El Qi es fácil de transmitir

Capítulo 29

Chapter 39, Part 3

In the middle of the night, Shen Cai woke up needing to urinate. His bladder was bloated, probably because he had drunk too much fish soup. So, holding a suction cup in his arms, he groggily walked out of the door and stood next to the poppy bushes, where he started to urinate.

He glanced casually at the corner of the wooden house; the old beggar was no longer there… When he returned to the house after urinating, he looked into the coffin containing the spirit of Zhu You; the Hakka nanny was not sleeping inside either. Strange, where had they all gone?

The moonlight outside was cool, and a gentle breeze dispelled Shen Caihua's weariness. He circled the wooden house, searching for the old woman and the old beggar. Beside the stream, a crescent moon was reflected in the water, and fish swam, occasionally leaping out of the water and creating ripples. Shen Caihua remembered that the sucker hadn't eaten all day, so he gently dipped the sleeping sucker's tube into the stream.

The suction cup stretched and slowly unfolded its body in the clear water. Many small fish gathered around its belly, and then it rolled them up and slowly sucked their juices with its suction cups.

Shen Caihua squatted on the bank, watching the frogs feed with great interest. After a while, he noticed several small white tadpoles in the water, wriggling and swimming. He had caught quite a few frogs when he lived in the countryside of Wuyuan, but strangely, he had never seen white tadpoles before.

He reached out to catch them, but as soon as they touched the water, the tadpoles wobbled and swam away with the current. Where there are children, there must be mothers; these white tadpoles had drifted downstream, so their parents—large white frogs—must be upstream, Shen Cai thought.

After eating its fill, the sucker winked playfully at Chen Caihua and lay flat on the water's surface.

“Let’s go for a drive.” Shen Caihua said, jumping onto the suction cup, gripping the suction cup tightly, and swimming upstream along the stream.

At the end of the stream was a steep cliff on the mountainside of West Mountain. Beneath the rocks was a small cave, taller than a person, from which the water flowed. Shen Caihua gripped the suction cup and peered inside. A chilling wind blew through the cave, sending shivers down his spine. Just as he hesitated, intending to turn back, the suction cup carried him straight in.

The cave was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Only a faint ray of light could be seen in the distance. Gradually, Shen Caihua smelled a faint body odor, like the smell of someone's armpit hair. As the light got closer, the smell became stronger.

This is a spacious stone hall with a vertical opening in the dome leading to the mountaintop, through which cool moonlight shines back in. In the center of the cave is a natural bluestone platform, surrounded by clear spring water, from which bubbles rise and white mist swirls.

Two men sat cross-legged on the stone platform, completely naked. Around them, a circle of huge white toads with red eyes, about the size of small pigs, covered in knots and bumps, numbered eight or nine in total.

One of the men was obese and bloated, with multiple layers of flesh hanging down his belly. His eyes were closed and he was motionless. His fair skin was glistening with sweat, and the body odor was emanating from his body.

The other man was extremely ugly, bald and missing teeth, with a pair of blind, white eyes, but his body was extremely smooth and delicate, with well-developed and full muscles, like a young man. This man was none other than the old beggar.

At this moment, Shen Caihua was already dumbfounded with astonishment...

Chapter 40, Part 1

Shen Caihua looked around but found no one else in the cave, and the Hakka nanny was not there either. He carefully stepped onto the stone platform and carefully observed the huge white toads.

Toads are also called "bitter toads" or "toads," but are commonly known as "toads" in folk terms. The bumps on a toad's skin contain a white fluid called "bufotoxin," which has anti-inflammatory properties. The most useful part is its shed skin, known as "toad skin," which is remarkably effective against carbuncles and boils, and can also treat leukemia and various cancers.

Li Shizhen stated in his "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Toad skin is the essence of the five internal organs and six bowels, and it absorbs the treasures of yin and yang from heaven and earth. If one obtains one, all kinds of diseases will be cured."

However, for thousands of years, people only knew that toads could shed their skin, but they could never find the toad skin. This is because the toad only sheds its skin once a year on a hot summer night during thunder and lightning, and it eats as it sheds its skin. Once it is shed, it is completely eaten, making it extremely difficult to collect. Therefore, the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing sighed and said: "Toads can all be collected, but their skins are nowhere to be found. This is strange."

A nearby white toad with a pair of bulging red eyes saw Chen Caihua walk forward, its eyes widened, and suddenly it let out a loud "croak..." as two huge air sacs suddenly bulged out on both sides of its throat, startling Xiao Caihua.

It seemed they didn't welcome the uninvited guest. Shen Caihua quickly pulled back the leg he had stepped out, wondering to himself, "Did the Hakka old woman send the old beggar to this cave to treat the tumor on his neck with the white toad skin?"

He then glanced at the other obese man, who was about fifty or sixty years old. He sat there like a dead man, lifeless. Could he also be a corpse like the old Hakka woman?

A swarm of white tadpoles swam in the spring water at his feet. Shen Cai stood in the knee-deep water and reached out to scoop up a few, but the little creatures were very cunning and disappeared as soon as his hand entered the water.

The suction cup sank to the bottom, stretched out its belly, scooped up a group of tadpoles, and lifted them to the surface. Then it opened a gap, and the dehydrated tadpoles panicked and scattered in disarray.

The suction device blinked, indicating that its little owner could start grabbing it.

Shen Caihua scooped up a handful of white tadpoles with both hands...

"Croak, croak, croak..." The seven or eight large toads on the stone platform suddenly flew into a rage, leaping into the air one after another with a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," and viciously pouncing towards Shen Caihua. At the same time, they each "squeak, squeak, squeak" sprayed a stream of white venom from their ear glands, attacking like lightning.

Shen Caihua was stunned and stood there blankly in the water, instinctively covering his face with his hands.

At this critical moment, the suction device suddenly leaped out of the water, its dripping belly opening like a wall, blocking its little master's path...

"Puff puff puff," white venom shot onto the sucker's belly, igniting wisps of white smoke. The large white toads immediately pounced on the sucker's belly, extending their barbed tongues to fight against the sucker's hundred-plus large suckers. The sucker endured the pain, forcefully curling its body to envelop them all, sinking to the bottom and tumbling up and down.

Chapter 40, Part 2

After a long while, the suction device stopped twisting and weakly opened its abdomen...

On the grayish-white underside of the sucker lay eight or nine large, shriveled toads. Their internal organs and muscles had been corroded into a liquid by the digestive enzymes secreted by the sucker, and then all of them were sucked dry by more than a hundred suckers of various sizes.

However, the sucker itself was also badly injured. Toad venom burned many holes in its belly, and the suckers were also cut and scarred by their barbed mouthparts. It blinked weakly at its little owner, as if to say: Don't worry, it's all over now...

With tears in his eyes, Shen Cai dragged Xizi onto the stone platform and gently comforted it, saying, "Xizi, you must hold on. Last time, Han Sheng's father used his blood to heal the wounds from the Siamese big cat's bite. I will do the same to save you."

Shen Caihua stood up and walked to the obese, sweating old man. The sweat reeked of a nauseating body odor, suggesting he hadn't bathed or showered in years. He first put his hand under the man's nose to check for breath; indeed, there was no breath. Perhaps he really was a sweat-soaked corpse. He looked around for a long time, trying to find a bottle or container to hold the sweat, but after searching the area around the man, he still couldn't find one.

Finally, Shen Caihua's gaze fell on the fat man's flesh. After thinking for a moment, a sudden inspiration struck him. He stepped forward, reached out and pressed against the fat man's chest, and pushed it down forcefully... When Shen Caihua forcefully pried open the fat man's buttocks, he indeed found a small porcelain bottle inserted into his anus.

Shen Cai pulled out the bottle, which had a celadon flower painted on it. He remembered that it was the same bottle that had contained Li Dishui's "Hanqing" from back then. He shook it and heard the sound of liquid flowing inside.

Shen Cai was overjoyed. He pulled out the stopper with a "bang," went to the side of the suction device, and poured the "sweat" from the porcelain bottle drop by drop onto its injured belly. Then he spread it evenly with his fingers.

As a light mist rose, the sharp, crisscrossing wounds on the sucker's abdomen gradually contracted, and the miraculous "sweat" slowly glued together and repaired the damaged muscles and skin.

Shen Caihua happily applied the product, while the suction cup blinked, indicating that it was very enjoyable.

"Stop!" A shout suddenly rang in his ears, followed by a gust of wind. The Hakka old woman descended from the sky, snatched the porcelain bottle from Chen Caihua's hand, quickly put the stopper on, and lamented, "It's all over, it's all over, you're going to ruin my precious Hanqing..."

"Grandma, nanny..." Shen Caihua looked at her with a wronged expression.

"Alright, Caihua, why aren't you sleeping in your room? What are you doing here?" the old woman scolded sternly.

"I got up to pee and found that you were all gone, so I sat on the sucker and swam into the cave with the stream. Unexpectedly, those big white toads sprayed me with poison. Luckily, the sucker blocked them, so I was fine, but the sucker was injured..." Shen Caihua did not mention that he caught the tadpoles first, but instead pushed all the responsibility onto the big toad.

"Where's the big toad?" the Hakka woman asked anxiously.

“Look, over there,” Shen Caihua said, pointing to the pieces of dried toad skin on the ground.

"Oh dear..." The Hakka woman's eyes were fixed on the toad skin. She stamped her feet in frustration and sighed loudly, "That's a rare 'corpse toad'!"

Chapter 40, Part 3

"Corpse toad?" This was the first time Shen Caihua had ever heard of such a toad in the world.

The Hakka woman explained, “Ordinary toads feed on insects, while corpse toads feed on the saliva of decaying corpses. They are enormous, with white skin and red eyes, and their poison is particularly potent. Their shed ‘corpse toad skin’ is the best medicine in the world for treating skin diseases, absolutely curative. However, this creature is quite rare because in peacetime, there are no abandoned corpses in the wilderness. But it’s different here in northern Myanmar. The Communist People’s Army and the Burmese government army have been fighting for years, and many soldiers and civilians have died in the wild without anyone collecting their bodies. That’s why ‘corpse toads’ breed in this area. Even so, I searched for months before finding these few, but tonight you wiped them all out.”

Shen Cai lowered his head and remained silent.

"But it's all good. I was thinking today that when the thunderstorm comes, I'll try to snatch a few 'toad skins' from the corpse toad's mouth to treat this old beggar and repay that old white-haired monster. Now, all eight or nine toads have turned into 'corpse toad skins,' saving me the trouble of going through all that trouble." The Hakka nanny said with a wry smile.

"What do these corpse toads usually eat? Are there corpses in the cave too?" Shen Caihua asked.

“Look, it’s him,” the old woman said, pointing to the bloated man. “This man is my old man’s fellow countryman from Northeast China in the Nationalist Army in Mae Salong. He was shot in the armpit during a firefight with government troops a few years ago. When he was still in the intermediate state, I turned him into a sweat corpse. Most of the local people here are thin and short, and it’s rare to find someone so fat. These corpse toads guard the sweat corpse every day, licking the saliva flowing from his body to feed on it.”

"They ate all the 'Hanqing'?" Shen Caihua asked in surprise.

“No, it’s the ‘sweat’ that flows down at midnight on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th of the eighth lunar month. At other times, it’s just smelly sweat. So over the years, we’ve only collected half a bottle. But now you’ve almost wasted it all,” the old woman said.

Shen Caihua argued, "If Granny had carried the bottle with her, Caihua wouldn't have been able to find it."

"No, the blood sample bottle must be inserted into the anus of the corpse to maintain its original energy field, so that the blood sample taken next year will not deteriorate," the Hakka old woman said solemnly.

Shen Caihua remembered the bottle of blood-infused liquid he had stolen for Han Sheng's father. He wondered if it would spoil, so he quickly asked, "If blood-infused liquid spoils after leaving a corpse, then it can't be used to treat people outside, right?"

"No, if you don't want to continue the 'history' anymore, or if the bottle is already full, there's no need to put it back into the 'anus'," the Hakka nanny explained.

Fortunately, the one bottle he stole was still useful, Chen Cai thought.

"Granny, did you come down from the sky?" Shen Caihua asked, pointing to the large open hole in the cave's dome.

"Well, that's where I walk up and down. Would you like to learn this 'Zhuyou Lightness Skill'?" the Hakka nanny asked with a smile.

“I am willing,” Shen Caihua replied, and that was truly what he thought.

Chapter 41, Part 1

The Hakka woman laughed heartily several times, tears welling in her eyes, and said, "The Zhuyou School finally has a successor..."

Shen Cai tilted his head and looked at the high hole in the dome of the stone cave. He thought that if he learned the "Lard Kung Fu", he would never have to be afraid of that white-haired monster again. So he happily chuckled.

“My Zhuyou Sect has produced so many rebellious and wicked disciples. My eldest sister Granny Wang’s disciples, Yang Gong and Yin Po, Jing Taiji and Mingyue, and my disciple He Wuxing, which one of them is truly accomplished? It would be better if they were all dead…” She looked down at Chen Caihua with affection and said softly, “Little Caihua is young and ignorant, and is in the prime of his life to be taught. In particular, he is born with the true energy of the Zhuyou Sect, so he is bound to be a gifted disciple.”

"Grandma, when will you teach me 'Lard Kung Fu'?" Shen Caihua asked eagerly.

“You should call me Master now, Caihua, kneel down and kowtow…” The Hakka nanny stood up straight and said solemnly.

With a "thump," Shen Caihua had already fallen to his knees upon hearing this, pounding his head on the ground like a pestle being pounded.

"Alright, three kowtows are enough, no need for so many." The nanny quickly pulled Chen Caihua up and found that the child's forehead was already red.

"Now that you've entered my Zhuyou sect, you must obey your master's orders in everything you do, understand?" the nanny said solemnly.

“Mm,” Shen Caicai replied.

"Talent, the founder of the Zhuyou School was Guo Pu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He devoted his life to creating a set of earth-shattering and awe-inspiring ancient arts—the 'Eighteen Forms of Zhuyou,' which is extremely profound and can be called the pinnacle of Central Plains witchcraft. Unfortunately, when it was passed down to us three sisters, only five forms and one set of light footwork remained. I heard Hansheng mention that our second senior sister, the bald old woman, hid in the rainforest and 'petrified' herself. She spent ten years comprehending three more forms, but unfortunately, they were absorbed by that sinister man Huang Jianguo. Our second senior sister truly died with her eyes wide open in disbelief. Now, Master can only teach you these five forms. Although it's a bit less, it's enough for you to roam the martial world freely." The Hakka nanny said with infinite sorrow.

Shen Caihua listened intently, his eyes unblinking.

The Hakka woman continued, “'Zhu You Divine Skill' is composed of lowering the yin, entering the demonic realm, casting spells, and limb dance. If you study diligently, you will surely achieve something in one or two years. If you are extremely intelligent, you may be able to become like your master in ten years.”

Shen Caihua asked, "What constitutes exceptional intelligence?"

The Hakka nanny thought for a moment and replied, "Among the three of us sisters, only the second senior sister has the highest talent and the most eccentric personality. Only she can comprehend the other three forms of the Zhuyou Divine Skill. Therefore, the second senior sister can be considered an extremely intelligent person, probably one of the rarest in the world today."

"Oh..." Shen Cai thought to himself, wondering if he could be considered an extremely gifted person.

“Talent, I want you to remember this: any man who practices the Zhuyou Divine Skill must never marry and must remain a virgin. Otherwise, once he loses his virginity, his temperament will change drastically, and he will become a bloodthirsty person,” the Hakka nanny solemnly instructed.

Shen Caihua was still young and knew nothing about matters between men and women, so he didn't care. He thought for a moment and said, "Are Yang Gong, Jing Taiji, and He Wuxing all virgins?"

The Hakka woman paused for a moment, then said, "He Wuxing is, Jing Taiji might be, but Yang Gong is definitely not, so he eventually became a perverted maniac who craved human brains."

"Then, what about Grandmaster Guo Pu?" Shen Caihua asked.

Chapter 41, Part 2

The Hakka nanny looked at Shen Caihua in surprise. This child's little head is really daring to think. How come she had never thought of this before? Historical records show that Guo Pu was from Wenxi, Hedong, Shanxi. He died in 324 AD at the age of 49. Guo Pu's son, Dun'ao, was appointed as the governor of Linhe. His descendants lived in Ruicheng, Hedong for generations, which shows that he had descendants.

"Master Guo Pu was certainly married, and his descendants all live in the area along the Yellow River in Hedong, Shanxi. Since he was able to create the 'Eighteen Forms of Zhuyou,' he must have had some way to break the curse, otherwise how could he be a master..." the Hakka woman said hesitantly.

Shen Caihua nodded, thinking to himself that this matter didn't really concern him.

“Caihua, listen carefully. ‘Xia Yin’ is a unique method of entering a meditative state in the Zhuyou school. ‘Ru Mo’ is a strange visualization after entering a state of meditation. ‘Shang Zhou’ is reciting witchcraft incantations. ‘Zhi Wu’ is forming body mudras and making various strange movements with the body and limbs. Tibetan Tantric Buddhism forms the Great Hand Mudra, while the Zhuyou school in the Central Plains forms mudras with the whole body, so the effect is naturally much better,” the Hakka old woman said.

"Does entering a state of tranquility mean not thinking about anything?" Shen Caihua asked.

"Of course, you must cast aside all distracting thoughts, think of nothing, and keep your mind completely empty," the Hakka woman explained.

"I know how to do that." Shen Caihua breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.