Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 198 Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell to Refine Sacred Bones

Li Wushou bowed slightly.

There were still traces of milky white blood from the bamboo plant at the corners of his mouth.

With a flick of his tongue, he swallowed the bloodstains from his mouth.

Three of Zhu Junzi's knife feet were slashed into Li Wushou's chest, ribs, and abdomen, leaving only two fists' distance between them. The two knife feet were about to converge and cut Li Wushou into four pieces.

The stinging pain of flesh being torn apart made Li Wushou gasp for breath a few times.

Upon hearing Zhu Junzi's question, Li Wushou's face turned cold.

"monster?"

With a murmur, its flesh and blood boiled within its body, writhing as it burrowed into the foot of the bamboo gentleman's blade.

Despite its small size, apart from its outermost bone structure, the amount of flesh and blood contained within the bamboo gentleman's body is no less than that of ordinary flesh and blood evil spirits, and in terms of taste, it is even more fragrant and delicious.

He couldn't wait to devour the bamboo stalks whole.

Zhu Junzi clearly realized Li Wushou's intentions and began to struggle violently.

However, all six legs on his chest were firmly stuck inside Li Wushou's body, and his neck was also tightly locked by Li Wushou, making it difficult for him to move at all.

Sensing that the strange thing inside Li Wushou was about to enter his body, Zhu Junzi gritted his teeth, and the white hair on his head trembled violently.

His ribs trembled, and suddenly a cicada's cry rang out.

Then, the cicadas that had ceased their chirping in the bamboo forest suddenly resumed, echoing the chirping of the other four mountain peaks.

The deafening chirping of cicadas caused Li Wushou to freeze in surprise.

Zhu Junzi's face was solemn, and his arms, which were originally childlike, took the opportunity to form a hand seal in front of his chest.

A crack suddenly appeared along its spine on its back, and then, as if shedding its clothes, a new body emerged from the shell.

With a flap of its wings, Bamboo Gentleman flew out of the white bamboo forest.

A wisp of mist wafted from the incense table in the Three Immortals Pavilion, and a brilliant golden light shone from between his brows, instantly clearing Li Wushou's mind.

"The golden cicada escapes from its shell?"

He glanced at the mangled body of Zhu Junzi stuck to him, tightened his grip on the man's neck slightly, pulled the man's remains out, and threw them into the Yin-Yang diagram.

The blood soaked Li Wushou's clothes, then was absorbed back into his body by his flesh and blood. After a back-and-forth struggle, the flesh and blood slowly glued together.

Inside the Three Immortals Pavilion, Chen Gou'er, who was pondering which meat to eat first, suddenly looked up and said:
"Li Wushou, the smell of that Bamboo Gentleman is somewhat familiar."

Li Wushou's mind was stirred. Did even Chen Gou'er think so?

When he first heard Zhu Junzi's bewitching voice, he also had a sense of déjà vu.

It wasn't the tone, but the indescribable feeling.

Composing himself, Li Wushou watched as Zhu Junzi flew out of the white bamboo forest and gave chase.

Outside the white bamboo forest
On the open ground at the top of the mountain, a pile of white bone lions and skeletons knelt down.

At this moment, they are facing the palace of white bones outside the bamboo forest, murmuring and bowing devoutly.

A large amount of incense smoke rose from the Bone Palace, forming a cloud-like lotus platform above it.

The bamboo gentleman, sitting cross-legged on it, seemed somewhat out of place, giving the impression of a small donkey pulling a large cart.

But this did not affect his solemn expression as he performed the spell. His hand seals changed constantly, and the white hair on his head and the white bamboo forest outside the palace shook more and more violently.

Seeing Li Wushou step out of the white bamboo forest, Zhu Junzi suddenly opened his eyes and let out a loud shout:
"Please summon the sacred relics!"

Li Wushou, who had intended to rush directly to Zhu Junzi's side, subconsciously stopped in his tracks.

It wasn't that he wanted to see how this Bamboo Gentleman would ask for his bones!
Instead, this palace of bones, though seemingly close at hand, is actually separated from a divine realm.

With the incense smoke rising from the Three Immortals Pavilion, Li Wushou was able to break into the opponent's divine realm in the shortest time and quickly approach Zhu Junzi.

But no matter how he looked at this bamboo gentleman Li Wushou, he felt that something was wrong!
The old beggar and Li Wushou originally guessed that the bamboo gentleman's monthly birthday celebration might also be a kind of secret worship of gods.

The fact that the Donkey Taoist experienced mild mental instability after consuming the elixir once suggests that this conjecture is reasonable.

However, upon arriving at White Bone Mountain and meeting the Bamboo Gentleman, Li Wushou rarely smelled any incense from him. Judging from the methods he displayed, he was clearly just an evil spirit and had not yet ventured into the realm of gods.

Li Wushou naturally assumed that Zhu Junzi was merely using the immortal dew to corrode and control the guests, and then forcibly feeding these problematic guests into his body in order to achieve his manipulation.

That makes sense, but at this very moment, so much incense power has appeared in the White Bone Palace of the Bamboo Gentleman.

How could a bamboo gentleman who is not a Shintoist so skillfully wield Shinto techniques?

Suddenly, the suspicion in my mind seemed to become clearer and clearer.
As Zhu Junzi shouted, the divine realm separated from Li Wushou and the White Bone Palace became even more hazy.

Although Li Wushou stopped, Zhu Junzi obviously couldn't be unprepared.

Having just experienced this, he didn't want Li Wushou to get close to him again.

They almost got eaten!
This was a great humiliation for Zhu Junzi.

Once the sacred bones are refined, the other party must be thoroughly chewed up and devoured.

Having composed himself, Zhu Junzi's white hair, which had been standing upright on his head, suddenly retracted into his head, and in the blink of an eye, he became bald.

Li Wushou's viewpoint hovered high, and the rustling white bamboo forest behind him shrank back into the mountain, along with the white bamboo forests on the other four peaks outside the main peak.

A large number of white bone cicadas that had been climbing on the white bamboo fell to the ground and, like the white bone lions and skeletons on the mountaintop, prostrated themselves in devout worship.

The incense and prayers gathered from all directions, making the divine aura surrounding Zhu Junzi even more profound.

Li Wushou saw everything. He originally thought that these white bone cicadas were the remains of Zhu Junzi, but now it seems that this is not the case.

They should have originally been living, breathing white-boned cicadas like Zhu Junzi, but they were transformed into their current state, where they are powerless to choose between life and death.

As the incense continued to gather, a huge, illusory avatar gradually emerged behind Zhu Junzi. This avatar was clearly human-shaped, with its head half-hidden in the clouds, making its face unclear. On its exposed chin grew a long beard, giving it a towering and majestic presence as it stood in the valley.

At the same time, the mountain suddenly began to shake.

At first it was just a slight tremor, until it seemed as if the heavens and earth were shaking.

"Boom!"

A loud bang echoed through the valley. Halfway up the main peak, a giant skeletal hand burst forth from the mountain, and earth and rocks poured down like a dam breaking.

The skeletal hand was as white as jade, its finger bones like wood digging into the mountainside, constantly excavating the rocks.

"boom!"

Another explosion rang out, and a huge skull emerged from the rubble halfway up the mountain.

"Roar~!"

With its jaws clenched and unclenched, the skull roared back, its bones cracking and popping like heavy drumbeats echoing through the valley.

As the skeletal giant struggled, its complete body gradually became visible.

Its thick ribs, like the beams of a palace, gleamed with a jade-like light, and its spine rose up segment by segment, like a giant dragon.

Except for its upper body, which is embedded in the main peak, its lower body is buried deep under the White Bone Mountain.

The bony leg emerged from the ground, carrying a scorching heat. Unlike the pure white jade of its upper body, its lower body was tinged with a faint red, like glass.

The moment it was pulled from the ground, the red light faded as if it had cooled down, and it returned to its white jade form.

The giant skeleton was tens of feet tall. Because of his emergence, the main peak of the Bone Mountain suddenly sank, and at this time the main peak became the shortest mountain in the surrounding area.

The summit of the main peak was now aligned perfectly with the chest of the skeletal giant.

Zhu Junzi sat cross-legged on the lotus flower entwined with incense, looking up at the white bone giant standing in the valley, his whole body trembling with excitement.

Such a perfect physique, it'll be his soon!
With hands forming a mudra in front of his chest, the fragrant aroma of incense spread outwards.

A rustling sound echoed through the valley, and five bamboo groves converged together. Guided by the white hair of the Bamboo Gentleman, they transformed into five swimming dragons, which suddenly burst forth from the ground and meandered up the legs of the skeletal giant.

They eventually attached themselves to the limbs and spine of the skeletal giant.

Zhu Junzi's expression turned solemn, and he shouted, "Refine the Sacred Bone!"

The white hair parasitizing the white bamboo's body suddenly inhaled at the bamboo's spine, instantly turning each strand of bamboo into ashes. The white hair extended, connecting end to end, forming a long line, before suddenly burrowing into its respective spiraling areas.

The limbs and spine were connected one by one until the five white hairs merged into one piece inside the skeletal giant's body.

Zhu Junzi suddenly stood up from the Cloud Lotus Platform and burst into unrestrained laughter.

"Hahaha, it's finally done! This sacred bone is mine!"

Li Wushou stood in the void, feeling the grievances transmitted through his bones.

Although his bone has not developed sentience and has been manipulated by others for so many years, Li Wushou still gave him a reminder when he was fighting with the roots of the white bamboo in the skull chamber.

He wouldn't have let Zhu Junzi succeed so easily.

But as soon as he emerged from inside the mountain, Li Wushou warned him, "Stay put!"

Seeing Zhu Junzi's white hair creeping into his body with his own eyes, he felt somewhat aggrieved.

Li Wushou glanced at the other person but showed no intention of offering comfort.

What a grievance!

If he hadn't been here today, the other person would have been kidnapped long ago.

Is he still feeling wronged?

Zhu Junzi stood on the cloud-mist lotus platform, forming a hand seal with one hand, and the skeletal giant uncontrollably raised its arm.

The feeling of the sacred bone being at his beck and call made Zhu Junzi's smile widen. He then abruptly turned to look at Li Wushou and asked coldly:

"Wandering sorcerer, how do you want to die?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wushou looked in the direction of Zhu Junzi.

The opponent stood between the enormous illusory Dharma body and Li Wushou's skeletal body, his arrogance reaching its peak as he was filled with pride!

Li Wushou nodded slowly. There was still one-fifth of an incense stick left; it was time.

With a flick of his brow, the Three Immortals Pavilion abruptly appeared in the divine realm above the bamboo gentleman.

The power of incense poured down, and the divine realm that stood in front of Zhu Junzi suddenly melted away.

Li Wushou disappeared from the spot at the same time, and when he reappeared, he was already beside Zhu Junzi.

This time he was fully prepared, smeared incense ash on his palm, and grabbed Zhu Junzi by the neck.

The change happened too quickly; the bamboo stalk didn't even have time to flap its wings.

Li Wushou squeezed hard, and the other person's neck bone cracked with numerous fissures.

A red light flashed in his palm, and a "Divine Control Talisman" was placed on Zhu Junzi's forehead.

The Three Immortals Pavilion swept past, and Zhu Junzi had already returned to Li Wushou's divine aperture along with the Three Immortals Pavilion.

Arrival, capture—all done in one swift motion!
Li Wushou stood on the cloud-mist lotus platform, and the incense burning above the White Bone Palace seemed to only then realize what was happening and wanted to burst into flames.

With a thought, the Yin-Yang Daoist robe flew out of the Yin-Yang diagram and was put back on his body. His domain of power suddenly descended, suppressing the incense offerings beneath his feet.

Li Wushou suddenly looked up and gazed at the enormous Dharma body standing in the valley.

"How long are you going to keep up this act? A true gentleman of bamboo?"

(End of this chapter)