Chapter 3: The Joys and Sorrows of Life

  Life is about pursuing nothing more than eating, drinking, having fun, dressing up, living and traveling. Whether it's seeking the Tao for immortality or cultivating the demonic path for a carefree life, it all boils down to these seven words. In fact, being happy isn't that hard; it depends on what one pursues. Those who pursue high goals are always exhausted from living, while those with low aspirations are forever content and joyful.

  Li Mu is like that, his pursuit is not high, he does not seek to be the best in the world or to live forever, but only seeks temporary happiness and satisfaction with life. His own life is arranged by himself, his own destiny is controlled by himself. Even if the position is humble, even if life is difficult, as long as he is happy, there is no desire or demand. It was like that in Tongyuan Mountain, and it's still like that here.

  The land is the lowest-level administrator stationed in the mortal world, with no rights and no need to perform excessive duties. There are hundreds of millions of lands within the three realms, more than all other gods combined, so how can the upper realm manage them? Therefore, the land that knows contentment is the most carefree and happy in the three realms.

  "Heaven is dry and things are withered, beware of fire."

  The curfew, the street is desolate, occasionally a few lights flicker in the darkness, almost extinguished. A gust of cool wind blows by, Li Mu's wine is intoxicating, and he becomes dizzy and disoriented, unaware of which way to go. The last drop of Shaoxing wine is seen at the bottom of the jug, and Li Mu, who has never drunk before, cannot handle his liquor.

  "What kind of tea is this, how come it's so intoxicating?" Li Mu stared at the wine jug foolishly, put it to his ear and shook it: "There's still a bit left, heh heh." He tilted his head back and drank it all, then casually tossed the jug aside. "Delicious, refreshing!" In all his years, this was the first time Li Mu had ever felt so carefree. This feeling was just like playing a trick on all three thousand disciples of Tongyuan Gate.

  "Run!" Li Mu had just left when two night watchmen appeared, one of whom looked around in surprise: "I clearly heard a noise?"

  Another one looked at the dark and narrow alley and advised: "It might be a stray cat or mouse, let's go."

  Dazed and confused, he rushed back, finally arriving at the boundary of Qing Shui Village. But Li Mu, who was already seven or eight parts drunk, couldn't find his own cave anywhere. He had no choice but to temporarily find a place to rest for the night and make plans again the next day.

  A bright moon assists the waves, gentle breeze stirs leaves with a soft tinkling sound. The sea water rhythmically crashes against the shore, producing a gurgling noise. Accompanied by rustling leaves and chirping insects, it's a beautiful nocturnal symphony under the moonlight. As Li Mu lazily searches for a place to sleep, he vaguely sees a blurry figure with slender curves reflected in the rippling water, as if the gentle breeze is caressing the willows, swaying with elegance. Her sea-blue hair flows with the ocean breeze, as if the color of the sea is flowing with the wind, exuding an irresistible charm.

  That is...

  "Women?" The word suddenly popped into Li Mu's mind. However, what puzzled him was why this woman in front of him felt so much better than the previous one. It was as if jade compared to rotten wood, a phoenix compared to a crow, one from heaven and the other from earth. With his curiosity about women fueled by alcohol, Li Mu had another bold idea.

  Long Nü áo Rán was practicing her magic, her hands forming a seal as her red lips parted slightly. A powerful energy emanated from around her, causing the waves in front of her to gradually calm down, becoming as still as a lake's surface without a single ripple. She was a strong-willed girl who had been practicing alone for a long time to master the art of ice condensation.

  Just as the spell was about to be released at the most critical moment, a numb and itchy feeling suddenly came from the chest. The breath stagnated, and the spell that had been chanted for half a day was forced to stop abruptly. It wasn't until then that Ao Ran discovered that his own sacred twin peaks had been invaded, a pair of greasy paws gently pinching and rubbing them, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. His plump and round buttocks were pressed against an unknown object, and his whole body felt an unbearable dry heat.

  Just as Li Mu was about to lose himself, a voice that had nothing to do with the matter suddenly came from behind him: "Who says a woman's chest can't be touched? I've touched it, so what?" Li Mu withdrew his claws, and this feeling really made him unable to help himself. A wisp of fragrance floated up from his palm, "Hmm, it smells good." Li Mu savagely sniffed the faint seaweed scent that lingered around his lips and nose.

  He had no idea that a pair of fiery eyes could burn the entire Eastern Sea. The arrogant and overbearing Ao Ran had never suffered such humiliation before, and her anger had burned away all her rationality. After practicing the Ice Condensation Technique for half a year, she was about to succeed, but it was interrupted by this ignorant guy. What's more infuriating was that her virgin land, which had never been breached before, was actually touched by him today. Thinking of this, Ao Ran's anger grew even more intense. All her grievances turned into anger, and she wanted to tear the little brat in front of her apart alive.

  A furious aura emanated from Ao Ran's entire body, releasing an overwhelming energy. His long blue hair stood on end without any wind, and the surrounding seawater also roared in response.

  Li Mu, still intoxicated from the fragrance of the virgin body, instinctively felt a strong sense of danger and was immediately sobered up by six or seven parts. At first, Li Mu thought it was fun, but he didn't expect the woman in front of him to be so angry, and her strength was actually so powerful. In the past, maybe a few moves could have solved her, but now Li Mu, without any magic, had no choice but to endure the slaughter.

  "Hey, let's talk this out properly. A gentleman uses his mouth, not his fists. How much money do you want? I'll give it to you." Li Mu hastily searched himself up and down, only to find that the few taels of silver he had left were gone. With his life on the line, he didn't have time to think about where they went.

  But Ao Ran seemed to have not heard it at all, and the energy in his body quickly condensed. A faint, illusory dragon shadow appeared around him. This was a lifesaving move of the Dragon Clan, also an unparalleled powerful move. It can be inferred that Ao Ran had lost his rationality and was almost crazy, even if he himself was injured, he would still kill Li Mu to death.

  "Alright, let you touch my head." Li Mu felt the oppressive feeling getting stronger and stronger, so he hastily stretched out his head. He remembered what Old Master Tudi had said, that a man's head and a woman's chest were both untouchable, maybe letting her touch his head would calm down her anger.

  However, he still didn't stop casting his spell, and the water dragon became clearer and clearer.

  Li Mu flew into a great rage, cursing: "I've never seen anyone as unreasonable as you, this won't do and that won't do either. Young master can't beat you, but can't he run away?" As he spoke, he pinched off a clod of earth and vanished on the spot.

  Awe-inspiring magic ended, a massive water dragon struck the spot where Li Mu had just disappeared with earth-shaking momentum. Even though Li Mu had escaped a distance away, the energy that came crashing down still shook him. His Earth Escape was disrupted, and Li Mu was forced to pop out of the ground.

  "Damn it!" Li Mu cursed under his breath, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Seeing the huge crater in the distance that still had lingering energy, Li Mu's scalp felt numb. If he hadn't escaped, wouldn't he have been blown to smithereens? He didn't expect this young woman to have such incredible abilities.

  She released the Dragon Clan's secret method, but it didn't go well. Her throat felt sweet and a mouthful of fresh blood spurted out. She saw that Li Mu wasn't dead, and was both shocked and furious. She stepped on a water arrow and flew to Li Mu's side. She wanted to release another spell to kill the bastard in front of her directly, but the forced release of the Dragon Clan's secret method had created a temporary vacuum of magical power within her. Originally wanting to release a water thunderbolt, she ended up releasing only a water ball instead.

  This spell is at most itchy and scratchy, without any harm.

  She was unwilling to give up, so she abandoned her magic and pounced on Li Mu, kicking and trampling him. In a moment of carelessness, she fell down and landed on Li Mu's body. Ao Ran's tears of grievance finally burst forth, gushing out from the corners of her eyes.

  "Bastard, damn you, I'll kill you, you bastard..." He weakly used his hands to punch and hit, tears streaming down his face as he lamented the bleakness of it all. Even Li Mu felt like a despicable scoundrel, filled with remorse in his heart. For someone who was accustomed to playing pranks, this was the first time he had ever felt regret for his actions.

  "Sorry, sorry." Li Mu's weak apology was all he could do to try and alleviate the woman's distress and sadness. But the more he apologized, the more aggrieved Ao Ran felt, and her crying grew louder. Tears soaked through Li Mu's only set of clothes, and Ao Ran's fists, which had been pummeling his chest, gradually lost strength until they came to a stop. Perhaps due to exhaustion from earlier and excessive grief, Ao Ran's consciousness began to blur, and she fell asleep on Li Mu's chest.

  Li Mu himself was also seriously injured and had no strength at the moment. Just as he wanted to move his body, he suddenly fainted due to a severe chest congestion.

  The moonlight quietly watched the desolate scene after the war, life is full of sorrow and joy, hard to grasp, who would have thought that two people who were just in a life-and-death situation, are now so intimately entwined together.

  Warm sunshine gently shines on the coastline in the early morning. The birds that got up early chirped out their clear voices, starting a day of work. The flowers and grasses that were filled with dew are now refreshed, blooming towards the morning sun.

  Li Mu slowly opened his eyes, habitually turned over and stretched, only to find that there was still someone lying on top of him.

  Looking at the quiet sleeping girl in front of him, her delicate face was flawless. Her eyebrows were furrowed in pain, her long eyelashes twitching slightly, and her lips were pursed. The blue dress was a bit disheveled, revealing a large patch of snow-white skin on her chest. Fortunately, Li Mu was completely ignorant of matters related to sex, and upon seeing the towering snowy peak, he only revealed an "I see" expression.

  Actually, the woman's quiet appearance is quite good-looking. Li Mu added in his heart. At this moment, Ao Ran was indeed like a heavenly work of art, perfect from any angle. But thinking back to last night, that crazy look of wanting to put herself to death, Li Mu couldn't help but shudder, really not daring to flatter her.

  One night's time, Li Mu's injuries were fully recovered. This was also the place where Li Mu had been most puzzled all along, every time he suffered a serious injury, he would recover after sleeping for a night. As for minor injuries, they would heal instantly. Li Mu thought it was because he had secretly eaten the Tianyuan Great Immortal's elixir and cultivated an extremely strong body, and had always taken pride in this, so this time he didn't think much of it either.

  But for some reason, Li Mu didn't plan to escape at this time, as if he couldn't bear to disturb this tranquility.

  Ao Ran suddenly opened his eyes to find a pair of sly eyes staring at him, and he was startled. He quickly got up from Li Mu's body and jumped aside. Ao Ran saw that he had lost his composure in front of this scoundrel and felt extremely embarrassed, so he hastily turned away and quickly adjusted himself.

  "Good morning." Li Mu smiled slightly, his hands still clasped behind his head, showing no intention of getting up.

  Suddenly, she found that the person in front of her was the scoundrel who had taken advantage of her last night. She couldn't help but feel a surge of anger again. But thinking about how she had been lying on top of him just now made her wonder: Had she really slept on top of him all night?! Ao Ran didn't dare to imagine it, yet she couldn't deny it either. Her shame and anger consumed some of the flames, and in the midst of this turmoil, she suddenly calmed down.

  After a long time, Ao Ran finally made up his mind to kill the bastard in front of him. His slender fingers stretched out, and immediately a stream of water gushed out.

  "Hey, what are you doing?" The newcomer didn't seem friendly, and Li Mu's heart sank.

  He glared coldly at Li Mu and said with hatred: "I'll kill you, bastard."

  "Sorry about last night, you didn't know any better, so I won't make you help me with the laundry anymore." Li Mu looked down at his own wet chest, a souvenir from Ao Ran's antics the previous night. It was hard to tell whether it was saliva or tears, or maybe a mix of both.

  What happened last night...

  It's better not to mention Li Mu, but once mentioned, it's infuriating. Just killing him wouldn't be enough to vent the hatred in my heart. But since things have already happened and can't be changed, I recall that moment when I felt a tingling sensation, and his tearfully red eyes...

  She suddenly changed her mind, withdrew her finger technique, and looked at Li Mu with pride: "I can spare your life, but you must agree to two things?" She had to admit that she slept very comfortably last night.

  Li Mu was overjoyed and asked: "What's going on?"

  "Firstly, you are not allowed to mention last night's incident to anyone." Ao Ran said coldly.

  "No problem, don't tell anyone."

  "Secondly, from today onwards, I am your master and you must obey me. If you can do these two things, I will spare your life."

  "This is impossible." Li Mu flatly refused. How could a man, a real man, acknowledge a woman as his superior? Although Li Mu was not a man of high integrity, he would never stoop to rely on someone else.

  "Then you choose death." Ao Ran's eyes widened and a spell burst out from her fingertips again.

  "Alright, alright, I'll agree to it." Li Mu immediately changed his tone. A good man doesn't take advantage of the situation in front of him. His master often said: a great man can yield and stretch, a gentleman takes revenge ten years later, no need to rush. For now, he would agree to her terms, and wait for an opportunity to return the humiliation tenfold.

  "Hmph, you're quite sensible." With a cold snort, he casually waved his hand and a stream of green energy shot into Li Mu's body. Immediately afterwards, it transformed into a golden light that sank into the water.