Lian Ping'er's spiritual perception was extremely strong. She kept thinking about how to escape and how to deal with the situation. She would always think of various possibilities every time she took action, but she was unable to understand the current situation.
If Aze, who drank the blood of the ancient demon, became a demon, he would immediately lose his humanity. Even if he really slaughtered people in Jiufeng Mountain, it was impossible for him to hate Lian Ping'er alone, let alone bring such a malicious and deep feeling of palpitations. Lian Ping'er was even confident that she could pull this demon to her side, but the current situation was beyond her expectations, but she did not allow herself to think too much.
The young master of the immortal cultivation family was obviously decisive and was very fond of these two maids who should have a special relationship with him. After deciding that Ruanshan Ferry was not a place to stay for long, he quickly took the two of them and left Ruanshan Ferry on the wind.
As the young master moved further away from Ruanshan Ferry, the tension and depression in Lian Ping'er's heart became less and less, as if she had escaped temporarily.
What Lian Ping'er didn't know was that although Aze couldn't be completely sure of her whereabouts, he could sense her existence through the evil thought of cause and effect. As soon as Lian Ping'er left, Aze also left Ruanshandu.
In fact, Aze was not in a hurry to find Lian Ping'er. He didn't want Lian Ping'er to die too easily, nor did he want Lian Ping'er to escape by unpredictable means like Empress Ying did before.
However, when Lian Ping'er was escaping from Ruanshan Ferry and Aze was also escaping without leaving any trace, Lu Shanjun's two minions finally arrived in the sky outside Ruanshan Ferry.
"Brother Xia, do you think Lian Ping'er is really already in the Nine Peaks Cave Heaven?"
"Lian Ping'er is cunning and unpredictable. Although Jiufeng Cave Heaven is a holy place for immortals, if she wants to get in, she will always find a way."
"So how do we get in?"
Xia Pinming smiled.
"Junior Brother Liu, you and I are both cultivators from Jingxuanhai Pavilion, so we can just visit directly."
"But we are already accomplices..."
Xia Pinming sighed. He knew it very well, but the Tiger King was their master whom they had to disobey, and they could not even choose death. If they did not go to see Aze and disrupt Lian Ping'er's good fortune, it would be like disobeying orders.
"Do you know Lian Ping'er?"
A voice suddenly sounded in their ears, making them slightly stunned. Although they were talking just now, they were using voice transmission, so how could they be heard by a third person
Then they found that a man in red and black clothes appeared in front of them from nothing. Looking closely at his clothes, they found that they were made of dense red and black flames burning together.
Although the man in front of them did not reveal any aura, as ghosts they were extremely sensitive to Aze's condition, so much so that the immortal body that Lu Shanjun returned to them began to become unstable and revealed ghostly aura.
"Hmm? A ghost?"
"You... are a demon?"
Liu Xi's face changed and he growled, but Xia Pinming reacted faster and roared the moment the deadly sense of crisis emerged.
"Are you Aze?"
I don't know why, but as a ghost I felt my heart twitching, as if I almost died again. I immediately used escape techniques to escape to the left and right, but when I looked again, there was nothing there, not even a bird, let alone Aze.
They looked around again but still found nothing, but it was definitely not an illusion. The two of them stood guard in the air for a quarter of an hour, and finally confirmed that the owner they had just glimpsed should have left. Only then did one of them speak.
"Brother, has Aze been possessed by a demon? Did Lian Ping'er succeed?"
"I'm a step late. This is terrible! I will definitely be punished by my master when I return..."
As he spoke, the monk surnamed Xia shuddered. It was obvious that the punishment received by the Tiger Lord was not pleasant for the ghost.
"I can only go back and report to the master first!"
The cultivator surnamed Xia gritted his teeth and made the decision, but at the moment, Aze had split into two, one continued to look for Lian Ping'er, and the other actually followed the two of them and left.
…
When Aze completely turned into a demon, Ji Yuan who was far away in Yunzhou also felt the same way and was somewhat saddened. However, the chess piece representing Aze did not disappear, which also represented that Aze did not completely degenerate into the kind of demon that would bring disaster to all living beings. This made Ji Yuan feel more at ease.
"Sir, what's the matter with you?"
On the stone table of Ju'an Pavilion, a red fox was squatting on a stone bench, with its tails swinging behind it and its two paws holding a book. It was obviously reading a book before, and immediately asked a question after noticing Ji Yuan sighing.
Ji Yuan looked at Hu Yun and shook his head slightly.
"Nothing, just something happened far away, I don't know what the outcome will be."
After all, Ji Yuan is not omniscient and omnipotent. He knows that Aze has turned into a demon but is not a monster. However, he does not know why Aze has completely turned into a demon, let alone what happened after he turned into a demon. He only hopes that Aze did not turn into a demon because something happened to someone he cares about, and he also hopes that there will be no irreversible conflict between him and Jiufeng Mountain.
On the other side, Xiezhi, who was sitting alone at the door of the wing room with a bench in his hand and eating melon seeds, said something to Hu Yun.
"Don't be distracted, read a book, your tail is wagging here and there, do you think you are a dog?"
Hu Yun shuddered. They actually compared him to a dog? But facing the Xiezhi, he dared not say anything. He could only continue reading. What he read was not some extraordinary immortal method or cultivation secret book, but some books written by famous Confucian scholars today.
"Well, reading is good, but it was fine when my master asked me to read before, but why did this master suddenly ask me to read too?"
Hu Yun muttered, stole a glance at Xiezhi, and then looked at Ji Yuan who was still playing chess with him.
"What are you mumbling about, kid?"
"No need, Master. I'm studying!"
As he spoke, Hu Yun began to read in a low voice, like a student in an academy or school. He would occasionally shake his head, but he restrained his tail from shaking.
However, after Hu Yun read for a while and came across the wonderful parts and understood the meaning of the text, he couldn't help but start shaking his tail.
"Hey, you said you don't look like a dog..."
The Xiezhi laughed softly, and Hu Yun immediately stopped swinging his tail. Ji Yuan couldn't help but look at the fox's tail a few times.
"You little fox, you are indeed gifted and know how to endure hardships, but your mind is always a little erratic. It's not a bad thing, but you are too fickle. Borrowing the spirit of literature and Taoism can not only cultivate your sentiments, but also help you cultivate your body and mind. They complement each other in spiritual practice. Do you know that some cultivators in the current world of immortal cultivation will occasionally study the works of great Confucian scholars and sages?"
"oh?"
Xiezhi glanced at Ji Yuan and cracked the melon seeds in his hand as fast as a machine.
“Ka-ka-ka-ka…”
After stuffing a handful of melon seeds into his mouth, Xiezhi began to chew. After swallowing the seeds, he continued speaking.
"Thinking back then, Mr. Ji asked Yin Qing, who was good at the art of diplomacy and strict in enforcing the law, to read to the old turtle and the green fish by the Chunmu River. This was the magic trick."
Hu Yun was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but ask a question.
"That's wonderful, but does that count as arithmetic, sir?"
“Hahahahahaha…”
Xiezhi suddenly burst into laughter.
"My disciple, what is the magic of immortality? Do you think that using supreme magic power to call the wind and rain and turn the rivers and seas upside down can be considered magic?"
"Isn't it? Of course, there's no need to be so exaggerated..."
Ji Yuan looked up at Hu Yun and deliberately did not interrupt. Although he was not in a very good mood at the moment, he also wanted to hear how Xiezhi described him.
After Xiezhi finished eating the last handful of melon seeds in his hand, he clapped his hands and shook his trouser legs to scatter all the shells under the stool. After chewing and savoring them for a while, he actually calmed his breath before speaking, answering Hu Yun's question in a very serious tone.
"What is the so-called art, what is the so-called immortal, what is the so-called method, what is the so-called Tao? These four are gradually ascending to higher realms, and what they pursue is nothing more than the last word. You, Mr. Ji, have long since left these categories. As the saying goes, immortals may not necessarily show their methods when they use Tao. Every little bit of life, every word and action, is the Tao. From a small seedling to a towering tree, from a bowl of fine sand to a jade pillar that supports the sky, if there is another person in the world who can perform this wonderful art, I would also like to call him an immortal."
Hu Yun seemed to understand but was deeply shocked in his heart, so he asked in a low voice.
"Then Master, do you not recognize those immortal cultivators as immortals?"
The Xiezhi grinned but did not answer. Although everyone in the world called those people immortals, at least in his eyes, they were not worthy of that.
"Mr. Xie! How much more do you want to eat?"
Xiezhi turned his head and saw Zao Niang standing beside him with her hands on her hips. He couldn't help but reveal a slightly embarrassed expression. A thick layer of melon seed shells had accumulated on the ground under the bench.
The melon seeds were fried by Zao Niang herself. The large open space behind Ju'an Pavilion was planted with sunflowers by Zao Niang. She knew that Jiyuan tasted good, so she used sunflower seeds as the raw material and used crushed salt and spices as seasoning to carefully fry the melon seeds.
But she didn't expect that Xiezhi was so abominable. She had clearly told Mr. Xiezhi not to eat all the melon seeds, but when Zao Niang went to the kitchen to boil water and was not paying attention for a short while, Mr. Xiezhi had already eaten all the melon seeds.
Xiezhi is simply a human-shaped melon seed-cracking machine. He cracks a handful of melon seeds at the frequency that an ordinary person cracks one, and he literally pours handfuls of them into his mouth.
"Uh, Zao Niang, I asked Ji Yuan, and he told me not to be polite..."
call…
Zaoniang let out a breath, it was impossible for her to blame the master, and she said coldly to Xiezhi.
"Get up, I need to clean!"
"Yes Yes Yes!"
Xiezhi, who rarely felt guilty, stood up immediately, stopped basking in the sun, picked up a stool and ran to the stone table in the yard. Hu Yun on the side secretly buried his fox head in a book, pretending not to see this scene. If he dared to laugh, he would be in trouble.
However, Xiezhi was very clear that Hu Yun was secretly happy, and said in a low voice with a smile.
"I heard that Tiger King was furious that you were not able to become Mr. Ji's disciple. To be honest, if he came to me, I would not be afraid. But if he came to you, well, well, well..."
Xiezhi's tone was extremely sarcastic, not like that of a master who cared about his apprentice at all. Instead, it sounded as if it was gloating over someone else's misfortune and was looking forward to it. Hu Yun shivered from the tips of his tail to the tips of his ears when he heard it.
"Mr. Ji, Master... If you don't save me, I will die. I will definitely be eaten by the tiger!"
"Hey, save yourself."
Xiezhi made a teasing remark, but Ji Yuan continued to make his move without answering Hu Yun at all, making the latter look as pale as death.