The Divine Martial Stars

At first sight, Li Mu thought he was deceived by his eyes.

“No way!”

“Though General is quite one of the kind, it is a dumb ass, a stupid dog! When it was living in the Randengsi Village back on Earth, it led a gang of rural dogs to turn the village upside down. It is a bully among dogs. Yet, no matter in what aspect, it is just a normal dog. How could it come to this planet?”

“A dog can also do space travel?”

“Or else, the old faker also sent General to this Martial Art Star?”

“How can it be?”

Recalling the dead-tired image of the old faker after he opened the portal to see Li Mu off, Li Mu doubted he had any strength left to deliver the Huskie over, too.

So, at that moment, Li Mu was sort of at a loss.

“You are…” He stared at that two-tone eyed Huskie and muttered in bewilderment.

Right at that moment, the Huskie also caught sight of Li Mu. Its pupils abruptly contracted as if it had seen a ghost. It let out some barks and then hurriedly added, “Woof, woof, woof! You must have mistaken me as somebody else, no, some dog else. I’m not General.” With that, it whipped around and made to leave.

Li Mu laughed.

“You just exposed your identity with that clumsy denial.”

“Who else could you be other than the damn General?”

“You even learned to talk on the alien planet?”

Li Mu swiftly grabbed General over, swung a leg over the dog’s back, and pressed, “Spill it! How did you get here?”

“Woof! Help!” The Huskie cried, “Somebody needs help here… No, some dog needs help! A man is killing a dog!”

At that time, more beams of light glinted beside them.

Guo Yuqing, Qiu Yin, and Shangguan Yuting materialized and walked out from the Everlasting Heaven.

“Third brother!”

“Haha, Mu, you get out, too!”

“You are Li Mu?”

The three hailed him almost at the same time.

Li Mu laughed heartily and nodded at Guo Yuqing and Qiu Yin. But then, he felt something was wrong.

He swiveled his eyes at Shangguan Yuting. It was she who asked ‘You are Li Mu’. But her tone sounded odd, rather icy and condescending. The Shangguan Yuting he knew was a gentle and lovely girl. She had never taken that tone with him.

“Who are you staring at? Be careful, or I will gouge your eyes out,” Shangguan Yuting threated in the same frosty tone, her face carrying a hint of disgust. “Wake up, I am not her.”

Li Mu was surprised.

Guo Yuqing was surprised.

Qiu Yin was surprised, too.

Riding on the back of the dog, Li Mu was more dumbfounded than ever.

Shortly, he caught on the hint and asked, “Who are you then? Where did Ting’er go?”

“She can’t have been possessed by an old female ghost in the Everlasting Heaven, can she?”

“Who I am is none of your business,” Shangguan Yuting snapped, her chin held high, “I’m just living in Ting’er’s body for the time being. Anyway, who has approved you to call her Ting’er? You’d better get a clearer estimation of yourself and stop coaxing our Ting’er. She is a fairy maiden way out of your league. A humble creature in the secular world like you never stand a chance… Well, fine, fine, you talk to him yourself.”

Obviously, the last part was not for Li Mu.

A ray of light glistened on the fact of ‘Shangguan Yuting’.

Then, her express suddenly softened. A familiar aura also returned.

“Brother Mu,” called Shangguan Yuting. Her eyes were fixed upon Li Mu, her love about to flow out of her pupils like sweet sirup.

“Now… it seems to be normal.”

“But the other person who was talking in her body… what on earth is going on?”

“Ting’er, you…” Li Mu remarked when he was still on the back of the dog.

Shangguan Yuting immediately answered, “That’s Sister Mochou who was talking, not me… I got stuck in the relics of some fabulously decorated jade residences in the Everlasting Heaven and was in danger several times. I was nearly swallowed by Ghost Lords. It was Sister Mochou who rescued me…” She began to recount what had happened to her.

After hearing her explanation, Li Mu roughly understood the situation.

It turned out that when the girl entered the Everlasting Heaven, she was transported to an area of mysterious fabulous jade residences, where was full of danger. The place was hunted by ancient ghosts. Due to the girl’s special body constitution, she was coveted and chased by those ghosts. She got cornered on multiple occasions and almost became a meal of the ghosts. Later, when she was hunted by several Ghost Lords, she panicked and ran into a white jade house she picked at random. Surprisingly, that was a right move she made in that desperate situation. The spirit of a female fairy had been sealed in that white jade house for 10,000 years. Her name was Bai Mochou. She had terrifying powers. By temporarily lodging in Shangguan Yuting’s body, she wiped out all the Ghost Lords. Afterward, she led Shangguan Yuting to meet good karma more than once. In the end, the two left the Everlasting Heaven together.

The only problem was the fairy named Bai Mochou had no substantial body, so she could only stay in Shangguan Yuting’s body for a while.

Having heard her out, Li Mu, who was still riding the dog, scratched his forehead and did not know where to start his comment.

“Er, are you sure she is just staying with you temporarily instead of possessing you?” Li Mu asked, gazing at Shangguan Yuting with an overwhelmed look.

He knew the girl was too kind and gullible. She had no idea of the dark side of the world. She might be helping the scammer counting the profit without realizing she had been sold out. The more Li Mu learned about the fairy named Bai Mochou, the more doubtful he was in light of her integrity.

Despite that, when Li Mu examined Shangguan Yuting more carefully, he knew the girl’s strength had increased considerably. That was for sure. By that time, her aura had already become the same as those who completed the Full Achievement of the Natural Realm. It was a striking improvement given her strength before she entered the Everlasting Heaven. Plus, aside from the progress perceivable, there must be much invisible advancement she attained, such as Cultivation Methods, combat experience, practice resources. The latter might be more impressive.

Given that the dilapidated Taoist field Li Mu wandered in already offered him a host of Cultivation Methods and treasures, he could imagine how many treasures Shangguan Yuting found in that area of fabulous jade residences. Only by comparing the names of the two places, Li Mu knew the latter was a lot fancier than the former.

“Sister Bai is very kind to me. Once she attains the Full Achievement of her cultivation, she will be able to produce her own physical body, and then she won’t need to share the body with me.” Shangguan Yuting said earnestly.

But Li Mu sharply pinpointed the logical flaw in that explanation. “What if the so-called fairy never gets to attain the Full Achievement of her cultivation? What if she is slowly influencing you and consuming your soul so that at least your body will be hers…”

“Humph, a knave always thinks of others in terms of his own desires.” Shangguan Yuting’s voice suddenly turned chilling and dignified again. “I know it! I know you would say something like that to sow discord between Ting’er and me. Well, you wish! Ting’er won’t believe your words… She is such an intelligent girl. A brat like you should stay away from her, in case you tarnish Ting’er’s innocence.”

It was Bai Mochou speaking again.

Li Mu was vexed but amused, too.

“When I met Ting’er, you were still sealed in that white jade residence. Now, you tell me she is your Ting’er. How ridiculous is that!”

Given his way, Li Mu would have launched a strike at Bai Mochou by the time.

But the situation forbade that… his target was living in Ting’er’s body.

“What if Ting’er gets injured, too?”

All kinds of devil-repelling methods or ghost-diverting magic crammed into Li Mu’s mind all at once. He knew he needed to figure out a way to drive that Bai Mochou away from Ting’er’s body. If not, sooner or later, the whole situation would end up with either of the two outcomes— one was Shangguan Yuting’s body was fully taken, the other was Shangguan Yuting’s spirit was led astray… Neither of them was desirable anyway.

“Let’s leave this place first.”

Guo Yuqing suggested.

Li Mu nodded in agreement.

Qiu Yin was also eager to leave.

He never knew he would get caught up in the Everlasting Heaven for so long. He wondered what had happened outside, and worried about the result of the duel between his master and Dao Chongyang, which was supposed to be clear by the time. He was anxious to know the details.

“Hold on, I still think something is not right…” Li Mu scratched his nose.

“Woof! Course something is not right! Buddy, can you dismount me now? I’m not your ride,” protested the Huskie named General in desperation.

Li Mu instantly jumped off the silly dog and said, “Right, where is Jiang Qiubai?”

Guo Yuqing’s face hardened at that question. Seconds later, he answered, “The Source Energy of my junior fellow apprentice has almost been burnt out. I had to drown him in the Day-and-night Spring to keep him alive. He can’t have recovered during the past six months or so. I could only leave him there. Perhaps, I will bring him out next time the Everlasting Heaven opens. The Day-and-night Spring can replenish his Source Energy. It’s just that that takes quite a long time.”

As Li Mu brought up Jiang Qiubai, Guo Yuqing certainly felt a little morose.

Li Mu nodded again.

Although Jiang Qiubai kidnapped Shangguan Yuting and caused so much trouble… For the sake of his big brother, he decided to let bygones be bygones. Anyway, Jiang Qiubai was already more dead than alive by then.

“Let’s go.” Li Mu led the others to tread down the white jade stairs floating in midair and headed for the tunnel in the Wolf Temple.

The Huskie suddenly halted in its tracks as the others took merely a few steps and barked, “Woof! I have a feeling that something is missing.”

Li Mu and the others looked at one another and ascertained that no one was absent.

Yet, at that precise moment, at the foot of the Nine Heaven Gates a little away, another beam of light flashed.

Then, a little girl about five years old appeared without clothes.

The little girl’s skin was snow-white, smooth like white jade. Her facial features were exquisite. In particular, her eyes were very large, almost unrealistically large. The pair of her eyes were all bright and shining like two deep and clean springs. She looked so adorable that people could not help feeling protective towards her at first glance. The little girl was less than four feet, but her long black hair was nearly five feet, which was draped down the floor at the rear. She seemed cute and clever. Her feet were also delicate and snow-white, making her look like a snow fairy who accidentally fell to the secular world.

Li Mu looked sideways at Guo Yuqing.

Guo Yuqing turned to look at Qiu Yin.

Qiu Yin swiveled his eyes towards Yuan Hou.

Yuan Hou looked over its shoulder to stare at Shangguan Yuting.

But Shangguan Yuting threw it a harsh look and bellowed, “Why staring at me? I don’t know her… You damn monkey, you are a male, too. Think I don’t get it? Well, if you keep staring, I’ll scoop your eyes out!”

Thus, Yuan Hou aggrievedly looked back at Li Mu.

Li Mu threw his hands up and snarled, “Why looking at me? I don’t know here, either…”

But before those words died away, that little girl let out a whoop and began sprinting towards Li Mu with. Her face was written with joy, her arms flung wide open. “Daddy, give me a hug!”

Li Mu was surprised.

Guo Yuqing, Qiu Yin, and Yuan Hou shifted their gaze at Li Mu simultaneously, all looking astonished and speechless.

Shangguan Yuting… no, Bai Mochou gave a cold laugh. She put on an ‘I-know-it-all’ face and scolded with loathing, “Didn’t you say you have not married? Now you’ve even got a child? Surely, you are one of those unreliable jerks. Sister Ting’er shouldn’t have missed you for those days and put in so many good words for you. Turns out that you cheated on her and have a child with another woman… Humph, you love rat!”

Li Mu was speechless.

“What’s all that about?”

He cast a gloomy look at the cute girl running at him, stopped her from jumping into his arms by pressing a hand over her head and said, “Wait a second. What did you call me?”

“Daddy, hug!” Repeated the cute girl, her voice crispy and naive, her smile pure and unworldly. She gazed up at Li Mu, affection that could only be aroused by genuine kinship rippling about. She stretched out her arms, waiting for Li Mu’s hug.

That look could really melt his heart.

Before Li Mu realized it, he already held the little girl in his arms. But then, with a blank look, he said, “Sweetheart, didn’t you make a mistake? Who are you anyway?”