Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 379 A Green Pine Tree in a Deep Valley

These shop assistants were all agile and quick-witted.

The other monks just piled up haphazardly in a corner.

They recognized that Monk Faen was the leader, so they deliberately placed him in front of the counter with his back to it, making it easier for him to be questioned.

Chu Tianshu casually pulled out a chopstick, walked to the monk's side, and tapped the monk's bald head with the long, square-tipped chopstick.

Thump!

The voice is deep and clear, the skin is tough and the bones are strong; it's truly a fine head.

Farn was already so weak he was about to faint, but the tap made him tremble and immediately open his eyes.

"senior!"

Upon seeing Chu Tianshu, Fa'en immediately said, "We are all disciples of the inner court of Qingsheng Temple, and I am even among the true disciples."

"According to the agreement of the enlightened one, our temple is willing to pay a large ransom in exchange for our return to Qingsheng Temple."

There are three paths in the world today, and all of them consume a lot of resources.

Even enlightened beings, if they have even the slightest desire for pleasure or a life of wealth and luxury, will inevitably need disciples and subordinates.

While disciples and subordinates can be helpful and useful, they should also be taught martial arts techniques to make them more capable, which requires even more resources.

Therefore, every disciple who is remembered by an enlightened being is extremely precious.

If it falls into the wrong hands, I'd rather pay a ransom than let what I've already invested in this person go to waste.

Back then, the Gao family of the Northern Dynasty fell into ruin because several generations of their children and grandchildren were unfilial, engaged in cruel internal strife, indulged in extravagance, and constantly sought ways to cause trouble.

Old Madam Gao, who had suffered a stroke and was half-stiff during her martial arts practice, softened her stiff meridians after being angry for a long time. She was able to catch her breath, restore her cultivation, and rectify the family's conduct.

But by then, the Gao family's wealth was already dwindling, and she relied on the promise of enlightenment to quickly amass a fortune.

Later, after several masked experts came to their door to warn them, the Gao family finally stopped and cut off this way of making money.

After hearing what Monk Fa'en said, Chu Tianshu remembered that he could also swindle money from these monks.

"Humph!"

He gave a light hum, neither confirming nor denying, then took out the relic and asked, "Do you recognize this relic?"

Farn dared not be negligent and carefully examined the object.

"These are relics from the Dharma assembly."

Farn said, "So it turns out this person was ungrateful and ran into our hands, bringing this disaster upon us..."

Chu Tianshu tapped him again.

"Stop talking nonsense. This Dharma assembly has disappeared. Can you find the last place where it disappeared?"

Fa'en pondered for a moment and said, "Even if the Dharma Assembly lost the relics, it still studied the 'Fu Guang Niu Wang Sutra' and should have already cultivated to the point of 'generating ghee from cheese'..."

Milk comes from cows, cheese from milk, ghee from cheese, and ghee can be made into ghee.

Finally, the cooked pastry will yield a rich, mellow flavor.

It is said that when nobles in India attended banquets, they would smear pure ghee on their heads. Because of the hot weather, the ghee would gradually melt, leaving them feeling cool and comfortable all over, allowing them to enjoy themselves for a long time.

Some Buddhist scriptures use the term "醍醐灌顶" (a kind of spiritual enlightenment) to describe the comfortable experience of enjoying coolness in the heat.

The demonic cultivation methods of Qingsheng Temple also used the five-step metaphor of creating "ghee" in Buddhist scriptures to correspond to the five stages of demonic cultivation.

According to Faen, when this exercise is practiced to the third step, there will be pure white blood vessels in the ten fingers.

When blood flows through the ten fingers, it will turn white briefly, and then gradually turn bright red when it reaches other areas.

Even if Fa Hui dies a mangled corpse, as long as he has a single finger, Fa En can still sense where that finger is.

However, this requires Fain to recover some of his power.

"can."

Chu Tianshu picked up his chopsticks and tapped him on the head three times.

Faen felt three major acupoints on the central axis of his back—Zhiyang, Lingtai, and Shendao—making a series of thumping sounds.

The meridian that was originally blocked due to severe injury was immediately unblocked.

Faen's mind raced for a moment, but in the end he didn't dare to play any tricks in front of Chu Tianshu, so he obediently sat cross-legged and circulated his internal energy.

A short while later, he bit his thumbs one after the other, muttered incantations, and used the blood from his thumbs to write incantations on his other eight fingers.

One incantation for each finger joint, for a total of twenty-four incantations.

Many Taoist talismans evolved from seal script.

The talismans used by Faen are mostly seed characters derived from Sanskrit. After writing them, he puts his palms together and immediately receives a response.

"It seems that all ten fingers of the Dharma Assembly are still intact, and the sensation is very obvious."

Farn stood up and said, "Please follow me, senior."

Chu Tianshu turned around, cupped his hands in greeting to the old scholar, Zhuo Yuan, and the others, and said, "I'll be right back."

The others returned the greeting, knowing that he meant to go alone. Although they were curious, they tactfully refrained from offering to accompany him.

The old scholar said, "There is one more thing I need to ask you to decide, sir. You have captured these monks, and they also have dozens of horses."

"Those that are dead can be sent to the soup pot, but the living can be sent to the mule and horse market for a hefty sum of money. Should we send them there?"

Chu Tianshu was secretly pleased and said with a smile, "That's perfect, please help me deliver it to sell."

This Denglaishan Village is truly a treasure trove.

Besides the usual residential docks, village granaries, restaurants, and eateries, there are also other common places to visit.

Each market, such as the mule and horse market, fur market, spice market, silk and cloth market, medicine market, and rare and precious items market, had its own dedicated area. With Faen leading the way, Chu Tianshu passed by two markets selling spices and medicinal herbs after leaving the house.

Several streets were filled with the aroma of spices and herbs, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares were much louder than in other places.

There were many people of Central Asian descent in the shops, whose appearances were clearly different from those of the Southerners. There were even some overseas Chinese, who were even more conspicuous, but most of them spoke fluent local dialect.

Chu Tianshu also saw many teenagers carrying dozens of small cloth bags, carrying spices to other places to sell and attract customers.

Among the seventeen people harmed by Tan Yu, one was the leader of a group of teenagers in the Spice Market.

Because she was a woman, she developed early. The "big sister" was quite strong, and because she was a woman, she could get along better with the women from various families. The money she earned from buying and selling spices was enough to fill her stomach.

But she was just an orphan, so it was impossible for her to have a good life.

Among those practicing swordsmanship in the manor, her progress is only at the middle to upper level.

Chu Tianshu could tell that she had been breathing too much powder in her daily life, and after being harmed by the demonic secret techniques, she had developed a minor problem with her brain and nerves, making her mental strength weaker than others.

Once she takes some medicine and recovers, given her strong will, her swordsmanship should be among the best.

“Children who do this kind of work develop health problems without realizing it. When they grow up, they will only blame themselves for being weak and will not understand why.”

Chu Tianshu thought of many cases and shook his head inwardly.

These teenagers are at the perfect age to learn from a master.

However, he himself is not yet powerful enough, and it is not the right time for him to take in too many ordinary children.

Farn led the way, his feet never stopping, and after passing through two markets, they gradually headed into the mountains.

Chu Tianshu followed him through the mountain path and arrived at an area that had not yet been cleared by the villagers.

A huge cliff face came into view ahead.

As we got closer, we saw a crevice-shaped cave hidden among the bamboo groves.

Even with two or three people walking in the cave, it doesn't feel too narrow. There is light at the end of the cave, which is a natural passage.

Upon exiting the cave, we discovered that we were in a large valley.

Ancient trees reach for the sky, and vines are as thick as a person's leg.

Upon arriving here, Chu Tianshu could already sense a long and profound aura, and he couldn't help but gently touch the relic with his left hand.

The relics at Qingsheng Temple are ritual implements crafted and continuously refined by masters throughout history.

Not only is the relic itself solid enough, but the demonic aura inside has permeated every part of the crystal's texture.

Even if the internal magical essence is exhausted, the crystal can never be restored to its original pure state.

However, there is a mark of damage on this relic from the Dharma assembly, as if it had been rubbed by an iron brush.

The demonic aura within the crystals near the wound was completely swept away.

As a result, within this slightly yellowish and cloudy crystal, there was a small piece of crystal as clear as water.

The person who can do this must be more powerful than Shen Minglai, and is a taboo, or rather, a powerful enlightened being.

However, within the hundreds of miles of Denglai Mountain, there should be no local powerful cultivators residing there.

Chu Tianshu wanted to use this mountain village as a place to start his business, so he was naturally curious and wanted to come and explore.

"Right there."

Farn pointed.

In the southeast corner of the valley, there was a small village.

The valley is lush with trees, and the underground roots are intricate, thick, and sturdy, making it difficult to cultivate.

Therefore, the village in this valley is really small, with only a dozen or so households, mostly in simple houses made of bamboo and wood.

Chu Tianshu had already realized that there was no one there, but he still walked towards it.

"They weren't driven away."

He pushed open the door of a wooden hut and examined it carefully.

There was not a single piece of cloth, fur, grain, or bowl left in the house; it was clear that someone had carefully packed it up and taken it all away.

Something must have happened that forced the entire village to relocate to avoid disaster.

"It's because he died here during the Dharma assembly that they're afraid other monks might come looking for revenge."

Chu Tianshu walked towards the end of the village.

At the end of the village, there is a pond. Water from several streams is diverted and stored in the pond, and there is a large pine tree by the pond.

There was no wind in the valley when the two arrived.

On the towering tree, a few pine branches suddenly swayed gently.

Upon seeing the pine tree, Farn felt a sudden panic, his steps froze, as if he were being watched by some supreme master, and he was greatly terrified.

Chu Tianshu looked down at the scars on the surface of the relic and chuckled.

"I initially thought it was a steel brush, but it turns out that the marks were made by pine needles when the branches swept across."

He looked up at the pine tree again, his eyes glistening.

"Don't misunderstand, these monks are no good. I'm not here to help seek revenge."

"But I'm also very curious; your physical strength and vitality are no less than mine."

"Fellow Daoist Pine Tree, may I ask what kind of kung fu you practice to achieve this level? I possess many kung fu techniques; would it be alright if we discussed them together?"

(End of this chapter)