Although Ji Yuan didn't say anything when he looked at Min Xian, Min Xian still felt uneasy. The latter asked quickly, half out of guilt and half out of curiosity.
"Mr. Ji, what kind of monster is in this painting? I consider myself knowledgeable, but I have never seen one before."
The "crunching" sound of Xiezhi chewing on the scroll never stopped. Ji Yuan thought that Xiezhi would be angry when he heard Min Xian's words, but the scroll did not react at all and continued to eat its own food.
Ji Yuan did not answer Min Xian for the time being, but looked at the scroll and said.
"How can such a small insect last so long?"
Sure enough, Xiezhi was not blind to what was said outside. When Ji Yuan asked this, the Xiezhi in the painting turned its eyes slightly and looked at Ji Yuan, and asked in a rhetorical tone.
"If it were you, you would have forgotten how many years it has been since you last had a proper meal. Suddenly, when you come across something that only requires a mouthful, and it tastes just as good as you remember, would you eat it whole or chew it carefully and swallow it slowly? And this golden-armored flying worm is very chewy."
"That makes sense, but since you can hear it, why didn't you react when someone nearby was guessing what kind of monster you are?"
Min Xian, who was standing by, suddenly felt nervous and opened his mouth but didn't dare to say anything.
The Xiezhi in the speech rolled its eyes, as if glancing at Min Xian with its peripheral vision. Just this one glance made Min Xian, who was unable to mobilize his own magic power at the moment, feel like an ordinary person falling into an ice cave in winter. His body, which was already covered with goose bumps, was even colder.
"The ignorant are fearless. They have neither the need nor the qualification to concern me."
After hearing this, Min Xian didn't know whether to be angry or relieved. Ji Yuan could understand it, and with a shake of his hand, the Xiezhi scroll was put away. As the scroll was put into Ji Yuan's sleeve, the chewing naturally disappeared.
After things quieted down, Ji Yuan, who was originally just riding the wind, also transformed into a magic cloud and continued to fly southwest with Min Xian and Jin Jia. Ji Yuan didn't say anything for a long time, but in this quiet atmosphere, Min Xian was always uneasy, but he didn't dare to take the initiative to bring up the topic.
"Min Xian, it seems that you still have some tricks up your sleeve for the previous solution to the insect technique?"
Min Xian's nervousness along the way was actually because he was waiting for Ji Yuan to ask this question. Although Ji Yuan did not look or have a ferocious aura, and Min Xing also believed that he had already put life and death aside, he still felt nervous and uneasy when facing Ji Yuan.
"I have already told you all the solutions I know, please understand, Mr. Ji!"
Ji Yuan nodded.
"Ji believes you, but it seems that there may be something about the Insect King that even you don't know, and you deliberately avoid mentioning it?"
Min Xian paused for a moment, without further explanation, which was considered as his agreement. After a long time, he asked in a low voice.
"Sir, how do you want to deal with my fellow apprentice?"
"Again, do you want to die right away, or do you want to live the rest of your life as a mortal?"
Even in the current situation, Min Xian didn't want to die, so he didn't speak reservedly.
"It's better to be alive than to die quickly. After what happened before, sir, you won't just take away my cultivation, right?"
"hehe… "
Ji Yuan activated the escape light to make the cloud-walking flight even faster, and replied with a smile.
"You have practiced for hundreds of years. Even if you have lost all your magic power, your body has already been reborn. I will take away your magic power and part of your vitality, just like your appearance. From now on, you will just be an octogenarian. Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are in the hands of God."
Ji Yuan paused after saying this before continuing.
"As for the idea of whether any of your fellow disciples can find you, forget it."
Min Xian sighed inwardly. Since Ji Yuan had said so, there would basically be no changes. Besides, it would be difficult for an 80-year-old man to walk, and it was impossible for him to have any family members to take care of him. If he was in some peaceful place, it would be okay. But if he was in any place in Zuyue, it was hard to say how many days he could live, let alone a few years.
"Where are you going to put me, sir?"
Ji Yuan looked at the old immortal cultivator in front of him. Although he was on the opposite side, compared with most of the immortal masters canonized by the Zu Yue Song family, Min Xian was a real immortal cultivator and did not even have much hostility.
"Don't worry, Ji will leave you in Dazhen."
"Dazhen?"
Min Xian was a little stunned, not knowing what the intentions of this mysterious Mr. Ji were.
When chasing eastward, there was a fierce battle in the sky and a duel of magic. When returning westward, there were not too many changes. Ji Yuan just rode the cloud to patrol various places in the southern border of Zuyue, which confirmed the facts calculated on the previous return journey.
There were many soldiers in Zu Yue’s army who were infected with insect diseases, and there were also civilians who were infected with insect diseases for various reasons, either accidentally or intentionally. The insects in their bodies had already died or were beginning to die. Even those that were not dead yet had already lost their vitality. It was only a matter of time before they died, and they would no longer run around in their bodies.
Of course, not everyone can escape unscathed. For those with more serious worm infestations, even if the worms in the body die, the body is still weak and the patient may fall into a coma directly after the worms die. Without timely rescue by a doctor, there is still a considerable danger. Some patients, like Xu Niu mentioned above, are more likely to die suddenly, and this is not uncommon.
It has to be said that this was a blow to the Zu Yue army, but it is not certain how big the blow was. After all, the several armies that were cruelly used to breed insect soldiers were not the real main force. In terms of the total number, a lot of them were indeed affected, but their combat effectiveness was not much different. They just could not use it to bluff.
…
To break the power of a demon cultivator, Ji Yuan might lack some theoretical and practical basis and would have difficulty knowing where to start. But to break the cultivation of a person who can be considered an orthodox immortal cultivator, Ji Yuan still has his own set of ways.
One day later, in a deserted mountain forest in Dazhen Tongzhou, Ji Yuan, wearing Jin Jia, and Min Xian landed on a hilltop. Ji Yuan wiped the dust off several stones on the hilltop with a wave of his sleeve, and then pointed his hand at the stone.
"sit down."
"yes."
Min Xian sat on the stone and watched Ji Yuan sitting down beside him. Now that things were already decided, he was more curious about how Ji Yuan would take away his cultivation. Would he destroy all the acupoints in his body, or severely injure his soul and bring him back to the living state, or something else
Ji Yuan had naturally thought about the same question. His original method was rather rough, but when he saw the Xiezhi scroll, he had other ideas in his mind. Ji Yuan firmly believed that there were no magical powers in the world. Only the various ingenious ideas of those with high cultivation could develop various mysterious methods.
The moment Xiezhi asked for the Insect King and ate it, Ji Yuan had an idea in his mind, an idea that made him very excited.
The result was that after Min Xian saw Ji Yuan sit down, a piece of white paper and a wolf-hair brush flew out of his sleeve. The latter grabbed the wolf-hair brush and asked Min Xian.
"Whatever scene you are in your mind, whether it is a high mountain, a green forest, a flowing river, or a deep lake, you can think about it in your mind and talk about it in a quiet way."
"My artistic conception?"
"Not bad, your artistic conception."
Min Xian frowned and said nothing more. Although his magic power was sealed, he was able to concentrate his mind and even enter a state of tranquility. At his level of Taoism, practicing tranquility was instinctive. The next moment he had already entered a state of tranquility, and at the same time he was muttering his thoughts.
In a trance, Min Xian seemed to feel that he was no longer looking at the state of mind in his body from outside as he did in the past practice, but it was as if his eyes were observing everything from within the state of mind. Gradually, this feeling became stronger and stronger.
"The alchemy furnace is supported by a mountain. This is indeed an orthodox immortal practice. It is not even considered an evil path."
Ji Yuan's voice suddenly came from the side, which slightly startled Min Xian who was in a state of tranquility while contemplating the state of mind, because the voice came from within the state of mind.
"Haha, since it's in my heart, I need to be happy."
When he heard this, Min Xian subconsciously opened his eyes and suddenly found that he and Ji Yuan were really sitting on the top of a mountain, but it was not a barren mountain in Dazhen Tongzhou in the outside world, but a high mountain in his own artistic conception.
Although this area of mountains is tall and vast, there is thick fog in the distance, which is obviously the boundary of his artistic conception.
With wisps of firelight illuminating his face, Min Xian stood up, turned around and looked behind him. A furnace stood on the top of the mountain with a raging fire burning inside it. Above the furnace was a golden wheel of light that extended far to the horizon.
"Alchemy furnace, golden bridge!"
"It is your alchemy furnace and golden bridge."
Ji Yuan said this casually as if he knew what Min Xian was thinking, but he did not look up, nor did he stop his hands. A piece of paper was suspended in the air, and the pen in his hand was constantly waving on the paper, leaving traces.
"Mr. Ji, you..."
Ji Yuan ignored Min Xian, looked around, and picked up the pen again.
Min Xian didn't dare to disturb them. He looked at the mountains and rivers in all directions with great curiosity, and occasionally approached his own artistic conception furnace carefully. He reached out and touched it gently. A warm feeling came from his hand. Everything was so real, as if he was touring an unknown mountain. However, the Taoism and intimacy around him told Min Xian that this was his own artistic conception.
"Mr. Ji, how did you do it? Why can I enter the realm of mind with my body, and why can you come in too?"
"There is nothing to discuss about this matter. Come here and take a look at Ji's painting."
Without even raising his head, Ji Yuan waved to Min Xian, who was in high spirits at the moment. Upon hearing Ji Yuan's words, he hurried over to check. He found that on the white paper in front of Ji Yuan, there were mountains and waters in the artistic conception, which was exactly the artistic conception of Min Xian.
"The master's painting skills are amazing, it's like he has printed the artistic conception of the younger generation on paper."
“Very similar?”
“It feels like a real scene!”
Ji Yuan nodded, smiled and stood up.
"That's good!"
After saying this, Ji Yuan glanced at Min Xian. While the latter was inexplicably panicked, his gaze turned to the alchemy furnace not far away. The wolf hair brush in his hand was dripping with ink. As Ji Yuan waved it, words glowing with ink and with strands of golden lines appeared and surrounded the alchemy furnace.
"Come~~~"
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
Ji Yuan's voice was calm, yet as loud as thunder, shaking the entire artistic conception, and the alchemy furnace in front was also slowly rising.
"no no… "
Min Xian subconsciously wanted to stretch out his hand to stop it, but it was of no use. After a few breaths, the alchemy furnace flew directly into Ji Yuan's painting.
At the moment the alchemy furnace entered the painting, a strong sense of emptiness and decay rose from Min Xian's body.
"Huh... uh... "
On the top of the mountain outside, Min Xian, covered in sweat, suddenly woke up from his tranquility. He felt himself carefully and could no longer feel the alchemy furnace, or even the existence of the artistic conception and the golden bridge. He turned his head stiffly and looked to the side. Ji Yuan was holding a painting of a lively landscape in his hand. On the top of the mountain above, there was an alchemy furnace standing on the top of the mountain. From the painting, the fire in the furnace was dim and the smoke was lonely.
"Oh, I almost forgot, your physical body also needs to be collected. It will be much more convenient with this painting."
Ji Yuan unfolded the scroll in his hand, pointed the pen at Min Xianxu, and then pointed it in the direction of the scroll. Then, wisps of green smoke emerged from Min Xian's seven orifices and other parts of his body, and merged into the scroll in Ji Yuan's hand and into the alchemy furnace in the painting.
"Uh huh... ah uh..."
This feeling of powerlessness was so terrible, even more terrible than Min Xian had imagined before. With every wisp of green smoke that was taken away, Min Xian's feeling of weakness deepened. When there was no smoke coming out of his body, he felt that the cold wind on the top of the mountain made him shiver, and his body could hardly maintain balance.
"I will take away all your life's cultivation. From today on, you will learn to be a mortal again."
Compared with Min Xian's trembling throat and inability to speak, Ji Yuan's voice remained calm, like the unchanging mountain breeze, like the sky and the Tao.