Chapter 16: Sacrificial Alchemy of White Bones, The Plundered Prisoner
Jiang Liuer examined the "Corpse Demon Bone" - a leg bone with jade-like smoothness yet metallic hardness, producing a metallic clang when flicked with a fingertip.
Gripping its narrower end, he felt an inexplicable urge to strike objects with it.
He wanted to crack open someone's skull.
To see it smeared with fresh blood.
His gaze involuntarily turned toward the old prisoner in the transport cart.
"Benefactor, what's wrong?" Hu Yuyu's voice snapped him back.
Jiang Liuer startled to find himself already raising the bone club.
He'd nearly committed violence!
"Nothing." Cold sweat drenched him as he realized the bone's corrupting influence had subtly manipulated his mind. This cursed artifact needed immediate purification.
Since Elder Tang Sanzang said any sutra would work, Jiang Liuer naturally chose the most familiar - silently reciting the Diamond Sutra from memory: "Thus I have heard. Once, the Buddha dwelt in Śrāvastī..."
Mid-chant, it occurred to him that even the controversial "Great Vehicle Sutra of Karmic Slaughter" might qualify as proper scripture. After finishing the Diamond Sutra, he added the cultivation methods taught by Elder Huangmei.
The bone in his arms began vibrating faintly.
Strands of energy seeped through his skin, coursing through his meridians and amplifying his spiritual power.
Simultaneously...
The bone's mental influence dissipated completely, leaving his mind crystal clear.
......
"Captain, that kid's holding some strange large bone! Could he be demonic?" a soldier whispered.
"Leave him be," the captain ordered. "Stay alert - this silence feels unnatural."
Before the soldier could respond...
A black streak pierced his chest armor like paper.
The man collapsed, blood gurgling from his mouth.
"AMBUSH!!"
Arrows rained down as soldiers scrambled into defensive formation. Jiang Liuer found himself dragged into the chaos when blood splattered his face.
Reacting swiftly, he batted away incoming arrows with the bone club.
"Hu Yuyu! Under the cart, now!"
The fox spirit ducked beneath, abandoning telepathy to shout: "Aren't you taking cover?"
"They helped me. I won't watch good people die," Jiang Liuer declared, intercepting more projectiles. His enhanced senses tracked each arrow's trajectory.
Yanking a soldier backward, he saved the man from certain death. "My thanks!" the shaken soldier gasped, ashamed of prior suspicions.
As shields locked into turtle formation around prisoners, battle cries erupted from the woods. Over a hundred bandits swarmed from all sides.
"Charge through the flanks!" a soldier urged.
"Traps await there!" the captain roared. "Stand firm!"
Jiang Liuer witnessed his first real combat - fragile lives extinguished by steel flashes. When another officer fell to precise archery, he acted.
"Shield!" Snatching a heavy barrier single-handedly, he bulldozed through bandits. The bone club shattered scimitars and kneecaps with equal ease.
"Buddha forgive me..." he muttered between crippling strikes, eyes scanning treelines. Another officer fell.
"Found you!"
......
The captain watched incredulously as the twelve-year-old carved through enemies. Dozen bandits writhed in the boy's wake before Jiang Liuer vanished into the woods.
......
