Seeking the Tao in the Mortal World

Chapter 16: Shocking Event

Seeing that Li Qinglin suddenly returned to normal, the young master’s expression changed slightly, “How… how are you alright?”

Li Qinglin spat out a water arrow and said, “I wrapped the wine in my throat with true qi. I didn’t drink it at all. I pretended to be poisoned, but I just wanted to see what the beastkin thing would say when I was confused…” He paused, and he continued with some annoyance, “I never thought that this jade pendant can restrain beastkin so well. I didn’t wish to cause such a huge scene.”

The taoist nun outside pursed her lips tightly. This change was full of twists and turns that she really would never have expected it.

“No wonder Master told me to seek tao in the mortal world. This man’s heart is treacherous. This really can’t be seen by just cultivating in seclusion in the mountains.” She thought for a while, then she murmured, “With Li Qinglin’s shrewdness, there is a higher possibility that he did that.”

As if responding to the taoist nun’s thoughts, voices came from outside the villa. Several horses galloped into the villa.

Seeing the person in front, the young master was taken aback. He bowed and said, “Peasant greets County Chief Wang.”

County Chief Wang hurriedly got off his horse, pushed the young master aside, and knelt down on one knee, “Subofficer Wang He, greets the second prince and the princess.”

The people of the villa were dumbfounded, and the young master’s face was ashen.

Li Qingjun sneered and said, “You aren’t here to support the people of this villa, are you? This guy is really amazing that he can actually let the Chief come in person!”

Wang He wiped his sweat, “Princess misunderstood, I don’t know this person. I just heard from others that they saw you at the city gate in the evening, and I happened to be in a hurry to find you, so I came here.”

“Oh?” Li Qinglin said, “What happened?”

“Prince…” Wang He paused, kowtowed and said, “The crown prince was assassinated last night.”

Li Qinglin’s pupils shrank slightly, and Li Qingjun’s face turned pale.

In the face of such a big event, the matter in this villa was insignificant. Before the county chief showed his power, they confessed everything.

The servants, who died for no reason before, were drained to death by the corpse insect beastkin, so the villa master put up a contract to catch the ghost. But he never thought that this was actually done by his wife.

So the villa master didn’t have to die… but it’s a pity that he had a wicked son. In order to be with his stepmother, he took advantage of the “haunted” incident in the villa and quietly poisoned his father to death.

In other words, the strange incident here was caused by both human and beastkin. Everyone’s initial judgments were wrong.

Of course, this matter was no longer within the focus of the Li Family’s brother and sister. Their thought had long been occupied by the death of the crown prince. They rode the horses back to the capital overnight. It was no longer the 3 of them on the way, but the county sent troops to escort them. Obviously, the South Li Kingdom couldn’t let anything bad happen to the second prince after the death of the crown prince.

Because the kingdom had only these 2 princes.

This was no longer the time to talk about gaining experience. Li Qinglin probably would never have the chance to travel alone in the future.

Along the way, the Li Family’s brother and sister all looked very serious, losing the mood for nonsense. From a big perspective, South Li Kingdom was about to change; from a small perspective, they lost their elder brother.

Especially for Li Qinglin, the combination of these 2 emotions must be particularly complicated.

Qin Yi rode his horse and followed beside him silently.

Contrary to the brother and sister of the Li Family, what feeling would he have for the crown prince whom he didn’t know? The villa incident touched him a lot instead.

Such a beautiful woman was actually just a layer of skin with a disgusting corpse insect inside. This should be the pink skeleton that the monks see. No matter what scourge it is, it’s just a skin.

Being able to abandon superficial appearances and not being fascinated by appearances is an inevitable process of achieving enlightenment.

But in order to fight for such a skin, the son killed the father… and the tenderness still could not resist the temptation of a piece of jade in the end.

So is the beastkin more vicious or the human’s heart?

He was far behind the team, quietly talking to Liu Su.

“With your little cultivation, don’t comprehend such puzzles. You think you are enlightened now, but when the real beautiful woman is in front of you, can you really not be attracted? This is easier said than done.” Liu Su said leisurely, “Anyway, if you see this kind of thing too much, you will feel indifferent. When you live for thousands of years, how can you still feel ripples about this kind of thing? You will get enlightenment without comprehending.”

Qin Yi asked in a low voice, “Since there is no need to comprehend, what is the essence of cultivating to be an immortal?”

“Re… oh, the essence of cultivating to be an immortal, just ask your heart.”

“Why is that?”

“When you have traveled the world, you will know.” Liu Su said leisurely, “You have been hiding in the Immortal Track Mountain all your life, thinking you have transcended from the mortal world, but in fact, this is absurd. You have never been in the mortal world, so how is there a transcend?”

“So that is why you encouraged me to pick up girls?”

Liu Su laughed, “If you haven’t experienced anything, don’t talk nonsense. That’s all. There are some things that you don’t need to experience, but you have to see them anyway. Do you think I have evil thoughts in everything? I’m just seeing too much, that’s all. A hundred years is just like a snap of the fingers. You don’t have to be serious about the rules and regulations of the secular world.”

Qin Yi didn’t quarrel with it, which was rare. Instead, he said seriously, “Thank you for your guidance.”

Liu Su was startled, then it shifted the topic, “Since you saw a beastkin monster that is covered in a skin, aren’t you curious about the common sense of beastkin cultivation?”

“Because I know you can’t help but say it yourself.”

“…” Liu Su gritted its teeth with hatred, “I won’t tell you even if I die.”

“Oh.” Qin Yi seemed casual and said, “Anyway, being restrained so much by the jade pendant, maybe this Mrs. Zhang was not as powerful as that tiger beastkin.”

Liu Su sneered, “What you know!”

After cursing this sentence, it poured out all the common sense of beastkin cultivation like the flow of water.

Beastkin cultivation, the lowest level was called Spirit Initiation Period. The animals, plants, etc. had just unlocked basic spiritual intelligence. They had some strange abilities. This stage probably corresponded to the human’s Qi Training Period that also had 9 levels. After the Spirit Initiation Period reached the perfect state, the beastkin’s spiritual intelligence was no different from human beings.

“Of course, most Spirit Initiation Period beastkins are all cultivating on their own. Under the same cultivation, they don’t have the various means of human beings. They are weaker than the Qi Training Period cultivators, and even some powerful martial artists are not afraid of them, so they can only scare the mortals.” Liu Su added, “Just take that spider beastkin as an example.”

“Ugh…” Qin Yi scratched his head, “Then Mrs. Zhang has already passed this stage?”

“No, she’s stuck at the perfect state of the Spirit Initiation Period.” Liu Su sneered, “Don’t underestimate beastkins at this stage. Just like the humans who reach the peak of the Qi Training Period, they can call themselves immortal in many cases. Mrs. Zhang who is at this level was actually defeated by a piece of jade of Li Qinglin. This means this jade is something special.”

Qin Yi nodded thoughtfully.

When reaching the Spirit Initiation Period perfect state, the beastkin could try to advance to the Morphing Period. There were countless small beastkins who got stuck at this stage. that is, change into a human form normally. There are so many little beastkin monsters stuck at this bottleneck. Each of them was trying to break through in many messy ways. Mrs. Zhang’s use of a human skin to pretend to be a human was one of the ways. This was a helpless choice before it reached the Morph Stage.

“You can also see those who peel off human skin and refine them, and you can also see those who try to transform into different shapes, but looking at their ferocious look, you will know this is a beastkin at a glance.” Liu Su added, “Mrs. Zhang’s way is more gentle. She absorbs the vitality of human beings and hopes to completely transform, but it is a pity that the method is too rough. Most of them who learn on their own are mostly like this.”

“So that’s how it is.” Qin Yi sighed, “That is to say, if I see a beastkin that really looks like a human, this is a more powerful beastkin?”

“If the beastkin has really advanced to the Morph Stage, it indeed looks no different from a human being, but it often retains some body characteristics in some places that are difficult to cover up, such as a tail. Or the beastkin aura is very strong. It often needs many methods to cover it up. If it encounters any stimulus, it may reveal its true form too.” Liu Su said, “However, beastkin with little cover up can also mix into the mortal world. It is rarely seen through by the mortals. Like you training your Qi to consolidate your foundation, this also means that the foundation has been consolidated.”

“What about the higher stage?”

“The higher stage?” Liu Su sneered, “With your current skills, if you see it, it means you will die, so why bother asking?”

“…”

TL: Did the State Preceptor kill the crown prince? Also, what is the taoist nun investigating?