Chapter 15 A Different Road

  As a fairy, even the lowest-ranking land, being bullied by an ordinary person without any magic is a shameful thing. In the past, he was always bullying others, who dared to bully him? Even if Li Mu could let it go, he couldn't accept such humiliation. Moreover, in front of his beloved, he couldn't show this face at all.

  After Bai Huan's reminder, Li Mu suddenly became interested. The path of cultivation is not the only way, if this road doesn't work, then don't take it. We're still young now, what road can't we try? For thousands of years, many ordinary people have successfully cultivated immortality, Li Mu didn't think he would be inferior to them.

  At this thought, his eyes lit up and he stared at Bai Huan, asking: "Huan, what are you cultivating? Why don't you be my master?"

  Bai Huang was taken aback, although she had a great treasure in her womb, but due to her limited talent, she could only understand some superficial things. As for the rest of the techniques and spells, she didn't know any of them, what could she use to teach Li Mu? "That one?" Bai Huang hesitated, that was their family's most precious treasure, it was really a bit reluctant to give it away so easily.

  Shaking his head and scolding: "You want me as your master, won't your own master blame you for this?"

  Li Mu smiled and said, "My master often says: the one who understands is the teacher. He is an enlightened and open-minded person, how could he be bound by worldly conventions? On the contrary, he will be delighted with my progress."

  Bai Huang thought for a moment and continued: "Are you sure you want to learn my magic? If so, you won't be able to learn the previous magic anymore."

  Li Mu smiled and ignored him, saying: "Don't try to fool me with this kind of talk. Master said that the great way returns to one, all cultivation methods can come together, how can they contradict each other? You just teach, I, as your disciple, will not disappoint you."

  Bai Huang kindly reminded, but was ridiculed, and helplessly glanced at Li Mu, saying: "Alright, the method I learned is called 'Wei Tian Jing', originally there were three volumes, only the last two have been lost for many years. However, rest assured that as long as you master the first volume, it will be enough to surpass all the magic in the world."

  "The Way of Wei Tian Jing is abstruse and difficult to understand, ordinary people can't comprehend it. My father... master once said that to cultivate the Way of Wei Tian Jing, it's not just about having a good aptitude and understanding the scriptures, but also requires astonishing insight and a bit of luck to achieve greatness. This book shouldn't be passed on to outsiders, I'm making an exception today, but you can only take a look for one day, tomorrow at this time you must return it to me. No problem, right?"

  Li Mu thought for a moment, nodded and agreed: "Good." As for memory, he never lost to anyone. The Taoist secrets and mysteries that Tongyuan Daxian gave him were usually memorized in one go. Baihuan had already made an exception for her, how could he make it difficult for Baihuan again?

  Bai Huang pulled out a dark purple-covered scripture from her bosom, with some strange and unseen symbols carved on the cover, like the smile of a demon, making one's hair stand on end. People with weak willpower would lose their resolve after glancing at it a few times, becoming infatuated with an illusory world.

  The book is about one finger thick, shrouded in a purple outer cover, as if every page is mysterious.

  Looking at those runes, the lines on the cover of the book began to gather, forming a huge mouth that bit towards Li Mu, as if it wanted to devour the entire world. Li Mu hastily shifted his gaze and threw away the book in his hand with a start. After a while, he still looked at Bai Huan with lingering fear and asked: "Huan, what's going on?" This was the first time Li Mu had encountered such an eerie thing. He had heard his master talk about some things related to demons and monsters before, but Li Mu had never taken them seriously. If a cultivator feared demons, it would be a shame for the cultivation world.

  Bai Huang slowly bowed down, carefully picked up the scripture book, gently blew away the dust on the cover, and looked at Li Mu with dissatisfaction, saying: "You said you are a proud disciple of Tongyuan Gate, but you can't even pass this test. How can you learn from Wei Tianjing?"

  "A test?" Li Mu was somewhat perplexed; he had never heard of a book testing people before.

  Bai Hua continued, "The Wei Tian Jing is a set of cultivation methods summarized by the ancients when they fought against the ancient demonic beasts. Naturally, it contains the resentment of these ancient demonic beasts. Every time you want to learn a new technique, you must break through one layer of resentment in order to obtain its essence. The demonic beast that appears on the cover will change according to the strength or weakness of the cultivator's willpower. The stronger your willpower, the more ferocious the beast that appears will be. Tell me, what did you see just now?" Bai Hua asked nonchalantly. When she first started learning, no one told her these things, and she was forced to test her willpower in a state of complete ignorance. This was also something that Bai Hua took pride in - the ancient demonic beast 'Ling' that she had encountered. This beast had five tails and one horn, and was extremely ferocious. In the records of the Divine Demon's Ambition, it was considered to be among the most exceptional of all demonic beasts.

  Bai Huang looked at Li Mu, because earlier Li Mu only persisted for a short while, so she clearly didn't think highly of Li Mu's willpower.

  "A huge mouth, a very terrifying big mouth." Li Mu helplessly described that exaggerated big mouth. He had never seen such a monster before, nor had he heard anyone else mention it.

  Bai Huang also counts as having seen and known much, but after racking his brains for a while, he still doesn't know what the big mouth that Li Mu described is. In the end, he can only helplessly despise Li Mu, thinking that just seeing one mouth could scare him like this, how strong can his willpower be?

  "So you don't want to learn?" Bai Huan seemed to care about Wei Tian Jing and didn't seem willing to let Li Mu, an outsider, learn this supreme technique.

  Being despised by Bai Huang, Li Mu's pride was also stirred up. He snatched the scripture from Bai Huang's hand and said seriously: "Learn, why not learn such a good thing."

  "You only have one day's time." Bai Huan looked at Li Mu with dissatisfaction, thinking that he couldn't possibly finish reading this book in just one day. She thought back to when she was studying under her father's careful guidance and it still took her three months to fully grasp the contents of this book. But actually cultivating it was even more difficult.

  Now that her father is gone, Bai He has even less motivation to cultivate. Thinking of her father, Bai He feels a pang of sadness and melancholy. Over the years, sometimes when she was alone and feeling lonely, she really wanted to find someone to confide in. But due to her identity and the experiences of the past few years, she didn't dare to reveal her weakness easily. She would rather suffer silently by herself than seek help from others. Because in this world, apart from her father, there was no one else she trusted.

  I don't know why, but the first time I met this silly-looking guy in front of me, I somehow told him my name. When I was seriously injured, I believed in him and let him stay by my side. Can he be trusted?

  Bai Hua came back to her senses and looked at Li Mu, only to find that he had already sat down on the floor with Wei Tian Jing in his arms, studying it intently. He was so focused on the scripture that he completely forgot about Bai Hua beside him. Nor did he notice her fleeting sadness and searching gaze for comfort.

  What a fool! Bai Huan silently looked at Li Mu, and unexpectedly felt a twinge of guilt in her heart.

  Rabbits run, crows fly, and time is always too short for those who cherish it. Before you know it, a day has passed. White Swan returns with breakfast to find Li Mu still in the same position as yesterday, motionless. Occasionally, he lifts his hand to turn the page of the book. It's been a long time since Li Mu has been so serious about something. Wei Tianjing is the first person to make him fully invested. Even though he frequently furrows his brow, he doesn't get angry at all. Instead, he etches all his questions in his heart and uses the time afterwards to slowly find the answers.

  Bai Huang put the steaming buns on the table and couldn't bear to disturb Li Mu, so she turned around and quietly left.

  After a long time, Li Mu let out a sigh and moved his stiff body, making cracking sounds. He had finally finished reading the entire book of Wei Tian Jing, although he didn't understand even one tenth of it, but every word and sentence was etched in his mind. The agreed upon time was almost up, so Li Mu stood up to look around the room, but he didn't see Bai Hua anywhere, instead he noticed a few cold baozi on the table that caught his attention.

  Li Mu secretly felt delighted and moved: it turned out that being cared for felt so happy, this must be what people call happiness!

  Pick up a bun and take a big bite, swallow all the happiness in one mouthful.

  Pinched up the earth, soon found the white swan, only to see her sitting alone on a rocky beach, staring blankly. Her silky black hair fluttered gently in the sea breeze, like a beautiful dance. The quiet eyes gazed out at the vast ocean, what thoughts were hidden deep within those eyes?

  "How are you alone here?" Li Mu came to her side and comforted her in a soft voice.

  Bai Hua's breath caught, her entire body trembling slightly as if an electric current had passed through. How long had it been since she'd heard such comforting words? It was like the face she'd thought of day and night, bringing her warmth. But when she turned around, the person in front of her was completely different, and Bai Hua's gaze instantly frosted over again, freezing all her weakness inside.

  "Have you finished?" Bai Huan's red lips slightly opened, her voice devoid of any emotion. Yet, a hint of skepticism could be discerned from her eyes.

  Although the day's time had arrived, she deliberately didn't go back and wanted to give Li Mu more time to memorize Wei Tianjing. At first, it took her three months to remember, and she didn't believe that Li Mu could remember everything in just one day.

  Although he didn't know why Bai Huan was so different from before, Li Mu didn't ask much either. He took out the dark purple scripture book from his bosom and handed it to her, saying: "Return it to me after you've finished reading."

  Bai Huang took a glance at the scripture, slowly accepted it, looked again, and put it into her bosom. Then, without looking back, she walked away towards the distance.

  "Do you really want to know what the Dinghai Divine Needle looks like?" Seeing Bai Huan's thoughts were heavy, she thought she was worried about the Dinghai Divine Needle and wanted to see it.

  The white swan stopped and leaned its body to look at Li Mu, hesitated for a moment before nodding heavily. This matter is of great importance, she must know.

  Li Mu stood still and said to her: "Although I can't take you there to see, if you believe me, I can describe what I saw to you."

  Bai Huang thought for a moment and nodded again.

  Li Mu said nothing and leaped lightly into the sea.

  The shrimp soldiers A and B, who were guarding the gate, had long been accustomed to Li Mu's coming and going freely. They lazily glanced at him with one eye, then shifted their gaze back to the vast empty sea.

  Arriving at the Longwang corridor, he saw Gui Chengxiang walking slowly towards him. Li Muling's mind moved and he stepped forward to ask: "Gui Chengxiang, has the little princess returned?"

  The tortoise minister shifted his shell, looked up at Li Mu and replied: "The young princess and the queen have gone to Dongting to visit their relatives, it will take at least three to five months for them to return, does the prince have any business?"

  Li Mu leaned over to Guan Gong and whispered: "I may have a way to cure the Fourth Princess's illness, please inform the Dragon King."

  "Ah!" The turtle minister was startled and immediately overjoyed. He hastily moved his shell and hurriedly went to find the Dragon King.

  After the departure of Gui Chengxiang, Li Mu's mouth slightly raised, and in his hand was a token that had appeared out of nowhere. Holding Gui Chengxiang's token, he went straight to the treasure vault, unimpeded all the way. At the end of the treasure vault was the Extreme Ocean Abyss. The East Sea has two springs that provide an endless source of water for the great sea, and this is one of them.

  Slipping past the guards, avoiding the patrol teams. Opening that thick and heavy large door, Li Mu quickly slipped inside, entering a long and narrow passageway. A gloomy atmosphere rushed forth, making one tremble involuntarily. But towards this kind of atmosphere, Li Mu not only didn't feel afraid but instead felt a sense of familiarity that flashed by in an instant, just like the first time he went to Ao Xue's place. Thinking about his purpose for coming, Li Mu continued walking forward without hesitation, and after a while, finally reached the end - the Extreme Ocean Abyss.

  The extremely deep abyss was like a bottomless mountain valley, with only one narrow stone ladder leading to the bottom of the valley. Even if there were many gems shining around, the range of vision could only reach three or five dozen steps. The entire abyss was like a huge mouth, as if it wanted to swallow all things in the world.

  This feeling seems familiar, like the first time I saw Wei Tianjing's cover!

  In this extremely dark world, a huge pillar rose from the depths of darkness. Looking up, it was seen that it went straight to the top of the palace and pointed directly at the nine heavens. On the golden body of the pillar, several clear large characters suddenly lit up in front of Li Mu's eyes, revealing four large characters: 'Dinghai Shen Zhen'.

  "This is the Dinghai Divine Needle!" If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Li Mu would never have believed that this pillar, hundreds of meters high and dozens of meters thick, was the legendary treasure, the Dinghai Divine Needle. If this were a needle, how big would the person using it be? Probably only the legendary Kunpeng could create something like this.

  No wonder Bai Huang was infatuated with this object, unable to eat or sleep. This was indeed a rare treasure, and Li Mu felt that the trip had not been in vain. He memorized the appearance of the Dinghai Divine Needle in his mind, then quietly left.

  Back on the shore, Bai Huan was anxiously waiting. Seeing Li Mu come out of the water, he immediately went over and asked: "How was it? Did you see it?"

  Li Mu's face sank, and he remained silent for a long time. Bai Huan looked at him with anxiety and fear, her heart racing wildly. Li Mu finally let out a long sigh: "It's truly a rare treasure that's hard to come by in this lifetime!"

  Bai Huang paused for a moment before realizing that Li Mu was intentionally joking with her. She immediately gave Li Mu a stern look and then hastily asked, "What does the Dinghai Divine Needle look like?"

  Li Mu said: "Although I haven't seen its entire appearance, roughly estimating it should be over a hundred zhang high, twenty to thirty meters thick, with a golden body, and the four characters 'Dinghai Shen Zhen' written at the top. At the end, there is also a golden hoop..."

  Li Mu carefully described the Dinghai Divine Needle, including what color each part was and where it was rough or smooth. It was as if he were describing a precious work of art, with words unable to fully capture its wonder.

  Bai Huang listened carefully, but never heard the question she was concerned about, and anxiously interrupted Li Mu, asking: "Is there such a character on the Dinghai Divine Needle?" She drew a character in her palm, like a '舟' word but with a few more strokes, and it didn't look like a Buddhist seal either. Li Mu had never seen such a character before.

  "Nothing..." Li Mu thought for a moment before responding, "Oh, at the tip of the Dinghai Divine Needle, there is a strange symbol floating, but the Dinghai Divine Needle itself does not exist."

  "Really!" Bai Huang excitedly grabbed Li Mu's hand, staring at him with full expectation.

  It's been so long, this is the first time I've seen Bai Hua lose her composure, and also the first time I've seen her smile. It's like a flower blooming in the dark of night, radiant with beauty. Thinking back to my expression when I first saw the Dinghai Divine Needle, I can understand Bai Hua's current mood.

  Li Mu nodded and smiled slightly.