Chapter 23: Coincidence
He wasn't some hungry ghost, preying on every person he caught…
At this moment, one of the merchants suddenly spoke: “If you ask me, Brother Li Qi, if you’re really craving her body, why not just get it over with right here and now? She’s not even awake anyway. After you’re done and had your fun, just toss her by the roadside. You can’t let her burden you for life, right?”
“After all, you’re her savior. For her to offer herself to you is nothing, right?” The merchant chuckled.
These words were utterly devoid of humanity. Li Qi, displeased, frowned and simply stood up, walking towards the woman. As he walked, he spoke in a joking tone: “Hey, what do you mean ‘get it over with right now’? Do I look like…”
Before he could finish, the woman shivered and woke up.
“Ah, you’re awake?” Li Qi rejoiced, sighing in relief. It was good she was awake; now he wouldn’t have to agonize over it.
“Miss, what’s your name?” He decisively stepped forward and asked her.
Who knew, the beautiful woman shrank back, her face filled with terror and fear and her voice trembling as she said: “I… I’m very powerful. You, don’t come closer…”
...
Shen Shuibi never imagined she would fall to this point.
When she used to serve the Lady, it wasn’t exactly a life of luxury but at least all miscellaneous tasks were handled by servants. She only needed to obey the Lady and give orders to her subordinates.
But once the Lady lost power and was forced to flee to Baiyue, Shen Shuibi naturally followed. Along the way, she suffered untold hardships, not to mention being separated from the Lady and left stranded in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.
Those human cultivators not only shattered her magical artifact but also implanted their divine sense into her cultivation, forcing her to disperse her cultivation to escape their surveillance.
She thought she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She found an abandoned, dilapidated temple, enlightened a wild dog and prepared to rest for a while.
Instead, she encountered someone who cultivated the unique arts of the Grand Priests of Baiyue. This person might well be a disciple or attendant of one such ritual priest, protected by the power of ghosts and gods, capable of divining fortune and misfortune, and even able to reverse timely rain, calm drought-inducing winds, avert disaster from armies, and ward off widespread illness. They possessed various peculiar divine abilities.
She had read ancient texts that spoke of the most formidable practitioners among shamans as Grand Diviners and Grand Priests.
The Grand Diviner presided over the three methods of omen: first, jade omen; second, tile omen; third, primeval omen. The fundamental forms of these omens each numbered one hundred and twenty, while their associated hymns or interpretations each totaled one thousand two hundred.
They also presided over the three methods of change: their fundamental trigrams were eight, and their variations sixty-four.
Furthermore, they presided over the three methods of dreaming: first, inducing dreams; second, anomalous dreams; third, ascendant dreams. Their cycles numbered ten, and their variations ninety. They use tortoise shells to divine crucial state affairs, interpreting eight key outcomes. These eight outcomes then help divine the three omens, the three changes, and the three dreams, to observe the fortunes and misfortunes of the world and calculate the destinies of all living beings.
The Grand Priest, on the other hand, could perform grand sacrifices, sacrificing to human ghosts, heavenly spirits, and earth deities, using their own body to bring human ghosts, heavenly spirits, and earth deities into harmonious unity for human use.
They presided over the Six Misfortunes, invokes the Six Prayers, composes the Six Laments, discerns the Six Omens, governs the Nine Sacrifices, interprets the Nine Bows, held fire and water, serving ghosts and spirits and being called "ritual priest."
They had ghosts and spirits protecting them, the heroic spirits of ancestors accompanying them, and heavenly spirits, earth deities, and gods from the four directions all bestowed their blessings upon them, possessing terrifying power.
Both the Grand Diviner and the Grand Priest were the pinnacle experts of the Shamanic Way. Before the invasion of the Human Way, they were the undisputed rulers of Baiyue.
The Ten Thousand Beast Art was a unique spell of the Grand Priest lineage, an exclusive privilege of the ritual priests.
After she emerged, she confirmed that it was indeed a unique art of the Grand Priest lineage, the Bull Strength Art bestowed by the Myriad Beasts Earth Deity. She was instantly terrified.
After thinking for a long time, she still decided to run away quickly, after all, the wild dog had no intelligence, it was just a mad dog, she only used it for temporary safety.
For this, she summoned the black mist.
This was a spell called the Burial Qi Art.
“Burial” means to conceal, to ride the life qi.
Life qi is the circulating energy of the primordial essence. In the heavens, it flows through the six voids; on earth, it gives rise to all things. Without it, the heavens have no sustenance for qi, and the earth has no form to carry. Moreover, life qi is hidden within the earth, invisible to humans.
The Burial Qi Art was just like that, operating the life qi outwards to make oneself invisible, losing all trace.
But who knew what divine ability the other party had, to actually be able to see through the black mist!
And even if he could see through it, he just happened to have a group of machete users with him who had killed an unknown number of pigs!
The clanging of the machetes activated the malevolent qi on them. Water elementals are not suited for the coming and going of deities, and all possess a fierce killing intent. This was the nemesis of life qi, forcing the black mist to retreat, and she was directly captured.
Shen Shuibi knew her injuries well. And besides her injuries, she had also dispersed her cultivation to evade capture…
This was truly awkward.
So, she instinctively, purely by instinct, used her innate skill.
She was a rabbit demon who had already transformed into human form.
What was the rabbit demon’s innate skill?
It was playing dead…
She prayed in her heart: “You can’t see me… you can’t see me… you can’t see me…” And then, she hoped the other party would find her unlucky or troublesome and simply leave her by the roadside, which would be for the best.
But, to her surprise, this shaman… turned out to be a good person.
He actually carried her for two hours at a critical moment.
Heavens, you’re so kind, can’t you just let me go!
Shen Shuibi was on the verge of tears.
However, she was soon genuinely about to cry.
She listened as that group of people advised Li Qi to abandon her, and she secretly rejoiced, thinking that as long as she was left by the roadside, she could immediately run away.
But then, that person named Li Qi just wouldn’t agree!
She thought it was just kindness, but then the man named Ba Kui saw right through it: Li Qi was actually lusting after her body!
To be honest, she almost couldn’t keep up the act then. Shen Shuibi had grown up by the Lady’s side since childhood; how could she have seen such things?
She barely managed to hold it together, and then she heard another person say… to simply get it over with and then discard her body in the wilderness.
To be honest, she almost peed herself.
The rabbit demon had indeed faced life-or-death crises in her life. Although she had grown up by the Lady’s side since childhood, she had previously been separated from the Lady and pursued. Even though most of the pursuers went after the Lady, she still barely escaped.
But a life-or-death crisis was a life-or-death crisis, and this was a different nature altogether.
And that Li Qi…
This person seemed to have taken it to heart.
He walked straight towards her.
And he was smiling!
That "hehehe" laugh made Shen Shuibi’s rabbit ears almost pop out.
Why would her rabbit ears pop out? Because she was so scared she was revealing her true form.
Rabbits are naturally timid, and now she couldn't even pretend to be dead anymore.
She steeled herself, clenched her small fists, and made a firm resolution!
At this point, she had no choice but to suddenly wake up and fight him!
Even if the other party was a shaman, what of it? A rabbit could be killed, but not humiliated.
But… wait, the other party seemed not to care whether she lived or died. When she was playing dead before, he didn’t seem to care and was just about to come over…
It was over.
As soon as she thought of this, Shen Shuibi immediately deflated.
Then came the scene just now.
She tremblingly opened her eyes, shrinking her neck, and stared at Li Qi, scared to death.
As for Li Qi…
(Chapter End)