"That's all, I think you just went through the ordeal of the phantom demon and it's your first time offending. You won't be an exception again. Okay, go back and cultivate yourself." Protector Yue said with a flick of his sleeve.
"Thank you so much, Protector Yue. Disciple, please leave." Shi Mu seemed to be pardoned and turned around and walked out of the Phantom Demon Palace.
After coming out of Xuanling Pagoda, Shi Mu looked up to the sky and exhaled a long breath, then the light on his body lit up and turned into a stream of red light and fled away.
After a moment, the red escaping light fell again. As soon as the light faded, his figure landed in his mansion.
As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw Qi Feng giving instructions to several servants. As soon as he saw Shi Mu, he quickly walked over, raised his hands to him, and said respectfully:
"Master, you are back!"
"Um."
Shi Mu responded casually, said no more, and walked towards the main house.
Before taking a few steps, Shi Mu heard Cai'er's figure ringing in his ears:
"Shitou, you're back so soon? Have you already passed through the magic path?"
Cai'er emerged from nowhere and landed on Shi Mu's shoulder with fluttering wings.
Shi Mu thought for a while and then nodded slowly.
"What's wrong with you, Shitou? Why do I think you're a little distracted? Is there some peerless beauty in the magic path that has taken away your soul?" Cai'er tilted her neck and looked at Shi Mu, jokingly.
Shi Mu was stunned for a moment, then seemed to remember something, and grabbed Cai'er, holding it in front of his eyes and looking at it carefully.
Cai'er's wings were caught in Shi Mu's hand, and she yelled in panic:
"Shitou, what are you going to do to me? Cai... Cai'er's meat is not delicious..."
When Shi Mu heard this, he couldn't help but smile, threw Cai'er out, and strode towards the main house.
…
The next day.
The news that Shi Mu passed the test of the Phantom Demon Path and was qualified to be promoted to a thousand-year disciple quickly spread throughout the entire Yellow Level area.
Shi Mu's fame suddenly rose to the top, even surpassing Zhao Jian who was taken away by Holy Lord Qinglan.
In the next few days, disciples who were familiar with him in the past, such as Qing Changtian, Ma Long, Zi Ling, etc., came to congratulate him one after another. Some people who had not had much interaction with him in the past also came to make friends with him.
, even several people ranked in the top ten on the Qinglan Ranking came to Shi Mu's house with heavy gifts.
Shi Mu didn't like this kind of social interaction. In addition to receiving the acquaintances in person, those he didn't know well could not be turned away and left to Qi Feng to handle.
The number of times increased, and Shi Mu was embarrassed and always avoided seeing him. He would occasionally socialize with each other, and he actually made many friends after going back and forth.
…
Half a month later, it was the official date for Shi Mu to be promoted to a thousand-year disciple, and all his new and old friends came to see him off.
For a time, nearly a hundred people gathered in front of Xuanling Pagoda.
"Brother Shi, after becoming a disciple for a thousand years, don't forget about me and wait. Come back and walk around more in your spare time." Qing Changtian said with a smile.
"Brother Shi, you must come back to see us often." Ma Long said.
"That's natural..." Shi Mu smiled.
Before Shi Mu finished speaking, he suddenly felt a strong wave of spiritual energy coming from him, and he quickly raised his head and looked into the sky.
Above everyone's heads, the originally blue sky with white clouds floating there suddenly opened a huge black hole, and a huge dragon claw covered with golden scales poked out of it.
Shi Mu's heart trembled, and he felt a very familiar aura coming from the dragon's claws.
"What is that?"
Just as everyone was exclaiming, the huge dragon claw swiped, and the crack widened in an instant, and then a huge nine-headed golden dragon with a body over a hundred feet suddenly poked out from it, and its nine huge heads let out a long roar at everyone.
"Ouch..."
After the nine-headed golden dragon roared, golden light shone all over his body, and his figure quickly shrank in the golden light, transforming into a tall man wearing a golden robe.
"Child Shi Mu, I wonder how you can escape this time?" the man in gold robe shouted coldly.
"Ao Zu..." Shi Mu gritted his teeth and said.
"I'm here today just to seek revenge on this son. I have nothing to do with anyone else. Get out of here, all the rest of you!" Ao Zu, a man in gold robe, shouted loudly, and the majestic aura of a powerful saint-level man suddenly surged out of his body.
, an unspeakable violent pressure swept towards everyone.
"Holy... Saint-level strong man... run away!" Everyone looked horrified when they saw this.
"Brother Shi, this person is definitely beyond our ability to compete with. If you can escape, run away as quickly as possible!" After Qing Changtian finished speaking, a green light flashed around his body, and he escaped first.
"Brother Shi, little sister, I have little strength, so I will leave first." After Ma Long said this, he turned into a ray of light and flew away far away.
"Brother Shi, take care!" Zi Ling said, her body lit up with purple light, and her figure disappeared.
Within a moment, not a single one of the hundreds of people who were originally surrounding him were left. Ao Zu turned a blind eye to the escape of these people and just stared at Shi Mu.
Shi Mu's face was calm, but he felt a little disappointed, and the look in his eyes dimmed a bit.
"Stone, even if everyone leaves you, I will not leave. I will fight side by side with you!" At this moment, Cai'er, who had been standing on Shi Mu's shoulder, suddenly waved her wings and said to Shi Mu
.
Shi Mu was stunned after hearing this, and the light in his eyes suddenly became a little brighter. He opened his mouth and took out the Ruyi iron rod and held it tightly in his hand.
"Old thief Ao Zu, come on, we will end it today!"
He yelled, waved his arm, and the Ruyi stick in his hand emitted a black light, and bursts of white air flowed around him.
It swept suddenly from left to right, and a black stick shadow dozens of feet in size pierced the void, sending out a terrifying and ear-piercing scream, and struck towards Ao Zu.
"It's a small trick!" Ao Zu said disdainfully.
He bent one hand into a claw and suddenly stretched it out towards Shi Mu. A huge golden dragon claw shot out of the air and smashed the huge stick shadow into pieces.
The golden dragon claw continued to reach down boldly without losing its strength, and grabbed Shi Mu.
The expression on Shi Mu's face remained unchanged. He rolled up the long stick in his hand, and several white tornadoes suddenly rushed up and bombarded the golden dragon claws. However, they dispersed with a blast, only making the dragon claws fall slightly faster.
A lag.
He took this opportunity to point his toes sharply and retreated.
At this moment, the golden dragon claw suddenly emitted a golden light, appeared above Shi Mu's head as if teleporting, and pressed him to the ground.
"Boom!"
After a loud noise, hundreds of cracks opened in the ground beneath Shi Mu, the largest of which extended directly to the white tower.
"puff"
Shi Mu tilted his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. His body was tightly held down by the dragon's claws. Although he was holding the Ruyi iron rod tightly in his hand, he was unable to swing it at all.
"Stone!" Cai'er flew down next to him and screamed sadly.
"Run away..." Shi Mu gritted his teeth and spat out a few words.
"I...I won't run away! Shitou, I think you are in doom this time. We are masters and slaves. You will treat me well. I will die with you!" Cai'er said firmly.
"You... well, since you want to die with me so much, then I will give you a ride." Shi Mu said with a sudden cold look on his face.
The light on his body suddenly brightened, and the fire surged out. As soon as the red ape appeared, he let out a roar, raised his thick arms upward, and pushed the golden dragon claw away a few points.
Shi Mu stood up, and the black light on the Ruyi stick in his hand flashed, and he swung it down, hitting Cai'er hard.
There was a muffled sound of "bang".
A ball of blood suddenly burst out from Cai'er's body.
"Ah...Stone, why!" Cai'er asked as her feathers were covered with blood.
"If it is really Cai'er, even though her cultivation level is low, she must have discovered something before the danger came, and she would have been the first to escape. However, when the golden dragon appeared just now, you were not alert at all, and now you actually said that you wanted to fight with her.
We live and die together? What’s more, the Holy Land of Qinglan is extraordinary, how can it be torn apart by you so easily?" Shi Mu said.
"Jie, Jie, Jie... I didn't expect that you wouldn't even trust the spiritual pet you live with day and night." Cai'er suddenly burst out into a weird laugh and said.
"You are wrong. I don't believe you just because I believe in Cai'er." After Shi Mu said this, his face hardened, and a blazing flame suddenly burned on the long black stick, and then he suddenly smashed it down.
Cai'er was hit by Shi Mu's stick, and it immediately dissipated into a burst of black smoke.
Shi Mu raised his head to look at the golden-robed Aozu floating in the air. At this moment, it also disintegrated and turned into a black mist. The surrounding trees, hills, and even the Xuanling Pagoda also dissipated.
Immediately afterwards, black mist surged up from all around, covering the surrounding space again.
Shi Mu's eyes were dazzled, and he found that the black crystal path appeared again under his feet.
In the following time, every time he took a step forward on the path of fantasy and magic, he would fall into an illusion.
These illusions are all closely linked to various memories of his past. Old friends from the past, such as Jin Xiaochai, Aunt Zhen, and even Liu An and others, appear one by one in the illusions.
These illusions were very real, and the contents they created often pointed directly at the weaknesses in his heart. Even with Shi Mu's mind, he often fell deeply into them unknowingly, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, and he almost fell into them completely on several occasions.
Fortunately, relying on his strong will and a little bit of understanding that often walks between life and death, he always wakes up at the last moment and breaks through step by step.
After an unknown amount of time, the scenery before Shi Mu's eyes dimmed. He once again broke through an illusion and returned to the black crystal trail.
At this moment, there was thick fog around him, and nothing could be seen clearly except the soles of his feet.
"The last step!"
Shi Mu took a breath, closed his eyes and adjusted his breath for a while, and murmured in his mouth.
Every time he experienced a fantasy, he faintly felt that his will became a little firmer, as if Fan Tie had experienced tempering again and again and became stronger.
He took a deep breath and continued to move forward.
However, as soon as this step was taken, a white light suddenly shone in front of the black path, and a white light door appeared out of thin air. (~^~)