The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 264

“Woohoo! Finally home!”

Li Xun noticed she’d slipped in a touchy word. And used it so naturally that, even if he was in the pits of gloom, it still made something twitch inside him.

But his attention was quickly pulled back to what was right in front of him.

Ugh, just getting home and opening the door is such a pain!

The Mist-Hidden Pavilion used a great divine ability to forge its own world, carving out a blessed land spanning several thousand li. Big enough to be considered a small country if it were down in the mortal world.

Still, tucked away in the endless southeastern forest, it’s just a drop in the ocean.

It's true that, through some clever, secretive methods, it pulled tens of thousands of spiritual veins from the southeastern forest, weaving together countless qi streams until it became one with the entire forest.

As long as you understood the necessary restrictions, and used the Mist-Hidden Pavilion as your anchor point, you could reach any corner of the southeastern forest in the span of a single breath. It was truly a matter of “think it, and you’re there,” mysterious and effortless.

Still, even wonders like this had their limits.

Everything depended on the Pavilion’s subtle, intricate restrictions. Only by using its central control core to direct the flow of primordial qi could any of these techniques be carried out.

That quietly set down two requirements: a deep mastery of complex restrictions. And a level of cultivation far beyond the ordinary.

Without the first, you might as well be a cat pawing at tangled strings, totally lost. Without the second, it would be nearly impossible to sense and guide the fine threads of primordial qi running through that impossibly vast forest... much less use them to get where you wanted.

As for Shui Die Lan, that went without saying. Her cultivation might shake the heavens, but she was a complete idiot when it came to restrictions. The fact that she managed to learn the basics of going in and out from Li Xun was nothing short of a miracle.

The designs Li Xun could throw together in an instant would take her a small eternity. Finishing one in half an incense time would mean she could count her blessings.

Li Xun, on the other hand, fell short in cultivation. He was incredibly close to the reached the True Person realm. But he was still just one step shy.

Because of that gap, he had to spend a short while calming his mind before he could pick out and control his target amid the chaotic primordial qi.

And in that short while, someone could kill him a hundred times over.

This flaw became glaringly clear after Luo Moshi’s successful sneak attack on Shui Die Lan.

Looks like next time someone’s on my tail, I’d better not rush into things...

Li Xun rubbed his chin, lost in thought. Shui Die Lan knew exactly what he was worrying about. But the way he fussed over every little detail was starting to get on her nerves.

“Hurry up and open the door already. What are you overthinking for?”

“I can’t afford to be careless…”

“My ass! At the rate you’re progressing, give it another year or so and you’ll be a True Person. By then you’ll just think it and it’ll be done. As for me… hmph. Ever since Zhong Yin died, anyone in this world who could chase me to the point I can’t breathe won’t be born for another hundred thousand years.”

“He’s not exactly dead…” Li Xun said, half-amused, half-annoyed. Then, his heart skipped a beat.

Those casually spoken words seemed to brush against a profound and elusive secret. But the glimmer of insight vanished as quickly as it came.

Li Xun tried to call it back but couldn't. So he just went on, “Okay, sure, we screwed up and we learned our lesson; we'll be more careful. But that's not the point! What really kills you isn't the attack itself, it's having an enemy who's always watching. Can you promise that every time we open a gate, they won't sense it and then... hang on, right, I've got it!"

He slapped his palm down. "Luo Moshi. That guy planned all of this."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. If you were wounded and someone like Luo Moshi was hunting you down, and of course at that moment you would not have my situation to worry about, what would you do? You would run as far as you could. Or…"

"I would run into the Mist-Hidden Pavilion." Shui Die Lan caught on instantly, and a different kind of smile appeared on her face. “From there, he can get a sense of the entrance. And if we’re lucky, maybe even kick the door open!”

Li Xun knew forbidden arts inside and out, so he saw much deeper into it.

"That is why they brought in Daoist Yu Lan. They did not need to kick the door open or anything like that. As long as they could catch the flow of primordial qi you stirred up and the structure of your qi mechanisms, it would be the same as handing Yu Lan the patterns she needs to run her calculations. And if they happened to catch it two or three times… who can swear Yu Lan is not capable of working it out? Heh. Good thing you turned back when you did or we would have had real trouble."

Shui Die Lan hummed, her eyes darting around. No telling what was going on in her head.

Li Xun ignored her and kept going, figuring he might as well sort his thoughts while he was at it.

"Looks like Luo Moshi really did have some foresight. Everything we did before… probably wasted effort. If that is the case, then with that Thunder-Beaked Hawk last time, testing us was secondary. What mattered was the whole setup meant to confuse and mislead. No, wait. Maybe Moshi still has not figured out what kind of relationship the two of us have..."

"Even if he did figure it out, he might not believe it," Shui Die Lan said with a cheerful smile. "Whether he sees through my identity or not, he is still going to focus on you. Besides, after everything we have been through, anyone paying close attention will notice something.... You could wait a bit. Who knows, maybe someone will come looking for you."

"‘Mm, worth considering.’ Li Xun said it without much weight. Then flicked a hand at Shui Die Lan, letting her know he was about to focus on opening the gate. And she’d better stay alert.

Shui Die Lan shrugged and fell silent.

After about half an hour, the space within a span of about ten feet suddenly filled with wave after wave of humming vibrations. Hundreds upon hundreds of qi pathways linked and gathered, resonating with the nearest spiritual vein. Through countless jumps across the endless forest, they finally connected to the core of the forbidden restriction within the Mist-Hidden Pavilion.

Li Xun opened his eyes and gave Shui Die Lan a small nod. They stepped forward at the same time. Then it was like they walked straight through a layer of invisible water and vanished into the night.

A moment later, they appeared in the small pavilion at the center of the lake.

It was not their first time, yet every entry and exit left them marveling again at the uncanny craftsmanship that created the Mist-Hidden Pavilion.

Here, Li Xun felt much more at ease. With the central hub of the restrictions so close at hand, he no longer needed to sense the flow of qi himself. It allowed his mastery of Forbidden Path to reach its fullest potential.

You could say that when Li Xun stood inside this little pavilion, the entire Southeastern Forest Sea became his own body.

With this impossibly massive body and the vast reserves of primordial qi contained within it, Li Xun could face any grandmaster in the world without losing ground. Even Luo moshi was no exception.

So the second Li Xun was here, everything about him changed.

He tapped the edge of the stone table in the pavilion and activated the Light-Splitting Mirror. A film of light spread across all three windows at once, and the landscape of the southeastern forest, stretching tens of millions of li, swept past them like flowing water.

“There really are quite a lot of people staying here.”

With the Light-Splitting Mirror’s sharp sensitivity to qi, every cultivator above a certain level was sifted out like grains of sand. Each one picked up and shown in a close-up before being placed back into the larger picture.

Shui Die Lan did a quick count, then reported, “Over a thousand. Of course, they aren’t all people from the Western Union. Most are probably here gathering herbs or cultivating. Still, in a few days things will look very different. Huh… why aren’t any of the supervisors around?”

Li Xun hummed and toggled the Light-Splitting Mirror back and forth. “They even let Yu Lan go,” he said casually, “what use is there for them to stay? And don’t even try to argue, you got completely beaten in that fight with Luo Moshi.”

Shui Die Lan snorted. “Impossible. Sure, he hurt me, but it’s not like he walked away comfortably. Actually, you’re right. With how unpredictable this realm is, he’d definitely head back to his mountain first to recover safely after taking a hit like that.”

Saying this left her a little disappointed. “What a shame. If he were still here, with you here, I could come and go as I pleased. I could play him to death. What a waste of a…”

Her voice caught. She almost bit her own tongue. Her eyes widened as she pointed at the woman appearing on the Light-Splitting Mirror. “Yin… Yin… Yin Chonghua?”

She definitely had a good reason to be shocked.

In the image cast by the Light-Splitting Mirror, a stunning Daoist woman in flowing robes stood cold and still on the peak of a towering mountain. She looked down over the endless forest below. Her eyes were dark and shadowed like a thousand miles of gathering storm, swirling with a drifting, unfathomable power.

That bearing and aura. If she wasn’t Yin Chonghua, then who else could she be?

Li Xun glanced at her and shrugged. “It’s not like this is your first time seeing her. What are you so shocked about? Before I came in, I let her out to keep watch. Now she can take a lap around the place. Stirring things up a bit won’t hurt.”

“It’s not that…” Shui Die Lan stared for a long moment before snapping back to herself. She grabbed Li Xun by the collar and narrowed her eyes. “So you lied to me. Who was it that said all his cultivation was gone and he couldn’t even muster a trace of Nether Qi?”

Li Xun looked baffled. “I really can’t use it. As for Yin Chonghua, ever since she mastered the Yin Charm Scripture, the Dark Conduit was cut off. She maintains her form purely by gathering her own qi, and the only link she has to me is the Nether Vein... just a silver connection of mind and intent.

“Like this, I don’t need the Soul-Driving, Spirit-Refining, Mind-Binding technique to direct her. Letting her out is perfectly normal. But Nether One, I can only sense him now and can’t command him at all. How does that count as lying to you?”

Shui Die Lan froze. Li Xun was puzzled, “Even if I did lie to you, is that worth getting this worked up? Hey, you didn’t damage your mind from that injury, did you?”

With him putting it like that, Shui Die Lan found herself speechless. She even started to wonder if the injury really had rattled her enough that she could not keep her temper in check.