Chapter 1054: Old Fox Digging Graves
Chapter 1054: Old Fox Digging Graves
“The path of transcendence in this world seems to be founded on ‘ingestion. ’ The human body itself is difficult to cultivate, thus requiring the consumption of various spiritual materials. . . Hmm, it rather resembles the style of my Mortal Cultivation Method. ”
Cultivators of the Mortal Cultivation Method, relying solely on arduous self-cultivation, would likely spend their entire lives merely reaching a bottleneck before succumbing to old age.
The reason humanity stands as the spiritual paragon of all beings lies precisely in its adeptness at leveraging external resources.
Fang Xi, for his part, naturally harbored no objection to this.
It was simply that the cultivation path of this world felt somewhat bizarre.
Moreover, it was largely connected to ‘gods,’ though in Fang Xi’s estimation, these were by no means deities of the Incense God Path, but rather bore a greater resemblance to demons.
“Worshipping gods. . . just a single bow, and one can break through a realm, achieve immortality? ”
“Not even the Incense God Path is this potent. . . ”
At this moment, amidst the desolate tombs, a cool breeze suddenly swept through.
Under the illumination of the emerald-green grave fires, shadows danced eerily all around, creating a bizarre and mysterious ambiance.
Awoo!
A fox’s cry rang out.
Fang Xi’s gaze was sharp; with the aid of a few phosphorescent flares, he saw a white-furred fox, a full size larger than an ordinary wild dog, its eyes crimson and its claws long and slender. It was digging at a grave!
It appeared exceedingly ancient, its fur slightly slack, yet its movements betrayed no slowness. Its claws, moreover, were incomparably sharp, effortlessly slicing through any brick, stone, or coffin wood as if it were tofu.
In the desolate wilderness, an old fox digging graves!
This scene was indeed quite unnerving.
“So it’s a carrion fox. . . Looking at its white fur, it’s aged almost beyond recognition. ”
He remarked, then turned and fled.
Had it been before, this old fox wouldn’t have even been worth a single sword strike from him.
But at this moment, with merely a mortal body, even though he retained some experience in Blood-Qi Martial Arts, he hadn’t yet had the chance to practice with it.
At present, he could only be described as rich in experience, able to mobilize every fraction of his body’s strength.
Alas, this body’s innate constitution was merely average; even if he fully mobilized it, he might not be a match for a demon!
Rustle, rustle!
Fang Xi’s speed was exceptional, yet his footsteps were incredibly light, and in absolute silence, he used the cover of darkness to put a vast distance between them.
The old carrion fox was solely preoccupied with its meal, seeming to scorn him, or perhaps it simply hadn't noticed, allowing Fang Xi to depart from the mass grave.
“Phew. . . that was close. ”
At the foot of the mountain, seeing a few farmhouses not far off, Fang Xi finally let out a long breath.
His current strength was meager; to perish at the hands of such a low-tier demon would truly be a laughable matter.
‘Hmm. . . my current body lacks any particular innate talent, and its strength is even a bit less than that of an ordinary adult. . . But coupled with my martial arts experience, taking on a few burly men alone wouldn’t be an issue. . . ’
‘After some time, once I’ve nurtured my blood and qi sufficiently, I’ll surely be able to delve deeper. . . ’
As for whether martial arts can lead to the transcendent realm, that’s hard to say.
However, self-preservation within mortal cities should pose no significant issue.
He sorted through his innate talents and couldn’t help but shake his head. “It seems that after the awakening of my True Spirit, only one ability was brought over: a True Immortal’s ‘Endless Lifespan’. . . Though long-lived, I’m still plagued by the calamities of warfare, sickness, and hunger. . . Still, being able to remain eternally youthful is quite decent. ”
His former body had resided in a place called ‘Black Marsh City. ’
A river flowed nearby, its waters somewhat murky and dark, hence it was named ‘Black Marsh. ’
As Fang Xi passed by the Black Marsh River, he couldn’t help but press his brow, assaulted by the memories of his demise.
This time, the suffocation and immense pressure of near-death were utterly unable to faze him.
Yet, vaguely, he recalled more things.
“Even though I stumbled and fell into the water, my swimming ability was actually decent. . . The reason I was almost drowned alive was because a monster attacked! ? ”
“That monster’s strength in the water was several times that of an ordinary person. . . Fortunately, it wanted to feign my drowning; otherwise, if it had attacked directly, I would truly have been finished. . . ”
Fang Xi recalled the monster’s form, finding it akin to both human and merfolk, utterly bizarre.
Perhaps, it was even the legendary ‘Water Monkey. ’
“My previous body always sought out strange tales and legends, yet I nearly died at the hands of one such creature. . . All sorts of magical beings are right beside me. Could this be the fabled ‘Lord Ye’s Love for Dragons’? ”
Not only that, Fang Xi discovered that the more he recalled the creature in the water—which resembled a monkey, a human, and a merfolk—a trace of fear and madness gradually surfaced within his heart.
It was as if the faint patterns on the creature’s black fur and scales had all transformed into strange Daoist Cloud Seals, each elucidating a different meaning.
A bright moon hung high in the night sky, and the Black Marsh River shimmered with ripples, as if ten thousand snake-dragons lurked beneath its surface.
The ripples upon the river’s surface were all reflections from the scales on the backs of countless snake-carp.
‘A bit strange. . . but it fundamentally cannot shake my mind. ’
He sensed a dangerous aura, so he didn’t approach, but instead retreated far away, finding a spot to lie low in the desolate wilderness.
......
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
When the rooster crowed, the east turned white!
Accompanied by the rooster’s loud crow and the faint light of dawn, wisps of cooking smoke rose from the farmhouses not far away.
The morning fog was thick, but the dangerous aura within the Black Marsh River had largely dissipated.
Fang Xi saw people already queuing at the city gate, waiting to enter, so he immediately went to wait as well.
An hour later, the city gate opened, and many farmers, bearing shoulder poles laden with fresh melons, fruits, and vegetables, entered the city in an orderly fashion. No fees were collected.
Fang Xi blended in among them and walked through the main gate of Black Marsh City.
What met his eyes was a street paved with bluestone slabs.
The street was not wide, capable of accommodating at most two carriages side by side.
Various types of refuse were scattered everywhere along the roadside, faintly carrying a foul odor.
Concurrently, in the shops facing the street, clerks in twos and threes opened their doors, swept the areas in front, and removed their wooden shutters.
Some breakfast stalls had already erected their awnings, with a few rickety tables, chairs, and benches set out by the roadside to entice customers.
“Steamed buns for sale, steamed buns, one big coin each! ”
“Scissors sharpened, cleavers sharpened, pots, bowls, and ladles mended. . . ”
“Boiled water for sale, freshly boiled water. . . ”
On the street, groups of people began to appear in twos and threes: breakfast vendors, peddlers roaming the streets and alleys, hurried common folk. . . all converging as if to form a scroll painting of bustling market life.
Fang Xi took a deep breath, feeling that it had been a long time since he had encountered such a vibrant, mundane atmosphere.
‘After all, I am a cultivator; a single closed-door session lasts for decades, even centuries. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t interact with mortals who would die in droves if I merely exhaled. . . ’
He shook his head with a faint smile in his heart, feeling that his state of mind had calmed considerably, and his stomach even began to rumble.
‘A Dao Monarch of a generation, starving to death in a foreign land. . . how utterly miserable could that be? ’
Fang Xi grumbled inwardly and walked towards the home he remembered.
Turning the street corner, a large courtyard house of green bricks and tiled roofs emerged, standing out among the surrounding common dwellings like a crane among chickens, occupying an expansive area.
At the main gate hung a plaque, inscribed with three gilded characters: ‘Martial Ancestor Temple. ’
This was a temple dedicated to the Martial Ancestor.
But who the Martial Ancestor truly was, no one could clearly say.
His former body had indeed entered and paid respects; within the main hall, there was no statue of the Martial Ancestor, only a large local character: ‘Martial! ’
It was rumored that the temple priest knew a bit of martial arts; if one paid one tael of silver, they could learn martial arts for a month—board and lodging not included!
“Practicing martial arts? ”
Fang Xi shook his head inwardly. “Not even a dog would practice that! ”
Although he still possessed his former body, his grasp of its every nuance was exquisitely precise, something no martial arts Grandmaster could rival.
Furthermore, he possessed accumulated, terrifying martial arts experience.
Although he might not necessarily be able to cultivate blood-qi vigor, purely at the level of physical, mortal techniques, he was absolutely far superior to anything taught at this martial temple for one tael of silver a month.
Unless this martial temple also taught transcendent techniques, there was simply no need for him to learn there.
But then again, if one tael of silver could teach transcendent martial arts, given his former body’s fondness for strange tales, he would have gone to learn it a year or two ago. . .
One tael of silver was certainly no small sum.
What circulated most in the market now were still the ‘Profound Mystery Coins,’ with one thousand big coins being worth just one tael of silver.
And at the breakfast stall earlier, the steaming hot steamed buns, kneaded from aged flour, were rock-hard and the size of two adult fists. Dockworkers eating one or two for breakfast would be perfectly full, yet they cost only one big coin.
A measure of good quality white rice, about two catties, cost no more than seven or eight big coins.
One tael of silver could buy over two hundred catties, enough to feed a family of five or six for more than a month.
At this moment, Fang Xi looked at the Martial Ancestor Temple, a trace of vigilance in his gaze. ‘Worshipping gods. . . ’
The path of transcendence in this world began with ingestion, cultivating unusual power, and then, to delve deeper, it became inextricably linked with these strange gods.
Before Fang Xi could thoroughly understand the full details, he naturally had to keep his distance.
He walked past the Martial Ancestor Temple, turned another street, and arrived at an alley.
At the alley’s entrance grew a locust tree, hence the alley was named Old Locust Alley.
The alley contained over a dozen households, and the courtyard at its deepest end, with six or seven rooms, a skywell, and a sweet water well in the backyard, constituted his former body’s final inheritance.
Fang Xi arrived at his own doorstep and simply pushed the door open.
Creak!
The main gate opened.
A young man, twenty or thirty years old, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and honest features, walked towards him. Upon seeing Fang Xi, he immediately cried out, “A ghost! ”
“You’re the ghost, you oaf! ”
Fang Xi showed no indulgence whatsoever and slapped him across the face.
Whap!
The young man immediately fell to the ground, his face still bearing a bright red palm print.
“Song San, you bastard! It’s one thing that you buried this young master in the mass grave, but it was actually just a straw mat. . . ”
Fang Xi sneered.
This Song San’s ancestors had all been Fang family servants, and even when his former body’s family fortunes declined, he hadn’t left; he truly was outwardly loyal.
In reality, he had taken advantage of his former body’s indifference to worldly affairs, treating him like an idiot and fooling him, secretly siphoning off the last bit of the family’s remaining wealth.
This time, nine times out of ten, he was conspiring with those other distant relatives, preparing for one final seizure of the family’s inheritance.
“You. . . ”
Song San still tried to struggle, but Fang Xi immediately stepped forward, grabbed the man’s joints with his right hand, and twisted with ease.
With a sickening crack, Song San’s limbs were dislocated at the joints, and he fell to the ground, screaming miserably.
“Hmph, that’s the consequence of betraying your master! ”
Fang Xi walked into his home and, knowing the layout well, entered a room, where he found a bookshelf with various books haphazardly arranged, alongside numerous strange and bizarre items.
These were all his former body’s collections.
After all, he was fond of strange tales and legends and had collected for many years; even though he had been swindled countless times, occasionally some genuinely good items were mixed in.
If it weren’t for these, along with a legitimate identity and wealth, Fang Xi wouldn’t have bothered returning.
‘This matter carries some hidden dangers. . . ’
‘After all, if the person behind this could lure a monster to kill me once, they could do it twice. . . ’
‘But if I can find the path of transcendence, then there’s nothing to fear. ’
Comments