Chapter 585 - Second Senior Fellow Apprentice

When things developed to this point, no one could tell which one was the real Li Mu and which one was the imposter. They were completely confused.

Li Mu himself was also shocked inwardly.

“This monster’s strength is really impressive.”

Not only was his broadsword-using method brutal, but his physical strength was also very strong.

How powerful was Li Mu’s current physical strength?”

In the battle of the Tomb of the God of Sin, the experts in the Soldier Realm were all brought to their knees when they ran into Li Mu. Now, Li Mu’s cultivation had again improved a great deal. But this mysterious monster could actually confront Li Mu head-on and not be at a disadvantage at all.

It was a case of diamond cut diamond. The two of them threw many strikes at each other and fought fiercely. However, the monster still showed no sign of losing.

The two were indeed well-matched opponents.

Li Mu didn’t know if the other party had gone all out.

But if it went on like this, it would be impossible for him to hurt the imposter and force him to show his true self.

“Clank, clink, clank!”

Jets of broadsword light collided as a cluster of sparks burst out.

“Where did this monster get that weapon in his hand? Not only is it exactly the same as my goose-feather-shaped broadsword, but its power is no less than that of this ‘so close yet worlds apart’.”

Li Mu sensed the counterforce coming from the broadsword.

He continued to observe and drew new conclusions.

It was one thing to find a monster who looked like Li Mu, but it was another when the monster’s clothes and weapons were also exactly the same as Li Mu’s. That was the creepy part.

Li Mu was more and more certain that there must be something that he had overlooked.

“I should give it a try with the Third Eye! Perhaps it can help me see the true form of this monster.”

Li Mu drew a distance from the imposter, and the slit between his eyebrows widened.

Countless Taoist figures swirled in the depths of the vertical eye. In an instant, the purple lightning, like a divine sword, spurted out from the Third Eye and shot toward the Li Mu opposite him.

As soon as Ding Yi saw it, he immediately shouted, “That’s right, the one with three eyes must be Sect Master…”

But before his voice faded away—

“Wow, never thought you, the imposter, also know this trick.” Li Mu, who was on the opposite side, let out a cackle and jumped back. He quickly stroke the spot between his eyebrows, and also opened a Third Eye, from which was a bolt of dark purple lightning also shot out.

“What?”

Ding Yi was stunned again.

“Kaboom!”

The two jets of light collided with each other, causing the purple lightning to overflow.

Terrifying energy fluctuations spread out.

Seeing this, the black-cloaked vendor swung his long sleeve. An invisible force instantly gushed out and blocked the overflowing power of the lightning.

His eyes were sparkling with excitement.

No matter what, he had finally seen that the divine-level Primordial Stone had been opened, and what came out of it was extremely mysterious and strange. Although it was different from what he had imagined, the result did not let him down.

“You know how to use the Third Eye?”

This time, Li Mu was really surprised.

What kind of art of transformation could be so remarkable? The imposter not only copied his looks but also his Cultivation Method and magical power.

“I don’t believe it.”

Li Mu once again activated the Xiantian Skill, and the primitive natural qi was in full swing. The pupil of the vertical eyes started to glimmer as if there were stars in it.

Just at this moment, an unexpected change occurred.

The Primordial Spirit, which had been sitting quietly at the entrance of the Mud-pill Palace in Li Mu’s mind, suddenly stood up. At the same time, a slit appeared between the little figure’s eyebrows. Then, the Sea of Consciousness darted out from it.

In the meantime, abstruse Taoist figures started to merge in the pupil of the Third Eye between Li Mu’s eyebrows. The purple lightning turned into a golden net of spells and figures, which then formed a maze-like beam of light that shot out from Li Mu’s Third Eye.

“The Third Deployment of the Origin-less?”

The Li Mu on the opposite side let out a strange cry. He had been all gleeful before. But at this time, his expression altered dramatically, and he showed a look of panic. The next second, he turned tail and fled.

However, as soon as the golden maze light shone on him, he seemed to turn into a wax statue on fire. The clothes the fake Li Mu was wearing were instantly turned into ashes, then, his body began to melt as if it was made of mud.

“How could you know how to cast the Third Deployment of the Origin-less? Grunt…”

While cackling, that Li Mu’s appearance started to change, and so did his voice. In the end, his voice sounded thick, sluggish, and came with a weird twang.

Li Mu soon understood where that weird twang came from.

Because this monster soon revealed its true form.

It turned out to be…

A pig!

A fat pig with big ears and white hair and pink skin was standing on his hind legs. The goose-feather-shaped broadsword in his hand had also transformed back to a shiny silver nine-forked rake.

There was a burst of exclamation around.

No one had expected such a turn of events.

Even the black-cloaked vendor was very surprised.

“Amitayus… Is this… a pig spirit?”

The old Taoist who had been absorbed in his calculations almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Who would have thought that in the end, there would come out such a thing from that divine-level Primordial Stone?

Ding Yi’s train of thought, yet, was sort of unconventional. He drooled while saying, “What a fat pig! It seems to be a wild animal. The meat must be very chewy.”

But Li Mu had no time to be surprised.

In his Third Eye, the strange golden beam of light became more and more dazzling. Only a few people, such as the black-cloaked vendor and the old Taoist, could see clearly that the beam of light was made up of dense golden Taoist figures. It seemed to be some kind of tactical deployment, which was driven by the Gazing Skill.

“Grunt, stop, stop…” The pig spirit snorted anxiously and said, “You win, you win. I quit.”

He tossed away the rake and threw up his hands, showing his willingness to surrender.

Li Mu hesitated a little, but he had a hunch that he couldn’t stop just yet.

The light in his Third Eye continued to burst out.

When the beam of light hit the pig spirit, it was just like a storm hitting a cliff. The light surged and splintered, breaking into clusters of brilliance. The brilliance darted out like sparks, but it did not disappear. Instead, it spread out on the pig spirit like a net, wrapping him in.

“Ah, that’s not fair. I’ve already thrown in the towel, grunt…” Desperate, the pig spirit scooped up the rake and started to struggle with every ounce of his strength.

However, the net made of wisps of light was extremely sturdy. The pig spirit struggled hard, and his rake flickering with a strange brilliance released a horrible power far beyond the power he released when fighting against Li Mu. Even so, the net was still intact.

“Grunt, grunt, transform!”

With a snort, the pig spirit suddenly began to shrink rapidly.

In a trice, he became a mini pig. It was only the size of a palm, who was pink, lovely, and quite adorable. Wagging his long snout, he made to crawl out of a hole of the net.

To everyone’s surprise, that the net seemed to have been drawn on his body. When the pig shrank, so did the net. Thus, how could the pig get out?

At that moment, Li Mu finally closed his Third Eye.

But the golden net still seemed to be engraved on the pig spirit. It did not disappear but still wrapped tightly around the pig, as though determined to sink into his flesh.

“Humph, d*mn the Third Deployment of the Origin-less… I’ll just transform again.”

With a shudder, the pig spirit immediately turned into a small silver snake, which was emitting divine light and looked like a real one. He tried again to get rid of the net, but he failed. The pattern of the Third Deployment of the Origin-less was still there, just like the natural pattern on the snake’s skin.

“Transform!

“Transform again!

“Again!”

The pig spirit shouted.

In a short while, he had changed into a snake, a mosquito, a butterfly, and a bird in succession. In the end, he had even turned into a pile of shit.

However, the pattern of the Third Deployment of the Origin-less stubbornly stayed on his skin no matter what form he took. Eventually, it became a part of the body of the pig spirit.

“Grunt, d*mn it. H-how come you can cast the Third Deployment of the Origin-less?” The pig spirit finally gasped for breath because of exhaustion.

He resumed his image of a big fat pig. He had a pig’s head and a human body. He was bare-chested and barrel-bellied. At this moment, he was staring at Li Mu fiercely even though he seemed to be dead beat.

Li Mu didn’t know how to answer him.

When Li Mu was cutting the stone before, there was a very mysterious change in Li Mu’s body. In front of the Mud-pill Palace, the inconceivably mysterious Primordial Spirit turned up. When the Third Eye was activated a moment ago, the Primordial Spirit underwent a strange change that was beyond Li Mu’s control. Then, Li Mu’s Third Eye squirted out the golden light and subdued the pig spirit.

It all had something to do with the Primordial Spirit that should not have appeared in his body.

But Li Mu had no time to figure out what the matter was.

“Dude, I admit my defeat. Let’s make a deal. If you let me go, we can be friends.” The pig spirit breathed heavily, and a smile was plastered on his face. “Since we never had a grudge against one other before, why do you have to get into a fight?”

As Li Mu gazed at this pig spirit, a classic character in a story popped up in his mind.

“Second Senior Fellow Apprentice, is that you?” Li Mu asked tentatively, “Are you from the Old Gao Village? You’re called Zhu Ganglie, and your Buddhist name is Wuneng, am I right?”

The pig spirit was stunned and very surprised. He said, “How do you know that I’m the second oldest among my fellow apprentices? Yes, I am who I am. My surname is Zhu and my last name is Luyi. Zhu Ganglie is never my name. And I have no Buddhist name, either. But I do come from the Old Gao Village… How do you know about that village?”

“Zhu Luyi?

“He is not Zhu Ganglie?

“But he’s from Old Gao Village, isn’t he?”

Li Mu was a little perplexed.

But from the expression on his face, it didn’t seem like he was lying… Could it be that he really wasn’t the spirit of pig in the Journey to the West?

That actually made sense.

In the Journey to the West, the pig spirit was actually a very ruthless character who knew how to hide his strength. He was a general in heaven. On the surface, he seemed to be in a weak position, but in fact, he was terrifyingly strong.

If that pig spirit lived in the Brilliance Immortal Star Region, he would definitely be able to sweep through a large area and kill a large number of cultivators in the Soldier Realm with a single punch. However, this pig spirit before Li Mu was evenly matched with him, a cultivator who was merely in the Void-breaking Realm. So, how could this pig spirit be that Zhu Ganglie?

But this pig spirit also had a nine-forked rake.

And he was also from the Old Gao Village, wasn’t he?

Li Mu wondered if the Old Gao Village the pig referred to was the same one he knew about.

Li Mu looked at the pig spirit up and down, wondering how to settle this.

Who would have thought that such a thing would be found in the divine-level Primordial Stone?

Anyway, Li Mu couldn’t really stuff the pig back into the stone.

So, Li Mu silently walked to the cracked stone and put away the crust on the ground, as well as the fragmented layer of the gold-colored fairy crystal. The black-cloaked vendor had told him that the crust and the crystal were part of the treasures, which could be very useful in making armors and various defensive Taoist Treasures.

“Big brother, we wouldn’t get to know each other if we hadn’t had the fight. Haha, let’s be friends.” Zhu Luyi, the pig spirit, pestered Li Mu relentlessly.

The corner of Li Mu’s mouth twitched.

Zhu Luyi added, “Actually, as soon as the crust cracked, I got the first glimpse of you. I knew at a glance that I was destined to meet you, so I transformed to be just like you. I was just joking around. Hum, why don’t we make ourselves sworn brothers? From now on, we can have all the fun together and roam the universe as a team. How about that? Don’t worry, with me looking after you, you can definitely do whatever you want in the universe.”

“You may leave.”

Li Mu felt as if there was a green-headed fly buzzing in his ear. He directly waved at him and motioned the pig spirit to make himself scarce.

“He is so annoying.”

“Don’t push me away. As you just called me Second Senior Fellow Apprentice, I’ll be your Second Senior Fellow Apprentice forever. From now on, I must protect you. I can’t leave you alone.” The pig spirit resolutely declared that from now on, he must stay by Li Mu’s side to protect him.