Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 193 The Hunt Begins

Outside the cave

It seemed like a mixture of excitement and fear.

The white bamboo grove trembled gently, rustling softly.

The flesh-and-blood monsters swarmed into the cave, the aura of the immortal milk greatly stimulating them.

Fewer and fewer people were standing on it, and most of them carried the scent of incense, or exuded an air of malevolence and Taoist magic.

Although they were swayed by their emotions and their eyes were a little red, they still retained some rationality.

Zhu Junzi's chest heaved, and although he didn't need to breathe, it seemed that only in this way could he calm his mind as quickly as possible.

Tremors rippled beneath his ribs, and a sound emanated from the abdomen of the bamboo gentleman:

"Everyone, why don't we go into the cave and suppress the earth's energy? If we wait any longer, there won't be much immortal milk left."

The voice was deep and had a seductive power, and a few more people among the crowd got up and left.

Zhu Junzi looked around and saw that only four people, a dog, and a tortoise remained on the ground!
The white dog's eyes flickered slightly, revealing a hint of fear and wariness.

Every time it attends Zhu Junzi's birthday banquet, the immortal dew it exchanges is first drunk by its two puppets to avoid suspicion. After it returns, it swallows the puppets, refines the dew, and then digests it.

This puppet, having been refined by it day and night, had long since become completely obedient to it!
But just moments before, a man and a woman standing in front of it suddenly tried to enter the cave, out of its control.

This is too incredible for it.

Then it suddenly woke up, as if it had been infected by something and had unconsciously wanted to enter the burrow.

The old woman with the long face on her back was just as alert as the animal.

At this moment, the eyes of the face on the back of the other party suddenly opened, and two tentacles suddenly emerged from its legs, forcibly restraining the movement of the flesh. Then, its back arched high, and a human face wriggled out, staring at Zhu Junzi with a wary expression.

As for the mountain tortoise with a human face and fangs, it suddenly let out a furious roar:

"Bamboo Gentleman, how dare you scheme against us?"

The tortoise shell on its back shimmered with an earthy yellow halo, and then the plates suddenly rearranged themselves.

The human-faced tortoise stood upright and suddenly disappeared from its original spot, rushing towards Zhu Junzi. At this moment, its speed was extremely fast, completely unlike its previous leisurely appearance.

When it reappeared, the human-faced tortoise was already beside Zhu Junzi, its blood-red maw wide open, ready to bite Zhu Junzi into pieces.

Zhu Junzi's expression was solemn. With a slight movement of his gray-white gauze robe, his figure mysteriously disappeared from the spot.

The human-faced tortoise, filled with rage, only managed to bite off the afterimage of the bamboo gentleman.

"Bang~!"

Zhu Junzi descended from mid-air, landing directly on the shell of the human-faced turtle. Despite his small size, he possessed the power to topple the heavens, stomping the turtle to the ground.

The human-faced tortoise struggled desperately, causing the ground to crack, but it still couldn't shake off the bamboo stalks clinging to its back.

Standing atop the human-faced tortoise, Zhu Junzi spoke without changing his expression:
"You kindly offered me the elixir, yet you try to kill me?"

The human-faced tortoise, unable to break free, was also filled with uncontrollable rage.

"Bullshit, that elixir is clearly problematic."

After arguing for a moment, the human-faced tortoise shouted at the wary old woman and the couple in front of the stern-eyed white dog:

"This Bamboo Gentleman wants to kill us, what are you waiting for?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Junzi stomped his foot, the dull force making everyone wince in pain.

But he was still unconvinced. He pulled back his arms and legs, twisted his neck, and cursed at the bamboo gentleman on his back:

"Go ahead and kill me if you dare! Your back is enough to keep you busy for half a year!"

Without waiting for Zhu Junzi's reaction, it shrank its neck and even its head into the tortoise shell.

Seeing this, the old woman and the white dog with piercing eyes did not attack together as the human-faced turtle had expected.

Instead, they each used their abilities and rushed out of the white bamboo forest in different directions; they weren't fools.

This white bamboo forest is clearly the training ground of the Bamboo Gentleman. Not to mention that their abilities are inferior to those of the Bamboo Gentleman, even if they are of similar ability, it would be extremely unwise to fight against someone of the same level in the white bamboo forest.

Zhu Junzi's face turned cold as he watched the old woman and the two people and dog walk away without a word. Suddenly, he formed a hand seal in front of his chest.

"You think you can leave my white bamboo forest after you've entered it?"

A cold snort echoed throughout the white bamboo forest. The white bone cicadas, which had just been shaken off by the violent tremor, all took flight and shot out streaks of light through the bamboo forest.

The white bone cicada's sharp mouthparts are shaped like arrows. One by one, the white bone cicadas, like arrows released from a bow, pierce through the distance of the void, heading straight for the old woman and the two people and the dog.

The old woman's expression changed drastically. Looking at the white bone cicada so close to her, her entire body suddenly collapsed, turning into a puddle of mud. Then, without slowing down, she rushed out of the white bamboo forest.

The white-boned cicada, rushing towards them, streaked across the void like a streak of light, but missed its target!
The couple and the white dog with piercing eyes over there were not so lucky. Although the couple risked their lives to protect the white dog, the white bone cicadas were too fast and too dense. Although the white dog was not slow, it did not have the means to turn into mud.

The body could not be hidden forever; before it could be avoided, the white-boned cicada pierced its body.

With its piercing-sucking mouthparts, it exerts force instantly, and with a single suck, a large chunk of flesh is instantly sucked away from the area where the white bone cicada has pierced it.

The white dog with piercing eyes stumbled, followed closely by several white-boned cicadas.

"Hiss... hiss!"

Several white-boned cicadas pierced its body, and the white dog with piercing eyes let out a mournful howl. It and the pair of cicadas it spat out were sucked into ashes. It looked at the puddle of mud on the ground, which had been desperately trying to avoid the white bamboo and was flying away.

A cold smile appeared on Zhu Junzi's lips. With a thought, the white hair standing upright on the top of his head began to wriggle gently, then intertwined and formed a net.

Correspondingly, on the path that Granny Mud walked, the white bamboo suddenly softened, and then, like the white hair on the head of the bamboo gentleman, it quickly coiled into a net.

In the instant the net coiled, it caught the rushing old woman.

The old woman was startled, but she reacted immediately, crawling into the mesh of the net. Although the net was abrupt, she was not afraid of it. After all, she had no bones and was like mud, so she could crawl through any hole in the net.

But when she was halfway through, she realized something was wrong.

The nets around her were getting thicker and thicker, and no matter how hard she tried to squeeze through, she couldn't get out.

Moreover, she didn't know when it started, but a feeling of weariness began to surface in her mind.

Looking back, I realized that my elongated body was now studded with fine white hairs.

As we learned from the bamboo planter's earlier observation, these white hairs were actually hidden within the white bamboo itself.

She had thought that the white hairs had long since merged with the spine, but she never expected that they had always been there and were now baring their fangs at her body.

Sensing the surging suction force within her body, the old woman felt a wave of despair and let out a piercing scream:
"No!"

The screams stopped abruptly, and the old woman, like the white dog with glaring eyes, was sucked into ashes.

The flowing gray-white gauze robe around Zhu Junzi clung to his body again, the hand seals dissipated, and the white bamboo forest returned to its original appearance.

"Toast and don't eat!"

With a cold snort, Zhu Junzi withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the human-faced tortoise at his feet.

Although its limbs and head were retracted into its shell, the screams of the white dog with piercing eyes and the old woman still reached the ears of the human-faced turtle clearly.

At this moment, the human-faced tortoise trembled as it was stared at by the fierce gaze of the bamboo gentleman.

My own shell is indeed hard, but it can't withstand it. It fell into the hands of the other party and was played with day and night.

Why don't you just lower your head?
The human-faced turtle was struggling internally. If it lowered its head, it might have to serve Zhu Junzi like a slave for the rest of its life. What should it do with the little female turtle it had just married?
However, if I don't bow my head, I won't even have the chance to be a cow or a horse in this life, let alone a little turtle!

"I concede defeat to that 'Bamboo Gentleman'."

The human-faced tortoise stammered, and before he could finish speaking, the bamboo gentleman snorted coldly.

"Ridiculous!"

Then, with a look of disgust on his face, he raised his foot, and after a long pause, stomped it down on the shell of the human-faced turtle.

The moment the sole of his foot touched the tortoise shell, the shoes on Zhu Junzi's feet suddenly shattered. His feet, which were originally no different from those of a child, sprouted a sharp, white bone spike from the heel.

With the power gathered, it thrusts straight at the tortoise shell!
"Crack. Sizzle!"

The moment the white bone spike collided with the tortoise shell, it pierced through three lines of defense: the yellowish-brown aura, the tortoise carapace, and the tortoise shell.

The human-faced turtle thought it could withstand the half-moon's shell, but it shattered!
The white bone cone pierced through the body, directly penetrating the heart of the human-faced turtle.

"Ouch!"

The human-faced turtle trembled violently, then fell silent.

Crimson light surged from the soles of his feet. Zhu Junzi withdrew and hovered in mid-air, his feet sprouting white bone spikes, and he returned to the shape of a child's feet.

The hair on its head wriggled, and two white bamboo stalks stretched forward and wrapped around the human-faced turtle's body.

The white hair burrowed into the human-faced turtle's body through the wound pierced by the white bone cone, instantly sucking it into ashes, leaving only a tattered turtle shell lying in place.

Bamboo Gentleman, with his hands behind his back, slowly flew up and stood above the cave.

The hair on his head wriggled and twisted, and white bamboo extended from all directions, coiling up again above the cave to form a huge cage that sealed the entire entrance.

The bamboo gentleman slowly descended and sat cross-legged on the white bamboo cage.

With a solemn expression, he formed a mudra with his hands in front of his chest and murmured incessantly.

Suddenly, the hair on the top of his head, except for the white hair in the center circle, also stood up.

When viewed from above, one can see that the distribution of the white hair on the top of Zhu Junzi's head is exactly the same as that of the main peak of Baigu Mountain and the four surrounding hills.

At this moment, the strands of hair wriggled and trembled.

The white bamboo forest on the main peak rustled, and the same was true for the white bamboo forests on the other four peaks that no one paid attention to.

Suddenly, clouds and mist surged on White Bone Mountain, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Zhu Junzi remained silent, his ribs trembled, and a cicada's chirp suddenly escaped from his belly.

The chirping of cicadas rises from the summit of the main peak and the other four mountains, echoing each other in a continuous, melodious sound.

Looking down into the cave, Zhu Junzi inexplicably became agitated.

With expectant eyes, she murmured:
"Do you like the blood food I prepared for you?"

Eat up, and once you've eaten your fill, become one with me!

(End of this chapter)