How did I, who just ascended to heaven, become an evil spirit?

"Is that you?"

Li Hu asked in a trembling voice. This was the first time he had ever lost his composure like this. His scalp tingled, and he was in a state of extreme excitement.

The man sitting there changed his expression repeatedly. At first, he was somewhat excited when he saw Li Hu, but then his expression changed, his eyes darted around, as if he realized something was wrong, and his expression turned to worry and fear.

"No, this is not a place for you! Go back!"

The man on the seat shouted loudly.

Suddenly, the gaunt Li Hu rose from the dragon throne, accompanied by a clanging sound of metal clashing behind him.

Only then did Li Hu notice that the gaunt Li Hu was actually bound to the dragon throne by several thick chains. When he got up, the iron chains behind him clattered down and crashed to the ground, even splashing waves in the clouds.

"Hurry! Hurry!"

Li Hu looked anxious, his eyes flashing with panic. Before Li Hu could answer, the attacker suddenly raised his hand into a palm and fiercely attacked him.

The palm strike was fierce, but it carried no killing intent.

The clouds beneath his feet were swept away by this sudden force, revealing white sandy ground. His palm was still a zhang away from Li Hu, but the wind from his palm had already completely enveloped Li Hu.

boom!

Li Hu felt a sudden darkness engulf him, as if his soul had left his body once again, plunging him into complete darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back under the banyan tree.

In his panic, Li Hu touched his body and found no injuries. Meanwhile, the divination ape was sitting across the stone table from him, chatting somewhat nervously with Yuan Sou about his experiences over the past hundred years.

It felt like it was all a dream.

Upon seeing that Li Hu had woken up, the divination ape stopped its incessant chatter and turned to look at Li Hu with a meaningful expression.

"What's the Immortal Realm like?" he asked with great interest.

"Is that really Baiyujing?" Li Hu asked doubtfully, and then recounted what he had seen and heard there.

If the gaunt human figure on the dragon throne really is the sword immortal Li Hu, then it's too tragic. Ascension is a good thing, so why is it that he benefited from it but ended up worse off than this evil spirit?

The iron chains behind him further suggest that Sword Immortal Li Hu was trapped there, which is somewhat unbelievable.

But the divination ape's attention wasn't on these things; instead, he asked with great interest, "A golden dragon throne?"

"Yes, yes, how grand! The immortals have such class!"

"It's time to replace this lousy thing under my big banyan tree. You little monkey, if you have money, how about you get me a dragon throne?"

"Hey, what's so difficult about that?"

Old Yuan immediately boasted, "Next time I go out, I'll have someone bring a copy to Grandpa."

"Hahaha, very good!" The fortune teller beamed with joy upon hearing Old Man Yuan's immediate agreement, and said impatiently, "Then how about this, you get it for me as soon as possible."

"Grandpa's health isn't good either, he won't live much longer. Since you have the ability, I also want to sit on the dragon throne for a few more days."

"Let's not wait until next time we go out; let's find someone to take care of this now!"

"Of course, of course," Old Yuan said, sweating profusely, but still readily agreed.

"Come, Grandpa, I have a few friends who are also here to pay their respects. Let me introduce them to you." Yuan Sou changed the subject and then slipped out of the cave. Before long, he returned with Qi Yuehong, Huang Daxian, and the others.

The divination monkey was seeing so many strangers for the first time, and all the hairs on its body stood on end. It took Yuan Sou a lot of comforting before it finally calmed down.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, they're all here to ask for divination, and they're all my friends, not bad people!"

"Alright... since you've come to seek divination, then tell me your questions." The divination ape stood under the banyan tree, holding three copper coins in his hand, keeping a distance of more than three zhang from the group.

Everyone's attention immediately turned to Qi Yuehong.

Earlier, it was he who made the decision to lead the rest of the group to Blackwater Mountain to seek divination, simply to verify whether the incident at Broken Limb Ridge was the work of Li Hu.

However, now that all the evidence is complete, Qi Yuehong, considering her delicate relationship with Li Hu, doesn't want to bring up the issue again.

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"Alright, I have nothing more to ask."

He sighed deeply, but then suddenly raised his hands in a fist salute and said, "Master Diviner, I heard on this journey that if evil spirits die, they have a chance to be resurrected if certain conditions are met. I would like to ask, will my hundred-plus brothers from the Limb-Severing Ridge have a chance to reunite in the future?"

The monkey cautiously peeked out from behind the banyan tree and walked over to sit on the stone bench under the tree.

He took a deep breath and tossed the three copper coins in his hand six times.

"The sky is up and the earth is apart, the earth is fire and the sky is clear."

The fortune teller frowned as he stared at the results on the table, and decisively declared, "We'll never see each other again!"

"However, perhaps, I mean perhaps, there are still a few alive, but it will be impossible for them to reunite and return to their former state even after another five hundred years."

Such a reply was tantamount to rubbing salt into Qi Yuehong's wounds, which meant that his century of hard work had been destroyed in an instant, and he suddenly became despondent.

Those 108 evil spirits have either left or scattered, and today it can truly be said that when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

"Who else, who else wants to ask?"

The fortune teller didn't care what Qi Yuehong thought. After performing a divination, he became familiar with the people in front of him. He was somewhat unsatisfied and clicked his tongue, continuing to invite everyone to ask questions.

"Hey! Grandpa, wait a minute!" Old Yuan suddenly interrupted.

"Didn't you used to only do one divination a day at most? Doing too many divinations will reveal heavenly secrets, incur karmic consequences, and harm your health."

Yuan Sou looked worried and grabbed the arm of the fortune teller to try to dissuade him.

"Hey!"

The fortune teller waved his hand and said, "I haven't done any fortune telling in years. What's this little thing? Go away, don't disturb my enjoyment."

Immediately afterwards, the fortune teller looked at everyone with an expectant expression, as if he was really addicted to it.

Seeing this, the others didn't want to leave him in an awkward situation alone.

So Wong Tai Sin stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "We have long admired your great name, senior. We have been filled with respect and admiration for you all this way."

"Stop talking nonsense! Ask quickly!" the fortune teller urged impatiently.

He seemed impatient; he climbed onto the stone table, squatted there, and kept tossing the three copper coins in his hand upwards.

"This junior wishes to ask on behalf of the world: when will the people have a bountiful harvest and everyone have enough to eat?" Wong Tai Sin then clasped his hands and asked.

"Hey, that's a good question!"

The fortune teller grinned, revealing uneven teeth, and tossed the three copper coins in his hand six more times before declaring:

"Huh? This is truly strange. Within five years, no one in the world will be able to starve to death."

"No, no, no, I'm afraid it will take three years, within three years!"

The fortune teller slammed his hand on the table, confirming it was authentic.

Upon hearing this, Wong Tai Sin's face lit up with joy, and he was almost moved to tears. He then clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Then I'll have to thank you for your blessing."

"Come on, next one!"

The fortune-telling ape held the three copper coins in its palm, rubbed its fist, and called out expectantly.

"No, no, Grandpa!" Old Yuan suddenly exclaimed anxiously.

"That topic was far too grand, perhaps truly touching upon heavenly secrets. We fear we'll suffer the pain of the Five Deficients and Three Deficiencies in the future...we..." As Yuan Sou spoke, he suddenly coughed violently, appearing to be in considerable pain. He reached out and grabbed the Divination Ape's arm, pleading...

"Let's not calculate it anymore. Anyway, everyone's not leaving for the time being. Let's stay a while longer and calculate it later, okay?"

"Your grandson is really worried about your health."

The fortune teller, his mood dampened, waved his hand vigorously, somewhat annoyed.

"Never mind, never mind."

"That's all for today. If you have any further questions, come find me again tomorrow."

Having said that, the divination monkey leisurely leaped up and returned to the canopy of his large banyan tree to rest.

"Gentlemen, please don't be offended."

Seeing this, Old Yuan smiled sheepishly and clasped his hands in greeting to the crowd,

"Fortune telling involves peeking into the secrets of heaven and bearing the consequences of karma. If the backlash is severe, widows, orphans, the lonely, the disabled, and so on will come knocking on their door."

"My grandfather is really senile; he's even forgotten this. He's only interested in enjoying the thrill of peeking into the secrets of heaven. Please forgive his ignorance."

Old Yuan laughed heartily, "Please stay here in my Blackwater Mountain. We'll come back to ask you questions again after some time."

Since Old Yuan had said so, the group felt embarrassed to ask any more questions.

So Li Hu and the others chose places to stay outside the waterfall.

The scenery here is beautiful, and it's a peaceful and tranquil place.

In early spring, the mountains are filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, and all things come back to life.

Li Hu has been giving Yan Yang a few pointers on swordsmanship every day, and spends the rest of his time studying the book "The True Explanation of the Three Corpses".

The text in the book was quite obscure, and it took Li Hu quite some time to truly understand it.

The book says that Li Hu, a type of Peng Ju, is the leader of the Three Corpses. To form a complete evil spirit, the first step is to find the other two corpses. Only then can he become a complete evil spirit and begin to truly learn the supernatural powers in the book.

Even though the other two corpses were killed three months ago, immortals who transform into demons do not die completely. They often leave behind a physical object, like the mud that makes up the clay statue, or the bronze bell that Li Hu is holding now.

Once those things are found, Li Hu will be able to unify his three selves, and his name will have to be changed from Peng Ju to Three Corpses.

In other words, Li Hu now needs to return to his hometown of Dengzhou, the place where he lived for twenty years and where he attained enlightenment and ascended to immortality, to find the two severed corpses and dig out the things they dropped after their deaths.

However, Li Hu was completely clueless. What would the Three Corpses become after they died, and what was their original form? The book didn't say.

I can only say that I'll probably have to go back to Dengzhou in a while and try my luck there.

These past few days, Li Hu had nothing better to do than wander around the Blackwater Mountains, studying the second half of the book with his hands behind his back.

He wasn't in a hurry to head back now, because Li Hu felt that this matter wasn't over yet.

Regardless of the eccentric behavior of the fortune-telling monkey or the hidden thoughts beneath Yuan Sou's timid appearance, Li Hu felt that something was amiss.

Recently, Yuan Sou has even been preventing everyone from meeting the Divination Ape, on the grounds that the Divination Ape was too exhausted from taking Li Hu to Baiyujing for the first time, and then he cast two divinations for Qi Yuehong and Huang Daxian, predicting some things that he shouldn't have.

As a result, he suffered a backlash and his health is not very good. Recently, he has been afraid of wind and light and can only stay in the banyan tree. It is best for him to avoid people to help him recover.

Every day, Yuan Sou would bring food into the cave on time and stay inside for a long time before coming out, always with tears streaming down his face.

Li Hu went up to ask, but he just waved his hand bitterly, unwilling to answer.

Since he didn't want to talk about it, Li Hu simply stopped asking and stayed in front of the Blackwater Waterfall, finding a well-lit spot to study the Three Corpses True Explanation in his hands every day.

On this day, the sky was clear and the breeze was gentle.

As Li Hu was sitting upright by the deep pool, intently analyzing the contents of the book, he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.

"Tiger Lord, Tiger Lord."

The voice sounded familiar and anxious, but Li Hu couldn't remember who it was. He turned around but there was no one behind him, and he couldn't tell where the voice was coming from.

Ever since returning from Baiyujing, Li Hu had been feeling lingering fear and listless; he even thought he was hallucinating.

But just as I turned my gaze back to the book in my hand, the voice appeared again.

"Tiger Lord, look this way!"

Li Hu turned around again, but there was still no one there. However, he realized that the sound seemed to be coming from the depths of the Blackwater Mountain.

The Black Abyss is probably over a hundred feet deep. The place where Li Hu is is far from the waterfall and is an eddy, so there are not many waves on the surface of the water. It is like a mirror reflecting this world.

How strange! Could it be that someone is calling me from underwater?

Li Hu went closer to the shore and saw a very familiar figure in the water.

"Impermanence!"

Li Hu recognized the man instantly, grinned, and said, "You're still alive?"

The Impermanent Ghost bowed to Li Hu from afar in the water. Its body was much dimmer than before, and its voice was somewhat ethereal.

"It's been a long time. I pay my respects to Tiger Lord." He greeted him from afar with clasped hands.

"What are you doing in the water? Get out of there right now."

Li Hu waved at him and said, "You're still alive? What have you been doing these past few days?"

"Master Tiger, it's not that I don't want to get out of this water, it's just that I can't."

Wuchang said regretfully, "As the saying goes, when a ghost dies, it becomes gradual; when gradual dies, it becomes hopeless; when hopeful dies, it becomes nothingness; and when nothingness dies, it returns to nothingness. I only realized after I died that I could continue to exist in this way."

"However, I am now from a different world than you all. I am not hiding in the water. If you go into the water, you will find that I am not in the water."

"So what happened to you?" Li Hu asked curiously.

Li Hu had heard of the supernatural tales mentioned by Wu Chang, such as "ghosts die and gradually die, and gradually die and then disappear," but he never expected to actually see such creatures.

"I exist only in the mirror space formed by the water's surface. You can see me but cannot touch me, and I can also be seen but not touched by you."

"When a ghost dies, it will no longer exist in the world as a physical body or a spirit. If I die a few more times in the future, you will no longer be able to see me or hear me, and I will slowly disappear completely from this world."

"But it's alright for now. I've only just become a minor one, and I'm still not quite used to it. I've only just mastered the method of manifesting in the last few days. I was afraid of scaring everyone, so I came to see Tiger Lord alone."

Hearing him say this, Li Hu seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly slapped his thigh and said:

"So back at Xiazhu Academy, it was you who woke me up with that 'refreshing soup'!"

"That's right, it is I." Wuchang grinned.