Chapter One Hundred and One: Return to Kun City [Requesting Monthly Votes]

The next morning, with the dawn just breaking, Li Yang sat cross-legged on the ground, his body twisting and shifting as he repeatedly struck bizarre, inhuman postures. Within his bones came sharp crackling pops like firecrackers, while his chest rose and fell more violently by the moment; with every change of movement, even his breathing grew heavier.

He held each posture for more than ten minutes, and by the time the whole sequence was finished, the sun had already climbed high into the sky.

Standing up from the ground and wiping the sweat from his brow, Li Yang only felt an extraordinary clarity throughout his body. As the golden centipede energy in his blood was refined, it was as though a burden of a thousand pounds had been lifted from him. The flow of blood and qi through his body became smoother and more unhindered than ever before.

Once the golden centipede energy trapped between his bones was completely refined, Li Yang would be able to consider refining the three-legged golden toad.

"Flower Spirit, are you done packing?"

He walked to the front of the thatched hut and looked at Flower Spirit, who was busy inside, and asked.

"Big Brother Li, wait a moment. I still need to take this big pot with me!"

Seeing Flower Spirit loaded from head to toe with all sorts of messy little bundles, and even carrying a huge iron pot on her back, Li Yang could not help wondering if her petite frame would be crushed under all that weight. He gave a wry smile, shook his head, and walked forward to lift the iron pot from her back.

"That's enough. Just bring a few changes of clothes. Why carry all this junk? Aren't you tired?"

He ruffled Flower Spirit's small head. At times, he truly could not guess what was going on in that tiny mind of hers.

"But... but I still have to cook for Big Brother Li. How can we manage without a pot?"

Seeing Li Yang remove everything from her body, Flower Spirit asked with an adorably blank look.

"No need. Starting today, Big Brother Li will take you out to eat every day. We won't need to cook for ourselves anymore."

Smiling, Li Yang took Flower Spirit's hand and led her out of the thatched hut.

"Ready?"

Seeing her nod, Li Yang's figure flashed, and with Flower Spirit in tow, he vanished from the floating island.

When they appeared again, they were already a hundred meters in the air.

"Ah... what a natural-born hard worker."

Looking at the floating island, so beautiful it seemed like a painted landscape, like a fairy realm on earth, Li Yang suddenly felt a faint reluctance to leave.

If it were possible, he truly wanted to bring his two wives here and live in seclusion for the rest of his life, ignoring the worldly dust and vulgar affairs outside. But he knew that was only a vain hope. Though this place was beautiful, it was cut off from human habitation. Living here for a while might be pleasant, but after too long, boredom would inevitably set in.

"Big Brother Li, are you reluctant to leave? Then let's stay a little longer. I don't want to leave either!"

Seeing Li Yang staring blankly at the floating island, Flower Spirit suddenly gripped his large hand and whispered softly.

These days on the floating island were, for Flower Spirit, the happiest of her life. To be by Li Yang's side each day, to accompany him in cultivation at sunrise, to chat with him about everything under heaven—such a life had once been unimaginable to her. So while Li Yang felt a moment's reluctance, Flower Spirit had truly fallen in love with this place.

"We can't. We've already delayed here for more than half a year. Don't you miss your senior brothers?"

At the mention of Wild Goose Gun and Old Foreigner, a trace of hesitation flashed in Flower Spirit's eyes, and soon her expression dimmed.

Li Yang did not notice the sadness in her eyes. With a few flashes of movement, he headed toward Kun City.

...

Looking down from the sky, one could see among the mountains a layer of dull yellow fallen leaves drifting in the air currents. Without any sense of the changing seasons on the floating island, the outside world had already entered deep autumn.

Li Yang did not feel much of anything. With his constitution, a little cold meant nothing to him. But Flower Spirit did not possess his sturdy frame or abundant blood and qi, and all along the way her little face had been reddened by the icy autumn wind that pierced the high sky.

"Put this on."

Seeing that, Li Yang reached into the void and took out a wide robe, draping it over her shoulders.

Once they neared Kun City, Li Yang did not stop. Instead, he took Flower Spirit directly through the void and arrived at the headquarters of the Azure Flower Society.

"Who goes there, daring to act wildly at the Azure Flower Society!"

The moment Li Yang appeared, several underlings of the Azure Flower Society rushed over, staring at him warily.

"It... it's Immortal Master Li! Everyone, stand down. Immortal Master Li is here. Hurry and inform the gang leader!"

Only after one of the underlings recognized Li Yang's face did he shudder violently and order the others to disperse, afraid of offending him.

He remembered all too well how terrifying Li Yang was. The last time, at the upper floor of the merchant association's headquarters, he had seen Li Yang blast the head of the gang leader's top enforcer apart with a single punch.

"Immortal Master Li, you've come! Quickly, please take a seat!"

At that moment, Zhou Xiong hurried over, and upon seeing Li Yang standing in the hall, his face lit up with delight.

Over the past month, he had been worried sick. The antidote for the Gu poison Li Yang had given him was nearly finished, yet Li Yang had shown no sign of appearing.

He had even gone to the Cloudside Restaurant several times for this reason, and had also made repeated visits to Doctor Sun's pharmacy, but still he had received no word of Li Yang.

"Enough. No need for such ceremony. You know my temper. As long as you do your job well, I won't treat you unfairly."

As he spoke, Li Yang swept a hand, and a pile of burial objects appeared on the ground. These had all been dug out of King Xian's tomb.

Most of them were troublesome items that were difficult to handle, and Li Yang intended to hand them to the Azure Flower Society to dispose of in exchange for cultivation resources or money.

He needed a great many resources of all kinds. As for the Azure Flower Society, it was only a local gang. Although Zhou Xiong had never mentioned anything about money, after collecting so many resources and medicinal materials for him, the gang's funds were probably already beginning to feel strained.

"This... how could I dare accept Immortal Master's reward? To be able to serve Immortal Master is already a blessing I could never earn in three lifetimes."

Seeing the many burial objects on the ground, Zhou Xiong's pupils contracted. Then he looked at Li Yang, whose face remained expressionless, and cold sweat instantly poured down his forehead.

"Don't overthink it. Take these as a gift from me. Where are the things I asked for?"

With that, Li Yang took a porcelain bottle from his robe and tossed it to Zhou Xiong.

"Quick! Why are you still standing there? Hurry and bring up the medicinal materials Immortal Master requested!"

Overjoyed, Zhou Xiong caught the antidote at once and immediately instructed the underlings beside him.

"Hmm..."

As he checked the medicinal herbs and various resources before him, Li Yang suddenly frowned and let out a faint sound in his throat.

"Please forgive us, Immortal Master. I would not dare hide anything from you. My Azure Flower Society may be the number one gang in Kun City, but our wealth is not especially deep. We would not dare act recklessly against the larger merchant associations. Moreover, the supplies Immortal Master requires are numerous, which is why the quantity is a little short this time."

Seeing Li Yang frown, Zhou Xiong panicked instantly and dropped to his knees to explain.

"Hmm... let it not happen again. Take the burial objects on the ground and exchange them for some money, then go make another trip to the city pharmacy. I will come collect the gathered herbs and spirit stones tomorrow morning."

Hearing Zhou Xiong's explanation, Li Yang's expression eased somewhat. He waved away the herbs and resources on the ground, then took out a list from his robe and tossed it over.

"By the way, how is the matter I asked you to investigate? Any news?"

Just as Li Yang was about to leave with Flower Spirit, he seemed to remember something and turned back to look at Zhou Xiong, who was still kneeling on the ground.

"Well... Immortal Master may not know this, but eastern and central Yunnan have always been part of the Cloud and Gu region. The mountains and forests there are dense, and there are many different peoples. Since the time of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, it has been known as the land of the Hundred Pu tribes. The local tribes were long unwilling to submit to imperial rule, and many hid in the forests, gradually forming numerous clans and tribes."

"I have recently sent my men into the mountains to search. However, most of those tribes have already come into contact with the outside world. Their clans may still retain titles such as shamans and high priests, but those who truly worship totem gods are few and far between. I have only managed to find a few isolated native tribes with little contact with the outside world. I do not know whether they meet Immortal Master's requirements."

After Purple Sky Daoist had said that the hatching of the wrathful rooster required divinity, Li Yang had never stopped paying attention to such news. The last time he came to Kun City, he had specifically reminded Zhou Xiong to send people to investigate this matter.

Divinity, as the name suggests, is the very foundation of a god's existence. The conferment of gods in the East depends entirely on the Heavenly Emperor's Register of the Gods, which is the basis of the Heavenly Emperor's path to fruition. The establishment of the Heavenly Court rests upon this treasure, and it is the fundamental thing that defines the Heavenly Emperor's status.

The same is true of the underworld gods of the netherworld, who are bound by the Book of Life and Death in the hands of the Ten Kings of Hell. It is likewise a rank recognized by Heaven's law.

But before the Heavenly Court and the netherworld were established, most of the gods born between heaven and earth came with divinity of their own. There was also an ancient class of deities that existed between heaven and earth, born from the power of human faith in antiquity. These were the totem gods. In the age before the Heavenly Court and the underworld were founded, the authority of heaven and earth was held by such deities. The ancient shamanic path likewise arose in response to these gods.

Later, with the establishment of the Heavenly Court and the netherworld, such gods were either wiped out by the Heavenly Court or forced into hiding, and thus fell into the category of evil gods, no longer acknowledged by the orthodox order of heaven and earth.

Only the wild tribes of the remote mountains, in order to survive in the deep forests, would choose to believe in and worship these totem gods. That was why Li Yang had ordered Zhou Xiong to inquire about native tribes.

"Among those tribes, did you see anything unusual, or any particular person or event?"

Hearing Zhou Xiong's explanation, Li Yang understood.

Yunnan and the surrounding lands had always been frontier territory of the Central Plains, long home to foreign petty kingdoms. All manner of native tribes had taken root in the deep mountains there, and with the miasma thick in the forests and venomous insects everywhere, search efforts were naturally extremely difficult.

Those tribes had lived in the mountains for generations and were highly vigilant, harboring strong hostility toward outsiders. Searching for them was no easy task.

"Well... there was nothing unusual, really. Just ordinary native tribes. Though they worship totem gods, I have not heard of anything supernatural about them."

Cautiously, Zhou Xiong looked up at Li Yang, only to see that his expression had grown colder and colder. His heart lurched, and he felt a tremendous pressure sweep over him at once, forcing him flat to the ground.

"Please spare my life, Immortal Master... It's not that I ignored your instructions. It's simply that my manpower was limited and time was too short. Please forgive me this once. Within half a year... no, within three months, I will certainly give Immortal Master a satisfactory answer!"

Under the crushing pressure of Li Yang's aura, Zhou Xiong felt as if his heart were about to leap out of his throat. Every pore in his body seemed pricked by needles, while a deadly aura of death circled in his mind, lingering without end.

"Hmph. This is only a small lesson. Remember this: I do not want to hear the process, nor do I want excuses. I only want results!"

Looking at Zhou Xiong on the ground, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, and at the trembling underlings beside him, crouched like frightened quails with their heads tucked low, Li Yang snorted coldly, took Flower Spirit by the hand, and turned to leave.

Only then did Zhou Xiong drag himself up from the ground, soaked in sweat. Wiping the beads of perspiration from his forehead, he sat down in a chair with the help of two underlings.

But after only a moment, his expression changed as though he had thought of something. He suddenly rose and rushed out of the hall, hurrying after Li Yang.