Shushan: Extinction

Chapter 44: This is the use of words!

As the saying goes, one should plan before taking action. Gong Tianwu first went to the vicinity of Kongsang Mountain to survey the terrain. When he arrived at the foot of Kongsang Mountain, he found that Kang had given a hint. An arrow appeared directly on his retina, allowing him to climb up directly.

Gong Tianwu was not in a hurry either. He first walked through all the paths and roads around the mountain.
Then he went around in circles and finally chose a farm at the foot of the mountain, where he kept a mount. This was to prepare for escape in case he was seriously injured.

After preparing all these things, Gong Tianwu followed the direction indicated by the arrow along the mountain path and then directly entered the Pudu Temple.

It was already afternoon, and not even the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, but the temple was still crowded with pilgrims.

After entering the temple, there are nine oversized copper tripods in front of the main hall, which are filled with dense incense sticks. The gray-white smoke of the incense and candles is so thick that even the faces of the companions who are close to them are a little blurry. It can be seen that the incense here is so popular that it must be quite effective.

Gong Tianwu also paid attention to the monks nearby and found that they were indeed fat and big-eared, with red faces, but he did not feel any threat. But for some reason, since he stepped into this temple, he had a vague ominous premonition in his heart, which always seemed to linger in his mind.

Soon, when he approached the back of the temple, the feeling became stronger. Fortunately, the arrow on the retina was not pointing here, but at the center of the main hall.

After Gong Tianwu mixed in the crowd and passed by, he was suddenly shocked, because the arrow went directly to the top of the Vairocana Buddha statue in the center. Did this mean that his target was this Buddha statue?

Obviously, looking at the bustling pilgrims around, it is definitely not suitable for action during the day, so Gong Tianwu observed the terrain and simply went back to the city and entered the inn to recuperate, waiting until dark to start action.

***
Kongsang Mountain at night is significantly different from that during the day.
It was eerie and scary, with a faint, indescribable smell floating in the air, which seemed a little fishy, ​​yet also a little sweet.

However, there are two completely different atmospheres in the Pudu Temple. The Buddha Hall, Guest Hall, Ceremonial Hall, Incense Hall and other areas in the front are dark, while the back to the west is brightly lit, and there are even laughter and the aroma of wine and meat wafting over. That should be the permanent residence where the monks in the temple live and the incense kitchen area where they eat.

Seeing this scene, Gong Tianwu secretly thought that it was indeed only the wrong name that was called, but not the wrong nickname. The monks of this Pudu Temple really seemed to have poor self-discipline and did not seem to be well versed in Buddhism.

But it’s better this way, their fooling around just makes it easier for me to do things.

Of course, a mere courtyard wall could not stop Gong Tianwu, a congenital master. He quickly arrived at the main hall. The originally solemn and dignified statues of Bodhisattva actually looked somewhat hideous in the dark. Gong Tianwu sighed helplessly, said "I'm sorry" in his heart, and jumped onto the stage from the back to try to observe the Buddha statues.

As a result, after touching the Buddha statue, I immediately realized that although this thing looks huge, it is actually much lighter than it looks, and it must be hollow.

Gong Tianwu pressed the Buddha statue with both hands and pushed it open with a bang. Suddenly, an entrance to a secret passage was revealed underneath. There was a strong fishy smell coming out of it, which almost made Gong Tianwu fall.

Then Gong Tianwu looked down, and walked slowly downwards with caution. He could see that after walking a few dozen meters, the view in front of him suddenly opened up, and he had actually reached the belly of the mountain. The fishy smell here was even stronger.

Gong Tianwu carefully looked around and found that the road under his feet was very smooth. It seemed that people often walked on it. However, there was a layer of light dark green patina on the surface of the stone steps, which made people feel a little unbelievable.

Following the arrow, Gong Tianwu came to the depths of a gap about 30 meters high. Then a word popped up on his retina:

Tibetan!
Gong Tianwu sat down obediently and hid here. This place can be said to be quite hidden, and water kept dripping on the wall of the cave, so large patches of wall moss grew there. This thing was iron blue in color and had a pungent smell, which could cover up Gong Tianwu's body odor very well.

The wait was more than five hours.

Fortunately, Gong Tianwu has possessed many bodies before and his mental age is very mature, so he is very calm. Moreover, one advantage of the Purple Qi Cave Secret Technique is that it can be practiced anytime and anywhere. After all, the essence of this technique, to put it bluntly, is to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon.

So as long as you are between heaven and earth you can practice, but the progress will not be that fast.

Around dawn, Gong Tianwu suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from afar. The sound was very fast and even a little creepy.

At this moment, he didn't dare to stick his head out to look, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity. Fortunately, he was prepared. He took out a small mirror from his arms and took a peek at it secretly by taking advantage of the angle.

You won’t know until you see it. It’s really shocking! It turns out that on the mountain road before, a huge centipede that is seven or eight meters long suddenly jumped out!
The head and feet of this centipede are purple-black in color, and its three pairs of small eyes are like gems, shining with a unique light in the darkness. On the central axis of its body shell, there is a red texture running through it, which looks extremely magnificent and amazing.

Not only that, this centipede even has a pair of small wings on its back, which looks somewhat similar to a dragonfly, and they vibrate rapidly as it runs.

With the help of this pair of wings, although the centipede cannot fly yet, it has greatly reduced its bulkiness, allowing it to run extremely fast, even with a sense of being as nimble and agile as a dragon.

Gong Tianwu immediately took a breath of cold air. He was originally a scholar in this life, and his reading volume was quite astonishing. He remembered reading an anecdote in a book called "Miscellaneous Notes from the Ten Thousand Mountains":

Dragons are extremely lustful and will seek out animals to mate with at any time and anywhere. The nine sons of a dragon are very different from each other because the mothers are not of the same species.

This will also result in the centipede having a trace of dragon blood. If the centipede cultivates into a demon, the most obvious thing will be a trace of dragon pattern running through its head and tail.

Once the centipede has practiced Taoism for more than five hundred years, it will grow wings and complete its species evolution, and be called a celestial centipede.

Another point is that if a monster has been practicing for more than 500 years, it does not mean that it has actually practiced for 500 years. Instead, it represents a realm. In fact, some monsters with extraordinary talents can practice to this level in just a few decades.

Looking at the direction the purple-armored centipede was running, Gong Tianwu suddenly understood that this guy should be like him, absorbing the essence of the morning sun.

As for this guy's strength, it can be said to be a dimensionality reduction attack. Ahem, one hundred Gong Tianwu are no match for him. The only tiny probability of winning is to starve the opponent to death.

At this time, the arrow pointing to the direction of the purple-armored centipede suddenly appeared on his retina. Gong Tianwu immediately understood that he was going to play the role of a thief. Ah? This is so exciting, I like it so much! !
After coming out of his hiding place, Gong Tianwu ran quickly along the road. Not long after, he found a strange building in front of him. It looked like a temple, but a closer look revealed that it should be the underworld palace in the ancient tomb. The archway also said "Temple and Mausoleum Hall", but it was obvious that this place had been used as the nest of the centipede.

After arriving at the gate of the underworld palace, Gong Tianwu suddenly found that the arrow in front of him disappeared, and Kang's voice rang in his ears: "Take out the "Ci Shuo" and put it at the gate of the temple hall."

Gong Tianwu did as he was told, and then he discovered that there were couplets on both sides of the Hades Palace. Although they had been eroded by time and were blurred, the heroic writing could still be seen:
"With the help of civil and military strategies, we can conquer the four corners and bring order to the world."

"The Way is broad, virtuous and powerful, and it conquers all sides to bring peace to the world."

Upon seeing this couplet, Gong Tianwu took a breath of cold air. Who is the owner of the tomb to be so arrogant?
You know, it is difficult for emperors throughout history to be both civil and military masters. Although the tombs here are vast, they are far from the scale of kings and princes.

But soon, Gong Tianwu also found the signature next to it: a unique black Buddhist bead bracelet.

There is only one person in history who used this item as his own bell seal, and that was the monk Guangxiao who lived more than 300 years ago.

This person was originally a great monk, but at the age of 71, he returned to secular life and assisted the then unknown Emperor Tianyuan to rise to power. In just 13 years, he unified the Central Plains and established the Hua Dynasty.
Although Guangxiao was called Emperor's Friend, he was actually an out-and-out Prime Minister! He presided over many major events that required the whole country's efforts:

Unify writing, currency, weights and measures, collect all the weapons in the world, dig the world's first canal, hunt monsters for thirty years, etc.

Each of these major events had a profound impact on later generations. Even after Emperor Tianyuan broke through to the Golden Elixir and ascended to the upper realm, and the Hua Dynasty collapsed, these systems were still preserved and played a huge role.

Throughout the ages, apart from Emperor Tianyuan, only Monk Guangxiao is worthy of the content of this couplet! !
Of course, such a person who was destined to go down in history did not have a good ending. He was sentenced to death by Emperor Tianyuan because Guangxiao monk had touched a big taboo of the royal family, which was being involved in the storm of fighting for the throne, and being deeply involved.

According to the latest historical records, Emperor Tianyuan allowed the monk Guangxiao to die without bleeding. After his death, he was cremated according to Buddhist procedures, and five relics were obtained. Emperor Tianyuan then built temples and tombs in the four borders, and placed a relic of the monk Guangxiao in each tomb to suppress the fortune of the four directions. The remaining relic was placed in Luojing at that time.

Of course, the once powerful Hua Dynasty had collapsed hundreds of years ago! All the prosperity and splendor had been blown away by the wind and rain.

After thinking about these things, Gong Tianwu suddenly understood that this should be the temple mausoleum in southern Xinjiang, where the relics of monk Guangxiao were placed!
Obviously, this place had lost its restrictions with the collapse of the Hua Dynasty, but it was unknown when this purple-armored centipede targeted it and made it its nest.

***
Following Kang's instructions, Gong Tianwu placed Ci Shuo under the plaque. After a few seconds, Ci Shuo's soul: a blurry old man emerged, and then began to look around, and said with some doubt:

"There seems to be some literary aura here, but why is it so sharp?"

Then the lyrics flew into the old man's hands and began to flip through them.

Immediately afterwards, there was a flash of light above Ci Shuo, and not long after, a sound of breaking air was heard from the darkness in the distance, and then a pen flew directly over, like an arrow or a javelin, and stopped in front of Ci Shuo without moving.

What’s even more special is that if you look closely at this pen, you’ll find that its material is actually quite unique, like stone or jade.

When he saw this pen, Gong Tianwu immediately thought of a legend. It was said that Guangxiao was known as the prime minister in black robes, but he used a stone pen imbued with culture to rule the world, handle the king's affairs, and win fame before and after his death.

At this moment, every stroke of the pen seemed to be in confrontation, but it was also somewhat like a mutual sympathy.

Seizing this opportunity, Kang's voice once again rang in Gong Tianwu's ears:

"Enter the door, then close your eyes immediately. No matter what happens, don't open them until you get what you want."

Gong Tianwu was stunned and couldn't help but smile bitterly:

"What exactly do you want me to get?"

Kang said calmly:
“After so many years, I don’t know what it looks like now.”

Gong Tianwu wanted to cry but had no tears:
"Brother, the terrain in there is very complicated and must be extremely dangerous. Do you want me to close my eyes and go into that hellhole, and then find something you don't even know what it looks like?"

Kang suddenly said:

"Do you remember what you told me before you came here?"

Gong Tianwu was stunned. He certainly remembered his bold words: to be rich and to be in danger, to gamble with one's life.
But that is only when I am in control of the overall situation.

The two sides were in a stalemate. Gong Tianwu knew very well that Kang treated him as a chess piece. Once there was a possibility of gaining greater benefits, he would definitely abandon him without hesitation.

This is indeed the case. When I was resurrected as Tian Dachun, I was very close to being abandoned.

Time passed by minute by minute, Kang suddenly said:
"The Sky Centipede has almost finished gathering the Sunflowers and will be returning soon."

Gong Tianwu was delighted. Kang actually spoke first at this time, which meant that the things inside were very important to him, so important that he was willing to give in.

In the end, Gong Tianwu won the bet this time.

Therefore, Gong Tianwu simply turned around and left:
"Since the main person is back, we should come back fully prepared next time."

(End of this chapter)