Hu Yun was stunned by this. The old turtle in front of him had changed from being kind just now to becoming even more terrifying than the Lu Shanjun he had remembered. The key point was that this terrifying aura was directed directly at him.
I racked my brains for several rounds and couldn't remember when I had sinned against this old turtle.
'Could it be that Mr. Ji has offended him?'
According to Hu Yun's analysis, this could only be the case. After all, he was born in Niukui Mountain and had never had a grudge against anyone. It was only after he talked about some things related to Mr. Ji that the old turtle's mood changed drastically.
"Mr. Ji, you have caused me so much trouble!"
Hu Yun was terrified and his voice was trembling. He put his front paws together and begged the old turtle who was so close to him to show his weakness.
"Turtle, Master Turtle, I, I'm just a little fox... Even if Mr. Ji provokes you, it's none of my business...!"
After hearing these words, Ji Yuan, who was more than ten feet away, felt like he almost vomited blood. Even the old turtle on the river was obviously stunned.
"Hehehehe... Fox, why are you so lucky... Crunch... "
The following sound was the remaining willow wood with skin in the old turtle's mouth being crushed into powder under the keratin. This is what gnashing of teeth means. Although the old turtle has no teeth, it illustrates this point very vividly.
As soon as Lao Gui said this, Hu Yun realized that the problem might not be with Mr. Ji, but with himself.
Turtles are normally very slow animals with a very low breathing rate, not to mention an old turtle that has already matured into a spirit. But this old turtle's breathing was not only very frequent and heavy, but the cold-blooded animal's eyes were actually a little bloodshot.
A demonic aura that was extremely terrifying to Hu Yun slowly rose up. Although Lu Shanjun was also very scary in the past, he had never revealed such a side of him in front of the red fox.
Fortunately, the evil aura of the old turtle was always near the river, otherwise it might have attracted the attention of the night patrol of the underworld. But even so, it was already terrifying enough for Hu Yun. He even had the illusion that even if Mr. Ji came, he would not be able to do anything to this turtle monster.
"Let me ask you, how many years have passed since I gained clear spiritual perception and no longer had confusion?"
The old turtle's voice sounded a little hoarse and cold, but at least he sounded a lot calmer, which made Hu Yun breathe a sigh of relief.
"It's been about fifteen years since I stopped being confused..."
"Fifteen years? Only fifteen years! Hahahahahahahaha… Only fifteen years… I guess your first nine years were just for you to stop being muddleheaded, and your life was pretty much the same as that of an ordinary fox, right?"
The old turtle smiled sadly, staring at the red fox so intently that the latter did not dare to look at him and subconsciously wanted to avoid him.
"How did you know?"
The old turtle sneered again.
"Six years, six years to refine the horizontal bone. Although the spiritual energy and demonic energy in my body are shallow and the magic power is not obvious, it took six years to refine the horizontal bone. It is worthy of being guided by an immortal! Fox, guess how long it took me, the old turtle, to refine the horizontal bone and be able to speak?"
Hu Yun was actually not stupid. Looking at the old turtle's current state, it must have taken a lot of time. And although Lu Shanjun never said it, Hu Yun could feel the big tiger's surprise when he first met Lu Shanjun after refining the horizontal bone.
"How many decades have you used it?"
"Haha, thank you for thinking highly of me, but my turtle cultivation is extremely difficult, and I am alone and helpless. It took me 230 years to refine my horizontal bone. It is simply incomparable to your six years of 'natural talent'."
When these words full of the passing of time rang out, even the big black carp trapped in the waves quieted down. To be honest, it itself had been practicing for decades.
Hu Yun was stunned again. This period of time was really too long, so long that Hu Yun couldn't imagine it. Even Lu Shanjun was not even two hundred years old.
"You were given the name Hu Yun with the guidance of an immortal. I'm afraid that during your recovery period, you gained many benefits that you didn't even know about. It's true that your name is as good as yours, and you've risen to prominence. Hehehe..."
The old turtle looked at the crescent moon in the sky, said a few words with emotion, and suddenly stared at Hu Yun coldly again, which made the red fox tremble violently.
"If that's the case, then it's fine. Each demon has its own aspirations and destiny. But you, a fox, knew in your heart that this was a rare opportunity, but you still ran away. Do you know how many demons have practiced hard for hundreds of years but couldn't get even one tenth of your chance? Do you know how many demon cultivators thought they could get guidance from immortals but were killed by immortal cultivators? You are lucky enough to meet a Taoist master, but... Hey..."
Speaking of this, the old turtle also sighed heavily.
"It's too late to say these things now. You gave up the opportunity yourself. It will be difficult to meet it again in the future. But at least you got the name Hu Yun, which means you were canonized by your own mouth. If it were me a hundred years ago, I would have bitten your head off in a rage of jealousy just now!"
"Is that so… "
Hu Yun muttered to himself in a daze, feeling very scared.
"Haha, do you think that cultivation is always so smooth? By the way, was this dark wooden plaque also given to you by Mr. Ji?"
"Oh... yes, yesterday... the plan was made first..."
Hu Yun was a little confused now and almost let the cat out of the bag for a moment, but just one word made the old turtle hear something wrong.
"Um!?"
The old turtle snorted heavily.
"Did you mean yesterday?"
Sweat broke out from behind the red fox's ears, and he suddenly pointed at the river and called out, "Mr. Ji!"
When the old turtle turned around subconsciously, he suddenly rushed towards the shore, and a wave rose in front of him.
"Bang~"
A two-meter-wide wave rose ten meters high from the river bank, directly covering the roots of the willows. The red fox hit the wave wall head-on and was swept directly into the water.
“Clatter… clatter…”
At this time, Hu Yun and the big black carp were trapped by the current next to the old turtle. The huge turtle head was almost close to the fox's head, less than a fist's distance away.
But after a moment of extreme fear, Hu Yun suddenly discovered that the old turtle's expression was not as ferocious as before. Instead, it had a strange feeling of uneasiness, and he spoke cautiously.
"You, have you seen Mr. Ji again recently? This wooden sign... I, Old Turtle, didn't scare you just now, did I?"
Looking at the old turtle's expectant and anxious look, for some reason, the shock it gave Hu Yun was even stronger than when it suddenly jumped up and bit the tree trunk before. He inexplicably felt a little pitiful for him.
Before the "conflict broke out", Lao Gui had talked about his experiences in casual conversation, most of which were about spiritual practice and "seeking the truth".
How many years had he spent doing anything? Several times he had tried to make good connections by helping mortals but ended up in disaster. He had tried to get close to an immortal cultivator but was beaten and had to run away, and in the end he didn't even dare to go ashore.
At that time, Hu Yun mostly laughed and found it interesting, and Lao Gui also laughed it off. But now thinking about it, he suddenly understood what kind of sadness was contained in it.
This kind of enlightenment was very subtle, but it was due to the interaction of spiritual perception, and it made Hu Yun feel it very clearly.
It seemed like he had a lot to say, but in the end only one word came out of Hu Yun's mouth.
"Um… "
A little further away, Ji Yuan was lying motionless on a tree trunk. He did not look in the direction of Hu Yun and Lao Gui, but stared thoughtfully at the moon reflected on the river in the distance.
'Flowers in the mirror, moon in the water...'
On the other side, after Hu Yun answered, the old turtle felt excited.
"Then... do you know where Mr. Ji is? Is he also in the city?"
Hu Yun subconsciously looked at the city and nodded to the old turtle.
“Hua La La…”
The water splashed and Hu Yun felt that he was rising slowly, and was finally carried to the shore by a stream of water. Then the water that had wet his hair also flowed back into the river along with the current, and the fox's body became dry and fresh again.
At the same time, the big black carp in the water was freed, allowing it to swim freely.
Lao Gui wanted to ask Hu Yun for an introduction, but he felt that it was difficult to open the conversation the way he had just done, so he decided to get to know him better.
"Can you tell me about your next encounter, Old Turtle? And the tiger spirit you mentioned before..."
The red fox lay quietly by the river, looking at the big black carp and then at the old turtle, and thought for a while before speaking.
"A few days ago, I went down the mountain and sneaked into Ning'an County to see if Mr. Ji had returned..."
Hu Yun roughly recounted the trivial matters that had occurred during this period, but in line with the principle of not showing off one's wealth, although he mentioned the magic of the jujube tree, he did not mention the matter of the fire dates. He continued in this way until he talked about the sermon on the moon platform in Jiyuan Mountain.
The old turtle's breathing was obviously getting heavier. Its feet under the river surface were paddling the water quickly, causing splashes of water nearby.
Hearing Hu Yun talking about Mr. Ji sitting down on the Niu Kuishan platform, accompanied by the tiger spirit, the old turtle was eager to know what was said.
"And then what? And then what? What did you say? Tell me what you said."
Hu Yun tilted his head to look at the crescent moon in the sky and reminisced for a while.
"It seems like he talked about a very strange article. I remember it was called "Xiao Yao You"."
As soon as the old turtle heard the three words "Xiao Yao You", he instinctively felt that it was not simple, and he became even more impatient, not caring about any taboos at all.
"What's the content? What's the content? Can you please tell me in detail, even a few words will do!"
Hu Yun scratched his face hard with his fox paws, thought hard for a long time, and finally gave up.
"It's too hard to pronounce, too long, I forgot everything..."
“You! You! You you you you… ah~~~~~~~”
boom…
Huge waves rolled up on the river bank, and the terrified Hu Yun leaped towards the shore several times to escape. The big bluefish also swam far away in a flash.
The fox and the fish both looked at the old turtle's rolling waves with fear and roared, feeling that the atmosphere was extremely tense but they had no place to vent.
"This damn fox has missed God-given opportunities time and time again. How did it survive until now?"
The old turtle was in a frenzy and felt so depressed that he almost vomited blood.