SFS Chapter 3: Using oneself as bait to lure the snake out of its hole
Chapter 3: Using oneself as bait to lure the snake out of its hole
"Father, please take this medicinal herb to heal your wounds."
Yang Jiuli opened the jade box, broke off a leaf, and was about to feed it to his father.
"No... I found this medicine to treat your illness!" Mr. Yang refused.
"Dad, do I look sick to you?" Yang Jiuli said with a smile.
"When Master Zhang examined you last time, he said that if your brain disease continues to worsen, you won't live more than three years!" Yang Xuan said.
Otherwise, why would Yang Xuan have ventured deep into the Black Abyss several times to search for medicinal herbs?
Yang Xuan was unaware that his son's repeated comas were a side effect of the merging of memories from several lifetimes.
This time, Yang Jiuli's memories have been completely awakened and integrated, dispelling the mystery from her birth, and she will be free from any major problems.
"My brain ailment can be cured by eating two leaves!" Yang Jiuli didn't refuse and swallowed the leaf in one gulp.
Then he ate another piece.
After taking two pills in a row, Yang Jiuli's eyes became bright and alert, and his mental strength was clearly improved.
"It's your turn!" Yang Jiuli broke off a leaf and handed it to his father.
Yang Xuan glanced at Yang Jiuli and said, "Very well, with the great calamity approaching, I should also recover some of my cultivation."
He knew that without restoring his strength, his son alone would not be able to shoulder the responsibility and safeguard the Yang family's eight-hundred-year-old legacy.
After taking a spiritual medicine, Yang Xuan could feel that his meridians and internal organs, which had been eroded by the poisonous energy, were actually beginning to repair themselves.
"This elixir has such miraculous effects!" Yang Xuan's eyes burned with fighting spirit.
The medicinal effects of "Bi Ning Zhi" exceeded those of the medicines he usually took.
Yang Xuan immediately felt that his virility had returned, and that in a few days he would be able to fight that scoundrel for three hundred rounds.
Yang Jiuli had already anticipated this.
This Jade Ganoderma was an extremely precious spiritual medicine even in the cultivation world of the previous life.
Ordinary cultivators simply cannot afford to buy it.
It can not only strengthen one's spirit, but also greatly replenish vital energy and promote the regeneration of muscles and bones.
It was a great stroke of luck that Yang's father was able to find one this time.
Yang Jiuli broke off another piece and gave it to his father to eat.
After taking the second pill, Yang's father's severed meridians were directly repaired, and his injuries were 40% healed.
If the poisonous energy is expelled, the patient will recover.
"Father, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with this for the next few days," Yang Jiuli said before his father could get into a passionate speech.
"You're making me feel wronged?" Mr. Yang asked, looking surprised.
Yang Jiuli got up and walked to the table.
There are paper, ink, brush, and inkstone on the desk.
Yang Jiuli picked up his pen, wrote a few words, and then walked to the bedside.
Yang's father looked at the paper in Yang Jiuli's hand.
There were eight characters clearly visible above:
He used himself as bait to lure the snake out of its hole.
"Jiu'er, what are you going to do?" Upon seeing this, Yang's father's eyes lit up as he looked at Yang Jiuli.
……
Snowdrift Mountain Villa.
After leaving the mountaintop, Master Zhang did not go to the warehouse to prepare medicine. Instead, he went to a cliff in the mountainside.
On the edge of the cliff, a middle-aged man wearing a black cloak was gazing at the crescent moon in the sky, his back to Master Zhang.
Master Zhang stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Sir!"
"How badly is Yang Xuan injured?" The cloaked man didn't turn around, but spoke in a cold tone.
"If the poison enters the heart meridian, death is certain within seven days!" said Master Zhang.
"Within seven days!" The cloaked man's eyes revealed a chilling glint.
"Yes!" Master Zhang nodded.
"Seven days from now... Snowdrift Manor will be mine! Hahaha!" The cloaked man grinned menacingly.
……
The master bedroom at the mountaintop.
Yang Jiuli spent an hour alone with his father before leaving the bedroom.
"Commander Yang, without my permission, no one is allowed to disturb my father's rest these next few days!" Yang Jiuli instructed.
"Yes!" Yang Qin replied.
Yang Jiuli ordered the manor to be sealed off, and then left the manor on the mountaintop and went to his villa on the mountainside.
After he turned eighteen, he moved out of the mountaintop manor.
If it weren't for his brain condition, Yang Jiuli would have been arranged to take over the clan's business long ago at his age.
On the path leading down the mountain.
Yang Jiuli looked down.
At the foot of the mountain is the outer village where the direct descendants of the Yang family live.
The lights were already on full display.
"Young Master, what if those two Grandmasters attack?" Li Molan asked with concern.
"Two grandmasters?" Yang Jiuli glanced at the myriad lights below the mountain and then reached out to catch a snowflake falling from the sky.
"Before a snowflake falls to the ground, who can be sure whether it will melt into water or accumulate into snow, becoming part of the snow-capped mountains? Life is the same; until the very last step, who knows whether the enemy or oneself will have the last laugh?"
Yang Jiuli said leisurely.
"These words are so profound..." Upon hearing this, Li Molan was startled.
"Do your best and leave the rest to fate. Now that we're in this game, how can we abandon our pieces and run away?" Yang Jiuli clenched his fist.
He held the snowflake in his palm, making it invisible to others.
"Molan, do you think this snowflake in my palm has melted into water, or is it still a snowflake?" Yang Jiuli smiled slightly.
"This... Mo Lan doesn't know!" Li Mo Lan said.
"However, Molan is willing to go through fire and water for the young master without hesitation!" she said, kneeling on one knee.
Yang Jiuli glanced at Li Molan and said, "Very well, now I have a few things for you to do!"
Li Molan looked up at Yang Jiuli.
"You shall immediately lead the Iron Guards of my manor into eight squads and station them at the eight fortresses outside Snowdrift Manor to monitor the passing carrier pigeons. If any are spotted, be sure to stop them!" Yang Jiuli said, handing his identity token to Li Molan.
"Yes!" Li Molan nodded, took Yang Jiuli's identity token, bowed, and headed down the mountain.
"My father is critically ill. If that traitor finds out, he will surely send a message to the enemy!" Yang Jiuli murmured, looking up at the sky.
"At that time, the enemy will destroy my Snowdrift Manor with swift and decisive action."
"The storm is coming, I should make some preparations!" Yang Jiuli flashed and disappeared into the moonlight.
At the same time, he loosened his clenched fist.
The snowflake that Yang Jiuli held did not melt into water, but instead turned into ice crystals.
Ultimately, it's best to take control of your own destiny.
This is the truth that Yang Jiuli has always believed in.
……
A mansion perched on a hillside overlooking a deep abyss.
Inside the meditation room.
Yang Jiuli sat cross-legged on the jade platform.
His mind sank into his sea of consciousness, looking at the side of the Three Lives Stone that was shimmering with light.
Third rebirth location: Primordial Star, Great Wei Dynasty (formerly a level nine cultivation nation, now 0).
Name: Yang Jiuli.
Lifespan: 23/85.
Cultivation level: Master.
Strength: 1,800 jin.
Cultivation Techniques: "Treading Snow Without a Trace," "Jade Cold Hand," and "Heavenly Fiend Body Refining Technique"
Rebirth with Supernatural Powers:
The Three Lives Talisman (Past Life Talisman) Tier 1. Usable 2 times.
Mental strength: Level 9!
Spiritual Root: Superior Grade Spiritual Root. (Damaged, attributes hidden)
"His lifespan has increased by 5 years."
"Mental strength has reached level nine!"
"The number of uses for the 'Past Life Talisman' has increased by one."
"This 'Azure Jade' not only increased my lifespan by 5 years, but also raised my spiritual power by one level, reaching level nine... If I were to use the Soul Techniques 'Soul Tide' and 'Soul Arrow Technique' unexpectedly, I could completely kill a Grandmaster..."
"After just one strike, the enemy will become alert and will find it difficult to deal with a second Grandmaster."
"Even with my father's help, it's not enough to guarantee safety..."
"Who knows if there's a third Grandmaster among the enemies?"
"We need a foolproof plan!"
As his mind raced, Yang Jiuli locked onto the row of data that had appeared on the Three Lives Stone.
(Past Life Talisman) Tier 1. Usable times: 2.
First: By leveraging the power of the first incarnation.
(In his first life, he was at the ninth level of Qi Refining. If he did not have the aid of magical artifacts, according to Yang Jiuli's estimation, he should be comparable to the late stage of a Grandmaster.)
"Not enough!" Yang Jiuli shook his head.
Even in the early stages of becoming a Grandmaster, one can release true energy outwards and move as lightly as a swallow.
Moreover, those two grandmasters were mostly in the late stage of grandmaster, and the power of their internal energy was not much different from that of a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining.
This amount of power was insufficient for him to overwhelm his enemy and kill him in one blow.
If you can't kill with one blow, there's a risk!
Second: By leveraging the power of the second incarnation.
A first-tier "Past Life Talisman" is insufficient to awaken the power of a Core Formation level cultivator.
There are also requirements for using the "Past Life Talisman".
A first-tier "Past Life Talisman" can at most awaken the power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's (past life), but it is not enough for sustained combat.
The second-tier 'Past Life Talisman' can summon the power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's (past life) to continue fighting.
At the same time, if there is a corpse of a Core Formation cultivator, one can use a second-tier "Past Life Talisman" to summon its true spirit and unleash its Pseudo-Core Formation combat power.
(But it cannot sustain combat)
Only with sufficiently strong mental power can one fully unleash the power of the person who planted the talisman in their past life.
"Foundation Establishment cultivators should be on par with Grandmasters!" Yang Jiuli's eyes gleamed.
"Therefore, I need a Grandmaster-level expert to plant the 'Past Life Talisman' for me!" Yang Jiuli thought to himself.
"Grandmaster...where did this grandmaster come from?" Yang Jiuli muttered to himself.
"Wait! Didn't my Snowdrift Manor produce a Grandmaster before?" Suddenly, Yang Jiuli's eyes lit up.
Among the three Grandmasters of the Great Wei Dynasty who have passed away, one of them was Yang Xiangru, the former master of Piaoxue Manor.
If one uses a "past life talisman" as a seed, one can summon its true spirit.
"It's a sure thing!" With this thought, Yang Jiuli felt much more at ease.
"But... he's my ancestor!"
"It's alright... Those who achieve great things don't concern themselves with trifles. I think my great-grandfather would also be willing to continue to contribute to the family."
With a thought in mind, Yang Jiuli quietly headed to the forbidden area behind the mountain.
When he came out, he carried out a gold-inlaid sandalwood coffin.
Yang Jiuli was a renowned expert with a strength of 1,800 jin. It took him a full half hour to carry the wooden coffin back to the courtyard.
The martial arts of the Great Wei Dynasty are divided into five realms: Warrior, Knight, Master, Grandmaster, and Great Grandmaster.
Martial artist: Refines skin and flesh. (Can withstand 900 jin)
Swordsman: Refine your tendons and bones until you have a body of copper and iron—that is the ultimate achievement. (Strength reaches 1000-1400 jin)
Master: Refining blood into qi, the power of blood and qi within the body flows like a great river. (Strength reaches 1500-2000 jin)
Grandmaster: Blood and Qi undergo a transformation, evolving into True Qi, which can be released externally to kill enemies from ten zhang away. (Strength reaches 3000-5000 jin)
Grandmaster: Possesses exceptional perception, can traverse the air, ride waves, and live to be two hundred years old. (Strength exceeds 10000 jin)
It was already late at night.
Yang Jiuli used his divine sense to avoid the patrolling guards and carried out his ancestor's coffin without anyone noticing.
The wooden coffin was heavy, weighing about 1,200 jin (approximately 600 kg). Yang Jiuli placed it in the cultivation room, and the ground made a heavy thud.
"Finally, we've brought our ancestor out." Looking at the coffin in front of him, Yang Jiuli breathed a sigh of relief.
The coffin of the Yang family patriarch was suspended above a cold pool in the back mountain, with two people guarding the stone gate in the back mountain.
Yang Jiuli used his mental power to cast a "bewitching spell" to put the two to sleep, took the key, and easily brought the coffin out.
Even if the two guards wake up, they will only think that they have just taken a nap.
They never imagined that their young master would come to steal the ancestor's coffin.
The coffin lid was closed using a special technique, and there were no nails on top.
Yang Jiuli brought a tea table, placed it in front of the coffin, and put an incense burner on it.
Then, he took nine sticks of sandalwood incense, lit them, and bowed respectfully.
"Ancestor, my Yang family has encountered a great calamity, and we fear that our clan will be wiped out."
"To protect the 800-year-old foundation of the Yang family."
"To protect the lives of tens of thousands of my Yang clan members, this unfilial descendant, Yang Jiuli, has no choice but to borrow your immortal body!"
"I hope our ancestors will not blame us!" Yang Jiuli said, then placed the incense sticks in the incense burner.
"If this incense doesn't go out after three breaths, Jiuli will take it as the ancestor's consent!" Yang Jiuli straightened up and looked at the coffin and incense burner.