Chapter 101: Obtaining the "Heart-Searching Technique"
Chapter 101: Obtaining the "Heart-Searching Technique"
"We are both at the eighth level of Qi Refining. What we lack now is a top-grade spell. As it happens, Zhou Qing has a top-grade spell. As long as we defeat him, we can obtain a top-grade spell."
It was still the thorn forest, but the two red-robed monks beside Tian Lin had been replaced.
As soon as the red-robed monk on the right finished speaking, the red-robed monk on the left spoke:
“Although Zhou Qing is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, his “Searching Heart Technique” is at the minor success level after all. The three of us are only practicing mid-level spells, so I’m afraid we may not be his match.”
"You and I are holding the thunder talisman in our hands, and we are attacking by surprise, so the advantage is in my hands. What is there to be afraid of?"
As they were talking, a horse-drawn carriage on the official road came closer, crushing the gravel on the ground.
The three people in the thorn forest kept silent. As the carriage finally approached, the red-robed monk on the right shouted, "Go!"
Before he spoke, he had already offered up the talisman paper in his hand, which swelled in the wind.
When he shouted the word "action", two pieces of talisman paper the size of bed sheets shot out two bolts of lightning one after another.
Along with lightning, two thunderbolts instantly smashed the carriage horses and the driver into pieces.
Then, a baby's cry was heard in the carriage, followed by Zhou Qing's figure stumbling out of the carriage.
"Zhou Qing, think carefully. The reason you are still standing now is all thanks to the three of us brothers showing mercy. Hand over the "Searching Heart Technique" wisely, otherwise the next thunder talisman will take your life."
Looking at Zhou Qing, who was covered in blood and holding a sword, the red-robed monk on the right stood up from the thorn forest and spoke.
"It's you Blood Cult demons again! Ten years ago, you ambushed me once in this thorn forest. Now you're ambushing me again? Is there some deep hatred between me, Zhou Qing, and you Blood Cult demons?"
As Zhou Qing spoke, he slowly walked towards the thorn forest and used his body to block half of the carriage behind him.
"Haha, you were ambushed by my brother Huang here once ten years ago, and you were ambushed by my brother Huang here again ten years later. You fell into the same pit twice, but you still don't learn your lesson. No wonder the Zhou family finally fell into decline after falling into your hands."
"Stop talking nonsense! If you are only here to take my life, then let my wife and children go. As for the Heart-Searching Technique and Zhou Qing's life, if you want them, just come and take them!"
"Okay, we brothers have no intention of harming Madam Zun and Young Master Ling. As long as you, Young Master Zhou, are willing to hand over the "Searching Heart Technique" and destroy your own Dantian, we brothers will let Madam Zun and Young Master Ling leave on their own."
After the red-robed monk on the right finished speaking, a young woman came out of the carriage holding a child and said:
"Brother Qing, don't do that. They are just trying to coax you with words, but once you really destroy your own Dantian, they won't let us go."
As the young woman spoke, the baby in her arms cried even louder.
Zhou Qing looked at the mother and son reluctantly, smiled bitterly and said: "Under the thunder stone, both the jade and the stone will perish together. How can I let you and your son take this risk?"
After he finished speaking, he said to the red-robed monk in the thorn forest:
"My wife and children are just ordinary people, so you don't have to worry about them taking revenge. As long as you let my wife and children go for half an hour, I am willing to hand over my heart-searching skills and personally offer my head to you."
"No! Your wife and children are gone, and what if you refuse to hand over the Heart-Searching Technique? What's the point of killing you then?"
The red-robed monk flatly refused and then said:
"Zhou Qing, stop talking nonsense. Hand over your Heart-Searching Technique and we will let your wife and children go first. After a quarter of an hour, if you destroy your Dantian again, we promise not to hunt down your wife and children."
Zhou Qing heard this and took out a thread-bound book with a pat of his storage bag. "Here is the 'Searching Heart Technique' that was passed down from my family. I'll give you the technique. Can you let my wife and children go now?"
He threw the spell into the thorn forest, and Tian Lin jumped up and took the thread-bound book.
His wind-moving technique startled the two red-robed monks next to him, but even though they were surprised and suspicious, they could only suppress their doubts and planned to ask later.
"Fellow Daoist Zhou, I heard that you are from the Daodao Sect and you have a stone sculpture of the Daodao Mountain."
Tian Lin flipped through the thread-bound book while speaking without looking up, "I have been interested in stone carvings since I was a child. I wonder if Brother Zhou, before he dies, could let me see the mountain-shaped stone carving?"
This time, not only Zhou Qing was stunned, but also the two red-robed monks next to him were stunned.
They had never heard "Old Huang" talk about the mountain-shaped stone sculptures, and Zhou Qing had never talked about the "mountain-shaped stone sculptures" with anyone else.
Therefore, he didn't know how the masked 'Old Huang' in front of him knew about his mountain-shaped stone sculpture.
"That stone sculpture is just an ordinary ornament. Every disciple of the Taoist sect has one. It is nothing special. Since you want it, I will give it to you."
After Zhou Qing finished speaking, he waved his sleeves and a small stone sculpture flew towards Tian Lin.
Tian Lin remembered that Zhou Qing had once used an exploding bead as a hidden weapon, so when he saw the mountain-shaped stone sculpture flying towards him, he didn't dare to take it head-on.
He took two steps back and raised his hand to sweep the mountain-shaped stone sculpture into the bushes.
Seeing that there was no explosion, he stepped forward and picked up the mountain-shaped stone sculpture.
Tian Lin rubbed the stone sculpture for a while and soon looked disappointed.
This is indeed an ordinary stone, nothing special about it.
"Okay, can you let my wife and children go now?"
After Zhou Qing finished speaking, he looked at the three people in the thorn forest vigilantly, and said to his wife and children without turning his head: "Go to Taoist Yun and ask him to protect you and leave Pingyang County."
The young woman cried and said, "Brother Qing, our Yao'er doesn't have a name yet, you should give him one first!"
Zhou Qing heard this and said:
"I have wanted to revive the glory of my family since I was a child, but the world of cultivation is full of intrigues and fighting for fame and fortune. Not only is it too tiring, it also affects my family.
It would be better to let Yao'er be a mortal and a rich man in the mortal world, without having to be involved in the right and wrong and grudges in the world of cultivation.
So, let’s call him Shoufan!”
Zhou Shoufan?
Tian Lin, who had already put the mountain-shaped stone sculpture into his storage bag, raised his head and looked at the baby in the young woman's arms in disbelief. If Tian Lin remembered correctly, the ancestor of the Wenxin Sect was called Zhou Shoufan.
In other words, the Wenxin Sect is indeed a member of the Zhou family.
After his father's death, this baby did not follow his father's wishes, but once again embarked on the path of cultivation.
"Haha, Zhou Qing, your talent for naming is really too poor. But it doesn't matter. Let your wife and children leave now. In a quarter of an hour, we will wait for you to commit suicide!"
The red-robed monk in the thorn forest spoke.
It’s not that this red-robed monk is a man who keeps his promises, but he is not sure that he can kill Zhou Qing without using the thunder talisman.
But if I use the thunder talisman, I would feel reluctant to do so.
Therefore, of course, it would be best to wait for Zhou Qing to commit suicide.
A quarter of an hour later, Zhou Qing estimated that his wife and children had gone far away.
But he refused to give in, and suddenly raised his sword and rushed towards the red-robed monk and Tian Lin.
Tian Lin was prepared, and his figure turned into a ghost and disappeared in an instant.
Zhou Qing knew that he could not catch up with Tian Lin, so he set his sights on the other two red-robed monks.
Accompanied by the sound of thunder, Zhou Qing was turned into powder, and the other two red-robed monks were one dead and one injured.
Tian Lin came out of the illusion and when he opened his eyes he was on the nineteenth stone step.
In order to avoid mistakes in his memory, he took out a pen and paper on the nineteenth stone step to write down "The Art of Questioning the Heart", and then entered the illusion again.
It was still that thorn forest. When the carriage was approaching from afar and the two red-robed monks offered up the talisman paper, Tian Lin's thunder talisman exploded first.
The explosion startled the carriage on the official road, and Zhou Qing jumped out of the carriage and appeared in front of Tian Lin in an instant.
He looked at the two bodies on the ground and was about to draw his sword against Tian Lin, but Tian Lin pulled off the mask on his face.
"It's you? You ambushed me ten years ago, and I spared your life then. Do you dare to ambush me again now?"
After Zhou Qing finished speaking, Tian Lin said:
"These two red-robed monks wanted to ambush you. I remembered our friendship ten years ago, so I helped you kill them first."
Tian Lin finished speaking, looked at Zhou Qing and said with a smile: "After all, I am your lifesaver. Why don't you invite me to your farm for dinner?"
Tian Lin was thinking about Lingmi, otherwise he would not have walked up the nineteen stone steps again.
Zhou Qing took a look at the corpse on the ground. He was sure that if Tian Lin wanted to kill him just now, he could have used the thunder talisman directly on his carriage.
If that were true, I, my wife and children would all be scared to death.
Thinking of the consequences, he put away his sword and clasped his fists with Tian Lin, saying:
"Brother Huang saved the lives of my wife and children. Let alone one bowl of rice, even ten or a hundred bowls would not be that difficult."
The two men leaped up one after another and returned to the official road. Zhou Qing immediately discovered that Tian Lin's movements were as fast as a ghost, and he couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise:
"It seems that Brother Huang has not wasted any time in the past ten years. With this body movement alone, there are not many people who can catch up with Brother Huang in the Qi Refining stage."
Tian Lin said: "Brother Zhou, you are too kind! My body skills can only be used to escape. I am far from being a match for you in a head-on confrontation. If I meet a cultivator who practices a superior body skill, my advantage will be completely gone."
In the carriage, the sound of a baby crying was heard, and the voice of the young woman Yue'er was heard: "Brother Qing, what's the situation?"
Zhou Qing immediately said, "My lady, you don't know that this time it was all thanks to my brother Huang who took action, otherwise our family would be in danger."
Hearing that he was her savior, the young woman in the car no longer avoided suspicion.
She got out of the carriage, holding the child and bowing slightly to Tian Lin: "Thank you very much, Brother Huang, for saving my life."
Tian Lin waved his hand and said, "I ambushed Brother Zhou ten years ago, but when Brother Zhou heard that I was Hua Hualang who was abducted by the Blood Cult, he let me go. Now I am helping him, which can be regarded as repaying the favor ten years ago."
Zhou Qing said, "To be honest, I had just killed two Blood Sect demons at that time, and I was seriously injured, so I didn't dare to risk my life with you. So I just went with the flow and stopped fighting."
Tian Lin was anxious to eat the spiritual rice, and did not bother to explain this to Zhou Qing. He just said:
"With such a big commotion here, I'm afraid it's not safe. Let my sister-in-law go back to the carriage and leave here as soon as possible."
So the young woman continued to ride in the carriage with the child in her arms, the driver beat the horse, and Tian Lin and Zhou Qing walked.
They are both cultivators, and their running speed is actually not slower than that of a horseman.
The two of them strolled leisurely in the garden, and heard Zhou Qing ask Tian Lin: "Ten years ago, two Blood Cultists ambushed me, hoping to use me to make blood pills. Now ten years have passed, and another Blood Cultist ambushed me. Could it be that my Zhou family has a grudge against the Blood Cultists?"
Tian Lin said: "Brother Zhou, you have misunderstood. These two blood cultists have no grudge against the Zhou family, nor do they want to use you to make pills. They just took a fancy to the Zhou family's heart-searching technique and wanted to snatch this top-grade magic."
Zhou Qing sighed and said:
"In the world of cultivation, countless people have died fighting for opportunities, magic weapons, Taoist companions, and magic. Now my Zhou family has fallen to such a state that it has attracted the covetous eyes of villains."
After he finished speaking, he turned to Tian Lin and asked, "Brother Huang, are you also interested in my mind-searching technique?"
Tian Lin had seen the mind-searching technique once in the last illusion, so the Zhou family's mind-searching technique was no longer a secret to him.
Therefore, Tian Lin waved his hand righteously and said:
"The Heart-Searching Technique is a family tradition passed down by Brother Zhou. How could I possibly covet Brother Zhou's family tradition? All I am thinking about now is hunger and the food at Brother Zhou's house."
(End of this chapter)