72: Chapter 72 Lu Tong Li

The youth's corpse was heaved out of the pit and landed by the edge of the earthen pit; the straw mat unraveled, revealing his bluish-purple face and a body covered in bruises.

Su Wanyue grew curious.

"What are you doing!"

Wu Li ignored her.

He looked down at the corpse, his voice hoarse yet calm: "It just died. There is still resentment in the body supporting it, it hasn't completely dissipated. Perfect."

Su Wanyue floated over, her blood-red eyes filled with confusion and vigilance. She hovered behind Wu Li, watching his every move.

Wu Li extended his right claw, the tip gently tapping the youth's chest.

Demon Power seeped into the skin, slowly carving a pattern where the heart was.

The pattern was winding like a snake, layered and overlapping, resembling a half-open, half-closed eye. It bore a seventy percent resemblance to the Blood Pupil mark on Wu Li's forehead.

The moment the pattern was finished, the youth's body trembled slightly, as if something had touched the depths of his Soul.

Wu Li withdrew his claw and took a deep breath. Demon Power surged out from within him like a tide, pouring into the youth's body through his claw tips.

A blood-colored light lit up from the pattern, spreading along the Meridians to the limbs and bones, illuminating the bruised skin inch by inch.

The youth's corpse began to change.

The stiff arms slowly bent, the curled fingers extended one by one, and the sunken chest rose and fell slightly, as if something inside was beating again.

Then, he suddenly opened his eyes.

There were no pupils in those eyes, only a greyish-white void, staring hollowly at the starry sky above.

Subsequently.

His body sprang up from the ground and stood straight, arms hanging at his sides, motionless, like a marionette Puppet.

Wu Li did not pause; he flapped his wings, his figure shooting up like an arrow, landing steadily on the youth's shoulder.

Wu Li landed steadily on the youth's shoulder, his claws gripping the fabric on the shoulder tightly.

The youth's body paused slightly, then his bluish-purple mouth opened. The voice that came out, however, was Wu Li's—hoarse and low, like sandpaper rubbing against stone.

"Take two steps."

The youth stiffly lifted his leg and took a step, then another.

The movements were awkward, like a rusty Puppet moving mechanically, but each step was smoother than the last. In the end, it was as if the youth had truly come back to life.

A glint flashed in Su Wanyue's eyes. She stared at Wu Li and quickly realized what was happening.

"You intend to use this youth's identity to enter the city?"

Wu Li crouched on the youth's shoulder, his blood-red pupils looking down at Su Wanyue, his voice flat.

"Otherwise? If I were to fly in as a crow, it would be somewhat dangerous. Those Cultivators aren't blind."

"With this body, I can enter the city as a member of the Human Race."

Su Wanyue was silent for a moment, then nodded: "You have certainly thought this through."

Wu Li did not respond. With a thought, the youth turned and walked towards the direction of the Stone Forest.

His footsteps became increasingly steady. Wu Li's Demon Power coursed through the youth's entire body, causing the bluish-purple on his surface to slowly fade.

If not for those hollow, greyish-white eyes, he looked almost indistinguishable from a living person.

...

That night.

Wu Li flew away from Taiyue Mountain.

It was some distance from Long City, so Wu Li swallowed the youth into his Stomach Storage, planning to spit him out when they reached Long City.

Long City was less than fifty li from Qingshi Town.

When Wu Li flew to the border of Long City, he spat out the youth. He controlled the youth to wait in a ruined temple outside the city until dawn. Once a crowd had gathered at the city gate to enter, he blended into the flow of people and slowly walked into the city gate.

Everything went very smoothly.

The guards at the city gate glanced lazily at the youth. After all, having a crow standing on one's shoulder was somewhat strange. However, Long City was a large city, and there were strange things every day—some even carried coffins. Being accustomed to such things, the guards didn't pay it any mind.

They couldn't even be bothered to ask questions and waved him through with a hand gesture.

It was the first time Wu Li had seen a city of the Human Race.

It was quite novel.

The Long City before him had towering gates, blue bricks and grey tiles, and streets wide enough for four carriages to travel side-by-side, with wine banners fluttering.

However, as time passed.

For a moment, Wu Li felt somewhat lost.

Wu Li crouched on his shoulder, his blood-red pupils scanning the surroundings through the gap in the collar.

The streets crisscrossed, people came and went, and there were crossroads and alleyways everywhere; he couldn't even tell east, south, west, or north.

Su Wanyue had only told him that the item was hidden in the residential district north of Long City, but now he didn't even know where he was.

Just then, a peddler not far away noticed him.

The man was about thirty years old, wearing a washed-out blue shirt, with a towel draped over his shoulder and a bamboo basket in his hand, which contained a few packages of unknown goods.

He had been standing by the street for a long time, his eyes fixed on the passing pedestrians. Seeing the youth standing at the street corner looking around, a smile immediately piled onto his face, and he walked over quickly.

"Young brother, this is your first time in Long City, right?"

Wu Li controlled the youth to turn his head. With his hollow, greyish-white eyes, he looked at the peddler, silent for a moment, before squeezing one word out of the youth's mouth: "Hmm."

The smile on the peddler's face deepened, and he clapped his hands.

"That's it! Let me tell you, I know Long City inside and out."

"My name is Lu Tongli. Throughout Long City, from East Gate Street in the east to West Gate Bridge in the west, from South Market Entrance in the south to North Pier in the north, how many alleys, how many long streets, which steamed bun shop has the most fragrant buns, which teahouse's storyteller is the best—I know it all like the back of my hand!"

He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice: "Where does young brother want to go? I can take you there, guaranteed not to let you take a single wasted step, it's just that…"

Lu Tongli rubbed his thumb and index finger together, making a gesture universal to the world, his smile adding a touch of worldly shrewdness.

"Hehe, young brother understands."

Wu Li looked at his two fingers and was silent for an instant.

Then, he controlled the youth to reach into his bosom and pull out a Low-Grade Spirit Stone. This had been found in the Bai family elder's Storage Pouch, and now it came in handy.

Seeing this, Lu Tongli's eyes instantly lit up. He snatched the Spirit Stone, stuffed it into his sleeve, and the smile on his face became even brighter: "I didn't expect young brother to be a member of the Immortal Sect. Tell me, where to?"

Wu Li controlled the youth to speak, trying his best to imitate the tone of an ordinary youth: "It seems to be in the north of the city, the residential district, an old house…"

As Wu Li finished speaking.

Lu Tongli's smile stiffened, he scratched his head, and a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.

"The residential district? Young brother, who told you about this place?"

Wu Li saw something wrong on the peddler's face and casually made up an excuse: "An address left by a friend, saying it was where she used to live, and asked me to come retrieve something."

Lu Tongli nodded thoughtfully and sighed.

"That must have been a long time ago."

"The place you mentioned, young brother, had already been leveled by the time I was born."

"Now it is controlled by the major Immortal Sects and has become an Immortal Market within Long City, a place where great Cultivators of the Immortal Sects gather."

Upon hearing this, Wu Li's pupils constricted slightly.