Chapter 103 – Florida Man Proclaims Himself as Messiah and Found New Religion to Become True Atheist
While Leo enjoyed himself, many cultivators retreated to their world as they deemed that this place was too dangerous for them.
Yan Xiang swallowed his shame and returned home first. As for his subordinates, he left the decision to them if they wanted to risk their lives and stayed there. Some of them stayed behind to collect plants and rare herbs, but the majority of them followed the emperor.
Meanwhile, Situ Nantian was in bad shape. He had a hole inside him, and he needed to recuperate. Upon returning home, Situ Nantian used the clan's treasures and rare pills to save his life. Then, he cooped in his manor, recuperating.
Situ Nantian was angry. He was on the verge of bringing the legendary gnosis home. Had he gotten his hand on it, he could have consumed it. Then, he would have had a chance to ascend and become an immortal.
The dream was no longer possible. He lost his hand, and his internal organs were in a mess. It would take a few months to heal and a few years to recover his lost organs
Still, Situ Nantian wouldn't let Leo scotch free after what he had done - The old man secretly contacted his ancestor, who had already ascended.
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= Death Sword Sect =
The yellow energy portal of the Death Sword Sect was kept in the underground dungeon. The room that housed the portal was concealed by three layers of protective arrays, preventing outsiders from entering this place accidentally.
The dungeon was made of mud bricks, painted with ox blood. The damp environment and stale air made the returnees uncomfortable, but they endured it.
WHOOSH
WHOOSH
At the mystic realm portal of the Death Sword Sect, a few disciples returned with rare materials in their hands. Some of the elders also returned, but their faces were pale.
This group of elders and disciples went to a different mystic realm. They didn't find the pyramid, pagoda town, or the Amazon jungle. Instead, they went to a desert.
One of the elders staggered a few steps and collapsed on the ground. However, his smile never disappeared from his face. In his spatial rings, he scored a bunch of golden sand bananas. In that package, there were about 40 bananas, which could be used for alchemy ingredients or grain pills.
The golden sand bananas contained the thick earth element Qi. He was excited that he could ask an alchemist to turn them into cultivation pills. Then, once he consumed them, he would gain earth element!
Ouyang Feng, who failed to join this expedition, looked at the returnees in envy. He hadn't recovered from the previous incident yet, and he couldn't even walk. At the moment, he still relied on a wheelchair to go around.
Behind Ouyang Feng, a deacon of the death sword sect looked at the poor disciple and sighed. He felt bad for the guy.
News spread that Cheng Yuanzhi committed suicide out of shame after he saw Ouyang Feng's condition. However, everybody knew that Ouyang Zi killed him, but they didn't utter a word. They held their grudge and retaliated against the Ouyang Clan by ignoring Ouyang Feng.
The deacon and many disciples glanced at Ouyang Feng with cold eyes, but no one talked to him.
Ouyang Feng also realized his position. He grudgingly asked the deacon to bring him away from this place.
The deacon guided the wheelchair of Ouyang Feng to the surface. He had shown the disciple enough.
However, as Ouyang Feng and the deacon were about to leave, one of the returnees called for them. The person was none other than the sect master of the Death Sword Sect, Hua Guanhai. Coincidentally, Hua Guanhai was a distant cousin of Hua Jiashan.
"Stay, Ouyang Feng. I have something to ask you."
Hua Guanhai was a burly 7-foot-tall man with a square face. He wore a black bandana, covering his black long hair. His full black beard was messy and curly that he looked like a barbarian. The two sword scars on his face were left behind by Hua Jiashan, but his cultivation base was at the quasi-immortal stage.
Although Hua Guanhai was tired from the quick expedition, he came to see the troublesome disciple.
Ouyang Feng bit his lower lips and prepared himself for the punishment that his clan had done. He brought his wheelchair around and lowered his head.
"This junior greets sect master Hua. What can I do for you, senior?"
Hua Guanhai coldly stared at Ouyang Feng. He glanced at the latter's legs and stomach, checking his vitality with his eyes.
The brown pupils of Hua Guanhai turned white. They shone as they saw through Ouyang Feng's constitution and hidden injuries. Instantly, he noticed why Ouyang Feng couldn't walk on his own.
"You've been afflicted by a strong element essence attack, I see. I sense strong poison essence in your head that disrupts your ability to balance yourself."
Ouyang Feng was surprised. Nobody, even his grandfather, managed to identify the cause of his injury. He looked at the sect master and asked him.
"Do you know something about it, sect master, sir?"
Hua Guanhai smirked, "I know this kind of attack very well. Those bastards from the Tang Clan are masters of poison. I heard they are researching wind elements so that they can improve their combat abilities. Well, it's not like you need to know"
"T-Then, can you cure me?"
"Not possible. I'm not a poison expert."
"…Oh."
Again, Hua Guanhai grinned as he found it fun to tease the nasty descendant of the obnoxious Ouyang Clan. He snorted and turned around.
"You can leave. I'm busy."
"…"
Ouyang Feng was dejected. The deacon behind him sneered at the youth and guided the wheelchair around. He then brought Ouyang Feng back to the surface.
After Ouyang Feng had left, Hua Guanhai looked at the returnees and the portal. He gave them a new command.
"The desert mystic realm is too dangerous for us to stay there for too long. We will close the portal today and end this season's expedition. I will not allow anyone to go back in there anymore!"
The elders and disciples that didn't get their chance to go were disappointed. As they couldn't go, they only welcomed the lucky disciples and elders. Then, they left in peace.
After everybody was gone, Hua Guanhai snickered. He played with the portal's array, which turned the energy portal's color from yellow to pink.
WHOOM
The destination of the portal changed from the desert to a dense pink mushroom forest. Hua Guanhai looked into the portal and noticed that they were rich in wood Qi and earth Qi. However, the presence of the sweet dream mushrooms deterred him.
"Damn mushrooms. This takes me back. But meh, I wish I can find one of those blood realms. We need that legendary blood element from the demon clan."
Hua Guanhai sighed and changed the color of the portal again. This time, it turned red.
He didn't notice the changes in the forest mystic and the tiniest spore of a certain mushroom. A spore managed to slip through the portal and latched onto Hua Guanhai's boot.
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= West Mountain, Forest Mystic Realm =
Leo entered the tea pavilion building after he had left the dragon fruit plant alone to grow. He inspected the interior, checking if there was something he could bring home.
Sure enough, there were plenty of glossy clay pots in the building. The cabinets and the shelves of this place had most of the cooking tools, but they seemed outdated.
Leo picked one of the teapots, made from clay. The shape was a bit crooked, and the pot was not symmetrical. No matter how Leo looked at it, this teapot was made by a beginner craftsman.
He put the teapot away and took his eyes off the ancient arts. He sat at the wooden table to rest.
While resting, Leo contemplated his thoughts and his goal, trying to figure out what the dao, the knowledge, or the gnosis of rabbit trent king was.
"Dao is knowledge. Gnosis is also some form of knowledge. But why is it related to that plant? Dragon fruit knowledge? How to grow dragon fruits? That shouldn't be it."
Leo smacked his lips and returned to the plant. As it would be better to learn the plant from the source, he stopped touring the mountaintop.
After sitting in front of the plant, Leo noticed that the eyeball already digested the 10th-rank monster core. It grew slightly bigger, but nothing else seemed different.
Looking at the eyeball, Leo laughed at it.
"So? Why did you eat the monster core? What do you need it for? Growing bigger?"
The eyeball looked left and right, disagreeing with Leo. It came out of the plant and hopped on the newly grown dragon fruit. It picked the fruit with its tentacle and handed it to Leo.
"Oh? For me? But you didn't answer my question."
The eyeball pointed at the fruit and Leo's skin, gesturing for him to mutate it.
As Leo had nothing else to do, he followed the eyeball's instruction. The white fruit instantly turned dark.
The eyeball seemed overjoyed. He then pointed at the ground, wanting Leo to plant it.
"Plant the mutated fruit?"
The eyeball nodded. As it was overexcited, it used its small tentacles to dig the soil.
Leo laughed at it and helped the eyeball dig the ground. After he created a small hole for the fruit, he dropped it into the pit and covered it.
"Is that it?" Asked Leo.
The eyeball looked left and right, doing its version of shaking heads. It then pointed at the white plant and pointed at the buried fruit.
Leo frowned as he didn't understand the eyeball's intention, "What are you doing?"
The eyeball was frustrated. It kept pointing at the white plant and the buried fruit.
"Hmm."
Leo tried to connect the dots, but he still couldn't get the whole picture. He closed his eyes and fall into a deep thought.
But as Leo kept thinking, a black sprout already emerged from the ground, where Leo had buried the black dragon fruit.
SCREECH
The eyeball jumped on Leo's face and poked him, telling Leo to stop daydreaming. It pointed at the black plant.
Leo opened his eyes and looked at it. Again, he squinted his eyebrows.
"Yeah, it's growing as we speak. So?"
The eyeball was angry that Leo was ignorant and stupid. It poked Leo's eyes with its tiny tentacles, but it did nothing to him. Instead, more cancer cells latched onto the creature and became its food.
Seeing how worked up the eyeball was, Leo threw away his useless thoughts and observed the plant. He had a feeling that he knew this process, but it got stuck at the back of his head.
"Mutation? Dao of Mutation? Gnosis of the rabbit trent king? Wait a minute…"
Leo suddenly had an epiphany. He looked at his hands, then he looked at the growing mutated plant.
"Dao of Mutation and Evolution, is that the case here?"
The eyeball repeatedly nodded. It kept pointing at the white dragon fruit, trying to tell Leo that Rabbit Trent King had been experimenting on it, turning the regular plant into this white plant.
In short, the knowledge or the gnosis that Leo had been looking for was so close to him. It was a part of his ability.
However, turning this knowledge into gnosis or a dao was a different story. Leo had a lot of work to do.
