Seeing Li Qinglin suddenly return to normal, the young master’s expression changed slightly. “You... how are you fine?”
Li Qinglin spat out a mouthful of water and said, “That wine was wrapped in my true energy in my throat, so it never went down. I pretended to be poisoned just to see what that monster would say while I was confused…” He paused for a moment, feeling a bit annoyed, and continued, “I didn’t expect this jade pendant to be so effective against monsters. It caused too much of a commotion, which wasn’t my intention.”
Outside, the Taoist nun pressed her lips together. This change had twists and turns that she never expected.
“No wonder the master said to seek the truth in the world. Human hearts are so unpredictable; it’s not something that can be understood through secluded training in the mountains.” She thought for a moment and murmured to herself, “The depth of Li Qinglin’s schemes makes it more likely that he was behind this incident.”
As if responding to the nun’s thoughts, voices came from outside the manor. A few horses galloped in, charging straight into the courtyard.
Seeing the leader of the group, the young master was taken aback and quickly saluted, “Commoner pays respects to the County Governor Wang.”
County Governor Wang hurriedly dismounted, pushing the young master aside and kneeling on one knee. “I am Wang He, paying respects to the Second Prince and Princess Zhaoyang.”
The entire manor fell silent, and the young master’s face turned pale.
Li Qingjun sneered, “You’re not here to support the people of this farm, are you? It’s impressive that you could bother the county governor to come here personally!”
Wang He wiped the sweat from his brow. “Princess, you misunderstand. I don’t know this person. I only heard someone mention that they saw the two of you at the city gate in the evening. I happened to have urgent matters to discuss with you, so I came here specifically.”
“Oh?” Li Qinglin asked, “What urgent matters?”
“The Crown Prince…” Wang He hesitated, then bowed deeply. “Last night, the Crown Prince was assassinated and died.”
Li Qinglin’s pupils slightly contracted, and Li Qingjun’s face turned as white as a sheet.
In the face of such a major event, the matters of the farm were no longer worth mentioning. The young master didn’t wait for the governor to take charge and quickly revealed everything like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
The farmhand who had died for no reason was actually killed by the corpse bug monster that drained his life force. The manor owner had issued a bounty to catch ghosts, but he never considered that it was the work of his own wife.
So the manor owner wouldn’t have died… if only he hadn’t had a troublesome son.
This meant that the strange happenings in this place involved both monsters and human actions; everyone’s previous judgments were wrong.
Of course, this matter was no longer the concern of the Li siblings. Their minds were completely occupied by the news of the Crown Prince’s death, and they rode back to the capital overnight. Along the way, they were no longer just three people; the county had sent troops to escort them, clearly indicating that with the Crown Prince dead, the Second Prince could not be allowed to meet with any accidents.
Because the king only had these two sons.
It was no longer a time for training; it seemed that Li Qinglin would never have the chance to travel alone again.
Throughout the journey, the expressions of the Li siblings were very serious, losing any mood for trivial talk. On a larger scale, it meant that the South Li Kingdom was about to face a change, and on a smaller scale, they had lost their brother.
Especially for Li Qinglin, it must have been a particularly complicated mix of emotions.
Qin Yi rode silently beside them.
In contrast to the Li siblings, the Crown Prince felt distant to him; he didn’t know the person, so what feelings could he have? However, the incident at the farm had a significant impact on him.
Such a beautiful woman was merely a painted skin, hiding a disgusting corpse bug inside. This was what the cultivators referred to as a red-skinned skeleton. No matter how much trouble it caused, it was just a shell.
To be able to see beyond appearances and not be fooled by them was surely a necessary step on the path to greatness.
But for the sake of such a shell, a son killed his father… and in the end, even tender feelings couldn’t resist the temptation of a piece of jade.
So, which is more malicious, the monster or the human heart?
He lagged behind the group, quietly conversing with Liu Su.
“With your level of cultivation, you shouldn’t try to solve such puzzles. You might think you understand, but when a true femme fatale appears before you, can you really stay unaffected? It’s easy to say but hard to do,” Liu Su said lazily. “Anyway, after seeing enough of these things, it’s all the same. Once you live for a few thousand years, you won’t be moved by such matters anymore. You can understand without participating.”
Qin Yi quietly asked, “If understanding without participating is the case, then what is the essence of cultivating immortality?”
“Returning… oh, the essence of cultivating immortality is simply to ask your own heart.”
“How do you ask your heart?”
“Once you’ve rolled through the world, you’ll know,” Liu Su replied. “If you hide in the Immortal Trace Mountain your whole life, thinking you’re out of the world, that’s a huge mistake. If you’ve never entered the world, how can you talk about being out of it?”
“So back then, you actually encouraged me to chase after girls?”
Liu Su laughed. “If you’ve never experienced anything, don’t rashly speak of the great path. That’s all there is to it. Some things don’t require personal experience, but you should at least have seen them. Do you think I have malicious thoughts about everything? I’ve just seen a lot; it’s nothing special. Life is but a hundred years; what’s there to take seriously in the mundane world?”
Qin Yi surprisingly didn’t argue back but instead said earnestly, “I humbly accept your teachings.”
Liu Su was taken aback for a moment and then shifted the topic. “Since you’ve seen a monster that can wear a skin, aren’t you curious about the knowledge of monster cultivation?”
“Because I know you won’t be able to resist telling me yourself.”
“……” Liu Su gritted its teeth in frustration. “I won’t tell you even if I die.”
“Oh.” Qin Yi casually said, “Anyway, a jade pendant can turn someone into a ghostly figure. This lady might not even be as powerful as that monster tiger.”
Liu Su sneered, “You don’t know anything!”
After saying that, it quickly spilled out all the knowledge of monster cultivation.
Monsters in cultivation, the lowest level is called the Spirit Awakening Stage. This is when animals and plants have just begun to develop basic intelligence and have some strange abilities. This roughly corresponds to the human Qi Refining Stage, which also has nine levels of distinction. When the Spirit Awakening Stage reaches perfection, their intelligence is no different from that of humans, and they are called Spirit Awakening.
“Of course, most small monsters at the Spirit Awakening Stage are wild and lack the diverse means that humans have. Overall, they are not as good as human Qi Refining cultivators, and even powerful human warriors are not afraid of them; they can only scare ordinary people,” Liu Su added. “Just look at that spider monster.”
“Uh…” Qin Yi scratched his head. “So, that lady has already passed this stage?”
“No, she is stuck at the perfection of this stage,” Liu Su said with a cold laugh. “Don’t underestimate monsters at this stage; they can often claim to be immortals just like human Qi Refining peak cultivators. The fact that Lady Zhang was turned into that way by Li Qinglin with a piece of jade shows that this jade is very special.”
Qin Yi nodded thoughtfully.
When a monster reaches the perfection of the Spirit Awakening Stage, it can attempt to break through to the Transformation Stage, which is when it can normally take on human form. There are countless small monsters stuck at this point, each trying various chaotic methods to break through. Lady Zhang using a painted skin to impersonate a human is one such method; it’s a desperate choice when she hasn’t yet broken through to the Transformation Stage.
“You can also see monsters that have peeled off human skin to refine themselves, or those that have tried to transform but ended up looking grotesque. A face with green skin and sharp teeth is obviously a monster,” Liu Su added. “Lady Zhang’s method is relatively mild. She absorbs human life force, hoping to solidify her form completely, but unfortunately, her methods are too crude; most wild monsters are like this.”
“I see.” Qin Yi sighed. “So, if I see a monster that has truly transformed to look like a human, that would be a powerful monster?”
“If it has truly broken through to the Transformation Stage, it will indeed look no different from a human on the surface. However, it often retains some characteristics of its original form that are hard to hide, like a tail? Or it may have a strong monster aura that requires many methods to conceal. If stimulated, it might even reveal its true form,” Liu Su explained.
“But even with slight concealment, it can blend into human society and is rarely exposed. Compared to your limited understanding of Qi Refining and Foundation Building, this can also be considered as having built a foundation.”
“What about the next level?”
“The next level?” Liu Su sneered. “With your current abilities, just seeing it means you won’t survive. What are you even asking for?”
“……”
(End of Chapter)