Chapter 524 Ringtone
ated in a mixed urban-rural area, so her home had a small courtyard of about thirty square meters, reminiscent of a rural homestead.At that moment, in the courtyard, there was a bulky woman around for...Chapter 524: Bell Sound
After hearing the voices outside, Xiao Yu and his companions turned to look at the door. A moment later, a Taoist priest in his sixties wearing a Daoist robe and with a bun on top of his head walked in.
"Senior Priest Lin, you're back. How is it Did you catch up" Ye Fei took two steps forward to ask when he saw the priest.
">I am ashamed! That thing got away!" This old Taoist sighed and shook his head as he spoke.
"Uh..." Upon hearing what the old Taoist said, Ye Fei was stunned for a moment before sighing helplessly.
"What happened to them" At this point, the old Taoist noticed the people lying inside. Seeing their condition, his face changed as he asked.
After asking, without waiting for Ye Fei's response, the old Taoist quickly walked over to the soldiers and lifted their eyelids to take a look before feeling their pulses. After a moment, the old Taoist stood up, frowned slightly, and said, "Fortunately, they are not in immediate danger at the moment, but we must find an antidote as soon as possible!"
Having spoken, he saw Xiao Yu standing in front of Zhang Dahan and Song Hushan. When he looked at Xiao Yu, he found that Xiao Yu was also looking at him. Since he had not seen or recognized Xiao Yu before, he just raised his eyebrows without speaking and then glanced at Zhang Dahan and Song Hushan beside Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu was also observing this old Taoist. When the old Taoist entered the room, he sensed a vague and vast aura of essence energy coming from him. He realized that the essence energy fluctuation within the old Taoist’s body was comparable to that of Zhang Tian Shi's.
"Mid-stage Qi Refiner" Looking at this old Taoist in front of him, Xiao Yu thought silently to himself.
In his memory, ancient cultivators were initially divided into early stage, mid-stage, and late stage Qi Refiners as well as the Great Perfection of Qi Refining when they started their cultivation journey.
A cultivation level like this was not even considered a formal disciple in ancient times; it could only be regarded as a probationary disciple. But in today's society, a mid-stage Qi Refiner had become an extremely rare existence. This made Xiao Yu feel very uncomfortable inside.
Looking at the Taoist priest, Xiao Yu thought to himself that this should be the high-ranking expert who came with Ye Fei and others from the Thirteenth Bureau!
It's no wonder I didn't see him earlier. He must have gone to chase after the thing that injured Zhang Dahan and Song Hushan.
Xiao Yu didn't say anything about Daoist Priest going to look at Zhang Dahan, Song Hushan, and the others. He hadn’t thought of a way to cure Zhang Dahan’s group from their miasmic venom yet. But when he saw Daoist Priest examining the pulses of those ordinary soldiers just now, his actions were very proficient, indicating that he also had good medical skills.
He might have other ways to treat them, so Xiao Yu watched him walk over to Zhang Dahan’s group and examine their pulses without making any moves.
The moment this Daoist Priest approached Zhang Dahan's group, his originally calm expression suddenly changed. He hurriedly bent down to take their pulses. After a while of pulse-taking, the old man raised an eyebrow slightly before looking at Zhang Dahan’s chest. Upon seeing the golden needle on his chest, he let out a long sigh of relief.
He then stood up and looked at Song Hushan, only to see another golden needle in his chest as well. His heart finally eased down somewhat.
This Daoist Priest thought that the two had already been poisoned to their hearts when he first saw them. He didn't expect that after taking their pulses, it turned out that something seemed to be protecting their heart meridians from the toxins.
He was the abbot of White Cloud Temple on the outskirts of Beijing and called Daoist Priest White Cloud. The temple had a history spanning over hundreds of years, with its origins dating back to before the great calamity that befell heaven and earth.
Every time a new abbot took office at this temple, they would automatically give up their original religious name and change it to "White Cloud," only reverting to their original names after retirement.
This White Cloud Temple used to be neutral and unaffiliated with any faction. However, during the 'ten-year' period of turmoil, this Daoist temple suffered a devastating blow that threatened its lineage's continuity. In desperation, the previous abbot sought Li Su Jun, attaching his name to their special forces, thereby safeguarding White Cloud Temple.
Only after seeing the golden needles on their chests did this old Daoist look at Xiao Yu carefully. He was somewhat aware of these people’s capabilities and didn't remember them having any medical experts here. As such, it could only have been this young man he had never seen before who administered the treatment.
"Were these needles set by you" The Daoist Priest asked Xiao Yu.
After hearing what the old man said, Xiao Yu didn't speak but simply nodded his head.
The old man thought to himself that it was indeed so. If there were more people here, he wouldn’t have believed that these needles could be Xiao Yu's work, considering Xiao Yu’s age.
He might believe if Xiao Yu knew acupuncture, but it would be hard for him to accept that Xiao Yu had sealed off a person’s heart meridian with just a few gold needles. Even lifelong practicing experts of traditional Chinese medicine wouldn’t easily achieve this without proper training in the field!
This series of needle pricks to seal the heart meridian seems simple, but it actually tests one's mastery in acupuncture. If the golden needle is inserted even a fraction more or less than necessary, the desired effect cannot be achieved.
Moreover, performing such acupuncture requires great confidence in one’s technique; otherwise, if the needle deviates by just a bit, not only will it fail to seal the heart meridian, but it could also accelerate the poison's invasion of the heart meridian.
In today's society, there are hardly any who can perform this skill. Even in ancient times, most traditional Chinese medical practitioners couldn't achieve such precision; only some renowned doctors from the江湖 (jihong) could accomplish this!
Therefore, if it weren't for Xiao Yu being here and the golden needles actually piercing their bodies, he would never believe that they were placed there by this young man named Xiao Yu.
"What an excellent technique! May I ask which lineage your acupuncture skills come from" The old Taoist asked after seeing Xiao Yu nod in agreement.
“The Xia Family of Life-Saving!” Upon hearing the question, Xiao Yu proudly stated.
“The Xia Family of Life-Saving” The Taoist shook his head in confusion. He had no recollection of this family and also found no mention of a medical practitioner from this clan in the records of Baiyun Temple.
In fact, it’s understandable since even if the Xia Family were extremely skilled, they are just an ordinary traditional Chinese medicine family. To those engaged in esoteric practices, such families hold little interest, much like a speck of dust.
Moreover, the Xia Family has been absent for more than half a century; when it disappeared, the old Taoist might not even have been born yet. Therefore, he had no recollection of them. Otherwise, considering Xiao Yu’s demonstrated medical skills, he should at least be aware of this family.
Because the acupuncture technique Xiao Yu displayed is something few could perform even in ancient times.
"Master Taoist, what exactly was that black shadow" Seeing the elder shake his head, Ye Fei asked this Taoist to avoid any awkwardness.
The Taoist shook his head and said helplessly, "I couldn't catch up. From a distance, it looked like an ape!"
It turned out that when he saw the black shadow running uphill earlier, the old Taoist had quickly chased after it. However, once inside the mountain, the agility of this shadow exceeded his expectations, causing him to lose sight of it in no time.
But when he looked far away, he saw a dark figure moving around in the woods, resembling a monkey. However, this figure was much larger than a monkey and even comparable to an adult human.
"Ding-dong... ding-dong... ding-dong..." Just as the old Taoist finished speaking, suddenly, from the mountains outside the campsite, clear ringing sounds echoed.
Upon hearing these ringings, the old Taoist's expression changed drastically. He said to Ye Fei, "Director Ye, quickly call back those patrol soldiers and only let them go out on patrols when I give permission!"
"Master Taoist, what's wrong Has something happened" Seeing the elder’s expression and hearing his words, Ye Fei was taken aback, asking with a puzzled look.
"Director, that ringing sound just now sounds like the calling bell of a corpse driver from ancient legends!" Upon hearing Ye Fei's question, the middle-aged man in his forties turned very pale and said.
This middle-aged man was the director of the thirteen divisions here in western Hunan. Naturally, he knew something about the mysterious events happening there. Driving corpses is one of those traditional matters in western Hunan.
However, nowadays it's rare to see such occurrences. This middle-aged man had only heard about this from a unique Qimen practitioner at his division, but he had never seen it himself. Upon hearing the ringing sound now, he suddenly recalled that person’s words.
This middle-aged man once heard from one of the extraordinary figures in western Hunan's thirteen divisions that his ancestors made a living driving corpses, but after modern times and the implementation of cremation policies, their family gradually withdrew from this line of work.
Furthermore, according to him, besides some ancient families, other corpse drivers have also gradually withdrawn from it and sought livelihoods elsewhere.
Hearing what this middle-aged officer said, Xiao Yu was stunned for a moment. Zhong Kui’s memory also contained some records about driving corpses. He knew something about the principles behind it as well.
Corpse drivers were actually a branch of Qimen studies. In ancient times, people believed in returning to their hometowns after death and being buried there, meaning that no matter where one died, they had to be returned home to be interred in their ancestral graveyard. However, with inconvenient transportation making it difficult to transport corpses and continuous natural disasters and calamities resulting in many deaths, some practitioners used secret methods to help people return the dead bodies back, which eventually led to the emergence of corpse drivers as a profession.
When Ye Fei heard what this middle-aged man said, he looked over at the old Taoist. They were both from the thirteen divisions and knew about the existence of mysterious events. Although they had seen many such things before, none of them had ever witnessed driving corpses.
Sensing Ye Fei’s gaze, the old Taoist turned to look at Xiao Yu because some mysterious matters are not suitable for ordinary people to know.ting their savings in the process, they took a non-confrontational attitude towards the security guards out of self-preservation."San'er, don't talk anymore! Have you become silly because of your scho...