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Chapter 733: Chapter 739: Beast
Since they had already emerged, Xiaoqing and Feng Peng planned to cleanse Wanxian Province of the Demon Cultivators to prevent them from killing and setting fires everywhere.
During this process, Xiaoqing received a Soul Voice Transmission from Li Zhirui, informing her that he was safe and on his way back to his family. 𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑝𝘶𝘣.𝑐𝘰𝘮
This news completely eased Xiaoqing’s worries, allowing her to leisurely eliminate the Demon Cultivators who had fled to this place.
Like two blossoms on a branch, each displaying its own charm.
However, Li Zhirui, who was hurrying on his way, happened upon several low-ranking Demon Cultivators slaughtering mortals within city walls. His joy from having obtained a large number of Spiritual Objects was shattered by these wretches.
Especially when he saw one of the Demon Cultivators devour the flesh and blood of parents in front of their child, piece by piece!
Even he felt somewhat uneasy at such a cruel sight.
"You all deserve to die!"
Li Zhirui roared. The Demon Cultivators all looked up, their eyes instantly filled with terror – they could never have imagined that a Nascent Soul would pass through a mere mortal city!
With a casual wave of his hand, dozens of streaks of blue light shot out, and in a flash, all these beasts were wiped out.
"Wuu—"
"Dad! Mom!"
"My child!"
All kinds of tragic cries and wails were endless, and the gloomy sky further accentuated the sorrowful atmosphere.
"Sigh!"
Even Li Zhirui, who had seen countless gruesome and cruel scenes, couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
Mortals must defend against natural disasters and calamities, as well as the Demon Cultivators who could appear at any time. Small powers must guard against large powers, but are the large powers truly safe? No! One only needs to look at the recent plight of Xuanfa Pavilion to understand.
In this world, there has never been a truly safe place, but the most tragic of all are the mortals!
The small city was relatively lucky, at least they encountered Li Zhirui passing by and weren’t completely slaughtered, only a few hundred people died!
And during the period when countless low-ranking Demon Cultivators were fleeing for their lives, how many mortals would suffer such a calamity?
No one knows, nor will anyone investigate, but one can imagine, it would be an astronomical number that would shock anyone!
Although Li Zhirui did save the mortals of this city, he did not have a great change of heart. He merely cleared away the remnants of the Demon Cultivators, such as corpses, Magic Artifacts, and blood, before planning to leave.
But just then, a child suddenly rushed out and knelt on the rubble-strewn ground, crying out loudly, "I beg the immortal to take me as a disciple, I want to avenge my parents."
He was the child who had witnessed his own parents being devoured by a Demon Cultivator.
A flicker of interest passed through Li Zhirui’s eyes; any other child would have been scared into fainting at that scene, but not him!
Far from it, he had stared intently at the Demon Cultivator, as if to engrave the perpetrator’s visage in memory for future retribution.
At that moment, Li Zhirui was only angered by the demoniacal behavior of the Demon Cultivator, but now, reflecting upon the event, he realized the extraordinary nature of this child.
With a resilient heart and enough composure, his mental fortitude was definitely top-notch among all the people he had encountered!
"I have already killed that Demon Cultivator and avenged them for you," Li Zhirui didn’t answer to the first part of the statement.
Although the child’s disposition was touching, Li Zhirui had no intention of taking disciples. After all, he was about to go into closed-door cultivation to refine his realm to perfection, with no time to teach a disciple.
"But there are many more Demon Cultivators!" The child’s dark eyes were filled with hatred.
Li Zhirui shook his head, not bothering to speak about the profound principles of Demon Cultivators being inexhaustible, and the Heavenly Dao’s maintenance of balance between Yin and Yang, for he wouldn’t understand anyway.
In a moment of whimsy, he tested the boy’s Spiritual Root, which turned out to be the worst kind—Five Spirit Roots!
"Parents deceased, poor aptitude, yet possessing some sort of talent—this somehow feels like the template for the protagonist in a novel from my previous life," Li Zhirui muttered to himself, considering whether to take the boy in as his disciple. For a moment, the thought he had previously entertained began to waver.
However, on second thought, being the teacher of a protagonist wasn’t necessarily something to be happy about. Who knew when he might inadvertently invite some monumental trouble?
With this in mind, Li Zhirui’s determination not to take on a disciple became unshakably firm!
Giving the protagonist an opportunity and forming a bit of good karma with him wasn’t bad either.
As a result, Li Zhirui gave him a set of common Foundation Establishment Cultivation Techniques, several hundred Spirit Stones, and two Magic Artifacts for offense and defense, which he had obtained from low-level Demon Cultivators.
The child clutched the storage bag tightly and kowtowed deeply three times to Li Zhirui, saying, "May I know where the Immortal’s abode is? Once I have made some progress in my cultivation, I will surely come to express my gratitude."
"Li family of Wanxian Province."
Li Zhirui gave the name of his home, then dropped a final remark before he swiftly left.
"Live well," the child whispered repeatedly.
Once Li Zhirui was gone, he suddenly recalled his departing gesture and couldn’t help but be stunned, murmuring to himself, "How did I become someone who seems like a stepping stone in leading the protagonist onto the path?"
"Could it be that the kid really is a chosen one? The world’s protagonist?"
But soon, he cast these thoughts aside. With his current speed of cultivation, he would inevitably attain Divine Transformation before the other achieved Golden Core!
By then, even if the kid was a protagonist, what good would that do? The gap in their strengths would be so vast, he wouldn’t be of any help.
Continuing on his way, Li Zhirui encountered many mortals who had suffered at the hands of Demon Cultivators. Some had already been slaughtered by the time he arrived, while others were still in one piece.
During this period, there were also mortals who wanted to become his disciples, but he didn’t stay for even a moment.
Traveling with stops and starts, it took Li Zhirui almost half a month to finally return to Wanxian Island.
And the day before he got back, Xiaoqing finally chose the Spiritual Object he wanted.
"Are you sure you want this one?" Li Zhirui frowned and asked for confirmation again.
The Spiritual Object Xiaoqing had selected was the fourth-order Flood Dragon Fruit. Although it was indeed not of a low grade, it was practically of no help to his bloodline.
However, coming back to it, among the Spiritual Objects they acquired, the only one that could improve Xiaoqing’s bloodline was the Wood Core Precious Spring, and even that wouldn’t have much of an effect.
"Yes!" Xiaoqing nodded with certainty, "I plan to cultivate the Flood Dragon Fruit and consume it in the future."
Li Zhirui was taken aback upon hearing this and, after thinking it over, he remembered the esoteric effect of this uncommon Spiritual Object, which could enhance the strength of Dragon-Type Spiritual Beasts and increase the toughness of their physical bodies.
It was said if the Flood Dragon Fruit advanced to fifth-order, it would become a real Flood Dragon Fruit capable of enhancing the Flood Dragon bloodline, and perhaps that was part of Xiaoqing’s intentions.
"I will cultivate this item, so pick another Spiritual Object," he said.
Xiaoqing shook his head and refused, "No need, the Flood Dragon Fruit is fine."
Seeing his resolute expression, Li Zhirui didn’t press further. He took out the Flood Dragon Fruit, handed it to him, then sent him back to his own space to figure things out.
After Li Zhirui’s breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage, the space had expanded several times in size. Up to now, some Spirit Fields were still empty, not yet planted with any Spiritual Medicine or Spirit Grass.
The main reason was that he had too many things to do, too busy to manage it, and high-grade Spirit Seeds were rare, not so easily obtained.
Nevertheless, among the Spiritual Objects from the Wanxiang Sect this time, there were a few Spirit Seeds that Li Zhirui hadn’t collected before, so he planted them in the vacant plots.
