Sitting and forgetting longevity

Chapter 1945 Black Forest Town

Liu Qinghuan, who had transformed into a rat-headed demon, walked to a mountain wall and tapped a protruding stone with a withered twig in his hand.

A ripple slowly spread out, and the rocks moved in all directions, revealing a small opening.

Looking inside, Liu Qinghuan could only see a long passage with torches stuck in the stone walls on both sides, casting a dim, flickering light.

After passing through the passage, a bright and open space appeared before us, revealing a small town nestled by the sea, with crisscrossing streets and bustling pedestrians.

However, the people here, like the rat-headed people, mostly retain some distinctive features, making it easy to tell what their original form was at a glance.

Liu Qinghuan walked down the dusty street when a group of fish-head guards approached. The little demons passing by quickly moved aside, bowing their heads in respect.

Once the guards had gone far away, the street regained some of its liveliness, with some people setting up stalls and others strolling around.

Liu Qinghuan happened to stop in front of a stall. On a tattered cloth casually laid on the ground were some stones, shells and other items that didn't look very valuable.

Therefore, the stall owner didn't mind and was busy chatting with the other stall owners next to him.

A woman with rabbit ears asked curiously, "What's going on these past few days? It seems like there are a lot more guards than before. Is someone trying to break into the Holy Mountain again?"

"I don't know. Didn't they say they caught one a while ago, and he's still locked up in the water dungeon!"

"If you ask me, there's no need to make a fuss. Over the years, many people have come looking for the Holy Mountain, and some have even accidentally fallen in. There's always a new face appearing."

"Really? Where? Those are ten walking spirit stones!"

"It's not your place to catch them. By the time you find out, someone will have already reported it to the patrol team."

"I don't know what those people outside are thinking. We can't get out, but they insist on coming in to die... Hey Grayskin, put away your filthy paws and don't touch my Deep Sea Spirit Pearl!"

When Liu Qinghuan saw the other person yelling at her, she realized that he had been casually picking up a pearl from the stall while listening to their conversation.

He feigned disgust, scoffing as he put down the bead: "What kind of bullshit deep-sea spirit bead is this? It's not even as big as a finger..."

Hey! You little punk, you want a beating?

The stall owner pretended to hit him, and the people around him quickly advised, "Why bother with a little mouse like him? Let it go!" They added, "Greyskin, why aren't you guarding the woods outside? What are you doing back here?"

It seems that all these people recognize this rat-headed man.

Liu Qinghuan's heart skipped a beat, and holding the gong, she said with great pride, "I've come back, naturally because I have important business to attend to!"

"What urgent matter could you possibly have to discuss? Have you perhaps discovered intruders?"

"Hehehe, I'm not telling you!"

Ignoring the curses behind her, Liu Qinghuan broke free and ran away in a flash.

Walking along the main street, you soon reach the seaside. The sea is shrouded in mist, and a huge palace can be vaguely seen.

There were noticeably more guards along the way, mostly fish-headed guards, and also some clam spirits carrying seashells that clearly indicated they were minor leaders.

This seems to be another territory of Ancestor Xing Nie!

Liu Qinghuan became wary and saw a tall tower on a distant cliff. She walked towards it and was then driven away.

"What are you doing! No unauthorized personnel allowed near here, get out of here!"

Liu Qinghuan nodded obsequiously and quickly left, hiding behind a tree before swaggering past the guards.

From the moment Liu Qinghuan entered the town of Heisen, she noticed that the ubiquitous black fog outside had diminished considerably.

The magical energy fluctuations were much more pronounced on those incredibly ugly fish-headed guards. Although their cultivation levels were generally not high, they were more than enough to deal with outsiders whose magical energy was completely suppressed.

Indeed, even as the black mist thinned, his magical power showed no signs of recovery. Liu Qinghuan suspected that these fish-headed guards might possess some magical artifacts that could shield them from the black mist's influence; he could capture a lone guard and search them.

However, these guards were in groups, and in order not to alert them, he decided to go to the tower first.

But the tower was just an ordinary watchtower, overlooking the entire town, so any disturbance was immediately apparent.

There were several stone houses next to the tower, one of which had a passage leading to the cliff. Following the passage down, Liu Qinghuan found the water dungeon that the townspeople had mentioned.

The water dungeon was filled with a damp and putrid smell. In the first cell, a person whose face was obscured was chained and half-submerged in the murky seawater, his body almost rotten into a skeleton.

But that person was still alive, which was the most terrifying thing, and one had to marvel at the extremely strong vitality of cultivators.

Liu Qinghuan paused for a moment, then continued walking forward.

Most of the water dungeons were for human cultivators, not demon cultivators or others, and they looked like they had been imprisoned for a long time.

Liu Qinghuan walked to the last room and found the person he was looking for.

Xu Lingzi leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. His clothes were stained with blood, indicating that he had suffered a serious injury. His face was very pale.

This place is heavily guarded, so rescuing people won't be easy.

However, the guards are currently gathered in the house over there drinking and gambling, so they probably won't come over to check.

Liu Qinghuan walked to the prison door and called out to the other person using her divine sense.

"Fellow Daoist Xu Lingzi, wake up!"

After calling out a few times, Xu Lingzi finally opened his eyes weakly, looked around, and saw the rat-headed man crouching in the shadows in the corner.

"You are... Fellow Daoist Taiwei!"

Liu Qinghuan put away the identity token she had taken out and said in a low voice, "How are you? How did you get so badly injured?"

Xu Lingzi said in a hoarse voice, "Don't even mention it. I accidentally fell into the Black Mist Tide and encountered a group of strange creatures..."

Compared to the others, Xu Lingzi's experience was much worse; losing his magic power left him to rely solely on his physical body to endure the pain.

Fortunately, he had a powerful spirit pet by his side, which allowed him to stumble through several levels before finally falling into the hands of the fish-headed guard.

“My spirit pet is dead…” Xu Lingzi said sadly.

Unable to comfort him, Liu Qinghuan could only take out a pill bottle and toss it over.

"You should heal your wounds first. As long as you're alive, you can take revenge when you get out of here."

Xu Lingzi asked worriedly, "Did you come alone? There are so many guards outside. Should we go out now..."

Liu Qinghuan thought for a moment and asked, "Do those guards have any secret techniques for maintaining their magical power in the black mist?"

“Yes, the tokens on them!” Xu Lingzi said, “But those tokens should be bound to the owner by blood essence, so taking them away won’t help.”

"I see..." Liu Qinghuan was a little disappointed, but thinking about it, it made sense. If they hadn't recognized a master, the fish-headed guards probably wouldn't have dared to go out.

Finally, Liu Qinghuan told Xu Lingzi to be patient for another day or two. He needed to discuss how to proceed with Li Shan and the others, and he also needed to make a trip to the sea palace first.

Xu Lingzi had been captured and imprisoned for half a month, and was unaware of what was happening outside.

"The guards said that their master lives in that palace, and his name is something like Ancestor?"

"Ancestor Xing Nie," Liu Qinghuan said, "I need to go and confirm if he's arrived. Otherwise, we might be completely wiped out as soon as we make our move!"