Lian Yunzhi: “……”
Lian Yunzhi wanted to tear his face off.
But Lian Yunzhi held back.
He couldn’t—at least he shouldn’t fight with a nine-year-old Qi Refining Layer 2 kid. That would be too undignified—he was a Golden Core True Person!
So Lian Yunzhi took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and said coldly: “Dissolve it.”
The smile on Mu Cheng’s face faded.
He lowered his head, but his voice remained stubborn: “No.”
Lian Yunzhi: “I’ll ask you one last time. Will you dissolve it or not?”
Mu Cheng: “No!”
The moment Mu Cheng finished speaking, a thick, long emerald-green vine lunged at him with claws outstretched, instantly wrapping around his body like a massive python and hoisting him high into the air!
The wind whistled past, treetops scraped against his shoes, and Little Mu Cheng’s face turned pale. Yet his eyes remained fixed on Lian Yunzhi below, his lips pressed tightly together, showing no trace of fear or plea for mercy.
But in the next instant, the giant vine carried him over the treetops, over the hillside, over the river, and tossed him onto a grassy patch on the opposite bank before vanishing abruptly!
Little Mu Cheng panicked and ran toward the direction where the vine had disappeared, but it had vanished too quickly, and the river before him was too swift. No matter what, he couldn’t catch up.
He stopped in his tracks and clenched his fists tightly on the spot.
A moment later, he closed his eyes and used his faint cultivation to sense the Dao Companion Contract within his body.
……He found it.
He opened his eyes and walked step by step toward Lian Yunzhi’s direction.
The river was too wide and too rapid for him to cross, so he took a long detour around it.
As the sky gradually darkened, he couldn’t see the path clearly, so he caught a few Firefly Demon Insects that glowed and held them in his hands.
The hillside was too steep, the valley too dark, the woods too dense. He fell down and got back up, pressing on step by step.
When the moon hung high in the sky, he finally reached Lian Yunzhi’s location.
Lian Yunzhi was in a cave, but the entrance was firmly sealed by a net woven of vines, barring his entry.
He had relied on the Dao Companion Contract to find Lian Yunzhi, only to discover that if Lian Yunzhi disliked him and didn’t want to see him, there were a thousand ways to avoid him.
Covered in mud and bruises, he stood alone outside the cave, his shadow stretched long by the moonlight.
He stood there for a long time.
He knew that if he just shouted right now: I’m willing to dissolve the Dao Companion Contract.
Then the vines before him would instantly retreat. He could walk in, or that person would come out. That person would treat him kindly like at the beginning, smile beautifully at him, hold him in his arms, and stroke his head.
But he said nothing.
He sat down with his back to the vine net, looked up at the hazy moon in the sky, then lowered his head to pluck some wild grass to wipe the blood and mud from his hands. Finally, he closed his eyes, rested his cheek on his bent knees, and fell into an uneasy sleep.
……
Stubborn brat!
Lian Yunzhi inside the cave was furious!
How could he be so stubborn?! Why did he have to oppose him at every turn?! Why wouldn’t he even dissolve the Dao Companion Contract?!
Of course, what angered Lian Yunzhi even more was himself.
—How could he not even handle a nine-year-old Mu Cheng?!
Lian Yunzhi glared viciously at Little Mu Cheng’s curled-up back, then retracted his vines, picked up his Cricket Cage, and turned to head deeper into the cave.
—The Treasure-Hunting Armored Insect seemed to have detected treasure deeper in the cave.
.
The passage deep in the cave was very dark, but fortunately, the luxurious Cricket Cage in Lian Yunzhi’s hand was inlaid not only with spirit stones but also with countless Night-Luminous Pearls.
The Night-Luminous Pearls emitted a soft, ethereal glow, illuminating the narrow path.
Little Gold’s chirping suddenly stopped, then erupted urgently toward the left front. Lian Yunzhi hurried that way, turned the corner, passed a massive boulder, and his breath hitched—he had found a scripture chamber.
If you asked what made cultivators of Xiaoze State happiest when finding something in a secret realm, some would say spiritual pills and medicines, others magic artifacts like swords, but almost everyone would add—ah, if only they could find more ancient texts.
In the early days of Spiritual Energy Revival in Xiaoze State, knowledge was the most precious and the most scarce resource.
Lian Yunzhi had explored nearly every secret realm in Xiaoze State, but this was the first time he had seen so many complete books in one.
He walked over and flipped through them eagerly, one by one.
.
When he sensed that something had happened to Mu Cheng, Lian Yunzhi was reading an ancient text called the Divine Soul Cultivation Art. Before this, he had always thought that only Soul Transformation Cultivators could cultivate the Divine Soul and open the Knowledge Sea, but this book told him that the Divine Soul and Knowledge Sea were innate. Talented cultivators could begin cultivation as early as Nascent Soul or even Golden Core stage.
Lian Yunzhi was certainly talented—he had a top-grade Single Spiritual Root!
But just as he was lost in the book, his heart suddenly pounded violently. The Dao Companion Contract tugged at him, making it hard for him to breathe—Mu Cheng was in trouble!
Lian Yunzhi stuffed the book into his robes and raced out of the cave at top speed!
The moment he emerged, he froze.
Little Mu Cheng was running desperately ahead, chased by a Tier 5 Demon Beast with murderous eyes!
This was a Tier 5 Demon Beast!
One that even Lian Yunzhi at Foundation Establishment Peak couldn’t defeat!
Lian Yunzhi’s heart skipped a beat. Just as the beast opened its maw to swallow Mu Cheng, he lashed out with a vine, scooped Mu Cheng into his arms, and fled with all his might!
—Now there were two people escaping.
.
“What did you do?!” Lian Yunzhi roared while running. “You touched those persimmon trees, didn’t you? Didn’t I tell you to behave after entering the secret realm and not touch anything inside?!”
The Persimmon Mountain Secret Realm was a very safe one, with almost no demon beast attacks—except for one thing: don’t touch the persimmon trees inside.
However, since the persimmon trees here grew in strange shapes, some not even resembling persimmons, Lian Yunzhi had warned Mu Cheng on the way: After entering the secret realm, stay obediently by my side and don’t touch anything.
