Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 132: Four Nails

The moon set. The sun rose.

The Hundred Thousand Mountains welcomed another new day.

Perhaps it was the exhaustion of recent days.

Perhaps it was the nightmares.

Chen Huangpi didn't stir until the sun was high overhead, its rays practically warming his backside, and even then he woke in a groggy daze.

And the first thing he noticed upon opening his eyes was an ugly pinch mark on the body of the Brass Oil Lamp hanging from the wall.

"Huang Er, are you all right?"

Chen Huangpi blanched and rushed over.

"I'm fine."

The Brass Oil Lamp smiled painfully. "Just a bit of wear and tear. I can handle it.""Who did this?!"

Chen Huangpi said furiously. "Was it First Master? He was already using you as a chew toy before — now he's getting worse! From the looks of it, he was trying to choke you to death!"

"It was the Third Guanzhu."

"Oh. Third Master..."

Chen Huangpi said with perfect nonchalance. "Third Master does have a strong grip. You know, the fingerprints are perfectly clear."

As he spoke, he bowed his head and examined his own palm.

"Wait — my eyes are healed?!"

Only then did Chen Huangpi realize that the eyes that had been blind before he fell asleep were now perfectly restored.

As though they'd never been blinded at all.

"The Dispelling Darkness and Restoring Sight Powder I prepared really is that effective?"

"Effective, my foot."

The Brass Oil Lamp hopped feebly off the wall and draped itself over Chen Huangpi's shoulder. "The Third Guanzhu stepped in while you were sleeping. He pulled two black threads right out of your eyes."

"Otherwise, you think you'd have recovered this fast?"

"I don't believe it."

Chen Huangpi snorted. "Third Master only knows how to lecture people and kill them. My prescription is clearly what did it."

"The Third Guanzhu can hear you..."

"So what?"

Chen Huangpi said earnestly. "Even if my prescription is incredible, I couldn't have healed this quickly without Third Master's help. Huang Er, don't try to drive a wedge between me and Third Master. I'll be angry."

"Heh heh..."

"Heh heh..."

"Huang Er, I had a nightmare last night."

Chen Huangpi recalled the dream and couldn't help but say, "I dreamed of swarms of worms trying to eat me. I was still an egg then — and inside the egg, I was a wisp of golden-black qi. I also dreamed of some... thing, but I can't remember what it looked like."

"In the dream, I went on a killing spree. I slaughtered every last worm. I fought my way all the way to the Celestial Realm, and there I ran into a bunch of wicked immortals."

"They wanted to kill Master — I was livid!"

As he spoke, Chen Huangpi couldn't resist bringing two fingers together in a sword seal and gesturing wildly. "Just like this — one sweep of my sword and every last immortal's head came rolling off. I fought all the way back to the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty with Master."

"Master even praised me — said the student had surpassed the teacher. He was no match for me."

"The Guanzhu was no match for you?"

The Brass Oil Lamp couldn't contain its laughter. "Chen Huangpi, the Guanzhu was a True Immortal at thirteen. You're thirteen too — what kind of True Immortal are you?"

"If I had been born, I would also be a True Immortal!"

Chen Huangpi argued, flushing with embarrassed indignation. "Anyway, that's exactly what Master said in the dream."

"Shameless."

The Brass Oil Lamp said with disdain. "I have no idea what the Guanzhu might have said in your dream, but while you were having your nightmare, it was all 'Master save me!' and 'Don't eat me!' — and you're telling me you led the Guanzhu on a glorious rampage?"

"I... well..."

Chen Huangpi's face turned beet red. He'd never imagined he'd been talking in his sleep.

Yesterday's nightmare must have been truly terrifying.

"Dreams are the opposite of reality."

"So naturally, my sleep-talk was the opposite too."

"Sure. I believe you."

The Brass Oil Lamp didn't want to argue the point any further. Instead, it asked, "Buddy, while you were having that nightmare, did you feel anything... unusual about your body?"

"Nothing unusual."

Chen Huangpi stepped out of the side hall, stretched lazily, and said, "I just feel refreshed after a good sleep. Eyes are healed. I'm going to patrol the mountains, then visit Second Master in the Old Temple tonight."

The Brass Oil Lamp spoke in a complicated tone. "During the night, you sprouted hundreds of eyes."

"Those eyes blinked and blinked, staring straight at me."

"I felt like those eyes could control me."

Last night, after Chen Huangpi's nightmare began, he'd started mumbling in his sleep.

Then he'd begun thrashing on the bed, as though facing some dire threat.

The lamp had been about to approach and soothe him.

But the instant the thought formed.

A crack split open across Chen Huangpi's cheek.

A dark cyan eye emerged from within.

Immediately after, more fissures opened across his body.

Beneath skin and flesh, eye after eye opened, staring at everything around them with shameless abandon.

"The Liver Temple..." Chen Huangpi murmured thoughtfully.

Then he sank his awareness inward.

And saw that at the location of his liver, a yellowish-green vital essence was generating of its own accord, continuously forging the Liver Temple like a living thing.

The Liver Temple had already taken on a faint outline.

At this rate.

In ten days at most, five or six at the shortest, the Liver Temple would be fully complete.

"When I cultivated the Kidney Temple, I sprouted black smoke."

"When the Liver Temple started forming, I sprouted eyes."

"The Liver Temple corresponds to wood. After the Liver Temple comes the Heart Temple — fire. Then the Spleen Temple — earth. After that, the Lung Temple — metal. That completes the five-element cycle. So I'll grow five different things in total." Chen Huangpi frowned. "The Daoists of the Pure Immortal Temple each only grew one type. My origins are extraordinary — so why only five?"

"Don't forget you still have the Yin-Yang Harmonization and Spirit Transformation Art."

The Brass Oil Lamp reminded him. "When your Six Yin Gods and Yang God come into play, they might produce growths of their own."

"That makes seven."

Chen Huangpi said, brimming with pride. "Those Daoists may have been immortals, but their potential was spent. My potential is seven times theirs. My future achievements will be beyond anything they could ever reach."

As he said this.

Chen Huangpi arrived at the main hall.

But Master wasn't there. Neither was Golden Horn. Only the Fox Mountain God, tidying up.

The hall was spotless.

But some days earlier, Chen Huangpi had nailed his master to the wall.

That had left things in a bit of disarray.

"Fox Mountain God, where's my master?"

"The Guanzhu went out. Oh — it was the First Guanzhu who went out."

The Fox Mountain God carefully pried a nail free, then said, "He left at first light, leading Golden Horn. Said he was taking it somewhere to get something good to eat, but I suspect the Guanzhu is planning to stew Golden Horn."

"He wouldn't."

Chen Huangpi grinned. "Master is raising Golden Horn into a mean guard dog to protect our home. He wouldn't stew it. Besides, Golden Horn is nothing but a soul right now — there's no pot out there. What would he stew it in?"

"You make an excellent point."

The Fox Mountain God pulled out the last nail, then moved to toss the whole pile away.

But Chen Huangpi noticed four nails in the bunch that looked different from the rest.

So he stopped the Fox Mountain God.

"Hold on."

Chen Huangpi pointed at the four odd nails. "Where did these four black nails come from? I remember the ones I used on Master weren't this thick."

"Where do you think?"

The Fox Mountain God said helplessly. "The First Guanzhu spat them out before he left. Said they tasted mediocre — all rust. He told me to clean up the hall and throw them away along with the rest."

"Iron is to the body what rice is to the soul. It's perfectly normal for Master to eat a few iron nails as a supplement."

Chen Huangpi took the four black nails and examined them closely.

These four nails were inscribed with strange characters.

Though the nails had been swallowed by Master and the writing had been corroded by stomach acid.

Some inscriptions remained intact.

"Suppress evil... sustain the seal... bind the yang..."

Chen Huangpi frowned. "This one is inscribed with 'Chen Five.' And this one says 'You Eleven' — plus the words 'Fix the Life Soul.' The other two are too damaged to read."

The Brass Oil Lamp said abruptly, "Those nails carry the aura of those four evil spirits."

Yesterday, four evil spirits disguised as cultivators — black-robed and masked — had come asking questions.

They'd come for the black sun.

Chen Huangpi had been blind and couldn't see through their facades.

He'd taken them for good people, even invited them to stay the night at the temple.

If the Brass Oil Lamp hadn't tipped him off, Chen Huangpi would never have known those four had actually considered eating him.

Chen Huangpi's eyes widened with understanding. "So First Master dealt with them last night — he just didn't tell me."

"Obviously!"

The Brass Oil Lamp sneered. "The Guanzhu rarely goes out of his way to kill evil spirits, but those four had dark intentions. They probably even cursed the Guanzhu in their thoughts. Within these Hundred Thousand Mountains, is there anything the Guanzhu doesn't know? You think he'd let those four live?"

"These four nails might be the very secret behind their ability to keep their humanity."

At these words.

Chen Huangpi's interest was instantly piqued.

He thought for a moment. "Mang Shan Jun is still in my Soul-Hooking Manual. It used to be an Arhat before it became an evil spirit. If I drive these four nails into its skull, maybe it could be restored?"

With that, Chen Huangpi slapped the Soul-Hooking Manual.

A ghostly glow emerged.

Mang Shan Jun — collar around its neck, self-proclaimed mountain monkey — materialized in the open courtyard before the hall.

Mang Shan Jun's current state was wretched.

It had originally possessed eight heads, but now only six remained — and one of those was half-cleaved away.

Of its sixteen arms, a mere thirteen survived.

"Chen Huangpi, if you have any spine, just end me now."

Mang Shan Jun stiffened its remaining necks and snarled through clenched teeth. "Otherwise, one day when I'm free, I will crack open your skull and swallow your brains raw."

"Chen Huangpi, you actually captured a Calamity?!"

The Fox Mountain God stared, wide-eyed. "How did you manage that?"

"By skill, naturally."

Chen Huangpi activated the collar, forcing Mang Shan Jun's mouth shut.

The creature's eyes flooded crimson with impotent fury.

Skill? What skill?

He'd relied on that immortal's power — nothing more.

Without that immortal, without the Vast-Sight God, without the black smoke — Mang Shan Jun would have flayed him alive long ago.

Chen Huangpi spared Mang Shan Jun a glance.

Then the crane-beak pickaxe materialized in his hand.

He walked up to Mang Shan Jun.

The creature's single remaining leg buckled involuntarily into a kneel. Its thirteen arms braced against the ground, and all six heads arranged themselves neatly at the perfect height.

Right at Chen Huangpi's waist.

With the collar's control, everything about Mang Shan Jun — aside from its own consciousness — was subject to Chen Huangpi's will.

The Brass Oil Lamp chimed in. "Buddy, it has six heads, but you've only got four nails. The numbers don't match."

"Simple. Just remove two."

Chen Huangpi smiled and raised the pickaxe.