Misguided practice of sinister cultivation techniques: Slander! The problem lies with you all, not me!
Chapter 157 - 148: Chicken and Monkey Present Gifts, Sixteen Strange Fist! (Request for Subscription)

Chapter 157: Chapter 148: Chicken and Monkey Present Gifts, Sixteen Strange Fist! (Request for Subscription)

The dark and damp crevices of the mountain walls, thick with slippery moss.

Here in the depths of an unnamed mountain within the mountain ranges of Yu State, cliff faces occasionally reveal hanging ancient coffins, their age unknown.

Some coffins have already become riddled with holes, exposing the blackened skeletons inside, creating a horrifying sight.

In this bleak weather, accompanied by the howling winds, this gloomy place could easily be mistaken for a path leading to the Netherworld hell, and some believe it to be so.

Even the most experienced medicinal herb gatherers would not venture here lightly.

Let alone herb gatherers, even the adept climbing monkeys or soaring eagles avoid this place.

This area reeks of Death Energy, casting an ominous sensation.

Since no one ventures here, who then has carried these coffins up the steep cliffs?

No one knows. These coffins, just like the dark cliffs, are eerie and bizarre, as if ghosts could emerge from them at any moment.

At this moment, a patch of moss on the inner walls of the mountain twisted slightly. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be a poisonous snake nearly fused with the moss.

The next instant, the snake rapidly darted away, as if startled by something.

With a snap, a hole suddenly broke through the wall, and a human hand emerged, seeming as if it had grown from within.

This hand precisely grabbed the snake’s vital spot, seven inches behind its head. The snake struggled but could not escape.

More of the wall crumbled, and a person emerged from it.

This person had a string of bright red tumors on his head, resembling a rooster’s comb. It was none other than Ji Sichen.

He yanked and flattened the snake with a pull, then, in the next moment, bit the snake’s head and began to chew, creating crackling noises.

The snake’s head was eaten, but its body still coiled, filling the air with a scent of blood.

The next moment, another figure emerged from that hole.

He appeared small, like a child, but upon landing, his body quickly grew to adult size.

Monkey Face had also arrived.

Seeing Ji Sichen eating the snake, Monkey Face disdainfully said, "Old Chicken, playing with so much blood at this time, aren’t you afraid of provoking the undead?"

Ji Sichen quickly swallowed the snake, licked the elongated snake head, and responded, "Otherwise, would you like to make this hole?"

His hands were still emitting white smoke, seemingly from just having made the hole.

Monkey Face chuckled and said, "Actually, this kind of thing is best suited for Rat Leader, but alas, he’s not here. Since you and I have enjoyed the company of Old Pig’s sister, it’s only right that we do something for Old Pig."

"Hmph."

What laid before the two was a deep cavern.

At a glance, the cavern seemed natural, but a closer look revealed traces of human polishing.

Both Ji Sichen and Monkey Face continued walking deeper, their view soon widening dramatically.

What they now faced was a cave.

In the cave hung decayed yellow talisman papers, and a reddish-brown wooden coffin, its color faded and hung by chains in midair, appearing as if a person were upside-down.

Upon reaching this spot, both Ji Sichen and Monkey Face fell silent.

Ji Sichen looked around and whispered softly, "Why do these old folks always like to bury themselves in these kinds of places, as if they really thought they’d ascend to immortality."

There are many mountains in Yun and Yu States, and since ancient times, many legends of immortals.

However, this cave housing a coffin carried no trace of immortal aura, only that of malevolence.

Monkey Face walked slowly toward the coffin and said, "Daoist Sun was indeed a practitioner in life, so it’s reasonable for him to bury himself like the ancient alchemists and qi practitioners, but those who buried him clearly didn’t regard him as an immortal."

The coffin, both suspended and affixed with talismans, might as well contain a demon.

Ji Sichen, recalling Monkey Face’s earlier jest, said, "This coffin is so peculiar, it wouldn’t really reanimate, would it?"

His eyes scanned around as if expecting something terrifying hidden within the dark depths of the cave.

"There are many mysterious things in this world; can we, two brothers, really be scared of a corpse?"

"Are we trying too hard to deal with Old Demon Duan by doing this?"

Ji Sichen still felt uneasy about the coffin, barely able to hold back his words.

By now, Monkey Face had drawn close to the coffin and said, "Daoist Sun was quite famous back in his day. Two hundred years ago, he was known as ’a Daoist somewhat skilled in martial arts,’ undefeated across three states. His ’Sixteen Strange Fist’ was also exceptionally famous.

This Fist Technique is genuinely fierce, but also genuinely sinister. Old Demon Duan resisted even my uncle’s ’romantic toy’, so naturally, we needed to find him something even more sinister."

Ji Sichen said, "What exactly happened to Daoist Sun in the end? Why have you always been reluctant to tell me?"

Monkey Face chuckled and said, "I was worried you wouldn’t come to make the tunnel if I told you."

"Actually, it’s nothing major. When he defeated his competitors across the three states, he started to go mad, often muttering to himself, ’Daoist master, I’ve made it!’ and ’What is fake, what is real.’ Later during a fight, he would either pull out his own fingernails or pierce his flesh with needles. Once, he even burst one of his eyes with a needle, and with a single punch, he severely injured the Sect Leader of Huangshan Sword Sect, leaving him unable to care for himself."

"Afterward, Daoist Sun renounced his Daoist vows, returned home, and continued his strange mutterings while practicing his ’Sixteen Strange Fist’. Six months later, his entire family of sixteen suddenly stripped naked, cut open their bellies, held their own hearts in their hands, and kneeled together in death.

Later, when people investigated, they found that Daoist Sun’s family had all committed suicide. It was said that Daoist Sun lived for a while even after extracting his own heart, continuously mumbling ’strange, strange, strange, strange,’ before he finally died."

"You should know that aside from Daoist Sun who learned martial arts, no one else in his family practiced martial arts. However, they were able to open cadavers barehanded. According to the only surviving coachman from the Sun family, the members suddenly understood martial arts overnight. In his words, it was as if the martial arts were akin to a plague that infected everyone in the family suddenly. Afterwards, they all began chattering nonsensically as they dug out their hearts and died."

"So, this ’Sixteen Strange Fist’ also used to be called the ’Sixteen Demonic Fist’."

At this moment, a chilly wind blew, and the chains suspending the coffins shook slightly, as if the person inside was about to come back to life.

Chicken Phase Ji Sichen got goosebumps all over and said, "How do you know so much?"

Monkey Face smiled and said, "These are documents left by our eldest brother, otherwise how could I have possibly found this old Daoist’s tomb?"

Chicken Phase was somewhat surprised, but then it made sense to him.

Among the Twelve Star Signs, Rat Phase was naturally the most formidable and renowned, having once killed three of the court’s seven famous constables and escaped unscathed.

Even his fellow brothers didn’t know how many strange skills Rat Leader truly possessed.

And Chicken Phase knew a bit about where Rat Leader’s strange skills originated.

Rat Leader’s real name was Cao Yin. The Cao Family from Yu State was a mysterious, long-standing family of tomb raiders, and his exceptional skills were mostly learned from various great tombs.

His disappearance, they believed, might also be related to tomb raiding.

Now, standing in front of this sinister coffin, Chicken Phase and Monkey Face were both a bit nervous.

Chicken Phase couldn’t help but speak again, "Are we really going to do this to deal with Old Demon Duan?"

Monkey Face grimaced and said, "Old Chicken, when you were dealing with your sister-in-law, you almost got on her back and rode, and now you’re scared of just opening a coffin for Old Pig?"

"You must realize, after Old Demon Duan killed our elder sister and Old Pig, he already formed a feud with us, the Twelve Star Signs. If we don’t kill him, who knows, next time he might come for you or me. Now that we’ve discovered Old Demon Duan’s fatal weakness for loving strange skills, how can we not seize the opportunity?"

Hearing this, Chicken Phase clenched his teeth and said, "Open it!"

"That’s right, you’re crowing like a rooster about to break the dawn, why fear these taboos. No matter how fierce and sinister this old Daoist was in life, he is but a corpse now."

No longer hesitating, the two demons chopped through the iron chains and unhooked the coffin.

With a thud, the coffin landed on the ground.

Monkey Face pushed, and the old redwood coffin lid was pushed open.

A stream of green smoke emerged from the coffin, and the two quickly covered their noses and mouths, retreating backwards.

Once the green smoke had dissipated, they approached again.

Inside the coffin lay the corpse of the old Daoist.

The two momentarily remained still, struck by the fact that in such a damp environment, the corpse had not completely decayed after so many years.

He was dressed in a Daoist robe, with only his face and right hand showing bones.

But at a glance, you could still tell he was incomplete.

The hollow right eye, the deformed fingers half missing nails, and the holes pierced through his shoulders, neck, and stomach, all proved the rumors that Daoist Sun would self-mutilate before striking others were not false.

As for the lack of severe decomposition in the corpse, Monkey Face wasn’t too concerned; the fake white ape corpse he had used to deceive Old Demon Duan also hadn’t decomposed much.

There are ways to prevent corpses from decaying in this world.

Digging through the old Daoist’s remains, Monkey Face indeed found the ’Sixteen Strange Fist’ manual.

The manual was engraved on a dark green jade scroll, inserted precisely at the position of the old Daoist’s heart.

Yes, the old Daoist’s skeletal remains lacked a heart, and that jade scroll seemed to be his heart.

"Success! Rat Leader’s intelligence was absolutely correct," Monkey Face said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Looking at that jade scroll, Monkey Face wanted to see what was written for a moment.

But he resisted.

The world’s strange skills often carry great risks; practicing skills requires a test person, and after all the trouble they went through to find this, naturally, they must gift this ’grand’ present to Old Demon Duan.

"I don’t believe it, this time Old Demon Duan won’t go mad and commit suicide."

At that moment, Monkey Face even carried Daoist Sun’s corpse out of the coffin.

Chicken Phase was startled and said, "What are you doing?"

"To play the part well, if Old Demon Duan only sees the jade scroll, he might become suspicious. But if it’s accompanied by the corpse, he will naturally believe it," Monkey Face explained.

The idea was the same as hiding the secret book in the white ape’s belly to deceive many clever people.

Unfortunately, the white ape had already been used, so this time the old corpse was needed.

Monkey Face carried the old Daoist’s remains and said, "Let’s go, time to return."

Chicken Phase got up and turned back.

Climbing out of the cave entrance, the thought of Monkey Face carrying that old corpse made his heart uncomfortable.

It was as if that old corpse wasn’t actually dead and was secretly watching him.

Sadly, such a notion was rather absurd.

It must be because of the Taiyin’s environmental influence.