Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

"Go!"

A silvery-white streak of light flashed and disappeared, and a large tree not far from the cave entrance shook for a moment before it thunderously fell.

Chen Li hastened to it.

The cut on the tree was as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been sliced by a laser.

This silver sword-shaped magic artifact, though it had been heavily knocked away by him before, Chen Li found it undamaged.

In fact, when a magic artifact was activated, it often connected to the user’s spirit. The reason Qiao Guanyuan seemed clumsy in commanding it was simply because the artifact, having been struck a heavy blow, impacted his spirit as well, leading to a temporary loss of control.

The hovering sword-shaped magic artifact, under Chen Li’s direction, flew rapidly through the air, zigzagging back and forth.

Sometime later, Chen Li’s brow furrowed slightly.

The power of this sword-shaped magic artifact was unquestionably great—fast and sharp beyond compare, much stronger than the one he had on hand. However, compared with the terrifying power that Qiao Guanyuan had demonstrated, it still fell far short.

"It seems to be a matter of mastery level; I cannot fully unleash the power of this magic artifact," Chen Li thought to himself.

This made it somewhat of a white elephant to him.

In terms of power, this sword-shaped magic artifact was naturally stronger than the Spiritual Power Finger Snap, but not by much, and considering the consumption of spiritual power, it was far less practical than the Spiritual Power Finger Snap.

He had never been short on magic artifacts, but he had never used them in actual combat.

Simply put, spells were too enticing.

There was no place for magic artifacts in battle.

Especially the Grandmaster-level ’Spiritual Power Finger Snap,’ which not only launched quickly and packed power comparable to a tier-one intermediate spell, but also consumed a minuscule amount of spiritual power—it was practically a divine technique for someone in the Qi Refinement Realm.

"Eh? Wait, a sword-shaped magic artifact!? Could this actually be a flying sword?"

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the flying sword began to rapidly enlarge. In no time at all, it transformed into a two-meter-long, twenty-three or four centimeter-wide giant sword. At the same time, all the dangerous sharpness of the flying sword completely receded.

"This really is a flying sword," Chen Li said, opening his mouth wide in astonishment.

...

The next evening, heavy rain began to fall outside.

The rain dripped and drizzled, the drops hitting the leaves and producing a soporific rustling noise that seemed like it would never cease.

The deep autumn forest was already cold and gloomy, and even more so on such a rainy day. The wet cold wind blew incessantly from the entrance of the cave, howling softly. Fortunately, the cave was deep enough that the rain couldn’t drift inside.

A fire crackled inside the cave, making popping and crackling sounds as the flames greedily licked the bottom of the stone pot. Meat chunks tumbled non-stop in the boiling water inside the pot, letting off a rich meaty aroma.

The stone pot had been carved from a single piece of rock using a magic artifact.

Its style was simple but robust and majestic, with a primitive touch.

Inside the cave, Chen Li wore a spell robe, wrapped himself with a layer of animal skin, and huddled around the warm fire, eating hot pot, listening to the rain and wind outside the cave, experiencing a leisurely pleasure.

"I’m planning to go back and have a look tomorrow!" Chen Li said, grabbing a piece of meat, stuffing it into his mouth, and speaking indistinctly.

"So soon." Zhou Hong paused mid-action and said worriedly, "Your wounds?"

"Almost healed, basically recovered... I have to go back and see, can’t stay here forever. Don’t worry, I won’t take risks this time. As soon as things go wrong, I’ll withdraw immediately," Chen Li said.

"Then let’s go together!" Zhou Hong said.

Chen Li nodded.

The conditions here were indeed too harsh.

Especially at night, the roars of various beasts were like a symphony, rising and falling one after another. Last night, a wild beast had come, and if Zhou Hong hadn’t set up traps at the entrance of the cave, they might have been infiltrated by it. Now they were eating a part of it.

Of course, Chen Li could still tolerate all of the above.

The key was that there were even evil spirits here; his Evil-Repelling Talisman had inexplicably heated up more than once during this period.

In the slums, due to the gathering of human spirits and all of them being Cultivators, evil spirits, even if they existed, would be eradicated and have nowhere to hide. Chen Li had only heard of them, but had never seen them before. He didn’t expect there to be so many in the wilderness.

When he asked Zhou Hong, she mentioned it lightly as if it were normal.

There are plenty of lonely souls and wild spirits in the forest, mostly from the souls of dead animals. Through a confluence of circumstances, they hadn’t dissipated and existed in another form, mostly without any sense of awareness, acting only on instinct.

During the day, they hid in trees, rocks, and underground, only to sneak out sneakily at night to absorb some of the blood from dead creatures for sustenance. Even living creatures couldn’t get close.

They were basically no threat to a Cultivator; having an Evil-Repelling Talisman was enough.

To this, Chen Li could only provisionally believe it.

Sometimes, in terms of fearlessness, he really couldn’t compare to these native Loose Cultivators. For example, when hearing the roar of that great demon, his heart pounded with fear, whereas Zhou Hong took it as a matter of course.

...

It rained heavily for most of the night.

When they got up early the next day, it was clear skies after the rain.

Chen Li and Zhou Hong packed their luggage and left the cave without any reluctance.

As soon as they entered the forest, it felt as if they had gone from daylight to evening all at once, giving them an extraordinarily chilly feeling.

The overlapping leaves overhead blocked the light tightly, with only occasional beams of sunlight penetrating the canopy, casting various sizes of light patches on the path.

From the outside, the forest seemed very dense, as if it was completely impassable.

In fact, there was no lack of paths. Various large animal trails crisscrossed and extended into the endless distance.

These animal trails had been trodden repeatedly, forming exceptionally firm paths where even weeds and mosses couldn’t grow. All along the way one could see all kinds of oddly shaped large trees, ancient vines, and huge, colorful fungi growing in the shade of the trees.

The entire forest gave off a very ancient feeling, with trees as thick as meters in diameter being commonplace, and those reaching five or six meters in girth were not uncommon. Chen Li even saw a giant tree that was fifteen or sixteen meters thick.

The tortuous roots, like angry dragons, plunged into the ground, and their generated formidable power caused the terrain for hundreds of meters around to rise high like burial mounds.

The huge tree limbs were crisscrossed with ravines, many creatures taking shelter in them, resembling a small ecosystem.

"This tree isn’t very large. I’ve seen many that are much bigger," seeing Chen Li lingering and looking back frequently, Zhou Hong couldn’t help but chuckle.

All along the way, Chen Li kept looking around, curious as if he were looking for something.

"I’m just checking if there’s any danger nearby," said Chen Li.

Zhou Hong smiled and didn’t expose him. This was only the very outskirts of the forest, apart from some ordinary wild beasts, there was no real danger.

Like when she used to go on adventures, she would have to go deep into the forest for dozens of miles, which meant traveling for a whole day. Sometimes, without any gains, she wouldn’t return for ten days to half a month.

After walking for more than two hours, the two left the forest without any dangers or incidents. Along the way, they encountered several groups of Loose Cultivators, though they mostly kept their distance.

Soon, the shantytown was in sight.