On the Avenue.

Chapter 348: Cutting off the path of cultivation
Chen Shi absorbed the sword energy that killed Mu Gui into his body. This sword energy contained the blood of Mu Gui and was extremely powerful. When it was melted into his body, strange patterns appeared on his bones, entangled and flickering!
Chen Shi was so surprised that his head flew up from his neck and moved to the front and back of his body to examine these strange textures.

"It's very similar to the strange textures on Mugui's body that he used to resist me!"

He looked carefully. He had already noticed the strange patterns on Mu Gui's body. Those patterns possessed incredible power that could block his sword energy and prevent it from hurting Mu Gui at all.

What is even more peculiar is that the patterns on the shepherd ghost’s body and those on the iron ruler should have the same origin.

However, the patterns on the iron ruler are more profound and difficult to understand, and the information they contain is also more complex.

"Strange. The Zhangtian Iron Ruler is clearly a prehistoric remnant, and the patterns on it should also be traces of prehistoric civilization. But these patterns are on Mu Gui's body."

Chen Shi was puzzled. Why would the prehistoric civilization be similar to the strange patterns on the shepherd ghost's body?
Is it...

A bold idea suddenly came to his mind: Could it be that prehistoric civilization is not extinct?
In fact, this civilization has always existed, and the creatures in the underworld are their descendants?

But this idea was too outrageous. Chen Shi laughed and shook his head, thinking: "The creatures in the underworld are ghosts. They are obviously a barbaric race. How could they be the race that created the glorious prehistoric civilization?"

The blood color on his bones disappeared, but the strange textures were still there. They lasted for a while before gradually fading away.

Chen Shi slightly activated the Blood Lake Sutra, and the strange patterns on the bones lit up again!

"Did the Blood Lake Scripture absorb the ghost shepherd's abilities?"

Chen Shi thought that the pattern on the herd ghost's body should be what Pengju said about the power of blood, which refers to the power hidden in the blood. The underworld races often possess this kind of wonderful power. When they grow to a certain age, the power in their blood will awaken, giving them some special abilities.

The Blood Lake Scripture can absorb the enemy's blood power. Chen Shi has never heard of such a skill!

Excess blood flowed from his bones and into the pool of blood behind his head.

His pool of blood had grown much larger, and he was afraid that in another day or two, it would become a blood pond.

Chen Shi saw what looked like a ghost struggling in the pool of blood. He took off the head and looked at it. It vaguely looked like the shepherd ghost, but it was covered in blood and could not be seen clearly.

The herd ghost seemed to be struggling to escape from the pool of blood, but was dragged back into the pool of blood by the mysterious force again and again.

Chen Shi shuddered. This martial art was too weird.

But it is also very powerful, and its cultivation speed is also very fast!
During this period of time, Pengju had killed the remaining Shengshen one by one, and his wings absorbed the blood and energy of the Shengshen to temper himself.

He practiced the Blood Lake Sutra in a slightly different way from Chen Shi.

Part of the blood he absorbed was used to improve the blood of his body. The power of his blood was stimulated, and the tips of the feathers on Pengju's wings became golden and extremely sharp, while the feathers on other parts were still earthy brown and black, with a few stray hairs occasionally.

The Blood Lake Scripture improved his bloodline and strengthened his body, making him stronger and more powerful than before.

Pengju was worried, and looked around. There were many cuckoos here. The cuckoos liked to watch the fun, and they had seen them killing Mugui and Shengsheng just now.

The ghost herders are allowed to roam freely in the rich families' homes. The rich families will definitely come looking for them, and with a little investigation, they will know what the murderer looks like.

Chen Shi felt a little guilty and said, "Pengju, I have implicated you in this matter..."

Peng Ju shook his head and said, "You can understand my family's martial arts and pass it on to me. You have done me a great favor. How can you say that you are causing trouble for me? There are many cuckoos here, and they don't recognize me. Let's leave quickly!"

The two men hurried on their way, and the cuckoos in the trees watched them go away.

After walking for another half a day, Peng Ju said happily, "My home is just ahead!"

At this moment, a huge prehistoric remnant came into Chen Shi's sight.

This is a large four-legged tripod, made entirely of black iron, rusty and crooked, with three legs deeply embedded in the foot of the mountain and most of it buried by the mountain.

They passed by a four-legged iron cauldron, in which sat a withered skeleton. Even as it sat there, it still seemed hundreds of feet tall, bound with chains and tied inside the cauldron.

Although the dry bones are big, the iron tripod is bigger.

The dry bones exuded a monstrous aura and looked extremely dangerous.

As they passed by, the chains made a rattling sound, and the skeletal head moved slowly on the cervical vertebrae, with flames floating in the dark eye sockets, as if looking at them.

Pengju tried to stay as far away from the skeleton as possible, as if he was worried that it might come back to life at any time. He pointed to a large locust tree in front of him and said, "Our village is right there! I am the fastest flyer in our village, so I can find a job running errands in the East Palace!"

Chen Shi retracted his gaze and said, "You work in the East Palace, don't you have a divine duty? I see that every shepherd ghost has a little demon burning incense for him."

Peng Ju shook his head and said, "We run errands and deliver messages. If we are not careful, we will die outside. How can there be a god? I have been a messenger in the East Palace for two years. There were seven messengers with me. I am the only one left after I died."

Chen Shi was stunned. How could life in the underworld be more miserable than life in the world of the living?

They finally arrived at Pengju's home.

Pengju's home is on a locust tree in front of a cliff. There are thirty or forty bird's nest-shaped houses hanging on the tree, which are not much different from the bird's nests seen on the road.

Pengju flapped his wings and flew up. Chen Shi followed him to one of the bird's nests.

Pengju smiled and said, "Sister, I'm back alive!"

He entered the room, but did not find his sister. He said, "Chen Shi, wait here for a moment. I will ask the neighbors if they know where my sister has gone."

Chen Shi nodded.

Pengju flapped his wings and flew to other bird nests.

Chen Shi looked around the bird's nest. It was bare, with three rooms. Two of them were where the brother and sister slept. They were just nests made of dead branches and had no decorations. The other room was the kitchen, which also served as a living room and was very clean.

Pengju's sister should be a clean-loving person. Although her home is simple, it is tidy.

He came outside the bird's nest and looked at the huge iron tripod again, thinking: "The aura of this prehistoric remnant is very strong. Who is the withered skeleton in the tripod? Why is it suppressed in the tripod?"

What made him feel even more strange was that the dry bones in the cauldron still gave off a monstrous aura. Could it be that these dry bones were still alive?

Just as he thought of this, he suddenly felt a strange breath behind him. He turned around and was stunned.

The locust tree where Pengju settled stood in front of the cliff. Chen Shi suddenly saw a pair of huge feet hanging from the sky behind the locust tree.

Chen Shi flew up and came to the top of the locust tree, gradually seeing the full appearance of the owner of the pair of feet.

On the cliff opposite the locust tree, there was a corpse of a divine man about a thousand feet tall hanging.

The god had a green face and fangs, four arms, and was wearing golden armor with his head lowered.

A black iron spear was stuck in the god's chest, piercing him and nailing him to the cliff.

Mist was floating around his waist, and the blood in his body had not yet dried up, still fresh. Chen Shi was shocked, and after calming down, he looked in other directions and saw the second god-man, who was also nailed to death on the cliff, but this god-man had a bird's head and a human body, and his throat was pierced by a spear.

The corner of his eye twitched, and he looked in the direction of the cliff. He saw that the cliff was so long that he could not see the end. It stretched from east to west for who knows how many miles. Every few miles, there was a god nailed to death on the cliff, one after another. Who knows how many gods there were!

“Why were these gods and men crucified here?”

He was shocked. At this moment, Pengju's voice came: "Chen Shi! Chen Shi!"

"I'm here!" Chen Shi responded quickly.

Pengju brought a small bird-beaked human-faced cuckoo with him. He flapped his wings and flew up, landing on a large leaf. He said, "I found my sister. The area has been uneasy these days, so she lives at a neighbor's house. I'm going to Tianchi to report. Tianchi is just above Wuliang Cliff. Do you want to come with me?"

The little cuckoo looked at Chen Shi curiously and was very interested in the skeleton.

Chen Shi turned around and said in disbelief: "Did you see these?"

Pengju asked in confusion: "I saw it, what's wrong?"

Chen Shi's eyes widened: "Why are the bodies of these gods and men hanging here? Don't you find it strange?"

Peng Ju smiled and said, "They have been hanging here all this time. What's so strange about that? They were already hanging here when I was born. I also asked the elders in the village, and they said that these bodies have been hanging here for tens of thousands of years."

Chen Shi calmed down and looked at the corpses of these gods and men, but he still couldn't calm down and murmured, "How did they die?"

"I don't know."

Peng Ju said, "You haven't seen anything more frightening. Last year, I was ordered to deliver a letter for the Eastern Palace. I came to a place called Yinquan Sea, where there were towering trees hanging upside down from the sky. Under the trees was a giant coffin, a thousand feet high, facing the spring of Yinquan Sea. From time to time, the corpse of a giant flew out of the coffin and disappeared into the sky. It was extremely terrifying."

Chen Shi looked strange, thinking, "The place he mentioned should be Jinghu Villa. The so-called giant coffin is the coffin that Grandpa and his team built, and the scene of the giant's corpse flying out should be the scene of me or Xiao Wangsun coming out of the coffin."

Having said that, he was still shocked when he looked at the corpse of the god hanging on the Wuliang Cliff.

“If they were in the mortal world, these gods and immortals would probably have reached the Mahayana realm, or even higher!” he thought to himself.

Chen Shi thought for a moment and said, "Pengju, where did you see the Yinquan Sea?"

Pengju raised his hand and pointed to the distance, saying, "I flew tens of thousands of miles over there and saw the Yinquan Sea."

Chen Shi frowned. Yinquan Sea was the Mirror Lake in Qianyang Mountain. It could be seen that the place where they were was indeed Qianyang Mountain, but the underworld corresponding to Qianyang Mountain was too weird.

At this moment, the hand of one of the corpses of the god suddenly moved. Chen Shi pointed at the hand and exclaimed, "He's still alive!"

Just as he said this, the deity suddenly opened his mouth and roared, his roar was like thunder, rumbling and echoing under the Wuliang Cliff!

The god-man struggled hard, grabbing the iron spear on his chest with his four arms, and tried to pull it out!
The iron spear suddenly emitted a bright light and pressed the god-man heavily against the cliff. The god-man struggled for a moment and then became motionless again.

"Sometimes it happens."

Pengju was used to it and didn't think it was strange. He said, "Chen Shi, do you want to go to Tianchi with me?"

Chen Shi shook his head: "I'll stay here. If I go too far, I'm worried that my mother-in-law will have trouble calling me back when she summons the spirit."

Peng Ju understood and whispered to his sister, "Although he is very powerful, he is probably not very smart. He doesn't even know that he is dead. Peng Yan'er, you must take good care of him!"

The little cuckoo nodded seriously.

Pengju gave Peng Yan'er a few more instructions and said to Chen Shi, "You stay here and wait for me for a few days. I will come back after reporting back." After that, he flapped his wings and flew away.

Peng Yaner said to Chen Shi: "Don't stay in the tree. It's too high up here and there are often strong winds."

Chen Shi followed her back to the bird's nest. Peng Yan'er jumped to boil water for tea. She soaked a red date in the tea and said, "This is the date I picked from the date tree in Evil Dog Ridge. It can drive away the cold. You can try it."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "I don't drink..."

Peng Yan'er's eyes were filled with tears, so Chen Shi had no choice but to pick up the teacup, open his mouth and pour the tea in. The tea flowed down his larynx to his ribs and spine, and then through his pelvis and leg bones. It could be said that it was poured all over again.

"Good tea. My cold is much better now." Chen Shi put down the teacup.

Peng Yaner looked at his two feet that were soaked with water and said shyly, "I forgot that you are a skeleton... How about I burn some incense for you?"

Chen Shi smiled and said, "No need."

Peng Yaner rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "Can I make you some clothes? I picked up some colorful feathers at Jinji Mountain!"

Chen Shi shuddered at the thought of himself being covered in chicken feathers, and quickly refused, saying with a smile, "Peng Yan'er, you don't have to work hard. I don't need to eat or drink these few days, I need to practice for a few days."

However, Peng Yaner always wanted to take care of him, either by getting him something delicious or something fun. Her personality was much more lively than Pengju's, and she couldn't sit still.

Chen Shi was so annoyed that he decided to take some time to pass on the Blood Lake Sutra to Peng Yaner.

What surprised Chen Shi was that Peng Yan'er's aptitude and understanding were much higher than Peng Ju's. The Blood Lake Scripture contained divine language, which was extremely complicated and difficult to learn. However, after Chen Shi taught it once or twice, Peng Yan'er mastered the divine language.

Chen Shi also taught her the exercise routes, and she quickly understood them and soon mastered them.

"This girl's aptitude and understanding are simply too good!"

Chen Shi was moved by her talent and taught her how to mobilize her own strength and bless her body, and also taught her the secrets of swordsmanship.

Peng Yaner practiced diligently outside the Bird's Nest and made rapid progress.

"She is a good material for cultivation." Chen Shi thought to himself.

"Peng Yan'er, how did your family's Blood Lake Sutra get lost?" Chen Shi asked.

Peng Yaner said crisply: "We can't read."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Then let the literate bird teach you."

Peng Yaner shook her head and said, "The other tribesmen are illiterate either."

Chen Shi was puzzled and asked, "So, is there anyone who can read?"

Peng Yaner shook her head and said, "My brother said that all the ghosts and gods in Tianchi Country are illiterate. There are many exercises similar to the Blood Lake Sutra, but no one knows how to practice them."

Chen Shi was stunned: "You mean, all the ghosts and gods in Tianchi Country are illiterate?"

Peng Yaner nodded.

Chen Shi fell into deep thought. He always felt that this situation was somewhat similar to the situation in which the True King cut off the calamity and ascended to the second realm. However, the Tianchi Kingdom abolished all literacy, while the True King changed his cultivation path!
(End of this chapter)