nagpurpolice Chapter 110 The Real and Fake Old Man
Chapter 110 The Real and Fake Old Man
Taking advantage of everyone's attention being focused on the two children, Lin Mu quietly bypassed the corridor and slipped in through the side door of the main hall.
He covered his face, squatted down, and stared at the pair of cloudy old eyes under the armchair for less than a breath. Then he raised his right hand and delivered a precise chop to the back of the other's neck.
The old man didn't even utter a sound before his head tilted to the side and he collapsed to the ground.
Lin Mu caught him; it was extremely light.
This body was emaciated, and the space beneath the brocade robe was empty; it lacked even a trace of the vital energy and blood that a powerful cultivator should possess.
Even if someone with martial arts internal strength is too old to walk, their physical body should still be as solid and strong as iron and stone.
The birthday man in your hand is most likely a fake.
He dragged the fake birthday man into a secluded woodshed in the backyard, closed the door, and threw him onto the pile of firewood.
The fake birthday man slowly woke up, and as soon as he opened his cloudy old eyes, he saw Lin Mu's right index finger and thumb forming a sword gesture, with a very faint golden light emanating from the fingertips.
He had just learned the Heart-Questioning Sword technique at his birthday banquet.
Golden characters silently appeared in the void.
"Who are you."
The fake birthday man froze, his pupils dilated suddenly, his lips moved a few times, and he squeezed out a few extremely dry and hoarse words from his throat.
"I...I'm a fake Zou Zhentian. I'm really...I'm really locked up in the Zou family dungeon."
Lin Mu stopped his swordplay, stood up, and let the fake lead the way.
The entrance to the Zou family dungeon is located beneath the artificial hill in the backyard.
The fake object trembled as it turned the mechanism, and the artificial rock wall rumbled and cracked open, creating a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through sideways. A putrid, damp, and foul odor surged out, mixed with rust and a very faint, stale smell of blood.
The stone steps stretched deep underground, and several oil lamps hung on the stone walls on both sides, their flames flickering in the draft.
At the end of the stone steps was a fine iron prison door, with a copper lock larger than an adult's fist hanging on it, its surface engraved with dense, incantation-like patterns.
Lin Mu used the key on the fake item to unlock the lock and push open the cell door.
There was only one oil lamp in the cell, the wick of which had burned down to a short stub, and the light was dim and weak.
In the corner were a pile of rusty shackles and a few moldy straw mats.
In the very center, an old man, as thin as a skeleton, had his limbs bound by four iron chains as thick as a child's arm. The other ends of the chains were deeply embedded in the stone wall, and each chain was engraved with the same restrictive patterns as the copper lock.
His white hair was spread over his shoulders like withered grass, and his whole body exuded an extremely strong smell of rust and sweat.
But this seemingly frail skeleton, which looked like it could fall apart at any moment, suddenly opened its eyes the instant Lin Mu pushed open the cell door.
Those eyes were sunken deep in their sockets, the whites of their eyes were bloodshot, and their pupils were extremely black and bright, like two embers buried in ashes.
He tugged at the chains, causing the entire cell to tremble. Dust fell from the stone walls, and all four chains stretched to their limit. The restriction patterns glowed with rings of dark golden light, forcefully pulling him back to his original position.
He growled and tugged again, then again.
Each tug caused the iron chains to groan under the strain, and the light from the restrictive patterns flickered slightly with each impact.
Gangjin (罡劲).
Lin Mu stood outside the prison door, the hairs on the back of his head standing on end.
This old man had been imprisoned for who knows how many years, and his blood and energy were almost completely depleted. Yet, he was still able to tear the iron chains covered with restrictions to this extent with just the strength of his physical body.
How do I obtain the Body Tempering Technique?
A direct exchange? That's like an old man hanging himself, courting death.
Even if a master of Gang Jin is on their last breath, they can easily crush a master of Hua Jin.
Threat? That's just asking for trouble.
Deceive him? Use a fake identity to lure him out and then negotiate terms halfway through, but what if the first thing he does after breaking free is to strangle himself?
Lin Mu's eyes darted around, and he pulled a porcelain bottle out of his sleeve.
He flicked the cork off the bottle with his thumb, poured a Qi and Blood Pill into his palm, and tossed it across the cell door toward the pile of bones.
Zou Zhentian yanked the chain sharply, causing the cell to tremble again. He raised his head, his fiery eyes fixed on Lin Mu, and let out a deep, hoarse growl.
"who."
"The one who saved you."
Lin Mu squatted outside the cell door, looking directly into those beast-like eyes.
"That's a Qi and Blood Pill." Lin Mu hoped that Zou Zhentian would recover some of his Qi and Blood. If he wanted to escape, he would definitely use the Body Tempering Technique.
Zou Zhentian looked down at the dark red pill that had rolled to his feet, then looked up at Lin Mu.
He slowly bent down and picked up the pill with a care that was completely different from when he was pulling the iron chain earlier. He then brought it to his nose and smelled it.
Then he put the pill in his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.
A faint, subtle warmth rose from the depths of his dantian, like the first drop of rain finally falling from a riverbed that had been dry for countless years.
He closed his eyes, feeling the faint medicinal power slowly flowing through his meridians.
Then he tugged at the chain again, this time even harder than before. The restrictive patterns on the chain flickered violently, and the base of one of the chains was forcibly pulled half an inch out of the stone wall.
Lin Mu did not move.
He poured out another Qi and Blood Pill from the porcelain bottle and tossed it over.
Then came the third and the fourth.
Zou Zhentian swallowed one after another. With each swallow, his blood and energy surged, and he pulled the iron chain with increasing force.
By the fifth one, the entire cell was trembling continuously, dust fell from the stone walls like a torrential rain, and the restriction patterns were almost dimmed by the repeated impacts.
Zou Zhentian suddenly stopped.
He stopped pulling on the chains, instead sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and formed an extremely ancient and strange hand seal in front of his dantian.
He forced out a very low, deep, and indistinct chant from his throat.
"Blood and qi are the furnace, skin and flesh are the iron. Forged a hundred times, it can dissipate a thousand pounds. From head to toe, it penetrates every nook and cranny. Skin is like copper, bones like iron pillars."
These are the mantras for body tempering techniques.
Lin Mu had heard this incantation before.
When he first replicated the Body Tempering Technique at Changfeng Martial Arts School, these were the few sentences that Zou Wanruo passed on to him.
However, this incantation only goes up to the level of "Transformation of Strength" (化劲), and he has never found the path beyond that.
Zou Zhentian's recitation did not stop.
His voice grew lower and deeper, as if he were reciting some secret in an extremely ancient dialect.
As he chanted, his skin began to glow with a very faint, dark golden light.
A purer, more primal power color that is closer to the physical body itself, as if every inch of flesh and blood has been tempered into a weapon.
Lin Mu held his breath and tried to observe.
After observation, you can replicate the Body Tempering Technique (Condensing Elixir -罡劲). Do you wish to replicate it?
Lin Mu agreed without hesitation.
The body-strengthening technique transformed into a warm current, slowly flowing along his body.
However, he didn't have time to carefully study the body-tempering technique at the moment.
Don't stay here for long.
He shoved the fake Zou Zhentian into the woodshed behind the artificial hill, dusted off his hands, and went back to the front yard.
The courtyard was still in an uproar; they had already discovered that the old man was missing.
"It's time to go." He walked over and, taking advantage of the chaos, scooped Xiaoxiao up in his arms.
Xiaoxiao immediately started thrashing about, kicking her short legs against his arms.
"Don't go! I haven't finished eating yet! I want sweet and sour fish, osmanthus cake, and that red, sweet thing~"
"I'll make you a braised goose in an iron pot when we get back."
Xiaoxiao stopped splashing around, blinked, and her tear-filled eyes quickly weighed the full table of food and the stewed goose in the iron pot for a moment before she nodded.
Lin Mu carried her outside, and as they passed the center of the courtyard, he casually twisted the neck of the demon goose in the cage and carried it away.