“There’s no need to talk. The god in charge of this path has already declared the rules. Only by killing you can I get out of this Sakura Moon Killing Path.
“Only one of us can live.”
By this time, the young man riding the white tiger had calmed down a little bit. Obviously, after he launched two rounds of attack, he was shocked by the great power of Li Mu’s punches. He no longer dared to act rashly. He focused on manipulating his power and prepared for the ultimate move.
“The Sakura Moon Killing Path?”
Li Mu looked around.
It was a very strange world.
There was only a log floating between heaven and earth.
The space around the log was filled with extremely terrifying killing intent. Li Mu felt that even though he had outstanding physical strength, he would probably be torn into pieces by this killing intent if he lost his footing and fell off the log.
Cherry blossom petals swirled about under the red moonlight.
It was a beautiful scene with an underlying smell of death.
“How could there be such a place in Randeng Temple?
“Damn it. The old faker must be playing tricks again.”
Li Mu was speechless.
“The young man in front of me should be the enemy riding a white tiger mentioned by the old men. It seems that he has been trapped here for a long time. Otherwise, he would not be so irritable. Judging from the demon aura coming from him, he should be a member of some devil race. Could it be possible that he is related to the Demon Coalition?”
“Go to hell!”
The young man shouted loudly as he thrust his sword.
IThis young man was indeed very powerful. He had already reached the peak of the General Realm. He was definitely not a practitioner from the secular world. He should be a master from some small world. His swordsmanship was exquisite and full of ancient charm. The blood red broadsword ripped through the air with strong killing intent.
In an instant, the entire Sakura Moon Killing Path was filled with Sword Qi and killing intent.
However, in the face of Li Mu, that was far from enough.
Li Mu directly raised his hand and threw a punch. The punch was so powerful that it produced sounds of air blast, and even the void seemed to have caved in. The young man spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying backward, and all the Sword Qi was gone.
As soon as he fell off the log, he was strangled by the killing intent in the space around the log and disappeared in an instant.
Only the white tiger watching the fight was left on the log. Suddenly, its pupils shrank, and it let out a growl.
“It’s so intelligent.”
Li Mu exclaimed.
“I’m angry.”
He said loudly.
The white tiger was on its haunches, ready to attack.
Its stripes seemed alive, moving across its white hair.
“I’m really angry.”
Li Mu said again.
Just then, a proud voice rang out in the Sakura Moon Killing Path. “Ha-ha-ha, you little bastard, what can you do even if you’re angry?”
It was the old faker.
His voice and tone sounded familiar.
Li Mu was very happy. He was even happier than a teenage girl who finally received a confession of love from her beloved crush.
“Old fella, I’m more powerful than you can imagine. I am invincible within the King realm. Do you want to give it a try?”
“Hey, I’m invincible in the Great Way Realm. Do you want to give it a try?” The old faker’s voice rang out again.
“The Great Way Realm?
“The realm higher than the King Realm is Deity Realm…”
Li Mu had no idea what realm was above the Deity Realm. “According to what the old faker said, that realm should be the Great Way Realm. If the old faker were really invincible in the Great Way Realm, he could overwhelmingly defeat all those in the Deity Realm, let alone those in the King Realm.”
Li Mu suddenly became a little unsure of himself.
“Is this old fellow that powerful?”
“It’s been a long time since we last met. Why don’t you remove the tactical deployment so that I can cook some noodles for you?” Li Mu changed his tactics and tried to bond with the old faker. “You used to like the soy sauce fried noodles I made. Do you remember that? You haven’t eaten that for a long time, right? We can talk while eating. I have a lot of things to ask you.”
The old faker burst out laughing and said disdainfully, “Little brat, you are still as shameless as before; do you think you can buy me with a bowl of noodles? You’re dreaming.”
Li Mu was annoyed. “What on earth do you want?”
“At least three bowls,” the old faker said.
Li Mu was speechless.
“That is some reward!”
“Okay, deal.”
Li Mu agreed without hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, the red moonlight, the fluttering cherry blossom petals, and the log disappeared. The space barrier broke and melted away like glass. All the strange signs dissipated like smoke in the wind.
Li Mu took a closer look and found that he was standing at the gate of Randeng Temple.
The familiar scene had appeared countless times in his dreams.
“It’s really an illusion.
“However, it seems so real.”
When Li Mu was within the illusion, he couldn’t see through it or find the key to breaking it.
An old Taoist priest wearing a greasy Taoist robe and a pair of almost new gray sneakers stood in the courtyard with a wicked smile on his face. He had messy short hair and looked like he hadn’t washed his face for several days. He looked so mean that at first glance, people would have an impulse to slap him a few times with their soles and describe him using words like “cheater”, “illiterate”, “unreliable”, “lowlife”, etc. 99% of the people in the world would have no objection to that, and the reason why the remaining 1% people didn’t agree was that they felt that these words were not enough to describe the old Taoist priest’s shamelessness.
“Who else could it be if it weren’t the old faker?
“I finally saw him.”
Li Mu stood there without saying anything.
He glanced at the old faker and then looked at the familiar buildings, cypresses, and iron bell in the temple. Suddenly, an uncontrollable, strong feeling of unreality engulfed him.
The mean Taoist priest, the thousand-year-old cypress-pines, the rusty iron bell, the dilapidated temple, the moonlight shining through the trees, the evening wind from the Qinling mountains blowing over one’s cheeks, and the vaguely audible distant sounds of children playing and dogs barking in Randengsi Village.
Those were the pictures and sounds that Li Mu saw and heard in his dreams many times.
It would be fair to say that even a writer with the most abundant and wildest imagination in the world was unable to describe what Li Mu had experienced since he was 14 years old. Anyone else would remember those extraordinary experiences for the rest of their lives. However, after Li Mu had gone through so many ups and downs, what was engraved on his mind and he could never forget was not the extraordinary experience in the Star River, but the ordinary scene in front of him.
“Hey? What’s going on?” The old faker looked at Li Mu, who was in a daze. His eyelids twitched. “Wait a minute. You little bastard, you are not brewing up something emotional, are you? Don’t wipe your tears and put on a show. I am very old, and my heart is not in good condition. I can’t stand strong emotional fluctuations.”
“Damn it.”
Li Mu gritted his teeth and spat out those two words.
All the atmosphere of a long-awaited reunion was gone.
Li Mu rushed to the old faker, held the latter up in his arms, and whirled him about as he shouted, “Ah, I’ll shed no tears. Can you explain what is going on?”
The old faker said, waving his hands about, “Stop. Stop. I’m dizzy. I feel like vomitting.”
Li Mu swirled him around eighteen times. Then, he put down the old faker and said, “Come on, give me a good explanation. I want to know the truth.”
The old faker leaned on the iron bell, seeing stars and gasping for breath. “You little bastard, are you trying to kill me? I’m so old, and I can’t stand your torture. Do you want me to die?”
Li Mu said, “Didn’t you say that you were invincible in the Great Way Realm?”
The old faker snarled, “Yes. I am invincible, and I’ve reached the peak of the Great Way Realm. I’m afraid that if I use the power of the Great Way Realm and fail to control it well, it will directly reduce you to ashes.”
Li Mu grew skeptical upon hearing that.
He had been somewhat intimidated while he was in the Sakura Moon Killing Path just now. “This invincible old man in the Great Way Realm sounds like he is bragging.”
Li Mu stood there and waited for the old faker to catch his breath. Then, he walked over to the old faker and took the latter in his arms again.
“Again?” The old faker panicked.
This time, Li Mu did not twirl the old faker around like a windmill. Instead, he gave the latter a tight hug, as if he were embracing the most precious thing in his life. Like a child, he buried his head on the old faker’s shoulder.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely.
The old faker’s face suddenly stiffened. He let out a long sigh and said, “Alas, you little brat, I am relieved to see that you are doing so well. In fact, I have always been worried about you all these years.”
A smile came over Li Mu’s face at once.
Li Mu had forgotten how he got to know the old faker.
Everyone told him that he was an orphan adopted by the old faker when he was just a child. He felt more attached to the old faker than he was to his own parents. The scenes of them relying on each other for survival had never disappeared from his mind.
He would never complain no matter what the old man in front of him had done.
“Good boy, you have done a good job. Although I have never been by your side, I have heard about some of your achievements. I am proud of you.”
The old faker gently patted Li Mu on the shoulder with an amiable smile on his face.
There was a look of relief in his eyes. In his long life over hundreds of millions of years, there were only rare occasions that he had that look.
Li Mu released the old faker and said with a smile on his face, “I’ll make soy sauce fried noodles first, and then we’ll talk while eating. I have many questions for you.”
The old faker nodded and said, “Okay, it’s time let you know some things.”
After a short while, a table full of tasty food was placed under the cypress tree in the middle of the courtyard. Li Mu and the old faker each held a bowl of noodles and gobbled down the noodles.
“Don’t fight with me over food. This piece of meat is mine.”
“Old man, eating more vegetables is good for your health.”
“I’ve been a carnivore for hundreds of millions of years.”
“Hundreds of millions of years? Really?”
“I am the Inspiration King…”
“The Inspiration King? Is it the old fish spirit in the Journey to the West?”
“Bah! How dare you say that to insult me?”
They finished the meal amidst a lot of bickering and bantering.
Li Mu put the bowl on the table, wiped his mouth, and sat down with a serious look on his face.
As usual, the topics following the meal were about very important matters.
Both Li Mu and the old faker clearly knew that when they finished this meal, they would say goodbye to the good old days when the old man, the young man, and the dog lived in the temple. From then on, the identities of the rural boy and the old faker would change completely. In fact, everything was broken on that afternoon while Li Mu was a 14-year old boy, but he still wanted to pay tribute to the old days.
The joking, scolding, and crazy conversations they had just now were a kind of memorial and redemption.
From now on, the identities of Li Mu and the old faker would change.
“Well, let’s get to the point. My first question is… Who am I?” Li Mu stared at the old faker in a very serious way, looking forward to an answer.
