Shi Shaojian: My Martial Junior Is Dead, Why Are You Still Alive!

Furthermore, Liu Xiu suspected that the reason the imperial-clan jiangshi had failed to purge its corpse poison back then might well have been due to recklessly ingesting metallic and mineral elixir pills during its treatment. Otherwise, that fellow cultivator wouldn't have said the creature brought it upon itself, not to mention that the narration cheat had also later commented on refining golden elixir and corpse poison together. On top of that, their recent clash had revealed that the monster possessed the exact same lead skin as his. Granted, it wasn't as thick as his! Still, that was understandable, considering the creature had consumed the gold-plated luxury version of metallic and mineral elixirs. What baffled him, however, was that armor-like layer on the creature that wasn't quite armor! Lead skin he could comprehend—pop enough lead-laced mineral pills and anyone would develop it—but this pseudo-armor was beyond him. "Say it was forged by heavenly thunder... but leaving aside metals like copper, gold, and silver, which have melting points around a thousand degrees Celsius, even tin melts at over two hundred degrees. Sure, the heavenly thunder struck the bronze coffin, but there wouldn't have been enough time for the interior temperature to rise, let alone meet the conditions for high-pressure diffusion and electroplating..." Standing before the bronze-cornered golden coffin, Liu Xiu pondered, then thought, *It couldn't be that the heavenly thunder struck the jiangshi as well, could it? No, that makes no sense either. When the lightning struck back then, it clearly formed a Faraday cage effect...* Liu Xiu stroked his chin with a puzzled look, unable to conclude anything other than that heavenly thunder in this world wasn't merely lightning in the conventional sense of later eras. Well, his physics was lousy and his chemistry was just as poor. Unable to explain the phenomenon scientifically, he could only chalk it up to the Dao of Immortals. "Forget it, no more thinking about this. The more I think, the more my brain itches. I wonder if that imperial-clan jiangshi caught up to those six soldiers yet..." Truth be told, Liu Xiu hadn't wanted to let the imperial-clan jiangshi get away like that. As he had said, he had nine different ways to deal with it. Yet there was no helping it; he had also admitted they were six of one and half a dozen of the other. His radiation certainly damaged the jiangshi, which was similarly packed with heavy metals. Alas, the other side was a jiangshi, and with its diminished sensation of pain, it shrugged off most of the damage. In the end, Liu Xiu simply lost the desire to keep fighting—mainly because the creature had become a bit disgusting under all that radiation! As for his thunder arts, before his Gui Water Yin Thunder seed had fully condensed, any electricity he channeled essentially traveled along that pseudo-armor of the jiangshi straight into the earth. To be honest, this made Liu Xiu suspect that when the heavenly thunder struck the bronze-cornered golden coffin, it had granted the jiangshi a bit of lightning resistance. Of course, he also thought it had to do with the gold elixir pills the creature had consumed in life—the gold gave it superb electrical conductivity! In short, two tanks had hacked at each other for ages, realized neither could kill the other, and called it quits! It definitely wasn't because Liu Xiu and the imperial-clan jiangshi were both terrified of accidentally getting killed, prompting them to mutually cease hostilities! How could that be? He, Liu Xiu, had the biggest guts around! As he was thinking, the voice of the narration cheat chimed in. [Jie-jie-jie! Staring at the massive, sinister bronze-cornered golden coffin before you, your mind constantly reviews the various secret corpse-refining arts you have learned. In a flash of inspiration, you decide to refine a unique five-viscera corpse. You prepare to gather the heart of a wolf, the liver of a dog, the spleen of a snake, the lungs of a jackal, and the kidneys of a fox, finally using your own rat-sized courage as a catalyst to seal these six cunning, vicious organs into the body of the Black Jiangshi to forge the five-viscera corpse! Once fully formed, this five-viscera corpse shall serve as your fiercest minion, wiping out masters of every major Daoist sect on your behalf, plundering countless worldly fortunes, and ultimately dominating the cultivation world!] "..." Liu Xiu's expression froze slightly, and he muttered in his heart, *Mine was a strategic ceasefire and an effort to help my master overcome his Calamity of Sprouting Catastrophes...* Alright, no point lying—he was indeed a little scared, but not of the imperial-clan jiangshi that had already vanished without a trace. He feared that Daoist master who had secretly cast an IQ-lowering halo over Daoist Qianhe and his party. Who knew whether, if he went all out to kill the imperial-clan jiangshi, heavenly thunder would strike down from above again to advance the monster to a new stage, or some demon-jiangshi might pop out of nowhere! His pondering finished, Liu Xiu walked over to the three imperial palace experts who had gone down below to swear brotherhood with Louis XVI, crouching down to loot their corpses. Before long, he found enough money to hire a few hundred Jiales to fetch Four-Eyed Daoist to pray for rain. Yes, that sudden resurgence of torrential rain after the storm had stopped was one of his preparations. To ensure the rain wouldn't cease so his Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method could remain active, he had not only left a brocade pouch for Jiale, but had also roped in Qingqing for free as a safeguard. From the looks of it now, his plan was simply flawless! "Take this as compensation for your crema... for the emotional distress you caused when you tried to bite me earlier!" Liu Xiu pocketed the money and declared, abruptly changing his tune halfway through. Looking at the ghostly, irradiated state of the three experts—looking more ghastly than actual ghosts—he figured it was better not to incinerate them. "I wonder if Master's Mystic Chapter of Riding Emptiness and Commanding Space could shift this whole woods into the Netherworld. Not like there are any living people down there anyway..." Liu Xiu thought instinctively as he sniffed the "blessings" permeating the woods, quickly gathering up everything worth taking. Along the way, he changed out of his blessing-saturated clothes. Once he had donned an identical clean set of green Daoist robes, he walked over to the Black Jiangshi, which he had kicked aside during the battle and had therefore barely absorbed any radiation. Looking at the camellia-oil waterproof corpse-suppressing talisman lashed to the Black Jiangshi's forehead, he raised an eyebrow, remarked, "I'm such a genius," hoisted the Black Jiangshi onto his shoulder, and headed toward the wooden hut. He wasn't worried about the imperial-clan jiangshi harming ordinary villagers beyond those six soldiers, either. After all, there wasn't a single household within nearly thirty li of Four-Eyed Daoist's cottage; even if the jiangshi wanted to harm commoners, it couldn't find any! "Speaking of which, should I pull off a Kangxi Armor merge later..." Liu Xiu stroked his chin in thought, then decided it wasn't quite feasible. No helping it: a sword from the previous dynasty couldn't behead an official of the current one. Liu Xiu couldn't even use the opportunity to do an "Imperial President summons." Not a big deal, though; he'd just transform into a different Imperial President! ... Near the wooden hut. Liu Xiu appeared in the shadows carrying the Black Jiangshi. He didn't reveal himself right away, but set the Black Jiangshi down on the ground, frowning as he watched Daoist Qianhe, Bei, and Dong dispatching six soldier-turned-jiangshi. Liu Xiu wasn't surprised that the six soldiers had become jiangshi; obviously, they had been bitten by the imperial-clan jiangshi. He was only frowning at how Daoist Qianhe and his two disciples were no longer zoning out or dazed. As if their brains had returned, they effortlessly took down two soldier jiangshi with swift strokes of their swords. *Were they just playing me earlier?* Liu Xiu's brows furrowed. On second thought, probably not. Looking at the six dispatched soldier jiangshi, he reasoned that it likely had to do with the fact that almost everyone had already died. *The scapegoats filling the pit are almost all dead, so the calamity aura dissipated a bit? Is that why the IQs of Daoist Qianhe and his four disciples are back online?* Liu Xiu pondered inwardly. Narrowing his eyes, he channeled his already extraordinary sight combined with his newly improved immortal aspect of Jade-Green Eyes and Square Pupils toward Daoist Qianhe and the two disciples. What met his eyes was fine dust like gray ash drifting between heaven and earth—vague, hazy, imperceptible motes of dust. And Four-Eyed Daoist's wooden hut, which radiated a faint divine light that blocked some of that dust from settling onto Daoist Qianhe and his companions. Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes further, his gaze finally fixing upon the black-and-white Taiji diagram inside the room. "Patriarch Zongyan's protection?" No, it was indeed a patriarch's protection, but not that of Patriarch Zongyan! It wasn't that Liu Xiu looked down on him, but rather that he didn't think Zongyan had the ability to block the erosion of such calamity aura. Squinting, he glanced up at the dark, overcast sky. Seeing the pillar of light descending from the vault of heaven, he roughly understood and withdrew his gaze, silently praising in his heart, *The Three Mao Patriarchs really delivered.* "Everyone gets this kind of protection, right? If not, then I'll... Whatever, if they don't, they don't!" Liu Xiu muttered internally and looked back toward the wooden hut. Just as he was wondering why Four-Eyed Daoist and Jiale weren't around, an enraged roar suddenly erupted from within the hut. "You say my martial junior is dead? Impossible! I don't believe it! You're the ones who are dead! How dare you say my martial junior died! If he's dead, none of you get to live either!" Shi Shaojian's furious voice boomed from the wooden hut. Inside, after Shi Shaojian felled the already-injured Xi with a punch, he dropped Nan with another punch and dashed out the door of the wooden hut, only to see Daoist Qianhe and the two disciples standing there dumbfounded. At the same time, he spotted that familiar Black Jiangshi! The Black Jiangshi? *My martial junior is still alive?!!* Shi Shaojian's eyes went wide. Following the gaze of Daoist Qianhe's group, he saw Liu Xiu looking at him with a smile, saying, "Senior Brother, my apologies. The situation in the woods was critical back then, and I had no choice but to knock you unconscious..." Liu Xiu didn't finish the rest of his sentence. He simply smiled as Shi Shaojian threw his arms around him, weeping like a child. "Don't cry, Senior Brother!" "Hmph, you're the one crying! I just got sand in my eyes!" Shi Shaojian shoved Liu Xiu away with an aggrieved huff. To tell the truth, his martial junior had a really grating mouth! But considering he had risked his life to hold off the imperial-clan jiangshi, he would forgive him! As Shi Shaojian rubbed his eyes, he looked over Liu Xiu to make sure he was unhurt, then turned to shoot Xi and Nan a look of utter disdain. "See that? Even if you died, my martial junior wouldn't! If you don't know, don't talk nonsense. Say it again and I'll beat you up..." Xi and Nan didn't argue. Just like Shi Shaojian earlier, their eyes had "gotten sand in them" as they called out, "Martial Junior." "Mm..." Liu Xiu nodded with a smile. Glancing at Daoist Qianhe and his party, who all seemed to have gotten sand in their eyes, he turned toward Jiale and Qingqing as they emerged from Master Yixiu's cottage. "Where are Martial Uncle Four-Eyed and the others?" "They went to look for you!" Daoist Qianhe answered quickly, rubbing his sandy eyes. Liu Xiu went quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, let's get ready first. I reckon that imperial-clan jiangshi will be here soon..." Liu Xiu said, taking the opportunity to explain that he hadn't killed the jiangshi in Gaoshulin, merely stalling it until it fled. "Martial Junior, your luck is really something..." Jiale marveled. Hearing movement inside Master Yixiu's wooden hut, Liu Xiu nodded and looked toward Qingqing. "The Seventy-First Prince and Vice Minister Wu are in your house?" "Yes, they were both scratched by the jiangshi. We're purging the corpse poison from them..." Qingqing nodded rapidly. *???* *When did they get scratched?* Liu Xiu had a nagging feeling that something had happened without his knowledge, but he didn't dwell on the minor detail and said directly, "Come on, let's head into the master's cottage to prepare for battle. The Seventy-First Prince is the imperial-clan jiangshi's blood relative—it will definitely come looking for him!" With that, he headed toward Master Yixiu's wooden hut with the Black Jiangshi. Shi Shaojian followed briskly, and Qingqing and Jiale hurried after them. "You two look after Xi and Nan!" Daoist Qianhe instructed Dong and Bei. Then Liu Xiu looked back and said, "Don't. Bring them along. Don't you know splitting up at a time like this is the easiest way to get killed?" Leaving the injured Xi and Nan alone in Four-Eyed Daoist's cottage—wasn't that practically serving them up as rations for the imperial-clan jiangshi? Besides, he felt the patriarch's protection was already slacking! Why was their IQ dropping again? "Uh... listen to your martial junior!" Daoist Qianhe instructed once more. Just as he was about to catch up with Liu Xiu, he noticed Dong beside him suddenly widen his eyes and point blankly at Liu Xiu's feet. "M-Master, Junior Brother, he..." "???" Daoist Qianhe blinked and instinctively looked over. What entered his sight under the gloomy sky was Liu Xiu, who had no shadow beneath his feet. No shadow? A ghost? Dead? *My martial nephew is dead?* "Of course... of course. Even I couldn't handle that imperial-clan jiangshi, so how could A-Xiu fight it off, let alone stop it..." Daoist Qianhe murmured to himself. Caught unprepared, even he couldn't stand against the creature—how could Liu Xiu? Even if Liu Xiu knew thunder arts, that jiangshi had survived being struck by heavenly lightning; after enduring heavenly lightning, a creature would generally become largely immune to lightning techniques. The more he thought about it, the paler Qianhe's face grew. For a moment, he seemed to have lost his very soul, stumbling forward after him. Dong and Bei, as if suddenly understanding, wiped away endless tears as they supported Xi and Nan, who were also weeping. Turning around, Liu Xiu was utterly dumbfounded. *???* *Are these guys really this sentimental?* Liu Xiu stared quizzically at Daoist Qianhe, whose eyes were still "full of sand." A short while later, inside Master Yixiu's wooden hut: Pouring glutinous rice onto the floor, Liu Xiu silently knitted his brow at Daoist Qianhe and his four disciples. They had their brains back, but something was clearly off about them. Remembering how the five of them had just danced around asking if he had any unfulfilled last wishes, Liu Xiu figured it out, nodded, and grinned. "Yes, I do. I want you all to come down and keep me company!" "Ah?!" ×5 *We all have to go down there with you?* Daoist Qianhe and his four disciples stared wide-eyed at Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu curled his lip and said, "It looks like I barely have a shadow beneath my feet because my immortal aspect, No Shadow at Noon, is nearly complete, pulling all my yang qi inward..." Liu Xiu spoke expressionlessly. Watching Daoist Qianhe's face shift rapidly through various expressions, he reached out and poked the man's arm. "Hiss..." The wound on his arm instantly contorted Qianhe's expression into pure agony. He glared at Liu Xiu with wide eyes. "You..." "Quit the chatter and get to work!" *Good, he still feels pain!* Confirming that Daoist Qianhe wasn't about to turn into a jiangshi anytime soon, Liu Xiu shoved the bag of glutinous rice into his hands. Glancing at the sheepish Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei, he muttered under his breath, "What a melodramatic bunch!" Just as Liu Xiu was wondering whether he had ever mentioned the No Shadow at Noon immortal aspect to Daoist Qianhe's group, a surprised voice rang out. "Huh, Martial Nephew, you really are alive!" "..." Liu Xiu stared blankly at Four-Eyed Daoist, who had finally returned, and Master Yixiu, who was smiling and chanting a Buddhist mantra. "Amitabha, excellent, most excellent. I said Little Friend Liu is blessed and destined for a long life—how could he possibly die at the hands of a mere jiangshi..." Master Yixiu said with a beam. Liu Xiu gave a slight nod, then looked back and forth between Four-Eyed Daoist and Master Yixiu. He didn't mean anything by it, just: *Look at him, then look at yourself!* "Ahem, good to be alive, good to be alive!" Conscious of his slip of the tongue, Four-Eyed Daoist gave an awkward chuckle. But when he caught sight of Liu Xiu's shadowless feet, he froze, his eyes widening in shock. "Martial Nephew, you..." Four-Eyed Daoist trailed off, his face turning pale as if the spirit had been drained right out of him. Watching him, Daoist Qianhe found the reaction strikingly familiar. *Oh, right. That was me just now!* ×5 Daoist Qianhe and his four disciples looked thoroughly embarrassed and hastily busied themselves. Liu Xiu stared expressionlessly at Four-Eyed Daoist, muttering in his heart about what a melodramatic bunch they were, before explaining, "It's an immortal aspect..." Once the explanation was done, just as Four-Eyed Daoist and the master let out sighs of relief, a shrill scream suddenly tore through the inner room. "Ahhh! Help! Save me..."