Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 317 The Beggars Are Here
He turned to look at E Meifeng: "Little E—"

The two had been talking about demons and transvestites, and the crocodile demon had been lying motionless beside them for a long time. Li Wuxiang thought she was listening attentively because she was interested in what they were saying, but when he turned around, he saw that she was indeed lying down, but her eyelids were closed and her eyes were almost closed.

He immediately went over and pressed his hand firmly on her back, finding that she was exhausted and her heartbeat was extremely slow, as if she were hibernating.

Li Wuxiang quickly transferred a stream of vital energy to her, then turned to Xue Baoping and said, "Look, this is what I meant by 'even after becoming a demon, she's actually quite strong'—she's been so lively and energetic that I thought her injury wouldn't matter, but it turns out she's almost gone. If she were a human, she probably would have died long ago."

Xue Baoping suddenly became anxious: "Then stop talking and save her quickly!"

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "With this kind of injury and me here, it's hard to die even if you want to."

The demon's physique was even stronger than that of the sword sect cultivators. Li Wuxiang first used his true energy to protect the crocodile demon's heart meridian, ensuring the flow of her demonic power, and her vitality gradually returned. Back when Zeng Jianqiu fought Zhao Kui in Jinshui, he had sacrificed all his own blood and energy to survive, which was why he wasn't in a hurry.

When the crocodile demon opened its eyes again, Li Wuxiang said, "Don't move, I'll save you now."

E Meifeng didn't say anything, and immediately stopped moving, stiff as a piece of dead wood.

Li Wuxiang's method of saving her was also very simple: he took out his flying sword, enlarged the four wounds, and directly removed the broken, barbed spearhead inside.

The downside of the foreign object leaving her body was that she would bleed profusely immediately. The upside was that she had already lost a lot of blood, so the bleeding stopped after a short while. Li Wuxiang continued to place his hand on her back and channel his vital energy into her body, urging her wounds to heal quickly and regenerate blood.

The crocodile demon was physically strong and possessed abundant blood and energy. Thus, her body visibly became slightly shriveled, but her vitality grew stronger. Less than fifteen minutes later, the crocodile demon shook her head and fully opened her eyes.

She didn't move or speak at first, but just stood there blinking and staring blankly, as if she were in a daze.

Xue Baoping called "Xiao E" twice, but when she still didn't respond, she hurriedly asked Li Wuxiang, "What's wrong with her?"

Li Wuxiang raised his hand again and touched the tip of her nose: "I don't know either, but it's nothing. Alright, let's go, to Dapan Mountain."

He took Xue Baoping's hand and started walking up the mountain. Xue Baoping couldn't help but look back a few more times. After they had walked five or six steps, they suddenly heard the crocodile demon behind them say, "Master! Master! Where are you going?"

Li Wuxiang didn't stop, but turned to look at her and said, "Who are you calling master?"

As they spoke, the crocodile demon wagged its tail and rushed over to follow them, saying, "You saved me, so you're my master? Someone told me!"

Li Wuxiang couldn't help but laugh: "Who told you that? Was it the person who told you to speak less and be more tactful?"

"Huh? How did you know? Yeah! Hey!"

"What did that person say?"

"She said that if someone saves my life and seems to be more capable than me, I should call him Master! You saved me, so you are my Master!"

Li Wuxiang turned to Xue Baoping and said, "Judging from this, the previous sect leader of the Shangchi Sect wasn't bad. Not only was he lenient towards a demon, but he also taught her how to protect herself and how to find a backer."

The Taiyi Sect has a demon cultivator named Cui Daocheng, but the Thirty-Six Sects probably don't have the same magnanimity as the Taiyi Sect; they generally only accept people as disciples.

Taking demons as disciples is very troublesome, mainly because of their temperament, or to put it less mystically, their personality. When taking people as disciples, you also have to look at their personality—some people, whether it's innate or acquired, have very bad personalities and are morally corrupt; such people cannot enter the gates of the sect.

Demons, by nature, are even worse. Even if they take human form, like E Meifeng, they still require considerable effort to train. Li Wuxiang guessed that her current state was the result of the previous sect leader's training, yet she still looked rather dull. So why would a normal person take such a demon as a disciple? It would be better to use the same effort to train more people.

That's probably why the previous sect leader of the Shangchi Sect didn't get too involved with her. However, demons will always encounter cultivators in the world. If they encounter someone with bad intentions towards them, they will naturally avoid them. But if one day she encounters danger and a cultivator saves her, that person's intentions are probably not bad.

The crocodile demon's cultivation now relies almost entirely on her demonic instincts. If she wants to walk the righteous path in the future, it would be best to have a master. The sect leader's instruction for her to call the person who saved her "master" was probably based on this idea—even the worst cultivation method is much more reliable than a demon figuring things out on its own.

Xue Baoping glanced at E Meifeng: "So, are you going to take her as your disciple?"

Li Wuxiang asked, "Do you want to?"

Do you want to? Do you like it? What do you think? These are the words Xue Baoping has heard most often during their journey together these past few days.

After parting ways with Li Wuxiang, she had some worries—he was so thoughtful and intelligent, was the intimacy they had shared in Jinshui just a facade? He had gone through countless hardships and fought his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood; would his personality have gradually changed?

These worries had almost disappeared these days. She felt that he treated her better than before, and he would never refuse her if she said "yes".

But the reason she said "almost" was because she always had a feeling that Li Wuxiang's kindness might not be from his heart. She didn't think he was pretending, but she always felt that for some reason, Li Wuxiang himself didn't realize that he shouldn't have gone this far, or that he felt he should have gone this far.

Xue Baoping hesitated for a moment: "I don't know either..."

“Then let’s accept it.” Li Wuxiang smiled at her. “Thinking about it, now is just right. When we arrive at Dapan Mountain, someone will need to announce our identities to make a proper impression—I am the Sect Master of the Sword Sect, and you are the Grand Elder of the Sword Sect. It would be quite inappropriate not to have a disciple accompanying us. However, you can’t be a disciple yet…”

He turned to the crocodile demon and said, "Little E, alright, I'll take you as my disciple. However, you are not my disciple, but a disciple of the Sword Sect. You are the Sword Sect's guardian beast. Do you understand?"

The crocodile demon suddenly became excited, twisting its body, wagging its tail, and rushing forward a long way before rushing back: "I understand! Sigh! Sigh! I understand! That person said I am the guardian beast of the mountain!"

From this perspective, the relationship between the previous sect leader of the Shangchi Sect and this crocodile demon was even better than the two of them had imagined; it was almost like he had kept a pet.

Li Wuxiang nodded: "Then transform into a human and come with us—I'll teach you a few phrases, practice them first."

……

Dapan Mountain is large, but not steep, and its shape is quite regular. It is obvious at a glance that it was once a volcano, which is why there is a Heavenly Lake at the top. After walking along the main road for about half an hour, they saw the mountain gate in the distance.

The mountain gate of Dapan Mountain is located at the foot of the mountain. A row of houses is built next to the gate, and there are also horse-stopping posts in front of the houses. The gate archway has only four characters on it: "Shangchi Dongtian". Next to the archway, there is a stone tablet about the height of a person, which also has four characters on it: "Laike Xiama".

From this perspective, the Shangchi sect differs from the other thirty-six sects in that it is more secular and down-to-earth. In the past, many people must have visited the sacred mountain, which is why houses were built for guests to stay in.

As they drew closer, Li Wuxiang realized his earlier impression was correct. Besides the horse-mounting posts, there were even incense burners in front of those houses. Li Wuxiang immediately felt a sense of familiarity, as if he were seeing temples and Taoist monasteries from his previous life, places where such incense burners also existed.

The feeling of familiarity was mixed with the scene before him. The people of the Shangchi Sect should have known he was coming last night, yet the mountain gate was completely deserted.

He stopped two steps away from the mountain gate. He could sense that the Shangchi Sect had activated its protective array. The area ahead looked close, but he knew that if he took another step, he would be back where he started.

He turned to Xue Baoping and said, "It seems we're not welcome. Perfect, Xiao E, speak up, just like I taught you."

E Meifeng transformed into human form and stood down next to Li Wuxiang. Her human form was truly human—the tail was gone, the chest and abdomen were shortened, the limbs were transformed, and she was covered in dark scales. Her face was still that of a crocodile, except that the eyes had moved to the center, making her look quite comical.

With her slightly yellow belly protruding, she took a deep breath and cried out, "Ouch!"

Large crocodiles roar like tigers and lions, only slightly crisper. E Meifeng, already large, and now a demon, roared even louder. With just a single utterance, he startled all the birds hiding in the mountain forest, sending them fluttering wildly through the air. However, these birds couldn't escape the protective array of Dapan Mountain; after a moment of disorientation in the air, they disappeared back into the forest.

She called out and then paused for a moment. Li Wuxiang patiently said, "Li Wuxiang, the sect leader of the Sword Sect, has come to pay his respects."

"Ah, that's right!" E Meifeng immediately took a breath and called out again, "Sword Sect Master Li Wuxiang has come to pay his respects!"

To the left of Dapan Mountain is the Mohe River, and on the other side of the Mohe River are steep cliffs. E Meifeng's roar echoed between the cliffs and the valley several times before gradually fading away.

But there was still no movement on the mountain, as if no one lived there at all.

Li Wuxiang sighed: "I don't have a very good impression of this generation's sect leader now. Regardless of whether he is colluding with the Blood God Sect or not, he closes the sect gates and hides away when something happens, acting like a child. If no one answers when we knock, then let's knock on the door."

With his hands behind his back, he flicked his fingers, and a sword light immediately shot out from behind him and hovered above his head.

His nascent soul had only reached the first stage, and his spirit could only travel a few miles after leaving his body. However, he practiced the Great Tribulation Sword Scripture, which was not much different from the peak nascent soul cultivators who practiced the True Immortal Body Dao Chapter.

With another flick of his finger, the small sword immediately flew high into the sky and hovered in the air.

It was around nine or ten in the morning, and the sun was already high in the sky. It was another bright, sunny day, with the sunlight shining brightly on the ground. But after the small sword took to the sky, it suddenly burst forth with a brilliant golden light, as if a second sun had appeared in the sky. The golden light even overshadowed the sunlight on the mountaintops, turning the entire mountainside a pale yellow, as if late autumn had arrived early.

Then the small sword suddenly struck downwards!
The sword light was blocked high above the mountaintop. But suddenly, a faint blue light appeared in the sky above the entire Dapan Mountain, as if an invisible dome that had been in the air had suddenly become visible.

This was the mystical light generated when the mountain-protecting formation clashed with the flying sword; it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

But it was different inside the mountains—the trees that were swaying slightly in the autumn wind seemed to freeze for a moment, their treetops all bowing down before suddenly rising again, as if they had been pressed down by a gust of wind!
The sound of wind and thunder echoed in the air, like a muffled clap of thunder from a very, very distant place, only now reaching us. Actually, it sounded like something else entirely—an airplane flying low overhead.

Li Wuxiang breathed a sigh of relief, quite satisfied with his sword strike.

Back when he was at the Heavenly Heart Sect, he witnessed three sword lights flying towards and bombarding the protective array of Jade Wheel Mountain. The impact shook the array, and in the end, it even pinned down the Pointing Moon Mystic Light and the true spirit of the Gui Yin True Lord who was about to be born. At that time, when he saw that Heaven-Shattering Sword, he felt his mind shaken, thinking that it was truly the cultivation of a god, and wondered when he could reach that level.

Back then, I never imagined that after going up the Great Calamity Mountain, Li Ye would directly help me achieve the Nascent Soul cultivation. Today's sword strike already has some of the grandeur of Jiang Jie's past!
The little sword flew up again, still hovering in mid-air, and then struck a second time!

This time, the outline of the mountain-protecting formation became even clearer, and the azure light from the ceiling took a full two breaths to dissipate. The sword was connected to Li Wuxiang's mind, and he could sense that the formation, having been struck twice, was showing signs of breaking apart.

The Shangchi Sect is inferior to the Tianxin Sect, but Senior Sister Mei said that their strengths are not that different. How come this formation is so weak? Or am I too strong?
The mountain remained silent. Li Wuxiang, feeling a surge of excitement, decided to try again, thinking that perhaps this time he could completely destroy the great formation.

But just then, they heard voices, urgent and somewhat panicked: "My Lord, have mercy! My Lord! My Lord, stop!"

The sound grew closer, and Li Wuxiang stopped, leaving his sword light suspended in the air. The sound then became clearer, revealing not only human voices but also the clanging of armor plates—a man in armor hurriedly ran down the mountain path, carrying a tray. This man possessed cultivation; although he leaped down the steps in quick succession, the contents of the tray remained perfectly steady.

He rushed all the way to the mountain gate before stopping, almost sliding to his feet. He bowed and lowered his head, raising the tray high: "My Lord, Senior, please don't be angry. The offerings of the Shangchi Sect are here!"

Li Wuxiang looked closely and recognized the person who had come as an acquaintance—his senior brother Li, whom he had saved the previous night.

On the tray in his hands were three large porcelain bottles, each about the size of a head. Even through the protective array, he could smell a faint medicinal fragrance; they must be elixirs.

The senior student was panting heavily, his chest heaving, indicating he had run very fast. Although he was looking down, he was still secretly glancing at him.

Li Wuxiang asked, "Offerings? What offerings?"

After catching his breath, Senior Brother Li said, "These are all pills refined by our sect."

"Oh, what kind of pill?"

"Support...support..." Senior Brother Li seemed a little embarrassed to speak, "Life-Preserving Pills. Senior, but they're all top-grade!"

The first elixir Li Wuxiang encountered upon entering this world was the Life-Preserving Pill, which Zhao Kui had placed in the Myriad Transformations Formula. However, Zhao Kui possessed several of these; what kind of precious substance could they be?
Li Wuxiang smiled and said to Xue Baoping, "Look, they treat us like we're some stinking outsiders who came all the way to Dapan Mountain to beg for food."

(End of this chapter)