Zen Sea Observing Mist's Choice

"Shouldn't... shouldn't I have tested you?"

There was none of the chill and coldness Li Ling had shown when slaughtering Earth Wolf King Army soldiers in Immortal Burial Town. She added, "To join the Cangli Tribe, one must have a clean identity and upright character. Don't be angry, okay? You have so many magical artifacts on you, yet I never laid a finger on them, did I? If I'd attacked while pretending to faint earlier, you probably wouldn't have been very guarded, would you?"

"So when it comes to friends who have lived and died together, my character is... not too bad either."

"Oh, right. Why did you save me just now and drag me ashore? Do you like me?"

Li Weiyi was speechless and strode away.

He always felt there was something off about Li Ling, a familiarity he could not put into words. But her cultivation was too high for him to investigate. He only wanted to keep his distance from her.

"Don't go, you still haven't answered me! Only with someone carrying the bloodline of the Li people to lead the way can one safely pass through the Departed Spirit Mist Domain. Going deeper in is extremely dangerous," Li Ling said.

Li Weiyi had heard Zhao Zhizhuo mention this, but he had his reasons for returning to the Blood Sea. No matter how dangerous it was, he had to go.

If he did not return, everyone aboard the bronze ship could only wait for death.

Li Ling jogged after him. "I have to tell you the truth. After being struck by the Stone Monkey Flying Needles and rushing into that abandoned house where you were hiding, I really did intend to drag you aboard the pirate ship with me. But wasn't my analysis in Immortal Burial Town correct too? In that situation, the two of us would live together if we joined forces, and die together if we split apart."

"It doesn't matter anymore!"

Li Weiyi deliberately exposed his back to her, testing whether she truly had no interest in his magical artifacts.

She did not launch a sneak attack, which left Li Weiyi deeply puzzled. He could not guess at all why she had caught up to him.

Barefoot, Li Ling stepped over shattered rocks and thorns, keeping close to Li Weiyi's right side. "Back in Immortal Burial Town, you have to understand that anyone who fell into the kind of desperate situation I was in would have made the same choice. Besides, I only took you for a little thief who had deceived my brother and harbored ill intent."

"But things are different now. You really are quite a decent person."

"Let's be friends, okay? In the Cangli Tribe, I'll look after you. If we run into the same situation again, I'll let you go first and stay behind to cover the rear."

Li Weiyi stopped and stared at her.

Li Ling blinked her lively eyes, her lashes trembling. "You dragged me ashore, and you even saved the Cangli Tribe... Your character is absolutely beyond question. With your current Five Springs cultivation, I can help you find a respectable job in Jiu Li City and get you a beautiful wife. One of my cousins will turn sixteen in eight days. Come meet her with me at her coming-of-age ceremony and see whether you two hit it off. Entering the Tribal School would work too, though Jiu Li Dao Academy might be a little difficult!"

"Young Lady Li, please stop following me. I've already felt your goodwill. I still prefer your cold and aloof appearance. How about you change back?"

Li Weiyi truly could not tell how much truth and falsehood lay in her words. He secretly decided that once he found Senior Brother and the others, he absolutely could not go to the Cangli Tribe. Thinking of the glance Li Ling had given him from the rooftop, and the way she had killed people as easily as cutting melons and vegetables, he found her current behavior profoundly unreal.

As for Gao Huan...

He was a Pure Immortal Body. The Cangli Tribe should not mistreat him.

Li Ling said, "Are you heading for the Blood Sea Coffin Dock? Are your companions all over there? Those magical artifacts of yours... you didn't get them all from opening Blind Coffins, did you?"

Whoosh!

Li Weiyi mobilized his spiritual power and shot away at top speed.

"That impatient already?"

Blue Mist Light Traces flowed around Li Ling's feet as she chased after him even faster.

One chased while the other fled, racing dozens of miles.

Li Weiyi slowed down and discovered that his surroundings were gradually becoming strange. Many motionless humanoid figures had appeared in the forest, standing amid the mist and turning their heads to stare at him.

There was no life force on them. Some stood by the riverbank, while others were among the bushes.

It was too eerie. A chill crept across Li Weiyi's back.

"Stop wandering around. If you go any farther, even I might not be able to bring you back."

Li Ling reached out and grabbed him.

Li Weiyi was puzzled. "When you go to the Blood Sea for Coffin Retrieval, don't you leave by following the Sui River?"

Seeing that Li Weiyi was finally willing to speak calmly after running into a wall, Li Ling could not help smiling. "How could it be that simple? The Departed Spirit Mist Domain may only be two hundred miles wide, but it is one of the most notorious forbidden zones in all of Lingxiao Shengjing. The space inside is chaotic and constantly changing."

"Following the Sui River won't take you to the Blood Sea. It will only lead you to the even more dangerous Netherworld of the Departed."

"Within the Jiu Li Tribe, only the Netherlight Guide Envoys—the disciples of the nine priests, fewer than a hundred in total—can find a route through the Departed Spirit Mist Domain."

"You?" Li Weiyi asked.

"Mm!"

Li Ling nodded proudly. "Every year, many people lose their way in the Departed Spirit Mist Domain and the Netherworld of the Departed. Yesterday, we encountered two female Lost Travelers. One of them was even a Pure Immortal Body."

"What did they look like?" Li Weiyi hurriedly asked.

Li Ling said, "A Pure Immortal Body is naturally beautiful as a celestial maiden, but like Gao Huan, she bore no traces of cultivation. The other one wore red, with a White Bone Wind Chime tied around her waist."

"Where are they?" Li Weiyi asked.

Li Ling had been watching Li Weiyi's expression closely. She smiled. "I knew it. Those two demon women who had my brother so bewitched that his soul was utterly enthralled are with your group. One test, and it all came out! You must have obtained some extraordinary treasure, right? Otherwise, why would two people in a row undergo transformation into Pure Immortal Bodies?"

Li Weiyi suddenly understood. He somewhat grasped why she had caught up to him and probed, "You're not a Pure Immortal Body, are you? I can sense that although your skin is flawless and you possess a Spiritually Transformed outer shell, you are fundamentally different from the Young Tribe Leader and Gao Huan. But I can't say exactly where the difference lies."

Li Weiyi's words wounded Li Ling. After hesitating for a long while, she finally said bitterly, "I can only be considered a Half-Immortal Body. I failed to complete the full transformation. The fundamental difference between a Half-Immortal Body and a Pure Immortal Body lies in the bones. I have only flesh and skin, but no Immortal Bone."

Li Weiyi felt that if she drank Golden Crow Blood, she would most likely be able to transform into a Pure Immortal Body.

But did she truly see him as a friend after they had lived and died together?

Before seeing through her, Li Weiyi could not treat her as a friend.

Li Ling said with great sincerity, "I'll take you to the Blood Sea's shore. Without my help, you won't get there! Do you see these departed spirits? They are merely the weakest kind, with almost no aggression. But if you encounter a blood-colored vicious soul, or a baleful demon like the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine, your chances of surviving will be infinitesimal."

"What conditions?" Li Weiyi asked.

Li Ling said, "No conditions. I only ask that you no longer hold any resentment in your heart... Mm, consider it what I owe you in Immortal Burial Town."

Li Weiyi was skeptical. "Fine! If you take me to the Blood Sea, the grudges between us will be wiped clean. I, Xie Jin, keep my word. Which way?"

Li Ling suddenly sat down on a moss-covered rock, covering the wound on her lower abdomen. "My injuries are too severe. I'm afraid I can't walk anymore."

Li Weiyi carried Li Ling onward through the mist domain.

Her figure was slender, yet she was exceptionally heavy, and...

"You weren't hit by the Stone Monkey Flying Needles at all!" Li Weiyi could feel none of the stiffness in her body—only softness and elasticity. Whether against his hands or pressed to his back.

With one hand, Li Ling carried the nether lamp; with the other, she looped an arm around Li Weiyi's neck. Her voice was crisp and pleasant, yet laced with languid ease. "I was! But I carried secret medicine. After taking it, the Stone Poison was cured."

"Is there a single truthful word out of your mouth?" Li Weiyi asked.

Li Ling said, "My master said that when a girl is alone out in the world, she must learn to protect herself. Tell people only seventy percent of the truth, and give only thirty percent of your heart when emotions stir."

The nether envoy guiding the way truly had real skill. The route was extremely winding, sometimes requiring long detours. Yet from beginning to end, they encountered no danger. Just as Li Weiyi was nearly losing his sense of direction, he faintly heard the sound of waves by his ear.

They quickened their pace and soon emerged from the mist forest, their view opening wide in an instant.

Upon reaching the shore, a bloody, rotten stench rushed straight at them.

Countless coffins floated upon the blood-colored sea, piled in heaps large and small like mountains.

Paper Money, empty coffins, and shattered bones lay everywhere along the shore. In the distance, dark mist stretched endlessly, obscuring the boundary between sea and sky—and naturally, the Bronze Ship was nowhere to be seen.

Several dozen zhang to their right stood an ancient, ruined ferry crossing. Its blue-stone archway carved with dragons still towered high. A long, straight stone pier extended from the ferry crossing into the depths of the sea, vanishing into the mist.

Li Weiyi set Li Ling down, and a powerful surge of joy rose in his heart. He was about to see Senior Brother and the others again. Senior Brother could be considered the only family he had left in this world.

Yet at the same time, an urgent desire to grow stronger arose within him. Otherwise, after bringing the Research Team Members off the ship, how would they survive? If he went to the Cangli Tribe, he would be left with the stifling feeling of being completely at Li Ling's mercy—the frustration of living under another's roof.

If he possessed the strength of Seven Springs now, or had even broken through the Wind Palace and Ancestral Field, then not only would Li Ling be unable to do anything to him, even the elders of the Cangli Tribe would likely seek him out as talent and treat him as they treated Gao Huan.

Splash!

Li Weiyi rushed toward the ferry crossing, boarded the pier, and sped toward the deep sea.

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

She hurriedly lowered her voice, not daring to speak loudly. She stopped the instant she reached the edge of the ferry crossing.

Whenever her clansmen came to the Blood Sea Coffin Dock for Coffin Retrieval, they had to scatter Paper Money, light incense and candles, and offer tributes. Not a single rite could be omitted. Most importantly, they could not make loud noise, much less set foot on the pier or venture deep into the Blood Sea.

The clan elders had warned them that the Otherworldly Coffins drifting into the Blood Sea Coffin Dock were either baleful and bizarre, or extraordinary. The overwhelming majority were anything but normal.

The slightest carelessness could awaken something beyond their ability to provoke.

She had heard far too many stories about the Blood Sea Coffin Dock. Watching Li Weiyi vanish into the mist, she did not dare follow him and asked, "Senior, should we pursue him?"

Splash!

Li Ling's back burned as blood mist spread outward. A nearly jade-like white skeleton stepped out from within her body.

Zen Sea Observing Mist's long hair fluttered in the wind. A little flesh had already grown upon her bones. Gazing into the sinister, gray coffin sea, she sighed. "Forget it!"

Li Ling had lost a great deal of Blood Qi. Her face was pale, and she appeared somewhat weak. "This junior doesn't understand. Back on his back, you had such a perfect opportunity. Why didn't you make a move, Senior?"

"Because I hesitated!"

Zen Sea Observing Mist had no way to explain too much to her.

If she forcibly took Li Weiyi's blood and soul spirit to complete the Yang Marriage Ritual, then in their relationship going forward, she would have a chance to occupy the stronger position. It would be as though Li Weiyi had married into her family.

That was the situation she most wanted to see!

But if Li Weiyi's cultivation surpassed hers in the future, the backlash would be terrifying as well.

And for her to lower herself and beg Li Weiyi to give up a large amount of his blood and soul spirit to complete the Yang Marriage Ritual—she simply could not get past that hurdle in her heart.

So-called "marrying yang" was bloodline energy unique to that ancient Gu Clan. It allowed The Departed to return to the Yang Realm and live a second life, walking the path of cultivation anew.

The price was becoming the wife or husband of a descendant of that ancient Gu Clan.

Before the ritual was completed, The Departed's will took precedence.

Thus, Zen Sea Observing Mist could choose to forcibly complete the Yang Marriage Ritual, but Li Weiyi could not. In that tomb aboard the Bronze Ship, she had forced herself on him and already implanted a strand of her soul consciousness into the center of Li Weiyi's brow. Yet the ritual had only been half completed before Li Weiyi broke free and escaped.

Likewise, the Guardian Wives and Guardian Husbands sought by Gu Clan descendants in infancy could only be chosen according to the wishes of the Guardian Wife or Guardian Husband.

But once the ritual was complete, the Gu Clan descendant would possess greater authority.

For example, if a Gu Clan descendant died, the one who had married yang must die. But if the one who had married yang perished, the Gu Clan descendant would suffer very little consequence.

For another example, the one who had married yang had to remain within a certain distance of the Gu Clan descendant. The distance they could leave only increased accordingly as both parties' cultivation rose.

To reverse life and death, the price paid naturally could not be small.

Zen Sea Observing Mist possessed the ambition to reverse life and death, then climb once more to the peak of cultivation. But she would have to be constrained by Li Weiyi, which ran contrary to her pride and ambition.

"Perhaps I can try becoming friends with him first, to see whether he is truly worthy of being entrusted with my fate. When the time is ripe, I can speak openly and sincerely with him. To be husband and wife in name, yet true friends or allies in reality—would that not be a better way to help each other?" Zen Sea Observing Mist thought of a compromise.

So far, Li Weiyi had left her with a fairly good impression.

With Li Weiyi, she had already been branded as the White Bone Demon. Once that first impression took root, it would be hard for them to get along amicably again. She needed a new identity, and that was one reason she had chosen Li Ling as her vessel.

As for Qi Shanshan, Zen Sea Observing Mist had left behind a strand of soul intent that opened up her Language Wisdom. There should not be any holes in the disguise.

"Tap! Tap! Tap..."

Rapid footsteps suddenly sounded from the forest.

A moment later, three figures appeared at the edge of the Sea of Blood. Yan Qingqing was at the front. Relying on her peerless sense of smell, she had tracked the path Li Weiyi and Li Ling had taken and found this place.

Shi Jiuzhai had issued a death order. They had no other choice. No matter how dangerous the Departed Spirit Mist Domain was, they had to brave it.