MM Racing Chapter 333 The Underworld Search: Accompanied by a Companion, Peeks into the Mountain's Belly
Chapter 333 The Underworld Search: Accompanied by a Companion, Peeks into the Mountain's Belly
Chapter 333 The Underworld Search: Accompanied by a Companion, Peeks into the Mountain's Belly
Just now, when he was making his move, Jiang Wen took a few drops of water while wiping his sweat. Then, he gently flipped his left hand, and several crystal-clear ice shards condensed in his palm. Using Huang Yaoshi's finger-flicking technique, he used the ice shards to make a sound as they pierced the air to attract attention.
Jiang Wen's prepared hidden weapon was silently launched, successfully using the force of the impact to strike the opponent's three major acupoints: Quchi, Jianjing, and Qihai.
The opponent's attention was entirely focused on catching the hidden weapon, his eyes filled only with the mad thought of killing Jiang Wen. How could he notice these few ice shards, which were finer than dust? Thus, the ice shards silently burrowed into his meridians as he channeled his energy, without causing the slightest ripple.
But the bloodthirsty audience was already trembling with fear.
They watched as the mysterious man collapsed, seemingly alternating between extreme cold and extreme heat, with intense itching and excruciating pain attacking him simultaneously. He was already not very lucid, and now he had completely lost his mind, screaming, begging for mercy, and self-harming in a frenzy, even trying to break his own limbs.
How evil!
Everyone looked at Jiang Wen with the same fear that they had witnessed a demon descending upon the world, unable to comprehend when Jiang Wen had administered such a potent poison.
Jiang Wen stopped his attack and stood still, giving Zhao Banshan a look that said "Don't be impatient." He thought to himself, "Who knew that you guys who play with hidden weapons all have the bad habit of trying to catch other people's hidden weapons? If you were to play with guns, wouldn't you have to take a Barrett shot head-on?"
The Life and Death Talisman is a unique hidden weapon used by Tianshan Tonglao of Lingjiu Palace in the Xiaoyao Sect. It looks like just a thin layer of frost, but it actually uses liquids such as wine and water to reverse the flow of true energy, turning the masculine energy into the feminine energy, making the true energy emitted from the palm several times colder than ice, and the liquid in the hand naturally condenses into ice.
The moment they made contact, the thin ice melted, and the inner force of the Life and Death Talisman was quietly injected into the opponent's Shaoyang Sanjiao Meridian. As the ice shards entered the meridian and melted, the Yin and Yang energies, like a bone-deep abscess, were firmly nailed to the depths of his meridians.
The Life and Death Talisman of Lingjiu Palace has a miraculous effect on those with profound internal energy. Once it takes effect, the injured area will become increasingly itchy, and the intense itching will gradually penetrate deeper, even affecting the internal organs. The itching will intensify day by day, increasing for eighty-one days, then gradually subside. After eighty-one days, it will increase again, and so on, endlessly.
However, the above description only applies to the scene before Jiang Wen's transmigration, because the Life and Death Talisman was greatly weakened after the transmigration, and it could not reach this level most of the time.
First of all, the internal energy of the martial arts world in the Ming and Qing dynasties decayed at an extremely fast rate. Just like Jiang Wen's own internal energy circulation was disrupted, he could only maintain the mutual generation of true energy with 20% of his strength. Once the yin and yang internal energy contained in the Life and Death Talisman left his body, it would disintegrate and vanish in no time, and he might not even be able to make contact with his opponent.
Secondly, there were very few people with profound internal strength in the martial arts world during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Most of them had entered the martial arts world from outside and cultivated in the interior. They had strong bones and muscles and keen intuition. Therefore, their resistance to foreign true qi was far greater than that in Jin Yong's martial arts world. It was difficult for the life and death talisman planted by Jiang Wen to achieve its full effect.
Finally, this thing is equivalent to releasing internal energy outwards, and it can only be achieved through highly condensed energy. With Jiang Wen's current 20% internal energy, he cannot support it to be used multiple times. In normal times, he would rather use his martial arts to capture his opponent. After all, Jiang Wen is not a demon, so why would he deliberately watch others suffer for his own amusement?
The Life and Death Talisman that Jiang Wen used this time was one that he had specially modified.
Since ordinary internal energy requires a high degree of concentration to be used, Jiang Wen used the Nine Yang Divine Skill and added the unpredictable Cold Mountain Force. This skill is like a leech that can torment practitioners to the point of ecstasy. After this enhancement, the effectiveness of the Life and Death Talisman was indeed greatly increased.
"Sect Leader Jiang, this person is in a state of wishing for death but unable to live. If this continues, he may bite off his tongue and die."
Although Zhao Banshan was shocked, he didn't care too much about the methods used; he was only worried that the man would die without revealing any information.
Jiang Wen nodded slightly, also feeling that the aftereffects of the Cold Mountain Force were indeed quite strong. He guessed that he hadn't controlled the force well, and he might accidentally kill the person.
To break the Life and Death Talisman, one must use the Six Yang Palms of Tianshan, and also combine it with the medical classics of Lingjiu Palace, so as to understand the Yin, Yang, emptiness, and fullness of each Life and Death Talisman in order to cure it. Jiang Wen, as the practitioner, was not worried about this, but he was afraid that the Cold Mountain Force would not die but remain stiff, which would leave trouble later.
After pondering for a moment, Jiang Wen found a Red Lotus Holy Mother to help him out.
"Holy Mother, we still need your help to break the spell."
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus understood and nodded slightly. With a sway of her gauze robe, she arrived at the mysterious man's side, grabbing his struggling arm with one hand. Jiang Wen also stepped forward, unleashing the Six Yang Palms of Tianshan with both palms, striking several major acupoints on his body.
As the pure Yang internal energy of the Nine Yang Divine Skill rose from the dantian, the blazing energy of the Red Lotus Holy Mother's Sacred Fire Skill rushed in through the eight extraordinary meridians. The two extremely powerful and Yang internal energies merged and transformed into a raging inferno, burning fiercely. The mysterious man immediately cried out in pain.
Jiang Wen gave him no chance to catch his breath, and once again pressed the Tianshan Six Yang Palm firmly into his chest.
But this time, the pure Yang internal energy of the Nine Yang Divine Skill entered his body like warm sunshine, first protecting his heart meridian to prevent his internal energy from flowing backward and causing him to explode and die; the blazing energy of the Sacred Fire Skill followed closely behind, like two iron locks, tightly sealing his twelve regular meridians and eight extraordinary meridians, firmly suppressing the chaotic Cold Mountain Force internal energy in his body, along with the Yin and cold energy of the Life and Death Talisman, within his dantian, and then the ice and snow melted away in just a moment.
The man groaned, as if finally freed from torture, and collapsed to the ground, his body convulsing. Jiang Wen, without hesitation, ripped off the man's mask.
But when Jiang Wen saw his face clearly, his pupils couldn't help but shrink suddenly.
"...How could it be him?"
Those around him gasped in shock. He was covered in wounds, his face ashen white, and his slightly open, unfocused eyes still held a lingering trace of madness. His body was still trembling from the aftereffects of the Life and Death Talisman.
This person is actually Zhou Long!
Jiang Wen frowned, slowly withdrawing some of his internal energy, leaving only two fused energies to stabilize his meridians, so that he could use the miraculous healing effect of the Nine Yang True Qi to treat the burns left by the Sacred Fire Technique. At the same time, he placed his fingertips on his wrist pulse to probe his aura.
Just then, Zhou Long coughed up a mouthful of black blood, his chest heaving violently. He actually caught his breath, the bloodshot in his eyes gradually faded, and the ferocious aura of madness dissipated, replaced by boundless confusion and fear. He slowly woke up.
"I... where am I?"
Zhou Long's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, and he gripped the soil tightly with both hands, his whole body trembling.
"Zhou Long, where did you learn these unorthodox martial arts?"
Jiang Wen asked directly, not believing that this person had been hiding his true abilities.
The martial arts technique he just used could overpower Zhao Banshan when he got really into it. If Zhou Long had even half of his previous skill, he wouldn't have been chased around like a stray dog by the government.
There's only one possibility: he must have witnessed something strange...
"What martial arts? I don't remember... I only remember the last thing I saw was a monster with a beast's face and a human body... Then it was all black, endless blackness. I was trapped in a mountain where I couldn't see anything, and I couldn't run out no matter what I did..."
He suddenly raised his head, his tongue was injured and bleeding, but his eyes were full of terror and tears streaming down his face, which still startled the bloodthirsty audience around him.
He seemed to see that scene again: "There was also an old Taoist priest, dressed in all black, standing there with eyes like knives, staring intently at me, never looking away... I don't know why I was there, I don't know how much time passed, when I woke up again, there was only one thought in my mind, which was to kill the person in front of me..."
Jiang Wen frowned. Zhou Long's condition resembled post-traumatic stress disorder. His memories were so fragmented that it was clear he couldn't find any clues. It was evident that the experience had pushed him to the brink of collapse.
Regardless, Zhou Long is currently the only living lead, and Jiang Wen can neither easily let him go nor torture him further. Therefore, he only has one best option—
"Let's go to Huixian Temple!"
………………
Yuan Huazi was quite surprised that Jiang Wen had sent a living, breathing person, but upon seeing Zhou Long's battered and gruesome appearance, he immediately shook his head.
"May you live long and prosper! The murderer this time is so vicious and cruel. These wounds must be from scratching his own body with his fingers, tearing his flesh until it is covered in blood. To be able to inflict such torture, he must be an extraordinary demon!"
Jiang Wen listened to Yuan Huazi's criticism, lowered his head, and changed the subject:
“Master, we’ll discuss the case later. Zhou Long, the sect leader, is the only remaining clue. Please treat him quickly. I will continue to guard this place to prevent the criminals from killing him to cover their tracks.”
Yuan Huazi stroked his beard and pondered. Knowing that human life was at stake, he asked Huang Liang and Jian Fu to help him take Zhou Long to the medicine hut in the backyard for treatment. Jiang Wen was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and exchange a few words with the Holy Mother of the Red Lotus who had returned from afar.
"Thank you for your help, Our Lady."
Jiang Wen sighed, feeling utterly exhausted both physically and mentally lately. On one hand, he had to rack his brains to prepare for the Wuyi Sect's martial arts tournament, scheming and plotting to bring together various groups to create a grand event. On the other hand, he had to deal with the endless stream of murders in Sanliting. The mastermind behind them seemed to be mimicking the crimes, appearing and disappearing like a ghost, and mimicking Jiang Wen, the host, no less. It was truly frustrating for him.
"Now I understand your suffering. I never expected that holding a martial arts tournament would cause so much trouble."
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus, dressed in a half-sleeved fairy dress, smiled gently, her face hidden under a veil.
"I thought that Sect Leader Jiang was so powerful that he wouldn't be so helpless."
Jiang Wen replied lazily, "Holy Mother, please don't make fun of me. You can see that I'm struggling to keep up and have exhausted all my options. I'm just putting on a brave face for my disciple's sake."
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus replied solemnly, "Sect Leader Jiang is too modest. Now that you are in charge of the Great King Peak, it is naturally inconvenient for you to do things. And I never thought that I could become famous throughout the world through a martial arts tournament."
...That's why your Ming Cult went from being able to summon elites from the public security organs anytime, anywhere, to now being a group of people who can't even scan a single shared bicycle. It's true that the radicals think the conservatives aren't radical enough, and the conservatives think the radicals are too conservative.
Jiang Wen said helplessly, "Let's not talk about that for now. Did the Holy Mother find any clues when she returned today?"
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus smiled slightly and replied, "Indeed. The clues you sought regarding the Hermit of Sixuan have been found."
After speaking, he took out a piece of paper, which was covered with writing in tiny characters. Jiang Wen couldn't wait to read it carefully.
"During the Chenghua era, there was a man named Sang Yue in Changshu, whose courtesy name was Minyi and sobriquet was Sixuan Jushi. He was particularly eccentric and presumptuous, and was also famous in Wuzhong for his talent. He wrote "Yongyan" and "Sixuan Ji", believing that he had thoroughly explored the relationship between heaven and man. His books were quite popular. He lived in a humble house, dressed in Chu clothing, and held unrestrained and bizarre views. He was unconventional and self-indulgent, and did not conform to etiquette and law."
This concise statement directly points out that the hermit Sixuan's name was Sang Yue and that he was indeed born in Changshu, which matches the inscription "Lao Dan is not dead" on Jade Maiden Peak.
This reminded Jiang Wen that although Sang Yue wasn't as famous as the Four Great Talents of Jiangnan, he, along with Tang Yin, Zhu Yunming, and Zhang Ling, were representatives of the "unconventional and unrestrained" scholars during the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods. All four were from Wu County, Jiangsu, and during the Three Kingdoms period, Changshu also belonged to Wu County, Wu Commandery.
There must be some special significance to Changshu!
Jiang Wen asked, "Has Sang Yue ever held an official position, or traveled to Fujian?"
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus had clearly put in a lot of effort, and immediately replied: "This person passed the provincial examination in the first year of Chenghua, but was reprimanded for his arrogance and unseemly answers. He passed the examination on the third attempt and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). However, at the age of twenty-something, he mistakenly wrote 'six' instead of 'two,' and was thus reassigned as an instructor in Taihe, Jiangxi, due to his advanced age."
Jiang shook his head upon hearing this, noting that this was a strange phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system included a system of "recruiting candidates from among the failed candidates." People like Sang Yue were selected from among those who failed the initial examinations, and while they weren't considered Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest level of the imperial examinations), they could still be granted official positions. During the Chenghua era, a new policy was implemented that older individuals selected through this system were not allowed to resign. Sang Yue was 23 years old at the time, but his age was mistakenly recorded as 63 on the register, so he had to accept the appointment. Therefore, he had no choice but to go to Taihe County in Jiangxi Province to serve as an instructor, essentially a school official in the county government.
However, this position was usually held by elderly scholars and was not valued by the government; it was a typical sinecure.
Imagine a young man who passed the imperial examination at a young age, whose talent made him arrogant, and who was suddenly manipulated and toyed with by the system, turning into a "sixty-three-year-old" old official, and in the least valued position at that. How complicated would his feelings be?
Those around him naturally knew he wasn't an old man, but the rules of officialdom were paramount, so who would stand up for someone as arrogant and conceited as him?
If he were a person who followed the established path, he would probably have only reached the position of county magistrate and retired, adding a strange legend of a hundred-year-old county official to the history of the Ming Dynasty. However, Sang Yue was clearly not such a person. When he served as an instructor in Taihe County, Jiangxi Province, he wrote a "Record of Sitting Alone in the Pavilion", in which he described that he did not associate with outsiders when he was lecturing and teaching.
He spent his days reading scriptures and articles in his study, and even when summoned by the censor, he would not come for three days. He was later transferred to Changsha and then to Liuzhou, where he served in increasingly remote places until he finally resigned and went into complete seclusion.
Sang Yue's interactions with Fujian occurred during his time as an instructor in Taichang. Just as Xu Xiake, an idle man without official position, could rely on his connections with relatives and friends to travel around and make a living, Sang Yue naturally traveled frequently as well, and even visited Jianyang, which was just across the mountain, many times.
"Hmm? What brings him to Jianyang? With his aloof and stubborn personality, how can he possibly have any friends he gets along with?"
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus smiled slightly and said, "The two wards of Masha and Chonghua in Jianyang County are both known for their books and are called the 'treasure house of books.' Seeing that his official career was full of setbacks, Sang Yue naturally turned to publishing his works to preserve his knowledge."
Jiang Wen immediately understood. According to the "Jianyang County Annals" from the Wanli period, "In Chonghua Lane, the bookstore street holds a market on the 1st and 6th of each month... Books are displayed in every house, and merchants from all over the country gather there." He had also discovered during his previous travels that the local residents did not engage in farming. Most of them used knives as hoes and planks as fields to engage in related industries.
Ultimately, Jianyang Prefecture was the most famous book printing center in Fujian Province, with a long history of book printing. During the Southern Song Dynasty, it became one of the three major book printing centers in the country and was known as the "Prefecture of Books". At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, due to war and social unrest, Jianyang book printing suffered great damage and losses. However, it gradually flourished again in the mid-Ming Dynasty and continued until it completely disappeared during the Qianlong period.
The Hongyang sect monopolized the printing and book engraving industry in Fuzhou, and naturally also included the industry in Jianyang. Investigating a scholar was exactly what they wanted.
Jiang Wen still felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this.
As Hu Yinglin of the Ming Dynasty said in his "Notes from Shaoshishanfang": "Among the books I have seen today, those printed in Suzhou and Changzhou are the best, followed by those printed in Nanjing, and then those printed in Hangzhou. Recently, the printing in Huzhou and Shexian has become increasingly refined, and has thus competed with Suzhou and Changzhou in terms of price. The books printed in Sichuan are the rarest, and the books printed in Fujian are the worst." Xie Zhaozhe also said: "There is a bookstore in Jianyang, Fujian, that produces the most books, but the paper and printing plates are all of the worst quality. It is just a way to make money, not to be passed down to posterity."
Sang Yue considered himself exceptionally talented and was from the Suzhou-Changzhou region, yet he chose to publish his works in Jianyang, a place considered to be the most shoddy in terms of production quality. All he could ask for was quick publication and low prices, which shows his dire economic situation.
At this moment, the Holy Mother of the Red Lotus presented an old, thread-bound collection of writings. The paper was yellowed, and the edges were worn and frayed by time, but it was still relatively well-preserved.
"The bookstore that published the book was also a business of mine. When Sang Yue was serving in Jiangxi, he traveled to Wuyishan many times in order to publish his own collection of essays, 'Si Xuan Ji'."
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus handed the collection of writings to Jiang Wen. "I have also found the original of this collection of writings. By the way, back then, he also paid out of his own pocket to rebuild the stone pagoda of the Straw Sandal Immortal and engraved the inscriptions of the predecessors on Jade Maiden Peak; after resigning from his official post, he even funded the reconstruction of the Laozi Temple on the site of the Han Dynasty sacrificial altar on Guoyan Mountain."
Jiang Wen reached out and took the collection of writings. His fingertips traced the rough pages as he slowly turned the pages. Inside were only handwritten ink marks. Although the ink had been stained for a hundred years, it was still clear and penetrating.
"As expected, he did it on purpose..."
Jiang Wen turned the pages one by one and slowly said, "It seems that this person not only read Confucian works, but also studied Lao Tzu's teachings. I can understand the inscription on Jade Maiden Peak and the Lao Tzu Temple, but what is the explanation for rebuilding the Straw Sandal Immortal Pagoda?"
The Holy Mother of the Red Lotus said, "Cheng Genchu, the Immortal of Straw Sandals, lived in Duge Rock during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. He wove straw sandals every day to make a living in the market. Later, he passed away in a cave and remained immortal for many years. Sang Yue may have admired immortals and was fond of Taoism, so he funded the construction."
Jiang Wen smiled coldly. Before his transmigration, he had been exposed to Wuyi rock tea quite a bit and had some knowledge of various types of rock tea. However, there was one tea shop that called itself "Grass Shoe Immortal" and used the tea from Grass Shoe Gorge as its selling point, claiming that there was the aura of immortals here.
Upon further investigation, Jiang Wen discovered that this matter was not a modern fabrication; it was recorded at least as early as the Qing Dynasty. Dong Tiangong, the compiler of the earliest record of this matter, not only recorded this legend, but his former residence was also located in Pinshiyan. Yuan Mei also wrote in "Xu Zi Bu Yu": "When I was in Wuyishan, I saw the Straw Sandal Immortal named Cheng Gen sitting in a stone cave. His eyes were drooping and had no pupils. When I shook his head, it still moved, and when I knocked on his teeth, they were all rotten and had fallen out."
But there is still a major problem: Cheng Genchu came to cultivate during the Wanli era, while Sang Yue was born during the Chenghua era and died during the Zhengde era. At that time, the Straw Sandal Immortal himself had not yet passed away. How could a dead man donate money to build a pagoda for the living?!
"The remains of that stone pagoda are clearly from the Song Dynasty; there must be more to it than meets the eye..."
Jiang Wen was thinking this and was about to close the book when he happened to turn to the last part of the handwritten collection, and his fingertips suddenly stopped.
The last part of the "Collection of Thoughts on Profound Meaning" contained several manuscripts that were completely different from the previous pages, as if they had been hastily and mistakenly put together. The content of the manuscripts also changed from the tone of seeking the ways of Yao, Shun, Wen, Wu and the Duke of Zhou, and then looking into the hearts of the gentlemen of Guanzhong, Minjiang, Lianzhou and Luoyang, and began to write some unrestrained and bizarre little stories.
The story is quite simple. It tells of Zhang Hua, a learned man with a remarkable memory, who served as an official in Jian'an during the Jin Dynasty. He encountered a celestial being who led him to a cave that housed secret and wondrous books from all over the world.
However, when he asked the immortal to stay for a long time, the immortal resolutely drove him out. Then the stone door suddenly closed by itself, and weeds and vines grew around the stone, and the moss on the stone was completely seamless.
The title of that article was none other than three neat small characters: "The Chronicles of Langhuan".