Chapter 123: Jiang Ning and Zuoqiu Ting

Li Youyi was surprised. From the previous contact on the ship, he always felt that Zhuang Yue was arrogant and somewhat dismissive of others. This time, he finally saw that she was just a straightforward person who wouldn't play the game of being two-faced or hiding a knife in a smile.

Such people draw a very clear line between good and evil, are distinct in love and hate, and have no gray areas.

Fortunately, she was in the Luan Terrace; if she were in the chaotic world, she would definitely not have lived until now.

He put away the insect tube.

After Li Youyi escaped for a distance, he shouted from afar: "Don't just know how to fight for your life; if you can't beat them, let's escape together."

"What a stubborn person!"

After whispering this, he opened the insect tube while fleeing.

Inside the insect tube was colorful, misty haze, which was very gorgeous.

Seven moth-empresses with phoenix wings are eating the leaves of a Cloud-Dyeing Exotic Herb.

Discovering that the insect tube was opened, seven pairs of eyes looked at Li Youyi outside in unison. After chirping for a while, they continued to eat on their own.

Li Youyi's face turned black instantly. Do you only have food in your eyes? The master has returned, and there is no excitement at all; no wonder you were easily abducted by others.

However, Jiang Ning and Zhuang Yue were indeed extravagant.

A rare treasure like the Cloud-Dyeing Exotic Herb—Li Youyi sold one for a hundred million copper coins, and Yin Twenty-five bought it readily. One can imagine that if taken to places outside Lizhou and offered at a higher price, there would certainly be buyers.

Yet they used it to feed insects.

What was worth being happy about was that the body length of the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors had already reached two inches.

"It's really strange, why didn't Zhuang Yue release them to deal with Shi Shishi together? Could it be... she didn't know at all that the combat power of the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors had reached the Five Seas Realm level, thinking they couldn't help?"

Li Youyi felt this possibility was very high.

At any level, surrounding and attacking is useful.

If the previous six Buddha-Crossing bandits could have joined forces and cooperated more tacitly, it would definitely have been enough for Li Youyi to drink a pot.

The seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors were definitely not comparable to those six Buddha-Crossing bandits.

Most of the six Buddha-Crossing bandits were Seven Springs breaking into Five Seas.

And the seven emperor-level exotic insects had combat power at the same realm that could completely match the inheritor seeds with all hundred veins silver. In terms of battle methods, magic treasures, and wisdom, they might be slightly inferior to the inheritor seeds, but they could make up for it with their heaven-defying defensive power and speed.

A harsh sound of breaking wind sounded behind him.

Li Youyi's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly looked back.

Zhuang Yue stepped on magic Qi streamers, her speed as fast as a white trace, constantly narrowing the distance with him. Further away, Shi Shishi performed a jumping movement technique; every time he jumped, he flew out like a cannonball, able to cross a distance of dozens of zhang.

His body was like a spring.

"What do you mean by this?" Li Youyi asked nervously.

Zhuang Yue chased to within ten zhang behind him, her injuries not light, her aura chaotic, biting her silver teeth, and asked back: "Wasn't it you who told me that if I can't beat them, I should escape with you?"

"I didn't tell you to escape in my direction." Li Youyi said depressedly.

Zhuang Yue was even more depressed than him, saying: "You didn't explain clearly yourself! I thought you were telling me to follow, and the two of us would escape together."

In Zhuang Yue's view, "Sima Tan" was a heroic figure with a strong sense of responsibility and no fear of sacrifice, so she thought that what he shouted was "if we die, we die together, if we escape, we escape together."

"Whoosh!"

Shi Shishi, like a big fat bird, swept over their heads and landed in front of them with a bang, dust flying under his feet.

Li Youyi's feet slid forward for two zhang before he barely stopped.

Zhuang Yue stopped a little behind him, knowing that it would be difficult to escape with her life today, so magic Qi clouds overflowed from her body, preparing to fight.

Shi Shishi laughed happily: "Brother Sima, are you also from the Nine Li Hidden Sect?"

"I don't understand what you are talking about, but Dharma King Shishi, you must be careful; my cultivation might not be as good as yours, but I have another identity."

Li Youyi opened the insect tube, and a Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor flew out from inside, flapping its wings.

"Insect Controller!"

"Chirp chirp!"

The two-inch-long insect body of the Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor grew rapidly, its wings and membrane wings reaching three feet long, transforming into a giant flying moth emitting colorful glazed light.

The six sharp claws looked like they were forged from metal, the claw hooks as sharp as spears.

This Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor was the leader of the small seven, good at bluffing.

In the Cang King's tomb, when Li Youyi first faced it, it appeared in this giant image, releasing aura fluctuations like a Longevity Realm martial cultivator, and even the three masters were almost bluffed.

Just now, Li Youyi had already communicated with it using mental power, not to release aura at the Longevity Realm level; that was too fake and easy to arouse suspicion. The fifth realm of the Five Seas Realm was enough.

The three-foot-long body, full of metal and glazed texture, slowly crawled toward Shi Shishi, emitting a loud "chirp chirp" sound from its mouth, which resounded through the wilderness.

Shi Shishi's face changed instantly, and he stepped back quickly to open the distance.

Zhuang Yue felt the terrifying aura of that Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor and was shocked: "Is this its true strength?"

"Naturally."

Li Youyi stood with his hands behind his back, his demeanor confident and self-satisfied.

Zhuang Yue held her breath and asked: "What about the other six in the tube?"

"To deal with a seriously injured child, why would I need to use all seven exotic insects?" Li Youyi said lightly.

The other six couldn't bluff at all and couldn't release the aura of a strong person.

"Exotic insects? And there are six more?"

Shi Shishi instinctively felt that this matter was suspicious, but the giant moth insect that kept approaching in front of him had a thick aura and was incomparably dangerous. He was considering whether to retreat when he suddenly saw white flying feathers surging from the sky in the distance, and a beautiful figure spreading wings and coming over. His face changed again instantly.

"Brother Sima, it would be great if an Insect Controller as powerful as you could join our Earth Wolf King Army. We will meet again later."

Shi Shishi jumped, escaped into the ground, and disappeared.

Li Youyi breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly took back the Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor into the insect tube, and walked to the place where Shi Shishi had just disappeared. The ground was solid and had not been dug out.

"This earth-escaping technique is truly powerful." He said.

Zhuang Yue said: "Hmph, they are just a group of ground rats; otherwise, they would have been wiped out by the imperial court army long ago."

White magic Qi feathers drifted down, and Jiang Ning followed, her feet touching the ground, the white light wings on her back dissipating, and she walked toward the two.

Her figure was tall and graceful, in green clothes and cloud garments, her breasts full and charming, and colorful haze flowed on her body. She had the unique, flawless beauty of a pure immortal body woman, and every inch of her skin was crystal clear and moist.

Even though they were both pure immortal bodies, there was a huge gap in temperament and beauty.

Even if Jiang Ning covered her face with a veil, standing among pure immortal body women, she would definitely be a crane among chickens, appearing in the mortal world like a true goddess or fairy.

"Young lady, it is Shi Shishi, the foster son of Shi Na'er."

Zhuang Yue stepped forward to salute and report.

Jiang Ning nodded slightly, her fairy eyes looking at Li Youyi like green waves, deep and able to see through all the mysteries of the world: "Did he save you?"

Zhuang Yue responded, stepped forward to express her gratitude to Li Youyi.

Li Youyi felt surprised. The Luan Terrace martial cultivator called herself a person from heaven, yet she could lower her arrogant head and thank him, a mortal martial cultivator; it was truly a rare thing.

But it was only a verbal thank you, without any substantial expression, which did not match Li Youyi's expectations.

"No need to thank me; I mainly wanted to find these seven little guys back." Li Youyi didn't want to get too involved with them and was about to leave.

The insect tube on his back was pushed open.

The seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors flew toward Jiang Ning, some landing on her shoulders, some on her hair tips, some circling around her, even being intimate and happy.

A rare, doting smile appeared in Jiang Ning's eyes; she took a Cloud-Dyeing Exotic Herb from her fragrant sleeve and fed it to them.

"You guys..."

Li Youyi tried hard to maintain his demeanor and didn't immediately forcibly summon the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors back.

Zhuang Yue's eyes were strange, and taking this opportunity, she transmitted the performance of the Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor just now to Jiang Ning with magic Qi.

Jiang Ning was secretly shocked. It seemed that these seven little guys were more miraculous than she had estimated. When she returned to Lingxiao City, she had to check the classics and the "Exotic Insect List" carefully.

With her proud temperament, she naturally couldn't do the thing of killing and seizing insects, but her heart to subdue Sima Tan for her own use became even stronger.

She tried to make her tone as friendly as possible: "I have read widely since I was a child and consider myself to have extensive knowledge, but I know very little about these seven. What kind of exotic insects are they?"

"Five-Colored Spirit Moths."

Li Youyi said the name of a commander-level exotic insect that the Spirit Position Master had already helped him think of.

Jiang Ning said: "Five-Colored Spirit Moths, ranked fifth among the commander-level exotic insects on the 'Exotic Insect List'. When they reach adulthood, the seven of them joining forces are enough to fight against Longevity Realm martial cultivators. More importantly, they possess a certain degree of ability to summon insect swarms underground. Sima Tan, with your natural talent, if you go to Lingxiao City to practice, you will definitely be focused on and cultivated. Do you have any thoughts of working for the imperial court?"

Only on Jiang Ning did Li Youyi truly feel the supreme charm and aura of a pure immortal body that mortals could hardly reach, making people feel that she shouldn't be troubled by the secular world at all, but should escape the red dust to cultivate immortality and ask about the Dao.

For someone like her to take the initiative to communicate with a low-realm cultivator, rather than using a commanding tone, was already her considering that she had shown enough sincerity.

Li Youyi smiled and said: "Thank you for your appreciation, Angel, but I don't understand the rules of the imperial court, and I don't like being restrained even more, so I'm afraid I can only be a bastard who doesn't know what's good for him. But I can guarantee that I will never join the rebel army and be an enemy of the imperial court."

Staying away from the imperial court is important.

Stabilizing Jiang Ning, so as not to be seen as a threat by her and killed in the cradle, is also very important.

Being rejected was not strange; Jiang Ning could understand. But the combat power Sima Tan displayed at the same realm was indeed extraordinary, enough to be comparable to the ancient Son of Heaven in his youth, not to mention that he also mastered seven Five-Colored Spirit Moths.

Thinking again of the wisdom and resilience he displayed at the Five Seas Realm boundary.

As long as he didn't die, within ten years, he would definitely rise rapidly and become a shining new star in the Southern Region.

She wanted to strive for it again: "You are not called Sima Tan, right? Your disguise technique has many flaws."

"Angel's eyesight is extraordinary. I admire you!"

Li Youyi smiled awkwardly, and soon realized something; the figure of Zuoqiu Ting appeared in his mind.

Instantly, he became enlightened.

So that's how it is.

Zuoqiu Ting must have also performed the disguise technique, which is why his face looked exactly the same as the Dragon Gate inheritor, and the sense of disharmony on his body was very strong.

Using the disguise technique to change one's face into another person is a very difficult thing, requiring extremely high requirements for cultivation, observation, and disguise attainments; at least Li Youyi was still far from being able to do it now.

With Zuoqiu Ting's cultivation, he could only disguise himself as a "four-not-like".

Jiang Ning said again: "You are also not the person everyone guessed, someone from the Far West Ash Region. You are the true member of the Nine Li Hidden Sect!"

At the Five Seas Realm boundary, Li Youyi was guarding those young martial cultivators of the Nine Li Clan with his life. In her view, only members of the Nine Li Clan could have such responsibility and commitment; how could people from the Ash Region pay so much?

If it wasn't a cultivator on the bright side of the Nine Li Clan, it could only be from the Hidden Sect.

The Luan Terrace monitors the world, so naturally there are files about the Nine Li Hidden Sect, so Jiang Ning knew that the Nine Li Hidden Sect truly existed.

Li Youyi felt that Jiang Ning was bluffing him, so he denied it flatly.

Jiang Ning firmly believed that her judgment was not wrong: "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it! What I value is your talent, potential, wisdom, and character. That's right, the Great Palace Master did have her faults back then, and the Little Field Order caused too much harm to you, so I can understand your prejudice against the imperial court."

"But there are actually many hidden stories about what happened back then. I believe that the Great Palace Master who once worked hard to govern, loved the people like her own children, was kind and pure, and was radiant, will return. Darkness and paranoia are only temporary; she has the ability to correct mistakes."

"Haha!"

A familiar and hearty laugh sounded.

Zuoqiu Ting and Li Ling walked slowly up a small hill not far away, appearing in front of the three people below.

The giant dragonfly appeared with the two of them.

Zuoqiu Ting shook his folding fan lightly, dashing and romantic, and laughed aloud: "Jiang Ning, you have a lot of nerve, actually daring to criticize the Great Palace Master. How many heads do you have to be beheaded?"

Jiang Ning observed Zuoqiu Ting for a moment, recognized him, and said in a melodious voice like heavenly music: "If you do something wrong, you do something wrong; what is there to be afraid of saying? But my respect and admiration for the Great Palace Master will never change. She just lost herself for a moment, fell into an inner vortex, and made a big mistake."

"But don't forget, a thousand years ago, who was it that killed a clear sky for the world in the deadly disaster of the Nether Realm's arrival?"

"At that time, the three hundred states of Lingxiao were retreating steadily, with tens of millions of casualties every day, and all armies and martial cultivators had no power to resist. When the soul clouds of the departed spirits surged over, a state would be turned into darkness and deathly silence."

"At the most critical and desperate time for the people of the world, it was the Great Palace Master, alone with a sword, blocking in the front, killing and retreating the departed spirit army dozens of times."

"Fighting ninety thousand li in one day, she killed a circle out of the boundless departed spirit soul clouds and the Nether Realm night curtain, which is why there are now the twenty-eight states of Lingxiao."

"But everyone has forgotten all this, forgotten that for the past thousand years, it was under the leadership of the Great Palace Master that the Lingxiao Life Realm has become prosperous again. Forgotten that it was because of the Great Palace Master's presence that the four directions of the Nether Realm and the departed spirit evil demons were deterred. Forgotten that without the Great Palace Master, there would be no Lingxiao Life Realm today."

"Without the Great Palace Master, your Zuoqiu Gate would have been gone a thousand years ago! Do you admit it?"

Zuoqiu Ting's expression was solemn, and he nodded and sighed: "I naturally admit the Great Palace Master's achievements. But a thousand years of achievements were all destroyed by the three-year Little Field Order. In three years, how many people died, causing how much blood, tears, and humiliation? I have always believed that if the number one person in the world is not restrained, they will be the number one disaster in the world."

Jiang Ning said: "What about the ten years of war? More people died than in those three years, right? Once a hero raises a banner, it is a ten-year disaster for the common people."

"How many are true heroes, and how many are truly for the common people of the world? I think more are just to satisfy their own ambition and interests, just like the crisis brewing in Lizhou right now."

Zuoqiu Ting said: "If the Great Palace Master doesn't admit her mistakes, naturally someone has to come and correct them."

Jiang Ning said: "We should give her some time."

"We gave her three years; I think the people of the world are very generous!" Zuoqiu Ting said.

Jiang Ning said: "Is your Zuoqiu Gate finally going to enter this world chess game?"

Zuoqiu Ting stared at her eyes for a long time and smiled: "I won't tell you! At least until now, the Zuoqiu Gate has done its best for the Great Palace Master and the Lingxiao Palace."

With Jiang Ning's personal confirmation, it meant that Zuoqiu Ting was indeed the inheritor of the Zuoqiu Gate, and Li Youyi's worry was slightly reduced.

However, the two of them argued very fiercely, their words sharp, and it seemed they were about to fight.

The confrontation at the inheritor level was truly terrifying.

Li Youyi was afraid of being affected, so after forcibly summoning the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors back, he hurriedly retreated to the side, came to Li Ling's side, and asked: "Didn't you go to the Thirty-Three Li Mountain?"

Li Ling was very interested in the fierce debate between the two people in the distance and smiled: "Came back to find you."

"Looking for me again?" Li Youyi was stunned.

Li Ling said: "Latest news, an old monster in the Longevity Realm has explored a special method that can send martial cultivators at the first and second realms of the Five Seas Realm into the Thirty-Three Li Mountain. Young Master Zuoqiu feels that he still has to invite you to take action."

"With the energy of the Zuoqiu Gate, it shouldn't be difficult to find a pure immortal body expert at the second realm of the Five Seas Realm, right? Why keep staring at me, a mortal martial cultivator who has just entered the Five Seas Realm?" Li Youyi said.

Hearing this, Zuoqiu Ting said from afar: "The difficulty for a martial cultivator at the second realm of the Five Seas Realm to enter is very high; the Zuoqiu Gate can send at most one person in. Although you have just entered the Five Seas Realm, your combat power is considered outstanding in the second realm, so naturally you are the key target for this young master to strive for."

Li Youyi no longer refused flatly as before; with the power of the Zuoqiu Gate, going to the Thirty-Three Li Mountain was definitely safer than going alone.

Jiang Ning had no intention of fighting Zuoqiu Ting. When leaving, she looked at Li Youyi and finally said: "If you change your mind, you can come to me at any time; the imperial court is still the strongest party in the world."

Zhuang Yue cupped her hands to say goodbye and followed Jiang Ning to disappear at the end of the grassland.

"Clatter!"

Zuoqiu Ting closed his folding fan and made a tut-tut sound of regret: "Jiang Ning is a Luan Terrace angel, a disciple of a Palace Master-level figure, a peerless expert at the inheritor level with all hundred veins silver, and her future is limitless."

"And I heard that she is one of the three fairies of the younger generation evaluated by Xianlin, titled Feather Fairy; under the veil, she must be a beauty who is unparalleled in the world. Brother Sima, you actually rejected her?"

"Do you know how many heroes in the world want to follow her, but she doesn't even bother to look at them?"

Li Youyi smiled: "Brother Zuoqiu seems very interested in Jiang Ning?"

Zuoqiu Ting opened his fan and shook it lightly, looking in the direction Jiang Ning left: "A graceful fairy, who doesn't love her? It's a pity that the fairy has thorns, and not everyone can become the person by her side. Thinking of this, I feel sorry for Brother Sima."

Li Youyi restrained his smile and said seriously: "Although Jiang Ning is arrogant and thorny, and very difficult to get close to, she can still be considered open and honest."

"She didn't kill you to seize the exotic insects; is that open and honest? Naive! As a person of the imperial court, which is a pot of mixed porridge, if she didn't have extraordinary means, let alone becoming a Luan Terrace angel, it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven to even gain a foothold."

Zuoqiu Ting flew onto the back of the giant dragonfly and smiled: "Let's go, I, Zuoqiu Ting, am not an open and honest person, but I can guarantee that if you help me this time, the benefits you get will definitely not be few."

The giant dragonfly carried the three of them, dozens of zhang off the ground, and flew toward the Thirty-Three Li Mountain.

Li Youyi told Li Ling about the predicament of the Gushing Spring Realm martial cultivators and asked: "What is the situation on your battlefield at the Five Seas Realm?"

Li Ling said: "With the help of a group of mysterious martial cultivators, my brother and the others have already killed their way out of the Five Seas Realm road. The road from the Five Seas Realm boundary to Yao Guan City should be opened up very soon."

Zuoqiu Ting had that confidence unique to children of high-ranking families: "Lizhou is the rear of the Southern Region and also the back of the Zuoqiu Gate. Don't worry, the Zuoqiu Gate will not allow Lizhou to be in great chaos and will definitely take action to help."

Li Youyi disagreed: "If the Zuoqiu Gate really wanted to help the Nine Li Clan, they would have taken action fourteen years ago! What you need is a Lizhou that is in internal strife but not completely collapsed, not a strong and stable Nine Li Clan. I guess that even if you take action, it will be after the Nine Li Clan has been seriously injured. Even if the Nine Li Clan doesn't hold up in this turmoil and the building collapses, you might turn to support the Sui Sect and the Three Chen Palaces."

Zuoqiu Ting stood at the very front, supporting a magic Qi cloud group to wrap the three of them, a strange look flashing in his eyes, and sighed: "Li Ling, you'd better hurry up and let your father summon him to be a son-in-law of the Li family; if he is abducted by Jiang Ning, the Nine Li Clan will suffer a big loss!"

Li Ling said sourly: "He won't be abducted; what some people care about is Yao Yin. Being a son-in-law of the Yao Li tribe might be more fragrant."

Li Youyi smiled helplessly, suddenly feeling a strong sense of oppression and dullness, as if his heart and lungs were suddenly pinched, making it difficult to breathe.

He looked up.

Only to see a black demon shadow with a terrifying aura, with huge red wings, a dragon head and a snake tail, flying through the Immortal Mist clouds in the sky, casting a huge shadow on the ground. The area covered by the shadow could accommodate several small hills.

Zuoqiu Ting was very calm: "It's just a demon cultivator in the Longevity Realm passing by; it's very normal. The opportunity in this Immortal Realm space of Burial Immortal Town is too great, and many old monsters have been attracted here."

"I heard that the Four Extreme Ape Kings have also come!" Li Youyi was a little worried.

Zuoqiu Ting said: "It's fine, it's just killing a sixth-generation grandson; the ancestors of my Zuoqiu Gate have also come and can check and balance it."

Half a day later, they arrived at the end of the grassland.

On the horizon, the Thirty-Three Li Mountain was already in sight, covered in clouds and mist, magnificent and spectacular.

A look of surprise emerged in Li Youyi's eyes.

……

Wishing everyone a happy New Year!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 124 =====