing the Three Gorges, a short distance further on, you will reach the Sichuan Plain.
Jiang Liu spent a day wandering around CD Prefecture. The next day, he strolled out of the city and walked into a grove of trees. Suddenly, he saw a corner of a pink wall peeking out from the green shade, and a temple was faintly visible.
Jiang Liu didn't care whether it was the righteous path or the evil path; as long as he had a clear conscience, that was enough.
As I slowly walked towards the temple gate, I suddenly heard the sound of bells on the main road and the rapid clatter of hooves. In the distance, I could see dust billowing as more than ten riders arrived in the blink of an eye. The group of riders numbered about thirteen or fourteen; one was dressed as a Taoist, while the rest were dressed as laymen, and they all looked extremely fierce. Each of them carried a bundle on their back, which seemed to conceal weapons.
The temple gate was originally closed, but when this group of people arrived in front of the temple, a big man flicked the end of his whip and struck the temple gate three times. In a short while, the temple gate was opened.
Jiang Liu followed behind and looked up. He saw that the temple was very grand and solemn, with six large golden characters on the temple gate plaque: "Imperial Construction of Ciyun Zen Temple".
Who are you?
A senior monk inside the gate, noticing Jiang Liu's unfamiliar face, blocked his path and asked him a question. However, since Ciyun Temple was inviting heroes and sword immortals from all over the world to compete with Emei, he dared not offend them easily and only asked politely.
Jiang Liu cleared his throat and announced the title he had prepared beforehand: "The Swordsman of the South China Sea, Ding Yin..."
Just then, a tall, dusty monk walked in from outside. This monk was short and stout, with a fierce appearance, wearing a fiery red robe and carrying an iron staff.
He looked at Jiang Liu again and again and asked, "Is this the hero who, last month, used lightning to pick immortal herbs on Mount Jiuhua and injured Lady Miaoyi's two children?"
"You know me?" Jiang Liu frowned slightly. This information was definitely not good news. According to him, he had completely fallen out with Emei.
The fierce-looking monk laughed loudly, "I just came from Jiuhua Mountain. I also heard thunder that day and vaguely saw you controlling lightning. I wasn't sure just now, but you looked somewhat familiar. It really is you! By the way, I am Fayuan, also known as the Golden-Bodied Arhat. Come, come... come with me! With your thunder magic, we have another powerful opponent in our battle against Emei. We will make sure they don't leave alive!"
Jiang Liu rolled his eyes and thought to himself: In the end, some will die, some will be injured, and some will escape. You little bosses in this Ciyun Temple dungeon, don't give experience to the Emei juniors so often!
The Golden Arhat Fayuan had been working tirelessly for this magical duel. When the many heretical cultivators from Ciyun Temple saw him leading a young man in, they introduced him one by one. Jiang Liu also demonstrated his lightning magic, and the group acknowledged his strength. Ding Yin of the South Sea became known to everyone!
Jiang Liu noted down the names of the group of people. Among them, he was more familiar with the monk Zhitong, a disciple of the Taiyi Hunyuan Patriarch of the Wutai School, who was also the abbot of Ciyun Temple.
The handsome, fair-faced Buddha Yu De is a disciple of the Yunnan Western Sect Master, Venerable Dulong. His magic weapon is the "Mother and Child Yin Soul Deadly Red Sand," which is the treasure of Venerable Poison Dragon. No matter how powerful a sword immortal or knight-errant is, as long as he gets a little bit of it, he will either die or fall into a coma.
There is also Long Fei, the Seven-Handed Yaksha of Fei Lei Cave in Wuyi Mountain, who is the elder brother of Long Hua, the Lion King of Guiyuan Temple on the Golden Summit of Jiuhua Mountain. He and Zhi Tong were originally fellow disciples. After the death of his master, the Taiyi Hunyuan Patriarch of the Wutai Sect, he joined the White Bone God of the Divine Demon Cave in Lushan Mountain and forged twenty-four Nine-Child Mother Yin Soul Swords. His strength is not bad either.
The rest were of limited strength. Among them were the notorious bandits of Sichuan: Flying Centipede, Master Duobao, Jin Guangding; Unicorn Python, Ma Xiong; Water-Dividing Rhinoceros, Lu Hu; and Sea-Disturbing Silver Dragon, Bai Xu. Also, the temple's Four Vajras, Mighty Vajra Iron Palm Monk Huiming; Invincible Vajra Sai Damo Huineng; Multi-Armed Vajra Little Nezha Huixing; Multi-Eyed Vajra Little Fire God Huixing, and so on.
The Ciyun Temple was in a terrible state; as night approached, various groans and moans could be heard from the different meditation rooms.
Jiang Liu shook his head and sighed inwardly: "For this sword fight, Emei has brought the two elders of Songshan, Zhuiyun Sou and Ai Sou Zhu Mei, as well as the Drunken Taoist and the Bearded Immortal Li Yuanhua. In addition, the Blissful Child is about to arrive. It will only take a minute to destroy Ciyun Temple! If it weren't for my coveting the Xuanpin Pearl of the Green-Robed Ancestor, I would have gone as far away as possible from here."