Face-Stealing Heart-Swapping Technique

Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei returned to their seats.

Bei Bei ordered another tableful of fine wine and dishes before discussing the important matter with Huo Yuhao.

At that moment, there was a trace of relief in Bei Bei's brow, as though he had finally seen hope.

He asked Huo Yuhao, "Little Brother Huo, do you know what herbs are needed to treat disfigurement? As long as you name them, I'll do everything in my power to get them!"

Huo Yuhao paused.

Herbs?

The Face-Stealing Heart-Swapping Technique, an Evil Cultivation Method, was not nearly so troublesome. Its raw material was people.

The Face-Stealing Heart-Swapping Technique was divided into two parts: face-stealing and heart-swapping.

Face-stealing required a living person's skin to be flayed off whole, without the slightest damage. The person could not die before the skin was completely removed, or it would become unusable. Then, through a secret method, the skin could be worn over one's body to disguise one's appearance and aura.

Heart-swapping required a living person's heart to be completely cut out. While the extracted heart was still beating, it had to be swallowed whole and refined into one's own heart. This could seize another person's wisdom and memories, while also improving one's cultivation.

It truly was taking from others and using it on oneself.

Combined, the two parts could completely change a person's appearance.

The complete Face-Stealing Heart-Swapping Technique was actually a transformation technique used by evil cultivators to evade the Three Calamities and Heavenly Tribulation.

The world Pudu Cihang came from also spoke of the Three Calamities. After all, it was a world involving immortals and Buddha, though its level was relatively low. Cultivators who evaded the Three Calamities merely did so to improve their cultivation and extend their lifespans. Evil cultivators, however, committed too many wicked deeds and accumulated too much baleful aura. Without concealing it, they would draw the punishment of Heavenly Tribulation.

It imitated the Tiangang Arts and Disha Techniques.

Yet it was nowhere near as sophisticated, its effects were far from ideal, and it carried the usual side effects of Evil Cultivation Methods.

The Face-Stealing Heart-Swapping Technique did not guarantee that one could evade the Three Calamities and Heavenly Tribulation. Once the human skin was damaged, the technique became useless. It could not be repaired; the skin could only be replaced. Moreover, after wearing human skin, evil cultivators would be heavily restricted and unable to act at full strength, for fear that using too much force would destroy it.

Its side effects were also severe.

If an evil cultivator used this cruel method to survive one Three Calamity, the next would become even more terrifying.

During heart-swapping, they could also have their own minds disturbed by another person's memories, resulting in split personalities and madness.

Because of these two severe side effects, evil cultivators quickly abandoned the technique. They cultivated it to evade calamities, not to make future cultivation even more difficult for themselves.

Still, more practical derivative skills had been developed from it, such as the face-changing technique used for disguise and the Heart-Eating Technique used for cultivation.

Instead, some demon cultivators who sought excitement and could not wait to assume human form would cultivate this technique to conceal their Demon Qi and venture into the human world to indulge in its dazzling pleasures.

Thus came a kind of demon known as the Skin-Painting Demon.

Wearing human skin and eating human hearts, they seemed carefree, but all ultimately met miserable ends.

After eating human hearts, they acquired human inclinations and became troubled by human desires. Their demonic path became difficult to cultivate, they could no longer distinguish truth from falsehood, and they ended up muddleheaded and confused.

As a result, there were almost no accomplished Skin-Painting Demons. Instead, there were many more romantic tales of flirtatious men and female Skin-Painting Demons.

While those amorous scholars spread tales of the beauty of Skin-Painting Demons, no one considered that beneath the skin of a beautiful woman might also be a male demon.

There truly had been male evil cultivators or male demons who wore women's skins, received customers in brothels, harvested yang to replenish yang, and used yang to counter yang.

There were quite a few such absurd incidents in Pudu Cihang's thousand years of memories.

Pudu Cihang had even done some of them himself.

Of course, Pudu Cihang had never used the Face-Stealing Heart-Swapping Technique to receive customers at a brothel, nor had he ever used this technique on himself.

Otherwise, with the technique's side effects, Pudu Cihang would never have cultivated to his final level.

Pudu Cihang had merely drawn inspiration from the technique to disguise those ministers whose flesh and blood it had devoured as though they were still alive.

None of this could be told to Bei Bei.

Nor did Huo Yuhao intend to use the complete technique on Tang Ya.

It would be enough to turn the face-stealing portion into Skin Graft Cosmetology.

Huo Yuhao had long prepared his explanation. He said, "Treating disfigurement is similar to treating an illness. We need to understand what caused the disfigurement before we can select the appropriate herbs and treatment plan."

After hearing this, Bei Bei nodded slightly.

Clearly, he found it reasonable and sensed Huo Yuhao's "professionalism."

"Big Brother Bei Bei, could you tell your little brother exactly... how Sister Xiao Ya was disfigured?" Huo Yuhao asked. He had noticed Bei Bei's earlier hesitation and did not know whether Bei Bei was now willing to reveal the cause of Tang Ya's disfigurement.

Asking about this had little to do with the treatment.

Huo Yuhao was simply being nosy.

It was also groundwork for fooling Bei Bei later and demonstrating his professionalism.

As expected, Bei Bei hesitated again. However, he eventually revealed part of the reason. "It was because of fire! A kind of fire close to Ultimate Fire."

After saying that, Bei Bei took a deep breath.

Clearly, discussing this topic caused Bei Bei considerable pain.

He even felt the wounds on his body begin to ache faintly.

Tang Ya had been burned into disfigurement, but Bei Bei had been burned as well. The wounds beneath his clothes had yet to heal.

Huo Yuhao, seated across from Bei Bei, raised an eyebrow.

By Sea God Lake—fire, accident...

Key element detected!

Could it have been Ma Xiaotao who disfigured Tang Ya?! Huo Yuhao thought to himself.

This plot felt far too familiar.

What was certain was that because Ma Xiaotao was too eager to cultivate, her Evil Fire could lose control at any moment. As for when it would erupt or where it would burn, that was anyone's guess.

Life was unpredictable; one mishap piled onto another.

Fortune was just as fickle. A small change could trigger a major one.

Changes in seemingly minor matters could, through the interconnectedness of Fortune, set off a chain of enormous transformations.

Whether Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire lost control today, tomorrow, or never did at all—any of those outcomes were possible.

"The issue isn't that Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire went out of control. It's why her Evil Fire could still reach the shores of Sea God Lake and hurt people!"

"Could this be because dark clouds were hanging over the Tang Sect?"

The greatest similarity between the Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er who had been burned in the original work and the Tang Ya and Bei Bei who had been burned now was their identity as members of the Tang Sect!

It couldn't possibly be that a man and a woman deserved to get burned just for going on a date!

If dark clouds hanging over the Tang Sect had drawn misfortune, causing Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire to erupt and be drawn toward members of the Tang Sect...

Then it made perfect sense!

"So in the original work, I was taking the disaster meant for Tang Ya and Bei Bei!" Huo Yuhao finally understood.

Without Huo Yuhao now to bring Tang Ya and Bei Bei closer together, things had turned out this way. If Huo Yuhao had not been shielding them from disaster in the original work, then what had he been doing?

It was simply that Tang Ya and Bei Bei were not as tough as Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er. Tang Ya had been disfigured, while Bei Bei had exhausted his strength and suffered severe injuries.

It was already fortunate that they had not died.

After figuring this out, Huo Yuhao suddenly realized something else.

From the moment Bei Bei mentioned this matter, he had worn an unwilling, stifled expression. Making a bold guess, did that mean Ma Xiaotao had not been punished?

That was highly likely!

Ma Xiaotao was the disciple of Dean Yan Shaozhe, loyal to Shrek, backed by Shrek's upper ranks, a descendant of Ma Hongjun from the first generation of the Shrek Seven Devils, and exceptionally talented. She was certain to enter the Sea God Pavilion in the future.

By comparison, Tang Ya was the Tang Sect's sect master and loyal to the Tang Sect. The Tang Sect had already fallen into decline, her talent was average, and Bei Bei, still a student himself, could not do much for her.

Given Shrek's unreasonable ways, how could they possibly punish Ma Xiaotao over someone as insignificant as Tang Ya?

As for Bei Bei, he was Mu En's descendant and part of the same "family" as Ma Xiaotao. Family did not air its dirty laundry in public, so the upper ranks might even take it upon themselves to decide that Bei Bei should "forgive" Ma Xiaotao.

Perhaps Shrek might even be happy to see things develop this way.

If Bei Bei and Tang Ya were separated and he joined with the child bride Zhang Lexuan whom Mu En had prepared for him, not only could they secure Zhang Lexuan, but it would also help Bei Bei eventually take over as Sea God Pavilion Master.

In the eyes of the pavilion elders, Bei Bei, a descendant carrying the bloodline of the current Sea God Pavilion Master, was the rightful heir to the Sea God Pavilion.

However, it seemed that Bei Bei, this rightful heir to the position of Sea God Pavilion Master, had developed a rift with Shrek.

A rift could be repaired—but it could also be widened!

Huo Yuhao's thoughts raced as he revealed a troubled expression.

"This is going to be difficult."

Bei Bei's heart skipped a beat.

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