Chapter 443 The Goblin

Perhaps because they discover the remains of Danling Taoist, Lin Luoran is at a loss. White Fairy is equally confused. She stares into the blank for some time. When she figures out the whole thing, she is both happy and sorrowful. She says to Lin Luoran,

“Let’s bury Danling Taoist. After all, he is my grandmaster’s friend.”

Lin Luoran nods. It’s impossible to ask the deceased something she wants to know about. She should leave him in peace. Since Danling Taoist loves the peach blossom forest during his lifetime, burying him here would be the best choice.

Because she and cyan little fox break in, and there has been no energy supplement for a long time, the illusion circle on the island won’t last any longer. In this situation, a burial may expose the body to the risk of being swallowed by monsters. No, the senior cultivator shouldn’t be reduced to the food of monsters. Lin Luoran won’t allow that though she doesn’t know him.

If the Taoist is to be cremated… She looks at the lifelike face as if he were still alive. She just can’t bring herself to do it.

The cyan little fox has been silent for quite some time. It opens its mouth, but says nothing.

Since Han Weiya is still in a coma, Lin Luoran won’t make any decision until Han Weiya wakes up. After all, Han Weiya is the one chosen by Danling Taoist as his successor by lucky chance.

Han Weiya hasn’t come to herself, but good news comes from Xiaozhi that “the matter has been resolved”.

White Fairy can guess what’s the matter it refers to. Noticing that Lin Luoran is in a bad mood, she shakes her head secretly. She feels that Lin Luoran is too soft-hearted even with years of experience.

The cyan little fox is noncommittal. Indeed, all of them understand what is meant by “the matter has been resolved” although it is not clearly stated.

The cyan little fox rolls his eyes in contemplation. “The peach blossoms are so splendid. Why not have a drink here?”

Lin Luoran also wants to distract herself, so she takes out a lot of spirit wine and places it in the peach blossom forest. The person and the fox enjoy the wine while feasting their eyes on the flowers. Besides, White Fairy is a beauty second to none, which makes the scene dreamy.

“It’s a pity that we enjoy the wine without a light-hearted song.”

The cyan little fox says these frivolous words in a young man’s crisp voice. If Lin Luoran didn’t look at the little fox, she would mistake it to be a playboy as depicted in the ancient novels.

However, there is something better than light-hearted songs.

Lin Luoran remembers the pottery figurine she brought from Mount Penglai. She is about to take it out when she sees a jade flute placed beside the figurine.

Zeng Tian got it by chance in the Palace of Jiuhua of the Dragon Palace. Because he knew nothing about music, he offered the flute to Lin Luoran, his grandmaster.

The playful mood has gone. Lin Luoran seems even grimmer than before. White Fairy’s soul has solidified, so she takes the flute and plays a lively tune, only to make the blossoms fade away.

The three sink into melancholy. Lin Luoran gets drunk for the first time. The pink peach blossoms fall down in profusion and cover half her body.

The cyan little fox drinks until its vision goes fuzzy. It has a hiccup when staring at White Fairy.

“You are a poor woman. Fancy that!”

White Fairy puts down the flute, and looks deep into the peach blossom forest where there is nothing.

Is she a poor woman? She used to be a talented female cultivator in the world of personal ability cultivation in Huaxia, the apprentice most valued by her grandmaster and the master of a palace. She led a leisurely life with her lover, which is envied by everyone… But now she is only a faint soul. The nine-tailed fox is right, she thinks. She’s really pitiful.

“What about you, young master of the fox family which follows a female cultivator? What makes your life a misery?”

The cyan little fox narrows its eyes and pretends not to understand what White Fairy says.

It can see at a glance that there’s something in the Taoist’s mouth so that his body hasn’t rotten away for thousands of years. That thing is obviously important to White Fairy, but why hasn’t she said anything?

The cyan little fox is a little impatient. It seems that people who have stayed with Lin Luoran for long always love to do something inexplicable.

Why on earth is that?

The fox stares at the woman who has become a drunk. It refuses to admit that it has become an overkind fox due to her.

…

Han Weiya has a long dream.

She dreams of exotic mountains with gurgling streams where there is an old man in a green robe. The man looks benevolent. He tells her something in some kind of vernacular mixed with cla.s.sical Chinese. He talks about making elixirs, inheritance, etc… Han Weiya is confused as she listens.

She wants to wake up, but the man is so old that Han Weiya feels he is very pitiful, so she forces herself to listen to his teachings for a long time. As time pa.s.ses by, the old man’s voice and the gurgling water become increasingly clear. She finds the lecture interesting, so she’s not in a hurry to leave.

The lecture covers a lot from how to identify spirit herbs to the know-how of solidifying. Han Weiya is perplexed at first. However, as her Soul Exit slowly opens, she calms down to absorb what is taught. When she finally comes to understand the teachings, the old man smiles at her lovingly and says that the master and apprentice are destined to part henceforth. He asks her to take her personal ability cultivation seriously and to carry on his inheritance.

Han Weiya wakes up soaked with sweat. The crystal suspended above her has its energy exhausted. It falls to the ground and turns into powder.

“… What happened?”

Lin Luoran is relieved to see her awake after sleeping for three days. After all, Han Weiya is only a mortal. It’s not worth it if she is reduced to a fool when trying to accept the inheritance.

“You finally wake up. That’s all right. Go and wors.h.i.+p your grandmaster first.”

So, she has a grandmaster after she comes to herself? Han Weiya is bewildered and follows Lin Luoran to the next door. When she sees the lifelike Danling Taoist, what she dreamed of crosses her mind, and the little girl’s eyes get wet without her knowledge.

She knows from others that she has only slept for three days. However, it’s like she stayed with Danling, no, her grandmaster for several years in her dream.

The teachings cannot be fake. Seeing there is a cattail ha.s.sock on the ground, Han Weiya knees down on it and respectfully wors.h.i.+ps the remains of Danling Taoist. The first time she kowtows to her grandmaster, Danling Taoist’s smile becomes more radiant. Lin Luoran is startled and becomes vigilant, fearing that something unpleasant might happen.

After three kowtows are performed, Han Weiya’s white forehead grows red. The smile of Danling Taoist has turned into a grin.

Lin Luoran is on the alert. No one has been possessed, and Danling Taoist is not resurrected. However, a two-inch-long, two-finger-wide cyan stone falls out of his smiling mouth.

The moment the stone falls out, his well-preserved body turns into powder in the presence of everyone. Even the green Taoist robe on his body has vanished in an instant.

Han Weiya is completely stunned. She doesn’t know why her kowtows have reduced her master into powder.

White Fairy looks at the stone on the ground and hesitates to speak. The cyan little fox is almost choked to death by the peach pit in its mouth.

It was aware of this thing early on, but the stone doesn’t fall out until Han Weiya bows to the Taoist. What a coincidence! It seems to be targeted at Lin, doesn’t it?

Lin Luoran comes to herself from her initial shock. “What’s that?”

Some noise comes from the cyan little fox’s throat until it coughs out the peach pit. “… It’s Green Mountains Jade.”

Lin Luoran is confused. The stone should bear a relations.h.i.+p to the fox, but why does the fox stare at her with a strange look?

“Ahem, ahem.” The cyan little fox says loudly, “It has another name in the world of cultivation, that is, 10000-year Hollow Azurite.”

10000-year Hollow Azurite? Isn’t it the first thing she promised White Fairy which she can’t obtain yet?!! Lin Luoran takes a glance at Han Weiya, the Jade Map, the alchemy furnace, and the 10000-year Hollow Azurite. She recalls that Han Weiya has been selected as the successor to the Taoist but she has no Taoist root at all. The thought of all these causes her a headache. She asks White Fairy,

“Fairy, I guess Danling Taoist is good at foreseeing the future, in addition to making elixirs.”

She is now convinced that Danling Taoist was a Divinized Cultivator before he pa.s.sed away. It seems that he never failed to predict what would happen. That cannot be achieved by the simple arts of nature.

Everything he offers is something she cares about.

Pressing her in one way or another, he even offers 10000-year Hollow Azurite in the end. He just wants her to help Han Weiya cope with the lack of Taoist root, doesn’t he?

The notes on making elixirs and the alchemy furnace are nothing to Lin Luoran. However, the 10000-year Hollow Azurite is prized, for she promised White Fairy to find the jade more than three hundred years ago.

There is a sense of suffocation when being led by the nose. Lin Luoran wants to stomp.

“Han Weiya, I’m afraid I have to talk to you after we bury your grandmaster and return to the stars.h.i.+p.”

…

Lin Luoran and others take everything away and get on the stars.h.i.+p. After they leave, the Peach Blossom Island sinks into the lake.

They have long forgotten the goblin that caused all these incidents.

What harm can the goblin do since it’s even inferior to monsters?

The morning light illuminates everything in the forest on the other side of the ocean. A heavy rain has washed away traces of a ma.s.sacre that occurred three days ago.

The corpses of the alliance soldiers have been swallowed by monsters. However, a hand sticks out of a crater that is mostly concealed.

There is dried blood under his nails. The man gets up from the pit and raises his pale face. If Colin Weir were here, he would definitely have beaten him hard—the cold and proud expression of the man is too familiar. Gaut Sutherland is seriously injured. The blood drains from his cheeks.

“Do I come to life… ”

He struggles to his feet and looks at the sky. The stars.h.i.+p becomes a silver dot in the sky and disappears in a flash. Obviously, it has completed another s.p.a.ce jump. When it reappears, it may be light years away.

Gaut Sutherland smiles rather than gets angry. The arrogance on his face is mixed with an evil look.