Chapter 17 - Deeper In

Chapter 17 - Deeper In.

Su Qing knew... the woman was definitely going to say some more pleasantries.

She couldn't be bothered to listen and just turned to coil up in a corner.

As for what kind of life the mother and daughter would have in the future...

Su Qing didn't know, nor could she be bothered to think about it.

She had already done everything she could...

Even if both mother and daughter met with misfortune in the end, her conscience would be clear.

All Su Qing sought was a clear conscience.

The mother and daughter were naturally very grateful to Su Qing in their hearts.

But they both knew they had nothing with which to repay her.

So, they could only offer words of thanks...

Yet even with this, they both felt they weren't doing a good job...

The reason was simple... it was because they knew too little.

Their words were just the same few phrases over and over...

The next day.

The morning sun sprinkled into the ruined temple through its roof.

Su Qing slowly opened her snake eyes, looking up at the mother and daughter who had woken up early.

The two of them seemed to be busy with something...

Su Qing took a closer look and saw the mother and daughter were playing with mud?

Or rather, they were sculpting a clay figure.

"What are you two doing?"

Su Qing felt that the two of them weren't just playing with mud because they had nothing better to do.

Hearing the voice behind her, the woman's hands trembled, and she quickly explained that they were sculpting a clay figure for Su Qing.

"What are you sculpting this for?"

"We have nothing to thank Lord Willow Immortal with... so we can only sculpt a clay figure to worship you."

"This is of no use to me, but do as you please."

Su Qing wasn't very interested in the path of incense faith...

Cultivating her own power was what she needed more.

The so-called incense gods... at their core, were nothing more than miserable wage earners.

Made by incense, broken by incense.

Without incense, they were nothing... Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

Of course, the most fundamental reason was Su Qing's modern way of thinking.

As a person from a future world, she was well aware of the attitude of the Flowery Kingdom towards gods.

Therefore, becoming an incense god meant being too constrained by people.

It was better to cultivate her own power...

Even if the results were much slower, it was more reassuring.

However, if this mother and daughter really wanted to worship her, Su Qing wouldn't mind...

It was just the incense from a few people, after all...

It wouldn't have much effect on her.

Just like that, a few more days passed.

The woman's condition looked very good, but the aura of death had still not faded.

And Su Qing was not planning to stay any longer.

Having seen too much death, Su Qing... no longer had the heart to watch this mother pass away.

Perhaps this was a bit cruel to the little girl.

But... she would have to face it sooner or later.

Before she left, the mother and daughter came to see Su Qing off.

The woman said, "Lord Willow Immortal's great kindness will never be forgotten!"

"Thank you, Lord Willow Immortal... If it weren't for you, my mother... probably wouldn't have been able to hold on."

The little girl seemed to still be deceived by her mother's healthy appearance.

But Su Qing didn't expose the truth...

"It was nothing... Live well. Don't waste my good intentions..."

Su Qing said, then disappeared into the forest.

Seeing Su Qing depart, the mother and daughter silently knelt and kowtowed...

"My girl... remember to always worship Lord Willow Immortal properly in the future." The woman rubbed her daughter's head and said, "Never forget Lord Willow Immortal's kindness."

"Yes! I will remember."

The little girl nodded emphatically.

The two returned to the ruined temple...

On the temple's altar, there was a single cyan scale.

Without needing to think, they knew this was something Su Qing had left behind...

They didn't know what it was for, but they stored it away carefully.

Something left by Lord Willow Immortal was definitely not useless. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

After leaving the ruined temple, Su Qing followed the route from her memory towards the Huai River.

Before long, Su Qing had arrived at the Huai River.

Looking at the rushing river water, Su Qing flicked her tongue...

And plunged headfirst into the Huai River.

She once again traveled along the Huai River...

Swimming towards the Qinling Mountains range.

Because the early spring river water was still quite cold, Su Qing still didn't like staying in it for long.

So, just as before, she would stop to rest every so often.

She also took the opportunity to ask where she was.

The local earth gods still had a good attitude towards Su Qing...

And didn't give her any trouble.

Occasionally encountering mountain spirits, Su Qing could chat with them for a bit.

There were many spirits in the mortal world, and most of them had decent temperaments.

At least, Su Qing rarely encountered spirits that casually ate humans...

Perhaps... it was because the places she passed through were all sparsely populated?

Just like that.

After traveling for about a month, stopping and starting, Su Qing finally entered the Qinling Mountains range.

Arriving at the Qinling Mountains, Su Qing could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Now that she was here, Mount Li wasn't very far away.

Even if she was clumsy and easily got lost, she wouldn't be unable to find where Mount Li was.

Besides... Su Qing had a map in her head!

Although she definitely couldn't take the official roads, it was perfectly fine as a reference.

After entering the deep Qinling Mountains.

Su Qing didn't get lazy, but continued to press forward along her planned route.

Unfortunately, the many strange and treacherous terrains within the Qinling Mountains gave Su Qing a major headache...

Her speed, naturally, couldn't be fast.

It was a good thing she was a demon; if a human were to walk this path, they would probably die in here.

Of course, humans had their own paths and wouldn't need to take her troublesome route.

Su Qing avoided populated areas, so naturally, she couldn't take the main roads.

Deeper into the Qinling Mountains. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

Su Qing also discovered that the number of demons was increasing.

Most of these demons had only just gained sentience; beings like Su Qing were rare...

As for great demons who could take human form...

Su Qing hadn't encountered any on her journey.

Those lesser demons were very interested in Su Qing, but she had no mind to pay attention to them.

She just focused on her journey...

This journey took three months...

After taking many wrong turns, Su Qing finally crossed the Qinling Mountains and headed towards the Mount Li range.

However, to avoid taking more wrong turns, she never missed an opportunity to ask for directions along the way.

"Fellow Daoist Snake, you are going to Mount Li?"

Before Su Qing was an old turtle.

This old turtle was a worshipped god of a village... not very powerful, but had lived for a very long time.

"Yes, I want to find the Old Mother of Mount Li and become her disciple."

"I see... But I'm afraid you will be disappointed, Fellow Daoist Snake. The Old Mother of Mount Li doesn't really accept disciples anymore. This old one has been here for three hundred years and has never heard of her having any plans to take on new disciples."

"But I have to try, don't I? We demons only have two paths: cultivating ourselves or the path of incense. I do not wish to walk the path of incense, so I can only cultivate myself. And to cultivate oneself, one definitely needs guidance from a senior."

The old turtle heard this, shook its head, and said, "I don't understand why you would chase the trivial and neglect the fundamental by cultivating yourself. What's wrong with being a minor mountain god like me?"

Su Qing shook her head upon hearing this and didn't explain further.

She just asked again, "Senior Turtle, please point me in the right direction."

"Forget it. The affairs of you youngsters are none of the business of a minor mountain god like me. Go that way, and once you're on Mount Li, just look for the Old Mother Temple!"

The old turtle shook its head and said:

"But I'll give you a word of warning... That Old Mother of Mount Li might not necessarily accept you as a disciple."

Su Qing nodded. How could she not know this?

She had long been prepared...

...for the possibility of returning in disappointment!

At worst, she could just go and try her luck with Patriarch Bodhi!

It would just mean a bit more walking, that's all.