The First Volume: The Southern Mountain Sutra Chapter 92: Uninvited Guest

  Seeing the crystal dragon finally lower its head in submission, Huang Pin's long knife stopped just above its neck. Li Mang's face lit up with joy, but he didn't let his excitement cloud his judgment, and cautiously said: "But if I'm not mistaken, spirit beasts are born with the ability to recognize their masters, right?"

  Since it had already compromised, the Crystal Wyrm didn't have anything to be proud of anymore, and with a loud roar, it spat out a green light orb from its mouth, and its spirit became even more dispirited.

  Li Mang had already read countless materials and knew that each type of spiritual beast had a different way of recognizing its master. Some could sign soul contracts, while others relied on heart resonance. The water crystal dragon's emission of this green light sphere was its life essence. This so-called life essence referred to the vital energy that controlled its life, which only high-level spiritual beasts possessed.

  Li Mang was overjoyed and carefully accepted it, putting it in front of him. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and swallowed it into his body.

  This life yuan specifically entered what place, Li Mang was not clear, but he could clearly feel that he could already control the life and death of the crystal dragon, and only needed a thought. In addition, if he died, this life yuan would also be extinguished, and the crystal dragon would also die. Therefore, Li Mang no longer had to worry about whether it was loyal or not, unless the crystal dragon had the idea of perishing together with him.

  "Crystal Dragon... from today on, I'll call you Jing Long! You eat a few of these fruits first, and I'll go catch some food to help you recover." As it was already his own dragon, Li Mang naturally wouldn't mistreat it. He not only put a bag of fruit in front of it but also personally ran all the way to Yangshan Mountain to catch some Xuan Turtles. Thanks to his possession of the Light Body ability, catching Xuan Turtles had become effortless for him now. Soon, he brought back six Xuan Turtles to Zhao Ye Mountain.

  "Wow." After eating some crystal fruit, the Crystal Dragon had recovered a lot of energy. Seeing the dark turtle that Li Mang had brought back, its eyes shone like red lanterns. It first used its claws to fix it in place, then opened its mouth and bit down, tearing open the "bottom plate" of one of the dark turtles with a ripping sound, and began to eat voraciously.

  "...... Awesome!" Li Mang stared blankly, he wanted to dissect the turtle but it would take half a day's work, while Jing Long simply tore it open directly.

  Having obtained the nourishment of the Xuan Turtle's flesh and blood, the Crystal Dragon recovered quickly, but its strength was still insufficient to reach two-tenths of its peak. In terms of rank, the Xuan Turtle was only a Yellow-grade Spiritual Beast, while the Crystal Dragon had already entered the Xuan Beast level. The six Xuan Turtles were naturally unable to restore it to its peak state, this was inevitable.

  "Jing Long, I'm about to return to the real world. You go find food in the mountains ahead and recover as soon as possible. There may be a fierce battle soon!" Li Mang ordered.

  After all, it was just a new recognition of the master, and Jing Long's attitude towards this master could not be intimate. Upon hearing this, he simply nodded and let out a loud roar before flying up into the sky and eventually landing in the Lixu Water to swim happily, occasionally swallowing some strange fish into his mouth. As for this new living space, Jing Long was extremely fond of it, which was hard to find outside.

  The only thing that makes it unhappy is that from today on, it must listen to Li Mang's orders. For a crystal dragon with the blood of a dragon, this is very suffocating. Unfortunately, the situation has already been set in motion, and with its fate controlled by Li Mang, it has no other choice.

  …

  The crystal dragon finally acknowledged its master, and the huge mountain that had been weighing on his body suddenly became much lighter. Li Mang felt a great sense of relief throughout his entire body. Although it was only around 4 or 5 in the morning, he still opened the door early and decided to take advantage of the morning hours to exercise and release some endorphins.

  "Who!"

  However, as soon as he opened the door, he saw a black shadow leaning on the threshold, which shocked him. He immediately floated back lightly and drew out the dagger at his waist, with a vigilant expression. The joy of just now disappeared without a trace. Several thoughts flashed through his mind quickly: Who was this person? Was it someone from the 'Inner Hawk' faction who came to kill and silence him?

  "I've been waiting for you for half a day, won't you even invite me in to sit down?" The person at the door asked, their voice intentionally lowered.

  Under the illumination of the indoor lamp, Li Meng finally saw the appearance of the person who came. He had a messy hair and wore tattered clothes, dirty and unkempt, just like a beggar by the roadside.

  This is a young man, Li Meng is not unfamiliar with him. He is his former crazy predecessor, named Xiao Yan. As for Xiao Yan's arrival, Li Meng felt unbelievable. Isn't this person crazy? Wasn't he locked in the inner courtyard? There seems to be another hidden story.

  Li Mang was cautious, but more so was his uncontrollable curiosity. He had a faint premonition that Xiao Yan's arrival would likely uncover the mysterious veil hidden within the Huang Yang Institute. So he quickly hid the dagger and gestured softly: "Please enter!"

  Waiting for him to enter the house, Li Meng cautiously locked the door from inside.

  Xiao Yan didn't show any politeness, walking towards the water dispenser on the side as if he was entering his own home. He poured himself a cup of warm water and gulped it down, seemingly not noticing Li Meng's slightly furrowed brow. He sighed to himself, "This house is still quite comfortable, but the inner courtyard is full of lunatics. Every day there's all sorts of commotion, even if you're not crazy, you'll be driven mad!"

  "If you don't pretend to be crazy, this is still your dormitory." Li Meng said slowly, intentionally steering the conversation back on track, he didn't have time for nonsense right now.

  "It's the same if I hadn't pretended to be crazy, now I would have been reduced to ashes and buried on a mountain in my hometown." Xiao Yan responded with a cold laugh.

  "Oh? What do you mean by that..." Li Meng asked with a pretended innocent tone, his mind racing internally while his expression remained calm and collected. Having pretended to be crazy for so long without being discovered, the person in front of him, Xiao Yan, was definitely not an ordinary character, and his intentions were unclear, so Li Meng didn't dare to be careless at all.

  "I've been observing you for a long time and I know you're an intelligent person, it's impossible that you don't understand what I mean!" Xiao Yan said with a hint of implication.

  "Haha." Li Mang responded with a haha, in this situation, he couldn't be swayed by flattery. This was the Soul-Confusing Broth, the more the other side praised you to the skies, the easier it was to produce misjudgments, which was taboo.

  Perhaps seeing Li Meng's attitude, Xiao Yan didn't continue speaking and sat down in front of the tea table, saying seriously: "The reason I pretended to be crazy was not because I wanted to, but because someone wanted to kill me and silence me, so I had no choice but to do so."

  Li Mang silently listened without interrupting.

  Xiao Yan looked at him deeply and continued: "This matter started with my predecessor, Gān Fēng Huá, a promising divine eye ability user."

  "What's with the 'divine eyes'?" Li Mang couldn't help but interrupt.

  "Not bad, Divine Eye, he can see through the authenticity of all things in the world." Xiao Yan nodded.

  "What's next?" Li Mang asked strangely. He could see through the true and false of all things in the world, but it shouldn't be enough to make Yang Fan kill someone to silence them, right?

  "One time, Yang Fan took him on a mission to obtain a rare treasure. The treasure was originally real, but Yang Fan switched it with a fake one and Gan Fenghua discovered the truth. That very night, Gan Fenghua was hit on the head by a mentally unstable alien while trying to escape!" Xiao Yan said with narrowed eyes.

  "Is there any evidence?" Li Mang asked in a low voice.

  "Of course, Gan Fenghua knew he was in a precarious situation, so he left evidence in this small courtyard to save himself. Who would have thought that Yang Fan had mobilized abnormal ability users and didn't even give him a chance to speak before blowing his brains out!" Xiao Yan gave the answer.

  "What's the evidence?" Li Mang asked with an expressionless face, but his heart was actually not calm. This inner hawk, after all, was still Yang Fan?

  "No rush, wait until I finish speaking and then you can look." Xiao Yan didn't hurry, continuing to say: "And I, unexpectedly discovered this secret. Yang Fan wanted to kill someone to silence them, forced by circumstances I pretended to be crazy, the inner courtyard's security is extremely strict, he couldn't do anything to me."

  "Why don't you expose him?" Li Mang asked his own doubts.

  "The bird that sticks its head out gets shot, I'm just an ordinary person, no matter how Yang Fan ends up, I won't have a good outcome, so I don't dare to take risks." Xiao Yan smiled and shook his head, then continued: "He had come in with a kind face many times to visit me, this was our agreement, I kept silent, he didn't make a fuss, we coexisted peacefully... but I'm not willing to pretend to be crazy for the rest of my life!"

  "So you're asking me to be the scapegoat now?" Li Mang raised an eyebrow and asked, finding it laughable.

  "You're an Esper, you're stronger than me. More importantly, you're more threatening to me. Yang Fan must kill you, even if you pretend to be crazy and stupid, you can't escape this fate. This bird that sticks its head out will have to come out whether it wants to or not." Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and smiled.

  Li Mang felt a strong sense of disgust at Xiao Yan's words, which seemed to be mocking him, but he had no way to retort. He understood that if what Xiao Yan said was true, then if he didn't take the lead, he would ultimately become a dead bird.

  "Heh heh." Xiao Yan smiled, he already knew Li Mang's choice. He saw him lower his head and press down on a floorboard in front of him with force, surprisingly opening a hidden compartment, inside which there was nothing else but a memory card, a mobile phone memory card, the common kind.

  "Actually, Gan Fenghua is a cautious person. When he sensed something was off, he used his phone to open the recording function, and inside there was Yang Fan's voice, enough to bring him down!" Xiao Yan handed the memory card to Li Meng.

  Bang!

  The door suddenly burst into pieces, a wooden board flew out and pierced Xiao Yan's body, carrying his body and inserting it into the sofa.

  …

  The battle has begun, do you still have your monthly votes? (。)