Chapter 184: A Quiet Painting in the Dragon-Beard Dock

Though both were injured, Lingxiang let Rendong rest well and even tended to him personally; why was she the one doing the labor here?

Xin Yi watched this, laughing softly. Long Qi was, after all, still a green lad who couldn't make heads or tails of matters of the heart. He wasn't willing to pierce that layer of window paper himself, yet he would fly into a jealous rage at the slightest provocation—what was the point of it all?

Yet he himself seemed unaware that there was also a layer of window paper between him and Maidong; perhaps this was the case of the bystander seeing clearly while the involved party remained confused.

The Demon Poison Rendong had contracted was not particularly overbearing, but this rat demon poison was somewhat troublesome. Lingxiang's previous detoxifying Pill had cleared seven or eight parts of it, but things like rats were mostly associated with ill omens; if she wasn't careful, there might be complications in the future.

However, she currently had no suitable pills on her. The pills she had refined previously were not applicable to Rendong's injuries. The only plan for now was to use Needle Acupuncture to suppress it first, and make other arrangements after returning to Xianyun Abode.

Needle Acupuncture looked like merely inserting needles into acupoints, but it was actually extremely taxing. Moreover, with Rendong in this state, Lingxiang needed to inject Spirit Power into the silver needles and send it into his body to protect his internal organs from being eroded by the ill omens.

After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, following a series of lifting, thrusting, twisting, and rotating, Lingxiang was already drenched in sweat. She thought to herself that having not done this for so long, she had indeed become rusty.

Estimating that the courtyard was mostly tidied up, she rested for a moment before getting up and leaving the room.

The corpses in the courtyard were gathered in one place. Lingxiang looked up; the sun was still decent, and she feared it would be too late if she waited any longer. She hurriedly took a porcelain bottle from her Universe Bag, poured some medicinal powder into her hand, formed a seal with her fingers, muttered an incantation, and then scattered the powder toward the sky.

Long Qi felt that Lingxiang's behavior was truly like those wandering Daoists in the streets. Just as he was about to laugh, he saw the powder scattered in the air actually shimmer with colorful light as it drifted down, floating around the pile of rat demon corpses. In an instant, a Dharma Array appeared on the ground.

This porcelain bottle was naturally not—"With the Demon Race appearing this time, the Ancestor did not manifest as he did last time; I suppose it should be fine." Qianyuan Zhenren, in a yellow robe, walked out of Wuji Hall. Together with Shangqing Zhenren, he looked up at the sky, where the nebula was like a rose, dreamlike and illusory.

But Shangqing Zhenren seemed not to have heard, staring blankly at some star. After a long while, he finally replied:

"Let us hope so..."

This martial arts exercise was just as Long Qi had said: although the topic was the Spirit Keeper Fruit, it was actually testing the adaptability of the disciples. Whether what they picked back matched the topic or not, as long as it could be used as medicine, they would all receive points. As for the point deduction mentioned by Danyang Zhenren before entering the array, it was merely a pretext.

Yet, just because of that, there were actually people who were timid and cautious, ending up with empty Storage Bags, having picked nothing at all.

But what no one expected was that the winner turned out to be Banxia, who knew how to do nothing.

It was quite a coincidence that Banxia won this martial arts exercise.

That day, after Shangqing Zhenren drove away the Demon Race, Banxia, sitting on the ground, felt as if she had grabbed something in her hand. Looking down, it was actually a Long-bearded Immortal Grass. "Stone governs earth, trees govern wood, light governs fire, mist governs water. Of the Five Elements, there are four, but metal is missing. I suppose this is the Five Elements Dust Array. This Dust Array is different from other array techniques; the method of setting it up uses common objects nearby as metaphors. If it exists, it can serve as a phase. Now that the Five Elements lack metal, I suppose as long as I find the right place to supplement this phase, it can be broken."

Liu Xia frowned upon hearing this and asked: "Then where should this place be?"

"This..." The smugness on Lianqiao's face had not yet faded, but when asked this, she immediately lost her expression. "I only heard my elders talk about these things when I was at home, but I never knew how to set up an array..."

"In that case, if this Array Formation isn't broken, we can't escape from here?" Long Qi suddenly asked at this moment.

Lianqiao nodded upon hearing this: "I suppose that should be the case."

Seeing her like this, Long Qi quietly leaned over to Xin Yi and whispered: "Your cultivation is the highest, and you also come from a family of demon hunters. I suppose you must understand this Array Formation, right?" The grass seemed like a living thing; the white long beard was like immortal clouds, drifting uncertainly, while the stems and leaves were reddish-brown.

And the moment she picked it up, the Mountain-Arranging Array on Yinyu Mountain immediately collapsed.

That's right, she was the person with excellent Dao luck that Danyang Zhenren spoke of.

Cloud-Roaming Zisu can suppress stubborn pain and resolve strange poisons. Unlike ordinary Spirit Plants, it is a rootless Spirit Plant. It stays wherever the Spirit Qi is abundant, but it will not stay in one place for long.

At that time, Zhaoming Zhenren had taken a fancy to this habit, which is why he set the array eye on a Cloud-Roaming Zisu. That was why the array was so clouded and sun-obscuring, making it difficult for people to distinguish directions.

It was also because of this that the Madam and the group of singing girls, who had gained nothing, were poisoned by Lingxiang for many days. Finally, one day, unable to bear it any longer, they conspired with those girls to deceive Lingxiang, telling her that her musical attainments were already extraordinary and would surely move the heavens, and only then did they manage to invite this great deity to leave.

Those earth spirits were too lazy to argue with Lingxiang and just handed two bamboo lanterns to Rendong and Yuancheng respectively.

Only then did Rendong discover that this big fellow was actually five earth spirits stacked together, and each of them had arms and legs, but these arms and legs were as thin as firewood, making him worry—how could such thin arms and legs support their bodies?

"Hold these lanterns well! If you drop them, you'll be lost in this Array Formation, don't blame me for not warning you!" the earth spirit with the shrill voice said haughtily.

And just after it finished this sentence, the earth spirit with the thick voice only said "Follow," and this big fellow split into five round stones and began to roll into the Ancient Bamboo Forest.

Walking along the way, Rendong felt that the surroundings were extremely dim and looked bizarre to the extreme; only the area illuminated by the lantern in his hand allowed him to see clearly. Just as he was surprised, he heard a howl behind him. He was just about to turn his head when he heard Shoucheng shout in a low voice:

"Don't turn your head!" Lingxiang was shocked upon hearing this, staring at Long Qi without even blinking.

"What nonsense are you spouting?! I am... I am your master!"

After saying the words most difficult to speak, Long Qi felt a sense of relief, and his mind became active.

"What master or not? I don't remember having performed the grand apprenticeship ceremony. Besides, my body has been seen all over by you; how can you just want to walk away after eating and wiping your mouth clean like this?!"

Eating and wiping her mouth clean? When did she eat?

"What are you saying? When have I ever seen..." Lingxiang's words stopped abruptly halfway.

She...

She...

She seemed to have really seen it!

Lingxiang blushed and stiffened her neck, saying: "So what if I've seen it? Since I was little, I've seen plenty of other people's bodies. Does that mean I have to take responsibility for every single one? Besides, in front of a physician, that's just white, fleshy meat, no different from the meat sold at the butcher's stall in the market!"

"Naturally, it is different," Long Qi laughed softly, "My meat is not white and fleshy." As he spoke, he leaned fiercely toward Lingxiang.

Looking at the approaching Long Qi, Lingxiang felt like a rabbit whose ears had been caught.

"You... what do you want..."

The word "want" seemed to still be in her mouth when Long Qi pressed himself against her and kissed Lingxiang gently on the lips.

Lingxiang was used to being bossy on weekdays and hadn't realized that Long Qi was this much taller than her. She was stunned for a moment, just staring with wide eyes, not knowing where to look. Under a large banyan tree, a little girl in tattered clothes sat squatting, and not far away, there were several children in coarse linen clothes, pointing at the little girl under the banyan tree and singing incessantly:

"Little beggar, little beggar, no one wants you, no one loves you, thrown under the tree to feed the wolves and jackals, eating chaff and thin gruel, digging for wild vegetables!"

The little girl curled her body under the tree roots, holding her head and looking miserable, her face dirty and pitiful.

Just then, everyone heard a shout full of vigor.

"Hey! What are you lot shouting about! You're disturbing my sleep!"

The children looked around upon hearing this, but saw no one. Just then, they heard an "Ouch!" A banyan fruit flew from somewhere and hit one of the fat children squarely on the forehead. Fruit juice splattered instantly, looking just like blood.

The little fat child touched the wetness on his forehead, and upon seeing the red banyan fruit juice on his hand, he immediately sat on the ground and wailed: "It's bleeding! It's bleeding! It hurts so much!"

At this moment, a person jumped down from the banyan tree, staring at the wailing fat child and saying listlessly: "What are you howling for? It's just fruit juice. Look at how scared you are, it's truly shameful!"

The person was only a half-grown child, wearing a brown coarse cloth garment, hands on hips, looking at the group of children who were bullying others.

"Banxia, you're bullying people again!"

It turned out this person was little Banxia.

Banxia said with a look of contempt: "Bullying people? Isn't it you lot who are bullying others? You actually have the nerve to shift the blame. I am acting for justice. If you aren't convinced, why don't you let me get rid of you bullies for the sake of the people!"

The group of children heard this and scurried away, shouting as they ran: "Dead Banxia, stinky Banxia, you're climbing trees again! We're going back to tell Qishen right now and see if she doesn't beat your bottom black and blue!" With that, they vanished in a puff of smoke.

Prayer lanterns drifted along the river one after another, their flickering lights dappling the vast Guyang River. In the darkness, naturally, no one saw a pair of lotus lanterns slowly unfurl their petals; the candles inside burned peacefully, seemingly unaffected by the light breeze. The wick of one lotus lantern suddenly sparked, and upon closer inspection, the wicks of those two lanterns were actually two rolls of paper.

Just then, the red cord tying the two lanterns together began to glow red, then vanished. At that moment, a streak of red light flashed beneath the feet of Lingxiang and Long Qi, appearing like a knot, yet also like a binding.

Looking back at the river, the lotus lanterns had drifted far away, yet they remained side by side.

On a tree not far away, two people sat and stood; the one sitting was the injured Rendong, and the one standing was, naturally, Xinyi.

Rendong hurriedly stopped, keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead.

"This place is a Yin and Yang Spirit-Bewitching Array set by Zhuzhang Laoren; if you turn your head, you will fall into the array, and no one will be able to save you," Shoucheng explained further.

After walking for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, a bright light suddenly shot out from ahead, stinging Rendong's eyes so painfully that he hurriedly closed them.

"It is the Gate of Life, hurry on!" Shoucheng urged.

Rendong carefully followed the sound of the rolling earth-spirit and walked quickly. Before long, the light suddenly magnified, and he found himself standing before the gate of a courtyard.

The courtyard was enclosed by a fence, and inside were several thatched huts surrounding a magnificent palace, looking extremely incongruous.

Banxia took the highest score and won this martial exercise.

As for Banxia, she had no particular strengths, save for two things that others could not match: the first was her ability to remember everything she saw. If two volumes of "Talisman Theory" were given to someone else, it would take at least half a month and they still might not remember them, yet she had only flipped through them casually for one night and remembered seven or eight tenths.

As for the second, it was her luck.

From childhood to adulthood, she had never lost when playing with her companions. When she was small, several children went up the mountain to pick mushrooms to roast and eat, but unexpectedly, all they picked were poisonous mushrooms. They went home vomiting and suffering from diarrhea, and only after calling a doctor in the city were their lives saved, yet she had not been affected in the slightest from start to finish.

Xinyi shook his head: "Most Exorcist Families have their own unique skills. Just as your Long Family is famous for the sword, and the Qiao Family is better than others at divination and the Demon Sealing Technique, the Lu Family specializes in the arts of concealment and assassination. Although they have heard of Array Formations, it is only superficial knowledge."

This was the first time Long Qi had heard of this, and he glanced at Xinyi with skepticism: to think this fellow had previously wounded him severely; he had assumed he was very formidable, but in a critical moment, he was still unreliable.

At this moment, Banxia suddenly asked Zhao Wuyang: "I remember the Qingwei Peak Master mentioned some Five Elements Array Formations when teaching the Five Elements Hand Seal, is that so?" She only blamed herself for focusing solely on the Talisman Method at the time and not listening carefully to these.

Zhao Wuyang recalled this after hearing it and said: "He did indeed mention some. It seems he said that the layout of a Five Elements array is either a five-pointed star or the Four Phases Combined; it certainly would not be anything other than these two."

The grass seemed like a living thing; its long white whiskers were like drifting immortal clouds, while its stems and leaves were reddish-brown.

And the moment she picked it up, the Mountain-Arranging Array on Yinyu Mountain immediately collapsed.

That's right, she was the person with excellent Dao-fortune that Danyang Zhenren had spoken of.

Wandering Cloud Perilla can soothe stubborn pain and resolve strange poisons. Unlike ordinary Spirit Plants, it is a rootless Spirit Plant; it stays wherever Spirit Qi is abundant, yet it does not stay in one place for long.

At the time, Zhaoming Zhenren had taken a fancy to this habit and set the array eye on a Wandering Cloud Perilla, which is why the array was so overcast and blocked the sun, making it difficult for people to distinguish the four directions.

The ordinary porcelain bottle looked like common celadon, but in reality, it was carved from Qilin Bone, and the medicine powder sprinkled from it was made by Lingxiang finely grinding Stone Milk obtained from the Taishang Sect and mixing it with Dragon Bone Powder; it could drive away evil and avoid disaster, as well as cure illnesses and save lives.

At the end of the day, golden radiance spilled into the courtyard, and the Bone-Eroding Array immediately emitted a dazzling golden light. However, the corpses in the array ignited with blue flames, and within the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they had burned the flesh and skin of those demon creatures until only white bones remained. Then, the flames suddenly turned purple and attached themselves to the Demon Bone.

Xinyi was very surprised to see this. He had heard of the Samadhi True Fire in his youth, which was formed by the Primordial Spirit, vital energy, and vital essence of a cultivator; could this be that very thing?

Thinking this, he asked it aloud, and Lingxiang smiled softly upon hearing him:

"It is much the same, but this is not the Samadhi True Fire; it is Dragon Fire. Since ancient times, dragons have mostly governed earth and water, and dragons that govern fire are very rare. However, the fire controlled by this kind of dragon can even burn the bones and spirits of gods, and the substance mixed into this medicine powder is the bone powder of this kind of dragon. A person's Samadhi originates from the inside of the heart and kidneys, but this kind of Dragon Fire is born from dissolving bones. Although it is not as good as the Samadhi True Fire, it is an excellent means for cleaning up such filthy things."