Chapter 210

Many people thought the Plowshare Witch Sect specialized only in witchcraft, but that's not true; besides specializing in witchcraft and casting Plowshare talismans, the sect's physical strength is not inferior to that of ordinary internal martial arts experts.

When people mention the word "wu", they think of antiquity, of Chi You and the Nine Li Witch Tribe defeated in the Zhuolu battle. Legend says the Nine Li Witch Tribe had no primordial spirit and could not cultivate souls, but in ancient times their bodies were harder than any cultivator's.

As time passed, the truth of these myths and legends became impossible to verify. But one thing is certain: the Plowshare Witch Sect has a unique body‑tempering technique that is in no way inferior to the martial arts of the Daoist Sect.

The gray‑clad Pangzi's seemingly extremely fierce punch was easily caught by Yao Wenju. At the same time, Yao Wenju's mouth emitted an ancient chant; though a howl, it resembled the Daoist Sect's Nine‑Character True Word, possessing immeasurable power, and the ancient aura in his voice made my whole body turn icy cold, as if I were standing on a barbaric wilderness.

"Get lost!" Yao Wenju shouted fiercely, grabbed Pangzi's fist and pushed it forward, while his other free right hand clenched into a fist and slammed hard into Pangzi's abdomen.

With a loud "peng" sound, as the gray‑clad Pangzi stumbled back, his belly burst open like a scattering lotus flower; when he fell to the ground, inside the exploded belly could clearly be seen a creature resembling neither a crane nor something else, with a pig's body and a snake's neck.

This creature was exactly the Masked Beast; its owl‑like eyes were tightly shut, bright red blood trickling down from them, appearing to have strength to exhale but none to inhale, as if about to die. Its mouth still clenched a piece of intestine, its body twitching rhythmically; soon the Masked Beast's body began to stiffen and stopped twitching, looking as if it had died.

Pangzi and I were stunned, unable to recover from Yao Wenju's mighty punch. Sun Miao, possibly seeing such a scene for the first time, turned pale and vomited in the corner.

"These five beast souls died so easily? Impossible!" Pangzi muttered softly, dubiously approaching the corpse on the ground.

"Careful!" "Careful!" I and Yao Wenju exclaimed together, because we saw that the Masked Beast's corpse inside Pangzi's belly, which should have been dead, had its eyes slit open a crack, shining with scarlet red light. In the blink of an eye, the Masked Beast released the intestine, its two wolf‑claw‑like strange hands braced on the ground, and with a mighty shove it lunged at Pangzi.

Yao Wenju was still quicker; he stepped in front of Pangzi, facing the lunging Masked Beast without fear.

Bang bang—several loud blasts, like the sound of a handgun's trigger being pulled. Since I stood behind Yao Wenju, I couldn't see the front clearly. When Yao Wenju turned sideways, I finally saw that he was indeed holding a handgun, its muzzle still emitting green smoke, while the Masked Beast on the ground was dead beyond death.

How could a handgun deal with monsters? I was wondering in astonishment, and Yao Wenju seemed to read my mind, turning to me with a slight smile and saying: "Don't be strange; these bullets have all been refined by me, inscribed with runes, and are different from ordinary people's bullets."

He laughed and said: "Nowadays, everything must keep up with the times. The Profound Gate is the same—use cold weapons in the age of cold weapons, and combine technology in the technological age. Combining mysticism and science gives us a greater advantage."

Yao Wenju's words struck deep in my heart; I had once had this thought. If we could fuse runes, formations, including mystic arts and bullets into one, at least in combat we could save a lot of time and gain a greater advantage.

When I voiced my idea to Yao Wenju and asked if he could mass‑produce such handguns, he shook the silver gun in his hand and sneered: "If that were the case, wouldn't everyone in the world be able to exorcise demons and become Daoists?"

"Take a close look at my handgun, hold it!" While I was doubtful, Yao Wenju passed the gun from his hand to me and Pangzi. I took the handgun, merely touched the trigger lightly, and soon it hurt so much I flung it to the ground.

What the hell, this isn't a trigger—it's basically an enlarged needle tube!

Pangzi stepped forward, picked up the handgun, examined it in his hand twice, then stared at the trigger, frowning and said: "This trigger looks like a straw, sucking our blood."

"Exactly, it's a needle tube!" Yao Wenju snapped his fingers and explained the principle of this handgun to us.

He said that although the bullets are inscribed with runes, the most important thing is that they rely on our blood to activate. The moment the trigger is gripped, blood flows from the tube to the firing spring, mixes with the bullet, and is shot out. But the bullets are not permanently effective; aside from the tedious procedure of inscribing runes and high material requirements, after forty‑nine days the painstakingly inscribed runes will become permanently useless.

"These bullets must be expensive, right?" Pangzi idly played with the handgun and asked casually.

Yao Wenju slowly extended a finger: "Ten thousand, each bullet costs ten thousand."

"That expensive?" I stared wide‑eyed at him, stunned by the price for a long time.

Yao Wenju took back the handgun, produced the bullets and placed them before us, saying: "The energy of the runes cannot be stored in any kind of steel; ordinary iron won't do either. One must find iron with strong magnetism, similar to lodestone. Only such iron can store energy for a short time."

He shook the handgun and said: "Besides the bullets, the handgun itself also requires special material. Moreover, more importantly, this handgun has two drawbacks."

The first drawback need not be said—we know it's blood. The bullets require the blood of a Daoist practitioner themselves to activate. Speaking of this, someone might ask: Is the blood of Daoists different from that of ordinary people?

Yes, it's different. Our blood may not be a great tonic, nor does it have the power to revive the dead, but what sets us apart from ordinary people is that our blood contains mana, and our yang energy is purer and deeper than that of ordinary people.

To outsiders, this sentence might just be something they know, but they don't know what it actually means. The reason is our Daoist Sect's cultivation method. Practitioners of the Dharma almost every night chant mantras to invoke deities, communicate with gods, or swallow talismans to cultivate, or cultivate in a specific way. Moreover, there is internal cultivation; internal and external combined training has tempered our physique. The so-called difference is that we have deep yang energy and also possess magical power.

Just this point alone is something ordinary people cannot achieve; in other words, this pistol of Yao Wenju. If used by an insider, it can save combat time and bring out one's advantage; but if used by an outsider, it is merely an ordinary pistol. Eh... it's a pistol that makes you bleed when used.

However, when Yao Wenju revealed the pistol's second deadly flaw, I and Pangzi instantly shuddered and threw the pistol away.

Yao Wenju said, "This pistol is very likely to wound oneself, especially when one is carrying a magnet."

Because its internal structure contains magnetic material. In other words, depending on the geographical environment, if you fire at a monster while there happens to be a huge magnet behind you, then sorry, after you fire you won't hit the monster; instead the bullet will be ejected backward and wound you. This principle is due to magnetic attraction.

After hearing Yao Wenju's explanation, Pangzi and I couldn't help but exchange glances, giving a wry smile. We had thought this gun was a rare treasure, but who knew it could be a lethal star that might drag us to death. Who can dictate the geographical environment? In a life-and-death moment, who can clearly see whether there is any magnet around before drawing the gun?

So, after Yao Wenju finished explaining the pistol's principle, Pangzi and I immediately threw the pistol away. Damn... such things are better kept to a minimum; from now on, catching ghosts and fighting spells should be done honestly by drawing talismans and writing floral characters. Old-fashioned, but still safe.

"Then what are you going to do with this Masked Beast's corpse?" I said, pointing at the corpse on the ground. Yao Wenju's pistol indeed has great power; a few shots eliminated this Masked Beast.

But this matter is far from being as simple as we imagined.

Pangzi and I got involved in this matter because of Chen Biao, but Yao Wenju certainly did not come running just for a little reputation.

First, the gray-clothed Pangzi, who originally was a casino employee, suddenly became the Masked Beast's evil carapace, and specifically targeted casino patrons to harm them. Just this point alone is enough to show how deep the waters are.

Just then, when Yao Wenju shot and killed the Masked Beast, I clearly saw a red talisman flash on the beast's forehead. The left 'binding' and right 'force' form the talisman head, and beneath the talisman head is a small bagua; this is the bagua taboo in talismanic writing.

The Masked Beast is originally a beast spirit formed from condensation in a yin land, yet it bears talisman markings faintly visible on its forehead; obviously, someone must be controlling it behind the scenes. Perhaps the person behind it is someone who came specifically to deal with the Yao family's casino.

Pangzi and I did not want to wade into this muddy water, so when I realized the matter was far more complicated than its surface appearance, I immediately set aside my previous enthusiasm and dumped the Masked Beast's mess onto Yao Wenju.

The Yao family's power is so immense that we cannot imagine it; anyone who dares to act against the Yao family is certainly no ordinary person.

After I asked, Yao Wenju replied, "Just leave this matter to my subordinates; they'll handle it. If you have time, I'll have someone reserve a table, and I'll treat you to dinner tonight. It's rare that you've come traveling, so I naturally ought to entertain you well."

Upon hearing Yao Wenju's invitation to eat, Pangzi the foodie's eyes lit up and he drooled, wishing he could go feast right away; but upon hearing the two words 'travel'.

Pangzi's and my faces instantly turned deathly pale; it seems we came to examine feng shui, and QingSongShu appears to be... still waiting for us!.