Chapter 288 Master, I Don’t Want to Leave

"Just shut up!"

Duan Chaolong turned around and glared at Liu Erniu with his bloodshot eyes. The words that the other party had not yet finished speaking were immediately choked back into his throat. He dared not say another word and returned to his previous timid appearance.

Duan Chaolong estimated the distance between himself and the black fog, and then looked inward to see how little spiritual power he had left.

After two days and two nights of continuous running, even though his body and spiritual strength could still hold on, his spirit had reached its limit.

I have to find a place to rest.

We flew forward for a distance and passed by many abandoned villages and cities.

Duan Chaolong was surprised to find that he actually saw people in a small town!

And there are also some fluctuations in the formation!

After thinking for a moment, he decided to go over and take a look.

Perhaps that is the safe area left by the Xiandao League, with special means of protection.

Pressing the flying sword, the master and disciple flew close to the ground and soon arrived outside the town.

Duan Chaolong looked inside and saw that the town was full of very elderly people.

They brought stools, held tea, and gathered in groups of three or four on both sides of the road, or simply sat on the ground under the shade of trees, chatting and talking comfortably.

Occasionally, they would burst into laughter when telling funny stories, and a few elderly people would choke a few times because they laughed too hard, which added fuel to the jokes.

Seeing the master and disciple coming on their swords, the old men just took a look, turned their heads and stopped paying attention, continuing to talk about their own things.

Duan Chaolong had a puzzled look on his face. He picked up the magic sword without knowing why and slowly stepped into the town.

The third-level evil-fearing formation?

As soon as he came in, he felt the sense of security brought by the formation and the smooth flow of spiritual power.

Even if the black fog that is everywhere in the air can be mostly blocked by the power of the Spiritual Vein Dragon, it will still place a great burden on the soul.

This is also the reason why Duan Chaolong, a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building, was overwhelmed after just flying the sword for two days and two nights.

Although he was extremely tired at this time, he still didn't dare to relax.

The whole town is weird!

Which good old man or old woman would not run away for her life when the world is ending, but stay here to die?

Is there a third-level evil-repelling formation that can make them feel more comfortable before they die?

Yes, at most it will just make you feel more comfortable before you die.

This level of formation can at most isolate some free secondary corrupted forces.

As soon as the concentration rises, it will be just a fragile glass ball that can be broken with a snap of a finger.

Liu Erniu followed his master timidly.

He had walked no more than seven or eight meters before he could no longer withstand the pressure from the gazes of the old men and was defeated.

He was originally from a farming family before he was taken away to practice Taoism.

When facing immortal cultivators, he had never seen such a casual mortal.

Even the old village chief who had passed the imperial examination was very respectful.

Liu Erniu couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, old man, the end of the world is approaching, why are you still here? Is it because the court here is not doing anything, or is it because the monks of the Immortal Dao Alliance find it troublesome?"

"My young immortal master, the imperial court has been very kind to us. In less than six months, a great immortal master known as Zhenren will come to personally take us away." The kind-faced old man puffed on his pipe. "But we are old, our legs and feet are not very strong, and we don't want to leave our homeland."

"That's right," another old man said. "We've toiled our whole lives, and we don't have many years left to live. We've been wandering around with the immortal masters, and we might die along the way. It's better to be buried here than to let that happen!"

"That's absolutely right."

"All those old coffin-filling people who didn't want to leave the surrounding area are now in Lijia Town!"

"The road to the teleportation array is extremely long, and we can't walk it with our legs."

"The great masters also left us a lot of food, as well as something called a formation in the center of the town. They said it could make us more comfortable. We don't understand it, but the great masters must be good people!"

"Hey, you know what? Finally, finally, I can enjoy the treatment of a master. Instead of working in the fields at noon, I can drink tea on the street. How comfortable it is!"

"Ahaha, that's right."

“.”

The old men and women were talking at once, and soon left the master and apprentice aside and started chatting among themselves.

Liu Erniu wanted to ask something else, but Duan Chaolong was already getting impatient.

"The black fog will catch up with us in half a day at most. Do you also want to stay here and wait for death?"

He snorted coldly, left a word, and walked away, heading straight towards the core of the formation in the center of the town.

The purifying power there is the strongest, and meditating and recovering near the core of the formation is the most stable.

Even though the people here are all weak mortals, Duan Chaolong still adheres to the principle of being cautious.

If it weren't for the fact that this genuine third-level formation was indeed extremely effective, he really wouldn't want to stay among these mortals to recover.

More people means a greater possibility of accidents.

Xiao Xiaoji, who has been cautious all his life, is well aware of the way to survive by protecting himself.

Coming to the core of the formation located in the middle of an open space in the center of the town, Duan Chaolong checked the formation's spiritual energy reserves. After confirming that everything was correct, he ordered his apprentice to protect it.

He sat cross-legged, activated a warning talisman, and then urged the dragon of the spiritual vein to restore himself with the pure spiritual power in it.

It’s not that he doesn’t trust his stupid apprentice.

But Liu Erniu is really a bit stupid.

If Duan Chaolong hadn't taken care of him, he would have died ten times in the past six months!

There are so many mortals sitting and chatting in the square now. If someone has a powerful crossbow with malicious intentions, it is entirely possible that he will seriously injure him while he is meditating and recovering without distraction.

Duan Chaolong was meditating to recover, while Liu Erniu shamelessly took out the magic sword given to him by his master and sat there blankly.

Perhaps it was the coming of the end of the world that made these mortals, who had long since let go of things, feel less awe towards cultivators and more curious about mysterious things.

An old man with elegant clothes and bright spirit actually took the initiative to sit down next to Liu Erniu, wearing a black official hat inlaid with precious gems on his head.

"Young man, you are not cultivators of the Immortal Alliance, nor are you serving in the imperial court. Why did you fly here from the south? Could it be that you missed the opening of the teleportation array due to your lack of time in cultivation?"

The uneducated Liu Erniu scratched his dark head and said with a hint of shame, "Master said that with our level of cultivation, we would be cannon fodder if we went to the front lines in the Far North. We came to the South to escape. But... I didn't expect it."

Upon hearing this, the old man burst into laughter and said, "You are quite honest, young man. I don't think you are an ordinary cultivator, but more like a kid from a rural farm."

Liu Erniu's eyes widened. "Old man, you are amazing! I was indeed still farming a few years ago! It wasn't until I was discovered by my traveling uncle that I embarked on the path of Qi Refining. But... but I still farm, but I farm spiritual fields, hehe."

"Just a bit of life experience, not that great." The old man smiled and shook his head. "But defending the country and the world is bound to result in heavy casualties. I once heard a court official say that the immortal way values ​​life, and it is only natural to be prudent and protect oneself. Who wants to die when they can live?"

Liu Erniu was stunned: "But you... and the old men and old ladies in this town..."

“When people get old, they always miss the past.”

The old man answered with a smile, his cloudy eyes revealing emotion and wisdom.

"Some people, like me, have seen the beauty of the world's prosperity and tasted the joys of high officialdom. Finally, I retired and returned to my hometown. Once I've settled down, I don't want to leave. It's hard to leave home, so there's nothing wrong with being buried in my hometown."

"But people like me are a minority after all. Those farmers have lived here for generations. What have they seen? Some people, or perhaps the vast majority of people here, aren't truly prepared to face death."

"They just can't leave."

"Our old bones are no match for the young and strong men, let alone the monks like you, and we can't stand the long journey."

"Rather than living in misery, dying midway, and then having to seek a living in a strange place, it is better to live a few comfortable days before death."

"After a lifetime of toil, being able to rest peacefully for half a year, eating as much refined rice and flour as you want, with chicken, duck, fish and meat every meal, is a rare blessing in this mortal world, a life like that of a god."

Liu Erniu stood up suddenly, his eyes widening, and his voice rising slightly: "Don't the Immortal Dao Alliance and the imperial court care? That was a decree issued by His Majesty the Dragon Emperor himself! This is... This is selling a job!"

"Hahahahahaha that's dereliction of duty, silly boy."

The old man laughed out loud, and laughed so hard that he fell backwards and slapped his thigh.

"Although I don't know how important the Dragon Emperor is, I can do the math for you."

"In the mortal world, a low-grade spirit stone is worth a hundred taels of gold. It is a priceless treasure."

"To support the elderly people in this town, let alone in just a few months, even in a year, it would cost less than a few dozen taels."

"And if we want to transport old guys like us who are probably not even capable of teleporting smoothly, we need a large immortal boat that only the immortal sect has, and it needs to be personally piloted by a Yuanying Zhenjun."

"At this time when our country is in dire straits, do you think the time wasted by Yuanying Zhenjun is worth half a low-grade spirit stone?"

"If True Lord Yuanying has time to save us old guys, he can create greater results in the war. This result is not only far greater than the lives of us old guys, but even greater than the lives of all mortals in Dayin."

"It is a great blessing that the kind-hearted Immortal left behind a formation to protect us during our final days."

"I know, it's against the rules."

"These spirit stones shouldn't be used on old guys like us. These spirit materials should be sent to the front line to build fortifications."

"So what's there to be dissatisfied with?"

"Be content."

Liu Erniu stood there blankly, not saying a word for a long time.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, the old man shook his head and left, going to have tea and chat with other people.

He just stood there silently, staring at the yellow earth in front of him, lost in thought.

After a few hours, the sun began to set in the west.

Duan Chaolong has completely recovered to his peak, but Liu Erniu is still standing there.

Seeing his silly apprentice turned into such a distraught ghost, Duan Chaolong, who was originally in a good mood, suddenly felt a pang in his heart.

broken!

There can’t be anything really wrong with this town!

"wake up!"

The spiritual power roared out along with the sound waves, which had a bit of the flavor of Buddhist mantras, and immediately woke Liu Erniu from that strange state.

Liu Erniu, his eyes no longer confused, suddenly shouted in the direction of the old man at noon: "Even if you have a lot of spirit stones, you can't bring the dead back to life! The lives of the people in this town are far more valuable than spirit stones! If there are no people, what's the point of the realm?"

The old man who was eating with a bowl in his hand was startled.

But he did not argue with Liu Erniu. He just smiled slightly and continued to fight with the noodles in his hand.

This move attracted a lot of onlookers.

I have seen many immortal masters who are high and mighty, but I have never seen one acting like this.

Duan Chaolong pulled him hard, causing him to stagger, and shouted angrily, "What are you crazy about?"

Who would have thought that the usually submissive Liu Erniu would suddenly kneel down without any warning and said angrily, "Master, I am an unfilial disciple and cannot support you in your old age! Please go on your own. I want to stay!"

"Are you fucking crazy?"

Duan Chaolong's eyes were full of disbelief, and he kicked Liu Erniu to the ground.

He felt a little broken inside.

I was just meditating and regulating my breathing for a while. Why did my usually obedient disciple suddenly become mentally unstable?

He grabbed Liu Erniu by the collar and pulled him up.

"The black fog will arrive in a day at most! Hurry and put the magic sword back and follow Master! Be obedient!"

"Master, I'm not crazy!" Liu Erniu said excitedly. "Master, you always taught me to be kind to others. You taught me that when you're poor, you should take care of yourself; when you're rich, you should help the world. There's a third-level formation here that can remove some of the black fog's power! If a cultivator were to personally control it, it might be possible to save these people."

"You're a fucking idiot!"

Did I teach you the principles so that you can use them like this now?

Duan Chaolong was almost mad with anger and roared angrily.

"With your rudimentary cultivation of the sixth level of Qi Refining, what can you control? You even think you can control a third-level formation? You're overconfident! If someone could be saved with just a broken formation, wouldn't a True Spirit Transformation Master understand? Why would a mere Qi Refiner like you need to worry about that?"

Liu Erniu stiffened his neck and loudly retorted, "What if it really is possible? What if those high-ranking Yuanying Zhenjun and Huashen Zhenzun just think it's more cost-effective to do so and don't want to waste their time?"

"Just now, while you were meditating and regulating your breathing, a very capable old man told me! These people should have had a chance to survive, but Yuanying Zhenjun didn't want to waste time, so they were forced to abandon them here!"

"How do you know that those great monks of the Immortal Dao League aren't deceiving us? They've already deceived us!"

P.S. Hey guys, I'm taking a day off tomorrow. Red Bean Paste Private Marseille! I'm not going to make up excuses, just be honest. I can't play Black Goku anymore, and I feel like ants are crawling on my body. I have no desire to write! Four years, four whole years of waiting! I've waited so long that I've gone from teaching students to being a social worker!

(End of this chapter)