Chapter 104: Unexpected Fierce Spirit

I did not know how much time had passed. In any case, I, who had been so frightened earlier, had even begun to feel a trace of drowsiness. The bench under me had warmed up from sitting, and I occasionally saw small red dots appearing in the courtyard, followed by wisps of smoke rising. The people lying in ambush around the courtyard could not stand the boredom anymore and started smoking to pass the time.

In one corner of the courtyard, Hui Jue sat cross legged like a mountain. I did not know whose house he was in or whether he was in meditation, but I maliciously guessed he was actually asleep.

As for my master, he was at the half closed gate, ready to burst in at any moment to set up the altar and cast the ritual. But who knew if that old man had also fallen asleep by the wall? He usually liked leaning against walls to doze off anyway. The bamboo courtyard had no proper wall, so he just leaned against a corner. From a distance, it looked like someone had propped up a broken sack there.

I stared at the moon, sometimes hidden and sometimes visible, wondering whether I was hoping the night would pass faster, or hoping something exciting would actually happen. If it got too exciting, I might not be able to handle it, but if it passed, it did not mean I would not have to endure this torture again tomorrow.

Maybe the night wind was too cold. I felt my feet turning icy. I stamped them a few times and then looked down uneasily. Fortunately, nothing strange had wrapped itself around my feet.

But at that moment, Old Man Jiang suddenly burst through the gate, closed it behind him, and scanned the surroundings with a serious expression. He shouted, “Begin!”

I froze. Before I could react, buckets of specially scented medicinal liquid were dumped all over me from above.

Then I saw Old Man Jiang ignite three sticks of incense using a special method, place them into a small incense burner, and stand in a particular stance while chanting under his breath.

Next, Hui Jue’s voice began to echo in a strange cadence, penetrating my ears one wave after another.

But I still had not reacted when Hu Xueman suddenly stood up and shouted, “San Wa Er, have you forgotten what your master told you?”

I was just about to respond when a sharp pain mixed with cold suddenly erupted in my right leg. I looked down and saw a strange red worm tightly wrapped around my foot, its body emitting faint wisps of smoke.

It had come. It had actually come like this.

I had no time to think. I did not even spare it a second glance. I kicked over the bench and, with the sharp knife I had been holding in my right hand all along, slashed directly into the middle finger of my left hand.

Pain. I sucked in a sharp breath. In my panic, I cut too deep, and a large amount of bright red blood immediately flowed out.

But I had no time to care. The worm moved extremely fast and had already wrapped itself around my waist. I still had many things to do.

I heard people shouting around me, “That worm is too strong, more medicinal liquid, pour more!”

Someone else shouted, “Ten more seconds. If San Wa Er cannot hold on, we rush in. Forget the formation field!”

Buckets and basins of medicinal liquid kept splashing over me, but I could not just sit and wait for death. If I failed this, would my master still respect me?

I clenched my bleeding left hand, trying to keep the blood from being washed away by the medicinal liquid. I glared at the worm and, at that instant, silently recited a mantra to gather my mind, energy, and focus into my consciousness.

Then, holding my breath, I roared at it, “How dare you!”

That shout, combined with the medicinal liquid, caused the worm to pause slightly. I seized the moment, grabbed it with my right hand, and twisted it in a strange angle. It was a special technique that concentrated most of the body’s strength into the wrist to lock the worm in place.

It felt icy, like grasping a bone. The worm’s body was neither smooth nor rough, and a wave of irritability surged in my heart, as if countless negative emotions were rushing toward me.

“Calm the mind, purify the heart,” I forced myself to steady down, then loudly recited the Mind-Calming Mantra, quickly squatted down, and used the blood from my left hand to smear over the pre drawn talisman patterns.

This process could not tolerate distraction. Even though my master had already drawn the formation patterns, I was only filling them in. If I lost focus here, the entire field would collapse.

Squatting down was extremely dangerous. It unknowingly brought me closer to the worm, and its strength was like some monstrous force. I doubted I could hold on for even five more seconds.

Then something even more terrifying happened. I could only grasp a small portion of its body, desperately preventing it from crawling toward my face, but the unheld part of the worm began to thin. From the corner of my eye, I saw a grotesque worm face slowly approaching, shrinking as it extended toward me.

I could not describe that face. It had two bulges on its head, yet distinct facial features. Its tiny eyes carried something disturbingly human.

That earlier roar had drained too much of my focus. The Daoist shout technique required deep cultivation to be effective. I was far from that level.

My head began to spin. I still had to hold my breath and concentrate all my energy into the formation patterns without distraction.

That was a state of being where even hellfire would feel insignificant. I had to keep my mind completely empty.

This formation core required my finger blood filled with strong yang energy as the medium. The formation patterns my master had drawn would become the core. Once my blood completely filled them, the formation would activate.

Suddenly, I felt a cold sensation on my face. My nose began to itch. The worm in my hand seemed to be shrinking, slowly and painfully wriggling forward. But I could not afford even the slightest distraction.

I felt it was about to crawl into my nostrils, while half of the formation was still unfinished.

At that moment, Hui Jue’s continuous chanting suddenly erupted like a great bell in my ears.

The worm stopped moving, as if under immense pressure. Its entire body trembled slightly, and I too felt that pressure fall upon me, making my body shake as well.

Almost there. Just a little more. The final stroke.

With everything I had, I dragged the last line of the pattern. At that moment, a burning sensation erupted from my heart and exploded through my body. I knew the formation had begun to operate.

I also shouted, “Only by keeping the true mind clear can one remain unmoving like a mountain!”

This was the phrase my master always drilled into me, and it was the only thing holding me together.

At that moment, Hui Jue’s chanting gradually faded, and a figure suddenly lunged toward me, pulling the worm out from near my nose. I no longer had time to feel disgust, because I recognized the person.

It was that eighteen year old boy who had been so excited earlier when he saw my master.

The burning sensation in my chest grew stronger. I grabbed him and was about to pull him out of the formation when I realized the worm had tightly coiled around him, its head raised high, preparing to drill into his mouth.

The boy formed hand seals and muttered something under his breath, not as a seal but as a method of releasing power. But the worm gave him no chance. Its head forced its way straight into his mouth.

“Get lost, you damn thing!” I roared and grabbed the worm.

Hu Xueman’s dozen men rushed in as well, and the scene turned chaotic. I turned and saw my master. His expression was calm, neither happy nor angry, still chanting under his breath. His feet moved rhythmically in a grounding step, while a strange hand seal formed in his hand.

Peach wood sword, talismans, everything blurred in my vision as countless attacks were directed at the worm. They were all Daoist practitioners, but I had no idea how strong they actually were.

Some even spat tongue tip blood.

I gripped the worm tightly and refused to let go. Even with so many hands on it now, it still could not be suppressed.

That should not be possible. Absolutely not. A worm that had only consumed one cow should not be this strong.