Chapter 305

"Many thanks for your assistance, brother!" Zhixia said, cupping his hands.

To be able to effortlessly purify the turbid qi he exhaled with a mere flick of a finger—this feat alone meant he had at least grasped the fundamental essence of his qi-consumption method. Qian Chen's strength was truly somewhat mysterious and unfathomable; he did not seem like someone who would mingle with a group of loose Qi Refinement cultivators.

"No need for such formalities. It was merely a whim, a casual act on my part. As for what follows, even I did not foresee it!"

Qian Chen had only been contemplating a few techniques of his Demonic Path incarnation; he had not expected that unleashing them would result in such an evil nature. He had actually thought that after purifying the gluttonous worm, a butterfly would appear, dreamlike and illusory.

This style of possessing a gu-worm, turning it into something bloody and ferocious, was definitely not what he had wanted.

Zhixia held back for a long time, unable to come up with any way to probe him, so he had to ask directly: "Brother, I heard from someone that the spirit grain you used for this meal seems extremely extraordinary. What is it... Purple-Veined Dragon-Tooth Rice! You've seen it too—we are currently being hunted. Could you tell us its origin?"

Zhang Huaien, behind him, was startled and pressed down his bamboo hat, saying: "Why did you just blurt it out?"

"Blurted what out?"

"That we are being hunted?"

Zhixia raised a hand, smoothed the hair on his forehead, and said: "They've already killed their way to our doorstep! Do you really think they can't tell?"

Qian Chen pretended not to hear them whispering to each other. Besides, he truly did not know why these two were being hunted. He only felt that the tribulation qi above Zhixia's head faintly connected with the destiny of Jiankang. He was just a bit curious, and it happened to be on his way!

Zhang Huaien's expression was solemn as he cupped his hands toward Qian Chen: "Could you tell us the origin of this Purple-Veined Dragon-Tooth Rice? It would give me some peace of mind!"

Qian Chen replied truthfully: "Princess Qingcheng and I are good friends; it was a gift from her!"

As he spoke, he took a jade pendant from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Huaien.

Zhang Huaien took the jade pendant and slightly activated it with his true essence. It was a magic treasure of no low rank; once activated, it could form a layer of true essence protection, and it even bore the Sima family's emblem.

Of course, the protective ability of this magic treasure was somewhat redundant for Qian Chen and Si Qingcheng. It was, however, useful for identifying one's status; it had been specially gifted by Si Qingguo to make travel easier for Qian Chen and the others within the Great Jin.

Zhang Huaien confirmed the emblem and finally breathed a sigh of relief: "So you are a friend of the Sixteenth Princess. To tell you the truth, I am a Censor official sent by the imperial court to Wu Jun in the southeast. Because I uncovered some secrets of the local noble families, I am being hunted and am on my way to Jiankang to seek refuge."

Qian Chen tucked the jade pendant back into his sleeve and smiled: "No matter. Everyone walking the path of the world faces some difficulties!"

Zhixia said: "I will first find the person who planted the gu!"

He pulled two paper dolls drawn with talismans from his satchel, silently channeled his magic power, formed his right hand into a sword finger, and tapped the paper dolls, activating the talismans. Two paper dolls flew out, nodded at him, and followed the trail of the gu-worm, fluttering away into the wind!

Qian Chen nodded inwardly. Come to think of it, this person's techniques were somewhat similar to those of the cultivator Zhiqiu from the Mountain-Sea Realm, and in terms of magic power, he was not inferior to Zhiqiu either.

It was just that he had no backing in the higher realm; the paper dolls summoned by his paper-cutting could not attract heavenly soldiers from the higher realm to possess them. He didn't know where he had found two yin spirits to inhabit the paper dolls for reconnaissance and guidance.

The paper dolls circled around and actually returned to the boat.

Zhixia was shocked and said: "They've actually already made their way onto the boat?"

The two paper dolls hopped and skipped toward the fourth floor; one even turned back and waved at Zhiqiu. At this moment, a thumb-sized little person appeared silently beside the paper dolls, tilting its head to examine them.

The paper dolls turned back and bumped into the little person's belly, bouncing back a step from the chubby elasticity.

The paper dolls and the little person locked eyes...

"Ear-Dao God! Come back!" Qian Chen called out.

The Ear-Dao God suddenly reached out, grabbed the paper doll, and in an instant, returned to Qian Chen's shoulder. It grabbed the paper doll by the neck, shook it hard, and suddenly let it go.

The Ear-Dao God put on a ferocious expression, gestured a few lunging straight-punch postures in front of the paper doll, centered its qi in its dantian, and let out a tiny, angry "Ya!" shout.

Seeing the paper doll trembling and looking confused, the Ear-Dao God picked up a talisman brush, drew a paper horse in the void, a set of white paper armor, put on the armor itself, picked up a toothpick-like long spear, stabbed the air a few times, and let out a series of fierce dragon roars.

Then it shoved the long spear into the paper doll's hand.

The paper doll was at a loss, not even knowing how to hold the spear in its hand!

Only then did Qian Chen realize what the Ear-Dao God wanted to do. It turned out that in the Mountain-Sea Realm, Zhiqiu's paper-cutting into soldiers, scattering a field of paper dolls and horses to fight that pack of demon wolves—the Ear-Dao God still hadn't forgotten that scene!

At that time, the Ear-Dao God was still very weak, watching a group of tiny peers slaughter demon wolves until corpses littered the field.

This left a very deep impression on its young mind.

And now, after the Ear-Dao God's apotheosis, it was most skilled in the art of painting and had a great fondness for those paper dolls summoned by calling upon gods.

Now, seeing the hunt and feeling happy, it wanted to find a few paper dolls to be its companions.

But seeing the paper dolls summoned by Zhixia, which lacked any aura of martial majesty, it was very dissatisfied and wanted them to pick up talisman weapons and armor, and even drew warhorses for them.

But heaven have mercy, these two paper dolls were just ordinary yin spirits subdued by Zhixia; how could they compare to the heavenly soldiers who had fought countless battles under the True Martial Great Emperor? They were timid, and the Ear-Dao God's status was already quite high; in their eyes, it was shrouded in intense divine light, and its ferocious posturing nearly scared the two poor yin spirits into fainting!

Zhixia looked at his two yin spirits, which had performed many meritorious deeds, now so terrified, and had to protest to Qian Chen: "Brother, do you recognize this spirit creature? Could you let it release my yin soldiers?"

Qian Chen nodded and said: "The spirit creature I raised is too mischievous!"

Qian Chen reached out and summoned the paper doll, tapped it lightly, and a yellow soul-calming talisman in his hand transformed into paper armor, draping it over the doll. A faint spiritual light shrouded the yin soldier paper doll, clearing its soul. Considering it an apology for the Ear-Dao God's rash act, he sent the paper doll back to Zhixia's side.

He then said to the Ear-Dao God: "Since you've already run out, go up and help too!"

The Ear-Dao God tilted its head and played dumb. Qian Chen reached out, gave it a flick on the forehead, and threw it out.

The Ear-Dao God had no choice but to walk in the lead, followed by the two paper dolls. Qian Chen threw the three-legged small furnace into the room, carried the Luo San on his back, and followed at the very end with Zhiqiu. Zhang Huaien pressed down his bamboo hat and followed closely behind.

The group arrived at the first floor of the building boat. The Ear-Dao God touched a cabin door and was about to enter, but Zhang Huaien exclaimed: "The cabins on this fourth floor all have seals. Perhaps the seals aren't very powerful, but once triggered, they will surely alert the boat owner."

The Ear-Dao God was angry, turned its head, and ignored him. It raised its hand, picked up a brush, and drew a small door only the size of a palm on the door, then drew a large door the height of a person, and finally drew a dog hole at the bottom.

It pushed open the small door and walked in, fair and square. Qian Chen was right behind, pushed open the large door, and followed in.

Zhixia saw the door that had been drawn, was stunned, and whispered: "This door spell is amazing!"

He also followed in.

Zhang Huaien heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs from below and hurried a few steps, but when he reached the door, he found that the drawn doors had all disappeared.

Zhang Huaien hesitated slightly before looking down at the dog hole at the very bottom, realizing this was the Ear-Dao God's mischief. With a bitter face, hearing the footsteps behind him getting closer, he gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and crawled in.

At this moment, the maid poked her head upstairs and hesitated: "It seemed like there was movement just now?"

In the cabin, a person sat on the bed with a black cloth spread out in front of him, painted with various demonic gu-worms. A hole had been opened in his head, the brains inside were already empty, and he had completely lost his mind. Qian Chen was observing the bloody hole bitten open behind the man's head.

There were still some gu-worms stuck to his body, gnawing on the corpse.

Zhixia glanced at the items in the cabin and whispered: "At least three people lived in this room!"

"Died from the backlash of their own life-bound gu!" Qian Chen stood up from in front of the corpse and said: "It seems that the insect has truly come of age." He pointed to the corpse's chest and said: "It's currently lying inside, undergoing metamorphosis."

"Don't touch it yet!" Zhixia said: "Let's find the other two people first!"

"Someone is coming!" Zhixia's ears twitched, and he draped a layer of tattered gauze over himself. The gauze was the color of peach blossoms, and one could tell at a glance it was a woman's style. Yet Zhixia draped it over himself without changing his expression. Just as he was about to dive behind the screen, half of his body, which had already lunged out, turned transparent.

Qian Chen grabbed him with one hand and Zhang Huaien, who was preparing to crawl under the bed, with the other, and gave the Ear-Dao God a look.

The Ear-Dao God picked up its brush and painted the three of them onto the screen.

The screen originally depicted a painting of travelers in a mountain stream, with several Wei and Jin scholars drinking and floating wine cups by the stream. At this moment, a young Daoist carrying an umbrella appeared on it, standing by the stream and looking into the distance at the green mountains.

A young swordsman was pulling a middle-aged scholar with a panicked expression, hiding behind a tree.

The door was knocked. Zhixia in the painting frowned slightly, thinking to himself that something was wrong.

If the person coming was an accomplice of this man, they should have been able to enter directly. Could it be that there was another group of interceptors?

The door was knocked a few more times. The people outside saw that there was no response from inside for a long time. Only a "crack" sound was heard; the seal at the door failed to issue a warning, and the door opened.

A few more people pushed the door and entered, and were also shocked to see the corpse on the bed.

The woman holding a fan walked in the lead. She stepped forward to check and said to a man in Daoist robes: "He was killed by a gu-worm... The spiritual light was clearly right here..."

The man in Daoist robes raised his hand to stop her from saying more and whispered: "Be cautious, don't say too much!"

At this moment, the person dressed as a wandering knight had already searched the Qiankun bag at the corpse's waist. A flash of spiritual light appeared in his hand, and the seal on the Qiankun bag was undone. This person checked it once and whispered: "Captain, look!"

He took a scroll out of the Qiankun bag and spread it out. It looked exactly like Zhang Huaien, and the painting even sealed a wisp of Zhang Huaien's aura. This made the middle-aged scholar hiding behind the tree in the painting cover his mouth.

"We were entrusted by someone to protect this person. We finally found his whereabouts, but someone else beat us to it. Zhang Huaien doesn't know gu techniques; could it be that there are others secretly protecting him?"

"Big brother... this person practiced gu techniques!" the wandering knight who checked the Qiankun bag and the corpse's belongings said.

"Could it be a gu-worm backlash?" the woman pondered.

"How could there be such a coincidence..."

Hearing the meaning in their words, Zhang Huaien in the painting turned from fear to joy. Qian Chen, however, secretly saw through some of the tricks. The few people outside didn't stop talking, and their secret spiritual sense transmissions were even more frequent, but the method they used for transmission was extremely well-hidden. If Qian Chen hadn't been able to directly see the fluctuations of their thoughts, ordinary methods would indeed have been unable to detect them.

That man in Daoist robes had probably already discovered them; he was acting for Zhang Huaien to see!

Although the Ear-Dao God's supernatural power was immature, its status was not low. Coupled with the painting art personally passed down by Wu Daozi, anyone who could see the trickery in the painting must have had extraordinary insight.