Dead Skin

Hu Mang did not follow.

He wasn't so kind as to rush to protect Zheng Qingbo's relatives.

Moreover, putting everything else aside, it's likely that half of the Zheng family members are in such a hurry to come that they're there to fight for the inheritance.

It's good to let them make a fuss. If they didn't, how could Zheng Qingbo have relapsed and fallen into a coma again?

The Hu Mang turned its head and looked at the "Human-Body Buddha" that had been moved to the attic.

The body proportions are extremely disproportionate. The head is too large, taking up almost a third of the entire body, while the limbs are thin and long like withered branches, bent in an abnormal posture, without any sense of solemnity or dignity.

Aside from Nanyang, it's the kind of thing that almost no one worships.

If placed in the Heavenly Gate, it would fall under the category of "worshiping Evil God gods and deities," and would have to be handed over.

Moreover, he noticed a characteristic: neither the Human-Body Buddha nor the little demon had proportionate body shapes.

The ritual and materials used by Zheng Qingbo to offer to Buddha have fallen into the hands of Hu Mang, which is quite sinister. They originated from an extinct Tubo tribe. The ritual requires offerings including: carved Buddha wood, placenta of a doe that has never given birth, sap from a banyan tree collected on the night of a full moon, coffin nails that are over ten years old, human internal organs, and of course, various materials needed for demonic spells.

The place where the Buddha statue is enshrined is on the island where the tribe that exterminated the indigenous people lived. There is a white bone altar there, with the remains of the tribe's sacrificial offerings from past generations below.

Zheng Qingbo filled the altar with hundreds of "materials" before finally succeeding in the offering using the tribe's unique shamanistic methods.

After the "Human-Body Buddha" ritual was successfully completed, Zheng Qingbo immediately destroyed the altar and silenced all those who knew about it.

It has a strong old-fashioned demonic style, focusing on ruthlessness and the extinction of one's lineage.

This "Human-Body Buddha" is incredibly ferocious, the kind that could instantly kill an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.

To put it simply, as long as he is within the Buddhist scriptures' scope, which is roughly the area of Zheng Family Garden, no matter how many Golden Core cultivators come, he will die!

If it weren't for the special nature of Hu Mang's Buddhist teachings, he too would have fallen victim to it.

In fact, even Zheng Qingbo himself couldn't resist, which is why he resorted to such an unseemly act of stealing one of the Liang Household's three treasures, the Demon-Body Buddha.

As long as the Buddha is made an offering, he will not die.

However, anyone who wants to harness the "Buddha's power" could become a sacrificial offering.

This Liang Household treasure may look like a simple wooden Buddhist prayer bead, but it has a wonderful characteristic: the person who wears it will voluntarily become an "offering."

Regardless of whether it's a large or small Buddha statue, Jiangtou Imp, none of them will intentionally damage the offerings before they are eaten.

This means that Zheng Qingbo is absolutely safe within the area covered by Buddhist teachings.

Unfortunately, he ran into a monster like Hu Mang.

The Hu Mang wearing the Demon-Body Buddha Prayer Beads had a peculiar feeling; it seemed as if it had transformed into a "roasted pig."

A roasted pig, golden brown and crispy, emitting an enticing aroma, is placed in the center of the altar.

Although it smells delicious, Buddha does not consume meat, especially the five sacrificial animals.

However, according to the rules of the heretical Buddha, human blood is not considered meat; it is considered nectar offered to the Buddha.

Indeed, the rules of Nanyang Buddhism are indeed quite peculiar.

Once the Hu Mang removed the Demon-Body Buddha Prayer Beads from its demonic form, an evil and eerie Buddhist aura surged towards it without any attempt to conceal it.

The three-headed, six-armed Vajra image reappeared behind the Hu Mang. This time, not only did the central face display a sinister smile, but even its two arms had turned the same blood-red color as the Buddha image opposite.

When two Buddhas face each other, the Buddhist influence vanishes instantly.

"This is a bit of a headache. I haven't even made a vow yet, and it's already starting to Form Condensation."

According to the Buddhist realm of the Azure Mysterious Realm, the so-called "Form Condensation" is to use vows, merits, and incense offerings as materials to condense the prototype of the "Manifestation Body" in the sea of consciousness.

To put it more bluntly, this thing is called Golden Body.

The Golden Body shares a character with the Golden Core.

Although this evil Buddha caused Hu Mang's Buddhist cultivation to increase rapidly, Hu Mang felt that this was probably his biggest negative asset after taking over Zheng Family Garden.

Compared to this heretical Buddhism, even Cyber Dharma can be considered authentic Buddhism.

Moreover, this evil force can only be controlled with Buddhist teachings; it cannot be Buddha-Devil Transformation.

"No, it's not entirely impossible," Hu Mang thought to himself, looking at the blood-red robe on the Human-Body Buddha's body. The blood flowing on that robe was his heart's blood.

"If I cultivate the Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art to the sixth level, I might still be able to perform the Buddha-Devil Transformation."

The incomplete "Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art" has three levels, while the complete Devil Cultivation Method has six levels in total, serving as the foundational method of the old demonic bloodline.

It's a pity that the Old Man Min was sold to the Demonic Machine Hall by Zheng Qingbo; otherwise, Hu Mang might have been able to find out more about the demonic path.

"There's another way—"

Wisdom King Aizen is, after all, the "Abstinence Wisdom King". If his vow is successful, he can use the power of his great vow to subdue all that is not subdued, including the power of evil Buddhas.

Another month has passed. The Mystic Shield Sect should have almost finished setting up the underlying architecture, and it's time for me to offer some guidance remotely.

Seeing that the commotion coming from the front yard not only did not subside but seemed to be escalating, Hu Mang knew that "Zheng Qingbo" had fainted as agreed, and the grand drama of the princes vying for the throne was about to begin.

While I'm at it, I should go and deal with those few Nanyang Jiangtou Ghost in the backyard.

The "Salty Smoke Worm" started buzzing again at the spot where I climbed over the wall last night.

In fact, in just one morning, they devoured all the live cattle and sheep in Zheng Family Garden's kitchen.

Moreover, after they finished eating, the cattle and sheep not only didn't die, but they were still alive, only with various black spots appearing on their skin.

If these cattle and sheep are slaughtered, processed, and fed to people, soon these black spots will appear on the skin of the consumers. Then, one by one, "Salty Smoke Worm" will crawl out from these spots and continue to devour in all directions. Then, an "evil plague" will be conceived.

Fortunately, the "Salty Smoke Worm" were a familiar tribe, which meant they could communicate and trade.

Therefore, this type of witchcraft disaster has not occurred in Nanyang for a long time.

Upon seeing the giant human Hu Mang appear, these "Salty Smoke Worm" transformed into a grayish-white tide and swept over once more.

Then, in a short while, these insects turned into a pile of insect corpses on the ground, forming a thin layer like a grayish-white carpet, which gleamed with an unsettling, greasy sheen in the sunlight.

If you can see these insects and have a talisman, they are not difficult to deal with. Their most troublesome aspect is their terrifying ability to reproduce and spread.

Then Hu Mang took out the Foreign Granny Offal Knife, the small bone knife that the old lady of the Liang Household had given him.

He crouched down, placed the tip of the Foreign Granny Offal Knife against the ground, closed his eyes, and began to chant a witchcraft incantation.

It is not a spell from Buddhism, Daoism, or the three schools of demons; it is an ancient indigenous language, imbued with the scent of earth and rain. Every syllable seems to have been picked from the depths of the rainforest—moist, heavy, and full of life.

As the incantation was chanted, a layer of dark green light began to appear on the blade of the Foreign Granny Offal Knife. The light flowed along the blade like water ripples, emitting a smell that was a mixture of decaying leaves, damp mud, and corpses.

Then, a huge shadow began to emerge from the ground, emanating a powerful and terrifying Ghost Qi.

This is the Ghost Dragon Vein transformed from a ghost ship.

Using a portion of the Ghost Dragon Vein's consciousness, Hu Mang forcibly summoned the other party.

"Don't get agitated, give it a try. If things don't look good, then you can run."

With the appearance of the Dragon Vein, the Salty Smoke Worm, like flies that have smelled fresh blood and flesh, all came back to life on the spot, lying on the ground as if they wanted to suck something up.

Seeing that the time was right, Hu Mang gripped the Foreign Granny Offal Knife in his right hand, lowered his wrist, pointed the tip of the knife at the ground, and plunged it down.

There was no blood or mud flying as he had imagined. The feeling of the knife tip piercing the ground was like stabbing into a piece of old, dried-out skin—tough, dry, and with a tooth-grinding resistance. Then he gripped the handle and slashed hard, cutting a long gash in the ground.

The next moment, a pale white, skin-like object was ripped out of the crack with a "whoosh".

The corpse skin was enormous, about ten feet square when unfolded. It was a sickly, pale white, covered with fine, vein-like black lines, and had strands of dark red, semi-dried mucus hanging from its edges.

When the Hu Mang dragged it out of the ground, it made a sticky sound, like tearing a piece of oil-soaked canvas.

The Hu Mang picked it up, gave it a hard shake, and then slung it directly over the thick layer of Salty Smoke Worm on the ground.

The Salty Smoke Worm that were covered quickly shriveled and crumbled, eventually turning into a layer of grayish-white powder and completely losing all vitality.

This doesn't mean they're dead; they've simply fallen into a deeper state of slumber.

If the slumber of a talisman can only last for half an incense stick's time, then the slumber of this "corpse dragon skin" can last for at least a month.

The Ghost Dragon Vein, which was about to let out a hysterical scream, suddenly paused, stretched its body, and found that not only had it not suffered any damage, but it was actually much more relaxed, as if years of dead skin had been scrubbed off by a bathhouse attendant.

This is the secret technique that Old Madam Liang Household taught me last night—a skill to suppress Jiangtou by harnessing the power of the Dragon Vein.

Moreover, this Dragon Vein must be Ghost Dragon Vein; other Dragon Vein simply won't work.

Although it's unknown where the old woman got her secret technique, there's no doubt that it solved Hu Mang's immediate problem.

Soon, white dead skin appeared in the areas where those ghosts were active in Zheng Family Garden.

Beneath these dead skins, suppressed are ferocious demons capable of devouring elixirs of Golden Core.

Hu Mang flexed his wrists and muttered to himself.

"Actually, I originally wanted to try Human-Body Buddha to suppress these things, but I thought better of it. Using an evil object to seal another evil object would be disastrous if it caused any reaction from the evil object."

"It's fine as it is now."