Рай — это берег праха смертных

Глава 79

Dudu was incredibly clever. She immediately understood what the old lady meant. She knew that only after the ghost bat was lured away could Xiao Caihua help the old lady get rid of the insects. So she opened her eyes wide, blinked at the ghost bat, stretched out her big curved beak, picked up the mushroom, and flapped her wings and flew into the air.

The ghost bat was overjoyed and quickly followed, flying off into the distance one after the other, disappearing into the darkness in an instant.

On the lake shore, Xiong Dahai and Dongfang Hong cautiously crept over. They not only saw the long necks of Li Dihuo and the old man with the eagle nose and sunken eyes beside him, but they also sensed that this old man was the largest wriggling barbarian.

"Stop!" Guo Ruchang shouted, his face hardening and his expression dark.

Xiong Dahai stopped in his tracks, straightened his back, and silently stared at the old man, while Dongfang Hong trembled violently, his body shaking as if he had a seizure, and he dared not lift his eyes.

"Father, it was those two who betrayed their master for personal gain; they are the scum of our Rutou Barbarian clan," Li Dihuo said through gritted teeth, pointing his finger.

Guo Ruchang's sinister gaze swept over the two of them, and he said coldly, "What are your names?"

“Xiong Dahai!” Xiong Dahai raised his head and answered without fear.

"This humble one is Dongfang Hong..." Dongfang Hong's lips moved slightly as he murmured in a low voice.

"Hmph, as a descendant of the Routou barbarians, disobeying your father is unfilial, abandoning your master is disloyal, and being driven by others is unjust. What use is there in keeping such an unfilial, disloyal, and unjust barbarian? Di Huo, why don't you go and put righteousness above family ties?" Guo Ruchang said disdainfully.

"Yes, Father," Li Dihuo replied, opening his blood-red maw, about to bite down...

"Wait a minute!" Xiong Dahai said in a clear and resounding voice, "As the saying goes, 'Even a tiger won't eat its cubs.' Li Dihuo, as the father of 102 'barbarians' in Huanglong Prefecture of Guandong, not only did he not protect them, but he also kicked them when they were down, poured gasoline and set them on fire. It's pitiful that those 'barbarians' who were not yet fully developed perished in the fire. This act itself is a complete break between father and son. He doesn't regard us as his offspring, so naturally we have no need to respect him as our father. Since we are no longer father and son, how can we talk about being unfilial, disloyal, and unjust?"

"This..." Guo Ruchang frowned, feeling that what Xiong Dahai said made sense, so he said, "Alright, I ask you, if you two abandon darkness and turn to the light, the past can be forgiven. If you remain stubborn and unrepentant, I will not tolerate it. What do you say?"

Li Dihu stretched his long neck, his bald head close to the two of them, his triangular eyes shooting out a sinister gaze as he stared intently at Xiong Dahai, a sinister smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Xiong Dahai raised his head and replied decisively, "Xiong Dahai is upright and honest; how could he be a fickle and treacherous person?"

Li Dihuo brought his head close to Dongfang Hong's face again and asked in a shrill voice, "And what about you?"

Dongfang Hong's legs trembled violently. Staring at Li Dihuo's gaping maw, his knees finally buckled, and he collapsed to his knees, sobbing, "I...I'm willing to abandon darkness for light, I'm willing..."

Guo Ruchang nodded in satisfaction and said to Li Dihuo, "This Xiong Dahai is stubborn and incorrigible. Let's eliminate him."

Before the words were finished, Li Dihuo opened his mouth wide and bit down, while Xiong Dahai, resigned to his fate, closed his eyes and cried out mournfully, "Young master, Dahai is gone..."

Beneath the stone platform, Chen Cai realized that Dudu had intentionally lured the large bat away so that he could successfully expel the insects from his master, Granny. Without saying a word, he quickly extended the ring fingers of both hands and hurriedly urged, "Master, please lift up your clothes..."

The Hakka woman gripped her apron, but her gaze drifted towards Master Xufeng. Her face flushed slightly, and she seemed a little hesitant.

Seeing this, Master Xufeng hurriedly said in a serious tone, "Senior Granny, only when you have recovered your strength can we ensure everyone's safety. You and I are both people of the martial world, why be so bound by worldly taboos? I will not look." After saying that, he turned his face away.

The Hakka woman suddenly realized what was happening and said, "I'm ashamed. Master Xufeng is absolutely right. I was just being paranoid." With that, she untied her apron, lifted her clothes, lay flat on the ground, and exposed her wrinkled belly. She hadn't had a chance to bathe during her journey through Northeast China, so there was some umbilical grime inside her navel.

Shen Caihua pressed his left and right ring fingers on the nanny's Tian Shu acupoints, about to chant the "walking corpse" incantation, when at that moment, Xiong Dahai's sorrowful and desperate voice reached his ears, "Young master, Dahai is gone..."

Since heading south from Huanglong Prefecture in Guandong, Xiong Dahai has been very caring towards Xiao Caihua. In addition to being grateful, the two also get along very well and have a very good relationship. Now that Dahai is about to lose his life, how can he sit idly by?

Upon hearing this, Shen Caihua became extremely anxious. His head buzzed, and he felt a tightness in his abdomen. With a loud "plop," he released a fart, and his body sprang into the air. His "Zhu You Lightness Skill" had arrived...

In mid-air, Shen Cai subconsciously chanted the incantation of the tenth move of the Zhu You Divine Skill, "No Poison, No Manhood," his right hand moving back and forth in a slashing motion. He had first used this skill on Mao Yishi, the "Undying Bone," biting off half of his penis. Because this move specifically targets the opponent's unspeakable genitals, it is called "No Poison, No Manhood."

Li Dihuo's mouth opened 120 degrees, his hard, yellow teeth just about to bite down on Xiong Dahai's head. Suddenly, he was struck by the powerful biomagnetic field of the witch's curse, and his mouth went numb. His lips, jaw muscles, and gums stiffened instantly... In that instant, Chen Caihua had already flown close like lightning, his right hand stabbing directly into Li Dihuo's mouth. With a sawing motion, he forcefully severed the crescent-shaped pink female ovipositor...

In truth, Shen Caihua himself was also somewhat bewildered. He would only resort to this despicable move involuntarily when he was extremely enraged. The Ruotou Man was hermaphroditic, and Li Dihuo happened to have his mouth open, exposing his female ovipositor, thus becoming the primary target of the "No Poison, No Husband" attack.

With a scream of "Ah!", Li Dihuo spat out a thick, foul-smelling liquid, nearly splashing all over Shen Caihua.

Shen Cai landed steadily on the ground, holding the half of the fleshy wriggling ovipositor in his hand. He watched as Li Dihuo turned his long neck, his triangular eyes rolled back, his hands flailing wildly in the air, and he let out a series of painful screams. Finally, with a "thud," he fell to the ground, twitched and convulsed a few times, and then his body stiffened and straightened.

Xiong Dahai opened his eyes and stared in astonishment at Li Dihuo lying on the ground. Then he looked up and saw Shen Caihua's hand covered in blood and the half of the ovipositor. He felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

It was his young master who saved him once again...

Chapter 122

At this moment, Guo Ruchang was already stunned...

It's utterly unbelievable that this little kid could kill Li Dihuo with just a few gestures!

Guo Ruchang leaned down, looked at Li Dihuo's corpse, suppressed his grief, raised his head, and asked with lingering fear, "Who are you?"

Shen Caihua rolled her eyes at him, ignored him, and pulled Xiong Dahai back to the stone platform with one hand, then prepared to continue to expel the insects from the old woman.

At this moment, Dongfang Hong found himself in an extremely awkward position. He never expected that his young master would kill Li Dihuo with a single move. It seemed that even this old rascal might not be a match for him. He deeply regretted his betrayal earlier and had no face to return to his young master's side now...

Guo Ruchang turned his long neck to face Dongfang Hong, and asked with a gloomy face, "Tell me, who exactly is this child? What method did he use to kill Di Huo in one fell swoop?"

Dongfang Hong answered tremblingly, "He, his name is Shen Caihua, he killed Li Di... no, Father with witchcraft."

Guo Ruchang pondered that he probably couldn't defeat Shen Caihua himself and would need to gather the power of the four divine beasts to have any chance of winning. With that in mind, he pursed his lips and hissed, summoning the "White Tiger" Great Spirit Cat and the "Black Tortoise" Golden-Headed Turtle to launch an attack together. Unfortunately, the lustful "Vermilion Bird" Ghost Bat was not present at the moment, so he had to send all three divine beasts at once. Among the four divine beasts, the "Azure Dragon" was the strongest, and they all obeyed him.

"Meow..." The large Indian cat leaped down from the white stalagmite with a "whoosh," and the golden-headed turtle slowly climbed down the black stalagmite as well.

At this moment, Shen Caihua had already extended the ring fingers of both hands and pressed them onto the Tianshu acupoints, two inches to the left and right of the Hakka nanny's navel, silently reciting the third move of the Zhuyou Divine Skill, "Walking Corpse": "曱曵曶曷书曺曻朁..."

The old woman's belly button slowly split open, revealing a bald little head of a wriggling larva. It stared at Chen Caihua with its triangular eyes, then scanned the surroundings, seemingly discovering several clumps of grime hidden within the folds of the belly button. Angrily, it pried them out one by one and forcefully flung them away. It rubbed its little paws against the old woman's belly, sniffed, and seemed satisfied before wriggling its entire body out. Immediately behind it, a second wriggling larva poked its little head out…

"Meow..." The large spiritual cat leaped into the air, its mouth splitting open to reveal sharp fangs, and extended its right paw, its five sharp claws flashing as it slashed down at Chen Caihua with lightning speed...

"Danger!" Xiong Dahai shouted, stepping forward to block Shen Caihua, who was busy expelling insects and unable to attend to other matters. He unleashed a move called "Monkey Walking Backwards Bewitching Palm," retreating while striking forward with his fist. His left hand hooked and pulled the large cat's right paw, and he swiftly struck its eye with his right fist. This move is one of the most powerful killing techniques in Tongbei Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts). An ancient sage once praised it in a poem: "Victory in defeat comes from the monkey walking backwards; though defeated by a strong opponent, the mind should remain calm. The fist and footwork are ingeniously combined, absorbing and neutralizing the opponent's force; specifically targeting the enemy's eyes ensures peace."

The large Indian civet looks like a black tiger at first glance, but it is more agile and ferocious than a tiger, as can be seen from its cold-blooded killing of those giant rats.

Humans are far slower than civets.

Xiong Dahai was a master of Guandong Tongbei Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts). His "Monkey Backwards Bewitching Palm" deflected the cat's claws with a swift and powerful straight punch. But the big cat reacted even faster. It tossed its head, leaped into the air, and performed a backflip. Then, its tail swept across like an iron rod...

Tigers, the felines of the jungle, whether Siberian tigers, South China tigers, or Bengal tigers, all attack their prey with three moves, commonly known as "pounce, flip, and slash." Back then, Wu Song of Jingyang Ridge dodged the three moves of that tiger with piercing eyes and a white forehead before beating it to death.

The Indian civet's "sweeping tail" is the third move of felines, "sniping," which is extremely fast and makes a loud whistling sound. If you are hit by it, you will definitely break your bones and tendons.

What a brave Xiong Dahai! He remained calm in the face of danger. With a move of Tongbei Quan's "Drunken Step," he suddenly leaned back and narrowly avoided the attack. Even so, the long fur on the big cat's tail still brushed against his cheek, causing a burning pain.

Seeing that Xiong Dahai was unharmed, the large cat, driven by its bestial instincts, hissed and pounced again, its claws flashing as it slashed down at him with incredible speed. Although Xiong Dahai was considered a second- or third-rate fighter in the martial arts world, human eyesight could never match that of a feline. Faced with the dazzling, flying claws, he was overwhelmed, but he couldn't retreat, for his young master was behind him…

With two sharp, tearing sounds, two chunks of flesh were ripped from Xiong Dahai's chest, blood staining his blue police uniform. He knew he couldn't dodge the giant civet's swift claws, but to buy time for his young master who was undergoing a full-body deworming treatment, he resolved to shield him with his own body…

"Meow..." At this critical moment, the big cat suddenly let out a miserable cry and turned its body around abruptly.

Dongfang Hong had somehow stretched out his neck and bit down hard on the big cat's hind leg...

"Dongfang Hong?" Xiong Dahai exclaimed in astonishment.

With a series of sharp "hissing" sounds, the enraged Great Spirit Cat tore through Dongfang Hong's neck with its two claws, severing the arteries and causing blood to splatter everywhere.

At the same time, Chen Caihua finally expelled all the wriggling larvae from the old woman's body, casually tossed them on the ground, and then crushed them with his foot. He then leaped up, chanting the ninth form of the Zhuyou Divine Skill, "Opening the Heavenly Gate": "Om Om Ho, Nang Jie Sha Na Ta Ga He Ra..." Simultaneously, his left index finger pointed skyward and then slashed downward...

A burst of Zhu You True Qi shot out from the Shangyang acupoint on the index finger of the cultivator, and with a "whoosh," it actually severed the big spirit cat's raised tail right at the root!

"Meow..." The big cat jumped up in pain, shook off Dongfang Hong, and scrambled to the white stalagmite. It sat on the ground and kept licking the bleeding wound at the severed tail, while whimpering softly.

“Dongfang Hong…” Shen Caihua said in surprise when he saw Dongfang Hong lying in a pool of blood.

"Young master, I have not betrayed my benefactor..." Tears slowly welled up in Dongfang Hong's triangular eyes.

“Brother Dongfang…” Xiong Dahai rushed forward, cradling Dongfang Hong’s head in his hands, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed, “Dahai was wrong about you…”

Dongfang Hong looked at Shen Caihua, and uttered a weak sound: "Young master, I... am ashamed..."

At this moment, the Hakka woman came over, bent down, and said softly, "Dongfang Hong, this old woman thanks you."

A faint smile of relief appeared on Dongfang Hong's face before his eyes slowly closed, and he breathed his last.

"Alas... Although this person is despicable, he is still a man of honor and loyalty." The Hakka nanny sighed, then checked Xiong Dahai's injuries. Fortunately, the giant cat's claws had only torn off some flesh and had not damaged any vital organs. He would recover in a few days.

"Caihua, what kind of skill did you use to kill Li Dihuo and cut off the big cat's tail just now?" The Hakka nanny stared intently at Shen Caihua with a look of doubt on her face.

"I don't know either. I just blurted it out in my anxiety," Shen Caihua replied nonchalantly.

"Master, your leaping technique is indeed our sect's lightness skill, but it's impossible to reach such a level without ten or eight years of diligent practice," the Hakka old woman said, puzzled.

“Oh, this,” Chen Caihua giggled, whispering in the old woman’s ear, “I’ll fart first, then I can use the ‘Lard Lightness Skill’…Master, don’t you fart first too?”

The Hakka woman was taken aback, then couldn't help but chuckle and scolded, "Nonsense, when did Master fart?"

Shen Caihua thought the old woman was just being shy, so he smiled knowingly, ran over to the stone platform, and began to expel the insects from Master Xufeng.

Watching Shen Caihua's innocent and naive figure disappear into the distance, the Hakka woman pondered. Although she hadn't seen Shen Caihua's martial arts demonstration directly, a master's ears and eyes are sharp, and nothing could escape their notice. The incantation that little Caihua was reciting was undoubtedly the sect's unique healing arts, but he had only learned "ghost wall" and "walking corpse." How could he possibly understand something that even she herself didn't know?

The Hakka woman gave a wry smile and shook her head.

"You're really amazing!" Youliang said admiringly. "If I had your skills, I could have defeated Master Jia and rescued Nizi."

At this moment, Guo Ruchang was dumbfounded. This little boy named Shen Caihua had defeated the giant cat without breaking a sweat, and even cut off its tail with his bare hands. It was too strange.

"Hiss..." He whistled again, urging the "Black Tortoise" Golden-Headed Turtle to come on stage. This old turtle could spew out sinister energy from its mouth, injuring people invisibly.

The golden-headed turtle moved rather slowly, and had only just climbed to the side of the stone platform. When it heard the "Azure Dragon" wriggling barbarian Guo Ruchang calling it, it opened its mouth and responded with a "whoosh" sound.

The Hakka grandmother discovered early on that the stone platform was strange. Around it, there were four stone pillars in blue, white, red and black, arranged according to the eight trigrams of Zhen, Dui, Li and Kan. The big cat, the ghost bat, the old tortoise and this old man with the worm-like head, are probably the four divine beasts of the East Azure Dragon, the West White Tiger, the South Vermilion Bird and the North Black Tortoise. And what they guarded in the navel of the earth for generations must be the "ghost pot".

At this moment, Xiao Caihua was busy expelling insects from Master Xufeng and couldn't leave. The Hakka Granny had recovered, so she stepped forward to face the "Black Tortoise" Golden-Headed Turtle head-on.

The golden-headed softshell turtle, according to ancient books, is described as "the largest of all beetles, hence the character 'yuan' (元), meaning 'large'." Though unassuming in appearance, it possesses immense strength, capable of carrying heavy loads, and feeds on yin energy. Its neck is covered with wart-like protrusions, hence the name "warty-headed softshell turtle." This creature has an extremely long lifespan, exceeding a thousand years, but it is now nearly extinct in the Central Plains.

This golden-headed turtle, which guards the "Central Divine Artifact," is over a thousand years old. Every year on the fifteenth night of the lunar calendar, it swims from the lake to the cave entrance. At midnight when the moon is full, it looks up at the sky and absorbs the moonlight. Over the years, the yin energy in its body has become extremely profound. When it encounters an enemy, it sprays yin energy from its mouth, which can kill within a range of about ten feet. It is colorless and odorless, making it impossible to defend against.

Chapter 123

The Hakka grandmother carefully examined the golden-headed softshell turtle. She had heard of this giant turtle before; it was said to be an extremely ancient animal, dating back hundreds of millions of years. The golden-headed softshell turtle has an oval-shaped carapace, dark green in color, with thick, soft fleshy skirts along its four edges. It is fierce and incredibly strong. The Tang Dynasty text *Xuanbao Zhi* records that a softshell turtle in the Xuanzhou River once went ashore and fought a tiger without being defeated. It was also said that someone placed a granite boulder weighing hundreds of kilograms on its back, and then had five burly men stand on it, yet it still crawled freely. The grandmother knew that on the shores of Taihu Lake in Wuxi, Jiangnan, there was a place called "Yuantouzhu," named after this giant turtle. Furthermore, she had seen statues of softshell turtles carrying stone tablets in temples in northern Taiwan.

The old woman stood opposite the golden-headed turtle, thinking that since this old turtle was one of the four divine beasts in the earth's navel, it must have some power. However, seeing how easily Xiao Cai had defeated that "White Tiger" big cat, she thought she could definitely handle the "Black Tortoise" old turtle. But the old woman never expected that this thousand-year-old golden-headed turtle could actually spew out yin energy to hurt people...

The golden-headed turtle slowly raised its head, its two round, bean-like eyes fixed on the Hakka grandmother, and opened its mouth to exhale a long breath towards her.

The Hakka woman was an old hand at this, and although she didn't know what tricks the old turtle would use against her, she still placed her palms in front of her chest and moved them horizontally while chanting the "ghost wall" incantation. She built an invisible magnetic barrier between herself and the old turtle, which she could use to attack or defend.

With a soft "hiss," the ancient, sinister energy struck the magnetic barrier wall. The old woman immediately felt a chill, as if she had entered an ice cellar, and was taken aback...

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..." The old turtle exhaled several more breaths of sinister energy, and actually circled around the magnetic barrier wall, attacking the old woman from both sides.

In an instant, the Hakka grandmother felt her skin was extremely hot, as if it had been scalded with boiling water, and then it was extremely cold, as if she had been frozen. The cold penetrated her skin, muscles and blood vessels, her blood almost stagnated, and even her heart seemed about to stop beating.

Oh no! A thought flashed through the Hakka woman's mind, and she hurriedly chanted, "巵巶巸卺巺巼巽..." Her body swayed laboriously like a willow in the wind. This was the fourth move of the Zhuyou Divine Skill, "The Fragrance of Baosi".

At this moment, a strange warm current slowly rose from the old woman's dantian, flowing along her eight extraordinary meridians and emanating from the inside out through the pores of her body, releasing a foul odor reminiscent of rotten fish and shrimp—utterly repulsive and nauseating. The Western Han Dynasty scholar Dongfang Shuo, in his "Seven Admonitions: First Release," wrote, "I wore fragrant herbs as my adornment, but passing by the abalone market, I lost my scent." This illustrates just how awful the "fragrance of the abalone market" was. When Guo Pu created this move, he borrowed the metaphorical meaning of the idiom "abalone market" from it.

At this moment, the air around the Hakka grandmother was filled with a stench, and even the old turtle could not bear it, sneezing repeatedly, unable to expel the old yin energy any longer.

The Hakka woman instantly felt warm, and her hands and feet moved freely. She then leaped up, executed a powerful mid-air drop, and slammed heavily onto the old turtle's shell...

At this moment, Shen Caihua had forced out all the wriggling larvae from Master Xufeng's body. There were five or six of them in total. The larvae were lying around the Master's navel, staring blankly at Shen Caihua with their small triangular eyes.

"What's that smell? It stinks..." Shen Caihua muttered, stopping his chanting and turning his head to look.

"Young master, it's our benefactor battling the giant turtle," Xiong Dahai whispered to Shen Caihua, barely managing to hold back his vomit.