Techniques and Dao

Chapter 34 The Male and Female Swords
After the old woman swallowed the pattern, she began to stretch her limbs, and branches and leaves began to grow from her entire body, hands, and feet. The branches and leaves spread outward from her originally withered and shriveled skin and nails, and in an instant, she became a hybrid of human and plant, her size increasing significantly. Not only that, her originally thin arms transformed into two long vine whips.

"What is that? It's neither human, spirit, immortal, nor strange beast. Where did it come from?!" Xuanwen shouted at Huasheng, "What's wrong with you, you worm? Are you in cahoots with this monster?"

Taishang Xiaojun stopped Xuanwen: "Xuanwen, don't jump to conclusions. Hua Sheng is just a mortal, how could he be related to this monster?"

“You descendant of immortals, what are you doing protecting this ant! Don’t disgrace your immortal lineage!” Xuanwen shouted.

Taishang Xiaojun pointed at Xuanwen and said, "Is this the time for internal strife?"

"It's all your fault! You're all monsters brought here by these mole ants! These mole ants are monsters too!" Xuanwen shouted. "I want to leave here! I want to leave here!"

He anxiously rolled his eyes: "What a terrible trial! I want to get out of here! I want to get out of this trial array!"

Xuanwen then leaped into the air, braving the heavy rain, attempting to fly straight through the sky.

“Foolish.” Tianjizi glanced at Xuanwen, who had shrunk to a dot.

Just as Xuanwen's figure grew farther and smaller, dozens of massive bolts of lightning suddenly struck him from the sky. Accompanied by continuous thunderclaps, Xuanwen fell from mid-air.

Tianjizi said, "Since this immortal array can be corrupted, it means that the invading thing is far stronger than the immortal array itself. If we don't shut down the trial immortal array at its source, how can we escape by brute force alone?"

"Why didn't you stop him!" Hua Sheng saw that Xuan Wen had lost consciousness, so he hurriedly stepped onto a flying cloud, wanting to fly up and catch Xuan Wen.

The moment his feet left the ground, he felt something entangle him, and then he fell heavily onto the deck from mid-air. He quickly looked down and saw that what was entangled on his feet was actually the vines that the old woman's hands had transformed into.

"You're not going anywhere! Tell me, where is Mingyou!" The monster grabbed Huasheng and dragged her toward him.

"Who knows what this 'Netherworld' you're talking about is!"

Seeing that her body was moving involuntarily, Hua Sheng panicked and hurriedly used her fire control technique to burn the vines.

"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!" A ball of flame shot out from Hua Sheng's fingers.

Unexpectedly, the vines continued to burn despite the fire, and just as they were about to be pulled towards the monster, in a panic, Tai Shang Xiao Jun rushed towards Hua Sheng. A golden light flashed in his hand, and he grabbed the earring from the left ear.

What should have been two small sword-shaped pendants were now growing larger and larger in the golden light, transforming into two long swords with a sharp, cold gleam!

The two longswords struck simultaneously, cleaving the vines, which the flames could not burn, in two. At the same time, deep red blood began to flow from the vines.

Hua Sheng never dreamed that the pendant that Tai Shang Xiao Jun always wore on his left ear, which looked like an earring, was actually two weapons. He had even wondered before why, if there were two pendants, he didn't wear one on each ear. Now, it seemed like a meaningless and childish question to Tai Shang Xiao Jun, who had appeared as a savior.

The important thing is that the sword that the earring transformed into had just saved him.

"You've truly been amazed today. This is the divine sword: Gan Jiang and Mo Xie!"

Hua Sheng had heard the story of Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, legendary swords forged by a husband-and-wife team of master swordsmiths during the Warring States period. The swords, one male and one female, were considered masterpieces of the world. He once believed that these twin swords could not possibly exist, and even if they had, they had long since vanished into the annals of history.

Unexpectedly, at this very moment, these legendary divine swords are in the hands of Taishang Xiaojun!
Tai Shang Xiao Jun's sword strike clearly angered the leafy monster, which roared at Hua Sheng, "Where is Ming You!"

Hua Sheng felt a strange unease and retorted, "Why are you staring at me like that! I've never seen you before! How do I know where what you're looking for is?"

"You've seen me!" the monster roared deafeningly. "Mingyou! Where did you hide that little girl?!"

A little girl? Is this monster looking for a little girl?

Hua Sheng suddenly remembered the dream, the one that had lingered in his mind. If the strange old woman and the cruise ship were real, then the little girl in the black dress in the dream should also be real. But he couldn't remember her at all. If the little girl in the dream was Ming You, then why was this monster looking for her? Why did it say it had hidden her?
Unexpectedly, Tai Shang Xiao Jun frowned and looked at Hua Sheng with suspicion: "It seems like someone is asking you where you hid her daughter? Hua Sheng, you're abducting a child. I can't help you with such a despicable thing."

Hua Sheng roared, "What are you hiding! I don't know any of the little girl she's talking about! If I hide her, may I be struck by lightning!"

"Isn't it thundering right now?"

"No, I was just using a metaphor! If I were to hide it, I'd be doomed!"

"Isn't it because you didn't die a good death that you came to Saint Pingning?"

Hua Sheng nearly vomited blood in anger: "Then I'll grind my bones to dust!"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun turned his face away again, and said with a righteous expression, "You old monster, you're spouting nonsense! Have you mistaken me for someone else? This guy shouldn't be the kind of despicable person you're describing."

"Hey! Your stance changed way too fast!"

Is there anything wrong with me trusting you?

"Yes, yes, yes! You did the right thing!"

Hua Sheng had just caught her breath when she remembered Xuan Wen. She hurriedly looked up and, thankfully, Mie Ying had caught Xuan Wen and was sheltering from the rain under the eaves of a nearby tall building. She saw Mie Ying find a place to put Xuan Wen down and fly straight over.

As they drew closer, Hua Sheng asked, "Is Xuanwen alright?"

Mie Ying flicked his already soaked hair back: "It's probably a lightning technique at the Lingxiao level. I checked his pulse; he's seriously injured and his breath is very weak."

"Does anyone have a magic elixir? Like the Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill?"

"Who would carry something like this when participating in the Heavenly Eye Trial?" Mie Ying replied. "We need to get him treated quickly. The Academy of Arts and Sciences should have emergency medicine."

"We need to end this game of skillful box seizure as soon as possible!"

"We have to deal with this old monster first!" Mie Ying glanced at Hua Sheng and revealed a mysterious smile. "Not only that, we also agreed to teach Tian Ji Zi a lesson."

Seeing Mie Ying's smile, Hua Sheng suddenly recalled the idea she had shared with Mie Ying at the Divine Calculation Bureau. What surprised her at the time was that Mie Ying would agree, and the reason was that "it turns out to be such an interesting thing."

But now was clearly not the time to think about such things. The old woman who looked like a witch was obviously coming for Hua Sheng, and in an instant, vines grew from her arm, stabbing straight at Hua Sheng.

Hua Sheng was not far from the old hag, and the vines instantly pierced less than a meter away.

"Mystic Ice Technique!" With a flick of her wrist, Mie Ying froze the sharp, dagger-like vines instantly, followed by a swift strike from Tai Shang Xiao Jun, who then severed them with a single sword stroke.

But the witch's vines grew faster and faster, and multiplied more and more. Tai Shang Xiao Jun fought the witch with two divine swords, cutting down branches and leaves all over the deck, but still could not stop her.

Mieying turned around and shouted at Tianjizi, "You bastard, why aren't you making a move! How can you expect a girl like me to face this old hag!"

Tianjizi calmly replied, "This trouble was caused by the mole ant, so of course it should deal with it itself!"

Mieying cursed, "Everyone's trapped here and can't leave. You're not going to lend a hand at a time like this? You call yourself a god?"

"Why don't you give the mole ant to her?"

"With that fierce look on her face, it's no wonder she'd eat those little ants!"

"How will you know if you don't try?"

"You think everyone is as lucky as you!"

Mieying cursed a couple of times, but seeing that Tianjizi remained unmoved, he had no choice but to busy himself with dealing with the old hag. This old hag was extremely difficult to deal with; under the combined attack of Taishang Xiaojun and Mieying, the vines on her hands kept growing back after being cut, seemingly without end.

"No, we have to strike at their vitals!"

Hua Sheng immediately flew up to help, grabbing the old woman's outstretched arm. But the strange strength was too much for her to handle, and she almost flung Hua Sheng into the air.

"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Thousand-pound weight spell!" Hua Sheng cast the spell, his body sinking downwards. The deck immediately dented beneath his feet. Just as he was about to exert more force, he unexpectedly created a hole in the deck. Hua Sheng cried out in pain, pulling on the old woman's vines as he fell into the hole. Coincidentally, this action inadvertently got the old woman's vines stuck in the hole.

As Mieying flew into the air, she waved her hand, leaving the old hag's other hand frozen in mid-air, unable to move.

"Quick! Supreme Lord, stab this monster's heart!" Mie Ying shouted.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun flicked his longsword, and two swords immediately flew out from behind him.

"I don't care where your heart is, Gan Jiang! Mo Xie! Serve them from both sides!"

With a soft "thud," the two swords pierced through the old hag's chest, creating two large holes from which a spurt of blood gushed out.

The witch screamed, letting out a piercing sound!

The old hag lowered her head and finally stopped moving.

"Great!" Mie Ying clapped his hands repeatedly in mid-air, then cheered after letting out a sigh of relief, "We won!"

Then, Mieying descended from mid-air and approached to take a look.

The old woman was now completely still.

"Fire control technique! So be it!" Mieying shouted, shooting two flames from his fingers. The old hag was instantly engulfed in flames, yet remained motionless.

Mieying circled the burning hag once: "Looks like she's dead!"

At this moment, Hua Sheng finally managed to crawl out of the hole in the deck. Seeing Mie Ying in front of the old hag, she was startled and flew towards him. At the same time, the old hag, whose chest had been pierced with a large hole, suddenly raised her head and shot out a vine from her mouth, which pierced straight at Mie Ying.

In a split second, Hua Sheng tackled Mie Ying to the ground. Vines grazed Hua Sheng's face, and the two rolled together. With a thud, Hua Sheng crashed heavily into the edge of the railing, making it warp and twist. "Mie Ying, you have to be careful. Fire magic won't kill this monster!" Hua Sheng shouted at Mie Ying, "You almost died, do you know that?!"

The cut was very deep, and blood flowed down Hua Sheng's cheek, dripping onto Mie Ying's face.

"You saved me again..."

"Why can't I ever protect myself!"

Mie Ying paused for a moment, then asked, "You're injured?"

Hua Sheng then felt a burning pain on his face. He wiped his face with his sleeve and quickly turned over: "You have to be careful, this old hag is not easy to deal with!"

Mieying's tone suddenly softened: "I'm sorry..."

“This monster has no heart on either side, so it seems the vital organs aren’t in its chest…” Hua Sheng was so focused on the old hag that he finally realized what she meant and asked, “Huh? What did you just say?”

"nothing……"

Seeing that Mieying did not continue to answer, Hua Sheng pointed to the old woman's head and said, "I think the key point should be on the head. Let's do what we did before, hold this monster back, and let Taishang Xiaojun chop off its head."

Mieying remained silent.

Hua Sheng quickly turned around: "Hey! Did you hear what I said?"

"What did you say you wanted to chop it up?" Mie Ying finally came to his senses.

"Smash its head! Let's find a way to entangle it."

Suddenly, the Supreme Lord Xiaojun shouted from mid-air, "Understood! Let's try again!"

Hua Sheng grabbed Mie Ying's shoulder and said, "Supreme Young Master heard it all this way! Don't get distracted at such a crucial moment, Miss!"

"understood."

"Don't joke around, you'll lose your life! I don't want to see you die!"

"You don't want to see me die?"

"Nonsense!" Hua Sheng stared into Mie Ying's eyes. "If you die, how will we deal with Tian Ji Zi?"

“Oh…” Mieying suddenly looked to the side.

"What's your expression?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun shouted impatiently from mid-air, "Hey! Should I make you two a pot of tea so you can chat slowly?"

Hua Sheng said to Mie Ying, "Remember! We need to coordinate and hold that monster together!"

"I will."

Why is your voice so soft?

"I understand!"

Seeing that Mieying had returned to normal, Hua Sheng got up and flew towards the old hag. As the old hag's arm swept towards Hua Sheng, Hua Sheng dodged to the side, grabbed a vine, wrapped it around his arm, and then leaped to the outside of the cruise ship, bracing his legs against the hull, shouting, "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Thousand-Pound Weight Technique!"

With a single exertion, the bandage on Hua Sheng's arm immediately ripped open, and blood splattered everywhere.

"Quick! Annihilate Shadow!"

This time, Mieying didn't hesitate at all. He leaped into the air and used both hands to stun the Ghost Granny. The Ghost Granny let out a deafening scream.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun, wielding the Gan Jiang sword, cleaved down from the sky, the blade piercing deep into the witch's head.

The old hag let out a strange cry and shot out vines from her mouth. Tai Shang Xiao Jun hurriedly jumped back, but her Taoist robe was still torn open, and her chest was immediately stained red with her own immortal blood.

"Not the head?" Mieying shouted. She was distracted for a moment, and her grip loosened slightly. The old hag's vines struck her on the head, and she slammed heavily onto the deck with a loud thud.

"Shadow Destroyer!" Hua Sheng shouted. "Supreme Lord! Try the Golden Light Divine Spell! The Golden Light Divine Spell!"

Taishang Xiaojun dared not linger for a moment. He spun around in mid-air, and the Moye sword flew back into his hand. He then gripped the hilt in reverse and slashed down from the air once more, shouting, "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Golden Light Divine Mantra!"

But then the Moye sword transformed into a golden light, which pierced straight down from the hand of the Supreme Lord Xiaojun and struck the Ghost Woman.

The old hag let out a blood-curdling scream before being cleaved in two by the Moye sword. With a jolt from the giant cruise ship, the old hag vanished into the golden light.

After the golden light dissipated, strange circles and a "一"-shaped symbol were found scattered in the original location.

Seeing that the witch had been eliminated, Hua Sheng quickly stepped on the boat and flew towards where Mie Ying was. Mie Ying was already lying unconscious on the ground.

"Are you alright?!" Hua Sheng scooped up the soaking wet Mieying in his arms. "Mieying, are you alright?!"

Mie Ying remained silent and showed no reaction whatsoever.

Should I press the philtrum? Hua Sheng suddenly thought of that, and was about to press Mie Ying's philtrum with his hand when suddenly his hand was grabbed by a strong force. His wrist was almost broken. At the same time, Hua Sheng smelled the fragrance of lotus flowers.

Hua Sheng looked again and realized that the person who had grabbed her wrist was none other than Mie Ying.

All that could be heard was Mie Ying shouting, "What is that! Get lost!"

Then Hua Sheng was hit hard in the chest and flew away instantly, barely managing to regain his footing.

All he saw was Mieying staring at him with wide eyes. His hair had somehow turned into long, dark red strands.

"So it was Third Sister!" Hua Sheng sighed. "I'm injured now, you went too far!"

"Pah! Shameless thing, who is your third sister!"

As Sister Mieying spoke, a trickle of blood flowed from her forehead, which had been struck. She touched her forehead and looked at the bloodstains on her hand. It seemed that the dizziness from knocking Xiao Qi unconscious hadn't completely dissipated, but she simply wiped it with her sleeve and frowned.

Presumably, the third sister with dark red hair appeared after the seventh sister fainted. But at least it means she's alright, which is good. Hua Sheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Red-haired Shadowless looked around and said, "Where is this place? How come there are large ships from the mortal realm here?"

Hua Sheng briefly explained the current situation in just a few words.

Red-haired Shadow replied, "That mischievous Little Seven said she wanted me to rest. Now look at her like this. Well, at least she won't be so clingy with her sweet voice."

After saying that, Red-Haired Shadow stepped forward, as if to examine the remains of the witch.

"Watch out! Third Sister, don't go any further!"

Red-haired Shadow was still somewhat resentful of being called "Third Sister," and she glanced sideways at Hua Sheng.

Hanamori added, "I don't know what these remains are either. But the hag-like monster said they were part of her body."

The red-haired Shadowless pointed to the scattered patterns on the ground and said, "You said that monster said these numbers on the ground are its body?"

"number?"

"Although it looks messy, it does resemble numbers. There are zeros and ones."

"But this explanation is different. How can these things that look like numbers be pieced together to form a body?"

Red-haired Shadowless rested his chin on his finger, pondering for a moment: "Words themselves contain boundless power. Aren't immortal incantations also words?"

"But these patterns don't look complicated."

"It only looks simple. Perhaps it contains infinite variations. Just like Yin and Yang, it is just Yin and Yang."

When Mieying mentioned Yin and Yang, Hua Sheng suddenly saw the image of the blood tai chi symbol in his mind.

That's right! If the witch and the surrounding scene were caused by the trial porcelain box from earlier, then wouldn't all the porcelain boxes representing "Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui" have already been opened?
The inscriptions carved on the rock are likely the rules for winning the game using a clever strategy. Although most of them are illegible, some information can be deduced from the existing characters.

The two sentences are "Guard the Bagua Porcelain Box...endure the trial of the box..." and "The Path to Victory is stored in the Yin-Yang Box...the trial taker opens it to obtain it."

Therefore, it seems that the trial participants must first undergo the trial before opening the Yin-Yang Box. The rules are clearly stated: the Victorious Buddha's Path Guide is contained within the Yin-Yang Box. The trial participant who opens the box may obtain the Victorious Buddha's Path Guide. Once the Victorious Buddha's Path Guide is obtained, the box-opening game ends.

This also signifies the end of the Heavenly Eye Trial. The one who obtains the Victorious Buddha's Guide will be the ultimate winner this year.

Thinking of this, Hua Sheng couldn't help but look up at the large stone box. There stood Tianjizi, about to touch the blood tai chi.

(End of this chapter)