44: Chapter 44 The Side Effects of "Tears of God" and the Belated Rescue from Jixia Academy
Early morning.
The mist in the Cloud Break Mountain Range had not yet dissipated.
A uniform, imposing, yet inexplicably eerie chant shattered the tranquility of the mountains.
"One, two, three, four! Protect the eyes and brighten the vision!"
"Two, two, three, four! Reject the abyss!"
"Three, two, three, four! Ancestor Master reveals his spirit!"
On the plaza in front of the Scripture Pavilion, over a thousand Disciples of the Heavenly River Sword Sect, from the Sect Master Gu Canghai at the Nascent Soul Stage down to the Qi Refining newbies who had just joined, were currently arranged in a massive Bagua formation.
Their eyes were tightly closed, and their expressions were solemn and respectful, as if they were performing some sacred ritual to communicate with heaven and earth.
However, their actions were—pressing their hands against their temples and spinning them frantically.
Each rotation brought forth a faint ripple of purple-gold spiritual power.
The resonance of a thousand people's spiritual power actually outlined a massive, translucent, illusory eyeball high in the sky, staring fixedly at the gray mist that had not yet dissipated on the periphery.
"Good, very energetic!"
On the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, Li Mo held a teacup, his posture like a retired senior official inspecting the work downstairs.
"It seems everyone has deeply grasped the importance of 'building a spiritual civilization.'"
"Cousin..."
Behind him, Chu Linger walked over with a tangled expression, hesitating to speak.
"Don't you think... everyone's eyes are a bit strange?"
"Hmm?"
Li Mo set down his teacup and activated the Eye of True Sight to scan downwards.
At this look, even he was slightly stunned.
He saw that those Disciples who had drunk the "Tears of God," while their cultivation had greatly increased, all had subtle mutations in their eyeballs.
Some pupils had turned into horizontal sheep-like shapes.
Some had tiny, constantly rotating points of light in the whites of their eyes.
The most outrageous was Sect Master Gu Canghai.
His pupils were currently glowing with golden light like searchlights, and every time he blinked, tiny electric arcs "crackled" at the corners of his eyes.
"Side effects?"
Li Mo frowned and quickly opened the dragon vein heavenly book at his side.
【Item: Diluted Tears of the Ancient God.】
【Effect: Significantly increases Divine Soul strength and repairs mental damage.】
【Side Effect (Activated): The drinker will gain "Low-level Spirit Sight." They can see things that are usually invisible (such as microorganisms in the air, other people's emotional colors, or the complaints of objects).】
【Note: The lower the SAN value, the clearer the vision.】
"So that's how it is."
Li Mo suddenly realized, then waved his hand indifferently.
"It's fine, it's just a small cheat like opening the 'Yin and Yang Eyes,' it won't affect daily life."
"At most, their worldview will just be shattered to pieces."
...
On the plaza.
The morning exercise ended.
Gu Canghai let out a long sigh, feeling refreshed.
He opened those eyes glowing with golden light and looked at the Grand Elder beside him.
"Junior Brother, your complexion is not bad today... eh?"
Gu Canghai suddenly froze.
In his field of vision, a line of translucent small text was floating above the Grand Elder's head.
【Mood: Anxious.】
【Hidden thought: My butt was a bit itchy while doing exercises just now, but I didn't dare to scratch it for fear of ruining the formation. I really want to scratch it...】
Gu Canghai: "..."
He rubbed his eyes vigorously, thinking he was seeing things.
Looking again, the line of text was still there, and the color had turned into a deeper, more anxious red.
"Sect... Sect Master, why are you looking at me like that?"
The Grand Elder felt his hair stand on end from being stared at, and subconsciously clamped his legs together.
"Cough, nothing."
Gu Canghai looked away awkwardly and turned to look at a pine tree not far away.
【Item: A thousand-year-old crooked-neck pine tree.】
【Status: Back pain.】
【Complaint: Can that dead bird stop pooping on my head? It's really hot!】
Gu Canghai gasped.
This... is this the power bestowed by the Ancestor Master?!
The legendary "Insight into All Things"?!
Before he could recover from the shock, a commotion suddenly erupted in the crowd.
"Heavens! I saw it! I saw Senior Brother Zhao's Sword Spirit!"
"I saw it too! But... why is Senior Brother Zhao's Sword Spirit a burly man wearing pink belly-bands?!"
"Ugh—my eyes! I saw the resentment of the kitchen knife in Auntie Wang's hand in the cafeteria! It said it doesn't want to chop green onions, it wants to chop meat!"
For a moment, the plaza was in chaos.
The Disciples were like monkeys who had broken into a new world, looking around everywhere with excitement, fear, and curiosity.
In their eyes, the entire world had transformed from the dull Cultivation World into a noisy paradise full of bullet comments and emoticons.
"Silence!"
Li Mo's calm voice came from the second floor.
The voice was not loud, but combined with the overwhelming remnant power from yesterday's battle, it instantly silenced the entire scene.
"Making such a fuss over this little scene, what kind of decorum is this?"
Li Mo stood at the window, looking down from above.
"Since you have opened the 'Heavenly Eye,' don't waste it. There are still many 'little mushrooms' hidden in the gray mist outside that haven't been cleaned up, so you might as well use them to practice."
"Everyone, listen to my orders!"
"With the Scripture Pavilion as the center, in groups of three, advance outwards!"
"Use your eyes to see through the illusions, and use the books in your hands... to physically transcend them!"
"Yes!!!"
The Disciples shouted in unison, one by one rubbing their hands, their eyes flashing with an eerie and excited light.
They were no longer the weakling Sect that feared the weirdness.
They were the Ni-Gulu · Tianhe · Mental Hospital · Sword Sect!
...
Meanwhile.
In the high sky three hundred miles away from the Heavenly River Sword Sect.
A massive cloud ship was breaking through the clouds, advancing at full speed.
On the sails, the emblem of "Jixia Academy" was painted—a huge writing brush pressing down on a scroll of books.
On the deck, an old Confucian scholar stood with his hands behind his back, his posture as straight as a pine, but the beard trembling slightly in the breeze betrayed his inner unrest.
Standing beside him was the Saintess Su Qianqian, who had "escaped" back from the Heavenly River Sword Sect just a few days ago.
"Lord Libationer."
Su Qianqian clutched a jade pendant tightly, her face pale.
"Intelligence indicates that the Heavenly River Sword Sect has encountered an 'Observer' level abyss descent, that is... an Ancient God capable of instantly obliterating a country."
"The old man knows."
The old Confucian scholar, revered as the Libationer, sighed.
"Even if our Jixia Academy were to go all out, we might not be able to block such an existence. But the Heavenly River Sword Sect is, after all, the orthodox Daoist Sect and the barrier of the Southern Wilderness. Even if... only ruins remain, we must go to collect the bodies; we absolutely cannot let the abyss take root in the Southern Wilderness."
The several Academy Elders behind him also nodded one after another, their expressions solemn, some already having their hands on their sword hilts, as if they would generously go to their deaths the next moment.
In their view, the Heavenly River Sword Sect was finished.
Let alone a second-rate Sect, even a Holy Land, if it were stared at directly by an Ancient God, would face annihilation.
"Speed up!"
The Libationer said in a deep voice, "I hope we can set up the Seal formation before the gray mist spreads!"
The cloud ship roared, cutting through the sky.
A moment later.
The main peak of the Cloud Break Mountain Range appeared in everyone's field of vision.
"That is..."
A sharp-eyed Elder suddenly pointed ahead, his voice trembling, "The gray mist... has dispersed?!"
Everyone looked over in a hurry.
They saw that the Heavenly River Sword Sect, which should have been shrouded in the deathly gray mist, was actually sunny at this moment?
Although the buildings on the ground were somewhat dilapidated, as if they had been visited by a demolition team, the Aura of the abyss that made people change color at the mere mention of it was so faint it was almost imperceptible!
"How is this possible?"
The Libationer's eyes widened suddenly, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Could the intelligence be wrong? What descended wasn't an 'Observer,' just a low-level eyeball monster?"
"No! Look over there!"
Su Qianqian reached out and pointed to the main peak plaza.
The cloud ship lowered its altitude.
The moment they saw the scene below, the worldviews of all the Confucian experts on the ship, who prided themselves on being unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before them, suffered a violent impact.
They saw that in the woods on the periphery of the plaza.
A group of Disciples wearing Heavenly River Sword Sect robes were surrounding an abyss fungal monster covered in tentacles and constantly spewing toxic gas.
They didn't draw their swords.
They held books in their hands, with fanatical and eerie smiles on their faces.
"Look here! Look here!"
A Disciple pointed to his own eyes and shouted at the monster, "Your tentacles are crooked! According to 'Geometric Aesthetics,' this does not conform to the golden ratio! Ugly! Too ugly!"
The monster was stunned by his words and subconsciously retracted its tentacles.
"Now! Go!"
Another Disciple shouted, holding a copy of "Plant Grafting Guide," rushed up violently, and forcibly inserted a peach tree branch into the monster's head.
"Logic modified! You are not a mushroom! You are a peach tree!"
"Grow peaches! Grow peaches for me, damn it!"
Under the gang-beating of a group of people using "Words Follow Law" (mental pollution + rule suppression), that originally ferocious and terrifying abyss monster twisted in pain, and finally, with a wail full of shame... with a "pop" sound, a delicate and pink peach blossom actually bloomed on its head.
The monster was ashamed and angry, withered on the spot, and turned into spring mud.
"Yay!"
The Disciples cheered, and some even took out small notebooks to record: "Experiment successful! "Grafting Guide" has a miraculous effect on tentacle-type monsters, recommended for promotion!"
On the cloud ship.
Dead silence.
The Jixia Academy's Libationer didn't even notice that he had pulled out two strands of his beard.
"Is... is this the Heavenly River Sword Sect?"
"This is clearly a group of lunatics!"
Su Qianqian looked at this scene, but suddenly remembered that figure standing on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, rewriting reality at will.
Her chest heaved, suppressing the surging emotions, and a complex light flashed in her eyes.
"No, Lord Libationer."
"This might... be the new Daoist technique taught by that 'Senior Brother Li'."
As she was speaking, Gu Canghai below seemed to sense something.
He looked up abruptly, his eyes glowing with golden light locking directly onto the cloud ship.
【Target: Jixia Academy Cloud Ship.】
【Status: Fully loaded.】
【Hidden information: Carrying a lot of rescue supplies, including Medicinal Pills, Spirit Stones, and good food.】
Gu Canghai's eyes instantly brightened to a blinding degree.
"Guests have arrived!"
He waved his hand and roared at the Disciples around him who hadn't had enough fun.
"Stop playing! Hide all those blossomed monsters! Don't scare the guests!"
"Quick! Form up! Prepare to welcome the 'Supply Team'... ah no, welcome the 'distinguished guests from the Academy'!"
Looking at the group of Sword Cultivators below who instantly switched from "lunatic mode" to "hospitable mode," and were even desperately wiping the drool from the corners of their mouths.
The Jixia Academy crowd on the cloud ship suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.
Were they... really here to rescue?
Why did it feel like... they were delivering takeout?
And at this moment, on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.
Li Mo watched this scene, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
"Very good."
"The actors are in place, the audience has entered."
"It's time to let the whole world take a good look at this play of 'The Number One Mental Hospital in the Cultivation World'."
He picked up his pen and added a new slogan to the "Sect External Propaganda Manual":
【Heavenly River Sword Sect — A place full of love, peace, and logic (the final interpretation right belongs to this Sect).】