The "Impossible" Miracle
1,366 words
Chapter 510: Impossible
Gouwa’s soul nearly fled his body in terror at the sight of the yellow-robed Daoist charging toward him.
He never imagined that this man would react so violently upon seeing the gift Senior Brother Li had given him.
As the Daoist, gripping the bronze coin sword, was almost upon him, Gouwa clutched the rotten wood ruyi with both hands and, in a panic, hurled it with all his might.
But since the Daoist had already set his sights on taking Gouwa’s possessions, of course he had prepared a defense against that very item.
A paper doll cut from a talisman flew out from his sleeve, blocking the Daoist’s path.
When Gouwa’s rotten wood ruyi swung down, the paper man instantly went limp, crumpling and fluttering to the ground.
Although it only stopped him for a moment, the yellow-robed Daoist had already achieved his goal. Before Gouwa could swing a second time, the bronze coin sword in his hand was already slashing toward them.
“Ju lun tuo chan ti wu she!!” The red string wrapped around the coins on the sword rapidly lengthened. One by one, the old bronze coins linked into a long whip, its afterimage slashing savagely across the back of Gouwa’s hand holding the ruyi.
With a sharp tug, the skin on the back of Gouwa’s hand split open instantly. The rotten wood ruyi, along with one of Gouwa’s fingers, flew toward the artificial rockery nearby.
“Aaaah!!” Gouwa screamed, clutching his nearly severed hand, frantic and utterly lost.
“Heh heh, a couple of rookies after all.” A sinister smile curled on the yellow-robed Daoist’s face. With a flick of his wrist, the blood-stained string of coins flew back again.
And this time, its target was not Gouwa’s hand—but his head, a mottled mess of black and white!
“I’m going to die! If I die!” Watching the coins closing in, that was the only thought in Gouwa’s mind.
Just then, in the nick of time, a hand reached out from the side and firmly caught the bronze coin sword.
The sharp edges of the coins cut into the hand, but only broke the skin.
“Oh?” The yellow-robed Daoist was somewhat surprised, staring at the young man before him who was hissing through clenched teeth from the pain.
His own Seven Star Sword could slay demons and exorcise evil. To catch it with a bare hand… this kid must have some real skill.
“Shhh!” With a sharp sound, the copper coins in Lü Xiucai’s hand instantly retracted, reforming into a sword in the yellow-robed Daoist’s grip. “Boy, which sect does your master belong to?”
When out in the world, it was always best to ask before throwing a punch. He was afraid that beating the small fry would bring the big fish. If all this trouble was for a single Heart-Element tongue, it might not be worth it.
“I’m telling you! My master is Li Huowang! If you dare touch us, you’re dead meat!” Lü Xiucai forced himself to stay calm and threaten.
He had clearly trained in the Spirit Invocation, which should have made him impervious to blades and spears. But he’d been cut and was bleeding. Right now, Lü Xiucai could only hope to scare the other side off with his master’s name.
“Li Huowang? Never heard of him. And this kid only reported his master’s name, not his sect. Looks like this master and disciple are both rogue cultivators.”
Seeing the Daoist standing there, deep in thought, Gouwa knew that this man was definitely not afraid of Li Huowang.
Breathing rapidly, Gouwa cradled his bleeding, broken hand. He hurried a few steps forward, planted himself in front of Lü Xiucai, and tried a different threat. “We’re from the White Lotus Society! Don’t mess with us! Our White Lotus Society has a lot of people!”
The yellow-robed Daoist’s face suddenly lit up with a look of understanding. “Oh~ the White Lotus Society, eh? That makes things easy.” The next moment, he decisively raised his bronze coin sword again.
Throughout the entire world, who didn’t know that the White Lotus Society was the group with the least backing and the easiest to bully? They spent their days scurrying and hiding like a bunch of rats, terrified that even making a slightly loud sound would let the Supervisory Heavenly Office sniff them out.
“Can’t you just shut the fuck up!?” Lü Xiucai screamed, grabbing the incoming bronze coins with both hands in desperation.
Seeing this, Gouwa made a decisive choice. He turned his head and sprinted toward the front courtyard without looking back.
“Fuck your mother, Gouwa! May your son be born without an asshole!!” As Lü Xiucai’s curses rang out, Gouwa vanished in a flash.
“Hahaha! Don’t you White Lotus folks always say that entering the faith makes everyone brothers? Is this what your White Lotus Society calls brotherhood?”
The Daoist mocked him even as he pressed down with more force on Lü Xiucai.
Although Lü Xiucai had learned the Spirit Invocation, at most it just made his skin thicker. Facing the Daoist, he could only passively take the beating, with no ability to fight back at all. Before long, he was battered and bruised, curled up into a ball.
Looking down at the young man on the ground, the Daoist let out a cold laugh. He flipped his left hand, and an ink pot appeared in his palm.
“That’s just about enough. Time to end this.” He pressed his finger against the ink wheel, stood the ink pot upright, and the thick, viscous black ink flowed down slowly, dyeing the entire bronze coin sword black like pitch.
Seeing this, Lü Xiucai was terrified, but running was utterly out of the question now. He immediately fell to his knees, weeping, and knocked his head against the ground, begging for mercy.
Just as the Daoist raised his long sword to strike Lü Xiucai, a cold gleam shot out from the darkness. A long iron needle wrapped in white thread flew silently toward the Daoist’s face.
Just as the white-haired needle was about to pierce the Daoist’s face, a bulge rose from his neck. A baby’s head, covered in wrinkles and a beard, drilled out from inside his collar. Its mouth, filled with rotten teeth, opened wide and snatched the long needle into its mouth.
“Hmph!! How dare you ambush your Daoist master together!” The yellow-robed man’s face gradually reddened, and veins bulged at his temples.
But it was clear that, unlike his earlier casual demeanor, he was now genuinely angry.
With a point of his finger toward the direction the needle had come from, the black robe on the ground levitated by itself and chased after it.
Then his eyes dropped, glaring down at the trembling Lü Xiucai. He raised the bronze coin sword, now coated in thick, sticky ink, and without hesitation, swung it toward his head. He planned to finish this one off first, then deal with the next.
“Aaaah! Mud springs from the Primordial Chaos; the White Lotus blooms when the Golden Age arrives! Save me, Wusheng Laomu!!” Facing this certain death, Lü Xiucai prayed with a piety he had never known before, calling out to the White Lotus Society’s Wusheng Laomu.
The instant the black-ink bronze coin sword sliced through Lü Xiucai’s clothes and bit into his flesh, a white light flashed. The red string binding the coins snapped, shattering the entire sword. Loose coins, along with the black ink, sprayed everywhere.
The enraged Daoist was stunned by the sight. He recoiled three steps in terror. “Th-this is impossible! Wusheng Laomu has long been dead!!”
When Lü Xiucai realized he hadn’t died, he straightened up in shock. Because his clothes had been torn open, the painted cloth he carried fell to the ground.
The painting was of a simple white lotus. The moment he saw it, the Daoist recoiled again.
“This is impossible! Wusheng Laomu has long been dead! You White Lotus heretics are nothing but abandoned pawns!”
But no matter how much the Daoist’s mouth refused to believe it, his body was far more honest. By the time he finished speaking, he was already standing against the wall.