Chapter 386
Over time, the image of Li Mo would naturally fade in the hearts of the people in the southern border. The things he once asked them to do, like clearing mountains and dredging rivers, would gradually be overlooked.
After all, he didn’t intimidate the people, and the offerings he required were nothing like those of traditional deities. The people didn’t even have a set way to follow.
"But the southern border is so vast. How can I manage it all by myself?"
Li Mo felt a bit of a headache.
He could use an external avatar to replace his true self, but the problem was that his cultivation level wasn’t sufficient to support it, and the limitations of the avatar were quite significant.
Not to mention...
How many hairs would he have to pull out in a day?
"Just imagine me bald..."
Li Mo shook off the terrifying thought and went to the kitchen to whip up a simple breakfast. Today, it was hand-pulled noodles with Fudi Hongmei (福地红莓, literally "Blessed Land Red Berry").
Hmm, Fudi Hongmei looked a lot like strawberries, sweet and sour, and it also helped relieve fatigue and refresh the mind.
Having a few in the morning was quite delightful.
As he stepped out, he saw Ying Bing sitting there, her gaze distant as she stared at the opposite side.
Qin Yuzhi was gazing up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, lost in thought.
"Have some fruit for breakfast," Li Mo said casually, placing the Fudi Hongmei on the table.
He scratched his neck—why was it itchier today?
Something was off; with his physique, he couldn’t possibly be sensitive, could he?
"Pfft!"
Qin Yuzhi picked up a Fudi Hongmei just as she saw Li Mo scratching his neck, and the water she had just swallowed sprayed out.
"What is this?"
"Strawberry! It tastes great—sweet and sour, just like me."
Li Mo found the name the system provided a bit awkward.
"I... I don’t like fruit."
"?"
And so began a rather confusing breakfast.
Li Mo, with his keen eyes, noticed that Ying Bing’s hair was loose, her dark strands fluttering in the breeze, brushing against her lips multiple times, almost slipping into her mouth.
So he casually said, "Bing, your hair is loose. Let me help you."
"!"
Ying Bing’s serene eyes trembled slightly.
"I can do it myself."
"Your hands are all curled up like that. Is it because you’re cold?"
Li Mo casually took her jade hairpin, twisted the ends of her hair, and then naturally coiled it up.
After finishing, he was momentarily stunned.
How strange—why was he so skilled at this?
Could this be a hidden talent?
"Ahem, ahem, ahem!"
Qin Yuzhi, witnessing this, nearly choked on her noodles, almost losing her breath.
"What’s wrong with you?" Li Mo asked curiously.
"I was just... wandering around last night."
"Wandering where?"
Qin Yuzhi, feeling guilty, replied, "In my dreams. And then, I accidentally—definitely not on purpose—wandered into little Bing’s dream."
Ying Bing’s heart tightened.
Sure enough, that Qin Yuzhi wasn’t originally from her dream!
Li Mo became interested and asked with a smile, "What kind of dream did she have? It wasn’t another nightmare, was it?"
"No, quite the opposite. She dreamed about you."
Qin Yuzhi glanced at her, then at him, shaking her head seriously.
"It’s nothing. It was just a very ordinary dream." Ying Bing’s expression was blank, but her fingers gripping the chopsticks couldn’t help but tighten.
"What kind of dream?" Li Mo was genuinely curious.
"She had you..."
Crack—
The chopsticks snapped in Qin Yuzhi’s hand. Although she was at the Xuan realm, she felt a chill run down her neck.
"Um, she had you under her control and gave you a good lesson, leaving you with no power to fight back."
"??"
A little question mark popped up over Li Mo’s head.
This was a far cry from what he had imagined.
Why would Ying Bing, who seemed perfectly fine, want to teach him a lesson?
Besides, he was a formidable figure himself, ranked higher than her in the realm of the divine hammer, the fourth in the potential dragon ranking.
How could he possibly have no power to fight back?
Was that even reasonable?
---
Chapter 426: The Discrepancy Between Dreams and Reality at the Divine Weapon Peak
"What exactly did she do to leave me with no power to fight back?"
Li Mo scratched his neck, glancing at Ying Bing, who was slightly bowing her head, clutching a large doll.
Did Ying Bing have some secret weapon?
It was well-known that her martial arts skills were unfathomable. If there were techniques he hadn’t seen before, that would make sense.
"Did she use a sword?"
"No."
"Fist techniques? Palm techniques? Secret arts?"
But strangely, no matter how Li Mo asked, Qin Yuzhi just shook her head, leaving him even more puzzled.
If she didn’t use a sword or secret arts, how did she manage to subdue him?
"This is odd. It can’t be leg techniques."
Li Mo turned to look at Ying Bing, only to find her picking up a Fudi Hongmei, completely forgetting her earlier claim of not eating fruit. She gently bit into it, her lips, like shattered jade, turning a delicate pink.
Wait!
He recalled the miraculous martial arts of Tian Miao, as if it were a divine decree, a mouthful of heavenly law.
"Did she use her mouth?"
"!"
Qin Yuzhi’s eyes widened. This wasn’t what she had said; it was Li Mo’s own guess.
He could guess that?
This kid was definitely more than a little off!
Ying Bing stared blankly at the half-eaten Fudi Hongmei. The once hazy image in her mind suddenly became clear.
Her neck flushed with a rosy hue, as if stained by the berry juice.
The coolness of her expression began to melt away.
"Things in dreams can sometimes defy logic."
"True."
Seeing her like this, Li Mo thought he might have accidentally hit the nail on the head.
Then he turned to Qin Yuzhi, "Qin, you can not only control dreams but also traverse into others' dreams?"
"Yeah, I mentioned that yesterday."
Qin Yuzhi snapped back to reality and nodded, "This requires a deep understanding of the Dream Path and reaching the fourth realm of inner scenery to achieve."
"In today’s world, I might be the only one capable of dreamwalking."
As she spoke, Qin Yuzhi’s expression turned wistful.
"Back in the day, when I took over the Divine Sect, the Yunmeng Hall was already in decline. There were only about ten dreamwalkers, and not a single dream weaver. Managing the power of the people was beyond our means; we could only rely on education and propaganda. When I went to find the sect leader at that time, guess what he said?"
"Finding someone with the talent for the Dream Path is incredibly difficult. There’s no one available."
Listening to Qin Yuzhi recount her past while slurping noodles, Li Mo began to understand.
It turned out that during the era of the Huamog Sect or the Huanshen Sect, managing the power of the people relied on dreams.
Dreamwalkers could traverse dreams and deliver messages to the people.
For instance, pretending to be someone’s distant relative.
The more skilled dream weavers could even weave dreams from scratch.
The efficiency of managing the power of the people was remarkably high, so much so that the ancestral deity of Yunmeng was revived.
"In less than a century, under my leadership, the Yunmeng Hall regained everything. Hmph, without some real skill, do you think just anyone can become a sect leader?"
Qin Yuzhi was full of spirit, but then suddenly remembered that even the Yunmeng Hall was no more.
Let alone leading a team, the current Divine Sect was barely a gang.
"Leader, are you interested in returning to your old profession?"
At this moment, after some contemplation, Li Mo said earnestly.
"How would I return to my old profession?"
"You know, our Wanxiang Xianzong has now formed a strategic partnership with the Huamog Sect. A portion of the power of the people in the southern border now falls under our business scope."
"But the main members of our sect, aside from me and the Saintess, only understand pictographic martial arts and severely lack experience in managing the power of the people."
At this point, Qin Yuzhi couldn’t help but feel that Li Mo was indeed something special.
He had a little Bing and dared to deceive the head of the Beast Hall along with the Huamog Saint!
He was even troubled by having too much power of the people.
After pondering for a moment, Qin Yuzhi asked seriously, "I can help you, but the power of the people is not an ordinary matter. It’s deeply intertwined with the current Dayu Dynasty, the Huamog Sect, and even the Nine Heavens Immortals. Can you handle it?"
"I’m not absorbing it myself."
Li Mo shook his head.
"Then what is it?"
"One day, I’ll strive to make it so that I can leave others with no power to fight back without lifting a finger."
"???"
Hmm.
Once the fighting spirit of the Great Sage reaches a certain level, the divine intent released can soar to the skies, penetrating heaven and earth.
In the face of ordinary opponents of the same realm, they truly would have no power to fight back.
Ying Bing’s serene eyes reflected the figure of the young man.
Seeing his fighting spirit soaring, she finally realized that she had overthought things.
He probably wasn’t pretending to be foolish; he genuinely didn’t know.
"Right, he’s using the power of the people to cultivate."
If she lost again in the next ranking...
It wouldn’t just be a matter of whether she knew about that dream.
If it came to that...
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