novelraw Chapter 2: Parents Dead, Only a House Remains
Chapter 2: Parents Dead, Only a House Remains
The "Wisdom Eye Collection" had a total of one hundred and twenty-eight pages, recording fifty-six types of common medicinal materials and spirit plants with their specific identification methods, processing techniques, and twelve corresponding medicinal formulas.
In simple terms, it could be summarized as the production of eye drops and the standardized movements of eye exercises.
It was said that the Li family's Yin-Yang Eyes were an innate talent in their bloodline. As long as one had the talent, it would manifest, and then cultivating according to the family's cultivation method would yield twice the result with half the effort but Li Qiuchen had neither the talent nor the cultivation method. He only had a few bottles of eye drops he'd prepared himself according to the book, and he persisted in doing eye exercises every day.
After dropping "Bright Eye Water" into both eyes, then applying "Green Grass Ointment" externally and wrapping both eyes with a strip of cloth, Li Qiuchen began to meditate and enter concentration.
Following Grand Uncle to worship the Medicine Master every day was one form of cultivation. Taking care of his eyes at home was also a form of cultivation.
Although neither sounded particularly proper, he didn't have a check-in system either. He could only proceed step by step like this, accumulating bit by bit, hoping that one day he might suddenly stumble upon some great luck.
Of course, growing a spiritual root like Yingcao's was out of the question.
Li Qiuchen couldn't even be certain now whether she was Yingcao or cordyceps.
With the Li family's cultivation method lost, he didn't know the correct cultivation approach. This whole routine was based on what he'd heard from the villagers. He didn't even know if he was practicing correctly. In any case, he'd persisted for the past few years without any effect. However, today was vastly different.
The moment Li Qiuchen entered concentration, in the world before his eyes that should have been pitch black, something indescribable began to slowly writhe.It was a mass of root tendrils that seemed like a living thing.
It was a spiritual root!
Three days ago, he had been buried in the ground and watched helplessly as those root tendrils grew out from Yingcao's body.
The appearance of that spiritual root had been imprinted in his eyes, and now it appeared again in his dark field of vision.
So this is how it's used?
In this moment, Li Qiuchen suddenly understood.
This ancestral ocular art was like a digital camera without an instruction manual and no memory card inserted.
Originally, he couldn't even find where the shutter was. Thanks to the horrifying experience of being buried in the ground and watching Yingcao sprout with his own eyes, he had accidentally found the shutter.
With a click, he had seen Yingcao's internal spiritual root completely but he could only look, he couldn't touch it.
With just one glance, Li Qiuchen knew that from the moment Yingcao grew the spiritual root, she was basically dead.
Although he didn't know what a spiritual root should look like either, according to his preconceptions, it should be like some kind of bodily organ that assisted in cultivation but the complete spiritual root that appeared before his eyes had a beauty that completely disregarded the host's life or death.
Growing from the heart, one root tendril penetrated deep into the liver, two root tendrils extended downward along the arteries, new sprouts occupied the brain, and they burst out from the five sense organs and seven orifices.
Whoever wanted this kind of spiritual root could have it. Li Qiuchen respectfully declined but what could he do?
He was just a child without the strength to truss a chicken. His family's inheritance had been severed, leaving only eye care techniques. The system had been out of contact until now, with no news whatsoever.
Grand Uncle was very anxious.
Normal people knew that normal crops, once planted, needed at least half a year before harvest. You couldn't pull on seedlings to help them grow.
Yingcao sprouting was certainly worth celebrating, but even thinking with one's heel, one would know that such a spiritual root also needed time to grow but Grand Uncle was still very anxious, as restless as an ant on a hot pan.
Hong Yang's escape plan hadn't even begun when Grand Uncle summoned him, telling him to burn incense and bathe for three days to break the seal on the Crayfish General of the back mountain.
Behind Songlin Village was a spirit spring. The spring water was clear, sweet, and bone-chillingly cold. In the spring lived a nine-chi-long crayfish spirit. It was said that years ago it had intruded into the village to steal and eat young boys and girls. It was impervious to blades and spears and possessed tremendous strength.
The previous village chief, Hong Yang's parents, had sacrificed their lives to seal this crayfish spirit.
Crayfish were difficult to grow large. A nine-chi-long large crayfish could already be considered a Godzilla-level behemoth, so locals would call it the Crayfish General. If it were a crab that became a spirit, it would be the Crab Marshal.
When uncertain of the other party's position, addressing them with a higher title was no problem.
Hong Yang's parents had sealed the Crayfish General with their own lives back then. Now Hong Yang had to use his own fresh blood to break the seal.
According to Grand Uncle's explanation, they were going to kill the Crayfish General and take its essence to cultivate Yingcao's spiritual root.
"I think something's not right!"
When eating noodles in the evening, Hong Yang looked grave.
"If Grand Uncle had the means to kill the Crayfish General back then, why did my dad and mom have to die?"
"That makes sense!"
They say that when people are doing bad things, their mental acuity and initiative are unlimited.
When Hong Yang had made up his mind to escape, his brain that didn't work very well was actually gradually becoming enlightened.
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that you only just thought of this... well, it's not too late.
"Uncle, how exactly did my parents die back then?"
Hong Yang knew he couldn't get any answers from Li Qiuchen, so he turned to ask Boss Guan.
"I'm not too clear. Perhaps that Crayfish General ambushed Grand Uncle first back then... or perhaps after ten years of being sealed, its strength has diminished considerably, and Grand Uncle feels he can handle it again."
Boss Guan's answer was quite vague.
"I don't believe it!"
Hong Yang gritted his teeth and said to Li Qiuchen, "Why don't we sneak over there tonight to take a look? I just want to know how much strength that Crayfish General still has. If we break the seal and Grand Uncle can't subdue it, won't the whole village be finished?"
"Alright!"
Li Qiuchen nodded.
While Hong Yang was lowering his head and eating noodles with big bites, he exchanged a glance with Boss Guan, sharing a subtle look.
Deep in the night, Li Qiuchen climbed up from the kang, took the wood-chopping axe from home, and tiptoed out the door.
Hong Yang had already been waiting for him at the village entrance for quite some time.
He had brought a fishing net and a boning knife. The two of them made their way out of the village by moonlight and felt their way up the back mountain.
The back mountain was a forbidden area, normally children weren't allowed to go near it but this kind of rule was really just lip service, no one took it seriously.
Adults always liked to scare children.
If we're really talking about forbidden areas, everywhere outside the village was a forbidden area, nowhere was safe. When heavy snow sealed the mountains, old wolves and bears from the mountains could make their way into the village and eat whatever they saw.
When working the fields normally, if you dared to leave a child at the edge of the field, they could easily be carried off by wild beasts.
The spirit spring on the back mountain wasn't very large, just a small pond about two hundred square meters.
The water Grand Uncle used to make tea and irrigate spiritual roots was all drawn from here.
From several dozen zhang away, one could feel a faint chill, but upon approaching, there was only a pool of clear water with nothing seemingly divine about it.
This wasn't Li Qiuchen's first time here. To tend to the medicinal garden his family had left behind, he also needed water from this spring to transplant herbs growing by the edge of the pond.
And to fish, catch clams, and catch crayfish.
Hong Yang stood by the water's edge in silence for a moment, then turned to ask Li Qiuchen, "How do you think we can see that Crayfish General?"
Did you come here thinking that crayfish spirit would just jump out on its own?
Li Qiuchen tentatively suggested, "Try letting some blood?"
"Wouldn't that break the seal?"
"If simply letting some blood could break the seal, then there wouldn't be a need to burn incense and bathe for three days, right?"
"That makes sense!"
Hong Yang suddenly understood. He drew his knife and made a cut on his own arm. With a ripping sound, he opened a cut about a chi long, and blood gushed out.
Fresh blood flowed into the pond. After a moment, strings of bubbles rose from the depths of the pond. A black shadow slowly floated up from underwater.
The first thing that appeared before the two children's eyes was a pair of enormous yet slender blue-black shrimp claws, supporting a huge shrimp head that surfaced.
The nine-chi-long large crayfish spirit, according to the villagers, could already be considered dragon-kind. Calling it a lobster was no problem at all.
The Crayfish General stood upright in the water and spoke in human words, "What's up?"
Hong Yang was stunned.
This thing could talk?
He was so scared that his mind went blank, and he couldn't even remember what he'd come here to do.
Seeing him stammering and not daring to speak, Li Qiuchen quickly asked, "Crayfish General, we came to ask you, how were you sealed by people ten years ago?"
"Huh?"
The Crayfish General shook its eyes, looking completely confused, "What? Sealed? Me?"
"You two little bastards, are you delirious in the middle of the night?"
Hong Yang paused, calmed down, and quickly asked, "I heard from Grand Uncle that ten years ago, a married couple in the village sacrificed their lives to seal you..."
"That's what he told you?"
After listening, the Crayfish General chuckled, "That old bastard doesn't have a single truthful word in his mouth. I smell something familiar about you, kid. You must be the cub left behind by that male and female, right?"
"Ten years ago, your parents were also deceived by that old bastard and came to catch me. The result... haha, that male and female pair were devoured clean by the old bastard. I didn't even get a single hair and ended up taking the blame for nothing."
Hong Yang was dumbstruck.
What do you mean my parents were eaten by Grand Uncle?
Watching him in deep shock and stunned silence, the Crayfish General sneered twice, turned to glance at Li Qiuchen, and slowly retreated back into the pond.
There's no seal... my parents were eaten...
Hong Yang suddenly turned around, staring at Li Qiuchen and shouting, "Then what seal am I supposed to break in three days? Grand Uncle... does he want to eat me too?"
Li Qiuchen sighed, "Haven't you noticed that your brain has been working better and better lately?"
Hong Yang's face was pale, his eyes filled with fear.
"What about you? Have you cultivated your Li family's ocular arts?"
Li Qiuchen nodded, "There has been some progress."
Grand Uncle was right. We've all reached the age to take root and sprout.
Of course, it's also when we're at our most tender and delicious.
Anyone who had experienced years of famine knew that elm coins and Chinese toon sprouts were best eaten when they'd just grown out.
Young boys and girls were the same for monsters.