Youbao Chapter 23: Stone Beast (2)
The old Taoist priest and I went into another room and placed the box on the table.
The furnishings in this room were simpler. The table was empty, with nothing on it. There were beddings on the bed, which was completely different from his junior brother's room. I guessed that this was the old Taoist's own room.
At this time, the old Taoist priest had already opened the box.
The box was padded with red cloth and contained three things in total.
A green-yellow, very old ancient book, a half-broken jade hairpin, and finally another box.
The old Taoist took out the small box and opened it. There was still red cloth inside, and wrapped in the red cloth was a stone beast.
Compared to the stone beast of the Wei family, this one is much smaller and seems to be only half the size. In terms of , it is more like a monster, with a bull's head and a human body, two bone spurs on the back, and a little bulge on the right hand.
My master said that this was passed down from his master. When the master first got it, the stone beast had not yet completely closed, and a trace of flesh and blood could be seen. But it didn't take long for it to completely close.
The Taoist method was useless, and the master was afraid that brute force would destroy this strange thing, so he searched for it for decades without success and could only pass it down with regret. The old Taoist said.
"Ah? You mean, this stone beast was alive?" I was shocked.
Maybe. The old Taoist priest was not sure: That is why I was surprised when I saw the two stone beasts at the Wei family. This thing is really unusual. Maybe Gamu found something and used it to make friends with the Wei family.
The Wei family must know something, otherwise they wouldn't close their doors just because of these two strange things. They said Gamu gave them a letter, saying only that these things were given to the Wei family. It seems that this must be a lie. I said angrily.
You think the same as I do. The old Taoist nodded and turned the stone beast in his hand over and over to observe it.
Let me see it.
The old Taoist priest threw the stone beast into my hands without hesitation.
Although this thing doesn't look big, it is very heavy. Ordinary stones are the size of a palm, and weigh a few kilograms at most. But this one, roughly estimated to be at least more than 20 kilograms. This alone is enough to prove that he is very strange.
Is the material of this stone okay? Why is it so heavy? I asked.
The old Taoist priest replied: The reason why ordinary stones are heavy is probably because there are unusual things inside them.
How about we cut this thing open and see? I suggested.
No. The old Taoist shook his head and said: I always feel that this thing is extremely weird. Ancient books say that if you destroy it, you will die.
Ancient books are not necessarily correct. Things in ancient times may be different from those in modern times. For example, most of the things in the Classic of Mountains and Seas cannot be found nowadays.
The night my fellow apprentice disappeared, this stone beast was placed on his desk, said the old Taoist priest.
I was so frightened that I almost threw the stone beast away.
At this moment, the jade pendant hanging on the chest suddenly felt hot.
I quickly put the stone beast down and took the jade pendant out of my clothes. The jade pendant gave off a faint black light, almost invisible, and it felt like a burned iron rod in my hand. Although it didn't burn my flesh, it was almost unbearable.
What's going on? asked the old Taoist priest.
I don't know, it suddenly became very hot. I looked at the stone beast: Could it be related to this thing?
The Eight Ropes connect heaven, earth and the underworld. Perhaps this thing is related to your lineage, said the old Taoist priest.
I held the jade pendant and thought about it, then tried to bring it closer to the stone beast. The black light on the jade pendant became brighter and brighter, but the temperature also became higher and higher. My scalp was numb from the heat, and I almost wanted to throw it away.
When the jade pendant was less than ten centimeters away from the stone beast, a little black gas suddenly emerged from the stone beast's head. It had no smell and quickly disappeared in the air. The abnormality of the jade pendant also disappeared.
"Uh, what is that?" I asked in surprise.
The old Taoist priest closed his eyes, as if sensing something. After a while, he opened his eyes and said in shock: Essence.
Essence? What is that?
Anyone who has any Taoist skills needs to have a lot of vitality . The more powerful a person is, the more vitality he has. Even ordinary people have vitality. Once they lose too much, they will get seriously ill or die suddenly. This is equivalent to what ordinary people call vitality, which is the embodiment of life. The old Taoist explained.
After I understood what he said, I was stunned. Does this mean that the stone beast still has life?
You could say that. The shock on the old Taoist's face quickly faded, but then he said something that shocked me even more.
The stone beast is impervious to all kinds of magic, so I took it to someone for identification more than ten years ago. In the end, I learned that the history of this thing is more than six hundred years.
This is too unbelievable. I almost screamed, this damn old man, could he be lying to me? When his master got this thing, the stone beast could still see a trace of flesh and blood. And just now, he felt the essence of the stone beast.
In other words, this stone beast lived for a full six hundred years or even longer?
That's ridiculous. Although people say that a turtle lives for a thousand years and a tortoise lives for ten thousand years, even the longest-lived turtles don't live more than two hundred years. There are some strange creatures that can live for more than ten thousand years and even theoretically live forever.
But this is a stone beast, not some bacterial seaweed, how could it live for more than 600 years? Aliens? This is the 22nd episode of Alien Invasion!
I placed the jade pendant, which had returned to normal, on the stone beast's head. No abnormalities occurred, and no black energy floated away. Everything returned to normal.
Puzzled, I put the jade pendant back on my chest and picked up the stone beast again. Maybe it was an illusion, I always felt that the stone beast seemed to have become lighter.
This time, nothing strange happened to the stone beast and the jade pendant.
What happened just now was definitely a great discovery. However, neither the old Taoist priest nor I caught it. Apart from knowing that the stone beast was still alive at this moment, we did not discover anything else.
How about... I try to drop some blood? I suggested, but then I thought, maybe I have become addicted to bloodletting recently, and I want to cut myself even if no one says anything.
You can try it. The old Taoist priest replied simply and clearly, and then took out a sharp blade from his arms.
Looking at the shining blade, I really want to slap myself.
Finally, since I had successfully satisfied my own seemingly perverted psychology, I gritted my teeth and stabbed myself.
I dripped blood on the stone beast, but there was still no reaction. Moreover, this time the old Taoist priest didn't give me blood-replenishing pills, so I lost a lot.
What should I do now? I asked, but I saw the old Taoist holding the knife as if thinking.
Not long after, he came to his senses and looked at the stone beast, as if he had made up his mind: cut it open!
Huh? I was a little surprised and asked him: Didn’t you just say that ancient books say that if this thing is destroyed, it will perish?
On the day when the junior brother disappeared, there was not only a stone beast in the room, but also an axe on the ground. The old Taoist said: I just thought his disappearance was related to the stone beast. Now I think about it, the junior brother would not put an axe in the room for no reason. Maybe he wanted to cut the stone beast at that time, so the strange thing happened.
I can't find anything to refute the old Taoist's speculation, it makes sense. But this thing is too weird, he is not afraid of death, but I am.
Gamu Ke is still running around with the bronze-armored corpse, preparing to refine the corpse king. What if something really happens after we cut it open, who will be there to control it? I found a reason that was so legitimate that I even admired myself.
The old Taoist frowned and thought for a while, then put down the sharp blade in his hand with some regret: I will cut him in half after killing Gamu.
I nodded my head: Yes, cut it immediately after killing it, cut it horizontally and vertically, and chop it into four pieces.
This stone beast identification ended with the old Taoist priest slapping me on the head.
I chuckled and saw him put the stone beast back into the box. Then he moved to the side, pointed at the ancient books and jade hairpin in the wooden box and asked: What are these two things for?
The ancient book is the secret book of my Five Elements Pulse. Do you want to learn it? After you become my disciple, I can teach you. The old Taoist said.
I looked at him. The old man had a serious expression and didn't seem to be joking. To be honest, I really want to learn the Five Elements Dao. If nothing else, the hand-shrinking technique alone is amazing. When I learn it, if nothing else... I want to be a taxi driver. Who the hell can beat me! ?
However, the old Taoist priest always bleeds me for no reason, and I am afraid that I will be killed by him before I learn how to shrink the earth.
Wait a minute, let me think about it, hehe...
The old Taoist priest snorted softly, as if saying: Please.
Where is the jade hairpin?
When the jade hairpin was mentioned, the old Taoist priest was miraculously absent-minded. Although he recovered in the blink of an eye, even a blind person could see that this half-broken jade hairpin had a tragic love story. This is how it was portrayed in novels and TV dramas. If it wasn't, then the author was too ridiculous.
However, the old Taoist priest did not give me the opportunity to witness the author's melodrama. He directly put the box containing the stone beast away and closed the wooden box with a click. Then, he walked out of the room without saying a word and stopped just after he left the room. I thought he had forgotten something, but he turned his head and said to me: Come out, stay in your room.
Damn old man, he turned his face and didn't recognize me. I muttered to myself and went back to my room in a depressed mood.
The old Taoist priest never came back, and was doing something in his master's room. I was lying on the wooden board, looking around.
There are so few things in this room that even if you look carefully, it will only take a few minutes to finish.
I don't know what kind of person the old Taoist's junior brother is. Judging from the old Taoist's appearance, he should be around 50 or 60 years old, and his junior brother should not be much younger than him.
But I don’t know whether he is dead or alive in some strange place.
Thinking of the old Taoist priest’s junior brother, I became curious: what would have happened if the stone beast had really been cut in half?
