Chapter 152: The Dharma-Transmitter, the Great Heavenly Method

Leaving the burial-clothes shop, Xu Qing followed the caravan's runner back to the shop, and all the way he felt as though he had forgotten something.

But he couldn't recall it for the life of him.

What exactly was it?

Xu Qing remembered Xie Yunyan's injured arm.

That's right! He still hadn't touched the small hand of Hong Baoya, the top star of the Jinmen Gang.

Yet it seemed there was something even more important he still hadn't remembered.

Not until the caravan passed Caishikou did Xu Qing see the morning-food stalls steaming on both sides of the street, and only then did he remember: he hadn't had time to buy the fried small fish he had promised Xuan Yu!

Xu Qing suddenly slapped his forehead; it was all because he had played too hard with the paper men the night before last, leaving his mind dull.

Remote control of paper men consumes the spirit immensely; controlling one or two is manageable, but the day before last, Xu Qing once manipulated a full thirty-two paper men, carrying a heavy coffin, running from the south to the north of the ward; he had a grand time, but for the next day or two, his body felt as though it had been hollowed out by a female corpse, so no wonder he always wanted to lie in a coffin and sleep for three or five days.

After buying fried small fish and picking up tea eggs, halfway there Xu Qing wanted to treat the caravan's bodyguards to a bowl of mutton soup, but the flag-bearing bodyguard declined outright.

It wasn't because they weren't hungry; everyone hadn't eaten breakfast yet that early morning, but rather because this escort had claimed too many lives, and now that they were finally getting rid of these "ominous" things, they didn't want to waste a single moment.

Bodyguards who escort goods year-round always hold a deep reverence for supernatural and ghostly matters.

These Yin gold burial coins, to put it plainly, are money for the dead; like burial objects, they are inauspicious things. Last time, not a single bodyguard escorting this cargo survived; all perished during the escort.

No wonder the bodyguard kept a tightly drawn face.

When they arrived at Jingxia Street, the town-guarding bodyguard, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke: "Is this entire street engaged in the funeral business?"

Xu Qing nodded: "In Linhe, aside from the bier-houses not being here, almost the entire funeral industry is on this side."

The town-guarding bodyguard said nothing, but the nearby Hongjin bodyguard, the strongest fighter, muttered: "I thought escorting dead men's money was already ominous enough; I never expected the destination to be even more ominous."

"Hongwu, say less!" The town-guarding bodyguard, though elderly, held the highest authority; the Hongjin bodyguard, though the strongest fighter in the caravan, dared not disobey the town-guarding bodyguard's words.

Nearby, Xu Qing chuckled: "These are merely worldly prejudices; we people on this street live here all day, and aren't we doing just fine?"

Saying this, Xu Qing, like a tour guide, began introducing his neighbors to the masters of the caravan.

"See that old man Hu at the coffin shop on the street corner? Though he has no spouse, he has a daughter, and now he lives more comfortably than anyone else."

The Hongjin bodyguard grinned: "Only a daughter? Doesn't that mean the family line ends?"

"..." Xu Qing glanced sideways at the other; passing the second shop, he continued: "The Shopkeeper Yao of the burial-clothes shop has done funeral business for several years, yet nothing bad has befallen him."

"Then why does the sign at his door say 'For Rent or Sale'?"

"..."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, and the look in his gaze toward the Hongjin bodyguard had already changed.

This conversation cannot continue!

When the caravan arrived near the paper-motif shop, the Hongjin bodyguard had already learned to interrupt and answer questions himself.

"Do the paper-motif shop and the incense-and-candle shop also lack family members?"

"..."

Seeing Xu Qing remain silent, not only the Hongjin bodyguard, but even the town-guarding bodyguard felt some doubt in his heart.

Could it really be that the feng shui is problematic?

Fortunately, when they saw the lifelike Sun Erniang walk out of the coroner's shop, everyone's hearts immediately relaxed.

It seems not everyone in the funeral business is so unlucky; at least in this coroner's shop, there are two living people, a man and a woman, which cannot be fake, right?

Everyone placed the goods in the shop; Xu Qing took out a banknote to settle the remaining escort fees, but the runner informed him that all escort expenses had already been covered by Second Master Feng.

Xu Qing put away the money, thinking he would go find Second Master Feng in a couple of days to settle the payment.

"Several bodyguards have worked hard; I will see you off."

"Wait! We dare not trouble Master Xu to see us off; we will depart on our own."

Xu Qing watched them avoid him as if he were a plague, thinking to himself: This isn't a funeral escort for you; why such fear?

After seeing off the polite bodyguards, Xu Qing returned to his own coroner's shop.

The shop was small, yet it made him feel the warmth of home.

Feeding the cats, listening to Huang Xiaoliu report various neighborhood gossip from the streets and alleys.

Such as which Eunuch was caught in an illicit affair, which household was sealed by the authorities, and that a noble in the capital was searching for someone in Linhe, promising five hundred taels for any news and a thousand taels for finding the person.

Upon asking, Xu Qing found the person they sought was quite familiar to him; his name was Long Engui.

Besides that, the authorities had invited monks from Baishui Temple to hold Buddhist ceremonies at the Linhe wharf, offering food to the hungry ghosts and lecturing on Buddhist teachings.

The aim was to benefit the lonely souls; through rituals of offering food, preaching, and taking refuge, they hoped to help those who drowned in previous years and the water ghosts in the river escape their suffering.

The authorities spoke thus, but Xu Qing knew in his heart that holding the Buddhist assembly was mostly for the matter of the Jinmen Gang being annihilated two days prior.

In the following days, Xu Qing went to the Patrol Office; Hong Baoya's corpse was stored in the coroner's room.

This man had no children and no one to collect his body; when Xu Qing arrived, the office clerks were about to send the corpse to his place.

Xu Qing was delighted; this corpse, after all its wanderings, had finally ended up in his hands.

He had the clerks send the corpse to the coroner's shop, while Xu Qing invited Wang Lingyuan to the Pear Garden Opera House; the two brothers chatted and listened to the opera, quite at ease.

"Junior brother, where have you sold all those corpses you collected?"

Hearing Wang Lingyuan's question, Xu Qing calmly replied: "Most of these corpses in the office were not innocent in life; many committed crimes. I don't seek to earn much silver; I sell them to mines and mills. Perhaps the tofu you ate today or the coal you burned came from traces of these corpses."

"..."

Wang Lingyuan silently put down his chopsticks; from now on, he feared he could never eat tofu again.

Later, when Xu Qing just returned to the coroner's shop, he eagerly entered the side room, where a corpse lay waiting for him.

Huang Xiaoliu, seeing Xu Qing's eager appearance, asked puzzledly: "The Patriarch seems to like corpses very much."

Xuan Yu, long accustomed to this, replied: "This is a funeral shop; isn't it normal to like corpses?"

In the side room, Xu Qing looked at the rewards for conducting the memorial service for Hong Baoya: a Mountain-Splitting Axe and two Dragon-Tiger Pills.

The Mountain-Splitting Axe was a black-iron axe weighing around three hundred jin; aside from being somewhat heavy, it possessed no other mysterious qualities.

The Dragon-Tiger Pill has a very simple effect: after taking it, one can briefly unleash latent potential and possess the power of the dragon and tiger.

It belongs to the category of an enhanced version of the Great Strength Pill.

This item is only of the Human Grade; it cannot even touch the edge of the Earth Grade. Xu Qing had little interest in it, but he was quite interested in Hong Baoya's life review.

In earlier years, Hong Baoya once chased down a person. That person, in panic, lost his way and hid in a cave. On the cave walls were carved tadpole-like runes, along with some martial arts murals corresponding to those runes.

If following the plot of storybooks, at this moment, the panicked youth being chased should have obtained a fortune, comprehended these cultivation methods and martial arts, and finally successfully resisted his enemy, becoming famous throughout the martial world.

But is the reality truly so?

Hong Baoya searched outside, looking for three days, and finally found the youth who had just learned the unknown cultivation method in a certain cave dwelling.

At that time, Hong Baoya only knew the martial arts techniques that were common in the martial arts school, while the youth had learned the most top-tier cultivation method inside the cave.

The youth's confidence increased greatly, but he forgot that Hong Baoya was then a Pulse-Opening Realm Martial Master, while he himself had previously only been an External Cultivation Martial Artist.

Even possessing martial arts techniques comparable to those of heaven and earth, he was merely a three-year-old child holding a sharp blade. With just one exchange, the youth had his life snatched by Hong Baoya.

Hong Baoya was a rough man who could barely recognize a few common characters; how could he possibly clearly recognize the tadpole-like runes on the cave walls?

Although he knew the treasure mountain was right before his eyes, Hong Baoya scratched his head and ears, yet could not comprehend even a single bit.

Since he could not recognize these characters, he would simply memorize the characters on the wall by rote. Later, he could find someone who recognized these characters, learn from them first, and then kill them; wouldn't that allow him to master the skills on the wall just the same?

Hong Baoya acted immediately. His eyes bulged like copper bells as he stared intently at the murals and tadpole-like runes on the wall.

Two cups of tea's time passed, and snoring sounds echoed within the cave.

However, the matter was not yet finished here. Xu Qing watched the life review, and after a day and a night, Hong Baoya in the cave suddenly rolled over and stood up.

He waved his fists and exclaimed with great joy, "I have comprehended it! I have comprehended it!"

Yet, less than half a cup of tea's time later, Hong Baoya was clutching his hair again, his face anxious as he said, "It's over, it's over! Why do I only remember the first five forms, while I cannot recall a single move of the rest?"

Inside the coroner's shop, Xu Qing forced back his sleepiness and continued to watch.

After Hong Baoya learned the incomplete cultivation method and the five forms of technique, within no more than two years, he became the second most powerful figure in Jinmen Prefecture.

The first was Prince Changting.

"When will I become the number one in Jinmen?"

Hong Baoya often sighed like this until several months ago, when Prince Changting committed suicide at Hekou. From then on, Hong Baoya became the number one person beneath the Grandmaster of Martial Arts.

In Jinmen, at least in the Jinmen visible to the public, he became the number one figure in the martial world.

Once a person gains strength, they easily become dissatisfied.

Believing himself the number one in Jinmen, Hong Baoya began to collude with the nobles of Jingcheng, hooking up with the Chief Eunuch Feng Dehai and the Grand Councilor Pan Song.

And then came the gathering of the Jinmen Salt Gang, where the entire family of Cao Xiuying, the salt smuggler belonging to Grand Marshal He of Jingcheng, was slaughtered.

There are sixteen salt gang routes along the Huai River; Jinmen has six. Cao Xiuying monopolized four routes, while the Jinmen Gang occupied two.

Now that the Female Yama, Cao Laotai, is gone, all private salt affairs in Jinmen have fallen entirely into Hong Baoya's hands.

Perhaps because the momentum was too strong, the Jinmen Gang became increasingly reckless, encroaching on ports, interfering in the official salt merchant business along the river, and using the benefits of water transport to openly commit banditry.

Eventually, they targeted Xu Qing.

Hong Baoya did not understand what happened until his death. He had never even seen Xu Qing's face, yet the body was transferred through various hands and finally delivered to the coroner's shop.

After Xu Qing barely managed to finish watching Hong Baoya's life review, he collapsed and fell asleep.

There was no other reason; it was simply because when Hong Baoya was memorizing those tadpole-like runes in the cave by rote, Xu Qing was simultaneously memorizing them as well.

The runes themselves were not important; the key point lay within the dreams triggered by the runes.

Lying in the coffin, Xu Qing, in a state between sleep and wakefulness, saw amidst the mountain mist and haze a young man in white robes holding a mountain-splitting axe, practicing forms there.

Initially, the young man swung the mountain-splitting axe very slowly, but every single move could cut through the clouds and mist between the mountain ranges.

After five moves and five forms, the young man in white robes suddenly began to accelerate, increasing in a step-like manner. If the first five forms were like an old lady climbing a slope, then the subsequent moves were like a young general on a practice ground galloping on horseback and drawing a bow.

And the speed at which the young man in white robes practiced the techniques was like the arrow shot from the young general's hand.

Xu Qing finally understood why Hong Baoya only remembered the first five forms.

Because this thing was simply not meant for normal people to learn!

The first five forms were techniques; the subsequent ones clearly bore the traces of the Dao.

Amidst the surging clouds and mist of the layered mountain ranges, the speed at which the young man in white robes practiced the moves finally reached a level that even Xu Qing found strenuous to watch.

Inside the coffin, the sleeping Xu Qing's eyelids trembled as he mumbled in his sleep, "Slower, it's too fast."

When Hong Baoya entered the dream, he had also mumbled like this, but the Dao-transmitter within the dream did not pay any attention to him.

Now Xu Qing merely spoke subconsciously, yet the young man in white robes within that dream actually slowed down his speed.

"Slower, even slower."

The figure of the young man in white robes paused, seeming to have some obstruction in his breath, but he still obeyed Xu Qing's words and slowed his speed to an unprecedented degree.

"I didn't quite understand that last move; can you demonstrate it once more?"

"..."

The young man in white robes retracted the mountain-splitting axe and then practiced the previous move a few more times.

Outside the coroner's shop, the sun set and the moon rose.

After Xu Qing mastered the thirty-five forms of technique, the young man in white robes stood motionless. His heavy gaze fell upon the horizon, as if there were some great terror there.

"May I ask the senior's title? What is the name of these thirty-five forms of technique?"

Xu Qing had some speculation regarding the identity of the youth before him, but he also felt that was too ethereal and vague.

Upon hearing this, the young man in white robes remained silent as before.

Just as Xu Qing thought the other was merely a machine that cyclically transmitted the Dao, the young man in white robes suddenly spoke:

"This cultivation method is named the Heavenly Gang Thirty-Six Arts. The axe is the weapon among all hundred weapons; only it can bring the martial arts to their ultimate extreme."

"Now I will transmit to you the final axe strike. This strike is named—Heaven-Splitting!"

As the words fell, the young man in white robes' aura suddenly surged, and his eyes, previously as calm as an ancient well, instantly became sharp and fierce.

Before the towering mountain ranges, the young man in white robes stood with his garment billowing like a banner, the veins on his arms coiled and knotted like dragons.

Xu Qing saw the Mountain-Splitting Axe swell violently in the wind, its length immeasurable and its width beyond measure, with fierce winds whistling and gathering upon the blade.

In the next instant, the young man brought the giant axe down; a white rainbow tore from the mountain peak where the two stood, crushing its way through until a thunderous boom echoed, only then did the young man sheath the axe.

The mountain mist and haze, like clouds passing before the eyes, all dispersed; Xu Qing cast his gaze and saw that the towering mountain range in the distance had already been cleaved in two.

At the break, the green rock burned hot like molten lava, while the dragon qi of the earth veins dormant within the mountain wailed and scattered.

Xu Qing looked at that single axe strike, his heart unable to settle for a long time.

How the hell can this be martial arts?

Xu Qing turned his head, his lips dry, and said, "Senior, could you demonstrate it once more?"

"."

This time, the young man in white robes did not indulge Xu Qing again; he raised the Mountain-Splitting Axe, which had returned to its original form, and with a flick of his wrist, tossed the axe onto Xu Qing.

Xu Qing was awakened by the weight pressing him down.

He opened his eyes and saw a black cat sitting on his own chest, staring at him without blinking.

(End of this chapter)