Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 389 Initial Construction
Half an hour later, the crowd had mostly dispersed. Excluding Zhao Qi and the other seven, fifty-one people remained. Zhao Qi thought to himself that Hu Wei and Li Guichen's relatives from the Myriad Transformations Cube, as well as Li Wuxiang raising the Xie Zhi, should also be counted as members of the Sword Sect. Counting them, that made a total of sixty-six people—a lucky omen!

After everyone was listed, Zhao Qi asked six people to record their names, ages, and lineages. Wandering cultivators always carried paper and pen with them to write incantations at any time, so the materials were readily available.

He found a rock to sit on and watched the people not far away announcing their names in a chaotic uproar. For a moment, he felt that his life had not been in vain, and meeting Li Wuxiang was actually a good thing. Although he had many fellow disciples in Ranshan, and they all respected him as their senior brother, it was just too painful back then. In Li Wuxiang's words, it was oppressive.

Zhao Kui could get angry at any moment, and the mountain lacked any powerful figures to maintain order, plus they were short of money every month, leaving everyone feeling anxious. But now things were different. The sect had Li Wuxiang backing them up, and Li Wuxiang had Mei Qiulu backing them up. As for food, clothing, and other necessities, they certainly wouldn't have to worry about them; they could just focus on being the Great Sword Master. However—

"Hey, senior, does that mean we're all your disciples now?" Zhao Qi suddenly heard someone speak behind him.

He was startled and quickly turned around, only to see Tu Nan standing behind him. Tu Nan's brows were slightly furrowed, his expression a little worried, but his gaze was very earnest.

Zhao Qi nodded: "I guess so."

"Senior, within our sect... are you considered the Great Sword Master, the Second Sword Master, or the Third Sword Master?"

"Huh? What two or three? A Great Sword Master is a Great Sword Master. There are three Great Sword Masters."

"Wouldn't that be against the rules? Then who is the sect leader's direct disciple?"

Zhao Qi was about to speak when he suddenly remembered that he was now the Great Sword Master, no longer the senior disciple on Ran Mountain. He did some mental calculations: Great Sword Master, Sword Master, Sword Master, Swordsman, Swordsman, Sword Attendant, Sword Apprentice—this little girl should be considered a Sword Apprentice, several levels above him. Why was she talking to him like that? That was truly rude.

He was about to frown when he suddenly realized she was having delusions, so he said first, "Don't ask that yet. After we accept you into the sect, we'll need to check your cultivation level. What realm are you at?"

"I'm almost at the Core Formation stage, Great Sword Master."

What the hell?! It's almost at the Core Formation stage?!
Zhao Qi had never heard of the Shaowei Sect of Donghuang Mountain; it was just a rogue cultivation sect. This crazy woman had almost reached the Core Formation stage by practicing the techniques of a rogue sect?
Now he was even more afraid that she would go crazy, so he softened his tone: "Let's not talk about direct lineage. In this sect, besides the sect leader, I have the highest cultivation. If you insist on talking about direct lineage, there is another Great Sword Master who might be considered the sect leader's direct lineage? But she is not as good as me. Ah, no, no, she is not a direct lineage either. Another Great Sword Master is the one who can be called a direct lineage. He is practically the same person. There is no one more direct than him. Why do you keep caring about this? Do you know that's called obsession and delusion?"

Tu Nan sighed: "It's not that I care about this, but I am the legitimate princess of the Eastern Continent Demon Emperor, and my father and mother often tell me—"

Zhao Qi had recently met Li Wuxiang, who claimed to be the Demon King, and Xu Zhen, who also claimed to be the Demon King. Now, just hearing about the Eastern Continent gave him a headache, so he quickly waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, don't talk to me about this. Do you not want to be a disciple of my lineage?"

Tu Nan whispered, "The main reason is that I can't be born out of wedlock. My mother often tells me—"

"Then go ahead, go ahead. You can wait for the other two to take you in. I don't want you anyway."

Tu Nan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, her brows immediately unfurrowed. She bowed to him and walked briskly to her fellow disciples.

Zhao Qi sighed, then turned and looked into the distance, where he saw Li Guichen. He was walking out of the pine forest on the other side of Maple Valley with a young woman and an ugly child. As he walked, he pointed to himself and spoke to the woman.

That woman must be the niece-in-law he was talking about. She looks... no, she doesn't look human.
As they drew closer, Zhao Qi could see more clearly; they were indeed not human. It resembled, well, a horse beneath the hazy humanoid form. Yet, it wasn't quite a horse; beneath the hazy horse's outline lay a mass of flesh and blood.

He realized this was because he was the Blood God, able to see things related to himself—Li Guichen's flesh and blood were obtained from the True Lord of Fate. In this light, he had used a lump of his own flesh and blood to create a horse, then, captivated by the Myriad Transformations, transformed that horse into this woman.

When Zhao Qi saw his "grand-niece-in-law" walking towards him, he felt as if he were watching a pale pink mass of flesh writhing and twisting, and his scalp tingled with unease.

Then look at the ugly child next to him... that wasn't a child at all, but a crocodile demon with a long mouth and a straight back.

Zhao Qi sighed again, glancing at Tu Nan and then at the approaching Li Guichen. He thought to himself that the sect was truly bizarre; if he counted on his fingers, there were hardly any genuine living people. Those not far away were all living, but according to Li Wuxiang, they still needed to rebuild their physical bodies, so they couldn't be considered genuine. That little girl from earlier had actually cultivated to the point of almost forming her core using a free-form cultivation technique, showing excellent aptitude; she shouldn't need to change her body, making her a genuine person… but she also had hysteria!
Then he heard Li Wuxiang's voice again—

"Brother Zhao is now in charge on his own, he's very impressive."

He immediately jumped up and saw Li Wuxiang standing behind him with a smile, so he quickly whispered, "Why didn't you come out just now? Why didn't you let me go back? Were you testing me again?!"

Li Wuxiang nodded: "How are you feeling? You seem pretty good right now."

"No, how did I become a Qi Refining cultivator after I came out?"

“This is what I was trying to test earlier.” Li Wuxiang sighed. “You saw it, after Xu Zhen’s soul was extracted by the treasure bottle, everyone outside woke up, and the mountains and rivers changed. This shows that his supernatural powers can only remain in the Myriad Transformations Formation—you were born in there, so your cultivation level is the same; you are only a Blood God in there.”

Zhao Qi had already expected this explanation, but he wanted to hear something different from Li Wuxiang's words, yet he was still disappointed. Unwilling to give up, he pointed to Li Guichen's side: "What about the other two? Aren't they outside too?"

He felt that Li Wuxiang's expression seemed to have changed slightly, but he wasn't sure—

“Because they are real,” Li Wuxiang said.

Zhao Qi frowned, stared at him for a while, and then remembered the question he hadn't been able to answer earlier: "After you came down from up there, you asked Li Guichen if he remembered why he gave himself that name, and you also asked him how he got back—what does that mean? Where did he come from?"

Li Wuxiang shook his head: "Don't ask anymore. I'm perfectly fine now, my mind is clear, you can rest assured. It's just that there are some things I haven't figured out myself, so I can't tell you. Today is a good day, don't think about these things now—were you happy showing off just now?" ...

Happy. Of course I'm happy, I've never felt so powerful in my life. Zhao Qi thought vaguely, looking vaguely.

Li Wuxiang was indeed different in some way, but he couldn't quite see it. It wasn't because they were separated by the Crimson Heaven and Mount Ling, but rather because something else seemed to be separating them.

When I looked at Li Wuxiang from here before, he didn't seem like a person, but rather an empty space. Like a bubble in water, like a pebble on snow, extremely conspicuous. Even if he were to compete with Li Jiaotu for control of the Blood God Body within this Holy Embryo, even if he could only cautiously spare a little of his supernatural power to look into the mortal world, it would be easy to know where he was—except when he had previously escaped into the Myriad Transformations Formation.

I'm not as clear-headed as before. It's all because of that wicked Li Wuxiang—he tricked my true spirit into going to the Myriad Transformations Realm and then trapped that wisp of true spirit inside.

Then it seemed like a sliver opened up. The Myriad Transformations sliver opened up in the blink of an eye, but he didn't have time to retrieve his true spirit or even look at it.

So he didn't know what happened in the Myriad Transformations Cube later.

But he knew what had happened—it seemed that the Great Lord Tai Zhuo had disappeared, vanished. This brought him back to his senses.

Li Jiaotu should have regained consciousness by now, but some of his supernatural powers and authority still reside with Li Guichen. Previously, when the true spirit descended to earth, some of his authority was taken away. Therefore, he can currently suppress Li Jiaotu and temporarily gain the upper hand.

If one can maintain this advantage, then when the Holy Embryo is fully formed, one will obtain all its authority and become the sole master of this body.

Staying clear-headed is difficult. It was difficult in the past because of the gaze of the Great Ruler of the Turbid Kingdom. That gaze made people confused and muddled, almost turning them into puppets.

It's still because of the incense offerings from the Blood God Cult. Their minds aren't very clear either. Among the Corpse Immortals now, the only one who can be considered clear-headed is the one who is about to become a Yang Immortal—Cui Daocheng, the former leader of the Taiyi Cult, is about to suppress the other thoughts in his body and focus on one thing.

Even though it was difficult, I still had the upper hand.

Zhao Qi knew that this kind of thing must be a matter of fate. He had died and regained consciousness, and had even been a disciple of the Ninth Young Master. Regardless of his cultivation level, his character was no longer bad.

When the Ninth Prince's body was possessed by Li Jiaotu, he was just a small, insignificant creature residing in that body. But later, Mei Qiulu and Li Wuxiang severely injured Li Jiaotu at the Great Calamity Mountain. Because of this small opportunity, he, this tiny creature, rapidly grew into a behemoth in the crack and became a part of the Blood God.

But now, there is another "him" in the world.

He could sense everything that "he" was experiencing, and could vaguely hear and see...

Damn it.

The fake thing he was experiencing now filled him with both disgust and envy. This disgust and envy stemmed from the fact that, after his brief moment of clarity, he had remembered more and more of Li Wuxiang's past.

This person shouldn't have done that... shouldn't have taken that fake one down there, and shouldn't have called that fake one his own name!
He's Zhao Qi, so who am I?!

……

It took most of an afternoon to gather all fifty-eight disciples, and it took another four days to settle them in.

Li Wuxiang didn't let these people enter the Myriad Transformations Hall, nor did he show himself, but instead entrusted everything to Zhao Qi. The advantages that Zhao Qi had previously gained from independently supporting the Ranshan Sect became apparent; although he made some stumbles along the way, upon closer examination, he had assigned each task in a very organized manner.

These people first cut down trees in Maple Valley and built wooden huts. Zhao Qi watched from a distance, observing their mannerisms, expressions, and words, noting some of them down in his notebook and mentally categorizing them—those with good aptitude and character who could continue living as human beings; those with decent character but who needed Li Guichen to restore their bodies; and those who seemed like potential troublemakers and required closer attention.

After the houses were built, Zhao Qi occupied the largest and most comfortable one for himself. According to Li Wuxiang, these people needed to stay there for a while, giving them ample time to get to know each other and test their abilities, which would also prepare for his move—the Sword Sect's training ground was in Wanhua Fangli, and Wanhua Fangli could be taken away. However, before taking it, he had to move the Heavenly Pool atop Dapan Mountain.

This wasn't exactly taking advantage of someone's misfortune, because the disciples and followers of the two original sects on Qingpu Mountain and Dapan Mountain had all disappeared and needed to be found. Li Wuxiang had thought that after Xu Zhen's illusionary realm was broken, they would also revert to their true forms like the beasts outside.

Even more puzzling is the Divine Blade Sect in Maple Valley. When Xu Zhen and I arrived here, the entire Divine Blade Sect had vanished. At that time, Li Wuxiang thought they had hidden themselves away.

After more than ten days of turmoil, and in the past four days, more than fifty people have been building houses and collecting soil to make tools in Maple Valley. They have searched the whole place inside and out, but they still can't find where the people from the Divine Blade Sect are hiding.

They shouldn't have disappeared, but they suddenly vanished. Now they should be out, but they haven't. Li Wuxiang and Zhao Qi both suspect it's related to the Blood God Cult—there used to be a corpse demon on Qingpu Mountain, which should have been affected by Xu Zhen's supernatural powers, but now that corpse demon can't be found either.

Zhao Qi had no clue about other matters. But regarding the corpse demons, he felt he could be of help. Because on the fifth day, after the houses were completed, a murder occurred in Maple Valley—Zhao Qi thought it was highly likely that the corpse demons left behind there were responsible.

……

I only wrote 4000 words because I only slept for four hours last night. But it's okay, there's always tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)