Chapter Eighty-six: Jade House Spirit

  "A figure?" I frowned. "Where?"

  "Just now I turned my head and found that there seemed to be a figure over there, a little kid with a bare butt." Jin Gang pointed to the thicket in the northwest direction.

  "Why don't you say that the big girl with a bare butt?" I teased Jin Gangpao and pulled out a cigarette. "You sleep first, and I'll take over in the second half of the night."

  "You go to sleep first, I'll chat with Mufeng for a while." Jingang Cannon has been getting closer and closer to Murong Zhui Feng recently, it's quite amusing to see. Suddenly remembering that Murong Zhui Feng's time is running out, my mood couldn't help but darken again.

  Within a day's journey of over 100 miles, I was exhausted and no longer declined, leaning against my backpack and soon fell asleep.

  I woke up to find it was 1 am, and saw that Jinguang Cannon and Murong Zhui Feng were already sleeping together, leaning against each other. White Wolf was also sleeping soundly beside me, still shaken from the scare he had during the day.

  "Grass", I cursed the drooling golden retriever who was sleeping. This guy never stays up for a night watch without falling asleep.

  I pulled out a cigarette and lit one, casually reaching for the scabbard beside me. Who knew that with one grab, I would end up empty-handed? Turning around to search, the scabbard that was originally by my side had vanished, leaving behind only an empty sword sheath.

  "Old Cow, did you take my sword?" I shook awake Jin Gang Pao and asked anxiously.

  "What's the point of having it if you're not going to use it?" Jin Gang Pao stood up with a drowsy expression.

  "What happened to my sword?" I shouted at Jin Gang Cannon "Were you sleeping on the job again?"

  Jin Gang Pao, because of his own dereliction of duty, caused me to lose my Gan Jiang and became anxious, stood up and searched around for half a day, but ultimately did not find any trace of Gan Jiang. This is when I truly panicked. "I went to pee at almost 12 o'clock, it was still there then. Could it be that the little kid with the white butt stole it during the day?"

  "It's impossible for anyone to be here, and even if there were some demonic beasts practicing evil ways, they wouldn't dare steal my treasured sword." The air above Gan Jiang was mixed with a hint of murderous aura, making it the bane of all evil creatures.

  "White Wolf, sniff, sniff." I grasped the hilt of my sword and ordered White Wolf to come closer and sniff. After a moment, White Wolf sat down, and seeing that it was ready, I softly shouted "Go!" White Wolf raised its head and darted into the thicket.

  "You wait here for me." I said as I opened my backpack.

  "I'll go with you." Jīn Gāng Pào took out his own dusk blood.

  "Watching things and Mu Rong Zhui Feng." I grabbed the Jiu Yang Fu Chen, tied it to the Shen Gui Cannon and chased after the White Wolf. The forest was dense, but with my and Jin Gang Cannon's observation technique, we could easily find each other, so there was no need to worry about getting lost or separated.

  I gripped the Cong Shen Jue tightly and followed the White Wolf as it darted through the forest, the branches and leaves that came flying towards me left me battered. After chasing for over ten miles, I finally sensed the spiritual energy emanating from Gan Jiang ahead. The Gan Jiang had been in my possession for years, so its aura was naturally familiar to me. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that beside the Gan Jiang was another faint yellow spiritual energy.

  "What kind of thing dares to steal your grandfather's treasure?" I cursed silently and quickened my pace.

  After a while, White Wolf and I finally ran out of the forest and came to a wide and flat meadow, with a sudden broadening of our field of vision. About 200 meters in front of us, an astonishing scene appeared: a child about four or five years old was pulling my exhausted Gan Feng forward as he ran.

  "There's no evil energy, nor is it human. What thing is this?" I pinched my fingers in the observation incantation and didn't discover any evil aura on that child's body. The strange thing was that he wasn't a human being either.

  I changed my technique, using the Wind Chasing Technique to chase after him. My own experience of crashing into a tree in the past made me dare not use the Wind Chasing Technique lightly in dense forests. Open and flat terrain was naturally another matter altogether.

  After a few ups and downs, I took down the Jiuyang dustpan from behind my neck and rushed forward to sweep away the children running in front of me. The children in front saw me approaching, turned their heads in terror, and shrugged their shoulders before disappearing instantly.

  I swept the dust and scanned the surroundings, my figure landed on the ground, and I picked up the fallen dry spear. I looked around to search for the thief sword child from before. The child from before was indeed as described by Jin Gang Pao, **naked butt, over three feet tall, pale face and chubby body, quite pleasing to the eye, but one thing is certain, it's absolutely not human. Firstly, in this desolate mountain wilderness, it's impossible for there to be a human settlement, secondly, there was no human aura on its head.

  After searching for half a day without finding any clues, I was about to give up when I lowered my head and saw that the white wolf's paws were digging vigorously into the ground. Next to it, the leaves of a strange plant were trembling with fear.

  I stopped in my tracks and gazed at the strange plant in front of me, and indeed it was trembling. I pinched my fingers together to observe its aura again, only to see that the spot where the white wolf had dug revealed a pale yellow spiritual energy. So it was this thing that had been stealing from me all along! I knew that demonic beasts could transform into human form after years of cultivation, but I had never seen a plant change into human form before.

  I watched with interest as the White Wolf froze, pulled out a divine turtle-shaped cannon and fired it into the air. Soon, Jin Gang Cannon and Mu Rong Zhui Feng came running over, panting heavily.

  "It's going to be the death of me." Jin Gang panted heavily with sweat all over his head "Huh, found it."

  I nodded slightly "Old cow, come and take a look at this thing." I pointed to the trembling plant in front of me.

  "Wow!" Jin Gang Pao walked up and took a look, shouting loudly and scaring me half to death. "Lao Yu, this is a giant ganoderma lucidum mushroom! I saw it when I was young in the forest, one as big as this needs to be tied with red rope."

  "What's the point of shouting 'Bàng Chúi'?" I looked at Jin Gang Pao who was searching everywhere for a red rope.

  "As soon as it's called out, it can't run away." Jin Gang Pao couldn't find the red rope, so he untied the red belt that warded off evil spirits for his birth year.

  "Save it, I've been squatting here for half an hour and it still hasn't run away." I reached out to stop the Golden Gun who was unfastening his belt. "Is it really ginseng?"

  "Yes, yes, I know its seed." The cannonballer pointed at the fruit of the plant. "How did you find it?"

  "It's just that it turned into a little kid who stole my dry shallots." I laughed and squatted down. The ginseng in front of me was shaking even more violently now, looks like the golden cannon didn't miss its mark.

  "Great, great!" Jin Gang Pao excitedly shouted "Isn't Zhang Guo Lao from the Eight Immortals who became immortal after eating a large ginseng? Our luck has arrived."

  "Stop talking nonsense, Zhang Guo, one of the Eight Immortals, had the most difficult time achieving enlightenment. He was originally a giant rat, but later became a bat after saving someone and being reborn, and then became human again after cultivating for over 3,000 years to become an immortal. What's shown on TV is all fake." I explained with a smile to Jin Gang Pao. Zhang Guo's cultivation history is clearly recorded in "The Legend of the Eight Immortals", it's not as simple as what's shown on TV.

  "Never mind all that, let's dig it out first." Jin Gang Pao said, taking out his military knife and carefully digging.

  "Girl, it's as thick as my arm." Jin Gang Pao simply cleaned up the floating soil around the ginseng and saw the upper part of the ginseng root.

  "Be careful, don't break it." I leaned forward to remind him, to be honest, this is the first time I've seen a living ginseng in my life, although I know it can't make people fly, I'm still very curious.

  "Don't you dare move a muscle!" Just as I and Jin Gang Pao were concentrating our minds on digging, an aged female voice came from the woods in the west.

  "What the...?!" Jin Gangcan stood up and looked around, but didn't see anyone. He shouted loudly, "Who's there?!"

  I pinched the observation of Qi and stared at the place where the sound came from for several eyes, but I didn't find any special breath coming out.

  "The young one is impolite, secretly stealing the true person's method and tool, the true person holds back anger." The voice came again from within the forest.

  "Wait for me here." I finished speaking, sprang up and rushed towards the source of the sound. After entering the forest, I found that behind the trees was a stone cliff, under which there was a circular stone platform in the shape of the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams. On the center of the platform stood an old woman with no clothes on, hunched back, barefoot, with white hair combed up, showing her decrepit appearance.

  The old woman saw me coming and hurriedly knelt down to make a bow. "The young son is impolite, he rushed into the immortal carriage, I hope the true person will forgive him for being shallow and not understanding worldly affairs, please spare him! I am willing to replace him with my own life!"

  "What kind of person are you?" The old woman's stone pedestal was like some sort of formation, concealing her breath. Moreover, although she was old, she was still a woman after all, and I didn't dare stare at her, so I hurriedly lowered my head.

  "A true person is clear, I am not a seven orifice, my body is a jade house earth spirit." The old woman in the array bowed again. Ginseng is also called earth spirit, it seems that the old woman in front of me is also an old ginseng that has been refined for many years.

  "Was that child your son?" Hearing the old woman's plea, I immediately softened my heart, and the familial affection of sacrificing one's life for another gradually dispelled my anger.

  "Stop it at once!" The old woman didn't respond to me, she looked up and gazed outside the forest. It seemed that Jin Gang Cannon had started digging again.

  "Old Cow, stop digging, come over quickly!" I shouted at Jin Gang Pao, and after a moment, Jin Gang Pao and Mu Rong Zhui Feng led Bai Lang to run over.

  "What's going on here?" Jin Gang Pao was stunned by the scene in front of him.

  "Child, come back quickly." The old woman anxiously shouted towards the forest.

  Between the words, only saw the child who had stolen my dry goods before, running over with a frightened look, looking at us in horror, shrinking and burrowing into the mud beside the stone pedestal, transforming back into a toad shape.

  "Ah? You're its mother?" Jin Gang Pao finally understood what was going on and stared with wide eyes in great surprise.

  "It's true! The young master has no virtue and offended a noble person." The old woman knelt down again in the direction of Jin Gang Cannon.

  "You'd better put on your clothes, or you'll be a laughing stock." Jin Gang cannon said with a pretentious tone, taking out one of his woolen sweaters from his backpack and tossing it over. Who knew that as soon as it reached the edge of the stone platform, it would bounce right back out. As I expected, this stone platform was indeed a small-scale formation.

  "Many thanks to the kind intentions of the true person, the old woman was moved by the Taoist priest of Jintingshan to this place and applied the Taoist method, outsiders cannot enter, insiders cannot leave, it's suffering." The old woman on the stone platform spoke with sorrowful words, tears falling like rain.

  "You can't even come out, how can you give birth to a child?" Jin Gang pao picked up his clothes and asked, pointing at the ginseng under the stone platform.

  "True people are clear-sighted, I have lived for a hundred years and only once have I seen three seeds gathered in one place." The old woman stood up and pointed to the pile of lotus seeds on the stone pedestal.

  "I said it." The Diamond Cannon pointed at the ginseng on the stage again.

  "My old eyes are dim, and at night I can barely see things clearly. The young child below is the reincarnation of a Taoist immortal who passed by this place a thousand years ago, taking pity on my solitary and helpless state. He used his divine powers to move one of my seeds out, and thus this child was born." Finished speaking, the old woman bowed her head in respect.

  "Why didn't he just take you out directly?" The Golden Gun lit a cigarette and I snatched it away, taking a few puffs.

  "The Golden Court Mountain's Daoist priestess was a disciple of the Transcendent Teachings, but that Daoist immortal seemed unwilling to get entangled with her. With children and grandchildren surrounding her knees, she had already felt content and at peace. How could she dare ask for more?" The old woman spoke with sincerity and emotion, it seems that not only humans value their descendants' bloodline.

  "What you said just now, is it the Black Rhinoceros of the Chaotic Way?" I spoke as I walked closer to the stone pedestal, wanting to take a look at what kind of formation was trapping her.

  "It's him." The old woman on the platform saw me approaching, narrowed her eyes to look at me, and then knelt down again, kowtowing to me repeatedly...