The ventilation in the basement of Bobby's house is not very good. The air is mixed with the musty smell of old paper dampened by moisture, the faint medicinal fragrance of grinding cinnabar, and a faint smell of blood floating there - that is the blood that seeped out from Bai Haorui's retreat practice, the meridians were repeatedly torn and repaired.
The four walls are covered with large and small yellowed ancient demon hunting books, and the edges of the pages are curled and blackened. There are also many hand-drawn demon symbols and demon hunting sketches nailed to the walls.
In the corner of the wall were piles of worn-out old instruments, rusty silver wooden stakes, a cracked compass, and a few idle empty oil barrels huddled together.
A thick burlap futon was spread in the center of the room, and Bai Haorui sat cross-legged on it.
Close your eyes tightly and breathe long and evenly.
The whole body is surrounded by a layer of purple-gold True Gang, which rises and shrinks according to the rhythm of his breathing, with light and dark rising and falling alternately. The lavender Lotus Seal between the eyebrows also trembles slightly at the same time, as if it is alive.
The mahogany sword was placed on the ground in front of his knees. Five ancient Five Emperor Coins were lifted off the ground and suspended three feet above his head. The surface of the coins had a matte light as warm as jade.
On the concrete floor under the futon, a complete circular mark was soaked by the sweat from his three hundred and forty-seven days of meditation.
The surrounding cement floor, under the erosion and shock of True Gang day after day, cracked with dense spider web-like fine cracks.
This is the 357th day of Bai Haorui's retreat.
His cultivation has polished Peak of Refining Qi into Gang to perfection, and now he continues to attack the invisible realm barrier of Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness.
Day after day, he activates his natal True Gang, cyclically flushing the twelve main meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians.
The meridians in the body are continuously widened by True Gang, and the overall width is increased by nearly three times. The walls of the tubes are torn and repaired again and again, and their texture becomes as strong as black iron.
During the three hundred and fifty-seven days of seclusion, his meridians were torn apart by the violent True Gang a total of seventy-two times. Every time he was injured, it was all due to the flow of original power from Lotus Seal between the eyebrows, mixing his own essence and blood, and repairing the damaged meridians bit by bit. Every time he completed a healing, the upper limit of the physical body's strength was raised a little higher.
Divine Sense's perception range is also continuing to expand.
Initially it could only cover a radius of a hundred miles, but now, as long as he lets go of his mental perception and there is no obstacle, Divine Sense can spread to most of the state silently.
The sinister aura hidden hundreds of meters underground and the subtle changes in the flow of spiritual power thousands of miles away cannot escape his capture.
True Fire is also constantly purifying and tempering. The "Three Altars Body-Refining True Fire Art" he practiced was repeatedly polished by him. Three Altars Pure Yang True Fire faded away from the original dazzling bright red and turned into an almost transparent golden red, and its destructive power increased exponentially. Once True Fire is exposed to evil spirits, it can directly burn the opponent's original soul.
The embers Samadhi True Fire left over from the battle in the cemetery have condensed into a pinpoint-sized purple fire inside the center of the eyebrows Lotus Seal.
On weekdays, the fire quietly and warmly nourishes Bai Haorui's own soul. Once released against the enemy, this fire will not burn the physical body, but will specifically cause damage to the source of the soul.
He ground the century-old lightning peach wood into powder, mixed it with his own essence and blood, used Three Altars Pure Yang True Fire as the furnace, and Lotus Seal between the eyebrows as the shaping mold, warming it up day and night to recast the weapon.
The newly made peach wood sword is half a finger wider than the original, and the Three-Five Evil-Slaying Talisman text engraved on the sword is deeper, which naturally has a strong evil-fighting effect.
He also tempered the five Five Emperor Coins one by one with his own spiritual power, corresponding to the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Five of them are deployed together to deploy Five Elements Confinement Array, and the binding power is directly doubled.
With his eyes closed, Bai Haorui replayed the decisive battle scene of Stull Cemetery repeatedly in his mind.
Sam's determined back, leaping in front of Hell's Cage, using all his strength to push himself out, and those light but weighty instructions: Take good care of Dean and the others.
Feelings of self-blame surged over and over again.
About half a year ago, he let go of Divine Sense to scan the northern region, and captured a very familiar breath of life - belonging to Sam, surrounded by the auras of several hunters.
He forced down the urge to leave immediately.
Now the realm has not broken through Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness.
Even if you find Sam, if you encounter an archangel-level enemy again, you still won't be able to protect anyone. Instead of going out to cause trouble, it's better to calm down and attack the realm with all your strength.
For Dean, every half month, he would release a wisp of Divine Sense and watch from a distance.
Watching Dean working at work, mowing the lawn, playing baseball with Ben, sitting alone in the yard late at night, drinking in front of the garage.
The original power in the Dantian violently hit Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness's barrier again, and bursts of tearing and dull pain came from the meridians. Bai Haorui's brows did not move at all.
Hold on for a while longer and become stronger. One day, I will tear up the script written by God.
In the evening, the warm orange sunset covered the backyard lawn, and the freshly mowed grass exuded a faint fragrance of vegetation.
Ben's baseball jacket was hung on the clothesline, two old plastic recliners were placed under the eaves, and there were several cans of Dean's favorite cold beer in the refrigerator.
In the deepest part of the garage, the 1967 Impala car was completely covered with dustproof cloth and parked quietly in the shadows, like an old memory that had been sealed away.
Dean is wearing a work clothes stained with cement spots, which are work clothes worn by construction workers.
He was leaning against the wooden fence, holding a can of cold beer in his hand, and touched the can of his neighbor Sid.
Throughout the year, Dean worked diligently as a construction worker, going out to work from nine to five. On weekends, he either repaired the fence and roof at home, or took his notebook to play Little League baseball. At night, he accompanied Lisa to watch old movies.
The life was ordinary and stable, but it was a life that he never dared to dream of when he was young.
Sid bumped Dean's shoulder with his arm, with a teasing smile on his face.
"I said Dean, I've been your neighbor for almost a whole year, and I still don't know what kind of business you used to do. You don't really just do odd jobs here and there to make ends meet, right?"
Dean pulled a perfunctory smile from the corner of his mouth, raised his head and took a big gulp of beer, unconsciously rubbing the edge of the cold can with his fingertips, his eyes quickly swept towards the direction of the garage, and he looked back in an instant.
"More or less, pest control, running around."
Sid laughed so hard that his shoulders were shaking, "Pest control? Did you use to be a rodent exterminator?"
"That's about it." Dean laughed, his tone light, but there was a sourness in his heart.
Rat eradication? I have been wandering around with John since I was a child. Ghouls, nightmares, demons in human skin, those real "pests" cannot be compared with rats at all.
He once thought that his final outcome would be to die in a remote motel, with his body eaten by monsters. Bobby could not even receive the complete body.
I never thought that I could have a house with a lawn, people waiting for me to go home, and a little boy named "Uncle Dean".
But this stability, Dean always feels like it was stolen.
Countless midnight dreams came back, and the old wounds ached on my body. My hand would reflexively stretch to my waist, trying to hold the familiar silver dagger. Every time I missed it, I suddenly realized that the demon-hunting weapon had long been locked in the iron box under the bed in my bedroom.
He didn't throw away the equipment, he just hid it deeply, like burying a past that he didn't want to touch.
He often misses Sam, and misses Bai Haorui who cannot come out of seclusion.
Every two months, Dean would drive alone to Bobby's house. Standing outside the basement door, he could hear the low humming of True Gang running inside, and he knew that Bai Haorui was still practicing hard.
Bobby persuaded him more than once to open the door and go in for a visit, but Dean refused all of them, put down the purchased Chinese medicinal materials and beer, and drove back directly.
Dean understands in his heart that Bai Haorui is also deep in self-blame.
Just like myself, always remember that Sam jumped into Hell's Cage to save the world. If you don't live a good life, you will be sorry for your brother's sacrifice.
Sid finished drinking the beer, patted Dean on the shoulder, and walked to his car.
"Okay, I won't delay you from spending time with your wife and children. I'll see you at the construction site tomorrow."
Dean The smile on his face dissipated little by little.
He picked up the wrench and planned to go to the garage to repair the damaged fence railing. The moment he pushed open the iron door of the garage, an extremely thin and highly recognizable smell of sulfur entered his nose.
Dean's breathing suddenly stopped.
The interior of the garage was dimly lit, with only a little sunset light leaking through the crack in the door.
Dean quickly walked to the cement corner inside the garage. Three deep scratches were clearly revealed on the wall. The claws dug deeply into the concrete wall. There was a layer of dark brown sticky corrosion residue attached to the edges of the scratches, which are typical traces left by supernatural biological activities.
The heart sank heavily.
Finally, he came to the door.
The first thought that came to his mind was not fear, but panic.
Lisa and Ben are still in the house. The target of the monster is himself. He is the one who brought disaster to these ordinary people.
The hunter's instinct carved into Bones was instantly awakened, and his hand subconsciously reached behind his waist. There was nothing there, no holster, no dagger.
He clenched his fists, dug his nails into his palms, and forced himself to think calmly about countermeasures.
Stepping softly, he quickly returned to the house, deliberately avoiding the living room, and slipped into the master bedroom.
He bent down and pulled out a heavy locked iron box from under the bed, and the lock popped open with a click. The salt gun, silver dagger, glass bottle filled with holy water, painted yellow talisman, and various exorcism props were neatly stacked in the box. A thin layer of floating ash fell on the surface, almost exactly the same as when it was sealed a year ago.
Dean had just held the salt gun when footsteps came from behind.
Lisa leaned against the door frame of the bedroom, his eyes fell on the gun in his hand, and his brows furrowed slightly.
"That's a gun?"
Dean subconsciously touched his nose and made up an excuse casually. "Yes, I applied for a permit. I keep seeing possums running around in the yard recently, and I'm afraid the wild beasts will hurt me."
Lisa just stared at him quietly without any retort. Having been together for a long time, she had seen Dean wake up from nightmares late at night, seen the old scars on his body, and knew that he had a lot of secrets buried deep in his heart that he didn't want to tell.