Half-Tried Deity
Chapter 15: A Herb For A Life

“Ming Du Tian, return my apprentice!” Before Qi Huan went out, she heard her shifu’s yelling and cursing like loud thunders.

“SHHHH, why are you shouting! Where’s the thing I want?” The old man who had been standing behind the masked man, suddenly opened his eyes and walked out first.

After Qi Huan walked out of the ruined temple, she saw her shifu standing majestically in the air, full of momentum, but he looked a little messy. There were several large holes in his originally clean and simple robe. There were even some stains on it, blood stains.

Qi Huan stared at Ming Du Tian’s back in surprise. He didn’t expect that this old man was so powerful, and it seemed that Xu Kong Zi had suffered a lot from him.

“Little Huan Zi, are you okay?” Seeing Qi Huan walk out unscathed, Xu Kong Zi’s face immediately became much relieved.

“I am okay…”

“Here, the thousand-year astragalus you want, let my apprentice go first.”

Ming Du Tian turned around and nodded to the masked man. Qi Huan’s collar was suddenly released. She reacted quickly, and immediately rushed towards her shifu.

Originally, she thought that they would secretly fire cold arrows at her when she ran, like in TV dramas. But it was a pity that nothing came to stop her at all.

“Hmph. Here, take the astragalus. I wish you a prosperous journey ahead.” Xu Kong Zi was so trustworthy. Seeing Qi Huan coming out safely, he really threw out the herb in his hand.

Qi Huan shook her head when she saw it. She didn’t care what the herb was for. If she was in his shoes, she would never keep her promise obediently.

“Ha, bless you.” Ming Du Tian didn’t care about Xu Kong Zi’s Ming Dynasty’s insinuations. After receiving the herb, he carefully put it into a small box made of deep sea jade crystal. Then respectfully handed it to the masked man beside him.

“Okay, let’s go.” After the transaction was completed, Xu Kong Zi grabbed Qi Huan with one hand to leave.

“Hold on.” Ming Du Tian said suddenly.

“What? Do you still plan on killing me?” Xu Kong Zi turned around viciously. He had a murderous aura all over him.

Ming Du Tian looked at Xu Kong Zi amusedly, “I would kill you a thousand years ago if I wanted to. I wouldn’t wait for you to transition. I just want to remind you, that not only I am back, but people from Kun Lun Mountain and Mount Shu are back too. You, be careful.”

“Hmph, and you think I’m afraid of them?” Xu Kong Zi curled his lips, waved to Ming Du Tian, grabbed Qi Huan’s arm and flew to Qing Yun Mountain, never thinking of rescuing the other disciples who were captured.

“Shifu, why did you really give that herb to him, what a waste!” Sitting on Xu Kong Zi’s big gourd, because she couldn’t see the ground under her feet, Qi Huan did not feel her fear of heights this time.

“We have a lot of that useless thing in our storeroom. They can’t be used as medicine and can’t be used for alchemy. What do we keep them for then?” Xu Kong Zi waved his hand. That astragalus is of no use to celestial cultivators, and it is sort of like a poison for ordinary devil cultivators. However, this time Ming Du took so much effort to obtain the thousand-year astragalus, that thing must be obviously more useful.

This herb is a kind of accompanying plant, it has been growing together with the Guiling flower. The Guiling flower is the main ingredient used to refine the cultivation pill, so almost every sect that practiced celestial cultivation has piles of it.

However, the thousand-year astragalus is only owned by the Qing Yun Sect. It is said that it was a potted plant that was cultivated by a certain elder that took care of the Spirit Medicine Garden when he was bored. After the elder ascended, the pot of astragalus became even less noticed. It was only discovered after more than a thousand years. Although this herb is useless, it was more than a thousand years old after all, so it is good to keep it as a specimen. Ming Du Tian had a strong relationship with the Qing Yun Sect back then, so he knew that the Qing Yun Sect had a thousand-year astragalus.

And because Qi Huan was Xu Kong Zi’s apprentice, that was why he had obeyed Xu Kong Zi’s request and let her go first.

“By the way, shifu, who is Du Tian? It seems that you can’t beat him, shifu.” Qi Huan asked cautiously, for fear that the old man would become angry.

“That rascal has been ascending for more than a thousand years, I don’t know how he returned to this world. If I can beat him, his practice would be useless.” Xu Kong Zi was a little bit angry, but not too angry. He was definitely not the only one who was lucky and strong in this world. Ming Du Tian was also an amazing and talented person back then. It was not too shameful that he couldn’t beat Ming Du Tian, after all, he had only achieved dujie (transition) not long ago.

“Ah… so one can actually still come back even after ascending. Then, wouldn’t it be like celestials flying around in the skies…?”

“What are you thinking about?” Xu Kong Zi knocked his apprentice on the head angrily, “The lower realm is bound to have to pay a certain price, and the cultivation level will be lowered, otherwise he would have taken over Kun Lun and Mount Shu a long time ago, would he still need to capture and threaten them?”

“I see… so his cultivation level has been lowered, but you are not still his opponent…” Qi Huan pursed her mouth and mumbled softly.

“But that kid next to Ming Du Tian is really a bit strange, how could the devilish energy from his body that had just achieved the huashen stage be so terrifying…” Xu Kong Zi deliberately ignored Qi Huan’s words and spoke to himself.

“He also flew back from the Demon World?” Qi Huan interrupted.

“Impossible, he obviously hasn’t achieved the devil’s transition, so he can’t get into the realm at all.” Xu Kong Zi took out a wine gourd and lay on the side, drinking while muttering.

Only

“Shifu, why didn’t you save the people from Kun Lun and Mount Shu just now?” Qi Huan asked Xu Kong Zi mysteriously.

“Well… I’ve spent too much energy to save you, although I have the intention to rescue all of them, I’m not strong enough…” Xu Kong Zi lay comfortably, as he lied with a straight face.

“True, true, shifu, you should return to the mountain gate to recover from such a serious injury. I believe that the elders of Kun Lun and Mount Shu will not blame Qing Yun Sect for this.” Qi Huan was very kind.

“Good, good.” Xu Kong Zi said, having a promising expression on his face. Although all of them were sects for celestial cultivators, and they seemed to be in harmony, they were actually fighting each other secretly. If he could reduce a small number of disciples from Kun Lun and Mount Shu, even if it would not change their overall strength much, Xu Kong Zi still felt happy.

As long as it wasn’t for a massive invasion by the Sorcery Sect (the devil cultivators’ sect), most people would never bother to help out other sects. Besides, with Xu Kong Zi’s highly respectable identity, no one would dare to question him for not helping the other sects.

This is the realm of celestial cultivation. It seems to be inviolable, but in fact it is dark and scary. Devil cultivators never need to cover up to kill people, but if you are targeted by a celestial cultivator, you won’t know how you die at all. This is the difference between a real villain and a hypocrite.

Of course, you can’t overturn a boat with a single pole. After all, there are still good people. For example, although Xu Kong Zi was not a good person, compared to Qi Huan, his thinking was still decent. If Qi Huan had the strength, she would definitely turn back and throw a few more forbidden curses to the ruined temple. Anyway, the situation has always been an “either you die or I die” situation. She doesn’t want to be a gentleman, she is a woman, the perfect candidate to be a wicked widow.