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

"Not bad, this is my ability to talk about repairs."

Old Yuan chuckled self-deprecatingly, "However, this technique has some limitations. The greater the shaping of objects or people, the greater the damage to my body."

"Especially that day when Grandpa told your fortunes, I felt like I was glimpsing a sliver of heavenly secrets, and the final consequences all fell on me. I almost died at that time."

"Furthermore, along the way, with the help of everyone's imagination, Blackwater Mountain has been modified and altered. With so many causes and effects combined, I'm afraid I'll lose more than fifty years of my lifespan."

"You deserve it!" Li Hu cursed.

Since this wasn't the first time Yuan Sou had used his magical ability to create creatures, he should have known long ago that the person he created was no longer the original one. Yet, he still chose to deceive everyone, constructing a Blackwater Mountain and a Divination Ape. This was truly like trying to catch the moon's reflection in the water or drawing a cake to satisfy hunger.

"Tiger Master, you don't understand," Old Man Yuan shook his head.

"Humans, all they do in their lives is nothing more than trying to make up for the trauma they suffered as children."

"I only blame myself for being less skilled than others, unable to turn back time. I have the ability to move mountains and fill seas, but I can only be like someone trying to find a sword by marking the boat, or someone who only looks at plums to quench his thirst..." Yuan Sou took a few breaths, coughed a few times, and then shed two lines of tears with relief.

Da da da.

As they were talking, Li Hu suddenly heard footsteps outside the cave. He turned around and saw that Chi Yue had arrived at some point.

Unable to contain her curiosity, she secretly defied Yuan Sou's request and sneaked in alone, looking utterly guilty.

Suddenly encountering two people inside the cave, Chi Yue immediately stood up straight and chuckled:

"I just heard a loud noise inside. I thought Grandpa Gua had gone mad again."

She seemed to have just arrived and knew nothing yet. Suddenly noticing the blood at the corner of Yuan Sou's mouth, she frowned and quickly stepped forward to say...

"Old monkey, what happened to you? Did Grandpa Divination really go crazy and beat you up like this?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than a deafening roar suddenly echoed from inside the cave. The group felt their internal organs tremble, and stone chips kept falling from the rock walls.

Li Hu thought to himself, "This is bad. I wonder what Chi Yue is thinking about again."

Seeing Yuan Sou's sudden expression of fear, Chi Yue was still a little confused, so she asked:

"What's wrong? Am I wrong?"

"Grandma, stop guessing! Oh dear!" Yuan Sou slapped his thigh. The richer Chi Yue's imagination, the more tricks this divination monkey would probably pull, and the greater the dangers they might encounter.

"Let's not talk about this anymore, let's go outside and talk first," Li Hu said in a deep voice.

Such a complicated matter was probably beyond everyone's expectations, and it was impossible to explain it to Chi Yue in a short time. So Li Hu grabbed Yuan Sou by the neck and dragged him out of the cave.

The crowd outside the cave had long since gathered here. They had all heard the sounds of fighting coming from inside and were all wondering if something had happened to Yuan Sou.

Seeing that everyone was here, Li Hu handed Yuan Sou over to them and said:

"You can explain the whole story to everyone yourself."

Li Hu drew his longsword, returned to the cave entrance, and left behind a message.

"No matter how much noise you make later, don't come in."

After saying this, Li Hu turned and went into the cave alone.

The crowd looked at each other, all with blank expressions. Huang Daxian went up and wiped the blood and tears from Yuan Sou's face. The group huddled together and talked at once, finally figuring out what had happened.

"Well, you little monkey, you've been playing us for a fool all this way!"

Huang Daxian laughed heartily. This was the first time he had ever heard of this amazing ability to talk nonsense. He thought that Chi Yue turning into a weasel was already outrageous enough, but he never expected that someone in this world could actually make a lie come true.

However, given Qi Yuehong's presence, Yuan Sou refrained from saying certain things. Otherwise, if Qi Yuehong were to find out that the evil spirits at the Limb-Severing Ridge were all fake, she might have attacked and killed Yuan Sou on the spot.

Everyone marveled, and after a long pause, Wong Tai Sin asked again:

"Was everything the fortune teller told us true?"

Old Yuan frowned and shook his head: "I really don't know. Based on my current experience, it's probably true, which is why I stopped you from letting Grandpa do more calculations, so as not to get involved in karma."

No sooner had they finished speaking than they heard a deafening rumble of thunder coming from inside the cave.

The sound lasted for a long time, mixed with the roar of the divination ape, and the whole mountain was buzzing. It was Li Hu fighting with the divination ape inside.

Suddenly, a sword aura shot straight into the sky from the distant sinkhole, causing the ground where they were standing to tremble slightly, and a large number of boulders fell from the mountaintop with a crash.

Seeing this, the group scattered in panic. Wong Tai Sin grabbed Old Man Yuan and pulled him away, thus preventing Old Man Yuan from being crushed to death by the rolling boulder.

After escaping, the group regrouped at a distance on the mountainside and continued to watch the scene. They were all somewhat dazed and unusually quiet, with no one speaking.

Every now and then, one or two sword energies would emerge from the sinkhole, one of which even struck the summit of Blackwater Mountain, shearing off a piece of the mountain peak and making the entire mountain appear smaller.

Everyone could see that this battle was massive, and they couldn't help but feel a little worried for Li Hu.

The strange movements of the mountain lasted for about half a cup of tea's time, then stopped making any noise. After a while, the group watched from a distance as Li Hu walked out of the cave.

He wasn't even dusty at all; he was still wearing a clean red brocade robe. He held the hem of his robe in one hand and carried a furry thing in the other.

When Li Hu got closer, he tossed the furry thing in his hand forward, and it rolled to Yuan Sou's feet.

Only then did everyone realize that it was actually the head of the divination ape.

The head was distorted, and it was not good-looking to begin with. Now it was even more pale and terrifying. Bloodstains mixed with hair were congealed together, and it was a mess.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Sou's eyes streamed down his face. He closed his eyes in anguish, making no sound, only letting his tears flow silently.

"Old Yuan, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Although your messy ideas have harmed everyone, I understand. Please accept my condolences."

"However, this cultivation technique of yours is harmful to both yourself and others. If you use it on your own people again, I will not let you off easily!"

Li Hu flicked his brocade robe, gripped his sword hilt, pondered for a moment, and then asked.

"Let me ask you, was it true that the divination ape led me to the Jade Capital that day? Was the sword immortal Li Hu on its throne an illusion, or was he real?"

"This..." Old Yuan scratched his neck.

"I probably suffered the most severe backlash back then, but... I really can't guarantee it."

Li Hu was somewhat angry. In the end, all the information he had painstakingly obtained from this trip was unreliable. It was as if everything was shrouded in a strange shadow, like looking at flowers through a fog, which was quite perplexing.

"Then were the sword energies that appeared repeatedly on this road your doing?" Li Hu asked again.

"No, no!"

Old Yuan quickly denied it, "I didn't say anything or lie before the sword energy appeared. I really don't know what the sword energy is!"

Hearing this, Li Hu felt a little more at ease, at least the information he got from Xiazhu Academy was reliable.

Li Hu pondered to himself that the sword immortal in the sky probably already knew about Yuan Sou's abilities and ulterior motives along the way, but Jian Gang never attacked Yuan Sou, which meant that all these changes happened with the sword immortal's tacit approval.

Why did the sword immortal guide me here?

Li Hu reached into his robes, where he found three copper coins, which he had seized from the fortune teller.

Li Hu suddenly seemed to understand something, so he took out a copper coin and asked Yuan Sou again:

"If I were to use these three copper coins for divination, would it still be effective?"

Yuan Sou hesitated for a moment, then replied with difficulty, "The moment you all know my identity and abilities, my lies will be exposed. Everything constructed from lies will be completely formed and fixed at this moment."

"If the fortune teller relied on these three copper coins to make an accurate prediction, then these three copper coins will still remain as effective as they were at that time."

Li Hu nodded, and he understood.

"Wait here for me a while."

Having said that, Li Hu clutched the three copper coins and found a secluded, deserted place. He then found a flat rock and prepared to give it a try.

He took out the copper coin and played with it in his hand for a moment, examining it carefully.

These copper coins are larger than commonly used copper coins. They are engraved with a circle of Bagua symbols around the characters on them, and the characters on them are different: Kill, Ghost, God.

Li Hu didn't know how to arrange the characters either. He just turned around and then examined the patterns on the back, which were carved with lifelike dragons, phoenixes, and qilin.

The shape of these copper coins doesn't resemble any dynasty in history, nor does it seem to be intended for circulation among the common people. If Li Hu were to see them in an antique market, he would likely treat them as commemorative coins for appreciation, similar to the "Mountain Spirit Coins."

Before testing whether the copper coins were effective, Li Hu faced another challenge.

When the fortune teller performs divination, he tosses these three copper coins six times each, using the six-line divination method to determine good or bad fortune. The more skilled the fortune teller, the more information they can glean from the divination.

However, Li Hu knew nothing about divination, and couldn't help but frown.

But then Li Hu changed his mind again.

If this copper coin truly possesses divine power, and if that sword immortal from Baiyujing is indeed watching me right now, I doubt I'd need to go through all that trouble.

"Let me test it first. The pattern means affirmation, and the literal means negation... So, Li Hu, are you watching me now?" Li Hu silently asked himself, clearing his mind of distractions, and then tossed three copper coins onto the stone.

The copper coins fell onto the stone with a tinkling sound, and indeed, they were all patterned.

Li Hu's eyes widened immediately, and somewhat disbelievingly, he tossed the toss seven or eight more times.

But the result was truly amazing; every time, the flower side always ended up facing up.

Li Hu understood what was going on, but still adhering to the spirit of science, he asked, "I'm not asking anything now, just testing it out."

With a series of ringing sounds, Li Hu tossed the toss more than ten times in a row. After calculating the probability and statistically analyzing the results, he found that they were indeed all evenly distributed according to probability.

That's it!

Li Hu nodded, then tentatively asked, "If an immortal kills an evil spirit, they can advance further in the ranks of immortals. Would you kill me?"

After asking the question, Li Hu tossed the toss three times in a row, each time with a literal negative.

"Then... was the place I went to really Baiyujing? Was the person I met really you?" Li Hu asked again, then tossed the question three times.

However, Li Hu discovered that the results were inaccurate this time; there were all sorts of results, not just a simple set of literal or random numbers.

"Why...is this?" Li Hu wondered, muttering to himself, "Could it be that the results of these two questions are different? Is it Baiyujing, but the person I saw wasn't a sword immortal, or is the person a sword immortal, but the place isn't Baiyujing?"

Li Hu thought this guess was very likely, so he broke the question down: "Was that person sitting there you?"

He then tossed the toss three more times, each time getting a pattern, indicating his approval.

Li Hu nodded, then continued, "Is it Bai Yujing?"

Then it was tossed three more times in a row, but the results became chaotic each time. It was unclear what the Sword Immortal meant by this result.

The sword immortal neither affirmed nor denied the question, but gave a confused answer.

This probably means a partial denial... Li Hu guessed.

"So you mean that Baiyujing cannot exist in a form I can understand? That place could be considered as such, but it could also not be. The real Baiyujing is beyond my comprehension; it just happens to appear in that form before me for some reason, is that right?"

Li Hu tossed the toss three times, and finally got all heads.

Relieved, Li Hu continued his attempt to communicate, saying, "How about we find an opportunity to meet up and have a cup of tea?"

The results this time were all literal, indicating a negative, which means that the Sword Immortal does not intend to have any further contact with Li Hu.

Why?

After Li Hu asked the question, he tossed it several times in a row, with very confusing results.

He suddenly realized that this was a question that couldn't be answered with a yes or no, and that he had been so engrossed in it that he had forgotten about it.

After calming herself down, she frowned and asked, "I noticed you looked terrible back then. How are you feeling now?"

This was simply out of concern; Li Hu could still vividly recall the horrific state of the Sword Immortal on the dragon throne when he closed his eyes.

He tossed the coins several times in a row, and all three were heads, indicating that he was not in good shape.

"Do you need my help?" Li Hu asked.

This time it was still all literal, indicating that Li Hu's help was not needed.

Doing things for oneself is quite in line with Li Hu's personality, but it's also possible that the Sword Immortal rejected him because Li Hu is currently unable to do anything.

Li Hu was a little dazed, but after he came to his senses, he felt a sense of relief and smiled with a sense of relief.

He never expected that he would be able to contact the sword immortal in this way, which was quite absurd.

Although it's a bit inconvenient, at least I got a response.

"Brother Li, Brother Li! Stop fiddling with those copper coins!"

While Li Hu was still pondering what question to ask the sword immortal next, he suddenly heard Huang Daxian running from afar, looking at Li Hu's face with a look of horror, as if he had seen something terrifying.

"Go look in the mirror in the water and see what you've become!"