Zhuolu - Chapter 21

Back at Yanqiu, Zhu Xingli couldn’t wait to take out the body of the gu carving, then he carried the knife and began to dissect it.

Gu carvings were exotic beasts whose stories had been handed down from ancient times, and some parts of their bodies were very precious refining materials, especially the mouth that was as long as a black bamboo tube.

Lin Xin just squatted aside and watched, “What can this mouth do?”

“What do you think it can do?” Zhu Xingli gouged out the mouth, threw it into the running water of the mountain spring drawn by a bamboo tube, rinsed it, and threw it to Lin Xin casually to play with.

This soul-absorbing thing was naturally a spiritual tool for sucking souls. Lin Xin thought so but didn’t dare to say it out. He put the hollow bird’s beak on one eye, looked through the empty tube at Shen Lou who sat drinking tea under the tree, “Master, what kind of kung fu did you use today to catch the soul?”

“I only made a gap, but couldn’t, so I pinched a piece of Luli and embedded it in the groove. Only the Zhu family can do it by leaving Luli grooves on the axe.”

The axe wrapped in spiritual power cut the iron like mud and broke the bird’s claw with a “click”.

“Teach me, I want to learn too.” Lin Xin pinned the bird’s beak to his waist, grabbed the axe from his master graciously, and helped him chop the other one.

Soul capture was a small spell in the soul control art. The soul control technique was a partial technique, not very useful, so ordinary immortals didn’t know how to practice it, and it had long been lost. Zhu Xingli figured it out by himself based on ancient books. In his previous life, Lin Xin only learned superficially, so he had to take many detours when using soul power.

Zhu Xingli took the bird claws cut off by his apprentice and washed them clean, “I will send these pair of bird claws to your uncle later, so that he can forge a spirit sword for you.”

Seeing that Lin Xin was going to be fifteen years old, as the closest elder, Zhu Xingli, wanted to prepare the natal spirit sword for him. And Duke Jiang of the Southern Region, Zhu Xingli’s elder brother, was the best craftsman in Da Yong.

Thinking of the spiritual sword, he remembered that his Master had passed away many years ago, Lin Xin didn’t answer the question, but lowered his eyes and said: “I read “Qing Yun Ji” the other day, and the book said that monks in ancient times relied on their own spiritual power to control the sword. Did they not rely on Luli?”

“The ancient monks could move mountains and seas, why can’t you?” Zhu Xingli asked him back.

“The way of cultivation in ancient times has been lost, I don’t know.” Lin Xin pulled out the bird’s beak on his waist to tickle, “I mean, since the source of spiritual power is the essence of the sun and the moon, why can’t we store the essence of the sun and the moon in our spiritual veins like we do in Luli?”

Zhu Xingli held the bird’s claw like an old immortal holding a dust whisk, and patted Lin Xin on the head in the posture of “immortal Buddha head”, “How can a flesh and blood body store the sun and the moon?”

“Spirit and soul should be enough,” Lin Xin patted the bird’s claws away, and said with certainty, “soul is also made of the essence of the sun and the moon.”

Hearing this, Shen Lou, who was drinking tea not far away, frowned, got up and walked towards Lin Xin, just as he took a step towards him, he was blocked by a sheer weight falling from the sky. Jian Zhong had just been practicing “Standing on the Sword in the Air”, and he had somewhat figured out how to do it, so he wanted to try the tricks he saw today. He lightly tapped his toes, but with a move of “Flying Eagle and Swan Goose”, the whole person was ejected, and he fell headfirst to Shen Lou’s feet.

“Bah,” Jian Zhong spat out the grass clippings in his mouth, and raised his hand to grab the hem of Shen Lou’s clothes, “Brother Shen, how did you keep from falling off?”

“I won’t fall.” Shen Lou didn’t want to talk to him, but he didn’t mean to hide his secrets either, so he pointed out something concisely, then lifted his feet and left.

Jian Zhong thought about Shen Lou’s words for a while, then he suddenly understood, and got up and went to practice again. I am so stupid, I have to use hard work to make up for my clumsiness. The senior brother is younger than him, but he can learn everything, and he has learned a lot from master in a few years. He originally thought that Lin Xin was an evildoer, but now seeing Shen Shizi who was the same age as him, he completely gave up. It must really be because of his poor talent.

“The soul cannot be regenerated. There are ancient books on the art of refining the soul. It is a type of sorcery.” Shen Lou tried to prevent Lin Xin from continuing to explore, as if it was too shameful to absorb human soul power to replace Luli. He did not want Lin Xin to go on this path again.

Hearing the word “sorcery”, Lin Xin’s fingertips trembled slightly, and he lowered his head and said in a low voice, “I didn’t say I wanted to refine my soul.”

Seeing that he was unhappy, Shen Lou suddenly felt that he had spoken seriously.

“There are three thousand ways of cultivation, you do not stick to one pattern, and the way of cultivation must not be blind.” Seeing that the two children were having disagreements, Zhu Xingli tried to reconcile fairly, and handed the gourd filled with the blood of the gu carving to Lin Xin, “Go, draw a soul-gathering formation in the medicine room.”

“Defensive formation?” Lin Xin clapped his hands and returned the beak to Master.

“Let’s build a protective spirit formation,” Zhu Xingli thought for a while, then turned to look at Shen Lou, “You, take a shower, and go to the medicine room later.” After working so long without looking for spirits, it seemed that only then did he remember that Shen Shizi was still seriously ill.

The soul-gathering array drawn by the blood of the spirit beast would be better than the one drawn by cinnabar, and it was relatively gentler. Shen Lou sat in the center of the formation, watching Lin Xin and following his lead, “Are you going to treat me?”

“No, it’s just for fortune telling.” Lin Xin glanced at him, “Give me your hand.”

Shen Lou handed him a hand, and a line was drawn on the palm of the hand with a bright red pen, “What is it?”

“Formation.”

Shen Lou smiled, “Okay.”

Lin Xin closed his eyes, recited a few sutras, and then opened his eyes solemnly, “The Infinite Heavenly Venerable asked Shen Shizi if there is a marriage contract?”

“Not yet.”

“Is there a Tongfang[1]?” He raised a pen and drew a cross.

“Never.” As if being licked by a kitten, Shen Lou curled up his fingertips, trying to resist the urge to shrink his hands.

“Eighteen years old, but no Tongfang yet, who are you kidding?” Lin Xin drew a circle, “I’ll talk about it after I think about it.”

Shen Lou was helpless, for a cultivator, if he vented his Yang energy too early, his foundation would be easily destroyed. Tongfang were only available to ordinary people, and he had never seen any family of cultivating immortals have such a rule. Before he could defend himself, Lin Daxian started the punishment on his own—adding a head and a tail to the circle. Withdrawing his hands and looking back, it looked like a pancake with a round shell and a flat brain lying in his palm.

“What are you doing?” Zhu Xingli walked in and closed the door of the medicine room.

“Giving Shougong mark[2] to the crown prince.” Lin Xin bared his teeth and grinned.

“Yo, why do this?” Zhu Xingli asked seriously.

“Before I marry him, telling him to be as good as a jade.” Lin Xin said nonsense.

Zhu Xingli glanced at him in disgust, took away the pen, and crossed Lin Xin’s nose, “Go aside.”