I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 115 Li Er, Wu Ding Shui
There are many people living in the dilapidated alleys of Dongdaokou. There are no rich families here, and those who live in private houses are composed of several families with their children, living together.

In a place like this, if someone gives birth to a baby at night, more than a dozen people in the whole yard can hear it. It is really inconvenient and the family is really poor.

The waterworks Taoist lived in such a place when he was a child.

At that time, the Taoist water engineer had a nickname, Li Er.

Just because his last name is Li and he is the second child in the family, he got this nickname.

Li Er was diligent in his work. He would get up before dawn every day to clean the toilets in the yard. He could exchange these toilets for a lot of copper coins from Ye Xiangfu. When it was dawn, Li Er, who was only twelve years old, had to take care of his little sister who had just turned one year old and change her diapers.

Li Er's biological mother was pregnant with two children beside her, and two more children were fighting over a worn-out rattle she had picked up.

One of the beads on the rattle had fallen off and the drum surface had turned yellow, but that didn't stop the two children from fighting over it.

Walking through the dilapidated and leaky door, there was not much belongings in the house except some tattered quilts and clothes, and clay pots and pans everywhere.

The placement of these things is very important and they also have a great use, that is, they can collect rainwater leaking from the house when it rains.

We don’t know why such a poor family would give birth to so many children. The young Li Er would not even consider it. He would just happily help his parents take care of the children. Anyway, as long as they had children, he would help raise them.

After all, we are all brothers and sisters and should take care of each other. Li Er never felt that there was anything wrong.

Until one day, Li Er met Zhang the butcher who came to propose marriage.

Butcher Zhang is a big, strong man with a beard. He is about thirty years old, but he wants to take Li Er's elder sister as his concubine.

"Zhao Di is already over thirteen, and it's time for her to get married. Although I have a wife, she is not very good. She only gave birth to a daughter and then nothing happened."

"I heard that Zhaodi is a good woman. Not long after Madam gave birth to her, she actually gave birth to a big fat boy."

"I heard his name is Li Er, so he should be this guy? He looks really smart."

Butcher Zhang wanted to touch Li Er's head, but Li Er dodged him.

This butcher doesn't look like a good person!

As expected, the next moment Li Er heard Zhang the butcher say, "I came here for no other reason than to take Zhaodi as my second wife, to continue the Zhang family's bloodline."

Li Er's mother was pregnant and eating the melon seeds brought by Zhang the butcher, with a mercenary look on her face.

"My Zhaodi is only thirteen years old this year, but you are already over thirty. What's more, you want my Zhaodi to be your mistress. Not only will I not agree to this, even my husband will not agree to it."

"Madam, please don't be so quick to refuse. I see that we don't have much at home. If Zhaodi is willing to marry you, I will buy you a table, desk, bedding, and other necessary items. I will also have a craftsman come and repair the tiles on the roof. I will also bring you some money during the holidays."

Seeing his mother's expression change, Li Er didn't know what was wrong with him. He subconsciously felt that he could not let Zhang the Butcher continue talking, so he immediately picked up the broom beside him and wanted to drive Zhang the Butcher away.

"Li Er, what do you want to do, you bastard? Put down the broom!"

Father Li, who had remained silent, finally spoke up to stop them.

However, it was not directed at Zhang the butcher, but at his own child.

The broom in Li Er's hand was snatched away, and then Li's father held the broom handle upside down and hit him, knocking him out and slamming the door shut.

Li Er covered his buttocks, the pain in his body was far less severe than the pain in his heart.

His elder sister Zhaodi eventually married Zhang the butcher. At night, Li's father and mother repeatedly counted the two taels of silver, as if in their eyes, these two taels of silver were their daughter.

Li Er will never forget the look of Zhaodi crying and shouting for his help when she passed by his door.

In the days that followed, peace seemed to have returned to the dilapidated alleys of Dongdaokou. Li Er continued to raise his four or five children in a daze. Until Mrs. Li gave birth to her seventh child, bad news suddenly came from Zhang the butcher's house.

Zhaodi died of miscarriage at nine months of pregnancy, and both mother and child were killed.

Li Er's parents were indifferent to this, but Li Er could no longer tolerate it. He ran to Zhang the butcher's stall in Caishikou with a sharp knife in his hand and swung the knife at the fat pig-like man.

Butcher Zhang had thick skin and flesh, and although he was not stabbed to death, he was quite frightened.

After the Tianjin prefect learned about this, he personally judged the case and asked Li Er why he suddenly attacked and injured people.

When Li Er talked about Zhaodi, the prefect asked Zhang the butcher what the cause of Zhaodi's death was.

Butcher Zhang lied that the woman was young and not as strong as a mature woman, so she died of premature birth.

The prefect of Tianjin at that time was an old friend of Guo Dongyang. When he saw that Zhang the Butcher looked strange, he asked the midwife to come forward and answer him.

The midwife stammered and couldn't explain clearly. Seeing this, the prefect felt somewhat confident.

He immediately ordered the yamen runners to torture her with sticks. The midwife could not bear the punishment and accused Zhang the butcher's first wife of mistreating Zhaodi. The neighbors had heard about this and could testify for her.

Upon hearing this, the prefect summoned the butcher's wife, who falsely claimed that it was the butcher Zhang who had confessed and signed, saying that she was a jealous woman who plotted to murder Zhaodi.

When Mrs. Zhang heard this, she immediately refused to do it.

"Oh my God! You can't say that. It's obviously this conscienceless man who insisted on sleeping with that young lady. It's also that slut's fate that she deserved this misfortune. If she hadn't been born so fair and innocent, like a vixen, how could so many things have happened?"

These days, human life is cheaper than grass, and the concubines we buy are even worse than grass!

According to the Dayong Code, if a husband accidentally killed his concubine, even if he killed her openly, he would only be sentenced to exile or a fine. If he paid the fine in full, he could even be exempted from punishment on the spot.

Because of his greed for pleasure, the butcher Zhang caused the death of his concubine, but in the end he was only fined twenty taels of silver.

The prefect took ten taels as funeral expenses for Zhaodi, and gave the remaining ten taels to Li Er's family.

As for Li Er, who injured people, he was whipped dozens of times as a minor punishment.

After that day, Li Er returned home, but once again saw his father and mother counting silver in the room in an ugly manner.

At night, Li Er, who was sleeping on a large bunk bed, heard a creaking sound from the bed across the tent.

I could vaguely hear the couple talking.

"My third sister must be around twelve or thirteen this year."

"How can it be so fast? The second child is only thirteen years old."

"That's not too small. We can save a lot of money by finding her a husband next year."

"It's still too small."

"You blockhead, you have the final say. When the time comes, won't we be the ones to decide how old she is?"

Li Er remained silent. At dawn the next day, he found the old man selling medicine in the alley and took out two large bags of rat poison.

That day, Li Er stewed a big pot of meat. Although his father scolded him for spending money recklessly, he enjoyed the meal more than anyone else.

When his younger brothers and sisters asked Li Er why he didn't eat, he said that he had already eaten and was going out to digest his food, so he asked his younger brothers and sisters to eat slowly.

After leaving the house, Li Er had not walked far when he heard wailing and screaming coming from the yard.

Without even turning his head, he walked straight towards Caishikou with a sharpened knife hidden in his sleeve.

He was talking to himself as he walked.

After a while, she said, "Third sister, don't blame your second brother. Rather than letting you follow your elder sister's old path, it's better to be free earlier."

After a while, he said, "Fourth and fifth brothers, don't be afraid. When I finish my work, I will buy you new rattles, one for each of you. You won't have to fight over them anymore."

"Little sister, you are still young and don't understand anything. This is for your own good." Along the way, Li Er did not mention his biological parents.

At the vegetable market, Zhang the butcher was selling meat with a smile on his face. When he saw Li Er coming, his face immediately fell.

"Give me twenty pounds of sauerkraut pork, chop it into a paste, without a single diced piece of meat."

As he spoke, Li Er took out all the silver and money he had stolen from the house and threw them onto the chopping board.

"Okay, brother-in-law, just wait, the meat will be ready soon!"

Butcher Zhang was blinded by money and didn't care about any previous grudges between the two men. He braved the scorching sun and started chopping meat with his arms raised.

Li Er repeatedly asked Zhang the butcher to turn the meat over and chop it. Although Zhang the butcher was annoyed, he also had some bad intentions in his mind. He was just waiting to do something about the weight after chopping the meat, so he did not say anything to refute.

It had been a while since they had chopped the meat, and Zhang the butcher was sweating profusely. Li Er had something on his mind, and he kept wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves.

When he heard a noisy sound in the distance, Li Er's heart tightened and he no longer hesitated. While Zhang the butcher was wiping his face with a towel, he took out the short knife hidden on his body and quickly came to the butcher's side.

Then he tightened and wiped his hands, as if he had rehearsed it in his mind countless times.

As the knife fell, boiling blood spurted out from Zhang the Butcher's neck.

Li Er was still not satisfied. After stabbing the opponent's waist more than ten times, he trembled, dropped the dagger, and ran away stumbling.

Passing by the noisy crowd, Li Er originally thought that the incident in Dongdaokou Hutong had spread here, but when he passed by the crowd, he found that it was not a matter of truth, but an old Taoist priest who was performing "drinking the river and swallowing the sea" at the intersection.

"Everyone, look carefully. This tank of water is swallowed by whales, drunk by tigers, and sucked by dragons!"

"Let's see how the old Taoist drains this jar."

The water tank weighed more than 100 kilograms, plus the half tank of water inside, it must have weighed at least 200 to 300 kilograms. However, the old Taoist performing on the street just stood firmly in a horse stance, wrapped his arms around the mouth of the tank, and with a little force, the large tank in front of him left the ground.

The old Taoist's nostrils flared and he took a deep breath. As expected, all the water in the jar was sucked into his stomach like a dragon sucking water.

Li Er was so fascinated that when the water jar fell, there was no water left in it.

"Drinking the river and swallowing the sea is nothing. I also have a simple technique called Ruilongspitting Water."

When the old Taoist said this, he did not perform the water spitting performance directly. Instead, he took out a piece of white cloth and spread it on the ground, then bowed to everyone.

Everyone understood these underworld rules, and some spectators, whose appetites had been piqued, donated money generously and threw money on the white cloth.

"Hey boy, come here, I have something to ask you." Seeing Li Er standing nearby, the old Taoist waved to him and asked him to come over to help pick up the copper coins scattered on the ground.

Li Er agreed as if possessed by a ghost. He held up the white cloth to collect the money while watching the old Taoist spray water into the jar.

In a short while, the tank was full of water.

It was at this time that officials came to pursue Zhang the butcher's pork stall.

Li Er panicked upon seeing this and quickly hid behind the old Taoist priest, not daring to show his face.

The old Taoist priest was well-versed in martial arts and had a sharp mind. He could tell at a glance that these officials were coming for Li Er.

The old Taoist priest pulled Li Er in front of him, put his hand on the other person, and was stunned for a moment.

"Good boy, I'll save you once, are you willing to come back with me?"

Li Er nodded hurriedly.

"Okay, swallow this pill first. No matter what happens later, don't make any noise." After taking the pill, the old Taoist picked up Li Er and threw him into the water tank in front of him.

The officers went around the stalls, investigating and questioning each one, and finally found someone who reported that a young boy of similar appearance had hidden in the Taoist's water tank.

Upon hearing this, several officials immediately came to the water tank to check.

But the water in the tank was so clear that you could see the bottom and no one was visible.

When asked, the old Taoist priest knew nothing about it.

At this time, Xu Qing, who was watching the revolving lantern, knew that Li Er had been squatting in the water tank from beginning to end. Through Li Er's perspective, he could see the waves reflected in front of him, and through the water surface, the scenes of the officials sticking their heads out to check and the old Taoist dealing with them were clearly visible.

After the officials left, the old Taoist priest found a carriage, lifted the water jar onto the carriage, and drove Li Er out of the city.

After that, Li Er, who had no relatives or friends and was alone, became a disciple of Qingshui Huotian Wu Temple.

Xu Qing continued to read.

Li Er abandoned his common name and called himself a water worker Taoist. After that, he became a disciple of Tianwu Temple and began to learn skills from his master.

He studied very hard, and no matter whether it was calligraphy or Taoism, nothing could faze him.
In less than ten years, the Taoist waterworker surpassed the old Taoist.

"Your bones are rare in the world, but your temperament is turbulent. I am afraid that you will be taken advantage of by your inner demons. I have something to teach you. Only by forgetting the past and seeing your true nature can you be free."

After the old Taoist priest passed away, the Taoist waterman, who was left without anyone to restrain him, went completely insane. Whenever he saw a child crying at night, he would attack the child and drown the elder in the house. However, he would leave the crying child behind to fend for himself.

Xu Qing frowned as he watched.

It is said that when a person's mind is insane, he will become a demon. This Taoist water worker is almost becoming a demon.

As the pages of the Sutra of Saving People continued to turn, Xu Qing saw the story of the Taoist Waterworks and the Jinmen Gang trading water-filtering bowls, and also saw the other party's method of refining the water-filtering bowls.

"So it turns out that people who are close to water need to use water spells to drive it."

After learning how to use the water strainer, Xu Qing quickly skipped over the scene where the Taoist waterman was fighting with him.

The revolving lantern ended quickly, and the Sutra of Saving People gave out rewards: a Kan Yuan breathing method, a water-controlling spell, and a ball of top-grade black water with the word "Earth".

Among them, the Kan Yuan breathing method is a true method of cultivation to absorb the spiritual energy of water from heaven and earth and nourish the body, the Chi Shui curse can control water, and the Taoist performances of drinking rivers and swallowing seas and Ruilong spitting water all belong to the art of Chi Shui.

In addition to these spells, what Xu Qing cared about most was the floating mass of black water.

Any reward that can be listed as the best on earth level is naturally extraordinary.

It is said that there is a river in Jiaolan that flows from the southeast and joins the Sheyan River. Because of its dark color, this river is also called Hunhe River or Lugu River.

People resented this river, believing it would bring bad luck, and therefore called it the Wuding River.

The word "Wu Ding" represents the unknown.

Xu Qing looked at the black water and fell into deep thought.

The evil energy carried by the Wuding Black Water is far more concentrated than that of the Taoist Waterworks. If he were to refine it, even if he were a zombie, he would probably be affected by it and completely transformed into a demon.

"The Corpse-Raising Sutra states that a crouching corpse can undergo three transformations: hairy stiffness, fire stiffness, and black stiffness."

"The three transformations of Fu Shi are the key to becoming Kui Ba. When Huo Ba is born, the land will be barren for a thousand miles; when Shui Ba is born, the land will be flooded for a thousand miles."

Xu Qing's eyes flashed. If a zombie wanted to become Kuiba, it would need to use the natural treasures with the strongest evil energy to cultivate itself.

However, the black water in front of him was actually a treasure with a very strong evil aura.

As for how to avoid being affected by the evil energy, Xu Qing's mind moved slightly and he looked at the map of mountains and rivers.

Between the mountains and rivers, there is a snow-white lotus emitting a lustrous luster, floating on the river.
(End of this chapter)