Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 206 Spirit Pet Embryo and Street Monster
Fang Shu sat cross-legged on the giant toad's corpse and used magic to make the blood from the toad's corpse blend into the river water.

Although the river's color change was due to the machinations of the ghostly immortals, the most fundamental reason was the poisonous and malevolent energy within the giant toad's body.

After such a long time, the evil energy in the water remains. If it is not cleaned up, the river water may not be drinkable for people and livestock for several years.

According to Fang Shu's view, if the giant toad's flesh and blood were not used, it would be very costly, requiring at least a thousand spirit stones, and would also require three days and three nights of rituals to purify this section of the river in a short time.

Such a high price would not be something any deity would be willing to pay; they would simply watch the torrent flow and let it naturally eliminate the evil poison.

As the spell was being cast, Fang Shu gradually came to understand.

The giant toad beneath it must have known this all along, so even if Fang Shu had had the means to help it survive the vengeful spirit, it would have chosen to give up the chance to live.

This demon had long ago prepared to use its flesh and blood to neutralize the evil poison of the river.

Silently, after about two or three hours, the giant toad in the river was reduced to a skeleton. Its flesh, organs, and all other parts dissolved into the river, becoming the antidote.

At this moment, the river water not only lost its blood-red color but also became extremely clear. Some people dared to drink it and found it to be quite sweet, far better than before.

"The river god! The river god has appeared!"

"It's the immortal master who has vanquished the demon!"

On both banks of the river, a large number of people had already gathered, many of them disheveled and ecstatic.

When Fang Shu opened his eyes and slowly rose from the giant toad skeleton, the crowds on both banks immediately knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly.
"Thank you, Immortal, for saving me from suffering!"

However, Fang Shu did not even glance at the other person.

With a puzzled look on his face, he instead looked down at the giant toad skeleton in the river.

With a gentle wave of his hand, a ball of yellowish-brown spiritual light flew out from the giant toad's abdomen and landed in his hand.

The giant toad's flesh and blood had completely dissolved, but the object inside its body had not dissipated, and in addition to spiritual energy, there was also a faint trace of divine consciousness remaining on it.

Fang Shu subconsciously thought that this thing was a magic weapon, and that the giant toad used it to control the river and destroy both banks.

However, when he examined it and touched it with his divine sense, his expression immediately became somewhat strange.

With a snap, the aura on the surface of the object dissipated, revealing its inner form. It was like amber, with tiny things the size of soybeans inside, resembling tadpoles or small fish, faintly teeming with life.

"Is this because they think I'm alright and want to entrust their offspring to me?" Fang Shu thought to himself.

He couldn't help but glance at the location of Toad Valley.

The valley was teeming with toads, numbering over ten thousand, most of which were offspring of the giant toad, yet the other party left no explanation.

On the contrary, the giant toad left a message on this unhatched egg, hoping that Fang Shu would treat it well and help it hatch if possible.

As he pondered, Fang Shu narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself, "Could it be that this egg is not its embryo, but rather something it obtained by chance, swallowed it, and then incubated it, thus stealing a few strands of its power from the embryo..."

Thinking of this, he was immediately invigorated.

If that's true, then this kind of embryo capable of controlling a river must at least be an embryo produced by a Foundation Establishment being. Once hatched, its potential will rival that of a Foundation Establishment being, and it will definitely fetch a good price!
However, after a few moments of excitement, Fang Shu stroked the embryo in his hand, gradually calming down, and then thought of another, even greater possibility.

This egg may indeed be the offspring of a giant toad, but it is a precious toad that was conceived by the giant toad after consuming some rare and precious material, using all its essence and cultivation.

In this way, its offspring can lay a solid foundation in the embryonic stage, and be born as a Qi Refining being, with the potential to become a Foundation Establishment Great Demon in the future.

Fang Shu had seen many similar methods of procreation in the temple.

He also knew that the immortals in the Beast Hall would often create difficulties to force the demon beasts in the hall to reproduce in this way, in the hope that they could strengthen themselves generation after generation until they could cultivate spirit beasts at the quasi-Foundation Establishment level or even Foundation Establishment level.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Shu slowly exhaled.

Regardless of which possibility it is, this embryonic egg is a rare and valuable find.

He won't sell it; he'd better find a way to hatch it and use it as a companion.

It just so happens that he needed a spirit beast like this to keep him company.

It should be noted that when he was in the Five Internal Organs Temple, whenever he learned that there was news from the Hall of Abode, he had to go and retrieve it himself. However, the immortals who had adopted spirit beasts only needed to send the spirit beasts to retrieve it.

Without further thought, Fang Shu carefully put the item into a living creature bag.

Because the bag he carried was small, he had to remove a batch of insect eggs from it and carry them in his sleeve pocket.

Having dealt with this, Fang Shu repeatedly scanned the giant toad skeleton in the water with his divine sense, just in case there were any other things left by the giant toad on it.

After confirming that there was none, he pondered for a moment, then suddenly mustered his strength and struck the giant toad fiercely!
Bang! Bang! Huge splashes of water erupted on the river, and a mist rose, obscuring the view of people on both banks.

Those on the shore heard only a deafening roar, incredibly loud, followed by a soft murmur rising from the mist:
"When evil spirits wreak havoc, the river god is killed."

"I have fulfilled the River God's dying wish, using his remains as a token to restore your river of clear, cool water."

next moment.

People on both sides of the river only saw Fang Shu's figure leap up from the mist, and in the blink of an eye, he drifted downstream with the river, quickly turning into a black dot and disappearing.

The man and the toad stood still, and after the mist dissipated, the huge toad corpse also disappeared, having completely dissolved into the river.

In reality, the skeleton was used by Fang Shu to sink it into the silt in the middle of the river, so that it could continue to nourish the place and prevent it from being targeted by some villains.

After all, this skeleton is the skeleton of a Qi-refining demon. Even if its spiritual energy is lost, it is still a rare treasure for mortals and immortals. If it is not buried properly, it may cause a lot of trouble on this river.

A brief silence fell over both sides of the river, and then the crowd realized what was happening:
"It's evil spirits causing trouble!"

"The River God isn't the Five Gods! It was the River God who saved us!"

The crowd, who had originally stood up, bowed towards the river again, especially the elders, who knelt for a long time and wept bitterly.

Half a month later.

People on both sides of the river gradually returned home, and fireworks and boats gradually returned to life on both sides of the river. Some daring individuals even ventured into Toad Valley once again to explore its secrets.

The group discovered that although the valley was still full of toads, these toads were harmless and just stared at the newcomers with innocent expressions.

The valley was already excessively cold and damp, with biting wind and dew, making it impossible for anyone to stay for long.

As a result, in just over a month, a river god temple to suppress the earth's energy was built in the place where the high-ranking officials and nobles used to escape the summer heat.

Inside the temple stood a large golden toad statue, upon which sat a young Taoist priest, whose features bore a striking resemblance to Fang Shu. For some unknown reason, the news that this river god temple was remarkably effective in granting children spread far and wide.

So much so that when later generations came to worship here, they gradually forgot that this place was a river god temple and called it the toad god temple or frog god temple.

………………

Fang Shu continued his journey along the river.

He boarded a boat bound for Fudang Mountain at the next ferry crossing, constantly changing from large boats to medium-sized boats, from medium-sized boats to small boats, and from small boats to sampans.

No matter what he said, the people living on the water dared not approach the direction of Fudang Mountain, so Fang Shu could only continue walking.

Fortunately, he was already in the territory of Fudang Mountain, and the rest of the journey would not take much time.

Before long, he had completely entered the Floating Mountain, and the surrounding scenery suddenly became desolate.

Looking around, the trees are sparse, and it doesn't resemble the scenery in the Lushan area at all.

Especially the towering mountain in front, starting from the mountainside, it seems as if a huge gap has been gnawed out, quite bare, with dense, strangely shaped rocks.

Fang Shu stared intently and saw mountain dwellings in the gap, densely packed together like a honeycomb.

Seeing this, he felt a slight joy in his heart.

After such a long and winding journey, he has finally arrived at Fudang Mountain. All he needs to do is enter Fudang Market and find a place to stay so he can rest for a while.

Fang Shu was delighted and immediately started walking towards Fudang Market.

As he approached the main peak of the mountain, he found the place to be quite lively. Every now and then, he could hear the sounds of light-based escape techniques and glimpse shadows hovering in the air, heading straight for the market on the mountain.

As he walked, he also saw several small monsters carrying guns and sticks in the woods at the foot of the mountain, as if they were patrolling the mountain.

Although their demonic aura was not strong, each of them had cultivated a semblance of human form, enabling them to walk upright and were no longer pure demonic beasts.

Upon arriving at this place, Fang Shu did not rashly make contact with these monsters. Instead, he carefully checked himself to make sure that he had nothing on him that could reveal his identity.

Immediately, he leaped up the mountainside in one breath and entered the bustling market.

As Fang Shu's figure darted out, the forest on both sides...

There was a rat demon that jumped onto a dog's head and winked at the dog demon beneath it, who had only recently become a spirit:

"See? I told you this guy was not as simple as he looked."

Remember this: anyone who dares to come here is no pushover. If you want a treat or to extort money, you'll have to hunt down those rustic, unsophisticated monsters.

Upon hearing this, the dog demon nodded sheepishly, then received another slap from the rat demon.
"Stand still! You almost made Grandpa fall."

the other side.

Fang Shu stopped; he had already crossed the boundary of the market and appeared inside.

All sorts of demons appeared in his eyes, bustling and lively, even more prosperous than the demon market he had seen outside Guling Town.

"Old craftsmanship! Sheep beard charm shop, genuine products at fair prices."

"The pangolin herb shop is full of the best fresh mountain products."

Wolves, dogs, cats, rats, chickens, ducks, horses, tigers, leopards, oxen, elephants—all sorts of monsters, big and small, move about in this floating mountain, almost like humans.

Every now and then, some unexpected things happen in the market.

For example, Fang Shu, being new to the place and unaware of the situation, almost stepped on a sparrow that was looking at goods in front of a stall, which caused the sparrow to fly up and chirp and scold him.

Fang Shu thought the sparrows were calling to each other to attack him, but it turned out they had summoned a flock of crows.

The crows all wore small crown-like hats on their heads, looking quite smug, like yamen runners in charge of managing the market in the mountains.

"Caw! New here?" The lead crow recognized Fang Shu's unfamiliar scent after just one glance.

“When you come to our place, be careful, it’s not like the territory of you people.”

After criticizing Fang Shu, the crows with hats took flight again, taking the sparrow spirit with them, though it was unclear whether they should accuse it of making a mountain out of a molehill.

Fang Shu stared in astonishment at the sight, his eyes momentarily dazed.

He had assumed that although Fudang Mountain was the territory of monsters, the market scene would be similar to that of Guling Town.

Now it seems that the monsters here have their own paths for rats, snakes, and elephants, and the stalls around them are of all sizes and have all sorts of strange rules, which has really opened his eyes.

Although he wasn't taken away by the hooded crows in the area, Fang Shu didn't want to wander around alone anymore.

There are quite a few human immortals in this floating market, and there are many guides at the entrance, both human and demon, who can be hired for a fee.

But Fang Shu seems to have come here to avoid trouble. Being unfamiliar with the place and the people, it would be better to seek refuge with someone he knows first.

So he took out the token that Tian Jinmao had given him from his storage bag, infused it with his true energy, and began to sense where the other party was.

Soon, the token reacted, and he immediately followed its reaction to travel through the floating market.

As they passed through the busiest central area of ​​the market, Fang Shu saw even more strange and unusual sights along the way.

Soon he slowed down his pace on a dilapidated street.

Fang Shu frowned and walked to a corner that reeked of urine. A monster appeared in front of him, sitting upright with a straw mat under its buttocks.

The monster was dressed as a scholar, with slicked-back hair and a face that looked as if the hair on his face had been waxed. He also had a square rattan box next to him, as if he was about to go and teach the little monsters. His attire was completely out of place in the dilapidated street.

This demon was none other than his acquaintance, the Brocade-haired Gentleman.

However, this creature didn't seem to be waiting for someone or some demon here; rather, it seemed to be staying for a long time. There were some pots and pans on the mat, and it was also hanging its head, looking like it was dozing off.

As Gulu and Fang Shu strolled over, they immediately heard the continuous rumbling of Tian Jinmao's stomach. The other man was drooling in his sleep, clearly looking extremely hungry.

This sight made Fang Shu suspicious, unsure whether this fellow was feigning destitution or genuinely down on his luck.

(End of this chapter)