Holy body, start with the Five Animal Exercises

27: Strange Dharma AssemblyThis time, Qin Jiang didn’t bring Hei Shui; that would make him too conspicuous.

However, to be safe, he still brought a few smoke bombs and firecrackers.

Walking in the night, his figure remained hidden in the shadows of the houses.

A moment later, he arrived at a corner of the Li Residence’s wall and took out a map from hisin my arms.

He had bought this map some time ago, while in disguise, from a person who delivered vegetables to the Li Residence.

After confirming his location with the map, he pushed off with his feet, and the moment his hand touched the top of the wall, he exerted force, his body sliding along the wall and over the top, dropping into the Li Residence. The entire process took no more than two seconds.

Landing on the ground, he squatted down. This was behind a storeroom, overgrown with weeds.

The place he wanted to go was the courtyard Li Songzheng had prepared specifically for worshipping Yellow Sky Divine Mother, located deep within the Li Residence, several courtyards away from here.

He circulated his Qi, controlling his body’s activity level to reduce his Qi presence, then peeked out from the edge of the house.

What met his eyes was a small courtyard overgrown with weeds, its gate tightly shut, piled with firewood and haystacks. The house next to him also looked very old, its eaves covered in cobwebs.

Slightly relaxing, he walked to the courtyard gate. A wisp of cold wind blew into the courtyard through the cracks in the door.

Looking out through the gaps in the wooden door, an iron bar lay across the outside, clearly locked.

He pressed close to the crack to observe outside. Three servants, carrying torches, were patrolling, each with a long saber at his waist.

Clearly, these men all possessed some martial arts skill.

After waiting for a moment, the patrol team walked towards him. Qin Jiang retreated and hid behind a haystack.

Click!

The sound of the lock springing was very clear in the night. The three men walked into the courtyard, not bothering to close the door, and went straight to the front of the house to sit down.

Each pulled out a pipe, lit it, and started chatting.

”Hey, have you guys been to that courtyard? I don’t know what kind of evil our Master is possessed by; he keeps worshipping, but nothing seems to change.”

No sooner had one of them finished complaining than another clapped a hand over his mouth, ”Are you drunk?! If the Master hears that, he’ll break your legs!”

”Mmm mmm~” The servant whose mouth was covered nodded repeatedly.

”~Inhale~ I just spoke without thinking, besides, it’s just us brothers this late at night, the Master won’t know.”

”Alright, Old Liu, stop talking nonsense.” The leading servant waved his hand, exhaling a puff of smoke.

”You probably don’t know, but I saw it with my own eyes,” he said.

”Oh, my Brother Li, why do you only tell half the story?” Old Liu hastily asked.

Brother Li cleared his throat, spread his legs wide, rested his elbow on his knee, and leaned slightly forward, ”I’m telling you, don’t you dare spread this around! Remember Old Wangtou?”

”Old Wangtou? Didn’t he break his leg a few days ago and was sent back to the countryside?” Old Liu asked.

Brother Li lifted his chin, smiling with a hint of pride, ”Heh, you didn’t know, did you? That day, I followed the Young Master to that courtyard, and guess what I saw?

Old Wangtou was there! That Daoist priest, he poured that divine liquid, bestowed by the Shenmu, onto his leg!

Hey! Crispy and fragrant, pah pah pah! It was cured on the spot! But our Master is kind-hearted; Old Wangtou is old, so he gave him a sum of money and sent him back to his hometown in the countryside.”

”That amazing? A broken leg cured on the spot?” Old Liu was somewhat skeptical. Injuries like broken arms and legs are notoriously difficult to treat! Let alone curing them instantly.

”It’s more than that! The Young Master also said that the divine liquid can not only cure illnesses but also make you stronger in that aspect!” Brother Li chuckled mischievously.

Behind the haystack, Qin Jiang’s eyes slightly brightened. Divine liquid?

From its effects, it sounded like a good thing, but he didn’t believe that using this item would be without side effects.

The more one gains, the more one loses. The more beautiful something appears, the more careful and cautious one must be.

He quietly glanced at the three men while also observing outside the small courtyard.

While the three were tapping out their pipe ash, he suddenly pushed off with his feet and charged straight out.

After charging out, he immediately disappeared into the shadows of the houses, heading towards the courtyard where Yellow Sky Divine Mother was worshipped.

Along the way, he avoided several groups of patrolling servants and finally reached his destination.

The courtyard gate was wide open, and bright torchlight emanated from within the courtyard.

Climbing onto the shadow of a house, Qin Jiang’s gaze fell into the courtyard. At least a dozen torches were embedded in the courtyard walls, illuminating the courtyard brightly. A tall, three-legged, two-handled round cauldron sat in the center of the courtyard.

The cauldron body was cast from brass, engraved with a flying goddess motif. Inside, three thick, arm-sized giant incense sticks were inserted, from which wisps of smoke curled upwards. The faint scent of sandalwood was extremely penetrating, detectable even from tens of meters away.

Seeing no one in the courtyard, Qin Jiang quietly circled to the back of the courtyard and climbed directly over the wall.

Landing softly, he looked at the houses. Only the house directly facing the bronze cauldron was lit; the few on either side were dark.

He hadn’t forgotten his purpose for coming here tonight. From behind the houses, he poked holes in the windows one by one to observe inside.

Sure enough, one of the rooms was piled with many sacrificial implements.

He gently pushed open the window and climbed in, then took off his gloves and placed his hand on one of the bronze vessels. Nothing.

Next, nothing, nothing, nothing...

After touching more than a dozen in a row, finally, the familiar cool sensation. The familiar prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Potential points absorbing... 0.10... 10.1]

After a few breaths, the cool airflow disappeared. He looked at the bottom of his panel: [Potential Points: 7.6]

He slightly controlled the joy in his heart, then touched all the remaining implements, not even sparing the decorative fake paintings on the walls.

[Potential Points: 9.4]

Looking at the potential points nearing the ten-point mark, he couldn’t help but show joy. So many potential points were enough for him to directly raise his Iron Arm Fist to the third layer!

However, he was not in a hurry to allocate points, because he hadn’t yet encountered any irresistible crisis, and allocating potential points would only take less than a breath.

He looked around the room again, ensuring nothing was missed, then climbed out of the house and gently closed the window.

Arriving at the central, lit room, he found a window at the edge and poked a small hole in it.

Looking inside, an ancient hall, tinged with a hint of desolation, came into view.

His position was on the left side of the small hall; he could only see a few load-bearing pillars and half a beam on the left, draped with yellow cloth strips.

The rest was blocked from view by a huge statue.

The statue’s back was to him; it was carved from stone, and its face was not visible.

Torches were placed on several load-bearing pillars, but they were not lit, so the light source was clearly something else.

His gaze shifted, unable to clearly see the situation inside the hall, only faintly hearing a subtle chant.

He cautiously pushed open the window, and a strange fragrance wafted towards him.

He quickly held his breath, then realized the scent was somewhat familiar.

Was this the smell of burning locust wood?

Whoosh~

The night wind stirred slightly. His eyes flickered. Controlling his body to make no sound, he slowly climbed into the house.

He gently closed the window, and the strange fragrance grew more intense. He was certain this was the smell of burning locust wood.

He had once cut some locust wood for firewood when he went to Dahei Mountain.

Walking to the edge of the statue, he leaned his ear close, carefully listening to the situation inside the room.

But strangely, the chanting seemed unaffected by distance, still so subtle it was almost inaudible.

A moment later, he suddenly realized, his pupils contracting, that he hadn’t heard any breathing sounds!

Startled, he quietly peeked out. What met his eyes was a massive oil lamp, suspended in mid-air, illuminating the room.

Below the oil lamp, two rows of people dressed in yellow robes sat cross-legged—the very same people who had scattered yellow paper on the street that day.

Was this a Dharma assembly?

These people held prayer beads, their faces painted with blood-red patterns, eyes tightly shut, heads bowed low, their expressions like the most devout believers.

At the very front of them was a female bronze statue, less than two feet tall—the same Yellow Sky Divine Mother statue from that day.

A Daoist priest, dressed in an Eight Trigrams robe, knelt before the Yellow Sky Divine Mother statue, holding a blood-stained dagger.

In front of him lay an old man with white hair and beard, shirtless, his left leg appearing somewhat twisted.

His stomach had been cut open, blood and organs spilled onto the floor, and a blood-red lotus was carved into the skin of his chest, looking beautiful and demonic.

He appeared to have been dead for a long time, yet his cloudy eyes were fixed on the Yellow Sky Divine Mother statue, his face devout and filled with joy.