Who let him join the Sword Sect!

Chapter 388 The water level rises, and Lily needs to be washed away.

Although explaining is just covering up, and covering up is just telling a story.

Fortunately, Zhang Ze told a good story.

After catching up with Lady Li, Zhang Ze not only recounted his inhuman deeds using his junior sister's whimsical analogy, but also performed a gruesome act for her to prove his point and distract her.

Zhang Ze kicked the pillar next to him, causing the mechanism to deform and a small box filled with Thousand Machine Thunder to pop out.

Flames and battle patterns from his eyes resurfaced beneath his skin, creeping up his arm and onto Zhang Ze's face.

"The Heavenly Sect's Hundred Elephant Divine Skill? It's so realistic!" Li Yueqi had always been skeptical of Zhang Ze's character.

Knowing this would happen, Zhang Ze sighed and took out a Thousand Machine Thunder from the box.

"Watch carefully."

After saying that, Zhang Ze put it directly in his mouth and took a bite.

To Li's astonishment, flames and lightning burst forth from Zhang Ze's mouth, only to be sucked back in just as the explosion threatened to damage the surrounding windows and carpets.

Flames and lightning became Zhang Ze's sustenance.

【Barbarian Method - Iron-Eating and Flame-Swallowing】

During this process, Li Yueqi did not sense any change in spiritual energy; Zhang Ze was using legitimate Western barbarian techniques.

Even his fearless, idiotic appearance bears a resemblance.

After biting into a Thousand Machine Thunder, Zhang Ze looked at Li Yueqi and asked, "Do you believe me now?"

Li Yueqi shook her head, then nodded, "Do it again."

"Still don't believe me?" Zhang Ze asked in astonishment.

Li Yueqi: "No, I believe you. I just think it's really fun and I want to watch it again."

Zhang Ze, "?"

"Ahem, alright, stop fooling around. Here, take this." Li Yueqi coughed lightly and tossed a jade slip into Zhang Ze's hand.

"These are the records of our Beast Taming Sect's breeding of spirit beasts over the years. My grandfather asked me to give them to you."

After receiving the jade slip, Zhang Ze closed his eyes. Because the text was so complex, even with his divine sense, it took him quite a while to read it.

After reading it all, he tossed the jade slip back into Li Yueqi's hands.

"As expected," Zhang Ze muttered to himself with a deep expression.

"What? Sure enough? There's something wrong with this record."

Li Yueqi frowned as she looked at Zhang Ze, feeling that he was particularly irritating right now. His habit of only saying half of what he meant was really annoying, just like his grandfather.

And it wasn't just the tone of voice, but the attitude as well.

Raising spirit beasts is the Beast Taming Sect's specialty, but judging from Zhang Ze's expression and tone, it seemed as if they wouldn't make a mistake in raising them.

"The records are fine, I just discovered something."

As he spoke, Zhang Ze reached out and used his spiritual energy to draw a curve in front of Li Yueqi.

The curve is a wave line that rises continuously, and the waveform becomes increasingly dense towards the end.

"The horizontal axis represents the years, and the vertical axis represents the quality of spirit beasts of the same age. In terms of time, the foundation and potential of the spirit beasts of the Beast Taming Sect are showing an increasingly positive trend."

"Otherwise what?" Li Yueqi asked, puzzled. "We've been optimizing our methods for raising spirit beasts for so many years, isn't it normal for them to get better and better?"

“It’s normal, but this trend is wrong.” Zhang Ze said, adding many small dots on the chart.

These points are key to the Beast Taming Sect's innovation and optimization of breeding methods.

They are irregular; sometimes they only happen once every few hundred years, and sometimes they occur densely in a few decades.

It matches to some extent the regular and elegant wave-like pattern represented by the growth trend of spirit beasts, but not entirely.

There are other things that make spirit beasts strong and healthy.

"What's going on?" Li Yueqi asked.

Zhang Ze leaned against a pillar, took out a few jade slips from his pocket, and tossed them into Li Yueqi's hand.

"This was brought by Fu Ji. It's a cultivation record of the Golden Ginseng from Medicine King Valley that was artificially ripened. Its growth trend is almost identical to that of the spirit beasts from your Beast Taming Sect... Hmm, what's wrong?"

Zhang Ze saw that Li Yueqi had a strange look on her face after she received the jade slip.

“You’ve got the wrong one. This isn’t a cultivation record; it’s a ginseng photograph…” Li Yueqi returned the jade slip to Zhang Ze.

Zhang Ze, "..."

After taking the jade slip and breaking it in half to destroy the evidence, Zhang Ze continued as if nothing had happened.

"Ahem, this is the law enforcement record we obtained from the Sword Hall of our Sword Sect. The number and proportion of cultivators among those causing trouble are increasing year by year."

"The Song family, who specialize in refining artifacts, also sent a record. Before we developed the small walnut, most of the sound transmission jade in Dongzhou was refined by them. Even though the process remained the same, the quality of the sound transmission jade kept getting better and better."

"These are some records taken from the demon race and the Jade Book Pavilion. Judging from them, the spiritual energy of the four continents is now more abundant than in the past."

After saying that, Zhang Ze waved his hand and drew a bunch of charts in front of Li Yueqi.

When these trivial matters, which become insignificant due to their long time span, are charted, everything becomes a wave line that occasionally erupts but generally moves upward in a regular pattern.

Judging from these charts, the spiritual environment in the four continents seems to be getting better and better.

"So isn't this a good thing? What's the problem?" Li Yueqi asked, puzzled.

The quality of spirit ore is getting higher and higher, the spiritual energy is becoming more concentrated, and it is easier for mortals to sense the energy and cultivate. The quality of spirit plants and spirit beasts is also rising.

With the lower limit raised, the entire Four Continents seem to be transforming into a paradise on earth.

These things seem like good things no matter how you look at it.

She didn't know why Zhang Ze was so worried.

“I suspect this situation is related to the Earthsea,” Zhang Ze said.

Li Yueqi, "Earthsea?"

“When I accidentally ‘fell’ a while ago, I ‘saw’ some things,” Zhang Ze said, carefully choosing his words.

“The Earth Sea is rising,” he said.

Zhang Ze said, "I suspect that these changes in the four continents are due to the 'rise' of the Earth Sea."

"Although this doesn't mean much to us humans, as we are too slow to perceive the changes, it may not be a good thing for the demon race and the barbarian race."

"The demon race has temporarily escaped the influence of the Earth Sea, but as time goes by, the situation may revert to its original state."

"And who can guarantee that if the price continues to rise, we won't be affected too..."

"What do we do now?" Li Yueqi also became nervous.

However, after scaring people, Zhang Ze shrugged and said, "I don't know."

Li Yueqi, "You don't know?"

"Yeah, I'm not a wish-granting machine, I don't know everything you ask."

"Furthermore, looking at the waveform, each rise in the 'Earth Sea' is at least several hundred years apart. If nothing unexpected happens, the next one..."

Zhang Ze originally wanted to say that by the time the sea rises to the point where people can drown, who knows when that will be, but it certainly won't be tomorrow.

But before he could finish speaking, Li Yueqi sealed his mouth with a talisman.

"You're such a jinx, shut up. I'm perfectly content with my peaceful life right now and don't want to cause trouble to save the world," Li Yueqi said warily.

Zhang Ze, "..."

Often, prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain.

Only after Zhang Ze swore he wouldn't jinx things did Li Yueqi flee from Zha Shi De as if she were escaping. It seemed that if she stayed by Zhang Ze's side for even a little while, she would pick up his jinxing habit.

"sorrow."

After saying goodbye to Li Yueqi, Zhang Ze returned to Lili's office and led out Mao Mao, who was grinding its teeth on Lili's golden dragon chair after eating its fill.

Looking out the window, I realized it was getting late and time to go home.

"Let's go, I'll take you home for dinner," Zhang Ze said, rubbing the dog's head.

But as he reached the door, Zhang Ze remembered something. He turned back, placed fifty spirit stones at the front desk, and then walked toward the door.

Go out, close the door, pad the lock, and hide a firework grenade under the lock. It won't hurt anyone, but it will definitely make a lot of noise.

The set of movements was fluid and seamless, performed in one go.

Aside from forgetting Mao Mao inside the bombing shop, Zhang Ze made no mistakes.

……

Returning to Qianji Pavilion, Zhang Ze headed towards his residence. Before even entering the courtyard, he could smell the aroma of food.

"Wait a minute, my junior sister can't cook either, so where's that aroma coming from?"

Zhang Ze remembered clearly that his junior sister's cooking skills weren't great either. If he asked her to cook, she could only make things like stir-fried "stuffed grain pills," cold ginseng noodles, and goji berry and lingzhi tonic soup—things that were considered "heaty" (causing internal heat). "Guests are here? And they even brought their own cooking utensils?"

Zhang Ze used his stealth movement to quietly enter the courtyard, wanting to see where the fragrance was coming from.

However, as soon as he peeked out, Chen Qin grabbed him and pulled him into the courtyard.

"Shh!"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Ze asked in a low voice.

"Am I fishing?" the junior sister asked.

"Who are you fishing for?" Zhang Ze asked again.

"Fishing for square-shaped pigs," the junior sister replied again.

Zhang Ze, "..."

Ah Li had been sulking ever since Zhang Ze left that morning, her large iron ingot remaining motionless as if welded to the ground. Her junior sister tried to persuade Ah Li several times after returning, but to no avail. Desperate, she resorted to this tactic: using delicious food to lure Ah Li back.

"I remember you can't cook, where is this aroma coming from?"

"I didn't cook anything, this is what I have." As she spoke, the junior sister took out a stack of porcelain bottles from her sleeve.

[Three-Flower Fragrance Powder], [Old Ghost Wild Fishing King], [Hundred Mile Mysterious Fragrance], and similar items...

They're all top-tier items from the Beast Taming Sect.

With the help of these carefully blended baits and flavor enhancers from the two companies, you could make a famous dish smell even if you just threw a shoe insole into the pot.

Its original purpose was to lure and capture mythical beasts.

Junior Sister plans to use these things to lure Ah Li home.

After listening, Zhang Ze thought that this method might be feasible, so he took out his black bodysuit, cast a spell to turn it into an invisible wisp of smoke, and entered team mode with his junior sister to start camping for Ah Li.

The place where Ah Li was sulking wasn't far from here, and with the gentle breeze deliberately created by her junior sister, the fragrance could easily drift into that small building.

"Shh, someone is coming."

Zhang Ze whispered.

The two peeked over the wall and looked outside, only to find that it wasn't Ah Li who had arrived, but Old Tang.

The Taoist priest was drawn by the aroma and circled around the door, seemingly wanting to go in. However, since it was already late, he hesitated for a long time before finally deciding not to go in.

"Never mind, it's too late today, we'll talk about it tomorrow." Old Tang sighed and turned to leave.

A moment later, more people were drawn by the aroma, and in the darkness in the distance, a dazzling light bounced and approached.

"Ah Li?" the junior sister asked.

"It doesn't seem like it." Zhang Ze shook his head.

As the ball of light drew closer, they discovered that the person was Lily. She was radiating golden light like a little sun, but this golden light was strange; it could only illuminate a radius of about one finger around her, and it was powerless to illuminate anything beyond that.

"By the way, I've been wanting to ask this for a while now, what happened to Lily?" Zhang Ze asked.

Since she came back, Lily has been like this, radiating golden light for all twelve hours of the day, the only difference being the brightness.

Junior Sister: "She's probably tinkering with some new magical artifact again. That's normal. It's normal for Lily to be abnormal."

Zhang Ze: "That's true."

Led by the fragrance, Jin Guangli skipped all the way to the door.

She stood on tiptoe and peered into the yard, looking like she really wanted to go in and freeload. But just as she was looking for an excuse to bother them, she suddenly let out a big yawn, and then her eyelids started to droop, as if she was about to collapse.

"I can't take it anymore, I need to sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow..."

After Lily left, the third person to be lured in was Fukihime.

No one knows what new trick she's up to now, but a rotten princess shaped like a hot air balloon slowly floated into the air above the courtyard, carrying a dozen tactical squad rotten princesses in her net bag.

The team was well-organized and disciplined, and the young woman, who looked like an officer, was confusedly deploying an airborne operation.

"Go to the kitchen!"

Go to the toilet!

"Don't forget under the bed!"

"We must find that fragrant thing!"

"Report, isn't Xiangxiang in the big house by the river?"

"Idiot, it's not that Xiangxiang. Anyway, listen to my instructions, I'll jump when I say jump!"

Looking at the hot air balloon above his head, Zhang Ze suddenly regretted showing Fu Ji those fictional soldier novels he had made up, so he gently blew on them.

The barbarian tribes' witchcraft of praying for wind.

A vortex suddenly appeared in the sky above the courtyard, blowing the hot air balloon and the tactical squad's exclamations into the distance.

Perhaps because the aroma was so strong, this time the fishing attracted quite a few unrelated people.

Fortunately, apart from Lily and Fukihime, most of them were quite self-aware.

It wasn't until late at night, just when Zhang Ze and Chen Qin were about to give up, that a faint sound of metal blades scraping against each other came from the darkness in the distance.

Zhang Ze: "Shh, it's Ah Li."

Junior sister, "How did you know?"

Zhang Ze said, "That's the sound Ah Li makes when she walks on her butt."

Junior sister, "?"

Looking into the distance, the junior sister followed Zhang Ze's direction and indeed spotted the furtive Ah Li in a corner.

It cradles itself on its short legs, keeping its rear end on the ground, and slowly crawls forward like a pupa.

It seems that this would not violate its noble vow to never leave Mother Earth and to sever all ties with Zhang Ze'en.

Deceiving yourself is an example of this.

The crickets lingered all the way to the gate, hesitated for a long time, but finally couldn't resist the temptation of the aroma and jumped into the yard.

Picking up the pearl that had been heavily laced with oil from the ground, Ah Li popped it into her mouth with a slurp, licked her lips, and then moved on to the next pearl pupa.

From the gate to the courtyard, from the courtyard to the corridor, from the corridor to the back courtyard.

Zhang Ze and his junior sister put one down, and A Li picked up one. Only after the junior sister threw away all the jade bottles containing the Three-Flower Elixir Powder did they lure A Li into the room.

"Lock the door!" The junior sister slammed her cup as a signal, the door lock closed, and the magic circle began to rotate.

The invisible mist that concealed their presence dissipated, and Zhang Ze stepped forward and picked up A Li.

"Haha, you lost, your butt is off the ground."

Ah Li struggled violently, "I didn't, that doesn't count, you picked me up, my bottom didn't leave the ground..."

"Who said that? How did you get in when you crossed the threshold?"

"I...that..."

Ah Li remembered that she did indeed seem to have jumped in.

"That doesn't count! You're cheating!"

The junior sister stepped forward and took A-Li from Zhang Ze's arms, giving it a way out, "Alright, alright, you win, Zhang Ze loses, let's eat, let's let this matter rest."

Zhang Ze: "Yes, we'll never mention the square pig again."

Junior sister, “…”

Ah Li, who had been behaving herself, turned and looked at Zhang Ze with grief and indignation.

It leaped up and stuck to Zhang Ze's face like a facehugger.

"I am a dragon! A long dragon!"

……

Pigs during the Lunar New Year are hard to handle, and square-shaped pigs are even harder to handle, especially since Ah Li's strength is tied to Zhang Ze's, making it a truly difficult task to subdue her.

After a night of commotion, Zhang Ze finally managed to pull Ah Li off him when it was broad daylight.

Standing at the door with his hands on his hips, Zhang Ze wondered where he could find some peace and quiet later.

However, Zhang Ze was destined not to find Jingjing today, because the screams of Lily, the number one noise generator of Qianji Pavilion, came from afar.

Without a trace, they made a preemptive strike.

Lily, gleaming in gold, sprinted to Zhang Ze, grabbed his leg, and wailed and cried.

"Boss, save me! I don't want to die!"

(End of this chapter)