Chapter 173

He could be considered someone who had seen the world, having even stayed in the Heavenly Pavilion.

But the luxury of the Giant Marsh City Heavenly Pavilion, compared to the Immortal Forest before him, was simply vulgar and unbearable; it could only be considered a pool of wine and a forest of meat in the mortal world.

The Qiuzhou Immortal Forest was like a blessed land of immortals, with vast and misty magic Qi. Although its main gate was merely a stone gate, it was meticulously carved, a masterpiece of craftsmanship by a giant master of the Longevity Realm.

Amidst the clouds and mist of magic Qi, spiritual trees towered into the sky, their branches laden with fruits of treasure-medicine grade.

The pavilions and towers of the Immortal Forest were all suspended in the void, located atop a vast expanse of floating islands formed by arrays.

Standing on the ground outside the main gate, one could only catch a glimpse of a corner of the floating islands, which were connected by heavenly ladders. The male and female cultivators inside were all like immortals, looking down upon the common masses of the entire city.

Li Youyi was turned away at the gate by the deformed martial cultivator guarding the stone gate.

The other party's cultivation base was very high, an elder of the fifth realm of the Five Seas Realm, but in the Immortal Forest, he could only guard the gate, much like a guardian beast.

Li Youyi understood the rules of the Immortal Forest: "I won't go in! I only ask the old gentleman to pass on a message, just say that a young man surnamed Chi is outside, seeking an audience with Miss Qin Li. I have a deep friendship with her; she will definitely see me."

The gatekeeping martial cultivator was very polite and smiled: "This old man is not a pure immortal body, and I cannot enter either; I am truly unable to help."

How could Li Youyi believe that?

Even if he couldn't get in, there must certainly be a way to contact the people inside.

Greed, indeed!

Li Youyi gritted his teeth, fished out a handful of silver coins, and handed them over.

The gatekeeping martial cultivator didn't even glance at them and continued to smile: "Young Master Chi, you had better return. Even we find it difficult to see Miss Qin Li once, let alone you."

"I really have a deep friendship with her, this is absolutely not a scam... He isn't a pure immortal body, so why is he allowed to go in?"

Li Youyi pointed to a young figure walking into the Immortal Forest stone gate, accompanied by a group of pure immortal body men and women.

That young man was a mortal, lacking the physical body of a pure immortal, but he was dressed in luxury and possessed an extraordinary bearing; even the pure immortal body experts followed his lead.

That gatekeeping martial cultivator was moved and immediately made a gesture for silence, signaling him to lower his voice: "That is Lu Cangsheng, an exceptional talent personally selected by the Master of the Immortal Forest, and the successor of the Lei Xiao Sect."

Li Youyi said: "It's possible to be an exception? What are the conditions?"

The gatekeeping martial cultivator was very troubled and said patiently: "You should stop thinking about this! Among the younger generation, those who can be presented to the Master of the Immortal Forest and be selected are rare to find even once every three to five years."

Even though the two spoke in very low voices, they still attracted the attention of Lu Cangsheng, who paused slightly and looked over.

Qin Qian, who was following by Lu Cangsheng's side, was a cultivator of the Five Seas Realm who felt there was no need to be cautious about everything or to overestimate opponents; not everyone was peerlessly intelligent, and there were still many mediocre people in the world who didn't know it themselves.

"Let's go!" Lu Cangsheng said indifferently.

The group disappeared into the clouds and mist of magic Qi.

The gatekeeping martial cultivator spread his hands helplessly and sighed: "See, you just invited ridicule."

Having been inexplicably mocked, Li Youyi felt not the slightest annoyance, only secretly sighing that being young and unknown in this world really meant standing around like a lackey. Trying to enter a gate or pass on a message was incredibly difficult.

Who would value you? Who would think highly of you?

"Brother Tianshu!"

A familiar voice came.

Li Youyi turned back to look and saw the little fatty Shi Shishi standing by the street in the distance, waving at him incessantly.

"You came to Qiuzhouzhoucheng too?"

Li Youyi walked over, feeling a sense of meeting an old friend in a distant land.

After the Earth Wolf King Army suddenly defected on the Lizhou battlefield, the two sides were no longer enemies, but intimate allies.

Shi Shishi pulled him along as they walked: "Let's go somewhere else to talk; don't stand here, it's a bit embarrassing."

"Why?" Li Youyi was puzzled.

"Look over there!"

Shi Shishi pointed to the cluster of buildings of varying heights directly facing the Immortal Forest gate, where the sound of people was deafening and young cultivators were frequently entering and exiting.

The two walked into one of the buildings; the interior was like an open courtyard with four-story pavilions rising on all sides, and servants and maids delivering food and wine shuttled back and forth. The martial cultivators and thought-masters among the young cultivators gathered in rooms with open windows, laughing heartily and discussing major world events.

There were also many martial cultivators gathered by the windows, peering toward the direction of the Immortal Forest gate, excitedly telling those who arrived later about the scene of Lu Cangsheng and the others entering just moments ago. In their conversation, naturally, there was no shortage of talk about that embarrassing and funny mortal martial cultivator.

"That kid actually wanted to see Miss Qin Li... Haha... the reason he made up, I'm too embarrassed to even say..."

"He even wanted to bribe the gatekeeping martial cultivator with silver coins; the offer was too shabby. If it were me, I'd use Gushing Spring coins."

Li Youyi and Shi Shishi climbed the stairs bustling with people and arrived at a table on the third floor facing the Immortal Forest gate.

Li Youyi felt no shame at all; he observed the martial cultivators in the building and discovered quite a few experts of the Five Seas Realm, saying: "Were you watching me here earlier too?"

Shi Shishi nodded, then laughed heartily: "Those gathered outside the Immortal Forest are all busybodies; don't take their words to heart, no one will remember you. Look, even though you came up to this floor and passed by them, no one noticed you."

"They, they just want to catch a glimpse of those successors who came to the Immortal Forest. The pure immortal bodies are indeed flawless in their immortal essence; regardless of gender, they really aren't comparable to us mortals. Moreover, the successors are all stunningly brilliant with countless legends; who wouldn't want to pay their respects?"

Li Youyi said: "The food on this table..."

"Eat whatever you want, it's my treat today," Shi Shishi said.

Li Youyi naturally didn't stand on ceremony, eating while saying: "They are here to pay respects to legends, what about you?"

"I'm here to see the beauty!"

After Shi Shishi laughed, his face was as round as a ball, and then, thinking of something, he said excitedly: "Brother Tianshu... forget it, I'll call you Brother Youyi; do you really know the Immortal Official Qin Li?"

Li Youyi nodded.

"That is Qin Li, who is peerless in both dance and swordplay. In terms of beauty, I'm afraid she even surpasses Yang Qingxi by a notch. The streams are murmuring, the Li water is trickling..." Shi Shishi said.

Li Youyi felt this kid was courting death. Not to mention Qin Li's own terrifyingly high cultivation base, if these words reached the ears of Yin Jiu, she would definitely split him with an axe.

Although Li Youyi hadn't had much contact with Yin Jiu and Yin Shi, he could see that the two had a close relationship, were extremely understanding of each other, and had a tacit understanding, which was definitely very suspicious.

"Shishi, you are a Dharma King of the Earth Wolf King Army; young as you are, your cultivation base has already reached the pinnacle. How come you didn't manage to get an exception and can only stare dryly outside this Immortal Forest?" Li Youyi asked.

Shi Shishi immediately became humble: "Brother Youyi, don't mock me. My cultivation speed and cultivation realm are indeed at the forefront among my peers, but I'm still a hundred and eight thousand miles away from an Immortal Forest exception."

"Isn't that Lu Cangsheng also a mortal? How did he manage it? Could it be that he is the pinnacle of mortals, possessing a hundred meridians?" Li Youyi said.

Shi Shishi said: "I don't know much about Lu Cangsheng. It seems that because the cultivation of lightning arts has no absolute relationship with one's constitution, that kid has a very high attainment in lightning arts and has defeated a pure immortal body with a hundred silver meridians."

"To forge heaven-defying battle records with a mortal body, impressive!" Li Youyi secretly marveled, feeling that the world was indeed vast and full of outstanding people.

Only after leaving Lizhou did he truly open his eyes to see the world.

Li Youyi said: "In the Immortal Burial Town, how many Dyed-Cloud exotic medicines did you collect? Did you not complete the pure immortal body transformation?"

Shi Shishi scratched his head and said bitterly: "The higher the cultivation base, the harder the pure immortal body transformation becomes; a difference of one realm is two or three times the difficulty. With my cultivation base, I calculated at the time that I might need fifty Dyed-Cloud exotic medicines to have a chance at transforming into a pure immortal body, so I had to give up."

"However, it wasn't a total loss! The Dyed-Cloud exotic medicines I collected in the Immortal Burial Town helped my cultivation base break through, and I have now started cultivating the sixth sea."

"As expected of a Dharma King, your cultivation speed is enough to crown you among your peers," Li Youyi didn't stint on his praise.

Shi Shishi was about the same age as Yin Twenty-four and Li Ling, sixteen or seventeen years old.

And those successors, although they were already cultivating the seventh sea and were one realm higher in cultivation, were mostly over twenty-five years old.

Shi Shishi suddenly asked via sound transmission: "You are a member of the Jiuli Hidden Sect, you should know the inside story, right? Why did the Earth Wolf King Army suddenly change sides and fully assist your Jiuli clan?"

Li Youyi stopped his chopsticks and responded via sound transmission: "You are a Dharma King, and even you don't know. I'm just a small hidden person, what could I possibly know?"

Shi Shishi sighed: "Old Nine and Old Six definitely know, but they are too tight-lipped and simply won't say."

Li Youyi's heart stirred: "Your Earth Wolf King Army shouldn't have only you as a Five Seas Realm expert, right? Did no Five Seas Realm pure immortal body come to Qiuzhouzhoucheng?"

Shi Shishi said: "Our two families are allies now, so I won't hide it from you! Beneath the ten Dharma Kings, there are indeed some powerful third-generation disciples who came to Qiuzhouzhoucheng with me; they are all successors of various Dharma Kings, and among them, there are naturally pure immortal bodies."

"How about doing me a favor? Send a trustworthy pure immortal body into the Immortal Forest to help me bring a message," Li Youyi said.

Shi Shishi's eyes narrowed: "Bring a message to that Immortal Official Qin Li? She wouldn't happen to be a member of your Jiuli Hidden Sect, would she? Otherwise, how could you, a mortal martial cultivator who just broke through to the Five Seas, possibly know a person of that status?"

Li Youyi met his gaze and smiled: "Even your Heavenly King and the old master have to obey the orders of the Jiuli clan; aren't you asking a bit too much?"

Shi Shishi's brows furrowed, and he fell into deep thought, even suspecting in his heart whether the Heavenly King was a high-level figure of the Jiuli Hidden Sect.

A group of young martial cultivators nearby began to stir: "Yang Qingxi has arrived, and Chen Wenwu too."

Shi Shishi immediately rushed over, leaned against the window, and peered toward the direction of the Immortal Forest gate.

When Li Youyi walked over, the pure immortal body cultivators from the Sui Sect and the Three Chen Palaces were already leaving only their backs. He whispered in Shi Shishi's ear: "Seeing you so excited... how about we join forces to capture Yang Qingxi?"

Shi Shishi was very interested in this, but soon shook his head: "Brother Youyi, Yang Qingxi is no simple matter. With your cultivation base, don't you dare have designs on her. You should be at the first realm of the Five Seas right now, right? You might not have a clear understanding of Five Seas Realm experts yet; for Yang Qingxi to kill you, she only needs to move a single finger!"

Li Youyi would not forget his grudge with Yang Qingxi: "No matter how strong she is, there is always a heaven beyond heaven and people beyond people."

Seeing Li Youyi's gaze was calm and not like he was joking, Shi Shishi was shocked: "You're serious? If you can get the experts of the Jiuli Hidden Sect to act, plus the third-generation disciples of my Earth Wolf King Army, we could indeed pull this off. The streams are murmuring, just thinking about it makes me excited, haha!"

"No rush, wait a few more days."

Li Youyi decided to at least wait until his cultivation base broke through to the third realm of the Five Seas before acting: "You find someone first to help me contact Qin Li."

I wrote until four or five in the morning last night and it was already six when I went to sleep, so I'm late again today; I should be able to adjust tomorrow.

(End of chapter)