Li Muyang had already collected 109 stone statues, along with the 89 statues in Miao Fengjun’s possession and the nine statues previously absorbed by Little Wild Grass’s corpse.
Currently, the known total number of Little Wild Grass stone statues is 207.
Li Muyang could already see the dawn of resurrecting Little Wild Grass.
As for Miao Fengjun jumping ship halfway through, it was a pity, but ultimately irrelevant—Li Muyang had long been accustomed to relying on himself.
Parting ways with the Headless Sacred Monk, he once again embarked on his journey of killing monsters and leveling up.
In the dull monotony of slaying monsters, time flowed away silently.
And so, twenty days passed; Li Muyang had already leveled up three SSR cards to LV99, their peak level.
Now, he was devoting all his focus to training other character cards.
But at that very moment, his true body in The Peaceful Realms suddenly sensed some sort of disturbance.
Li Muyang abruptly opened his eyes and saw a shattered stone door silently appearing amidst the mist of The Peaceful Realms.
The enormous Green Saber Mantis huddled over, limping toward the stone door.
A faint trace of nature’s spiritual energy seeped out from beyond the stone door.
Li Muyang froze upon seeing this, and then a wave of ecstatic joy washed over him.
The Green Saber Mantis had finally found an exit leading back to the Mortal World.
Li Muyang turned to glance back over his shoulder.
In the mist, the shadow of Chou Yuyan lingered faintly.
Seeing that Li Muyang had discovered the Mortal World’s exit, the crazed woman let out a cold laugh but chose not to follow him further.
However, she didn’t disappear entirely; instead, she continued along her original path as though she was heading somewhere specific within The Peaceful Realms.
Li Muyang’s brows furrowed as he took in the scene.
He had assumed that the lunatic Chou Yuyan had been tailing him, but it turned out she just happened to be going the same way?
What in The Peaceful Realms could be of interest to this madwoman?
Or perhaps, was there something in The Peaceful Realms that could aid the severely wounded Chou Yuyan?
Standing beside the stone door, Li Muyang coldly watched Chou Yuyan fade into the mist, then finally stepped into the door, leaving The Peaceful Realms together with the Green Saber Mantis.
The vortex within the stone door swallowed Li Muyang and the Green Saber Mantis whole.
An overwhelming sensation of spinning assaulted him, and after an unknown amount of time passed, Li Muyang regained his senses to find himself standing on an enormous rock.
That rock floated amidst a sea of white mist, its surface exuding a chilling aura of eerie power—a creation from The Peaceful Realms.
Behind Li Muyang stood a colossal stone door, half-collapsed and in ruins.
The shattered stones drifting through the white mist were clearly fragments of this very door.
Li Muyang perched atop the Green Saber Mantis’s head, commanding it to find a way forward.
In this vast expanse of white mist, there was still no sense of direction.
Soon after, as the Green Saber Mantis pressed ahead, Li Muyang caught sight of several fleeting figures of Heart-Eating Worms.
The grotesque insects were crawling over corpses roaming aimlessly within the mist. Upon spotting the Green Saber Mantis approaching, they scurried frantically away, unwilling to provoke it.
Yet the Green Saber Mantis showed them no mercy, lunging forward to capture and devour all the Heart-Eating Worms.
Li Muyang did not intervene; the Green Saber Mantis could gain experience points by consuming these Heart-Eating Worms, so naturally, Li Muyang welcomed the opportunity to further raise its level.
If the Green Saber Mantis could reach the Heavenly Eternal Realm, then he’d be invincible.
Sitting atop the Green Saber Mantis’s head, Li Muyang watched as it failed to find a way out for the time being, but he wasn’t in a hurry.
He closed his eyes and re-entered the game.
In just a few days, he’d finish leveling up all his Puppets to their peak levels.
By then, he’d return to the Great Zhou capital and challenge the false Buddha in the imperial palace to a fight to the death!
…
The gusty wind of Yin Mountain stretched as an unyielding barrier between north and south.
The sprawling and towering mountain range of Yin Mountain stood silent at the edge of the Central Plains, like a massive stone wall—or perhaps a heavy gate—dividing the Central Plains from the Northern Land.
It had been said that the Northern Land’s provinces were free of calamities, and under the Dragon God’s protection, the people lived in peace and prosperity.
As a result, the people from neighboring provinces flooded toward Yin Mountain, seeking to cross northward into the land blessed by the Dragon God.
But when disaster-stricken refugees arrived at the Yin Mountain range in desperation, they discovered the paths leading into the mountains were already sealed.
Vast, overgrown thorny vines flourished in the mountain forests, becoming an impenetrable wall, cutting off any hope for the people of the Central Plains to escape northward.
No one could cross the giant thorny vines. They couldn’t be cut down with blades or burned away, as though protected by some divine power.
Fortunately, each day, countless grains of rice would grow from the thorny vines.
Thus, those who fled to the base of Yin Mountain managed to survive, clustering in masses on the wide plains at the mountain’s foot.
Sustained by the rice harvested from the thorny vines, the refugees scraped by to avoid starvation.
Just then, above the stench-filled refugee camp, a half-transparent ghostly maiden glided through the air.
Light as a wisp of smoke, she hovered curiously and hesitantly above the camp for some time before descending before the towering face of Yin Mountain.
“…This Dragon God locks the people at the borders yet uses Incense Fire Vow Power daily to produce rice for the refugees.”
“There must be tens of thousands of refugees here, huh? To sustain so many people every day… This Dragon God must possess an incredible amount of Incense Fire Vow Power?”
The ghostly maiden’s curiosity intensified.
She attempted to glide past the protective wall formed by the thorny vines, easily passing through.
The massive wall of thorns only barred mortals.
The ghostly maiden advanced unhindered into Yin Mountain, floating toward the north via its treacherous and steep paths.
Threading through the dark and desolate peaks of Yin Mountain, the ghostly maiden felt a creeping unease. It almost seemed like countless pairs of eyes were observing her from the shadows.
“…Why does this place feel so chilling?” The ghostly maiden rubbed nonexistent goosebumps on her arms, shouting into the void.
“Who’s skulking around pretending to be a ghost? Come out here, now!”
“I’m the younger sister of the Dragon God! Dare to keep stalking me, and I’ll make sure you regret it!”
The ghostly maiden shamelessly fabricated lies.
Nevertheless, after her loud declaration, the unsettling sensation of being watched in the darkness dissipated.
The remainder of her journey through Yin Mountain was smooth, with no interruptions or pursuers. The ghostly maiden breezed through the mountain’s passages, emerging at the northern edge.
But the moment she stepped out beyond Yin Mountain’s bounds, she was surrounded.
“Little girl, you say you’re the Dragon God’s younger sister?”
“How curious… We’ve never heard of the Dragon God having a sibling… Heh heh…”
Amid sinister and eerie laughter, three figures of malevolent shadows emerged from the darkness, encircling the ghostly maiden.
Faced with the hostile intentions of the three shadowy beings, the ghostly maiden froze briefly, then maintained her composure as she continued to lie.
“Of course I’m the Dragon God’s younger sister. If you don’t believe me, call her over and see if she recognizes me as her sibling!”