Chapter 21: 20、The Wind of Nourishing Qi
20、The Wind of Nourishing Qi
Over these days, thanks to Bai Xiue’s presence, Zhou Chang had accumulated enough thought-filaments to completely wrap one arm.
If he scattered these filaments across his entire body, he could at least move around, though not with the agility of a normal person.
At this moment, Zhou Chang gritted his teeth against the piercing pain in his skull and released all his thought-filaments, extending them outward through the coffin’s cracks.
In his perception, the filaments grew limp and lifeless once they extended several feet beyond his body.
But the instant they pierced into the rice mound covering the coffin, each filament surged with vitality like a wire connected to an electric current!
Waves of “electricity” flowed along those filaments straight into Zhou Chang’s mind!
The persistent piercing pain in his mind, caused by his forced use of thought-filaments, rapidly diminished as the “currents” flooded his spirit, until it vanished entirely!
A clear, rich qi swirled within Zhou Chang’s mind, like a sudden spring rain.
His spirit, like seedlings beneath the rain, unfurled its leaves and grew rapidly!
Zhou Chang opened his eyes; the lingering stench of decay in the coffin grew heavier, now mixed with the scent of fresh wood;
the dim, chaotic scene before his eyes gradually sharpened—he saw the mold stains along the grain of the coffin lid;
although blocked by the fermentation pit's stone walls and the mound of rice above, he had lost the sound of the nearby spring, but now he heard it again, clearer than ever, as if it echoed right beside his ears!
His five senses were continuously strengthening.
The reason his senses improved was that the thought-filaments absorbed a certain qi from the rice mound, gradually strengthening his spiritual power—perhaps it could be called his “soul.”
Zhou Chang’s thoughts shifted as he watched the filaments extending from his brow to the coffin’s cracks turn red and thicken, like veins.
The filaments, once limp and lifeless beyond a few feet, now grew strong and rigid!
The filaments fed on the delusions fermented within the rice mound, growing stronger by the moment!
Even though the number of filaments remained unchanged, their quality skyrocketed!
Soon, the dense fungal threads covering Zhou Chang’s coffin dissolved into ash—the corpse within continued to exude delusions, its flesh slowly withering into skin stretched over bone, yet the rate of fungal growth on the rice mound could no longer match the frenzied speed at which Zhou Chang’s “blood filaments” devoured them!
The rice mound surrounding Zhou Chang gradually fell still.
The blood filaments extending from his coffin, piercing through the rice mound, swept past the grain hills burying the stone egg, spiraled upward along the slope, and spread to other rice mounds on either side that had sprouted fungal threads!
The grain hills burying the stone egg remained unchanged, never sprouting a single fungal thread.
Zhou Chang could not perceive the outside world; he relied solely on instinct, urging his blood filaments to extend further, drawing strength from beyond to bolster his spirit, while his physical body had withered into a hollow shell, its skin wrinkled like chicken skin.
Yet Zhou Chang felt better than he ever had.
Splash—
At that moment, he heard a violent surge of water from the spring outside!
As if something had crawled out of that spring, splashing water everywhere!
Swish!
Zhou Chang’s heart leapt—he instinctively reeled all his scattered blood filaments back, wrapping them tightly around his entire body.
The violent water sounds outside ceased instantly.
Silence enveloped Zhou Chang’s ears; no further noise reached him.
The thick stench of decay filled his nostrils; a dread stirred in his chest.
The next instant, a damp, slick wind slithered past Zhou Chang’s coffin—
Compared to the invisible wind that had swept through the cellar when Fatty had shouted “It’s fermenting!”, this wind felt more tangible to Zhou Chang.
As the wind, coiling like a serpent around his body, vanished, his vision trembled violently—the clarity he had gained instantly blurred.
Hollow, shrill sounds of trumpets and suona pierced his ears!
Zhou Chang’s withered corpse began to swell; the chicken-skin wrinkles on his neck slowly smoothed out.
“Huh—ssss—”
“Huh—ssss—”
Two utterly distinct breathing sounds alternated within Zhou Chang’s mind!
One breath came from his current body—Zhou Chang.
The other breath came from his original spirit-soul!
A hallucinatory, murky, colorful “qi” was continuously drawn into the corpse’s nostrils!
Zhou Chang sealed the corpse’s mouth and nose with his blood filaments; every pore on its body opened at once, frantically sucking in delusions and nourishing qi from nowhere!
“Hahahaha—
You can’t trap me! No one can trap me!”
The “Zhou Chang corpse” suddenly opened its mouth, snapping the blood filaments wrapped around its lips—filaments now stronger by countless times—and laughed wildly!
“This body can never be fully mine, never merged with my thoughts!
Its ‘Corpse-Fetus Transformation’ may have begun the moment it was buried in the mass grave—it has already traveled far down the path to becoming an ‘Old Corpse’—yet my spirit-soul remains homeless!
I can only try to control it!
Even control it forever!
It must serve me!”
As the “Zhou Chang corpse” broke free from the filaments and laughed wildly, horrifying thoughts flashed through Zhou Chang’s mind!
He directed his blood filaments to seal the pores on the corpse’s body that were sucking in nourishing qi—the filaments had turned from pale translucent to blood-red; surely they couldn’t be useless!
Yet every time the blood filaments sealed a pore on the corpse, Zhou Chang’s entire flesh shuddered violently, snapping every filament apart!
“Hahahahahaha—”
Inside the coffin, the corpse’s mocking laughter filled the air!
“This doesn’t work?!”
Zhou Chang’s spirit trembled, fury surging violently!
He drew all his blood filaments back into his brow, pushed his spirit to its limit, forcing each filament to stiffen like steel needles, then drove them deep beneath the flesh of the Zhou Chang corpse’s face!
The blood filaments raced beneath the corpse’s face, threading through the neck, spreading across the chest—
Beneath the corpse’s skin, every vein seemed to bulge at once!
It shrieked in frenzy, its laughter turning into a scream of hatred and agony: “Aaaaaaah—!”
Wherever the blood filaments passed, the pores ceased drawing in nourishing qi!
Zhou Chang had woven a network beneath the corpse’s flesh, resembling a web of veins!
“Sssss—huh—” The corpse’s “breathing” continued; it still violently sucked in the colorful nourishing qi, still trying to reclaim control!
Yet at this moment, Zhou Chang’s gaze grew hazy!
The damp, slick wind carried chaotic, mixed nourishing qi.
That same qi had silently influenced him too—and now, the negative effects upon his mind erupted fully—the distant, intermittent trumpets and suona had become perfectly clear.
End of Chapter
