Perceiving Technique Methods

The features of the wooden figure's head in Daoist Mu's hand were rather abstract, even worse than the pig Rong Tianding had drawn, but the head retained a trace of its subject's spirit.

On close comparison, one could vaguely make out a slight resemblance to Zhang Xuezhou.

"Where are the other three wooden figures?" Rong Li asked with a frown.

"They probably burned up!"

The worshipper pointed at the Daoist temple, where the fire was proving difficult to put out, and Rong Li promptly abandoned the idea of finding the other three wooden figures to compare them.

Looking at the wooden head, whose features were only dimly recognizable, she found herself on high alert against Daoist Mu for no apparent reason.

If Daoist Mu had not entered the city but had instead performed a Technique at the Daoist temple three li outside it, he might truly have been a man of extraordinary abilities.

Rong Li had only to think of the absurd events at the Rong Household the previous night to feel that what had happened to everyone could no longer easily be explained by knockout smoke or anything of the sort.

"Could this be divine punishment?"

Rong Li recalled Daoist Mu saying in the past that "this old Daoist's actions can hardly be called crossing the line." She figured he must have crossed the line to end up in his present state.

As for who had dealt Daoist Mu his divine punishment, Rong Li figured it could only be the heavens.

"Our Rong Household's ancestors must have been watching over us..."

As Rong Li made a rough guess at the truth, she heard an outburst of shouting from the crowd and put all her thoughts aside.

"Is Daoist Mu dying?"

Hearing Li Erlang shout, Rong Li could not help reaching out and putting a finger beneath Daoist Mu's nostrils.

Only a trace of warmth remained beneath his nostrils; no breath came or went.

"I thought he'd been saved because he stopped throwing up. I didn't expect him to be drawing his last breath!" Li Erlang said regretfully.

"A man drawing his last breath certainly can't foam at the mouth anymore," Zhu Dan added.

"We were acting bravely for a just cause, weren't we? We won't end up facing a homicide charge, will we?" Wang Jiadi asked worriedly.

"Is there really no way to save him?"

Rong Li had originally come to settle the score, but she had never imagined Daoist Mu would end up like this.

For a moment, she felt that he deserved what he got when the heavens dealt with him.

But Rong Li could not help feeling that his fate was a little too miserable. After all, though the Rong Household had been in an uproar all night, no one had come to harm.

The trouble was, she was good at slaughtering pigs, not saving people.

Rong Li asked the people around her, then the worshippers. When everyone shook their heads, she could not help feeling a little regretful.

"I'll press the point for him again!"

Zhang Xuezhou was not sure whether the Supreme Purity True Technique could save Daoist Mu.

He played with the wooden figure's head, feeling nothing in particular.

Whether or not Daoist Mu had targeted him the previous night, he had suffered no ill effects so far. In fact, Zhang Xuezhou felt refreshed and clearheaded.

What Daoist Mu had said in front of the East Market pig butcher's stall sounded more like he wanted to teach everyone a lesson and stop Rong Tianding and the others from swindling people by selling pictures of immortals. It was not a life-and-death struggle between them, so there was no need for it to end in someone's death.

Besides, Zhang Xuezhou was very interested in that young lady in white.

Zhang Xuezhou was sure his eyes had not been playing tricks on him. A woman in white really had sat down on his bed.

But Rong Li and the others had not seen any woman in white.

That left Zhang Xuezhou with some questions, and he wanted to find out what had happened.

Anyone would take an interest in the supernatural, and Zhang Xuezhou was no exception.

If he wanted to learn more, he would clearly have to keep exploring, not crouch in his own little world and wait.

Realm Entry great cultivators had appeared one after another at the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple, but in real life, such great cultivators were exceedingly rare.

At least in Hibiscus City's East Market, there was only Rong Li, the pig-slaughtering woman, who reigned supreme with a butcher's knife in hand. No cultivators had intervened.

And Daoist Mu, who was about to draw his last breath before them, seemed to show signs of being a cultivator.

If I save Daoist Mu's life, surely he shouldn't turn around and abuse us. Besides, there are so many people watching. If Daoist Mu still insists on smashing the Rong Household's painting stall, it'll be hard for him to get by in Hibiscus City afterward!

Having thought it through, Zhang Xuezhou had little hesitation about saving him.

Apart from the interests involved, he was also a warmhearted, good young man. It was only natural for him to do a good deed.

Zhang Xuezhou pressed Daoist Mu's "Life Hall" acupoint with one hand.

This was an important acupoint in the Yin Yang Great Compassion Nine Heavens Incantation, closely tied to a person's lifespan. When a serious danger such as a coma arose, it was also the first place to press, lest a person's essence and Qi escape, ultimately resulting in death.

Zhang Xuezhou held it down with one hand, then mobilized the Law Power inside his body.

A speck of white light appeared at the tip of his finger, then flowed into Daoist Mu's body.

After only a few seconds, a muffled groan came from Daoist Mu's nostrils.

"He's alive again?" Rong Tianding exclaimed. "Cousin, did you pinch him awake from the pain?"

"I..."

Zhang Xuezhou looked around, then pointed at the tip of his right finger with his left hand.

"I didn't pinch him hard enough to hurt. Look at my finger!"

Zhang Xuezhou did not like playing the pig to eat the tiger, nor did he like hiding things from his family. He openly displayed the Supreme Purity True Technique he was using.

He was just about to explain that he had used an ability called a "Technique," and that this Technique came from the Northern Border Military Region, when Daoist Mu, whose "Life Hall" acupoint he was pressing, spoke faintly.

"He is only a mortal. How could he see the Technique you are using?"

Daoist Mu caught his breath and opened his eyes, looking at the person before him who had nearly caused his cultivation to be broken and killed him, yet had also saved his life.

A soft white light flowed around his nostrils. The disordered Law Power inside him began to stabilize, Law Power began to circulate around his nearly shattered "Qi Sea Acupoint," and his body, which had nearly suffered broken cultivation and death, began to stabilize as his injuries were suppressed.

Daoist Mu felt that if he recuperated for another ten days to half a month, his body would mostly recover.

To him, the Technique before him was a sweet spring in the desert, directly saving his life.

What had nearly killed him was not the smoke from the fire, but the backlash of Law Power when he performed his ritual.

Daoist Mu only had to think back to how, after using his ghost-possession ability the previous day, he had been trapped inside Zhang Xuezhou's body for the entire night. Then, at the exact start of the hour of the rabbit, he had suffered a devastating blow almost in an instant, his consciousness extinguished along with that hanged ghost.

The gap in absolute strength left Daoist Mu without the slightest thought of resistance.

He addressed Zhang Xuezhou respectfully as soon as he spoke.

"You mean other people can't see this light?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise.

"If they have not reached Realm Entry and sensed Law Power, how could they see the light of a Technique Method?" Daoist Mu replied.

Zhang Xuezhou's question was very strange.

It was common knowledge in the cultivation world, but when Daoist Mu considered Zhang Xuezhou's age, he understood.

For some old hands, many things were common knowledge.

But for certain favored sons of heaven who devoted themselves to cultivation, it was perfectly normal to turn a deaf ear to everything outside the window.

Judging by his appearance, Zhang Xuezhou was much like those cultivators who had studied under a master and then returned to their hometowns, knowing little about many things.

"It's like asking someone who has never seen a fierce tiger to imagine what one looks like. That is impossible," Daoist Mu explained. "Only when one possesses Law Power can one perceive the corresponding form of a Technique Method."

"So that's how it is?"

"Ordinary people can't even see through the tricks of street performers. You can't expect them to..."

Daoist Mu's words perhaps explained some of the matter.

Zhang Xuezhou had once displayed the Supreme Purity True Technique in class, but Mei Renteng had noticed nothing.

Now, in the dream world, Zhang Xuezhou had unexpectedly received an answer.

Chapter 42 was under review.