"Disciple Wang Muyun thanks Martial Uncle Mu for coming to our rescue!"
Wang Muyun looked delighted as she bowed toward the figure in the night sky.
"Mm. Little Muyun, you did well. I'll go slay this demon first..."
A flash of radiance streaked across the night sky. It vaguely revealed a jade-crowned Daoist brimming with high spirits, who glanced from afar at Wang Muyun's side before giving chase.
A demon like the Nightmare Deer Demon was bound to yield spoils after being slain. In particular, the demon crystal marrow in its forehead could be used to refine relatively rare illusion-type Dharma artifacts!
With an expert appearing, the people who had narrowly escaped death in the ruined temple finally felt a weight lift from their hearts. Overjoyed, they wept and celebrated their survival.
The feeling of being dominated by the Nightmare Deer Demon's terror just now had truly been unbearable!
"Everyone, tend to the wounded. Steward Qian, take out some of our antidote ointment. Even if someone was merely entangled by the demon vines, we absolutely cannot let down our guard!"
"Also, Old Zhong, Old Lin, and the Cai Family's Attendants—lead the men in gathering all the vines on the ground that were not burned. Later, we'll distribute them according to each party's contributions. Madam Cai, everyone, do you have any objections?"
Wang Muyun forcibly endured her exhaustion and the weakness brought by excessive depletion of spiritual power. Yet her gaze remained sharp as she stood amid the wrecked battlefield, looked around at everyone, and made arrangements.
"We have no objections!"
"We'll follow Daoist Wang's arrangements..."
The danger just now had been extreme. If Wang Muyun and Li Qingyun, who had suddenly broken through in the heat of battle, had not fought desperately, no one knew how many people would have died. How could the various groups dare refuse her arrangements now?
The Nightmare Deer Demon was a demon comparable to a Dao Foundation cultivator. Even the demon vines that had fallen from its body possessed some value. They lay everywhere now, and gathering them could barely make up for some of their losses.
"The Cai Family has no objections either!"
The Cai Family of Luoshui was clearly led by that noble young madam. Still shaken, her lovely face was deathly pale, but she managed to force out a smile in response, without losing the Cai Family of Luoshui's bearing.
Seeing Li Qingyun in the Daoist robes of Lingbao Temple, handsome and ethereal beyond compare, and recalling how he had drawn his bow and sent thunder and lightning raining across the sky with awe-inspiring might, Madam Cai could not help looking at him twice more.
Supported by two pretty maidservants, she gracefully walked over to Li Qingyun and Zhao Yifan. She curtsied elegantly, her tone growing several degrees gentler.
"I am Chu Hongyu. On behalf of the Cai Family, I thank you, young hero! We had also just returned from Lingbao Temple after praying for blessings, but unexpectedly encountered such a demon on the road home. The Cai Family was trapped in grave danger just now, and it was thanks to your Thunder Bow that we escaped..."
Li Qingyun smiled modestly and replied with refined courtesy, "Slaying demons and banishing devils, suppressing ghosts and bringing peace to the people—this is what cultivators like us ought to do. Why must Madam be so polite?"
A standard response from a righteous young hero.
He felt that Madam Cai's gaze seemed to carry a trace of unusual appreciation. She had supposedly come to thank him, yet her eyes had remained fixed on him the whole time.
As for Senior Brother Zhao standing beside him, Chu Hongyu had automatically ignored him.
Zhao Yifan sensed it as well. Already rather disheveled, he gave a dry laugh and simply went off to gather the demon vine fragments.
As the senior brother, his performance just now had been far less dazzling than his junior brother's. Zhao Yifan felt somewhat embarrassed.
Yet inwardly, he was smug with satisfaction. Look at my eye for talent—I knew long ago that Junior Brother Qingyun was no creature that could remain trapped in a pond!
During the fierce battle just now, Li Qingyun had broken through in the heat of combat, turning decay into wonder. He had branded a thunder seal onto an ordinary bow, and electric arrows had fallen like rain. His performance had been second only to Wang Muyun's!
"I must find a way to pull Qingyun into our Scripture Lecture lineage! And this trip down the mountain has been a huge loss. Nearly half the low-grade talismans and pills we prepared have been used up. Later, I'll have to argue on solid grounds and make Wang Muyun give us more demon vines..."
As Zhao Yifan gathered the demon vines from the ground, he occasionally looked toward Li Qingyun and Madam Cai, who were chatting together. A strange grin surfaced on his face.
Junior Brother, Junior Brother, little did you know that being more handsome and more capable brought more troubles too. You had to guard your Dao heart well!
"Young Hero Li, if you ever travel through Luoshui in the future, you must visit the Cai residence. Hongyu will certainly receive you properly!"
"Mm, Madam is most thoughtful. My spiritual power has been excessively depleted, so I must meditate and regulate my breathing for a while..."
After chatting for a few sentences, Li Qingyun tactfully saw her off.
Sitting cross-legged in meditation, Li Qingyun narrowed his eyes as he watched Madam Cai leave gracefully, somewhat disappointed.
Just now, he had spotted a jade pendant at her waist that looked rather familiar.
If nothing unexpected had happened, it should have belonged to that bastard He Xiao.
Chu Hongyu had gone up Lingbao Temple to pray for blessings and a child, yet when she came down the mountain, she had an extra jade pendant belonging to He Xiao!
Madam Cai loved handsome young men so much that one wondered what her husband thought about it.
"I hope that bastard He Xiao hasn't done anything unspeakable. Otherwise, if things blow up someday, it will also strike a blow against Lingbao Temple's reputation!"
Under the night curtain, Li Qingyun meditated while examining the mysterious Daoist effigy in his mind.
The rippling Dao pattern representing the thunder seal technique seemed to have become a little clearer. This showed that he had advanced considerably further along the path of thunder techniques.
"Life-and-death combat truly is one of the fastest ways to increase one's cultivation!"
He swallowed two Minor Grass Pills. With the meditation BUFF's enhancement, his spiritual power, more than half depleted, began recovering rapidly.
"Meow!"
Big Black Cat suddenly darted out from the side, carrying a dark green round object in its mouth.
It walked to Li Qingyun's feet and dropped it, then sat down proudly, casting a sidelong glance at its poop-scooping servant with an expression that clearly waited for praise.
"What dense demon aura!"
Li Qingyun looked toward the dark green sphere.
The object was roughly the size of a fist. Its demon aura was chilling, and its whole body was a deep, secluded green, transparent like a mirror's surface. Yet upon closer inspection, it seemed deep and hazy. Not only could one not see through it clearly, but one's mind would suddenly become dazed, as if being forcibly dragged into an illusion.
His heart leaped with joy. At once, he flicked his sleeve and lightly covered the object, secretly concealing its dense demon aura with the aura of his spiritual power before putting it away.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be one of the Nightmare Deer Demon's three eyes! I was wondering where Yuanbao had run off to. I thought this little beast had abandoned its master and fled for its life!"
"This eyeball must have been cut off by that Biyou Palace expert just now. The expert had been in a hurry to pursue and kill the demon, only for Yuanbao to steal it away..."
Worthy indeed of being the Fortune Cat I had personally bestowed!
This deer demon eyeball was absolutely the greatest harvest at present!
"Perhaps it can be used to refine an Illusion Pearl. The Nightmare Deer Demon's most formidable ability was not those demon vines, but its demon art that could easily trap people in nightmares!"
Having suddenly obtained such a treasure, Li Qingyun was beside himself with joy. He could not resist reaching out to rub the cat's head as a reward.
He secretly thought that even if following Senior Brother Zhao down the mountain yielded no further gains in Yinshan Town, this deer demon eyeball alone was already enough!
Materials capable of refining illusion-type Dharma artifacts were exceptionally rare. Even if he did not use it himself and sold it instead, he could earn a considerable sum of spirit stones.
He secretly held the Nightmare Eye Orb and sent his consciousness into the mysterious Daoist effigy space within his mind.
He wanted to test whether he could use this eyeball, which carried the power of illusions, to freeload an Illusion Dharma Seal!
If it worked, then his means of acquiring techniques in the future would no longer be limited to Daoist scriptures and technique manuals.
He silently recited and visualized for a long while, but the dark wall behind the mysterious Daoist effigy remained silent and still. No miracle appeared.
He sighed regretfully, feeling somewhat frustrated by the setback.
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