Unclaimed spiritual energy of heaven and earth would stimulate the plant-life energy within his body into rampant, unrestrained growth. But the life energy inside Perfected Mohe’s body was much easier to tame.
To put it simply, it had been rounded out, warmed through, and raised to familiarity.
It had already gone from “fresh produce” to “cooked food.”
There was another, more important reason as well: at the moment Perfected Mohe died, the Apothecary’s Blessing on him had also transferred to Li Qiuchen, strengthening and raising the level of Li Qiuchen’s blessing once more.
If there had been a system, perhaps a notification would have popped up just then—your Apothecary’s Blessing has increased from Lv.3 to Lv.4…
Unfortunately, there wasn’t one.
But the benefits it brought Li Qiuchen were immediate.
The strengthened Apothecary’s Blessing greatly improved his control over life energy.
In the past, when this life energy accumulated inside him, it was like a bunch of deadbeat tenants. Only after he cultivated the Qi-Guiding Art did Li Qiuchen truly become the landlord and begin collecting rent from them.
Now that his blessing had strengthened again, not only had the rent gone up, he could also clearly itemize the charges, making rent collection more efficient and more justified.
This was the water and electricity fee, this was the heating fee, this was the depreciation fee for household appliances…
In the past, Li Qiuchen could only absorb the residual life energy within those on the verge of death, or those unconscious and gravely injured with no ability to resist. But now, he could directly kill and plunder—from fierce beasts and healthy living people alike, he could extract life.
The entanglement between him and Perfected Mohe just now had borrowed the medicinal power of the Spirit-Gathering Pill. Now that his blessing had been raised, even without taking pills, he could achieve the same effect.
Li Qiuchen sighed inwardly. This was truly taking great strides down the path of heresy and demonic ways, never to return.
His old ancestor Li Jingyun had repeatedly emphasized that the Apothecary’s Blessing had no distinction between good and evil; thoughts of good and evil existed only in the human heart. But just look at the effect after this Apothecary’s Blessing was strengthened. Was this right?
He could already devour people now. Li Qiuchen did not even dare think about what he might have to eat in the future.
The last time he took the Spirit-Gathering Pill, its medicinal power lasted for a full twelve hours. In other words, over this day and night, not only did he have to digest all the life energy he had absorbed, he also could not leave this place.
If those soldiers caught up to him, the consequences would be unimaginable.
If he had had any choice at all, Li Qiuchen would not have fought Perfected Mohe with his life on the line.
Who could have expected that stupid bird to ignore orders and insist on doing things its own way?
Li Qiuchen secretly made up his mind. Once this matter was over and they returned to the mountains, he would definitely give that stupid bird a good taste of punishment and make it learn its lesson.
If it remained unrepentant, he would pluck all its feathers, dry it in the sun, and turn it into emergency rations…
A night passed, and the morning sun once again illuminated the hill.
Perfected Mohe’s corpse—or rather, that ancient pine—had already withered and decayed, without the slightest trace of vitality remaining.
Li Qiuchen sat cross-legged beneath the tree. He had already preliminarily recovered his human form. Above his head, spiritual energy gathered into a multicolored vortex. With every breath he drew and exhaled, within a radius of one zhang around him, countless flowers and grasses took root and sprouted from the soil, growing lush and strong.
In just one night, these flowers and grasses had actually grown to more than two feet tall, submerging the tops of his feet.
The white crane came before Li Qiuchen with the final prayer bead in its beak. It glanced at him guiltily, then tiptoed off to the side and lowered its head to preen its feathers.
Li Qiuchen had a long dream.
Heavy snow filled the sky, and the entire world was wrapped in silver.
Amid those mountains buried beneath layers of ice and snow, there was hidden a divine temple filled with an ancient aura.
He followed those monks whose faces he could not see clearly, slowly ascending along the cold stone steps and walking into the temple.
Enshrined in the center of the temple was a statue of a deity three zhang and three chi tall, sitting barefoot in lotus position upon a lotus platform. Its face was neither male nor female, its six arms each held ritual implements, and its gaze was compassionate.
“Thus have I heard.”
“May immeasurable radiance shine upon countless boundless worlds, saving all sentient beings from suffering…”
“Gah! Gah!”
Li Qiuchen: “???”
He woke from the dream. The moment he raised his head, he saw the white crane’s claw pressed against his face, shaking him with all its might.
When a person had just woken up, it was very difficult for their consciousness to remain clear. They might even be unable to distinguish dream from reality.
Li Qiuchen spent several seconds before he fully came to his senses and realized that the stupid bird was trying to wake him.
“The government cavalry caught up?”
“Gah!”
Humans were creatures of double standards.
Before coming to Qingshitai, Li Qiuchen had been full of complaints about the government’s low efficiency, dragging their feet and refusing to send troops.
Now that he had left Qingshitai and saw the government troops being so devoted to their duties, he felt equally displeased.
You really did catch up?
How much silver do you get paid in a month? Is it worth risking your lives like this?
Li Qiuchen knew very well just how difficult the mountain roads were to travel, and he had even deliberately chosen little paths rarely used by people precisely to conceal his tracks.
He had not expected those government cavalrymen to still pursue him so relentlessly.
“If I explained to them now that I’m not a bad person, do you think they would believe me?”
The white crane looked at Li Qiuchen as if it were looking at an idiot.
Fine… I shouldn’t have asked.
Li Qiuchen lowered his head and looked at his current appearance.
The clothes he had just changed into had once again turned into beggar’s rags. It made him unable to help suspecting that if he took the Spirit-Gathering Pill again in the future, he might have to do it bare-assed.
Otherwise, whose decent clothes could withstand this kind of torment?
The most crucial problem was that the medicinal power within his body had not yet completely dispersed. Countless branches, buds, and roots covered him from head to toe, making him look like an oversized ginseng root.
But he had no choice but to run.
Li Qiuchen was not naive enough to think those government cavalrymen would be reasonable and understanding, especially with his current appearance, which was almost no different from those Apothecary believers.
He did still have a jade pendant that Jiang Tingyue had given him, but unless it came to the final moment, Li Qiuchen did not plan to use it.
Because it might not necessarily work.
Those were soldiers, not an official website. Did he think he could casually take out some token and they would recognize it at a glance and verify his identity information? What, did they have servers stuffed inside their heads?
If someone really had abilities that impressive, what couldn’t they do? Why would they bother coming to the countryside to suppress bandits?
The best method, of course, was to have Jiang Tingyue appear in person and prove his identity.
And the mountain where he was now, by rough estimation, should not be too far from Jiguan Mountain.
Li Qiuchen stood up with difficulty, pulled off the roots and shoots on his body, then turned his head to look down the mountain.
The sea of trees was lush and verdant. He could not see anything.
But the stupid bird would not go so far as to deceive him. Since it had given a warning, that meant the other party was already not far away.
After taking the Spirit-Gathering Pill, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of a hundred zhang would be stirred. In the eyes of someone observant, this was the most obvious target.
Whether those soldiers had noticed or not, it was better for him to leave first.
After moving his stiff body a little, Li Qiuchen once again set foot on the road of escape.
A person had to know their own limits.
As long as one was alive, there was hope. Once dead, there was nothing.