Above the Great Dao
Chapter 281 - 146 Picking Baby_2

Chapter 281: Chapter 146 Picking Baby_2

"This meditation session allowed me to experience the subtle nuances of the ’Seven Cycles, Eight Transformations, and Nine Returns’. Having Red Mountain Lady as my Divine Embryo is indeed extraordinary."

Chen Shi gazed intently as his consciousness arrived at the small temple, only to see Red Mountain Lady sitting on the shrine, eyes fixed on her nose, nose on her heart, entering a mysterious state from which she could hardly wake.

The moonlight in the small temple was like a tide, constantly flying from the sky above the ancestral lands, swirling and fluttering, pouring into her body.

It seemed that Red Mountain Lady’s realm was higher. Just now, as she sat in meditation and cultivated, she inadvertently led Chen Shi into the Great Perfection state of the Golden Core’s nine transformations, and thus his meditation was exceedingly deep.

This was a benefit he could never have imagined before!

"Do the Divine Embryos of other cultivators have this effect, too?"

Chen Shi was quite curious. He did not have a real Divine Embryo, so he could only treat Red Mountain Lady and other spiritual bodies like Evil Spirits as his Divine Embryos. He wondered what real Divine Embryos could do.

"Red Mountain Lady is cultivating, better not to disturb her."

Chen Shi left the small temple and said to Black Pot, "No need to go to Red Mountain Hall, let’s head back to the eastern posthouse in the city."

He once again entered the state of ’Seven Cycles, Eight Transformations, and Nine Returns’. His Qi-Blood surged; his cultivation level continued to increase. At the same time, the Lantai Palace in his Dantian exuded a fragrant aroma, refining the alchemy pill. That Golden Core became like white gold, emitting a blazing white light.

A faint white light could be seen in his lower abdomen, and only when Chen Shi awoke did it gradually fade and disappear.

After Chen Shi returned to the posthouse, he ate some supper and continued to sit in silence. In the second half of the night, the other scholars in the room were awakened by the white light and saw their room as bright as day, dazzlingly lit.

Once the scholars acclimated, they saw that the white light was shining out from Chen Shi’s Dantian, which made them unsettled with amazement.

The crowd approached and touched Chen Shi. He had no breath, no heartbeat, and an odd fragrance emitted from his body.

They looked at Chen Shi carefully and saw that the light reflected his internal organs with crystal clarity, even his bones were visible.

Chen Shi’s bones emitted a red glow, resembling exquisite jade.

His blood flowed, filled with tremendous Spiritual Power, milky in color of his vessels.

"Has Scholar Chen become bewitched?" they wondered in alarm and suspicion.

Chen Shi was awakened by their shock, and all the various phenomena in his body dispersed. He thought to himself, "Staying in the posthouse is not conducive to cultivation. I wonder if I can ask to stay at Red Mountain Hall?"

He opened his eyes, scanned around, and saw four scholars in the same room as him. One of them had his calf eaten away by a woman from the Tianlao Society and, presumably, had gone to get treatment for his wound. The posthouse had arranged for another scholar to come in, a stranger.

Zhao Kaiyun was not in the room, his bed empty.

Chen Shi decided not to delay any further. He wrote a note, slipped it under Zhao Kaiyun’s pillow to tell him that he was going to stay at Red Mountain Hall, and then packed his things. Calling Black Pot and the wooden cart, he hurried toward Red Mountain Hall.

The quiet of Gongzhou City was deep at night, with only the barking of dogs and the knocking of watchmen’s clappers to be heard.

The city, guarded by a commander-in-chief, should have military forces patrolling at night, but Chen Shi did not encounter a single one on his way.

The night was cool, and the breath he exhaled shimmered white under the moonlight.

This kind of climate was prevalent throughout West Bull New Continent, without the interchange of the four seasons. It was the same all year round, resembling the spring described in books when the sun just rose, turning into summer by noon. At night, the temperature was like early autumn or winter, but it never snowed.

Chen Shi had never seen snow in his life.

Walking down the deserted streets, lost in thought, he suddenly heard a voice from around the corner, "You must be Chen Shi, the Scholar. I heard you’re the new instructor at Red Mountain Hall. I was planning to look for you at the posthouse, but here you are, out and about."

Chen Shi stopped in his tracks and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a man dressed in a scholarly Daoist robe standing against the wall, situated within the shadows, his appearance indiscernible, but Chen estimated he was in his thirties.

"I am Chen Shi. And you are?"

With a hint of sorrow and anger in his voice, the scholar in the Daoist robe replied, "I am Han Mingyu, instructor of the Tianlao Society. Master Chen, what did my disciple do to deserve being killed by your own hands?"

Chen Shi was slightly taken aback and said, "Master Han, why would you say such a thing? I have just arrived in Gongzhou to take part in the autumn examinations. I have always strived to be good to others..."

The scholar in the Daoist robe interrupted him with a cold laugh, "You are here for the autumn examinations, and so was my disciple Qiu Yingying. By that account, you could be considered classmates. Yet, Master Chen, you’ve had the heart to slay her."

""

Chen Shi suddenly realized and exclaimed, "Your disciple, is she the Bear Woman who practiced the Beast Creation Skill?"

Han Mingyu sneered, "You remember, huh? My disciple was also a Scholar, set to participate in the autumn examinations for Scholar. She toiled in her cultivation, and it was not easy for her to achieve what she did. She was practically guaranteed to succeed in the exams, but to think she would die at your hands! Although Heavenly Elder spared you, I will not!"

Chen Shi hurriedly explained, "Your disciple cultivated the Beast Creation Skill and must have been eager to make progress, absorbing moonlight and becoming tainted by its radiance into an Evil Spirit. It was only because she was devouring people at the post station that I intervened..."

Han Mingyu coldly said, "Even if my disciple had turned into an Evil Spirit, it was my responsibility to handle her, not Red Mountain Hall’s. You are Red Mountain Hall’s instructor, and you’ve broken the rules."

Chen Shi, who always respected rules, was well aware of their importance at Qianyang Mountain. He replied, "I only became the instructor for Red Mountain Hall afterwards, it wasn’t after becoming the instructor that I killed your disciple. Master Han, please do not misunderstand."

Han Mingyu shook his head, "It doesn’t matter now. Today, I will avenge my disciple."

He clapped his hands lightly, and urgent footsteps echoed from another street. Beneath the moonlight, in the dim and unclear corner of the street, more than ten people ran towards them, stopping some dozen yards away, each setting down a clay jar before turning to leave.

The jars were about a foot and three or four inches tall, and about a foot wide, somewhat larger than those used for storing wine.

Chen Shi was puzzled.

Suddenly, there was a ’pop’ and a head emerged from one of the jars—it was a seven- or eight-year-old child, poking his head out curiously, looking around with a topknot tied on his head.

The child was a boy, pale-faced, with cheeks painted red in the shape of a circle. Seeing Chen Shi, he let out a giggling laugh.

"Evil Spirit!"

Chen Shi was startled. The boy in the jar was emitting a strong aura of malevolence, evidently transformed into an Evil Spirit!

However, he immediately questioned his own judgment; the boy in the jar was still breathing, clearly alive!

Then came the sound of ’pop, pop, pop,’ as children’s heads began to emerge from the other eleven jars, both boys and girls, only poking their heads out.

"Clatter."

One jar gently began to roll, moving nimbly into the shadows.

The giggling laughter drifted from the shadows, elusive and erratic.

The other jars also started to roll, moving as if alive, clattering around Chen Shi with increasing speed, despite having no legs.

"Be careful!"

The voice of the Red Mountain Lady echoed suddenly in Chen Shi’s mind, "These are the Tianlao Society’s Harvested Children, also called Elixir children; they’re extremely sinister!"

She had been cultivating on Chen Shi’s shrine all this time but was now awakened by the evil aura and came to the temple’s gate, where she could see the scene outside and thus warned him.

"Harvested Children? What is that?" Chen Shi asked.

The Red Mountain Lady thought for a moment, "I’ve heard from Incense Master of Red Mountain Hall that Harvested Children are selected based on the hour of their birth, seven or eight years old, and their limbs are cut off, then they are cultivated for forty-nine days. If they survive, their souls and spirits are sealed, and their bellies are opened to remove the organs, filled instead with herbs and spices, and cultivated with a Secret Technique inside jars. The children are kept hovering between life and death, to be used for the creation of human alchemy pills. The ones that succeed are called Harvested Children or Elixir Children."

She added, "On regular days, Tianlao Society’s people use these children to perform street acts, juggling, to exchange for money. But if they encounter an enemy, the children are sacrificed, and they have strong jaws that can bite through anything, which makes them very dangerous!"

Chen Shi’s anger flared, "These children in the jars, were they made from living people?"

"Indeed."

The Red Mountain Lady continued, "Those in Tianlao Society who practiced the Beast Creation Skill would go to the countryside, posing as peddlers or old women asking for directions, then take away children they fancied by turning them into lambs or geese to be carried away in cages, brought to the city to cultivate Harvested Children. I heard that three children being turned into one Harvested Child is considered a good outcome..."

Chen Shi interrupted her, "If I were to kill another Tianlao Society instructor, Lady, could you help me oppose Tianlao Society?"

The Red Mountain Lady hesitated, "Not that it can’t be done, but I have had agreements with the Cao Elder Association and other such groups; I cannot act too excessively..."

"I will take you out tomorrow to have fun!" Chen Shi stated resolutely.

"Deal!" The Red Mountain Lady agreed without hesitation.

"Alright! I’m off to kill someone!"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.