Chapter 5 (Part 1) of Book 4: A Heart with a Thousand Knots

  Back in Tangerine Island, Haiji went to rest. I returned to the valley to find Turfan and hand over the ice ant sauce and other items I bought.

  I ran through the valley, but I still couldn't find Turpan. For several days in a row, he didn't appear in the valley, and I guessed that he might have left.

  "Damn it, all my efforts have been wasted." I threw a big bag of Danmu seeds and Liu Xu Tianma on the ground, muttering to myself. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse, an owl with green eyes opened its eyes, let out a "hiss" and flew into the night sky from the tree shadow.

  The scene of our last meeting in Turpan is once again before my eyes. Logically speaking, if he wanted to leave quietly, he shouldn't have asked me to buy things for him anymore. Moreover, his words also revealed a desire to be buried in this land.

  "One shape, one body, four limbs and eight heads. The old father is paralyzed and relies on his son's back." I kept repeating the words of Tulufan before he left, feeling that there was something fishy about them. Tulufan was an old slippery head, he wouldn't say anything meaningless. Could it be that his words were like Xiaohong's, with a hidden double meaning?

  "Old father paralyzed leaning on son's back." I recited again, and suddenly a light flashed in my mind. I jumped up abruptly. This was actually a character riddle! It was the word "teach"! In an instant, I immediately understood the meaning of the character riddle "one shape one body, four limbs eight heads". This was the character for "well"! The character for "well" has four strokes like four limbs, and each stroke's starting and ending points are written on the ground, just like eight heads. After a long time, I realized that Tulufan's words hid the two characters "well" and "teach".

  What do these two characters mean? Suddenly, I had a burst of ideas. Could it be that he wants to teach me witchcraft in the well? Spitting three mouthfuls of saliva, could it imply the third watch of the night or perhaps the meaning of three days later? And the saliva also implies a "water" character, echoing with the well. Thinking of this, I couldn't sit still anymore and ran wildly through the mountains and valleys. Finally, on the south slope, at the edge of a dark and gloomy swamp, I found an abandoned dry well.

  The dry well was submerged in a mess of weeds, the green bricks on the wall were incomplete and covered with moss, the dark green wisteria was as thick as a python, crawling all over the mouth of the well. If you didn't look for it carefully, you wouldn't be able to find it. I pushed aside the vines and jumped into the dry well without hesitation.

  The well was very deep, and it was pitch black inside. I used the Mirror Pupil Secret Technique to see clearly around me. The water in the well had dried up, and at the bottom of the well there was only a patch of half-dry rotten mud. Several small crawling insects slowly crawled out of the mud. A black shadow lay leaning against the wall of the well, snoring loudly as it slept - it was Tulufan!

  "Haha, I'm here!" I shouted with joy, throwing a big bag of bamboo honey and six whisker heavenly hemp in front of him.

  Turpan opened his yellowed old eyes, let out a yawn, and turned over with annoyance: "What are you doing here again? What do you want at this late hour?"

  I burst out laughing: "Old slippery head, still pretending to be innocent? Didn't you call me here yourself?" I counted on my fingers, and from the last time we met, exactly three days had passed.

  Tulufan turned his head, stared at me for a while, with an insincere smile: "You're not stupid yet, in another hour it will be tomorrow. If you're late by one step, don't think I'll see you again."

  "Ah, I was right! You really are going to teach me magic!" I raised my hands in excitement, but suddenly caught sight of Tulufan's left arm turning a greyish-white color, covered in fine, fluffy hairs that looked like the long antennae of an insect. I couldn't help but exclaim: "What's happened to your hand?!"

  Turpan's face darkened: "My time is running out, and as I approach death, the demon power will gradually dissipate, and I will return to my original form as a monster."

  I felt a pang in my heart, and Tulufan waved his hand: "What's the point of putting on such an ugly face? Death is nothing to be afraid of. Compared to my peers, I've lived long enough."

  Witnessing Turpan's calm demeanor, I deeply admire him. If it were me, I would have been flustered long ago. Turpan carefully checked the things I bought and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, everything is complete."

  I curiously asked: "Are you using these things to treat injuries?"

  Turpan didn't respond, muttering to himself. A bright light flashed suddenly, and I was caught off guard, my hands and feet bound by crystal threads, fixed to the well wall. The crystal threads quickly tied a knot, leaving me unable to move.

  "I shouted in horror: 'Old monster, why did you use a curse to trap me?'"

  Turpan said calmly, "This is called Qianqian Jie, it's one of the most magical spells in my secret incantation technique. When using this spell, you don't have to worry about being backlashed by the curse because of speaking nonsense." He looked me up and down for a long time, nodded and said, "You little guy looks quite pale and your flesh seems firm, the taste should be pretty good."

  "My soul flew away: 'You want to eat me?'"

  Turpan's lips curled into a smile, revealing two triangular front teeth: "Before I die, can't I indulge in eating human flesh?"

  I'm so furious, this old monster is inhumane, saying he'd teach me magic in the well, but it's just a trap, his real intention is to harm me! In a fit of rage, I immediately cursed loudly, "You shameless thing!" Just after two sentences, my mouth suddenly tightened, bound by crystal threads, and I couldn't speak.

  Turpan smiled and took off my clothes, first taking out a catty of bamboo honey, pouring it on my skin, slowly rubbing it evenly, and humming in his mouth: "Add some honey to make it taste good." Then he mixed the six-whiskered heavenly hemp and the seeds of the red wood together, rubbed them into pieces, and said: "This is used as a seasoning."

  I wanted to cry but had no tears, after working so hard to buy all these things, only to make my flesh more delicious. Seeing that things were not going well, I started smiling obsequiously and winked frantically at Turpan, hoping he would let me speak, so I could use my silver tongue to deceive him and escape this disaster.

  Tulufan didn't care about me, grabbed two catties of ice ant paste, and forcibly poured it into my mouth, forcing me to swallow. As soon as the ice ant paste entered my belly, my internal organs immediately became icy cold, and then this chill turned into a scorching flame that burned inside my body.

  "Yuehun, save me!" I cried out in my heart, but Yuehun seemed to be asleep, not making a sound at the tip of my fingers. It's all over, even the last straw is gone, and I'm completely hopeless. At this time, the effect of Bingxian paste took hold, and my mind became dizzy. My body felt light and lazy, incredibly comfortable.

  "Open up!" Turban shouted, his bird-like fingers flashing out like lightning to slash at my belly, lightly peeling back a layer of skin to reveal the colorful internal organs. Before blood could spurt out, Turban quickly sprinkled an entire catty of qilin horn powder onto my belly, and the bleeding stopped instantly.

  Because I had eaten the ice ant paste, I didn't feel any pain at all, but instead felt numbness in my flesh and blood. Gradually, wonderful hallucinations appeared before my eyes, as if I were riding on clouds and mist, and I could no longer see Turpan.

  I don't know how long it took for me to come back to my senses. I lifted my head, and Tulufan was standing right in front of me, leaning against the well wall with a slight panting sound. I couldn't help but close my eyes again before opening them once more. The bright sunlight pouring in from the well mouth was particularly dazzling in the dimly lit well, and it was already noon on the second day.

  "Where am I? Am I dreaming?" I said weakly, the crystal threads that bound my hands and feet were gone, but my body was extremely weak, and my head was dizzy.

  Turpan stared at me intently, and overnight, his disheveled hair turned a snowy white. I recalled the events of last night, still feeling shaken: "So you didn't eat me after all, it really scared me to death."

  "Ptooey, your meat is both sour and smelly, who can swallow it?" Turpan's expression looked very tired, waving his hand: "I'm very tired, you come back here at three watches tonight, go now."

  I rubbed my belly, and surprisingly, there wasn't even a single scar on it. My internal organs didn't feel anything unusual either, just some faint pain. What exactly did he do to me last night? Why did he cut open my belly? However, I believe he didn't have any malicious intentions towards me; otherwise, I would've turned into a mummy by now. Wanting to ask for clarification, Turpan was already lying down fast asleep, so I had no choice but to leave with the doubts bottled up inside me.

  After jumping out of the ancient well, Yuè Hún suddenly said: "I heard that when cultivating incantations, one must first plant the incantation in their heart, connecting it with their flesh and blood. If using ordinary cultivation methods to plant the incantation, it would take nearly a hundred years. Now, Tǔlǔfān is helping you by opening your chest and abdomen, using the most direct method to plant the incantation, which can be done in just one night. However, this method is too perilous, and he's lucky to have such a big heart, daring to risk your life."

  I was stunned: "Could it be that Turpan's tearing me apart is actually a good intention?"

  "Qilin horn powder is a top-notch hemostatic agent, Bingyao syrup can numb the limbs and make you feel no pain, bamboo bee honey can nourish the internal organs, and mixing Liu Xu Tianma with Danmu seeds is the best way to replenish your vitality. Hehe, if you're lazy and don't buy one of these things, Tulufan won't be able to cast a spell for you."

  I suddenly realized that the old monster's curved intestines were not few! He asked me to buy medicine materials to test my sincerity, and typing puzzles to test my wisdom. If I didn't pass one of them, I wouldn't be able to get his teachings.

  Monkey's mind and horse's will thought for a whole day, until midnight, I hurried to the ancient well, first saluted Turpan with a long bow, the latter was solemn: "Young man, have you figured it out? But I've said before, your heart and mouth are not one, it's hard to learn the secret spell."

  I respectfully said: "Senior, just teach me a little bit of magic, your armpit hair is thicker than my waist anyway."

  Turpan snorted, "No need to call me senior, I'm teaching you demonic arts only because I promised to give you benefits. As for whether you can learn it or not, that's up to your comprehension. I won't live much longer anyway, so whatever I teach is whatever I teach."

  I only just noticed that his forehead had two small, flesh-colored bumps protruding slightly, like the antennae of an insect, and on both cheeks, fine white lines appeared, extending all the way to his neck, the characteristics of a monster becoming more and more apparent.

  "Recite the incantation first." Turfan's words were a jumbled mess, and I listened in confusion. After careful consideration, I realized that he hadn't directly revealed the cultivation mantra, but instead used wordplay or riddles to make me exhaust my mind guessing the hidden meaning behind the incantation. For example, when it came to the character "sit", Turfan would say something like "two people squatting on the ground". And for the phrase "control one's heart", he would definitely say something like "hands empty, breaking off thoughts". A simple five-character mantra would be dragged out into dozens of sentences, leaving me dizzy and seeing stars.

  After spending half the night, I finally remembered the mnemonic clearly, but I still didn't understand its meaning. The text of this mnemonic is obscure and abstruse, and Tulei Ban wouldn't reveal even a hint, just letting me repeat it silently over and over again.

  "Senior, I've almost memorized the incantation. Shouldn't we start practicing magic now?" I said with a bit of impatience.

  Tulufan's face showed a faint smile: "Don't you understand the meaning of the password?"

  I nodded reluctantly, and Tuluopan said calmly: "Of course you don't understand, because I taught you this incantation in reverse. Now read it from the last character to the first, recite it backwards, that's the correct order of the incantation, and you'll immediately understand its subtlety."

  I almost vomited blood, being driven to death by this old monster. Being with him will definitely shorten my lifespan by many years. Turpan said seriously: "This mantra has a terrible demon power, every time you recite a word, it will produce a strange reaction with your heart pulse. Your demon power is too shallow, if I teach you the correct mantra directly from the beginning, it will severely damage your heart."

  I suddenly smiled with joy: "So senior had good intentions."

  Tulufan suddenly jumped up, picked a large piece of green wisteria from the wellhead, and with both hands moving in a dazzling manner, tied the vines into a beautiful knot: "Learn from me to tie a knot."

  I immediately followed suit, and the Turkic gestures changed and transformed, and I tied another new knot. This knot was much more complicated than the previous one, and it took me a lot of time to complete. The Turkic hands didn't stop, tying complex knots on the green vines, big knots wrapped around small knots, butterfly knots wrapped around dragonfly knots... ... ... ... ..., my eyelids were sore from watching. I practiced like this for seven or eight days, and my knot-tying speed got faster and faster, and I also figured out many tricks. Gradually, every time I tied a knot, my hands seemed to be connected to my heart, and my hands would move in sync with the rhythm of my heartbeat. As my heart beat, I would involuntarily mutter incantations under my breath. At this level of practice, it was no longer my hands that were tying knots, but rather the Turkic magic spell that had been planted in my heart.

  "Senior, is what you taught me Thousand Knot Curse?"

  Tulufan nodded: "Now cooperate with the incantation and try casting a spell."

  I took a deep breath, my lips silently reciting the incantation, and my heartbeat became irregularly fast and slow, with an increasingly strange rhythm. "Boom", my heart seemed to suddenly swell up, and a crystal clear thread instantly appeared before my eyes. I was overjoyed, and my ten fingers trembled along with my heartbeat, just like tying knots on a green vine, the crystal thread immediately formed a spell knot.

  "I've mastered the Thousandfold Curse!" My heart was bursting with joy. With this curse, I could finally stop being afraid of Yun Dalang.

  Turpan snorted, "It's still early, the Thousand Knots Curse is divided into two parts: the Binding Knots and the Unbinding Knots. The latter is the nemesis of all secret curses in the world, capable of breaking all spells. Unfortunately, I've only cultivated it halfway and can't complete it." He let out a long sigh.

  My heart skipped a beat, if I could master the Dispelling Curse, wouldn't I be able to dispel the poison curse that has been cast on Ji Danmei and my Master? Thinking of this, I was overjoyed, but then I thought again, Turfan has been practicing for thousands of years and still hasn't succeeded, I'm afraid I'll have to wait until the monkey year and horse month.

  Turpan began to teach me how to untie the knot, but he didn't say any incantations first. Instead, he took a green vine and tied a knot in it, letting me try to untie it. I was taken aback and couldn't help but laugh - wasn't this easy? I grasped the vine with both hands, pulled and tugged, and the knot came undone.

  Beyond my expectation, although the knot was untied, there was still another knot inside. I had to go and untie it again, after untying it, there was still a knot inside. Like this, repeatedly untying countless times, on the green vine, there will always be a knot that can never be completely untied.

  "Don't play tricks on me again." I knew it in my heart, this kind of knot can't be untied by hand.

  "Continue to practice." Turpan said indifferently: "If you can't cultivate, you will die at the hands of my enemy sooner or later. His secret mantra technique surpasses mine, and once he curses you, you will definitely die."

  I curiously asked: "Who is your enemy after all?"