Chapter 278: Paper-cutting Horses, the Secret Technique of the Eight Immortals
After hearing what Li Daoxuan said, although Ma Yao didn't want to admit it, he had to nod.
"Master Sword Immortal is wise. This matter... was indeed done by me."
The horse demon begged for mercy with a bitter face: "Master Sword Immortal, I was a good breeding horse in a family before I ate the fairy fruit by mistake. After practicing, I could not change my lustful habits. I was confused for a moment and did such a stupid thing. Please spare my life, Master Sword Immortal!"
Under Li Daoxuan's questioning, he confessed his crimes in the Guanyin Temple.
Those women who came to the temple to burn incense would be bewitched by his magic. After making love, the women would only remember that Guanyin came into their dreams, but would not know that they had been defiled.
They thought they had been enlightened by the Bodhisattva and were very excited, but they did not expect that it was just an illusion of a monster.
This horse demon, because he was a stud in his previous life, had a peculiar ability after he transformed into a demon queen, which was that he could almost always hit any woman he had had sex with.
However, due to the differences between humans and demons, and his lack of practice, although women can become pregnant, they often cannot give birth successfully.
Because the demonic spirit of the demons in the Yin Shen realm is extremely filthy, it will greatly affect a person's physique and spirit. At least they have to reach the Yang Shen realm and be cleansed by the energy of heaven and earth. Only then will the demonic spirit become purer and have the possibility of producing offspring with mortals.
For example, the White Snake in "The Legend of the White Snake", her cultivation is undoubtedly above the Yang Shen realm, so even though she is a thousand-year-old snake demon, she can give birth to a child with Xu Xian, and the child even passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar.
When one cultivates to her level, she is no longer a mere demon, but a demon fairy.
The horse demon is naturally far inferior to White Snake, so all of his children cannot be born without exception. This is also the reason why the statue in the Guanyin Temple has not been enshrined in gold to this day.
As for those women who failed to give birth, they either died in childbirth or thought it was their own negligence, and generally they would hardly think of the Guanyin Temple.
After the horse demon finished telling his story, he begged for mercy from Li Daoxuan: "Master Sword Immortal, I know I was wrong. Please spare my life. I will do more good deeds and accumulate more virtues!"
Li Daoxuan looked at him deeply and said, "No more?"
The horse demon was stunned and said, "I...I have already confessed everything. I really have nothing to hide!"
Li Daoxuan sneered and said, "Then let me ask you, why are those villagers outside afraid to sleep?"
The horse demon's expression changed, revealing a hint of panic.
"This... this little demon doesn't know either."
"Haha, then let me ask you again, where is the divine power accumulated by the incense in this Guanyin statue?"
The horse demon lowered his head and whispered, "I took them all... for cultivation."
"oh?"
Li Daoxuan's eyes moved, and he said, "Interesting, this method of using the power of incense is also a very difficult secret technique to learn in my Taoist sect. How can a little horse demon like you learn my Taoist secret technique?"
The horse demon looked pale and stammered.
"Okay, I won't ask you."
Li Daoxuan tapped the sword case lightly with his folding fan.
The next moment, the White Dragon Sword thread turned back into the shape of a sword and flew into the box.
Plop!
The horse demon fell to the ground with its battered body covered with tiny blood holes, staining the ground scarlet.
However, his vitality was indeed very strong. Even with such a serious injury, he could still stand up. He tried his best to salute Li Daoxuan and said, "Thank you--"
However, before he could finish, Li Daoxuan kicked him away and he fell at the feet of the Guanyin statue.
"Since you said you were going to use the incense and divine power to practice, then well, absorb the divine power in front of me now, which will also help you heal your wounds."
After hearing Li Daoxuan's words, the horse demon not only did not feel relieved, but became even more nervous.
He hesitated and didn't move for a long time.
"Haha, you don't even know how to absorb the divine power of incense!"
Li Daoxuan took a step forward, his eyes as sharp as a sword, as if he wanted to see through the horse monster.
"You are just a gatekeeper, or in other words, you are guarding the temple for others. The incense and divine power in this temple do not belong to you at all!"
The horse demon's body trembled slightly.
"So you have been so reckless over the years, but no one has come to deal with you. It's because there is a very powerful backer behind you. You are collecting these incense and divine powers for him. Am I right?"
The horse demon looked very struggling.
"snort!"
Li Daoxuan's eyes flashed with lightning, and he pinched the Heavenly Thunder Seal with his hand. The sky suddenly darkened, and rolling dark clouds covered the Guanyin Temple, revealing flashes of lightning.
"If you don't say anything, I will call down the thunder from heaven to completely destroy you, your body and soul, and turn your bones into ashes!"
The sound of thunder shook the horse demon's mind. Seeing that Li Daoxuan could still use thunder magic, the horse demon was completely frightened. After struggling for a while, he finally confessed everything he knew.
It turned out that after transforming, he had always been a carefree and happy stud, until he met a Taoist priest who knew thunder magic. The Taoist priest was very terrifying, and his attacks were like the collapse of heaven and earth, leaving it with no ability to fight back.
But the Taoist priest did not kill it. Instead, he let it build the Guanyin Temple here , relying on its unique ability to collect incense and divine power.
However, the Taoist priest did not use the power of incense for himself, but gave it to a ghost baby.
Every three months, the ghost baby would come to the temple and absorb all the power from the incense.
After listening to the horse demon's story, Li Daoxuan's heart moved.
He had indeed found the right place. This Guanyin Temple was indeed related to the ghost baby incident!
But the real culprit behind this is actually Master Uncle?
Thinking of this, Li Daoxuan sighed softly. His master had told him before that although the master uncle acted domineeringly, he was very arrogant and it was impossible for him to poison the old master.
Now it seems that people do change. Master hasn't returned to the mountain for more than 20 years, and Master Uncle may no longer be the same Master Uncle as he was back then.
"If my guess is correct, just now, was the ghost baby hiding in this statue, absorbing the power of the incense?"
The horse demon nodded quickly and said, "You are wise, Immortal. As expected, nothing can be hidden from you. The ghost baby was possessed in the statue of Guanyin just now, but when it saw you appear, it immediately ran away, as if it was a little scared."
Li Daoxuan showed a hint of understanding.
Sure enough, the reason why he saw the statue of Guanyin turned into a demon when he first entered the temple was not an illusion, but the ghost baby was possessed there.
However, the ghost baby had a magical power to hide, and it ran away immediately when it saw him for the first time.
However, the monk can escape but the temple cannot. Since Li Daoxuan has found its lair, it is only a matter of time before the ghost baby is caught.
"My Lord, I have told you everything. You must spare my life!"
Li Daoxuan looked at him and said with a smile: "One last question. If you can satisfy me, I can consider sparing your life."
The horse demon said quickly: "Just ask!"
Li Daoxuan put away his smile and asked in a serious tone, "Where did the ghost baby run to?"
There was hesitation in the horse demon's eyes.
Li Daoxuan's folding fan once again touched the Longyin sword box and said, "Sword Three——"
The horse demon shouted in fear, "I said, I said, after the ghost baby has absorbed the incense, it usually runs to the Lu family in the village. I did some research out of curiosity. Lu Siyuan once had a wife named Li, who died in childbirth after ten months of pregnancy. I suspect that the ghost baby... is his son!"
After saying this, he knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy: "Goddess, I have told you everything. Please spare my life and give me a chance to lay down my butcher knife and turn over a new leaf!"
Li Daoxuan sighed softly and said, "Put down the butcher knife?"
"This is useful for monks, but unfortunately, I am a Taoist priest."
The horse demon suddenly raised his head and said angrily: "You, you don't keep your promise!"
"Haha, I was saying that I could consider sparing your life. Now that I've thought it over, I won't."
Li Daoxuan's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
From the very beginning, he had no intention of saving Ma Yao's life. Over the years, she had caused countless innocent women to die from difficult childbirths. Even if some of them survived, their babies would be stillborn. They would inevitably be despised by their husband's families in the future, and their lives would be worse than death.
How can such evil not be eliminated?
There was a ferocious look in the horse demon's eyes. He saw that he was only a few steps away from Li Daoxuan. He roared and rushed forward, crashing into Li Daoxuan's chest.
When he revealed his true form, he was burly, with four hooves as hard as iron, and looked extremely handsome. Although his body was covered in blood, he was like a Ferghana horse, crushing the ground and rushing towards Li Daoxuan like lightning.
Even if an ordinary Taoist priest's cultivation is far superior to its, his body is very fragile. If he is hit by such a fierce horse, he will probably break bones and tendons, and the situation of the battle may be reversed.
But Li Daoxuan was obviously not an ordinary Taoist priest, but a hexagonal Taoist priest who had mastered the true teachings of dragon and tiger and had no blind spots or weaknesses.
He raised his finger, and golden light rippled around him, making him look like a golden man.
The Golden Light Mantra!
Boom!
The horse monster crashed into him as if it had hit a mountain of gold. He saw stars and felt dizzy. The iron hooves that could travel thousands of miles a day staggered and fell to the ground with a thud .
Li Daoxuan summoned down a 49th-day thunder.
With a thunder that shook the heavens and the earth, a piece of charred land appeared in the Guanyin Temple. The horse demon who had committed many evil deeds and raped countless women finally turned into ashes and died completely.
The "Book of Exorcising Demons" shone brightly in Li Daoxuan's mind.
"In May of the second year of Zhenguan, I killed a Yin Shen horse demon in Shanghe Village and received a reward - the spell [Paper Cutting into Horses]!"
"The art of cutting paper into horses was passed down from Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals. Cutting a piece of paper into a donkey or horse can travel tens of thousands of miles a day, treading on water with its four hooves, controlling clouds, and roaring like thunder, with the power to subdue demons!"
Li Daoxuan's eyes lit up when he saw the records in the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Book.
It turned out to be the secret technique of Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals!
Zhang Guolao is one of the most famous of the Eight Immortals. He left many classic stories for later generations, including the legend of him cutting paper into a donkey that could travel tens of thousands of miles a day.
It is said that he was riding a paper donkey, facing backwards, upside down on the donkey's back.
This donkey is no ordinary donkey. It can "travel tens of thousands of miles a day". When resting, you can fold it up and put it in your pocket. If needed, "you can spit ice on it and it will turn into a donkey again."
This donkey can even sail across the oceans and fly into the sky on clouds. Ordinary monsters cannot stop it.
Although it is not a supernatural power, it is also a very precious and rare secret technique in Taoism!
