Chapter 16 If You Die, What Should I Do? If you die there, I…
"Hey, the promised mission rewards are coming soon—"
In the vast and boundless space of divine consciousness, the long, drawn-out shouts of talismanic chants echoed. The gray sky merged with the gray sea, and there were no other furnishings.
"Um... host, you're not awake yet, how can I distribute this?"
Suddenly, a tattered book with flapping wings popped out. Its cover was yellow with a hint of dark red, which looked quite out of place in the pure white space.
A sudden gust of wind swept in from afar, stirring up huge waves in Fu Ming's heart. This was a manifestation of his unstable soul at the level of consciousness.
Wait, how long did I sleep?
...
Fu Ming's consciousness floated and sank in the void.
After absorbing the demonic energy from the bones, his cultivation level increased again, and he was just one step away from breaking through. Rumbling thunder could be faintly heard above Changliu Mountain. However, his achievements were not enough, and advancing at this time would be too dangerous. His main body had to immediately go into seclusion to suppress the signs of a breakthrough.
Thus, Fu Ming's consciousness shifted to this severely injured clone, and he fainted due to damage to his soul.
"Are you awake?"
"It seems not."
The person beside Fu Ming answered his own question, his icy hand covering the side of Fu Ming's neck, giving him the feeling of being entangled and tightened by a giant snake in his sleep.
Perhaps due to his lingering injuries, his brows were furrowed, his eyes were red and moist, and he occasionally let out a rapid gasp.
Xiao Huaiyuan gently traced Fu Ming's facial features with his fingertips.
The soft flesh on his cheeks had receded, revealing sharp, assertive bone structure, and a mole on the tip of his nose that defied convention. — This clone was truly becoming more and more like his original self.
Fortunately, apart from him, most other people could not see these similarities, and he was the only one who could.
"Cough cough!"
Fu Ming's face suddenly slipped from his palm, his eyelashes fluttering violently. Accompanied by a low, hoarse cough, his amber eyes widened abruptly, and he finally awoke with a start.
Having just emerged from unconsciousness, Fu Ming felt as if he were immersed in a pool of warm water. Faint spots of light flashed before his eyes, and the air was filled with the calming scent of sandalwood. There was also a blurry figure very close to him, who remained silent.
Oh, it's Xiao Huaiyuan.
Fu Ming's mind slowly worked for a while before he realized that he had returned to the Sect Leader Peak.
A futon, a set of tables and chairs, and now a bed—the simple, even shabby, furnishings bring a sense of peace.
Xiao Huaiyuan's gentle spiritual energy enveloped his crippled body layer by layer, but his years of fighting instincts made his muscles tense, because Xiao Huaiyuan's hand was too close and placed on his vital points.
Fu Ming smiled and then lightly grabbed Xiao Huaiyuan's wrist.
"Why... do you keep your hands on my neck, Master?"
"Check if you still have a fever." Xiao Huaiyuan checked Fu Ming's temperature with a calm expression, as if he really had no ulterior motives towards him.
"It's good that you don't want to expel me from the sect. After all, I almost fell into demonic possession when I was at Tai Xuan Mountain. If my master kicks me out, I'll have no way to survive."
Fu Ming forced a rising tone into his resentful words, a clear test. The timing of his main body's appearance was too coincidental, inevitably arousing suspicion. He needed to ascertain Xiao Huaiyuan's attitude towards this matter. At most, the death of his clone would only result in the loss of part of his soul; if it fell into the hands of someone else and was captured by a soul-binding artifact, then his main body would also be under their control.
“Ming Chen”.
Xiao Huaiyuan's hand, which was touching his chin, tightened instantly.
"Um?"
"Have you ever thought about what I would do if you died there?"
What else can we do? Xiao Huaiyuan is still so young. He can take on another apprentice. There are plenty of young geniuses eager to fawn over him.
The dappled shadows of bamboo fell on the window frame, swaying in the breeze. It was probably afternoon outside, the air was cool, which made Fu Ming feel sleepy again. He yawned before slowly replying.
"Everyone must die eventually. If you can die a glorious death, then your life will not have been in vain. When you take on your second disciple in the future, Master, just remember to introduce me, your eldest disciple who died before achieving my goal."
The spiritual energy that had been soothing his pain suddenly turned bone-chillingly cold, causing Fu Ming to shiver involuntarily. Oh no, Xiao Huaiyuan didn't like hearing that. He blinked and began to try and smooth things over.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch—besides, I won't die, isn't that because you're here?"
Amidst the soothing smoke of incense, a knock at the door broke the tension between them, abruptly ending their unusually intimate conversation.
"Sect Leader, the elders want to discuss matters concerning Mount Tai Xuan with you and need you to go to Xingyu Peak to preside over the meeting."
The person who came was an acquaintance of Fu Ming's. Lin Han from the Supervision Department briefly introduced the meeting participants and location outside the door.
The existence of a demonic rift beneath the Tai Xuan Mountain mine has far-reaching implications. The various sects near the mine are all affiliated with the Tianyan Sect, and due to the production of black gold ore, they maintain close ties with peaks such as the Weapon Refining Peak and the Pill Refining Peak. If the elders of the Weapon Refining Peak and the Pill Refining Peak are aware of this and protect the mine, according to sect rules, they would likely be imprisoned on the Punishment Peak for a hundred years.
As the sect leader, Xiao Huaiyuan always put official business before personal matters. He immediately straightened his clothes, left Fu Ming with a ball of spiritual energy to repair his meridians, and then prepared to leave.
"Wait, take this."
Fu Ming quickly slipped two fragments into Xiao Huaiyuan's sleeve: one was a fragment of black gold ore, and the other was a piece of black rock of unknown origin. He hoped that Xiao Huaiyuan would understand his intention.
Fu Ming felt relieved as he watched Xiao Huaiyuan leave.
Senior Sister Lin Han, who had been putting out fires everywhere, finally saved Fu Ming from danger once again.
Without Xiao Huaiyuan's surveillance, Fu Ming no longer needed to worry about his image. He laboriously moved from the bed to the futon and began to regulate his breathing in a rather unrefined manner.
As soon as the spiritual energy flowed through his meridians, it caused a pain like being pricked by thousands of needles. Then, the spiritual energy ball left by Xiao Huaiyuan flowed out strands of spiritual energy, gently caressing his body.
Thus, Fu Ming endured the pain and circulated his Qi for one cycle. His meridians were now riddled with holes and extremely fragile. But every cloud has a silver lining. The raging demonic energy expanded his Qi Sea more than three times and opened several acupoints. His clone actually benefited from the misfortune and advanced to the late Foundation Establishment stage. He was only a little bit of luck away from breaking through to the Golden Core stage.
Forcibly drawing upon demonic energy within a body that had not yet fallen to demonic possession was a solution he devised in a critical moment to break the deadlock.
Since both demonic energy and spiritual energy can be absorbed by cultivators and transformed into true essence within their bodies, he could certainly borrow them. The danger of this method lay in the gamble that his soul, which had already been impacted by demonic possession, would not easily lose its sanity during the cleansing of demonic energy.
The cost was high, but the gains were also significant, and so far the results seem quite good.
Demonic energy and spiritual energy—what are the differences between them, and what do they have in common? It's truly intriguing. Fu Ming opened his palm, squeezing the ball of dark blue spiritual energy, making it sometimes round and sometimes flat, as if venting his resentment at someone in the distance.
After another cycle of meditation, Fu Ming suddenly felt as if he had forgotten something, and his heart felt empty and his mind was not clear.
Wait, I almost forgot about that.
His consciousness sank into the divine sense space. The merit points had been credited to his account. Where exactly were his cultivation resource rewards? Although the system was unreliable, it wouldn't give him an empty promise, would it?
Just then, the tranquility of the sect leader's peak was broken by short footsteps outside the door. Fu Ming quietly pushed open half of the bamboo window to peek at the activity behind the door.
"Upon hearing that my master's beloved disciple was unwell, he instructed me to come and visit him."
"You can leave your belongings here, but you don't need to stay. Junior Brother Ming, you won't see anyone. Please head back home."
Several more groups of people arrived, and Lin Han, who was guarding the door, refused them several times with similar words.
The visitors didn't stop for a moment until sunset. The gifts, with their elaborate outer boxes, had piled up into a small mountain. Fu Ming, who was used to being poor, was squatting by the door, counting them one by one.
Top-grade wound medicine, Heavenly Qi-Nourishing Pill, Kunlun Cold Jade and Thousand-Year-Old Ginseng with miraculous effects on warming and nourishing the meridians, and magical artifacts for calming the mind and suppressing inner demons—these are all priceless treasures.
But why are there beauty pills? That's strange.
"Hehe, how about it, host? The rewards for this mission are pretty good, right?" The system wandered around in Fu Ming's consciousness space, finally having a chance to show off in front of Fu Ming. It made Fu Ming apologize for always saying that it was useless!
"Sure, but wouldn't this be considered embezzlement and bribery in your civil service system?"
Unexpectedly, Fu Ming's words left the system speechless, and the crashed system could only cover its non-existent face and flee in panic.
"Uh, well, I guess it doesn't count..."
Fortunately, for Fu Ming, the heinous Demon Lord, these benefits were free money, and he wouldn't feel any guilt about taking them.
Fu Ming thought that with such conclusive evidence from Tai Xuan Mountain, it would be no problem to bring down the elders of the Refining Peak and the others. However, when the stars filled the sky, Xiao Huaiyuan still had not returned.
He circled around the summit of the sect leader's peak seven or eight times, and if he showed any sign of trying to descend the mountain, Lin Han would block his way.
Fu Ming helplessly spread out his empty hands and sighed.
"Senior Sister Lin, how much time has passed since we set off for Tianxuan Sect?"
"The sixth day."
"It's been six days already, please have mercy and let me out for some fresh air."
"No, the sect leader asked me to watch over you. He specifically instructed that you cannot go out now."
Logically speaking, he fully understood Xiao Huaiyuan's intentions. After all, for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to be exposed to someone with ulterior motives was no different from delivering food to someone's door. At least the sect leader's peak had a protective formation to ensure his safety.
On a purely emotional level, the fact that this ridiculous meeting has dragged on without any results must be because Xiao Huaiyuan is being held back by the powerful families who control Tai Xuan Mountain. If he misses this opportunity to bring down the Chen family, it will be much harder to find any leverage against them in the future. Therefore, he has to go.
Chen Chong, that incredibly ugly fat man, always hits people in the face. He's a man of honor who holds grudges.
"Lin Han, please let him go. I will personally take him to Xingyu Peak."
A deep, resonant voice rang out, and under the clear moonlight, the eight swords thrust out from behind him reflected a dazzling brilliance that could almost blind anyone.
Fu Ming turned around as if seeing a god descend to earth. He was moved to tears and replied.
"Elder Xu, are you finally going to settle the debt of ten thousand spirit stones for me?"
"Get out, get out, get out!"
A note from the author:
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