Chapter 257

Zuo Qiu Ting gently pushed him away, tidying his long hair and collar, using his folding fan to draw a boundary: "It's true we are brothers who have lived and died together, but we can't be this intimate. If people see us, they'll think we have some special habits. If it spreads, the reputation won't sound good!"

"You... alas, you just like to put on airs."

Li Li Youyi had been deceived miserably, kept in the dark from Burial Immortal Town to Qiuzhouzhoucheng. Who would have thought "Brother Brother Zuoqiu" was actually "Sister Brother Zuoqiu"? Who could take that?

Now that he knew the truth, how could he let her off so easily?

He thought secretly in his heart.

Since she still wants to lie and pretend, don't blame me, brother, for not treating you as a woman. Let's see how long you can hold out.

Now, it's Li Li Youyi's turn to act!

Zuo Qiu Ting kept her distance from Li Li Youyi, arms crossed over her chest in a defensive posture, and said solemnly: "My sister is a pure Dao cultivator; since childhood, her ambition has been to pursue the supreme realm of martial arts, with a focused mind and clear spirit, not to be tethered by the feelings between men and women. You, give up that idea!"

Li Li Youyi smiled, looking confident: "You aren't her; how do you know she won't be moved by me? Pursuing the supreme realm of martial arts is good; it's exactly the same ambition as mine, wonderful."

"On the night of the Lantern Festival, although we were just getting to know each other, we were extremely tacit, as if we had a meeting of minds. On the Soldier Ancestor Marsh, she even risked exposing her supreme treasure to save me. I feel that in her heart, I am definitely different from other men."

The two walked along the stone path by the cliff.

Peach blossoms drifted on the mountain, the fragrance hitting the nose.

Zuo Qiu Ting was secretly angry, trying to speak in a calm tone: "You don't know each other at all; everything is your illusion, you don't understand her at all. She is warm on the outside and cold on the inside; it's very hard to walk into her heart. You aren't just seeing her beauty and having evil intentions, are you?"

Li Li Youyi stopped, blocked her, and pretended to be serious: "In your heart, is that the kind of person I, Li Li Youyi, am? I have to admit, your sister does have a stunning beauty that makes me fall in love at first sight; just one glance, and I haven't been able to forget it for these past few days, as if it were branded in my heart, making me mentally distracted and unable to focus on anything."

"These seven days of my seclusion were spent trying to get rid of this feeling of being tethered by emotion, but unfortunately, I fell short of success."

"Thinking of you at dawn, thinking of you at dusk; thinking of you while walking, thinking of you while sitting."

Zuo Qiu Ting fell into deep thought, and after a long time: "Don't blame me, brother, for not reminding you; my sister is very hard to get along with. You'd better restrain your feelings, lest you get hurt even deeper in the future."

Li Li Youyi was holding back very painfully; if they kept talking, he felt he would burst out laughing first, so: "Fine, you're right; she is a direct noble daughter of a million-strong sect, what am I? It is indeed some wishful thinking... Has the crisis in Qiuzhouzhoucheng been resolved? What is the situation now?"

Zuo Qiu Ting secretly breathed a sigh of relief, returning to a calm and dashing state: "The crisis is temporarily resolved! But the top-level powerhouses are still fighting; no one knows what earth-shattering things will happen next."

"The duel of transcendent beings has a huge impact; if one is not careful, it relates to the survival of a clan."

"The wars between various rebel armies and the imperial court over the past eleven years combined haven't seen as many transcendent beings fall as in these seven days. It truly is heaven-collapsing and earth-shattering, with an impact even more terrifying than what many wise men deduced."

Li Li Youyi said in surprise: "In the past eleven years of war, the imperial court had experts like clouds; how could they let the rebels rise everywhere?"

Zuo Qiu Ting shook her head: "The imperial court has been suppressing the rebellion, but they would suppress one force here, and several would pop up there. Later, the whole world was in chaos; every state rebelled, everyone rebelled, and they couldn't suppress it at all, only continuously shrinking the territory of their core control area."

"No matter how strong the imperial court is, it can't be stronger than the people of the world."

"In addition, the imperial court and the rebel armies have always been avoiding direct collisions between transcendent beings, intentionally controlling the intensity of the war. They were afraid of exactly this situation. They were even more afraid that their top combat power would suffer mutual destruction and be taken advantage of by the Far West Ash Realm and the Nether Realm of the Dead."

"Of course, the most fundamental reason is that the imperial court still has Yu Yu Yaozi as a trump card, believing that as long as she takes action, all the current rebel armies and crises will be solved."

"The large-scale transcendent being duels that have broken out in the past few days haven't appeared in the past thousand years."

"It truly is a case of pulling one hair and moving the whole body; almost all the top figures of the entire Lingxiao Life Realm have been alarmed."

"According to the news transmitted back to Qiuzhouzhoucheng, several transcendent beings have already fallen, and even more are seriously injured. One can imagine that the forces whose transcendent beings have fallen will surely have a miserable end in the next few years."

"Even more miserable are the people of each state. After seven days of great war, I'm afraid the casualties exceed ten million, or even tens of millions. How many families is that? How much blood and tears?"

Li Li Youyi followed Zuo Qiu Ting's gaze toward the city gate, seeing large groups of refugees, his mood as heavy as hers. He secretly rejoiced that he had stayed at Peach Plum Mountain, otherwise he might have become one of those turned to ashes.

He said: "Did the fighting of the transcendent beings spread to other states?"

Zuo Qiu Ting nodded: "In the Southern Region, they fought from Qiuzhou to Fuzhou, and from Fuzhou to the Eastern Region; the Lei Xiao Sect and the Longmen have both served as battlefields. The news transmitted back today says the battle is moving west again, as if they won't stop until the Zhu Men is destroyed."

Li Li Youyi frowned: "Why would it be like this?"

"What's wrong?" Zuo Qiu Ting said.

Li Li Youyi said: "Qiuzhou and Fuzhou in the Southern Region are both rich states that haven't been affected by war for eleven years. The core states of the Lei Xiao Sect and Longmen in the Eastern Region must be the same. The core state of the Zhu Men in the Western Region goes without saying."

Zuo Qiu Ting understood what Li Li Youyi meant and nodded: "It's all in densely populated states that haven't experienced war. It's clear that the initiative has been firmly grasped by the demon race, and the human transcendent beings can only be led by the nose. After this battle, the population of the Lingxiao Life Realm will surely plummet, and the human race will be busy dealing with relief, reconstruction, famine, plague, and so on for a long time. Is Born Qilin Zang preparing for a protracted war?"

"How can we guess the thoughts of beings at that level?"

Li Li Youyi thought of something and asked: "What about the Northern Region?"

Zuo Qiu Ting said: "The Northern Region hasn't been affected yet."

"That's a bit strange!"

Li Li Youyi said: "Born Qilin Zang couldn't possibly not know that the Snow Sword Tang Ting is a powerful force second only to the imperial court. How could it not lead the flames of war to the Northern Region to weaken them?"

Zuo Qiu Ting said: "The Snow Sword Tang Ting shouldn't be cooperating with the demon race; the transcendent beings of the Northern Region almost all rushed over for this battle and contributed a lot."

"Forget it, with our cultivation, why think about these things?"

Li Li Youyi asked with concern: "With the demon race causing such a ruckus, do you think the Dueguan will still redeem the tickets we collected at the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival?"

Zuo Qiu Ting said: "Hard to say! Dragon seeds and dragon bones are limited; once lost, they can't be had again. As for the Longevity Pills... alas, now everyone's invitations and tickets are almost all lost, and it's impossible to count them at all. Wait, now we can only wait for the transcendent being duel to end and see how the Dueguan remedies it."

Li Li Youyi and Zuo Qiu Ting arrived at the place where the Nine Li Clan martial cultivators were healing.

Cang Li and Yin Jiu had already awakened and gone to a separate place for seclusion and healing.

They didn't see the Hidden Monarch and the two elders, Qin and Zhuo.

A young martial cultivator walked over quickly and reported something to Zuo Qiu Ting via magic energy transmission.

Zuo Qiu Ting looked at Li Li Youyi: "Brother Li Youyi, do you want to go down the mountain for a stroll? The corpse of the Silver-Feathered Demon King has been transported back, right at the city gate, and some of the transcendent being's flesh and blood will be sold. This is good stuff for helping with body tempering!"

"There are many monks and little porridge, so we must go and snatch it. I reckon that even if some is sent to Peach Plum Mountain, there won't be many jin left for us juniors."

Li Li Youyi was just about to go down the mountain to buy pills for cultivating thought power, in order to break through as soon as possible and go to temper Qi under the Fusang Divine Tree, so he gladly agreed.

The two went down the mountain.

An old man was already parked at the mountain gate in a carriage.

"Young Master Brother Zuoqiu, Brother Li, where are you two going?"

Qi Xiao arrived in a gorgeous carriage and stopped in front of the two, then pulled himself out from between two twin-like Daoist beauties.

After jumping off the carriage, he flipped his hair with high spirits and laughed: "I thought you were still heavily injured in bed and was about to go up the mountain to visit. As expected of All-Silver Veins and All-Gold Veins, the healing speed is beyond reach."

"However, I, old Qi, won't be humble! I am now worlds apart from before; you two may not necessarily be my opponents. Haha!"

Li Li Youyi had noticed Qi Xiao when he got off the carriage!

His eyes were sharp, his spirit was vigorous, and the purity of the magic energy overflowing from his pores far exceeded Sixth-Grade Qi, reaching another brand-new height.

Even more remarkable was the invisible Dao rhyme on Qi Xiao, as if he had merged with heaven and earth.

At the same time, he had his own independent field; within this field, any Fifth Sea Realm martial cultivator would probably be killed by him with one palm. And they would be locked tightly, unable to escape.

Li Li Youyi said: "Why do I feel like you are now even more terrifying than the Fifth Sea Realm's Ge Ge Xiantong and Green Luan Sheng Lin You?"

"Overlord of the human world, Dao Seed Realm." Zuo Qiu Ting said.

"That's right, I am now one of the overlords of the human world, possessing the qualifications to establish a sect. Completely transcending mortals, the essence of life has changed; as long as I am willing, I can even use part of my magic energy to maintain my appearance, and at one hundred years old, I can still maintain a relatively young state."

Qi Xiao was naturally in high spirits; reaching the Dao Seed Realm meant having the ability to stand alone and walk the world, officially stepping into the ranks of experts.

Many old guys in the clan who needed to be looked up to before were only in the Dao Seed Realm.

Qi Xiao added: "Brother Li Youyi, it's normal for the Dao Seed Realm to be stronger than Fifth Sea Realm martial cultivators, right?"

"I, in the Gushing Spring Realm, opened Nine Springs, in the Fifth Sea Realm cultivated Seven Seas, and am even a Pure Immortal Body, with Dragon Seed Dao. How can a person like me be compared to those inferior-rooted Dao Seed Realm martial cultivators with Eight Springs and Six Seas?"

Zuo Qiu Ting said coldly: "Speak properly."

Qi Xiao naturally didn't dare to be presumptuous in front of Zuo Qiu Ting, even though he was already a Dao Seed Realm powerhouse.

He hurriedly restrained his arrogance: "Just broken through the realm, a bit carried away! We are all in the Dao Seed Realm; there is no distinction between high and low."

(End of chapter)