Youbao Chapter 7: Killing the Corpse (7)
These two old guys, please at least care about me first.
Are you okay? After seeing Gamu enter the house, the old Taoist priest greeted me.
It's OK, but I still feel a little dizzy. I rubbed my forehead.
Take this nourishing pill before going to bed, and you will be fine tomorrow. Alas... The old Taoist handed me a pill, then looked at me, shook his head and sighed.
What kind of reaction is this? He made me feel uncomfortable. After all, I have done my best. It would be fine if he didn't thank me, but he sighed! ?
Well, why should I argue with an old man?
There is nothing for me to do now, I am going to sleep now, I said.
The old Taoist priest hummed, I rubbed my head, turned and left.
The jade pendant gave me a flying experience, which was magical and scary. The only regret was that I didn't notice the corpse at all because I was going so fast.
No one knows what the old Taoist's pills are made of, and each one has a strange smell.
After taking the nourishing pill, I fell asleep soon after lying on the bed.
This night was the most sound sleep I had in recent months. I had no dreams all night until dawn.
When I woke up the next day, the old Taoist priest was still not in the room. This old man has much more energy than a young man like me.
After I walked out of the room, I saw that all the people in the small mountain village had gathered together.
Old man Gamu stood in the middle, distributing things door to door, while the old Taoist priest stood aside like a stone.
When I walked over, the things had been distributed and the villagers seemed to have not seen me and left. But old man Gamu smiled and nodded at me and greeted me.
"After dinner, follow me to the mountains," said the old Taoist priest.
What are you going to do in the mountains?
Collecting herbs and making elixirs. The old Taoist priest's brief answer still made people feel helpless.
I nodded. Although I didn't understand why he took me there, I thought it would be good to gain some more experience.
The headache is gone, right? asked the old man Gamu.
Well, it doesn't hurt anymore. I replied, you know what, although the old Taoist's medicine doesn't taste good, it works quite well. After one night, not only did my headache go away, I also had more energy to walk.
That's good. Old man Gamu nodded.
After chatting for a while, we went to eat. After dinner, the old Taoist priest took me to the deep mountains without saying anything.
What kind of herbs are you going to pick? I asked him as we walked along the road.
Miraculous medicine, the old Taoist priest replied.
I had already gotten used to his way of speaking, so I continued to ask: What kind of pill should I take?
Condensate, detoxification.
Two kinds of elixirs? What are they used for?
The old Taoist priest suddenly stopped, his eyes sparkling as he stared at me: Are you interested in these?
Well, it's okay, I'm just curious. I feel a little scared when he looks at me.
The old Taoist's eyes dimmed for a moment, and he continued walking, but he still explained to me: The corpses are born in extreme terrain, and can be broken by the power of the earth. The detoxification pill is for you.
For me? Should I go there too?
In addition to being able to find corpses, the Jade Pendant of the Underworld can also be used to suppress them, but it requires the blood circulation of your lineage to guide it.
Just take some blood with you. I was a little terrified. What a joke! How could I be responsible for killing corpses?
It has to be fresh, the old Taoist said without turning his head.
By the way, the underground corpse I saw yesterday was still moving. It must be very far away from us. Can we catch up with it?
The bronze-armored corpse can use metal and iron to escape underground, and can travel three miles in an instant. We can use the bronze-armored corpse to chase it, said the old Taoist priest.
It's amazing, I exclaimed.
At this time, the old Taoist stopped again. He looked at me and suddenly asked: Why didn’t the bronze-armored corpse strangle you to death yesterday?
If this were an animation, three black lines would appear on my head.
What do you mean why didn't it strangle me to death? Would you be happy if it strangled me to death?
The old Taoist priest then asked: "Do you have any special reactions in your body? For example, do you feel that there is air flowing in your body?"
I felt it and found nothing at all, so I shook my head at him: No, it's quite normal.
Strange. The old Taoist priest shook his head in confusion, then turned around and continued walking.
What is this old man doing? He doesn't even speak clearly.
We walked a long way, I don’t know how many kilometers, but I know the time very well, a full four hours.
I was used to walking on cement roads and driving a car when I went out. Walking on mountain roads was like entering hell. After four hours, I was tired like a dog. But the old Taoist priest didn't have a red face or was out of breath. There was no sign that he was tired.
I very much doubt whether this old man took stimulants before coming out.
At this time, the old Taoist priest finally bent down and pulled out a plant with yellow flowers. I don't know what the plant is called, it looks very ordinary, with a few stamens in the middle of the yellow flower. The old Taoist priest picked a few petals of the flower and put them into the cloth bag in his hand, sealed it, and then handed it to me: Take it well, don't throw it away.
I said "oh" and took it subconsciously. When I got it in my hand, I remembered that I am not your apprentice, so why should I take it?
Is this the magic medicine? Curiously, I put my nose close to the bag, but there was no special smell.
Ordinary herbs, the old Taoist priest replied.
How long will it take us to finish picking? I asked. This question was very important because I was so tired and wanted to find a place to rest for a while and eat some fruit or something.
I don’t know. The old Taoist priest answered me.
I suddenly realized that the answers the old Taoist priest gave me were often ambiguous, and only in a few cases would he give me a clear answer.
Can I take a break for a while? I said.
No, we must finish collecting the herbs before dark and prepare them before midnight. Once midnight is over, we must go to the land to raise the corpse. The old Taoist priest was firm.
Well, the old Taoist priest is a man of strong will who won't easily change his decision because of other people's opinions. For such a person, you should either stay away from him or do what he says.
In this place and at this time, I can only choose the latter and do as he says.
After a few hours, when I was so tired that I was sticking out my tongue, the old Taoist priest finally picked the last kind of medicine.
According to him, this magical medicine that grows beside the spring has extraordinary effects. There is nothing in the world that it cannot cure as long as it is properly prepared.
At this time, it was almost dark. I estimated that it would take at least five or six hours to walk back to the mountain village, and that was assuming we were energetic and walked non-stop.
But now, I was so tired that I just wanted to sleep, and my stomach was growling with hunger. For me personally, it was not unusual to take 17 or 18 hours to walk back to the village.
How can we go back? If we walk back now, it will be daybreak. I hung my head and tried to lift the big cloth bag hanging on my back. This bag was full of herbs collected by the old Taoist priest. Although it was not heavy, it was the last sack of herbs that would crush me.
Shrink the earth and walk. The old Taoist priest replied.
I've seen it on TV before, where an immortal makes a hand gesture and stomps his foot, and the distance can reach a hundred miles in an instant. This is called shrinking the distance into an inch.
What the old Taoist priest uses is a bit more advanced than what is shown in TV dramas.
As he waved his hand, I seemed to see a few faint lights on his fingertips. The light drew traces in the air, and if the background was a piece of yellow paper, it would look like a talisman.
Five Elements Dao, Earth Spirit, Earth Shrinking Technique, OK! The old Taoist priest shouted softly, grabbed my arm, and stepped forward.
The scene in front of me flashed, and when I stood firm again, I found that the scenery in front of me suddenly became unfamiliar.
Is this the method of shrinking the earth?
Before I could come to my senses, the old Taoist took another step, and the scene changed again. The surrounding trees, flowers, grass, mountains, rocks, and rivers were like the moon reflected in the water, extremely dreamy, and the passing scene made me feel a little dizzy.
When we really stopped, I cleared my head, looked up, and was surprised to find that we had returned to the mountain village.
Damn, this is too fast! I couldn't help but swear.
Then he felt a slap on the back of his head, and the old Taoist priest's voice followed: Nonsense!
I chuckled and didn't dare to say anything more. But this method of shrinking the earth was too magical. We finished the journey that should have taken several hours in just over ten minutes.
You are so fast, why don't you just use the shrinking technique when you are looking for a place to raise corpses? Even a bronze-armored corpse that can travel three miles in an instant is not as fast as you. I asked curiously.
I can't help but keep the corpse. The old Taoist's answer was simple and honest.
I realized then that he was afraid that he would arrive at the place first and would not be able to catch up with the corpse. Gamu was slow with the bronze-armored corpse, and if he could not catch up, he would die of a cold.
It turns out that this old Taoist is also afraid of death.
But then again, the old Taoist priest is quite amazing. At least among all the strange people I have seen, he is the only one who can shrink the earth.
I heard that those who practice Taoism have their own sects. Which one do you belong to ? This question just occurred to me. It is said that there are many sects of Taoism since ancient times, such as Emei and Qingcheng.
Five elements, the old Taoist priest replied.
Five Elements? What kind of sect is that? I was confused: What about my ancestors?
The old Taoist priest looked back at me and said: Don’t you know?
I raised the herb collection tool on my back and said, "How would I know? There is nothing related to this at home. Maybe my grandfather knows, but he never told me."
The old Taoist was silent for a while, then said: Your ancestors belonged to the Eight Ropes.
