Chapter 8 The Divine Statue: A Talent Envyed by Heaven - Xu Qiubai
As the footsteps faded into the distance, Shen Cangyu crawled out from under the bed and climbed out the window.
She had no idea how many people they had drugged, nor how many they planned to harm tonight.
She assessed her own strength.
In her previous life, she had dabbled in various weapons, including swords, spears, halberds, whips, hammers, and bows. Although she was not an expert, she was still better than most people.
After all, she doesn't know any mental arts, so she can only rely on weapons to improve her strength.
But now, she has just returned to her childhood, and this body has not undergone professional physical training, so she can only be considered an ordinary person.
They pried open a door, went inside, and glanced around to make sure the person in bed was still asleep. They walked to the window, looked around, and then closed the window again.
At this moment, Shen Cangyu had already climbed up to the windowsill on the next level of the roof, and was listening to the sounds inside the house from the window.
The waiters simply opened the door, searched the room, and left without disturbing the person inside. Shen Cangyu, hanging upside down from the eaves, peeked inside to confirm the person was unharmed before moving on to the next room.
It's unclear whether the two waiters were looking for her or if the people in the room were too poor for them to make a move.
The next moment, she heard the waiter in the lobby shout enthusiastically, "One Grade A apartment, please come in, sir!"
Hearing the waiter's voice, she had a bad feeling.
The fat sheep has arrived.
Sure enough, the people who were patrolling the corridor also heard the commotion downstairs. They exchanged glances, put down their work, and went downstairs.
The waiter led the people up the wooden stairs with a clattering sound.
Hearing the commotion, Shen Cangyu climbed up the roof, using the tiles to approach the lit room. She listened as the waiter finished his rambling and left the room.
She waited quietly for a while, and finally the window next to her opened.
She rolled over and slipped into the room, quickly covering the man's mouth with her hands and eyes.
The man's eyes widened, his phoenix eyes shining brightly under the lamplight.
A pretty little girl?
Shen Cangyu took a closer look. Oh, it was a boy.
The boy pulled away her hands that were covering him, and was about to speak when Shen Cangyu put her finger to her lips in a "shush" gesture: "Don't make a sound, there's something wrong with this store."
The boy looked at her, his expression changing: "You're here to investigate the demonic cultivators too?"
Demonic cultivator?
Shen Cangyu was taken aback: "You're a cultivator?"
Seeing her reaction, the boy automatically assumed that she was also a cultivator who had come to investigate the whereabouts of the demonic cultivator, and felt relieved: "I knew I hadn't come to the wrong place."
At this point, the smoke in the room became increasingly thick.
Shen Cangyu sensed something was wrong. She tried to pick up the kettle to pour water to extinguish the smoke in the incense burner, but found that there was no water in the teapot in the room.
She tried to pick up the incense burner, but found it firmly embedded in the tabletop and wouldn't budge.
She gave a cold laugh, raised her hand, and threw the table and incense burner out of the window. The table hit the ground with a loud thud.
"What are you going to do?" The boy's eyes widened when he saw her action.
"Disrupt the event," Shen Cangyu said succinctly.
Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor, and the person outside rushed in, banging on the wooden door of the room with their body.
Shen Cangyu looked at the boy beside her: "Do you have a sword?"
"Yes!" The boy snapped out of his daze, making a hand seal and chanting.
"A universe hidden in a sleeve".
Hearing the familiar moves, Shen Cangyu raised an eyebrow, but before she could think about it, a sword was thrown at her.
She drew her sword, gazing at its gleaming blade, and couldn't help but exclaim, "What a fine sword!"
This sword is of superior quality; both the materials and the feel are excellent, clearly the work of a master craftsman. It also bears inscriptions, suggesting it has been consecrated.
The boy looks young, yet he possesses such a fine magical artifact; it seems his identity is extraordinary.
Shen Cangyu tossed the scabbard back to him, twirled her sword, and at that moment, three people burst through the door. She drew her sword and engaged them in combat.
Because this body had not undergone physical training and could not withstand direct confrontation, she had no choice but to switch to a different sword style, using a fast sword technique in an attempt to end the battle quickly.
The sword's edge slashed across the waiter's body, drawing blood.
Shen Cangyu noticed something was wrong.
Judging from the attack patterns of these waiters, they were clearly not trained martial artists, but their strength was immense, and even when they were hit in vital areas, their movements were not slowed down.
The smoke in the corridor gradually drifted into the room, and as the smoke around them grew thicker, the strength of the waiters also increased.
Shen Cangyu shouted, "Let's go downstairs!"
She leaped out of the window, about to jump off, when she suddenly stopped.
She remembered that this was the third floor, and she would die if she jumped from here. But the boy beside her didn't notice her hesitation and excitedly pulled her to jump.
"This is terrible." As the wind whipped her hair around, Shen Cangyu silently mourned.
"Riding the wind!" The person beside them chanted, and a gust of wind rose beneath their feet, lifting them up and carrying them gracefully to the ground.
Feng Xu Yu Feng is a wind manipulation technique that can lift people up by controlling the wind. Most cultivators who have not inherited the Free and Unfettered Wandering technique will use this mental technique to assist in their travels.
They landed on the ground and took a few steps back. They saw that the waiter who was chasing behind them, despite being a mere mortal, also jumped down without any hesitation.
The moment they landed, Shen Cangyu heard the crisp sound of bones breaking, and she couldn't help but gasp for them.
But after the waiter fell to the ground, he stood up in a strange, unsteady manner, and with a few cracking sounds, his bones returned to normal. They seemed oblivious to the pain and continued to rush towards them.
"Are they the demonic cultivators?" Shen Cangyu couldn't help but ask.
"I burned a lot of incense to find this place, and it's almost perfect," the boy said proudly, looking at the scene before him.
The guiding incense... that stuff is very expensive.
This cultivator not only possesses mental arts skills, but also holds so many magical artifacts; he must be someone of great wealth and status.
But when the group of waiters pounced on him, the boy could only squeak and run away, showing no sign of strength.
Does he not know offensive spells? But as a cultivator, even if he doesn't know offensive spells, he should at least know some self-defense techniques with weapons...
Thinking it over, Shen Cangyu knocked down the three people with a backhand.
Even if these guys have their limbs cut off, they can regenerate like geckos. We can't delay any longer!
Shen Cangyu raised his sword and plunged it into their hearts, striking their vital points. They finally stopped, their clouded vision clearing, but before they could speak, their bodies rapidly withered and turned black, becoming like dried tree bark. They opened their mouths, and a cloud of golden dust emanated from them.
Shen Cangyu covered her mouth and nose, watching the few wisps of gold dust drift in the air. She turned to look at the inn in the distance.
A half-rolled-up curtain obscured the view in the hall, but the candlelight inside flickered gently, its brilliance undiminished.
They've been fighting outside for so long, and no one has come out from inside. It seems there are only these three waiters in the shop.
These three people are incredibly audacious. This inn is located in the heart of the market, with people coming and going during the day, yet they dare to kill people openly, showing absolutely no regard for the law.
She wanted to see what gave them their confidence.
As Shen Cangyu stepped into the inn, a warm and fragrant aroma wafted towards her. She saw that the kind-faced statue of the deity still stood in the center of the hall, unchanged. The incense in the incense burner on the ground seemed to burn endlessly, just beginning to burn, with a scarlet flame shining and a speck of ash falling from above.
She suddenly remembered that she had heard that when three incense sticks were lit in the incense hall, the length of the burning sticks and the shape of the ash represented different meanings.
What do these three incense sticks represent?
She looked up and saw the statue gleaming with gold, holding a treasure bowl in its hands, the ingots inside... seemingly made of real gold. They were clearly so wealthy, so why were they robbing passersby who were staying nearby?
Shen Cangyu stared at the treasure basin filled with gold ingots and gold bars. She saw a gold bead at the very top shake and roll out of the basin, spinning around on the ground before finally landing at her feet.
The crimson glow of the incense sticks reflected on the gold beads.
She wanted to pick it up, but a voice inside her told her that something was wrong with the statue and she shouldn't pick up the gold.
But this is gold...
"Hey! How did you fall down?" Shen Cangyu felt someone patting her. She suddenly opened her eyes and saw a familiar face.
It's that boy from earlier.
She had a splitting headache, covered her head with one hand, and propped herself up with the other.
“You collapsed as soon as you came in. I thought you tripped over the threshold, but you didn’t respond no matter how many times I called you.”
Shen Cangyu looked at the statue in the hall with a sullen face.
She distinctly remembered that the statue's lips had been flat just moments before; now, they were upturned. The statue's expression changed, as if it had come to life, or perhaps it was mocking her.
"There's something wrong with that statue."
"What's the problem?" the boy asked, blinking. "Isn't it just an ordinary wood carving?"
Shen Cangyu's heart skipped a beat: "What did you say it was?"
"The wood carving... what happened?"
Shen Cangyu stared intently at the statue: "In my eyes, it is a golden statue."
The fact that the same thing appears differently in their eyes suggests that what they see may be an illusion, and that this illusion is a manifestation of their thoughts.
She looked at her hands and realized that they were now covered in gold powder.
The greater one's greed, the deeper one sinks into it.
"Coin eyes," Shen Cangyu said.
In her past life, she only knew one person who inherited the copper coin eye, but she never expected to meet him so soon in this life.
The person she knew, though greedy, was reasonable and wouldn't do something like murder and robbery; it probably wasn't him.
The power of the copper coin eye technique against the enemy depends on the strength of the enemy's greed; the greater the greed, the more severe the injury.
The statue before them was merely one of the manifestations placed here by the controller; they hadn't yet faced the true person head-on. Even a mere manifestation had tripped her up; if she encountered the real person, she might not be able to handle it.
"In your eyes, it's just a wooden sculpture, right?"
"right."
Shen Cangyu shoved the sword back into his hand: "Then go and cut it in half."
"Me???" His eyes widened.
“Jin Kemu, if you cut it with your sword, it will break,” she said.
The boy hesitated for a moment, then walked up to the statue and raised his sword to strike. The sword sliced through the statue as easily as splitting a block of tofu.
The statue, broken in two, fell to the ground with a thud, the incense in the censer went out abruptly, and a fierce wind swept through the surroundings. When Shen Cangyu opened his eyes again, all that remained before him were two arm-length pieces of wood, charred black on the surface, as if coated with a layer of oil.
The candlelight around the hall dimmed, and a putrid stench filled the air.
This ordeal has passed, but where will the next one come from?
Shen Cangyu got up and walked out, and the boy behind her chased after her: "Where are you going? The inn is gone, where are we going to stay tonight?"
Shen Cangyu asked, "Do you know the story of the sun and moon hidden in a pot?"
The boy scratched his head: "I haven't learned that lesson yet... You actually know how to conjure the sun and moon in a pot, which immortal sect are you from?"
"It's just a small sect, a family tradition of cultivating immortality. As for where my family members are, my mother forbids me from telling outsiders." Shen Cangyu brought up her usual excuse again.
"Family members!" That sounds like a humble and polite remark.
The boy's voice revealed envy: "That's so nice. My family... my master refuses to teach me magic arts, he only lets me learn in the classroom."
"What Taoist arts did you inherit?" the boy pressed on.
Shen Cangyu raised her chin: "I haven't inherited the Daoist arts yet. My mother said that one should choose carefully when inheriting the Daoist arts and not make a decision so quickly." It's not that she doesn't have the opportunity to learn.
“My senior brother said the same thing,” the boy nodded. “I’m currently under the tutelage of the Heavenly Fragrance Goddess, but I often feel very sluggish during my cultivation. The Heavenly Fragrance Goddess’s methods probably aren’t suitable for me…”
Tianxiang Niangniang...
Shen Cangyu stopped in his tracks: "Are you a disciple of Kunlun?"
"Yes, you even know this. Your family must be a powerful clan of cultivators." He exclaimed.
"May I have your name?"
"Xu Qiubai, what about you?"
“Shen Cangyu.” Shen Cangyu recalled the name Xu Qiubai.
She interacted most frequently with the Incense Offering Hall within the inner sect, and in her memory, there didn't seem to be a disciple named Xu Qiubai. Could he just be an unknown junior disciple?
No, looking at his elegant attire, recalling his display of mental techniques earlier, and the superior quality of his sword just now, she realized his status in the Xingxiang Hall must be quite high. If such a person truly existed, she couldn't possibly have been unaware of him.
She asked, "Who is your master?"
"Xu Mei".
Xu Mei, the head of Xingxiang Hall!
Shen Cangyu frowned. In her memory, the head of Xingxiang Hall only had one closed-door disciple named Shui Linglong. She remembered hearing before her death in her previous life that Shui Linglong was preparing to inherit Xu Mei's mantle and become the next head of Xingxiang Hall.
When did Master Xu get a second disciple?
The legendary Huagai Taiji Ten Spirit Sun Child Demon, a talent thwarted by heaven, died young at... Nanke Mountain.
A note from the author:
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