The Autonomous Association
"So, the eldest sister-in-law used the treasures hidden in the Liang Household's ancestral home to break the arms and legs of the modified cultivator who crippled Liang Jinchuan and dumped him at the entrance of the Zheng Family Garden?"
The next morning, Hu Mang heard the explosive news brought by Liang Xiaoqiu, which greatly improved the atmosphere in the entire Liang Household Garden.
"That's right!" Liang Xiaoqiu nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling, her tone filled with a triumphant joy. "Sister Yanqiu just pointed casually—I was right there, I saw it clearly! She was standing at the entrance of the ancestral hall, she didn't even move an inch, just pointed in the direction of Zheng Family Garden, muttered something, I didn't hear it, and then that guy was done for!"
Liang Xiaoqiu swallowed hard and continued her vivid description, "I heard from people in Zheng Family Garden that the guy was celebrating his victory at a restaurant last night when he suddenly started screaming in agony. He said something was drilling into his bones, first his fingers, then his wrists, then his forearms, breaking off one by one. The people around him tried to hold him down to help, but as soon as they touched his body, their own hands started turning black and numb, scaring everyone away. By the time people from Zheng Family Garden brought in a sorcerer to exorcise the evil spirit, his hands and feet were completely broken, the bone fragments had exploded, and he was lying on the ground like a lump of mud."
Then, somehow, he appeared at the gate of Zheng Family Garden, his hands and feet twisted in an abnormal posture, the words "Apology" carved on his front and back, kneeling directly in front of the gate.
The Hu Mang listened thoughtfully, muttering to itself.
"Nanyang Jiangtou?"
According to Heavenly Gate's official information, the Jiangtou Technique originated from the witchcraft of indigenous tribes in Nanyang. It uses mediums such as corpses, poisonous insects, hair, and nails, along with incantations and runes, to achieve the purpose of Curse, controlling, and harming others. Because of its insidious methods, difficulty in preventing it, and the fact that it often involves the lives of innocent people, Heavenly Gate has listed it as one of the forbidden Law Technique to practice.
As the first group of monks to go to Nanyang, it was perfectly normal for the Liang Household to have some hidden skills.
According to Hu Mang's understanding, Jiangtou magic requires a medium.
Wasn't that modified cultivator on the other side completely altered? Where's the hair and flesh now?
Or is this a type of spell that doesn't require a medium?
Or perhaps, the elder sister-in-law has an informant within the Demonic Machine Hall, and all cultivators who have undergone human modification retain a portion of their skin and flesh, precisely for the purpose of Jiangtou in crucial moments?
"Wow, sister-in-law is really something. With this, no one should dare to underestimate Liang Household Garden for a while."
That's the prevailing custom here in Nanyang: revenge is best taken within three days. If you don't resolve the problem within three days, everyone will subconsciously perceive you as weak and easily bullied. At that point, everyone will transform into hungry wolves and devour you completely.
"Sir, you seem a little different?" Liang Xiaoqiu suddenly said.
"What's different now?"
"Your demeanor seems to have become more ordinary; you give the impression of someone who wouldn't stand out in a crowd."
"You're quite perceptive."
Hu Mang smiled; the Horse Yin Concealment indeed have that effect.
Oh right, this move was also something Shen Haichan stole from those monks.
"Wait a moment, sit down and circulate your qi, then I'll take a look," Hu Mang said, a thought flashing through his mind.
Liang Xiaoqiu obeyed and quickly sat cross-legged, beginning to practice the Liang Household Method Formula.
Hu Mang touched the other person's forehead from a distance, and the next moment, everything in front of Hu Mang disappeared, replaced by a star map.
Those were projections of Liang Xiaoqiu's meridians and acupoints as she circulated her internal energy, like a miniature starry sky scroll unfolding before the Hu Mang's eyes. Each "star" was an acupoint, and each "star trail" was a meridian. The starlight was bright and dim, and the star trails were thick and thin, clearly reflecting her current cultivation level and the Cultivation Method.
The Daoist practice of Subduing the White Tiger is essentially about ensuring the smooth flow of Qi throughout the body.
The saying "the whole body is leak-free" applies to oneself, but to outsiders, it means that one's entire being is leaky.
In other words, a cultivator who has Subduing the White Tiger can calculate the trajectory of the True Qi within another person's body by observing the direction and amount of their vital energy leakage.
Suddenly, Hu Mang's Divine Sense message echoed in Liang Xiaoqiu's mind.
"Your Liang Household Method Formula are quite solid, and you have a good foundation, but there are a few parts of the operational path that could be modified."
"Change it? How can it be changed? This is Method Formula passed down through generations in our family. We've never heard of it being able to be changed." Liang Xiaoqiu was completely bewildered.
"The Method Formula are static, but people are dynamic. The Method Formula passed down from your ancestors were tailor-made based on the creator's physical condition and cultivation environment at the time. However, you and your ancestor are not the same person. Your constitution, meridian width, and five-element imbalance are all different. If you insist on practicing according to the original version, although there won't be any major problems, the efficiency will definitely not be optimal. I'll adjust a few pathways for you to avoid the interference of water and fire in your body, which should make your practice much smoother."
Next, Hu Mang helped the other party change the direction of the flow of three meridians.
The first change is to redirect the True Qi that originally flowed directly down after passing through the Tanzhong acupoint to first detour to the Lingxu acupoint on the left side, and then return to the Ren meridian. This avoids the excessive fire qi in her body and reduces the loss of True Qi due to the burning fire qi during its circulation.
The second change is to change the original path from Qihai acupoint directly to Guanyuan acupoint, to transit through Shimen acupoint. Although this adds an extra node, it can accelerate the process by utilizing the water vapor turbulence generated by the Water Spirit Root within the body.
The third change involved a minor adjustment to the meridian pathway originally located at the coccyx acupoint.
Water and fire are mutually destructive and rarely mutually supportive. Once water and fire collide within the body, a large number of blank areas will be created. These are the areas where others cannot cultivate, but Liang Xiaoqiu is able to cultivate in them.
Although Liang Xiaoqiu was puzzled, she gritted her teeth and followed the instructions. She quickly enjoyed the benefits of this method of circulation. Her Fortune efficiency was at least half as fast as before. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her, and her body's Law Power increased by half, directly advancing from the Foundation Establishment Early Stage to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
She suppressed her joy and Fortune for one cycle. Just as she was about to share the good news with her half-master, she noticed that Hu Mang wasn't the only one there; Sister Yanqiu had arrived at some point.
She also sensed Liang Xiaoqiu's breakthrough and a faint smile appeared on her face.
"Good, you've finally grown up. You can take on more Lineage responsibilities in the future."
"Yes, Sister Yanqiu."
"Go back and retrieve a treasure from the Lineage treasury yourself. Now, your Mr. Mang and I are heading out."
Liang Xiaoqiu was taken aback and asked, "Where to?"
"The Autonomous Association a voting meeting; I'll attend on behalf of the Liang Household."
Liang Xiaoqiu looked at Hu Mang and saw Hu Mang stretch.
"I've been eating and drinking at your house for free for several days now, so it's a good opportunity to get out and get some exercise."
Hu Mang thought for a moment, then patted Liang Xiaoqiu on the head.
"Not bad, quite smart, you've improved after just a little guidance."
The girl with the braided pigtails was immediately overjoyed; being praised by the teacher made her very happy.
Soon, Hu Mang followed Liang Yanqiu to the main gate, where a large black sedan chair was placed. The two black pythons, each as thick as a water bucket, were responsible for carrying the sedan chair.
These two black pythons were covered in glossy black scales that shimmered with a metallic sheen in the sunlight. Each one was several meters long, and their robust bodies exuded a sense of power.
Seeing the Hu Mang looking over, Liang Yanqiu introduced, "This is Flood Dragon Python, a mount Demon Beast bred using the bloodline of a local black python and a dragon."
This was the first time Hu Mang had ever seen anything like it. He knew that there was a custom of keeping Demon Beast in Nanyang, but two of them this big were indeed rare.
After sensing that it was just a demonic snake and had no trace of Dragon Vein energy, Hu Mang got into the sedan chair.
Soon, the two Flood Dragon Python shook their heads and wagged their tails, stirring up a black, demonic wind, and carried the sedan chair towards the Autonomous Association.
The situation in Java is different from that in Heavenly Gate. They are a secular government governing secular affairs, while the Autonomous Association governs monks. Of course, there are some intricate connections between the two sides. For example, the three committee members of the Autonomous Association are closely related to the Java royal family.
There were even some related to the Demonic Path. Among the five newly added slots, several committee members suggested that one of them should be a slot for the Demonic Machine Hall.
Of course, they dared not openly acknowledge the demonic path, so the quota was only for the Demonic Machine Hall.
And one of the driving forces behind this was Zheng Qingbo.
The Autonomous Association's headquarters were not located on Java Island, but on a remote island to the north.
The island is not a natural cave abode, but a luxurious island mansion in the style of Nanyang.
When the two arrived, the island's parking lot was already filled with vehicles. Some were serpentine beasts pulling Demon Beast, others were the latest model of flying shuttles from Heavenly Gate, and there were even "ancient cultivators" Human-Sword Unity and whose sleeves flowed gracefully.
"There are quite a few Golden Core, huh?"
The Hu Mang muttered to itself.
There were more than twenty Golden Core that I sensed, and they weren't the kind of civil Golden Core cultivators from inside the Heavenly Gate who didn't really project their Divine Sense outwards. Instead, they were Golden Core filled with all sorts of Evil Qi, Sha Qi, and even strange auras.
In Nanyang, there are no legal restrictions, so people can freely practice any kind of dangerous Law Technique.
As Hu Mang swept his gaze across the group, he discovered that at least half of the henchmen brought by these committee members had undergone Law Artifact modifications. Some had replaced their entire arms with metal prosthetics, the surfaces of which were covered with runes and gleamed with a cold metallic luster; others had replaced their eyes with spirit crystal prosthetics, the pupils flashing with different colors of light, clearly possessing some kind of special visual ability; still others had part of their spine replaced with some kind of metal skeleton, their walking posture slightly stiff, but each step carried a heavy sense of power.
Some people have modified more concealed parts of their bodies, but judging from the discordant aura emanating from them, it's probably not just their hands and feet.
Is the business of demonic cultivation so developed here?