OLTFMD | Chapter 8

Chapter 8

◎Giving him a chance was not impossible.◎

Shen Ji pinched the bridge of his nose.

He had just been thinking of parting ways with Xie Fu, and in the next moment Xie Fu turned back into his original form.

How was he supposed to bring up a breakup?

System, however, let out a sigh of relief. “Although the great villain becomes a bird and is a little wasteful, he’s much less harmful than when he’s a person!”

Shen Ji’s view was the opposite.

Even if it was a bird, it was still a bird that wanted to kill him, he did not plan to keep it by his side. Of course, leaving it in Shouluo Village was even less possible.

He sighed and walked closer, only to find that the stupid bird had grown a circle bigger than before, with its tail feathers a few inches longer in comparison, finally looking somewhat like a bird.

After turning back into its original form, Xie Fu seemed to be too weak to stand, and was quietly lying in the great cloak, sleeping very deeply.

Only when it was unconscious did it rarely seem this well-behaved.

Shen Ji looked at it for a moment, then returned to the bedside and continued meditating to heal his injuries.

After tonight, he would have to go up the mountain alone, so he had to have enough ability to withstand risks.

—

The next day.

The night had not yet given way to day.

Shen Ji opened his eyes and first looked toward the stupid bird in the corner.

Still asleep.

That was good, it saved trouble.

He got off the bed and tucked it into his chest, then picked up the great cloak.

This set of beginner defensive gear was quite good, because of the carved talisman patterns, it had many functions, including self-repair and cleaning, with a rather strong sense of self-management.

However, because yesterday’s scene had left a deep impression, Shen Ji still put it into the warehouse.

He walked to the window, pushed it open a crack, and looked outside.

This counted as the outer edge of Shouluo Village, closer to Tianshan, and the environment was slightly worse than the inner area, so not many people were willing to settle here, which made movement convenient.

And at this time, Shouluo Village had not yet awakened, it was the best time to leave.

Shen Ji unfolded Luo Honglin’s map, quickly scanned the contents, and only then opened the door and went out.

The curved moon hung in the sky, and there was indeed not a single figure on the road.

Shen Ji hugged the wall and circled to the back of the house, then followed the route on the terrain map straight ahead.

Because Tianshan’s environment was harsh, hunting often required going deep into the mountain range, with no guarantee of returning the same day, so a temporary dwelling was built on the mountain.

According to the route map, to reach Luo Honglin’s wooden house, he had to cross the first mountain peak.

Once he was outside the village, System listened to the howling wind and snow and tried to comfort Shen Ji. “The mountain’s pretty good too, at least no one will come disturb you and the great villain anymore, you can dual cultivate anytime and anywhere, how convenient!”

Shen Ji: “...”

He put on his gloves and goggles, summoned Wind-Chasing Leopard, and went up the mountain at full speed.

The straight-line distance of this road was far from the demon realm seal, so he was not overly cautious.

But when he passed through a fir forest, he vaguely heard a burst of noisy movement.

Someone.

Shen Ji tilted his ear for half a second, still racing ahead, and had already raised his palm to take Wind-Chasing Leopard back into the mount pearl. With a light tap under his foot, he turned in midair and dropped behind a huge rock in front of him.

Just as he landed, two sets of footsteps rushed out from the other side.

“Old Three, I said you heard wrong, there’s not a single person here, where would the sound come from!”

With his back against the rock face, Shen Ji used the cover of the stone wall to look toward the two men.

They were a little far away, and only after he increased the goggles’ magnification did he clearly see what they looked like.

The person called Old Three was thin, but his face was steady, and those small eyes flashed with the light of flames under the snow. Standing where he was, he looked around, his gaze sharp and alert.

Hearing the question, Old Three frowned. “Big Brother, this time Venerable has issued a secret order. It is no small matter, we must remain on guard at all times.”

The eldest brother had a look of disdain. “It’s only killing a mortal, and it’s worth you making such a fuss!”

As he spoke, three more people came out of the forest and stood beside the two.

Seeing the five of them habitually standing in a battle posture, Shen Ji’s heart sank a little.

Secret order from Venerable.

Hunting a mortal.

These people were from the Red Phoenix line, and they had come for him.

Their movements were uniform, obviously familiar with one another. Against such a team, he would be very hard-pressed to gain the upper hand.

“Exactly, Third Brother, it’s just a mortal, you’re being too careful.”

Old Three looked at Little Five. “Let alone a mortal, if it were you, and you wanted to escape from the emperor’s grasp, how much chance of winning would you have?”

At the mention of Xie Fu, the snowfield fell silent for a moment.

“Just dumb luck.” Little Five said unconvincedly, “Besides, the Snow Realm is a place of ancient seal, it contains a complicated mix of dao power. Even with spirit stones as support, you can’t use much cultivation at all, let alone release your divine sense. If that mortal is hiding here, and we have to search for him with our eyes, how long would that take?”

Ancient seal?

Hearing these words, Shen Ji’s thoughts stirred.

According to this man, they could not freely release spiritual power in Tianshan, nor could they use divine sense to search for his whereabouts. For people who were used to fighting with those two things, it was equivalent to a beast losing its claws and fangs, and the difficulty level dropped rapidly.

Old Three said, “Stop saying this useless nonsense. Since Venerable issued a secret order and specially sent us down to the mortal realm, it means that this mortal is not simple, we cannot be careless.”

Little Five snorted and kicked away a dead branch beside him. “Got it!”

Just as Old Three was about to turn around, his gaze suddenly fell on the dead branch that had been kicked far away, and he immediately raised his hand to stop him. “Wait!”

The eldest brother impatiently asked, “What now!”

“Look!” Old Three walked quickly a few steps, crouched down and carefully identified it, and said solemnly, “The footprints are fresh, he definitely hasn’t gone far yet.”

Before his words had even fallen, the other four exchanged a glance and all laughed.

Before Old Three could continue following the footprints forward, seeing them disperse, he hurriedly said, “It’s not yet certain that this is the mortal we’re looking for, we can’t rush in blindly!”

“Rush in blindly?” The eldest brother shook both hands, gripping the two hammers that had suddenly extended from nowhere. “I’ve been searching for that mortal here for a day and a night, now even if it’s not him, I still have to kill someone to get some satisfaction!”

“That’s right!” “Big Brother is right!”

With him leading the way, the other three also laughed as they drew their weapons.

Old Three stood where he was, looking at the backs of the four, and secretly sighed.

After so many years together, the eldest brother was always this temperament.

That would be one thing in the Three Spirit Realm, but in the mortal realm, with no spiritual power to rely on, it was hard to use strength to suppress people. How could he still be this impatient, truly impossible to worry about.

—

Shen Ji withdrew his gaze.

He took a dagger out of the warehouse and tucked it at his waist, then, while holding the hand|gun, he glanced at the surrounding environment and switched to a silent cross sniper crossbow.

Not far away, a set of footsteps was approaching.

Seeing that Shen Ji was still calmly checking the mechanism, System anxiously gasped for breath. “Host, what do we do, there are five of them, if you’re discovered, it’s over!”

It was hard to hide the sound of footsteps in the snow.

Shen Ji calculated the movement pattern of the person behind him. When the other side set foot down, he crossed two steps sideways, turned and stood side-on in the gap between the giant rock and the pine tree, raised the sniper crossbow in his hand, and silently took aim.

The footsteps drew closer and closer.

System was both anxious and afraid, but did not dare make a sound to disturb him, and could only wait in agitation.

Only when the moment was right did the black crossbow|arrow shoot out silently from the mechanism.

The arrow tip, rolling with a cold glint, was like a cold, silent venomous snake in the night, locking onto the prey in the field that had noticed nothing, and piercing straight through from the back of the prey’s neck with a puchi.

The thin figure standing where he was was driven by the impact to stagger forward a step, only able to let out a short cry of pain before dropping to his knees and crashing to the ground.

Shattered scraps of flesh burst across the snowfield, splattering out clusters of blurred blood flowers.

“Old Three!!”

The footsteps about to cross over the giant rock abruptly stopped, and also howled as they turned back in the direction they had come from.

“Third Brother——!!”

Shen Ji had already put away the crossbow and crouched down, quietly turning deeper into the pine forest amid the chaos created by man.

System said excitedly, “Host, you’re amazing!”

Shen Ji did not turn around. Sensing movement in his arms, he lowered his head to look.

The stupid bird had no idea how long it had been awake. Its head was now resting on the wrinkles of his collar, rising and falling slightly with his movements. Its sharp eyes were half-open, and even on a furry face one could tell it was extremely listless.

Shen Ji had originally wanted Xie Fu to regain his human body and intimidate these pursuers for a bit, but seeing this, he casually stuffed it back in.

Usually it was lively and full of vigor when yelling to kill him, but at a critical moment it only knew how to drag its feet. Raising such a useless pet was the same as raising it for nothing.

But the stupid bird slowly wriggled back out from his chest, revealing a small snow-white head, giving him a sidelong glance, then resting once more on the wrinkles of his collar, facing forward.

Usually System did not dare act presumptuously toward Xie Fu, but toward Xie Fu’s original form it lacked a bit of fear. “Host, it’s so arrogant...”

Shen Ji only held the bird’s beak and shook it up and down. “Forget it, if you want to look, then look.”

The stupid bird could not dodge in time, and was flicked on the forehead by his bent finger again. Its half-open silver eyes suddenly widened, and its sharp claws made a fuss in his arms for two turns, but suffering from the bird’s weak strength and light force, it had no effect at all.

Shen Ji ignored its resistance and lowered his eyes to plan the route.

Not long after the transfer, he made a right-angle turn, stepped backward to sweep away the footprints on the ground, and lightly found cover.

Forest combat, especially when stripping away weight and traveling light, gave him a huge advantage compared with the Red Phoenix, whose cultivation in the mortal realm had greatly diminished.

Having lost the brain in the team, the other four had obvious personality flaws, and their sensitivity to danger was not high. It could almost be determined that they were not suited for a long chase battle. Next, he only needed to seize the opportunity and pick them off one by one.

Shen Ji crouched to load an arrow, lifted his goggles, took a pair of night-vision goggles out of the warehouse, and leaned out from the narrow gap in cover, waiting for the fish to bite.

Very quickly, he saw the four men, grouped in pairs, advancing left and right. One team discovered the footprints, and, full of rage, hacked down the pine trees along the way, charging straight in this direction.

System asked softly, “Host, they’re coming over, but how are you supposed to fight two people?”

Shen Ji put down the night-vision goggles, and his cold black eyes were still as calm as water.

He raised the crossbow to aim, and together with the blowpipe in his left hand, both were steady, motionless as a mountain.

The dim night was the best disguise prepared for him.

When the two rushed to the broken footprints, the blowpipe shot out first, and while it was still halfway there, the black crossbow|arrow followed close behind.

Shen Ji did not stay in place to wait for the result. After firing the arrow, he slowly retreated into the shadows of the forest.

Xie Fu looked at him.

These two days of brief contact were enough to find out this person’s background.

Shen Ji had escaped Qishan for six days, his serious injuries had not yet healed, and he was still lingering near the Snow Realm. This already showed that he had no force behind him, and no foundation at all in the mortal realm, which made his background obvious.

Such an insignificant mortal, just because he possessed the heavenly spiritual cauldron body, had no sense of heaven and earth and colluded with the Red Phoenix line, being used by Wu Xun to this extent. He was truly stupid beyond measure.

However, being able to escape Qishan alone, and today recognizing the current situation clearly, bringing him to the Snow Realm seal area, counted as having a bit of cleverness.

A night passed, and Xie Fu’s spirit platform was long clear.

The golden mark pressed forward step by step, and turning back into his original form was forced by the situation, but it could not last long.

Since falling into the mortal realm, his cultivation had not improved by a single bit. If not for Shen Ji’s spirit stones, even taking human form would not have been easy for him.

The inheritance had produced complications, and the awakened ancient bloodline was, for the present, mostly a drawback. If he wanted to restore his cultivation safely and steadily, he needed someone to guard the formation at his side.

Shen Ji’s cultivation was low, and at first he had not taken him to heart.

Now it seemed that Shen Ji’s methods against enemies were endless, and his escape from Qishan was not luck. This set of movement techniques was still rather eye-catching.

Xie Fu’s bird eyes half-lowered.

With the golden mark interfering, it was already hard for him to kill Shen Ji. There was no need to waste more effort.

Since Shen Ji also had the intention to make up for his mistakes, so long as he did not act recklessly anymore, giving him a chance was not impossible.

Suddenly.

The instinct of bloodline again stirred up waves in the spirit platform. Xie Fu focused, and before he could suppress it, a blunt pain that came and went was transmitted from above his head.

“Have you looked enough, stop lying here and getting in the way.”

Thin anger rose in Xie Fu’s eyes.

Forced inward by brute strength into the collar, he had nowhere to put his force, and was flipped over into the mortal’s arms, then slapped once through the fabric.

“Don’t move around.”

The anger that had only just been barely swallowed after a full night surged up again, yet Xie Fu had no time to care about anything else at this moment. He only shut his eyes hard and resisted the impact within his body.

But perhaps the heartbeat beside his ear was too steady.

He once again prevailed over the golden mark, yet almost exhausted all his strength. At this moment, lying in the mortal’s warm arms, he gradually sank into drowsy sleep.

—

The suffering the stupid bird was enduring in his arms, Shen Ji had no idea of it at all.

Hearing the mournful roar from far away, he thought about it and turned back.

System hurriedly asked, “Host, we finally got away, why are we going back again?”

Shen Ji said faintly, “A wildfire cannot burn it all away, when the spring breeze blows, it grows again.”

System listened and did not dare answer.

The host was ruthless, it was afraid.

Shen Ji thought back briefly on the route he had just walked, then quickly returned uphill to the place where he had first been discovered.

Finding cover, he looked up at the sky.

It was about to be light.

This kind of environment was unfavorable for ambushes, but the limitations were limited.

He withdrew his gaze, found a position, raised the sniper crossbow, and waited quietly for the target to appear.

When two figures covered in killing aura appeared before his eyes, System did not dare breathe.

Shen Ji adjusted his breathing, and the cold, indifferent eyes he used during missions moved slightly with the target.

“Big Brother, what do we do now, should we go back and report?”

“Report? This lowly bastard killed our three brothers, I’m going to make him pay blood for blood!!”

The eldest brother cursed as he walked into the field, looked at Old Three’s corpse in the snow, tears in his eyes, and chokingly knelt down to touch his cold arm.

“Old Three, it’s all my fault——”

“Big Brother, be careful!”

The silent cold arrow tore through the faintly bright night, but was discovered one second before it hit its target.

Little Five swung his sword in alarm, splitting the arrow feather in two. He subconsciously flashed to stand in front of the eldest brother, and the instant he grabbed spirit stones from the spatial pouch, he was already nailed in the front chest by a needle-like tip following like a shadow, sinking in deeply.

“He...” Little Five pointed ahead of him, “There...”

The eldest brother’s eyes were about to split open. His figure shot toward the direction from which the crossbow|arrow had been fired like lightning, and the stone pile used for cover was smashed to pieces by the firelight he hurled out!

“Bastard!” His eyes were red as blood, and flames blazed all over his body. “Get out here!”

As soon as his words fell.

A tall, silent shadow fell from behind onto the front of him.

The eldest brother turned around abruptly!

The mortal from the secret order of Venerable was right in front of him, standing sideways, one hand holding a piece of iron, the pitch-black tiny hole pointing straight at the center of his brow.

At a glance, the mortal’s expression had a calmness that carried a cold edge, and only his eyes were as deep and bright as torches. When he looked at him, it was as if he were looking at a dead man.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

The eldest brother stared with his eyes wide open and fell straight to the ground.

He was still maintaining the posture of attack, but the flames that had risen were already buried under the snow.

Shen Ji put away the silent hand|gun, crouched down and ripped the spatial pouch off his waist, took out a spirit stone from inside, used the force to cast a spell, and brought this corpse to reunite with his brothers.

“...” Watching the host skillfully loot the body and then destroy the evidence, System did not dare say a single word.

Shen Ji, meanwhile, put the last recovered crossbow|arrow back into the warehouse, summoned Wind-Chasing Leopard, and continued on toward Luo Honglin’s wooden house in the morning light.

It took System a long time before it found a topic. “Host, those spirit stones you picked up, are you going to give them to the great villain for healing?”

Xie Fu?

Shen Ji took the stupid bird out of his arms.

It had fallen asleep again.

“I checked the information. The great villain’s condition is very much like the juvenile period of his original form, only the demon race with the most severe injuries will turn into a juvenile period to save strength.”

System said, “I really don’t understand, you two clearly dual cultivated once, so why does the great villain look like he hasn’t recovered at all?”

Shen Ji was not interested in this.

In fact, he had not listened carefully to System either. He lifted the stupid bird by its wings and directly stepped down from the mount.

System did not understand. “Why did you stop?”

Shen Ji looked around.

The terrain here was low, not easy to attract attention, and could count as a suitable place.

He raised the stupid bird in front of his eyes.

Luo Ning was right, Xie Fu’s original form really did look good, and after growing a little, its body appeared even more graceful.

What a pity that such a beautiful bird was not a thing when it was a person.

Thinking this, Shen Ji walked to a tree beside him, dropped to one knee, casually dug a shallow pit in the snow, and threw the stupid bird in.

“...” System was dumbfounded. “Host, what are you doing?”

Hearing it say that, Shen Ji broke off another branch from the tree and covered the stupid bird with it.

Mm.

Very hidden.

He had done this much for Xie Fu, it counted as him having done all he could.

Shen Ji tapped the stupid bird’s head through the pine needles.

From now on, everyone would go their own bridge and walk their own road, no longer interfering with one another.

He stood up, brushed the pine needles off his shoulders, and in System’s panicked terror, climbed back onto Wind-Chasing Leopard and left without looking back.

“...?” System finally reacted, collapsing as it asked, “Host, how did you throw out the great villain!!”

Shen Ji said, “Can’t you tell he wants to kill me.”

“But he’s in original form now!” System wailed, “You threw him by the roadside, what if he dies?”

Shen Ji raised an eyebrow. “Then I’ll wish him good luck.”

He was not some saint who repaid grievances with virtue, and for someone who had tried to kill him again and again, being able to part on peaceful terms was already his greatest concession.

“............” Hearing the host’s flat tone that left no room for rebuttal, System thought of the way those five people had just died, and could not help sobbing as it cried.

The great villain was gone.

The mission was going to fail.

Why was it so unlucky...

The host it was bound to was very strong, but he did not follow the usual pattern at all, what kind of person was this!!

—

After smoothly crossing over the front mountain, not long after Shen Ji went down the mountain he saw the giant pine tree Luo Honglin had described.

Under the pine tree, a single-courtyard wooden house with a small footprint stood upright in the wind and snow.

Shen Ji walked into the yard and pushed open the door to go inside.

It was only a temporary dwelling, so the furnishings inside were not very complete, but they had all been reinforced, enough to keep out the cold.

He came to the table, first took out the five spatial pouches and counted the spoils he had captured.

Probably because they were carrying out the so-called secret order, there were not many useful things in the spatial pouches. Only the spirit stones were fairly abundant, about a hundred per person, which was a gratifying gain.

System mustered up the courage to ask, “Host, are you really not considering dual cultivation to earn points? This method is mutually beneficial and win-win, too!”

Shen Ji put the spirit stones into the warehouse. “Go win with him, then.”

System: “...”

Shen Ji turned and walked to the bedside.

Xie Fu was already a thing of the past. He now had five hundred spirit stones in hand, which was more than suitable for healing his injuries.

“Help me watch the movements outside.”

System replied aggrievedly, “Okay...”

Shen Ji then closed his eyes and formed hand seals.

Less than a week after coming to this world, he had adapted very well to the new way of treatment.

However, the new alarm system was of no use.

Just as footsteps sounded outside the door, Shen Ji suddenly opened his eyes, yanked the dagger from his waist with his reverse hand, and rushed in two quick strides to the back of the door, ready for battle.

“Shen——”

“Brother Shen!” Luo Ning impatiently cut off Luo Honglin’s voice, “Are you inside!”

The strength in Shen Ji’s hand loosened slightly, the dagger was returned to its sheath, and only then did he open the door.

“Brother Shen!” Luo Ning looked at him excitedly. “You definitely can’t guess what I’m bringing you!”

Luo Honglin helplessly shook his head, and after coming in, first put the food box in his hand onto the table. “Shen Ji, hurry up and eat, we forgot to prepare some dry food for you last night, you must have been hungry, right?”

“Oh right, right.” Luo Ning slapped her forehead and put the medicine pouch beside the food box. “And the medicine, remember to take it on time.”

Shen Ji looked outside the door.

The sun was high in the sky, at least twelve o’clock.

He had not expected these two to specially make a trip up the mountain for something like this.

“Thank you.” Shen Ji put the food and medicine on the table, filled the food box with spirit stones, and pressed down on Luo Honglin’s blocking hand. “Please be sure to accept them.”

To prevent exposing traces, he did not send out the Red Phoenix’s spatial pouches together with them.

Luo Ning was still young, and only knew medicinal herbs like the back of her hand. She knew very little about spirit stones.

After eagerly waiting for the two of them to finish speaking, she immediately beamed, untied the medicine basket behind her, and held it out in front of Shen Ji.

“Brother Shen, look!”

Shen Ji also asked softly with a smile, “Look at what?”

Luo Ning swept the herbs in the medicine basket to the side, revealing the most eye-catching streak of snow-white inside.

Shen Ji only glanced once, then fell silent.

Inside the medicine basket, a familiar pale silver pair of eyes looked back at him.

Judging from how long it was staring at him, as always, it was furious.

Luo Ning’s face was still full of anticipation.

“How is it, Brother Shen, we helped you find the little bird again, are you happy!”

Author’s note:

Shen Ji: ? Is that acting?

Xie Fu: Some cold hatred.

————

Thanks to the little angels who threw their mine bombs or irrigated nutrient solution for me during 2022-08-04 17:35:35~2022-08-05 17:48:37!

Thanks to the little angels who threw hand grenades: Mocha Lazy Cat, Heng Wandi, 1 each;

Thanks to the little angels who threw land mines: Yujun Jianyi, Afei, Pan Yu, 1 each;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: Ye Qing, Ling Yuan 20 bottles; Su Yun 8 bottles; 25832255, Heng Zhi Qu Er, Yue Chenyuan, An 5 bottles; Duheng, No one does not love Xie Xinghe 2 bottles; Nian Qing, Mo Ming Qi Miao, Girl with a boyish heart, Fu Quan, YM, Xi Jing, I can never find one that suits my taste every day, Our kind is nameless 1 bottle;

Thank you all very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!