Druid Fairy

Chapter 46 Natural Symbiosis
The moonlight was cold and merciless.

Thorns twisted and crawled in the darkness.

"What kind of madness have you gone mad with? Go to hell!"

The guard, stabbed in the arm, kicked the gang leader away, cursed a few times, and fled into the dense forest, clutching his wound.

Today's events are truly bizarre; the Black Snake Gang has suddenly "gone on fire," indiscriminately killing people without regard for family ties.

Li Yuan was killed with a single blow. His father, King Li, would never let him off easily. Now, his only option was to flee for his life!

Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the Black Forest, a large cleaver came crashing down from above. The cold light was blinding, and the guards had no time to dodge, taking a hard blow to the shoulder.

Damn, where did this sixth guy come from?!

Instinctively, he changed direction and ran, but another masked man in black emerged from the jungle and stabbed him in the abdomen, causing blood to gush out.

There's actually another sixth brother like that!
The guard's eyes widened, his body like a tattered sack unable to hold the blood. He collapsed to the ground in pain, and a flash of light appeared in his face as he was slashed to death.

…………

The chaotic battle involving dozens of people was coming to an end.

Li Pingcan hid in the mountains and forests, and the thorns that had been moving around returned to their vine-like form.

Using thorns to create chaos, they killed Li Yuan through others, while their father and elder brother dealt with the guards and gang members fleeing into the mountains, leaving no survivors.

"Pingfu, you didn't leave any traces, did you?"

"Father, don't worry, we used all the Black Snake Gang's weapons. I didn't even touch a penny of the silver."

"That's good," Li Rongzhou replied.

Under the cover of the dark clouds, the three secretly sneaked back to Peach Blossom Village, burned the blood-splattered black clothes, and left no clues.

"Father, do you think the wealthy Li family will find out that Li Yuan's death is related to us?" Li Pingfu pressed his hand to his pounding chest, the muscles in his palm still seeming to feel as if they had been pierced through flesh.

"It should not be detected."

Li Rongzhou pondered. The guards were dead, the gang leader was dead, and Li Yuan was dead. There was no way to verify the facts. This matter could be completely attributed to internal strife within the Black Snake Gang, and had nothing to do with his Li family.

Unless, King Li invokes the power of a celestial being.

"In any case, let Xiao Hei keep an eye on things for now. That way, we can prepare in advance if anything goes wrong."

“Alright.” Li Pingcan nodded solemnly. Killing Li Yuan was not difficult; the real challenge lay with the celestial officials behind him.

Li Rongzhou said, "Everyone should rest well and not panic."

The family quietly fetched water to rest.

Li Ping'an couldn't sleep all night, and the candlelight in the room stayed on all night. He felt both moved and guilty.

If Li Wangbiao hadn't personally held power, they wouldn't have needed to be so cautious in killing Li Yuan, unnecessarily incurring numerous risks.

If he himself were to become a celestial official, Li Yuan would tremble and bow down in fear with just a glance.

In an instant, the desire for power grew wildly.

…………

The former site of the Black Snake Gang is littered with corpses and bloodstains.

"Son, how could you die!"

King Li was heartbroken as he looked at Li Yuan lying in a pool of blood, his eyes bloodshot.

The Black Snake Gang lost more than a dozen people. Even for a gang, this was a major case. The constables who were investigating the case in Peach Leaf Village brought their original team to investigate this place and concluded: "It is obvious that this is an internal gang conflict."

The coroner pointed to the knife wounds and said, "These knife wounds match the weapons used by the Black Snake Gang perfectly. There are no signs of poisoning in the lungs or internal organs. It must have been a sudden internal conflict."

"My son has always been well-behaved, how did he get involved?" Li Wang didn't believe it. How could it be such a coincidence that his son was in the Black Snake Gang, and then the Black Snake Gang was in internal strife?

"Then you should ask your son. Maybe your son is the trigger for their internal strife?"

The constable casually mentioned it, quickly closed the case, ordered his men to clean up the battlefield, and took the money collected by the Black Snake Gang as a reward for their hard work.

'These idiots, these parasites!'

Li Wang cursed inwardly. What internal strife? It was clearly the constables closing cases arbitrarily to make money. His son had definitely been murdered!

But he didn't argue with the constable.

Even if the government is raising a bunch of parasites, they're still the emperor's dogs, and he can't criticize them. If things go wrong, they might be imprisoned as "suspects," with no one to turn to for help.

It's impossible to swallow this insult—that a promising successor was unjustly harmed.

Yunshui County. "Uncle, you must do me justice!"

Li Wang burst into tears, rolling his obese body on the ground, looking as aggrieved as a 300-pound child.

The old man in the gray robe leaned against the bamboo with his eyes closed, his withered fingers lightly tapping the teacup, three wisps of smoke curling around him, displaying a rather elegant demeanor.

He said slowly, "What do you want?"

King Li said coldly, "I will find the real culprit who killed my son!" He always felt that there was something strange about this matter.

The gray-robed old man sighed softly, "After all, he is my cousin-nephew. I will give you a 'soul-summoning' talisman so you can ask him what happened."

King Li was overjoyed and repeatedly expressed his gratitude. Upon returning home, he opened the coffin and summoned the soul.

This talisman was crafted by an immortal and can temporarily summon the soul of the deceased to inquire about the cause of death.

King Li affixed the talisman to his son's forehead. Under the horrified gazes of his servants, the ashen corpse slowly and stiffly sat up, opening its lifeless eyes.

"My son, who killed you?!" King Li asked excitedly.

The corpse parted its bluish-purple lips, "Black snake... black snake..."

"Who took you to the Black Snake Gang? And for what purpose?"

"Nurse Shen... the money..."

No matter how Li Wang changed his questioning methods, Li Yuan's corpse could only repeatedly give the same simple words.

The incense stick burned out.

Under Li Wang's impotent and furious gaze, the corpse fell to the ground with a loud thud.

…………

"There are no worries for now."

Having witnessed everything, Li Pingcan stretched in relief.

The immortal was indeed incredibly powerful; he could summon the soul of the dead with just a talisman, which startled him.

Fortunately, the Li family acted meticulously, manipulating everything behind the scenes without leaving any trace or revealing their identities.

"It seems that once you embark on the path of immortality, you'll have to buy some talismans to stick on the foreheads of corpses. Killing people and scattering their souls, let's see if you can still 'summon souls'."

At the same time, he also realized that as a druid, he might not be unable to deal with the low-level methods of immortals.

With Li Yuan's matter resolved, aside from the displaced people, there are no more worries for the time being.

With his mood improved, he felt more motivated to level up his skills. Lately, he often practiced his skills by the stream, hoping to gain insights into "water" type skills in preparation for collecting water spirits.

The eldest brother collected many rumors about Longquan Lake. Some people said they saw a dragon soaring and others said they saw a magical treasure shining underwater. It was very mysterious.

"Once the government gathers the refugees, I'll go to Longquan Lake to investigate. It just so happens that my elder brother also wants to challenge other martial arts masters and make a name for himself."

Since setting his goal of "opening a martial arts school", Li Pingfu has been full of energy, practicing hard every day, and his martial arts skills have improved rapidly.

"呲呲."

Just then, Li Pingcan felt a slight itch in his arm. He lifted his sleeve, revealing a centipede wrapped around his forearm, resembling a red and black arm guard from an alien.

If a large sword were to strike, the centipede's hard shell could withstand one or two attacks.

Then the centipede raised its head, spat out a drop of purplish-gold venom, and then its breath weakened.

Li Pingcan stroked the centipede with a touch of tenderness.

Over three years, the centipede venom was refined into the Purple Centipede Ointment, making a significant contribution, but also gradually weakening the centipede.

Even if it doesn't produce venom, it cannot escape the aging process.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the fate of all living things, and none can escape them.

Suddenly, the centipede's tentacles twitched, and it crawled into Li Pingcan's arms.

"Centipede, it's a little itchy!"

Li Pingcan chuckled, while the centipede held a purplish-brown seed in its crutch.

A line of text flashed into his mind.

You have acquired a new skill, [Natural Symbiosis]. You can bind with creatures of the same attribute to share their talents, causing mutations.

(End of this chapter)