Chapter 377: Li Longling, Blind but Not Unseeing
The long night had not yet ended, and heavy snow was flying on the snow-covered mountain.
In a cave among the mountains, a faint firelight flickered.
Inside the cave, three people sat around a bonfire, using the most primitive method to ward off the biting cold of the Northern Region.
“Liang Xiaoliu, Liang Xiaoliu… Ugh… Cough, cough, cough—”
Lying on a makeshift straw mat, Gu Mingxin, covered in scars, continuously called out the name of the person she “loved” even in her unconscious state.
Wu Tianci, who was poking the bonfire with a stick, frowned upon hearing this, a hint of embarrassment appearing in his eyes.
Since encountering the three Core Formation stage cultivators in Huilong Town, they had been tracking “Liang Xiaoliu’s” trail, traveling northeast from Linghe Immortal City for nearly fifteen hundred li.
Along the way, they had encountered countless fellow demonic cultivators brutally killed by “Liang Xiaoliu” and the Lord of Chi Long Mansion, as well as numerous Northern Region ” ronins” who wanted to claim their bounty.
Although he had promised Gu Mingxin that he would help her find and kill Liang Xiaoliu, but…
Wu Tianci pulled open his collar and looked at the horrific wound on his chest, inflicted by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator with a spell a few days ago.
Without a doubt, they were running out of resources.
Lu Meimei had sustained minor injuries, and his own injuries were neither light nor severe, but Gu Mingxin was hovering on the brink of death.
He had to admit that Gu Mingxin was truly the personal disciple of their Sect Master.
An ordinary Core Formation mid-stage cultivator would likely not have survived the initial encounter in Huilong Town.
The two Law Cultivators wielding Xuan treasures and the Sword Cultivator from the Seven Xuan Sect, although killed by Gu Mingxin, were definitely among the elites of Core Formation cultivators in the Four Domains.
“Senior Sister Gu, is that enough?”
“Cough…” Gu Mingxin weakly opened her eyes, glaring at him, “Junior Brother Wu, cough, cough… are you scared?”
“It’s not fear, but…” Wu Tianci sighed softly, “That Liang Xiaoliu is deliberately toying with us. Every time they kill a demonic sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivator, they specifically leave one to deliver a message. Senior Sister, you must know he’s doing it on purpose…”
Gu Mingxin’s eyes widened with anger, “So what?”
“Head-on confrontation will only result in mutual destruction. Junior Brother simply feels it’s unnecessary… Senior Sister, our mission is to find the Cold Heaven Array Eye in the Northern Region, not to hunt down Liang Xiaoliu, you…”
Before he could finish, Gu Mingxin suddenly stood up and appeared before him in one step, grabbing his collar. Her crimson eyes were bloodshot as she glared at him fiercely:
“If Liang Xiaoliu isn’t dead! The demonic cultivators will be destroyed because of him sooner or later!”
“… …”
Lu Meimei, who was roasting human meat nearby, watched the two and quickly intervened as a peacemaker:
“Oh, don’t argue… Senior siblings should get along. Here, eat meat~”
Gu Mingxin turned her head to look at Lu Meimei, then released Wu Tianci’s collar and lay back on the straw mat:
“Thank you, Senior Sister Lu, but I don’t eat people.”
Wu Tianci took a skewer and took a bite. Looking at Gu Mingxin, he said:
“Senior Sister Gu, are you sure you want to continue? It might be a dead end… That Liang Xiaoliu might be leading us into a trap.”
Gu Mingxin answered without answering:
“… Junior Brother Wu, what about your father’s matter? The Lord of Chi Long Mansion is with Liang Xiaoliu, don’t you want to have a word with her?”
Just as Gu Mingxin said this, a telepathic message suddenly echoed in their minds.
—”Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect, Jiang Mojiao, requests aid in exterminating immortals!!”
The telepathic message, coming from about thirty li to the northeast, made the three of them freeze in place.
Wu Tianci frowned:
“Demon Summoning Token?”
Gu Mingxin frowned. After all, she was a personal disciple of the Tian Mo Sect Master, and most cultivators above Nascent Soul in the Six Great Demonic Sects were well-known figures.
However, after racking her brain, she couldn’t recall the name “Jiang Mojiao” and asked:
“I haven’t heard this name before. Junior Brother Wu and Senior Sister Lu?”
Wu Tianci shook his head slightly, indicating he hadn’t heard of it either.
Lu Meimei looked even more bewildered, her blood-stained lips trembling, and tilted her head:
“When did they reach Nascent Soul? There are twelve Grand Tutors in the Gu Poison Sect, all quite formidable. Jiang Mojiao… haven’t heard of them.”
Wu Tianci lowered his gaze and remained silent for a moment, then shook his head:
“The Demon Summoning Token is no ordinary item. It’s a token personally bestowed by the Sect Masters of the Six Great Demonic Sects. Since he has it, he must be no small character.”
After speaking, he looked at Gu Mingxin’s injuries and said:
“Senior Sister Gu, I don’t know when we might encounter those Northern Region ronins again. It might be better to take this opportunity to go to Jiang Mojiao’s cave dwelling. You also need a place to recuperate peacefully…”
“Heh, recuperate peacefully in a Gu Cultivator’s cave dwelling? Are you serious? Cough…”
“It’s still better than this wilderness, after all, he’s a Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect who wields a Demon Summoning Token.”
Gu Mingxin lightly clicked her tongue. She really disliked the cultivators of the Gu Poison Sect who raised insects, but looking at her own scarred body, she reluctantly nodded in the end.
“Mhm…”
“Then let’s go now. Senior Sister Lu, please carry Senior Sister Gu.”
Wu Tianci nodded, waved his sleeve to extinguish the bonfire, then stood up and summoned his flying sword, stepping onto it.
In the cold, snowy landscape, three figures streaked across the dark clouds as two beams of light.
In just a moment, Wu Tianci brought the two of them to the summit of a snow-capped mountain. Following the location of the Demon Summoning Token, they searched for a while in the snow before arriving at a hidden cave dwelling.
“Inner disciples of the Tian Mo Sect, Wu Tianci, Gu Mingxin. Inner disciple of the Hehuan Sect, Lu Meimei. We have come in response to the Demon Summoning Token, and we hope Senior Jiang will open the cave dwelling.”
As the words fell, a seven-eyed spider poked its head out from the ground, observed the three of them, and then, wagging its plump hindquarters, led them towards a mountain cave hidden within a formation.
Inside the mountain cave, the light was extremely dim, and it was filled with the hissing and rasping sounds of countless insects and gu.
Gu Mingxin, lying on Lu Meimei’s back, felt goosebumps rise all over her body the moment she entered the cave entrance, affected by the sounds.
Xue E also crawled out from her mind, scanning the cave with a look of physiological discomfort, and said with disgust:
“Mingxin, this place is so dirty…”
Gu Mingxin was noncommittal. Even a modest Nascent Soul cultivator’s cave dwelling would not be filled with such stench. She was increasingly convinced that Jiang Mojiao was not a normal Nascent Soul cultivator.
After crossing several blood pools and gu nests, the three followed the seven-eyed spider to the deepest part of the cave dwelling.
Jiang Mojiao was meditating above a pile of corpses. Hearing the footsteps behind him, he stood up and looked at the three with a beaming smile.
Apart from his compound eyes, he looked quite hospitable at first glance.
However, upon seeing the scarred appearance of the three, Jiang Mojiao’s smile instantly collapsed.
He grabbed his cheek, his fingers digging bloody marks on his forehead:
“No, no, no!! You!!! I don’t need trash!!”
Wu Tianci frowned slightly at his appearance, but since the other party was a Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect and possessed a Demon Summoning Token, he quickly cupped his hands and said:
“Senior, we have come in response to the Demon Summoning Token, but we were injured on the road a few days ago… We hope…”
Jiang Mojiao flew into a rage, his compound eyes bulging:
“Get out!!! Get out!!! Trash!! You are the trash!! I want people to help me kill those in Tianfeng Immortal City, and you look like this…”
“Senior… although Junior has sustained some injuries, but…”
“Get out!!!”
Wu Tianci gritted his teeth slightly, but Gu Mingxin, who was on Lu Meimei’s back, could no longer sit still. She jumped down in one step, summoned her spirit sword, and stood before Jiang Mojiao.
Shua—
A seven-chi long sword was directly placed in front of Jiang Mojiao’s neck.
“Who’s the trash?!”
Jiang Mojiao glared at Gu Mingxin in front of him, his upper and lower teeth clicking like castanets. A centipede suddenly fell from the ceiling, heading straight for the back of Gu Mingxin’s head.
Wu Tianci, seeing this, immediately wanted to step forward, but before him, the head of a black python appeared out of nowhere and directly bit the centipede into a pulp.
Jiii-eeeee-eee—!!
Seeing the black python, Jiang Mojiao was so frightened that he staggered and sat on the ground.
“Ah?! You, you, you…”
“Heh…” Gu Mingxin slowly put her sword back into her storage bag, glanced at him, “A cultivator who forced his way to Nascent Soul with insects and gu, and you dare to be so arrogant. Ancestor Gu really misjudged you, giving the Demon Summoning Token to a piece of trash like you, hmph!”
“… …”
“If it weren’t for my respect for Ancestor Gu, I would have slain your false Nascent Soul with a single sword just now and cleaned house for the Ancestor.”
With that said, Gu Mingxin limped back to Lu Meimei’s side and climbed back on.
Seeing that nothing had gone wrong, Wu Tianci breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it was a false Nascent Soul, it was still somewhat of a formidable presence. If a real fight had broken out, it wouldn’t have been easy to handle…
He glanced at Gu Mingxin, then cupped his hands at Jiang Mojiao, who was sitting on the ground:
“Senior Jiang, we request a room.”
After speaking, he no longer paid attention to Jiang Mojiao and turned to lead Lu Meimei and Gu Mingxin towards what looked like a Spirit Gathering Array.
After the three entered the stone room and closed the door, Jiang Mojiao stood up, pointed at them, and cursed:
“I am not trash!! You are!! I am not, I am not, I am not!! Master!! I am not trash!! Wuwu… I am not!! You are!”
… …
————
Whoosh…
The cold wind howled outside the window. On the wooden table by the window of the second floor of Youzi Residence in Baiyue Town, a pot of warm wine sat.
Ye Anping had changed into a velvet robe and sat at the table, occasionally looking out the window at Youren Pavilion across the street, and occasionally frowning at the names written on the paper before him, deep in thought.
He had just sent Xiao Tian to scout his junior sister’s situation and learned that she had used a method he taught her to intentionally infest herself with gu and then located the gu host through the spiritual connection between the gu and its host.
This method was difficult for the gu host to detect and was very direct.
However, for ordinary people, this method could easily lead to their spiritual consciousness being occupied by the gu the moment they consumed it, turning them into walking corpses.
It seemed his junior sister had completely inherited his knowledge as a senior brother.
Ye Anping felt gratified. However, despite his gratification, he also needed to prepare a backup plan for his junior sister.
If it were just Jiang Mojiao alone, his junior sister and Xu Mulan could handle him easily.
But what if Gu Mingxin and Jiang Mojiao joined forces…
A false Nascent Soul, plus “Heavenly Fiend” and a top-tier Core Formation stage Body Cultivator, and a mediocre Hehuan Sect Charm Cultivator…
With these people gathered, Xu Mulan and the Snow-clothed Guard would have no chance to fight back.
And on their side.
Feng Yudie, his junior sister, Xiao Yunluo, Xu Mulan, and himself—a total of five people.
With five against four, if it was a team battle, their winning probability would only be around fifty percent, as a false Nascent Soul was still a formidable opponent.
Moreover, he speculated that Jiang Mojiao would definitely use the “Demon Summoning Token” left by his master to summon other demonic cultivators.
In that case, Xu Mulan and the Snow-clothed Guard would need to deal with those other demonic cultivators.
“Hmm… Team battle is not feasible.”
Ye Anping drew a cross on the paper and then pondered again—
What about picking them off one by one?
However, to pick them off one by one, Jiang Mojiao’s side would require at least two people, which would make their side’s numbers insufficient.
Unless, Li Longling was also included…
But Li Longling was only at the Foundation Establishment mid-stage, and she was blind. She would likely struggle against any one of them…
Just as Ye Anping was thinking this, a pair of small hands reached out from behind him and placed a blanket over his shoulders.
“Anping, what’s wrong? Why are you frowning so tightly?”
“Hmm?”
Ye Anping turned back and noticed that Li Longling had entered his room at some point. Her hair, with a few water droplets clinging to it, was spread out behind her, and she was not wearing her Fire Phoenix amulet.
“Not sleepy? It’s almost dawn.”
“I just felt like you were thinking about me, so I came over.”
Li Longling smiled brightly, reached up to touch Ye Anping’s face, and then used her index finger to rub his brow.
“You’re so tense. Is that Gu Cultivator difficult to deal with… After all, they are also a Nascent Soul cultivator. If it really doesn’t work, how about we take a step back?”
Ye Anping shrugged slightly and replied, “It’s just a false Nascent Soul.”
Li Longling touched the table and sat on the bench, tilting her head and asking:
“False Nascent Soul?”
“It’s a Nascent Soul cultivated through some profound enlightenment techniques. Its foundation is no match for a Nascent Soul cultivator like your father.”
Ye Anping was silent for a moment, recalling the Nascent Soul cultivators he had encountered over the past six years.
Li Longling’s father, Li Feng.
Elder Qin and Mr. Qi from Xuan Xing Sect.
Elder Tianyun and Elder Hu Tianyue from Moon Shadow Sword Sect.
These were all genuine seniors who had reached Nascent Soul through their own foundations, each possessing at least one specialized Dao art and leaving a significant mark in the history of the Four Domains’ immortal cultivation.
“Jiang Mojiao is just someone who is good in cultivation and useless in everything else.”
“Then if you’re not worried about him, are you worried about Gu Mingxin, whom you mentioned earlier? Do you think they will join forces with Jiang Mojiao?”
“It’s very possible, so I need to make a backup plan for my junior sister and the others.”
Li Longling lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment, saying:
“So the reason you were thinking about me earlier was because I can’t help with this matter? Because my cultivation is only at the Foundation Establishment stage?”
Hearing this, Ye Anping twisted his brows. How did she know he was just thinking about her…
“Longling, how did you know I was thinking about you?”
“No one knows a child better than a parent, and no one knows a husband better than a wife…” Li Longling smiled coyly, placing her hand gently on Ye Anping’s chest. “Although I am blind, my heart is not. And in exchange for my blindness, my mind’s eye can see more clearly than many others. I can guess what Anping is thinking just by thinking about it.”
“Blindness allows you to read minds, is that it?”
“Something like that, hee hee~” Li Longling reached out and touched the paper on Ye Anping’s table. Her jade finger swept over the names written on it. “Didn’t you also defeat a Core Formation stage demonic cultivator with your Foundation Establishment cultivation back then?”
Ye Anping frowned slightly and immediately understood her meaning, shaking his head:
“Longling, this matter is too dangerous for you. I said I wouldn’t let you…”
“Anping,” Li Longling placed a finger on his lips, “Didn’t you say before that Senior Sister Xiao and the others wouldn’t grow up by your side? Whether it’s Senior Sister Xiao or me, although we’re not as formidable as Senior Sister Feng or Senior Sister Pei, we’re by no means just decorative girls.”
“… …”
“Where in this world is there a foolproof plan? Among these people, who is the weakest, hand them over to me.”
Ye Anping’s expression softened slightly. He lowered his gaze and looked at the list again. “Gu Mingxin and the other two must have depleted a lot of their True Essence along the way, so their strength is not at its peak… This Lu Meimei, do you have confidence in defeating her?”
Li Longling pursed her lips and pondered for a moment:
“It will be a bit difficult.”
“Then I’ll find someone else… *Munch*.”
Chirp~~~
“It’s not difficult now.”
Ye Anping licked his lips. It was a little sweet…
Then he sighed softly and said, “Longling…”
“It was just a joke, it’s not difficult.”
“I’m serious.”
Li Longling also quickly became serious, straightened her body, and said with a solemn frown:
“Anping, can you trust me?”
“I think you’re setting yourself up for trouble.”
“Trouble?”
Ye Anping smiled and shook his head. He lowered his gaze and looked at the list on the table again. If Li Longling could handle Lu Meimei, that would be best. If not…
“Hmm… It’s alright, then it’s up to you. Go get some rest first. I’ll tell you more about what to pay attention to tomorrow.”
… …
