Chapter 73, The Merciful, the Virtuous Buddha Xu

Translator: Tamon

 

“How did the white rat end up so big?” Xu Hei asked.

 

“Simple…”

 

Xu Bai Attracted a Spirited Pill from a gourd to feed it to a small white rat that came out of her spiritual beast bag.

 

She let the rat go, and they watched as it grew, accompanied by crackling bones, a longer tail, and bulging flesh.

 

In but a few minutes, they were staring at a fat pig-sized mouse.

 

The excessive fat made it hard for Xu Hei to pick up on the difference at first glance.

 

The shock was so great Xu Hei couldn’t slither straight.

 

[Since when did Spirited Pill have such an effect?]

 

“When it comes to fighting, demons like us need to look after our bodies first and foremost. As long as we’re big and strong enough, we can do anything! With this Spirited Pill, even a rat can beat a cat.” Xu Bai spoke with pride.

 

Squeak~

 

The big rat made a sound and rammed into the cave wall, making an indent.

 

Xu Hei gulped.

 

[Now that’s power!]

 

Technically, it was still the Spirited Pill’s effect, but only on overdrive. After much deliberation, Xu Hei gave up on testing even a speck.

 

He’d just grab a cultivator to do it instead.

 

Xu Hei glanced at the remaining pill gourds, containing the Minor Boost Pill, Divine Rousing Pill, Bone Toughening Pill, Blood Supplementing Pill, and other common stuff.

 

Each was exactly as described and as he knew. As for the effects, heaven’s secret.

 

Xu Hei took a brand-new storage bag and marked it with the symbol for poison.

 

Then he went to place the valuable pills inside, not to mix them with the genuine article.

 

“What’s this symbol?” Xu Bai cocked her head.

 

“It marks one’s best work, how precious the items inside are, and to be treasured.” Xu Hei pulled off an honorable save.

 

“Oh, I see.” Xu Bai nodded.

 

Xu Hei left the cave.

 

He thought about what Hei Huang would think of the pills but put it aside, not really interested.

 

A stroke of genius hit him!

 

[Since normal pills don’t work, why not have Xu Bai brew poison?]

 

The thought was scraped as soon as it rose.

 

“No way. If normal pills end up like that, making poison would end up killing me as well.”

 

Xu Hei shook his head to get rid of that horrible image.

 

He heard of the dangers of poisoners. A tiny slip could poison themselves, then the village, then nothing would grow in a hundred miles.

 

As a minor venomous snake, Xu Hei hadn’t employed poison in battles.

 

[I can’t count on her for pills, only myself.]

 

At least his last job scored him big in the pill department.

 

The problem was he ran out of puppets and ingredients to make more. Only the Sky Effigy Sect had them.

 

Xu Hei had to compromise, looking for hard rocks for substitutes.

 

Stone puppets were inferior and obvious at a glance.

 

“They will have to do.” Xu Hei pondered.

 

…

 

Days later, Xu Hei was found pacing before a granite quarry where he dug a large hole.

 

Stone puppets lay before him, all purple, ranging from humanoid to all kinds of animal shapes, snakes, dogs, and lizards included.

 

These were made from the granite he dug up, at late Awareness Stage in strength.

 

They couldn’t use magical arts, only throw rocks.

 

“Granite puppets, something only the dirt-poor disciples make.”

 

Xu Hei sighed, practically picturing the Sky Effigy Sect disciples laughing at him.

 

[I’ve seen poor, but this is dirt-poor!]

 

Rocks were everywhere. This was no different than using junk.

 

Xu Hei pulled this off with the help of his earth spirit root. Others’ stone puppets would’ve balked from a poke.

 

Xu Hei sighed, putting the moving rocks in his storage bag. He had the puppets, but now came the testing of their limits.

 

Xu Hei found a flat and clear area and had the puppets aim for the target in the middle.

 

Whoosh~

 

A puppet threw a rock at his order, hitting it dead center and leaving holes everywhere.

 

This was the granite puppet’s single skill, Stone Throw; more like glorified rock-throwing.

 

Then again, with a hail of rocks, the sight was sure to be glorious. Who knew? They might even smash a cultivator dead. Granite’s hardness was no joke.

 

“Where has that dog run off to now? I hope he brings back some ingredients.”

 

Xu Hei pondered.

 

A thought struck Xu Hei. [Can’t I just make more of these puppets?]

 

Since one wasn’t enough, why not gang up with thirty, fifty, heck, three hundred…

 

Xu Hei’s Divine Sense had improved, and it might just be enough to lead a veritable army of granite puppets.

 

“Let’s see how many I can handle.” Xu Hei grew excited.

 

…

 

Hundreds of miles away, a bloody figure dashed through the trees and foliage with incredible speed.

 

Xiao Qiu, the same Shifting Mountain Sect everyone mocked back in Augury Sect for being a cuck, was running for his life from the two Foundation Establishment snake catchers five kilometers behind him, one of them being Hua Yuntian.

 

“Xiao Qiu, you rotten piece of crap! I’ll end you for attacking me. Not even the gods can save you now!”

 

Hua Yuntian’s rage-filled howl echoed through the woods, touching his hand with a blistering fury.

 

The other snake catcher said, “Peak Qi Refining Stage yet he held his own for so long against us. He’s not your average cultivator.”

 

The two sped up, searching deeper into the forest.

 

…

 

Xu Hei spent the next days in seclusion to cultivate.

 

Each day he’d dope himself with pills, cultivate, dope again, temper himself, and so on.

 

Oh, and practice the puppet art now and then.

 

Testing the granite puppet, Xu Hei found he could handle a hundred of them, but to be on the safe side, or perhaps quell his paranoia, he had five hundred of them ready.

 

He stripped the granite quarry bare.

 

It was due to using pills that he dug rocks without restraint.

 

The puppets were too many to fit in a storage bag, so he placed them in the black jade, with plenty of room to spare.

 

He made sure to also patrol his new territory for any signs of human activity.

 

Hei Huang was still away, and Xu Hei would never calm down without proper security measures.

 

Making such a mess of things was sure to make scores of cultivators scour the mountains for them. Xu Hei couldn’t just let them take him.

 

The second he spotted a human, he’d switch locations.

 

He made sure to place warning talismans on the edge, very sensitive to Spiritual Energy, dissolving the second a cultivator passed by.

 

On this day, Xu Hei used his trusty small snake puppet to do his rounds when he noticed one talisman missing.

 

“A cultivator?”

 

Xu Hei started and sent the small snake over.

 

The Detection Talisman had a range of five hundred meters.

 

Xu Hei’s little scout reached a nondescript area where traces of blood were present.

 

“A wounded human?”

 

Xu Hei frowned, following the blood trail to find a wounded youth by a spring.

 

Xu Hei knew him, the simple Shifting Mountain Sect disciple Xiao Qiu. Though all he knew about the guy was from those Augury Sect gossip girls.

 

He and Yin Ling became Dao companions, yet she wouldn’t even let him hold her hand, even after he worked hard to give her a Foundation Establishment Pill.

 

A weirdo was putting it mildly.

 

“Since you’re in pain, I shall reunite you with your girl.” Xu Hei was ready to pounce.

 

“Wait! Wasn’t I missing a good pill slave? This is providence!”

 

Xu Hei’s eyes lit up.

 

He still had all the pills he got from Xu Bai, untouched and collecting dust. All that was missing was a pill tester.

 

Then again, since this guy could match Hua Yuntian, it showed he wasn’t a pushover.

 

Xu Hei didn’t jump the gun in taking in a dangerous element.

 

Pff!

 

Xiao Qiu coughed blood and fell unconscious in the water.

 

“Dead?” Xu Hei used the little snake to investigate.

 

His breathing was faint, blacking out from the heavy wounds on top of the snake poison thinning his blood to bleed out. At this rate, he was sure to die from blood loss in the next hour.

 

If even a dying guy would strike paranoia into Xu Hei, then he might as well call it quits with cultivation and life.

 

The small snake circled and dragged the man to a cave.

 

Xiao Qiu lay on the ground with Xu Hei pondering from afar.

 

He’d save him and then think it over. At worst, he’d just let Hei Huang handle him since he was best at controlling people.

 

“Since you’re lacking blood, here’s a Blood Supplementing Pill.”

 

Xu Hei’s tail touched the skull-marked storage bag and took out a Blood Supplementing Pill.

 

He had a granite puppet enter the cave with the Blood Supplementing Pill and feed it to Xiao Qiu.

 

Xu Hei watched with Divine Sense for every minute change in Xiao Qiu.

 

The Blood Supplementing Pill recovered one’s blood but also healed and removed poison, a wonder drug.

 

Xiao Qiu’s wounds healed in moments, his bleeding stopped, and his breathing stabilized.

 

“Ha-ha, the first human I saved, merciful and virtuous.” Xu Hei grinned to himself.

 

He took a magic rope to tie him up.

 

Xiao Qiu’s belly rose and fell just then with surging vitality. His arteries popped on his skin from the literal flood of blood pulsing in them.

 

“Eh?” Xu Hei started.

 

The vitality grew and grew until he popped.

 

Pff!

 

Xiao Qiu spurted a fountain of blood ten meters high, right into the cave’s ceiling for a whole two seconds.

 

“Mommy!” Xu Hei gawked.

 

[The Blood Supplementing Pill is too much of a wonder drug! What’s with this effect?]

 

That was just the start. After the first spurting came the next.

 

Xiao Qiu kept puffing out blood like a human fountain, painting the stone ceiling in dark crimson.

 

The strong vitality only grew and grew, with even the cave rumbling.

 

“There’s no end to the spraying. I must stop it.”

 

Xiao Qiu had a granite puppet rush over to block Xiao Qiu’s mouth.

 

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