Shushan: Extinction

Chapter 243 Possessing Traits: Cao Thief

It is said that thunder can destroy evil and fire can remove filth. A raging fire is the nemesis of such evil places.

Even without Gong Tianwu's order, these Wulou Guards hated this place so much that they immediately took action upon hearing Gong Tianwu's order. With their superb skills as martial artists, they quickly found a large amount of firewood.

But at this moment, an angry roar came from the sky, like the sound of a bell or thunder:
"You little brat, I don't want to argue with you. How dare you destroy my tomb? No wonder I'm so ruthless!"

It was obvious that the person who spoke was General Shi, and this guy's hiding skills were extraordinary, so his true identity could not be discovered.

Instead, with the appearance of this voice, the sky suddenly darkened.

The surrounding trees, rocks, etc. began to wriggle and crawl, turning into demonic soldiers. This was exactly General Shi's magical power: every tree and grass turned into an enemy.

Then these demon soldiers charged towards Gong Tianwu and others.

Gong Tianwu was not in a hurry at this time. He took out a whistle with a faint blood color from his arms. It was Sheng Luo Ling, and he blew it softly:

Suddenly, a heart-stirring piece of music began to echo in the air.

As this BGM sounded, something in the void seemed to begin to revive, the shackles blocking the underworld were broken, the boundaries of time and space began to blur, and unique blood-red flames floated out from the void.

Each flame represents a resentful soul! !

They were all victims of General Shi's cruel persecution, and they were all terrible wronged souls who suffered tragic deaths and were filled with resentment.

Previously, they were unable to retaliate under the suppression of General Shi's tyranny, but under the powerful force of Gong Tianwu's Heavenly Palace Heart Sutra, they revived one by one and wanted to vent their deepest hatred on General Shi! !
After seeing this scene, General Shi didn't know what was going on at first and just thought it was a trick.

It was confident that it was well hidden and continued to display its magical power of seeing enemies everywhere, constantly summoning demon soldiers to besiege Gong Tianwu and others. After all, the number of evil-breaking crossbows allocated to his men by Gong Tianwu was limited and could not withstand consumption.

It was not until several living souls floated unhindered towards General Shi's body and attached themselves to his body that General Shi suddenly felt a horrible pain. It was the resentment and obsession of the living souls that were eating away at his soul.

In an instant, General Shi's figure emerged from the air where he had been hiding. He looked like a broken, strange and hideous statue, with the broken parts filled with flesh and blood.

The moment the living soul touched its body, blood flames immediately burned fiercely, and General Shi's golden body, which was condensed by the power of incense and vows, began to melt like wax.

This "loyal and brave general" who had made great military achievements during his lifetime and was awarded the title of "Loyal and Brave General" after his death finally revealed his true colors at this moment.

On its green-faced and fanged ghost face, there is still half a gilded divine mask left, which was the golden statue bestowed by the imperial court in those days.

The other half was a corpse with bones rotting to the bone, and maggots were wriggling in the empty eye sockets. The embroidered pattern on the hem of the divine robe was still there, but the jade belt around the waist had long been broken, revealing the shroud wrapped inside.

General Shi roared in pain:

"I am a true god appointed by the imperial court!"

As it roared, a mixture of black blood and incense gushed out of its throat:
"How dare you, the unruly people?"

More blood flames began to cling to it like maggots on its tarsal bones, drilling into its broken golden body.

One of them took the form of an old woman, who was the wife of the craftsman who was sacrificed alive when the temple was built for it. Her skinny ghost hand directly pierced into General Shi's chest, tearing out a handful of stinking incense and wish power.

"Give me back my husband's life!"

The old woman's resentment exploded in its soul, and the memory of that stormy night a hundred years ago instantly emerged:

How it nailed the old craftsman to the temple beam and let his blood flow, just to "consecrate the temple with blood".

Another ball of blood flame transformed into a scholar, who was the scholar who wrote a letter to expose the human sacrifice.

The ghost of the scholar held an illusory memorial in his hand and slammed it hard on the golden seal on General Shi’s forehead.

"You man-eating devil!"

The scholar's obsession pierced General Shi like a sharp sword, and he immediately remembered how he had thrown the scholar's entire family into the fire to make the elixir - at that time it was euphemistically called "refining the elixir of immortality".

The next blood flame turned into the appearance of his most loyal personal soldier during his lifetime.

The soldier's ghost's eyes were bleeding. He tightly grasped its left leg and began to bite it hard.
The memories of the personal guards who had been used as "ghost soldiers" by it in the past came flooding back like a tide.

"General, why do you want to devour us too?!"

The questioning of the resentful spirits of the soldiers caused the imperial edict on its golden body to begin to peel off.

The words "loyalty", "courage" and "benevolence" written with cinnabar fell to the ground one by one and turned into smelly blood mud.

It frantically tore at the resentful souls on its body, and fragments of its divine robe mixed with rotten flesh flew everywhere.

The golden body that was once invulnerable to swords and guns was now burned with black holes by the most common resentment. Every time it shook off a resentful soul, more blood flames would rush over.

"Ahhhh!!! No! I will protect the country and the people, and receive the incense of all the people!!"

Its howls grew weaker and weaker. When the last golden seal fell off its forehead, the fallen god finally let out a desperate wail:
"Retribution. This is retribution!"

With this howl, its body, which was made up of incense and corpse gas, exploded. Countless resentful souls that it had devoured swarmed out from the cracks and turned into a horrifying black whirlwind, which swept the remaining body into the underground.

The people around witnessed this shocking scene with their own eyes and were all stunned. After all, it was the first time for most people present to see such an unusual scene.

At this time, Gong Tianwu whispered a few words to Hasar next to him. Hasar understood what he meant and immediately found a few confidants to whisper to him.

Soon, a piece of news spread throughout the army that it was the magic weapon bestowed by the young marquis' master that successfully brought the evil General Shi to his death.

This also dispelled the doubts in many people's minds. After all, in their hearts, the immortals are still omnipotent.

This is also the reason why Gong Tianwu is cautious. Although his use of the Heavenly Palace Heart Sutra will not be discovered by the Floating Life Map, with his current strength, it is still a bit difficult for him to kill General Shi, so it is time to let Ming Zhenzi take the blame.

On the contrary, for independent cultivators, the more reputation they have for slaying evil spirits, the better.

***
When General Shi's soul was destroyed, the demon soldiers summoned by his "every tree and grass is an enemy" magical power also became stiff and motionless, then fell to the ground. Spider-web-like cracks quickly appeared on their bodies, and in the blink of an eye, they collapsed into a pile of rotten soil.

Suddenly, a few muffled groans were heard nearby, and then a dozen Wulou Guards lost their balance and fell to the ground, twitching and gasping for breath.

It turned out that although these demon soldiers had only appeared for a short time, some of them had the ability to counterattack with long-range attacks, and those who were hit were all injured.

"Brother Qi!"

Several Wuluo guards came forward with concern, only to see Deputy Commander Qi Feng half-kneeling on the ground, with a half-rusted arrow stuck in his right arm, and a strange blue-gray color around the wound. He gritted his teeth, cold sweat oozing from his forehead, but still tried hard to stand up.

“Don’t move!”

A guard held him down:

"There's something strange about this arrow. Your wound turned black and rotted so quickly."

The military medical sergeant rushed over upon seeing this, tore off Qi Feng's armor and took a look, his expression suddenly changed:

"This is corpse poison!" He hurriedly took out the powder he carried with him and applied it on the wound. However, the blue-gray color not only did not fade away, but instead slowly spread along the blood vessels, forming a strange gray texture around the wound.

“It’s no use.”

The doctor's forehead was covered with sweat and his voice was tense:

"Ordinary drugs can't suppress it at all."

The Wulou Guards around looked at each other in bewilderment, and some cursed in a low voice:
"Damn it, do I have to cut off my arm to survive?"

"It's no use breaking an arm."

A hoarse voice suddenly interrupted.

Everyone turned around and saw the illusion of the mulberry demon approaching slowly with a hunched back. His skinny fingers gently pushed aside the crowd:

"The corpse poison enters the blood and directly attacks the heart. Cutting off the flesh and amputating the arms is just to delay the onset of the disease."

The doctor frowned:
“Do you have any idea?”

Sang Yao did not answer, but squatted down and carefully examined Qi Feng's wound. There was no expression on his wrinkled face, only his cloudy eyes flickered slightly.

"Sticky rice."

He suddenly spoke, his voice like the friction of dry bark:
"Bring glutinous rice. If you don't have it, grain or rice bran will do."

Fortunately, Gong Tianwu had sufficient supplies of Wulouwei, so someone soon handed him a bag of sticky rice. Sang Yao grabbed a handful and gently pressed it on the wound.

“Sizzle.”

A burst of white smoke rose up, and the glutinous rice on the wound instantly turned dark green.

Qi Feng groaned, veins popping out on his forehead, but he didn't scream out.

After changing several handfuls of sticky rice, Sang Yao found that the new one no longer changed color, so he nodded with satisfaction, and then took out a bamboo cupping jar from his arms:

"Give him a stick to bite in his mouth, and it will hurt more next time."

Sang Yao first sprinkled some powder into the cupping jar, then lit it and quickly applied it to the wound.

After a moment, Qi Feng finally couldn't help but let out a painful growl.

There was a gurgling sound coming from inside the tank, as if something was being forcibly pulled out.

When Sang Yao took off the cupping jar, a layer of sticky black blood had accumulated at the bottom of the jar, emitting a foul odor that made people nearby cover their noses.

Only Sang Yao remained calm. He then tremblingly took out a small wooden box from his arms. When he opened it, there was a ball of crimson ointment inside, which exuded a faint herbal fragrance. He then dipped a little of the ointment and gently applied it on the wound.

At this time, Qi Feng's tense body finally relaxed. He let out a long breath and fell into a deep sleep.

Then, Sang Yao treated the wounds of the remaining wounded one by one. After all the wounded were taken care of,

The old mulberry monster slowly stood up and turned his gaze to Gong Tianwu who had been watching silently.

"Young Marquis."

His voice was hoarse, but it revealed a hint of shrewdness:
"I can produce thirty red mulberries every year, and I am willing to give them all to you. The ointment in this box is made from this fruit as the main ingredient. It has a miraculous effect on all external injuries and poisons."

"At the same time, red mulberry can strengthen the body and prolong life after consumption."

Gong Tianwu raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled:
"oh?"

The Mulberry Demon lowered his eyes and stroked the wooden box with his skinny fingers:

"I only ask you, sir, to give me a place to stay."

His voice was very light, but it made the air around him quiet. The Wulou Guards exchanged glances. Everyone knew that this old man was looking for a backer after witnessing the young marquis's power.

But to be honest, this old Sang demon has a pretty good vision. There are forces that are stronger than Gong Tianwu, but it is rare to find one that can keep its word to all demons and treat them equally.

Gong Tianwu's face changed and he stared at the old Sang monster. The atmosphere suddenly became quiet and awkward.

Old Sang Yao was also worried in his heart. After all, his life was in someone else's hands. After a while, he could only find a way out and said:
"Forget it, if it's difficult for the Marquis..."

Gong Tianwu suddenly smiled and said:

"What's so difficult about that? A place to stay is nothing. You saved the lives of my ten men, so from now on you will be our guest official!"

"I will give you a fixed salary of 300 sheep every month. If you don't want the sheep, you can convert it into various resources of equal value that you need."

When Old Sang Yao heard this, he was overjoyed and immediately bowed deeply:

"Sang Ming has met the young marquis."

As it finished speaking, Gong Tianwu's ability to identify people was activated automatically, and a prompt appeared in front of him:
"Congratulations on gaining the allegiance of the youkai Kuwana."

"Name: Kuang Ming."

"True form: A monster with rare blood of the Sora Sang tree."

"Loyalty: 75/100"

"Strength: 130 years of practice, half-transformed"

"Possessing a B-type talent: Spirit Absorption, the ability to absorb and digest the surrounding spiritual energy is stronger, four times that of ordinary monsters."

"Possessing a C-type talent: Strong, can transform the spiritual energy or essence that it cannot digest into fruit, and then use it for trading or gifting."

"Possessing the trait: Healing pot. Creatures with this trait have a special interest in treatment and medicine, and can gain happiness and satisfaction from it."

"Has the trait: Stubborn. Once a creature with this trait decides on something, it is basically difficult for them to change their mind."

"Possessing trait: Cao Zei, creatures with this trait are particularly obsessed with women who have given birth or women who have a stable partner."

(Traits are personal qualities + personal labels brought about by acquired education/experience)
After seeing this information, Gong Tianwu kept a straight face, but he thought in his heart that one can never judge a person by his appearance. This old man who looks old and decadent actually has a treacherous heart!
However, this fellow's cultivation level is not that high, and he can only enter a semi-transformed state. The transformed body can only move about fifty miles away from the main body.

At the same time, the incarnation is in an illusion state most of the time and can only turn into a physical entity when necessary, otherwise it cannot last too long. So it is estimated that it is unable to do anything it wants to do and can only watch.

***
Seeing this scene, the demon beside him suddenly widened his eyes and cursed in his heart:

"I raise 300 sheep a month, which means 3,600 sheep a year. You are a fool, old demon Sang. Why don't you invite me to join you in such a good deed?"

(End of this chapter)