Chapter 65: Putting blame on others

There was no doubt that when Shen Shuibi came out, she immediately attracted the attention of the entire store.

Li Qi never expected that just by changing her clothes, from disheveled hair to neatly combed hair, and adding a simple wooden hairpin, she could change so much.

So, Li Qi quickly paid the money. He had originally planned to bargain for a lower price, but now with this situation, he didn't dare to haggle and pulled Shen Shuibi out.

“Excuse me, excuse me…” He said with an embarrassed smile to the passersby, pulling out Shen Shuibi, who was happy about her new clothes.

Based on his understanding of Shen Shuibi from their month together, Li Qi could bet that she had no perception of external gazes; the smile on her face was purely from happiness.

Just like a child who receives a new toy.

She was simply happy, but when Li Qi pulled her onto the street, the surrounding gazes were almost nailing Li Qi to the spot.

However, Li Qi was unwilling to deprive Shen Shuibi of the joy of wearing new clothes. If he made her change back just to avoid attracting attention…

Then he would seem too useless.

Even if it attracted some attention, he should still be able to protect her.

An unknown sense of self-esteem made Li Qi less cautious than usual. Instead, he pulled Shen Shuibi openly and walked towards the city gates.

Fortunately, the Great Deer Kingdom was, on the whole, a country with strict laws, although this strictness was only evident on the surface.

But the strictness on the surface was already enough to prevent others from acting in broad daylight.

As for at night.

In this world, no one would leave the city at night.

Li Qi pulled Shen Shuibi all the way out of the city, into the wilderness, into the mountain forests, and entered the non-human settlement of the Shiwan Mountains.

He blew a whistle.

Shen Shuibi covered her ears, trembling all over, twisting constantly, her expression turning into a grimace of pain, alternating between green and purple.

She couldn't stand sharp sounds; perhaps this was the price of a rabbit's sensitive hearing.

But only such a sound could spread widely.

Soon, a neighing sound came, and the old horse neighed in the distance, responding.

Not long after, a handsome and elegant horse galloped over, wind beneath its hooves, clouds accompanying it, flying through the forest, rushing to Li Qi's front at an extremely fast speed, and rubbing its horse face against Li Qi.

“Alright, you two stay here for the night. I'll go buy some other things needed for outdoor travel, and a map. Old horse, what do you want to eat? Beans? Oats?” Li Qi said to the old horse.

The old horse neighed and stomped its hooves.

Shen Shuibi began to translate at this point: “He says he wants oats, preferably mixed with some beets.”

“Quite demanding. Alright, I'll bring them to you then.” Li Qi patted the horse's back, then said to Shen Shuibi: “You two wait here for now. With the old horse here, nothing should be able to catch up to you. I'll probably be back tonight. If not tonight, then definitely by tomorrow morning. I need to deal with that gold. Oh, and old horse, give me another lock of your mane.” Li Qi said, cutting a lock of the old horse's mane with a knife, which made the old horse shake its head in displeasure.

He always felt that in a while, his beautiful mane would be completely cut off by Li Qi.

“En, okay, the old horse and I will wait for you here.” Shen Shuibi nodded.

She was always so straightforward.

Although a bit naive, she was, after all, a ruthless person who could cripple her own Cultivation.

Li Qi sometimes asked himself, if he Cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years and finally reached the Fifth Rank, could he easily cripple his own Cultivation?

It's hard to say, but certainly not as nonchalantly as Shen Shuibi.

To this day, he had never seen Shen Shuibi become disheartened because she lost her Cultivation. She seemed to always be in a good mood, and even when occasionally unhappy, she could quickly adjust back.

It was as if the lost thousand years of Cultivation were not hers.

It was as if transforming from a high and mighty immortal to this frail woman, who was now utterly defenseless and had to rely on a Mortal like him to survive, was not worth any sorrow at all.

What a firm will.

Of course, it was also possible that she was just naive and hadn't realized it.

But Li Qi thought that was unlikely.

Although Shen Shuibi's personality was a bit naive and cute, her unfathomable experience and knowledge base were evident.

Naive doesn't mean low intelligence; how could someone who could remember so many things be foolish?

So Li Qi actually admired Shen Shuibi quite a bit.

After instructing these matters, Li Qi tidied up his money and gave his luggage to Shen Shuibi for safekeeping.

Then, he returned to the city by himself.

He still had to deal with the gold.

The method he thought of to deal with this gold without incurring losses, taking risks, or needing to frame someone else, was to use the money for a sacrifice.

He was prepared to be ruthless, spend some money, and hold a small sacrifice.

Sacrifice to what?

Sacrifice to the Di Qi he was most familiar with.

In Azure Brilliance Palace, the God of the Li River.

The Di Qi he was most familiar with, the one he participated in the Grand Ritual for every year, the God of the Li River, whom he had already sacrificed to three times!

——————

“Come, yes, just set it up like this.”

“The altar goes here, that's right, just here.”

“Wait a moment, you'll be responsible for beating the drum here, just tap this small drum.”

Li Qi arranged some laborers.

He paid them ten coins each to help him set up a small Dao field for sacrificing to the River God.

This included some wood, meat offerings, small paper boats, and incense, as well as the old horse's mane.

A pure-colored Dragon Steed, incredibly useful.

All of this cost Li Qi two thousand three hundred coins, including labor.

Honestly, his heart was bleeding.

However, he actually had this intention to begin with; the gold merely helped him make up his mind.

As a Invoker, he had never held a sacrifice involving more than one person before; this was a first.

Such multi-person sacrifices were the true way to obtain enough power.

Now, Li Qi couldn't help but tremble just thinking about the scale of the annual river opening ceremony…

Every year during the river opening, tens of thousands of people worked for it, with countless rituals and offerings.

How much did the host of the ceremony, the Governor of Li Prefecture, gain?

Forget about that, let's focus on his own sacrificial ground.

Having prepared these things, Li Qi stepped forward, presented the offerings, and sent the folded paper boats into the Li River.

Among the offerings, that piece of gold was conspicuously present!

Offering gold to the gods was a tradition of sacrifice, so what was the problem?

Meat, wine, gold, Dragon Steed mane—everything was completed according to the rituals.

Damn it, let whatever disaster or curse this thing carried go find the God of the Li River!

Li Qi didn't believe it; could such a thing possibly contend with this great being?