Chapter 70: Liu Ling Tongzi

The fish-scale clouds in the sky, bathed in the sunset’s glow, displayed a gradient of colors.

From the vivid crimson of the far west, it faded into orange-red, then gold, until a faint white at the zenith.

Beneath a large tree by the pond, a car was parked.

The beauty of the sky was reflected on the car’s front windshield, yet the two men in the driver and passenger seats were utterly out of place amid it.

Li Kang, behind the wheel, had thick hair and slightly curled whiskers, but a stitched scar ran from the right corner of his mouth to his ear.

The passenger, Ah Luo, was shorter, wearing a denim jacket, his eyes darting restlessly; whenever they settled on something, they carried a cruel edge.

“Will killing Fang Jun even help?”

Ah Luo stared at the house fifty meters away. “Nie Longding has one biological daughter and over a dozen adopted children. Fang Jun doesn’t even manage any of his businesses—how much weight could he possibly carry in his heart?”

In the back seat, Su Ha had fine, soft hair, red lips and white teeth, as if he could enter a talent show, yet his hands were kneading bone-white powder inside a black plastic bag.

“Nie is a gambling king—he built his fortune and fame on gambling, and among his adopted children, Fang Jun is the one who inherited his gambling skills best.”

Su Ha carefully coated both hands with the powder.

“Killing his other children might not guarantee anything, but if you kill Fang Jun, Nie Longding will surely show up at his funeral!”

Li Kang said, “But Fang Jun is government personnel. Scarface told us not to draw official attention.”

Su Ha paused, then slowly lifted his head. “Blasting a casino is too noisy, but killing one man is too noisy? Then what’s the point of seeking revenge at all?”

“Our fathers’ generation forged a deadly grudge with Nie precisely because they were ruthless enough to tear flesh from his side.”

“Scarface has been holding back too long—he’ll turn himself into a pig. Are we going to follow his example and wait here for years?”

“Why not just wait for Nie Longding to die of old age?”

Ah Luo nodded. “We really need to move fast. The domestic environment is too restrictive. I already miss the free air of the South Seas. Let’s settle this quickly and never come back.”

Su Ha’s palms were now evenly coated in a ghastly white. He raised them and drew horizontal lines across his face, his cold gaze fixed on the house.

A low, shifting chant rolled in his throat, only the final few words barely audible.

“Liu Ling Tongzi, lend me your divine might!”

Inside the house, in the living room.

Chu Tianshu had traced the Nine Character Mantra on Yin Fengxin’s back with two fingers, inserted nine silver needles, and told him to rest in the basement.

Yin Fengxin was puzzled, but traditional Chinese medicine was always strange—he followed orders.

He clearly didn’t smell any willow branch scent.

In truth, the willow branch’s fragrance was faint; even if every willow by the pond were stripped bare, the scent wouldn’t reach the house.

Chu Tianshu had recently trained with electricity, and yesterday he’d reached the fourth setting—his body was fully permeated, his perception heightened further.

What he smelled was not willow, but malice and sorcery.

“With Yin’s condition, even if someone from the Longhua Dharma Line were in this city, they couldn’t sense his location, right?”

Curious about who had come, Chu Tianshu stepped toward the courtyard.

A faint, almost invisible thread of powder drifted through the air.

Even with Chu Tianshu’s cultivation and eyesight, it was hard to discern clearly—easy to overlook.

Roughly speaking, it resembled a line of shattered glass.

Shiiii!

Sensing Chu Tianshu’s presence, the white thread suddenly accelerated, piercing toward him.

Lin.

Chu Tianshu silently uttered one syllable and thrust two fingers forward.

The speed of his arm’s movement matched that of the illusory white thread exactly.

Mental force erupted from his fingertips, a fine, transparent airwave shattering the thread inch by inch.

The scent of willow in the air grew stronger.

Chu Tianshu’s spirit stirred.

“Liu Ling Lang? No—Liu Ling Tong.”

Liu Ling Tongzi came in two types.

One, said to originate from Lü Dongbin of the Tang Dynasty, whose personal attendant died accidentally and whose soul clung to a willow tree.

He carved the willow into a human form, complete with beard, eyebrows, and meridians, awakened the attendant’s soul, allowing it to continue its cultivation path with potential for mental growth—hence called Liu Ling Lang.

The second type is heretical: finding wood with suitable age and growth conditions, carving it into a willow doll, then seeking a child whose birth date and hour match the desired outcome.

Summon the child’s soul into the doll to serve the caster.

The first type forms a bond with a soul first, then carves the willow.

The second reverses the order—often resorting to cruel methods like killing children. After prolonged cultivation, the doll either must be destroyed or will inevitably bring backlash.

The Liu Ling Tongzi Su Ha encountered was extraordinary.

He had been shot, his internal organs damaged, and in an ancient temple in the South Seas, he encountered a willow doll. His internal blood dripped onto it, yet he didn’t die—instead, a resonance formed.

The doll itself was no longer inside the wooden figure; it had long since departed to the Spirit Realm, possessing profound cultivation.

Su Ha was chosen by it, tasked with regularly supplying it with offerings in the mortal world.

The doll’s old body had merged into Su Ha’s own, granting him blessings.

With this blessing, Su Ha could bypass many prerequisites when casting hexes.

For example, the “Glass Hex” normally requires the target’s birth date and hour, or their blood or hair.

After casting, the target takes at least one or two weeks, even months, to develop large crystalline stones inside the body, dying without cure.

But Su Ha needs none of that—he can simply point in a direction and project the hex.

Once the hex arrives, it automatically seeks living beings within the area and acts instantly.

Flesh and organs are pierced and cut as if by glass, drenched in blood, agonizing beyond endurance.

The moment the illusory glass thread was shattered, Su Ha felt it.

“Move!”

His finger plunged into the powder.

Su Ha knew Fang Jun was no ordinary cultivator—he might have allies nearby.

So this “Glass Hex” was merely the front attack; his true hidden strike was the “Stone Hex.”

Most mammals have hollow stomachs, and the belly lacks bone, making its qi and blood far weaker than limbs or shoulders.

Against powerful beings, a hex entering from this spot penetrates more easily.

The “Stone Hex” was specifically developed for this purpose.

It creates the illusion that a stone has jumped into the stomach, triggering the body’s feedback as if truly crushed.

First vomiting, then a sensation of bloating, heaviness, and suffocation—dying from internal rupture.

A cultivator of mental force facing this ambush can only gamble whether he can repel it at the outset; once breached, the intestines are more vulnerable, and death comes faster.

Bam!!

In the car, the instant Su Ha’s finger plunged into the powder.

Five or six dark-green afterimages shot up from the ground half a meter before Chu Tianshu, striking his abdomen.

Each afterimage resembled a stone the size of a baby’s fist.

Chu Tianshu’s eyelids flicked open—two explosive cracks sounded beneath his feet.

He kicked off the ground with his left foot, instantly shifting three meters sideways, then kicked down with his right foot, charging diagonally forward.

Two stomps, seamless and fluid.

A sharp angular trail seemed to linger in the air.

The stone-like illusions, drawn by his intense life force, veered sharply and chased after him.

It was still daylight; the two iron gates of the courtyard had been left open.

As Chu Tianshu burst out, the powerful airflow stirred the inward-opening gates, creaking and groaning as if trying to shut.

The illusory stones formed from dark energy could not keep pace with Chu Tianshu’s body.

And Chu Tianshu had already located the source of the sorcery.

The car by the pond, fifty meters away.

His vision sharpened as he closed the distance.

In just over a second, he was upon them!

(End of Chapter)