Chapter 75 Crisis Precursors
Yang Ying kept her promise. Shortly after the sun rose, she came to Dumb Kid’s residence at the back hill.
Lyu Liang used his part of the soul that was still lucid at this moment, to carefully examine the present “Ying’er”. Her figure and appearance were good, even her mannerisms and temperament were somewhat similar to Shangguan Ying.
From an onlooker’s point of view, he watched Yang Ying and Dumb Kid chatting together. But in general, Yang Ying could not say two words before Dumb Kid started muttering the words, “Ying’er, Ying’er, I miss you, let’s go home!” These kind of sentences needed no answers.
What moved Lyu Liang was that, if she had been any another woman, she would have left already as Ying’er’s temper was generally not good. But even when she heard the words that made her blush, she only frowned slightly and then comforted Dumb Kid with kind words and started to talk about other topics.
About an hour later, seeing that Dumb Kid’s spiritual outlook was good, Yang Ying rose to say goodbye. After all, she still had a lot of things to do, naturally it was impossible for her to spend a whole day at the back hill.
But Dumb Kid did not accept this and he followed Yang Ying. The stock “If I don’t follow, I’ll die!” made Lyu Liang’s lucid part.i.tioned soul anxious to find a seam to drill down.
Yang Ying was at a loss on how to deal with Dumb Kid. She did not know why, but when she looked into his sad eyes, she just couldn’t say any unkind words. Before that, when she just said that she was leaving, Dumb Kid’s eyes were already so sad. If she said something worse, Dumb Kid might be hurt by her words and it would be a problem.
Finally, Yang Ying put her foot down and made a difficult decision: “No more! Let him follow! Anyway, the innocent one is always innocent. Let me take it like I have a younger brother and concurrent attendant!”
Now that she had thought it over, Yang Ying did not delay any longer, so she took Dumb Kid out of the back hill. Since then, a rumor started circulating all over the Zi Tong Sect: Yang Ying, who was the object of fascination of countless male disciples in the sect, was enraptured by a silly young man with an incomplete mind and who eventually succeeded in becoming her follower!
This piece of news made people sigh and drop their eyegla.s.ses! Immediately, many male disciples regretted it. How could they not have thought of such a good way themselves? Everyone knew that Yang Ying was good-tempered, gentle and not impatient. As a result, she was now taken by someone.
As a result, in the next few days, as long as Yang Ying was at any place, within a few steps, you would see the figure of Dumb Kid. Dumb Kid did not just give silly smiles, sometimes he was a big help.
Especially when Yang Ying was practicing alchemy, Dumb Kid could accurately identify all kinds of herbs, even faster than the disciples in the Elixir-refining Room. In addition, to everyone’s surprise, the rumor that Dumb Kid was only pretending to be mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded started to spread gradually. The reason was simple. It was not a problem to identify herbs, but the fact that he could identify them so quickly and accurately made them suspicious.
So, people in groups of twos and threes started going to the master to make their reports. The purpose was to expose Dumb Kid’s pretence in appearing to be foolish and let him leave Yang Ying as soon as possible. Zi Tong Fairy listened to their tales and each time she gave a gentle smile and said “I know” and ignored the matter.
In the daytime, Dumb Kid followed Yang Ying everywhere and in the evening, he returned to being the lucid Lyu Liang. Then he went into the mysterious s.p.a.ce to refine the Heaven-h.e.l.l Water and to comprehend the Heaven-burning sword array. Ten months pa.s.sed in a twinkling of an eye in this relaxed way.
Everyone in the sect was getting used to and accepting this fact. Especially when they found out that this guy was really not sound in his mind. Besides saying out everything on his mind, he often asked questions such as “What is this?”, “What is that”, often referring to the most common things, such as swords or big trees. And this person’s forgetfulness was quite evident, basically every two or three days, he would ask the same questions again.
The only thing that Dumb Kid did not forget but was also impressed by, was what Yang Ying told him. Even if she told Dumb Kid days in advance, he would always do a job well and correctly, even ten days later.
Gradually, people became acquainted with Dumb Kid. Most of the disciples were very friendly. The reason they brought up their complaints previously was because they thought Dumb Kid was taking advantage of Yang Ying.
But when everybody knew that Dumb Kid was genuinely silly, this misunderstanding was naturally dispersed. Furthermore, Yang Ying did not treat her disciples any differently these days, which made many male disciples feel relieved. Dumb Kid also helped others from time to time, so he left a good impression on all the disciples.
During this period, Yang Ying gradually became accustomed to Dumb Kid following her around. Sometimes she sent Dumb Kid to do things and looking at his reluctant eyes, even she had some difficulty bearing it.
One time Yang Ying and Dumb Kid went to a market place to buy materials. On her way back, she met two men who were in the middle of Nascent Soul stage and wanted to play a trick on Yang Ying. As a result, Yang Ying could not move. Dumb Kid was angry and his Heart Swordsmanship was activated automatically. He attacked the two men immediately. In return, the result was naturally a fierce counterattack from the two men.
Finally, Yang Ying and the two men fought together, but she was held by one of them and unable to support Dumb Kid. She could only watch helplessly as he was beaten up. But with his strange defense tactics, Dumb Kid was not seriously injured.
A few moments later, several cultivators pa.s.sed by and stopped to help them and drove the two men away. At this time, Dumb Kid’s clothes were in shreds and he had green and purple bruises all over his body. Yang Ying ran to him, only to see Dumb Kid grinning: “It’s okay. It is just a tickle! Ying’er, rest a.s.sured, I will protect you for life!”
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Every evening, Yang Ying had to force herself to hurry away when she sent Dumb Kid back. She was afraid to see the sadness in his eyes.
The only thing that surprised her was that, although Dumb Kid was very sad, after a while, he was not as adamant as before, in urging her to stay. This made her feel a bit lost. Of course, she quickly dispelled this strange feeling and warned herself that Dumb Kid was only a pa.s.ser-by in her life, at most just a little special to her.
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“Little Liang, she is a good girl! I can feel her love for you. How will you repay her?” Black looked at Lyu Liang who had a silly smile and asked him slyly.
Seeing Yang Ying’s figure disappearing at the entrance of the back hill pa.s.s, Lyu Liang showed a helpless face and sighed “I owe the two of them and I will repay them in this life!”
Subsequently, Lyu Liang got up and went out of the house. Under the cover of Black, Lyu Liang entered the mysterious s.p.a.ce.
Over the past few months, Lyu Liang’s time in the Heaven-h.e.l.l Water had reached almost an hour, but it was still far from the two hours required. He estimated that it would take another half year or so before the refinement could be completed.
As for the set of sword array, the first “five” character, Lyu Liang was now able to activate them proficiently. He came to the conclusion that the sword array must rely on Devil Immortal Qi in order to produce the best effect. If it simply relied on Primordial Qi or Devil Qi, the power and effect would only be similar to the Linghuang Sword Essence.
What excited him most was that this sword array seemed to be specially designed for him and could be used in synchronization with the Heart Swordsmanship and Xuanyuan Swordsmanship. His incomplete field together with the sword array, was almost the embryonic form of a complete domain!
Another month later, Lyu Liang entered the barrier s.p.a.ce, suddenly looked up and laughed. A strand of strong sword qi emerged from the top of the head and spread throughout the whole s.p.a.ce. A moment later, the sword qi dissipated and Lyu Liang rose excitedly, his eyes shining with excitement.
“Black, I’ve developed a new killing move! Moreover, I feel that the bottleneck before the peak of Gold Core stage seems to have eased; As long as there is a suitable opportunity, it should not be too far from breaking through! If I can do it well, I can break through in both sword technique and Mind Mantra and that will be so cool!” Lyu Liang was really happy. Everything seemed to go so smoothly, giving him a good start in Pangu Origin World!
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Of course, in Zi Tong Sect, not everyone had no objections to Lyu Liang.
At this time, three people were gathered in the cave of a high-ranking disciple in the cave area. Two of them, Qi Yuantian and Ji Chang, stood opposite a stout young man, who was at the peak of Gold Core stage.
The man had a pockmarked face and small eyes. He was holding a talisman in his hand and was talking excitedly, with spittle flying all over his face.
“Brother Qi, it was hard for me to get this from Worry Forgetting Pavilion. It cost me 300 mid-grade Primordial Stones! My heart is killing me! This talisman is called the “Soul-depressing Talisman” a talisman at the Void Return stage. Once it enters the body of Dumb Kid, it will make cause him to go into a coma instantly! When this happens, I’ll get him out. That’s the time for my brother to torture him!” The pudgy young man revealed a sneaky smile and shook the talisman in his hand.
Qi Yuan-tian’s eyes abruptly lit up when he heard this, patted the fat man heavily on the shoulder and said happily: “As a matter of fact, brother Zhong’s contribution is remarkable, worthy of the t.i.tle of ‘Little Zhuge of Zi Tong Sect’. I have endured this idiot for a long time! Nevertheless, I always can’t figure out what his intentions are. Now, let’s see how I can kill him!”
Ji Chang frowned and instead of being as happy as the two of them, he said in a heavy voice: “Two brothers, does this seem inappropriate? If the rumor is true, Dumb Kid is indeed the descendant of an old friend of the sect master, then the consequences of our doing this cannot be borne by us! Seeing the att.i.tude of Sister Yang Ying towards him presently, the rumor may be true. We must be careful!”
Qi Yuantian grunted coldly and his eyes showed a trace of ruthlessness: “Hum! Afraid of what! Anyway, I’m tired of this Zi Tong Sect. It’s no big deal to change sects! You are my life-and-death brothers, too. It’s time to tell you something! In fact, as early as 30 years ago, I found a super backer! It is a very mysterious organization and is exceedingly strong and able to send someone who can easily kill all the people in my Zi Tong Sect! I have successfully gained the recognition of this organization and now I am working for them! How about you two? Would you like to join me!”
The fat man’s eyes were bright and he nodded. “I, Zhong Wuming, will go wherever Brother Qi goes! Whatever I have to do, my brother just needs to tell me!”
Afterwards, their eyes were fixed on Ji Chang, who was still thinking, with a look that said “You better agree, don’t waste our time”.
Ji Chang gnashed his teeth and said in a toneless voice: “Now that Brother Qi has paved the way, do you think this junior brother has the audacity to go against you!”
Qi Yuan-tian laughed and there was a grim look in his eyes as he stated firmly “Let’s set it for the day after tomorrow; that is the day when the sect master visits the Secret Palace every year. If there are no changes, then Yang Ying would go with her. Dumb Kid, even if he follows her, will surely be forbidden to enter the Secret Palace! At that time, I’m going to trouble brother Zhong to carry out the task! ”
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That night, in a canyon in Northern Heaven District, in a hidden cave, which had a very s.p.a.cious stone hall, four black robed men gathered together to discuss something.
“You mean, the day after tomorrow is the day when Zi Tong Fairy visits the Secret Pavilion? That’s really our chance to carry out our plan!”
“Yes, it’s the yearly practice of Zi Tong Sect! That colorful barrier is so weird, but it has been impossible for me to understand the mystery of it before. It’s a rare pity that G.o.d sent us a special fool! I can clearly feel that he has the aura of Heaven-h.e.l.l Water, but he has not refined the essence yet. Although I don’t know what his chances are, the task on our side must fall on him!”
“Zihuo, are you going to do it the day after tomorrow? I can tell you that visiting Secret Palace is not a seclusion cultivation. If there is any wind or gra.s.s moving, it will induce Zi Tong Fairy to make a move and then all will be lost! What’s more, all means of retreat will be cut off. If it fails, you will be completely exposed and you will not be able to stay in Zi Tong Sect!”
“Chen Feng, the ideas of Zihuo and Maotu can be tried out. After all, among the Ghostly-Fire Twelve Lords, only our group has gained nothing yet. Youxu and Haikong have already got Mysterious Meteorite Wood and the Illusory Flame respectively. Although they lost Siwu, they can also finish their mission to the chief Palace Lord. If we are still in this business, it seems that we can’t say anything about it.”
“Brother Xuhuan said it well, I was too cautious. Then let us follow Zihuo’s plan! However, if it is done, we hope that Zihuo Brother will not hurt the life of Dumb Kid. In this way, we do not show any flaws and there are many alternatives for us to attack and retreat.”
“Hum! I can’t guarantee that. I’ll have to decide according to the situation on the spot. But rest a.s.sured I don’t want to be exposed so early. After all, some secrets have not been solved; I will be unwilling to leave without any achievement. Of course, let us pray that the fool will cooperate with me. Otherwise… Hem, after all, it’s the first step to get Heaven-h.e.l.l Water, and I can’t control so much of the rest! ”