Chapter 144: The Lady's Secret
The old hag's head opened its mouth, and suddenly countless tongues flew out from within, darting toward the incense hall.
Chen Shi saw a long tongue heading straight for him. With no time to think, he leaped into the air, his feet tracing the Big Dipper Seven Stars Step in an attempt to evade it.
However, though his speed was quick, the tongues were even faster. Like strips of thick red cloth swishing through the air, they wrapped around him in an instant.
A putrid stench assaulted his nostrils, choking Chen Shi until tears streamed down his face.
The foul odor burrowed into his body. The tongues were even stranger—wherever they touched his skin, it went numb, and he lost all sense of his true qi.
Suddenly, a blaze of red light erupted in the sky above the courtyard, severing the massive tongues!
The tongues in the old hag's head were all cut off. It immediately summoned a howling black wind and shot upward at tremendous speed.
From below, one could see the old hag's head with its wild hair whipping about as it flew toward the moon in the sky. Her voice echoed from afar:
"Red God, I've taken him! We'll settle accounts next time!"
The churning black wind in the courtyard roared like crashing waves, surging into the incense hall as if to fill it completely. Amid the black wind, the tongues that had dropped into the incense hall began to whirl around, binding Chen Shi tightly within them!
Chen Shi desperately circulated his qi and blood, but he couldn't break free from the tongues' grasp!
An overwhelmingly foul stench poured from the tongues. It was the black qi refined by Tianlao, burrowing into his body and corrupting his true qi. His qi and blood withered rapidly. Only his golden core could still resist the black qi's assault.
His golden core was concealed within his body. If it had been exposed, it would surely have been tainted by this black qi by now.
The tongues coiled around Chen Shi like massive pythons, slithering with incredible speed and agility.
They climbed the pillars to the rafters, slunk across the roof, and raced straight for the doorway!
Hall Master Lu hurriedly activated the nascent soul from his divine shrine. Though only the size of a sparrow, it streaked out like lightning, punching holes through the long tongues!
Hall Master Xiao ignored his own wounds and immediately unleashed his Dao arts to block the tongues.
Suddenly, the tongues forked. One cluster continued wrapping Chen Shi, while the other unfurled like human limbs, meeting the two hall masters' spells head-on.
The instant they clashed, two sharp cracks rang out. The hall masters grunted and tumbled backward.
The tongues extended their "limbs"
and bolted outward at top speed. They suddenly leaped into midair, then two more tongues spread from behind like wings, flapping furiously. They hurtled away at blinding speed, pursuing the old hag's fleeing head silhouetted against the moon.
Hall Masters Xiao and Lu flipped to their feet. Seeing this, they couldn't catch up and grew anxious. Suddenly, a piercing crane cry echoed from the altar in the incense hall, shrill and resounding.
The porcelain white crane that had received Chen Shi's incense came alive. It spread its wings, shot through the hall like a loosed arrow, and chased after the old hag's flying tongues.
Hall Master Lu and the others looked up. Beneath the moonlight, the white crane pursued the monstrous tongues in a high-speed clash.
The long tongues coiled around the white crane, seemingly strangling it. The crane pecked savagely, piercing them through, then shredded them with its talons, snapping them one after another.
In a few breaths, the tongues scattered and plummeted. Chen Shi tumbled from the sky.
From this height, he'd smash into a pile of pulp!
The white crane darted back and forth in the air at unimaginable speeds, snapping up the falling tongues one by one
like gulping down eels, devouring them all.
Hall Master Lu raced toward the spot where Chen Shi was falling, his heart gripped with anxiety:
At my speed, I'm afraid I won't reach Brother Chen in time!
Hall Master Xiao charged outward as well, but his old injury flared. He spat a mouthful of blood and pressed on with great difficulty.
Swish!
The white crane swallowed the final tongue. It swooped low, streaking past Hall Master Lu and whipping up fierce gales that sent roof tiles flying everywhere. It then soared sharply upward, catching the plummeting Chen Shi on its back.
Chen Shi braced to be smashed into pulp, only to land on something extraordinarily soft. He let out a slight sigh of relief.
Tianlao's black qi had invaded his body, leaving him fully paralyzed save for his golden core's lingering vitality. Unable to move, he marveled inwardly at its power.
My strength ranks among the top even back home—in the county seat, I'd make a name for myself. But in a place like the provincial capital, it's nothing to write home about.
He eased slightly. At least his life was spared.
The black qi was still drilling deeper into his body, but Chen Shi's golden core guarded his heart meridian, keeping it from his core.
This journey to Gongzhou had expanded his horizons immensely.
A mere tavern keeper had forged a fourth-turn golden core and nearly slain him with hair-thin sword qi.
The granny of Tianlao Society had captured him with mere tongues, nearly destroying his cultivation and leaving him utterly powerless.
Had he not ventured out, he'd never have known the world held so many experts.
"I'm still far from truly inheriting Master's teachings."
No wonder Scholar Zhu had insisted he travel.
Admiration for Scholar Zhu surged within him. He silently praised his enlightenment master for his foresight.
The white crane spread its wings
and slowly descended into the Red God Hall's incense hall courtyard.
Zhao Kaiyun rushed over as Chen Shi slid from the crane's back.
Zhao Kaiyun caught Chen Shi, sparing him a fall to the ground.
That white crane was none other than Crane Child, towering far taller than any house. It lowered its head to regard Chen Shi and spoke in a crisp childish voice:
"He's afflicted with black qi. This, I know how to treat."
With that, its body shrank rapidly to the size of a normal crane. It hopped bouncily into the incense hall, resumed its original position, and gradually reverted to porcelain.
Hall Masters Xiao and Lu arrived moments later. Seeing Chen Shi tainted by black qi, they said urgently:
"It's Tianlao's black qi. Forget golden core—even a nascent soul would be corrupted! Take him before the Lady. She can heal him!
The three men hurriedly carried Chen Shi to the rear courtyard and laid him before the enormous meat god.
They did not linger, withdrawing from the rear courtyard to stand guard outside.
Chen Shi lay before the meat god. His limbs had lost all sensation; only his eyeballs could still move.
The meat god was the Red God Lady. She was called the Red God because this mass of tai sui was a lump of red flesh, over ten zhang high and more than forty zhang long and wide. It sprawled upon the ground, wriggling faintly as if alive, with no trace of bloodiness.
Blood tai sui.
The blood tai sui emanated red light. Suddenly, tides of moonlight essence rained down in shimmering flakes, all absorbed by the blood tai sui.
Moonlight coursed through the blood tai sui's interior, brightening it and revealing the paths it followed.
Unable to move, Chen Shi could still trace the moonlight's routes. He was faintly stunned:
"This moonlight's path through the Red God Lady's body—it mirrors the human true qi circulation."
Though he cultivated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, he had studied the many steles outside the Tomb of the True King and was familiar with the qi and blood routes of various arts.
Most arts began by clearing stray thoughts and focusing the mind. True qi would then rise naturally from the body's tailbone gate, travel up the spine to the base of the skull and crown, then cascade down from the crown to the mouth and tongue.
With tongue pressed to the upper palate—"bridging the magpie"—it linked the Ren and Du meridians, descending the throat,
flowing onward to the perineum and back to the tailbone. This was one minor heavenly circuit.
Every art revolved around this circuit.
Thus, Chen Shi instantly saw that though intricate, the Red God Lady's moonlight paths never strayed from the human Ren-Du circuit.
Yet the Red God Lady was plainly a mass of flesh—a tai sui unearthed from a divine tomb. How could it circulate qi like a human?
As this thought crossed his mind, the moonlight completed several circuits within the blood tai sui before flowing outward, pouring into Chen Shi's brow.
His heart lurched:
"Oh no! Moonlight entering my body—I'll turn into a black pot!"
Yet to his shock, the entering moonlight carried no black qi. Instead, it was gentle and warm, gradually refining the black qi within him.
Chen Shi stared in astonishment.
"Has the Red God Lady refined the black qi from the moonlight? What in the world is her origin?"
He knew well the terror of moonlight. Black pots ravaged the world, most born from it. Many were humans or livestock dead and transmuted by moonshine into spirits!
Even Grandpa Chen Yindu could scarcely resist moonlight's corrosion, inevitably demonizing and forced to flee to the underworld.
Yet the Red God Lady refined the black qi from moonlight, transforming it into mild, pure righteous qi. Truly extraordinary!
"Could it be the work of this art?"
Chen Shi committed the Red God Lady's circulation route to memory, intending to test it once the black qi was purged. Then a young girl's gentle voice echoed in his mind:
"Don't cultivate my art. My ability to refine moonlight's black qi stems mostly from my flesh. The art has little to do with it."
The voice was soft and melodious, evoking a maiden in her prime.
Chen Shi tried to speak, but his throat muscles refused to obey.
The girl's voice continued:
"Little City cultivated my art. His cultivation grew ever higher, but suppressing the black qi became ever harder.
I'm so worried for him."
Chen Shi wondered:
"Who is Little City?"
Unable to speak, he could only think it.
"Little City is Yu Tiancheng, master of Red God Hall."
The Red God Lady seemed to read his thoughts:
"He was very young then. I'd just been unearthed and couldn't control my power. Many people died.
Risking his life, he reached my side, soothed me, and taught me to master my emotions. So I followed him here.
He said he'd gather more people to offer me incense and help suppress my black qi."
Her voice grew wistful:
"Later, he founded Red God Society and enshrined me. He bore immense pressure, deeming his strength insufficient, so he cultivated my art.
He grew ever stronger, but..."
She fell silent.
Refined by the moonlight, the black qi in Chen Shi's body gradually abated, restoring movement. He sat up:
"Thank you for your aid, Lady.
Your boundless grace—I shall never forget it!"
The blood tai sui quivered faintly, as if delighted at his recovery.
The girl's voice came into Chen Shi's mind:
"You carry an aura that's strangely familiar.
I can't recall its source, yet it feels so known."
Chen Shi's heart stirred:
"Familiar aura?"
He produced the Western King Jade Seal and ventured:
"Is this the familiar aura you mean, Lady?"
"No."
Chen Shi activated his small temple and placed Shi Ji Niangniang's head on the ground, inquiring:
"Is it this?"
"Not that either... yes, that's it!"
The Red God Lady's girlish voice brimmed with excitement, as if she were leaping in joy:
"That's it—the small temple at the back of your head! I'm especially familiar with it!"
Just then, Crane Child's voice whispered from outside:
"Lady, be dignified! Dignified! Don't act like such a little girl all the time. Be solemn, or the people of Red God Hall will lose their fear of you!"
The Red God Lady promptly hushed.
Chen Shi finally understood why Hall Master Lu had him offer incense to Crane Child, who then relayed to the Red God Lady.
Evidently, the Lady's girlish voice and playful nature lacked sufficient mystique. Crane Child served to convey her will, preserving her enigmatic dignity.
Otherwise, that girlish voice emerging would send half of Red God Hall's followers fleeing!
Crane Child's voice called:
"Chen Shi—you're Chen Shi, right? If your wounds are healed, come out at once!"
Chen Shi stifled a laugh and prepared to leave when the Red God Lady said:
"The black qi in your body isn't fully purged. Leave it incomplete, and hidden dangers will linger."
Crane Child relented, allowing Chen Shi to remain in the rear courtyard:
"Lady, reveal no more of Red God Hall's secrets. If word spreads, the incense will dry up."
The Red God Lady assented, then whispered to Chen Shi:
"Crane Child always bosses me around, won't let me speak directly to Red God Hall's talisman masters.
He claims my voice lacks solemnity, yet his own is pure baby talk."
Chen Shi smiled:
"He's a child spirit—baby voice suits him.
When he relayed your words, I took the Red God Lady for a figure of utmost solemnity and awe, and felt deep reverence."
The Red God Lady sounded troubled:
"Be that as it may, since arriving in Gongzhou City, I've been confined here. I can't go out—it's suffocating."
Chen Shi replied:
"Lady, have you condensed a sacred image? If so, once I'm healed, I could take you traveling."
"Really?"
Her girlish voice lit with surprise and delight. She laughed:
"I've begged so many talisman masters to take me out to play—they all refused. Even Crane Child refuses!"
Chen Shi's heart sank. He'd promised something unwise.
Red light flashed in the rear courtyard. A little girl in red slid down from the meat god, landing with a thud before Chen Shi. Excitedly, she cried:
"You promised to take me out—you can't back out!"
The girl was adorably fair and cute, her true nature as blood tai sui utterly undetectable.
She wore a red ruqun with layers of trailing skirts, a shawl bodice above, and an outer shawl—all in reds of varying shades.
Adult styles, but scaled to child size, they fit her perfectly. Her eyes sparkled brightly, poised to cheer the moment Chen Shi agreed.
Chen Shi shoved his misgivings aside and laughed:
"Since I promised, of course I won't renege!"
The Red God Lady whooped with joy.
Soon, the black qi in Chen Shi was fully refined. He stowed Shi Ji Niangniang's head and said:
"Lady, hide in my small temple for now. I'm worried Hall Master Lu and the others will notice."
The Red God Lady tamped down her excitement and stood before Chen Shi. He shone the light upon her, and she entered the temple, settling into its other divine shrine.
Chen Shi headed outward, his heart a tumult:
"I just pledged to join Red God Hall, and now I've abducted the Red God Lady myself. Isn't that a bit too unscrupulous..."