CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 39: MAGIC ARTIFACT = DEMONIC ARTIFACT

Booklets, Silver Taels, more than a dozen pottery jars sealed with mud, and a mishmash of herbs, materials, dried animal skins, and organs. Staring at the items scattered throughout the room, Qi Xiu fell into contemplation. These were all Wu Changqing’s possessions. The Taibao Sect had no use for them, and since they couldn’t find Ye Wen himself, they decided to do Qi Xiu a favor and sent everything to him.

Fiddling with some oddly shaped herbs and materials, Qi Xiu touched his nose. These items must be food for feeding those venomous insects and strange snakes. The Dharma Gates of Yuhua Temple were all about rearing spirit insects. The most common items they carried with them were also food for feeding spirit insects. And inside those dozen mud-sealed pottery jars were all kinds of insects and bugs.

There’s nothing valuable here. Stuffing the silver notes, which added up to no more than three to four hundred Silver Taels, into his pocket, Qi Xiu picked up the booklets. He flipped through them one by one. Qi Xiu’s frown deepened with each booklet he examined. Apart from some common chants, these booklets were all about methods to rear and control insects and bugs. Since he had an innate aversion to arthropods and reptiles, he had no intention of learning the art of insect control.

He dumped all the booklets into a chest and picked up a very thin booklet with exceptionally smooth paper: "Script of the Spirit Insects".

As he flipped through it, the writings in the booklet started to wriggle like living creatures, attempting to crawl onto him through his hands. Having experienced this anomaly once before, Qi Xiu was noticeably calmer this time. Casually, he picked up a stack of "Suppress" Characters beside him. He placed one after another on the "Script of the Spirit Insects". With every talisman applied, the corrupting aura clinging to the booklet weakened slightly. Only when the words in the booklet completely settled down did Qi Xiu stop affixing more talismans.

Compared to martial arts, those who cultivate Spells are simply of a different style. Everywhere reeks of strangeness, and each item may carry a corrupting power that deforms a person.

Qi Xiu skimmed through the whole booklet. He set it aside and scratched his forehead. This "Script of the Spirit Insects" was Wu Changqing’s cultivation Dharma Gate. The gist of the content was about how to rear spirit insects and then swallow them, achieving a symbiotic relationship between human and insect. Thereafter, one could cultivate spiritual energy through the spirit insects, casting various Spells.

He wasn’t very interested in these things. Mainly because the cultivation process described in the Spirit Insect Seal Script Sutra is too disgusting. The main idea was to turn one’s body into an insect nest, allowing the spirit insects to parasitize and breed. By the end of the cultivation, although the person still looked human on the outside, inside they would be but a hollow shell, completely hollowed out by the spirit insects. At that point, the person would be the insect, and the insect, the person.

What truly felt rewarding was that through this sutra, he roughly understood the difference between cultivating Spells and practicing martial arts. In the end, one concerned the body, and the other, the mind. The ultimate goal of martial arts is true intent. Once true intent is achieved, one can constantly refine the body with Divine Marvel Power through the True Martial Chart and grasp some Divine Marvel. As for Spells, the pinnacle is the brilliance of the heart’s wisdom. When the heart and intelligence congeal into a Pill, the Divine Marvel Power controlled is even more vast and subtle.

Regardless of whether it was Spells or martial arts, pushing either to the extreme had the same aim: transcendence. And this transcendence was called the Ancient Gathering of Celestial Strength.

But what exactly is this so-called Ancient Gathering of Celestial Strength? Is it a Realm, or a place? The Spirit Insect Seal Script Sutra doesn’t say. Perhaps even the creator of this Dharma Gate hadn’t reached that Realm himself.

Ancient Gathering of Celestial Strength... Quietly noting down this term, Qi Xiu continued to browse through the remaining sutras. He flipped through them one by one. There was almost nothing of use until he opened a scroll tied with a red string, which immediately captivated his gaze: the "Comprehensive Manuscript of Magical Instruments".

Finally, something useful. Looking at the scroll in his hands, Qi Xiu smiled.

With Wu Changqing’s death, all three Magic Artifacts that had been passed down for more than a hundred years at Yuhua Temple had fallen into his possession: the Hundred Faces Mask, the Jade Bodhisattva, and the Autumn Sandalwood Staff. Just before his death, Wu Changqing had also given him the Dharma Gates to consecrate the Jade Bodhisattva and the Autumn Sandalwood Staff. The only reason he had not consecrated them yet was his fear that the demon Daoist had tampered with the Dharma Gates. He didn’t want to end up trying to catch fish only to come away smelling of them.

Opening the scroll, Qi Xiu began to slap "Suppress" Characters on it in a practiced manner. Streaks of golden light rippled, gradually stilling the sinister writhing and shrieking. Full of anticipation, he unrolled the scroll, and eight large characters in striking red leapt out at him: Use its artifact, suffer its bane!

He read from high noon, when the sun hung directly overhead, until the sunset painted the sky with a blood-like afterglow. Slowly closing the scroll, Qi Xiu let out a long sigh of relief.

These Magic Artifacts with their Divine Marvels all indeed harbor hidden dangers. Magic Artifact, Demonic Artifact. One word’s difference is enough to doom a person forever.

Two-thirds of the scroll detailed the Dharma Gates to consecrate and control the three Magic Artifacts. The remaining one-third of the text clearly outlined the dangers of the Magic Artifacts. These so-called Magic Artifacts were actually forged from Demons. The Divine Marvel Power of the Magic Artifacts originated from these Demons. This was why most Magic Artifacts required Blood Meal to suppress their ferocity, because that was the most primal instinct of Demons. And the more Blood Meal offered, the more the residual demonic nature revived, until it erupted and backlashed against its master.

Wu Changqing’s father and grandfather had both died from the backlash when demonic nature erupted due to their overuse of Demonic Artifacts.

Wu Changqing’s consecration Dharma Gates, which he gave me before his death, held no secrets back. Yet he concealed the danger that the Magic Artifacts were Demonic Artifacts, which could at any moment unleash their demonic nature and backlash against their master. A truly venomous plot indeed.

Clicking his tongue twice, Qi Xiu stood up and went to find the Autumn Sandalwood Staff and the Hundred Faces Mask. Among the three Magic Artifacts, the Hundred Faces Mask had the weakest Divine Marvel. Apart from incarnating as a Green-Faced Fierce Ghost and altering one’s appearance, it had no other functions. Therefore, its demonic nature was the weakest. With "Suppress" Characters, it could be easily suppressed and used daily without any energy consumption.

The Divine Marvel of the Autumn Sandalwood Staff was the strongest. A casual swing could unleash demonic Sword Qi, striking the target as if cut by a real sword. Once it made contact with blood, it would immediately mutate the blood, causing the afflicted to burst and die from blood loss. This Magic Artifact had an extremely fierce demonic nature. Qi Xiu had once written a "Suppress" Character on it, but after a single swing, the Character was worn away by the demonic nature within. Using this Magic Artifact was extremely dangerous; one careless move could lead to being consumed by its backlash.

As for that Jade Bodhisattva...

Turning to look at the jade statue covered with a white cloth in the corner of the main hall, Qi Xiu pursed his lips. This Magic Artifact had the most mysterious origin. According to the scroll, it had fallen from the sky one night, landing at Yuhua Temple. Its control Dharma Gate was gradually deciphered over a long time by the successive temple masters of Yuhua Temple, who had dedicated great effort.

What was most noteworthy was that Wu Changqing’s father and grandfather had both died from the demonic nature backlash of a Magic Artifact. And the Magic Artifact that caused the backlash was this very Jade Bodhisattva!