Volume Three: Rising Fame Chapter Fifty-Nine: To Save or Not to Save

The wind wall gradually contracted and vanished, and Li Yu stepped out from within, his face unable to conceal a trace of pleasant surprise.

Divine-path cultivators do not temper their physical bodies like martial-path cultivators do. Although a divine-path cultivator’s body is tempered by spiritual power during the cultivation process, this is merely an "incidental" effect. In comparison, the physical bodies of divine-path cultivators are far weaker than those of their martial-path counterparts. This is inevitable, as each discipline has its own focus. Furthermore, the attacks launched by divine-path cultivators, augmented by spiritual power, are far sharper—or perhaps more bizarre and unpredictable—than pure physical strength.

"My strength has surged significantly!"

Li Yu threw a few punches into thin air. The speed and power were so great that the air in front of his fists was compressed, eventually whistling away into the distance like air cannons. He had used no spiritual power; this was pure physical strength! With such a boost in power, if he were to face the old white fox again, he could easily trample it in a one-on-one fight.

"I wonder if the effect can be stacked?"

If more such wind walls were to form, Li Yu felt he might give it a try to see if he could further enhance his body. He couldn't be blamed for being greedy. Ever since he had acquired the Lightning Bloodline through the sign-in system, it had arrived in a perfected state. He had no need to train or polish it, leaving no room for further improvement in its efficacy. However, after his experience within the wind wall, Li Yu suddenly realized that although the Lightning Bloodline the system granted him was already a flawless piece of jade, it did not mean it lacked room for growth. On the contrary, while the jade was already of immeasurable value, what if it were polished even further?

"Why play a mage? I want to be a battle-mage! I want to be tanky and hard-hitting; not only that, I want to be proficient in both long-range and melee combat!" Li Yu whispered to himself.

Immediately, he circled the area twice, but his initial joy had vanished. By the third time he searched, his face turned gloomy, and his brows were tightly knit. Can Yishuang was gone! Strictly speaking, it should be said that Can Yishuang had not waited for him after the incident but had instead left.

Li Yu returned to the spot where he had first been engulfed by the wind wall, his expression flickering. Although he hadn't had much contact with Can Yishuang, she had provided him with immense help back in the small grove. Had she not stepped in to retrieve the medicine while he kept the enemy occupied, this trip to the snowy mountains would have been fraught with many more variables.

"Forget it!"

Li Yu pondered for a moment, then stopped hesitating or worrying. This was Can Yishuang's own choice. Although he had promised not to harm her, her intentions were difficult to gauge, and moreover, she could not be certain whether he would truly honor his word. Thus, taking this opportunity to leave was only natural.

Li Yu leaped up and shot toward the valley, and before long, he was soaring above the White Fox tribe's territory. As he looked down, his brows furrowed slightly. The eleven corpses of the clan members were now mangled, and what’s more, several white foxes were feeding on the remains.

"Boom!"

Li Yu casually cast a bolt of lightning to drive the white foxes away before slowly descending. Upon landing beside the corpses, the scene before him made him feel somewhat nauseated. When the old white fox had struck, it had been a fatal blow, but being the work of a wild beast, the many lethal wounds were blood-soaked and looked hideously savage. Afterward, the white foxes had treated the bodies as food, tearing them to pieces and leaving various internal organs scattered everywhere.

Li Yu looked down at his token. As he landed nearby, the number on the token shifted. Initially, when he was in the cave, he had encountered Tu Manxiang and transferred the points from her token to his own. Later, in the forest, he had run into Shan Zhizhuan and his two companions, bringing his score to five. Now, as he stood near the bodies of these eleven people, the points within their tokens had automatically flowed into Li Yu's token due to the demise of their owners.

"Fourteen... not bad!"

Having obtained the points, Li Yu did not linger and flew off toward the east. This was because, after leaving the wind wall, an inexplicable change had occurred on his token: an arrow had appeared beneath the digits. No matter which direction Li Yu faced, the arrow remained fixed, always pointing east. Clearly, this was guiding him toward the center of the secret realm.

"Since the Snow Fox Demon Vine is already in hand, there's nothing else to worry about. Let’s see how many more points I can gather!"

High in the air, Li Yu's hair whipped and danced behind him. Perhaps because he hadn't paid attention to his hairstyle in a long time, or because his body's functions had changed after cultivation, his hair was no longer short; it had grown over ten centimeters long. At this moment, battered by the high-altitude winds, it lashed wildly against his face.

"Just one look... just one look!"

Li Yu suddenly turned back, muttering to himself. He didn't know why, but he felt very restless—perhaps it was out of frustration over Can Yishuang's silent departure? Landing back at the place where he had been swept into the wind wall, Li Yu pursed his lips and scanned his surroundings. The flowers were the same, the trees were the same; nothing had changed since he left, nor was it any different from before he had been caught. Yet, Li Yu could not understand: Can Yishuang had had many chances to leave earlier, so why did she have to leave only after he was swept into the wind wall? In terms of their relationship, while not close, they had enjoyed a mutually beneficial arrangement; why the sudden departure?

After a long while, Li Yu found nothing and sighed, preparing to leave.

"What is this?"

As he looked down, he suddenly spotted some unusual fallen leaves. The leaf was tiny, not even complete, but Li Yu quickly compared it against the nearby flora and found nothing with a matching texture. Holding it up to his face, Li Yu sniffed, his brows knitting tightly. The scent of ginseng! Did Can Yishuang have problems with hair loss?

Li Yu's brow furrowed further. Can Yishuang's innate traits, perhaps due to the number of times she had undergone metamorphosis, were not entirely impossible to counter, but for him, without prior preparation, there was no possibility of capturing her. Following this line of reasoning, what level of cultivation would one need to be able to seize Can Yishuang?

Having made this discovery, Li Yu quickly paid attention to details he had previously overlooked. Should he save her or not? The trail left by Can Yishuang led westward, while the direction indicated by the token was the exact opposite: the east. Setting aside the unknown individual capable of capturing Can Yishuang, the change in the token suggested that unknown dangers might already be spreading in the west. Since the Great Ming Emperor, Ying Tianhe, could confidently state that the center was the only safe place, it meant that the dangers accompanying the changes in the tokens were capable of threatening a fifth-rank cultivator!

"Save her, or not?"