However, when she saw Li Zhaoyan for the first time, Zhao Min herself was stunned for a moment, because in her memory, Li Zhaoyan was still that little girl of a few years old.
When she called herself "mother" before, she was a little dazed. Whose girl came here
This is the sadness of immortal cultivators. Their lifespan is long, but most of these years are spent on cultivation, leaving them with little time to spend with their loved ones.
Now Zhao Min suddenly had an epiphany and understood the situation of her parents back then. They forced herself to practice like that, firstly to make herself stronger as quickly as possible, and secondly to allow herself to accompany them for years to come.
I feel guilty now when I think about how stubborn I was at that time.
When she was talking about Li Zhaoyan, she couldn't help but think of her past self, and there was still a tenderness in her eyes. However, as long as she stabilized her realm and came out of seclusion, she would still have to take care of it.
What Zhao Min didn’t know was that what Li Zhaoyan had done over the years was simply beyond her imagination.
Not only did Xiaozhu Peak go into an uproar, but even the disciples from the other four peaks were complaining bitterly. Wherever Li Zhaoyan had been, the place was either earth-shattering or barren.
But Li Zhaoyan never bullies others by taking advantage of his power. Instead, he likes to tinker with all kinds of things that he finds interesting, such as formations, alchemy, poison making, raising spirit beasts, etc.
It would be fine if she just liked to do the research, but she didn't follow the existing recipes and procedures, but often came up with her own unique ideas, seemingly with endless weird ideas...
As a result, the explosions of compasses and alchemy furnaces became common, and each time their power became greater and greater. Occasionally, all kinds of strange beasts that she had never seen before would appear around her.
Those spiritual beasts were either flying birds with a thousand feet, rabbits covered with pus-filled sores, long snakes with eyes all over their bodies, and so on.
"Dad? Yes, yes, yes. There is also this old man who fights against foreign monks alone. He kills demons if they come and kills Buddhas if they stand in his way..."
"That's enough! What do you mean you're fighting alone? Your grandpa and Patriarch Mo are standing in the air, watching the joke. You're still killing demons and Buddhas. Your father isn't that powerful.
It was because he was so cautious that he went further on the path of cultivation. Many of those who were killed had higher cultivation than your father. They did not die because of carelessness. You must remember this!"
Zhao Min frowned, she found that Li Zhaoyan was a bit frivolous!
And... and what about "his old man", referring to Li Yan like this, but he is actually older than Li Yan.
"oh!"
Li Zhaoyan also noticed the change in Zhao Min's expression. From childhood to adulthood, the person she feared the most was Zhao Min.
Everyone else dotes on her, but this mother really punishes her, and in a way that scares her.
"By the way, Mom, where is Dad? I've never seen him before. At first, people said he was in seclusion, but then Grandpa told me that Dad might have gone out.
In the sect, I only heard others talk about him, but I have never seen what he looks like!"
Li Zhaoyan became well-behaved in an instant. When Zhao Min was unhappy when she was a child, she would shout that she wanted to see her father, and Zhao Min's punishment would be much lighter.
"He, he should be back soon!"
Zhao Min did not answer after hearing this, but looked outside the courtyard, as if she could see through the restrictions and see very far away. The tenderness in her eyes became even deeper...
Li Yan once told her the approximate time, and it should be the time for him to return soon.
"I just wonder if Senior Sister Ying will come back with us? What kind of expression will you have when you see Yan'er?"
Zhao Min was thinking...
Next, she talked to Li Zhaoyan for a few more words and then let Li Zhaoyan go to practice.
This time, Li Zhaoyan immediately and obediently started practicing without saying a word, but a bad feeling arose in her heart.
After seeing Li Zhaoyan go to practice, Zhao Min left alone, but she did not immediately go into seclusion to consolidate her realm.
Because she felt that Li Zhaoyan might not have said something to her. No one knows a girl better than her mother. Even though she hadn't seen her for many years, she still had this feeling.
After leaving the courtyard, they went to the main hall first. The person in charge of the main hall was Wei Chituo. The moment he saw Zhao Min, the dignified Wei Chituo showed a look of grievance on his face...
Half a minute later, Zhao Min walked out with a frosty face and flew into the air.
Another half hour later, Li Wuyi walked out of his own courtyard, smiled apologetically and whispered something to Zhao Min who was slowly walking out from the side.
Zhao Min ignored Li Wuyi's whispers and just bowed slightly. Then she flew directly to Wei Chongran, leaving Li Wuyi with a wry smile...
That night, Li Zhaoyan, who stayed at home "obediently" practicing but was actually looking forward to her mother going into seclusion soon, received news that left her dumbfounded.
From now on, all the spirit stones that I spent can only be collected according to the share of the sect's foundation-building cultivators. I need to earn any extra stone by myself.
The news was told to her directly by Zhao Min, who was standing in front of her with a frosty face.
"Then... then... what about all my attempts... research?"
Li Zhaoyan looked aggrieved. Without the spirit stones from his uncle, aunt and grandfather, how could he have any more to buy materials and raise spirit beasts
"You spend as many spiritual stones as you earn. Your father went to the spiritual plantation to complete missions! The sect has missions, and each peak also has a mission hall! "
Zhao Min said in a cold tone.
Then, without waiting for Li Zhaoyan to refute, Zhao Min rolled up her sleeves and took her to her own retreat cave. At the same time, a voice as cold as ice rang out.
"For the time being, you don't need to go out for training. You should stay with me in seclusion first!"
"No, mother... mother... mother..."
Li Zhaoyan's miserable voice rang out above Xiaozhu Peak, but then there was no sound.
Wei Chituo stood in his own courtyard and breathed a long sigh of relief.
"You damned Li Wuyi, let's see if you have any reason to deduct my spirit stones in the future..."
Wei Chongran listened to the sound coming from the sky, he sighed, and then rubbed his forehead in distress...
"I told you that you were going to treat Yan'er the same as Gefu and Lichou. Now, Yan'er is going to be punished even more severely!"
Miao Wangqing looked at Li Wuyi with a look of dissatisfaction on her face!
Since then, Xiaozhu Peak, and even the entire Wuliang Sect, has lost a beautiful landscape, as well as the constant explosions and the strange spirit beasts running around...
Muliu Sect, the closest sect to the Wuliang Sect, has a forbidden valley behind it. This is where the sect leader Bai Rou spends the entire year in seclusion. Except for Tang Yu Niang, no one else dares to come here.
Bai Rou seldom appeared in the sect before. Ever since Tang Yu Niang succeeded in forming the elixir, Bai Rou has appeared even less often in front of the sect's disciples. She has been practicing and studying puppetry almost all day long.
At this time, in front of a cliff in the valley, an ancient ape with a black body was standing there.
The ancient ape's long arms were slightly bent and hung down, almost as high as its body, hanging to the ground. A pair of fierce eyes were glowing red between the wrinkles on its face, its thick lips were slightly turned up, and its sharp teeth were staggered up and down, emitting a textured cold light.
At this moment, it had its back against the cliff, and on the ground in front of it, there were ten crocodile-like monsters lined up in a row, semi-surrounding the black ancient ape in the middle.
Layers of green light appeared on the bodies of these crocodile monsters, and each of them exuded a powerful pressure, and they all had the powerful aura of the Golden Core Realm.
Suddenly, they opened their mouths, and groups of dazzling green light shot out of their mouths, followed by beams of light that could shake mountains, all of which hit the black ancient ape in front of them. The black ancient ape's eyes glowed red, but it was motionless, like a deep abyss or a pavilion.
In an instant, these beams of light hit it at the same time.
"Boom boom boom..."
Amidst the continuous explosions, the black ancient ape was instantly submerged in the sky-high green light.
The entire valley suddenly shook, sand and rocks flew everywhere, the ground cracked, and the surrounding formations and restrictions flashed wildly, making "cracking..." sounds as if they were about to shatter.
This sound shook the ban and caused the ground within a radius of hundreds of miles to tremble continuously, and all kinds of monsters were trembling with fear.
They were either shaking all over, crouching on the ground and trembling, or they immediately crawled into a nearby cave or rock crevices.
As for the disciples of Muliu Sect in the sect ahead, when they heard the loud noise coming from the forbidden area in the back mountain, some of them raised their heads, while others were stunned for a moment, and then they went about their own business.
Over the years, all the disciples have become accustomed to the various strange noises in the forbidden area in the back mountain.
From the initial fear, to the subsequent suspicion, and all kinds of speculation...
By now, no one was talking about this matter anymore, as everyone knew that the Grand Elder was practicing puppetry again.
The stronger the vibration in the back mountain, the more at ease they felt. In the Muliu Sect, there was a person who made all of them feel at ease.
He was a terrifying existence who had fought against several people of the same level as an ancestor of the Wuliang Sect during the Wuliang Sect's infant-forming ceremony, yet remained unscathed.
In the valley, the sound of explosions lasted for thirty breaths. Just as the green light beams continued to shoot across the sky, suddenly, a tall figure slowly walked out from the green light. It was the tall ancient ape with red eyes.
The moment it walked out, it continued to allow the green light to explode on its body and head. It seemed like a giant beast from ancient times, unmoved by these attacks that could shake the world.
It slowly raised one of its long arms and extended an index finger, seemingly both slow and fast.
The moment it raised its arm, a little red light appeared on the tip of its index finger, and that little red light seemed like it would go out at any time.
But when it pointed, the red light suddenly radiated out in a fan shape, and the next moment, it penetrated the green light that was coming like a tide in the front and fell on the ten crocodile-like monsters.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”
Amid a series of green smoke rising up, ten crocodile-like monsters with the cultivation base of Jindan realm, each with a huge body, flashed strangely on the ground, and then disappeared without a trace.
And where they had originally been lying, ten large dark pits were left behind, with wisps of green smoke still rising from them, drifting away into the air.
At the same time, the red light on the black ancient ape's fingers also disappeared, and then the red light in its eyes gradually faded...
"suddenly!"
A hole about ten feet in size suddenly appeared on the chest of the huge black ancient ape. What flowed out was not blood, but a white figure flashed and then fell to the ground.
She was a girl in a white dress, with a petite body, delicate features, and shiny black hair that was soft and smooth and casually tied behind her head. It was Bai Rou.
At this time, her cultivation had reached the middle stage of the Golden Core. Her complexion became increasingly fair, and her skin shone with a jade-like luster, making people want to gently slide their fingertips across it.
Bai Rou walked to the place where the crocodile-like monster was lying before. She spread out her spiritual sense and began to carefully explore the black holes on the ground.
After a full hundred breaths, she raised her beautiful face again, but her brows were furrowed, as if she was thinking about something.
"The power... is overwhelming... but... it only has the power of an early Nascent Soul cultivator. If I can control this power and prevent it from... dispersing, is there any hope of breaking... through... to the middle Nascent Soul stage?"
As she was thinking, there was suddenly a flash of light in her hand, and a booklet with a dark green maple leaf pattern in the upper left corner appeared in her hand. It was the booklet that Li Yan had returned to her, the notes on Shuang Qingqing and her master's experience in cultivation.
Then, she quickly turned the page to one of them, and then stared at a few lines of handwriting, with a thoughtful look on her pretty face...
After a long time, Bai Rou, who had been standing still, finally moved. When she raised her head, the book in her hand had disappeared.
The thoughtful look in her eyes gradually faded, and turned into clarity. She looked at the ten black holes lined up under her feet and frowned.
"This consumption is too great. Ten third-level demon beast puppets were gone in an instant. I have to ask Yu Niang later about the batch of materials I asked her to purchase last time? And the income of the sect in recent years..."
The ten crocodile-like monsters before were ten Jindan-level puppets she had refined. Even in the Wuliang Sect, no one could easily refine one, but here, ten of them appeared at once.
But even these powerful puppets were instantly turned into nothingness at the finger of the black ancient ape. Bai Rou just felt it was a pity.
If the Wuliang Sect knew what happened here, they would definitely be extremely shocked and would alarm those Nascent Soul ancestors and ask them to come here in person.
The black ancient ape behind Bai Rou was the one she selected after she had refined countless identical puppets and finally found one that reached the level of "Thousand Luo Ancient Ape".
That was after she painstakingly studied the Canheng Beidou formation and spent a huge amount of spirit stones, she finally bought a piece of "Qianluo Stone" and finally completed the refining of this puppet with her own hands.
She was so determined to refine a "Thousand-Luo Ancient Ape" that in her room, she had miniature ancient apes arranged in jade boxes, but she was the only one who knew...
After comprehending the notes in Shuang Qingqing's manual, Bai Rou has been constantly trying to increase the power of this puppet over the years, and finally made it reach the terrifying power of the early Nascent Soul stage.
But even so, Bai Rou was still not satisfied. Her goal was to increase the power of this puppet to the late Nascent Soul stage, reaching the peak that cultivators in this world could achieve.
To outsiders, this is simply a joke. After all, her cultivation is only in the middle stage of the Golden Core. To realize this idea is nothing but a foolish dream.
However, the secret technique of the Tianling Clan can do all of this. The key lies in how Bai Rou constructs the formation inside the puppet's body to allow it to squeeze out all the spiritual energy in each spirit stone.
And during the operation, try to reduce the loss of spiritual energy, etc...
Therefore, in recent years, Bai Rou has been studying the Canheng Beidou formation. Now, she actually wants to try to modify this already very perfect formation to achieve her idea. This approach is extremely bold.
She realized that during the operation of this formation, the circulating spiritual energy would be lost by about 30%. If this 30% of spiritual energy was retained, it would not be a simple accumulation, but would increase the power of the puppet exponentially.
After Bai Rou's eyes regained clarity, she turned around and walked towards the black ancient ape behind her. The black ancient ape, as tall as a mountain, stood there motionless.
When Bai Rou walked in front of it, her petite figure only reached the ankle of the ancient ape's leg, like an ant.
Then, she sat down on the black ancient ape's sturdy right leg, her eyes becoming dazed for a moment...
Under the setting sun, the valley is half sunny and half shaded, half hot and half cool. The red sunlight is scattered on the stone wall above the valley, reflecting a sunset, while in the shadow below, there seems to be a gentle breeze blowing...
In the sky, there are white clouds in the distance, like white mountains, like my hometown in my childhood, and like the embrace of lovers...
Bai Rou just watched quietly, seemingly not caring about the changes in light and shadow under the sunlight in the valley, nor about the white clouds and mountains in the distance, which turned into strange-looking giant beasts...
"How long has he been gone? Ten, twenty, or thirty years? There has been no news of him. He is no longer the young junior brother, and I have returned to Muliu Sect...
He is a Nascent Soul cultivator who has traveled all over the world, and I am just a Golden Core cultivator from a small sect… "
While thinking, she raised her head, and looking up along the thick legs of the ancient ape, she saw the outline of the black ancient ape's face that was so familiar to her, so familiar that it could not be more familiar, ferocious yet warm.
For a moment, she remembered the scene in the market place where she was holding a shrunken puppet of this appearance, and when she was helpless and lost, the young man appeared in the crowd!
When the crowd parted, a young man in a dark green robe slowly walked towards her...