I am about to die of old age, and I have awakened the character of longevity.

Chapter 138 The true appearance of the Taoist talisman, the giant scarlet eyes!
But on the guillotine at the dock of Shuideng Town, there lay a headless corpse, stripped of its clothes.

There was also a notice board next to it, with yellow paper posted on it, stating the identity of the headless body, the crime...

Countless villagers came over to watch the fun, pointing and talking.

"This man actually colluded with the demons of Dayin Mountain and wantonly set fires... He deserves to die."

"He's the seventh son of the King of Huainan... No wonder he treats us like prey! Good job killing him."

"That's the Demon Suppression Division!"

"And Hall Master Xie, he is very majestic."

"That's right, I saw Master Xie chop off the thief's head. He was truly brave!"

"..."

Although the villagers could hardly read, they knew how to distinguish between good and evil and right and wrong in the simplest way.

At the back of the crowd, Xie Mingfeng and Wen Zaiqing stood there in a daze, still unable to recover from their shock.

When Xie An slaughtered Li Xiaoting, the two of them watched helplessly.

Although Xie An didn't say much, the weight of that knife... Xie Mingfeng and Wen Zaiqing felt it deeply.

Having worked in official circles for many years, the two knew very well what the King of Huainan meant to Nanzhou...

Li Xiaoting, the seventh son of King Huainan, who had previously acted arrogantly in front of them... was publicly executed like this?
This is the courage and responsibility of the eldest princess of the current dynasty!

Martial arts...Grandmaster!
Wen Zaiqing could understand all of this.

What he didn't understand was... why Xie An, a small leader of Baiyu Hall, dared to stand up and kill the son of King Huainan?
"Brother Wen, we... were confused. We made a mistake." Xie Mingfeng sighed and spoke at this moment.

Wen Zaiqing sighed, "Yes. Although Qingwu County is under the jurisdiction of Nanzhou, this world... is ultimately the world of Emperor Jingtai. The eldest princess represents the royal family."

Then, the two men walked to the entrance of Baiyu Hall, and without paying attention to the discussions of the surrounding villagers, they knelt directly at the door, hoping to get the eldest princess's forgiveness.

When the villagers passing by saw this, they couldn't help but talk about it.

"Isn't this County Magistrate Wen? Why is he kneeling at the entrance of Baiyu Hall?"

"But what mistake was made?"

"God knows what's going on in the officialdom."

"..."

Under an ancient locust tree in the distance, stood a tall young man in a robe, holding a string of candied haws in his hand, eating them one by one, his eyes narrowed into slits.

"I see. There's a great master in charge here. No wonder I felt something was wrong when I saw that carriage earlier. This is going to be difficult."

After saying that, the tall young man turned around and left. After a few leaps, he disappeared at the end of the road and headed straight towards Dayin Mountain.

After entering the Dayin Mountain Shrine, the tall boy saw the little girl.

The little girl was very happy to see the tall boy return and threw herself into his arms, "Brother is finally back. Is that man dead?"

In the opinion of the high priest, with Li Changchun's current strength, killing a corpse refiner... is just a matter of a snap of the fingers.

The tall boy shook his head.

The high priest was very surprised, "Is this person so powerful?"

Li Changchun shook his head, "That's not the case..."

He recounted the incident in detail.

The high priest frowned. "Su Yuqing, the chief officer of the Nanyang Demon Suppression Office, and the current princess have arrived. It's a shame! Li Xiaoting is dead, and the White Deer Blood hasn't been delivered yet. Our deal with the King of Huainan has also been severed, and the contract the King of Huainan promised us is still in Li Xiaoting's possession."

Li Xiaoting is a piece of shit, acting arrogantly and domineeringly, really thinking this is Nanzhou City...

I don't know what the King of Huainan was thinking, actually sending such a useless person."

The high priest who had always been "innocent and cute" suddenly became furious.

Li Changchun didn't try to comfort her, but leaned against the door frame, lost in thought. Having decided to cooperate with the high priest, he knew there was no way out and could only find a solution.

After a long while, Li Changchun asked, "How long will it take for that thing to wake up?"

The high priest said, "We're still short of two thousand strands of corpse qi. Originally, with Li Xiaoting's batch of dried blood, we could have held a grand sacrifice and it would have been almost complete. This item was also the bargaining chip in our deal with the King of Huainan. Now... I'm afraid it will have to be postponed."

If we were to collect White Deer Draconis Blood ourselves, it would take at least three or even five years to gather such a large quantity.”

Li Changchun said, "The original agreement with He Nanfeng had ten years left. Since it has been shattered this time, we will just have to spend another three to five years to gather enough blood."

"Of course. But I'm worried about another thing now—Li Xiaoting brought our mutual agreement. If this agreement falls into Su Yuqing's hands and he gives it to the King of Huainan, I'm afraid the King of Huainan might not be willing to cooperate with us. Even if that thing revives, we're still a cult... what's the point then?"

Li Changchun sighed, "With our current strength, we're not afraid of a martial arts master. Killing Su Yuqing wouldn't be too difficult. But she's the head of the Nanyang Demon Suppression Division, and she's also the eldest princess. If our Corpse Refining Hall can't be restored and return to the capital, then killing her wouldn't mean much..."

How about I go to Nanzhou City?"

The high priest suddenly thought of something and was overjoyed. "What a good idea! If the King of Huainan saw my brother's rejuvenated appearance, he might be tempted. Even if there's a problem with the agreement, he might still cooperate with us."

Then I'll have to trouble you, brother, to go to Nanzhou City. I'll stay behind to collect the white deer's blood and prepare for the grand blood sacrifice."

"it is good."

"Leave that corpse refiner to me. He must die!"

……

In the courtyard, in the room.

Xie An felt the vibration of the white Taoist talisman and the flashing bright white light.

He couldn't wait to open the Mingyu Gong panel to check the progress.

According to previous experience, for every 20,000 points increase in the degree of fusion, the progress of Mingyu Gong will directly increase by more than 10 points.

If one rashly increases the fusion degree by 200 ten-thousand points, conservatively estimating the progress of Mingyu Gong... can also increase by more than a thousand points. In other words, it can leapfrog over ten solar terms in a row.

look forward to.

However, as soon as the Ming Yu Gong panel appeared, Xie An felt an indescribable and terrifying heat rushing through his body, as if he was about to explode.

Immediately afterwards, this terrible heat rushed straight to his head. Before he could react, he felt dizzy and had a splitting headache.

"The instantaneous increase is too great? I can't handle it..."

Xie An instinctively felt that this was the reason. He immediately bit his lower lip, trying to stimulate himself through the severe pain and stay awake.

Suddenly, Xie An understood...

No wonder it took so long for the Dao Talisman to absorb the two hundred strands of white energy. Xie An had thought it was just the Dao Talisman identifying and integrating them... Turns out it was because they took into account that Xie An's body couldn't handle so much faith energy all at once...

The Dao talisman has been absorbed, which means that my body can withstand it...

Xie An gritted his teeth and held on.

Endure the severe pain.

Even though Xie An felt his willpower was strong, the pain was endless. A burning heat surged from within his palace, then leaked outwards and flowed throughout his body.

Even though Xie An kept trying to control the movement of this heat flow, it was of no avail.

Totally out of control!

It hurts so much.

I can't do this anymore. I have to control the speed of absorbing faith energy or immortal energy...

But, it seems like I can't control it?

It is entirely determined by the Taoist talisman!
Thinking of this, Xie An felt that this plug-in was too crude and not humane at all.

Before Xie An could say a few words in his mind, the heat continued to erupt, like a raging fire that continued to heat up, growing out from the Jiang Palace and spreading throughout his body.

Xie An clenched his fists tightly but couldn't help it, so he simply pulled something from the side and stuffed it into his mouth, biting it hard to avoid making a painful roar.

Even so, Xie An did not give up on saving himself. He continued to practice Mingyu Gong, trying to control the raging heat.

again and again.

Too tired, too painful.

Xie An felt that every minute and every second was extremely difficult, as if he was about to die at any time.

After an unknown amount of time, Xie An felt his entire body go numb, as if he had lost all sense of touch due to the pain. His mind was not quite clear, and he felt a bit hazy. But Xie An knew that his thoughts were still there, and he had suppressed them.

It's a bit like being drunk, but without any blackouts.

Faintly, Xie An felt his thoughts flying up and appeared in front of the Taoist talisman.

Before, Xie An could only "see" the Taoist talisman in his mind, and it felt very far away. The Taoist talisman was also not very clear.

As for where this talisman came from, Xie An didn't know.

Just treat it as a plug-in.

But at this moment, Xie An stood close to the Taoist talisman. Suddenly, he felt that the upright Taoist talisman was very large, and he was just a huge dust in it.

Looking up, Xie An saw the full picture of the Taoist talisman for the first time, as well as the details:

It resembled a white banknote, with all sorts of intricate symbols and patterns on it. However, in the center of the banknote wasn't a human head, but rather... a large, closed, scarlet eye.

Around the eyes are circles of runes, which are very exquisite.

"What a beautiful talisman... But what's the eye in the middle for? It looks scary..."

Xie An couldn't help but feel curious. He walked back and forth, looking at the scarlet eyes. He even tried to climb up the Taoist scroll to see what was going on, but found that it was very smooth and he couldn't climb up at all.

Moreover, why does it feel like this talisman is disgusted by others climbing up...

In desperation, Xie An had to give up climbing and just looked up at those eyes.

Watching and watching——

hiss!
The intense stinging sensation in his body brought Xie An back to his senses suddenly. The images in his mind fell apart, and his thoughts returned to reality.

Ok?
My body doesn’t hurt anymore!
But there was a pungent stench that hit me in the face.

Xie An instinctively sniffed around, trying to find the source of the stench, and finally found that no matter how he moved, the stench did not fade.

He looked down...

It turns out that the source of pollution is myself.

There is a thick layer of impurities and dirt on the skin, which have condensed into hard lumps.

If an ordinary person faced such an anomaly, he would probably be frightened, but Xie An knew... this was the impurities expelled by Ming Yu Gong through the solar terms and tempering himself.

Every time a solar term comes, the body goes through a process of cleansing and excretion.

It's just not as exaggerated as this time.

Xie An hurriedly stood up, intending to wash off the dirt on his body first, but as soon as he stood up, he heard a "crackling" sound. His hands and feet went numb. The dirt on his body was so thick, it was like a thick layer of condensed ice, imprisoning his hands and feet and making it difficult to move.

At a glance, it is a full inch thick.

Very scary.

"How many times must I wash my body..."

Xie An brushed off some of the dirt, went out to the ancient well, and used the well wheel to draw water, trying to wash it away. However, the dirt was too hard to wipe off, so Xie An had to bring out the bathtub from the room, fill it with water, and sit in it, soaking for a long time until the dirt gradually softened and could be brushed away.

After half an hour of "washing and brushing", all the dirt on the body was finally cleaned off.

He smelled his arm; there was no smell.

Then he went back to his room to get dressed.

While getting dressed, Xie An saw his body in the floor-standing bronze mirror and was immediately shocked.

The muscles of his body became more streamlined, and his wheat-colored skin became more delicate, with lines as clear as fine sand. His face hadn't changed much, but it was obviously younger, and all the wrinkles on his face had been smoothed out.

What’s even more exaggerated is that… the few remaining white hairs have turned black.

Not to mention ten years younger, but five years younger?

Xie An stared at the bronze mirror for a long time, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

From an old man, working hard step by step to where I am today...it's not easy.

Perhaps he felt that he should cherish this moment especially, so Xie An slowly put on his inner lining, brocade robe, belt, jade pendant, and hairpin.

The person in the mirror is sharp and restrained, yet heroic, and also has a certain calmness that comes from being well-educated.

Xie An was very fond of it. They say that a person's appearance is an external reflection of his inner heart, and this seems to be no exaggeration...

After admiring it for a long time, Xie An withdrew his gaze, sat down cross-legged on the bed, and regulated his breathing and luck.

Just a little bit of breathing...

hum!
The heat in his body immediately became violent, like a roaring lion or tiger.

Xie An was so frightened that he stopped immediately.

"Has the heat gotten so intense?"

His keen senses couldn't be based on his previous luck, otherwise something might go wrong. It was like suddenly changing from a 1.4L commuter car to a V12 sports car.

When you step on the accelerator, you should do it gently. It takes time to get used to it.

Xie An suppressed his expectations and started to work slowly again.

really……

It explodes at one point.

The heat flow at the Crimson Palace location is larger than before, and is very condensed. It is no longer an invisible heat flow, but has evolved into... hot air.

It is tangible qi.

“Transformed…”

Xie An carefully controlled the strength of the movement, allowing the heat to flow through every part of his body.

It is just like the spring rain that moistens everything and is extremely smooth.

As the heat traveled through my body, I felt a sense of relief, like a spring breeze. Every muscle, bone, even every cell… felt incredibly comfortable, as if welcoming the flow of heat, and my breathing spontaneously leaped into life.

Xie An opened his inner vision and began to scan his entire body along with the heat.

The bones are strong, the muscles are solid, and the internal organs are as solid as a rock. They all exude vitality.

The internal organs, muscles, bones, blood vessels...all seem to be breathing.

After the heat flow turned into hot air, it seemed to contain extremely strong vitality, nourishing the muscles and bones in the body, allowing them to breathe and grow stronger.

These are mysterious feelings that I have never experienced before.

Mingyu Gong is indeed a top-level health-preserving exercise.

Xu Kangfu, who wrote the exercises, is indeed remarkable.

After one full cycle, Xie An felt a difference in his body. He continued to increase his strength and continued to work. When he reached the highest point, Xie An felt a noticeable heat build up in his body, with a humming sound of heat emanating from his body.

Under extreme conditions, vision, hearing, taste, touch, and heart senses are greatly enhanced.

Wonderful.

Compared with before, it has improved more than ten times?
Xie An stopped practicing his Qigong only after he was sure he had adapted to this new state. As the heat returned to his crimson palace, Xie An relaxed completely, with beads of sweat already forming on his forehead.

When he was working at full capacity just now, Xie An was in a state of high tension. He didn't dare to be careless for a moment, for fear that something might go wrong.

"Let me check on the progress of Mingyu Gong."

Xie An opened the panel:

【Ming Yu Gong: Grain in Ear 17/100】

Grain in Ear is the ninth solar term. The previous ones are: Beginning of Spring, Rain Water, Waking of Insects, Spring Equinox, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Grain Rain, Beginning of Summer, and Grain Full.

Xie An originally thought that there would be at least a dozen solar terms, but it seems he was overthinking it.

There are still 100 levels of progress, but the difficulty should increase as you progress further.

Xie An suppressed the slight disappointment in his heart, "The ninth solar term is not bad, at least it means... the four-season attribute barrier that big brother mentioned is not a problem in front of the long life character.

What's more, the ninth solar term is already so powerful, if you practice it later... what will happen?"

"It's a pity that the longevity character absorbed the faith energy too quickly this time, causing my improvement to be inexplicable. I also didn't accumulate any experience in breaking through the barriers. Otherwise, I could share some with big brother."

Xie An, Tang Zhengyang, and his three other brothers became sworn brothers in order to seek immortality, and sharing their experiences and knowledge was common. Since they were generous, Xie An naturally wouldn't be stingy.

"I don't know how long I've been in a daze this time..." Xie An left the bed and walked out of the yard again. It was noon, and the sun was pouring down from the sky, but there was not much warmth.

There was still a layer of frost on the ground that had not melted.

It should be autumn.

The last time was only in May...

How many months have passed!?
Xie An was startled. He looked up and saw four old men, silver corpses, tied up in the corner. They were already dead...

Looking at their final state, they were eating dirt...

Starved to death?
Xie An knew that the silver corpse could live without food, but had to drink blood to stay alive.

This……

What a pity, where are the twenty strands of immortal energy...

I should have absorbed this immortal energy first.

Xie An was a little annoyed, but then he thought... he didn't know that absorbing two hundred strands of faith energy... would take so long.

No...why hasn't anyone come to bother me in the past few months?

Doesn’t Brother Chun know to take care of these four old men?

Xie An rubbed his temples and then opened the gate.

Liu Chun was arranging potted flowers and plants outside the door. When he saw Xie An, he immediately put down his work and came over. "Brother Xie, you are finally out of seclusion. Lord Su said you were in seclusion before, and asked me to guard the door and not let anyone in to disturb you."

Xie An thanked him and said, "Brother Chun, how long has it been?"

"Three months. Oh, and Lord Su told you to go find her at the academy after you come out of seclusion."

This shocked Xie An.

Xie An clearly remembered that he only stood under the Taoist talisman for a short while...

----

P.S.: Some readers have mentioned that Su Yuqing's calling herself a concubine is inappropriate. I've researched this. In the Three Kingdoms era, princesses referred to themselves as concubines when toasting on behalf of the emperor. Princesses also referred to themselves as concubines when addressing the emperor, his mother, or the elders of the royal family. Concubine is a humble term. Su Yuqing's calling herself a concubine to everyone was intended to reflect her unrestrained and confident spirit, transcending etiquette, and conveying her inner humility, accepting everyone as equals.
(End of this chapter)