Black Journey to the West: The Imposter Star Lord

Chapter 34: Corrosive Spores

Once the rotting spirit paste in the pot had cooled down, Gu Su took out a jade bottle, made hand seals and chanted incantations. After a while, layers of silver light rippled on the jade bottle, and then the bottle opening was aimed at the soup pot.

"receive!"

Gu Su said "Save" and the jade bottle emitted a suction force, sucking all the pot of Corrupting Spirit Paste into it.

Spatial artifact?

Cao Xing's eyes lit up upon seeing this: "Uncle-Master, can this magic artifact hold anything?"

Gu Su put away the jade bottle: "It can't hold hard objects. My black mercury bottle can only hold three pots of this kind of medicinal soup. It can't hold any more. However, I once heard the patriarch say that there are some magical treasures in this world that can carry things, but those are minor tricks and not worth mentioning."

After saying that, Gu Su calculated the time with her fingers, then turned to Cao Xing and said, "You will live here from now on. If you hear any noise at night, don't pay attention to it. If you hear someone knocking on the door, don't pay attention to it either."

Gu Su then pointed to the oil lamp on the roof: "Take good care of this lamp. As long as the flame remains lit, it will keep you safe. But if the lamp goes out, then you'd better pray for good fortune."

Upon hearing Gu Su say this, Cao Xing immediately replied, "Actually, I can go back to sleep."

"That won't do. If you hear any loud noises outside while you're here at night, you must notify me immediately."

Gu Su took out a communication talisman from her bosom and handed it to Cao Xing: "Inject your true energy into it, and you can summon me."

"Well, it really is true that money is hard to earn and life is tough." Cao Xing sighed as he put the communication talisman into his pocket.

Gu Su rolled her eyes at Cao Xing: "You've never eaten it before."

Cao Xing: ...

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Get some rest tonight, and I'll bring you lunch tomorrow at noon."

Gu Su opened the door and warned Cao Xing again before leaving: "Remember, no matter who knocks, don't open the door."

"I've got it."

Cao Xing nodded. After Gu Su closed the door, Cao Xing locked it as well. There was a small bed in the room. Cao Xing sat on it, took out two Spirit Essence Pills, put them in his mouth, closed his eyes, and began to meditate and cultivate.

After Gu Su left, Cao Xing stuffed the remaining pastries, steamed buns, and half a roast chicken into his sleeve and whispered, "Sister, was what Gu Su said just now true?"

"It's true."

After receiving confirmation from his elder sister, Cao Xing glanced at the door and then at the oil lamp above his head, before closing his eyes and continuing his meditation.

It wasn't until around dawn that Cao Xing got up and opened the door.

"Buzz~~"

The scraping sound of the door hinges was unusually jarring in the woods. Cao Xing peeked out and saw that the woods were eerily quiet.

There were no birdsong, no insect chirping; it was deathly silent.

Cao Xing put on the golden ring and walked outside. When he arrived at the mass grave not far behind the house, he looked at the few relatively fresh corpses on the outermost side. Cao Xing's gaze swept over them and then focused on a few corpses dressed in ordinary hemp clothing.

Since all the corpses were dumped here, Song Fang's corpse should be here too, right?

He didn't recognize Song Fang, but judging from his father's clothes, he probably wasn't from a wealthy family.

After squatting down and carefully examining the corpses, Cao Xing found a gaunt man whose face vaguely resembled the old man's, especially his eyebrows and nose.

"It must be him."

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Cao Xing made hand seals and used the [Netherworld Enlightenment Technique].

As a wisp of eerie light appeared from his fingertip, the corpse in front of him trembled slightly, and then a dark figure gradually sat up from the corpse.

As the silhouette of the shadowy figure gradually became clearer, its facial features were actually more defined than those of the corpse, which further convinced Cao Xing that this person was indeed the old man's son, Song Fang.

"Song Fang!"

Cao Xing called out softly. The man trembled slightly, then looked up blankly. When he saw Cao Xing in his Taoist robe, his spirits lifted: "I succeeded? Can I now join the immortal sect?"

Cao Xing shook his head. He hadn't expected that even after this person died, he would still be so attached to the matter of joining the Shangfang Temple.

"Look back."

The man turned around and looked behind him. When he saw the emaciated corpse, his face changed drastically. He cried out "Ah!" and collapsed to the ground.

"I...I...this..." Only then did he see his surroundings clearly. When he saw the corpses around him, he was so frightened that he became incoherent and looked at Cao Xing with a face full of terror.

"I'm here to ask you, is your name Song Fang?"

Cao Xing squatted down and stared at the man, asking him a question.

Song Fang nodded.

After receiving confirmation, Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief: "Your father is waiting for you at the foot of the mountain gate."

"My dad..."

Song Fang's expression faltered for a moment, as if she were thinking of her father, and her voice choked up: "Is he alright?"

"It's alright. I told him to go back first, and I can take you back next time I come down the mountain."

Upon hearing that Cao Xing could take him back to see his father one last time, Song Fang became extremely excited. He immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to Cao Xing, saying, "Thank you, Immortal! Your kindness is beyond repayment in this life. If there is an afterlife, I will repay you by serving you as an ox or a horse."

"Get up. I'm no immortal either. We're all just fellow sufferers, helping each other out."

Cao Xing gestured for Song Fang to stand up.

Cao Xing glanced at the other corpses again: "Are there any people you know here? If you need, I can take them with me."

Yes, yes!

Song Fang nodded and pointed to the corpse on the left: "That's my neighbor, Erhuzi. I recognize the one next to him; he's a local named Sun Bai. I don't know that person well, but we had a meal together before attending the conversion ceremony."

Song Fanglian pointed to three people.

Cao Xing used the Netherworld Enlightenment Technique in turn to bring out the souls of the three people.

Like Song Fang, Cao Xing explained the situation to the three men and indicated that he could take them away from there. The three men were extremely grateful.

"In the next few days, ask around and see if there are any other spirits willing to join you. I'll take them all with me."

Theoretically, he could have used the Netherworld Enlightenment Technique to ignite all the corpses here.

But this is from above, and if something goes wrong, I'll be in trouble myself.

Cao Xing didn't want to reveal too many of his methods, so he asked Song Fang and the other three to ask around so he could think of a way to take these wandering souls away.

Around noon, Gu Su arrived carrying a food box.

Seeing that she seemed to be in a good mood, Cao Xing hurriedly went to greet her: "Uncle-Master, you've finally arrived! I'm starving."

"Nothing much happened last night, right?" Gu Su asked.

"No." Cao Xing shook his head.

"That's good."

As she spoke, Gu Su led Cao Xing to the door of the small house, opened the food box, and found a roast chicken, a pot of wine, three small dishes, and five steamed buns.

Before Cao Xing could prepare the rice, he saw Gu Su casually pick up an incense burner and place it in front of him.

Upon seeing this, Cao Xing glared and saw that Gu Su had already inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner.

Upon seeing this, Cao Xing's lips twitched: "Uncle-Master, so what you meant by 'all-inclusive meals'?? Offerings to the gods?"

No wonder I kept feeling like the food smelled like incense last night when I was eating it. So that's what happened.

"Otherwise what?" Gu Su rolled her eyes at Cao Xing.

Cao Xing frowned as he looked at the incense burning in the incense burner. He looked up at the sky. Although the place was very cold and gloomy, it was noon and the sun was shining brightly. Even if offerings were placed there, those wandering ghosts would not be able to eat them.

"Uncle-Master, why leave so many corpses here?"

Taking advantage of the break, Cao Xing asked Gu Su about the corpses.

Gu Su didn't explain, but simply said, "After we finish eating, I'll take you somewhere, and you'll find out then."

"oh!"

Once the incense had burned out, Cao Xing and Gu Su sat down at the stone table and finished eating all the offerings. Then, Gu Su led Cao Xing to a shady spot on the back of the mountain.

Even with Cao Xing's constitution, he felt icy cold all over after getting here. Not only was he cold, but what was worse was the stickiness. It was as if there was a viscous liquid floating in the air, and after a short while, Cao Xing felt sticky to the touch.

When they arrived at a cave, Cao Xing saw that the ground was covered with spores.

These spores were dark and I didn't know what they were, but they shimmered with a pale blue light in the shadows.

"These bone-rotting spores are the main ingredient of the Corrupting Spirit Ointment. They are spiritual herbs grown using the bones of Yin corpses as soil and bone ash as fertilizer. The Corrupting Spirit Ointment is an auxiliary medicine for all pills below the Golden Core realm. Your daily job is to take care of these bone-rotting spores."

As Gu Su spoke, she walked to the water tank next to her, opened the lid, and found it filled with ashes. She grabbed a handful of ashes and splashed them onto the spores.

What's truly chilling is that when the ashes landed on the spores, the spores seemed to come alive, wriggling and emitting a chilling, grinding sound.

Cao Xing stared at the spores in front of him, his vision gradually darkening, as if he were seeing a pack of hungry beasts devouring people!