Chapter 96
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Chapter 96: Empty Handed
In Giant Shell City, on Pearl Street, two figures trembled as they knelt at the entrance of the Beast Tamers Guild.
“Hmph, where did that kid go? Didn’t you say he would definitely come here?” A woman questioned from within a luxurious carriage, with twelve Concentrating Spirit stage cultivators standing beside the carriage, holding various stringed instruments.
“That’s right! Gao Yuhu sent a Transmission Talisman, telling Li Hui to look for Master Ma at the Beast Tamers Guild! They were supposed to meet in Linggui City. Could it be that Li Hui had something come up at the last minute, or perhaps he changed his appearance and happened to see members of the Iron Zither Sect arriving?” The two kneeling on the ground were the miscellaneous disciples who had been running errands for Li Hui, while two others lay lifeless in a pool of blood.
The cultivation world was always cruel. After the Jade Symbol Sect left, and with the arrival of the Iron Zither Sect and Flying Kite Sect, Giant Shell City was no longer so peaceful.
“Now tell me about Li Hui. Describe everything he did after entering Giant Shell City,” another female voice commanded, carrying an undeniable authority as she plucked the strings of her instrument a few times.
“Yes!”
Hearing the music, the two disciples became dazed and quickly spilled the beans about Li Hui’s requests to buy artifact fragments and blank talisman paper. However, they had not seen the revitalized Li Hui after his transformation and still thought he looked quite old, with a bald head.
At the same time, on the tidal embankment, the embroidered ball screamed, “You annoying brat! Four times at most! How could it be split into six? That’s impossible to control this poison dragon eel!”
Li Hui pretended to realize something, saying, “Oh, I see! Then it’s four times!”
The embroidered ball suddenly felt something was off: “Hey, wait a minute! Why should I follow your lead? Why should the monthly help be split up?”
“Come on! Let the younger generation witness a miracle and admire the grace of the senior.” Li Hui looked eagerly at the poison dragon eel in the cage. In reality, he could control the creature, but that would take time and cost a lot. Since there were ready-made aids, why not use them?
“Next month, it will be next month,” the embroidered ball stressed.
“Exactly! Four times! Just in time for the end of next month,” Li Hui replied, feigning nonchalance, while secretly planning to introduce a borrowing mechanism. The embroidered ball was like a moneylender, and he wasn’t afraid of interest piling up since, in the end, it would be the other party’s loss.
“This is a one-time deal! Don’t expect it to happen again,” the embroidered ball thought it was getting a bargain. It could secretly discount the monthly help but if the other party promised freedom before dying, they might truly be free, leading a carefree life.
As the sea breeze blew gently, Li Hui clearly sensed a warm current entering the cage.
“Bang, bang, bang…” The poison dragon eel struggled violently, but before it could resist much longer, it began to sway its head, revealing purple circles in its eyes, looking quite strange.
“Is it done?” Li Hui hurriedly operated the winch, slowly lifting the huge bolt. The poison dragon eel pushed open the cage door and swam out, looking a bit puzzled at the tidal embankment.
“From today onward, you are my spirit pet, and I will name you Ao Chongguang. I hope you can leave the dark depths of the sea and swim freely under the sunlight, one day evolving into a demon dragon.” Li Hui jumped onto the back of the poison dragon eel, pointing towards Linggui City, and its body immediately sank towards the surface.
Moments later, Li Hui appeared to be standing on the sea, creating ripples beneath his feet as he moved swiftly.
How fast was it? In just a few breaths, he glided ten miles away. The poison dragon eel, noticing that its master was fine, swam even harder, quickly disappearing at the horizon where sea met sky.
The White Sea’s Twelve Markets stretched along the lengthy coastline, vast and boundless, with islands scattered throughout, even harboring sects and nations.
When sea area practitioners needed land resources, they typically rushed to the markets to trade. Similarly, when land cultivators needed marine resources, they would enter the markets to search. Hence, the coastline served as both a border and a trade route.
On the way, surprises awaited. Li Hui discovered that his bodily strength had reached an astonishing level; even if the poison dragon eel dove into the sea, he did not need the protection of a Golden Bell Talisman; the seawater automatically parted before him.
“This is the Ideal Body?”
“No wonder it is said one can freely traverse formations and restrictions, just like perfecting the Water Dripping Stone Talisman, Disrupting Formation Talisman, Diamond Shield Talisman, and Lightning Speed Talisman. Incredible! Fusing with Cow Shock Stone only corresponds to the early stage cultivation methods; if I found Celestial Meteor God Iron, what level would I reach?”
The poison dragon eel moved swiftly after it entered the sea. If it weren’t for the fact that it couldn’t navigate far and needed to consume a large amount of toxins, and since Li Hui didn’t have a detailed sea map, he could hastily move forward and forget all about heading for Linggui City. After all, with the buried talismans inside him, he estimated he couldn’t pull them out at all.
Unbeknownst to Li Hui, just as he departed, the authorities of Giant Shell City began to impose a lockdown.
Not only had the Iron Zither Sect and Flying Kite Sect arrived, but also the Hidden Sky Sect and Ten Thousand Gorge Sect. A large number of outer disciples entered the city, conducting thorough investigations on all cultivators, especially targeting those who were bald or had little hair, almost wanting to peel their faces off. Master Xu San was indeed a man of his word, erasing traces of a certain dashing young master’s exit from the city.
The four major sects turned Giant Shell City upside down but failed to find the person they sought. The issue was that the White Sea’s Twelve Markets had mixed crowds, and although Giant Shell City was easier to handle due to its proximity to the inland, Linggui City was not the same. It lay at the forefront of the coastline like a fortress, where the forces were much more intricate. If things went wrong, even the royal city of Dalong would be involved.
They planned to catch Li Hui and Gao Yuhu in Giant Shell City, but ended up with nothing for their efforts, akin to drawing water with a bamboo basket; despite dispatching so many disciples, they couldn’t even catch a single hair!
The Three Sects and Four Sects questioned themselves: without obtaining a complete talisman method, had they truly destroyed the Jade Symbol Sect? They never imagined that the six individuals inheriting the scripture hall’s texts were not true disciples or inner sect disciples, but merely outer disciples.
Indeed, they were just outer disciples! Any sect could easily catch a handful of such minor characters.
However, these six little rascals not only ran fast, they also ignored the Three Sects and Four Sects’ blockade. Take that monk-like Li Hui, for instance; wherever he went, he performed good deeds, even more professionally than authentic Buddhist practitioners. Initially, the Flying Kite Sect had captured him, but how coincidental was it that three flying kites crashed in Yin Wind Gorge?
And that wasn’t the end of it; changes occurred in Yin Wind Gorge, with only five of the Flying Kite Sect disciples who had gone to Giant Shell City with the kites surviving, nearly annihilated!
As for Li Hui? He arrived at Giant Shell City safe and sound, entered the city without issues, and settled into Jingdu Pavilion effortlessly, gathering all the market’s blank talisman paper. The volume of transactions he brought was not something outer disciples could handle, even inner sect disciples would struggle to cope.
As the elders of the Three Sects and Four Sects arrived and learned the situation, they became furious: “Send disciples to Linggui City, including true disciples, inner sect disciples, and outer disciples, all of them! Hmph, if a thousand aren’t enough, send two thousand; if that’s not enough, send three thousand. After we capture a few elders from the Jade Symbol Sect, we will also head over, determined to capture those six little rascals.”
