Chapter 29: Ten Years in the Mountains (Part 1)

  Like this, my old dad and mom accompanied me for two days before leaving me with Old Dao Fang Qinghe, my second great-uncle. The first few days I spent were extremely carefree, following that man named Niu Kun to the mountains to catch pheasants and rabbits, when it was hot we'd go down to the river to catch fish, and at night the two of us would run to the empty land outside the temple to eat and drink lavishly, truly like a god's life.

  Unfortunately, good times are always especially short-lived. Until the sixth night, Lao Dao and Ni Kun suddenly walked into my room. I was about to fall asleep at that time, and when I saw them coming in, I immediately had a bad feeling!

  As expected, my second uncle turned to me and said: "Kid, you have to walk your own path. You've been adjusting for a few days now, it's time to get down to business!" After that, he walked out without looking back.

  I listened to Lao Dao's words, feeling a bit confused. Just as I was bewildered, Ni Kun came up and smiled at me with his teeth: "Little boy, Uncle hasn't treated you badly these past few days, we've gotten along pretty well. But one thing is for sure, if you don't behave in the future, don't blame me for dealing with you!" After that, he came over to pull me.

  I'm completely confused, what's going on? Just as I was getting confused, he pulled me up and I quickly asked him: "Uncle, I'm a bit confused now, where are we going?" Niu Kun looked at me and smiled: "Where are we going? Taking a bath!"

  What's the point of taking a bath? I was about to ask, but he waved his hand impatiently: "Don't talk nonsense, just do what you're told. Don't want to keep your little life?" After saying that, he didn't care about my feelings and pulled me out. In my heart, I thought: Fine, let's just go with the flow. Who made us rely on others now?

  As I arrived at the yard, I saw a large wooden barrel already prepared, with bath water inside. What made me most annoyed was that there were even herbs in the water. Looking at the dark and sticky bath water, I curled my lip and thought: Can this water be used for bathing? What is this stuff? Herbal bath? It seems you guys know how to enjoy yourselves!

  Alright, since you asked me to enjoy myself, I'll go ahead. Thinking of this makes me want to get in. Ni Kun hastily grabbed me: "What's the hurry, kid? The incense hasn't even been lit yet, and you're already breaking all the rules!" "Incense? What incense? Does bathing have incense too?" I asked with a puzzled face. "Bathing? This is called bathing? This is called cleansing the body! You little brat really has no culture!" After saying that, he even gave me a disdainful stare.

  "Good grief, this is the first time I've been told I'm uncultured. It's really laughable. Just as I was about to retort, the old Taoist in the temple said: "You two stop arguing and come in to burn incense." So we obediently walked into the temple, respectfully burning three sticks of incense for the deity. As I kowtowed, I couldn't help but chuckle: this old man's rules are really many, just taking a medicinal bath, do you have to make such a fuss like it's an emperor's ascension?"

  After finishing the incense, we came to the yard again. The old Taoist pointed at the wooden barrel and said: "Wang Can, go in. When I call you out, you can come out. Did you hear?" I quickly nodded obediently and replied: "Yes, Second Master." Just as I was about to jump in, I saw Niu Kun, that old scoundrel, looking at me with a wicked smile on his face. I thought to myself, have you never seen a man take a bath before? You're enjoying this like it's some kind of indulgence!

  I didn't bother with him, I stripped naked and jumped right in. As soon as I got in, I immediately understood why that old man Nie Kun had a wicked smile on his face. It turned out there was something wrong with the bath water! I don't know what kind of medicine they used to soak it in, but as soon as I got in, my whole body felt like it was being bitten by countless tiny bugs, and I couldn't tell if it was painful or itchy, anyway, the feeling was quite unbearable.

  I sprang up with a sudden movement, and Ni Kun hastily came over to push me back down again: "You little scoundrel, can't you understand what's being said? When I call you out, you don't come out; when I don't call you out, you're not allowed to move!" After that, he even glared at me.

  The old man looked at my painful expression and smiled slightly: "If you can't even bear this little bit of bitterness, then you're really beyond salvation!" After finishing speaking, he didn't bother with me again and walked back into the temple. I gritted my teeth fiercely and thought to myself: Fine! Dare to look down on me? Today, I'll show you what kind of person Wang Can is! With that thought, I sat down in the barrel with a huff, only exposing my head.

  Ni Kun looked at my tense expression, chuckled and said: "Ah, you're still stubborn, good! I'll see how long you can hold on!" After that, he actually brought over a stool and sat down in front of me, looking like he was watching a show.

  Looking at his smug face, I got annoyed. Later, I simply closed my eyes, thinking that if I didn't see him, I wouldn't be bothered. However, as time passed, the itchy feeling grew stronger and stronger. At first, it was just on the skin, but now it felt like it had penetrated to the flesh, which was extremely uncomfortable! My whole body was trembling, and cold sweat broke out on my forehead. Just when I couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to scream, I opened my eyes to see a smug face staring back at me!

  Seeing Nai Kun's sarcastic face, I immediately suppressed the urge to shout in my heart and thought: You want to see me make a fool of myself? Wait for it! I closed my eyes tightly again, clenched my fists, gritted my teeth, and desperately resisted this feeling.

  As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard Nie Kun's voice: "Hehe, you're still quite stubborn! Listen to my advice, if you really can't hold on, just shout twice, it won't be embarrassing!" Then he sneered with a sly laugh.

  I glared at him: "Only girls scream! You just watch!" After that, I didn't bother with him anymore. He chuckled to himself a few more times and then stopped talking. Not long after, the itching sensation deepened again, this time it really felt like thousands of insects were gnawing on my bones! I deeply experienced what it means to have pain penetrate to the marrow!

  But the big words have already been thrown out, and I couldn't pretend to be a weak woman! So I used both hands to desperately pry at the edge of the wooden barrel, as if I wanted to break it into pieces. Finally, when my whole body was exhausted, my head was empty, and my consciousness was blank, I finally heard Lao Dao's voice: "The time has come, come out!"

  My goodness! It's finally time, I let out a huge sigh of relief in my heart. Just as I was about to crawl out, I felt my whole body go limp, and I almost fainted, unable to move at all!

  Ni Kun walked up to me, grinned and said: "Good kid, you've got some guts." Before I could react, he scooped me up in one swift motion. As I lay on his shoulder, panting heavily, I said: "I don't need your help, I can handle it myself!" But then he chuckled and looked into my eyes, asking: "Really? So you want me to put you back down?" I hastily shook my head, thinking to myself: Don't be ridiculous! Can't you tell that I'm being sarcastic?! He saw the look on my face and burst out laughing: "You're a stubborn duck! Alright, alright, you're not bad for a kid. Back when I was brewing this medicine, I was crying and wailing, but you're much tougher than me!" And with that, he carried me into the temple.

  After arriving at the temple, my heart that had just calmed down suddenly started racing again. What is going on here? I saw the old Taoist drawing a circle with a diameter of two meters on the ground of the temple while I was taking a medicinal bath, and there were all sorts of eerie symbols drawn around the circle! Looking at this blood-red eerie pattern, I couldn't help but think of scenes from horror movies.

  Ni Kun directly put me in the middle of the circle, I looked at him with a shocked face, only to see him wink at me and say with an evil smile: "Don't look at me, this is something I've never played before, you little guy is on your own!" After that, he even patted my shoulder with a sympathetic expression.

  I looked at my second grandfather with a face full of fear, and saw the old Taoist fiddling with the bottles in his hand, saying to me: "Don't be afraid, this is called the Dragon Armor Inversion Yin-Yang Array. It can make the yin energy on your body transform and change. The yin energy on your body now will only actively absorb yang energy and passively absorb yin energy. After using this method to convert it, it will only absorb yin energy and not absorb yang energy, achieving the goal of preserving your yang life!"

  I finally felt a bit relieved, "But doesn't this thing have any side effects?" I asked hastily. The old Taoist was taken aback, and after hearing me out, he just smiled: "It's just going to turn the yin soldiers on your body into decorations. However, if you want to talk about side effects, there is a bit - it will attract evil spirits! This living person's body naturally generates yang energy to resist external evils. But you're different, this Dragon Armor Inversion Array used on you mainly serves to block the connection between the yang energy and yin soldiers on your body, or you could say that from now on, the yang energy on your body will become invisible. Without yang energy protecting your body, it's natural to attract external evils. However, it doesn't matter, this is originally a path you must take, whether you attract them or not makes no difference."

  Is that all? Who would want to recruit those things! Before I could ask again, the old Taoist handed me a bottle: "Drink it." I looked at the bottle in my hand, inside was a thick, blood-red liquid. I sniffed it with my nose, and a pungent smell rushed straight to my brain. At that moment, I grimaced, unable to drink it! With my eyes closed, I poured it down my throat. Before I could even taste the flavor, I felt a stab in my back from the old Taoist, and then my whole body went numb, and I couldn't move!

  What the hell?! I stared with wide eyes in shock. After about half a minute, I felt something was wrong! It felt like my whole body's internal organs were burning up. My entire body turned bright red, and I was in unbearable pain. Unfortunately, my whole body was numb, and I couldn't even scream!

  Just as I was suffering from the torment in my body, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my back. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that Lao Dao was using needles to prick my back! However, compared to the situation inside my body, this was child's play.

  The old man stabbed while muttering some words I couldn't understand. The situation inside my body was getting worse and worse, and I felt like the whole person was boiling! In this daze, I saw that huge cyan-gray stone gate again, which looked like a mountain!

  This time, the surroundings were still pitch black, and the cyan-gray stone gate in front of me was still as high and majestic as a mountain. However, this time it wasn't closed, but open, with a narrow slit! I walked to its near front in a daze, looking inside, which was still a grayish mist. However, this time it seemed clearer than last time, because through the misty fog, I could see that there were some virtual shadows of high mountains in the distance!

  Just as I was astonished, I suddenly found that not far from me on the ground, there was something moving! Through the gray fog, I couldn't see what it was, only to see it slowly moving towards me. When he got close to me, I realized that it was a person's outline!

  There's someone in the room! I hastily shouted at him: "Come out quickly, it's dangerous inside!" Just after shouting, I saw a green and oily hand like peeled skin, fiercely grasping towards me!

  Ah! I let out a loud cry and fell to the ground! I frantically felt my face with my hands, only to find that they were sticky and wet! "Child, wake up... child, wake up..." I heard an old voice calling me, and I suddenly opened my eyes to find myself still in this temple!

  Looking at the old Tao and Ni Kun in front of me, I took a deep breath: "It's this dream again!" Looking at the blood-red sweat all over my body, I didn't have the strength to think about what was going on. I just felt dizzy, and then I fainted.

  At the moment I lost consciousness, my mind couldn't help but think of a question: what exactly was that mysterious grey stone gate that had been haunting me like a nightmare?

  (The wonderful show is ongoing, esteemed audience, if you enjoy watching and are satisfied, please give me a collection, a vote on top, thank you very much. Newcomers have a hard time blending in and need more help. Rolling and shouting, seeking collections~~~~)