My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 177: Can’t Wake Up

The elder Tree Spirits finally understood how the two individuals managed to dispel the Evil Spirit of the North Mountain.

It seems likely that a powerful Taoist priest was responsible for exorcising the evil, while the other one was tasked with carrying water and wiping off sweat.

Regardless, the crisis is now resolved, and as they were about to step forward to express their gratitude, they saw Li Rui hurriedly run to the remains of the blood-evil Vine Spirit, searching everywhere.

"Damn it, why isn't there a fourth clue?"

The Banyan Tree Spirit Elder approached and asked, "What is the Taoist priest searching for?"

Li Rui waved his hand: "It's nothing. But it seems my guess was correct, that scholar is indeed not a good person."

"Not a good person?! I heard what he said made a lot of sense, and he didn't look like someone with ulterior motives?"

You all are just too naive!

Li Rui said helplessly, "To be honest, Elder, that person is actually Zuo Qiutian. The Vine Junior earlier must have been tampered with and controlled beforehand."

The Banyan Tree Spirit Elder lamented, "Ah, that Vine Junior was sensible, kind, and brave since childhood, truly a... wait? Did you say Zuo Qiutian?!"

Your reaction sure is slow!

Li Rui nodded again, helplessly.

Apparently, several members of the Elder Council had heard of his name, given that he managed to escape the pursuit of the Shenxiao Palace and committed numerous bloody crimes. Just the record alone is "glorious" enough.

"But why would such a fierce individual come to our place and impersonate a teacher of Jingyang Academy?"

Li Rui had already figured it out: "Elder, think about it, he set up mechanisms in places like the Five-Colored Cave to let Evil Qi spread, yet there hasn't been any other incident, probably because what he intends to do requires a long time to complete."

"Moreover, he isn't the type to shy away from bloodshed, so what he plans must be substantial. Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but the most valuable thing in this place that he covets is only...."

The Banyan Tree Spirit Elder was shocked: "Madam!"

Li Rui said earnestly, "Indeed, it must be the Peach Blossom Goddess. This place is under her protection, so the Yin Sha cannot invade beyond the North Gate, but to block the Evil Qi, there will surely be some consumption."

"Too despicable!"

Hea Yang finally reacted, "That damned Zuo Qiutian targeted the Peach Blossom Goddess's weakened slumber on purpose, and thus set up a killing formation on purpose."

Li Rui said, "If I'm not mistaken, the key issue still lies with the Vine Junior. It was possessed by an Evil Spirit today, there must be a reason."

"Quick, call Shen Huang."

The Banyan Tree Spirit immediately sent someone to bring over the Ginseng Spirit, who began crying again over the death of Vine Junior.

The elder Tree Spirit guarding the gate comforted for a while, then asked, "Shen Huang, you were closest to Vine Junior, please tell us what exactly it did today. This is important, as it concerns the safety of the Goddess."

Upon hearing it was related to the Peach Blossom Goddess, Shen Huang, though heartbroken, immediately answered tearfully, "It, I also don't know what happened. It ran in from the North Gate, and in panic told me to kill him, saying there's no time, and then the Evil Qi emerged from its body, sob sob~"

Li Rui frowned in thought and asked again, "Did he show any unusual behavior recently?"

Shen Huang shook his head: "Nothing unusual, he seemed the same as usual. Just a bit more silent recently, that's all.

Li Rui asked again, "Anything else? Did he do anything out of the ordinary, or go to any unusual places?"

Shen Huang shook his head: "No, he was a guard, usually just standing guard at the North Gate and offering tributes to the Goddess, basically doing nothing else."

Li Rui's expression changed: "The Forest Spirits here can visit the Peach Blossom Goddess at any time?"

The Banyan Tree Spirit proudly explained: "The Goddess treats us like her own children, so naturally, we can visit her anytime, even when she's not in slumber, she never refuses us."

Proud my foot! It's precisely because of this that trouble is brewing!

"Hurry, take me to see her, lives are at stake!"

The Banyan Tree Spirit hesitated for a moment, but still chose to lead the way, after all, this wasn't an ordinary time.

Li Rui initially hadn't thought of it because he was thinking with a human mindset, assuming that someone like the Peach Blossom Goddess, akin to a tribe leader or even an ancestor figure, wouldn't be easily approached by just anyone, let alone when she's in a weakened state due to slumber.

He hadn't realized the situation differed among Spirit Monsters.

To be accurate, the one who truly awakened spiritual intellect here was the original elder; without her, the other Forest Spirits wouldn't have consciousness at all.

So their relationship isn't just mother-child in name; it truly is mother and child.

A son wanting to see his mother can naturally see her at any time.

But this gave Zuo Qiutian a chance. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Li Rui speculates that before that guy left here in the past, he had set up Evil Qi formations in three places to weaken the Peach Blossom Goddess and speed up the disturbance of Spiritual Qi here.

Moreover, he used some means to control the Vine Junior, having it unknowingly act as an insider here, and visiting places in the North Mountain where Evil Qi gathered every day, then going to offer tributes, slowly leading Evil Qi to erode.

The reason for all this trouble is because that Zuo desired the corrupted version of the Peach Blossom Goddess again, and it had to be alive.

So despite having the ability to slaughter everyone here, he didn't do so. Instead, he disguised himself as someone from Jingyang Academy to deceive the naive Forest Spirits.

This way, the commotion was kept minimal, outsiders who didn't enter the mountain wouldn't be able to know the changes here, allowing the setup to effectively last long.

And today, the Vine Junior, likely when carrying Evil Qi with its flesh, was eroded by the Evil Spirit, momentarily freeing itself from the control of Secret Techniques. That's why it asked Shen Huang to kill it, but couldn't clarify, getting controlled by the Evil Spirit instead, and was eventually exorcised by Li Rui using the big shield.

The group hurried to the deepest part of the Holy Land, where the Peach Blossom Goddess was in slumber.

There's naturally no sleeping beauty here, just a massive peach tree blooming with pink flowers, glowing, lighting up the area, extraordinarily splendid.

"So red."

Hea Yang couldn't help but exclaim, feeling like these flowers are more vivid than normal peach blossoms.

"It's probably related to Zuo Qiutian's methods," Li Rui said.

"But what should we do now?" Hea Yang asked again.

The Banyan Tree Spirit said, "No worries, let's wake the Goddess first, then explain the situation. She will certainly have a way to eliminate the influence."

Li Rui knitted his brows and looked at the gatekeeping Tree Spirit Elder: "Didn't you say it's impossible to awaken her due to low mana?"

The elder glanced upward.

Li Rui understood then, this old Tree Spirit didn't want to do it before; the claim of being unable to awaken her was entirely to fool him.

The Banyan Tree Spirit guessed the reason and explained, "After the Goddess fell into slumber, it indeed shouldn't be easy to awaken her. Do not blame the Taoist, think about it, even when the North Mountain faced Evil disturbances, we didn't attempt to wake her, right?"

Li Rui felt it made sense, he wasn't really concerned initially.

Thus, several elders each stood around the large peach tree, muttering words.

Then, green radiance surged from them, bit by bit flying towards the trunk of the peach tree.

Li Rui gestured for Hea Yang to retreat, he took out the Vajra Umbrella, prepared for a sudden boss fight.

He worried this Peach Blossom Spirit might have already been influenced by Zuo Qiutian, turned into an enemy.

However, after some time, the elders turned panicked and frightened.

"Taoist! The Goddess can't wake up!"