Chapter 8. They came to dig for ginseng, but there was no payment for their labor...
"That's not right. I clearly poured in spiritual energy, so why didn't the formation activate?"
"The Firefly is sensitive to life. If you want to force it to start, you need to infuse it with spiritual power from the middle Martial Realm."
"Ying Sui?" The long-unheard title reached Li Qingyun's ears, and she paused for a moment. "Wait, can only be used by those at the intermediate Martial Realm?!"
"That's what Master said."
Chang Yubai was still nodding: "There's nothing we can do. That's how it is in Guanwu Continent. Even teleportation arrays bully the weak and fear the strong."
The Forest of All Spirits is covered by tens of thousands of giant trees, their branches intertwined and twisted, rendering human means of transportation completely useless here. Even newly opened paths are quickly overtaken by vegetation.
However, the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits has its own unique way of traveling, which is called "Flying Follows," a teleportation array unique to the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits.
As the region with the most array cultivators among the seven major domains of Guanwu, the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits has the most and most common uses for arrays, which almost permeate the daily lives of its residents.
The Firefly is the culmination of the local array cultivators' research on array formations. Not only are array formations engraved all over the branches of the giant tree, but it can also be activated autonomously. Only residents of the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits who have been certified by the Firefly can activate it.
Xiao Li Qingyun turned her head to the side, her expression changing repeatedly, but she managed to suppress the urge to curse.
Then, refusing to believe it, he placed his hand on the center of Ying Sui and activated his spiritual power.
"It really won't start..."
The complaint still slipped out of Li Qingyun's mouth.
"Those bastards!"
Li Qingyun cursed in a very low voice.
But what he thought was a low voice was nothing compared to Chang Yubai's level of skill.
"Xiaoyun?" he called out.
He had become increasingly adept at calling Xiaoyun. At first, he would only call her every two or three days, and after calling her, he couldn't help but look away, as if he had done something wrong.
Now I can read it out without any burden, and it even flows quite smoothly.
"Stop trying, if you keep trying, Ying Sui will..."
Before Chang Yubai could finish speaking, he quickly pulled Xiaoyun back.
At the same time, the firefly exploded, creating a large smoke ring.
"Who is causing trouble in Wumuqiong County?!"
A furious shout came from the top of the tree.
"Firefly! Why did it explode!"
"Someone must have tried to forcefully activate the Firefly, triggering a counterattack."
"Hmph, ignorant child! Not just anyone can touch the Fireflies of my Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits!"
Several cultivators huddled together, chattering away. Before them lay nothing but ashes, reduced to nothingness from the explosion, with only a few scattered fluorescent lights reflecting their former selves.
"Stop making a fuss." An old man flew over as well. "The fireflies are now destroyed. Do you know who started this mess?"
"This..." Only then did everyone realize that after the firefly was destroyed, no prisoners' bodies were left behind.
"This shouldn't be the case. The power of Ying Sui's self-destruction is something that those below the middle martial realm simply cannot withstand."
As for those above the intermediate martial arts realm? They're all that strong, so what's wrong with letting them use their skills!
"Hmph! I know, this is a provocation."
"Elder, there's been a lot of trouble in Shuque County lately. Did they hire some outside cultivators to do this?"
"Absolutely! The brutes of Shuque County act recklessly without considering the consequences, and now they're even targeting Ying Sui! It's outrageous!"
"Silence!" The elder tapped his scepter on the ground, and the group fell silent instantly.
"Why aren't you reconstructing the Firefly? When did the affairs of external enemies become your concern?"
The elder's words carried the weight of divine authority, especially when they concerned job responsibilities. The cultivators ceased their arguments and quickly returned to their duties.
The elder nodded, raised his scepter, and tapped it on the trunk of the giant tree beside him.
"Old man, did you see where they went?"
The leaves rustled and shook, all pointing in the same direction.
Chang Yubai: "Phew—thank goodness I ran fast, otherwise I would have been finished if the old man had gotten involved."
Li Qingyun: ...
I've lost count of how many times I've been picked up and run away.
It's not surprising at all.
"Old man? What old man?" Li Qingyun was able to answer the question without changing his expression.
"Elder Quanquan, a master guarding Muqiong County."
The key point is: "I can't beat them."
He came to the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits with his master back then. Elder Quanquan had just appeared when he got very close to his master. He could only hug himself and hide behind a tree trunk to watch. The scene was quite intense.
Although Master had just entered the Venerable Martial Realm at that time, Elder Quan Quan must have been at least at the peak of the Profound Martial Realm to be able to fight back against him.
He's only at the Martial Realm! He's a whole major realm short!
He's not Li Tiansheng; he could easily be killed if he challenged someone of a higher level!
Chang Yubai made a decisive choice to back down.
Li Qingyun: Very good.
He has a good understanding of his own limitations.
Was the elder who managed Muqiong County originally named Quanquan?
"Quanquan, Quanquan..." Li Qingyun repeated it several times, each time she said it with increasing force.
It turns out the old man's name was Quanquan.
Li Qingyun will never forget this.
Chang Yubai's heart skipped a beat: "No way? Xiaoyun, you don't have a grudge against Elder Quanquan, do you?"
That's what he asked, but Chang Yubai was already shouting in imitation of world-famous paintings.
"Enmity?" Xiao Li Qingyun snorted. "No."
Chang Yubai did not believe it.
Li Qingyun: "Cough!"
Then, she flaunted her soft voice: "Brother, let's not worry about whether the elders are complete or not, okay? Let's go over there. The favor I need from you is right ahead. Without your help, I definitely can't do it."
Chang Yubai: X﹏X
A change of expression in a second.
Time to get to work.
Waaah.
The two climbed over several giant vines and around several thick tree trunks before stopping at the foot of a swamp.
Chang Yu remained silent.
After a moment of silence, I suddenly realized.
"Brother, we..."
"Okay," Chang Yubai agreed immediately. "Leave it to me!"
After saying that, he ignored the mud stains that stained his white robe and jumped directly into the swamp.
Li Qingyun: !!!
Hey you big oaf! What are you doing?!
Li Qingyun stumbled and knelt on the edge of the swamp, her eyes wide open, unable to understand how she had forced someone to jump into the swamp before she could even finish a sentence.
Are you out of your mind?
Obviously not.
The bubbles in the swamp surged and nearly boiled, then suddenly burst at the center, and a figure emerged from the ground.
The chirping sounds appeared along with a human figure.
"Xiaoyun, your mandrake!" Chang Yubai exclaimed excitedly, "Where's the next one?"
Li Qingyun wiped the mud splattered on her face and said coldly, "Wait a moment."
Let me first explain what mandrake is.
Chang Yubai tied the ginseng, which could move and make noise, into a tight tortoise shell binding before quickly handing it to Li Qingyun.
Li Qingyun: "..." Where did you learn this technique that feels so familiar?
Does this seem right?!
"Xiaoyun?"
"Oh." Li Qingyun gave up; he decided to forget all his confusion.
But one thing must be mentioned: "How did you know I wanted this?"
“My master brought me here before. There are lots of mandrakes in the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits. We filled sacks with them last time.”
This thing isn't called Mandrake... Oh well, whatever makes you happy.
wrong!
Li Qingyun immediately became alert: "Why are you picking my... picking this... picking mandrakes!"
Xiaoyun's tone suddenly became impatient: "How much did you collect? Where did you collect it? What did you do with it? Did you sell it? Use it up? Is there anything left?"
Chang Yubai realized, "Oops, I misspoke. It's not 'before,' it's 'after.'"
Li Qingyun: "What exactly are you... um? What?"
Chang Yubai replied seriously, "We'll come to pick them later. Right now, none of the mandrakes in the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits have been touched."
"...Brother, don't lie to me." Li Qingyun's voice trembled, her small body stiffening. "You really don't lie to me..."
He knew that Chang Yubai often spoke carelessly, but this time was different. It involved something important to his life, so he couldn't just brush it off.
"I'm not kidding you, really."
Chang Yubai squatted down and looked him in the eye: "If I lied to you, then I'll be punished by spending my whole life digging for ginseng in the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits."
When he said this, Chang Yubai's eyes were so determined that he could lead an army to attack the Demon Lord.
Li Qingyun pouted: "What kind of punishment is that?"
But he believed it.
Because he discovered that Chang Yubai's excitement about "Mandelabra" only lasted three times. After the third time, when he dug up the ginseng, the man's face was more bitter than the medicinal food.
Ha, lazy dog.
Li Qingyun finally understood where Chang Yubai's sudden change of attitude came from.
It's purely because they don't want to work and want to protest.
If you're really that unwilling, why not just refuse? You didn't beg him... Hmm, it seems like I really did beg him.
"Why did you agree so readily when you were clearly unwilling? What's wrong with you?"
He increasingly failed to understand Chang Yubai's thought process.
Or perhaps... she actually succeeded in playing the victim, and the big, clumsy guy was just too proud to show it, but deep down he couldn't resist and was very eager to help her?
Wow, that's so perverted.
Li Qingyun's gaze became even stranger.
"Xiaoyun, the twelfth one."
Chang Yubai no longer cared about the mud splatters on his body.
The white robe was patched with black on the left and brown on the right, creating a very interesting color combination.
When he returned, Xiaoyun was still studying his mental cultivation manual.
"Master." Li Qingyun suddenly spoke, causing Chang Yubai to tremble involuntarily.
"How can one enter the Great Void from the Primordial Chaos?"
The way he addressed Chang Yubai was unconscious; he had long regarded Chang Yubai as his mentor, and when he asked the question, he involuntarily uttered his thoughts.
His question followed immediately after that "Master," leaving people speechless and unable to correct him.
Chang Yubai blinked, quickly packed up the ginseng in his hand, and went over to read the book with Li Qingyun.
"Qian Yuan is here, and Tai Xu is in this position. Just concentrate all your spiritual power in the position of Tai Xu."
“But I can’t do it,” Li Qingyun said.
The principle is easy to understand, but putting it into practice is incredibly difficult.
The gap between cultivators can only be bridged by talent. This is an inviolable rule in Guanwu, and it is difficult to change even if the heavens were to overturn it.
Chang Yubai: "Hand".
Li Qingyun obediently reached out her hand.
Warm, rough palms covered her small hands. The next moment, Li Qingyun felt scalding spiritual energy spreading throughout her body, and an invisible pressure was forcing the spiritual energy to surge into her Taixu Heart Aperture.
"Ugh..." This kind of training was still too painful, but Li Qingyun still endured it and didn't cry out too loudly.
This is a rare opportunity to pass on one's skills; I absolutely cannot waste it, I cannot...
“Like this.” Chang Yubai withdrew his hand.
"Hmm...hmm?" Li Qingyun realized something was wrong. Why was the spiritual energy in her body still boiling even though Chang Yubai had stopped transferring his power?
"How much power did you just transfer to me?" Li Qingyun was terrified. Would he explode and die?
"Hmm?" Chang Yubai asked, puzzled.
"Transfer of power? What kind of transfer of power?"
Surprisingly, Li Qingyun was not surprised by his answer at all, and her anxious heart instantly cooled down: "...Then what did you just do?"
Chang Yubai proudly said, "I used my spiritual power to threaten your body, making it obediently stay in the Great Void."
Li Qingyun: "Ha."
That's a really weird statement.
Which master teaches his disciple by force?
"Don't forget to meditate and regulate your body; it will take half an hour to finish."
Li Qingyun finally couldn't help but twitch her lips: "Okay."
Finally, as if to comfort himself, he added, "I won't ask you next time."
Asking is pointless.
A note from the author:
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Li Qingyun: Where did you get this unorthodox method from?
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