Writing Novels Will Make You Invincible

Chapter 48 : An Ancient History Lesson

An Ancient History Lesson

The black van came to a stop.

Gu Dongcang jumped out and took one look at the monster's corpse on the ground. When he spotted the five deep bloody holes in its cheek, his brow furrowed immediately, and he asked Chu Tianxing with a grave expression.

"Those holes on its face, did you claw them out? Were you wearing gauntlets at the time?"

"Huh?" Chu Tianxing was stunned.

"This monster's blood is extremely toxic. If an ordinary person so much as touches it with their skin, they will be poisoned and die instantly.”

Gu Dongcang elaborated.

"Even Inner Force Realm martial artists would have their skin corroded if they came into contact with this creature's poisonous blood. Their flesh would rot away, causing unbearable pain. If they don't cut away the rotting flesh in time, the poison will spread and they'll still be in mortal danger."

Hearing this, Qin Ling immediately panicked. She grabbed Chu Tianxing's right hand and examined it carefully. Only after seeing that his palm showed no signs of abnormality did she relax slightly, though she still couldn’t help but ask Gu Dongcang. “How long does it take for the poison to kick in?”

Gu Dongcang gave Chu Tianxing an odd look. "So you really did punch holes in its face with your bare hands?"

“Uh…” Chu Tianxing gave an awkward laugh. "Well, we weren't allowed to carry weapons..."

“Will he be okay?” Qin Ling pressed.

Gu Dongcang said. “Don’t worry. Almost ten minutes have passed since he called me. If he was going to get poisoned, it would've happened by now."

He looked at Chu Tianxing with amazement.

"Not bad, Little Chu. I didn’t expect that on top of your Intuition, you’re also resistant to poison.”

Chu Tianxing chuckled but didn't say anything. H

He had taken the Precious Serpent Blood Spirit Pill, making his constitution very resistant to all poisons.

Well, at least most regular toxins probably couldn't do much to him now.

While this monster was bizarre, its poison obviously wasn't strong enough to exceed Chu Tianxing's tolerance limit.

But he'd have to be more careful in the future.

There were too many strange and bizarre things in this world. He needed to stay alert to avoid getting caught off guard.

Next time I encounter some freaky-looking monster, I'll use palm techniques like the Heart-Shattering Palm or those peaceful Zen-like martial arts that kill without spilling blood. Can't keep tearing monsters apart with my bare hands....

A few people in full hazmat suits hopped out of the van. They started carefully bagging the body and collecting blood samples.

Others took out disinfectant sprayers and began frantically spraying the ground where the monster's blood had pooled.

The three of them backed off and watched the cleanup crew work.

"By the way, what exactly is this monster's background?" Chu Tianxing asked, "It doesn't seem like an ordinary monster. When I mentioned the Sword Sovereign Xingyun's name, it was clearly terrified."

Since Gu Dongcang was one of the Eastern Depot's representatives stationed in Canghe City, he naturally knew what Chu Tianxing's class had encountered during their graduation trip. He also knew that Chu Tianxing had met people like the Sword Sovereign Xingyun and DJ Tathagata, so he didn't hide anything. "Ever heard of Xiangliu?"

(TL Note: Chinese version of Hydra)

"Xiangliu?" Chu Tianxing was surprised. "The monster from the Classic of Mountains and Seas?"

The Classic of Mountains and Seas recorded that the monster Xiangliu had a human face and a snake's body. Its poison could spread through the air, killing birds and beasts. Its blood was incredibly foul-smelling; wherever it flowed, the earth became barren and crops wouldn't grow.

However...

"Doesn't Xiangliu have nine heads? And isn't Xiangliu's snake body supposed to be bluish-green? This monster's body has no scales and is as pale as a corpse... Brother Gu, you are telling me that this is the Xiangliu?”

Gu Dongcang smiled. "The Xiangliu recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas was the Water God Gonggong's battle pet. One that is fully mature.”

"But in reality, this type of monster goes through different growth stages, and their number of heads, body size, and body color all vary accordingly.”

"The monster you killed only has one head, and its snake body is only about three meters long. It hasn't even grown scales yet, and its skin is as pale as paper. It's clearly just a juvenile... or rather, a clone split off from a nearly mature Xiangliu."

Chu Tianxing raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Gu Dongcang said gravely. "Ten years ago, some shut-in otaku in Kanagawa Prefecture accidentally stumbled upon a newly opened Gate of Revelation. The idiot thought he'd go exploring without knowing what he was getting into, and ended up attracting an eight-headed Xiangliu.”

"That eight-headed Xiangliu came through the Gate of Revelation to Earth and went on a killing spree in Kanagawa Prefecture. In a single night, it devoured thousands of women and killed over ten thousand people.”

"Fusang's only Astral Qi Realm expert at the time fought it and barely managed to destroy the thing by sacrificing his own life. The aftermath of their battle caused tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries, and incalculable economic damage. The land in Kanagawa Prefecture was also contaminated by the Xiangliu's poisonous fluids and blood, and it still hasn't fully recovered to this day.”

"After the Kanagawa disaster, Fusang asked our Great Ming for help. As the leader of East Asia, our Great Ming has the right to deploy troops at any time to maintain peace among East Asian nations, arbitrate disputes, and sanction the insubordinate. Naturally, we also have corresponding obligations. When Fusang asked for aid, we couldn't refuse. So the Sword Sovereign Xingyun personally led a team to Fusang to provide support and help them seal that dangerous Gate of Revelation.”

"After sealing the Gate of Revelation, the Sword Sovereign Xingyun investigated the battlefield and discovered that the eight-headed Xiangliu—which the Fusang people called Yamata-no-Orochi because it ate only women and could summon floods, similar to the mythical eight-headed serpent—wasn't actually completely dead.”

“Right before it died, it had split off numerous juveniles that escaped in all directions, hiding in the floodwaters it had summoned before death. The Sword Sovereign Xingyun led teams to search everywhere, found many of the juveniles, and killed them one by one, but ultimately couldn't wipe them all out.”

"Over these ten years, Fusang has continued to report occasional discoveries of Xiangliu juveniles. Even our country and Goryeo have each had one recorded instance of discovering and killing a Xiangliu juvenile. This shows that the juveniles have already crossed the seas and spread to our country and Goryeo.

"The Xiangliu juvenile you killed is the second one discovered in recent years.

"Fortunately, we caught it early before it could mature. If we'd let it grow up, it might have caused another Kanagawa disaster."

This secret history that Gu Dongcang recounted left Chu Tianxing and Qin Ling amazed.

Who would have thought that a disaster caused by some otaku ten years ago would still be causing problems today?

At the same time, the two of them understood why this Xiangliu juvenile had been so afraid of the Sword Sovereign Xingyun.

Ten years ago, the Sword Sovereign Xingyun had responded to Fusang's request and led teams to Fusang, killing many of the escaped Xiangliu juveniles.

Since these juveniles all came from the same source, there was probably some mysterious psychic connection between them. With so many of their siblings dying under the Sword Sovereign Xingyun's blade, the surviving stragglers would naturally be especially terrified of her.

Qin Ling’s curiosity was piqued. “So if the eight-headed one was from another world through a Gate… does that mean the original Xiangliu from the old myths was an alien too?”

Gu Dongcang nodded. “Some of the monsters from the old myths were probably just real, extinct animals from Earth’s past. But there are also some that are too bizarre and go against common sense regarding Earth's biology. Things with multiple heads, multiple tails, no heads, human faces... These might not be native to Earth.”

"Creatures like Xiangliu are clearly not Earth's original species."

Qin Ling asked again. "What about the Water God Gonggong?"

Gu Dongcang smiled. "The Water God Gonggong might have been an Astral Qi Realm expert from ancient times when spiritual energy was abundant, or even someone who transcended the Astral Qi Realm. He probably subdued a monster that had wandered over from another world and made it his loyal battle pet.”

"Actually, many of the deities in our country's ancient mythology who have clearly recorded divine miracles like the Fire God Zhurong, Kuafu, Houyi, and even Goddess Nuwa might all have been similar existences to the Water God Gonggong.”

“The Olympian gods of Western mythology, the Norse gods, the ancient gods of India, the gods of Egyptian mythology, the ancient gods of Fusang, and so on, could all have been similar beings.”

“Think about it. In all the stories, the gods act like people. They get happy, they get angry, they fall in love, they get jealous. They’re more human than they are godlike.”

“But Nuwa created people,” Qin Ling argued. “She’s the mother of our civilization. How could she just be a powerful Astral Qi Realm expert? Then how do you explain the legends of creating humans and mending the sky?"

Gu Dongcang replied. "There are many interpretations of Goddess Nuwa's legend of creating humans. Personally, I'm inclined to believe that she was probably the first to establish a fixed marriage system within the tribe she ruled, where couples had stable relationships. This meant that the children born after that would no longer, as in the past, know only their mother but not their father. For this, she was later granted the divinity of a creator of humanity by posterity.”

"As for mending the sky... have you ever thought about what it would be like if a Gate of Revelation appeared in the sky, and that gate happened to connect to a great river in another world, with all kinds of otherworldly beasts in the river...

"And then, due to a fight between two powerful beings, the Gate of Revelation got destroyed and couldn't be closed. What kind of situation would that create?"

Without a doubt, it would be a terrifying scene of celestial rivers pouring down, floods descending from heaven, and fierce beasts running rampant.

"Looks like those ancient myths run pretty deep."

Chu Tianxing sighed, then asked, "Brother Gu, you mentioned earlier that those ancient mythological gods might have been Astral Qi Realm experts, or even those who transcended the Astral Qi Realm? So there are higher realms beyond the Astral Qi Realm?"

Gu Dongcang said. "The Spiritual Energy Revival wasn't something that happened overnight. During the Chongzhen Emperor era, the True Qi Realm was the strongest in the world with no Astral Qi Realm in sight.”

"And the number of True Qi Realm martial artists was as rare as Astral Qi Realm experts are today. For over two hundred years after that, the strongest people in the world were still only True Qi Realm, though their numbers gradually increased. It wasn't until a hundred and fifty years ago, as the Spiritual Qi tides grew stronger day by day, that our Great Ming produced the world's first Astral Qi Realm martial artist.”

“If you follow the pattern of history, as the number of True Qi Realm experts increased and the number of Astral Qi Realm martial artists also increased, there is a possibility that someday, the gate of martial path beyond the Astral Qi Realm might one day open on its own.”