Chapter 39: The Choice of Chan Hai Guan Wu

"Shouldn't... shouldn't I test you?"

Li Ling didn't have a trace of the coldness and chill she had when killing the Earth Wolf King soldiers in Immortal Burial Town, and added: "To join the Cangli tribe, one must have a clean identity and upright character. Don't be angry, okay? You have so many magic tools on you, and I didn't touch them, right? If I had attacked while pretending to faint earlier, you wouldn't have had much defense, right?"

"So, for a friend who has shared life and death, my character is also quite okay."

"By the way, why did you save me just now and drag me ashore? Do you like me?"

Li Youyi was speechless and walked away quickly.

He always felt there was something wrong with Li Ling, a kind of indescribable familiarity, but her cultivation was too high, and he couldn't investigate, wanting only to keep his distance.

"Don't go, you haven't answered me yet! Only someone with the blood of the Li people can lead the way to travel safely through the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm. It's very dangerous for you to go deep inside." Li Ling said.

Li Youyi had heard Zhao Zhizhuo talk about it, but he had a reason to return to the Blood Sea, and no matter how dangerous it was, he had to go.

If he didn't go back, the people on the bronze ship would only be waiting for death.

Li Ling trotted to catch up with him: "I have to tell you the truth; after being hit by the Stone Monkey flying needles, rushing into the abandoned house where you were hiding, I did indeed have the intention of dragging you onto the pirate ship. But what I analyzed in Immortal Burial Town wasn't wrong, right? In that situation, the two of us—together we live, apart we die."

"It doesn't matter anymore!"

Li Youyi deliberately exposed his back to her, testing whether she was really not interested in the magic tools.

She didn't launch a sneak attack, which left Li Youyi in deep doubt; he couldn't guess at all what her purpose was in chasing him.

Li Ling, with her bare jade feet stepping on gravel and thorns, followed closely on Li Youyi's right: "In Immortal Burial Town, you must know that anyone falling into the desperate situation I was in would make the same choice. What's more, at that time, I only regarded you as a little thief who was deceiving my brother and plotting something bad."

"It's different now; you're actually quite a good person."

"Can we be friends? In the future, in the Cangli tribe, I'll cover for you. If we encounter the same situation again, I'll let you go first, and I'll stay behind to cover."

Li Youyi stopped and stared at her.

Li Ling blinked her lively eyes, her eyelashes trembling, and said: "You dragged me ashore and saved the Cangli tribe... your character is absolutely fine. With your current five-spring cultivation, I can help you find a decent job in Nine Li City and marry you to a woman with outstanding looks. I have a cousin who will be sixteen in eight days; when she has her coming-of-age ceremony, go with me to see if you can hit it off. Entering the Cangli Clan School is also fine, but the Nine Li Dao Academy is a bit difficult!"

"Miss Li, please stop following me; I have already felt your kindness. I still like your cold appearance; why don't you restore it?"

Li Youyi really couldn't tell how much of what she said was true and how much was false, secretly deciding that after receiving his senior brothers, he must not go to the Cangli tribe. Thinking of the look Li Ling gave him on the eaves, thinking of her chopping people like melons and vegetables, she felt very unreal to Li Youyi at this moment.

As for Gao Huan...

That was a pure immortal body; the Cangli tribe shouldn't treat him badly.

Li Ling said: "Are you planning to go to the Blood Sea Coffin Dock? Are your companions all over there? Your magic tools—they weren't all obtained by opening blind coffins, were they?"

"Swish!"

Li Youyi mobilized his magic power and rushed out rapidly.

"Getting impatient?"

Li Ling's feet flowed with blue mist light trails, chasing after him at a faster speed.

Chasing and fleeing, they rushed out for dozens of miles.

Li Youyi slowed down, discovering that the surroundings were gradually becoming strange. Many motionless humanoid figures appeared in the forest, standing in the fog, all turning their heads to stare at him.

They had no vitality; some were by the river, some standing in the bushes.

It was too creepy, and Li Youyi felt a chill on his back.

"Don't wander around anymore; if you go any further, I might not be able to bring you back."

Li Ling reached out and grabbed him.

Li Youyi was confused: "When you go to the Blood Sea to fish for coffins, don't you go out along the Suihe?"

Li Ling, seeing that Li Youyi was finally willing to talk to her calmly after hitting a wall, couldn't help but smile: "It's not that simple! Don't look at the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm as only two hundred miles wide; it is one of the few forbidden areas in the entire Lingxiao Life Realm. The internal space is very chaotic and is constantly changing."

"Following the Suihe, you won't reach the Blood Sea; you'll only reach the more dangerous Nether Realm of the Dead."

"In the Nine Li tribe, only the disciples of the nine priests, totaling less than one hundred Underworld Lamp Guides, can find the path to travel through the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm."

"You?" Li Youyi said.

"Hmm!"

Li Ling nodded triumphantly: "Every year, many people get lost in the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm and the Nether Realm of the Dead. Yesterday, we encountered two female lost travelers, one of whom was a pure immortal body."

"What do they look like?" Li Youyi asked hurriedly.

Li Ling said: "A pure immortal body, of course, is as beautiful as a fairy, but like Gao Huan, she has no traces of cultivation. As for the other one, she was dressed in red, with white bone wind chimes tied to her waist."

"Where are they?" Li Youyi said.

Li Ling had been staring at Li Youyi's expression and smiled: "I guessed that those two demonesses who had my brother infatuated were on the same path as you. One test, and it came out! You must have obtained some strange treasure, right? Otherwise, why would two people in a row undergo pure immortal body transformation?"

Li Youyi suddenly realized and understood a bit of her purpose in chasing him, testingly saying: "You shouldn't be a pure immortal body, right? I can feel that although your skin has no flaws and you have an immortal spirit shell, you have an essential difference from the young clan leader and Gao Huan, but I can't say what the difference is."

Li Ling was stung by Li Youyi's words, hesitated for a long while, and then said bitterly: "I can only be considered a half-immortal body; I couldn't complete the full transformation. The fundamental difference between a half-immortal body and a pure immortal body lies in the bones—having the skin and flesh, but no immortal bones."

Li Youyi felt that if she drank Golden Crow blood, she would likely be able to transform into a pure immortal body.

But did she really view herself as a friend after sharing life and death?

Before seeing through her, Li Youyi couldn't treat her as a friend.

Li Ling said very sincerely: "I'll take you to the edge of the Blood Sea; without my help, you won't get there! Look at these spirits—they are just the weakest, almost having no aggression. But if you encounter blood-colored fierce souls, or evil monsters like the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine, your chances of survival are slim to none."

"What are the conditions?" Li Youyi asked.

Li Ling said: "No conditions, I just ask that you no longer have resentment in your heart... hmm, consider it that I owe you for Immortal Burial Town."

Li Youyi was skeptical: "Fine! If you take me to the Blood Sea, the grudges between us will be wiped out; I, Xie Jin, keep my word. Which direction do we go?"

Li Ling suddenly sat down on a mossy stone, covering the wound on her lower abdomen with her hand: "I'm too severely injured; I'm afraid I can't walk."

Li Youyi carried Li Ling on his back, moving forward in the fog realm.

Her figure was very slender, but she was exceptionally heavy, and...

"You weren't hit by the Stone Monkey flying needles at all!" Li Youyi couldn't feel the stiffness of her body, only softness and elasticity. Whether it was from his hands or his back.

Li Ling held the underworld lamp in one hand and wrapped her arm around Li Youyi's neck with the other, her voice crisp and pleasant yet revealing a lazy comfort: "I was hit! But I carry secret medicine; after eating it, the stone poison was cured."

"Is there any truth in your mouth?" Li Youyi said.

Li Ling said: "Master said that a girl alone outside must learn to protect herself. Speak only seven parts of the truth to people, and give only three parts of your heart."

The Underworld Lamp Guide indeed had real skills; the path taken was very tortuous, sometimes needing to detour for a long time. But from beginning to end, they didn't encounter danger, and just when Li Youyi was almost losing his sense of direction, he faintly heard the sound of waves in his ears.

Speeding up his pace, they soon walked out of the fog forest, and the view before them instantly opened up.

Arriving at the seaside, a bloody and decaying smell rushed toward them.

On the blood-colored ocean, dense coffins floated, piled up like mountains, large and small.

The shore was covered with paper money, empty coffins, and broken bones, while in the distance, the yin fog was vast, and the boundary between sea and sky could not be seen, naturally, the bronze ship could not be seen either.

Dozens of yards to the right was an ancient and dilapidated ferry crossing, with a bluestone dragon-carved archway still standing high. A long and straight stone-paved plank road extended from the ferry crossing into the deep sea, disappearing into the fog.

Li Youyi put Li Ling down, a strong joy surging in his heart—he was about to see his senior brothers again. His senior brothers could be considered the only remaining family he had in this world.

But at the same time, a strong urge to become stronger surged; otherwise, after picking up the scientific expedition team members from the ship, how would everyone survive? If he went to the Cangli tribe, he had a feeling of being passive and manipulated by Li Ling, a kind of stifling feeling of living under someone else's roof.

If he had the strength of seven springs now, or even broke through the Wind Mansion and Ancestral Field, not to mention Li Ling couldn't do anything to him, even the elders of the Cangli tribe would probably be recruiting him, treating him like they treated Gao Huan.

"Whoosh!"

Li Youyi rushed toward the ferry crossing, boarded the plank road, and headed rapidly into the deep sea.

"Xie Jin, you... are you trying to die?"

She hurriedly lowered her voice, not daring to speak loudly, and stopped immediately at the edge of the ferry crossing.

Every time she came to the Blood Sea Coffin Dock with her clansmen, they had to scatter paper money, light incense and candles, and offer tributes; every ritual could not be missing. Most importantly, one could not speak loudly, and even more so, one could not board the plank road or go deep into the Blood Sea.

The elders in the tribe had warned that the other-realm coffins that could float to the Blood Sea Coffin Dock were either fierce and strange or extraordinary, and the vast majority were not normal.

A slight carelessness would startle some things they couldn't afford to provoke.

She had heard too many stories about the Blood Sea Coffin Dock, and watching Li Youyi disappear into the fog, she didn't dare to chase after him, asking: "Senior, shall we chase?"

"Whoosh!"

Li Ling's back burned, blood mist permeated, and a nearly jade-like skeleton walked out from her body.

Chan Hai Guan Wu's long hair danced in the wind, flesh and blood had already grown on the bones, peering at the gloomy and gray coffin sea, sighing: "Forget it!"

Li Ling had lost a lot of blood, her face pale, appearing somewhat weak: "The junior is very puzzled; just now on his back, such a good opportunity, why didn't Senior make a move?"

"Because I hesitated!"

Chan Hai Guan Wu couldn't explain too much to her.

Forcibly seizing Li Youyi's blood and soul to complete the 'Marrying the Yang' ritual would give her a chance to be in a strong position in their relationship in the future. It would be as if Li Youyi were marrying into her family.

This was the situation she most wanted to see!

But doing so, once Li Youyi's cultivation surpassed hers in the future, the backlash would also be very terrifying.

And letting her lower her status to beg Li Youyi to share a large amount of blood and soul to complete the 'Marrying the Yang' ritual—that hurdle in her heart couldn't be crossed.

The so-called 'Marrying the Yang' was a bloodline energy unique to that ancient clan, allowing the deceased to live a second life through the method of marrying back into the Yang Realm and walking the path of cultivation again.

The price paid was to become the wife or husband of a descendant of that ancient clan.

Before the ritual was completed, the deceased's will was paramount.

Therefore, Chan Hai Guan Wu could choose to forcibly complete the 'Marrying the Yang' ritual, but Li Youyi could not. In that tomb on the bronze ship, she had forced it, already injecting a soul thought of hers into Li Youyi's glabella, but the ritual was only half-completed before Li Youyi broke free and fled.

Similarly, the guardian wife or guardian husband sought by the children of the ancient clan could only be based on the will of the guardian wife or guardian husband.

But once the ritual was completed, the children of the ancient clan had more say.

For example, if the child of the ancient clan died, the one who married the Yang must die. But if the one who married the Yang fell, the child of the ancient clan was affected very little.

Or, for example, the one who married the Yang must stay within a certain range of the child of the ancient clan; the distance they could leave increased as their cultivation improved.

Wanting to reverse life and death, the price paid naturally wouldn't be small.

Chan Hai Guan Wu had the ambition to reverse life and death and climb to the peak of cultivation again. But, she had to be controlled by Li Youyi, which contradicted her inner pride and ambition.

"Perhaps I can try to be friends first and see if he is truly worth trusting. When the time is ripe, I'll talk to him properly. Being husband and wife in name, but close friends or allies in reality—isn't that a better way to help each other?" Chan Hai Guan Wu thought of a compromise.

So far, Li Youyi's impression of her was not bad.

To Li Youyi, she had already been labeled as a white bone demon, and once that first impression was made, it was hard to get along well. She had to have a new identity, which was one of the reasons she chose Li Ling as a carrier.

As for Qi Shanshan, Chan Hai Guan Wu had left a soul thought, opening her language wisdom, so there shouldn't be any flaws.

"Tap! Tap! Tap..."

Rapid footsteps suddenly came from the forest.

A moment later, three figures appeared by the Blood Sea, the one walking in the front being Yan Qingqing. It was she who, relying on her unparalleled sense of smell, tracked the path Li Youyi and Li Ling had taken and found this place.

Shi Jiuzhai had given a death order; they had no choice, no matter how dangerous the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm was, they had to rush in.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 40 =====