Free Web NovelChapter 94: Chapter 82: Another 3 Years in the Blink of an Eye
Qi Yang, naturally, gave chase in a rage.
But Hui Ming had already fled with Xu Lei.
After all, the two had meticulously planned their ambush against the unsuspecting Qi Yang; there was no way they would let him catch up.
Hui Ming channeled his Magical Power, and the Rakshasa Treasure Fragments appeared beneath his feet, allowing him to fly like a Daoist Family Qi Refiner using Sword Control.
Of course, they didn’t soar high into the sky but instead weaved through the forest. Flying above the trees would have easily exposed their position.
After making a couple of turns, they came to a stop.
They hid in a concealed corner, silent and motionless.
Just then, Qi Yang’s furious voice echoed through the mountain forest. Carried by two Human Puppets, he was relentlessly searching for any trace of Xu Lei and Hui Ming.
But naturally, he found nothing. He even went to a high point on the mountain to look down, hoping to spot them from his vantage point.
However, there was no way Hui Ming and Xu Lei would reveal themselves.
The two of them lay low in a small mountain hollow.
Hui Ming split both Inner Cores in half.
He divided the spoils fairly.
After all, the two Inner Cores contained different amounts of energy.
This was the simplest and most direct way.
After that, Xu Lei and Hui Ming hid in the mountains, cultivating for a full ten days by absorbing the Snake Demon Core they had obtained.
As expected, the rate at which their Magical Power increased was far faster than with normal Cultivation!
When Xu Lei used Introspection, his Dao Seed and Magical Power combined had originally been the size of a chicken egg.
He had used up a little when dealing with the Human Puppets before, but not much.
But now, after just ten days of Cultivation, Xu Lei’s Magical Power had grown to the size of a duck egg.
This change was quite astounding.
Because in the past, Xu Lei’s Cultivation had been relatively slow.
It had taken him a full nine years of Cultivation to reach the size of a chicken egg.
「One day.」
"That Qi Yang should be gone by now, right?"
Xu Lei suggested, "Senior Brother, shouldn’t we go back to the temple to cultivate? It would be better."
After all, Xu Lei hadn’t told Hui Ming about the Spirit Gathering Array.
He understood the principle that ’an innocent man gets into trouble for the treasure he carries’. Although Xu Lei was relatively confident in Hui Ming’s character,
he still didn’t say anything.
If word got out, there could be trouble.
After all, in this Dharma-ending Cultivation Era, many Cultivators struggled to absorb Spiritual Qi.
If the existence of the Spirit Gathering Array was exposed, some desperate individuals might try to take it by force.
That was why during these ten days, Xu Lei hadn’t used the Spirit Gathering Array for his Cultivation.
He felt that if he had used the Spirit Gathering Array, his Cultivation results would have been even better.
"Alright."
Hui Ming nodded. "We should head back. This time, it’s thanks to you, Junior Brother, that I was able to obtain this Inner Core."
It wasn’t usually so easy to run into Demon Spirits.
"No, it is I who should thank you, Senior Brother."
Xu Lei said, "Without you, Senior Brother, there’s no way I could have snatched food from Qi Yang’s mouth all by myself!"
"It’s just a pity I couldn’t kill that Qi Yang for you."
Hui Ming said, "From now on, Junior Brother, you’ll still have to expend Magical Power every day to supply that Evil-Subduing Buddha Chain."
"It’s no matter."
Xu Lei said, "In any case, Qi Yang is out in the open, while I am in the shadows. When the time is right, I will personally strike and kill him myself."
A few minutes later.
Xu Lei and Hui Ming cautiously left the mountain.
They discovered that Qi Yang seemed to have already left.
However, Xu Lei and Hui Ming saw the Scholar. He had actually come to the mountain carrying spirit money.
He was burning the paper for his wife.
"My wife, today is the last time I will burn this for you."
He muttered to himself, "From now on, I will try my best to forget you."
Of course, his words were meant only for his wife.
Not for her younger sister.
Nor did he burn any paper for his wife’s younger sister.
This Scholar truly did love the elder Snake Demon sister.
But because of her, even his own mother had been killed by a Demon.
Naturally, he was also filled with anger and sorrow.
Although the younger sister hadn’t admitted it that day, the Scholar knew the truth just by looking at the expression on her face as she denied it.
The elder Snake Demon sister and the Scholar were truly in love.
But that didn’t stop these Demons from sometimes treating human lives as worthless.
To get revenge for her sister, the younger sister had secretly drained the Scholar’s mother of her Essence Qi, causing her to die prematurely.
In order to bear his child, the elder sister and her younger sister had used their positions at the medical hall to come into contact with people, draining large amounts of Essence Qi and shortening many lives.
"Amitabha Buddha."
Hui Ming watched this scene and said softly, "What a tragic connection!"
"Amitabha Buddha."
Xu Lei also nodded. "Indeed. This is the very definition of a tragic connection."
After that, Xu Lei and Hui Ming paid it no more mind.
The Scholar was already lucky to be alive.
And now, he had to bear the consequences himself.
Who told him to fall in love with a Demon?
「Six months later.」
Xu Lei and Hui Ming returned to a temple.
But not Tianming Temple.
Instead, they moved to a temple called Ning’an Temple.
Because Hui Ming had already stayed at Tianming Temple for many years.
If they didn’t change temples, his unusually slow aging would make some of the ordinary Monks notice something was amiss.
After arriving at the new temple, Xu Lei and Hui Ming both took on leisurely yet high-ranking positions.
The daily temple chores were all handled by the other ordinary Monks.
This allowed them to focus their minds on Cultivation.
「One day.」
In his Zen Room, Xu Lei sat cross-legged. Using Introspection, he saw that the Magical Power within his body had grown to the size of a fist.
"Condense!"
Afterward, Xu Lei’s Hand Seal changed. He executed a Dharma Gate, once again condensing and compressing the Magical Power in his body.
He refined it to the same quality as his Origin and merged it into his original Origin.
BZZZ!
Instantly, Xu Lei’s Origin grew from its original peanut size to the size of a fingertip.
Then he continued to absorb the Spiritual Qi gathered by the Spirit Gathering Array from the air, as well as the little bit of energy remaining from the Inner Core.
Gradually, Xu Lei’s Magical Power began to increase again.
After three more days of Cultivation, Xu Lei’s Magical Power was once again abundant, returning to the size of a duck egg.
But by this point, Xu Lei had completely refined the Inner Core.
He tried cultivating for a while longer.
As expected, his Cultivation speed returned to what it was before.
’I’m so close to the Lotus Embryo Realm!’
Then Xu Lei said, "I’ll keep cultivating!"
He didn’t try to sense Qi Yang or do anything else.
After all, it seemed Qi Yang had run back into the mountains again.
Hui Ming had also entered seclusion.
Without Hui Ming’s help, Xu Lei couldn’t do anything to Qi Yang on his own.
It was better to focus on his own Cultivation.
Besides, the Lotus Embryo Realm was a very important milestone on the Bodhisattva Dao!
Once he reached this Realm, his body’s aging process would slow even further, granting him a longer life.
According to the statistics and estimations compiled by the Buddhist Sect based on generations of Cultivators’ physical conditions,
reaching this Realm could grant a person roughly a ten-year increase in lifespan.
Xu Lei was now eighteen years old. With his natural talent, it should have been difficult for him to reach this level of Cultivation at such an age.
But thanks to the help of the Spirit Gathering Array and the Snake Demon Core, he had managed it.
It sounded difficult, but there was nothing to be done.
Who could he blame but himself for his less-than-stellar talent, on top of being constantly hindered by Qi Yang’s Black Seal?
「Another half-year later.」
’The Lotus Embryo Realm, I’ve finally reached it!’
This day, under Introspection, Xu Lei discovered that the Origin inside his body had transformed into the shape of a Lotus Embryo.
Magical Power flowed around the fingertip-sized Lotus Embryo.
The overall impression under Introspection was still that it was the size of a duck egg.
This was because Xu Lei had spent most of the past half-year condensing the Lotus Embryo.
During this time, aside from Qi Yang, Xu Lei was completely free of other karmic entanglements.
Xu Lei sensed Qi Yang again and found that he still seemed to be hiding in the mountains.
He checked on Hui Ming as well, who also seemed to be in seclusion.
So he didn’t think about going after Qi Yang again.
He settled back into his Cultivation, continuously consolidating and strengthening his Lotus Embryo.
The days passed one by one.
「Just like that, two more years passed.」
Xu Lei was now twenty-one.
However, because he had already achieved the Lotus Embryo Realm, had been cultivating in a temple since he was young, and had never suffered the hardships of wind and rain, he still looked like a youth of seventeen or eighteen.
「One day.」
’Let’s see what that guy Qi Yang is up to.’
Xu Lei looked at the Black Seal on his arm again. ’Is it possible he’s found a new Spirit Monster?’
Just as he had before, Xu Lei quickly activated the Black Seal to sense Qi Yang’s location.
’Judging by the direction and distance, it seems he’s no longer in the mountains. He’s returned to the mortal world? I’ll go see what he’s up to!’
Xu Lei put his Telescope and other things into his Qiankun Cloth Bag, then headed down the mountain.
「A day later.」
Xu Lei headed toward Qi Yang’s current location.
While passing through a city, he ran into an old acquaintance.
"Young master, please, have mercy, spare some food!"
It was Zhi Tan.
He had actually become a beggar in tattered rags.
His leg was crippled, too.
Since Xu Lei was in plain clothes, nine years had passed since Zhi Tan had been sent down the mountain, and because Zhi Tan didn’t dare to look directly at the person who had arrived, he didn’t recognize Xu Lei at first.
But when their eyes finally met, both of them froze.
Then, Zhi Tan’s hand tightened on his broken bowl, and he turned and fled in a panic.
Although he was crippled and couldn’t run fast, Xu Lei didn’t chase after him or call out to stop him.
「Half an hour later.」
"Thank you for the information, old sir."
After listening to the old man across from him finish explaining Zhi Tan’s situation, Xu Lei handed over a small piece of silver.
Of course, Xu Lei wasn’t short on silver coins.
Not to mention the considerable wealth Xu Lei had left for himself from his previous life, he was now a True Monk of Tianming Temple.
He received a certain amount of incense money every month.
If he had special expenses, he could even apply to use a significant amount of the temple’s incense money.
Although Xu Lei hadn’t called out to Zhi Tan, they had once been like martial brothers.
Despite the difference in seniority that made Xu Lei Zhi Tan’s "Martial Uncle," they had been of a similar age back then and had really been more like martial brothers.
So, naturally, Xu Lei still asked around about him.
He wanted to know what had happened to Zhi Tan, and why he had ended up in such a state after nine years.
「Another half an hour later.」
Xu Lei had already taken a seat by the window on the third floor of a tavern.
He gazed out the window at Zhi Tan, who was sitting in his tattered rags on a street corner in the distance.
He thought about everything he had just learned about Zhi Tan.
Combining that with his own knowledge of the man, Xu Lei was able to piece together a rough picture of how Zhi Tan’s life had unfolded over the past nine years since leaving the mountain.
After leaving the mountain, he had first used the faint bit of Magical Power remaining in his body to cheat at a casino and win a sum of money.
With no one to control him, he had indeed lived it up for a month or so, feasting on fine food and wine.
But because he no longer had his Dao Seed, the Magical Power in his body quickly dissipated.
His previous method of making money was no longer an option.
Aside from his extravagant eating and drinking, he didn’t use the money he’d won to continue gambling, but instead opened a shop to do business.
However, he quickly lost it all.
Then, because he couldn’t repay his debts, someone broke his leg.
He had originally been an orphan, a beggar on the streets.
After his leg was broken and he was left homeless, he went back to being a beggar.
Nine years had passed. He was no longer the chubby person he once was, but had become gaunt and frail.
After all, he wasn’t eating well.
Starting a family was, of course, out of the question.
He had thought about returning to a temple to be an ordinary Monk.
But he was now disabled, and the temples wouldn’t take him in.
There were plenty of healthy people willing to renounce the world and become ordinary Monks!
The same went for Daoist Temples.
Naturally, he didn’t have the face to go back to Tianming Temple and find his master, Hui Ming.
After all, Hui Ming had been the one to kick him off the mountain, not even allowing him to remain as an ordinary Monk.
Later, he probably lost all will to fight and began this rotten life of begging.
As for those years he spent in the temple as a Monk dedicated to Cultivation, they must have seemed like a long-lost dream to him now.
"Please deliver a meal! This is for your trouble!"
After a moment of thought, Xu Lei spent some silver to have the shopkeeper send a roasted chicken to Zhi Tan.
Then, Xu Lei turned and left.
