Chapter 56
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Lou Yuanwei’s soul was extremely fragile. Almost at the moment he saw the endless purgatory, his soul turned to ashes on Li Fenglan’s fingertips.
With the wind and sand of Daiduo City, the man who had been standing in front of him just now fell to the ground with his eyes open and without any sound.
Seeing this, the armored guards stepped back in unison, and the leader asked in a deep voice, “Who are you? Why did you harm our city lord?”
Li Fenglan gave him a cold glance and said indifferently, “Oh? Should I spare him and let him devour your soul?”
Lou Yuanwei had been in Daiduo City for many years, and the number of fierce beasts around here was extremely rare, not enough for him to sustain his life. It was not difficult to guess that Lou Yuanwei must have devoured the souls of the people around him.
Sure enough, as soon as Li Fenglan finished speaking, not only the leader of the guards but also the faces of others turned ugly.
Those who have been following Lou Yuanwei for a long time already knew that their “City Lord” had a problem! However, at that time, Lou Yuanwei had full control over the situation in Daiduo City, and even though they knew he had a problem, no one dared to expose him.
Perhaps because he knew that Lou Yuanwei was not the real mastermind behind all this, after dealing with him, Li Fenglan did not feel any sense of relaxation. Li Fenglan even felt like he was trapped in a fog, unable to find any direction.
He only glanced at those people and said nothing, then walked straight to the inn where he was staying.
…
When Ling Buyan knocked on Li Fenglan’s room door, he saw that Li Fenglan was holding onto Cheng Huang and sitting on the corner of the bed, feeling upset.
Cheng Huang looked like it wanted to talk to its owner, but sensing Li Fenglan’s obvious mood, the little guy remained quiet.
Ling Buyan slowly closed the door and walked to the bedside. Li Fenglan only glanced at him and gently called out “Master,” then said nothing more.
Like Li Fenglan, when Ling Buyan came to Daiduo City, he also changed his clothes. At this time, he was wearing a gray-black coarse cloth long shirt, and this dark and cold color highlighted his unique and refined temperament, creating a stark contrast with this slightly exaggeratedly decorated room.
“Fenglan, are you thinking about the Li family’s situation?” Ling Buyan sat on the bed and asked softly.
“Mhmm.” nodded Li Fenglan.
Seeing that he wasn’t in a good mood, Ling Buyan paused before speaking, but then heard Li Fenglan speak up.
“Master, you know who is behind Lou Yuanwei, right?” Although Li Fenglan asked like this, he used an affirmative tone.
If before Li Fenglan wasn’t sure, then the endless purgatory he had just witnessed recently had finally connected all these events together. Mo Shenyu, Lou Yuanwei, endless purgatory… These people and things that Li Fenglan thought had nothing to do with each other a few months ago were all strangely entwined together now.
But for Li Fenglan, all these things were still like a tangled ball of wool that he couldn’t unravel.
Li Fenglan knew they were related, but he could never find the end of this ball of wool…
Hearing Li Fenglan’s question, Ling Buyan did not deny it. The man nodded lightly and said, “Yes.”
Ling Buyan was always like this. He might hide something, but he wouldn’t lie to Li Fenglan.
Now that Cheng Huang had grown up and awakened his intelligence, he no longer looked as foolish as before. When he heard Li Fenglan and Ling Buyan’s conversation, which was like a riddle, Cheng Huang, who had been held in Li Fenglan’s arms, couldn’t help but ask, “What does that mean?”
The childlike voice of Cheng Huang broke the silence in the room.
Upon hearing this, Li Fenglan gently touched the top of Cheng Huang’s head. Then he looked up at Ling Buyan’s eyes and said slowly, “I have always known that my master understands a lot of things and has kept many things from me. But today I realized that you know far more than I imagined…” Li Fenglan’s tone was a little bit disappointed.
Seeing him like this, Ling Buyan felt a kind of pain in his heart.
He found that he was becoming more and more unwilling to see Li Fenglan show such an expression.
Although he didn’t understand what Li Fenglan was talking about, Cheng Huang could feel his mood.
So after Li Fenglan finished speaking, Cheng Huang actually sighed along with him, “Ah…”
Li Fenglan: “…”
Ling Buyan: “…”
Although Cheng Huang has grown up, his voice is still the same as before and sounds like a human child.
So when Cheng Huang sighed in such a tone, the effect was particularly…funny.
The serious atmosphere just now was destroyed in an instant.
Li Fenglan also sighed lightly, and then asked Ling Buyan again, “Master, I want to ask you a question. You only need to answer yes or no.”
“Okay,” Ling Buyan nodded lightly when he saw how serious Li Fenglan was. “Go ahead and ask your question.”
After spending a long time alone in the room, Li Fenglan had gone over everything that had happened since his rebirth in his mind. The question he wanted to ask only occurred to him after a long while.
Li Fenglan said, “Master, you not only knew some of the truth, as I previously thought, but also the whole inexplicable situation, including the reasons behind it. Am I right?”
Perhaps the only thing that Ling Buyan didn’t know was that the world he lived in was actually a novel. Li Fenglan added silently in his mind.
After Li Fenglan finished speaking, he hugged the arm of Cheng Huang tightly, exerting a little too much force.
Cheng Huang felt uncomfortable being hugged so tightly, but it didn’t make a sound this time.
As expected, Ling Buyan nodded and said, “Yes.”
Sure enough, Ling Buyan not only knew that he was Li Fuyue from beginning to end, but also had answers to everything Li Fenglan wanted to know!
“Then why did you know all these things but never say anything, and even followed Mu Hantao to find ‘clues’ to find Daodu City with me? What exactly were you trying to achieve?” Li Fenglan’s voice grew smaller and smaller as he spoke, and he fell into contemplation after he finished.
In the end, Li Fenglan felt like he had found the answer.
He looked at Ling Buyan and said, “Were you hoping that I would find out the truth about what happened all those years ago myself?”
“Yes, now that I think about it, it seems to be true,” said Li Fenglan. “Maybe from beginning to end, Ling Buyan knew the truth about the whole thing. And the things he did were… deliberately accompanying and guiding me, letting me slowly find the answers.”
The more he thought about it, the more stimulated Li Fenglan became. Even though Ling Buyan’s behavior had always told him that he wouldn’t directly reveal the truth, just knowing that someone knew the truth about everything made Li Fenglan feel a little better.
“That’s right,” Ling Buyan still didn’t deceive Li Fenglan. And this time, without waiting for Li Fenglan to ask, Ling Buyan answered the following question.
Ling Buyan’s expression was slightly panicked, as if he was afraid that Li Fenglan would misunderstand him. “I didn’t intentionally conceal these things. And this time, I didn’t intend to let you down.”
As Li Fenglan had thought before, Ling Buyan used to be a person who was extremely self-centered. He always did things his own way and never considered how others might view him. But now, everything was different when he faced Li Fenglan.
Ling Buyan wasn’t afraid of anyone misunderstanding him, but he was afraid that Li Fenglan would hold a grudge against him because of it.
“What do you mean?” Li Fenglan asked curiously.
Ling Buyan hesitated for a moment before saying, “All of this, including what happened with Lou Yuanwei today, is related to your past life.”
“Mhmm.” Li Fenglan nodded lightly.
Then he heard Ling Buyan say: “Although Li Fuyue is dead, the karma on his body has not been cut off. Only by cutting off the karma oneself can one completely sever the connection with the previous life.”
“I see…”
Li Fenglan was a cultivator, and as soon as Ling Buyan spoke, he immediately understood what he meant.
For cultivators, having deep karmic ties on their body is a very troublesome thing. The most obvious thing is that people with endless karma find it very difficult to ascend to the upper realm, and even the tribulation thunder when crossing the tribulation is stronger than others.
Thinking about it, Li Fenglan had encountered the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation twice in a row, perhaps because of the deep karma of his past life…
He had never thought of this before, but Ling Buyan had already figured it out for him.
…
Seeing that Li Fenglan understood what he meant, Ling Buyan also breathed a sigh of relief.
After speaking the words just now, Li Fenglan’s hand that held onto Cheng Huang slowly relaxed.
As a fierce beast that formed a spiritual bond with Li Fenglan, Cheng Huang was very sensitive to Li Fenglan’s mood changes.
It could clearly sense that Li Fenglan had relaxed a lot.
So Cheng Huang, who had just been quietly obedient, became a little more active.
Using the small pads on its paws, Cheng Huang lightly touched Li Fenglan and whispered, “Fenglan, I’m a little hungry…”
Recently, although Cheng Huang had been fighting with Duan Wannian, it hadn’t learned much except for Duan Wannian’s cute mannerisms. Now, when it spoke to Li Fenglan, it sounded very careful, with a hint of shyness, as if it was pretending to be weak!
But…Li Fenglan seemed to be very fond of Cheng Huang’s behavior.
“Really?” Li Fenglan said, but he was already thinking in his heart: Cheng Huang feeds on spiritual energy, and Daiduo City is lacking in spiritual energy, as an adult ancient fierce beast, Cheng Huang must naturally be hungry.
At this moment, Ling Buyan looked at Cheng Huang with a smile that didn’t seem like a smile.
“Really, just a little hungry~” Cheng Huang said.
Upon hearing this, Li Fenglan pondered for a moment and took out his Qiankun bag.
“There’s still some spirit herbs that Qiu Wanyou sent over in here, you can have them first.” Li Fenglan finally gave in.
–Not long ago, it was because of eating too many spirit herbs that allowed Cheng Huang to advance to adulthood early. Although this wasn’t a bad thing, Li Fenglan was still somewhat worried. What if Cheng Huang keeps eating like this and his size becomes even more uncontrollable?
So after some thought, Li Fenglan prohibited Cheng Huang from eating these herbs.
But now that Cheng Huang was acting cute, Li Fenglan’s heart began to waver.
“En en!” Seeing the Qiankun bag, Cheng Huang’s nose couldn’t help but sniff the air, and his whole body looked extremely excited.
However, at this moment, Ling Buyan suddenly made a move.
He reached out and took Li Fenglan’s Qiankun bag.
“Huh?” Cheng Huang looked at Ling Buyan innocently.
Li Fenglan was also puzzled, “What’s wrong, Master?”
Ling Buyan shook his head disapprovingly and said, “Cheng Huang is not of the human race.”
“Ow~” Cheng Huang pouted and rubbed against Li Fenglan lazily, looking very unhappy. “I’m hungry…” After a while, Cheng Huang retorted back at Ling Buyan.
At this moment, Cheng Huang had not yet realized that Ling Buyan’s next sentence would completely choke it up.
It only heard Ling Buyan say, “Cheng Huang, as an ancient fierce beast, does not need to eat three meals a day like a human. Otherwise, how could it survive thousands of years in the Shao Yuan Mountain?”
Cheng Huang: “……”
Yes!
After Ling Buyan reminded them, Li Fenglan finally remembered. The spiritual energy in Tianmian Palace was extremely abundant. After Cheng Huang was locked in the Shao Yuan Mountain, the sect deliberately set up a formation to make the spiritual energy in the Shao Yuan Mountain sparse, in order to prevent it from breaking the seal.
So… during those more than a thousand years, Cheng Huang was hungry most of the time.
“Hmph!” Cheng Huang, who was caught, looked very angry. It turned around and buried its face in Li Fenglan’s armpit, thinking in its heart: What’s wrong with Master Fenglan? Why does it only show favor to Ling Buyan?
This time, besides killing Lou Yuanwei, there were other important things to do when leaving Tianmian Palace.
For example, going to the Demon Clan with Duan brother and sister to awaken the former leader of the Demon Clan who had been asleep for many years.
However, after dealing with Lou Yuanwei, Li Fenglan and his team did not hurry to leave.
Firstly, now that Duan Qianli and Duan Wannian have not yet returned to their human form, they can only maintain their shiny golden shape. If they return to the demon clan, they will have to face their fellow clan members, subordinates, and even family members in this form.
Duan Wannian has no thoughts on this matter, as she finds her current appearance quite cute. However, Duan Qianli, as the demon clan leader, felt that if people found out that he could not change back, he would completely lose face.
His own face was equivalent to the face of the entire demon clan, and it cannot be lost.
Therefore, Li Fenglan and his team plan to stay in Daidu City for a few more days until the two demons can regain their human form before leaving.
After all, as calculated by Ling Buyan, it won’t take too long for them to regain their human form.
In addition to this matter, although there aren’t many fierce beasts in Daidu City, they still encounter one or two every year. When Lou Yuanwei was the “city lord,” he could absorb the spiritual energy of the beasts to protect the ordinary people in the city.
But now that Lou Yuanwei was dead, the ordinary people in the city are once again in danger.
After Li Fenglan left the square in Daidu City that day, Mu Hantao investigated what Lou Yuanwei had done over the years and made it public to the ordinary people of Daidu City through the guards.
But knowing that the city lord can absorb human soul power and can protect them from danger were not two conflicting things.
So from the day after Lou Yuanwei’s death, Li Fenglan started to do something –
He took Cheng Huang out of the city and left its aura in every corner of the city walls.
As a mature ancient ferocious beast, Cheng Huang’s aura was enough to deter other ferocious beasts and make them stay away from the city.
…
As an ancient ferocious beast, Cheng Huang’s size did not affect its ability to deter other ferocious beasts. Therefore, Li Fenglan did not let Cheng Huang return to its “normal size” out of fear of scaring people in the city. Instead, he kept it in its original state.
Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, Cheng Huang’s current appearance was particularly cute and…funny.
That snowy-white ferocious beast looked like a newly born puppy from afar. It nestled in Li Fenglan’s arms and occasionally let out a “howl” when facing the city walls.
It really looked quite funny.
The adults in the city of Daiduo thought that Li Fenglan was playing with his pet and didn’t pay attention. Only a group of children gathered around Li Fenglan, and no one knew when they had gathered.
Although Cheng Huang was already an adult fierce beast, its temperament had not changed much compared to before.
Being held by this group of children, it was quite happy.
“Roar!”
It was unknown how many times Cheng Huang had let out a “roar”, but after the last one, Li Fenglan suddenly heard a disdainful voice in his ear.
“Too childish… gu gu.”
Gu gu.
It turned out that it was not only Cheng Huang, but there was also a small golden bird hidden in Li Fenglan’s hair.
Although Duan Wannian, who looked golden and dazzling, appeared much more low-key after shrinking, in order to not attract attention, when she came out with Li Fenglan this time, she specially used the local plant leaves to make a small cloak for herself.
At this moment, the small golden bird was no longer a small golden bird, but had turned into a small green bird.
“Gu gu~” After Duan Wannian finished talking about Cheng Huang, she quickly came over to Li Fenglan to act cute.
It was just about sunset in Daiduo City now. After Cheng Huang had “handled” one side of the wall, Li Fenglan turned around and looked towards the desert.
In his thousand-year life, it seemed that Li Fenglan had not been to the desert many times. In his memories of his previous life, everything related to the desert seemed to be about “being chased”.
Therefore, this was Li Fenglan’s first time appreciating the sunset in the desert seriously.
Up close, the desert was only a dull yellow, very barren and boring.
But from a distance, it was a brilliant golden red. The glow of the setting sun was spread all over the tiny sand and rocks, and Li Fenglan’s face hidden under the hood was also illuminated by the shallow golden light.
At this moment, when they saw Li Fenglan, the children who came because of Cheng Huang became quiet.
At the same time, Li Fenglan’s ears suddenly heard a melodious sound of an ocarina.
The sound was low, like weeping and lamenting.
Not only was Li Fenglan attracted by the music, even Cheng Huang, who was just making faces with the children, suddenly became quiet.
“Gu gu…” Under the influence of the ocarina, even Duan Wannian, who was still excited just now, sounded a bit desolate.
“This ocarina music is strange…”
Li Fenglan immediately turned around and looked in the direction of the sound.
This ocarina music was not just simple music, it contained spiritual power. It not only affected people, but even fierce beasts and demons were affected by it.
If Duan Wannian and Cheng Huang were just ordinary fierce beasts and demons, Li Fenglan might not have thought too much about it. But don’t be fooled by their cute or funny appearance… any one of them could make the cultivation world tremble.
A gust of yellow sand scattered in the distance, and when Li Fenglan’s vision cleared a bit, he saw a faint blue figure appearing not far away.
At the same time Li Fenglan looked at him, the person in blue slowly put down the ocarina in his hand.
The music in Li Fenglan’s ears finally disappeared.
“You guys go back home to the city first,” Li Fenglan turned around and said gently to the children around him.
Although they wanted to play with Cheng Huang and Duan Wannian for a while longer, the strange music from earlier had left the children feeling uneasy. When they heard Li Fenglan tell them to go home, they didn’t negotiiate but nodded gently and turned to run towards the city gate.
The person in blue saw the children but paid them no attention. As he put down the ocarina in his hand, he slowly walked towards where Li Fenglan was standing.
As the sand settled, Li Fenglan finally saw the person’s face clearly.
… It was Ning Qingmo!
Only he could create such strange music as the one from earlier.
Upon recognizing the person, Li Fenglan unconsciously took a step back. He was already standing on the edge of the city wall, so with the step back, his back hit the wall.
Meanwhile, with the setting sun’s light, Ning Qingmo saw the young man not far away clearly.
… Li Fenglan was dressed in white, which was now dyed a beautiful dark red by the sun. Even his originally pale cheeks had a touch of color.
Li Fenglan’s eyes were very bright, with a hint of caution and wariness in his gaze.
Although none of these were the typical traits of Li Fuyue, upon seeing Li Fenglan at this moment, the three words “Li Fuyue” suddenly popped into Ning Qingmo’s mind.
Although they were still far apart, it didn’t take long for Ning Qingmo to appear in front of Li Fenglan.
What does he want to do?
As Ning Qingmo appeared in front of Li Fenglan, he noticed that his good friend who had turned to the heartless path had actually dropped three small realms in cultivation, despite not having seen each other for a long time.
What happened to Ning Qingmo?
At the same moment when he approached Li Fenglan, this person in a white coarse cloth robe gradually overlapped with the figure in Ning Qingmo’s memory.
They were so different yet so similar.
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