Chapter 40: Wise Old Man

In the heat of the moment, Cheng Shan regretted taking over the confrontation with Ming Yan after Hong Ying. Ming Yan had been careless before and was slapped by Cheng Shan. Now, he had realized that she was just a paper tiger with limited skills. He looked at her with a mocking expression, playing with her like a cat playing with a mouse. Cheng Shan saw clusters of ghostly fires floating around, making it hard for her to focus her vision. Her strikes felt like hitting cotton, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Although Cheng Shan had made some progress recently and could still unleash techniques without relying on the Zidian, her abilities were still far from comparable to Ming Yan’s without its assistance. Cheng Shan realized her limitations quickly.

After scattering a few clusters of the inferno fire with her strikes, she looked around and saw that the Wolf Guard and Ming Yan’s ghost soldiers were roughly evenly matched. Hong Ying and Huachi, working together, shouldn’t be at a disadvantage. Feeling useless on her own, Cheng Shan decided to retreat. It was at this moment that she suddenly noticed that the Yang Tanzai, carrying Yin Li, was missing.

Perplexed for a moment, Cheng Shan couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. Could this Yang Tanzai be trying to steal credit? After all, she risked bringing Yin Li up from the bottom of the lake, and Cheng Shan didn’t want Yin Li’s first sight upon waking to be the face of the Yang Tanzai, who always pretended to be a good person.

Thinking of this, Cheng Shan didn’t hesitate to guide Zidian into the sky, searching for the trace of the Yang Tanzai. After a while of fruitless searching, she decided to give up and headed back to Tiger Wolf City on her own, intending to find Little Dou Ding.

Cheng Shan had never been to Little Dou Ding’s residence but had a general idea of its location. On a sunny day with clear skies and thin mist, Cheng Shan stood on the Moon Appreciation Platform, overlooking the garden at the foot of Tiger Wolf City.

Hong Ying had once pointed to a small thatched house in the center of the garden, telling Cheng Shan that Little Dou Ding would be there when not busy with alchemy. Most of the spiritual pills and elixirs of the demon race came from that small garden. Little Dou Ding’s ability to revive dead wood and make withered flowers bloom again made him popular among the tree and flower clans.

Following her memory, Cheng Shan arrived at the garden, only to find the thatched house shattered into pieces and the garden trampled beyond recognition. Cheng Shan couldn’t find any traces of Little Dou Ding. Perplexed, she walked around the garden, and suddenly, a gust of wind swept past her. Little Dou Ding’s voice, panting, echoed, “Hey, help me subdue that crazy woman!”

“Huh?” Cheng Shan was puzzled. “What crazy woman?”

Just as she spoke, Cheng Shan saw the white-clothed, floating figure of the Yang Tanzai running towards her with full speed, shouting, “Help! Help!”

Cheng Shan, startled by his pitiful cries, quickly avoided him but finally saw the gray figure from earlier, and it turned out to be Yin Li, who had regained her human form.

Wearing a ragged silver dress, covered in bloodstains, her eyes bloodshot, Yin Li fiercely said, “What kind of thing are you? How dare you deceive me like this! I’ll throw you into the Demon Abyss. Stop right there!”

Cheng Shan, seeing her wild appearance and incoherent speech, immediately understood that she might have been immersed in the inferno fire poison for a long time, causing some confusion in her consciousness. Cheng Shan couldn’t help but chuckle.

She had been worried that Yin Li would be grateful to the Yang Tanzai for bringing her away, but it seemed like the Yang Tanzai, being the first person she saw upon waking up, had suffered the most. Cheng Shan, laughing quietly, chased after Yin Li, shouting, “Sister Yin Li, it’s me! We won’t harm you.”

Running at the front, the Yang Tanzai, unaware of Cheng Shan’s amusement, earnestly replied, “If you throw me into the Demon Abyss, you’ll probably have to follow me in.”

Turning around and retorting with a teasing tone, the Yang Tanzai managed to break free and slide away. He shouted to Little Dou Ding, “Do you have the confidence to restore her sanity?”

Little Dou Ding, cautious as if facing a formidable enemy, stopped ten steps away from Yin Li and shouted, “First, make sure she doesn’t run around!”

Cheng Shan smiled faintly, approached Yin Li cautiously, and whispered, “Sister, do you remember me? We are the ones who brought you out of the Demon King’s Valley. This is Tiger Wolf City, very safe.”

Yin Li, with a murderous look in her eyes, slowly shifted to a confused expression. “Who are you?” She seemed to find Cheng Shan familiar but couldn’t remember who she was. Seizing this opportunity, the Yang Tanzai broke free and slipped away. Little Dou Ding, seeing that she had finally calmed down, approached cautiously.

Cheng Shan felt the soil beneath her feet trembling slowly. Although she didn’t understand, she dared not move because she could sense that Yin Li had developed an awareness of resisting the inferno fire poison. Cheng Shan wasn’t sure if it was an instinctive reaction or if she had fully regained her clarity, so she didn’t want to disturb her for now.

Not long after, Yin Li tightly closed her eyes; her expression hurt, and cold sweat poured down. Cheng Shan also felt a growing sense of difficulty. Just then, a surge of energy seemed to emanate from below, mixed with true qi, spiritual power, and various indistinguishable medicinal forces.

Cheng Shan raised her head in surprise, only to find Little Dou Ding had disappeared from the scene. The entire garden seemed to be split into square grids of about three feet each, resembling a chessboard. Each grid contained rare medicinal plants such as Lingzhi, Ginseng, Phoenix Branch, Golden Horn Chuan, and Human-Face Grass. Although Cheng Shan didn’t understand cultivation, she knew that such a variety of exotic herbs growing together in one garden was unusual.

In the midst of her amazement, the gigantic chessboard started to move. However, it wasn’t just the plants that served as pieces; the soil beneath them moved as well. As the grids shifted, Cheng Shan, benefiting from Yin Li, sensed and observed the medicinal chess formation. Each grid’s movement represented the rise and fall of a type of energy or the fusion of several energies. This small garden concealed countless intricate formations.

Cheng Shan had been continuously channeling true qi. The morality of True Qi and her own unique pure energy were suitable for countering the inferno fire poison. However, when Cheng Shan’s and Little Dou Ding’s two true qi met inside Yin Li’s body, Cheng Shan felt an indescribable strangeness. The opponent’s true qi also seemed to stall for a moment.

After about a stick of incense’s time, the medicinal chess formation gradually stopped moving. Little Dou Ding emerged from the soil, looking visibly tired. Yin Li’s wounds had already healed, but she fainted again. Cheng Shan half-supported and half-carried her, and only then did Yang Tanzai dare to approach. He said, “Let me handle this.”

“No need,” Cheng Shan said. “I’ll take her back to the Moon Appreciation Platform.” With that, she thanked Little Dou Ding and left the herb garden.

Yang Tanzai felt Cheng Shan’s growing dissatisfaction and estrangement toward him. He sighed helplessly. He had wished to help Cheng Shan, thinking that a young girl like her in a place like Tiger Wolf City would surely be frightened and need his assistance. Unexpectedly, Cheng Shan seemed to have the idea of standing on her own, and now even Hong Ying was closer to her than to him.Yang Tanzai couldn’t help but smile wryly. It seemed like he was setting himself up for trouble.

Cheng Shan ignored Yang Tanzai’s sighs. She was the weakest among them in this city, and she preferred to be suspicious and cautious rather than passively wait for things to happen. She was determined to win Yin Li to her side.

Cheng Shan watched as Yin Li lay on the bed, lost in thought. Despite her extraordinary and stunning appearance, Cheng Shan was aware that the person on the bed was not just a beautiful young girl. She was a demon, an old-timer who had roamed the Three Realms for over a millennium.

It was Yin Li who had warned Cheng Shan about being cautious around Han Luo. Now, Cheng Shan realized her own belatedness and wasn’t sure if Yin Li had any ulterior motives. Han Luo had also warned Cheng Shan to be careful of her. Thinking about it, Cheng Shan felt a headache coming on. How could she be a match for these wily old foxes?

Cheng Shan absentmindedly had some food on the Moon Appreciation Platform and then began to meditate and cultivate on a small couch nearby. Since the bed was already occupied by Yin Li, she decided not to sleep and officially started her cultivation. She wanted to see if she could advance to a new level before the upcoming confrontation among the demons.

Just as she was entering a state of deep meditation, there was suddenly a commotion outside. Hong Ying had returned.

Cheng Shan had no choice but to retract her consciousness and walk out of the Moon Appreciation Platform. She saw Yang Tanzai and Hong Ying coming together. Cheng Shan raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? Is Hong Ying injured?”

Yang Tanzai hastily said, “No, I came to see Yin Li and coincidentally met Hong Ying.”

Cheng Shan asked again, “Any casualties?”

Hong Ying calmly said, “Casualties are inevitable, but Ming Yan also didn’t gain any advantage. I guess he’ll be more restrained in the mortal realm in the future.”

Cheng Shan sighed, pondering silently. These people still didn’t fully understand how deeply Ming Yan’s influence had penetrated into the demon race. Fortunately, today’s battle was led by Huachi. Huachi had always gone against Night Owl, and the Wolf Guard was mostly his own people. If it had been the Old Mountain God and his group, they might not even have had the spirit to fight. Cheng Shan was thinking about how to remind them when Yang Tanzai asked, “How is Yin Li?”

“She hasn’t woken up yet,” Cheng Shan replied.

“Oh,” Yang Tanzai casually raised his foot and walked towards the Moon Appreciation Platform, saying, “Let me take a look inside.”

“Hey?” Cheng Shan stood in front of the bamboo curtain, wrinkling her brows. “Didn’t I say she hasn’t woken up? What’s there to see? Don’t you understand the difference between men and women?”

Yang Tanzai, thick-skinned, laughed it off, saying, “It’s not that I don’t understand. At my age, who cares about such things? But you, young lady, might not know.”

Yang Tanzai was about to bypass Cheng Shan and lift the bamboo curtain, but it rolled up automatically. Yin Li lazily walked over, leaning on a pillar with her arms crossed. Her eyes, indifferent, carried a hint of displeasure. “Who did you say is at an age?”