The small axe grew smaller and smaller in Gao Shi’s palm, finally becoming no longer than a finger—looking just like an exquisite model.
Gao Shi was stunned. He turned to look at Ying Bujie, who stepped forward and looked down at the axe in his hand. Countless thoughts seemed to flash through his eyes, but as he opened his mouth to speak, the light in his eyes disappeared again the next moment.
He said, “This is a magical artifact.”
“This object is fated to you.”
“Treasures have spirits. Since it recognizes you as its master, you should keep it.”
With a thought from Gao Shi, the small axe gradually grew larger in his hand, becoming as long as an arm in the blink of an eye.
But he vaguely felt this still wasn’t the axe’s limit.
He turned his head to ask Ying Bujie, “Daoist, this axe can deal with that bastard, right?”
Ying Bujie nodded.
Gao Shi chuckled softly, gently stroking the smooth axe surface, “Then let’s go quickly, Daoist Ying. I can’t wait to chop off that beast’s dog head.”
Ying Bujie calculated with his fingers, then said, “That evil god’s power has blocked the protective charm I left on Gao Gusheng, but we can still track him through blood relations.”
“How do we do it?”
Ying Bujie looked at Gao Shi, “We need blood from his closest relative.”
Gao Shi straightforwardly extended his hand, “Come on then.”
Ying Bujie took out a small knife from his sleeve.
His slightly cool hand gently grasped Gao Shi’s index finger, then used the small knife to make a light cut on Gao Shi’s fingertip. Slowly, a drop of blood pearl gradually seeped from the fingertip.
The blood pearl slowly coagulated, then dripped downward, but it didn’t fall to the ground—instead, it suspended in mid-air.
“That’s enough.”
Gao Shi stared at the blood drop for a while, asking somewhat uneasily, “Is that sufficient? Should we add a little more?”
Ying Bujie’s movements had been too gentle—it was like being bitten by a mosquito. This wound looked like it would heal any moment.
However, Ying Bujie’s condition seemed somewhat off at this moment. He stared at that blood drop, then looked at Gao Shi’s finger.
A terrifying hunger seized his stomach.
The blood on the fingertip tempted him like opium.
“Daoist Ying?”
Gao Shi called out in surprise. Only then did Ying Bujie seem to wake from a dream, silently using the small knife to pierce his own finger.
He was much rougher with himself than he’d been with Gao Shi. Blood immediately gushed out, dripping down in a continuous stream like broken pearls. Gao Shi was startled and quickly reached out, wanting to pinch Ying Bujie’s finger to help stop the bleeding.
Ying Bujie shook his head, “It’s fine.”
In just the time it took to speak, his wound—which was obviously much more severe than Gao Shi’s—had already healed.
Gao Shi breathed a slight sigh of relief, “Daoist, please be more careful with yourself too.”
That blood had sprayed out like a severed artery, giving him quite a fright.
Only now did Gao Shi have the mind to look at the blood drops floating in the air.
The red drop of blood in the center was his, while beside that small blood pearl was a slightly larger one.
Gao Shi suspected he was seeing things—otherwise why would he think that blood drop was actually wreathed with threads of gold?
Could cultivation actually mutate the color of one’s blood?
Ying Bujie said, “In today’s world, spiritual energy is insufficient. I use blood as a carrier to provide spiritual power to this blood kinship guide.”
Ying Bujie formed a hand seal, and Gao Shi’s drop of blood suddenly exploded, becoming blood mist. The blood mist gradually gathered toward the center, about to twist into a thin line extending toward some unknown distant place.
“Wait a moment.”
“It will be quick.”
Gao Shi acknowledged and looked up at the blood line that resembled red mist in the wind.
Suddenly he felt his finger itch slightly.
Looking sideways, he saw that Ying Bujie had somehow gotten so close to him.
Only then did he notice that Ying Bujie’s condition seemed somewhat wrong.
His gaze seemed to be enduring something. In that moment, Gao Shi actually sensed an unimaginable danger from him.
It was as if he were a sweet pastry, emanating fragrant aromas, being targeted by a hungry Ying Bujie.
“Daoist Ying?”
Ying Bujie seemed to be awakened, suddenly coming to his senses. He looked at Gao Shi and instinctively stepped back.
Gao Shi frowned, somewhat worried, “What’s wrong with Daoist Ying? Are you hungry?”
Ying Bujie’s pupils were somewhat unfocused as he stared at the blood drop on Gao Shi’s fingertip and murmured, “So hungry.”
“May I… drink a little of your blood?”
Gao Shi was stunned, but he trusted that Ying Bujie wouldn’t harm him, so he generously extended his hand, “No problem, but Daoist, don’t drink too much. If you drink too much and I have no strength left, I won’t be able to go find Lele.”
Ying Bujie shook his head, saying softly, “I won’t…”
He looked at the hand before him, the blood drop on the fingertip like a blood-red pearl, silently tempting him.
Leaning down, his long hair fell like a waterfall to his sides, hanging straight down to form a black cage.
Reaching out, one hand gently cupped the back of Gao Shi’s hand while the other grasped Gao Shi’s finger that hadn’t fully healed yet.
Lowering his head, his movements were gentle, like a light kiss falling on the fingertip.
A warm tongue licked across the wound, and Gao Shi’s scalp exploded.
Vast fireworks bloomed before his eyes, lightning streaked across clouds, illuminating his dilated pupils in the flickering light.
His soul was touched and embraced, something peeling away from within his body while something else held him tightly.
Though only fingertips were in contact, it felt like the most intimate entanglement.
Love seemed carved into his bone marrow, fused into his blood—the moment Ying Bujie touched him, it gushed forth, every cell joyfully calling out his name.
…
After a long while, Gao Shi finally came back to his senses from that state, his heart full of shock.
Was he a beast?!
His son was still kidnapped to who knows where by that bastard, and he was actually… with Daoist Ying…?
What felt like a century passed before Ying Bujie’s lips finally left his finger, his eyes carrying inexplicable melancholy, as if reluctant to part.
He took out a handkerchief from his robes to wipe Gao Shi’s fingertip. Only then did Gao Shi discover that the wound on his fingertip had completely healed, as if it had never existed.
“…Thank you.”
“No need for thanks.”
Gao Shi had always been upright and honest, never doing anything against his conscience. He never expected that one day he would experience the emotion of shame. For a moment, he couldn’t look directly into Ying Bujie’s clear eyes.
Thus he missed the look in Ying Bujie’s eyes the moment he raised his head.
Ying Bujie looked at him with infinite desire, as if he were the embodiment of his desires, all his inner demons and obsessions.
At this moment, that larger blood drop suddenly blazed with golden light.
Ying Bujie looked over—the originally floating blood mist had completely twisted into a red line.
“It’s ready.”
Only two minutes had passed.
Ying Bujie reached out, hesitated for a moment, then grasped Gao Shi’s wrist. The two disappeared from the villa.
***
“…So that’s how it is.”
Gao Gusheng spread his hands.
“Because my dad has no spiritual roots, and we Gao family members can only have one child in a lifetime due to our constitution, they used the blood-dripping method to give birth to me, hoping I would have spiritual roots.”
“Unfortunately, I take after my dad—I also have no spiritual roots, and my body is weak, so I can’t use the blood-dripping method to have children either. The two of us brought shame to the Gao family, so we were kicked out and can’t walk around outside using the Gao family name.”
“But although my dad has no spiritual roots, his spiritual power is very strong, so he’s very accurate at calculating things—fortune telling, divination, you understand, right?”
“My grandfather has always felt that fortune telling is an unorthodox path, inferior to authentic spiritual root cultivation, so he’s never wanted to acknowledge my dad.”
“This time my dad calculated that after buying that piece of land, it would definitely be profitable—big fortune, big money—and would bring considerable profit to our Gao family. So my dad planned to use this land as a stepping stone to return home, bringing me back to the Gao family with him. To let grandfather know that even without spiritual roots, relying on divination can still make one no weaker than others.”
Gao Gusheng stopped talking, his mouth dry.
The two people in front of him had almost been completely fooled by his bluffing.
Li Mochen turned to look at the evil god, asking, “Is what he said true? How credible is it?”
The evil god said dazedly, “In ancient times, when spiritual energy was still abundant, there were indeed some people different from ordinary humans who could ride clouds, control mist, fly through the sky and burrow into the earth.”
“But you said spiritual energy is very weak now.”
“That’s right, but we can’t rule out that certain families do have truly exceptional bloodlines. Even with weak spiritual energy, they can continue cultivating immortality.”
Gao Gusheng quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He knew it! Faced with such great benefits, anyone would be tempted. Better to believe it exists than not.
However, just as Gao Gusheng had relaxed, he saw the evil god suddenly press close, placing his hand on the back of his neck.
But the evil god didn’t do anything inappropriate—after a moment, he released his hand.
The evil god looked surprised, “Generally, disciples of immortal cultivation families, even if they have no spiritual roots, will have more abundant spiritual power than ordinary people—the spiritual energy on little sweet treat is indeed more abundant than ordinary people.”
Li Mochen glanced at Gao Gusheng, “Can you tell if he has spiritual roots?”
Whether it was Gao Gusheng’s imagination or not, he actually saw the evil god’s gaze shift evasively for a moment.
“Modern human constitution already has a vast difference from ancient times. How could I tell if he has spiritual roots or not?”
“But what he said is probably eighty to ninety percent true. The spiritual energy on his body is truly very dense—so dense I can barely restrain myself.”
The evil god looked at him with drooling desire.
Gao Gusheng’s heart jumped, but his expression showed no fear. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and said, “I told you I was right, didn’t I? Although I have no spiritual roots, because of my family’s constitution, the spiritual power in my body is very abundant.”
Li Mochen frowned at the evil god, “Don’t get any ideas about him now. The value of the immortal cultivation manual on him is much higher than he himself is.”
Li Mochen and the evil god exchanged glances and understood each other’s thoughts.
Only children make choices—adults want it all.
The immortal cultivation manual, they wanted it. Gao Gusheng himself, they also wanted.
They might even be able to devour the entire Gao family through Gao Gusheng.
Gao Gusheng had studied scumbag male leads’ psychology thoroughly—if he took an exam on it now, he could immediately earn a PhD. With one glance he knew what these two were scheming, and couldn’t help but laugh silently to himself.
These two had quite beautiful dreams—killing two birds with one stone? I’ll make you lose both people and money!
Gao Gusheng said, “So, now that I’ve told you all my secrets, can’t we change to a more respectable place? This place smells way too strong.”
“Although I’m not acknowledged by the Gao family, I’m still the Gao family’s young master—I’ve never lacked for food, clothing, housing, or transportation.”
“I’m not the pampered type—but look at what kind of place you’ve chosen? If the accommodation is a bit shabby, that’s actually fine, but this place is too dirty, isn’t it? I just saw a cockroach as big as half my palm fly by.”
“Holy shit! It’s flying over here! Shouldn’t cockroaches this big appear in the south? Why are there such big cockroaches in the north too?! Have cockroaches also started north-south transportation? This size—isn’t this actually a mouse?”
Gao Gusheng chattered on, trying to buy time.
Obviously, Li Mochen didn’t dare go anywhere now—most likely, he was planning to pack up and quietly flee the country.
This small motel was clearly the kind of black market hotel that didn’t even require ID. With all sorts of people mixed together here, it was hard to be discovered.
And the atmosphere here was too chaotic—the Spirit Management Bureau would have difficulty tracking his whereabouts. Although he still carried the protective charm Daoist Ying had given him, he didn’t know how the power compared between Daoist Ying and the evil god, or whether they could sense him.
So it would be best if he could persuade them to change locations.
Presumably Li Mochen, this pampered president, should be very unaccustomed to this kind of place.
Gao Gusheng was right—Li Mochen indeed detested this motel.
Before today, he hadn’t known there could be fat mice as big as small cats in this world.
But with the tight manhunt for him outside, he had no way to go to proper hotels. What he needed to do was wait for the right moment to smuggle himself to America.
To think that he, the mighty President Li, had fallen to such a state—it really made one sigh at how the wheel of fortune turns.
As time passed, the fragrance in the room grew increasingly rich, making people dizzy like they’d drunk aged wine.
The small animals in the corners of this room all rustled out, slowly gathering toward Gao Gusheng like moths to a flame.
The light around the evil god flickered on and off. He pressed Li Mochen’s shoulder and spoke in his mind, “No good, I can’t hold back anymore!”
“This little sweet treat is just too delicious. The spiritual energy on his body is so abundant—if I ate him, my abilities would greatly improve. You wouldn’t have to keep hiding either, and we could take back everything we’ve lost.”
“The immortal cultivation manual in his hands—of course we need to get it, but I can completely use soul-searching techniques to extract the manual.”
“Although soul-searching causes great damage to the soul, and the person becomes an idiot afterward, we’re interested in his face anyway. If he becomes an idiot, so be it—he’ll be even more obedient that way.”
Li Mochen looked at the completely oblivious Gao Gusheng, but what he was thinking about was Gao Gusheng stepping forward to protect Sun Jun, him laughing and talking with classmates, him smiling with curved eyes under the protection of a group of black suits.
If Gao Gusheng became an idiot, he’d be nothing more than an empty shell—what difference would that be from a useless vase?
Li Mochen shook his head.
Although he also felt feverish all over, he still instinctively sensed something was wrong.
He looked at the small animals that had run out from the dark corners, then at the evil god whose light was flickering on and off, and suddenly asked, “Don’t you feel uncomfortable somewhere? Why is your divine form somewhat unstable?”
The evil god seemed to be awakened and froze. He did something, and slowly, the light around his body stabilized.
“There’s something wrong with little sweet treat.”
“He must be hiding something else from us.”
The evil god suddenly pressed close to Gao Gusheng, and without even consulting Li Mochen, suddenly struck heavily toward the top of Gao Gusheng’s head.
In that instant, the seal Ying Bujie had placed on Gao Gusheng was cracked open slightly. Though it quickly repaired itself, in just that brief moment, an unimaginably powerful suction force emanated from Gao Gusheng’s body.
Spiritual energy and yin energy frantically gathered around him, and a not-yet-fully-formed storm suddenly rose in this small room.
The evil god looked at him, going from dazed to wildly ecstatic.
His tone was terrifyingly sweet, “Little sweet treat, so you’re actually a spirit-attracting constitution.”
“Hahaha, heaven is helping me!”
Li Mochen looked at the evil god whose divine form was flickering from wild laughter and asked, “What is a spirit-attracting constitution?”
“A spirit-attracting constitution is a good thing—it has great nourishing effects. If I can completely devour him, not only will all my abilities return, they might even double!”
The evil god looked at him with indescribable fanaticism. No longer caring about Li Mochen, he rushed directly toward Gao Gusheng.
“Little sweet treat, don’t worry, I’ll be very gentle… I’ll make you stay with me forever!”
“Evil god!” Li Mochen grabbed at empty air.
Gao Gusheng cried out in alarm and quickly looked at Li Mochen, “Big brother, control your partner! Don’t you want the immortal cultivation manual anymore?!”
“Although my dad and I were expelled from the Gao family, the manual is something we had to memorize from childhood—I know it all!”
By this time, the evil god had already pounced on Gao Gusheng.
Gao Gusheng struggled desperately, “If you don’t let me go…”
As he struggled and looked up, the rest of his words suddenly stuck in his throat.
Because he suddenly saw two figures appear behind Li Mochen.
One was dressed in white robes, ethereal as an immortal—it was Daoist Ying.
And the other one carrying an axe—who else could it be but his “father who was forced to be expelled from the Gao family with him”?
At this moment, that death-seeking evil god was still trying to lift his clothes, his tone wickedly arrogant.
“Little sweet treat, why aren’t you talking? If we don’t let you go, what will you do? Hm?”
Gao Gusheng blinked, stopped struggling, and watching as Gao Shi raised his axe toward Li Mochen, slowly said, “If you don’t let me go… my dad will chop off your dog heads!”
Before his words even finished, Li Mochen collapsed without even struggling once.
The evil god sensed something was wrong and hurriedly turned back, only to see a sharp axe approaching him. That axe carried a terrifying aura of slaughter that made him suffocate, so scorching it almost burned him.
Unable to dodge in time, he was struck and lost a golden beam of light that had originally formed his arm.
The second he left Gao Gusheng’s side, Ying Bujie had already dragged Gao Gusheng to safety, and the ropes on Gao Gusheng’s body instantly fell to the ground.
Ying Bujie pressed Gao Gusheng’s shoulder, and pure white light flowed into his body. The scraped skin on Gao Gusheng’s body immediately healed completely.
The dark golden light that had been chopped off the evil god melted away instantly upon encountering the axe in Gao Shi’s hand, like snow meeting the sun.
The evil god let out a miserable scream.
He suddenly darted into Li Mochen’s body.
Poor Li Mochen, who had just fainted with a big bump on his head, was forced to wake up.
“What happened?”
“Give me control of your body! Quick! Or we’ll both die here!”
The evil god seized control of Li Mochen’s body, but perhaps because an arm of his divine form had been chopped off, he couldn’t control Li Mochen’s left arm.
The control of this arm still belonged to Li Mochen.
The evil god cursed silently, but couldn’t worry about that now.
“That guy with the axe—the axe in his hand is a very powerful magical artifact, but he himself has no spiritual power, so just bypass the axe and attack him directly. Keep that arm of yours still and don’t move around, or if it gets cut off I won’t be able to repair it for you.”
Li Mochen unusually remained silent.
Because he recognized that the axe in Gao Shi’s hand seemed to be the very one he had spent a fortune to buy specifically to deal with the evil god.
The seller had only said that this axe was very fierce, with heavy yang energy, and very useful against things like evil gods. He didn’t know any other information.
But he hadn’t expected that in Gao Shi’s hands, it had not only grown four or five times larger, but had also become a weapon wielded against himself.
For the first time, Li Mochen felt the emotion of regret.
But now there was no retreat.
Gao Shi held a cigarette in his mouth, the smoke slowly filling the entire room. He could see a faint layer of dark golden light emanating from Li Mochen’s body surface, exactly the same as what he’d seen in his dreams.
The evil god prepared and charged forward with Li Mochen.
This time the evil god truly gave it his all. He was like an ethereal wind, omnipresent, appearing beside Gao Shi.
Gao Gusheng immediately became anxious, nervously grabbing Ying Bujie’s arm, “Daoist Ying, you—you quickly go help my dad! I’m fine here!”
Ying Bujie shook his head, “Trust him. It’s merely an insignificant ant.”
Gao Gusheng was stunned. He felt like something about Ying Bujie was different.
The next second, the evil god appeared behind Gao Shi. Dark golden light erupted from Li Mochen’s hands, that light actually condensing into the shape of ghostly claws like solid matter, viciously grabbing toward Gao Shi’s heart from behind.
But Gao Shi didn’t even turn around.
The moment the ghostly claws touched him, brilliant golden light erupted from Gao Shi’s body. That layer of light formed a barrier. Not only was the barrier completely undamaged when the claws struck it, it actually rebounded the claws back. Li Mochen and the evil god cried out in pain.
Gao Shi turned and kicked. That powerful long leg swept hard into Li Mochen, and by unfortunate coincidence, it kicked right into Li Mochen’s lower three inches.
Li Mochen’s voice immediately rose an octave, bearing a striking resemblance to the cry of a neutered tomcat.
At this point, the evil god possessing Li Mochen’s body couldn’t care about much else. He endured the pain and tried to escape.
“No good, damn it!”
The evil god rarely swore.
“Can’t fight! Can’t fight at all! Who the hell is this person? How can there be such a monster? Why is his merit golden light so dense?!”
How to fight? Tell him how to fight this! This person was like he was cheating—the merit golden light on his body formed a terrifying armor, the axe in his hand was naturally restraining to him, and the key was that this person’s movements carried strong yang energy. If he wasn’t mistaken, this person was probably a pure yang constitution with all eight characters yang.
His entire being was like a humanoid killing weapon specially crafted to restrain him.
Tell him, how was he supposed to fight this?!
No good, run! Run!! Run!!!
The evil god hadn’t been this pathetic since awakening, and neither had the former all-powerful president.
At this moment, two beasts shared one body, equally enjoying the body’s soreness and pain—they were truly sharing hardships together.
Gao Shi bit his cigarette butt, looking at Li Mochen who was frantically running through the streets leaving golden afterimages.
“Daoist.”
“Right.”
A lightness charm was pasted on Gao Shi’s calves, an invisibility charm on his back, and immediately Gao Shi became light as a swallow, leaping down from the tall building.
Carrying his axe, he charged toward the frantically fleeing Li Mochen and evil god.
He runs, he chases, he can’t escape even with wings!
##
Every chapter, I fall further in love with Gao Shi oml