When Wu Ming opened his eyes, all he saw was a ray of sunset, its colors transformed by the Gray Plains, quietly shining through the window of the elegant room onto his senior sister's profile, outlining it with an amber halo. Her eyes were closed as she peacefully dozed, her long lashes trembling in the breeze, seeming to shimmer.
She was still seated across the dining table, still sitting ramrod straight, the very model of decorum, still dressed in plain white with not a single ornament... Yet at that moment, it was as though all creation was lending her its splendor.
The sight left Wu Ming staring, stunned.
There should've been a CG here...!
The waves in his heart seemed to make a sound, rousing Zhu Ying across from him.
"You're awake?" Zhu Ying opened her eyes and smiled gently. "You were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to disturb you."
Wu Ming sat up straight too and shook his head. "Looks like I'll have to work overtime tonight to catch up."
"Remember to balance work and rest. Those were your words to me before you left."
"But working overtime makes me happy!"
"Yes, yes." Zhu Ying sighed helplessly. "Anyway, you've always had your own ideas about cultivation, so I won't say much. I've written down everything you need. Just make sure to follow the instructions as you cultivate. I'll report back to Master about the Immortal Mansion. You should be careful on your end, too."
Before she could finish, Wu Ming couldn't help exclaiming, "Senior Sister, why does that sound like you're about to leave?"
Zhu Ying nodded. "I am. I mainly came to check on you. Now that I know you're safe and bursting with energy, I can rest easy."
"I only promised today that I'd properly introduce you to the people from Luohuang Mountain."
Zhu Ying looked a little nervous. "Then there's no need. I... don't really like making small talk with strangers."
Wu Ming had been about to say more, but then he remembered that when Senior Sister had gone down the mountain on Master's orders to hunt demons, she'd spent almost the entire time shut off from everyone, going it alone. If she hadn't met Su Qiluo, who'd forced a little social interaction into the mix, she might have become so immersed in her art that she'd forgotten the world around her.
And since that was simply her nature, there was no need to force her.
Some people were born to be lone wolves!
"Then I'll see you off, Senior Sister."
"No need."
"At least let me walk you to Qingluan Post Station and watch you board the Imperial Carriage. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll have to buy a standing ticket back."
Zhu Ying still seemed reluctant. "...I knew it would be expensive before the post station was built, but I didn't expect the trip from Yan Mountain to here to cost that much."
"It's all going on Liu San's tab anyway."
"Taking advantage of an Aristocratic Clan... never mind. You're about to break through the Immortal Mansion, which is a great Immortal Fate for the Liu Family. I was being foolish to fret over a little daily expense."
After settling the bill, Wu Ming headed toward the towering Golden-Red Parasol Tree in town with his senior sister. They chatted about this and that along the way, and just as they reached the post station and waved goodbye, Wu Ming suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, I still have to thank you, Senior Sister."
"?"
"Thank you for diligently cultivating that civil engineering technique I left you these past few days..."
The origins of the Wuting Divine Craft Manual weren't easy to explain, so when Wu Ming had left the technique behind, he'd simply claimed that he'd reverse-engineered it by observing the craftsmen at construction sites in his daily life.
That story was easy enough to sell to Senior Sister Ling Xi, but getting Zhu Ying to accept it was a whole different level of difficulty.
Wu Ming had originally planned to go through Master and have the old man pass the technique on for him. But before he could put that plan into action, this trip to the Immortal Mansion had taken up all his energy, leaving him no time to spare.
He hadn't expected Senior Sister to actually not care that the technique he'd left her was completely untested, and to simply start cultivating it because he'd said so!
That trust in her junior brother was genuinely moving!
Zhu Ying looked a little surprised at his words, then lifted her chin slightly and snorted. "I don't have time to bother with your nonsense..."
As they spoke, the Qingluan overhead cried out, urging passengers to board the carriage. Tickets couldn't be refunded for latecomers, so Zhu Ying said no more. She quickly flashed up to a Wutong Branch, leaving only her petite silhouette in Wu Ming's sight.
Wu Ming could only sigh.
"As expected of Senior Sister. Her mouth's even harder than her chest."
She might have complained aloud, but the system notifications Wu Ming had received over the past few days didn't lie. In just ten days, his eldest senior sister had already contributed more than four hundred Spirit Crystals in tuition...
After seeing Zhu Ying off, Wu Ming had to return to White Jade Pavilion alone and rejoin his companions.
When they heard Zhu Ying wasn't coming, Yi Yi and the others were a little disappointed, but they didn't dwell on it. After all, the top priority now was Moli Immortal Mansion; everything else was trivial. Zhang Miao, though, was genuinely crestfallen, as if she'd missed out on a delicious extra helping.
"Hey, Wu Ming, next time Sister Zhu Ying comes, you have to bring me along!"
Wu Ming sneered. "Bring you along to feast? Dream on! Senior Sister and I are as pure as driven snow. My filial devotion might go bankrupt, but it'll never go bad!"
"Aw, fine." Zhang Miao lowered her head in disappointment, then glanced at her husband. "...That works, I guess."
Wild Sanlang sighed deeply. "Why don't we talk about the real business instead?"
The real business, naturally, had everything to do with Moli Immortal Mansion.
Their great victory that afternoon had certainly lifted everyone's spirits, but there was still plenty to review and plan for afterward. None of them had the luxury of taking a break.
In the secret chamber beneath the small courtyard, Yi Yi said, "As for Qinghe Village, I'm ashamed to admit that over the years, we've gone in and out more than twenty times, sometimes charging in openly, sometimes sneaking in. Yet this is the first time we've learned it was called Qinghe Village."
He Lu sighed. "Even in the books at Tianlu Platform in Qizhen Pavilion on the immortal mountain, the name of that village was never recorded. I'm afraid that in the past few hundred years, only a handful of people have learned its true name."
Yi Yi asked, "So what now? Do we explore deeper, or...?"
Wu Ming answered without hesitation. "Of course we pull back! Before the next Tribulation of Lost Li erupts, we should treasure our current ignorance of the second level—it's an inexhaustible vein of ore. After we deciphered Qinghe Village's true name this time, the Tribulation of Lost Li vanished from the three of us on the spot. We can be fairly sure the mechanism can be reused... and we have no reason not to take advantage of it."
Simply put, based on Wu Ming's current theory, the group only needed to venture into the second level once every ten days. By absorbing remnants and unlocking new knowledge, they should be able to reset the Tribulation of Lost Li again and again.
It was a mechanism that seemed absurdly simple, but Wu Ming was utterly certain: Moli Immortal Mansion really was that absurdly simple!
The normal way to clear this Immortal Mansion should have been to pool the efforts of the masses, unraveling it step by step and pushing forward bit by bit. But Wu Ming and the others were blazing a different trail, trying to take on the work of the masses by force with a small elite team.
This sort of unconventional playstyle had never been part of Immortal Moli's design. And whenever something fell outside the scope of the original design, it was always where designers did their utmost to cut corners. That was why official main quests had always been carefully designed, every step fitting neatly into place. But once players stepped outside the main quest and took a crooked path, they could suddenly go anywhere and do anything.
Just then, Zhang Miao asked, "Come to think of it, if our theory is right and the puzzles in Moli Immortal Mansion were originally meant to encourage the masses to solve them, and we've more or less confirmed that guess, could we announce it to everyone and get more people to help us clear the way, reducing the risks...?"
Before she could finish, Wild Sanlang shook his head and cut her off. "Miaomiao, don't be so naive! If you announced this to the world, you'd first be letting down the envoys from Luohuang Mountain! The rewards might have been ours alone, but you want to share them with everyone. Even if you and I are feeling generous, what gives us the right to be generous on behalf of the envoys—or Luohuang Mountain?"
Yi Yi smiled, his expression somewhat inscrutable, but didn't argue.
The question of who owned the rewards from an Immortal Mansion had always been a thorny one. The bloodshed it had caused over the centuries was beyond counting.
Ordinary Immortal Mansions strictly limited the number of people allowed inside and how often they could enter. So, under the supervision of the Sanqing Immortal Sect, the various sects could reach an agreement beforehand and then send people in to explore.
But Moli Immortal Mansion was completely unrestricted, without even a gate to its grounds... Expecting the Qi Refiners milling about here, along with the hundreds of sects and Aristocratic Clans behind them, to reach an agreement was pure fantasy! Even the Sanqing Immortal Sect might not be able to keep everyone in line here, let alone a few Qi Refiners from Luohuang Mountain!
If they really announced Wu Ming's plan to the world, there'd likely be a river of blood around the Immortal Mansion the very next day. The day after that, the density of Li Yao inside the mansion would multiply, becoming an even more insurmountable barrier for those who came later.
Wu Ming added, "You should only publish a first-clear guide after you've actually cleared it first. Otherwise, no one will believe you. You'll just invite pointless flame wars, and if someone can't even copy the guide correctly, they might turn around and blame you."
"Take absorbing remnants, for example. Suppose some idiot reads the guide without understanding it and forcibly absorbs the remnants, only to lose his mind and turn into a Li Yao. What would you do if his family and friends carried his coffin and wore mourning clothes as they caused a scene outside our courtyard every day?"
Hearing this, Han Gang laughed. "It's rare for anyone to cause trouble in front of Luohuang Mountain's disciples."
Wu Ming laughed too. "Maybe it's rare in Qiongzhou, but who says the troublemakers can't come from out of town? Maybe they weren't really looking for justice in the first place."
Those words sent a chill through Han Gang's heart.
Luohuang Mountain might be the leading immortal sect in Qiongzhou, but Moli Immortal Mansion wasn't its private property. There had always been plenty of Dao Seeds from top-tier sects in other provinces here in Gray Plains Town!
If some top-tier immortal sect really didn't want Luohuang Mountain to gain the upper hand in the struggle over this innate treasure... there were plenty of dirty tricks they could pull.
So Wu Ming's warning really couldn't be taken lightly.
"Anyway," Wu Ming said, "we'll stick to the plan and keep farming Li Yao around the perimeter. That way, we can fill in the gaps in our understanding of Moli Immortal Mansion while also using the remnants mechanism to improve our cultivation as quickly as possible. Since ancient times, people who refused to take shortcuts always ended up regretting it, even while stubbornly insisting they hadn't."
Thanks to Dream of Cain, Eat Well Sleep Well, and Starfall Expanse for the tips!
Reader group: 1046475706
Before you continue