Episode 63 Spirit

  It was already past 10 am when Li Yan came out of the hospital room where Ruo Yun was staying. He took the elevator downstairs and went straight out of the hospital to buy some food. For several days, he hadn't come to the hospital, so all the meals he had originally ordered were automatically cancelled. Now, however, he had no choice but to go down himself to buy something to eat.

  It's a pity that the great Li Da San Xian, until now, his physical body has only reached the pre-heavenly realm, far from the realm of avoiding grains. It can be said that it is a long way off, leaving him with nothing but sighs and regrets.

  As soon as Li Yan came out of the hospital filled with the smell of medicine, he suddenly felt very comfortable. The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves and lazily fell on people's bodies, bringing a faint warmth.

  "Xian Chang——Xian Chang——" Li Yan was just relaxing his body when he suddenly heard a call in his ear. His primordial spirit trembled, and immediately, his gaze turned to a large willow tree not far away. On the top of the willow tree, a green-clad strange man was waving one hand at him.

  This green-skinned monster, with a body that looked like it was only around ten years old, had a face that was originally very ugly, covered in mysterious symbols and markings. On his forehead, there was a bright green vertical pupil, and between the lines of his eyes, one could faintly sense a hint of mysterious power lurking within.

  "A tree spirit?" Li Yan's eyebrows rose in surprise, his curiosity getting the better of him. He hadn't expected to see a tree spirit on this planet where the ecosystem had been so severely damaged. Although they were relatively common supernatural creatures in the universe, here they were quite rare. At least, he had only encountered one like it in all of Dragon Pool City up until now.

  "Xian Chang, you're so amazing! You can actually see me!" The tree spirit was suddenly unable to hold back its excitement and let out a loud whoop of joy, looking utterly thrilled.

  Li Yan couldn't help but be speechless for a moment, it seemed that the cultivation system of this world had indeed almost collapsed. He shook his head and asked in return: "Little guy, what brings you to find me?"

  "Thank you so much!" The tree spirit sat on the top of the willow tree, swinging its two small legs and said: "Thanks for helping my good friend."

  "Your good friend?" Li Yan asked in surprise: "Who is he?"

  "It's all thanks to you!" The tree spirit scratched its own head and smiled sincerely: "Thanks to your help, he was able to successfully seal the Heavenly Eye, and from now on, he won't have to be startled by vengeful spirits again."

  "It was him." Li Yan couldn't help but smile slightly as he thought of the young man he had just treated. He was about to speak when several cars with government license plates drove by on the side road and headed towards the hospital entrance. He seemed to have remembered something and furrowed his brow subconsciously, but then relaxed again and beckoned to the tree spirit: "Little guy, come down, let's find a place to talk."

  "Don't call me little guy, I'm already 536 years old!" The tree spirit jumped down from the top of the willow tree, shouting loudly, as if venting its dissatisfaction.

  Li Yan chuckled and said: "More than 500 years, how come you're still so short?"

  "I don't know either." The tree spirit's face was filled with a gloomy expression.

  "Alright, alright," Li Yan said with a laugh, "I've been cultivating for so many years since I started on this path that I've lost count of the months and years. Although you have an age of over 500 years, in my eyes, you're no different from a child. I call you 'youngster' and you still don't like it."

  "No way," said the tree spirit with a stubborn expression: "I'm not a little guy, you can call me Liu Ding, anyway, I'm not a little guy, no, no!"

  Seeing the tree spirit child-like constantly in front of him, Li Yan couldn't help but smile slightly: "Alright, alright, then I'll call you Liu Ding, this should be fine, let's get down to business."

  Indeed, this willow spirit is only a tree spirit that has cultivated for 500 years. In terms of divine powers and strength, it's not even comparable to an ordinary Yang Shen realm cultivator, let alone Li Yan, who has already reached the Yuan Shen realm as a scattered immortal. If he wanted to, he could easily kill it with a single strike. However, all grass and wood spirits are inherently kind and benevolent, and are called "spirits" because they have obtained the essence of heaven and earth, sun and moon through their cultivation, and have condensed it into a spirit. Therefore, cultivators generally do not want to lightly kill these grass and wood spirits.

  "Alright, alright," nodded Liu Ding. "Xian Chang may already know this, but Hai Ruo Yun is a natural-born yin-yang eye. The first time I saw him, he was only six years old. One evening, a group of children came to play under my tree, and one of them was Hai Ruo Yun. His home was very close to mine. Those children were playing with fire at the base of the tree, which made me extremely uncomfortable and even burned some of my leaves. I didn't want to hurt those kids, so I could only reluctantly move to the top of the tree to sit down. When I looked at Hai Ruo Yun, I was surprised to find that his gaze responded to mine. So, I tried talking to him, and he wasn't surprised at all. I complained to him about those children, and as a result, he chased them away. From then on, no more kids came to play with fire under my tree. Later, we became good friends."

  Li Yan furrowed his brow and said: "According to what you said, shouldn't this child be quite abnormal? But why was his autism so severe when I saw him?"

  "Alas..." Liu Ding sighed, and said in a serious tone: "Actually, it's all because of his father Hai Ruten. About five years ago, he somehow acquired a large golden bull, which clearly had an ominous aura about it, but he insisted on treating it as a treasure and placed it at home. As a result, Yu Yun, due to her innate talents, gradually absorbed the evil energy from the golden bull, and slowly transformed into what she is today."

  "Golden Bull? Evil spirit?" Upon hearing this, Li Yan couldn't help but furrow his brow. According to the mythological cultivation system of this planet, the bull was a zodiac sign, and the Golden Bull was even a divine symbol, not some kind of evil or malevolent entity. How could it possibly accumulate a large amount of evil spirit?

  "Yes, I saw it clearly, it was a golden bull, at least three feet long!" Liu Ding exaggeratedly compared his hands, looking very excited and a bit frightened: "I even felt that the golden bull was alive, so fierce! I just took a sneak peek at it, and it roared loudly at me. If it could move, it would probably hit me!"

  "According to you, this golden bull is indeed a terrible omen, but why did it only affect Yuru Cloud? Is it because of her extraordinary talent?" Li Yan's mind was filled with doubts, and he immediately asked: "Right, Liu Ding, where is the golden bull now?"

  "It's actually in Ruo Yun's house! But his old man is extremely precious about it, not letting anyone touch it, saying it's a treasure that guards the house!" As he spoke, Liu Ding let out a cold snort of disdain, and with this expression, he had quite a bit of the demeanor of a young master.

  Li Yan's eyes sparkled as he gazed at a nearby spot, but soon shook his head and sighed: "Ordinary people are ignorant, thinking that treasures can stabilize the house and nourish the feng shui, but who would have known that the treasure is actually the root of all troubles."

  Liu Dingdao said, "Xian Chang, your cultivation is so high, why not destroy that golden cow? That way, you can avoid the possibility of Yun absorbing the evil energy within it again in the future, and he won't fall ill once more."

  "This?" Li Yan couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, and after a while, he still didn't make up his mind, only ambiguously saying: "Let me think about it for now."

  "Well, I'll take my leave then." Liu Ding said: "If the immortal has any need for assistance, don't hesitate to find a place with willow trees, I will definitely lend a hand."

  "Go, go." Li Yan had a good impression of this somewhat eccentric tree spirit. He chuckled and watched as Liu Ding transformed into a green light and disappeared into the poplar tree. Only then did he let out a cold snort: "You've been hiding in the shadows for so long, isn't it time to come out? Do I need to personally invite you?"