books44 Chapter 182 Observing from the Sidelines and Discussing Cause and Effect (1)
Chapter 182 Observing from the Sidelines and Discussing Cause and Effect (1)
Li Tingyun glanced inside, then picked up a broad axe standing by the door—it was probably some bandit's weapon, weighing forty or fifty pounds, almost half his own weight, yet he carried it effortlessly and charged in, hacking at anyone he saw!
Wangcai followed closely behind, spewing flames from its mouth in all directions, quickly igniting the entire house. The raging fire formed a ring, and Li Tingyun slaughtered wildly inside, until the axe was covered with a thick layer of flesh, piercing into flesh and internal organs, and it was impossible to pull it out without considerable strength!
More than a dozen mutilated corpses lay scattered on the ground, not a single one intact. Blood crisscrossed the ground, flowing from indistinguishable bodies, and spread all the way to Li Tingyun's feet, soaking his two shoes.
His feet felt sticky on the ground, and after a few steps, a sticky pool of blood stuck to the soles of his shoes.
Li Tingyun abandoned the axe, picked up the sword, but the blade broke. He then picked up a knife, threw away the scabbard, and held the hilt in his hand. Only then did he realize that there were no living people around him; some were dead, and some had run away.
Turning his head, he saw the courtesan, barely clothed, stumbling towards him. He immediately covered his eyes with his left hand, and was about to say "It's alright" when his right hand suddenly sank, and the courtesan ran into the blade, the white blade piercing through her abdomen.
She pressed her hand tightly against the wound, trying to stop the blood from gushing out, and kept saying, "Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me..."
Venereal diseases are contagious.
Li Tingyun stood there, silent for a moment, and then said, "So much blood, it would be a waste not to use it."
What does it mean to be fearless in ignorance? This is it! He actually used the courtesan's fresh blood, mixed with cinnabar, to try to draw many blood talismans. Each talisman carried a strong, vicious curse, bizarre and sinister.
This opens the door to a new world. No amount of melodrama or sensationalism matters to him anymore. Only human blood sacrifice is truly effective!
What kind of human blood is most suitable for sacrifice? It must be either extremely pure and clean, like the blood from a furnace, which is superior in its own quality; or it must be extremely yin and poisonous, such as the blood of people who are sick, die suddenly, or die tragically, whose blood is inherently poisonous and full of resentment.
Mass graves are everywhere in the world, and the latter is the most abundant. Li Tingyun, with his fearless spirit, has dealt with all kinds of strange corpses countless times, and his dissection of human bodies is so meticulous that he has become self-taught.
I don't know what kind of wretched life he had, that he was born immune to all poisons, as if he was born only to mingle with the dirtiest and most filthy things. No strange or peculiar disease could afflict him.
What a divine body for studying medicine! Wangcai would sometimes think that his master was wasting his talent by not studying medicine, but then he would think again, forget it, he simply couldn't imagine what it would be like for his master to treat and save people. He would kill one person and drive away two others, it would be too terrifying!
Li Tingyun not only tormented the dead, but also experimented on the living, treating human life as worthless and cruel to the extreme. He raised his butcher's knife without hesitation and went on a frenzied killing spree, killing the first person, the second person, and then the third and the fourth, until the blade was dull and rusty.
He knows best how to drain the last drop of blood from a human body in a short time; it's his specialty.
The more painful the death, the more gruesome the manner of death, the more successful the blood sacrifice.
Many times, Wangcai watched Li Tingyun kill people, and it made his scalp tingle.
Years later, when his master roamed the world and became famous, truly putting into practice his youthful boast of "I am the only one who is supreme," he still couldn't shake the habit of performing a blood sacrifice anytime, anywhere.
In the end, everyone in the cultivation world knew that as long as there were traces of "blood sacrifice" at the murder scene, the body was torn to pieces, and all the blood had been drained—it was undoubtedly the presence of the Taiji Palace Master.
Li Tingyun used to be too weak, so he resorted to crooked methods. Later, he became ridiculously strong, and he became the crooked method itself.
He speaks for himself, he uses human lives to cultivate, he regards living beings as worthless as grass and trees, and he doesn't even blink when he throws the rare and precious "furnace" into the fire pit!
Is there a problem? No problem at all! At least Li Tingyun himself felt that this was perfectly normal, and there was no need to make a fuss about it!
Besides the blood sacrifice, what impressed Wangcai the most was the second crazy thing his master did—fasting.
Bigu (or fasting) is simply abstaining from grains and other food for extended periods; it's a basic course for cultivators. In itself, Bigu is nothing special.
What's terrifying is how Li Tingyun forced herself to learn how to fast.
He already had an extraordinary dependence on food—his only expectation in this filthy, godforsaken world was to have a hot meal. Unfortunately, finding something to eat every day was too troublesome and a waste of energy and time. Over time, he took the initiative to learn about "fasting".
Unfortunately, no one taught him what the right way was.
Then he would have no choice but to resort to "unorthodox methods" again.
At this point, we must mention another person, a blind man.
Besides encountering the courtesan, Li Tingyun and Wangcai also met another "fellow villager" from Huangliang City during their wanderings.
This fellow villager is blind.
The blind fortune teller was very skilled. He was proficient in divination using the Book of Changes, able to predict the timing of events and explain geography. With his silver tongue, he had a keen understanding of the world.
Until he grabbed Li Tingyun's hand and said, "Kid, you're lucky!" Li Tingyun identified him as a conman, beat him up, and threw him out—he wasn't the type to respect the elderly or care for the young; he would strike when necessary, and he had no qualms about beating anyone.
Unexpectedly, a year later, Li Tingyun was walking down the street when someone grabbed his arm. When he turned around, he saw that the blind man had come looking for him!
In this vast world, amidst the sea of people, how did a blind man find him? Li Tingyun was a little suspicious. But this time, the blind man said: "I have real skills to pass on to you..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Tingyun beat him up again and swiftly forked him away!
What real skills does an old man who can't even beat a child and has to feel his way around the wall have? Just empty talk.
The blind man sighed that people's hearts are no longer what they used to be. In ancient times, Zhang Liang picked up the shoe and repeatedly expressed his sincerity before the old man Huangshi was willing to hand over the "Taigong's Art of War" to him. Now he sincerely wanted to pass on his life's learning to his descendants, but the "descendant" he chose was the opposite of the Heavenly Gang, and he still had to shamelessly visit the thatched cottage three times.
So be it! So be it!
The blind man chased after him, shouting: "Young man, wait for me!"
So what if he had to visit Zhuge Liang three times? He's shameless!
But the boy was swept away like the wind.
They showed absolutely no appreciation.
Another year passed, and Li Tingyun was walking down the street perfectly fine when someone suddenly grabbed him. When he turned around, he realized that Li Tingyun was still blind!
The blind man approached Li Tingyun for the third time, and before he could say a word, he was nearly strangled to death.
Li Tingyun was determined to kill. The first or second time could be a coincidence, but the third time was definitely a ghost. This blind man's spirit was lingering, and if he wasn't eliminated, disaster might occur!
The blind man persisted: "I have the ability to teach you."
Li Tingyun wanted him to die.
He added: Give me a chance to pass on some of my real skills to you before I die!
Li Tingyun ignored him and told him to die immediately.
He should learn to save himself first before we talk about anything else!
In reality, the blind man had no ability to save himself; even as death approached, he kept repeating the same old refrain.
At the last moment, Li Tingyun let go, deciding to trust him. Without saying a word, he took a step back and gestured for the blind man to begin his performance.
The blind man took the initiative: "Sit down, let's have a chat."
Li Tingyun: What do you want to talk about? Will you teach me the eighteen weapons, the thirty-six mental techniques, or the seventy-two transformations? Or how about getting me a somersault cloud to play with, or a couple of peaches or ginseng fruits to try? But if you can't give me any real benefits, get lost!
The blind man said: I don't know any of these. To be honest, I don't understand cultivation.
Li Tingyun: You can get out now.
The blind man continued: "You need to broaden your perspective. Let's not talk about those superficial, tangible, external things. What I value most is your understanding. Let's talk about something more 'ethereal'. For example, the origin of all things, the source of all laws, the ancestor of all paths—Tai Chi and Yin Yang, how about that?"
This conversation lasted for three days and three nights.
The dog took three naps, and when it got up, it saw the two of them still talking back and forth. If they kept talking, they might just pass away.
The dog couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was something like Tai Chi, Bagua, the Way of Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, and the Four Symbols. The blind man seemed to have some insightful understanding, and Li Tingyun was completely absorbed in listening.
Wangcai thought to himself, "This blind man is really something. He managed to make his master crippled just by talking. Yet, such a capable person doesn't have the slightest ability to protect himself?"
Not long after parting ways with Li Tingyun, the blind man also died, and his death was incredibly tragic—he was captured by a group of starving refugees, cooked and eaten to satisfy their hunger.
What does it mean to live in a world where people eat each other? It's not just something to scare children. The world is not at peace. "When there is a great famine, people eat each other." No one dares to cry when someone in a family dies. They just bury the body quietly. If they cry, someone will surely steal the body in the middle of the night, and the next day they will probably only find a pile of bones that have been gnawed on.
When people are extremely hungry, they will eat anything: dirt, tree bark, dead people, and even living people. On the black market, human flesh is sold as pork. Older people's flesh is cheaper, while younger people's flesh is more tender and more expensive. A girl as old as Ji Yuanbao, especially if she is a useless girl, would be the perfect choice for poor families to "exchange children to eat".
There's nothing we can do about it. That's just how the world is. It's a living hell. The human world is hell, and hell is the human world. It's a miracle that Li Tingyun survived. He wandered for four years. Although he lived a terrible life, at least he survived, right?
Having experienced countless inhuman misfortunes, he became accustomed to the successive pain and disasters, gradually blurring the lines between suffering and happiness, and between danger and safety.
His understanding of the world underwent a tremendous upheaval.
Having witnessed the blind man's death, I remained calm. Instead, I stared at the bubbling broth, wondering what cooked human flesh tasted like. It looked grayish and smelled strange.
Li Tingyun withdrew his gaze. Behind him were rows of "diners" who were dumbfounded. They had been frozen in place by a spell, and apart from their eyes being able to move, the rest of their bodies were stiff as dead wood.
Their eyes darted around rapidly, conveying their confusion: What happened? What just happened?! They were sharing the blind man's flesh, and before they had finished eating, a child suddenly burst in and, using some kind of sorcery, immobilized them!
The talisman has a time limit. Li Tingyun's cultivation was not deep, so the time left for him was very short. However, Wangcai skillfully spat out a ring of fire around the outside. No one could escape from the ring of fire.
Li Tingyun, in a playful mood, picked up a broken knife and, as before, threw stones at birds. From a considerable distance, he selected his target, aimed, and threw it, hitting the target squarely in the brain, shredding its brains!
The first person whose head was split open didn't even realize what was happening before he collapsed to his knees, his brains spilling out.
A cluster of snow-white stains the pool of blood.
The stiff, wooden figures stared with rage!
Wangcai happily retrieved the knife that Li Tingyun had thrown away.
It's as if this is just a throwing game.
Li Tingyun dealt with everyone present one by one.
When the last one was killed, he suddenly regained his mobility. Like a ghost desperately trying to escape from hell, his face contorted, he howled and screamed, then plunged into the sea of fire without looking back and burned himself to death.
On the makeshift stove, the iron pot and the human flesh soup were still there. Li Tingyun overturned the pot, and the iron pot fell into the fire. The aroma of meat filled the air. As he smelled it, he picked up a piece...
I put it in my mouth and tasted it.
Human flesh has a strong, fishy smell, but it's not sour as rumored. Instead, it has a flavor that's hard to describe, like either beef or mutton. No wonder it's in high demand but not in price. Putting everything else aside, it actually tastes pretty good.
Wangcai watched in horror as his master devoured a mouthful of human flesh.
The blind man's flesh!
Crazy, he's crazy!
Although he was a dog, a dog that could eat raw meat, he was powerless to stop his master from eating the flesh of a blind man! He was horrified! He felt nauseous!
After that, Li Tingyun inexplicably learned how to practice fasting—not that she "learned" it, but simply that she no longer had any craving for food.
Wangcai was afraid he would starve to death, so after countless failures, he finally succeeded in making a bowl of half-cooked noodles. This was already excellent; they weren't burnt to a crisp, so they were still edible.
For the first time ever, Li Tingyun took a sip.
I beat him up.
Because the noodles were full of dog hair.
For the first time in three months, Li Tingyun ate something and his mouth was full of dog hair. He really wanted to shave all the stray hairs off Wangcai, but he couldn't swallow anything without some dog hair mixed in.
He didn't blame the dog, nor did he intend to hit it. He just didn't know how to express his gratitude, so he could only give the dog a loving pat.
For a long time, the dog cooked for him, and his noodle-making skills improved, but he couldn't get rid of the shedding. He was always getting beaten up, and he cursed in his heart, wondering when this life of being a slave would end.
quickly.
The days will soon come to an end.
His master fell from a cliff and died. He was free and liberated. No one cared about him anymore, and he no longer had to bow and scrape and rush to offer someone a bowl of dog paw ramen.
As his soul returned to the underworld, Li Tingyun thought to himself, "This damn life is finally over."
Little did he know, his life had only just begun, and the main event had not yet begun, so how could it be "over"?
Little do they know that the underworld is even more cruel and inhumane than the human world.
One hundred and thirty years—Wangcai waited anxiously outside the gates of hell for a full one hundred and thirty years.
The dog firmly believed that his owner would come back for him, even if the person who came back was perhaps three times more terrifying than a vengeful ghost crawling out of the eighteenth level of hell... But the dog remained loyal to his owner.
A master will always be a master.
Dogs will always be loyal to humans!
While remaining loyal, Wangcai also silently recited the five-word mantra, constantly reminding himself: distance makes the heart grow fonder, distance makes the heart grow fonder, distance makes the heart grow fonder.
After all, his master was a god of death standing at the end of the river of blood, taking a life with every step, from killing people to wiping out entire families and then massacring cities, with blood blooming and blossoming at his feet.
Having returned from hell to the human world, Li Tingyun went berserk.
The name of the Master of Taiji Hall is enough to strike fear into the hearts of all.
Wangcai stood trembling further and further away, until finally he couldn't bear the pressure any longer. One evening as the sun was setting, he picked up a small bundle with a bamboo pole and ran away from "home".
Some people are destined to share hardship, but not prosperity.
He could stand shoulder to shoulder with Ji Yuanbao, watching the stars and the moon, without the slightest resentment in his heart;
He could have wandered with Li Tingyun, but after spending so much time together, he gradually grew afraid.
He could even live under the same roof as the Master of the Taiji Hall, seeing him all the time...
But the consequence was that he suffered frequent heart attacks, which nearly killed him!
Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and distance can save lives. Wangcai has long seen through everything: the distance between him and his master is the distance between him and danger. A dog will never betray its master, but a dog must stay away from its master.
Fortunately, on the day of his departure, a black cat was waiting for him at sunset.
It wasn't that he was unwanted; Wangcai happily went off to pursue love.
The elderly living alone... no, the owners of empty nests, are lonely and isolated. So Wangcai will occasionally "go home" to visit, wander around the Taiji Hall a couple of times, and if he accidentally bumps into his owner, he will wag his tail and bark twice with a fawning expression, and then run away quickly.
Until one day, he discovered that there was another person in his "home"—oh my goodness, that person was a righteous, otherworldly, and genuine immortal!
His master is probably no longer lonely, isolated, or cold.
But that immortal venerable one is in some danger.
He was too close to Li Tingyun.
Of course it's dangerous.
Everyone has their own destiny; I wish him good luck.
I won't say more about the rest.
Hopefully, one day, even the Immortal Venerable will be able to face reality like him.
Cherish life, stay away from danger!