Chapter 23

Wu Pifu and Lin Heier returned to the room, both of their faces looking extremely grim.

Next, the two described what they had seen and heard. Although their account was not necessarily comprehensive, nor could it fully capture the shock of that first encounter, the other three were still left with their hair standing on end after listening.

This was even more shocking than seeing a paper effigy swallow a living person whole; that was a ghost!

Everyone looked at each other in silence, and Lin Heier asked, "Master, will this kind of devouring make those paper effigies stronger?"

Wu Pifu shook his head to indicate he didn't know, but Xu Shilan said, "It is very likely. Energy does not disappear out of thin air; it only transforms from one form into another. This applies to the vast majority of environments in the world. Since the paper effigies have started devouring these wandering ghosts, it means these wandering ghosts are useful to them. They might truly start to grow stronger."

Xu Rongyu immediately cursed, "We shouldn't have come to this righteous manor!"

Wu Pifu glared at him and said, "Where else would we go? We are human; we need to eat, drink, defecate, and sleep. While there may be no wandering ghosts in the wilderness, how would we eat or rest there? Are we supposed to do some wilderness survival routine? After a few days, would we still have the strength and spirit to deal with the paper effigies?"

Amadai also said, "Those paper effigies can float. The environment in the wild is unpredictable, and we have no defensive facilities. If we encountered them, we could be besieged from all sides."

Xu Rongyu opened his mouth wide, wanting to retort but unable to speak. Especially when he thought of the terrifying scene of the city full of paper effigies he had seen in Xuanhua Prefecture, he could only lower his head in despair.

At this moment, Lin Heier said thoughtfully, "Master, everyone, I think that perhaps those paper effigies are yin-natured objects. All things in the world are nothing more than yin and yang. Ghosts are also yin-natured. Being devoured by the paper effigies will certainly allow them to grow, but they remain yin-natured, which is why we can use torches to burn them, and our true qi and blood can also barely resist them... Can we stack true qi and blood together with the flames?"

The others were confused, but Wu Pifu seemed to have thought of something. He walked to a torch, took it down, gripped it with his palm, and unleashed a burst of hidden force. This hidden force spread up along the torch, just like blowing a breath of air at the flame; the firelight suddenly flared up before returning to normal. He looked at Lin Heier and said, "Is this what the Holy Mother is referring to?"

Lin Heier nodded and said, "Exactly. It's a pity we only have hidden force. If we were Transformation Force grandmasters, we could continuously extend this true qi and blood power into the flames. But we can only unleash hidden force four or five times within an hour at most; any more and we would damage our foundations... I just don't know if this kind of flame can kill those paper effigies in one blow."

Wu Pifu didn't speak, but he secretly noted down the information Lin Heier had mentioned.

From Xu Rongyu, Wu Pifu also learned much about the situation in this world. The power system of this world's manifest world was also national martial arts, not much different from the world where he obtained the Tiger Demon Art. Xu Rongyu mentioned many master-level figures, such as his father Xu Zhenshan, and the Red Lantern Society's senior sister Lin Heier.

Although Xu Zhenshan was Xu Rongyu's father, Xu Rongyu still felt that Lin Heier was stronger. This was because his father came from an unorthodox background, without systematic teaching and training. Now in his forties, his physical strength had actually begun to decline. Although his "Tablet-Shattering Hand" was praised by the northern martial arts circles, in terms of evaluation within the martial arts world, Lin Heier was far superior to his father.

Yellow Lotus Holy Mother Lin Heier—this was a famous signboard in the northern martial arts world.

And what Lin Heier said just now shouldn't have any embellishment or water in it. She could unleash hidden force attacks four or five times in about two hours; this was likely the standard of a true hidden force martial artist, perhaps even an elite hidden force martial artist.

As for Wu Pifu himself, he had tested it once before: he could unleash hidden force ten to twelve times in a single battle, and he only needed less than an hour of rest to recover his physical strength and true qi and blood circulation. Combined, this was more than just a little bit stronger than Lin Heier.

The enhancement of the second-tier physical body was truly a qualitative change.

(Then, for my future enhancements, would it be better to directly enhance my physical body tier?)

Wu Pifu thought about it and then smiled and shook his head.

He might not even survive this dream world, yet he was already thinking about the future. Furthermore, he only had 170 days of life left. Even if he really had the opportunity to enhance, he had to desperately enhance his Tiger Demon Art proficiency; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to suppress the surging negative distracting thoughts. Once they erupted, it would be a real injustice to die or go insane.

At this time, Xu Shilan suddenly spoke up: "Then can we directly break the root cause? These paper effigies have tenacious vitality; touching them drains life and true qi and blood, and they can even devour wandering ghosts to become stronger. And there are only a dozen or so now—heaven knows how many there will be later. Can we solve the root cause of the paper effigies' existence once and for all?"

Not to mention Amadai, who was truly quite heartless and had actually started to doze off, the other three were slightly stunned and started to smile bitterly.

Xu Rongyu was the first to say, "Big sister... no, sister, do you really know what you are saying? That is the Unborn Venerable Mother. We are currently just barely surviving; how can we solve the root cause of such a god-and-buddha-level great power?"

Lin Heier also smiled bitterly and said, "Although it is an evil demon and evil Buddha, if that is truly the Unborn Venerable Mother, we mortals absolutely cannot defeat it. And I don't know what to do afterwards; most of the brothers and sisters in the sect believe in it. Once they all turn into paper effigies, I'm afraid that not only you and me, but this entire Huaxia continent will sink into a ghost realm."

Even Wu Pifu said, "That thing is at least a nightmare below 0.3 in baseline reality, and I suspect it's not a level one or level two nightmare, but at the very least a level three or higher. We are truly unlucky to have encountered it. For now, let's just think about how to continue dragging out the time..."

Wu Pifu didn't finish his sentence, because they could return after dragging it out for five days, and this naturally couldn't be said out loud.

Xu Shilan, however, shook her head. She looked up and gestured to the air: "These paper effigies didn't come out of thin air; they changed from threads hanging down from the Unborn Venerable Mother. I don't know if you noticed, but the Unborn Venerable Mother cannot directly descend into this world; she can only hang down threads, and through a circular hole at that. So... can we break that circular hole and isolate the Unborn Venerable Mother's influence on this world?"

The hearts of the three were moved. Not to mention Xu Rongyu, Lin Heier's heart immediately stirred, and she blurted out, "If so, can the sisters still be saved?"

After saying this, Lin Heier shook her head herself: "No, they have already been transformed..." At this point, Lin Heier's eyes turned red, and she almost shed tears.

Wu Pifu pondered for a long time before shaking his head: "The Unborn Venerable Mother might rely on that circular hole to project her power, but it is also possible that the circular hole limits her power and entry into this world. Not to mention whether we can break it, if we break it and let the Unborn Venerable Mother truly enter this world, then not to mention us, it's possible that this entire world will turn into paper things."

Xu Shilan, however, said unhurriedly, "Then this world would no longer be a 0.9 baseline reality."

Wu Pifu's heart stirred, but after thinking for a long time, he still shook his head: "It's too difficult. And we don't know what to rely on to break it. Not to mention anything else, just the height issue—visually, it's about fifty meters high. I only practiced national martial arts, I didn't turn into a superman. In this era, you want to teach me how to jump fifty meters high?"

Xu Shilan smiled and kicked Amadai with her foot. Amadai opened his eyes abruptly, but his face was still dazed; he hadn't heard what everyone was discussing at all. Xu Shilan explained the situation, and Amadai thought for a moment and said, "There are bamboo poles and vines here. I can make a simple launcher; sending you to a height of fifty meters is not difficult. The difficult points are two: first, accuracy, and second, how you will land safely."

Wu Pifu spread his hands towards Xu Shilan, indicating that this was no longer his fault.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Lin Heier suddenly said, "Are you all discussing how to make the Unborn Venerable Mother unable to influence this world, or a way to expel her from this world?"

Amadai laughed disdainfully: "Even mere natives know about this world and the outer world?"

Lin Heier's face turned angry, but she was actually used to it, because this was the face of the foreign devils. She said in a low voice, "How could I not know? Buddhism says the world is infinite; there are small thousand worlds, middle thousand worlds, and great thousand worlds. Originally I had doubts, but since the Unborn Venerable Mother truly exists, the infinite worlds must naturally exist as well. The small hole in the air likely connects to the Vacuum Hometown."

Amadai was surprised instead. Wu Pifu waved his hand at Amadai and said to Lin Heier, "But isn't this Unborn Venerable Mother your faith?"

Lin Heier said sternly, "I believe in the compassionate Mother, the Mother in Buddhism, the Savior who saves the world, not this evil demon and evil Buddha that treats human bodies as materials to weave into nightmares! If we don't expel it, our death is a small matter, but the world sinking into a ghost realm and my Huaxia children turning into paper effigies is the big matter... Although you, Master, also said that breaking it might allow her to enter this world, what is the difference between now and her entering this world? All of China has millions of her believers; if they all turn into paper effigies, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

Having said this, Lin Heier stood up and bowed solemnly to Wu Pifu, then said, "Please, Master, help me break that circular hole!"

Wu Pifu said with an unhappy face, "You heard it just now, the two problems of accuracy and how to land, I..."

"Just control the force!"

Lin Heier continued, "Master is at the hidden force level, so you naturally know that hidden force is the control of force reaching a state of perfection. The subsequent transformation force is the same. Tools like catapults naturally have no accuracy, but if Master goes up personally, under the control of force, the accuracy will be absolutely precise. As for the landing problem, it is also just force control. I have seen a grandmaster jump off a cliff; from a height of seventy or eighty meters, just a few rolls and a few borrowed forces were enough to dissipate the force, without harming themselves at all!"

Wu Pifu sneered, "You also said it was a grandmaster, it was transformation force, and they could roll and borrow force from the cliff, while mine is a straight fifty-meter drop..."

"I will teach Master the Lotus-Sitting Force!"

Lin Heier said decisively, "Master is gifted, and your true qi and blood are so vigorous that you don't seem like a human. And this Lotus-Sitting Force of mine is an peerless secret art, a non-transferable secret that can simulate the legendary Dan Force divine ability in a short time!"

Having said this, Lin Heier suddenly knelt down, prostrated herself, and bowed: "Please, Master, for the sake of all living beings, if it succeeds, Lin Heier is willing to offer the complete set of the Yellow Lotus Holy Mother Art!"

(End of chapter)