Mortal Bones

Chapter 25: Barrier Damaged, the Canxia Art Breaks Through the Ice Condensation Phase

After taking a deep, greedy gulp from his gourd, the old man suddenly broke into a grin.

“Born as a mortal, you cultivate the self, uplift others, and embody the nature of water—dwelling in the abyss of vice yet acting with unyielding virtue… Ha, truly well said.”

Muttering to the empty air, he took another heavy swig of wine. He wiped his mouth with a sleeve as tattered as a dishrag and continued his quiet rambling:

“To think that after all these years, I’d hear those exact words spill from the mouth of a lowly, unregistered outer sect disciple. How laughable! Truly laughable!”

He shifted onto his side, propping his head up with one hand while stifling a yawn. But as his gaze drifted toward the Green Bamboo Residence, his leisurely tone instantly sharpened into a razor’s edge.

“Dwelling in a foul abyss yet doing good… If that is truly your Dao heart, then show me the fangs you use to protect your path. I, Jian Jiu, despise empty boasters above all else!”

…

Nine days later, at dusk.

Yanglu Mountain, the Purple Bamboo Grove.

Bang!

Xu Taiping unleashed the martial form Green Bull Rams the Mountain, violently smashing into a lunging demon wolf and sending its massive body hurtling backward through the air.

But before he could catch his breath, two more beasts lunged at his back.

My True Qi is practically running on fumes. Time to pull back.

Xu Taiping cast a reluctant, simmering glare into the depths of the bamboo grove.

Deep within the purple stalks, a rotting corpse hefted a massive iron axe, violently hacking at a heavy boulder half-buried in the earth.

Beneath that stone lay the subterranean spring that fed the Green Bamboo Residence. If the boulder sealing it was shattered and the cavity filled with debris, the water vein would be utterly severed. When that happened, not only would his precious Spirit Grass wither into dust, but the residence’s defensive barrier would collapse.

Clang!

The rotting corpse brought the axe down with devastating force, sending ripples of spiritual energy and jagged stone shrapnel exploding into the air.

The blow gouged another deep fracture across the talisman-engraved boulder.

“Little brat, there’s still time to beg for mercy!”

The corpse turned its head, resting the heavy axe on its shoulder as a grotesque, rotting smile split its face.

Unmistakably, this fresh horror was the Chang Ghost’s newest vessel.

“We’ll see who’s begging when the dust settles!”

Xu Taiping spat back. He rapidly cycled the remaining True Qi through his meridians, launching into the technique Galloping Bull Charges the Formation.

Accompanied by a booming sonic crack that mirrored a furious bovine roar, a flurry of fist shadows materialized out of thin air. The phantom strikes slammed into the two lunging wolves, sending them howling and tumbling through the dirt.

Swish!

Exploiting the brief opening, Xu Taiping nimbly caught a thick stalk of purple bamboo. Using its natural tension as a springboard, he vaulted high over the snarling pack, breaking their encirclement.

“You can barely handle a few mangy mutts, yet you think you can stop me? Run, little rat! Keep running! Let’s see where you hide when your walls come down!”

Staring at Xu Taiping’s retreating back, a rigid, mocking sneer stretched across the Chang Ghost’s dead features.

Ever since the springhead in the Purple Bamboo Grove was compromised, Xu Taiping had launched multiple desperate raids over the past nine days to stop the excavation. Yet, he was beaten back every single time. With each hollow victory, the Chang Ghost’s arrogance swelled.

…

Back at the Green Bamboo Residence.

Splash!

Xu Taiping scooped a heavy basin of freezing water from the courtyard vat and dumped it over his head, washing away the blood, sweat, and grime.

Shivering slightly, he quickly toweled off, threw on a fresh set of robes, and retreated to his bedroom. He took a seat at a crude, hand-carved wooden desk.

Fifth ambush failed. Deployed roughly sixty percent of my total output, a ten-percent drop from yesterday. The target suspected nothing. I’ve completely mapped the wolves’ attack patterns. The scar-faced one favors its injured right hind leg; a blind-spot strike from the rear is lethal. The runt has impaired vision; its reaction time lags significantly behind the pack…

Xu Taiping dipped a brush in ink, meticulously documenting his tactical analysis onto a parchment scroll.

Over the course of the five skirmishes—especially the latter two—he could have easily slaughtered the demonic hounds. But to cultivate a false sense of security in the Chang Ghost, and to preserve his own physical condition for the final showdown, he had deliberately pulled his punches.

Five consecutive probes. The Chang Ghost is utterly convinced it knows my ceiling. Now, I just need to hunker down and push the Canxia Art straight into the Ice Condensation Phase.

He set his brush aside, his mind churning for a brief moment before he rose and seated himself cross-legged on his bed.

Breaking through to the Ice Condensation Phase of the Canxia Art wouldn’t just dramatically reinforce the Canxia Body-Protecting Qi; it would allow his True Qi to physically freeze moisture in the air.

If I hit the condensation threshold, I can seal the liquor jars inside solid blocks of ice. It will perfectly mask the scent. That ghost won’t suspect a thing until it’s too late.

He cast a sidelong glance at the heavy clay jars of strong liquor resting by his headboard.

While the corrupt officials of the West Wind Pavilion turned a blind eye to the Chang Ghost’s rampage, they still possessed the basic greed to accept his delivery orders via spirit beasts.

Sadly, none of the recent avian couriers were Bai Hong. The unfamiliar birds had been utterly indifferent, dashing any hopes Xu Taiping had of smuggling out a distress message.

Stop hoping for a savior. Sister Linglong warned me. Down here in the dirt, an unregistered outer disciple only has one person to rely on: himself.

Xu Taiping shook his head violently, purging the useless thoughts.

He popped a soybean-sized Spirit Crystal into his mouth like a piece of candy. Closing his eyes, he guided the Canxia True Qi through his meridians, preparing to storm the bottleneck of the Ice Condensation Phase.

…

In the blink of an eye, three agonizing days vanished.

Xu Taiping had entered a state of absolute monastic devotion. He abstained from food and water, channeling the Canxia Art without pause. He didn’t even flinch when the ambient spiritual energy in his courtyard sputtered and died—the definitive sign that the garden’s water vein had finally been severed.

“Little rat, step out and embrace your death!”

That very afternoon, the Chang Ghost and its three demonic hounds swaggered up to the gates of the Green Bamboo Residence.

Despite the nuisance of Xu Taiping’s constant hit-and-run raids, the entity had finally succeeded in obliterating the springhead at Yanglu Mountain’s Purple Bamboo Grove.

Bang!

Met with only deafening silence from the cabin, the Chang Ghost vaulted off its wolf mount and brought a dark, festering blade crashing into the residence’s front gates.

Boom!

The protective barrier surrounding the courtyard flared to life, but it was a sickly, dying glow. Stripped of its spiritual fuel, the wards barely held the blow, lacking the fierce, retaliatory sting that used to scorch the ghost’s rotting flesh.

“The wards are bleeding out.”

A sadistic sneer stretched across the Chang Ghost’s ghastly visage.

“I’ll be pitching camp right here tonight, brat! The second this frail little shell shatters, your life is forfeit. And believe me, I’ll show you exactly what it means to beg for a death that will never come!”

It stood before the Green Bamboo Residence, howling with unrestrained, maniacal laughter.

At that exact moment, deep within the dark silence of the bedroom, Xu Taiping’s eyes snapped open.

The instant his eyelids parted, the dense, grayish-white mist of True Qi violently swirling around him flash-froze. A wave of biting frost cascaded outward, encasing the wooden bedboards beneath him in a thick layer of solid ice.

“True Qi to ice… I finally broke through!”

Xu Taiping stared at the glittering ice crystals dancing in the air around his fingertips, a feral thrill igniting in his eyes.

Reaching the Ice Condensation Phase of the Canxia Art didn’t just give him a new weapon; it was the foundational prerequisite for him to finally assault the Door Opening Realm.

But far more importantly in the present—cloaked in this newly evolved Canxia Body-Protecting Qi, his odds of surviving the monster at his doorstep had just drastically skyrocketed.