Chapter 26: Women Are All Troublesome

  Li Baobao knew something was off, and she actually wanted to see what was inside the thatched cottage. Li Baobao said to Ping'er behind her: "Pai Tan!"

  Bottle immediately quickly and nimbly arranged the things in the bag on the balcony in order. Li Baobao first used the willow branch Ganluo from the white jade bottle under the Guanyin Bodhisattva seat at Furongguan to sprinkle towards the direction of the house, only to see a layer of green thin film appearing on the house, like a protective cover.

  After the Yangzhi Ganlu was sprinkled on, the protective cover seemed to be burned and emitted a burst of white smoke, then gradually recovered. Li Baobao said: "Indeed, there is a demon."

  Li Baobao threw the white jade bottle to Ping'er, then curved his two index fingers and placed them on his chest, gradually forming a golden sword between them. "Out!" The golden sword shot towards the house, but the re-gathering demonic energy blocked it from entering.

  "Master!" Bao'er stepped forward and supported Li Baobao with both hands as he retreated backwards.

  "It's very eerie!" said Li Baobao.

  "Will Master and his companions be in danger?" asked Bao'er.

  Li Baobao still has confidence in Fu Chuan. Although Fu Chuan is often careless and doesn't pay attention to her cultivation, her magical powers are still superior to Li's.

  "Don't underestimate your master." Li Baobao couldn't tolerate anyone questioning Fu Chuan.

  Li Bao didn't know why the village had such a heavy demonic aura, but one thing was certain: with such a heavy demonic aura, it meant that there was a very powerful demon in this place.

  Li Baobao learned Taoist magic, and was considered to be from the same school as Fu Chuan. However, over the years, she had been living a life of luxury and leisure, whereas Fu Chuan had spent his years capturing countless demons. Despite learning the same magical arts, Li Baobao could only follow her master's orders and stay in the temple to tell fortunes and change people's destinies.

  Li Baobao felt that this time was just right, and she wanted to see if she had the ability to subdue the demon like Fu Chun.

  Li Baobao said to Ping'er: "Let's stay here and wait for your master to come back."

  "Yes, Master."

  "Master, shall we go in and take a look?" Tong'er pointed to the stockade, Li Baobao thought for a moment. If Fu Chuan were here, he probably wouldn't agree with her taking risks by going in. But when had Li Baobao ever listened to Fu Chuan's words?

  Li Baobao said: "Tonight then."

  Suddenly, Fu Chuan's left eye twitched in the mountain, "Is the left eye jumping for wealth or disaster?"

  "Master, my left eye is twitching." San Yang replied.

  Fu Chuan glanced at Bai Liao and the three sheep with one eye, he always felt that something was going to happen today. Xing Cheng Tian had been standing on a rock outside the waterfall, drawing something. Fu Chuan walked over, the moonlight had already spilled into the waterfall.

  Fu Xiang asked: "I don't know what you're looking at."

  "It's clearer to see things under moonlight than inside." Xing Chengtian explained.

  Fu Chuan said: "We have been out for several days, let's go tomorrow."

  "What about him?" Xing Chengtian looked at the wild man tied up beside him. Fu Chuan glanced at the wild man and said, "Let him go, he belongs here."

  Xing Chengtian agreed with Fu Chuan's idea, he nodded in agreement. Just then, Xing Chengtian and Fu Chuan seemed to have heard someone say a word in the cave at the same time, the word was very vague, it seemed to be "Dad".

  Fu Xiang looked at Xing Chengtian, and Xing Chengtian cursed angrily: "Don't call me, why should I be called your dad?"

  The three sheep had already crawled into the tent and were fast asleep. Could it be that this child was talking in his sleep? Fu Chuan walked over, but only the wild man stared at him with wide eyes.

  Fu Chuan asked: "Are you speaking?" Can wild men speak? Fu Chuan thought it was impossible, he asked: "Is there a record of wild men being able to speak human language?"

  Xing Chengtian spread his hands: "I've never seen it."

  Fu Chuan asked again, "Is it you who speaks or not? If you don't speak, I'll kill you." Fu Chuan thought this was a threat and temptation. Xing Chengtian felt that this wouldn't work, so he could only go forward himself. He pushed Fu Chuan to one side and stood in front of the savage. Feeling that this would create distance, he squatted down instead. Fu Chuan grunted and walked away to one side.

  "Tell me, was it you who just spoke?" Xing Chengtian had patience, he used more patience than this when teaching students at school.

  "Are you talking, or is it just talk?"

  The savage's eyes dimmed, and it was only then that Xing Chengtian discovered that this savage seemed to be different from the others. Even if he was a savage, it was impossible for him to have a pair of eyes just like those of humans. Xing Chengtian remembered that his professor had told him about an encounter many years ago in which the professor had met a so-called savage in the primeval forest. The professor said that the savage had a pair of bright red eyes, caused by years of not seeing light, whereas this savage's eyes were no different from those of ordinary people, with white and pupils just like anyone else's. Moreover, according to reports of savages from all over the world, whether they be from primeval forests or snowy mountains, they all had very thick body hair, but this savage did not have much hair at all - it was more like a neglected grassland that had not been trimmed for years.

  At this moment, Xing Chengtian discovered that the wound on the wild man was wrapped around something. Xing Chengtian wanted to reach out and take it, but was scared off by the wild man's bared teeth. Fu Chuan stepped forward, placing his knife at the wild man's neck.

  Xing Chengtian blocked Fu Chuan's knife and continued to coax the wild man, "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"

  "He's a cannibal!" Fu Chuan felt nauseous when he thought of the scene where this guy ate human organs in the secret room. Xing Chengtian didn't think that this savage was eating humans, he picked up the roasted sweet potato that San Yang had just cooked on the ground and put it in the savage's hand, "Eat, it's delicious."

  The savage first sniffed with his nose, and then possibly felt that it was not poisonous before opening his mouth to eat. He ate more than half of the pumpkin in one bite, and the pumpkin weighed at least a kilogram or two.

  "Give me your razor." Xing Chengtian asked for Fu Chun's personal belongings, and Fu Chun knew what Xing Chengtian wanted to do. How could he possibly give it to him? He said: "No!"

  Xing Chengtian said: "I bet with you, if he is not a savage, the razor you gave me is worth it; if he is, I'll return to you a pure gold one."

  Xing Chengtian puts his words into action, and Xing Chengtian is richer than Fu Qiang. He has been a visiting professor for decades, with an annual salary of tens of thousands of yuan, as well as other investments, with an annual income of at least several million yuan, far more than the cash that Fu Qiang, this empty-hearted big shot, can dispose of.

  Fu Jiang reluctantly handed his razor over to Xing Chengtian, "If it wasn't for that, you'd have to compensate me with an identical one."

  Xing Chengtian glared at him: "You're a bear!"

  After Xing Chengtian's careful observation, the true face of the wild man was finally revealed. Although his facial hair had been shaved off, Xing Chengtian still recognized him. He wasn't a wild man at all; he had a pair of hands just like Xing Chengtian and Fu Chuan, as well as identical eyebrows and facial features.

  "How could it be a wild child?" Xing Chengtian excitedly stood up, the wild child stretched out his hand towards Xing Chengtian and then called out "Dad".

  Xing Chengtian said, and then threw the last roasted sweet potato to it, "It's not a wild man, should be a person like us."

  "How did he end up here and become like this?"

  Fuhe didn't understand, Xing Chengtian looked around at the white bones and said: "Maybe these people brought him into the cave, but in the end they died, and he survived. I think at that time he was just an infant in swaddling clothes."

  "How did you know he was just a baby?" Fu Chuan asked.

  "I inferred from his appearance that he should be about the same age as us, in his twenties, but these twenty years were indeed spent living a life like a savage."

  "Who's supporting him?" Fu Chuan felt his mind was a bit confused, wasn't he the thing he saw for the first time? "Then what did I see that man-eating thing?"

  Is there really a man-eating savage in this cave?

  Fuhe suddenly became alert. Xing Chengtian looked at things with a rational mind, and he said: "Maybe the 'dad' he called out to wasn't us, but rather the father who raised him."

  "Sending a signal?" Fugou hastened, stepping forward to cover the creature's mouth with something. He had witnessed its power before; last time he fought it in this cave, he almost got torn apart.

  Xing Cheng Tian stopped Fu Chuan and said: "There is no need."

  Xing Chengtian finally sorted out the threads, reasoning about everything that had happened here before, including the so-called wild man's life story. He told Fu Chuan that he might just be a poor guy.

  Xing Chengtian said that among these white bones, some people were starved to death. Perhaps at the beginning, some of them went out to find food but didn't find any, and instead found a baby who had been abandoned after being beaten. At that time, there were still people living in this forest, perhaps a war orphan. Maybe those people wanted to eat the baby to satisfy their hunger, but later something happened and they were all torn apart, while the baby survived. Perhaps it was because the creature took pity on the child and left him behind, making him the guardian of this place.

  All of these are just Xing Chengtian's conjectures, but there are some things that Fu Chuan also thinks are quite reasonable to speculate about every day, except for a few points that don't make sense.

  "He said: 'How can you tell these people have been torn apart.'"

  Xing Chengtian pointed to the white bones and said, "Take a closer look, these bones were all crushed by gravity. Unless someone is born with divine strength, ordinary people can't crush another person's bones like this."

  Xing Chengtian already knew something, he said: "This cave is absolutely not just us."

  Fuhe had long sensed that during these days of staying here, he felt as if there was a pair of gloomy eyes staring at them from behind.

  Fu Chuan said: "I think it's very dangerous here, let's leave tomorrow." It was already late at night and they couldn't leave anyway. Fu Chuan also wanted to see what was watching them.

  Xing Chengtian finally decided to take the wild man away as well, but Fu Chuan disagreed. However, in the end, he could only agree under Xing Chengtian's insistence.

  Just then San Yang shouted loudly outside the waterfall, "Master, come and see!"

  Three sheep had already woken up. Fu Chuan didn't know what San Yang was shouting about, and he angrily said: "What are you yelling about!" However, Fu Chuan still walked over.

  Fuhe saw a familiar figure slipping into the forest through the water curtain, heading towards the village. Without thinking twice, Fuhe could recognize that figure as soon as he saw it.

  One night, a person went to the brothel, and even Fuchuan almost couldn't get out. A woman joined in the excitement, and Fuchuan's heart became tense. He cursed: "Depraved women!"

  Three sheep were completely unable to keep up with Fu Chuan's speed, and Fu Chuan was like a wild wolf jumping down the waterfall and then swiftly dashing into the forest. Three sheep could only shout behind him while panting and chasing after him. Fu Chuan didn't know why Li Baobao appeared here or why she wanted to come here. He had clearly said that he didn't need her help.

  The village is too dangerous, so far, Fu Chuan still doesn't know what kind of monsters are in the village, a group of man-eating monsters or a group of undead who have lost their humanity, Fu Chuan hasn't figured it out yet, Li Baobao going in like this is very dangerous.

  Fujiang's heart was tangled from the moment he saw that familiar figure. He didn't want to see Li Baobao get into trouble, especially because of him.

  In the past, Fuhe had done something very wrong. When he first eloped with Li Baobao, they rested in a broken temple on the way, but Li Baobao was possessed by an evil spirit in the temple. If it weren't for the two masters arriving in time, Li Baobao would have been taken over by the evil spirit long ago. At that time, Fuhe was at his most helpless moment, and his magic was not good enough, so he could only watch as the evil spirit hurt Li Baobao in front of him, unable to do anything.

  Later he studied the law and was finally able to drive out evil spirits, at which point Li Baobao no longer needed his protection, because by then Li Baobao had also become an excellent Taoist.

  Li Baobao and Ping'er jumped over the wall and entered, she had been very careful since entering the village, Ping'er followed behind her, but the Linglong Jade Pendant on Li Baobao's body still made a slight rustling sound. The Linglong Jade Pendant was passed down from ancestors and had spiritual energy, so as long as there was evil aura or demonic creatures around, it would make a sound, but only people of the Li family could hear it. The entire Linglong Jade Pendant was a vibrant green color, said to be made from a whole piece of jade from the Tian Mountains, and legend had it that the Li family's Linglong Jade Pendant was one of the seven-colored stones dropped by Nüwa when she repaired the heavens, possessing extremely powerful abilities to ward off evil spirits. Since young, Li Baobao had worn it on her body, imagine a little girl wearing a piece of jade worth tens of millions, how noble that was, but in Li Baobao's hands, this thing was just a single weapon capable of driving away evil.

  The arsenal of the Li and Fu families was like a huge treasure trove, where the weapons inside possessed very strong spiritual power. However, in the hands of ordinary people, they were things worth more than cities. Therefore, only the successive generations of the family heads knew the location of the treasure trove of the Li and Fu families.

  "Master, which way should we go?" asked Bao'er.

  Li Baobao didn't know, but as the night grew darker and the green aura grew thicker, Li Baobao had already smelled the scent of the mist. It was a strange smell, a ghostly smell that was different from the smell of a monster. The smell of a ghost was more like sulfur, while the smell of a monster had a sweet smell to it.

  Li Baobao thought for a moment and saw a bright light on the left side ahead, so she said: "Let's go to the left." The left side was the house of the village head, but Li Baobao didn't know.

  Li Bao and Ping'er tore off a piece of cloth from their skirt to cover their mouths, if they inhaled too much of this green aura, they might never wake up again.

  Li Baobao and Ping'er sneaked to the outside of a house with bright lights, Li Baobao lifted the only window on the outside of the house, she looked inside and saw a black coffin, it was unknown what was inside the coffin, but green gas was emanating from inside the coffin towards the outside, Li Baobao finally knew that the eerie aura in the whole village came from here.

  Just as Li Baobao was about to rush in and see what was inside, the door was pushed open, and a pale-faced but evil-looking person walked in.

  He held a black stone bowl in his hands, and it was unclear what was inside. He poured the contents of the bowl into the coffin, and Li Baobao only then saw that it was a thick, viscous blood.

  A bloody smell wafted over.

  The crowd chanted: "Seize them, tear them apart, let them know the consequences of desecrating the divine, go!"

  The coffin suddenly made a thumping sound, the coffin lid was lifted, and a pair of white bones with flesh still on them stirred. A pair of dry bones propped up against the edge of the coffin stood up, and two white skeletons stood in front of that person.

  "Jiangshi." Li Baobao knew that this was what they called jiangshi, controlled by human blood and only listening to the commands of those who gave them blood.

  Li Baobao couldn't wait any longer, she had to eliminate these two things. Li Baobao took out the yellow talisman and bit her finger to draw the demon-suppressing talisman of Furong Pavilion on it.

  With a single shot, the talisman paper was shot onto the foreheads of those two zombies, but it had no effect at all. The zombies were only subdued for a moment before breaking through the talisman and jumping up again, then walking towards the window.

  Li Baobao could only retreat two steps back. She had already made preparations to fight outside, when she heard the man inside the house shouting: "Kill them first!"

  As soon as the words fell, the corpses broke through the wall and came out. They walked towards Li Baobao with ferocious faces, although their footsteps were staggering, but everything they passed by was crushed to powder, their strength was extremely great.

  Li Baobao wanted to know where their fate was, and her mind was racing with thoughts. Master Ming had taught her before, but when it came to the critical moment, she forgot.

  The bottle was already frightened, and the hand holding the sword was trembling, "Master, what should we do?"

  "Don't be afraid, stand behind me."

  Li Baobao is a protective person, she won't let her apprentice die. Li Baobao rushed forward and struck the zombies with one sword, but couldn't hurt them at all. Li Baobao chopped left and right, but the swords couldn't even scratch these things, they were impervious to knives and guns.

  "Idiot!" Just then, Fu Chuan descended from the sky, and a leaf fell in front of Li Baobao's eyes. "Senior brother!"

  Li Baobao looked like he had seen a savior, Fu Chuan pulled out a silver needle from his body and pushed Li Baobao to one side, saying: "Watch me!"

  Fu Chuan knew where the weak point of these creatures was, in that soft spot at the back of their heads. Fu Chuan sprang into the air, his footsteps light as he stepped over the walking corpses' heads. Before they could even slowly turn around, he landed behind them and inserted the silver needles into the backs of their brains.

  Then, with a burst of strength, the silver needle was thrust into the corpse's brain, and it instantly stopped moving. Fu Chuan walked over to Li Baobao's side and pulled her up, "Let's go, the silver needles can only temporarily control them."

  "No way!" Li Baobao saw the great witch standing inside the house at this time, "Take him away too!" Li Baobao pointed at the man, Pei Chuan thought it was okay to do so, and obediently went to grab the great witch, then took them both away from the village.

  Fuhe led them all into the cave, but just as they were about to enter, the great witch began to tremble all over and knelt down outside the cave, not daring to go in.

  "Why are you so afraid?" Li Baobao asked Fu Chuan in confusion, and Fu Chuan knew the reason. He said, "This is their sacred place, others can't enter casually, even if he's the great shaman of the village."

  Fuhe never believed that the so-called Grand Wizard was a normal person, so he pushed him into the cave. In the cave, Xing Chengtian had already built a temporary power generation system using sunlight, so it was now brightly lit.

  The bottle was scared by the wild man and fainted, so San Yang had a chance to take care of the bottle. Li Baobao and Xing Chengtian nodded and greeted each other before asking: "How many days have you been here?"

  "It's almost ten days now." Xing Chengtian said.

  "No wonder."

  "What's strange?"

  "I couldn't find you at the inn, but there were some annoying idlers."

  Fu Xiang nodded in agreement, and he also understood. He guessed that Li Baobao must have seen those people from the Star Group, otherwise her little temper wouldn't have flared up at this time.

  "Tomorrow I'll take you out of the forest." Fu Chuan said in response.

  Li Baobao said: "I won't, since I've come, I want to see what those monsters look like."

  "You didn't just see that? Aren't you afraid of death?" Fu Chuan was anxious, he really feared Li Baobao's temper would get her into trouble. Li Baobao argued with Fu Chuan, saying: "If I die, you can collect my body." Li Baobao immediately walked over to Xing Chengtian and said, "Professor Xing, what are you doing?" After that, she ignored Fu Chuan again. Fu Chuan stood there, his face red, unsure if he was angry or suffocating. The wild man beside him chuckled.

  Three sheep threw a stone over there, "Laugh at your sister."

  Xing Chengtian told them that he had studied the text on the wall for so long, thinking it was hieroglyphics all along. However, his teacher looked at the pictures and concluded that the text on the wall was not hieroglyphics, but a very, very ancient Indian script. Even his professor couldn't translate this script, which was thousands or even tens of thousands of years older than any known civilization's writing system.

  Fu Chuan said: "What's the point of investigating, don't even know what we're dealing with now."

  Xing Chengtian glanced at Fu Chuan and said: "Perhaps we can find that old man's soul, perhaps we can ask something out of him."

  "It's pointless to ask, and I don't know how long we'll have to wait this time." Fu Chuan wanted to release his magic treasure and be done with it once and for all. He had no patience to continue staying here, and if he waited any longer, he feared he would go crazy.

  Fu Chuan asked Xing Chengtian, "Are you staying or leaving?"

  Xing Chengtian said solemnly: "I very much hope to get a clear understanding of it, and perhaps it will also be a major academic discovery."

  "I'll stay too." Li Baobao echoed in agreement.

  Fuhe Chao said with gritted teeth: "Don't mess around."

  Li Baobao grunted and walked to the side to sit down. At this time, Pinger brought a hot towel for Li Baobao to wipe his hands. Fu Chuan looked at the two master and apprentice, and couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "Sick!"

  "What's wrong with me? I'm just sick, what's wrong with my sickness!" Li Baobao was furious, her voice echoing throughout the cave. Fu Chuan was startled and took several steps back. Just a moment ago, he was scolding Li Baobao for being overly sensitive, but as soon as he saw her get angry, he immediately softened his tone and pulled her to one side to comfort her.

  "Don't cry, it's not like I did it on purpose."

  "Master brother is no good, you hit me." Fu Chuan grabbed Li Baobao's hand and pounded it on himself.