Li Qiuchen had no idea that the government pursuers behind him were so dutiful and conscientious. He had already left their aggro range, yet they still refused to give up, determined to root out evil completely and arrest an old devil like him.
He slept so deeply that heaven and earth might as well have gone dark; when he woke again, he had no idea what time it was.
The medicinal power of the Spirit-Gathering Pill had finally been fully digested, and his cultivation had once again improved.
Mohe Zhenren’s true cultivation had at least been at the consummate stage of the Qi Refining realm, perhaps even at Foundation Establishment. Li Qiuchen had no idea what level he had specifically reached, because what he had seen was only the battle-damaged version.
Even so, Mohe Zhenren’s strength had been far above his own. If not for the white crane’s cooperation, as well as the various schemes he had fallen prey to, Li Qiuchen would have had no chance of victory in a head-on confrontation.
Even in that utterly exhausted state, the residual life energy within Mohe Zhenren’s body had still benefited Li Qiuchen immensely, directly allowing him to complete another five heavens of his Dragon Court Thirty-Three Heavens. He was now at the eighth heaven.
He estimated that as long as he took one more Spirit-Gathering Pill, he would be able to rise to the tenth heaven and enter the middle stage of Qi Refining.
But in the short term, he really did not want to try again. The medicinal effect was far too tyrannical; cultivating with it felt like being tortured.
No matter how delicious braised pork was, if you were forced to eat ten jin of it in one sitting, you would not be able to take it.
Even your farts and diarrhea afterward would be slick with oil.
The white crane was not around. Who knew where it had run off to play this time? They had returned in such a hurry that they had not managed to bring back much food. Given that stupid bird’s nature, it was probably fighting all sorts of mud snails and crabs by the river.
Li Qiuchen took out the gains from this trip from his bracelet.
First was the jade pendant gifted to him by the Mountain God Jiang Tingyue, along with two bottles of Spirit-Gathering Pills, twenty pills in total. He and the stupid bird each had one bottle. The stupid bird had eaten one pill, while he himself had already eaten two.
Next was the equipment that had dropped from Mohe Zhenren—a magical treasure made up of a complete set of twenty-four prayer beads.
This thing hurt like fucking hell when it smashed into someone.
Although Li Qiuchen had not had much sense of pain at the time, he had still been struck dizzy, with stars bursting before his eyes.
The prayer beads were extremely heavy in the hand. Each one weighed at least two or three jin, and all twenty-four together weighed more than sixty jin.
If he had not had a storage bracelet, Li Qiuchen would never have picked them up even if someone beat him to death.
If they were merely heavy, then any random rocks dug up in the mountains would be heavier than them.
Their true method of use was to be offered up so they flew into the air, then shot out like cannonballs to smash into people.
But Li Qiuchen had not mastered the incantation for controlling this kind of magical treasure. In his hands, they were honestly not much different from bricks.
After playing with them in his hand for a while, Li Qiuchen suddenly felt that these prayer beads, made of some unknown material, carried a familiar scent.
He activated his eye technique and fixed his gaze on them, only to see that in the center of each bead was embedded a xuan pearl the size of a grain of rice.
So that was it!
No wonder xuan pearls could sell for such a high price. So these xuan pearls taken from stone mussels could be considered a type of earth-and-stone-attribute material for refining artifacts!
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that he had so many xuan pearls on hand. If he mastered the method of artifact refinement in the future and refined himself a set of powerful magical treasures, how awesome would that be?
Using them by embedding them in prayer beads to smash people—what kind of waste was that? What a reckless misuse of precious things!
People truly could not imagine things they had never seen before. With Mohe Zhenren’s horizons, he could only use magical treasures of this level.
If it were me, just watch how I’d play with them.
Unfortunately, there was no switching places.
Learning. He had to learn! Li Qiuchen now longed infinitely to study and improve.
Filled with emotion, he walked out of the mountain stream, but he did not see the white crane anywhere. The sky was filled with drifting white clouds as well, with no trace left behind by any flying bird.
With nothing to do, Li Qiuchen decided to tend to his medicinal garden.
With the bonus from the Medicine Master’s Blessing, there was no need to consider whether the herbs he planted could survive. They simply grew madly.
The hundred-year-old nightshade tree he had transplanted before was once again covered in fruit after he returned from this trip. Moreover, the nightshade fruits this time looked even rounder and fuller, like black plums tinged with a faint trace of red.
Li Qiuchen plucked the fruit that looked the ripest and stuffed it into his mouth. It was sweet upon entry, without the slightest sourness or astringency left.
The good news was that the fruit was becoming more and more delicious.
The bad news was that its toxicity was gone.
Toxins were actually not a very clearly defined concept.
Just like chocolate. Humans ate it and were fine; dogs ate it and could die.
Would you say chocolate counted as a deadly poison?
The fruit produced by a nightshade tree over a hundred years old contained trace amounts of toxins that could create hallucinogenic effects.
Now, Li Qiuchen could no longer feel the effects of these toxins at all. He was not too sure whether he had tamed the nightshade tree through cultivation, or whether he had eaten his way into developing drug resistance and his body no longer rejected it.
Perhaps both factors were involved. Later, he could catch a few small animals and conduct an experiment.
As for the other herbs, quite a few had already grown to the point where they could be harvested. According to the records in Jingyunzi, they could be used to compound medicines and provide assistance for his body tempering and cultivation of eye techniques.
Very steady.
Everything was stable and improving. Li Qiuchen was extremely happy.
But his good mood did not last long.
Tending to the medicinal garden took two hours. Seeing that the sun was about to set and the white crane still had not flown back, Li Qiuchen finally felt that something was not right.
It was not yet the season for migratory birds to move. Even if the stupid bird wanted to leave, it would not leave without saying a word to him, would it? Its pills were still with him.
Could something unexpected have happened?
…………
At the foot of the mountain, the young general slowly lowered his Condor-Shooting Bow and coldly watched as the white crane soaring at the edge of the sky was struck by an arrow and fell.
Behind him, all was silent.
After hesitating for a long while, the deputy general leaned close to the young general and reminded him in a low voice, “Young Master, that was a crane.”
“I’m not blind.”
“The Bai family…”
“Do all the cranes in the three prefectures and twenty-one counties under the entire Heishui Garrison Office have the surname Bai?”
“It is still inappropriate, in the end…”
“What is inappropriate about it?”
The young general said expressionlessly, “I am carrying out military duty, sweeping away heretics and demons in the countryside. That wild crane spied on us again and again. Did it think I wouldn’t notice just because it stayed far away? Does the Bai family’s face have the right to stand above the Garrison Office?”
These were words spoken in anger.
They had gone deep into the mountains for many days, yet had not found any trace of that devil. The young general had long been holding back a bellyful of fire.
Casually shooting down that wild crane circling on the horizon was nothing more than venting his emotions.
After the deputy general’s reminder, although he felt somewhat regretful, he was young and proud after all, and could not bring himself to lose face in front of his subordinates.
The Bai family? Roaming north and south, slaying demons and defending the Dao—what an impressive reputation.
If they truly came to his door to demand accountability, he would have an explanation.
There were no obvious markings on it. Who knew it was your Bai family’s flesh and blood?
“Withdraw.”
Seeing that the sky was already late and that continuing forward would not yield any clues, while the soldiers under his command were all somewhat exhausted, the young general finally developed the intention to retreat.
He turned his horse around and cast his gaze toward the Song brothers, who had been following within the group all this time, their faces filled with confusion and terror.
“The identities of you two are in doubt. Follow me back to the county first so your true identities can be verified. If you are truly honest commoners, would you be willing to enter my army in the future?”
The two Song brothers exchanged a glance, came to their senses, and hurriedly knelt down to kowtow. “Many thanks for your appreciation, General. We brothers are willing!”