Chapter 50: A chaotic scene with companions, children, and grandchildren.
The talisman on his forehead did not affect Ji Mingran's vision. In fact, it would not have affected his ability to find his way in the first place, since there was only one road under his feet, winding and turning, leading to who knows where.
"Luckily, you guys were with me. At least I had company along the way, don't you think?"
Ji Mingran said cheerfully to the paper figures on his left and right.
"..." The paper effigy remained silent, only stiffly hopping and skipping alongside her.
"I really miss it," Ji Mingran said sincerely.
Just now, she inexplicably felt a sense of sorrow, as if she had returned to the end times, and she was trying to calm her emotions through the sect's jade tablet and the inheritance in her mind.
I didn't want to open my eyes and see two paper effigies. The familiar sight immediately pulled my wandering thoughts back, bringing me back to my senses.
There are no paper effigies in the apocalypse; these are things only found in Boss Jiang's coffin shop. Memories of working at the coffin shop flooded his mind, and the lingering gloom and melancholy were completely washed away by a sense of longing.
Walking alone was boring, so she decided to let the paper effigy accompany her. Although the paper effigy was conscious, it couldn't speak, and its power was far inferior to those in Boss Jiang's coffin shop. It could only obediently follow her on her journey.
Ji Mingran felt that he had been walking for a long time. The number of corpses on both sides of the road gradually decreased, and the roadside became empty. On the barren slopes, a few graves appeared sporadically.
Finding the nearest burial mound, Ji Mingran sat down, his chin resting on his cane, his gaze fixed ahead: "What do you think, should I leave or not?"
Unlike the dim night sky that still retains a sliver of hazy moonlight, the horizon in sight is blended by thick blackness and misty fog, seemingly capable of swallowing everything, with a sinister malice constantly seeping out from the darkness.
With just a glance, the spirit sensed a strong sense of crisis and resisted moving forward.
The two paper figures could not respond. Their cold, wooden eyes stared straight at her. They stood quietly on either side of the grave mound, and from a distance, they looked as if they had been burial objects for this grave from the beginning.
Ji Mingran, sitting casually in the middle of the grave mound, was the one who stood out from the crowd.
"Should we turn back?" Ji Mingran muttered to himself.
"It's not impossible."
...The paper effigy can't speak, so who's answering her?
A tap was patted on the shoulder, and a strange, eerie scent swept across the side of my face.
His eyes darted around, and Ji Mingran glanced to his right out of the corner of his eye.
The head, pale and disheveled, with crimson blood flowing from its empty eye sockets, snapped its mouth open to reveal fangs as it noticed her glance: "Ah!"
This is... a female ghost?!
Ji Mingran's eyes widened, and he suddenly moved to the left, putting distance between himself and the female ghost.
Then, she patted the earthen slope beside her and warmly invited, "Come, sit down!"
The female ghost: "......"
She turned and met the female ghost's gaze: "Why aren't you coming? It's uncomfortable for the cat to be crowding in the back."
The female ghost was silent for a moment, then opened her mouth and said, "What the hell is that thing on your forehead?"
"Oh, you mean this?" Ji Mingran slapped his forehead and pressed the talisman even tighter. "Anonymity Talisman, it can mask the aura of a living person."
The faint, mysterious aura in the air grew stronger. The female ghost blinked, her gaping blue fangs, which had stretched to her ears, closed and shrank back to normal. Then, she parted her lips slightly and said, "You've discovered it."
Ji Mingran, his fingertips supporting his cane, smiled and said, "It was you, the one who released the sleeping potion."
Upon arriving, the biting wind and pervasive atmosphere sent shivers down her spine, giving her the illusion of returning to the apocalypse, a feeling of utter despair. Yet, she knew in her heart that even if she were to return one day, she wouldn't be so disheartened.
Something mixed in with the air disturbed her peace of mind.
The two paper figures remained resolute, focusing solely on attacking her, unleashing one attack after another.
As she dodged left and right, she couldn't help but think that impurities in the air only affect living things.
Then the Soul-Binding Array was activated, and the two evil spirits hiding inside the paper effigy were suppressed by her. She took the opportunity to take out the talisman that Guan Wangzhen had given her from the brocade pouch, lit it and stuck it on, and her condition returned to normal.
"Damn it!" The female ghost suddenly reached out, intending to remove the talisman from her forehead.
Ji Mingran reacted quickly, pressing down on the fingers pressed against her forehead. The female ghost tried to pull her hand away, but found that her hand was firmly held and she could not move.
Gradually, she became unable to move her entire body.
"The immobilization talisman was stuck on the annihilation talisman, and you bumped into it," Ji Mingran said with a grin.
"Damn it!" The female ghost's eyebrows shot up, and she yelled, "I'm not playing anymore! I'm not playing anymore!"
As the words fell, the intense aura emanating from the female ghost gradually dissipated, along with the palpitating atmosphere in the air. The ghost's terrifying face gradually blurred, as if veiled.
A bell rang out from somewhere, the immobilization talisman fell, and the veil covering the female ghost's face was lifted, revealing a beautiful and charming face close at hand. Ji Mingran's hand, which was pressed against his forehead, was grasped in return. "Let me introduce myself, I am Shi Jinle from the He Guan Sect."
Now it was Ji Mingran's turn to try to pull his hand away, but he couldn't.
Not only could she not pull her hand away, but Shi Jinle also pulled it over and placed it on her left cheek. Ji Mingran was forced to maintain the posture of holding Shi Jinle's cheek as she listened to her say, "Little sister is beautiful and brave. I like her. Do you want to join the Hehuan Sect?"
ah?
Ji Mingran frowned, and before she could answer, her other arm was pulled hard, and she was dragged backward.
Before he could even be shocked, Ji Mingran leaned back to cushion the impact, simultaneously twisting his arm to grab her hand, then flipped and spun around, kicking up his cane with his toes. The cane transformed into a short sword in mid-air, its sharp tip piercing towards the person behind him.
"Save your breath, Hehuan Sect! Don't even think about trying to trick Grandma Ming of Dingsheng Sect."
Ji Mingran immediately raised his arm and grabbed the sword, withdrawing his attack. He turned his head and saw the familiar arrogant face appear in his field of vision.
"Guan Wangzhen? What are you doing here?"
The red-haired youth smiled wickedly: "I sensed that the talisman was broken and guessed that someone must be nearby, so I followed the trail. I just made it in time to save you, so you're welcome."
His arm was almost ripped off. Ji Mingran rubbed his shoulder and slapped Guan Wangzhen's arm hard: "You're welcome."
Guan Wanzhen: "Here we go again, repaying kindness with enmity!"
"You know each other? Grandma Ming of Dingsheng Sect?" Shi Jinle had a shimmering gauze fan in her hand without her noticing. Her eyes darted around, and she lightly covered her upturned lips with the fan. "So you're the team leader that Master was talking about who was replacing me in the test."
She took a few steps forward: "Please consider my suggestion? Master noticed you in the first-class seats and specially sent a message asking me to pay more attention to you. If you come, maybe we can become fellow disciples."
Guan Wangzhen suddenly stepped forward and hid her behind his back so that Shi Jinle wouldn't see her: "Don't flirt with her."
Shi Jinle put his hands on his hips and said angrily, "What's it to you? Get out of the way."
Guan Wangzhen retorted, "The stench along this route was emitted by you, wasn't it? Granny Ming is very shrewd; she didn't fall for your tricks, yet she still tries to deny it."
Shi Jinle angrily retorted, "A colorless and odorless sleeping fragrance, where is it smelly?!"
She continued to approach, and Guan Wangzhen reached out to stop her, but Ji Mingran pressed her down.
We walked for two whole hours without encountering a single person, and now two have suddenly appeared. We should really unite our existing forces.
Ji Mingran stood next to Guan Wanzhen and said, "I have no intention of changing sects, but since there are three of us, should we try to go in?" She reminded him, "If we don't go out, others can come in at any time."
Shi Jinle couldn't be happier: "Great!"
With so many people, it's hard to say who will be able to take down the key to the illusion.
Shi Jinle had been wandering around this illusion for quite some time, and was also planning to join the group to enter the black mist. Although Ji Mingran and Guan Wangzhen were from the same sect, it was still more likely to win if he snatched the life-giving point from the two of them than if there were more people.
Guan Wangzhen glanced at the eerie black mist in the distance and disagreed: "It's dangerous inside. If a Hehuan who randomly releases sleeping potions comes along, it will be even more dangerous."
Shi Jinle shrugged. "It was just for fun. I didn't really hurt anyone." The incense had two effects: to try to find fellow disciples and to drug competitors as much as possible.
Clearly, her plan had failed. The incense had been released for a long time, yet only her rivals came looking for her; none of her fellow disciples did, indicating that she was the only member of the Hehuan sect in this realm.
However, she was fortunate enough to meet Ji Mingran. While waiting in the Wanli Canyon, she received a telepathic message from her master, Ziyan, saying that Ji Mingran, the leader of the Dingsheng Sect, was of good character and a disciple of Luanfeng. She could try to win him over, or he could be a good cultivation partner.
Seeing that Guan Wangzhen was no longer stopping him, Shi Jinle walked over to Ji Mingran's side as if they were old friends and affectionately took her arm: "Sister, I've taken a liking to you. How about we cultivate together?"
Ji Mingran: "No." He didn't know what dual cultivation was, but refusing an invitation from a stranger was never a bad idea.
"Okay, okay," Shi Jinle stood beside her, pleading as he took her hand.
After watching the flame flicker at Guan Zhen's fingertips, he said, "If you dare to spout nonsense again and distract us, I will not be polite to you!"
"I'm not talking nonsense!"
"Little Sister Mingran!"
Who called her? Ji Mingran looked toward the source of the sound and saw two slender figures on the road she had come from. One was handsome and refined, and the other was gentle and cultured.
The two arrived in front of them in an instant, looking at Ji Mingran with smiles.
Who is it?
Ji Mingran did not believe he had ever seen these two faces before.
The refined and scholarly cultivator spoke first, explaining, "I am Shao Qingshang, and he is Fu Daolan. We once entered Minghua County together. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Ji still remembers?" He gestured as if stroking his beard, "We grew beards according to the rules of the Void Sect. Now that we have successfully arrived at the Spiritual Cultivation Realm, we have shaved off all our beards."
“My beard is this big.” The handsome man cupped his hands in an arc, covering his entire face.
Beard...beard!
Ji Mingran recalled the group of bearded men he had encountered before.
Big beard, goat beard!
Ji Mingran: "It's you guys! You're here too!"
She looked at Fu Daolan with slight surprise: "So this is what you look like!"
The appearance of the goat beard matched his words and actions, but who would have thought that the loud-voiced bearded man would be so handsome?
"Who is this? A friend from the small world? What's going on with your small world? There are so many successful transmigrators." Guan Wangzhen did some mental calculations and realized that Ji Mingran alone had already recognized or been recognized as coming from the same small world four or five people.
Very few cultivators from small worlds can successfully cross the Transcendental Array, and the chances of them coming from the same small world are even smaller. Therefore, for those who cross the world, the moment they arrive in the Spiritual Cultivation Realm, they have essentially severed their ties with their small world.
Of course, the major sects and clans in the small world would gather the strength of their entire clan to send more cultivators to spiritual cultivation, intending to expand their sect's influence into the spiritual cultivation world. These sects succeeded, which is why sects and clans such as Hongqi Sect exist in a certain small world and the spiritual cultivation world.
However, most of the people Ji Mingran knew did not come from the same sect or aristocratic family.
"We met when we were separated from the world. As for why..." Ji Mingran pondered for a moment, then said casually, "Probably because everyone is incredibly strong wherever I am."
"..." Guan Wanzhen wanted to refute, but when he thought that this person was currently in his own sect, if he refuted him, it would be seen as saying that his own sect was weak. For a moment, he was speechless.
Fu Daolan's gaze darted back and forth between the two of them.
The person talking to Mingran seemed to know her very well. Could this be the reason why Mingran and Tianxing parted ways?
The red-haired youth was flamboyant and charming. Not only was he handsome, but he was also talkative and rambling. Compared to the cold and taciturn younger brother Tianxing, his personality seemed to be more compatible with the cheerful younger sister Mingran.
Fu Daolan's feelings became complicated. No wonder Brother Tianxing looked half-dead.
He glanced at Shao Qingshang without leaving a trace, and sure enough, the man had that annoying "I told you so" smile on his face.
No, Fu Daolan made up his mind, I have to help Brother Tianxing.
Just as he was about to speak, he saw the female cultivator to Ji Mingran's left shake Ji Mingran's left arm vigorously and say in a coquettish voice, "After the competition is over, sister, let's choose an auspicious day to cultivate together."
Huh?
He didn't see or hear wrong, did he?
Dual cultivation! So, Mingran has two partners, one male and one female??
Fu Daolan stared in disbelief and raised a thumb: "Little sister Mingran, you are this one."
At the same time, the red-haired boy on her right jumped up excitedly and pounced fiercely on the pretty female cultivator. The two fought fiercely, and to avoid affecting the person in the middle, they thoughtfully kept a distance of three feet before starting the fight.
Her two partners got into a fight over her, but Mingran remained calm and didn't even blink.
Fu Daolan was deeply impressed by Mingran's extraordinary abilities and gave her a thumbs up. "Little sister Mingran, I never imagined you had such a tolerant heart."
There are two, well, one more Brother Tianxing won't make much difference.
Fu Daolan was about to speak again when a loud "Mother!" suddenly rang out from the air.
A tuft of blond hair darted past in everyone's sight.
The little boy knelt down at Ji Mingran's feet, hugged her legs, and cried out, "Little Ji, I've finally found you!"
Do you really have a baby?
Fu Daolan: !!!
Brother Tianxing, I can't help you.
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