Chapter 531: Affection Grows with Time! A Beautiful Woman with No Sense of Boundaries! The Reappearance of Mysterious Witchcraft!

“Ding, what brings you here?” Li Yanchu said with a smile.

Ding Rou’s face flushed slightly. Seeing this young, handsome Daoist again, she seemed a bit giddy, quite different from her usual cool and detached demeanor.

“Why did you leave without saying goodbye last time? You don’t seem very happy to see me come looking for you.” Ding Rou asked.

“That time, Duanmu Xuan insisted I become her husband. I was afraid she’d cling to me, so I ran off. It had nothing to do with you,” Li Yanchu said.

Hearing his words, Ding Rou raised her brows, and the joy she’d felt at seeing him was instantly dampened. Blushing, she couldn’t help but spit at him lightly in reproach.

“I’ve come unannounced. I hope you won’t take offense, Daoist Master Li,” said the elderly monk in white.

“Not at all. I saw, from atop the wall just now, that your Buddhist cultivation is profound. You’re a high monk with great power, strong enough to subdue dragons and tame tigers. For such an eminent monk to come to this humble Daoist’s place truly makes it shine,” Li Yanchu said with a smile.

Hearing his words, the white-robed old monk froze and looked at Li Yanchu with a strange expression.

Is he a wall-hopper

[1]?

No way I’d believe in his words.

Still, realization dawned on him. No wonder this young girl’s eyes lit up the moment she mentioned Daoist Master Li. After all, he was handsome and smooth with words Mm, he did bear a few traces of this old monk’s own youthful charm.

The white-robed monk had once been saved by Li Yanchu in Dongyang County, and this young Daoist had left a deep impression on him. Now, that impression grew even more vivid.

Just then, Li Yanchu patted Xiao Ce on the shoulder and said, “Xiao, how did you end up getting beaten into this sorry state?”

In response, Xiao Ce fell silent. Weakly, he said, “Those big jujubes from Mount Jinting, can you give me one?”

Trying to freeload off me, eh...

Li Yanchu shook his head. “What are you thinking? They’ve been gone for ages. With your physique, just rest a few days and you’ll be fine.”

Xiao Ce was speechless at his words.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Master Yuanjue carried Xiao Ce and settled into the Taiping Inn.

There was no helping it; Qingyun Temple only had three rooms fit for living. One was occupied by Li Yanchu himself, another by Cuihua. Besides, they were merely passing acquaintances; he couldn’t very well let them stay for free.

As for Ding Rou, Li Yanchu had originally planned to have her stay at the Taiping Inn as well. Unexpectedly, Ding Rou didn’t respond at all and instead began looking over the rooms.

“I’ll take this one. It looks quite clean,” Ding Rou said, pointing to a guest room.

Without waiting for Li Yanchu to answer, she walked straight in and shut the door behind her.

Li Yanchu fell silent at her words; he disliked beautiful women who had no sense of boundaries. Still, he wasn’t that petty. Besides, having a few young, pretty Daoist women staying around wasn’t such a bad thing either.

If his master’s spirit were watching from the heavens, he’d probably be grinning from ear to ear.

Behind the closed door, a tempting blush spread across Ding Rou’s cool, delicate face. She pricked up her ears, listening carefully to the sounds outside. Only after Li Yanchu left did she lightly pat her full chest and let out a breath of relief.

“This time, I definitely won’t let you run away,” Ding Rou said, clenching her fist to steel herself.

Her master often said that feelings grow with time. This time, she was planting herself firmly in Qingyun Temple; there was no way she wouldn’t win Li Yanchu over.

Li Yanchu returned to his room and began studying the clone technique Jia Chuanfang had passed on to him. This spell was extremely difficult to cultivate, far beyond what ordinary talent could master. At a sufficiently advanced level, forming a primordial-spirit clone wasn’t particularly hard once one grasped the secret arts.

But this clone technique was different; it involved truly cultivating a physical incarnation, identical to oneself. Moreover, this clone could exist for a long time. In other words, the clone itself could also cultivate.

At first, Li Yanchu had thought it was just an ordinary clone technique. He never expected it to be a downright cultivation cheat.

Jia is quite an interesting guy. The fact that he’s the City God of Wei City means we’re fated, in a way

, Li Yanchu thought to himself.

The incident on the main street was soon handled after officials were dispatched. Cases involving cultivators were now uniformly transferred to the Court of Judicial Review.

Plus, Wei City currently had a permanently stationed cultivator from the Court. Her name was Shen Hongye.

When she first arrived in Wei City, Li Yanchu had met her once when he went to collect a reward from the Court. Shen Hongye was a gorgeous woman with long legs, fair skin, and striking features.

Her cultivation was just over the second realm, barely enough to allow her primordial spirit to leave her body. However, her temperament was gentle, and her looks were soft and alluring.

When she first arrived in Wei City, she caused quite a stir. Some wealthy young masters and flirtatious noble heirs in the city had expressed their admiration for Shen Hongye.

But she didn’t spare them a glance, which made sense, as she’d been sent down from the capital.

In the imperial city, there were all kinds of outstanding young talents. Why would she fall in love with a man in some small city?

At first, Li Yanchu had assumed that Shen Hongye was a cold and aloof woman with lofty standards. Unexpectedly, her voice was pleasant when she spoke, and her smile was sweet. This was completely different from how the young masters of Wei City perceived her... One could even say the exact opposite.

Shen Hongye was proficient in all kinds of formations; one could even call her a formation genius. She had independently researched and reconstructed some ancient formations that had already been lost. That level of talent alone made her a rare strategic asset.

Li Yanchu strongly suspected that the Court of Judicial Review had ulterior motives in stationing someone permanently in a small place like Wei City.

Still, Shen Hongye wasn’t unpleasant to deal with, and she had clearly stated that she would fully submit to Li Yanchu’s leadership, obeying his orders without question.

This time, after returning from Lingxi Temple, Li Yanchu took some time to ask Shen Hongye about matters concerning Mount Yan City, as well as the cultivation system of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Shen Hongye said she would give him an answer soon.

On the second day after the black-robed old monk’s death, Liu Jun came to find Li Yanchu, who was drinking tea at the Taiping Inn. Looking extremely nervous, she said, “Daoist Master Li, this is bad! The witchcraft on me seems to have acted up again!”

“Don’t be afraid. Yesterday I was just using the Invincibility Art to scare you. The one you ran into was me,” Li Yanchu said with a smile.

Speechless, Liu Jun bit her lip tightly and looked at Li Yanchu with indignation. Those watery, expressive eyes were brimming with unspoken resentment.

“All right, it’s nothing serious,” Li Yanchu said, smiling.

“But ever since that incident yesterday, I’ve had one bout of bad luck after another. Touch my head,” Liu Jun said.

Li Yanchu frowned slightly and raised his hand to feel the top of her head, then he discovered a large bump right between her twin ponytails. When his fingers pressed down, Liu Jun bared her teeth in pain.

“What happened?” Li Yanchu asked.

“Ever since that black-robed old monk was hacked to death on the street yesterday, everything’s suddenly been going wrong for me. This bump happened last night while I was sleeping. All of a sudden, I lunged forward headfirst.

“It felt very strange, kind of like sleepwalking, but not quite. I smashed my head straight into the leg of a table, like I was trying to kill myself. And that’s not all. I’ve started falling again when going up or down stairs.

“Even when I’m extremely careful, holding the railing and taking one step at a time, it still happens. My mind suddenly goes blank, and then I fall.” Liu Jun let out a sigh.

“That does sound like the witchcraft acting up again. I’ll take a look at you,” Li Yanchu said.

He took out the Eight Trigrams Mirror. A brilliant ray of light fell onto Liu Jun, and her appearance was reflected with crystal clarity in the mirror.

Suddenly, Li Yanchu’s pupils contracted, and he looked at Liu Jun in surprise. Another thread had been tied to her head, and it was exactly the same as the one before.

“What’s going on?!” Li Yanchu said in astonishment.

Hadn’t he transferred the thread onto that demonic monk, Fa Neng? With Fa Neng’s death, shouldn’t this matter have been completely resolved?

“That’s not right. You didn’t encounter problems back when that demonic monk Fa Neng died, did you?” Li Yanchu frowned deeply.

At that moment, Ding Rou, standing beside him, suddenly interjected, “Demonic monk Fa Neng?”

Li Yanchu glanced at her. “You’ve heard of him too?”

Ding Rou nodded. “The old monk who died yesterday was named Kongxing. He was the master of the demonic monk, Fa Neng.”

Li Yanchu was stunned speechless at her words.

1. “墙头” is an internet slang term derived from “墙头草” and is commonly used in fandom culture. It refers to “wall-hopping fans” who, when following celebrities, do not have a fixed favorite and are easily influenced by factors such as works, appearance, or acting skills, leading them to frequently switch the idol they support.

Such fans are not solo stans; they often “climb the wall” between multiple idols, chasing novelty. Their preferences are hard to predict and may span celebrities of different generations or styles. ☜