Xue Chenjing squatted on the ground with his head down, holding a piece of painted stone in each hand. He seemed to be carefully identifying the remaining paintings on the rubble and concentrating on piecing together the statue.
But the system heard the sound of him sniffing.
System: "..." Although it was so anxious that it jumped up and down, it hesitated for a moment and finally held back and did not urge him.
Its host was really beaten badly by the heroine, and his face was broken by her sword spirit. It looked very painful - although the host deserved to be beaten.
But after watching the whole process, the system did have some doubts about who the villain was.
Damn, what on earth did its sweet and cute heroine go through, and how did she become like this?
The bone demon poked its head in from the broken wall of the mountain temple. It tilted its head, and its bulging eyes moved back and forth, looking at Xue Chenjing, who was squatting on the ground with his head buried, in confusion.
It wiggled its collapsed nostrils, sniffed the air back and forth, and drooled from the gaps between its teeth.
The bone demon could not resist the temptation, and slowly moved its limbs to get closer to its master.
It crawled on all fours to the ground, crawled to Xue Chenjing's side, bent down, turned its head 180 degrees, stretched its head to look under him, and saw the crystal drops of water hanging from his eyelashes. It immediately stretched out its tongue excitedly and wanted to lick his face.
Xue Chenjing picked up a stone and smashed it on the head. He raised his sleeves and wiped his face, saying unhappily, "Get out of the way."
The bone demon retracted its neck after being hit, and quickly grabbed the sleeve that had been used to wipe his tears, tore it apart with a swish, and then used all four limbs to retreat back to the messy grass in the yard, holding the torn sleeve and sucking it obsessively.
Xue Chenjing was very angry at this piece of shit, so he picked up a stone and smashed it on the bone demon to vent his anger.
The bone demon was hit all over, but he didn't know how to dodge at all. To him, this little pain was no different from an itch.
After hitting it, Xue Chenjing ordered it to bring the stone back to the shrine and continue to assemble the unfinished mountain god statue.
Because of his smash, the stone broke even more, and the difficulty of splicing it increased sharply. Fortunately, the mountain god statue gradually took shape on the shrine, and the fine thread firmly glued them together, without any trace of the broken pieces.
The timing was just right. The next moment after Xue Chenjing finished piecing together the mountain god statue, there were footsteps outside the temple, very light and very cautious.
Xue Chenjing admired the mountain god statue for the last time, walked around the shrine, climbed out of the broken wall behind the mountain god temple, and disappeared into the thick fog.
...
Three monks came to the front door of the mountain god temple, two men and one woman, all disciples of Wanxi Sect.
The middle-aged male cultivator walking in front carried a broad sword on his back. His name was Zhao Tinghe. He was the senior brother of Wanxi Sect and a sword cultivator at the early stage of Jindan. Behind him followed his younger brother Zhao Chengfeng, who was at the middle stage of foundation building, and his junior sister Ruan Qiutang, who was at the stage of refining qi.
Nowadays, most cultivation resources are in the hands of the twelve major sects, and other sects can only rely on them to survive. It is rare to find a cultivator who can enter the Jindan stage, and almost all of them come from the major sects. A
cultivator like Zhao Tinghe who can rely on himself to condense a Jindan is rare. But when he condensed the elixir, he was already past the age of strength, so naturally he could not be compared with the young Jindan disciples in the sects.
The world's Xuanmen is headed by the twelve major sects, and the rest are scattered sects that are not well-known and can be classified as second-rate sects.
This time, the Lishan Sword Sect was very happy. Small sects like Wanxi Sect, which are not even ranked among the second-rate sects, were naturally not invited, but it didn't prevent them from coming to Lishan City to join in the fun.
This time, the fun came at a good time.
The demon took advantage of the Lishan banquet to break into the forbidden area in the back mountain and steal the Lishan Sword Sect's treasure, the Sword Stone.
The head of Lishan, Juechenzi, publicly sent a message to the four directions, promising that whoever finds the Sword Stone will be allowed to enter the Sword Stone and choose a magic weapon. Or, send your own magic weapon into the stone for tempering.
It is said that there is a tempering platform in the Lishan Sword Stone, which contains the power of ancient gods. It is the furnace used by the Ji family, the first immortal clan in Qishan, to temper weapons and refine weapons two thousand years ago. The Ji family has ruled the immortal world for five thousand years. Even if it was completely destroyed later, the things left behind are all magical artifacts and treasures that are difficult for modern cultivators to reach.
Even the respected ancestors of the twelve major immortal gates today, if you trace their origins carefully, most of them are from the Ji family. The three major families of Jiang, Yao, and Yun, which are now in their heyday, were just retainers of the Ji family.
Therefore, when Juechenzi said this, all the cultivators in the world were moved.
The three Wan Ximen could not resist the temptation. They came here following the trail of a disciple from the Lishan Sword Sect.
The disciple was attracted by Ruan Qiutang's beauty, and Wan Ximen also wanted to get close to him. The two of them gave each other some personal belongings, which were just right for tracking. After
the three of them tracked here, they encountered a mountain fog barrier and did not find anyone from the Lishan Sword Sect. Instead, they were lucky enough to pick up the fluorite of the Lishan Sword Sect.
This fluorite can sense the sword-suppressing stone. Within a certain distance, the fluorite will glow.
Zhao Chengfeng muttered, "There is a temple in this damn place? The God of Yunshan?"
Zhao Tinghe glanced at the dimly glowing fluorite in his hand and said, "Be careful, we are very close to the sword-suppressing stone. It is very likely in this temple. You wait here first, I will go in to check the situation, and you can come in when there is no danger."
Ruan Qiutang leaned close to Zhao Tinghe and said anxiously, "Senior brother, let's go in together. The fog is very strange here, we'd better not separate."
Zhao Tinghe thought about it and nodded in agreement, "Junior sister is right."
The three were worried that there were monsters hiding in the temple, so they were very cautious and each held their own magic weapon tightly. First, he used the talisman paper for the spy to fold into a paper crane, and patrolled the mountain god temple several times to confirm that there was no movement inside before taking any action.
Zhao Tinghe pushed open the crooked courtyard door of the mountain god temple and stepped into the temple cautiously amid the creaking of the door.
The maze inside the temple was much lighter than outside, and the sky was brighter, so he could see the surrounding scenery clearly.
This temple was very dilapidated, with weeds growing in the courtyard, and it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. There were holes in the roof of the temple, and the sunlight shone in from the holes, just enough to cast a beam of light, illuminating the mountain god statue in the center of the temple.
Many of the fine lines of the mountain god statue have been smoothed by wind and erosion, but the general outline is still there,
and the painted colors on it are extremely bright, which is out of tune with the dilapidated scene of the entire temple. The three people were attracted by the strangely bright statue in the middle, and their expressions gradually became dull. They walked to the shrine unconsciously and looked up at the painted statue standing on the shrine.
The facial features of the statue were blurred, but the eyes were painted vividly, and in the dim sky, they were clearly reflected in everyone's eyes.
The statue's eyes were long and narrow, half-closed, and a strange silver light gradually lit up from the depths of its painted black pupils. It looked down at them from above with a divine mercy that sympathized with the world.
The three people maintained the same posture, with their heads raised high, their expressions infatuated, staring at the statue without blinking, like the most devout believers of the mountain god.
This strange scene lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour, and the three people who were still suddenly retracted their gazes and moved at the same time.
Zhao Tinghe held a knife in one hand and a fluorite in the other, walking around the temple to detect the location of the sword-suppressing stone.
Zhao Chengfeng took out a water bag from his storage bag and handed it to Ruan Qiutang. Ruan Qiutang took it and looked at the statue up and down, wondering, "The colorful paint on this mountain god statue seems to have been painted not long ago."
The three people looked natural, as if they didn't remember what had just happened.
"It may be done by the nearby mountain people. People in such remote places like to do this." Zhao Chengfeng said, and his attention shifted to the fluorescent stone in Zhao Tinghe's hand.
He frowned. "How accurate is this broken stone? How come it has been glowing since I picked it up? There can't be sword-suppressing stones everywhere in this mountain?"
Zhao Tinghe held the fluorite and searched around the temple. He was also confused. He asked Ruan Qiutang, "Junior sister, can this fluorite really sense the sword-suppressing stone?" "
Anyway, that's what Li Xinhai said at the beginning. This fluorite is the same as the one he secretly brought out to show me before." Ruan Qiutang said, "The fluorite was pried off from the sword-suppressing stone. It doesn't sense the sword-suppressing stone, but the sword energy inside the sword-suppressing stone."
The Li Xinhai she was talking about was the disciple of the Lishan Sword Sect who had a crush on her and was one of the disciples guarding the stone in the back mountain.
"The fluorescent stone has been shining, which means we are not far from the sword-suppressing stone. If we seize the time, we will find it before others." A young man's voice naturally answered. In the dilapidated temple, a fourth person appeared from nowhere.
This extra fourth person stood next to Zhao Chengfeng, but did not arouse any alarm. Instead, he raised his hand and patted the boy's shoulder, and cheered up and said: "Junior brother is right!"
Ruan Qiutang finished drinking the water, turned his head and asked the fourth person who appeared silently: "Junior brother, do you want to drink water?"
"I'm not thirsty." Xue Chenjing shook his head, his eyes slowly swept across their faces.
The three people's eyes were all focused on him, and they called him "Junior brother" affectionately, as if this boy had been there from beginning to end and was their companion.
Xue Chenjing stared at them and asked, "Do you like me?"
He asked this question out of the blue. Zhao Tinghe and Zhao Chengfeng were stunned for a moment, then they put their hands on his shoulders, one on each side, and said jokingly, "Is there really something wrong with this mist? Why do you suddenly ask this question, little brother? It's too strange for grown men to ask each other whether you like someone or not."
Xue Chenjing said, "Answer me."
Seeing that he was serious, Zhao Tinghe and the other two put away their playful smiles and nodded, "Of course we like you."
"Where's Senior Sister Ruan?" Xue Chenjing looked at Ruan Qiutang.
Ruan Qiutang is a girl after all. Being asked so bluntly, a blush spread across her cheeks. She stammered, "You are our junior brother, so of course I like you too."
After getting the answer he wanted, Xue Chenjing did not look happy at all. He frowned slightly, raised his hand to touch his eyes, and his fingertips directly touched the black eyeballs.
——So, there is no obstacle to his function. Why doesn't it work for her?
The other three were discussing whether to continue looking for the sword-suppressing stone, and Xue Chenjing had been thinking about this problem. Hearing Ruan Qiutang calling him "junior brother", he suddenly understood.
Ruan Qiutang said that he was their junior brother, so of course they would like him.
However, when he tried to "tame" Yu Yi, he forgot to add an identity to himself.
Xue Chenjing stood up from the ground, strode out of the temple, and walked into the mist without looking back. Zhao Tinghe and the other two were startled by his sudden action and hurriedly chased after him, but where could they find him?
Seeing that its host had finally cheered up, the system quickly asked, "Master, are you going to find the heroine?"
Xue Chenjing nodded, "Yes."
The system said happily, "That's great! However, I suggest that the master should proceed step by step when gaining the favorability of the target of the strategy. We should start from meeting, getting to know each other, knowing each other, and then falling in love. We should do it step by step. Don't rush it."
Xue Chenjing looked up, his eyes seemed to see through the mist, and saw the fairy crane flapping its wings and flying in the sky. He said confidently, "I understand."
The system praised with satisfaction, "Master is awesome."
...
The mist in Yunshan formed a barrier that trapped all living creatures in the mountain, allowing only entry but not exit.
Whether it was Pei Jingchao or Xue Chenjing, Yu Yi didn't want to get involved in their plot. She just wanted to find a place to hide with Senior Brother He, wait for the fog to dissipate, and then run to a place where the villains couldn't find her to continue hiding.
The halo of the second heroine was shattered.
Damn it, why can't she dress up as a casual passerby? ! Even if she had to be the heroine, couldn't the man who arranged her marriage be more normal?
Yu Yi lay on Senior Brother He to recover his spiritual power, and said desperately: "Senior Brother He, you are obviously a fairy crane, why can't you cultivate into a human form? If you transform into a human form, I will be with you."
Hearing this, Senior Brother He hurriedly made a series of rapid calls, indicating that the partner he likes is a crane with white and beautiful feathers and a bright red head like him, with long legs and a loud voice. It is the fairy crane sword spirit in Yu Yi's green bamboo sword. The red-
crowned crane is a loyal bird. It doesn't care about the sword spirit's previous owner, Taoist Qingxuan, or the current owner, Yu Yi, and only loves their sword spirits.
The sound of the crane echoed in front of the mountain, and it can be seen how anxious Senior Brother He was to preserve his innocence.
Yu Yi was afraid that its cry would attract the pervert, so he quickly stretched out his arm to pinch its mouth and comforted it, saying, "Yes, yes, I know, I was just joking. Junior Sister looks vulgar, how can she be worthy of you."
Senior Brother He wandered around the nearby mountains every day, and his sense of direction was much better than Yu Yi's. Even if the mountains were covered with clouds and fog, he could still find his usual place by feeling.
A man and a crane landed in a very secluded valley. The mountains on both sides formed a very deep valley. The trees in the valley grew very well. The treetops were like clouds, and they looked dark and overwhelming in the mist.
Senior Brother He carried her into the forest. Under the dense treetops, there was a deep lake hidden. There was a faint smell of sulfur around. It turned out to be a pool of hot spring water, and many small flowers were blooming by the water.
This is the secret place where Senior Brother He takes a bath. Even Yu Yi has never been here before.
They can't get out of the maze, so they can only stay here temporarily. Senior Brother He jumped into the water to wash his feathers. Yu Yi only scooped water to wash his face, and then sat cross-legged under a tree, trying to recover her spiritual power as soon as possible.
With her current cultivation level that has just reached the stage of Dan, it is still a bit difficult for her to forcibly summon the sword spirit of the Yuanying realm left to her by her master. Just summoning the sword spirit for a short moment emptied her Dantian.
Every time this happens, Yu Yi will deeply doubt her halo as the heroine. Why can other protagonists refine their qi in one year, build their foundation in two years, form golden elixir in three years, and go straight to the Yuanying realm of transformation in four or five years.
She had the spiritual foundation laid by her master's lifelong cultivation. She started directly from the foundation-building stage and worked hard in the bamboo forest secret realm for five years. She swung the sword ten thousand times a day and almost sucked the little spiritual eye in the secret realm dry before she finally climbed to the golden elixir stage.
Could it be that her halo as a heroine was all due to those weird peach blossoms?
However, she had no idea that it was a delusion that many cultivators dared not even think about to form a golden elixir in five years.
Yu Yi was sad and angry, but she had to put aside her distracting thoughts, meditate quietly, and circulate the Zhoutian. But after meditating for half a day, she didn't recover any spiritual power in her body, and her meridians were as dry as a desert.
Spiritual energy flows in the world. Although there are no spiritual veins in Yunshan, it is connected to the heaven and earth. Although it is a little difficult to attract spirits, it is impossible not to attract any.
Yu Yi was getting anxious when he suddenly felt a spiritual vibration and felt a strong power pressing down from above.
The surrounding treetops made a rustling sound, as if being blown by a strong wind, and Senior Brother He suddenly made a sharp crane cry.
Yu Yi opened her eyes and saw a blood-red shadow covering her head. The thing was huge, like a human but not a human. Its chest was split in half. Its ribs pushed up the blood-red muscles on its body, like thick palace pillars, and deeply penetrated into the ground on both sides of her, wrapping her in its abdominal cavity.
It was a bone demon, Xue Chenjing's bone demon!
The moment Yu Yi saw it, she subconsciously wanted to swing her sword, but her spiritual power was exhausted and she could not activate the green bamboo sword energy. The bamboo sword alone collided with the bones in the bone demon's body and could not cause any damage to it.
Senior Brother He was so anxious that he flew onto the bone demon's body and pecked at its back hard. The red-crowned crane's beak was as sharp as any sword. A dazzling sword light burst out from its beak, pecking at the bone demon's back.
The vibration sounded into its abdomen, exploding in Yu Yi's ears like thunder.
It was able to annihilate dozens of Jindan disciples of the Lishan Sword Sect. Obviously, neither Yu Yi nor Senior Brother He was its opponent.
She was swallowed by the bone demon's abdomen and fell into the crowded soft meat again. At first, she thought it was the bone demon's internal organs, until the familiar tentacles climbed up her neck, cold and sticky, and attached to her skin.
A hand as cold as his arms and legs held her face, and a pair of familiar eyes emerged from the darkness. Those eyes seemed like cat eyes in the dark night, shining with a faint light.
Yu Yi's gaze was immediately enveloped, and Xue Chenjing's gentle voice echoed in her ears and in her mind.
He said, "From now on, I am your husband."
System: "………………"
What about the gradual progress as agreed upon!! Host, didn't you say you understood? You understand nothing!