Inside the dilapidated temple.
Gu Qingying’s expression was gloomy, "My uncle’s swordsmanship was extremely brilliant. At the moment of life and death, I couldn’t hold back... Even after I killed him, I went forward to check carefully and realized he wasn’t wearing a human skin mask—it really was my uncle. At that moment, my heart just sank..."
"Later on, it was Mr. Wang, his wife, and the Eight-Armed Evil Woman Xu Changpu, one after another, like puppets controlled by someone, coming forward to fight me. The skirmish even spilled out into the market where they exhibited several unique martial arts of the Wang Family, and they all died at my hands... I was very puzzled at the time; they could have killed me, so why was I the one who killed them instead? Now I understand, this was to smear their blood on my head, me... how could I possibly kill my aunt?"
Gu Qingying let out a howl-like cry.
He suddenly turned to the elder, "Elder, do you know of any martial skill in this world that can manipulate martial artists like puppets, using a kind of life-like spider silk as a weapon?"
The elder coughed, "Speaking of controlling a human’s body, there are many such martial skills... But controlling martial artists to use their lifetime’s martial arts is quite rare... Moreover, this evil technique seems unable to peer into one’s soul."
If it truly could look into the soul, then all secrets would be known already, there’d be no need to forcibly interrogate one by one, and still fail to get the answers in the end.
The only possibility is that this puppetry-like technique can only manipulate the body, not the soul.
Thus, the controlled Wang family members and others had extremely rigid and dull expressions; their muscles were directly controlled to cry or laugh on command, even able to utter pre-prepared words.
Maybe, their souls had already died, leaving only their bodies manipulated by spider silk.
’Is this... still considered a martial skill?’
Listening for a while, Zhong Shenxiu was even more speechless, ’What kind of world is this?’
After Gu Qingying finished his story, silence returned to the Niu Shenjun Temple.
The elder with a growth on his left eye took out a water pipe from his bundle and slowly started smoking, "Spider silk, puppets..."
He blew out a smoke ring, "If the young Gu’s words are accurate, then it should be the martial art from Miaojiang—Thousand Spiders and Ten Thousand Puppet Hands!"
"Thousand Spiders and Ten Thousand Puppet Hands?!"
Gu Qingying raised his head, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Young people don’t read books, that’s why they lack knowledge..." the elder took a puff of his pipe, leisurely speaking, "Miaojiang is separated by a hundred thousand mountains and isn’t governed by the Great Wu Dynasty, but the Miao people’s martial artists are extremely formidable... One of the four great unusual books, ’The Portrait of the Eccentric,’ is said to circulate there, from which many strange martial arts derived, such as the Lingnan Song Family’s Fei E Sword, and the Five Poison Sect’s Thousand Spiders and Ten Thousand Puppet Hands!"
"It’s said that ’The Portrait of the Eccentric,’ like the Heavenly Stele, contains no specific records of martial arts, only an image of an eccentric, which different masters or ordinary people can perceive different techniques from! Of course... many more have gone mad from deviation, exhausted from the ordeal, and perished..."
"According to what little Gu said, the technique that controlled everyone at the Wang Family Mansion is probably the method of Thousand Spiders and Ten Thousand Puppet Hands. This technique is vicious and ruthless, turning the victim into a living dead state, then captured by the Spider Master, controlled by spider silk, even able to use their lifetime’s martial arts!"
The elder sighed, "That evil sect master probably started by capturing one member of the Wang family and interrogated him. When he resisted fiercely, killed them one by one and turned them into puppets, until only your aunt was left... And when your aunt finally spoke that secret, he no longer hid his actions."
"Is it me? Did I doom the Wang family? Did I doom my aunt?" Gu Qingying was not a fool and immediately understood the reasons behind the murders, his expression changed.
"Ah... I fear tonight will not be peaceful, does the friend outside agree?" the elder said, gazing outside the temple, his voice carrying far.
"As an Earth List master and Heavenly Mechanism Star Elder Du has spoken, it must be right... I’ve long heard that Heavenly Mechanism Star understands all factions’ martial arts, today I must ask for guidance..."
A voice, clear as silver bells, came from amidst the raging storm.
Gu Qingying looked at his shoulder, suddenly recalling the unusual weight he felt when he first entered the Wang Family Mansion, finally realizing, "I still have spider silk on me? Have you been tracking me all along?"
"If I hadn’t let you leave, made you feel safe, why would I actively retrieve that item?"
From outside the window, a woman’s unabashed coquettish laughter came, "Silly boy..."
At these words, Gu Qingying’s expression violently changed!
"This guy is truly an idiot..."
Zhong Shenxiu leaned against the wall, watching everything unfold, and sighed inwardly.
Ever since Gu Qingying entered the Wang Family Mansion, he had fallen into the trap set by the others—it was just a matter of time before they closed the net.
Why, of all people, did it have to be him?
That person from the Earth List Master, Heavenly Mechanism Star, purposely came here to wait for Gu Qingying, but he was really just a minor character!
"My body’s martial arts skills are not even comparable to a third-rate expert in Jianghu... not to mention being a mastermind, even Gu Qingying could chop me down!"
Zhong Shenxiu looked at the people in the dilapidated temple, drawn bows at the ready, and suddenly felt utterly speechless.
He didn’t know whether being killed would damage his True Spirit and cause him to return to his original form or completely annihilate him!
But he definitely did not want to find out!
"In this world, you can’t survive without cheating..."
Zhong Shenxiu’s thoughts quickly moved as he looked at his attribute panel.
The only martial arts skill Xun Liuyi knew was the Medicine Sand Palm, and he wasn’t particularly proficient at it either.
"But now, there is no time to familiarize my body with other martial arts—this will have to do."
Zhong Shenxiu made a decision:
[Would you like to spend 1 Heavenly Show Point to enhance Medicine Sand Palm?]
[Medicine Sand Palm Level Increased!]
[Medicine Sand Palm: Level Two]
The Medicine Sand Palm from Shanyao Gang wasn’t considered a profound martial arts; instead, it was very basic, the cultivation of which was simple and only required finding various rare medicinal herbs to soak one’s palms.
But at that moment, Zhong Shenxiu’s palms slightly reddened, faintly emitting a medicinal fragrance.
This was him using Heavenly Show Points to brutally replace those hard-to-find herbs, directly completing the quenching process.
In an instant, Zhong Shenxiu spent another 5 Heavenly Show Points and upgraded the Medicine Sand Palm directly to the fifth level!
This was a realm only the Gang Leader of Shanyao Gang possessed; even other elders, despite their proficiency, could not advance due to their inability to find those special medicinal herbs.
Once the fifth level of the Medicine Sand Palm was achieved, Zhong Shenxiu felt two streams of heat emerge from the centers of his palms, traveling up his arms.
"This is neither Qi-blood nor Innate True Qi, but a unique Inner Strength of this world?"
Although Zhong Shenxiu hadn’t experienced this world’s Inner Strength, his prior experience with manipulating Innate True Qi allowed him to focus a stream of heat to gather at his eyes after some contemplation.
A spark of brilliance flashed through his eyes, like a near-sighted person who had just put on glasses, and he instantly felt the world become much clearer.
What surprised him even more was that inside the temple, unbeknownst to him, it had been filled with translucent spider silk.
It was as if... in the dark veil of an outside storm, a giant spider monster was casting a web into the ruined temple...