Day and night tour

Chapter 136: Blood Tree of the Mother Palace

"August 20, 4:50 in the morning, Lao Huazhai Tukeng",
This is the handwriting shown on the Xiyuan Lu.

After Zhou Xuan saw it clearly, he had an association in his mind -

——One of the major functions of the Cleansing Wrongs Talisman is that it can enter the gap between time and space and return to the past. One only needs to write down the time and place he wants to go on the talisman.

But now, the Xiyuan Lu seems to have changed. It does not write the time and place, it writes it by itself.

"Perhaps, if I use a pen to cross out the words on the Wrath-Clearing Talisman, I can return to the time and place it records?"

Zhou Xuan guessed and took out his pocket watch and pen. He checked the time first. It was 5:15.

He wasted nearly half an hour in that dark place.

Then Zhou Xuan put away his pocket watch, unscrewed the pen, and drew a long horizontal line on the line of words on the Wound-Clearing Scroll.
The words on the Wake Up Wrongs Sutra gradually faded in color over time, and Zhou Xuan felt as if time was going backwards.

He clearly felt like he was floating up. He lowered his head and looked down. The ground was getting farther and farther away from him... Then he entered a state of darkness... Then, his head emerged from the stone slab, followed by his body...

"Junior brother, you scared me." Lu Mingkun said when he saw Zhou Xuan crawling out from the stone slab again.

It was he who brought Zhou Xuan to Mingjiang Mansion. If Zhou Xuan was gone, he didn't know how to explain to Zhou Lingyi.

"Master, I felt very scared when you disappeared." Xiao Fuzi also said.

"I've already said it, this little brother is blessed by fate, and has a very strong life..."

Yun Ziliang also rubbed his hands and asked Zhou Xuan: "What does the connection in the stone slab look like?"

"There's nothing, it's pitch black." Zhou Xuan said as he took out his pocket watch.

The hands of the clock actually turned back to 4:51 in the morning.

In reality, only one minute had passed.

Moreover, when Zhou Xuan came out of the stone slab, he heard the sound of "incense" burning again, felt something wrapped around his wrist, and felt like he was being watched again.

This strange space where the sky can shrink has the same properties as a space-time rift. Once entered, it can cut off all connections, including the divine secret realm.

Everything he observed in that space could be hidden from the ancient tattoo tribe.

Therefore, he naturally would not tell the truth to Lu Mingkun and Yun Ziliang.

"There is nothing but black?" Yun Ziliang asked again.

"I'll go down and take a look. You just wait here for me."

Zhou Xuan was already able to use the stone slab as a passage, and the greatest fear of the unknown was gone.

He took the scissors again, cut his palm, and spilled blood.

The blood once again filled the gaps between the stone carvings, turning them into a blood-red swamp, and the body began to sink.

Yun Ziliang also wanted to shed blood and go down to take a look, but his body that was "half human and half ghost" did not allow it. Lu Mingkun also wanted to go down, but he was afraid that he would not be able to come back.

He knew that Zhou Xuan possessed the two secret realms of Blood Well and Divine Revelation, and his perception was outstanding. With the blessing of many mysterious powers, perhaps this was the reason why he was able to come back from the dark world under the stone slab.

Even if his junior fellow apprentice went down and came back, it was not certain that his senior apprentice would be able to do so. He could only wait anxiously by the stone slab.

……

It was another dark descent, and then I stepped on something very brittle and hard, and then the hard object broke, and I fell into the space where the sky was shrinking rapidly.

Exactly the same encounter as the first journey.

Zhou Xuan stood on the lawn, looked at the sky, and then looked into the distance.

He saw a bright red, extremely tall tree and walked towards it.

The closer Zhou Xuan got to the tree, the more he felt that there was something strange going on everywhere.

Those lawns were not lawns at all, but short fleshy sprouts sticking out of the ground.

He squatted down and pulled up a piece of grass with force. The broken grass squirmed in his hand, and a little blood oozed out from the broken end, dripping onto the purple soil and being quickly absorbed by the soil.

Zhou Xuan pressed the "land" hard with his right hand. It was not land at all, but more like a piece of meat on his body. After pressing it, it was full of elasticity. After deforming, it quickly returned to its original shape.

"The colors of the ground and the sky are surprisingly similar?"

Zhou Xuan looked up at the tree which was not far away.

This tree has all the characteristics of a tree. Its crown, trunk, branches, and leaves are no different from other trees except that its color is bright red.

When Zhou Xuan got completely close and touched the tree trunk, he unexpectedly had a strange yet familiar feeling.

It was weird because the tree trunk and bark seemed to be alive. When he touched it, not only did he feel soft and elastic, but the bark seemed to be moving, trembling slightly in his palm, as if it was playing.

The familiar feeling was because Zhou Xuan smelled a fragrant scent from the tree, which was almost the same as the lantern bride in the secret realm.

Since Zhou Xuan became a psychic, his senses have become extremely sharp. In the hospital, he can find the pharmacy directly by the smell of medicine.

"It is the scent of a bride, no doubt about it."

Zhou Xuan stroked the blood tree while identifying the smell again.

Just at this moment, a burst of "wa wa" baby crying sound came from the blood tree.

The branches were activated by the crying and turned into countless tentacles, wrapping around Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan reacted very quickly. He turned around and ran, looking back as he ran.

He saw that the blood tree had changed, and there were corpses hanging on many branches.

The corpses were hung with their hands hanging down. The expressions on their faces were hideous as if they had seen terror, and their eyeballs were bulging out.

"Fuck, this tree will eat people."

The more Zhou Xuan thought about it, the more terrified he felt. He ran faster and faster, and a gust of wind appeared under his feet.

He guessed that the corpses on the trees were probably people who had entered this strange space through the stone slabs just like him.

Some people may have come in on purpose, some may have come in by mistake, and all of them became corpses hanging on the tree, becoming nutrients for the blood tree.

"Is there something wrong with the guidance of the Blood Well? I am here to learn tattooing, not to die."

Zhou Xuan ran very hard, and after he had put some distance between himself and the branches of the blood tree, he took out the talisman for cleansing wrongs, and was about to use a fountain pen to cross out the words on it and leave this strange space.

Just when the tip of his pen had touched the paper and he could escape with just a little more force,
His body suddenly froze, as if a cold wind blew in from nowhere, freezing his limbs and torso.

He watched helplessly as the blood tree's branches, which could stretch infinitely, approached him inch by inch.

Zhou Xuan felt the breath of death approaching madly.

A drop of blood came from nowhere, drew a bloody line in the air, and dripped in front of Zhou Xuan.

"The lights are dark, the moon is bright, the bride is crying for the groom~"

The Lantern Bride, who had been staying quietly in the Shenqi Secret Realm, actually walked out of Zhou Xuan's body.

In this space, the connection between the Divine Revelation Secret Realm and Zhou Xuan was just cut off, but the secret realm was in Zhou Xuan's body. Wherever Zhou Xuan was, the Divine Revelation Secret Realm was there.

The bride held a lantern and lighted the way for Zhou Xuan. The originally violent branches of the blood tree immediately became docile under the light and retreated like the tide.

"The lights are dark, the moon is bright, the bride is crying for the groom~"

The bride sang a ballad and walked towards the blood tree step by step. Zhou Xuan saw the opportunity and followed her, instead of drawing a line on the Wrath-Cleansing Talisman and leaving.

Since the bride can stop the blood tree, there is nothing to fear.

But Zhou Xuan did not put away his talisman for clearing injustices. He was always ready to draw a line, with the tip of the pen in his hand against the paper. If he found anything wrong again, he would run away immediately.

The two of them walked to the blood tree, one in front and one behind. Then, the bride suddenly took a step forward and walked into the blood tree, as if she had merged with the blood tree.

Suddenly, the branches and leaves of the blood tree swayed gently, making a rustling sound of joy. This joyful feeling also affected Zhou Xuan, relaxing his tense spirit a lot.
This time, the branches were no longer hostile to Zhou Xuan. All the corpses on the tree disappeared. Instead, the branches gently pointed to a certain location under the tree.

A lump of flesh suddenly bulged out from the purple ground at that location. Judging from its appearance and pattern, it looked like a meditation cushion.

"Let me sit?" Zhou Xuan pointed at the cushion.

The branch nodded downwards twice in response.

Zhou Xuan first observed the place for a while, and only sat on the cushion after confirming that there was no danger.

As soon as he sat on it, Zhou Xuan saw that the blood tree had changed its appearance - the tree was blooming, with charming blood-colored flowers.
The blooming flowers are covered with dew, blood-colored dew.

After a few moments, the tree began to bear fruit, the bright yellow fruits were quite tempting.

But soon, Zhou Xuan no longer intended to use "tempting" to describe the fruit - the fruit grew rapidly and became the shape of babies, with red eyes and a mouth full of canine teeth.

The baby had a red umbilical cord on his back, the end of which grew on a tree.

Zhou Xuan finally reacted.

This strange space is a huge mother palace.

The shrinking and expanding sky and the ground, which is also purple and elastic, are the walls of the mother palace.

The blood tree is the placenta in the mother's womb.

“It’s a very weird place.”

Zhou Xuan looked up at the sky again. The sky was expanding and turned light purple. The sky was filled with intricate blood vessels, which were the blood vessels in the wall of the mother's uterus!
The tree in the mother's womb is pregnant with countless babies.

——As the baby grew up, the tips of the six branches that had not grown any fruit pierced the ground, soaked in purple blood, and tattooed patterns on the baby's back.

Zhou Xuan felt the Buddha's aura in some of the bloodstains.

Two branches were dipped in the blood and used to tattoo one "Buddha's head" and the other "monk looking at the moon".

In some bloodstains, Zhou Xuan felt a sinister aura.
Two branches were dipped in the blood and used to tattoo a pair of "ghost hand" and a pair of "copper coin" tattoos.

Zhou Xuan felt that some of the bloodstains contained both yin and masculine energy, so he dipped the branches in the blood and tattooed a pair of "incense burner" tattoos and a pair of "eyes" tattoos.

Zhou Xuan used his perception to understand the composition of the three types of blood more clearly.

The blood that is full of Buddha's spirit is the blood of the great monk.

The eerie bloodstains are the blood that has not yet dried up in the corpse.

That blood that has both yin and yang energy is the blood of a yin person and a divine person mixed together.

"The strokes of the branches when tattooing are the exclusive strokes of the tattoo, and the tattoo pigments require the three types of blood.

The six pictures shown by the blood tree should all be tattoo patterns with their own uses. "

Xueshu is using the growth of the "tattoo baby" to teach Zhou Xuan how to get a tattoo.

Especially the writing.
A tattoo requires pricking the skin thousands of times, but where to pierce each time, how deep or shallow the force should be, and the movement of the pen when demonstrating each branch are all deeply imprinted in Zhou Xuan's mind.

He only needed to close his eyes and think about it to recall every movement in detail.

After the six pictures were pierced by the branches, the babies on the tree withered quickly, their bodies shriveled up and turned into wrinkled skins, and the blood color of the blood tree began to fade.

There can't be only six tattoos.

At least Zhou Xuan had seen the spirit snake tattoo of the ancient tattoo clan through perception.

"Perhaps the incense of my tattoos is not burning enough, the blood tree only guided me to six pictures."

Zhou Xuan waited for a while, and when there was no movement from the blood tree, he took out the talisman for cleansing injustices, and the bride with the lantern walked out of the blood tree and entered Zhou Xuan's body.

The writing on the first page of the sutra was crossed out.
Zhou Xuan crawled out of the stone slab again.

I took out my pocket watch to check the time, and the hands showed four fifty-five.

"Did we go back to the past, or is the speed of time flowing in the two spaces different?"

Zhou Xuan tends to favor the latter.
Both times I came out of the "Mother Palace", some time passed. The first time was one minute, the second time was four minutes. Time was still moving, but it was just moving very slowly.

"Little Junior Brother, what did you see this time?"

“There was nothing, it was pitch black. However, that dark world seemed to have led me to the secret realm of divine enlightenment, and made me realize some ways to gain incense by tattooing.” Zhou Xuan said.

Starting from tomorrow, he will officially start tattooing. The Gu Clan also knows that his second sect is the Tattooed Evil Ghost. The opportunity for tattooing has been found, so there is naturally no need to hide it.

When Yun Ziliang heard that Zhou Xuan wanted to go to the "tattoo" hall, he immediately said: "You want to do a tattoo, so you should tell me earlier that you have to hide it. Regarding tattoos, I can still be half of your teacher." "Old Yun, do you know tattoos?"

"Understand a little."

Yun Ziliang smiled and said, "How should I put it? When I first went dragon hunting, I had a companion who was a tattoo artist. But at that time, the reputation of the "tattoo" hall was quite good, far from the sloppy reputation it has now."

"When was your first dragon hunt?"

"It's been about five hundred years. I can't remember exactly."

Zhou Xuan, Lu Mingkun: "..."

Zhou Xuan complained: "Old Yun, isn't it boring to live in a painting for five hundred years?"

"You're so bored, otherwise I'd be so affectionate and chatty when I see you guys, and I wouldn't even feel tired."

Yun Ziliang said very calmly.

The opportunity for tattoo was found, but not completely.

The tattoo guided by the Blood Tree of the Mother Palace was probably just for Zhou Xuan to practice. Once more incense was burned, it would point out more patterns.

Therefore, Zhou Xuan did not seal the pit entrance and left the stone slab exposed. He was not afraid that other people would enter the mother palace under the stone slab. If he did not have the bride with the lantern, he would have almost become the nutrients of the blood tree.

If you are not afraid of the blood tree, just go in.

The Lantern Bride is an extremely powerful obsession, which has been recognized by Yuan Buyu and Zhou Lingyi. Even if the Blood Tree is not as brilliant as the Lantern Bride, its temperament is not inferior.

Unless you are a Yin or a god with a very high level of incense, you can't do anything to the blood tree.

Although the pit entrance was not sealed, Yun Ziliang's paintings were taken away by Zhou Xuan.

"Lao Yun, let me move you to a new home."

After dealing with him all night, Zhou Xuan began to trust Lao Yun. The painting was hung in the old painting studio. What if a thief came in and Lao Yun stole it? ?

Hearing about moving, Yun Ziliang almost laughed out loud: "Move quickly, it's too damn boring for me to be alone."

Zhou Xuan rolled up the painting and was about to go out with Yun Ziliang, Lu Mingkun, and Xiao Fuzi. After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped and said, "The evil spirit in this room seems to be particularly heavy. I feel cold even standing there."

"You broke the talisman. There's no one to suppress the evil spirit in this house. It's naturally very strong. This shop is the gathering place of yin in East Market Street. The evil spirit is several times stronger than other shops."

Yun Ziliang held the teapot, drank tea, and said.

"Then if I keep the zombies in this room, wouldn't it be more efficient?" Zhou Xuan said.

"puff!"

Yun Ziliang sprayed out tea on the spot, but he was spitting out tea, so what he sprayed out was not tea, but a cloud of tea smoke.

"What did you just say?"

"Raise a zombie!"

"Why do you always play with such evil things? Raising zombies? Oh, by the way, you learn tattooing, so you are a Yin person... No... You are not a pure Yin person, you are Nuo!"

Zhou Xuan: “…”

"Lao Yun, you are not going to tell me again that when you were looking for dragons, you had a Da Nuo as your partner, right? Don't give me that!" Zhou Xuan said.

"Alas, Master Xunlong has traveled far and wide and knows a lot of secrets. Plus, I'm so old, so many secrets can't be hidden from me."

Yun Ziliang felt a little proud. He felt that his "sensitivity" was still sharp after all these years, and the person he chose was actually Da Nuo.

"I can see that you have been to a temple before. If you have been there before and are only learning tattooing now, then it must be Nuo! Nuo requires going through nine temples."

"Don't leave me alone. Tell everyone I'm a tattooed devil... er... a tattoo artist."

Zhou Xuan didn't like the name Tattooed Evil Ghost very much, it was too sinister.

"If you spread out everywhere, I will burn your house down."

After Zhou Xuan threatened Yun Ziliang with the painting, he walked towards his shop.
Along the way, Zhou Xuan asked Yun Ziliang, "Is it okay to keep zombies in that store?!"

"Yes! I'm just afraid it's too good."

Yun Ziliang said: "The evil spirit of that store, I'm afraid it will give birth to an old zombie who can understand the way of heaven and earth."

"Is it that weird?"

"You can try raising it..."

"I'll find a corpse someday and throw it in there to try and heal it. If that doesn't work, I'll hang your painting back up and you can help me keep an eye on the place."

"Dealing with that kind of shady thing? How can that be so shameful, so shameful... My ancestors once had a national master."

Yun Ziliang showed off again how wealthy his ancestors were.

The four of them were in a good mood, but halfway through their journey, they heard the faint cry of an old man.

Zhou Xuan followed the crying sound and saw a shop with a sign hanging on it - He's Wreath Shop.

"The person crying is Lao He." said Lu Mingkun.

"I know. He is the old man who informed the Liaogui and was singled out by the kidnapper for liquidation."

Zhou Xuan sighed. There were too many troubles in this world, which made the kidnapper so arrogant...

"Alas, the materials for the zombies will grow legs and come to my doorstep in the next couple of days." Zhou Xuan felt better when he thought of this.

……

After returning to the store, Zhou Xuan hung Yun Ziliang's paintings on the wall of the shop on the first floor.

"Can you please show me some respect? I, your ancestor, am the Imperial Master! I should at least have a decent house, right?"

Yun Ziliang was very dissatisfied with his treatment.

"There are only three rooms upstairs, one for each of us, so there is no room for you. Besides, what's the point of hanging a painting? It doesn't matter where you hang it!"

Zhou Xuan comforted her again, "Just make do with it for now. When your business gets bigger and you buy a big house, I'll give you a single room."

"Humph!"

Yun Ziliang was in a bad mood and went into the painting to snore.

"Lao Yun has a really tough mentality. He may be angry, but it doesn't affect his sleepiness."

……

Early the next morning, Zhou Xuan held a "morning meeting" to assign tasks.

"Our store is about to open, time is tight and the task is heavy. I have made a preliminary plan and we will proceed according to it.

The store is still short of a signboard, tables, chairs, etc., Fuzi, you will be in charge of the purchase today."

Xiao Fuzi asked, "Master, you can make a signboard, but what is the name of the store?"

"Does the cleaning shop need a separate name? Just like the wreath shop, there are Heji and Maji. Let's call it Zhouji Cleaning Shop."

"Yes." Xiao Fuzi agreed and went out to do his work.

"Brother Lu, come with me. Let's buy a bone needle first and some human skin. I also need to practice."

"I know." Lu Mingkun stood up and waited for Zhou Xuan to leave.

"Old Yun!" Zhou Xuan shouted again.

"What? Something else about me?"

Yun Ziliang was staring at a basket of steamed buns and enjoying the "food taste" when he was suddenly called and was stunned.

"I'm not even a member of your store, and you're ordering me around?"

"Your family is in my store, why don't you do something?"

Zhou Xuan patted Yun Ziliang on the shoulder and said, "Go back to the old painting studio, clean up the dirt you dug out, and tidy up the shop."

"I'm a germaphobe, I won't do it."

"I didn't ask you to do it, so you can find someone to do it. There are laborers looking for work everywhere in Dongshi Street."

Zhou Xuan took out fifteen yuan and handed it to Yun Ziliang.

Lao Yun took the money and muttered, "Xiao Zhou, you really are a good businessman. Even a dog sitting in your shop for a while will have to shoulder two loads of dirt!"

"Senior Brother, let's go!" Zhou Xuan locked the door and went shopping with Lu Mingkun.

……

Zhou Xuan has completely lit up the map of Mingjiang Prefecture. He knows every street and alley, where to get a ride, and where there are prostitutes.

However, he really didn't know where to buy bone needles and human skin.

None of the people who make up the "eyeless" obsession go to the dark to worship gods, so naturally they don't know where to buy the "goods".

But Lu Mingkun knew that he had come to Mingjiang Mansion to "do business" and had dealt with the underground black market.

"However, there are many places that sell goods, divided into different levels. I know of two places that sell small goods."

Lu Mingkun said.

"Let's go and take a look first." Zhou Xuan said.

Along the way, Lv Mingkun popularized, saying: "Tattooing is similar to our martial arts, using tools as weapons, so the raw materials of the tools are very important, after all, they will be used for many years.
So you can’t be careless when choosing, and you can’t try to save money.”

"Of course I know."

Zhou Xuan understood too well the saying “cheap goods are not good”.

……

The two men got off the rickshaw, and Lu Mingkun led the way into a small alley, where they found a "Luo Ji Clothing Shop."

A clothing store is a type of pawnshop, and what is pawned are clothes. Some people are so poor that they can't even make ends meet, or they are in urgent need of money, and they have no choice but to pawn their clothes.

Since they are doing this kind of business, the shop is naturally not very grand. There is a piece of missing glass in the shop window, but they are reluctant to repair it, so they just nail a piece of plastic tarpaulin on it to block the wind.

"Little brother, as clothes?"

The owner of the clothing store was already looking at the gown Zhou Xuan was wearing.

"Instead of clothes, buy two stick bones and stew two pounds of meat."

Lu Kunming's words were code for buying goods.

"You want the blood tendons?"

"All of them."

"So you are a customer here to buy goods. Please come in."

The boss waved his hand toward the aisle of the store, and Lu Mingkun and Zhou Xuan entered the aisle.

The corridor was very long, and Zhou Xuan could already smell a faint smell of blood.

After walking down the aisle, the two guys opened an iron lid on the ground, and an even stronger smell of blood wafted out.

Zhou Xuan wrinkled his nose, turned around and walked out of the store, saying, "Fifth Brother, let's go, this store is not peaceful."

When Lu Mingkun saw Zhou Xuan's look, he turned around and was about to leave.
After taking just two steps, the guy standing in the aisle had a bloody cut on his neck, then his head fell to the ground and his body fell down.

Then, a very eerie laugh sounded in the house.

"Hahahaha!"

Along with the laughter, Zhou Xuan saw a black shadow in front of him. He turned around and saw a white shadow not far behind him.

The black and white shadows were both wearing costume helmets and cloaks, and their faces were extremely pale. Upon closer inspection, they were actually two paper figures.
The white paper man was holding a pair of very long and wide scissors, and the man's head was cut off...

ps: This update has 6,600 words, and I won’t divide it into chapters today.

(End of this chapter)