Zhu Tian: A journey of spiritual practice starting from Joy of Life

Chapter 222 A Village Full of Funerals, Mysterious and Charming Martial Artist

The Eighth Grade Divine Power is a unique technique and martial art that cultivates communication with nature and living beings by absorbing the essence of eight divine flowers into the body.

It is said that if one can integrate the eight divine flower sources into one, one can even reach the realm of the gods.

But after Leng Feibai rolled his eyes a few times, a hint of helplessness flashed in his eyes.

Although the contents of the eight volumes of the "Cultivating Flowers and Heavenly Manuals" are different, they are all roughly divided into three parts.

The first part is about cultivating eight kinds of divine flowers to aid in cultivation, as well as various rare flowers with special effects.
The second part is the method of refining the essence of the divine flower;
The final third part is the method for absorbing the Flower Source to cultivate the eighth-grade divine power, as well as the corresponding various techniques and martial arts moves.

However, what troubled Leng Feibai was that the flower cultivation methods described in the book were extremely complicated, and for someone who had never studied this area, it was no better than a book written in the heavens.

It seems that in the coming period, when I travel around, I should keep an eye out for experts in flower cultivation.

If I remember correctly, Su Xinghe's seventh disciple, Shi Qinglu, was an expert in this field.

Thinking of this, a glint of light flashed in Leng Feibai's eyes, and a smile appeared on his lips.

"If that's the case, it seems we should go to Xingxiu Sea and kill Ding Chunqiu sooner rather than later! But before that, let's travel around the martial world for a while."

Leng Feibai remained calm at this moment, since there was still one target in his mission that had not yet been born.

It will only take two more years until he is born, and those two years will be enough time for me to control my own time.

Having made up his mind, Leng Feibai strode back to the first-floor lobby and stood before the boxes of jewelry and gold he had piled up on the first floor.

Before leaving the world of Joy of Life, Leng Feibai took a lot of valuables with him.

The majority of the items were jewelry, with the remainder consisting of over 200,000 taels of gold and 700,000 to 800,000 taels of silver.

Opening the box, Leng Feibai took out a ten-tael silver ingot, compared it with the silver he had just received from the pawnshop, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the two worlds are different, the weight and purity of the silver are roughly the same.

"That way, I won't have to worry about not having enough money!"

With no worries left, Leng Feibai felt completely relaxed and returned to Qunfang Garden to rest peacefully.

By the time Leng Feibai finished his rest, it was already afternoon in the outside world.

The area in Qiantang County was quiet, unlike the bustling scene when Leng Feibai arrived in the morning.

After strolling around the streets for a while, Leng Feibai changed into a white long robe, bought some fruit candies on the street, and then left Qiantang County, heading northwest towards Hangzhou.

Perhaps because there was nothing to do, Leng Feibai was too lazy to run wildly and used his light-footed skills to fly slowly while enjoying the pastries he had bought.

The roads leading from Qiantang County to Hangzhou are mostly lush mountain paths. Along the way, various birds, as well as wild rabbits, pheasants, and other animals, occasionally dart through the bushes on both sides and run off into the distance.

Upon seeing this, Leng Feibai's lips curled up slightly. For some reason, Leng Feibai felt an overwhelming joy in his heart.

This joy lasted for a full hour before Leng Feibai arrived at a village ten miles away.

Just then, the sounds of suona and erhu music filled his ears.

"This piece of music is... a funeral song!"

Leng Feibai followed the melody and looked ahead, and saw a large mountain in the distance that looked like a narrow strip of sky.

At the mouth of the valley, a funeral procession carried a coffin along a path beside the mountain wall toward another location.

That's strange!

Leng Feibai was taken aback. Funerals are usually held in the afternoon.

According to custom, the entire funeral procession, from lifting the coffin to burying it, should be completed before noon.

Although he was curious, Leng Feibai didn't pay too much attention to it and walked straight towards the valley, preparing to cross it and head towards Hangzhou Prefecture.

The moment Leng Feibai stepped into the valley, the scene before him startled him.

There was a village of about forty or fifty households in the valley, but every house had a white banner hanging at its door, and smoke mixed with paper ash rose from every household.

"I rely on!"

Looking at the village, Leng Feibai thought to himself, "I didn't hear any news of war when I was in Yuhang Town. How come every household in this village has a funeral?"

Before Leng Feibai had gone far, a rather simple tea stall came into view.

Beside the tea stall, an elderly man dressed in coarse cloth was quietly wiping the table.

"Old man, bring me a big bowl of tea!"

After Leng Feibai finished speaking, he found a seat, sat down, and took out two copper coins and placed them on the table.

Upon hearing this, the old man turned around, took out a large teapot from inside the house, poured a large bowl of tea, and placed it in front of Leng Feibai.

"Father-in-law!"

Taking the opportunity, Leng Feibai inquired, "I'm here to travel. What's this place like in your village...?"

Before Leng Feibai could finish speaking, the old man looked around, sighed, and said, "Young man, let me give you some advice: go back to where you came from. If you want to go to Hangzhou, take the waterway through Qiantang County. Forget about taking the land route!"

Seeing this, Leng Feibai said nothing more, drank the large bowl of tea in front of him in one gulp, and got up to leave the tea stall.

Seeing that there were few people on the village roads, Leng Feibai raised his hand and drew a silver talisman.

"Tongtian Lu: Time and Space Stagnation Talisman"

As soon as he finished speaking, a silver talisman flew out, and the entire village and the coffin-carrying team outside the village were plunged into a black and white state, their bodies and thoughts coming to a standstill.

Having done all this, Leng Feibai jumped into a nearby courtyard.

The courtyard is just an ordinary farmer's house, and the area directly opposite the gate is inside the courtyard.

A long table was placed on the ground. On the table was a corpse covered with a white sheet, and a mourning hall made of black cloth was set up around the corpse.

In front of the mourning hall, a young woman dressed in mourning clothes sadly placed joss paper into the brazier.

Ignoring the woman, Leng Feibai strode into the mourning hall, lifted the white cloth covering the corpse, and began to examine it carefully.

The body was that of a middle-aged man, whose face was dark purple and whose breath smelled foul!
"Is this poisoning?"

Leng Feibai muttered to himself as he continued examining the body.

Before long, two small, scabbed spots on the corpse's ankles came into Leng Feibai's view.

"Based on past experience, it's most likely that they were bitten by a venomous snake!"

Leng Feibai frowned and used his Double-Handed Technique to slap the corpse's head.

Not long after, a walnut-sized memory appeared in Leng Feibai's hand.

"Because you never cultivated, you didn't retain many memories after death?"

Leng Feibai looked at the memory cluster in his hand, said nothing, used the Cloud Step to leave the village, and released the Time-Space Freeze Talisman.

After confirming that no one was around, Leng Feibai began to examine the memories in his palm.

The memories gleaned from the corpse were few, consisting of only a few images. These images depicted a cave where several men and women dressed in traditional Tibetan clothing were driving venomous snakes to attack the man.

"Rao Jiang!"

Leng Feibai opened his eyes, his mind racing. "The only known powerful force in the Metal Universe is the Five Poisons Sect! But why would those guys come to the vicinity of Hangzhou? And the Five Poisons Sect rose to power during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Could it be an unknown force?"

Thinking of this, Leng Feibai's lips curled up, and he became interested.

Just then, an aura appeared in Leng Feibai's perception.

At the same time, a grown woman's voice came from behind him.

"Hey kid, who are you? What are you doing in our Willow Grove Village?"

Leng Feibai turned around and saw a woman dressed in colorful floral clothes with a silver hairpin in her hair, looking at him with an unfriendly expression.

"He's a trained fighter; his strength is roughly equivalent to a sixth-rank fighter in the anime/manga series 'Joy of Life'!"

As soon as Leng Feibai finished speaking, he quickly clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Excuse me, my name is Leng Feibai. I came from Qiantang County and wish to travel to Hangzhou Prefecture. I happened to pass through your village, so I stopped by to ask for a bowl of tea and to inquire about directions!"

Seeing that Leng Feibai looked quite young, the woman didn't suspect him and said calmly, "The mountain road from the village to Hangzhou has been quite dangerous lately. Young man, you should go back to Qiantang and take a boat instead."

"Oh"

Upon hearing this, Leng Feibai immediately asked, "Madam, I also have some basic martial arts skills and know a few tricks of the trade!"

"They're not bandits or thieves!"

The woman patiently explained, “Recently, for some reason, many venomous snakes have appeared on the road to Fushan in Hangzhou. In the meantime, more than a dozen villagers have been bitten by venomous snakes and lost their lives! There are also more than a dozen villagers who went up the mountain to cut firewood, collect herbs, and hunt, and have never returned.”

Upon hearing this, Leng Feibai understood what had happened in the village and quickly asked, "Snakebite and missing villagers are no small matters. Didn't your village report this to the county government? Did you hire someone to exterminate the snake or find a doctor to treat the poison?"

"Not long ago, Qiantang County brought here doctors who were good at treating snake venom, experts who were good at catching snakes, and constables. As a result, like the poisoned villagers, some of them lost their lives on the mountain, and some disappeared without a trace! All that was left was a quack doctor who spent his days in the village studying the composition of snake venom and making a living off others."

The woman sighed as she finished speaking. "In short, little friend, if you don't want to lose your life, hurry back to Qiantang County. But it's getting late, so stay at the inn in the village for the night before you leave."

After the woman finished speaking, she ignored Leng Feibai and turned to walk away.

Upon seeing this, Leng Feibai quickly asked, "May I ask your name, elder sister?"

"Most villagers in Liushugou have Liu as their surname, and I am the village head!"

After the woman finished speaking, she completely disappeared from Leng Feibai's sight.

Watching the woman walk away, Leng Feibai said nothing more, turned around and headed towards the village inn, intending to inquire more about the venomous snake.

Before long, a two-story wooden building came into Leng Feibai's view.

Looking at the extremely simple inn in front of him, Leng Feibai walked over expressionlessly.

Before he could even get close to the inn, a dark figure suddenly rushed out from behind the inn's curtain and flew towards Leng Feibai.

"Ok?"

Leng Feibai calmly extended his left hand to support the dark figure, making him stand steadily on the ground.

"Thank...thank you so much!"

The man, looking visibly shaken, bowed slightly to Leng Feibai.

Before Leng Feibai could speak, a group of burly men wielding sticks and hoes rushed out of the inn, each glaring menacingly at the man beside Leng Feibai.

"How many!"

The man trembled, swallowed hard, and said, "Let's talk this out, let's talk this out!"

"I bother!"

The burly man at the head of the group looked at the man and said angrily, "What did you say when you came to the village? You said that with you there, you could cure everyone's snake venom in less than three days. But it's been several days now, and more than ten people in the village have died from the poisoning. If you continue to treat them, I'm afraid you'll really kill everyone in Willow Grove Village!"

"Everyone!"

The man argued indignantly, "My detoxifying and bowel-clearing decoction is indeed effective. It contains various herbs such as Lobelia chinensis, Scutellaria barbata, Hedyotis diffusa, Paris polyphylla, Cynanchum paniculatum, Coptis chinensis, Scutellaria baicalensis, and Plantago asiatica. It's just that the snake venom is too potent, and the decoction cannot be fully effective. I've been studying the components of snake venom these past few days and will be able to formulate a new medicine soon!"

"I bother!"

The burly man shouted, "Brothers, follow me! Beat this quack to death! They say the law doesn't punish the masses; if you kill this quack, I guarantee you'll be innocent!"

Hearing the burly man's words, the doctor was speechless and quickly fled into the distance, with the group of burly men giving chase.

Seeing this, Leng Feibai didn't say anything more and went straight into the inn.

"I secretly put a speed-enhancing talisman on that doctor while we were in the chaos. Those big men shouldn't be able to catch him."

Leng Feibai thought to himself, "Let's go see what kind of snake bit these people."

He didn't know what the doctor meant by the detoxifying and bowel-clearing decoction, but he knew that herbs like Lobelia chinensis, Scutellaria barbata, Hedyotis diffusa, Paris polyphylla, and Cynanchum paniculatum were all good medicines for treating snake venom.

If there was no fraud, then the medicinal soup should be able to detoxify.

unless……

Thinking of this, a golden light flashed in Leng Feibai's eyes, and soon he saw a dozen weak auras appear in Leng Feibai's perception within a huge courtyard.

Seeing this, Leng Feibai pretended to be nonchalant and walked in that direction.

Before long, Leng Feibai arrived at a place that resembled a threshing ground in a village.

Inside the venue were rows of coarse cloth tents, and inside each tent lay two men and women who had been poisoned and were unconscious.

Outside the threshing ground, two men holding spears stood guard on either side, preventing anyone from getting close.

Leng Feibai looked at the figures in the threshing ground, raised his hand and shot out two bursts of energy, which put the two guards on the outer perimeter of the threshing ground to the ground.

Leng Feibai seized the opportunity to run inside and arrived at one of the tents.

The villagers inside the tent were still unconscious, and the snake fang marks on their feet were almost all around their ankles.

A small number of them were injured elsewhere. Leng Feibai quickly took out a medicinal needle from the Twelve-Story Tower and pierced the toe of one of the villagers.

The purplish-black poisonous blood immediately flowed from the wound, emitting a strong, foul odor.

Upon seeing this, Leng Feibai quickly took some poisoned blood from the villager's toes, intending to study it carefully later.

After Leng Feibai collected the poisoned blood from each of the poisoned villagers and made sure no one was secretly watching, he raised his hand and began to sketch in the air.

"Tongtianlu - Bishui Yingyue Talisman"

The turquoise talisman flew out and transformed in the air into a lake the size of a threshing ground.

Before long, a crescent moon rose from the lake, releasing beams of emerald green light that entered the bodies of the villagers who had been poisoned and rendered unconscious.

The Azure Moon Reflection Talisman primarily restores and heals. Under its treatment, the villagers' poison wounds were completely healed after only a few breaths, and they crawled out of their tents one by one.

Seeing this, Leng Feibai secretly breathed a sigh of relief and used a large tree in the threshing ground to escape.

(End of this chapter)