A Green Pine in the Deep Valley

These shop assistants were all agile and quick-witted.

The other monks just piled up haphazardly in a corner.

They recognized that Fa'en Faen was the leader, so they deliberately placed him in front of the counter with his back to it, making it easier for him to be questioned.

Chu Tianshu casually pulled out a chopstick, walked to the monk's side, and tapped the monk's bald head with the long, square-tipped chopstick.

Thud!!

The voice is deep and clear, the skin is tough and the bones are strong—it's truly a fine head.

Fa'en, who was already so weak he was about to faint, trembled when he was knocked on and immediately opened his eyes.

"Senior!"

Upon seeing Chu Tianshu, Fa'en immediately said, "We are all disciples of the inner court of Celebration of the Sage Temple, and I am even among the true disciples."

"According to the Covenant of Attaining the Dao, our temple is willing to pay a large ransom in exchange for our return to Celebration of the Sage Temple."

There are three paths in the world today, and all of them consume a lot of resources.

Even Attaining the Dao beings, if they have even the slightest desire for pleasure or a life of wealth, will inevitably need disciples and subordinates.

While disciples and subordinates can be helpful and useful, they should also be taught martial arts techniques to enhance their abilities, which requires even more resources.

Therefore, every disciple who is remembered by Attaining the Dao is extremely precious.

If it falls into the wrong hands, I'd rather pay a ransom than let what I've already invested in this person go to waste.

Back then, the Gao Lineage Lineage of the Northern Dynasty fell into ruin because for several generations, their children and grandchildren were unfilial, their internal strife was cruel, their extravagance was rampant, and they constantly sought ways to cause trouble.

Grand Matriarch Gao, who had suffered a stroke and was half-stiff during her martial arts practice, softened her stiff meridians after being angry for a long time. She was able to catch her breath, restore her cultivation, and rectify the family's conduct.

But by then, the Gao Lineage family's wealth was already dwindling, and she relied on the Covenant of Attaining the Dao to quickly amass a fortune.

Later, after several masked experts came to their door to warn them, the Gao Lineage finally stopped making money this way.

After hearing what Fa'en said, Chu Tianshu suddenly remembered that he could also swindle money from these monks.

"Snort!"

He gave a soft hum, neither confirming nor denying, then took out the relic and asked, "Do you recognize this relic?"

Fa'en dared not be negligent and carefully examined the object.

"These are relics from the Fahui."

Fa'en said, "So it turns out this person was ungrateful and ran into our hands, bringing this disaster upon us..."

Chu Tianshu tapped him again.

"Stop talking nonsense. This Fahui has disappeared. Can you find the last place where he disappeared?"

Fa'en pondered for a moment and said, "Even if the Fahui lost the relics in its hands, it has still studied the * Sutra of the Bull King of Vast Blessings *, and should have already cultivated to the point of 'generating ghee from cheese'..."

Milk comes from cows, cheese from milk, ghee from cheese, and ghee can be made into ghee.

Finally, in the process of making crispy pastry, a rich, sweet flavor emerges.

It is said that when nobles in India attended banquets, they would smear pure ghee on their heads. Because of the hot weather, the ghee would gradually melt, leaving them feeling cool and comfortable all over, allowing them to enjoy themselves for a long time.

Some Buddhist scriptures use the metaphor of "enlightenment with nectar" to describe the comfortable experience of enjoying coolness in the heat.

The Demonic Dao cultivation methods of Celebration of the Sage Temple also use the five-step metaphor of creating "ghee" in Buddhist scriptures to represent the five stages of demonic cultivation.

According to Fa'en, when this exercise is practiced to the third step, there will be pure white blood vessels in the ten fingers.

When blood flows through the ten fingers, it will briefly turn white, and then gradually turn bright red when it reaches other areas.

Even if Fahui a mangled corpse, as long as he has even a single finger, Fa'en can still sense where that finger is.

However, this requires Fa'en to recover some of his power.

"Can."

Chu Tianshu picked up his chopsticks and tapped him on the head three times.

Fa'en felt three major acupoints on the central axis of his back—Zhiyang, Lingtai, and Shendao—making a series of thumping sounds.

The meridian that had been blocked due to the severe injury was immediately cleared.

Fa'en's mind raced for a moment, but in the end he didn't dare to play any tricks in front of Chu Tianshu, so he obediently sat cross-legged and circulated his internal energy.

A short while later, he bit his thumbs one after the other, muttered incantations, and used the blood from his thumbs to write incantations on his other eight fingers.

One incantation for each finger joint, a total of twenty-four incantations.

Many Daoist talismans and incantations evolved from seal script.

The incantations used by Fa'en are mostly seed script derived from Sanskrit variants. After writing them, he would put his palms together and immediately receive a response.

"It seems that all ten fingers of the Fahui are still intact, and the sensation is quite obvious."

Fa'en stood up and said, "Please follow me, senior."

Chu Tianshu turned around, cupped his hands in greeting to the old scholar, Zhuo Yuan, and the others, and said, "I'll be right back."

The others returned the greeting, knowing that he meant to go alone. Although they were curious, they tactfully refrained from offering to accompany him.

The old scholar said, "There's one more thing I need to ask you, sir. You captured these monks, and they also have dozens of horses."

"Those that are dead, sending them to the soup pot is fine, but sending the living ones to the mule and horse market would bring in a hefty sum of money. Should we send them there?"

Chu Tianshu was secretly pleased and said with a smile, "That's perfect! Please help me deliver them to sell."

This Denglai Mountain Market is truly a treasure trove.

Besides the usual residential docks, village granaries, restaurants, and eateries.

For example, there were dedicated areas for markets such as mules and horses, furs, spices, silk, medicine, and rare items.

With Fa'en leading the way, Chu Tianshu passed by two markets selling spices and medicinal herbs after leaving the house.

Several streets were filled with the aroma of spices and herbs, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares were much louder than elsewhere.

There were many people of Central Asian descent in the shops, whose appearances were clearly different from those of the Southerners. There were even some overseas Chinese, who were even more conspicuous, but most of them spoke fluent local dialect.

Chu Tianshu also saw many teenagers carrying dozens of small cloth bags, selling spices to attract customers in other places.

Among the seventeen people harmed by Tan Yu, one was the leader of a group of teenagers in the Spice Market.

Because she was a woman, she developed early. The "big sister" was quite strong, and because she was a woman, she could get along better with the women from various families. The money she earned from buying and selling spices was enough to fill her stomach.

But she was just an orphan, so it was impossible for her to have a truly wonderful life.

Among those practicing swordsmanship in the manor, her progress is only at the middle to upper level.

Chu Tianshu could tell that she had been breathing too much powder in her daily life, and after being harmed by the Demonic Dao secret techniques, she had developed a minor problem with her brain and nerves, making her mental strength weaker than others.

Once she recovers from taking the prescribed medicine, given her strong willpower, her swordsmanship should be among the best.

"Children who do this kind of work develop health problems without realizing it. When they grow up, they just blame it on their weak constitution and don't understand why."

Chu Tianshu recalled many cases and shook his head inwardly.

These teenagers are at the perfect age to learn from a master.

However, he doesn't have enough of a deterrent effect yet, and it's not the right time for him to take in too many ordinary children.

Fa'en led the way, his feet never stopping, and after passing through two markets, they gradually headed into the mountains.

Chu Tianshu followed him through the mountain path and arrived at an area that had not yet been cleared by the villagers.

A massive cliff face came into view ahead.

As we got closer, we saw a crevice-shaped cave hidden among the bamboo groves.

Even with only two or three people walking in the cave, it didn't feel too narrow; there was light at the end of the cave, which was a natural passage.

Upon exiting the cave, we discovered that we were in a large valley.

Ancient trees reach for the sky, and vines are as thick as a person's leg.

Upon arriving here, Chu Tianshu could already sense a long and profound aura, and he couldn't help but gently touch the relic with his left hand.

The relics at Celebration of the Sage Temple are ritual implements crafted and continuously refined by masters throughout history.

Not only is the relic itself solid enough, but the Dao Qi inside has permeated every part of the crystal's texture.

Even if the internal Demonic Dao essence is exhausted, the crystal can never be restored to its original pure state.

However, there is a mark of damage on this relic from the Fahui assembly, as if it had been rubbed with an iron brush.

The Dao Qi within the crystals near the wound was completely swept away.

As a result, within this slightly yellowish and cloudy crystal, there was a small piece of crystal as clear as water.

Anyone who can do this must be far more powerful than Shen Minglai, and is a Taboo, or Attaining the Dao being.

However, within the Hundred Li of Denglai Mountain Market, there should be no Attaining the Dao powerful cultivators residing there.

Chu Tianshu wanted to use this mountain village as a place to make his fortune, so he was naturally curious and wanted to come and explore.

"It's right there."

Fa'en pointed.

In the southeast corner of the valley, there was a small village.

The valley is lush with trees, and the underground roots are intricate, thick, and sturdy, making it difficult to cultivate.

Therefore, the village in this valley is really small, with only a dozen or so households, mostly living in simple houses made of bamboo and wood.

Chu Tianshu had already realized that there was no one there, but he still walked towards it.

"They weren't kicked out."

He pushed open the door of a wooden hut and examined it carefully.

There wasn't a single piece of cloth, fur, grain, or bowl left in the house; it was clear that someone had carefully packed everything up and taken it all away.

Something must have happened that forced the entire village to relocate to avoid disaster.

"It's because Fahui died here during the Dharma assembly that they're afraid other monks might come looking for revenge."

Chu Tianshu walked towards the end of the village.

At the end of the village, there is a pond. Water from several streams is diverted to the pond, and there is a large pine tree beside the pond.

There was no wind in the valley when the two arrived.

On the towering tree, a few pine branches suddenly swayed gently.

Upon seeing the pine tree, Fa'en felt a sudden panic, his steps froze, as if he were being watched by some supreme master, and he was greatly terrified.

Chu Tianshu looked down at the scars on the surface of the relic and chuckled.

"I initially thought it was a steel brush, but it turns out these marks were made by pine needles when branches swept across the ground."

He looked up at the pine tree again, his eyes glistening.

"Don't misunderstand, these monks are no good. I'm not here to help seek revenge."

"But I'm also very curious; your physical strength and vitality are no less than mine."

"Fellow Daoist Pine Tree, may I ask what kind of kung fu you practice to achieve this level? I possess many kung fu techniques; would it be alright if we discussed them together?"

(End of this chapter)