BXBX NOVEL Chapter 129: 129. Fu Fangsheng
"There\'s a bit of a situation at Daoist Zhou\'s place, so I\'m going to take a look. If I come back late, you break the \'Wisdom Spirit Pill\' into pieces the size of corn kernels and feed them to the three little ones."
Liao Ya\'s muffled voice came through: "I understand, Junior Brother, go ahead."
At the moment, she was lying on the bed, her cheeks flushed red. She deeply resented her weak body which fainted at the slightest touch, causing a great deal of embarrassment.
Listening to the sounds of her Junior Brother driving away, Liao Ya stared at the room\'s main beam, lost in thought.
~~~~~~~
Lu Yao arrived at the White Cloud Observatory, and the Daoist guarding the gate, recognizing him, bowed and directly let him pass.
When he reached the backyard, the Immortal Crane was waiting at the door, tilting its head to look at him, crying twice before flying up to the roof of an alchemy room.
Lu Yao went straight to the alchemy room and, upon pushing open the door, saw the old Daoist rushing to save an "injury victim."
"Young friend, you\'ve arrived just in time! Did you bring silver?"
Lu Yao handed over the coconut-sized 500 taels of silver: "Is this enough?"
"Enough, enough!" Zhou He hurriedly took it. "Ah~ I had just sent back 2000 taels to the Sect when this person came running over. They sure know how to pick their moment."
The man the old Daoist was saving was a pale, frail-looking fellow.
The man was riddled with bullet holes, with substance like thick ink seeping from the wounds, spreading along his veins towards his body\'s interior, making his entire frame seem as withered as a dying plant.
At that time, the man had lost consciousness, talking nonsense: "Zhou He... if I die, you must find my sister... "
"Quiet! Find her yourself!"
Zhou He pinched two fingers together and pecked, extracting a deformed bullet from one of the holes – a 7.7MM caliber round from a Lewis Machine Gun.
The man had taken more than a dozen shots, but the bullets had only pierced the skin before being trapped by his bones, as tough as refined steel. This person was clearly at the Blood-Exchange Realm!
Zhou He\'s hands moved without stopping, plucking out each bullet and sticking a small piece of silver on the wound. The black substance at the wound hissed, vanishing along with a faint wisp of blue smoke.
Seeing what needed to be done, Lu Yao quickly stepped forward to help, taking charge of applying silver pieces to the wounds, allowing the old Daoist to concentrate on extracting the bullets.
Collaborating with each other, they soon extracted all the bullets. The wounds, purified by the silver, oozed mercury-like translucent blood.
Zhou He breathed a sigh of relief: "This is the Westerners\' \'Withering Bullet,\' which voraciously consumes life force and is extremely vicious, but removing it solves the problem."
By then, the man\'s narrow eyes had opened, regaining consciousness.
Wiping the sweat from his face, Zhou He introduced: "This is Fu Fangsheng from Jinmen, a fellow member of our kind. Judging by his condition, he must\'ve provoked a powerful Western demon beast."
The man named Fu Fangsheng had an unusual appearance—not only was he frail and pale, but he also looked very much like a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy!
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Although martial artists of high realms aged very slowly, this was a bit of an exaggeration.
He twisted his muscles and forcibly closed the wounds on his body, then said: "I killed the bishop in charge of the Frandi concession in Jinmen."
He spoke in an indifferent tone as though he had mentioned something trivial, but Zhou He exclaimed in shock, "What!?"
The bishop was equivalent to the Prefectural Governor of the Shun Dynasty, a regional head of the Western Religion, and now he had been killed. The nature and consequences of this action were more serious than killing a "Kartin;" the Westerners would not let this go easily.
Fu Fangsheng\'s voice was neutral with a slightly sharp edge as he casually said,
"That demon beast recruited choir boys, and damn it, I was actually chosen when I applied! I just got myself some silver teeth, and sure enough, when the demon beast was about to bless them, I seized the moment and bit off its \'root of life\', circled around to its rear, and finished it with a Black Tiger Heart Pluck..."
"That\'s enough, that\'s enough~ You don\'t need to be so graphic!" Zhou He cut off the man\'s vulgar language and turned to introduce, "This is the young friend Lu Yao, and you owe your life to his silver."
Lu Yao bowed with his fists clasped and asked curiously, "Do demon beasts still have worldly desires?"
"More than that, they can even have children with humans!" Fu Fangsheng laughed as he answered, then suddenly remembered something, slapped his forehead and said, "I still have something good on me!"
He controlled the movements of his intestines and vomited a goose egg-sized "Blood Core" from his mouth, wiped it on himself, and placed it on the bedside table.
"This is that demon beast\'s; lucky I swallowed it into my stomach, or it would have been lost long ago. Damn~ The Westerners have offered three taels of gold as a reward, sending Innate Experts after my life..."
Zhou He picked up the Blood Core and stuffed it into Lu Yao\'s hands, "Young friend, keep it. We owe this timely rescue to you."
Just as Lu Yao was about to decline, Fu Fangsheng shouted, "Stop being so modest, both of you. Once my wounds heal, I\'ll just go and slay another demon beast. I, Fu Fang, always repay my debts~"
Zhou He agreed, "Young friend Lu, just accept it. I can settle my accounts with him slowly."
Lu Yao thought of the three fledgling hawks at home and stopped being courteous, stuffing the "Blood Core" boldly into his chest.
Fu Fangsheng, lying exhausted on the bed, told Zhou He, "I\'ll hide here for a couple of days. Then... I\'ll go look for my sister..."
Before he finished speaking, he couldn\'t hold on any longer and fell asleep, snoring away.
"It seems I owe you from a previous life," Zhou He said with a wry smile as he led Lu Yao away, letting the severely injured rest.
~~~~~~
The evening breeze was slightly intoxicating, the moonlight like frost.
"Running more than 2000 miles with such serious injuries... from Jinmen to Yunzhou, old Fu has indeed had a hard time."
Arriving in the courtyard, Zhou He sighed,
"Old Fu appears young, but he\'s actually about the same age as me. Years ago, his sister was abducted by a Western demon beast, and he has been in relentless pursuit... for twenty years now."
Lu Yao said nothing; twenty years... in all likelihood, the person may already be dead.
Zhou He seemed to understand what Lu Yao was thinking and lamented, "Old Fu is just clinging to a hope... His sister was only five years old when abducted. Demon beasts like to feed on young blood, sometimes keeping those that are particularly to their taste until they are thirty."
Lu Yao stared at the moon and suddenly said, "These demon beasts have brewed countless human tragedies. If given the chance, I must eradicate them all."
"It\'s difficult…" Zhou He heaved a long sigh, "In my youth, I thought the Imperial Court was simply lacking in advanced techniques, so I diligently studied and even requested to study abroad. Yet it was only in my old age that I realized something was amiss! What we lack is a kind of spirit, a spirit to forsake life and death to recreate the Divine Land! Yet martial artists focus their mighty power on themselves, engaging in the trivial struggles of the world, only for their own selfish gains..."
As he spoke, Zhou He suddenly shook his head and laughed,
"Actually, it\'s not all like that. There are still young people like you. You, the two girls from the Liao Family, and Li Pei, are all martial artists with righteous hearts and compassion. The world will change for the better when you all grow up."
Lu Yao gave a wry smile, "The Taoist Master overpraises me. I\'m just a laid-back type, aiming only to live without shame."
"That\'s enough," Zhou He said with a smile, then turned and added,
"It\'s getting late, you should head back. Be careful tomorrow. With the three taels of gold on offer from the Westerners, it won\'t be easy to advance to Innate, and there will certainly be many from the Blood-Exchange Realm around."
Lu Yao nodded, bid farewell to the old Taoist, and went home.
The next day, just as the old Taoist had said, the streets were plastered with wanted posters, and there were many more experts from the Blood-Exchange Realm.