Chapter 110 (Including the two-in-one nutrient solution for slaying immortals and flying away...)
"My soul is inside my head?"
The woman chewed on those words, looking confused.
Widow Zhang seemed to be wary of something; she slammed her forehead heavily on the ground and shut her mouth, no longer saying a word.
Du Ruohua initially attacked fiercely, coordinating well with the two children. However, the old man was, after all, a thousand-year-old flying zombie, and the newborn Du Ruohua's magical power was not on the same level as his. Before long, he was gradually defeated, showing signs of decline. Ping Yu and the paper figure were also nearing completion of their painting, and she held the compass in her hand to survey the area.
Kan, Zhen, Xun, Li...
One talisman after another was pasted onto the eight trigram positions, each spot flashing with light. The flying zombies fought, and the rebellious mortals were guarded by the demon woman. Until only one talisman remained in their hands, a scream suddenly rang out from not far away.
Ping Yu suddenly raised his head; his flying zombies had already been captured.
Du Ruohua was grabbed by the old man, who squeezed so hard that he almost turned her stiff neck into a thin thread. The old man groped his back with his other hand, treating the pain as an itch, and pulled out a long object from under the torn skin: he held the handle in his hand and stared intently at the object covered with strips of flesh, blood and fat, which was made of strings of copper coins tied with fish silk and gold thread.
It's a copper coin sword!
Before Pingyu could even process what was happening, her hands moved first. She held the talisman between her fingers and threw it outwards. The old man, caught off guard, was struck by the Five Elements Fire Talisman! The divine energy within the talisman detected the demon and activated itself. The fierce flames scorched the flying zombie, causing it to release its grip. The two little ghosts quickly pulled their mother behind them.
The three demons instantly transformed into streams of light and returned to the cloth.
The flying zombie was the king of all demons in the area. The old man, who had ruled this place for years, had never suffered such harm. In his rage, the bloodied and mangled copper coin sword revealed its true form. Remembering that he had been dormant here for a thousand years, Pingyu recognized him: "You were the Taoist priest from back then!"
"You little brat!" The old man raised his bronze sword high, his eyes blazing with fury: "How dare you hurt me!"
Oh no, the boss has entered its second phase!
She sensed something was wrong and took out a protective dragon scale from the bracelet. Ping Yu had no particular strengths, but he had a lot of tools.
She tucked the handkerchief away and rolled backward.
The girl shielded both the demon and the widow behind her. The copper coin sword blazed with purple light, leaving afterimages as it slashed downwards! In an instant, the entire secret chamber split in two like tofu. The stone surface peeled open with clear, straight cuts. The chamber seemed oblivious to its own damage, spiderweb-like cracks slowly spreading across the cut surface before belatedly collapsing. All the stones shattered, and well water seeped into the cracks.
Widow Zhang lay on the ground, feeling the collapse at the bottom of the well particularly intensely.
She wondered. Was this the end? The water wasn't gentle; it was more like a demon drawn by the smell of flesh. It rushed into the cracks with incredible speed, as if trying to crush and pry open all the stone shards. The water surging in from all directions had already submerged the lower half of the widow's face, enveloping half of her body. She closed her eyes, appearing as if she had no fear of death. Like a fish that had been stranded for a long time, finally welcoming its water. But after waiting for a long time, no water entered her nostrils. The dampness, like insects exposed to light, rustled and receded in both directions.
Widow Zhang opened her eyes, and the girl stuffed a rough bead into her hand.
Pingyu kept all the water-repelling beads she had taken when she arrived, not leaving a single one for the old man. Like a wholesaler offering free gifts, she generously gave one each to Nüba and Widow Zhang. The huge stone slab beneath their feet was swept by a swift and violent current, and their surging anger pushed them, stone slab and all, upwards.
Soon, daylight returned.
"What happened?"
Their feet went numb, and the pebbles and weeds on the ground bounced around. The villagers were first confused, then horrified: "Could it be that the earth has turned upside down?!"
The earth turning upside down was a serious matter; the villagers gathered there were instantly thrown into chaos, frantically searching for something to hide behind. But no sooner had they spoken than the ground was suddenly ripped open. Dust and debris blinded their eyes, the muddy soil turning to slush on the ground. A column of water, seemingly piercing the heavens, shot up from the ground. Wang Xushi, squinting boldly against the sunlight, thought she saw what appeared to be a figure standing atop the water column.
Immediately afterwards, another column of water shot into the sky. This column was slightly shorter, allowing Wang Xu to see the other party clearly:
"Ah Cat!?"
The demon child she had been bewitched was right here. Ignoring her shock, Wang Xu hurriedly called to the people around her, "Quick, quick, capture her!"
The villagers had only come to help out of neighborly affection and a moment of impulsive enthusiasm. Now, seeing this strange sight, most of them looked at each other, too afraid to move. Holding their farm tools, they all huddled together. A few strong young men bravely approached, but when they saw the person behind Pingyu, they were so frightened they almost lost control of their bladders: "She has no head!"
A headless female body stood before them, raising her neck regardless of the villagers' reactions. Clearly headless, everyone present could clearly hear her shouting: "You old geezer, give me back my head!"
Ping Yu almost stumbled.
She patted Nüba on the shoulder, and Nüba, receiving the signal, grabbed Zhang the widow and threw her out. Wang Xu cried out and was hit squarely. When she looked closely, she realized it was Zhang the widow she had seen a little while earlier.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Wang Xu touched Zhang the Widow's body, finding it ice-cold, and assumed she was dead. Trembling, she reached to feel Zhang's nose, but the instant her finger touched below the nose, she was slapped. Wang Xu winced and withdrew her hand. Zhang the Widow's face was gloomy; she didn't look like a dead person at all. Ping Yu took out the crimson gourd Lu Ya had given him and hung it on his waist, instructing her, "Grandma, please take good care of Zhang the Widow. I have things to do."
Wang Xu asked instinctively, "What is it?"
Ping Yu chuckled, and golden patterns appeared on the magical gourd: "Exterminate the demon!"
Manipulating water was Pingyu's forte. Only now did she understand why her master had instructed her to meditate in water. Her innate affinity for water allowed Pingyu's spiritual power to perfectly blend into the well water. She was attuned to the water, and the water obeyed her commands. Because the initial surge had subsided, the water column, which had previously shown signs of decline, suddenly surged again the moment Pingyu infused her spiritual power! The stone slab beneath their feet became a platform, lifting the two of them up. An old person who doesn't die becomes a demon; a human who becomes a demon transforms into a zombie.
Once a zombie cultivates to the level of a flying zombie, it becomes immune to sunlight. And so, another anomaly occurs.
Pingyu noticed that the white hair was gradually falling off the old man's body, revealing his delicate and youthful skin, which was as tender as a pig's belly.
Nuwa's expression changed drastically: "Oh no!"
"how?"
Ping Yu became nervous because of her, and a flash of inspiration struck her. She quickly filled her hands with different yellow talismans between her fingers. These were the ones she had just drawn on the stone slab, and they also included the homework talismans she had left over from completing Lu Ya's lessons these past few nights.
Although they are all a bit ugly, they are functional.
Nuwa cried out in alarm, "He's going to transform into an incorruptible bone here!"
The highest level of zombie is the Undying Bone, which grants invulnerability to weapons and immortality. Reaching the pinnacle of the Undying Bone means the zombie has completely abandoned its human form, degenerating into a wandering ghost on the road to the underworld. In other words, once the old man transforms into the Undying Bone, they will no longer have the power to fight him!
But how could the old man suddenly evolve?
Ping Yu stared in astonishment, her mind probing into the bracelet to investigate. She had formed a master-servant contract with this mother and her two children, and Du Ruohua's decline appeared to her like a dying ember. The woman in the handkerchief had shed her white hair, and signs of decay were beginning to appear on her body.
The zombies transformed from Taoist priests are beyond the reach of ordinary people.
He knew more about crooked ways of doing things, and compared to Du Ruohua, the old man understood better how to use his abilities. For example, now, upon hearing the child crying, the old man laughed heartily at Pingyu: "Little one, thank you for bringing the tonic!"
The talisman burned the old man's skin until it festered, and pus and rotten flesh sizzled. But he ignored it, his fleshy tongue darting out from his hairy mouth to lick his upper lip, and he said maliciously, "I feel great now."
It turned out that his action of grabbing Du Ruohua's neck earlier was not a brutal attack. The female zombie's gradually shrinking neck was a symbol that her energy was being drained. The energy drawn from its own kind nourished the old man's body, and he countered this nourishment, causing the injuries on his body caused by the talisman to heal extremely quickly.
Current attack methods are ineffective.
Flying zombies possess the power to slay ghosts and immortals, making them difficult even for highly skilled cultivators to counter, let alone a novice child. Given this absolute difference in ability, even a genius like Ping Yu would be helpless.
This is way too powerful! This is not a dungeon boss that someone my level should be fighting!
The girl stomped her feet in anger, her words a accusatory outburst, but she couldn't summon the wandering savage. But her bracelet began to heat up, and the water-repelling pearl given to her by Nezha broke free on its own. It began to exhale red mist; the last wisp of divine power the boy had infused sensed Pingyu's danger and began to work. The red mist transformed into a human form, growing to two meters tall. He wore a lotus-patterned shawl, and his three-headed, six-armed form revealed the phantom of a magical artifact. Rain poured down from the water column, and sunlight refracted the water droplets into a sky full of colorful clouds.
The girl stood behind the enormous phantom, her hair, matted and sticky from drinking too much water, clung to her profile, making her resemble a young goddess. The villagers below knelt, kowtowing and exclaiming, "The gods have appeared! The gods have appeared!"
A flash of inspiration struck Pingyu, and she blew on her fingertips to draw a talisman in mid-air. The characters drawn with spiritual power were scattered in the air by her palm.
The old man felt the pressure of spiritual energy and sneered as he attacked: "I have been a zombie for a thousand years. You dare to show off your petty skills in front of me?" Nezha's phantom turned his head and glanced at Ping Yu before raising his spear to meet the attack.
Ping Yu's harsh words were amplified by his megaphone, spreading throughout the village and sparking much discussion. But the old man was too busy defending himself to notice. Wang Xu was confused; how could Ping Yu seem good while their demon-slaying old man be evil? She watched the immortals fight above with the villagers, growing increasingly bewildered. Suddenly, Wang Xu remembered someone beside her who knew the truth. She nudged Widow Zhang and asked, "Qianqian, what's wrong? Why did you come with Ah Mao?"
Widow Zhang looked at the figures entangled above, and two hot tears rolled down her cheeks. The old man was incredibly powerful; everyone said the dead were summoned by the underworld officials, yet he had even managed to deceive them. She had assumed that with her daughter in his hands, she would be at his beck and call, and therefore didn't care much for the little boy, Pingyu.
Unexpectedly, she was quite skilled; her ethereal figure forced the old man into a series of defeats.
Once the old man is gone, no one will be able to harm her daughter's spirit anymore! Widow Zhang made up her mind to tell the whole story. The woman, supporting herself with Wang Xu's help, stood up and pointed to where Ping Yu was. She said, "The headless monster beside that girl is the drought demon we've been talking about!"
The crowd erupted in uproar.
Wasn't it said that if the drought demon were to revive, it would cause a widespread drought? They sacrificed the little girl to prevent the drought demon from reviving, so why sacrifice her now that the drought demon is alive? Concerned for her own family, Wang Xu was the first to react: "If the drought demon is alive, our land won't be affected, so does that mean my Tao Tao doesn't have to die?"
"It wasn't just your Tao Tao..." Mentioning the human sacrifice, Widow Zhang's tears could no longer be held back. Her sobs were like a broken dam, uncontrollable weeping. It was as if every word she spoke was bleeding blood, tearing flesh from her throat: "My Sheng Sheng, she didn't have to die either!"
"She was so young when she died. Without her, I have no other relatives left..."
She collapsed to the ground, pounding her fists on the earth. Tears splattered into the mud, turning black like the gaping mouth of a demon. She vaguely remembered that ten years ago, her tears had mingled with the ashes in the same way, washing away the piles of embers on the ground, trying to melt the blood of her daughter that had burned deep into the soil.
Her daughter, Sheng Sheng, was only eleven years old when she died ten years ago. She cried out for her mother in the fire, her pain turning into hatred, and she struggled to turn into charred bones scattered on the ground.
Pingyu's voice rang out from the sky. The girl pressed her hand on the gourd and poured in divine power, while asking the old man again, "If you are the Taoist priest from ten years ago, why did you deceive the villagers? And why did you dismember Nüba here!"
"It wasn't me who dismembered her!" The old man, whose hand had been severed by Nezha, gritted his teeth and said, "It was the two of you who did it, Fairy Qingti!"
"I've loved her for a thousand years, how could I bear to hurt her!"
This sentence contained so much information that Pingyu didn't know which point to explore first.
No wonder the old man's face looked so smooth, even more supple than tofu!
Not only Pingyu, but everyone couldn't help but turn into Doraemon and look in his direction.
He was castrated?
Were you castrated?
Really?
Let me elaborate :)
With so many eyes focused on him, even the old patriarch, a thousand-year-old flying zombie, couldn't hold back any longer. Enraged and ashamed, he unleashed astonishing divine power, shattering a wisp of Nezha's spiritual energy with a single palm strike. The three-headed, six-armed dharma form was instantly reduced to five arms. The old patriarch's sudden outburst was solely to declare: "Once I achieve immortality today, everything I deserve will be mine!"
Everyone: Oh~
It turns out there really wasn't.
The old man pointed his sword at Pingyu: "If you hadn't been sent down to the mortal realm, neither I nor Ba would have ended up like this. If they have someone to blame, blame you!"
Pingyu pointed at himself and retorted loudly, "How old am I? What does it have to do with me!"
"Of course there is!" The old man ignored Nezha's attempts to stop him, letting the other pierce his body. The flying zombie didn't bleed; he was like a paper doll, his abdomen concave, his face contorted in a ferocious grimace: "You were you in your past life, you were you who made Ba wait for a thousand years, you were you who made the promise to her!"
"You cut her body, sealed her spiritual power, and sank her into the water. You said you would descend to the mortal realm and take her back."
He shouted each word with force, as if the wind was spraying on the girl's face: "It all started with you!"
A thousand years ago, a woman named Nuba, in distress, came to this village. She collapsed to the ground, unconsciously absorbing the moisture from heaven and earth. The mountains began to wither and turn yellow, and the rivers became shallow. The villagers were uneasy about this strange occurrence, so they begged a wandering Taoist priest to go into the mountains to investigate. The priest went up the mountain but saw no demons, only Nuba lying unconscious in the mountains.
A white-haired woman dressed in blue, like the unmelting snow of the world, awoke with a start from the Taoist priest, opening her eyes warily. The priest, a wanderer, had never seen such a beautiful woman before. He was captivated by her crimson eyes, unable to look away. Seeing she was a mortal, the woman lowered her guard. She revealed her identity, and the priest knew her. He knew the celestial maiden who had fallen into the Nine Netherworlds was traveling on foot to the northern wilderness, and that the drought in the mountains stemmed from her presence.
But the Taoist priest couldn't bear to send Ba away. He didn't want to go with her to the desolate land, yet he also didn't want her to leave like this. Ba was a celestial maiden; even fallen to the mortal realm, she was more beautiful than any ordinary mortal. Mortals are visual creatures, base and shameless; once they've set their sights on someone, they won't let go. So he told Ba:
"Since you're tired, don't leave. You've exhausted your divine power for mortals; how can we truly banish you to the desolate lands? I have a way to alleviate your suffering without needing water. Please come with me."
The demon had no suspicion of humans, and she obeyed.
“Yin is water, and women are Yin. As long as you drink a woman’s blood, you can quench your thirst. Therefore, I brought you to the mountains and spread the rumor that a woman’s blood sacrifice is required. I mixed the blood with the medicine to stop the taste, added it to the water, and boiled it into a soup for you to drink. However, although this method is good, it will cause your body to mutate and turn you into a blood-thirsty monster. I was also worried that you would be lonely, so I went down the evil path. I used corpse oil to make lamps and burned souls to eat, willingly giving up my human body to become a zombie.” The old man held the head of the demon and said, “When our hearts were connected, that vile woman Qingti suddenly appeared!”
Pingyu pricked up his ears, listening to what he might say next. The old man said, "She said that she heard the news of your loss of divine power in heaven and asked to come down to the mortal world. Heaven ordered her to come down and collect the scattered ghosts and monsters. If she can complete this within ten lifetimes, she can be promoted to the Qingti High God."
"Qing" represents the East and the color of life, while "ti" implies encouragement and advancement.
"Once she ascends to the rank of High Goddess, she will be in charge of salvation and life, enriching all living things with new life and growth. At that time, she might be able to bring you back to Heaven. She discovered the problem with your medicine and realized that you were turning into a demon. So you abandoned me, disregarding our friendship... and allowed her to separate your limbs and hide them in various places. Once your body is separated, you will no longer be a demon. I was terrified of your departure and begged you desperately. But you refused to stay, and after having the chance to return to Heaven, you became cold to me. I hate your heartlessness, yet I can't help but miss you. I fought with Qingti, but I was no match for the power of the goddess, so I could only take your head and hands to keep you company through the years."
"I have waited here for a thousand years, drinking oil and sucking blood, just to kill Qingti and make you give up your thoughts and return to my side." The old man held the head of Nüba, his affection deep: "It's a pity that she was too useless, and only came to me in this life."
Pingyu noticed that the old man's abdomen was writhing, as if he were eating. At the same time, the illusory image of Nezha constructed from divine power was slowly fading away. The white hair on the old man's body was peeling off at an accelerated rate, and his blood vessels bulged as he digested the extraordinary spiritual power, making his whole body look like an inflated belly about to burst.
How can he eat everything!
Fortunately, the spiritual energy input into the gourd by Pingyu was almost complete, and she didn't want to hear the old man's "heartfelt confession." It was full of loopholes, completely devoid of truth, and only filled with inexplicable self-pity. The girl picked out a few key points and summarized: "Let's not talk about those parts that sound problematic. You mean you lied to Ba, then imprisoned her. You stopped being human yourself, even killing people and feeding her poison. Then my past life found out, but you still wouldn't admit it. You weren't willing to just let Ba, who never liked you from beginning to end, go, so you stole her head to prevent her resurrection, planning to get her body if you couldn't get her heart, right?"
"Are you crazy?" Ping Yu blurted out the above words in one breath, feeling baffled himself: "What's so touching about this? It's terrifying!"
He said in a deep voice, "Only I will always be by your side."
"Ba..." The wrinkles on the old man's skin gradually smoothed out, transforming him into the appearance of a young man. He gazed at the head in his hand and asked softly, "Now I am also a young man. I am about to achieve the Great Perfection of Undying Bones, and the mortal Qing Ti is no match for me. The situation is settled. If I let you choose again, who would you choose?"
He turned his head, facing Pingyu and his own body, and said, "He's so annoying!"
The old man's face cracked.
He immediately lost his composure, and in his extreme anger, he laughed instead.
"Okay, okay," the man said repeatedly.
He suddenly attacked, opening his mouth wide as if to swallow her whole: "Then become a part of my flesh and blood, and help me become king!"
"To turn you into a turtle?"
At the critical moment, Ping Yu patted his crimson gourd, which was burping. He pulled out the cork, and a white light immediately appeared at the gourd's mouth. After the light faded, a creature with eyebrows, wings, a head, and eyes shot out white light from its eyes, piercing through the male zombie and pinning him to the spot.
"I will grant your wish."
After speaking, the girl bowed forward. The incantation that Lu Ya had whispered in her ear before leaving was now being recited by Ping Yu without any difference.
She read clearly, "Baby, please turn around."
Driven by magic, the flying knife carved by Nezha began to spin, turning into a streak of light, like a fleeting flash of lightning. In the blink of an eye, the sharp, linear blade was at the old man's neck.
He laughed: "Don't forget, the Undying Bone is immortal..."
Before he could utter the word "annihilate," his words came to an abrupt halt.
The knife pierced the man's neck and face; the cold, clean cut caused his head to slide sideways like a piece of firewood chopped at an angle. His eyes, fixed on a mocking expression, dimmed, like a piece of trash thrown from a high-rise falling to the ground.
The knife floated back into Ping Yu's palm, and she felt unsteady, having exhausted her spiritual energy. But she still forced herself to stand firm, showing great awareness of her image.
"I'm so sorry." The girl pulled Nüba over to the old man, who was swaying precariously after losing his head. "Forced relationships never work. Whether you're a zombie or a demon king, my master's specialty is to kill you the moment you show your face!"
Lu Ya's Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife boasts an illustrious record!
The only downside is that she's too weak right now and can only be used once.
With a gentle poke, the old man's body was about to fall into the air.
The love spoken by this man is nothing but a montage of lies; Pingyu wouldn't believe a single word of it.
“Now it’s all over,” she said, swiftly catching the head that had been flung into the air, and then grabbing the severed hand that had been waiting on the straw nearby. Pingyu channeled his spiritual power into it: “Tell me the whole truth.”
As she murmured, the girl closed her eyes.
Her consciousness sank into the white world and entered the memories of the female demon.
Author's Note: The extra chapter is a little late!
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