Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 202 Shocking Change, Evacuation

Chen Gou'er flew around the old beggar in circles.

Seeing that the old beggar's progress in refining incense was nearing completion, Chen Gou'er couldn't wait to get even closer to the old beggar.

The next moment, Chen Gou'er suddenly let out a strange cry: "Ouch!"

Li Wushou stared intently and saw the old beggar who was refining incense suddenly burst out with dazzling golden light.

His whole body seemed like a sieve that had swallowed the light source, with beams of golden light shooting out from his body, not even blocking the wrinkles all over his body.

At the same time, Li Wushou suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, followed by a slight tremor in his bones and blood.

With his eyes narrowed, Li Wushou looked up at the sky and saw that the old snail's remaining incense energy had been squeezed back into the valley at some point.

The eerie fog from all directions thickened rapidly, but it was kept out by the old beggar's net of incense offerings.

He didn't know what was happening, but he keenly sensed that something he instinctively loathed was about to arrive.

Just then, the old beggar suddenly stood up, his expression unusually solemn as he opened and closed his eyes.

He opened his mouth and inhaled sharply at the snail shell beneath him and the incense offerings that Li Wushou had thrown out. The incense power that he had almost exhausted vanished in an instant.

The enormous white jade snail shell, along with the incense offerings, instantly turned to ashes, which then scattered across the White Bone Mountain with the mountain wind.

The old beggar straightened his back, pointed to the sky with his left hand, and drew on the ground with his right.

Li Wushou then noticed that the old beggar's hands were different. Originally, when the old beggar asked for favors, he could only use a few fingers, but now it seemed that he could use both hands as well.
There was no time to investigate further. As the old beggar moved, the net of incense that had been surrounding White Bone Mountain quickly contracted to the area around the main peak of White Bone Mountain.

Li Wushou felt a lightness between his brows, and the trembling in his bones and blood subsided.

At this moment, the summit of White Bone Mountain seemed to have been plucked from the heavens and earth.

But the old beggar's expression did not relax in the slightest. He formed a mudra with his hands in front of his chest and murmured incessantly, as if a deity were whispering, accompanied by a unique buzzing sound.

The Three Immortals Pavilion, which loomed over the mountaintop, trembled. A clay incense burner suddenly flew out and hovered above the old beggar's head. A pinch of incense ash flew out and was evenly smeared all over the old beggar's body.

The cracks between the texture strokes were filled in, and the ever-spreading golden light disappeared without a trace; to be precise, it was concealed by the incense ash and the texture strokes working together.

Li Wushou's pupils contracted as he looked at the amount of incense ash.
Li Wushou knew better than anyone how stingy the old beggar was, but this time the old beggar took out one-ninth of all the incense in the clay incense burner without hesitation.

Normally, the old beggar would have been baring his teeth in protest, but now he looked solemn.

What happened in the end?
Li Wushou focused his gaze on the mountaintop, and as soon as his line of sight extended beyond the summit, he felt a monstrous pressure sweeping across White Bone Mountain.

The cattle and horses that were staying at the foot of the mountain instantly exploded into a bloody mist.

"Don't look!"

The old beggar uttered a soft sound, and before he knew it, he was beside Li Wushou.

A speck of incense ash was flicked onto Li Wushou's forehead, forcibly compressing his gaze back to the mountaintop.

Before Li Wushou's gaze returned to the mountaintop, that oppressive aura swept back again, as if it were sweeping across White Bone Mountain.

The old beggar looked up at the sky, his expression turning solemn.

Is it possible to attract so much attention just because I've only burned this little bit of incense?

It seems that I still can't recklessly harvest incense offerings within the Land of Misfortune.

They're as stingy as ever!
With a sigh, the old beggar took a step forward, carrying the flushed-faced Chen Gou'er back to the Three Immortals Pavilion.

"Li Wushou, you're here too!"

Li Wushou nodded and followed him into the Three Immortals Hall. The old beggar stood in front of the incense table, and the yellow clay incense burner had been placed back in front of the three wooden plaques.

Seeing Li Wushou approach, he handed him three sticks of incense.

The two then bowed to the wooden plaque and solemnly placed the incense sticks in the incense burner.

The old beggar turned around, flicked the three-legged table with his toes, and the table's three legs turned to the sky. Outside the Three Immortals Hall, the world on the White Bone Mountain reversed, and the net of incense smoke contracted again, directly enveloping the Three Immortals Hall.

The three sat down at the inverted square table, with the old beggar pulling Chen Gou'er to sit on the side with legs, while Li Wushou sat next to the old beggar on the side without legs.

The Three Immortals Pavilion trembled slightly, and Li Wushou's brow twitched incessantly.

After an unknown amount of time, the storm subsided, and everything finally calmed down.

The solemnity on his face faded, and the old beggar reverted to his previous lazy demeanor.

Upon seeing this, Chen Gou'er gasped for breath; the overwhelming stench had almost made him faint.

Composing himself, Li Wushou slowly asked, "What is that?"

The old beggar stretched, stood up from the square table, and shook his head upon hearing this.

"It must be one of the ancient gods from the Land of Calamity."

Chen Gou'er had recovered by then and said, "It stinks so bad, it's disgusting!"

Li Wushou nodded, but his eyes remained fixed on the old beggar.

Suddenly, the old beggar became very busy, sometimes propping up the square table, sometimes kneading strips of mud.
When he was completely finished with his work, the old beggar urged, "..."

"Let's go quickly, this place is not safe to stay for long, the incense offerings will soon be dispelled."

Li Wushou withdrew his gaze. There was something wrong with this old man. That thing was probably not as simple as the ancient god he mentioned.

He had never seen the old beggar with such an expression when facing a deity.

Let alone an old god, even before coming to Huazhou, when he encountered a high-ranking deity's priest, the old beggar had never treated that deity this way, speaking with utter indifference and disdain. Although the old beggar's arrogance was somewhat exaggerated, it was enough to show that this item was no ordinary thing.

However, Li Wushou wisely refrained from asking further questions. If even a supreme deity could reveal the name of another and lower his gaze, then this thing that the old beggar feared must also possess such abilities.

Besides, what good would it do to actually ask?

I can't kill him myself!
Asking the question would only cause more trouble.

It's better to wait until you're capable of killing the other person before asking!

Thinking this, Li Wushou also felt somewhat confused. He didn't even know what that thing was, yet he was already thinking about how to kill it. He inexplicably felt a strong aversion to that thing.

With one step, Li Wushou returned to the mountaintop platform.

Looking around, his pupils contracted. The White Bone Mountain stretched across four or five peaks, not very high, but still nearly a hundred feet tall.

At this moment, the entire mountain range has been razed to the ground.

Rather than saying he was standing on a mountaintop platform, it would be more accurate to say he was standing on a flat piece of ground.

Even the trees he had planted earlier were now crushed into a pile of mud, with flesh and blood slowly writhing on the ground.

Li Wushou stood on the ground, speechless for a long time.

After his physical body was perfected, he always felt invincible. Although he knew it was an illusion, it still made his mind wander a little.

But no matter how much he tries to wake up, it's no match for the slap of reality.

I am still too weak!
With a flick of his brow, he retracted the Three Immortals Pavilion into his body, then turned and walked to the tree he had planted.

With a single hand gesture, the crushed flesh and blood transformed back into a tree seed. This time, instead of rushing to catalyze the seed to grow into a large tree, he casually tossed it into a pit and let it develop on its own.

He was afraid that thing would come back, and he noticed something was wrong.

A mist rose between his brows, and Li Wushou turned and disappeared from the spot.

The eerie mist enveloped the open space once more, and the tree seeds took root and sprouted tender buds that swayed among them.

Deep fog
Li Wushou stopped in a desolate forest.
The paper goddess in front of him was directing two golden and silver boys to start a fire. Her two little paper figures had just served as kindling, and the golden and silver boys were easy to use.

The howling continued in the desolate forest, and a moment later Chen Gou'er flew out of it, carrying two upright rabbits in each hand.

"Haha, Li Wushou, you're the best!"

"If you like it, then come and grill it."

The upright rabbit on White Bone Mountain was mostly eaten by the roots of white bamboo, and Li Wushou felt a little guilty about it. Being able to make up for Chen Gou'er's regret at this moment was an unexpected joy.

However, he did not deliberately seek out these two upright rabbits.

After leaving the Bone Mountain, he kept thinking about things and subconsciously continued in the same direction.

By the time he realized what was happening, he was already dozens of miles away in the northeast corner of White Bone Mountain.

At this moment, the Paper Goddess slowly woke up. She had just refined the sedan chair at the White Paper Taoist Temple and was about to change its pattern when a sudden earthquake shook the earth, and she fainted.

He had just woken up when Li Wushou called him out and asked him for directions to the Upper Renovation Cave.

Through her connection with the Upper Renovation Cave, the Paper Goddess realized that the Second Master had taken the wrong path.

The Upper Cultivation Cave should be located due east of White Bone Mountain. Fortunately, Li Wushou did not deviate too much from the northeast direction.

However, she dared not say that Li Wushou had gone astray, for fear of upsetting the Second Master.

At that moment, she suddenly noticed two upright rabbits, and an idea immediately came to her mind.

While she was picking cicadas with the Third Master on the mountaintop, she overheard him muttering about how most of his upright rabbit had been eaten, and he seemed quite annoyed. So she quickly said to Li Wushou:
"Second Master, are you here to catch a rabbit for Third Master? Second Master is so good to Third Master, going out of your way for dozens of miles just so Third Master can have something he likes to eat."

Li Wushou was taken aback upon hearing this, realizing he had taken the wrong path.

But this upright rabbit? That'll do too!

Li Wushou gave the Paper Goddess an appreciative look, then called Chen Gou'er out of the Three Immortals Pavilion. Sure enough, Chen Gou'er was overjoyed.

Yes, it really flies!

Just now, when Li Wushou was on his way, this child flapped its wings and flew in front of the old beggar for one or two hours.

The old beggar felt dizzy and lightheaded, and was resting at that moment.

The rabbit meat would take a while to roast, so Li Wushou decided to call him when it was done.

The Paper Goddess took the upright rabbit from Chen Gou'er's hands and skillfully handled it with all six arms. After a while, the two upright rabbits, sprinkled with spices, were roasted, along with the half-eaten White Bone Mountain upright rabbit.

Whether it was just his imagination or not, Li Wushou felt that these three rabbits had some connection to each other.

After sniffing for a while, Chen Gou'er nodded and affirmed, "It's a family of three."

You can smell that?

Li Wushou was also somewhat surprised. Seeing that the rabbit meat was ready, he took out the remaining few jars of monkey wine, woke up the old beggar, and the three of them ate around the fire.

Spices and wine, mildly toxic and not causing headaches, just right!

As Li Wushou ate, he began to regret it; he had killed that monkey too early!

(End of this chapter)