Chapter 18 Can't we just have some peace and quiet back in this wretched place?! ...

"You're asking where Taotie went? Oh, well..."

The lion looked to the left and then to the right, but never looked at the little zombie.

Suddenly, he caught a wisp of dust in the corner of his eye and quickly said, "There! There! The Taotie is clearly right behind you, you just didn't see it..."

The little zombie turned around, its eyes lighting up.

He immediately picked up Taotie and tried to stroke it by bending his wrists until Taotie rubbed its face against him, at which point he stopped this very joint-wracking action.

The Suanni glanced at the little zombie's face, then looked at the Taotie with its belly sticking out, snorted twice, and swished its tail as it walked away.

He planned to go and see the family of three.

When Suanni left the house, he grabbed a pile of spirit pills and poured a few bottles into the mouths of the couple before turning back to find the little zombie. But later, the woman came running back, covered in injuries, and then her injuries worsened. He didn't know how she was doing now.

The Suanni had excellent hearing; he could hear the woman speaking from a great distance.

"How is the child?"

The man's voice was very weak, and he spoke haltingly, "It was him... who saved you. He's... alright."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. It's good that you're alive."

“They brought a lot of medicine... I used some on you... Your injuries are not serious, but I'm afraid you won't be able to cultivate anymore in the future.”

The woman sighed, "It makes no difference whether I cultivate or not. I used the secret blood-coating array, but I'm afraid it won't do me much—"

The next second, she exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? The formation has dissipated? Could it be...?"

The man interrupted her, as if shouting the words with all his might: "It would be better if all those heartless bastards were dead! No one would be watching you and cough cough, you and Niannian anymore!"

The girl whose name was called asked softly, "Father, Mother, what are you talking about?"

Listening to the couple talk about their future plans, Suanni glanced back at the location of the little zombie and Taotie, then changed direction and continued forward.

There is a stream in these mountains, and when the stream flows out, it will merge into a river.

Four hundred years ago, the river water was sweet and clear, but after a down-on-his-luck cultivator came, within just one year, there were no fish or shrimp in the river, and later even the aquatic plants stopped growing.

The situation has worsened in recent decades. It's alright in winter, but when the weather gets hot, the river water emits a strange, fishy smell that's unpleasant to smell.

Although Suanni only passed through the vortex a minute or two earlier than the little zombies, he had already been in this world for almost fifty years.

He wasn't as lucky as the little zombie. When he first arrived, he was thrown to the other side of the continent by the vortex. After finally finding a clue to that energy, he had to travel over mountains and valleys to find it.

Suanni had heard and seen a lot along the way. Thinking of the river filled with resentment and blood, and the human cocoons made by women in the dark pavilion, he couldn't help but snort a few times.

"Serves you right."

The moonlight, like water, draped over the mountain like a veil.

The stream babbles gently, and the occasional splash of water lands on the bright red fish tail, like a few sparkling pearls sprinkled on it.

The boy frowned slightly, his eyes filled with sorrow. He sighed softly, his black hair cascading down like a waterfall, making him look like a water sprite...

Then the elf was slapped into the water.

"ah!"

Although he is a fish, he can turn into a human at night. He can't turn into a human now because of an old injury to his tail. Startled by the Suanni, he buried his face down in the stream and choked on the water.

Once he finally managed to climb onto the rocks on the shore, he glared angrily at the brown kitten in front of him and said, "What are you doing!"

Suanni squatted down and glanced at him sideways: "Can you please save your overflowing sympathy? They've already tormented you like that, what are you still feeling sad about?"

The boy felt embarrassed when his secret thoughts were exposed.

He stammered, "Well, not everyone..."

Suanni rolled its eyes dramatically: "Yeah, yeah, they're good people. We were just being presumptuous by saving you. You're such a freak fish, tsk tsk, you're really embarrassing."

The boy was initially ashamed of what he was being told, but when he heard the last sentence, his expression changed instantly.

He looked at the Suanni warily: "Who are you!?"

Those human cultivators have studied him for so many years and all they know is that his blood has miraculous effects. They haven't figured out his true form or real name at all, but this cat recognized him.

The boy tensed, his face cold: "You saved me, I will repay you, but if you want to use this to blackmail me—let go! Let go!"

The Suanni conjured a ring of fire around the boy's fish tail, lifting him into the air while brandishing its claws at him: "I'm going to blackmail you, how about it?"

The boy remained silent.

After waiting for a while, Suanni sensed something was wrong and shook its cat tail.

The flames dissipated, and the boy who had been thrown onto the grass lay there for a long time before finally getting up. He curled up his fish tail and sat with his back to the Suanni without moving for a long time.

Suanni leaned closer to take a look and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, you're crying!"

The boy was already angry, and upon hearing this, he became even more enraged and pounced on the Suanni. However, his legs were still shaped like a fish, so his agility was limited. After pouncing for a long time, he not only failed to touch a single hair on the Suanni, but also got covered in mud.

The Suanni was still leaping back and forth rapidly: "Come on, come on, again!"

Seeing the smug look on the Suanni's face, the boy's composure crumbled.

Just then, a child's voice rang out from not far away: "Ouch?"

The boy immediately straightened up, his tail concave into a stiff arc due to nervousness.

The boy didn't care about the Suanni anymore. He quickly used his clean wrist to wipe the mud off his face, but in his panic, he not only failed to remove the mud but also made his whole face dirty.

The footsteps grew closer, and his expression visibly tightened until he could only bow his head and say, "Thank you so much for your help, sir. I don't know how I can ever repay your life-saving grace..."

However, no one answered for a long time.

The boy was in a state of turmoil. He slowly looked up and saw a body missing an arm.

...And it didn't even have a head on its neck.

"No, no, that piece is crooked, it's not spelled like that."

The boy turned his head with difficulty, as if stuck, and saw a ball of fur and a cat lying on the ground fiddling with something.

He knew he shouldn't ask, but he couldn't resist his damned curiosity.

"What...are you doing?"

Suanni turned around and glanced at him, then said happily, "That's right, your hands are more convenient. Come and help me."

Then the boy saw the cat carrying a head in its mouth walk up to him.

In his horrified gaze, the head with its neck broken into small pieces turned over on its own, its eyes rolling around wildly, staring at him before blinking at him.

"Hey, what are you standing there for?" Seeing that the boy hadn't moved for a while, the Suanni came over and slapped him with its paw.

However, the next second, the boy fell straight down and fainted.

The Suanni, Taotie, and the little zombie looked at each other, completely bewildered.

The boy was so frightened that he fainted, and coupled with the old injuries that had accumulated over the years, he wouldn't wake up for a while.

Suanni made the decision: "Let's just take him back. If he wakes up and wants to leave, we can talk about it later."

After bidding farewell to the human family of three, amidst the woman's reluctant gaze, the little zombie, carrying the Taotie and Suanni on his shoulders, holding his head in his hands, and with a fish in his mouth, jumped directly into the river where he had fallen in before.

The river rushed forward, and on the bank, the girl blinked: "Daddy, are all immortals like that?"

The man, holding his daughter, looked out at the river with a complicated expression: "...No, it should be this one who's more special."

"My mother said I can learn cultivation. If I become an immortal in the future, will I be able to become like him?"

The man imagined his daughter running around covering her head, and said with difficulty, "No..."

On this side, not long after the little zombie jumped into the water, a dark whirlpool appeared in front of him.

This whirlpool was unusual; despite having a diameter of nearly two meters, it didn't affect the direction of the water flow at all, only exerting a huge suction force on the small zombies.

The little zombie knew this was the way back, so it didn't struggle and simply floated along with its pull.

During this time, the Taotie and Suanni could easily cling to the little zombie's shoulders, but the red fish seemed to be subjected to a great repulsive force, and almost fell out of the little zombie's mouth several times.

The same thing that the fish received was the clothes on the little zombie.

The river water seemed to dissolve clothes; pieces of cloth were torn off and disappeared. In just a few seconds, his brand-new jacket dissolved into the water.

Seeing that the little zombie still wanted to chase after it, Taotie quickly popped its head out and shook its head frantically. Although Suanni had been stiff since entering the water, it also used its tail to tightly tie the little zombie's wrist.

The little zombie blinked and gave up struggling.

As you get closer to the center of the vortex, the repulsive force becomes stronger and stronger.

Even though the little zombie had tried its best, the red fish was still bounced off something the moment it passed through the vortex and flew outwards.

The little zombie leaped forward and snatched the red fish in its mouth, startling the Suanni Taotie into following suit.

So when a vortex emerged from that spatial rift, a small zombie and two furry balls were ejected like a string of candied hawthorns.

The Suanni released its grip and howled, "My tail!"

He looked back at the teeth marks on his tail, then at the exhausted Taotie, and could only sigh with difficulty.

A groggy voice sounded behind them: "Where is this...?"

[Ding—Gained repair energy (?/100)]

[Numerical conversion failed]

[Terrain repaired, energy overflow - Warning, energy anomaly! Warning buzzing -]

The ground trembled again, and the little zombie was shaken so badly that it could not stand up. It could only hug its head tightly and roll around with the sand.

The Suanni grumbled, "Can't this wretched place just be quiet for a while?!"

Taotie: "Awoooooo!"

Fish-tailed boy: "Aaaaaah, help, I'm going to vomit—"

Sand flew everywhere, blood mist churned, and chaos reigned.

Just as the four of them were being tossed around like beans in a pot, the space, which should have been about to fall into darkness, was suddenly illuminated.

A cold-colored light floated in mid-air, dispelling the red mist, like a sacred moon.

A note from the author:

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