The little Taoist priest boy was crying, and none of them knew what to do.
Li Yan draped his towel over his shoulder and walked over to the boy. He noticed the expensive-looking silk Taoist robes that the boy was wearing before he spoke.
“Little Priest, what do you need us for?”
Li Yan was much less scary than Deng Tianxiong. Although the tattoo on his chest looked a little intimidating, the effect was lessened by his skinny figure and muscular, energetic face.
The little priest sniffled and then asked in the high-pitch a young boy, “Are you Commander Li Yan?”
“That’s right,” Li Yan replied expressionlessly.
The little boy got to his feet, dusted his snow white robes, and gave Li Yan a proper, low bow.
“My Senior has heard of Commander Li Yan’s courageous acts to boldly lead a group of soldiers and break through enemy lines in the thick of war. He admires your bravery and heart, and he has specially instructed me to come here to welcome you all as our guests.”
“May I know who your Senior is, little Priest?”
“High Priest of the Heavenly Priest Sect, Yi Yu.”
After the boy finished speaking, he walked up to Li Yan, looking at him with his large round eyes before pointing to the seats by the side and telling him to sit.
Li Yan followed as instructed. The priest boy took out a pale purple talisman from his sleeve, formed a hand seal with one hand, and then pasted the talisman on Li Yan’s chest.
A purple flame erupted from the talisman, alarming Li Yan’s men, and they advanced to help immediately.
“Don’t move!”
Li Yan shouted. He wore an expression of surprise and delight.
The group then realised that where the fire burned, Li Yan’s cuts and arrow wounds healed. Even the color of the flesh had returned to its previous color.
At the same time, the pale purple talisman began to dull in colour.
Heavenly Treasure, Nine Divine Purple Flames Talisman
Category: Consumable
Quality: Legendary
???
What surprised Li Yan even more was the many rows of text that appeared before his eyes.
He calmed himself down and then instructed the rest, “Help Old Diao up.”
The rest helped Blind Diao to his feet and Deng Tianxiong held his hands in a respectful greeting towards the priest boy. “Thank you in advance for your trouble, Little Priest.”
Li Yan stepped aside. His eyelids felt like they were burning. Flashing before his eyes was the corpse-eating Nekomata, followed by Nanako and the black baby, the red-skinned demon, and then the giant black bear that appeared behind the general commander, before finally flashing an image of the purple talisman.
The bright sound of a woman’s voice entered his ear.
“You have reached over 60% of World Exploration for the current Yanfu case!”
They changed persons?
Li Yan clearly remembered that the voice giving out notifications in the previous Yanfu case was that of a hoarse male.
“You have unlocked the Exploration Notes of all Yanfu Walkers for the current fruit!”
Name: Li Yan
Agent: none
Completed Yanfu cases: 1
Yanfu Fruits Recorded:
Earth – Jiazi 259 (can be renamed)
Scaled – Dingxi 24 (Yanfu case in progression)
Li Yan recalled what Mo Tapir had told him:
“Yanfu is short for Jambudvipa, a treasure tree from legends said to have given birth to the world. Each fruit on the tree is a brand new world.”
Li Yan tried to open up the first fruit.
“The Walker has only completed 42% of World Exploration for the previous Yanfu case. This is insufficient to obtain the fruit’s Exploration Notes.”
“Attention! Access rights to this Yanfu Fruit have been locked. No Walkers are allowed to enter or leave.”
Access locked by: Mo Tapir, Rain Master Concubine, E Hare…
Li Yan’s eyes glimmered for a moment and he opened the second fruit, which was the world he was in now.
Appearing before his eyes was a roll of dark black bamboo scroll that looked like it came from a pre-Qin Dynasty era.
“Damn this bullsh*t. The Ming Dynasty firearms technology is ahead of the Dutch by at least fifty years. This is nothing like the information from my world!”
——Anonymous
“Hehe, all the tales about chi and internal energy were indeed lies. The skill level of cold weapons here is very high. You should be able to obtain some high level, close combat specialization essence.”
——Anonymous
“At Apricot Flower Village, Lu’an Prefecture, Shanxi, I found a skeleton of a creature with a fish head and a human body. This Fruit is definitely not a normal one without mythical creatures.”
——Anonymous
Up until now, the scroll was sparsely filled, leaving a lot of blank space.
“Royal Chi! Able to break through the bottleneck of the awakening of one’s inheritance! That is the secret to this Fruit! Emperor, royal family, minister, or general, whichever will do! As long as you get your hands on an official title from the Imperial Court, you can obtain Royal Chi!”
——Anonymous
Beyond that, the scroll seemed to be completely filled up with words scribbled madly across every inch.
…
The notes that followed described things that Li Yan felt were rather meaningless. He kept on flipping until he reached the end.
The very last note.
“Hehe, is this a gold rush? Without the Royal Chi to stabilize things, ghosts and demons will run amok. This Fruit should get more and more dangerous.”
——Mountain Demon
Li Yan contemplated for a long while. He did get plenty of useful information from these notes, but they weren’t very useful in helping him obtain the objectives for his current Yanfu case.
From what he had read, he could even say that without these “senior ladybugs,” his life in this Yanfu case would have been much easier…
In the end, Li Yan renamed the Fruit of his previous Yanfu case “Judy” and then closed the thing to look at the crowded seats around him.
Old Diao was touching his belly as he slowly got to his feet. The wounds all over his body were healed, and even the old scars had faded until they were barely visible.
Li Yan’s group of men numbered ten in total. Three had died on the way here. Not counting Interpreter Song, Li Yan had managed to save five lives this time. Now, these five men were all healed by the priest boy’s talismans and were trained, battle-ready soldiers.
Deng Tianxiong rotated his wrists. He had reopened his wounds multiple times throughout the numerous fierce battles. Even with Li Yan’s Chi Healing, he couldn’t expect a full recovery for a few more months, but right now he felt energetic and strong as a tiger.
“If we had faced those Red Armors at Haengju Mountain again, the outcome might be different,” he said gloomily.
In the battle at Haengju Mountain, Li Yan had practically carried the group to victory. Kobayakawa and three Red Armors were killed by his hand. On the other hand, Blind Diao had killed one even with his heavy injuries. The sight of him returning to the hut with a severed head was heart-stopping. As for the rest of them, two had lost their lives just to take down the remaining Red Armor. This was still hard to accept for the prideful Deng Tianxiong.
The priest boy handed them a wooden box as well as a jade pendant.
“The box contains a reward that my Senior awards to all of you. The Jade pendant is for Command Li Yan, who killed the scion of Kobayakawa.”
“Ancestral Belt Pendant possesses the effects of calming, assisting sleep, and dispelling evil. It is a Yanfu Memento containing the power of the Baize Beast. Using it will awaken any chosen Inheritance by 7%.”
Li Yan had some doubts. He didn’t understand why the Heavenly Priest Sect of Longhu Mountain would assist the military, and he was even more puzzled as to why a priest from the Heavenly Priest Sect would be giving him rewards.
The priest boy opened the box, revealing three rows of gleaming gold ingots. Everyone in the tent seemed to be breathing heavily. Li Yan saw the looks on the soldiers’ faces and smiled.
“We will happily accept then.”
…
When the well-dressed priest boy left, Li Yan picked up one of the ingots and weighed it in his hand.
“Tianxiong, distribute this to everyone.”
“Sir, you will take… forty percent?”
Deng Tianxiong observed Li Yan’s expression.
These ingots could be exchanged for Yanfu Points, but Li Yan waved his hand.
“As I told you all back on Haengju Mountain, distribute my share amongst our brothers.” With that, Li Yan walked out of the tent, saying one last thing before he left, “I’ll leave this to you. I’m going to take a walk.”
The soldiers in the tent looked at each other and then at the box full of gold. They swallowed a mouthful of saliva uncontrollably.
…
Your Inheritance, the soul of the Ubume Bird, has consumed the power of the Baize Beast!
Soul of the Ubume Bird current awakening at 16%.
Hooked Star status increase as follows: Increase in attack speed and explosive power by 160%!
Your Inheritance: Soul of the Ubume Bird·Hooked Star has broken through the 10% limit!
Dipped in Blood has obtained the following special trait: Sure-hit. Effective range: Ten meters.
Li Yan silently experienced the feeling of his own flesh and blood strengthening as his eyes wandered towards a patch of grass beside the camp.
It was already deep into winter, but this grass was still swaying resiliently in the wind. A boot trod on the patch of grass, causing Li Yan’s eyes to wander upwards.
The owner of the boot stood there in wide bell-bottomed pants. His brows, sharp as knives, were raised.
The two of them looked at each other for a while.
“Haha, brother. We meet again.”
Shen Heyan took a few steps towards Li Yan and patted him on the shoulders warmly.