freenovelworld Chapter 271: Became a hired hand?
Chapter 271: Became a hired hand?
The cool stream cascaded down the high cliff, falling like a ribbon into the clear pool. Li Lan poked his head out of the pool, the warm sunlight shining on his water-covered skin, which was flawless.
He now held two large carp, their fur a bright golden yellow. Although they were just ordinary fish, they were still quite appealing.
Li Lan cleaned the carp, then gathered firewood from the woods, started a fire by rubbing sticks together, skewered the two cleaned fish, and grilled them over the fire.
Before long, it was roasted to a golden brown and emitted a rich aroma of meat. Li Lan picked it up and started eating.
Although the ingredients here are not plentiful, the water quality of the mountain stream is excellent, and the carp raised here have top-quality meat that is extremely sweet. Li Lan ate the two fish clean and then lazily stretched.
Looking up at the endless stream of light in the sky, he was filled with emotion.
Each ray of light represents a being from the underworld. They will be born in the mortal realm as newborn babies, beginning a new life.
They will not all appear on Nan Yao Star. Once they enter the mortal realm, the cause and effect will be untraceable, and they may be born anywhere in the mortal realm.
They won't all be reborn together anytime soon. The cause and effect in the mortal realm are unpredictable. Some may be reborn tomorrow, while others may have to wait for decades, hundreds, or even thousands of years before being reincarnated...
These are all uncertain things; time and space are both unpredictable.
The Immortal Realm includes the Luo Yan Sect Master, the Sword Sect Master Lin Ruofeng, Cao Yueshu, Lin Ruofeng, as well as the Great Sage Luo Tian and Dugu Yibai, among others.
The Southern King and the Qi King of the foreign city, and the Demon Heaven, Zhan Meng, and Qi Yan in the Origin Realm...
And those with whom he had the deepest feelings, such as Lin Ruobing, Bai Ruoling, Jin Muyun, and Li Yue...
After parting in the underworld, who knows how many years will pass before we meet again...
Perhaps one day, when Li Lan is old and frail, he will finally find Lin Ruobing and Bai Ruoling, who are in the prime of their youth? Will they still recognize him then?
Will I actually be able to find them?
From then on, Li Lan became a solitary fisherman, waiting in the river of time, searching for every similar fish and every similar flower.
"I will wait for you, and I will find you!"
Li Lan murmured!
He must constantly grow stronger; only with sufficient cultivation can he endure the trials of time and withstand the erosion of heaven and earth!
When they are reborn, when they are young and full of life, the strongest version of myself will find them and protect them!
Then, Li Lan stood up and went down the mountain without looking back.
The mountain path was thorny, and Li Lan, who no longer possessed any cultivation level from the mortal realm, chose to slowly walk down the mountain.
In reality, his soul realm is extremely high, still maintaining the upper level. Even in the Ziwei Star Region, he would definitely be considered a top expert, but it is not advisable to use him lightly.
His physical body originated from the underworld. It was only through the power of reincarnation that he was able to remain in the mortal realm. However, all the underworld principles and substances contained within his body vanished, leaving him no different from an ordinary person.
The physical body and the soul are extremely unbalanced!
Since the soul and the physical body influence each other, using the soul is not advantageous to him until his physical body is strong enough. Moreover, his soul cultivation comes from the underworld, and now that he has just emerged from reincarnation, it will surely cause a great commotion in the mortal world. He does not want to leave any traces and attract attention.
"The most urgent task is to rebuild the physical body."
Li Lan's plan is very clear.
In this respect, he has a unique advantage over people of his time. Although they are from different systems, his insights and understanding in the underworld can be applied to cultivation methods in the mortal world.
His cultivation can progress very quickly.
"We could try the cultivation methods of Nantian Academy."
With a thought, Li Lan began to operate the system.
The most core cultivation method of Nantian Academy, even the most outstanding disciples need one or two years to master, but he can do it with ease and fluency, as if he has been cultivating for countless years.
In fact, Li Lan's understanding of this cultivation method is probably much more thorough than that of Dean Yan Zhanyu and others, because he has already reached an extremely high level of cultivation. Looking back, these methods are truly easy to master.
This can be considered a case of a strong person rebuilding their strength.
The world in the mortal realm contains spiritual energy. As he descended the mountain, the spiritual energy in the air and the essence of the surrounding plants and trees surged toward him.
"Ok?"
However, Li Lan suddenly frowned slightly.
When the spiritual energy entered his body, it couldn't settle in his dantian; instead, it disappeared instantly.
what happened?
He sensed it carefully, and then he was surprised: after the spiritual energy entered his body, as soon as it entered his dantian, a golden character flashed by, and all the spiritual energy disappeared.
"Scripture!"
Li Lan was extremely surprised. Those golden characters were the scripture that the God of War had given him!
The origin of this scripture is mysterious. According to the Fighting Demon God, in the ancient war, countless ancestral gods and immortals died, and the only thing left was a scripture. The seven great demon gods did their best to memorize a section of it.
This scripture cannot be practiced or interpreted, and it has another unique characteristic: once the owner tells others about this scripture, they will forget it!
Rather than describing this scripture as an abstract "information," it is more accurate to describe it as a tangible "matter," much like blood flowing through the human body. Once it flows out, the owner can no longer possess it, unlike other written information that can be shared.
Now it seems that this scripture is almost alive, actually consuming Li Lan's spiritual energy.
It looks rather eerie!
Moreover, this scripture had passed through the hands of many people in the past, including ancestral gods and demon gods, but none of them experienced this change...
Li Lan frowned.
He tried a different technique, absorbing spiritual energy in the same way, but the result was the same: he couldn't utilize the spiritual energy at all, as it was all stolen by the golden characters.
He didn't believe in superstitions and directly absorbed spiritual energy according to his own understanding without using any cultivation techniques.
At his level, he could easily create the cultivation techniques in the Nantian Academy's library. So, while he seemed to be doing whatever he wanted, if his absorption methods were written down, they would probably be regarded as treasures and fought over by the major forces of Nanyao Star.
He followed his own method, and the surrounding spiritual energy quickly emptied. A small vortex even formed around him, causing the surrounding grass and leaves to fall towards him.
But nothing changed; all the spiritual energy was plundered by those golden characters!
"Depend on."
Li Lan couldn't help but get angry. Had these words become a form of robbery?
Reap the benefits without sowing? Becoming a mere laborer, working for the benefit of these words?
He stared at the characters, eleven in total. Only one of them had been repeatedly draining his spiritual energy, and at this moment, that character seemed to have become even brighter!
It was eerie. Even Li Lan, who had once been a strange being, felt it was eerie at this moment!
He pondered for a moment. These words were inside him, meaning that whenever he cultivated, they would be plundered.
But does that mean he'll stop practicing? Impossible.
Li Lan speculated that these words must have an extreme thirst for spiritual energy. What would happen after they were given enough spiritual energy?
It is impossible to predict the changes that will occur in him due to these words; even if the ancestral god were to be resurrected, he probably wouldn't be able to explain them.
We have no choice but to take a gamble!
"If you want it... I'll grant your wish."
Li Lan felt a chill in her heart and began to confront these words.
He wanted to see what kind of evil these words were.
As he walked, he absorbed spiritual energy while simultaneously releasing his divine sense.
He had already sensed that many powerful auras were approaching from the sky surrounding the Chaotic Spirit Mountains. Their cultivation levels were not bad. It seemed that the commotion of all living beings crossing the Gates of Hell was too great and had already attracted the attention of major forces in the mortal realm.
Li Lan avoided them all.
In the blink of an eye, seven days have passed.
After seven days, Li Lan finally made his way from the Chaotic Spirit Mountains to Nantian City!
He was already dressed in rags, with disheveled hair and a dirty face, looking just like a beggar.
Upon entering the city, amidst the bustling traffic, one sees many unfamiliar but powerful cultivators, grouped together, each possessing an extraordinary aura, clearly from major forces outside the city.
Li Lan wanted to find out some information, so he sat down in a teahouse on the street, but he immediately heard a shout: "You beggar, do you think you can sit here? Get out of here!"
The stall owner was a middle-aged man with low cultivation. Although the spiritual tea he sold wasn't expensive, it was still beyond the reach of ordinary mortals, let alone a homeless mortal. He was naturally displeased to see Li Lan dare to sit there.
Li Lan was driven away, but she was not angry at all. Instead, she couldn't help but smile!
Having spent countless years in the underworld, engaging in endless battles and life-or-death struggles, these past few days back in the mortal realm have been the most pleasant and peaceful time for him. Carefree, he can finally get a temporary respite. Therefore, he feels that this is the true taste of life and simply stands aside, not holding a grudge against him.
"Get out of the way, all of you, get out of the way!"
A shout came from the street, and several cultivators riding blood-scaled horses quickly passed by. Li Lan turned his head and saw a man and a woman in the group. Li Lan was stunned when he saw the two of them.
The woman had her long hair tied in a beautiful Daoist bun. She was slender, with an exquisite face and a graceful waist. She sat atop a tall, blood-red scaled horse, her eyes fixed straight ahead, exuding composure and grandeur, displaying the demeanor of a disciple of a major sect.
The young man beside her also had an extraordinary bearing, and his gaze remained fixed on her.
Li Lan was slightly lost in thought. At this moment, he recalled many old stories from his time on Earth...
"Ok?"
The woman on horseback glanced at him slightly to the side, her delicate brows furrowing slightly as if he looked familiar... but she quickly shook her head; he was clearly just a beggar. She continued on her way.
"The Dao Palace has sent a lot of people this time. Elders have come, and even core disciples like these have come!"
Someone in the teahouse sighed.
"Does this person, fellow Daoist, recognize them?"
Other people asked questions.
"Of course, these two are the most outstanding geniuses of the Dao Palace. The woman is named Ling Xuewei, and the man is named Liu Guiyuan!"
The man who spoke took a sip of tea and continued, "Moreover, both of these people are from the Primordial Emperor Star!"
Primordial Emperor Star!
Upon hearing this, everyone in the teahouse was taken aback and hurriedly asked questions:
"It's from the Primordial Emperor Star? Wasn't that great cultivation star supposed to have disappeared long ago? Nobody knew it existed!"
"Yes, some people say that there is no longer a lineage of cultivation on this star. Even if there are still living beings, they can only be trapped in a corner of the star field and cannot connect with other star fields."
Faced with the crowd's discussion, the man simply smiled smugly and said, "You're all so ignorant!"
"Many years ago, many forces in various star systems joined forces to do one thing—search for the Primordial Emperor Star!"
"In this era, they used the remains of powerful beings from the ancestral star to set up an array, which indeed established a connection with the Primordial Emperor Star. Moreover, it was run multiple times, traversing space, forcibly plundering many beings from the Emperor Star. Those beings were scattered across the Ziwei, Beidou, and other major star regions. A large portion of them were divided up by various forces and taken as disciples, while some were scattered and their whereabouts are unknown..."
"Liu Guiyuan and Ling Xuewei are among the third batch of people who were guided to the Primordial Emperor Star in the Ziwei Star Region. They are considered the best among their batch, demonstrating extraordinary talent and possessing the qualities of a supreme being within the Dao Palace!"
Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized!
"I see……"
"Fellow Daoist, you are no ordinary person to know these top secrets!"
The crowd showered the burly man with praise, and the man was delighted to share as much information as he knew.
Meanwhile, beside the teahouse, Li Lan listened to the conversation and felt a moment of disorientation...
So that's how it is...
He had previously wondered why Zhou Xiang, an Earthling, would appear in the distant Ziwei Star Region. Now it seemed that it was the work of the upper echelons of the Ziwei Star Region and other star regions...
Are all the star systems searching for Earth?
Moreover, many more Earth creatures were swept into various star systems...
"That's fine too."
Li Lan suddenly muttered to himself, "This way, it will be easier for me to do things!"
"Beggar!"
At this moment, the teahouse owner spoke to him again, saying, "Seeing how pitiful you are, take it, take it!"
He then stuffed two taels of silver into Li Lan's hand, saying, "You're lucky to have met me!"
Silver is something ordinary people use, and it wasn't of much use to him. But seeing Li Lan looking so distraught, he felt a pang of sympathy for her.
Li Lan smiled and surprisingly didn't refuse, saying, "Thank you!"
Then he accepted the two taels of silver and headed towards Nantian Academy.
Along the way, Li Lan paid attention to collecting various information. Even without using his soul power, his hearing was extremely sharp. He could hear sounds from near and far, and after a little discernment, Li Lan confirmed that what the man in the teahouse said was true.
Many people from imperial stars have indeed been received by various star regions. After they arrived, they were treated as resources and divided up.
Among them, the best, like Ling Xuewei, became core disciples. Of course, there were also those with ordinary talent... For example, when Zhou Xiang and Li Lan last saw him, he was already taciturn and obviously had a very difficult time. He was even being sent away as food by Xuan Yuan Tong Xuan.
Li Lan bought a few steamed buns at the entrance of Nantian Academy and wandered around like a vagrant. Two days later, one day, Li Lan finally saw a familiar figure walking out of the academy!
"Zhou Xiang!"
Li Lan exclaimed excitedly.
Zhou Xiang was about to leave with two disciples from the Dao Hall when he suddenly heard someone calling him. He turned around in confusion and saw that the person calling him was a beggar. The beggar was dressed in rags and was holding two dry buns in his hand. He looked excited.
"You are……"
Zhou Xiang did not recognize the other person at first.
"It's me, Li Lan! My college classmate, have you forgotten me?"
Li Lan threw away the steamed bun in her hand and walked towards him.
Zhou Xiang was also taken aback for a moment, and said, "Li Lan?!"
……