Chapter 567: Xinsu magic formula

Above the East Sea, on the small fishing boat Li Qi had casually conjured, the two men looked at each other.

Li Qi hadn't expected that when he came out fishing, he would actually fish up the Shen Yijun elder who had taught him how to fish in the first place.

How should one put it…

He who fishes for others, others will always fish for him?

The Shen Yijun had truly suffered terribly these past years. After the Hell incident and Li Qi's escape, things were probably far from over.

The Dragon Slaying Squad had definitely been captured by Ao Guangxiao. Ao Guangxiao didn't seem to have let them go; instead, he had flayed them and stripped out everything related to True Dragon from their bodies.

Although he hadn't killed them, it was no different from killing them. Who knew what price the Dao of Reason had paid to keep them alive.

The Dao of Reason must have intervened, otherwise Ao Guangxiao would never have let them go.

After that, they were probably imprisoned thousands of miles deep in the seabed? Until now, when Li Qi cast his fishing hook, he probably cast it nearby and coincidentally rescued him.

Thinking of this, a flood of thoughts rushed into Li Qi's mind, but he suppressed them, walked over, sat down, and said to the Shen Yijun, "Elder, to meet at a time like this is truly fate. What happened? Tell me the whole story."

The Shen Yijun sighed, "Alas, it is indeed fate. How does the saying go? Karma. I received this consequence for slaying the True Dragon, and I never thought that spending two days with you on the boat back then would lead to this current consequence. It truly is... unpredictable."

"So, how did I fish you up?" Li Qi asked curiously.

"That's a long story. Do you have any wine?" The Shen Yijun leaned back.

"I don't drink much, so I haven't prepared any good wine, but ordinary wine, I can brew it on the spot," Li Qi said with a smile, then took out a pile of Spiritual Plants from his Mustard Seed Bag.

The reason wine intoxicates people is due to the Qi of the yeast.

As the saying goes, when the Qi of the yeast dissipates, it all turns into water; thus, it becomes wine. Li Qi twisted these Spiritual Plants until they were slightly dry, mixed them with yeast, and began to catalyze them with术法.

This certainly couldn't compare to the immortal spiritual wines brewed by master brewers, but it was still a fine product used for Shaman sacrifices, and it was quite good, with excellent Materials.

The Shen Yijun, watching Li Qi's technique, said, "The glutinous rice must be even, the yeast must be timely, the fermentation must be clean, the spring water must be fragrant, the pottery must be good, and the firing must be correct. If these six are perfect, then you will get fine wine. You, young man, didn't say you could brew wine when we were fishing."

"A Shaman, more or less, knows a bit. This is a fundamental skill for earning a living," Li Qi explained while manipulating the Spiritual Plants.

Li Qi knew how to brew wine because many sacrificial rituals required wine, and they all demanded new wine; aged wine was actually not good. Therefore, he had to brew it at any time, so Li Qi always made it on the spot.

The Shen Yijun didn't respond, seemingly a bit tired, leaning against the mast and snoring, as if he had fallen asleep.

Li Qi also didn't rush him.

They were both long-lived beings; they weren't short on a little time like this.

Li Qi slowly brewed the wine, mixing the Spiritual Plants, beans, yeast, and smartweed together, pounding them into a milky paste. After one day of re-fermentation, he added术法 to catalyze it, using the method of rotating the four seasons of the Inner World of the human body to accelerate the wine's fermentation. In less than half a day, it was ready.

Li Qi then arranged the wine cups and opened the jar.

He always carried wine cups with him; the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact had remained with him since then.

As the jar was opened and the aroma of wine wafted out, the Shen Yijun twitched his nose, awoke from his slumber, and without ceremony, grabbed a wine cup, filled it, and drank heartily, downing thirty-nine cups. He felt his Qi and blood flowing smoothly, all illnesses dispelled, and his body light and agile, praising repeatedly, "Good, good wine, good wine!"

He then asked, "Alright, now that I have wine to accompany me, my mouth is just missing a bit of flavor. Do you have any meat?"

Li Qi smiled, "No meat, but I have two fish."

With that, he tossed out the large fish he hadn't finished eating even after forty-something days, and even took out the Rank Seven savage beast, the eight-hundred-mile-long large fish, from the fishing basket.

Seeing this, the Shen Yijun laughed heartily, leaped up, and landed on the large fish. Although it was eight hundred miles long, he took a mighty gulp, and the entire large fish was swallowed whole into his belly.

Then, looking at the large fish Li Qi had already roasted, his body suddenly swelled, transforming into a giant. He picked it up, took a bite, finished it in two or three mouthfuls, and then his body shrunk, returning to its normal state.

With food and drink, his Martial Dao Inner Qi was greatly replenished. His complexion became much rosier, and he repeatedly exclaimed, "Good, good, good!"

"Thank you, little brother. I'll remember this favor. Oh, what were you just asking?"

"Oh, I just wanted to ask what you've been through all these years, and how you ended up like this?" Li Qi asked.

"With wine and food, it's fine to talk about it. Actually, after you left, little brother, a few of us were captured, and then it was what you saw, that son of a bitch Ao Guangxiao—"

The Shen Yijun grumbled and began to recount his experiences over the past few decades.

It was largely consistent with Li Qi's guesses.

The Shen Yijun's Dragon Slaying Squad was ultimately forced to confront Ao Guangxiao. With the help of the Dao of Reason, most of them escaped, but then Ao Guangxiao took a sudden gulp, and the Shen Yijun blocked the attack for his brothers. The True Dragon part of his body was rapidly stripped away.

Ao Guangxiao then used his Divine Ability to curse him to the bottom of the sea, saying, "You like fishing, so wait for someone to fish you up! See if you have that luck!"

It turned out that the Divine Ability Ao Guangxiao used was actually a Shaman Dao curse.

However, it was quite natural. As perfect beings, True Dragons hardly had any Dao disputes. It was said that their Inner World could be reshaped at will, however they pleased, so they could cultivate all术法. Although they couldn't master true Great Dao, simulating术法 was their forte. Therefore, True Dragons had countless forms and areas of expertise. Every True Dragon was highly customizable, some with wings, some without, and some even resembling sea turtles.

The saying "horns like a deer, head like an ox, eyes like a shrimp, mouth like a donkey, belly like a snake, scales like a fish, feet like a Phoenix, whiskers like a human, ears like an elephant" and so on, was actually a manifestation of this aspect of True Dragon's ability.

However, the visible result of this was that a True Dragon's Inner World could be embedded into a cultivator's body like equipment, without any rejection. The Shen Yijun elder particularly liked doing this.

It was nothing special for a True Dragon to master the art of cursing.

The Shen Yijun was cursed and suppressed in the sea. The way to break the curse was to be fished up by someone.

How vast was the East Sea? In his severely injured state, and sealed so he couldn't move freely, he was stuck in the water, waiting for a fishing hook. If his luck was bad, a thousand or even ten thousand years was not impossible.

He had been buried in the water like this for over seventy years.

However, he was lucky. Until today, when Li Qi cast a rod, he finally found a fishing hook, desperately broke the Seal, tightly gripped the hook, and was fished up.

The backlash of the curse was also the source of his miserable state; his cultivation directly collapsed. A passing Patrolling Envoys knocked him down one First Grade, which finally calmed the situation.

After saying all this, the Shen Yijun reached out and slapped the sea.

A hidden force shot downwards. A sea beast was struck in the spine, floated to the surface, and turned belly up.

He grabbed the sea beast and ravenously devoured it again. Although hundreds of tons of meat went into his belly, his stomach showed no movement. While eating the meat, he took out more wine and drank it heartily. Although he was an old man, his eating style was extremely unrestrained.

This was a Martial Artist, truly a Dao Orthodoxy that relied on eating. Everything they ate would be converted into their Martial Dao Inner Qi. Not to mention flesh and blood, they could even eat术法. As long as it was the Qi they needed, they could easily digest it.

It was said that many unprincipled Martial Artists... would eat other cultivators, jokingly calling it the 'man-eating' style, directly devouring the opponent's cultivation for their own use.

However, while this behavior led to rapid improvement, it also placed correspondingly high demands on the Martial Artist's Dao Heart. After all, cultivation needed the Dao Heart to support it. If the Dao Heart was unstable, cultivation would only self-destruct.

But Li Qi, looking at the Shen Yijun, fell into deep thought.

This elder clearly had a background with the Heavenly God Court, possibly a descendant of a certain Heavenly God.

Hmm...

"Elder, now that you're free, do you have any retreat?" Li Qi asked.

The Shen Yijun took a gulp of wine, swallowed it with a gurgle, and casually replied, "There's definitely no place for me in the world. Before, I was always messing around in the East Sea, and my foundation was also in the East Sea. Now that the True Dragon is thinking about me, I definitely can't stay. I plan to try my luck in the outer domains."

"That's quite a coincidence, Elder. I have some properties in the outer domains—" Li Qi said with a smile.

"What? You want me to work for you? Can you afford the wages?" The Shen Yijun put down his food and joked.

"I definitely can't afford the wages. Maybe I'll even need you, Elder, to bring your own dry rations and work for free. But, if you help me here, the True Dragon might just turn a blind eye," Li Qi said with a smile.

"Do you have a very powerful background?" The Shen Yijun pouted.

Li Qi said nothing more, only flipped his hand outwards, and a talisman emerged from his palm, slightly curved, with small characters engraved on it, stating Li Qi's identity and mission.

The Shen Yijun's expression changed. He carefully examined the talisman, even reaching out to touch it, but ultimately withdrew his hand, not daring to touch it.

He recognized it; this was a Shaman God Mountain talisman. If it was real, the amount of information contained within was too great.

Such a thing could absolutely not be obtained by anyone who wasn't a direct descendant of the orthodox line.

"Genuine?" He asked Li Qi seriously.

"Could it be fake?" Li Qi said.

The Shen Yijun nodded, "Alright then, going to the outer domains to avoid the limelight is a good thing. I'll return in another ten or a hundred thousand years; presumably, the younger generation of True Dragons won't remember me anymore."

After speaking, he sighed again, "Little brother, you saved me from my predicament, then saved my life, and now you're even giving me a place to lie low. I have nothing to offer right now, and I can't repay you immediately. I can only say that I will do my best for you in the outer domains and conquer a few more world clusters. I am quite confident in my killing power."

Li Qi waved his hand, "Elder, why say such things? No need. My properties in the outer domains are not some kind of fighting and killing organization. Asking you to go there is actually just for you to relax. If there's any trouble, just pay attention. Peace is the main priority; we don't engage in looting."

The Shen Yijun nodded slightly, "Indeed. Seeing your character, little brother, I know you are not someone who enjoys killing. Then I will go and recuperate for a while, help you look after the business, only acting as an enforcer and not interfering with operations."

Then, he continued, "By the way, looking at this talisman, the place you're responsible for, little brother, is Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu), right?"

"It's near Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu). What's wrong?" Li Qi asked curiously.

"Isn't this a coincidence? The sixteen world clusters near Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu) are all nurtured by naturally occurring Divine Fire. There's an extraordinary spectacle in the outer domains called Great Fire. Have you heard of it, little brother?" The Shen Yijun asked.

Great Fire, Li Qi had certainly heard of it. This was an important area on the star map.

After dusk in autumn, when the Great Fire sets in the west, it is called 'Flowing Fire.' The 'Fire' in 'Seventh Month Flowing Fire' refers to the Great Fire. It is said that this place is the core Dao foundation of an ancient Star Officials, and it is a well-known wonder in the outer domains.

And the Great Fire is rumored to be the heart of the Azure Dragon.

The heart of the Azure Dragon, one of the Four Symbols, is located at Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu). The great star of Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu) is the Great Fire. The importance of this place is evident from the fact that the ancient Star Officials placed the Great Fire here when setting up the star charts of the heavens.

"I have a section of cultivation method here, which I obtained from a past encounter. However, I am a Martial Artist after all, and not very familiar with these things. At the time, I just memorized it, but I couldn't use it myself."

"This cultivation method is rumored to have originated from within the Great Fire and can extract a trace of the Great Fire's true essence. I haven't tried its specific effects, and I, a rough man, can't learn it anyway. Since you're also going to Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu) soon, little brother, why not give it a try? If you have a fortuitous encounter, it can be considered a token of my regard," the Shen Yijun said.

This indeed made Li Qi a little tempted.

If he could truly establish a connection with the Great Fire, then he could establish a connection with the Star Officials, one of the top Dao Orthodoxy of the Heavenly God Dao.

Similar to the Hundred Schools of Human Dao, the Three Branches of Shaman Dao, and the Three Isles of Dao Orthodoxy, the Heavenly God Dao also had its internal Dao Orthodoxy distinctions.

There were several major ones. The first, of course, was the undisputed Purple Star Heavenly God Court, led by the Heavenly God Emperor, comprising the ancient Innate Gods who came into being at the birth of the world.

The second were the ancient Star Officials, also known as the Four Symbols, Five Dippers, Nine Luminaries, Twelve Yuan Chen, and twenty-eight lunar mansions.

But regardless of which of these two, their relationship with Shaman Dao was good. After all, even the Four Symbols were actually allies of Shaman Dao.

However, it was different for the Human Dao. The Human Dao had a very good relationship with the Star Officials and often borrowed their power.

But the Human Dao and the Heavenly God Court were truly at odds. In the past, the Purple Star Heavenly God Court had tried to chop off the Human Emperor and completely devour the entire Human Dao, and the Human Dao was not to be outdone, having committed acts like 'shooting the heavens' and 'killing gods.'

The Human Emperor once made effigies, calling them Heavenly Gods. He played chess with them, making people act as pieces. When the Heavenly Gods lost, he disgraced them. He made a leather bag, filled it with blood, and shot at it, calling it 'shooting the heavens.'

Therefore, for Li Qi, if the prior arrangements in Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu) could gain a slight advantage on the Dao foundation of the Great Fire Star Officials, or even influence the Star Officials' stance in the Human-Shaman war, it would be a huge gain!

Therefore, Li Qi naturally couldn't refuse, but directly cupped his hands, "Thank you, elder brother. Then I will accept it without being presumptuous."