Chapter 143: What Did You Say?

At this time, Li Yanchu's eyes flew wide open.

This old ape is that powerful?!

Boom!

In an instant, the world above opened up. The old ape directly lifted away the massive boulders blocking the cave entrance, revealing a huge passageway leading out.

“Thank you!” Li Yanchu called out to the old ape.

Without lingering, he moved; his figure flashed upward, leaping through the passage. His current strength wasn’t enough to walk through the air, but his ascent was still incredibly fast. In just a few breaths' time, he leapt out of the great tomb!

Outside, the cultivators who had been frantically digging through the mountainside stared at him in stunned disbelief.

The mountain... just moved aside?!

Fortunately, Li Yanchu had withdrawn the talismanic armor inscribed with Daoist scriptures the instant he emerged. Otherwise, his sudden appearance clad in glowing sacred armor would’ve shocked them even more.

Bai Hongtu rushed over, shouting, “Seriously? That was

you

who moved the mountain just now!?”

Then, he punched Li Yanchu in the chest hard.

“Hongtu, were you crying?” Li Yanchu looked at him and smiled.

“I thought you were crushed to death! Can you blame me?” Bai Hongtu replied.

In response, Li Yanchu gave a faint smile.

Meanwhile, Master Shenshan and the others also approached with concern written all over their faces.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“Daoist Master Yanchu,” Master Shenshan asked, “just now, were you the one who shifted the mountains?”

Li Yanchu shook his head. “It wasn’t me. It was that old ape! It moved the stones off the tomb.”

A Mountain-Moving Ape!

Everyone gasped, their eyes widening in surprise. That was a legendary divine beast often mentioned in folk tales, and it was immensely strong and said to possess the power to move entire mountains.

Many claimed that when a new mountain suddenly appeared on flat land, a Mountain-Moving Ape had been at work. Even in the cultivation world of the Kingdom of Qian, there were old stories of such apes, but no one had ever actually seen one.

No one had expected that the demonic ape guarding the tomb would turn out to be a legendary Mountain-Moving Ape.

Boom

!

The previously calm mountain suddenly began to tremble again. It seemed the Mountain-Moving Ape had shifted the heavy rocks back into place. Clearly, it didn’t wish for the tomb to ever see the light of day again.

Then, the group decided it was time to leave. Many of the cultivators who had entered the tomb this time were now forever buried beneath that mountain. With only the surviving few, it would be impossible to dig them out.

Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu rode a carriage back to Wei City. However, Master Huizhen did not accompany them. Instead, he had returned to Qinglong Temple.

***

At Taiping Inn...

The inn was bustling during the day, and business was booming. The innkeeper should have been glowing with satisfaction. But instead, her brows were faintly furrowed with worry.

“They won’t run into trouble on this demon-slaying trip, will they?” she murmured softly to herself. Clearly, she was concerned for Li Yanchu’s safety.

Her ample bosom rested softly against the table as she propped up her delicate chin with one hand, her eyes distant in thought. This casually seductive pose made the passing customers at the inn restless and parched with thirst.

The innkeeper had grown even more radiant lately, like a field nourished by spring rain. Her whole being glowed, and her charm seemed to bloom with even greater beauty.

Suddenly, a little girl with a high ponytail and a round, adorable face appeared at the inn’s entrance and waved at the innkeeper.

“Ms. Fang, can you come here for a moment?” The girl’s voice was childish and clear, and even amidst the noisy, crowded inn, her words rang directly in the innkeeper’s ears.

The innkeeper frowned slightly, then smiled with an alluring grace.

“Alright.” She then stood up and walked over. Her every step exuded such charm that no one could look away.

“What is it?” she asked with a soft smile.

The girl with the high ponytail spoke up clearly, “Ms. Fang, come with me.”

In broad daylight, a strange little girl had suddenly appeared at the inn's front door and asked the innkeeper to follow her. Any normal person would at least ask why, as it was strange enough to be suspicious.

But the innkeeper asked nothing. Her eyes dulled slightly, and she responded in an emotionless voice, “Alright.”

Her limpid eyes, once like shimmering autumn waters, had lost their light, leaving her looking like a lifeless, mindless puppet. Then, she followed behind the round-faced little girl and walked out of the inn.

Inside, several patrons who had been secretly watching the innkeeper with longing expressions now looked puzzled. What was the innkeeper doing at the door, talking to herself? It looked like she was speaking to someone, but there was no one there.

In their eyes, there was no little girl at all; all they saw was the innkeeper smiling faintly toward the doorway, then she walked over while murmuring something under her breath, and left the inn.

The innkeeper followed the round-faced little girl with awkward steps, slowly making her way forward. Before long, she had left behind the bustling main street and entered a narrow, secluded alleyway.

The alley was deep and quiet, but even in broad daylight, it exuded an eerie chill that made the air feel heavy and uncomfortable.

Suddenly, a fierce black dog emerged from the shadows. When it saw the innkeeper, a greedy glint flashed in its eyes.

“Zhang Ping, this woman is yours,” the little girl said. However, when she spoke, it was not with a child’s voice, but with a mature and cold voice, as if an ancient soul was hidden within that young body.

Hearing this, the savage black dog spat out a fragment of jade. The piece was etched with archaic patterns, weathered and ancient, emitting a weighty sense of time and age.

It was clearly the same type of broken jade that Li Yanchu had obtained earlier, the very one that Master Huizhen had said was the key to unlocking the Blissful Land near Wei City.

The little girl took the jade piece, her eyes brightening with delight. “You actually managed to find it in the tomb. Not bad. This woman is yours, just don’t kill her while you’re fooling around.”

The girl’s tone was casual, yet laced with command.

Hearing this, the black dog licked its blood-red tongue as its gaze devoured the voluptuous, seductive figure of the innkeeper. “Got it. I wouldn’t bear to kill a beauty like this.”

The little girl let out a cold snort. “I’m glad you understand. If you ruin this, you know the consequences.”

Her voice at this moment carried a hint of age, sounding rather authoritative. If Li Yanchu were here, he would have recognized instantly that this was the same girl he had seen back in Longmen Village, the one he had once thought was the daughter of Lady Zhou.

Back then, during the final confrontation, the girl had acted completely differently from the rest of the villagers. Apparently, she hadn’t died that day. Instead, she appeared here in Wei City.

As for the fierce black dog, he knew it too, as it had once been a cultivator and was the first one killed after entering the tomb. It was the beast-tamer of the Southwest, Zhang Ping.

Back then, his big black dog ran off in search of a way out and was never seen again. Thus, everyone had assumed it had perished within the tomb. Who would have thought it had already escaped ahead of time and had even found a fragment of the jade inside the tomb.

Now, that fierce black dog could no longer contain itself and lunged toward the voluptuous innkeeper. Having willingly abandoned his humanity to dwell in a beast’s body, some of his original animal instincts had become harder to suppress. Seeing such a stunning woman with such alluring curves ignited a wild, burning desire in him.

“Let me show you some real affection...” the fierce black dog growled, yet its mouth spoke human words.

Bang!

The very next second, he was blasted backward by an invisible force. The innkeeper’s once-empty, blank gaze had turned lively again and gleamed with a strange playfulness.

At the corner of her lips curled a cold, mocking smile. “What did you just say?”