The Buddha is actually me

Chapter 197: Painted Skin Lair, Female Corpse Gives Birth to a Child

Under the moonlight, two figures quickly headed towards the outside of Yangzhou City.

Zhang Jiuyang looked at the embroiderer who was leading the way in front of him, and he gained a new understanding of the weirdness and extremism of the unorthodox techniques.

The embroiderer wanted to control him with the spell of bewitching, but she lost the battle of souls, so the spell backfired and she was bewitched by him instead.

The current embroiderer has her loyalty to him branded deep in her soul, which has directly distorted her sanity.

Her intelligence will not be affected in any way, even her memory will be there, but she will treat him as the most important person, worship him and respect him with utmost respect.

This kind of magic is really dangerous. Although Zhang Jiuyang seems calm, he is actually a little scared.

If he had not mastered the Lingguan Heavenly Eye Technique and his soul had not been blessed by the Heavenly Fire, he might have really been in trouble this time.

Those who can cultivate to the fourth level all have some tricks up their sleeves.

However, after this battle, Zhang Jiuyang also had an accurate understanding of his own strength.

Unknowingly, he had closed the huge gap between himself and the Fourth Realm. Except for a slight deficiency in magic power, his magical powers and spells had surpassed many of the Fourth Realm.

The third realm is still the foundation-laying stage in cultivation. For cultivators at this stage, it is already good enough if they can master one or two spells. It is probably difficult to find another cultivator like Zhang Jiuyang who possesses such profound spells even if you search the entire world.

Immortal Golden Body, Palm Thunder, Spiritual Officer Technique, Sky Eye Technique, Flying Sword Technique, Five Thunder Talisman, Master Sa's Fire Talisman...

Unknowingly, he had mastered so many magical powers.

It was not unfair for the embroiderer to be blamed on him.

"Master, we are almost there. There are some skinners guarding there. Master, do you want me to kill them all?"

Under the moonlight, the embroiderer's expression was particularly serious, as if as long as Zhang Jiuyang gave the order, she would attack her former companions without hesitation.

"No need, just pretend that I was captured by you."

"My slave understands!"

She continued to lead the way and came to a secluded and empty area.

"Master, there will be a formation next. Just watch my steps and follow me."

She deliberately walked very slowly to ensure that Zhang Jiuyang could see clearly. Just like that, the mountain protection formation that the Painted Skin Master had spent countless efforts to set up lost its effect in an instant.

After a while, Zhang Jiuyang's eyes blurred and he appeared in front of a cliff.

"Master, the nest is at the bottom of the cliff. We are almost there."

As the embroiderer said this, she leaped directly off the cliff. Zhang Jiuyang did not hesitate and followed suit.

There is a hidden world at the bottom of the cliff, a huge cave from which you can enter the underground. I don’t know how long I walked, the surroundings became increasingly dark and damp, and the light was very dim.

Suddenly, Zhang Jiuyang's eyes focused and he saw a portal appear in the distance, with a stone sculpture of a monster in front of the portal.

Then, a rough and hoarse voice sounded.

"Who is he?"

The stone sculpture of the monster shook and kept dropping dust, but it finally came to life. He was holding a skinning knife, ten feet tall, with a green face and fangs, a hideous and ferocious look, bloodshot eyes, and stared at Zhang Jiuyang.

Skinner!
Yue Ling once killed one himself and kept its head.

On the way here, the embroiderer told everything about the owner of Painted Skin.

The Painted Skin Master follows the path of the Painted Skin and practices all dharmas, so he needs various kinds of Painted Skins as the foundation for his practice.

The skinner was an evil spirit that he trained to skin people for him.

The peeled human skins will be sent to the Painted Skin Master, who will use his magical powers to make masks. The most precious ones will be kept by him, and the rest will be given to the embroiderer, who will arrange the next matters.

Either plant hidden agents or train subordinates.

There were originally four skinners in the nest, but now there are only three left. Each of them has the combat power of the fourth realm, but there is still a big gap compared with the embroiderer.

Whether in terms of strength or status, the embroiderer was far superior to these skinners, so when facing the skinners guarding the gate, her voice was indifferent and her attitude was very tough.

"This person is my gift to the Lord. Stop talking nonsense and open the door."

The skinner's eyes swept over Zhang Jiuyang, then he bent down, exerted force with both arms, and lifted the heavy stone door.

The embroiderer and Zhang Jiuyang entered.

The stone door was lowered again, and the skinner turned into a stone sculpture again.

Zhang Jiuyang looked around with a hint of surprise in his eyes. Is this the lair of the Painted Skin Master?
This place is deep underground, interconnected with many tunnels, which are obviously designed to facilitate escape at any time, like an underground maze.

A cunning rabbit has three burrows. The Painted Skin Master is indeed an old fox. Even if such a lair is discovered, he can easily escape.

Sure enough, luring him out and ambushing him was the most correct choice.

The bloody smell hit me in the face, mixed with the smell of rotting corpses and the peculiar cold air of the underground, mixing into a disgusting and foul smell.

Corpses, skinned corpses everywhere!

They were buried casually like garbage, with some arms still exposed outside the soil, being gnawed by rats.

There were candles on the walls all around, but they were also made of human fat, and when lit they smelled like rotten apples.

When walking, you can even step on the removed human bones and fascia.

Accompanied by faint screams, Zhang Jiuyang thought he had arrived at the eighteenth level of hell.

"Master, that person is in this house."

The embroiderer brought Zhang Jiuyang to a house with an iron lock and skillfully took out the key to open the lock.

"Master, Painted Skin is usually busy with her training, so she asks me to bring her food."

Zhang Jiuyang nodded and said, "Stand guard at the door and don't let anyone in."

"Yes, slave, I obey!"

...Zhang Jiuyang pushed open the door and walked in.

Shentu Xiong's childhood memories emerged in his mind. It was still this house, but the walls were covered with moss, leaving mottled traces of time.

The reason why he came to the Painted Skin Lord's lair was, firstly, to find a way to destroy it, and also to meet Shentu Xiong's mother.

In Shentu Xiong's memory, the Painted Skin Master seemed to be particularly concerned about that woman.

Moreover, according to the embroiderer, the owner of Painted Skin was not interested in women at all and was not moved by her seduction at all, but he cared about this woman very much and even had a child with her.

Even though he was busy with cultivation, he would ask the embroiderer to deliver three meals a day and not to neglect them, and to choose the best meals.

There were even a few times when the Painted Skin Master personally cooked for the woman.

This made the former embroiderer very jealous. She thought she was ten times more beautiful than that woman, and she really couldn't understand what the Painted Skin Master saw in her.

"Ok?"

After pushing open the door, Zhang Jiuyang did not see any woman. There was nothing around except a few jars.

Zhang Jiuyang was just about to ask the embroiderer when he suddenly heard a noise coming from a jar.

Then, a head slowly popped out from the altar.

Her long hair was disheveled, her face was pale, and her expression was dull. She looked at Zhang Jiuyang with a hint of doubt.

"who are you?"

She started to speak, her voice was a little hoarse and her pronunciation was not very clear, as if she had not spoken to anyone for a long time.

Zhang Jiuyang was shocked.

Although the woman in front of him looked haggard and older, he still recognized her at a glance. She was Shen Tu Xiong's mother!
But now, her limbs had been chopped off, her bones had been softened with vinegar, and she was forced into a jar.

"I am from the Imperial Observatory, a friend of Shen Tuxiong."

The woman in the altar was cheered up, but also looked doubtful.

"Don't worry, the Painted Skin Master is about to die. He is not here now, and he probably won't be able to come back. I am here to save you."

As she spoke, Zhang Jiuyang recounted some of the childhood events between her and Shen Tuxiong according to the scenes in her memory.

After hearing this, the woman finally let down her guard. She asked excitedly, "Is he... okay now?"

Zhang Jiuyang was silent for a moment, then said, "He's dead."

The woman was stunned, and then the light in her eyes dimmed.

"He must have done a lot of wrong things for me. Death may be a relief for him..."

"Young man, you are his friend, so can I ask you for a favor?"

"what's up?"

"kill me."

Zhang Jiuyang was stunned, and then fell silent.

He had seen in Shentu Xiong's memory a scene where the mother and son depended on each other.

In this cold devil's cave, they rely on each other.

Not to mention that Shen Tu Xiong is already dead, even if he were still alive, she probably wouldn't want to continue to meet him in this state and be a burden to her son.

Feeling the woman's expectant and pleading gaze, Zhang Jiuyang sighed softly.

"Okay, but before that, there are something I want to ask you."

"It's about that beast!"

Zhang Jiuyang was stunned, and then realized that she was talking about the Painted Skin Master.

"Yes, will you tell me all you know about him?"

The Painted Skin Master is so mysterious that Zhang Jiuyang still knows nothing about his origin, background and experience.

Even the embroiderer didn't know.

He always felt that there were other secrets hidden in the Painted Skin Master, and perhaps the woman in front of him could help him solve his doubts.

"As long as you can kill me, I will tell you everything!"

The woman in the altar paused, and then said something that shocked Zhang Jiuyang greatly.

"That beast was my younger brother. The thing I regret most is that I didn't use a stone to smash him to death when he was still in his cradle!"

The Painted Skin Master... is her younger brother?

In an instant, a flash of lightning flashed in Zhang Jiuyang's mind.

No wonder Shen Tu Xiong, although tall and mighty, was covered with thick hair like a monkey, and even had a deformed hand growing under his armpit!

So that's how it is. When there is close kinship, offspring are naturally more likely to be deformed.

"It all started on that rainy night decades ago."

Talking about that rainy night, she shuddered subconsciously, and a hint of fear appeared in her eyes.

"I was originally from Qiuling Village, Zihe Town, Yangzhou. When I was seven years old, my mother died while pregnant with me, leaving two lives."

"My father wanted to bury her, but he found out..."

"Not only did the dead mother's body not decay, but her belly continued to grow larger day by day until she was about to give birth after ten months of pregnancy."

……

(End of this chapter)