Chapter 101

Pangzi gently twisted the needle, pried open the curly-haired kid's right hand, inserted it straight from the thumb's nail area, gently twisted, and the silver needle went straight into the thumb three fen.

Initially the curly-haired kid was thrown onto the table, frantically screaming, shouting nonsense like 'I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, I will cause havoc in Heaven's Palace,' but just as Pangzi inserted the silver needle into the side of the thumb tip, the curly-haired kid's body and expression changed.

His ferocious face instantly turned pale; the hands that had been straining to break free of our restraints gradually relaxed and lowered in a rhythmic manner.

This gave me a strange feeling, like a bandit wielding a submachine gun who, one moment, was fiercely threatening you with his gun, but the next second put down his gun and announced his headshot, turning from a vicious wolf into a meek sheep.

The spot Pangzi needled is called the Lesser Shang point in medicine, and in the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate this point is called Ghost Trust. I don't know its specific efficacy, but now I can clearly feel the changes occurring in the curly-haired kid's body when the needle is inserted.

Seeing that the needle insertion was indeed effective, Pangzi did not dare hesitate and quickly took out another fine needle from the needle box.

This time Pangzi needled the spot on the curly-haired kid's occipital region, located directly above the midpoint of the hairline at the base of the skull, one cun upward.

This point is called the Wind Mansion point in Chinese medicine, and it is one of the more highly regarded acupuncture points.

In traditional Chinese medicine there is the concept of the "six evils" (the six exogenous pathogenic factors), among which wind is considered the foremost and said to be the leader of all diseases. Consequently, acupuncturists pay special attention to points related to wind. Through long observation, people found that many parts of the body are vulnerable to wind invasion, so they named these points with wind‑related terms.

Examples include Fengmen, Fengchi, Fengfu, etc.; among the many points, Fengfu is regarded as the most important. "Feng" refers to wind pathogen, while "Fu" means a government office or mansion. The Fengfu point is like the office that governs all wind‑related points; if wind pathogen wishes to invade the body, it first seeks this office. Hence the ancients often said that Fengfu is a crucial spot for wind invasion.

Therefore, when Fengfu is invaded by wind pathogen, prolonged exposure can lead to headache, dizziness and similar symptoms. Massaging the Fengfu point at the base of the skull or applying acupuncture there will make one feel especially refreshed and clear‑headed. The reason is that when the brain is invaded by wind pathogen, stimulating Fengfu disperses the invading pathogenic energy and restores the person's vital essence, energy and spirit.

Moreover, the Wind Mansion point, in the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate, is also known as Ghost Pillow, which is the gathering place of the spirit's vital energy. As is well known, ghosts lingering in the Yangjian mostly carry resentment, and such resentment mostly indicates the depth of these evil ghosts' cultivation. Piercing the Wind Mansion point is equivalent to dispelling those resentful spirits' grudges, breaking their cultivation, turning them into toothless tigers unable to leap whether alive or dead.

After Pangzi inserted the silver needle into the Wind Mansion point, the curly-haired kid's body trembled violently twice again, and immediately an aged voice sounded from his body.

"Which sect, which branch disciple dares to meddle in the old ancestor's affairs? You must be tired of living."

The voice was hoarse and aged; surely this is a monster that has cultivated for some years.

The voice came from the curly-haired kid's body; I and Yao Yirong were startled, but Pangzi remained calm, twisting the third silver needle, and replied without fear.

"I am Wang, disciple of the Huaguang Sect, inheritor of the Five Manifest Huaguang Ancestor's lineage..." Pangzi first gave his name, then his tone eased a bit, and he asked calmly and politely: "It's not that I like to meddle, but the old ancestor's actions are too extreme; if I don't apply needles to save him, I fear he will become an idiot."

"You, an immortal, can speak human words and your voice is so aged; surely you have cultivated for some days, receiving heaven's pity and obtaining the path to seek immortality. Why not wholeheartedly do good, but instead bring harm here?" Pangzi continued to twist the silver needle and retorted.

The aged voice from the curly-haired kid's body gave a light laugh, then sneered: "He summons me as his old ancestor, invites me to possess his body—naturally he had already planned to hand over his body to me; since this fleshly body is mine, how can you dictate how I use it?" The tone seemed deeply confident; even in a disadvantaged position, he was unwilling to be weak.

His confidence naturally comes from karma. He was invited by the curly-haired kid willingly; one wants to strike, the other to endure—this is not a calamity without cause. Now, if Pangzi were to thrust in sideways, he would naturally bear some karma as well.

"What do you want?" After a moment, Pangzi asked him: "Gold, silver, jewels, paper house boys—I can have him burn them for you."

His words had barely fallen when they were cut off by a strange laugh.

"Old ancestor, I want nothing; I just want to ruin this kid. Let's see what you can do to me."

The old monster remained fearless of heaven and earth; Pangzi still wanted to advise him, but before he could finish speaking, I interrupted with a shout.

"Why waste words? Just stick the needle in and kill him outright—such an evil ghost, keeping him only brings harm to the human world; better to eliminate him, which would also be a great service to the spirit realm." As time dragged on, I grew impatient.

Pangzi hesitated for a long time, seemingly making a major decision, then turned the curly-haired kid over, pried open his mouth, aimed the silver needle at his tongue tip, and prepared to thrust it down sharply beneath the tongue.

"Wait..." At that moment, the old ancestor possessing the curly-haired kid let out a loud shout; his tone, no longer fearless, was now filled with a hint of terror.

"You're ruthless, actually disregarding karma to pierce my Ghost Seal!" The old ancestor shouted loudly, then fiercely said to Pangzi: "Today I admit defeat, but I recognize you, old ancestor; our paths will cross again. I am the Great Sage of the Mixed Ape from beneath Xiao Tan Shan; remember that, kid."

After saying that, he still cursed a few times with ill omen before reluctantly leaving the curly-haired kid's body.

Xiao Tan Shan seems to be a small hill near Aomen, not far from here; and since this "old ancestor" calls himself the Great Sage of the Mixed Ape, it's hard to imagine that he is actually a highly cultivated monkey spirit.

At the moment the voice fell silent, the curly-haired kid's body began to spasm violently twice, his body tensed instantly, then gradually relaxed.

After a long while, I heard him utter an "ah ya" groan from his mouth, a sound matching his age; surely the monkey immortal that had possessed him had already departed.

At this point, I finally relaxed, gesturing to Yao Yirong to release him together.

When the curly-haired kid sat up, his face remained pale, and he stared at us blankly for a while, then asked, bewildered, what had happened.

Pangzi recounted the events in detail, then asked him which sect he belonged to, actually practicing child-body cultivation in broad daylight without a master's protection.

Under Pangzi's questioning, the curly-haired kid revealed his background. His surname is Zhou, given name Bin, a disciple of the Six Ren Wind Fire Institute; he has been on the Dao for only a few years.

The so-called Six Ren Wind Fire Institute is actually the Six Ren sect of folk Daoism, one of the two major sects widely known in Gangao; its full name is the Thirty-three Heaven Wandering Six Ren Orthodox Law Iron Plate Teaching. Over the years, the Six Ren teachings' foundation in Gangao has become astonishingly deep; in those two places, one may be unaware of major Daoist traditions such as Gods Sky Complete Truth Pure Bright, yet everyone knows Six Ren and Mao Shan.

In the ongoing development of the Six Ren sect, it split into three branches: the Wind Fire Institute, plus the Feng Ying Hall and the Qun Ying Hall. The most widely spread, with the most disciples, is the Feng Ying Hall, thanks to the efforts of Teacher Er Zeng who vigorously promoted it in Fragrant Harbor during the last century.

The Six Ren sect venerates the Six Ren Immortal Master as its chief deity; the assistant deities are: Western Heaven Buddhist Law, Lü Shan Sect Leader, Mao Shan Sect Leader, Zhang Tianshi Leader, the Seven Sages Immortals, White Crane Immortal Master, Confucius the Sage, Five Thunder Divine Generals, Harmony Ancestor, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Thousand-Mile Eye, Wind-Following Ear—thirteen immortal masters in total, plus the bestowal of Bronze Skin Iron Bone.

The sect's arts encompass both literary and martial, feng shui, and divinatory techniques; for example, Situ Fazheng, a prominent figure in Gangao's divination circles, studied Six Ren Dao law. The Imperial Court, Return Power, and other famous casinos in Aomen all have the feng shui layouts set up by this Situ.

After Pangzi finished recounting the events, Zhou Bin from the Six Ren sect repeatedly gave a bitter sigh, muttering: "Self-inflicted woe, self-inflicted woe."

Seeing him blame himself, I and Pangzi were curious. At first we thought he had apprenticed under a master who only cared about money, who hadn't taught him a solid foundation before he practiced child-body cultivation.

However, when Zhou Bin slowly explained the whole story, we discovered that the outcome was not what we had imagined.

It wasn't that the master taught poorly; rather, Zhou Bin brought this suffering upon himself.

Before practicing child-body cultivation, Zhou Bin had just broken up with his girlfriend. To be precise, his girlfriend had taken up with a wealthy young master, summoned him out, first heavily insulted him, then dumped him in front of everyone.

At that time, Zhou Bin harbored resentment toward his ex-girlfriend and that wealthy young master; his heart was filled with jealousy and fury, wishing he could tear apart that lecherous couple alive.

Everyone knows that when inviting a spirit child, one must have a mind free of distracting thoughts, bring one's mental state to a peaceful attitude, only then can one invite the ancestral master to possess. If evil thoughts arise, or one is corroded by lustful fire, jealous fire, then it is easy to invite evil spirits and monsters to possess.

And Zhou Bin clearly knows this principle, yet at this moment he is cultivating the spirit child's body, obviously knowingly committing the offense, bringing suffering upon himself.

"I clearly know that when one's mind and spirit are unstable, one cannot invite a spirit child to receive teachings, yet I deliberately do the opposite; no one else can be blamed, I can only blame myself." Zhou Bin repeatedly gave a bitter smile; his tone was not very sorrowful, but rather carried a hint of guilt.

Perhaps it is because after experiencing this great change, he has come to see through many things; or perhaps it is because he violated his master's teachings, his six roots impure, rashly inviting an evil spirit child, and thus repents.