Chapter 141: Xiao Yudan

There were three or four people in that private room: a leading Young Master, a hunched old man, a red-bearded, red-haired middle-aged man, and the Young Master's personal maid.

The hunched old man, upon hearing the Young Master's summons, rose from his chair, closed his eyes to sense, and then said, "Young Lord, it is indeed the ghostly Qi of the fierce ghost I raised.

It didn't return when I cast the spell before; it seems to have been restrained by someone."

The Young Master frowned, "Who's meddling in my affairs? Am I to be stopped from cursing a tiger demon to death? Do they deliberately want to cross me? Divinate who stopped it, and have them come to apologize; I'll spare them this once."

"Young Lord, please continue to enjoy the show; I will go handle this immediately."

The old man, known as Si Lao, immediately stood up and began to divine on the spot, arranging chicken bones and tortoise shells.

He was seen pushing yarrow stalks and treading on tortoise shells, divining with tortoise shells, and consulting with yarrow stalks.

Initially, he scorched a chicken bone, only to see it crack open, the fissures widening until it directly split into two halves.

Si Lao's eyes widened in surprise, and he immediately switched to forty-nine thin bamboo sticks, symbolizing the forty-nine Heavenly Rules, to divine again.

However, the thin bamboo sticks directly withered, turned yellow, and then disintegrated into flying ash.

He was instantly astonished, his gaze solemn, but he did not stop.

He then took a tile, struck it to break it apart, and observed its texture, only to see the inside of the tile as smooth as a mirror, without any trace of a strike, as if it had been cut open.

He began to panic, hastily took out a tortoise shell, bit his tongue, spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his Face serious, and held the tortoise facing south to observe it.

He then used the Qi of a raging fire to burn the tortoise shell, but the tortoise shell remained completely natural, showing no change in the fierce flames.

He immediately held the tortoise shell and came before another person in the room, holding the tortoise shell with both hands, and said solemnly, "Yan Jun, please help me."

The man called Yan Jun was somewhat surprised, but he immediately cooperated.

Then, this person formed hand seals and said, "I will scorch this tortoise shell with human fireworks, and use the Luck of the Human Dao to help you divine the result."

Then, he was seen igniting a ball of flame in his hand; the fireworks illuminated, and within the fire was the entire Qingwu City.

One could even clearly see the officials and subordinates, the performing dancers and musicians, various merchants, and roadside vendors.

The entire Qingwu City was encompassed as scenery within the fire; watching the fire was like watching the entire Qingwu City.

The fire entered the tortoise shell, yet in the light, in the shadows, in the smoke, and in the fire, it flickered and changed, making it impossible to tell whether it was the fire within Qingwu City or Qingwu City within the fire.

However, Yan Jun was surprised to find that the tortoise shell still showed no movement.

"I'll add another element, my Spirit Beast, to burn it again!" Yan Jun said, then slapped the cage at his waist, and several pigeons flew out.

The flock of pigeons flew, their bodies ablaze, with flames at the tip of each pigeon's wing, like burning torches.

These pigeons spewed sparks into the fireworks, and the fire grew stronger and stronger.

But the tortoise shell remained unmoving and unblemished in the fire, as clean as new.

"Human fire and beast fire are not enough; I will use Earth Fire, again!" he said, angered, then exerted his full strength, pulling from the Void Realm.

A small crack appeared in the Void Realm, and Yin Qi overflowed!

Yan Jun's Face was flushed, sweat pouring down, clearly having used all his strength, but through that small crack, a scene of Hell appeared!

Dark clouds rose massively, smoke and dust billowed, and rain poured incessantly from the sky, but it was not water, but numerous scorching fire-hailstones, blazing with intense heat.

And there were all beings of Hell, countless Yin Souls, bound in place, unable to move, receiving the fire-hailstones.

Almost every second, they would be struck by the fire-hailstones, burning their skin, burning their flesh, burning their tendons, burning their bones, burning their marrow, suffering immensely, with immense smoke and flames, penetrating their bodies, scorching their flesh and blood.

The beings of Hell suffered extreme pain in the fire, unable to find death.

Yan Jun, however, ignored all of this; he grabbed a fire-hailstone that had just landed from the small crack, and the small crack immediately closed, no longer leaking Yin Qi.

Immediately, his hand began to burn, even his Face contorted in unbearable pain, his palm's bones and flesh charred, almost burned through.

This Hell fire-hailstone was grabbed by him and quickly thrown into the tortoise shell.

Human fireworks, Spirit Beast heart fire, and Hellfire, the three combined, jointly scorched the tortoise shell.

The tortoise shell also could not withstand such high temperatures and finally began to shake.

Seeing this, Yan Jun and Si Lao both breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the tortoise shell shook repeatedly, then cracked open from within, and then directly exploded, shattering into several pieces!

It was the maid nearby who reacted extremely quickly, raising her hand and waving it.

A roll of silk flew out, embroidered with intricate patterns, appearing and disappearing, forming a ring that locked the explosion within it.

The explosion's power was not very great, but the power of Yan Jun's flames contained within it was considerable, incinerating the entire roll of silk and leaving Yan Jun and Si Lao covered in ash.

As for the fruits, delicacies, soups, table coverings, cushions, wine pots, and chopsticks in this private room, they were all overturned by the aftermath of the explosion, leaving the entire private room in disarray.

But Si Lao paid no attention to the ash on his Face; he jumped up in surprise, immediately bowed, and said to the Young Master, "Young Lord! This person is either of a very high rank, whom I cannot provoke, or has a treasure protecting their body, making divination impossible!"

The Young Master frowned; he had watched the entire process and naturally knew what was happening.

Yan Jun and Si Lao were both Rank Eight powerhouses, especially Si Lao, who, though not fortunate enough to become a disciple of Shaman God Mountain, had luckily obtained fragments of the orthodox Shaman Dao methods.

Both his divination and cursing had a semblance of the true Diviner's style, more than ten times stronger than ordinary Shamanes, making him an extremely trusted subordinate.

"Very high rank, that's unlikely.

If that were the case, your tortoise shell wouldn't have just exploded; you would have been directly spied upon by the other party.

But don't worry, if he really saw me, he would naturally stop.

At least in Green Mountain Country, even if the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord came, for my father's Face, he would at most punish me once or twice, not too excessively."

The Young Master tapped the table and said so.

The Green Mountain Kingdom Lord, a Rank Five powerhouse, was already the strongest in this region; as for higher ranks...

He hadn't even thought about it; it was completely impossible.

Above Rank Five was already a country's ruler, their mighty power astonishing, capable of shattering a miniature heaven and earth with a wave of their hand, and the aftershocks of their battles could easily devastate an area of ten thousand li, plucking stars and seizing the moon was nothing to them.

As for Rank Four, he hadn't even seen one.

What kind of might was that? It had reached an unimaginable level, and such an existence wouldn't bother to contend with him.

"So, it seems there's a treasure protecting their Karma and lifeblood, which led to your curse failing, Si Lao, and your divination also failing... Tsk, tsk, such a treasure should belong to a fated person, which suits me perfectly.

How could it fall into the hands of a tiger demon?"

He stood up, no longer even watching the constant death matches he usually enjoyed.

"Let's go, we'll head down.

No need for divination, just follow the ghostly Qi and see what's going on with that tiger demon.

And while we're at it, retrieve that dust-covered treasure; it'll be a chance for it to regain its brilliance, instead of being wronged in the hands of a demon."

The Young Master stood up and walked out of the private room.

Yan Jun, Si Lao, and the maid followed him downstairs.

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As for Li Qi, at this moment, he felt nothing at all.

No wonder, as a Rank Nine of orthodox Shaman Dao, he was extraordinary and detached, with a miniature heaven and earth gestating within his body.

Now, he could go a year without eating or drinking without any side effects, and breathing was no longer so necessary; he could hold his breath for four or five days and still move normally, just unable to speak.

After all, without breathing, there's no airflow to vibrate the vocal cords, so speaking is out of the question.

When Shaman Dao cultivation reaches profound levels, the human body's small heaven and earth can even produce living beings, forming a self-contained world within, existing freely and eternally, without relying on any external objects.

To divine Li Qi was, in essence, to divine a miniature heaven and earth.

Although it was indeed very small now, its rank was much higher than that of a singular life form.

Furthermore, he was an outsider, making divination extremely difficult.

However, Li Qi had recently learned some corresponding knowledge and knew that not all outsiders were like him, so difficult for even a Grand Diviner to track.

To be precise, the further one was from the world, the harder it was to divine, because it would involve the Heavenly Dao of the corresponding world, and divination did not have action-at-a-distance.

For example, in the Earth Oil Realm, a Rank Nine Diviner could easily calculate and divine.

As for being so difficult for even a Grand Diviner to calculate... Li Qi had no idea how far Earth was, anyway.

But these were all idle thoughts; Li Qi's main focus now was on choosing a Wind Travel Talisman.

Because... there were too many.

Yes, too many.

The Wind Travel Talisman had a low learning threshold, almost an Entry-Level product for Talisman Masters, and its cost was practically zero, requiring only ordinary talisman paper, ink, and the Talisman Master's own Qi.

Essentially, what was sold was the craftsmanship.

Therefore, almost every shop here sold Wind Travel Talismans, and according to the style of the creator, various effects differed.

The books didn't mention this; it was the first time Li Qi knew that Wind Travel Talismans would have different characteristics.

There are eight winds in heaven, and each has different properties, so depending on the type the creator is skilled and familiar with, Wind Travel Talismans will have different special effects.

Some simply run faster, some last longer, some can add the ability of brief flight, and some even have two or three different special effects.

If a Talisman Master was proficient in all eight winds, they could even create Wind Travel Talismans with all eight different characteristics simultaneously.

Of course, the price would certainly skyrocket accordingly.

It was also Li Qi's first time at such a market; since the books didn't mention it, he naturally wouldn't know, so he was slowly learning.

Shen Shuibi, on the other hand, though not a Talisman Master, had excellent discernment and could always point out flaws, which greatly helped Li Qi in his selection.

And Piao Xu often offered reminders about the reputation of certain shops, which made the selection process very smooth.

Soon, Li Qi, according to his needs, picked three, all for extreme acceleration, and also used the flaws pointed out by Shen Shuibi to cut down almost a third of the price, acquiring them for two gold coins each.

At this point, Li Qi had only one gold coin and a tiny bit of loose change left on him.

But it was good; as long as he didn't overspend.

However, he also knew the cost of Wind Travel Talismans; these two gold coins per talisman were basically pure profit besides labor.

Wind Travel Talismans were also extremely easy to damage and were considered consumables; they would be gone with a slight bump during combat or travel.

They were basically meant for high volume, and a skilled Talisman Master could write twenty or so in a day without effort.

But for him, it was a good thing.

How good is cheap?

However...

"Two gold coins is considered cheap, huh..." Li Qi said with a sigh.

Just a year ago, he was struggling for a few copper coins, and now he felt that 'something for two gold coins is truly cheap, simply excellent value for money'.

Two gold coins, that's twenty thousand coins.

Piao Xu glanced at Li Qi, somewhat puzzled.

It was already surprising to her that such an expert would haggle over prices, and now what did this sigh mean?

Shen Shuibi, however, showed no reaction; she had returned to her usual dazed state, immersed in her own world.

Perhaps it was because of this personality that she hadn't left Mount Luofu for several millennia, leading Li Qi to deceive her all along from the very beginning...

"Hmm... I've bought the Wind Travel Talisman, but for cultivation methods, I probably don't have enough money.

I need to find a way to earn money.

I don't have many resources in my pocket, should I go to Green Mountain?" Li Qi pondered his future itinerary.

cultivation methods were definitely ridiculously expensive; it was probably impossible to buy them with gold.

"En, we've bought what we needed, let's go back now, so as not to delay your business.

It's been almost an hour and a half since we left; it'll be just in time for dinner when we get back."

Li Qi, having bought his items, suggested.

"As Mister says."

Piao Xu also seemed much more natural, curtsying and then walking forward.

Shen Shuibi naturally had no objections; she had already activated follow mode and just walked along, not bothering with anything else.

However, at this very moment.

Shen Shuibi, who had been following absentmindedly, suddenly moved, reaching out and pulling Piao Xu, startling the fox.

"Mister, what is it?" Piao Xu greatly respected this female Mister who had saved her, so she quickly asked, assuming the other party had something to tell her.

But after Shen Shuibi pulled Piao Xu, Li Qi immediately made his move.

The Qi of the Five Mountains surged from within him, incredibly steady, like mountain roots piercing the ground, forming a thick Five Mountains Shield.

However, with a burst of flute music, the steady Qi formed by the Five Mountains Qi was penetrated.

Li Qi frowned.

The flute, the Qi of the center, all things are born without sound, seen without form, it is肃 (su), which is invisible Killing Intent.

The sound of the flute,萧萧 (xiaoxiao), signifies肅殺 (sushā -肃杀, severe killing), as in '蕭蕭淒切' (xiaoxiao qiqie - desolate and mournful) and '樹木蕭瑟' (shumu xiaose - trees rustling desolately), which are derived from this meaning.

Was the opponent planning a sneak attack from the start? And a lethal one?

Just as sound can penetrate a solid shield, the Qi of the flute could easily pass through Li Qi's Five Mountains Qi.

Normal defenses were useless against it.

But it didn't stump Li Qi.

He violently swung his fist, striking his liver and gallbladder area!

The Qi of the gallbladder,震 (zhen - shock), is the anger of a person vibrating out, the sound of aspiring virtue.

The Qi of the liver,生 (sheng - birth), senses the Qi of peace, its essence being the beginning of vitality.

Just as thunder brings vitality and can dispel the desolate Qi, Li Qi pounded his liver and gallbladder, simultaneously shouting loudly, a resounding cry: "Heh Ha!"

Others around hastily dodged, and that flute sound was also dispelled by Li Qi's resounding shout, imbued with the Qi of his liver and gallbladder, but Li Qi coughed slightly.

Punching himself hurt a lot; it was probably a minor injury.

"Who is it?" Li Qi dispersed his Five Mountains defense and looked towards the source of the flute sound.

(Monthly... votes, ugh!)