Chapter 303
1) Prepare a dish and see him eat it. (Crossed)
2) Accompany him on a trip to a not too dangerous place. (Crossed)
3) Save him one time. (Just crossed)
4) Read many books together.
5) …
The first three lines were crossed out. It seemed that this notebook full of writings consisted of a list of things Nine Lanterns wished to do.
After putting her notebook away, she took a step forward and stretched her hand, gently catching Song Shuhang who had the size of half a palm right now.
Song Shuhang immediately heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Miss Nine Lanterns.”
“You’re welcome. Moreover, you looked very cute when you were asking for help. It was such a sight to behold.” Nine Lanterns held her thumb up in approval and smiled.
“…” Song Shuhang.
Miss, your way of appreciating things is a bit too weird! I feel rather embarrassed now!
While supporting Song Shuhang with one hand, Nine Lanterns waved the other gently. The golden prayer beads hung on tree returned to her with the skin of the Little Finger Snake still attached to them.
A layer of spiritual energy was continuously rotating around the golden prayer beads, preventing the snakeskin from shrinking it.
Song Shuhang gazed at the shed skin of the Little Finger Snake with a bit of envy. After all, it was the main material used to manufacture those fake ‘space bags’!
“Do you want it?” Nine Lanterns received the prayer beads and dangled the snakeskin in front of Song Shuhang.
“Yes!” Song Shuhang replied honestly. After seeing Soft Feather’s ‘size-reducing purse’, he wanted one too.
“Hehe, this is mine though. You can forget about having it for free.” Nine Lanterns smiled evilly and put the snakeskin Song Shuhang was drooling over away.
“…” Song Shuhang.
After a while, he made a hollow laugh and asked, “Miss Nine Lanterns, what about those two passengers that were together with Zhuge Yue and Zhuge Zhongyang?”
Since he was at it, he might as well bring those two passengers back with him, too.
“Their scent mixed with those of the other eight people. It seems that the two groups meet up. These cultivators of the Netherworld Realm were only interested in your two friends. Therefore, they didn’t go as far as attacking those two passengers,” Nine Lanterns replied.
After hearing this much, Song Shuhang secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
❄️❄️❄️
On a side, Zhuge Zhongyang was absent-mindedly looking at this bald girl that had suddenly appeared before his eyes. Just where did this girl pop out from?
After she showed herself to catch Song Shuhang, Zhuge Yue and Zhuge Zhongyang could also see Nine Lanterns.
Zhuge Zhongyang was quite confused right now. How had Song Shuhang become so small? But it wasn’t only Shuhang, the nearby Zhuge Yue had also become smaller.
At this time, Zhuge Yue had started to slowly revert to her original form. She was currently around eighty centimeters tall and looked like a small loli.
But that wasn’t the only thing out of the ordinary; aside from that pervert that could become invisible, Song Shuhang also ran on a tree vertically till reaching the height of ten meters!
Just what was wrong with this place?
Zhuge Zhongyang’s mind was in a mess—no matter how much he rubbed his temples, he couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
“Come, have a talk with your friend.” Nine Lanterns moved the hand Song Shuhang was standing on and positioned him in front of Zhuge Zhongyang.
“F*ck!” Song Shuhang got a scare after seeing Zhuge Zhongyang’s huge face.
Just try to imagine the scene. If you were to be suddenly put in front of a huge human face enlarged tens of times, wouldn’t that be comparable to something directly out of a horror movie?
“Miss Nine Lanterns, not this close!” Song Shuhang shouted.
The mischievous Nine Lanterns dangled Song Shuhang in front of Zhuge Zhongyang a few times and pulled him back.
Song Shuhang rubbed his eyes and turned his head around, looking at Nine Lanterns’ face… luckily, the faces of cultivators were still tender and smooth even after being enlarged by several times and were nothing like those stuff you see in horror movies.
“Shuhang, just what’s happening?” Zhuge Zhongyang asked cautiously.
“It’s a bit complicated to explain. For now, just hold Zhuge Yue and follow me. As first thing, we should return to the ancient city and leave this place. I’ll tell you in detail later.” Song Shuhang heaved a sigh.
Their memories would be erased while leaving the island. Therefore, there was no point in wasting time and explaining the situation to them; it was better to make them leave immediately.
“Guys, follow me.” Nine Lanterns smiled and showed the way.
Zhuge Zhongyang carried Zhuge Yue on his back and silently followed Nine Lanterns.
Along the way, Zhuge Zhongyang, somewhat worried, asked, “Ah, yes. Shuhang, have you met Gao Moumou and the others? How are they?”
Everything that had happened was his fault. His decision to go to the resort island in the East China Sea put everyone in danger. If something were to happen to Gao Moumou and the others, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
“Don’t worry. Gao Moumou, Tubo, Lu Fei, and her elder sister already left this place. The reason I came over here was to escort you two back and make you leave this place,” Song Shuhang said with a smile.
After hearing Song Shuhang’s words, Zhuge Zhongyang was immediately relieved.
Soon after, he and Zhuge Yue followed Song Shuhang while full of doubts and arrived in the ancient city.
Since they were under Nine Lanterns leadership, the group of four quickly arrived at the tall tower.
“After entering the tower, follow the instructions and complete the transaction. Once you’re done, you’ll be able to leave the island,” Song Shuhang explained.
“What about you? Aren’t you coming with us?” Zhuge Yue was confused. At this time, her body had almost returned to her original size.
“I want to wait a little while. Just look at my body, I would like to return to my original size before proceeding.” Song Shuhang bitterly smiled. He was still sitting on Nine Lanterns’ palm and felt quite uncomfortable. “Don’t worry about me. You two leave first; I’ll follow suit when my body recovers. After leaving this place, immediately converge with Gao Moumou and the others; don’t lose your way again!”
Zhuge Yue and Zhuge Zhongyang nodded. Then, they turned around and entered the tower.
This strange place was simply like a nightmare. They didn’t want to stay here any further!
❄️❄️❄️
After seeing them enter the tower, Song Shuhang heaved a sigh of relief.
“Miss Nine Lanterns, I think I should also take my leave. But I need to have my memories sealed if I want to leave this place, right?” Song Shuhang asked.
“Weren’t you interested in the Heavenly Island?” Nine Lanterns raised Song Shuhang and used her finger to poke him.
“Don’t, it’s painful.” Song Shuhang dodged her finger and said, “I’m acquainted with a few seniors, and before leaving this place, they had to seal their own memories. Although I’m not sure why they would be willing to seal their own memories, it seems that all the cultivators that want to leave the Heavenly Island must have their memories sealed first, right?”
“What you said is correct,” Nine Lanterns replied with a smile. “Cultivators are indeed treated differently than the average person. Later, I’ll have to bring you to the most mystical place of the Heavenly Island and make you swear an oath. Then, you’ll be taught a technique that will allow you to seal your own memories. Once you’re done sealing them, you’ll be allowed to leave the island.”
“In this case, can you bring me to that place directly?” Song Shuhang said while cupping his hands.
“Don’t be so anxious to leave.” Nine Lanterns narrowed her eyes and smiled. Then, she took the snakeskin attached to the prayer beads out and said, “Do you want it?”
Song Shuhang greedily eyed the skin of the Little Finger Snake and said, “I want it!”
“If you want it, you need to make a deal with me,” Nine Lanterns said happily.
“A deal? What do you want in exchange?” Song Shuhang asked—he had a few cultivation-related things with him.
The green breeze amulet, the ancient bronze ring, the treasured saber Broken Tyrant, the enlightenment stone (and Lady Onion who was growing on it), the monster onion crystal, the shapeshifting brooch that Soft Feather lent him, as well as a few talismans and mixed medicine pills.
Amongst them, the most valuable thing was surely the enlightenment stone. Although precious, none of the other things could be compared to the skin of the Little Finger Snake.
However, he would refuse if he had to trade the enlightenment stone for the snakeskin. To him, the stone was much more important. Moreover, Lady Onion was still growing on it.
“Although you have a few items on your body, none of them really piqued my interest,” Nine Lanterns said with a smile.
“Then, what do you want in exchange?” After hearing this much, Song Shuhang’s body shrank a bit—he didn’t want to sell himself into slavery!
“I want you to… read a few books with me.” Nine Lanterns stretched her finger and poked Song Shuhang, laughing.
“You want to read books with me?” Song Shuhang asked curiously.
“Hm, that’s it.” Nine Lanterns smiled.
“Deal!” Song Shuhang quickly replied.
❄️❄️❄️
A small buddhist temple amidst green mountains and beautiful flowing water.
Oil lamps, old buddha statues, and a mountain of buddhist scriptures piled up inside…
This was Nine Lanterns’ dwelling on the Heavenly Island.
“I would give you books related to scholarly or daoist sects, but unfortunately, I’m a buddhist, and I don’t have anything else aside from buddhist scriptures,” Nine Lanterns said languidly as she sat cross-legged on a rush cushion.
“What’s the content of these buddhist scriptures?” Song Shuhang asked curiously. “Do they contain cultivation techniques?”
“You’re overthinking things.” Nine Lanterns gave him a supercilious look. “Even if it’s me, I can’t casually pass down buddhist techniques to others. This is the rule of the world of cultivators!”
“Then, are these only normal scriptures?” The corner of Song Shuhang’s mouth twitched—his ‘true self’ was already changing for the worse. If he were to read buddhist scriptures aloud, wouldn’t his ‘true self’ turn bald for real?
“Don’t be so depressed. You can consider it a deal; we read these books together and you get the skin of the Little Finger Snake in exchange. Ah, yes. Can you let me hold Lady Onion for a while? I haven’t seen her in 300 years; I miss her a little,” Nine Lanterns said with a laugh.
“Don’t hurt her, though. You already locked her up for 300 years!” Song Shuhang put his hand in his pocket.
“Ouch!” Lady Onion bit him ruthlessly.
However, Song Shuhang still took the enlightenment stone out of his pocket and gave it to Nine Lanterns.
“Oh, where did your upper part go? How come there is only a small green onion shoot left?” Nine Lanterns asked curiously after receiving the stone with the onion spirit on top of it.
“Hehe, a small incident happened,” Song Shuhang said, somewhat embarrassed.
Seeing that Song Shuhang didn’t want to speak further, Nine Lanterns didn’t press him for an answer. She lifted the enlightenment stone and continuously poked Lady Onion with her finger!
Lady Onion was another stain in her life.
She had to poke her ruthlessly!