Open a Clinic to Cultivate Myself Chapter 304 Be Xu Xian in Your Next Life

Zeng Xunlong seemed to be recollecting. He continued, “Liu Jinyin is highly esteemed in our Gold Raiders Sect. We are all his disciples or grand-disciples. He is already over 90. The older he gets, the less he wants to die. Recently, he started hobnobbing with some cultivators, looking for a way to live forever…”

“Go on,” Ning Tao said. He knew that these cultivators Zeng Xunlong had mentioned were really practitioners of the Way.

Zeng Xunlong continued. “That day, I was delivering a few precious medicinal herbs and a 1,000-year-old ginseng to him. There were two youths visiting him that day. I have never seen such good-looking youths. Liu Jinyin took the herbs and made me wait. He started talking with those two youths in his study. I don't know what they said. But after the two youths emerged from the study, Liu Jinyin asked me in. He gave me a map and we started talking about an immortal's tomb. He told me that someone was offering a commission of 100 million. He would not take any of it— all of it would be mine. He only wanted the Picture of the Six Samsara Realms from the tomb. I have never been offered such a large sum, so I left for this place with my five disciples without much thought.”

Ning Tao had already recalled two persons. He asked, “Those two youths you mentioned, were they around 16 to 17? There was a small mole on the girl's chin, right?”

Zeng Xunlong thought for a while before replying, “Yes, yes. There was a small mole on the girl's chin.” Then he suddenly asked, “You know who they are?”

Ning Tao did not answer Zeng Xunlong's question. He said, “You were duped by those two youths. Even if you lay your hands on that Picture of the Six Samsara Realms, you would still die. The 100 million commission is indeed tempting. But it's only a deadly bait to entice you. You won't live to spend it.”

Zeng Xunlong bowed his head, his expression dull and lifeless. Indeed, given his present predicament, what good would it do to know the youths' identities?

“How did you know this tomb needs five lives to be sacrificed? Did Liu Jinyin tell you this, or was it your own deduction?” Ning Tao continued to ask.

Zeng Xunlong raised his head. “Liu Jinyin told me this. He said to open an immortal's tomb, you need to sacrifice five lives. Even the last two lines of the Dragon-Searching Mnemonic was from him, after I agreed to accept this deal. He said that five ghosts must show the way. To get hold of the Picture of the Six Samsara Realms, you need to sacrifice five lives.” “But I don't know if he knew this through his own experience, or from those two youths.”

“Where is Liu Jinyin residing now?”

“In Beidu, in a courtyard house just north of Panjiayuan Market. There's a black board above its door which says 'The Divinely Blessed Mansion'. It's easy to find. He's a very old man and seldom leaves his house.”

Ning Tao committed all these to his memory. He had no more questions to ask. What followed would be taking Zeng Xunlong to the clinic to earn a treatment fee. But just when he was about to unlock the blood lock and take Zeng Xunlong to Sky Clinic, he suddenly recalled something. “Five Ghosts Showing the Way? I have heard of 'Five Ghosts Moving a Mountain' but not 'Five Ghosts Showing the Way'. That Liu Jinyin made Zeng Xunlong prepare five lives. There will be a dead body at each pass, in order for him to lay hands on the Painting of the Six Samsara Realms. Five, six…”

Ning Tao shifted his eyes to gaze at the stone coffin. He changed his mind. “I have no more questions. Open the stone coffin and I will heal you and spare your life.”

Zeng Xunlong raised up his handless arms. Fury and grief were etched on his face. “Your dog bit off my hand, and your woman hacked away my other hand. I have no hands now, so how can I open this coffin? This coffin is already unsealed. All you need is a slight push to open it. There isn't any trap. If there had been any, it would have already been triggered. You don't need to be so cautious.”

Ning Tao did not feel the least bit of compassion in his heart. “You have no hands but still have your arms. You can still open the stone coffin.”

The Howling Celestial Dog came to Zeng Xunlong's left and stared straight at Zeng Xunlong's other ear.

Zeng Xunlong felt his hair stand on end as the Howling Celestial Dog stared at him with a strange expression. He struggled up from the ground and walked to the stone coffin. He staggered, putting his handless arms on the coffin lid.

Ning Tao said, “Don't worry. My silver needles have sealed your nerves. You won't feel any pain. Just push the lid off forcefully.”

Zeng Xunlong placed his handless arms on the stone coffin lid. Indeed, he did not feel any pain. He gritted his teeth, summoned his energy and pushed the coffin lid.

At that instant, Ning Tao had already pulled Qing Zhui and the Howling Celestial Dog and retreated swiftly.

Creak, creak, creak…

The lid of the stone coffin slowly opened.

Suddenly, a green light surged out of the stone coffin, resembling the aurora borealis!

The green light shone on his face. Zeng Xunlong seemed to have received some superhuman strength. He pushed with both arms and the coffin lid, several hundred kilograms in weight, flew away with a thud.

But at the same moment, Zeng Xunlong's body suddenly exploded into a mangled mess.

Qing Zhui and the Howling Celestial Dog stared, totally stupefied.

Ning Tao still felt some tremors in his heart. His hunch about the “five” and “six” was proved correct. If he had taken Zeng Xunlong to the clinic, Zeng Xunlong would surely have to die to atone for his sins. If he had died in the clinic, Ning Tao would have to open the coffin himself. What ensued would be difficult to predict!

A picture started to drift up from the stone coffin without warning.

It was a picture drawn on a medium paper, shaped like a circular disc. Three crisscross lines divided it into six parts. Both its circular lines and the crisscrosses partitioning it were sketched out of dense runes. They were extremely complex.

Of the six parts, one bore the characters “Human Realm”, another “Deva Realm”. The other parts were marked “Asura Realm”, “Hell”, “Malevolent Ghosts”, and finally “Animals”. The script was written in runes as tiny as rice grains, and extremely complex.

The Deva Realm, the Asura Realm and the Human Realm were the three superior realms of the samsara. Hell, Malevolent Ghosts and Animals were the inferior realms of the samsara. In most religions, the Six Samsara Realms would be expressed through a simple drawing. They might divide the samsara into several dozen realms. But this Picture of the Six Samsara Realms consisted of mere characters. Had there been no lines and runic script, even an elementary school kid could draw it.

While he was studying the Picture of the Six Samsara Realms, Ning Tao's eyes suddenly blurred. The impression he had was like suddenly encountering a fog. He unconsciously closed his eyes, then re-opened them.

In a blink, the scene before his eyes had changed.

He was no longer in a tomb chamber, but on a street. There were neither lofty buildings around nor cars. It was an ancient street. The stone-paved road was rutted with the trails of mule and horse carts. Men and women, the elderly and children on the street were all in ancient attire.

He looked at his body hastily. He could not see his own face, but he was also dressed in a teal-colored robe. On his feet were no sneakers, but black hemp shoes with white soles.

“My lord, why are you standing there?” The voice of a woman rang out.

Ning Tao gazed over. The woman talking to him had a face resembling peach blossom. Her mouth was small and exquisite like cherry blossoms and she was in a white pleated skirt. She was so pretty that she seemed unreal.

“My lord, what's wrong with you?” The woman in white asked in a concerned voice.

Ning Tao was in a daze. “Who… who are you?”

“I'm your wife, Bai Qingyi. Don't you recognize me?” The woman claiming to be Bai Qingyi was astounded and baffled.

Ning Tao's brain seemed to have been brutally rammed. His mind was suffering from a concussion! Bai Qingyi… wasn't she the one whom Master Fakong claimed was that real white snake demon? Her husband was later killed after marrying her. Bai Qingyi was subdued by Reverend Fakong using the Demon-slaying Bowl. Her spirit had disintegrated. The question was, how did he end up being Xu Xian, her husband?

He tried strenuously to recall past events. But he only had a very vague recollection of himself, which was rapidly fading. At this moment, he could remember neither the Sky Clinic, nor Qing Zhui and the Howling Celestial Dog.

“Hey, you must have been too horny last night. I told you enough was enough and you still insisted. Look, aren't you so worn out that your mind is befuddled? Follow me home. I will make you some crucian carp soup as tonic.” She pulled Ning Tao's hand and walked him to a house.

Ning Tao tried shaking his head vigorously, but he did not recover. He could only feel her small, tender hand grasping his own. It was so soft that it seemed almost boneless, and felt very comfortable to hold.

Bai Qingyi pulled Ning Tao into the house and into a room. She did not leave to cook fish soup for him, but clung on to him instead. He wanted to push her away, but his hands and body were limp and weak. Even worse, she was a very seductive woman who could service her man well. After an entanglement, she led him easily into the vortex of desire…

As they were caught in a confused tangle, he was shoved to the bed.

She clambered onto his body, breathing like a fresh blossom into his ears. “My lord, I shall service you like you're an immortal and bear you a chubby son.”

Her voice was so tender and alluring— almost turning his bones limp.

Ning Tao tried to struggle, but his body felt so limp that he could not fight. He seemed to have really turned into that pitiful scholar, whose life essence was to be drained by this white snake demon. He was about to die beneath her.

The woman whose face resembled a peach blossom slowly approached him, drawing closer and closer…

His mind became even more befuddled, and lust began to surge up in him, like a fire on an open plain.

At this crucial moment, the core in his Niwan acupoint the size of a football suddenly shook. He recovered his strength and mind.

Bai Qingyi was still crouching over his body, entangling him like a snake. Nothing he saw had changed. He was still in the room of that ancient house.

But he no longer believed that this was real.

Ning Tao recited in his heart, “I rest within the womb, listening to the sound of the Way.”

Chapter end