Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 5: The Earth Dragon Turns Over

Reminded by the brass oil lamp, Chen Huangpi took out the yellowed little booklet from his robes.

Earlier, this thing had shown some strange activity.

But at that time, Chen Huangpi was focused on cultivating and ignored it.

Now, upon opening it, he immediately discovered what was different about the booklet.

The page with the black and white agreement, signed and sealed by Elder Lin, Zhang Wu, and the others, had now vanished. In its place were several blurry human-shaped figures.

Their names were written next to them.

Huang Er showed off smugly, "Those stupid dog cultivators didn't know what they had. They signed and sealed an agreement with you but didn't fulfill their promise. Now look, even their souls are imprisoned inside, never to be reincarnated for all eternity."

Chen Huangpi pouted, "Last time, I signed my master's name, and master is still alive and well."

"The Temple Master is different. This thing can't beat him."

"The old Temple Master is bent on eating you. For this thing to try and get to you first is like lighting a lantern in a latrine—courting death. And look, even the life-reaping ghost inside has been gnawed into a skeleton.""How do you know so clearly?"

"Nonsense, I was peeking from the side at the time. How could I not know?"

"Then isn't it useless?" Chen Huangpi couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

The brass oil lamp immediately said, "The life-reaping ghost isn't dead. As long as you feed it a lot of souls, it can recover its original strength."

"That's not good!"

Chen Huangpi said seriously, "As the future master of the Pure Immortal Temple, how can I go around killing people and imprisoning souls to raise a life-reaping ghost that sounds evil just by its name? Besides..."

At this point, he said somewhat shyly.

"I've never killed anyone either. What if I leave a survivor? Wouldn't it be embarrassing if word got out?"

"The first time is strange, the second time is familiar. What's there to be afraid of?"

As the brass oil lamp said this, it pointed to the little booklet. "By the way, this thing has another wonderful use. With these people's souls imprisoned inside, their treasures, as well as their cultivation experience and memories, will turn into debts. You can take as much as they owe you."

"Just immerse your mind in it, and you will naturally know what to do."

Hearing this, Chen Huangpi immediately did as he was told.

Instantly, the scene before his eyes changed.

The surroundings became dim and yellow, and he couldn't see things clearly.

Chen Huangpi felt as if he had been sucked into a special space, and some information entered his mind.

"Soul-Hooking Manual."

"This is... the Yellow Springs Domain..."

Chen Huangpi understood. With a thought, the souls of Elder Lin and the others appeared before him.

The souls appeared in the state they were in at death.

Each had their heart and lungs dug out, and even their intestines were gone.

Some had half their heads gnawed off.

The best-preserved one was, conversely, Elder Lin. Apart from his terrified expression, he looked just like a living person.

Chen Huangpi reached his hand into the soul of a cultivator.

When he pulled it out again, a speck of light appeared in his palm, and the soul was immediately dragged into the depths by the surrounding dim yellow mist.

Along with a satisfied gulping sound.

Chen Huangpi knew that this soul had been eaten by the life-reaping ghost Huang Er had mentioned.

He slapped the ball of light into his head.

The memories of that cultivator immediately flooded Chen Huangpi's mind.

From Body Tempering, to Qi Refining, to the cultivation experience of Foundation Establishment and Golden Core...

However, the memories were severely incomplete.

It seemed to be because the debt owed to Chen Huangpi wasn't enough, or perhaps because the soul was too fragmented.

Chen Huangpi reached his hand into the souls of the other cultivators.

After slapping the specks of light into his head again, the memories were barely pieced together enough to be understood.

"So they were this bad. I kindly brought them to the temple, but they actually wanted to kill me and even spoke ill of me."

"Truly wicked!"

"It's a good thing Second Master stood up for me! But why is the way these cultivators practice completely different from mine?"

"Can I cultivate their techniques?"

Chen Huangpi frowned and turned his gaze to Elder Lin and Zhang Wu. He reached into each of them, and when he pulled his hands out, two balls of light appeared. One was a memory, but the other contained a compass-like object, not just a simple memory.

He slapped the memories into his head.

The dim yellow mist immediately swarmed over, dragging the two souls into the depths.

In a daze, Chen Huangpi seemed to see a ferocious, tall figure. The figure was as tall as the main hall of the Pure Immortal Temple, but its body was thin, leaving only a skeleton covered in bite marks. It looked both terrifying and a little comical.

"Master's teeth are really good. If it were me, I definitely couldn't make such deep bite marks."

Chen Huangpi returned to reality, marveling at his master's prowess.

With a thought, the compass-like object instantly appeared in his hand.

"Geomantic Divine Compass! It seems to be very valuable."

Chen Huangpi recalled a few fragments from the memories of Elder Lin and the others. He knew this thing was very precious and was used to find the so-called source of corruption. He stored it in the little booklet, now the Soul-Hooking Manual.

"Huang Er, keep an eye out for me."

After saying this, Chen Huangpi sat down cross-legged on the spot.

Following the cultivation memories of those men, he began to practice a technique called the Profound Yellow Qi Crossing Scripture.

This technique only covered the Qi Refining to Golden Core realms.

Anything higher was beyond the reach of these Golden Core cultivators.

Only the imperial court and the noble families had them.

As for sects, in the memories of these men, they seemed to be just a term for minor cultivators in the wilderness, not something worth mentioning.

"According to their memories, everyone has residual innate spiritual qi in their bodies. As long as their aptitude isn't poor, they can sense it. Then they can use this spiritual qi for body tempering, and after that, find a large city with abundant spiritual qi to step into the Qi Refining stage."

However.

Chen Huangpi tried to sense it for a long time but couldn't feel the so-called spiritual qi.

This troubled him greatly.

Was his aptitude really that poor?

But he had mastered the Five Viscera Spirit Refining Art in an instant.

It was really strange.

Chen Huangpi was a little unwilling and tried to use the magical arts of these men.

He did have something similar to spiritual qi in his body.

Although the kidney temple had not yet been forged, his two kidneys were constantly producing a faint qi that nourished his body.

But this qi didn't seem to be spiritual qi.

Chen Huangpi tried all the magical arts but found that he could only use two of them.

One was called the Dog Rearing Scripture, a method for raising and controlling dogs. It looked very strange.

Besides, where could he find a dog in these Hundred Thousand Mountains?

Chen Huangpi glanced at the brass oil lamp.

"Chen Huangpi, what's with that look?"

"Uh, nothing."

Chen Huangpi shook his head and formed a sword finger, making a few gestures.

The other magical art seemed to be a remnant of some sword technique, with only one move, called Grand Duke Demon Slaying.

Ironically, in the memories, both of these magical arts were things that had been eliminated by modern cultivators. They were ancient methods that no one practiced and couldn't be mastered.

But he had mastered them as soon as he tried.

"Then your aptitude must be too poor."

The brass oil lamp gloated, "Chen Huangpi, age eight, technique fed to his mouth, but still can't learn."

Chen Huangpi became angry from embarrassment, "I'm already nine!"

"So what? You still can't learn it."

"We're family, how could you humiliate me like this?"

The brass oil lamp finally had a chance to regain its face and wasn't about to let Chen Huangpi go.

It had to hit him where it hurt and not let go!

"Broken lamp, eat my sword!"

Chen Huangpi shouted in frustration. He formed a sword finger, and the faint essence qi from his two kidneys instantly drilled into his meridians, circulating along a strange path.

A streak of sword qi immediately shot out from his fingertips.

The sword qi was as fast as lightning.

It instantly grazed past the brass oil lamp.

"Hahaha, you missed!"

The brass oil lamp was about to mock him, but in the next second, a huge rumbling sound echoed.

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!

Chen Huangpi and the brass oil lamp looked in the direction of the sound.

In the far distance, a large mountain collapsed, sending dust flying.

The earth shook and the mountains swayed.

Chen Huangpi was dumbfounded, yet also a little proud. "Hmph, Huang Er, now you know how powerful my sword qi is. I didn't want to hurt you just now, that's why I missed..."

"Missed my ass! The earth dragon is turning over!!"

Chen Huangpi rubbed his eyes and only then realized the ground was shaking. Cracks appeared, spewing out yellowish mud, and trees were swallowed up.

"Run!!"

Chen Huangpi snatched up the brass oil lamp and ran.

Ever since he could cultivate, his physical fitness was on a completely different level than before.

With a stride of his legs, he could feel the kidney qi circulating in his body. It was truly like flying, not much slower than the escape light of those Golden Core cultivators.

The Five Viscera Spirit Refining Art was truly a great method passed down by his master!

Thinking of his master, Chen Huangpi felt a little down. He couldn't go back today. He wondered if his master would miss him.

"Strange, I never missed master this much when I stayed out overnight before. Is it because I've grown a year older?"

Chen Huangpi shook his head, thinking he had probably reached a sentimental age.

...

An earth dragon turning over wasn't that scary.

In Chen Huangpi's memory, this kind of thing happened often in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

But just as people couldn't be generalized, an earth dragon turning over also depended on the situation. Even the Yellow Springs were spewing out from underground, which meant the impact of this earth dragon turning over would definitely not be small.

Chen Huangpi fled with the brass oil lamp.

But suddenly, the ground beneath his feet split open, and a wall of yellow mud, like a giant city wall, shot into the sky and came crashing down on Chen Huangpi.

"Dodge it! You can't touch that stuff!"

When the earth dragon turns over, the mud from beneath the Yellow Springs is spewed out. If you touch even a little bit, it will stick to you like a maggot on a bone and cannot be removed, eventually turning you into an evil monster made of yellow mud.

However, Chen Huangpi couldn't dodge in time. Just as he was about to be submerged in the yellow mud, large hands made of yellow mud reached out from within, as if they were the countless creatures swallowed by the mud, wanting to drag him into the mire.

Chen Huangpi shouted, "Huang Er, save me!!!"

A golden light enveloped Chen Huangpi. The brass oil lamp immediately ignited, and an invisible force pulled Chen Huangpi back.

Chen Huangpi said in pleasant surprise, "Thank you, Huang Er."

The brass oil lamp said urgently, "Stop wasting time, run quickly. We can't go back the way we came. Let's find a safe place to stay first. I'll protect you tonight."

Chen Huangpi was a little worried about his master in the temple.

If he didn't go back at night, what would happen if his master got hungry?

"Don't worry about the Temple Master, your dog life is more important!"

Helpless, Chen Huangpi could only grab the brass oil lamp and run frantically in the opposite direction of the Pure Immortal Temple.

At this moment, Chen Huangpi didn't know.

Deep in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, a group of people whose homes had also been destroyed by the earth dragon turning over were carrying a fox-shaped deity statue and fleeing in disarray.

The group of people looked desperate.

They were remnants living in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, already isolated from the world, and survival was difficult on a daily basis.

Now they had encountered an earth dragon turning over, something not seen in hundreds of years.

So many people had died.

They had only managed to bring out one of the deity statues that protected them; the other was swallowed by the yellow mud the moment the earth dragon turned over.

Even if they could escape the earth dragon turning over, they would still die when night fell.

One deity statue couldn't protect so many people.

Suddenly, the leader, a hunched old woman with one blind eye, dressed as a shamaness and holding a staff, seemed to sense something. She looked in Chen Huangpi's direction, her expression horrified. "An evil entity, such a terrifying evil entity, it's coming towards us!"

"Run, run!!!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the shamaness's expression suddenly became one of astonishment. "Wait, the mountain god is telling us to go and meet it!"

(End of Chapter)