Witch Wind

Chapter 8: Waves Rising (Part )

With the sound of "da da", Xing Tianli quickly left the dock.

Behind him, he could still hear County Magistrate Ma boasting with some pride - there was a severe drought in the northwest, with no rain for three years, and tens of millions of bankrupt refugees; a very powerful "good man" from England came forward, spent real money, hired the refugees, and provided work in exchange for relief.

"Five years. As long as you work for five years and save up some money to pay to the British court, you see these unlucky guys, in five years, they will be real British citizens!" County Magistrate Ma boasted proudly, and from his tone, it seemed as if he had transformed himself into a pure-blooded foreign master because of this incident.

The drizzle was hazy, and on the cobblestone street, there was only Xing Tianli and a few men from the inspection department following him.

Xing Tianli walked faster and faster, his heart beating loudly in his chest, and the tremendous heat rising up made him almost want to shout out loud.

After returning to his own courtyard, Xing Tianli tried his best to calm down. He asked a few men to stay in the front yard, and he went to the west wing of the backyard, burned incense and worshiped the Three Pure Ones, and silently recited a meditation scripture. After finally calming down his mood, he slowly walked to the bamboo forest in the backyard and came to the lonely bamboo shoot.

"For fourteen years, I have endured with my teeth and claws drawn in. Today, I will rise up with the help of the rising sun. I will transform into Kunpeng and vow to reach the top!"

Xing Tianli let out a long roar, and the purple bamboos in the garden shook violently. A hurricane swept across the flat ground, and countless bamboo leaves fell off one after another, swirling and flying in the bamboo forest. A thunderbolt fell from the sky, and dozens of pieces of lightning debris the size of a human head made a loud "crackling" sound, shaking all the way from the northwest to the southeast.

In the Lingtai Purple Mansion, the broken bronze ancient sword shone with a mighty, magnificent and incredible sword light, which fell heavily on Xing Tianli's soul. Xing Tianli's soul, like a real person, roared, took the initiative to fly into the air, and went up to meet the sword light.

Among the nine giant tripods that surrounded his soul, the one in the middle rose up closely following Xing Tianli’s soul.

A slight pain came over him, and the soul of Xing Tianli was cut into two pieces by the sword. The light of the 10%-sized soul dimmed, and it condensed into the form of Xing Tianli's body again, curled up in the Lingtai Zifu, sitting cross-legged silently to regulate his breathing. The 90%-sized soul suddenly merged with the phantom of the giant tripod, was wrapped by the sword light, and rushed straight out of the Lingtai Zifu.

In all directions, the boundless chaos rolled violently, as if endless nightmares and horrors were roaring. Tens of thousands of huge black tentacles rolled out from the chaos and rolled towards the shadow of the giant tripod.

The bronze sword light clanged and shattered the tentacles one by one. Most of the tentacles were swallowed by the giant cauldron, and the other small tentacles were swallowed up by the eight large cauldrons on the Lingtai Zifu.

The sword light surged, tearing apart the chaos, protecting the giant cauldron in the void, wrapping up 90% of Xing Tianli's soul, breaking free from the Lingtai Zifu, and with a loud bang like the creation of the world, falling straight into his heart.

The heart, which radiated a dazzling red light, beat violently, as if it was carved from a glass gem. The blood essence that had accumulated bit by bit over the past fourteen years and had almost condensed into substance was shaking violently, leaping up fiercely, and suddenly merging with the shadow of the giant tripod.

'Buzz'!
A low roar erupted from Xing Tianli's heart, like the first thunder between heaven and earth on the ancient and desolate continent, rolling over and over his whole body.

Xing Tianli's entire body was emitting extremely faint, transparent bronze flames, and his clothes instantly turned to ashes.

The roar shook the body, and countless acquired impurities hidden deep in the bone marrow, bones, internal organs, and even blood, flesh, and meridians were shaken violently and suddenly left Xing Tianli's body. Countless tiny impurities mixed with a very faint fishy smell, turned into thousands of thin streams in the roar, and suddenly merged into a turbid air that rushed up.

Xing Tianli exhaled a breath of hot air, and wisps of black and gray impurities visible to the naked eye came out from the bronze flames. The entire back garden was suddenly filled with an indescribable faint fishy smell.

A gust of wind blew away the stench, and it disappeared without a trace.

A clear and refreshing breath, like the natural and elegant breath of the ancient pine forest after a thunderstorm, lingered and spread from the body of Xingtian Carp.

Two lines of black blood with a pungent odor slowly flowed out from the corners of Xing Tianli's eyes. His eyes felt like they were burning and pierced by needles, as if someone was using a small saw blade to tear his eyeballs apart crazily. As the smelly black blood continued to flow, the pain was rapidly easing.

The rumbling in my heart continued for nine breaths.

A fist-sized, ancient, wild, and bronze divine light full of infinite wildness was quietly floating in the heart of Xing Tianli. In the divine light, there was a small, materialized tripod the size of a soybean quietly floating.

Ninety percent of the soul, one heart's essence and blood, together with the phantom of the giant cauldron that contained infinite Tao rhyme, finally condensed into this bean-sized cauldron.

"Command!" Xing Tianli formed seals with his hands and shouted loudly. The small tripod shook violently, and a huge force burst out. The blood and energy in his body raised waves of huge waves, whistling straight into his eyes. In the corners of his eyes, black blood was impacted by the huge force and spurted out more than ten feet away.

My eyes suddenly felt cool and clear.

The originally cloudy and empty eyes became distinct black and white, with a faint glow of light.

Xing Tianli opened his eyes and could see everything in the back garden clearly - the tall purple bamboos, the fallen leaves all over the ground, and the bamboo shoot behind him that was about six feet tall and had a cold metallic glow all over it.

"The fundamental method of cultivating life and death is like a stick of incense in the furnace of heaven and earth!"

Xing Tianli sang softly, "The Taoist has accomplished his mission today, but he has not yet come out into the world. When will he come out?"

Turning around, Xing Tianli slapped the bamboo shoots behind him.

A ray of cold light appeared.

On the bamboo shoots, pieces of bamboo shoot shells bloomed like petals, rising into the air with a chill. A total of 108 pieces of bamboo shoot shells flew up lightly, circling around Xing Tianli rapidly. Xing Tianli opened his mouth, and the cauldron in his heart vibrated gently. A ray of divine light surged, turning into a terrifying bronze flame that spewed out.

The bamboo shoot shell melted and turned into a ball of mist with a faint cold glow, which pounced towards Xing Tianli, and then turned into a black robe that wrapped around his whole body.

A bamboo with twenty-four sections, each section is two inches and four points long, as thick as a thumb, blue-purple all over, cold as if made of metal, but with a smooth texture like jade. It flew out from the flying bamboo shoots and gently fell into Xing Tianli's hands.

Xing Tianli tightly grasped the thin bamboo, and a wonderful feeling of blood blending and mind connection surged into his heart.

Before Xing Tianli could figure out the beauty of the thin bamboo, a commotion suddenly came from the front yard. Xing Tianli frowned, and his eyes, which had once been a little bright, became cloudy and empty again, and he gently tapped the thin bamboo to the ground.

'Boom'!
The dirt on the ground splashed, and he tapped the ground casually. A continuous force in the thin bamboo was activated on its own, and it blasted a big hole in the ground that was one foot square and more than three feet deep.

“Wonderful!” Xing Tianli smacked his lips and shook his head. He carefully picked up the thin bamboo, which was thin but weighed more than 300 kilograms, tapped the ground lightly, and walked out of the bamboo forest in the back garden quickly: “From now on, you will be called, Purple Ribbon Taoist Robe, and…Tongtian Wonderful Bamboo!”

When leaving the garden, Xing Tianli stopped, looked back and took a deep look.

This garden and this bamboo forest.

Ten years, 3,650 days of hard work, this garden, this bamboo forest, every inch of land, every branch and leaf, are all familiar to him. In Xing Tianli's heart, this garden must have a special feeling.

The thin bamboo tapped the ground and the tiles in the corridor, making a crisp "ding-ding" sound.

With the sound of "ding ding", Xing Tianli quickly walked to the porch door connecting the front yard and the back garden. Divine light surged in his heart, and the small tripod shook lightly. The gentle power of the soul quietly enveloped the area ten feet around him.

"Only ten feet." Xing Tianli pursed his lips and said, "Never mind, be content! After all, ninety percent of my soul has been condensed into this 'Furnace of Heaven and Earth', and I can still release my soul, which is already an unexpected surprise!"

In the front yard, several men from the Inspection Office gathered together, shouting and talking at the same time.

Seeing Xing Tianli approaching, a man hurriedly handed over a dagger: "Little Brother Li, those filthy people are so arrogant that they threw knives at us! Do they really think we are easy to bully?"

Xing Tianli took the dagger and weighed it lightly: "Ha!"

Feeling the strong smell left on the dagger, Xing Tianli wanted to ask them to find a mad dog. But he thought of his promise to Li Kuisheng, shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "Insolent? You have to have the ability to be insolent."

In the afternoon, in the west wing, under the portraits of the Three Pure Ones.

Xing Tianli sat cross-legged, with more than 200 kilograms of pig iron ingots beside him. He put his hands together in front of his chest, holding a piece of pig iron the size of a brick in his palms. In his palms, a faint bronze divine light with a hint of ancient breath could be seen lingering. The black iron block kept emitting wisps of white smoke, which was quickly melted and swallowed up by the bronze divine light.

In the heart, the bronze divine light wrapped around the small tripod swirled and danced, and the small tripod vibrated slightly. After the iron block in the palm was swallowed, it turned into strands of heat and flowed into the small tripod. Countless patterns in the small tripod lit up one after another, and the various images on the tripod rotated like a revolving lantern. This world has fallen into the Dharma Ending Age.

The so-called Dharma Ending Age, for practitioners, means that any "primordial Qi derived from heaven and earth" can no longer be found in the world, practitioners can no longer breathe and practice, and have lost the "opportunity to evolve."

However, Xing Tianli's fundamental law is extremely mysterious and domineering.

There is no "Primordial Qi" between heaven and earth, but the entire heaven and earth, when it was created, every flower, every grass, every grain of sand, and every stone were completely derived from the "Primordial Qi".

This fundamental method is to use supreme power to reverse the innate, go back to the primordial beginning, and forcibly refine all tangible things in the world into spiritual energy that can be used for breathing and cultivation.

In just a quarter of an hour, a twenty-jin piece of pig iron had been completely devoured. The blood in the body turned into firewood, burning madly in the bean-sized cauldron. After calcining for half an hour, there was a roar, and strands of clear and lively light whistled out from the cauldron, flowing through the body in an instant.

Xing Tianli's whole body shook, and a great joy and happiness that made him feel like he was floating in the air gradually arose.

Wisps of light flowed all over his body. Xing Tianli collected his mind, silently chanted the secret spell, and quickly formed seals with his hands. In just a breath, Xing Tianli's body swallowed up the light. As the secret spell sounded, strands of blood were generated from his bone marrow. Rolling heat waves swept through his body. Xing Tianli was sweating profusely, and a clear "crackling" sound of growth came from his body.

The new essence and blood rolled around the body for nine major circles. After most of it was consumed by the body, it quickly flowed into the heart and merged into the small cauldron.

The small tripod vibrated slightly, burning the essence and blood.

Strands of strange light gushed out from the small cauldron, and wisps of heavy air sank down and into the flesh. Then, from the skin to the flesh, from the internal organs to the bones, wherever the heavy air passed, ancient and wild Taoist patterns quietly emerged and were deeply imprinted there.

Wisps of clear and spiritual air gushed out from the mouth of the cauldron, floating straight into the spiritual purple palace.

The boundless chaos that trapped Lingtai Zifu was not disturbed, and the pure and spiritual energy directly merged into the soul.

The one-tenth of Xing Tianli's soul that remained in Lingtai Zifu was shining brightly all over his body. The golden and purple energy on the surface of his soul was slowly recovering, and his aura was slowly increasing.

The pure spirit rose, the heavy turbidity sank, and in the small tripod, a wisp of mellow and neutral energy lingered, slowly and completely merged with the small tripod. Visibly, the bean-sized small tripod expanded slightly, and the bronze divine light in the heart also brightened slightly.

In the middle of the small tripod, a very thin line of golden light quietly condensed. The golden light was shaped like an incense stick. A little divine light fell on the top of the incense stick, and the golden light slowly burned, constantly generating clear, heavy, and neutral energy, constantly strengthening the body, replenishing the soul, and strengthening the small tripod.

"In the Dharma Ending Age, there is actually such a fundamental law that can reverse the universe and seize the fortune of heaven and earth!"

"Master, this is the luck that I have cultivated for nine lifetimes!"

In Lingtai Zifu, Xing Tianli's soul raised his head and took a deep look at the ancient bronze sword hanging high above Lingtai Zifu. He bowed very seriously, sat cross-legged, and silently recited a Taoist scripture.

Grab a piece of pig iron with both hands again.

The palm of his hand was surrounded by a bronze divine light, and with a "hissing" sound, the pig iron was melted and swallowed by the palm at a speed that was a little faster than before.

In the evening, Xing Tianli heard some noise in the front yard. Li Kuisheng and his men came back, accompanied by the waiter from the restaurant, who brought a fine meal.

Xing Tianli slowly stood up and looked inside with joy, examining the small tripod which had grown from the size of a soybean to the size of a broad bean. The golden light inside had become as thick as a mung bean and was half an inch high.

He gently moved his body, and his joints all over his body made dull "cracking" sounds. Xing Tianli suddenly felt his ankles slightly cold, and he lowered his head to see that his ankles and half of his calves were exposed outside his trouser legs.

"At least I've grown three inches taller!" Xing Tianli was pleasantly surprised: "This fundamental method, which increases my magic power and spirit, is indeed powerful, but the strength of my physical body has increased a bit too much... Well, no, it's not entirely because of this fundamental method, it's the bloodline of my physical body!"

"There's something very strange about the bloodline of my physical body!"

Xing Tianli put down the seal in his hand, and the purple Taoist robe made of bamboo shoots on his body expanded automatically without wind, perfectly fitting his current body shape. He casually opened the collar and looked at his chest.

On the chest, a thick arm shadow tightly grasped a square shield, quietly emerging from under the skin. The shadow was extremely clear, and even the pattern of the ferocious Taotie head on the two-inch square shield was visible.

"Xing Tian! In this life, I am Xing Tian." Xing Tianli looked at the image on his chest and said softly, "Will Xing Tian holding a Ganqi appear on my chest in the end? This is too absurd!"

"But, as I remember, he, as well as those uncles and elders, were all exceptionally tall and strong, each one like a brown bear." Xing Tianli muttered to himself: "It's time to settle the grudges and pray for a smooth Tao heart!"

In the front yard and the main hall, Xing Tianli and Li Kuisheng drank from a plate of fried peanuts, and did not touch the delicious food on the table. In the flickering light, Li Kuisheng, with a slightly red face, chattered to Xing Tianli.

"This flying knife sending a book is indeed rude and outrageous."

"According to your uncle's temper, anyone who dared to play like this would have been shot to death and dragged out to be buried in a mass grave."

"But who signed the post today?"

Li Kuisheng picked up the wine glass and drank it all with a squeak. He said softly, "I didn't expect that he would get involved. He was a very important person back then. How could he get involved in such a despicable thing?"

"Xiao Yu'er!" Li Kuisheng suddenly looked at Xing Tianli seriously: "You said, uncle will resign from this position and take you to the Pinghai City Concession to see those foreign doctors to see your eyes, okay?"

"Your eyesight is not damaged from birth, but from acquired factors!"

“Perhaps, there is some hope?”

Xing Tianli also held a small wine glass and sipped the wine. After hearing what Li Kuisheng said, he laughed: "Old uncle, are you trying to escape from the battlefield? Who scared you so much that you don't even dare to be the inspector?"

Li Kuisheng's eyes widened, his face flushed: "Hey, how can you talk like that? Am I afraid? Afraid of nothing! I..."

Li Kuisheng slammed the table hard and wanted to brag about something. Then, he waved his hand angrily and whispered, "Well, just think of me as being scared."

"However, I'm not afraid of Boss Sun and his gang of scumbags. Just them? No matter how many people come, I can deal with them with my brothers from the Inspection Office. But they actually hooked up with the foreigners."

Xing Tianli said coldly: "Foreigners? Foreigners, are they so great?"

Li Kuisheng was silent for a while, then said dejectedly: "I don't want to say anything discouraging, but these days, foreigners are really amazing."

Waving his hands, Li Kuisheng murmured, "Of course, if it's just foreigners, I can make them cry for their parents in this small piece of land of Xiaolongqiu Town. Even if they hook up with the county magistrate, they are just filthy trash, trash that can be easily dealt with!"

"But..."

Li Kuisheng grabbed the dagger on the corner of the table, played with it over and over again for a while, and then inserted it heavily into the table.

The gate of the courtyard rang, and the inspector guarding the door shouted loudly.

Amid the sound of footsteps, a man surrounded by several patrol officers strode in. The man was extremely tall, almost seven feet tall, and slightly thin, with arms and legs that were extremely long compared to his height. He swayed as he walked, and the whole person gave people the feeling that he was a reptile "wandering" forward.

The man was wearing a black gown and had a shaved head. He strode into the main hall with his head held high. He sat down at the head seat at the eight-immortals table without any courtesy, grabbed the chopsticks, and started eating the delicious food that had already cooled down on the table.

(End of this chapter)