Chapter 383 Zi Yuan“s Concerns
Zi Yuan"s question left Li Yundong speechless. After a long time, Li Yundong sighed and asked, "Why don"t you want this Renyuan Jindan?"
Zi Yuan smiled faintly and said, "Taking more Elixirs won"t do much for those who have already reached the Yangshen phase like us. Firstly, we need to gradually cultivate on our own. Secondly, we won"t be able to break through the bottleneck in a short period of time and enter the Jinshen phase unless we take the Diyuan Jindan. Thus, it would be a waste if you give me that Renyuan Jindan."
Li Yundong thought for a moment and said with embarra.s.sment, "In fact, I have an inclination, but now it"s hard to say. I need to talk to them and ask for their opinions before making the decision."
Zi Yuan felt sorry about putting him on the spot because of this. Thereupon, she said, "Forget it. What about your question?"
Li Yundong didn"t stand on ceremony. He immediately asked, "Do you think that Yan Fang wanted to make us come out at that time?"
Zi Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "That"s very likely!"
Then he asked, "Do you think she deliberately led us to Mount Gezao tonight?"
Zi Yuan paused for a minute. Then, she chose her words carefully and replied, "That"s possible!"
Li Yundong frowned and said as if talking to himself, "Why would she want to lead us to Mount Gezao? If that"s what she had intended, why would she force us out of hiding? What was the benefit of that?"
Zi Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Have you ever thought about why the dead Mei Niang would appear in front of us again? If the one we saw was the real Mei Niang, then who was the one who died before?"
Li Yundong slapped his hands together and said in a deep voice, "You found the key! I suspect the dead Mei Niang might be a subst.i.tute or Liujia Yang Spirit Fu! Since Liujia Yang Spirit Fu can create a living person, why can"t it create a corpse that has been sucked dry?"
Zi Yuan"s face was radiant with admiration. "You"re right! It"s very possible!"
Li Yundong was inspired. Zi Yuan"s words cheered him up and then he continued, "Moreover, we saw a mysterious man save Mei Niang and trap us with the Immortal-Binding Rope. I saw this person in the secret room at the Fox Zen School. Who do you think that person is?"
Zi Yuan knitted her pretty eyebrows imperceptibly. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before responding while shaking her head, "I can vaguely guess, but it"s hard to say."
Li Yundong said, "Why don"t you write down his name in your palm, I"ll write one as well. Let"s see if our thoughts are the same."
Zi Yuan nodded and said, "Okay." After that, she picked up a pen from Li Yundong"s room and wrote a word in her palm. Then she handed the pen to Li Yundong. After he was done writing, they opened their palms at the same time.
Li Yundong took a closer look and saw the word "Liu" in Zi Yuan"s palm. There was a "Ye" in his!
Li Yundong and Zi Yuan looked at each other and laughed at the same time.
Li Yundong withdrew his hand and said, "Things would get rather complicated if this man is the former leader of our sect, Liu Ye."
Zi Yuan"s other hand gently rubbed the palm where she had written, and then the word disappeared. Zi Yuan nodded and said, "You"re right. Why did Liu Ye stage his death at that time? Why did he pa.s.s on the Fox Zen School to you? Why did he end up together with Wan Zhenyuan of the Gezao Sect? Why did his appearance change so much? Why create the illusion that Zhangsun Hong and Mei Niang had been killed? Why did he save Mei Niang? Why did he tie us together with the fairy-tied rope?"
Faced with so many "whys," Li Yundong couldn"t help but sigh with a rueful smile. He said, "I didn"t expect that leading the Fox Zen School would cause this much trouble."
Zi Yuan said coldly, "Li Yundong, don"t look down on these things. Yan Fang Shibo once warned me many times that a Great Catastrophe was going to take place in the cultivation world. Didn"t you ever suspect that someone had always been following us? What"s more, this person stole the bodies of two golden snakes. Now it seems that the person is Liu Ye! If I"m right, there must be a Great Catastrophe brewing in the cultivation world. And it"s either my Shibo Yan Fang who initiated the disaster, or Liu Ye and Wan Zhenyuan!"
Li Yundong muttered, "You"re right. It"s very likely that Liu Ye stole two big golden snakes and gave them to Wanzhen Yuan to have him refine a Diyuan Jindan. But why does he want to refine one? For his own consumption? How would he benefit from doing so many things?"
As Li Yundong spoke, a strong sense of displeasure suddenly rose in his mind. He had taken over the Fox Zen School, a responsibility that he apparently had to abruptly a.s.sume due to the circ.u.mstances. But after their conversation, he found that he had actually been manipulated. This matter really made him feel very unhappy.
Zi Yuan seemed to notice what Li Yundong was going through, so she softly comforted him and said, "If you don"t want to be used by others, then don"t be the Leader."
Li Yundong let out his breath in a long sigh and said, "I don"t want to be the leader on my own account. Although it"s true that it"s cool to bring such a group of beautiful foxes out, I would have never become the leader of the sect if it hadn"t been for Su Chan. Now that she has lost her master, I really don"t know how to face her if the Fox Zen School was also destroyed by my hand. Moreover, although Liu Ye escaped by playing dead, he probably didn"t do it for evil purposes. And I believe that the other members of the Fox Zen School know nothing about Liu Ye"s fake death. Most of them are just like Su Chan, who have no ill intentions and are just innocent little spirits. I"m afraid they"ll be doomed if I leave them behind!"
Zi Yuan was stunned; her eyes couldn"t help but show strong appreciation and admiration. She said, "Yes, you are a righteous man! After getting along with you these days, I can feel that the entire Fox Zen School is very dependent on you. If you leave them behind at this time, they definitely won"t accept this fact and the repercussions that come to your decision!"
Li Yundong nodded and said, "Yes, I can only hide the truth from them and protect them in secret, especially Su Chan and Zhou Qin. I owe them the most. I won"t let them get hurt anymore."
Zi Yuan smiled and said, "Then, what do you want to do in the future? The cultivators we offended tonight didn"t immediately come back to fight with us, which means that they have already accepted the fact that the Renyuan Jindan was s.n.a.t.c.hed by us, but they will definitely let things go. According to my speculation, if they want to retaliate, there are a number of ways."
Li Yundong looked stern. "Go on, I"m listening."
Zi Yuan stretched out a slender finger and said, "First, a battle challenge in a secret place to settle our resentment. This is unlikely because they can"t do anything to us as long as we remain in a place where there are many mortals. We could just refuse their challenge."
Li Yundong nodded and said, "Yes. What about the second one?"
Zi Yuan stretched a second finger and said, "Second, that would be to sneak on you, as you"ve seen before."
Li Yundong snorted. "Then let them come, as long as they don"t approach others from the Fox Zen School."
Zi Yuan said, "All the cultivators we"ve offended tonight are respectable people. Although some of them are shameless and wretched, they wouldn"t degrade themselves to do such a thing. Otherwise, their reputation would be ruined if that were to spread."
Li Yundong was a little relieved. "If so, that"s fine. What about the third way?"
Zi Yuan stretched the third finger and said, "Third, the upcoming Taoist a.s.sembly. They will most certainly invite us, and all the Taoist sects and schools will come to bother us if we don"t partic.i.p.ate, because everyone thinks that you"re weak and cowardly. Most cultivation sects only care about the cold law of the jungle. There"s no kindness to eliminate the bullies and help the down-trodden chivalrously. They"ve always done things akin to beating a drowning dog. But if we willingly attend the Taoist a.s.sembly, all of them will attack us directly. This is also the dilemma I am most worried about!"
Li Yundong laughed and clapped his hands. He said, "There"s nothing to worry about. As the saying goes, walk towards the mountains knowing that there are tigers to be found! These people are looking forward to us not attending, so I would rather go. Aside from this, I also want to show them that I"m not an easy target to bully, and our Fox Zen School is not a soft persimmon!"
Zi Yuan nodded slightly and said, "The fourth issue, and also the last. If they can"t use force, then they will definitely use other kinds of plotting, such as suppressing us in business. They will push us around and cut off our wealth sources!"
Li Yundong frowned and said in a low voice, "That"s what worries me most. Other sects have great power, and your former connections and power have been cut off by the Zhengyi School. In this aspect, we are at an absolute disadvantage and may very likely suffer a big loss!"
Seeing that Li Yundong was worried, Zi Yuan persuaded him in a soft voice, "Actually, we don"t have to worry about it. As the saying goes, you only have to deal with that when it happens. As long as they don"t come to us in a rude and unreasonable manner, we will find a way to deal with them. What"s more, if this shop has to close, we can find other ways to make money. There are many ways to make money in the world, so we don"t have to fight with them."
After Li Yundong heard her words, he chuckled and said, "It"s not that easy for them to trouble my business. The mortal world isn"t like the cultivation world. This world asks for reason and rules. How can they be allowed to act recklessly?"
Zi Yuan smiled slightly. "It"s good if you think that way. I"m just afraid that you"ll do something wrong out of impulse because you can"t get over it."
Li Yundong smiled and said, "Am I such a kind of person?"
Zi Yuan glanced at Li Yundong. "Aren"t you? You were so impulsive while at the Gezao Sect that you almost committed suicide. You even shouted at me. You"ve forgotten that already?"
Li Yundong yawned and laughed. "That was an accident, an accident!" As he spoke, he sized up Zi Yuan"s pretty face with interest. He laughed and said, "Will fairy sister also settle accounts with me?"
Hearing this, Zi Yuan paused and angrily rolled her eyes at Li Yundong. "How? Am I not human? I have never been shouted like that in my entire life!"
Li Yundong smiled apologetically and replied, "Okay, okay, it was indeed awful of me. Fairy sister please forgive me this time, I can"t repay your great kindness!"
Zi Yuan snorted. She wanted to taunt Li Yundong, but suddenly felt that it was improper for her and Li Yundong to talk like that, as if they were a flirting couple. Zi Yuan"s ears suddenly became a little hot. She didn"t dare to stay any longer, so she walked to the door and turned her head, saying, "I"m going to call Su Chan in. If you have something to say, you can tell her. I"m leaving."
Li Yundong saw that Zi Yuan"s expression was a mixture of joy and anger, and her cheeks were rosy. There was a rare charm flowing in the corners of her eyes, which was really moving. He was flipped by this, opting to swallow back the words that were about to come out of his mouth. He saw Zi Yuan out but he couldn"t say a word.
On her way out, Zi Yuan saw Su Chan sitting on the living room sofa. Su Chan bowed her head and shook her legs gently. She looked at her toes, as if she were thinking about something.
When Su Chan heard that the door upstairs had been opened, she raised her head and saw Zi Yuan coming out. Her eyes lit up and she went to meet her. "Sister Zi Yuan, Yundong didn"t scold you, did he?"
As she looked at Su Chan"s innocent face, Zi Yuan suddenly had an inexplicable feeling. At this time, she didn"t want to face this girl.
Zi Yuan dodge her eyes lightly. "No. Well, Li Yundong is expecting you upstairs." With that, she quickly left Li Yundong"s dwelling, entering her residence by jumping to the balcony like a thief, going straight to her room.
As soon as she closed the door, Zi Yuan heaved a long sigh of relief. With her back against the door, her chest heaved up and down, and her eyes twinkled.
A strange feeling seemed to be emerging from her soft chest and beating heart. It was a feeling that she had never experienced in all of her life. It was like the wild gra.s.s growing rapidly in spring, which filled her chest with a strange sensation.
Especially since she and Li Yundong had been previously tied together... Li Yundong"s strong and broad chest pressed against her soft chest made her feel hot and weak. That feeling attacked her again, which disturbed her usually calm mind.
Zi Yuan placed her hands on her chest and whispered the poem of fate, "The spirit mirror is fragile, and the fairy sword has difficulty cutting the red rope. Master, what does your psalm mean?" She was lost in thought. She stared blankly at the empty room and was a little bewildered.