*Smash!*
*Whoosh!* The crisp shattering of glass as a Molotov cocktail struck the ground was accompanied by a towering flare of fire, driving back a sliver of the darkness before Liu Xiu's eyes.
*Strange... Why do I have a Molotov cocktail?*
*Logically speaking, when an esteemed protagonist like me runs into a dark environment, shouldn't I be pulling out matches or a lighter?* Liu Xiu grumbled inwardly, glancing at the distant areas that remained shrouded in blackness beyond the reach of the flames.
He reached deeper into his pocket to keep fishing. A Molotov cocktail, a hand grenade, an anesthetic...
Chocolate, peppermints, con—
"*Ahem!*"
Liu Xiu cleared his throat into his fist and silently shoved everything back into his pocket. At the same time, he realized this pitch-black setting was most likely his mental space.
Even so, he felt black was entirely the wrong color. It ought to be white. After all, he was the radiant light of righteousness!
*So, what am I supposed to do next?*
Liu Xiu looked around, finding that apart from the firelight cast by the Molotov cocktail before him, everywhere else remained an abyss of darkness.
*A peculiar spell...*
Liu Xiu did not act rashly. He merely observed and tried to guess which kind of sorcery had dragged him into his own mental space.
As he pondered, a mechanical chime rang in his ear, followed by five choices:
*Ding! Please select your opponent!*
*Option One: Orphan.*
*Option Two: Matrilocal Groom.*
*Option Three: Dashcam.*
*Option Four: Abandoned Baby.*
*Option Five: Mediterranean Baldness.*
"???"
*Hold on, brother, are you seriously telling me a dashcam qualifies as an opponent?!*
Liu Xiu blurted out an instinctive complaint at the five choices before him. But the instant the words left his mouth, his expression froze.
*Wait... Are you sure I can actually beat these guys?!*
*Are you sure I even have the right to be matched against any of the five of them?!*
The moment his thought landed, Option Two, "Matrilocal Groom," lit up on its own. A cascade of question marks sprouted over Liu Xiu's forehead.
*Did I pick that? Did I even twitch?*
*More importantly, are you sure I can take him?!*
Liu Xiu thought in terms of "him" because these five choices corresponded to none other than the legendary five-member pilgrimage party from *Journey to the West*.
*A spirit invocation? No, this is clearly my mental space. But why would the matrilocal groom become my opponent...*
Thoughts whirled through Liu Xiu's mind. As he puzzled over it, the surrounding scenery suddenly underwent a violent transformation.
The darkness receded as heaven and earth shifted.
Rising before his eyes were a thousand peaks tearing from the earth and myriad precipices propping up the sky. Uncounted jagged crags bristled like gathered swords, while endlessly twisting withered vines crept like slithering serpents.
Morning mists and evening vapors veiled the light of the sun and moon. In the distance, the roars of tigers and cries of apes periodically broke the stillness of the forest springs. Liu Xiu focused his gaze and spotted a cavern tucked deep within the mountainside, its mouth concealed among wild, dense woods, shaded above by tangled creepers and veiled below by trailing creeping figs.
Craggy rocks crisscrossed the cavern entrance. At first glance, they resembled crouching beasts; looked at again, they seemed like an array of ancient seal-script strokes. Shrouded in mist, the place took on the uncanny air of an immortal realm.
Before the mouth of the cavern stood a tilted, blue-gray stone stele roughly three feet high, half-carpeted in moss. Carved upon it were three large, ancient seal-script characters: *Cloud-Pathway Cave*.
Liu Xiu paid no heed to the calligraphic brushwork. The second his eyes caught the words *Cloud-Pathway Cave*, he spun on his heel and bolted.
Yet no matter how far he ran, the only thing greeting his eyes remained Cloud-Pathway Cave. It was as though the cavern existed everywhere at once.
"Truly it is said: Clouds and mists seal the gates where demons hide; chilling gales pierce the bones as cold stones abide. If not the place where Tianpeng fell in disgrace, a monster surely claims this eerie place!"
Liu Xiu halted to recite a verse, then turned and bolted once more. And yet, no matter how hard he sprinted, Cloud-Pathway Cave remained the only scenery ahead.
For a moment, desolation welled in his chest, followed by a surge of righteous courage—before he smacked his own forehead, figuring he had simply watched too much *Journey to the West*.
"Wait... There's a whole lot of wood around here..."
Liu Xiu looked at the towering trees around him, struck by sudden inspiration. An instant later, a deep rumbling echoed from Cloud-Pathway Cave.
When he focused his eyes, the stone door of the cave ten paces away swung open, and out poked a pig—
An exceptionally handsome fellow with a pig's head and a human's body.
The figure stepping out of Cloud-Pathway Cave was Zhu Bajie, yet not truly Zhu Bajie. He wore coarse blue-gray homespun with his chest and round belly partially exposed, and in his hand swung a Nine-Toothed Rake.
However, his facial features were identical to Liu Xiu's, save for being styled into a Bajie makeover!
*Thirty-six thousand body deities? Wood? Liver?*
As the thought flashed instinctively through Liu Xiu's mind, the familiar mechanical voice of the narrator cheat abruptly sounded by his ear:
[Jie-jie-jie! Fixing your gaze upon this Bajie who shares seventy percent of your countenance, you see through the profound mystery in a flash, realizing you have been struck by the feng shui master's Great Void Internal-Landscape Deity-Restraining Delusion-Observing Mysterious Rite. At this very moment, you have plummeted into the mental dwelling of the Wood Liver Deity among your five viscera deities. Maintaining an outward facade of tranquil enlightenment, a thoroughly benevolent scheme has already formed in your heart. You intend to unleash the Viscera-Governing Deity-Subjugating Essence-Extinguishing Method, derived from the Heaven-Burial Earth-Destruction Great Demonic Art, to subjugate the Wood Liver Deity before you and claim it for your own use. From there, you will proceed outwards layer by layer to settle scores with all thirty-six thousand deities throughout your body. Once they are utterly crushed, enslaved, and harnessed, you shall rely on this very foundation to obliterate your fellow Daoist peers and reign supreme over the entire cultivation world! Reign supreme across all the cultivation worlds of the heavens!]
"..."
*Are you sure it's me enslaving him?*
*And not him beating me until I cry for my mama?*
Liu Xiu silently roasted the narration. Watching Bajie before him, he saw the creature split into a grin, exposing rows of stark-white, serrated teeth.
As the Nine-Toothed Rake rose, terrifying dark-blue thunder erupted within a three-zhang radius, bursting into crackling arcs of electricity as a dark-blue aura detonated from Bajie's body.
*Boom!*
The earth cracked, rocks flew, and foliage hung suspended in midair. With an aura formidable enough to match a certain Wukong who died of a heart disease, Bajie lunged forward. He leaped across more than ten paces in a single bound, bringing his Nine-Toothed Rake crashing down from the heavens.
*Rippp!*
A shrieking gale was born from the nine sharp teeth tearing through the air. Seeing dark-blue thunder swirling around the rake, Liu Xiu curled his right hand in an empty grasp, conjuring the Crimson Firmament Sword as he yelled, "Big Brother, don't hit me! I'm a matrilocal groom too!"
*Boom!*
As the vicious gleam of the nine teeth descended, Liu Xiu, realizing he had flattered the wrong pig, dodged sideways. With an ear-splitting crash, blinding dark-blue thunder erupted where the rake shattered the ground. Watching this, he thought, *A chance!*
The Crimson Firmament Sword flashed across the air, lopping off the pig head. With a clean *shick*, the handsome pig head went spinning into the sky. Yet Liu Xiu's face froze without the slightest hint of a smile.
"Wh-What terrifying mastery of thunder arts!"
Liu Xiu wasn't smiling, but Bajie's severed head—bearing Liu Xiu's face—grinned. Suspended in midair, it parted its teeth and sneered, "The pretty boy's got decent eyesight!"
Before his voice faded, the pig head moved. Dark-blue lightning surged at the smooth cut of the neck, and the lost body instantly regenerated.
At the same time, the headless body surged with dark-blue lightning as well, sprouting an entirely new pig head.
The two Bajies spoke in unison:
"Now it's two against one!" ×2
"You think I'm afraid of two against one?!" Liu Xiu snapped back.
Before his words finished, the Crimson Firmament Sword violently swung. The blade erupted in an interwoven brilliance of dark-blue, black, and red, cleaving straight down at the newly headed Bajie beside him.
*Slash!* Bajie was split in two, turning into four Bajies!
Simultaneously, the first Bajie's Nine-Toothed Rake swept across Liu Xiu's neck. In an instant, Liu Xiu's head went flying into the air.
Watching the world spin wildly, Liu Xiu mused in surprise, *Wait... It seems I can grow a body too...*
Yimu Yin Thunder surged along the smooth cut beneath Liu Xiu's neck, yet it seemed blocked by a thin membrane, unable to break through.
Landing face-first on the ground, Liu Xiu cursed inwardly and shouted toward his collapsed headless body, "Get over here!"
His headless body wobbled to its feet and sprinted toward his head. Pig-head Bajie made no move to stop it, merely watching the bizarre scene unfold.
The situation progressed as illustrated below:
π
T
1
π。→六。
With his head back in place, Liu Xiu curled his right hand in an empty grasp, the Crimson Firmament Sword back in his grip. Knowing he couldn't die, he looked provocatively at the Bajies before him.
"Come on, you matrilocal groom, let's go again!"
Liu Xiu had already realized that the Bajie before him was merely the manifestation of his Wood Liver Deity, one of his thirty-six thousand body deities.
Furthermore, this opponent couldn't actually kill him and served as an experience pack to hone his Yimu Yin Thunder. What was there to fear?!
Bajie's face darkened. Roughly speaking, the situation was as follows:
3("「「) → 3(▼▼)
Bajie gave a silent, cold sneer. In the very next instant, the situation was roughly as follows:
(▼▼)(▼▼)(▼▼)
(▼▼)(■.█)(▼▼)
(▼▼)(▼▼)(▼▼)
Liu Xiu silently watched the Bajies multiplying on all sides. He scratched his head, an apologetic grin appearing on his face.
"Haha... Actually, I really am a matrilocal groom—"
*Boom!* Terrifying dark-blue Yimu Yin Thunder detonated, drowning out Liu Xiu's voice.
Truly:
*Yimu Yin Thunder tempers this mortal frame,*
*Thirty-thousand deities within the liver domain.*
*Old Pig vies in fury with rake held high,*
*A fresh thunder seed blooms as bones are cast anew!*
***
Meanwhile, in the waking world inside the guest room of the Yizhuang, Liu Xiu lay motionless upon the bed, arcs of dark-blue electricity flickering continuously across his skin.
Had an eminent Daoist master been present, they would have noticed that the seed of Liu Xiu's Yimu Yin Thunder was condensing at a blistering pace.
Within a few breaths, its progress leapt from twenty percent to thirty, then rapidly climbed to forty.
And the progression showed no signs of stopping!
Perhaps agitated by the restless Yimu Yin Thunder over Liu Xiu's body, the dark silhouette beneath him slid down to the floor by the bed with a soft *swish*.
It then morphed into the shadowy silhouette of an unrevealed culprit from a detective cartoon—the classic Little Black form!
The dark shadow did not act immediately, standing quietly beside the bed. But just as it slowly reached out a hand toward Liu Xiu, Liu Xiu's eyes snapped open.
"Yo, were you trying to catch mosquitoes for me?" Liu Xiu asked with a smile.
Sitting up at the edge of the bed, he had barely finished speaking when torrents of dark-blue thunder surged violently from beneath his feet, engulfing the dark shadow in a relentless barrage of electrocution.
After a flurry of crackling sparks, Liu Xiu put on his shoes and stepped away from the bed. He looked down at the shadow, which had paled considerably after he reeled in his Yimu Yin Thunder.
Liu Xiu said nothing, merely watching as it obediently slithered back under his feet to resume its place as an ordinary shadow.
"There won't be a next time," Liu Xiu said cheerfully, marveling inwardly at how terrifying the corruptive taint of demonic arts was. Even when countered by orthodox Daoist arts, its dark nature remained stubborn.
After his musing, Liu Xiu looked at the attribute panel projected before his eyes by his Golden Light Divine Incantation:
[Five Thunders Seeds: 2/5]
[Condensed: Gui Water Yin Thunder, Yimu Yin Thunder.]
The process of condensing the Yimu Yin Thunder seed had been both wondrous and straightforward: the Bajie he encountered in his mental space had helped forge it.
Though he had been battered by Bajie early on, in the late game he built Red Lotus Cape and Fang of the Nightmare—ptui, that is to say, his experience simply grew with the battle.
With more experience came a higher level, allowing him to successfully defeat Bajie—or rather, the Wood Liver Deity among the thirty-six thousand body deities.
Once the Wood Liver Deity fell, Liu Xiu's Yimu Yin Thunder seed naturally condensed from all that gained experience.
*That battle saved me at least a week of bitter cultivation. But wasn't this supposed to be an inescapable illusion? According to the texts in the study, shouldn't I have turned into Bajie disciplining Gao Cuilan?*
Liu Xiu pondered in confusion. He figured it had to do with his consciousness being immune to confusion caused by illusions and phantom arts.
He was simply too lucid—so lucid that he had no chance to beat Gao Cuilan. To be completely honest, it was rather regre—no, nothing to regret at all!
After all, he was an orthodox cultivator!
*Still, why did my Wood Liver Deity's persona match Bajie's, blowing up over being called a matrilocal groom? Just because they both have 'deity' in their titles?*
Unable to make sense of it, Liu Xiu opened the door and walked out of the guest room. Stepping into the courtyard, he glanced at the neighboring room where Shi Shaojian was fast asleep.
Seeing no sign of Wencai, he headed straight for the closed doors of the ritual room, planning to see whether Ninth Uncle had caught the person who had secretly cast a spell on him.
As for whether Ninth Uncle might have sat idle, Liu Xiu considered that impossible. As the saying went, great minds thought alike, and he and Ninth Uncle shared a profound mutual understanding.
Though he hadn't said anything or dropped any hints earlier, he trusted Ninth Uncle would grasp his meaning!
Liu Xiu quickly arrived before the tightly shut ritual room. Just as he raised his hand to knock, the door creaked open from within!
Standing in the doorway was Ninth Uncle, clad in his yellow Daoist robe with black trim. Yet Liu Xiu saw no one else inside the room. Surprised, he stepped back half a pace.
"Second Martial Uncle, you didn't scatter his ashes, did you? That's going too far, way too far. Even if he made a move against me in secret... Wait, are you saying... you didn't catch him?"
"...That's right!"
Ninth Uncle's face was dark. Hearing this, Liu Xiu backed up three steps, his hand feeling for the Crimson Firmament Sword in his pocket as he eyed Ninth Uncle with deep suspicion.
"...That person—the feng shui master you mentioned—traveled along the yin road, and he ran far too fast..." Ninth Uncle began to explain with a sullen grimace. He assumed the culprit was indeed the feng shui master primarily because the man's age matched.
To make a long story short, the moment Liu Xiu entered his guest room, Ninth Uncle had come to the ritual room to open an altar and divine the whereabouts of the assailant.
Naturally, he found him, and the man was right in Ren Family Town. Ninth Uncle hadn't waited around, diving directly into the yin road to apprehend him, only for the culprit to bolt faster than a rabbit.
He had given chase for a long while without catching up.
Liu Xiu took another step back as he listened. "So... he ran and you chased..."
"Yes! He ran and I chased; I chased and he ran. Chasing and chasing, he managed to slip away... Wait, what are you pulling your sword out for?!"
Ninth Uncle froze for a second before quickly realizing what the gesture meant. He hurriedly explained, "It's not that I didn't want to catch that feng shui master, it's that the man ran too fast!"
"Oh..."
"Most importantly, I haven't recovered my spiritual power after fighting your master this morning. On top of that, the fellow seemed to know the escape routes along the yin road like the back of his hand..." Ninth Uncle explained helplessly.
As he spoke, he looked over Liu Xiu. Sensing that Liu Xiu's aura had not weakened at all, but rather grown slightly stronger, he confirmed the youth was unharmed and let out a heavy sigh of relief.
If anything had happened to Liu Xiu under his watch, it would have been a humiliating disgrace!
"Oh..."
*I don't believe a word of it!*
*Not only do I not believe you, I suspect you're his accomplice!*
Liu Xiu stared expressionlessly at Ninth Uncle. After a moment's thought, he said, "Oh, I get it now. The one who fought my master this morning was actually Sect Leader Tianming, wasn't it? The Ninth Uncle from this morning was a fake, and you right now are the real Ninth Uncle!"
"Indeed, only that explains why your strength fluctuates so wildly. Otherwise, I'd start suspecting you deliberately let him escape so he could ambush me again to vent your grudge—wait?"
Liu Xiu paused with a soft hum and raised an eyebrow at Ninth Uncle. Deciding the possibility was uncomfortably high, he backed up another step. That single step brought his heel right against the threshold of the Yizhuang's main gate.
Glancing back to see that he had unconsciously retreated all the way to the entrance, Liu Xiu marvelled inwardly, *Impressive. To think I've actually grasped a sliver of the intent behind the Divine Traveling divine ability!*
"...Believe what you will! And for the record, I am not that petty!" Ninth Uncle snapped with a sullen face. Looking thoroughly irritated, he whipped his sleeve around and strode back into the ritual room.
Four-Eyed Daoist, who had walked out of his room after hearing the commotion, looked on in bewilderment. "What's going on?"
"I suspect Second Martial Uncle is an imposter!"
"???"
Four-Eyed Daoist wore a face full of question marks. Seeing Liu Xiu wave him over, he walked curiously to the main gate.
Once Liu Xiu recounted the whole sequence of events, Four-Eyed Daoist first marveled at how formidable Old Master Ren had been in his day, then gave Liu Xiu a speechlessly exasperated look.
"Ah-Xiu, you're overthinking it. Your Second Martial Uncle didn't hold back. The only reason he could fight Senior Brother evenly this morning was by invoking deities and borrowing strength..."
Four-Eyed Daoist briefly explained how Ninth Uncle had borrowed the might of the Five Camps Divine Generals followed by the ancestral corpse during his morning duel against Shi Jian.
Fearing Liu Xiu might harbor a misunderstanding, he quickly added, "Power like that can't be borrowed at a whim. Besides, you must understand that the shifts of yin and yang along the yin road happen in the blink of an eye. Getting lost is effortless. It's completely normal that your martial uncle couldn't catch up..."
"Oh, and here I thought Second Martial Uncle was a fake!"
"..."
*What's with that tone of sheer disappointment?!*
Four-Eyed Daoist paused, realization dawning, and gave Liu Xiu another thoroughly speechless look. He glanced toward the ritual room, then turned back and whispered, "Your Second Martial Uncle might hold grudges and be pretty petty, but when he settles a score, he only ever does it with his own hands. He would never do something like what you're imagining..."
"Martial Uncle, how could you speak ill of Second Martial Uncle behind his back? Really now... I never thought you were that kind of person!"
Standing already outside the threshold, Liu Xiu turned away with a face full of disdain and strode off without looking back. "I'm heading over to the Ren family manor first. Martial Uncle, you'd best look out for yourself!"
"???"
*Me look out for myself?!*
*You should look out for yourself!*
*What in the world is going on inside that kid's head all day?!*
Four-Eyed Daoist turned back in exasperation, only to be greeted by the sight of Ninth Uncle standing by the door of the ritual room, beaming at him with a wide smile.
His expression froze instantly. "Senior Brother... uh, I'm an injured patient..."
"Yes, I know. Conveniently enough, while slaying demons and subduing monsters recently, I happened upon a fist technique that excels at healing injuries..." Ninth Uncle said with a warm grin.
Four-Eyed Daoist's eyes went wide. He instinctively turned to flee, but all that met his sight was the heavy slam of the Yizhuang's main gates shutting tight.
A few seconds later, an agonizing shriek echoed from inside the Yizhuang, abruptly cut short. A hundred paces away, Liu Xiu curled his lips in amusement.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... So petty. Hm?"
Liu Xiu took two steps back and looked at the stone that had nearly tripped him. He kicked it aside and continued on his way to the Ren family manor.
Chapter 74