Chapter 18: Be More Self-Aware—Know What You Ought to Do!

Ji Yaoguang watched Lin Zhao sneakily whisper a few words: “The grapes can be sold one by one. Although it’s a bit troublesome, more people will definitely buy them.” “These vines can be used for cuttings; consider it a little bonus for you.” “The leaves are a fresh green, showing their freshness. Quickly let someone see these newly grown, juicy grapes.” “That proves your fruit is the best!” “This way, other fruits can be bundled and sold more easily as well.” “Combine them into fruit baskets; even the hard-to-sell ones will go together…” “Of course, I’ve given you so many ideas; how can you still dare to undercut my price?”

Ten minutes later, not only had Lin Zhao sold the grapes at prices even higher than those at the stall, but the buyer also voluntarily handed him a burlap pouch containing over a hundred small blue shells. Tossing it lightly in his hand, it made a crisp, rustling sound.

“Ah Zhao, you’re amazing! You’ve worked hard~” Ji Yaoguang admired him and stepped forward to hand over a bundle of black-red mulberries wrapped in green leaves.

Lin Zhao felt pleased and accepted it with satisfaction, tossing the money pouch back to him. “Here, a reward from me!”

Ji Yaoguang reached out, smiling, “Thanks for the reward.”

Lin Zhao nodded contentedly. “Gather some more fruit. I’ll go sell a bit farther away.”

Ji Yaoguang shook his head. “It’s almost dark. They’re starting to pack up their stalls. We should find a place to rest soon.”

“So lively a place—why isn’t there a night market?” Lin Zhao asked curiously.

Ji Yaoguang pointed to the purple sun in the sky. Only then did Lin Zhao notice that the sun outside here was completely different from the one above the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea; this one actually set.

“What’s the principle behind this?” Lin Zhao was surprised. “Could it be that the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea and the Witch Kingdom are not under the same sky? Are there two suns?”

Ji Yaoguang shook his head. “I don’t know, but the Dàshānchá sect’s several investigations in the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea suggest that the sun there might be a shadow cast by the sun above the Witch Kingdom. That place is the backside of the earth. Perhaps the fallen god’s bones trapped part of the purple sun’s power, forming the purple sun over the Vast Sea. So, in the Witch Kingdom, we get nights to breathe.”

Lin Zhao was even more puzzled. “Without the purple sun, there’d be no solar corrosion. Isn’t that better? Why not open markets at night then?”

Ji Yaoguang smiled. “Well, stay here with me and watch the sun set; you’ll understand.”

He took Lin Zhao’s hand and tapped the tall wall of the Great Wall. When the coin slot popped out, he generously tossed in one hundred and twenty shell coins.

Soon, a square stone appeared on the wall. Ji Yaoguang pulled him up onto it, and it rose like an elevator, swiftly carrying them to the top of the Great Wall.

The wall’s surface was very wide, paved with dark green-black stones forming a twenty-lane-wide avenue. Numerous rooms surrounded it, making it look less like a wall and more like a very long cliffside hotel.

Ji Yaoguang expertly guided him to a small building three stories high, shaped like a large, plump mushroom. “Come on up. The sunset here is the best.”

The mushroom-shaped roof was soft and plump, like a sofa. They sat side by side, facing the sunset.

Outside the Great Wall, the sky howled with fierce winds. Inside, it was quiet with only a gentle breeze. Far in the distance lay an endless, desolate wasteland, showing no obvious abnormalities. Lin Zhao watched the purple sun slowly set but didn’t find it particularly beautiful.

But in the next moment, he saw a grayish aura boiling above the wasteland. The earth stirred as countless corpses burst from the soil at dusk, their eyes glowing with purple flames. Like a tide, they surged toward the Great Wall.

The last glimmer of purple light shone over this tide, with scattered purple flames like a sea, presenting a morbid, eerie beauty at the end of the world.

Even the wall beneath their feet gradually became shrouded in an ominous gray, but at the same time, clusters of flames ignited atop the Great Wall. These fires not only drove away the gray gloom but seemed like a blazing dragon, igniting hope and the light of civilization.

Warriors clad in full metal helmets and bear skull masks stood silently before each fire, holding long spears, guarding the flames that protected their homeland.

Strange winged beasts occasionally attacked the fires but were slain by the warriors’ spears and reduced to ashes in the flames.

“If you hand me those ashes, I can still grow branches from them,” Ji Yaoguang whispered to Lin Zhao on the mushroom seat. “These ashes are also income for the Di Kingdom. Five portions of ashes can be exchanged for a portion of branches. Sometimes they even hunt beasts and living corpses specifically to trade for branches.”

Lin Zhao was surprised. “You take kickbacks from them?”

“How can you say that?” Ji Yaoguang complained. “My Qingmu Mountain Guard under my command has to live too. More than half the income goes to the Father God. The annual surplus only helps my totem grow a bit. My totem leaves can dispel disasters and heal wounds, and they’re all taken as military supplies. You don’t know how ruthless they are. Every year, my forest is stripped bare; not a single leaf remains. When harvesting branches, they pretend to break good ones and then collect the ‘bad’ branches…”

“You’re basically a money-making machine,” Lin Zhao gasped. “Then why were they willing to exile you to the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea?”

Ji Yaoguang’s expression darkened. “Because I got corrupted. When I left, the earth’s energy became unbalanced. The Witch Kingdom suffered heavy losses. Father God was very angry with me.”

“Your totem is so important, a national treasure. Who let you be so careless?” Lin Zhao snorted but didn’t pry further. Instead, he looked toward the tide and worried, “Shouldn’t we go help?”

Looking at those living corpse monsters, Lin Zhao saw they were far inferior to those in the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea. Their composition was highly flammable and explosive. Lin Zhao was sure that if he unleashed the Golden Crow, it would cause a nuclear-like explosion.

Ji Yaoguang’s expression turned serious. “Ah Zhao, while you’re in the Witch Kingdom, before meeting my Father God, try not to show your Golden Crow to others. Otherwise, I may not be able to protect you.”

Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow. “You’re so strong and still can’t protect me?”

Ji Yaoguang sighed lightly. “This is under the Witch Kingdom’s rule. I can’t use my true totem. Even ignoring the risk of corruption, the power of my totem alone could destroy half of the Di Kingdom. So, I can only use the lesser Nuo Face and Heavenly Eye totems, which aren’t strong in attack. My current strength probably ranks beyond ten thousand in the entire Witch Kingdom.”

Of course, in the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea, he didn’t worry about pollution or accidental harm. But in the Witch Kingdom, that was absolutely forbidden.

Lin Zhao became interested. “What about me? Where would my strength rank?”

Ji Yaoguang was stumped and after a long pause, under Lin Zhao’s urging, hesitantly said, “If it’s the annual newcomer rankings for each sect, you’d probably be in the top hundred in each. Of course, your strength isn’t in attack but in purifying corrosion. The Witch Kingdom has too many fighters; they don’t lack you.”

“Thanks for the consolation, but don’t bother,” Lin Zhao said unhappily. “I haven’t grown yet. I just hatched recently. This strength is pretty good.”

“Right on!” Ji Yaoguang quickly agreed.

Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow. “When you say you can’t protect me, do you mean I’ll become some prized guest that everyone fights over, and you as an exile will be pushed aside?”

Ji Yaoguang fell silent, then reluctantly said, “If that really happens, that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Lin Zhao kicked him. “Speak plainly, why the whispers?”

Ji Yaoguang had no choice but to explain: “Ah Zhao, although you have a human form, you’re a pure-blood Golden Crow... If someone kills you, uses your flesh and blood to seal your soul, and performs a ritual, you would become someone else’s totem…”

“What!?” Lin Zhao’s voice suddenly rose. “I’m clearly human! How could that be…”

He suddenly stopped, feeling uncertain about whether he truly was human, since the simulator showed he had Golden Crow blood.

Ji Yaoguang whispered, “So, try not to summon your Golden Crow, at least don’t reveal it until your bloodline fully awakens.”

“Does no one manage this?” Lin Zhao almost shouted. “They just watch as others kill the birds—no, kill people?”

Ji Yaoguang was helpless. “All living beings have good and evil, right and wrong. There’s no law that can control everything. You even have the potential to become the next Witch God. With such temptation, how many can resist?”

A chill spread through Lin Zhao’s heart. Looking around, he suddenly felt this place was even more dangerous than the Demonic Ruins Vast Sea.

But he couldn’t help asking, “What about you? How do you resist?”

Ji Yaoguang thought for a moment, then lowered his head shyly. “You’re so adorable, I barely have time to like you.”

After being lonely for so long in the Vast Sea, at first, he didn’t realize it. But later, every day, what he looked forward to most was when the little bird came to peck at him...

Lin Zhao gave him a disdainful glance. “Who asked you to like me? Come here, let me touch you.”

Ji Yaoguang was stunned, a faint blush rising. “No, you misunderstood. I didn’t mean that kind of like.”

“Mistake or not, let me take a sip to strengthen my bloodline,” Lin Zhao reached out to touch his face. “Remember, behave yourself from now on!”