At the foot of Wuliang Mountain lies Liaoyin Temple.

Not long after Li Mu used the Elixir-Collecting Technique to collect the Qinglin Pill, the fake monk returned, clean and refreshed.

“Brother Li, now that the poison has been completely cured, I feel much better. Thank you for saving my life. I will do my best to help you whenever needed.”

Upon entering, the head monk clasped his hands in a fist salute and performed a martial arts greeting to Li Mu.

In terms of age, I am worthy to be Li Mu's grandfather; in terms of the life-saving grace, Li Mu is like a second parent. Considering both, it is not an exaggeration to call him brother.

"No need for such formalities, Venerable Monk. Just tell me where the jade pendant came from."

Li Mu felt a bit uncomfortable when the big monk called him brother. That old rascal was really wicked; wasn't he making him sound old?

"I will tell you the details of the jade pendant now. However, Brother Li went to great lengths to remove the poison from it for me, so please allow me to treat you to a meal to express my gratitude. Brother, please wait a moment while I get some snacks to go with the wine, and we can chat while we eat."

Before long, three bowls of game meat and one bowl of stir-fried wild vegetables were served, and the snake and scorpion wine was poured. The old man and the young man began to drink together.

Li Mu took a sip of wine, which was tolerable, but the marinated meat was unpalatable; it was so salty it would kill anyone who bought the salt, and he immediately spat it out.

"Bah!"

The senior monk watched as Li Mu spat out the meat, then tasted a bite himself and spat it out as well.

Previously, I lost my sense of taste due to poisoning. Now that the erysipelas has been cured and my sense of taste has returned to normal, this cured meat can no longer be served with alcohol.

The senior monk wanted to get some more fresh meat, but Li Mu stopped him. The two of them then started drinking and chatting over a bowl of wild vegetables.

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After several rounds of drinks, the monk Liaoyin began to recount his experiences.

The senior monk's real name is Tan Li. He is only in his early sixties, but he looks seventy or eighty years old because he has been suffering from erysipelas for a long time.

He had been taught martial arts by a wandering monk since childhood, and perhaps due to his innate intelligence, he had already reached the peak of the Xuan Realm by his early thirties.

After encountering a bottleneck in martial arts, he began to search for opportunities everywhere. Twenty years ago, in a blessed land, he accidentally obtained a few bottles of pills and a jade tablet.

After consuming the pills, he quickly broke through to the Earth Realm, and thereafter continued to cultivate by consuming pills.

About fifteen years ago, the senior monk inadvertently discovered the affair between the monk Qiaodan of Shizhong Temple and a certain Taoist nun, and was subsequently hunted down by him for three years.

The monk Qiaodan only stopped when the senior monk disappeared into the mountains.

After settling down in the mountains, the head monk devoted himself to cultivation, relying on the remaining elixirs.

Ten years ago, he broke through to the peak of the Earth Realm, but he was unable to break through the bottleneck to the Heaven Realm. Even after consuming all the pills, it was to no avail. In the end, he even ended up suffering from pill poisoning.

After hearing this, Li Mu couldn't help but sigh.

Most cultivators live relatively simple lives. If resources are plentiful, they basically spend their time cultivating, breaking through, cultivating again, and breaking through again.

Without cultivation resources, one will spend the entire time searching for them and striving for breakthroughs, which may involve many hardships that are difficult to explain to outsiders.

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“Brother Li, now that you have helped me, I am relieved. From now on, there will be no more Monk Yin in this world, only me, Tan Li.”

Perhaps the monk was being hunted and was filled with fear, or perhaps he had been tormented by erysipelas for too long. He spoke from the heart, and after finishing his words, he smashed the small dining table to pieces with a single palm strike.

"Master Liaoyin is here, an old friend has come to visit. Hahaha!"

However, no sooner had the head monk finished speaking than a discordant sound came from outside the door, causing the head monk to instantly blush.

The senior monk was about to spring up, wanting to see who was so insensible, coming to contradict him after he had just said there was no more cause in the world. The person had already arrived at the door.

"Oh! Who do we have here? It's Fellow Daoist Tu visiting. I'm so sorry for not welcoming you properly. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The senior monk recognized the newcomer as Tu Daoyou, whom he had met a few times before, and who was carrying two large bundles.

This guy is quite perceptive; according to past practice, he's here to deliver a gift to our family.

The person who came here was Tu Houhong, a martial artist enshrined by the Chen family. He really didn't know that Li Mu was here and didn't recognize him at first.

Tu Houhong saw the broken bowl on the ground and the scattered meat, and for a moment he was confused about what was going on.

"I was unaware that Master had distinguished guests here, and I have come uninvited. It is truly presumptuous of me. Please forgive me, young friend."

Tu Houhong left the baggage he had given to Master Yin, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and politely greeted the two again. However, after seeing Li Mu's face clearly, his eyes sharpened, but then returned to normal.

Upon seeing the visiting guest, Li Mu sat to one side without moving. The man seemed to speak politely, but it felt very deliberate.

When this fellow Daoist Tu saw him clearly, his eyes changed, and Li Mu immediately thought of a possibility: this person knew him.

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Tu Houhong did recognize Li Mu. The person he was trying to contact his allies to deal with had actually appeared here. Could it be that Li Mu was also here to recruit allies?

“Since Master Liaoyin has distinguished guests to entertain, then I will descend the mountain now and visit again another day.”

When the senior monk saw that Tu Houhong was about to leave, he politely tried to persuade him to stay, and then gestured for him to leave the mountain.

This person, who has a powerful patron in the world, is despicable in itself. The reason we have some dealings with him is because he is shrewd in the ways of the world and knows how to conduct himself.

Tu Houhong was in a hurry to go down the mountain for his own reasons. You Long's disappearance was related to Li Mu, and he planned to stake out Li Mu on the way.

After Li Mu and Tu Houhong descended the mountain, they kept thinking about one question: How could this Fellow Daoist Tu know them when they had only just met?

Later, after Li Mu asked the monk for clarification, he realized that this person was actually a henchman of the Chen family, and that he could not be allowed to live.

"Great monk, please sit for a moment, I'll be right back."

Li Mu realized that since he couldn't keep this person around, he couldn't wait any longer. This person had already gone down the mountain for half an hour, and if he didn't chase after him now, it would be too late.

After chasing for only a few hundred meters, at the edge of my consciousness, about two thousand meters down the mountain, I found Tu Houhong sitting by a small mountain path.

Li Mu immediately understood Tu Houhong's purpose; he was probably waiting for him to pass by so he could ambush him.

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Li Mu used the Cloud Chasing Step and arrived at the place where Tu Houhong was waiting for him in just about five minutes. There was no one there.

For some unknown reason, the man started heading down the mountain again. Five minutes later, Li Mu finally caught up with Tu Houhong.

As the strategist of the Chen family, Tu Houhong had briefly considered several possibilities regarding Li Mu.

The simplest idea is that if he doesn't come after me, it means that Master Yin has not agreed to the alliance, and I can go up the mountain later to find Master Yin, promise him great benefits, and form an alliance.

If they come after you, it doesn't necessarily mean they've formed an alliance with Master Yin; it's very likely they've already learned about you through Master Yin.

Now that Li Mu has caught up with us, Master Yin might also be here. Since we've run into each other, we need to finish this quickly. So he asked directly.

"Li Mu, where is my disciple You Long?"

"You mean that Brother Long? I killed him. But while you treated him as your disciple, he might not see you as his master. I promised him that if I met you, I would avenge him."

After Li Mu finished speaking, he took out a short knife from his ring.

"You actually killed my disciple, so pay with your life!"

As soon as Tu Houhong finished speaking, he saw Li Mu magically produce a short knife. Then, looking at the ring on Li Mu's hand, his eyes lit up with desire. Could this be the legendary storage ring?

The revenge for killing one's son must be taken, and getting a storage ring afterward wouldn't be bad either.

This person must be killed now, and there is no time to wait. Immediately, he shook his hands, and a hidden blade appeared in his right hand, while his left hand held a death nail.