Chapter 392 – The Far West
Feng Jingyu tilted his head and asked in a perplexed tone. “Is being in the Five Continents not good? With your current cultivation, you’d need a long period of time before you reach the Nine Lands. So there’s no need to be in such a rush?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “I don’t want to let those people take the initiative to search for us in the Five Continents again. Once the Five Continents seal is broken, I will then, of my own accord, be able to travel to the Nine Lands with Ah Hen. The Nine Continents is vast and borderless. Once we enter that place, it would be like a fish entering the massive ocean, making it really easy when you want to hide. This way, the enemy will be out in the open while I’ll be lurking in the dark.”
Feng Jingyu looked at Lin Xuanzhi, “Your way of thinking does indeed have some hidden agendas.”
Lin Xuanzhi faintly said, “I have never asked for anything too great. I just want to live a reclusive life and be able to travel around with my lover.”
Feng Jingyu’s mood became complicated, for he did not expect Lin Xuanzhi to think this way.
Feng Jingyu paused for a moment, “You really do think far ahead.”
Lin Xuanzhi stroked a tuft of feathers that was standing on Feng Jingyu’s head. “If I were to think things through less thoroughly, when we encounter any problems in the future, who knows how serious it would be. Between Ah Hen and I, one of us has got to think about it a little more.”
Feng Jingyu said subtly, “I am somewhat jealous of Yan Tianhen right now. He doesn’t need to know or be responsible for anything. He could just idle around everyday and refine pills whenever he has nothing to do. Even if there’s something going on, he could just call for his Dage. He could just pass his days this way.”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled and said nothing.
What Feng Jingyu had said was correct and yet also incorrect.
Yan Tianhen was not that heartless. He was very sensitive to everything, but even so he was unwilling to talk much about it. He was just fond of getting things done silently, without anyone knowing.
For instance, Yan Tianhen did not tell anyone about it and had resolved Du Qiying quickly and decisively for him.
Ah Hen is a bright child.
Feng Jingyu felt somewhat dejected, so the golden bird pecked the back of Lin Xuanzhi’s hand lightly, with its beak. “But I’m still unwilling to just sit by and watch the seal be undone.”
“I know.” Lin Xuanzhi paused and continued, “But sorry, no matter what happens, I will not just sit and wait for my death.”
Feng Jingyu remained silent for a moment and then lifted his small head to look at Lin Xuanzhi, “Old Lin, if you ever travel to the Nine Lands some day and I’m still the Master of West Imperial Palace, I’m willing to give you sanctuary. The doors of the West Imperial Palace are always open for you.”
Lin Xuanzhi’s expression softened and showed a hint of a smile, “With your words, I can put my mind at ease.”
Feng Jingyu asked, “So where is Ah Gu?”
Lin Xuanzhi: “…..”
After mulling over, what Feng Jingyu really wanted to know was, I’m afraid, this.
Lin Xuanzhi also felt that Ling Chigu had been stuck in the soul plate for far too long, so he pointed to the depths of the forest. “Follow this road and head inside to search for him. I can’t say for sure, but you might just find Ah Gu after walking a short distance.”
Lin Xuanzhi had also released Ling Chigu timely from the soul plate.
Due to the fact that there were too many people traveling with him this time, Lin Xuanzhi was afraid that someone might notice some strangeness from Ling Chigu, so he had never released Ling Chigu from the soul plate. However, now that he thought about it, Feng Jingyu might care more about hiding Ling Chigu’s identity than he did, so he had confidently released Ling Chigu.
After Feng Jingyu had flown a distance, sure enough, he picked up Ling Chigu’s unique smell.
When you compare this smell and Ling Chigu’s smell when he was still a human, there were some massive differences. It lacked some degree of smoke from the liveliness of the mortal world and held more of a smell that seemed just like the hidden plants and pines that had been living in seclusion underneath the dark soil. However, Feng Jingyu could still instantly remember this smell.
“Ah Gu!” Feng Jingyu chirped out and sped towards Ling Chigu.
Behind Ling Chigu, it was filled with towering trees. Other than his usual black robes, he would wear no other clothes. His long hair fluttered behind him, as his eyes held desolate and cold looks.
However, it was this kind of man, who would not bow down to anyone and was also akin to a red-tasseled silver spear that could destroy the heavens and annihilate the earth. Even so, when his pitch-black eyes had spotted a seemingly incomparably weak bird, he would faintly move his thin lips and slowly raise his hand towards that bird.
He landed on his finger, clutching a long slender finger tightly.
He lifted him to his lips and used his cold lips to touch the other party’s equally cold beak.
The changes in the winds, the rising of the sun and setting of the moon, all had nothing to do with them.
The next day, after Ji Yunwei had awoken, he discovered his bird was missing.
Ji Yunwei had even searched hastily for a period of time. Once he was certain that his bird had already flown away and was not likely to be found easily, he had no choice but to give up temporarily. He heaved a great sigh and seemed very reluctant to give up.
Lin Xuanzhi would just watch, but he would not expose Feng Jingyu.
Since Yan Tianhen was able to sense Ling Chigu, Feng Jingyu’s location would then not be a secret.
For the rest of the journey, everything went on as usual.
The Nine-Tailed Fox was still secretly helping them get rid of the large monsters nearby, so it could be said that the entire journey went quite smoothly.
There were very few cultivators who were able to journey deep into the Myriad Beasts Demonic Forest. Therefore the deeper Lin Xuanzhi and his group travelled, the lesser the traces of people they had seen. However, footprints and skeletons of large demonic beasts had actually increased significantly.
After joining hands in annihilating a demonic beast that was covered in spikes, Yuan Tianwen took the initiative to disassemble the demonic beast’s body. He had removed its hard and rough skin, poisonous thorns from within its flesh, a demonic core that has reached the three star Wisdom phrase, its meat and etc.
Both Huangfu Jin and Leng Jixue had just been tagging along, so naturally they won’t take anything. Both of them had already gotten what they wanted, so they did not care much about these things. Ji Yunwei was only interested in the living demonic beasts and disliked dead disassembled parts, so all these materials went into Lin Xuanzhi’s pocket.
Of course, Lin Xuanzhi had promised that after leaving the forest, he would craft a convenient weapon for each one of them.
Although there were dangers everywhere in the Myriad Beasts Demonic Forest, but with the Nine Tail Fox, who was an overlord that could intimidate the whole forest, helping in secret, Lin Xuanzhi seemed to have nothing to fear.
When the others had seen Lin Xuanzhi acting so relaxed, even though they had some misgivings about it, they had gradually loosened up their tense mood.
Although the barrier of the Myriad Beasts Demonic Forest was difficult to deal with, they had already gotten hold of the method to undo it, so waiting a few more days would not make any difference. Hence, the travelers, who should have been rushing for time, had instead began to travel unhurriedly, as if they were there for sightseeing, when they have reached the edge of the legendary Great-Demon Sealing Array.
In addition, as they approached the West, the richer the Spiritual Qi became. Everyone began to have the intentions to take advantage of the situation, so one after another, they sat and cultivated.
Yan Tianhen preferred to refine pills, while Lin Xuanzhi proceeded to craft weapons. Duan Yuyang refined talismans and Yuan Tianwen would watch Duan Yuyang refine talismans every day.
Everyday, Xiao Linfeng would bring Qing Zhu everywhere to search for bird eggs to bake and eat. Qing Zhu would disagree and lose his temper and chase Xiao Linfeng to beat him.
Ji Yunwei looked at these companions who were either already together or were stupidly displaying signs of wanting to be in a relationship. He could not help but fall deeply into chaos, causing him to feel that he had mingled amongst them so miserably.
Bei Shitian was the only one who took advantage of the moment when everyone cultivated everyday to go to some unknown place to gain experience. Most of the time, he would return all covered with the scent of blood. Even though they could not spot any wounds, it was obvious that his clothes were different from the ones he wore when he had left.
Lin Xuanzhi did not stop him, as everyone had their own path to walk. Since Bei Shitian wanted to take his revenge, he forced himself to always be in a tense yet tip-top condition to take revenge at any time.
Bei Shitian himself was unwilling to loosen up his mental state, so Lin Xuanzhi would not and also could not help him to relax.
Only once was Bei Shitian seriously injured and initially wanted to pretend that he was alright. However, he was unable to restrain himself from throwing up a mouthful of blood while he was halfway there and nearly lost consciousness. Afterwards, Lin Xuanzhi said to him, “Senior Martial Brother, going beyond limit is as bad as falling short. Do you know what’s the most important condition for wanting revenge?”
Bei Shitian asked, “What is it?”
Lin Xuanzhi answered, “You need to live longer than all your enemies.”
Bei Shitian looked at Lin Xuanzhi and was rendered speechless for a while, then he silently nodded.
One day, they passed through a deep and secluded valley to reach a peaceful and open area.
During this time, all that everyone had seen were all kinds of towering trees. At most, they could only see murmuring brooks and trickling streams. For the first time, they could see a wide and borderless lake with such clear water. Momentarily, they had feelings of an unexpected pleasant surprise, as if the unhappiness, which they had accumulated in their hearts after walking in this Myriad Beasts Demonic Forest for more than half a month, had completely disappeared.
Liu Mengchen took the lead to say, “This place is really beautiful.”
Throughout the journey, Huangfu Jin always had a long face and did not talk with others. At this moment, his face finally lightened up, which was hard to come by, and nodded his head. “The Spiritual Qi is abundant, the air is fresh. This is indeed a place that can nurture genuine Spiritual Qi.”
Ji Yunwei frowned and said, “I have never seen a scenery like this before.”
Lin Xuanzhi looked at him. “Have you ever travelled this far west before?”
Ji Yunwei said suddenly, “I actually have not. In the past, the Ji Family, who enter the Myriad Beasts Demonic Forest to hunt, would at most travel to the hinterland and then they would leave. They would definitely not enter this deep into the forest. However, there was actually someone who had been here before.”
After all, Myriad Beasts Demonic Forest was the beasts’ territory.
Even if it’s the Ji family, they would absolutely not go stir up trouble.
Qing Zhu’s expression seemed rather emotional, as he stood by the lakeside, looking towards the lofty mountains behind the big lake. Lightly pursuing his lips, he began pondering about something they did not know of.
Xiao Linfeng walked over and stood side by side with Qing Zhu. “These few days are the happiest days of my life.”
Qing Zhu gave him a sidelong glance. “Then your life is really dull.”
Xiao Linfeng smiled, “It seems like your life has been really amazing.”
Qing Zhu asked suspiciously, “Why did you suddenly bring up this topic?”
Xiao Linfeng explained, “It’s probably because it would be difficult for such a gathering to happen again. For those who travel together, sooner or later there will be a day where everyone would go their separate ways.”
Qing Zhu froze for a moment and asked, “Why do we have to part ways?”
Xiao Linfeng looked at Qing Zhu and smiled. “Small bamboo shoot, have you ever thought of what you want to do in the future?”
Qing Zhu frowned and said, “I want to help the Young Master in enhancing and promoting his personal estates. Whatever the Young Master wants to do, I will then help him do it.”
“Why are you so dead set on him?” Xiao Linfeng asked.
“That’s because he is Young Master Zhan’s son.” Qing Zhu stated with an air of inevitability and rightfulness. “Young Master Zhan treated me so well. Since he is no longer here, his son will naturally be my master. So isn’t it the proper and expected thing for me to help him?”
Xiao Linfeng could not help but sigh. “You had actually sold yourself so easily. I heard Liu Mengchen say that you were so close to Lin Zhan, because back then he had given you a chicken leg?”
Qing Zhu shook his head and said, “Of course not.”
“Then what was it?”
“There was also candied hawthorn, cold hakka stuffed tofu, braised meat with preserved vegetable……” Qing Zhu counted them, one by one, with his fingers, as he cherished those memories, then he lamented sorrowfully. “In this world, he really was the one who had treated me the best.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Xiao Linfeng’s mouth. “Then what if Liu Mengchen also treats you like this in the future?”
Qing Zhu’s mouth tilted downwards, “He deceived and even bullied me. Most importantly, he had actually harmed my elder brother Zhan. I don’t want to forgive him.”