Lingering Echoes

"Father, don't worry. Your daughter has scouted this many times; nothing will go wrong."

"As long as I collect a few more bottles of Li Chen, I will..."

"Who are you? I don't understand what you're saying. Don't, don't talk to me anymore..."

"Ah, ah! I don't want to die here, I want to go back, I want to go home..."

After the Taiyi Golden Glow, several discordant noises suddenly surged into the mind of Wu Ming, only to vanish in a flash. Only the final, shrill wail lingered, refusing to subside.

Is this... the memory of the Li Yao before its death?

Does slaying a Li Yao with a sword mean inheriting a portion of its memories? Yet, absorbing memories is almost equivalent to listening to the Li Yao recite its last words directly inside one's head... Doesn't this count as violating a taboo?

But this final strike on the Li Yao was clearly something the Immortal Guiding Envoy had gone to great lengths to have the three bosses come and finish off personally.

The youth gripped his Dharma sword tightly, remaining silent for a moment. It wasn't until Han Gang touched his own throat and said, in a low voice tinged with surprise, "Is the Dharma sword from Ranxiang Workshop really that powerful? There's no need to dwell on it; the lingering echoes of a Li Yao are beneficial, not harmful. I'll teach you the method to refine them once we return."

As he spoke, he beckoned behind him. Two black-clad, masked Immortal Guiding Envoys stepped forward quietly, each holding a porcelain bottle. They turned the mouths of the bottles toward the Li Yao's remains, and wisps of black smoke rose from the ground.

A moment later, only dried mud remained on the ground; not a trace of the Li Yao could be found.

Beside them, Zhang Miao wore a look of sorrow and bowed toward the ground.

However, Han Gang sighed, "It is too early to offer condolences now... Forget it, let's leave this place. The death of a Li Yao will only attract more Li Yao."

With that, Han Gang activated his movement technique again, dragging Wu Ming with the Solidification Array as they sped toward the direction lit by the Blazing Feather Flag.

They rode the wind and pierced through the fog, moving even faster than when they arrived. However, just as they were about to break through the mist and see the Blazing Feather Flag, Han Gang came to an abrupt halt, nearly causing Wu Ming to black out from the sudden jolt.

"Well now, you all truly have deep immortal affinity. On your first trip to the Moli Immortal Mansion, you run into such a coincidence!"

As he spoke, Han Gang stepped aside to clear the view. Not far ahead of the group, a young girl dressed in purple was slumped on the ground, covered in mud and blood, her right arm twisted at an unnatural angle... It was evident she had met with an accident here and was severely injured.

Upon seeing them, the girl's face lit up with surprise. She struggled to stand, calling out incessantly... but due to the Art-Sealed Wax Pill, her voice could not reach any of their ears at all.

However, the response the girl received was a fierce, heavy punch.

Han Gang's punch looked ordinary, but the faint flames upon his fist instantly evaporated the muddy moisture for dozens of meters around. The girl, bearing the brunt of the attack, was incinerated until not even bones remained!

"Whew..." After the firelight died out, Han Gang clearly showed a trace of fatigue. "This thing is dangerous; I won't leave it for you lot."

Wu Ming nodded slightly, though his brows could not help but furrow.

He was certainly not naive enough to truly mistake that girl they encountered for an ordinary human. In fact, in this Heavenly Absolute Immortal Mansion where the rule is [Do Not Speak to Strangers], even if one were to accidentally encounter fellow explorers, the first reaction should never be to rashly call out a greeting, but to retreat as far as possible to avoid misunderstandings!

This place is a true dark forest; anyone who does not respect this basic rule can be treated as a Li Yao! That purple-clad girl might have looked pitiful, but she was merely a Li Yao with a more sophisticated disguise, and therefore, all the more vicious.

It was just that this Li Yao girl seemed to have the exact same appearance as the one he had just slain with the Taiyi Golden Glow...

Han Gang said, "Once you lose your way in the Moli Immortal Mansion, you will never know a day of peace again... I once killed my own senior brother here with my own hands. Then, over the following ten years, I killed him seventeen more times. Next time we run into him, I can point him out to you."

Wu Ming could only respond with silence.

Han Gang's explanation immediately brought to mind concepts like instances, NPCs, and respawning... but at this moment, he felt no urge to make light of it.

The fundamental design of this Moli Immortal Mansion was truly beastly.

"Alright, we will see the Blazing Feather Flag soon. We will explain everything in detail once we return."

As he spoke, he noticed Liu Sanlang, who was walking beside them, suddenly tilt his head, a trace of struggle appearing on his face.

Seeing this, Yi Yi raised his eyebrows in surprise. He sighed, then slapped the back of Liu Sanlang's neck, knocking him unconscious. He then called over He Lu, who hovered a white talisman above Liu Sanlang's head; soon, wisps of gray mist were extracted.

Han Gang chuckled, "That third young master of the Liu Family actually has some skill—he knows how to read lips. It's a pity that his cleverness was his undoing. In the Moli Immortal Mansion, knowing more isn't always better."

While they spoke, two black-clad, masked figures used porcelain bottles to absorb the remaining remains of the Li Yao on the ground. Afterward, the group followed the guidance of the Blazing Feather Flag and quickly retreated from the Immortal Mansion without further incident.

Stepping back onto the soft, sandy soil of the Gray Plains, Wu Ming felt his heart lighten. Immediately after, a wave of exhaustion surged through his entire body!

It had been less than two hours since they left, and he had been dragged along by the Solidification Array the entire time, requiring no effort to walk and only using his full strength once to land a finishing blow. Yet, at this moment, it felt as if he had completed a full round of daily chores for the Gujian Sect...

It made him want to do another round immediately!

Unfortunately, his teammates were clearly unable to keep up with his pace. As soon as they exited the Immortal Mansion, Liu Sanlang and Zhang Miao collapsed, barely able to walk.

Yi Yi reached out to remove the wax pellets from everyone's ears and laughed, "Fatigue is inevitable. Being in the Moli Immortal Mansion causes one to be constantly tainted by Li Chen, draining the vital essence of the living world. This cannot be blocked by any technique or array; one can only manage their time and retreat in time. However, once you return here and use the incense bottles for daily recovery, you will soon be as good as new. Don't worry too much."

After a pause, Yi Yi clapped his hands and said, "For your first trip to the Immortal Mansion, your performance was better than I expected. Although you haven't been cultivating for long and your cultivation base is still lacking, you were able to follow orders and prohibitions, and your judgment of danger was sharp enough. It seems the Liu Family was right to push so hard for us to act as your protectors. We will not let you down; we will ensure you gain plenty from this Moli Immortal Mansion!"

"However, before we dream of the future, let us finish today's work. Please follow me back to the White Jade Pavilion to settle the harvest from this trip."

Not long after, in the courtyard of the White Jade Pavilion, the eight of them sat in a circle. Two porcelain bottles were placed in the center.

Yi Yi said, "These bottles contain the Li Chen collected this time. According to the rules, we split it fifty-fifty."

As he spoke, Yi Yi took one bottle into his arms and pushed the other toward Liu Sanlang.

Liu Sanlang did not decline. The ones who truly put in the effort to hire the Immortal Guiding Envoys from Luohuang Mountain were his family, not him. Therefore, the Li Chen harvested in this Immortal Mansion would naturally be returned to the family as a contribution.

So-called Li Chen is an extremely unique substance that exists only within the Moli Immortal Mansion. When it taints a human body, it acts as a sinister curse, causing one to unknowingly devolve into a non-human entity, eventually transforming into a Li Yao.

However, if extracted and collected in the correct way, it becomes a top-tier treasure. Many pills and magical artifacts require it, especially ancient pill formulas unearthed from Immortal Mansions, which have a massive demand for Li Chen.

The "correct way"... is to slay the Li Yao and plunder it from their corpses. Anything else—such as parts extracted from living people or directly absorbed from the environment within the mansion—does not count.

The Immortal Mansion is inherently dangerous, and one must fight Li Yao who were top-tier experts of their respective realms while alive. The difficulty of collecting Li Chen goes without saying. Thus, even though it is merely a product of a Qi-refining level Immortal Mansion, and even though the outskirts have been explored by tens of thousands of people over the past few hundred years, the price of Li Chen remains stubbornly high.

Of course, whether for the premier noble family of Wu Prefecture or the group of Immortal Guiding Envoys, no matter how high the price of Li Chen was, it was merely a side dish. What truly mattered was something else entirely.

After distributing the Li Chen, Yi Yi straightened his expression and said solemnly, "Regarding what follows, I need the three of you to guarantee that it will never be leaked. Naturally, there is no need for oaths or vows; we have our own ways to ensure nothing is disclosed, but I must inform you three in advance."

Having said this, he took a dark red booklet from his robes, upon which was written [Guili Art].

Yi Yi reached out and opened the cover, only to find that this thin booklet contained only a single page of content, consisting of about seventy or eighty characters.

Yet, these characters could not be read aloud. Even though they were clearly visible before one's eyes, it was as if they were separated by a thin veil; no matter how hard one tried, they could neither be spoken nor memorized... In an instant, Wu Ming realized that this was the method used to ensure nothing was leaked.

You could see it, comprehend it, and use it, but you could not convey it to outsiders.

In other words, it was a prohibition against second-hand distribution... As a veteran enthusiast of digital editions, Wu Ming had no objections to this and quickly immersed himself in the comprehension of the text.

The content of the Guili Art was extremely refined because, in essence, it only did one thing: refine the lingering echoes of the Li Yao.

That is to say, the dying wail of the girl in purple that had remained in Wu Ming's mind until now.

This process was so simple and rapid that by the time Wu Ming realized it, the sound in his mind had already faded into silence.

In its place, the mana within his body, as if fuel had been thrown onto a fire, instantly surged and grew significantly more vigorous!

Many thanks to Cai Bu Shi Qi Yue for the character donation! Thanks to Xie Xie Ni 23tv, Book Friend 20230404214320799, Scarecrow in a Trench Coat, Er Ri Jiu Ge, Ting Ge Hu Yu, and former Lingjian Sect Chief Ouyang Shang for their donations!

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