Free Web NovelChapter 123: Chapter 122: Sealing the Cauldron, Going into Hiding
Even at Li Tong’s speed, it still took a full hour to carve the entire Blood Talisman.
What does it feel like to be continuously stung by millions of hornets for an entire hour?
Fu Juemin was finding out.
It was an indescribable agony. Only now did he truly understand just how much pain Li Tong’s "it will hurt a little" actually entailed.
Li Tong stopped once the entire Blood Talisman was complete.
Fu Juemin had achieved a minor mastery of the Pharmacist Skill and had also practiced the Iron Armor Technique, raising his Defense attribute to a high 16 points. Piercing his tough hide with the rhinoceros horn required not only sufficient force but also supplementation with Vitality.
Even for someone of Li Tong’s caliber, after an hour and countless strikes, a fine sheen of sweat had beaded on his temples.
Fu Juemin, on the other hand, was drenched in blood and sweat.
The stinging pain gave way to an endless, itching numbness, as if countless ants were desperately trying to burrow into his flesh.
Fu Juemin felt intensely swollen and bloated. Looking down, he saw that his body was now covered in innumerable, dense, dark-red dots. They linked together, appearing to form a massive tattoo.
According to Li Tong, this Blood Talisman was also called the Dragon Elephant Harmony Diagram.
This was still the incomplete version; only a third of it had been carved. Once it was fully finished, if he succeeded after seven days, the blood diagram would naturally fade.
’Stir the Qi and Blood...’
Fu Juemin gritted his teeth. Following Li Tong’s earlier instructions, he continuously stimulated the Vitality within him, encouraging the Medicinal Blood to fuse with his flesh.
He couldn’t stop himself from trying to sit, but Li Tong grabbed him and held him up.
"Young Master, watch carefully. I will now teach you how to practice the Fundamental Seal."
Resigned, Fu Juemin could only remain standing and proceed to the next step of his training.
「Meanwhile, outside the training room.」
Big Cat and Kitty stood shoulder to shoulder beneath a portico, their two massive shadows overlapping.
"Brother."
Kitty asked in a rumbling voice, "Which do you think is stronger? The Dragon Elephant Wisdom Seal or our Celestial Blessing Child Skill?"
Big Cat turned to look at him. "You want to find out?"
Kitty nodded. "I do."
"Once the Young Master has mastered it, he’ll naturally want to spar with you."
Big Cat said calmly, "You’ll have plenty of opportunities to see for yourself then."
"I guess that makes sense."
Kitty had a moment of realization, and the eagerness in his eyes dimmed considerably.
Big Cat, however, gazed at the training room, from which faint noises could be heard. His face fell into contemplation. ’Dragon Elephant Wisdom... I believe the previous successor to the Dragon Elephant Wisdom Seal was that Formless Slaughter Star from twenty years ago...’
’The Young Master certainly has a lot of skilled and unusual people around him...’
.....
For three straight days, Fu Juemin endured the agonizing pain of the rhinoceros horn.
After three Blood Talismans had been carved into him, he felt completely numb.
All the while, he had to ceaselessly practice the Dragon Elephant Root Seal that Li Tong had taught him.
Though it was called a Seal Technique, it was actually a series of physical postures, much like the five Pharmacist Master Purification Diagrams he had practiced to cultivate the Pharmacist Buddha’s Glazed Body. The principle was the same: forming a seal with the body.
With his Soft Bone Talent, no posture, no matter how bizarre or inhuman, was difficult for him.
The main issue was the length of each session. The process required him to churn his Qi and Blood to stimulate the absorption of the Medicinal Blood. However, the moment he stimulated his Vitality, the stinging pain would intensify, making the process sheer torture.
He finally endured until the third day. When Li Tong announced he could proceed to the next stage, Inner Transformation, Fu Juemin was so desperate to escape the agony of Ten Thousand Ants Devouring the Body that he practically leaped into the enormous Medicine Cauldron that had been prepared for him.
However, as the scalding Medicated Bath was poured into the cauldron, his torment instantly reached a new, excruciating level!
Fu Juemin let out a choked scream, his instincts screaming at him to leap out of the Medicine Cauldron. But a few soft-spoken words from Li Tong stopped him at the rim.
"How can one tame the Dragon and Elephant without first enduring inhuman suffering?"
"You should think this through, Young Master. It’s true that if you fail this initial training, you can always try a second time.
But ninety-nine percent of people who taste this agony once would never dare to try it a second time."
"If you do not succeed this time, Young Master... the next will likely be even harder."
As Li Tong’s flat, emotionless words echoed in his ears, Fu Juemin’s knuckles whitened on the rim of the cauldron, veins bulging on his hands.
After a moment of silence, his fingers finally loosened, inch by painful inch.
"Seal the cauldron!"
Fu Juemin’s voice was hoarse. He allowed the scalding liquid to submerge him bit by bit, then forced a command through gritted teeth. "For the next four days, no matter how much I scream, no one is to open this cauldron!
Otherwise... when I get out of here, I’ll skin them alive!"
With that, Fu Juemin closed his eyes, leaned back, and let himself sink completely into the viscous, glue-like slurry.
Inside the training room, Li Tong brewed a pot of tea and stood an unruffled watch by the Medicine Cauldron.
He would occasionally glance up, listening nonchalantly to the muffled, thrashing sounds—like those of a caged beast—coming from within the cauldron.
....
「Shenghai, Hua Realm.」
Zhabei. The single most chaotic district in all of the Shenghai Hua Realm.
Hawkers and porters, pickpockets and hidden prostitutes, rogue soldiers and gangsters... every shade of society’s underbelly gathered here, a chaotic jumble of saints and sinners.
At that moment, inside a small inn with no sign—only the two words ’Anshun Inn’ painted in red lacquer over the door—a rusty coal stove in the main hall burned brightly. On top of it, a huge, black iron kettle hissed and sputtered, spewing white steam.
The inn’s owner, a woman bundled in a bulky, old cotton coat, sat behind the counter. Her hands were tucked into her greasy, pitch-black sleeves, and her head was nodding as she dozed off.
Suddenly, the flimsy wooden door creaked open with a soft CLANG. A gust of cold wind swept in, jolting the woman at the counter from her doze.
"Excuse me, we need a room."
A man and a woman walked in.
The man was of average build, wearing an ill-fitting, coffee-colored suit. He had on a scarf, and his hat was pulled down so low that only his chin was visible.
He carried a brown suitcase in one hand and held tightly to a girl at his side with the other. The girl was fair-skinned and pretty, with the look of a student about her.
Seeing customers at her door, the owner’s energy returned in a flash. She spoke rapidly, "Two dimes a day. For the two of you, let’s make it three. But you’ll have to pay another three for a deposit. If you break anything in the room, that’s what the deposit is for...
And just so you know, there’s only one room left, so you have no choice in the matter.
Oh, and if you want meals, that’s an extra dime per person, per day..."
The owner spoke so quickly that flecks of her spittle nearly landed on the counter. The man’s brow furrowed as he listened, and finally, he impatiently pulled a silver coin from his pocket and slapped it down.
"That’s enough. Just get us the room."
"Right away, right away!"
The sight of a silver coin made the owner’s face break into a wide grin, and she readily agreed.
The silver coin somehow vanished into her sleeve, and she made no mention of change. Instead, she deftly plucked a key from the wall, picked up a bamboo-cased thermos from beside her feet, and twisted around to lead her guests upstairs.
The wooden staircase to the second floor was narrow and steep. Every step produced a loud CREAK, as if the whole thing might collapse at any moment.
The handrail and walls, greasy and blackened from countless hands, were littered with small advertisements for "Guaranteed Cures for Venereal Disease" and "Specialists in Finding Lost Persons." The sight made the man in the suit frown, and his grip on the girl’s hand tightened.
After the difficult climb, they reached a door. The owner had just taken out the key and was forcing a smile, about to offer a few parting words.
But before she could open her mouth, the man snatched the key from her, pulled the girl into the room, and slammed the door shut with a loud BANG.
Infuriated, the owner spat at the door a few times before stomping back downstairs with the thermos, muttering curses all the way.
Inside the cramped room, the man backhanded the lock, switched on the electric lamp, and immediately moved to the window, which was covered in old newspapers. He peered cautiously through a crack.
Down in the filthy, muddy alley below, a few pedestrians hurried past with their heads turtled into their collars. Other than that, nothing seemed out of place.
Only then did he let out a sigh of relief. He turned, took off his hat, and carefully peeled a thin membrane and a fake mustache from his face. Beneath them was the striking, yet undeniably weary, face of a woman.
"We’re safe for now. It should take them a while to find us here.
It’s just... you’ll have to put up with these conditions for a bit."
The woman turned to the girl, who was sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, and spoke in a gentle voice.
