I Pick up a Lost Godhood

Chapter 123 - 121: Senior Sister, Give Me a Ride

Lingdu Mountain enthusiastically sized up Wang Meng. "Haha, if you don’t mind, I’ll call you Younger Brother Wang. You seem to be a Saint Cultivator, Younger Brother Wang, so how did you end up with..."

In the past, everyone gave Yanm Yuyue a wide berth. But today was just her lucky day—first she was hunted down, and then she had to be saved by someone else. It was more humiliation than she had suffered in over a decade.

Wang Meng glanced at the astonished Yanm Yuyue. "Elder Ling, may I have a word in private?"

Although Yanm Yuyue wanted to listen, Lingdu Mountain had just saved her life, so she couldn’t very well say anything.

"Younger Brother Wang, you and that elder..."

Wang Meng smiled. "You mean that old man? He wants to take me as his disciple, but I’m not interested, so he pesters me whenever he’s bored."

Lingdu Mountain felt the urge to bang his head against a wall. ’This is the greatest blessing in heaven and earth, yet someone is actually turning it down? What in the world is going on?’

"Ah, Younger Brother... could you... uh... perhaps introduce me?"

Lingdu Mountain remembered the Sect Leader’s command, and his heart burned with fervent hope.

"Elder..."

"No, no, please don’t call me that! I’d be honored if you just called me Big Brother."

’If Wang Meng becomes that elder’s disciple, his status in the hierarchy would shoot way past my own.’

"Ahem, Big Brother, that old man has a very odd temper, and his whereabouts are unpredictable. How about this: next time he comes looking for me, I’ll pass along your request."

"Younger Brother Wang, words can’t express my gratitude! If there’s anything you need, just say the word. Ah, wait a moment—where is my head? This is our Evil Spirit Sect’s Evil Fighting Order. Take it. With this, any disciple from the Evil Spirit Hall will be at your command."

Wang Meng didn’t stand on ceremony. He really did need something for protection right now. Things were quite perilous without his Godhood.

"Big Brother, keep this from Yanm Yuyue. You know, she also wants to..."

Lingdu Mountain was instantly delighted. ’Wang Meng is a true ally! Heaven-Dominating Hall must also want to persuade the elder to emerge from his seclusion. They even arranged for Yanm Yuyue to use a honey trap—how despicable! Could it be that Huangfu Qi was also just part of the act?’

A good-for-nothing like Huangfu Qi, who would call anyone who feeds him "mother," had no loyalty to speak of.

"Rest assured, rest assured, I understand. Do you need me to get rid of her for you?" Lingdu Mountain quickly offered to return the favor.

"It’s fine, I can handle her. Big Brother, when you have time, come visit me at Thunderlight Hall. I’ll buy you a drink."

"Haha, I’ll definitely be there."

Lingdu Mountain chuckled and glanced at Yanm Yuyue. ’Right place, right time!’

He could finally return to the Evil Spirit Hall. The last time, the Sect Leader had chewed him out and kicked him out. He’d been wandering around here for so long, but it seemed heaven really did reward the persistent. He had actually managed to wait until the right moment, and he’d even found the key person. With Wang Meng as a lead, there was no way the trail would go cold.

But now, in addition to the damned Thunderfire Hall, they had a powerful competitor in Heaven-Dominating Hall. He had to let the Sect Leader know.

If Heaven-Dominating Hall managed to recruit the elder, the Evil Spirit Hall would never have a chance to rise again. And worse, Jiny Tiannan was resorting to a honey trap!

Shameless, utterly shameless!

Because of Lingdu Mountain’s power, Yanm Yuyue didn’t dare eavesdrop. "You actually didn’t leave."

"Senior Sister Yanm, you can’t put it like that. I have a clear conscience, so why should I run? Besides, I just saved your life. I’ve heard that Evil Cultivators are clear about repaying kindness and avenging wrongs. Or is that all just for show?" Wang Meng shrugged.

Yanm Yuyue stared daggers at Wang Meng. He suddenly took a step back, feigning fear and clutching his chest. "Senior Sister Yanm, are you planning to silence me by killing me?"

Yanm Yuyue gritted her teeth in anger. She knew he was teasing her. As an Evil Cultivator, and the successor to their progenitor, one could only imagine how high her self-confidence was.

She bit her lip. "Wang Meng... I will not let him get away with this. As for you, you saved me this time, so name your price. As long as it’s within my power, I’ll do it. But remember this: after this, we’re even. The next time we meet, it’s every man for himself!"

The rule of Heaven-Dominating Hall was to be clear on debts and grudges. If she didn’t repay this favor, Yanm Yuyue’s pride wouldn’t allow her to act against him. But for the sake of the progenitor, she couldn’t just leave Wang Meng alone, and might even have to resort to some unconventional means.

Wang Meng sized up Yanm Yuyue. "Actually, it’s nothing much. Everyone says Senior Sister Yanm is a peerless beauty. I’d like to see your true face."

’She was the one regret of his past self, who had been single-mindedly devoted to the Celestial Dao. To be honest, Wang Meng was incredibly curious.’

Yanm Yuyue was silent for a long moment. Wang Meng smiled. "Don’t tell me, is even this tiny little request..."

Before Wang Meng could finish his sentence, Yanm Yuyue resolutely removed her mask. A gentle breeze swept by, and Wang Meng turned to stone.

By the time Wang Meng came to his senses, the beauty was gone, leaving only her lingering fragrance in the air.

Wang Meng looked around, wiped the drool from his mouth, and then looked up at the sky. He actually had one more request... ’Senior Sister, can you give me a ride???’

Wang Meng began the miserable task of finding his way back to the Holy Hall. ’Damn it,’ he thought. ’As a Sword Cultivator, not being able to use Sword Flight is a total pain.’

Still, getting to see Yanm Yuyue’s true face seemed worth it... ’Huh? Haven’t I been to this spot before?’

A certain someone’s mournful wail echoed through the dense forest...

In the end, Wang Meng failed to find his way out of the nameless forest. However, he did make an unexpected discovery: the forest was rich in Earth and Wood Primordial Qi.

After cultivating the Five Elements Technique, although the Five Elements Mutual Inhibition gave Wang Meng a major headache, there was a benefit: his senses had become much more acute to the Five Elements Power.

Humans were divided by the Five Elements, but the world contained more than just those five. For example, the Thunder Pool contained a strong Thunder Attribute, which had a certain influence on the adjacent Thunderlight Hall. However, while humans were blessed with wisdom by the heavens and the earth, they were also limited by their own Five Elements Attributes and couldn’t absorb other elements like Spirit Beasts. Otherwise, the disciples of Thunderlight Hall would surely be incredibly powerful.

Wang Meng found a spot with exceptionally dense Wood Elemental Power and built a simple shelter. The Wood Spring Technique and the Earth Kun Technique were his current weak points. Frankly, with his understanding of Cultivation Techniques, practicing such low-level Five Elements Magic should have been a simple matter. Unfortunately, due to the mutual inhibition of the Five Elements, any progress he made was immediately canceled out. It seemed like he had only added two attributes, but the difficulty of cultivation had increased exponentially. The small hurdle of the Fifteenth Layer of Elemental Power had stumped Wang Meng for a long time.

Wang Meng was good at making the best of his situation. This place had decent Elemental Power and no one to disturb him, making it a perfect spot to train. His Nourishing Essence Technique and Blast-Inducing Technique had also hit a bottleneck; there was no point in practicing them further without breaking through the Fifteenth Layer. When he was about to puke from practicing the Five Elements Skill, he would look through the Saint Cultivation Talismans he carried with him.

There was a large pile of all sorts of Talismans, enough to keep Wang Meng occupied for a good while. He could tell that the Secret Skills from the Holy Hall Pavilion’s collection were of a higher standard, but they still didn’t touch upon the core of Saint Cultivation. It was just like the five Cultivation Techniques he had painstakingly selected; finding them had been hard enough, but they would probably only be useful up to the Twentieth Layer. To progress further, he would need better Five Elements Skills, and those could likely only be found by entering the Main Hall.

Wang Meng basically maintained a good relationship with the monsters and Demon Beasts of this nameless place. They didn’t bother each other. The constantly shifting Five Elements Power around him made the Demon Beasts keep a respectful distance.

Cultivation was inherently a struggle, a way of prying into the will of heaven. His past life’s experience couldn’t provide much guidance on Saint Cultivation Techniques, especially the formless ones. Wang Meng could only try various methods, but the result was that the more he practiced, the more he regressed. These five Cultivation Techniques were meant to allow a Cultivator to initially tap into their own Five Elements Power. Practicing any one of them alone, Wang Meng could master it quickly. But practicing all five together, they had at first resisted each other, and now they were actively counteracting one another. It was only because Wang Meng’s control over Elemental Power was so masterful that he hadn’t imploded; otherwise, he really would have had to use one of Zhou Feng’s Spirit Void Pills.

After struggling for many days, he could barely control the Golden Palace Technique, the Water Wave Technique, and the Flame Technique, while the Wood Spring Technique and the Earth Kun Technique had clearly regressed. This made his already unbalanced Five Elements Technique even more unstable. Relying solely on Elemental Power to compensate was completely inefficient, yielding half the results for twice the effort.

Wang Meng racked his brains. He finally understood what Xu Huang had once told him: cultivation truly depends on talent. Mindless, brute-force training didn’t always work.

Even though he couldn’t figure it out, he couldn’t stop practicing either. Wang Meng continued his routine: cultivate, have it all get canceled out, then cultivate again. The process would have made any other person sick to their stomach, if not driven them to death by disgust. But Wang Meng could take it. He had nerves of steel and was persistent enough to wait for a miracle.

If he couldn’t master these five methods and find the key to pacifying the Five Elements, his life might very well be over, stuck at this hurdle forever. In the Small Thousand World, one relied on their Life Mark Level to increase their lifespan. If he couldn’t solve the problem of his Five Elements Body, he might truly perish, his Godhood dissipating along with him.

For some reason, perhaps because his thoughts were in such turmoil, Wang Meng would occasionally recall that soul-stirring face. Yanm Yuyue wasn’t actively trying to be alluring, but her beauty was truly something not meant for casual display. In terms of looks alone, Yanm Yuyue and Yang Ying were each beautiful in their own right, but Yanm Yuyue’s aura—that indescribable charm that pierced straight into a man’s soul—was the most terrifying thing of all.

Normally, Wang Meng had strong self-control around women, his mind set on pursuing the Celestial Dao. Perhaps it was his frustration with the Five Elements Skill, or maybe he was on the verge of qi deviation, but he found it hard to concentrate.

In this state, Wang Meng didn’t dare force his training. It was then that he unexpectedly sensed a strange fluctuation of Elemental Power from deep within the forest. It felt chaotic. At first, he thought his mind was just playing tricks on him after all the training, but when he felt it again and again, he decided to investigate.

The place emitting the Earth Element Power was a dark cave. After a moment of hesitation, Wang Meng suddenly smiled. "Damn it all, when did I become such a coward?"

The cave was very deep. Before long, he discovered a sizable cavern. All sorts of Secret Realms existed in the Small Thousand World. Some had already been developed by Cultivators and turned into their own territories. Major sects like the Holy Hall sent out exploration parties every year.

If he hadn’t sensed the Five Elements Power, Wang Meng never would have found this cave entrance. The opening wasn’t large; who would have thought it hid a whole other world inside?

Judging by the entrance and the path so far, no one had been here in a long time. The adventurer in Wang Meng began to stir, especially since his recent frustrations with his cultivation technique made him eager for a release.

In the darkness, he could see pairs of red eyes. They were Bat Demons. Judging by their level, they weren’t very strong. Bat Demons did indeed suck blood and were venomous, but that was only a threat to mortals. Cultivators had nothing to fear unless they encountered a particularly powerful Bat Demon.