Liang Yan’s heart was currently filled with vexation and confusion. His original intention for this trip was to buy some medicinal pills that could be taken at the first layer of Qi Refining. When that old man took out the wooden fish to display, Liang Yan hadn’t paid attention, but his dantian inside suddenly throbbed inexplicably, and then it caused his entire body to tremble slightly.
Liang Yan was greatly alarmed. Before he could react, a strange thought suddenly rose in his heart, urging him to buy this wooden fish at all costs.
This feeling was truly bizarre. Liang Yan’s mind remained clear, and he tried to resist this thought, but the more he resisted, the stronger the desire to possess the wooden fish became.
Just now when the old man was waiting for bids on the wooden fish, the crowd below was mostly uninterested, only Liang Yan was engaged in an inner battle between heaven and man. In the end, Liang Yan could not resist this inner desire and called out to bid for the wooden fish.
The red-nosed old man was overjoyed, quickly counted three times, then looked at Liang Yan with a face full of delight, his gaze kind and amiable, as if looking at his own junior. “This fellow Daoist truly has sharp eyes. I congratulate this fellow Daoist on successfully acquiring the treasure. Please go to the backstage to complete the payment later.”
The surrounding people all looked at him as if he were a wronged loser, and some even pointed and whispered, mocking him. Liang Yan also regretted it in his heart, but since the words had already been spoken, if he went back on his word in this setting, Liang Yan had no doubt that the several Foundation Establishment cultivators inside the cave wouldn’t hesitate to strike at him.
He could only shake his head with a bitter smile, following a green-robed woman into the backstage. There, a middle-aged man with a kind face looked at him. Liang Yan, somewhat pained, took out his storage pouch, counted out fifty spirit stones from it and handed them over. The middle-aged man, smiling, presented the wooden fish with both hands.
Having suffered this big loss, Liang Yan had no further interest in the subsequent auction items. He grabbed the wooden fish and turned to leave. Before exiting, the middle-aged man still shouted from behind, “Young man, young in years but with unique insight, your future prospects are limitless.”
After hearing this, Liang Yan rolled his eyes, secretly grumbling inwardly. He strode out of the cave, heading in the direction of the small town halfway up the mountain, and left without looking back.
The cave where the auction was held wasn’t too far from the small town. Liang Yan walked along the mountain path for about half an hour, and his heart gradually calmed down. He began to secretly recall that strange thought just now, which seemed to have been triggered by the dantian’s unusual movement.
‘At that time, my dantian throbbed, and then that overwhelmingly strong desire swept over me. Could it be that there’s something inside my body that I don’t know about?’
Thinking of this, Liang Yan immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Spending the fifty spirit stones unjustly wasn’t frightening; what was frightening was that something he himself didn’t understand was living inside his body, and this thing had actually managed to hide from the old monk. The more Liang Yan thought, the more alarmed he became, and he made up his mind to go back and ask the old monk to explain clearly.
Just as he was pondering, a faint, subtle fragrance drifted over.
Liang Yan looked up and saw a red-clothed young woman, her figure graceful and her eyes full of spring allure, standing at the crossroads, smiling sweetly at him.
Liang Yan blushed at her gaze, not daring to meet her eyes, and looked toward the roadside, talking about anything but the matter at hand: “Why don’t I see Fellow Daoist Chen and Fellow Daoist Xu?”
Tang Yan laughed with a “pfft” and said, “Why bring those two drag oil bottles? Those two are terribly boring.” Then she sighed again, saying, “Could it be that Young Master Liang is unwilling to spend a moment alone with me?”
Liang Yan felt flustered, quickly waving his hands and saying, “Immortal Tang, that’s not what I meant. What I meant is, it’s also quite nice with just the two of us together. No, that’s not what I meant either, Immortal, please don’t misunderstand.”
Tang Yan, seeing his flustered state, couldn’t help but laugh again. Then she rolled her eyes at him and said softly, “It’s all your fault, you stinky little brother, you’re just too good-looking. The moment I laid eyes on you, my heart was captured by you. In my heart, no one else can compare to even one of your fingers. As long as you want, I… I’d be willing to do anything for you.” Tang Yan’s face grew redder and her voice softer as she spoke, until the last sentence was barely audible.
Although Liang Yan was only a boy of around ten, he was tall and his mind was relatively precocious. Now, caught off guard by Tang Yan’s heartfelt confession, seeing her endless shyness mixed with a hint of a young married woman’s allure, he couldn’t help but feel stirred and unable to control himself. He blurted out, “I’m the same! Whatever you, Immortal, ask me to do, I’ll do it, even if it’s a mountain of knives or a sea of fire, I would never refuse!”
Tang Yan’s eyes lit up at these words, as if filled with infinite joy. When Liang Yan met her gaze, he felt as if his entire soul had sunk into them. He heard Tang Yan softly murmur, “In that case, please, Young Master Liang, come and embrace me.”
Liang Yan nodded, as if a string-puppet man, and walked forward in a daze, reaching out to hold Tang Yan in his arms.
Just at that moment, the nameless mantra that the old monk had taught Liang Yan suddenly started circulating on its own. A warm current began from his dantian, flowed along his meridians to his four limbs and bones, and finally converged at the Baihui acupoint on the top of his head.
Liang Yan’s mind instantly regained clarity. Within a range of over ten zhang, falling leaves were visible, and insect chirps could be heard. Looking up now, he saw that in Tang Yan’s eyes was no longer a gaze as gentle as water, but rather the excited and urgent look of a hunter eyeing prey about to be captured.
Liang Yan grew alert and immediately jumped backward. At the same time, his ears twitched; while in mid-air, he rapidly twisted his body and narrowly dodged a writing brush shooting towards his dantian.
The brush struck the ground three inches in front of him, exploding with a bang and raising a cloud of dust. Then, a sound of wind rose behind him as something tore through the air. Liang Yan had no time to turn his head; he could only clench his fist and swing it backward.
The object that shot over was unexpectedly flimsy, shattered by his punch, but immediately a foul stench assaulted him, and he inhaled quite a bit of it, instantly feeling dizzy and disoriented.
Seeing this scene, Tang Yan was slightly surprised. She was originally an outer disciple of a small nearby sect, but due to her extremely poor aptitude, she was expelled. Later, she inadvertently found a dual cultivation technique in a cave dwelling. After diligent practice, her seduction arts achieved some success, and from then on she specialized in seducing young disciples from small sects who were out training. Over these years, who knows how many have become ghosts under her skirt.
‘Those sect disciples at the second layer of Qi Refining were all charmed into a daze by me, yet this person can actually regain clarity. He must have a secret on him; I must carefully investigate later,’ Tang Yan thought to herself.
At this moment, two people walked out from the forest, none other than Chen Chong and Xu Kun! The two formed a triangle with Tang Yan, tightly surrounding Liang Yan.
Liang Yan understood clearly and coldly asked, “Fellow Daoists, what is the meaning of this?”
Chen Chong laughed heartily and said, “Fellow Daoist Liang, why pretend to be clueless? To be honest, we originally only intended to seek some small wealth. A loose cultivator like you generally can’t squeeze out much oil and water. Who knew you were so generous, spending fifty spirit stones on a piece of junk. Surely you have quite a fortune on you?”
Tang Yan also covered her mouth with a smile and said, “Young Master Liang, don’t struggle. You were hit by my fragrance poison first, and now by Fellow Daoist Xu’s bitter poison. I’m afraid you can only use thirty percent of your spiritual power. Moreover, the more you fight, the more the poison will worsen, and eventually your internal organs will rot from the inside out, which would truly be unsightly. You might as well obediently hand over your storage pouch, and we won’t make it hard for you. We’ll definitely leave your corpse intact so you can be reincarnated. How does that sound?”
The three were chatting and laughing, already treating Liang Yan as a sure thing. The reason they didn’t act immediately was that they were waiting for the poison to fully take effect.
Liang Yan said nothing. Suddenly, he rolled on the ground, his left hand protecting the back of his head, his right hand clutching his left knee. The posture was strange, as if he were rolling and throwing a tantrum on the ground.
The three had been focused and on guard, prepared for his desperate counterattack. Seeing his bizarre movements now, they couldn’t help but look at each other. Tang Yan frowned even more and said, “Young Master Liang, a person as handsome as you actually makes such an inelegant move. A true man should die as a man, without losing his own bearing. Like this, this sister here is liking you less and less.”
“No, look!”
Chen Chong suddenly pointed his finger, and Tang Yan and Xu Kun looked in the direction of his gaze. They saw that each time Liang Yan rolled, some pink and black spots would appear on the ground. The spots were densely packed with black and red at the start, but after a few rolls, they had gradually thinned, until now almost no spots could be seen.
A bizarre thought surged into the three’s minds: ‘Is this person expelling the poison?’ Before they could react, Liang Yan had already leaped up from the ground, his eyes like lightning sweeping over the three. Judging by his posture and expression, there was no sign of being poisoned anymore.
“Not good! This person is strange, don’t hold back, everyone attack together!” Xu Kun shouted, donning a pair of iron gauntlets on both hands and charging out first.
What Liang Yan had just used was the “Rolling Phase” from the eight postures taught by the old monk. Although these eight postures were bizarre, each had its own wonderful uses. After a year of practice, Liang Yan had gained some understanding, and using it now, he expelled all the poison in his body into the ground.
Seeing Xu Kun charging towards him, he quickly focused and prepared to defend. Xu Kun was a body cultivator, specializing in tempering the physical body. If he got close, even a second-layer Qi Refining cultivator might not be able to beat him. The two fought together, fists roaring, exchanging blows, seemingly evenly matched.
Seeing that Liang Yan could hold his own in close combat with Xu Kun, Chen Chong was surprised. He then formed a hand seal, brought out the writing brush, and had it hover around Liang Yan, specifically targeting the openings Liang Yan revealed while fighting.
Tang Yan also took out a bamboo flute and began to play. The flute sound was plaintive, like weeping and lamenting. Liang Yan felt his mind grow agitated and his thoughts sluggish. His moves were full of openings, and in just a short while, he was in constant danger.
In contrast, the other two seemed as if their ears were closed, completely unaffected. Clearly, they had prepared in advance and taken some medicine to stabilize their minds.
Seeing the dire situation, Liang Yan suddenly reached for his storage pouch, then raised his hand and threw something. Under the night sky, five stone-like objects whistled towards Chen Chong.
Although Chen Chong was a cultivator, he was only at the second layer of Qi Refining, and his physical body was only slightly stronger than a mortal’s. Seeing the hidden projectiles coming fast and fierce, he didn’t dare to take them head-on. He ducked and rolled on the ground, barely dodging them. He looked back and saw it was five spirit stones embedded in the ground.
Liang Yan forced Chen Chong away with one hand, turned around, and threw a full-force punch at Xu Kun. Seeing that he dared to compete in physical strength, Xu Kun was overjoyed and also threw a punch. The two fists met with a muffled thud.
Xu Kun flew backward with an expression of disbelief, crashing into a large boulder. A series of cracking sounds came from his body, likely the sound of bones shattering.
After knocking Xu Kun back with one punch, Liang Yan hadn’t even had time to catch his breath when a whistling sound came from behind. He had no choice but to dodge to the right, but he was still a beat too slow. A writing brush pierced through his left arm, leaving a bloody hole.
Chen Chong, his expression serious, rapidly formed hand seals, sending the writing brush to attack Liang Yan’s vital points repeatedly. Realizing Liang Yan’s powerful physique, he had decided not to engage in close combat. He simply urged the spiritual tool on, depleting his mana to attack from a distance.
After witnessing Liang Yan’s strength, Tang Yan also didn’t dare to be careless. The flute sound grew louder, like weeping and lamenting, disturbing one’s mind, impossible to guard against.
With his left arm injured and his movement hindered, further disturbed by the flute, Liang Yan grew more and more agitated the more he fought. Suddenly, he stood on one foot, his whole body soared into the air, his right hand behind his back, his left arm hanging down, his head raised to the sky as he let out a long howl. This was exactly the “Street-Cursing Phase” among the eight postures.
This howl, falling into the ears of Chen Chong and Tang Yan, was no different from heavenly thunder pouring into their ears, shaking their internal organs out of place.
With a crack, the flute in Tang Yan’s hand broke in two, and she could no longer play. Clutching the broken flute, she swept her gaze and found Xu Kun vomiting blood, his eyes wide open; he was already dead.
‘He was seriously injured by that Liang with one punch earlier, which probably damaged his internal organs. Now hearing this long howl, he was likely shaken to death!’ At this thought, Tang Yan lost all will to fight and only thought of how to escape.
After the long howl, the stifling feeling in Liang Yan’s chest was swept away. He turned his head and coldly glanced at Tang Yan. He pushed off with his foot and instantly arrived in front of her.
“Fellow Daoist, wait! We can talk—” Before she could finish the word “talk,” her throat was already seized by Liang Yan, and with a crack, her neck was twisted.
Liang Yan threw Tang Yan’s corpse down and turned his head towards Chen Chong. In Chen Chong’s eyes, that look was no different from a ferocious ghost demanding his life. He screamed at the top of his lungs, “You can’t kill me! If you kill me, you’re dead for sure! Cousin! Cousin, save me!”
Liang Yan sneered and charged straight at him, his right fist full of force, solidly smashing into Chen Chong’s chest. Chen Chong’s heart meridian was shattered, and he was completely dead.
Just as Liang Yan retracted his fist, a warning suddenly rose in his heart. He abruptly exerted force at his waist, and his whole body lay flat backward. Almost simultaneously, a black dagger flew past his face, emitting a foul stench, clearly coated with deadly poison. This was too sudden. Before Liang Yan could react, a cold, intense pain came from his lower abdomen. He looked down and saw that an ice awl had already pierced through his body and was embedded there.