Cultivating with Symbiosis Panel

If you look closer, you can see the emptiness under the slightly wide robes, precisely where the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys would be.

On the other side is a desolate land, where only some once resilient but now withered vegetation can be seen.

Men, women, young and old walk hunched over the earth, breathing laboriously like pulling bellows, with the rumble from their bellies seemingly resonating, and their ragged clothes failing to cover their skeletal backs.

They can clearly see the other side of the river, their eyes filled with confusion and longing.

Gazing at the opulent splendor belonging to the Underworld.

Fox Smoke pushed Li Ye forward, with an obvious sneer on the fox's face:

"Look."

"If it weren't for these existing issues within the Mountain and River Grotto Heaven, they wouldn't have been projected here."

"Aren't you empathetic to all things? Can you feel the desolation here, the earth's anguish, and the people's bewilderment?"

This time, Li Ye could no longer pretend, as the fox's stench had drifted away, and ironically, the pungent odor cleared his mind remarkably.

He turned his head to look at Fox Smoke:

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"You dare not truly harm me, just to make me witness this? Who knows if you deliberately orchestrated this?"

Fox Smoke smiled faintly: "Even if we orchestrated this, can you really just stand by and watch these people suffer?

I tell you, once you go to the Underworld, you'll never escape the Hell's Bitter Sea.

Hahaha!!!"

She laughed heartily, with saliva flying from the tusks in her long mouth, looking twisted and bizarre, devoid of the earlier "immortal aura."

"Hehe." Li Ye squinted his eyes, slowly taking out a pendant made of three tails and gently shaking it.

The laughing Fox Smoke instantly seemed motionless.

Her peach blossom eyes filled with crimson killing intent.

Her body turned into a ferocious wind and approached Li Ye, her hands transformed into claws, clutching the latter's neck and lifting him abruptly.

In a hateful tone: "Do you really think I dare not kill you!"

"Otherwise?" Although Li Ye felt the discomfort of being choked, he maintained his composure:

"If you have the guts, kill me; otherwise, when I get to the Golden Core, I will chase your fellow clan to the ends of the earth!"

"You don't think our Four Seasons Sect only knows farming, do you? Fox fur sells very well."

"Even if you want to compare cruelty, I'm confident our Four Seasons Sect is far more authoritative!"

His face flushed red, yet he managed a meaningful smile.

"You scoundrel!!!"

For a moment, Fox Smoke was so enraged that smoke seemed to billow from her. For a split second, she truly wanted to kill Li Ye — but if she killed him, not only could he escape using her tail, but she'd also completely provoke the Su Xing lineage.

Although they were already provoked now, the vendetta from killing a disciple would be much greater.

Then it wouldn't be just an ideological dispute, but a fight to the death.

Since she couldn't kill him, she'd throw him into a place where even his master couldn't find him!

In the end, Fox Smoke released her grip.

She forcefully threw Li Ye into the distant river.

The power of the Nascent Soul carried a trace of golden ripple, making the toss seem short, yet it crossed space.

Before Li Ye realized it, the bitter, foul-smelling river water rushed into his nose and mouth.

At this moment, all his mana seemed unable to function, and even struggling felt labored.

"Grandpa! Someone fell into the river!"

A little girl on the riverbank noticed Li Ye struggling in the water and quickly called her grandpa, and together they laboriously pulled Li Ye ashore.

"Phew."

Li Ye gritted his teeth in frustration; since arriving here, he had rarely suffered such grievances, that damned fox — if he caught her, he would skin her and extract her tendons!

He first thanked the somewhat nervous grandfather and granddaughter, then looked up towards the distance, only to find the sky had turned gray-brown.

Fox Smoke, who should have been not far away, had disappeared.

Even… he couldn't sense the sect with his jade pendant, as if he had arrived in another world.

Could it be that he was no longer in Mountain and River Grotto Heaven? Perhaps not even in the Eastern Domain?

This development truly caught him off guard.

…

Inside Mountain and River Grotto Heaven.

The glittering starry sky gazed like an eye at the remaining head, whose other body parts had transformed into a sculpture, of Fox Smoke.

Fox Smoke laughed toward the Heavenly Dome: "Imagine the spatial power of Mountain and River Void Leaf being used by us this way, and your large disciple is gone!"

True Man Su Xing's calm voice responded: "Pity you, created by ancestors and Confucianist greats, yet without an ounce of wisdom?

Do you honestly believe the loopholes from thousands of years ago can still function, and do you truly think I would use my good disciple as your bait?"

The True Man's voice paused, and another voice emerged beside him:

"Located it."

"It's in the Southern Domain, surprisingly close to Celestial Vein Sword Mountain."

The once-laughing Fox Smoke instantly had her throat tightened. She was shockingly incredulous: "Celestial Observation Instrument? Isn't that thing only usable in the Eastern Domain?

Why...Is it the rice field in the Southern Domain! You planted Array Pattern of Celestial Observation Instrument under that field! You are monitoring your allies!"

"Wrong." True Man Xing, having arrived unnoticed, casually dropped a head with a face showing pain and regret.

If Li Ye were present, he would recognize Senior Brother Li of the Land's head.

"We merely left an array that can oversee the fields."

"As farmers, leaving arrays in the fields is quite reasonable, and Dao You from Celestial Vein Sword Mountain understands this well."

He casually answered, then couldn't help but complain to the stars overhead: "I think you're spoiling your apprentice too much, affecting only land and a disciple.

Why send him far off to the Southern Domain?

Though it's merely a minor stronghold of the Hell Path, it still bears danger.

I believe Li Ye should personally handle the situation here; otherwise, how can he develop a decisive and ferocious temperament?"

True Man Su Xing simply replied to his brother-in-arms' complaints: "I don't intend to send him to you, so what's he to learn your butcher's methods? Or haven't you killed enough pigs?

Eastern Domain's land has been saturated by us for eons.

He should witness the barren land.

Thus his Golden Core Path can stabilize... huh, what's that fellow doing?"

The last words carried confusion — on the already fully transformed statue of Fox Smoke, cracks appeared, spewing white gas.

"Oh." True Man Xing casually tossed out a seed, answering indifferently:

"The fury exploded it, but she can't die; I just heard Nephew Li say to skin her alive and extract tendons.

I've skinned a fox before, well-practiced.

Why not plant her inside a tree, and wait for Nephew to return and practice on her?

It would even be a fitting apology — speaking of which, it's clearly your and the Sect Leader's setup, so why am I the villain here?"

The stars gradually disappeared behind the clouds.

Only the slightly somber voice of True Man Su Xing remained:

"Because law is unfeeling, while humans have feelings."

"When you took this position, you should have anticipated possible occurrences. I can ease things with Emotion Song for now.

But once I truly pass the legacy to Li Ye, you'll have to rely on him."

True Man Xing gazed at the starless Heavenly Dome, and his heart suddenly grew heavy.

He glanced at the discarded head, a complex emotion flashed in his cold, starry eyes.

Yet he had no time for further thoughts.

This time, due to Li Ye's intelligence and the emergence of the Earth Wishing Spirit Fox, there's much hidden filth in Mountain and River Grotto Heaven to clean.

Perhaps those matters shouldn't be seen by the disciples.

"Alas."

He glanced at his rough palms, his demeanor returning to the usual hardness, and walked away step by step.