Chapter 179: The Temptation of Yang Huan in the Forbidden Chamber

"You and I are both members of the pioneer team; counting it up, we are colleagues."

"Does Fellow Daoist Liu not intend to invite me in for a cup of tea?"

"This does not seem like the way a 'follower of the Demon-Slaying Heavenly Venerable' treats a guest."

Li Yu wore a smile, his entire demeanor exuding a kind of approachability that made it impossible for others to harbor malice; he looked completely harmless to both man and beast.

But Liu Tu had no intention of making way or issuing an invitation.

He continued to block the doorway and said to Li Yu without any courtesy:

"In this Wanfu City, I fear no one would dare invite a 【Chosen of Ten Thousand Changes】 into their home; who knows what conspiracies and schemes Fellow Daoist Li is hiding."

"The fact that I, Liu Tu, have not drawn my sword is already quite polite."

As Liu Tu spoke, his face was full of awkwardness.

Yet, he himself could not figure out exactly what was wrong.

How could he know that the awkwardness and discomfort were because he was still under the influence of a technique.

As long as Li Yu stood before his eyes, he would remain affected, unable to harbor any malicious or murderous intent toward Li Yu.

"It is fortunate that I struck the moment we met; if I had given him a moment to react, I fear he would have already drawn his natal magic sword to drive me away and hunt me down."

"It is only right that you feel uncomfortable; who told you to launch a sneak attack and then fail the judgment."

Li Yu saw through the situation clearly in his heart and chuckled incessantly.

Although he was being targeted, Li Yu felt he had many ways to deal with a sword cultivator like Liu Tu.

He did not reply immediately, but instead suddenly narrowed his eyes to cast a spell, using his supernatural ability as a "Daoist Physician" to observe the changes in Liu Tu's Qi.

Then, thinking of the information he had heard from various channels regarding this traitor to the Demon-Slaying Sect.

Instantly, he understood.

The next moment, Li Yu spoke abruptly:

"Fellow Daoist Liu has many misunderstandings about me; you must know that I also possess a 'heart for refining swords,' and since I was young, I have dreamed of becoming a dashing sword hero in white robes, traversing the firmament."

"I also hold the Demon-Slaying Heavenly Venerable in high regard."

"My visit today is to ask Fellow Daoist Liu for guidance on sword-refining supernatural abilities. If Fellow Daoist Liu is busy, perhaps you could gift me some of your discarded swords, sword pellets, or similar trinkets; my hands are truly itching, and I want to satisfy my craving for being a sword cultivator."

"Of course, I naturally have generous gifts to offer in return."

Upon hearing this, Liu Tu already wanted to open his mouth to mock Li Yu.

As expected of a follower of the Lord of Ten Thousand Changes, lies came easily to him; a swindler who engaged in conspiracies claimed he wanted to satisfy a craving for being a sword hero, and even had the audacity to ask for rare items.

But soon, when Li Yu's next words reached his ears, Liu Tu deeply regretted not closing the door in time and giving this fellow a chance to speak.

"Fellow Daoist also knows that the one I revere and follow is the God of a Thousand Faces, and my perception of changes in Qi is quite sensitive."

"I also heard that you are seeking to ascend to the Sequence Five 【Great Supernatural Being】. Now that I observe you, your Qi is complete and seamless, having reached the realm of mastering the Dao; what you lack is merely that one critical sword strike to break through the barrier."

"As the saying goes, there is no construction without destruction. Your cultivation base is deepening day by day; the longer you wait to strike that sword, the harder it will be to ascend later."

"It is just like a chick in an egg; without the courage to peck, not only will it fail to gain a new life, but it may also suffocate inside."

"As for the price to pay after striking that sword, as sword cultivators, could we possibly be afraid of suffering some fleshly pain?"

As his voice fell, the Qi on Li Yu's body underwent an incredible change.

The sharp sword intent unique to a sword cultivator surged out without any concealment.

If not for this change, Li Yu's words would have seemed very awkward.

But as it happened, he truly possessed a heart for refining swords, and had even condensed sword intent.

And the "advice" Li Yu gave did indeed perfectly hit the dilemma Liu Tu was currently facing.

Of course, to a certain extent, it was also nonsense.

Did Liu Tu not know this himself?

When it came to cultivation related to sword arts, Li Yu was merely showing off before an expert in his presence.

But it was not without effect.

These words actually served as a provocation, helping Liu Tu make up his mind.

And so, he felt even more uncomfortable!

Does this count as a favor?

If Liu Tu refused to acknowledge it, that would also be reasonable.

If it were Li Yu, he would not acknowledge it.

Unfortunately, Liu Tu's temperament was different; a gentleman can be deceived by what is proper, and a heroic sword cultivator can be deceived by his thin-skinned nature.

"It's done!"

Li Yu watched Liu Tu, whose expression was flickering incessantly, and laughed inwardly.

Not long after, Li Yu headed toward the next carriage of a Chosen.

At this moment, in his hand, there was an extra palm-length small bronze sword; beneath the hilt were two small ancient seal characters: Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects).

The small sword itself was a low-grade rare weapon that could be enlarged into a sharp sword, and it came with a "Jingzhe Sword Technique."

It was the cultivation set Liu Tu obtained when he first joined the Demon-Slaying Sect.

It was very ordinary and had no real power.

Liu Tu tossing it to Li Yu was naturally done with the intention of dealing with him.

Unfortunately, this unrestrained and powerful sword cultivator had no idea that Li Yu's true intention was not to satisfy a craving for being a sword cultivator, but to steal his secret techniques.

But one cannot blame Liu Tu!

Who could have imagined such a thing?

Everyone knows that followers of the God of a Thousand Faces can change into ten thousand forms.

But "stealing techniques" was a matter on another level.

That the Daoist Physician sequence in the Spirit Venerable path possessed this ability was a mystery unknown to outsiders.

Furthermore, because this path had lost its true god and had been weakened for hundreds of years, its presence was truly weak, having been completely replaced by evil gods like the Ten Thousand Changes and the Foolish God.

"With this sword in hand!"

"When I enter the Strange Domain, I can directly set up an altar, disguise myself as Liu Tu to pray to the so-called 【Disheveled Demon Lord】, and ask for combat power or something; I will surely succeed."

"The Disheveled Demon Lord, hmm, that is to say, the Demon-Slaying Heavenly Venerable, a dignified and powerful true god, should not have the habit of keeping accounts, right? After the fact, it will be silent and traceless; no one will know. It is simply perfect."

These joyful thoughts flickered in Li Yu's heart, and then he knocked on the carriage door of the next lucky person.

This time, it was the turn of the "Chosen of the Merciful Father," the Benevolent Physician Hu Buku.

Li Yu had originally thought he would have to spend some effort to deceive him.

But unexpectedly, the Benevolent Physician was exceptionally hospitable and very easy to trick.

"Fellow Daoist Hu, I also hold the great and selfless 【Merciful Father】 in high regard."

After Li Yu uttered this sentence.

Hu Buku not only warmly invited Li Yu into his room but also brought out his treasured Green Fly Tea, Ten Thousand Maggot Rice, and other delicacies to entertain him.

One must endure the consequences of one's own actions.

Li Yu endured the discomfort, finished touring the horrific, filthy, and rotting purgatory-like residence of the Benevolent Physician, then declined the invitation to dine together, and, forcing a gentle smile, quickly fled that carriage section.

Of course, before leaving, Li Yu used his supernatural ability to change into the Qi of a "Miren."

He also made a request, asking Hu Buku to gift him a spare bird-beak mask, preferably with some filth and poison blessed by the Merciful Father.

Without any surprise, Hu Buku agreed.

He went further and issued an invitation: "If Fellow Daoist wishes to switch paths, you can come directly to find me. The great Merciful Father does not fear any gods; as long as you are willing to join the sect, we are all brothers and sisters, and all costs will be resolved by the Merciful Father."

Li Yu took the benefits, declined the invitation, and drifted away. "This evil god, the Merciful Father, is quite special."

"It is indeed first-class cruel and terrifying, possessing the power to pollute and poison all living beings and even gods."

"But at the same time, it is also quite generous."

"For the prayers of its followers, as long as they are reasonable, it is almost always responsive."

"Therefore, followers of the Merciful Father are also very keen on spreading its gospel, hoping to develop more like-minded people, wishing for all living beings to enjoy freedom under the knees of the Merciful Father."

"The only pity is that I cannot stand any sequence of this path."

Muttering to himself, Li Yu reached out and knocked on the carriage door of the next lucky person.

This time, it was the Chosen of the Hanging King, Gongsun Qi.

In the true sense, the number one hanging ghost of Wanfu City.

He was keen on hanging every "living being" he took a fancy to and regarded it as an offering to the great true god, the Hanging King. As another Chosen, Li Yu naturally belonged to the category of high-grade offerings.

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Therefore, after Li Yu visited, he chose a rather impolite attitude, and his words were very disrespectful toward the Hanging King, which indeed aroused the other party's anger.

After some probing!

Li Yu was directly hung above the Ancient God camp by a filthy and terrifying void hanging rope from Gongsun Qi.

But Li Yu soon escaped.

While escaping, he also used "Elixir Fire" to forcibly erase the consciousness and will on that void hanging rope and took the hanging rope with him.

From Gongsun Qi's perspective: Li Yu, this Chosen of Ten Thousand Changes, had barely struggled to survive and taken the opportunity to escape.

As for that rare item, the void hanging rope, as the Chosen of the Hanging King, he could summon thousands upon thousands of them with a single thought.

Although he had defeated the Chosen of Ten Thousand Changes!

Gongsun Qi's mood, however, remained completely calm.

I wonder if he will feel any emotional turbulence in the future when he learns that Li Yu stole that Hanged Monk and used it to impersonate him, Gongsun Qi, to swindle benefits like the "Blessing of the Hanged King."

……

Twelve hours of preparation, and Li Yu had already used up half of it in the blink of an eye.

His plan to steal the "God-Chosen Tokens" was not going entirely smoothly.

The ones he successfully managed to pilfer were Liu Tu, Hu Buku, and Gongsun Qi.

This meant that after entering the Weird Domain, Li Yu could directly impersonate these three.

But there were also quite a few failures.

For instance, Xu Xu Xuan, who believed in and followed the extraterrestrial evil god "Lord of Xenomorphs"—Li Yu tried his best to coax him and was even willing to risk theft, but there were simply too few items in the other party's residence that could pass the token verification.

The most abundant type was something Li Yu found difficult to steal.

It was children!

That's right, in just a few short days, this fellow Xu Xu Xuan had turned the residence assigned to him by the City Lord's Mansion into a terrifying and inconceivable xenomorph nest.

Inside were all sorts of "non-human creatures," all of them female.

All had been intimate with Xu Xu Xuan, and all were gestating newborns carrying Xu Xu Xuan's bloodline.

With Li Yu's thieving skills, stealing one wouldn't be impossible.

After all, many non-human creatures were indeed very prolific, often gestating in whole litters at a time.

Stealing one, he imagined, wouldn't be discovered.

If Li Yu were willing to thicken his skin and ask Xu Xu Xuan to gift him a child, he might even succeed, as Xu Xu Xuan had also failed to pass his affinity test.

But the subsequent trouble was something Li Yu could not handle.

For example, how could he contaminate Xu Xu Xuan's child so that the Demon Star Order would recognize it as something belonging to his Spirit Venerable Path, thereby passing the verification to be brought into the Weird Domain?

Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of impersonating Xu Xu Xuan was truly not high.

Li Yu chose to give up without hesitation.

However, what he didn't expect was that the subsequent "Black Maitreya God-Chosen" Monk Master Wuxin, as well as the "Abyssal God God-Chosen" Ruan Ruan Shuntian, also declared failure one after another.

It wasn't that Li Yu's deception or thieving skills were insufficient.

It was that his reputation as the Myriad Transformations God-Chosen was poor; the two were terrified of being plotted against and were extremely vigilant, not even opening their doors for him.

Undoubtedly, this choice was correct; without meeting, there was naturally no need to pass the affinity test that Li Yu shamelessly threw at them.

Without being bewitched by the Daoist physician's strange Qi, no matter how silver-tongued Li Yu was, it was useless.

"The heart of a petty person, it's all the heart of a petty person."

"I only ever plot against my mortal enemies; since we are colleagues and fellow Daoists, how could they fall for my treacherous schemes?"

While muttering and grumbling to himself, Li Yu's figure appeared before the door of the second-to-last carriage.

The nameplate above bore a special mark and was engraved with the two characters "Yang Huan."

That's right!

Li Yu's target for stealing techniques did not intend to spare even female cultivators.

His reasoning was very simple and crude.

The Mother of Antiquity, as a powerful evil god from beyond the heavens, was rumored to be a terrifying True God no weaker than the "Earth Mother."

If he could steal the power of such a True God's chosen, how could he give up just because of a difference in gender?

With this thought, Li Yu knocked on Yang Huan's door.

Li Yu had originally thought he would need to spend some effort talking his way in, and was even prepared for failure just like with the previous few.

But to his immense surprise!

Yang Huan's door opened at a single knock.

And the next moment, the scene inside the door revealed itself as if it were a terrifying, alien realm:

Inside was a mass of constantly churning, festering pitch-black mist, and as these mists surged, they actually kept aggregating to form strange organs, such as sticky tentacles of flesh, mouths dripping with drool, pitch-black sheep hooves, and other unspeakable things.

When these unimaginable, horrific things surged, they brought not a shred of terror.

Instead, what they released was extreme temptation and pleasure.

Besides this, within this nest existed a massive vitality that made Li Yu feel incredibly alarmed, as if it were endless.

Li Yu had once felt the immortal vitality of the "Vortex God."

But by comparison, it was clearly inferior to this 【Mother of Antiquity】.

Just as Li Yu was pondering whether the divinity held by the Mother of Antiquity included "Life" in addition to reproduction and gestation.

From within, the faint, moving voice that clearly belonged to Yang Huan turned into invitations that drilled into Li Yu's ears.

"Fellow Daoist, come in quickly, come in quickly."

"Fellow Daoist, come in quickly, come in quickly."

Hidden within these calls were even some hints.

As long as Li Yu entered, no matter what he sought, it would be granted.

Who could have imagined?

Regarding the welcome for Li Yu, an uninvited guest, Yang Huan's level of enthusiasm was even higher than that of the benevolent physician Hu Buku.

If it were anyone else, they would likely have been unable to resist the temptation within and would have walked right in.

But Li Yu?

He frowned at this moment, took a few hard looks, and then suddenly smiled and refused:

"Fellow Daoist Yang Huan seems to be unwell today; since that is the case, I shall take my leave."

"I will come again another day, another day."

Having said that, Li Yu did not wait for Yang Huan's reply, turned around, and left without looking back.

(End of chapter)