Chapter 10 The Sutra of Hundred Insects and Poisons
Various exotic flowers and plants were planted around the courtyard. There was a stream fifty or sixty feet away. An old man with a white beard in a gray shirt was fetching water. From a distance, he saw Gan Shaolong waking up and smiled slightly.
Entering the bamboo building courtyard, he waved to Gan Shaolong to come downstairs.
The old man pointed to the room by the stairs and said to the timid Gan Shaolong: "You must be hungry. There are steamed buns and porridge left for you in the pot. It should still be hot. Go get it yourself."
Gan Shaolong hesitated for a moment, then plucked up his courage, went into the room to get porridge and steamed buns, put them on the stone table in front of the building and started eating. The old man who started to make medicine next to him waited for him to finish and said: "You are really lucky.
If "Cangmang" hadn't discovered you, I'm afraid you would have been eaten by wild beasts."
"Cang Mang? Who is he?" Gan Shaolong asked suspiciously.
"Hehe," the old man chuckled, pointed to an eagle flying in the sky in the distance and said, "It's it. Cangmang found you, so the owner of the valley rescued you and gave you some medicine, otherwise
Why are you so energetic?"
Only then did Gan Shaolong realize that "Cangmang" was the eagle. He moved his limbs and found that they were not sore at all. He was wondering, "Grandpa, where is this place? Where is the Valley Master?"
In fact, Gan Shaolong had vaguely guessed that this was the Yaowang Valley. He only heard the old man say: "This is the Yaowang Valley. The owner of the valley and the others have gone to the mountains to collect herbs. They will be back at noon. What is your name? Why are you here?"
"
Gan Shaolong hesitated for a moment, and was about to answer when he heard an eagle call from the sky. An eagle about two feet tall with black and white feathers rushed down, circled over the head of the old man surnamed An, and called several times.
It flew to the middle and stopped on the top of the bamboo tower. The old man surnamed An put down the mallet, stood up, and said with a smile: "The Valley Master and the others are back."
About a tea time, three people came in from outside the bamboo fence courtyard wall. In front of them was an old man in his late fifties with a thin face and a gray cloth robe. Behind him was an old man with his hair in a double bun, about thirteen or fourteen years old.
There is a girl who is 15 years old and has a pretty face, and there is also a boy who is fifteen or sixteen years old and has good features.
The old man glanced at Gan Shaolong, nodded, and walked straight to the bamboo building in the middle. The young man put down his backpack, stamped his feet, looked at each other and smiled with the girl, and walked towards Gan Shaolong.
He came to the stone table and sat down, looked at Gan Shaolong and said with a smile: "My name is Miao Xiuzhu. The one who just entered the bamboo building is my father. This is my junior sister Huangfu Xiu. How about you?"
Gan Shaolong responded slightly shyly: "My name is Gan Shaolong."
At this time, the old man changed into a green shirt and came over. He smiled at Miao Xiuzhu and Huangfu Xiu and said, "Why don't you go change your clothes yet."
The two young men and women shouted, one on the left and the other on the right, running towards the bamboo building opposite. The old man looked at Gan Shaolong and said, "What's your name? Why do you come to this mountain?"
Gan Shaolong looked at the old man timidly, guessing that he must be the owner of the valley here. He swallowed and hesitated and said that his parents were seriously ill and died without money for treatment. He wanted to learn some medical skills, but he did not dare to say that he wanted to.
He wanted to learn martial arts to take revenge, but he was afraid that the old man in front of him would refuse.
This old man was Miao Changning, the master of Yaowang Valley. Hearing what Gan Shaolong said about wanting to learn medical skills, he did not comment. He pointed to a single-story bamboo house behind him and said, "You can live there first from now on. You usually help Amber pound medicine and collect herbs."
That’s it.”
The Amber in his mouth refers to the white-haired old man. Gan Shaolong also settled down in Yaowang Valley, making medicine and drying herbs with the old man surnamed An. Miao Changning, Miao Xiuzhu, and Huangfuxiu would visit every two or three days.
Occasionally, he would take Gan Shaolong with him when he went into the mountains to collect herbs. Gradually, Gan Shaolong also became familiar with some pharmacology.
Half a year later, Miao Xiuzhu also taught him how to meditate and practice Qi. Thinking it was Miao Changning's intention, Gan Shaolong was overjoyed, so he studied hard and practiced hard. After more than a year, he actually reached the state of Qi training.
One day, Miao Changning took Huangfuxiu out of the valley. He said that he was taking Huangfuxiu to Chu to visit his family and look for some herbs. It would take about a month to come back. When the next day after Miao Changning left, Miao Xiu
Zhu then came to Gan Shaolong's room mysteriously, took Gan Shaolong out of the back window of the bamboo house, and pulled Gan Shaolong toward the back mountain in the valley.
When I arrived at a swamp in the back mountain, I took out a bamboo tube from my body, poured out some yellow medicinal powder with a slight medicinal aroma, sprinkled it on a few trees not far from the swamp, and then pointed to a big tree next to me.
tree, "up."
Gan Shaolong didn't know what was going on, so he climbed up the tree with him. Soon after, he only heard the sound of swishing, swishing, swishing crawling from under the tree, and then he saw twenty or thirty small and large animals crawling out from under the tree.
1. Gan Shaolong was so frightened by the venomous snake that spit out the poisonous snake that he almost fell from the tree.
The venomous snakes crawled to the yellow medicinal powder, then stopped, stretched out their tongues, and then stopped moving for a while, as if they were asleep. Miao Xiuzhu jumped down from the tree, took out a cloth bag, and picked through the snakes.
He took five pieces and put them in. He looked back at Gan Shaolong, who didn't dare to follow, and said with a smile: "Coward."
Then he led Gan Shaolong forward with the cloth bag, and said as he walked: "Most of these snakes are poisonous. The ones I put in the bag are the most poisonous bungaras. They will not move for twelve hours after inhaling the dragon incense powder."
.”
Lifting up the cloth bag and handing it to Gan Shaolong, Gan Shaolong was startled. Miao Xiuzhu looked at Gan Shaolong, glared and chuckled: "I told you it would take twelve hours to move. What are you afraid of? You are not as courageous as me."
Junior sister."
"Although these snakes are poisonous, their venom can also save people. It is called fighting poison with poison. By extracting their venom and adding some medicinal materials, you can make poison that kills tigers, and you can also make life-saving elixirs. However,
My dad..."
As if thinking of something, he stopped talking and pointed to a mountain road not far away, "Wait a minute after passing this path, there is a large swamp over there with a black centipede that is very fast. My father calls it the centipede.
, Hehe, as long as you are touched by it, your whole body will be numb, and you will die half an hour later, are you afraid?"
Gan Shaolong had known him for more than a year and knew that he was not someone who told lies, so he nodded: "I'm afraid."
"There are very few centipedes of this kind. My father has only caught ten of them this year. I was almost bitten by one once."
"Then we are still going? Have you...have you dealt with it?"
Miao Xiuzhu pointed at the cloth bag, "They can be dealt with, hehe, but you have to help..."
Gan Shaolong was shocked when he heard this: "How can I help you?"
"This kind of centipede likes to eat snakes the most. Longxiang powder can also induce them to come out, but they will not sleep like snakes. At first, my father put the longxiang powder in a bamboo tube, and after it crawled in, it would go up.
I wanted to seal the bamboo slip at first, but the centipede swooped out and ran into the swamp. Then I thought of using a snake to lure it, and it would get into the snake's belly. At that time, we could go up and seal the bamboo slip and catch it.
It's gone,"
Looking at the horrified Gan Shaolong, he asked again: "Would it be okay to block the bamboo tube with a wooden plug?"
Gan Shaolong nodded and said, "Yes, what about you?"
"These centipedes form a pair when they come out." Miao Xiuzhu magically took out two half-arm-long bamboo tubes from his sleeves, pulled out the cork, sprinkled the "dragon incense powder" in, then opened the cloth bag and took out the
Take out two silver snakes, put one in each bamboo tube, stuff it with a wooden plug, and pull it out again, repeat this two or three times, "Hee hee, it's done."
Then he took out a bottle from his pocket, poured out two balls the size of fish eyes, drank one, and handed one to Gan Shaolong, "Baicao Dan, detoxifies, and will be immune to all poisons within an hour."
After saying that, he chuckled and led Gan Shaolong to the large swamp. He stopped by a big tree about seven or eight feet away from the swamp, threw Gan Shaolong a bamboo tube, and whispered: "Listen to me counting.
After three times, pull out the plug, put it down, and step back here. Oh, I forgot, you are in the Qi training state now."
Gan Shaolong nodded, and Miao Xiuzhu said: "One breath can last three feet, no problem, right?"
Gan Shaolong rolled his eyes at him and didn't answer. Miao Xiuzhu chuckled and said, "Let's go..."
After walking five feet forward, he stopped and said softly: "One, two, three, let go."
After saying that, he quickly stepped back and hid in a big tree to watch. After about half a cup of tea, two black centipedes nearly a foot long crawled out from the swamp, climbed up to the bamboo slips, paused briefly, and then quickly crawled inside.
After entering, Miao Xiuzhu winked at Gan Shaolong. The two of them took a breath at the same time, quickly rushed to the bamboo tube with their feet, and quickly blocked the bamboo tube.
Miao Xiuzhu picked up the bamboo tube and gave Gan Shaolong a thumbs up, and said with a smile: "Okay, it's done, haha..."
On the way back to the valley, Miao Xiuzhu said seriously: "Don't say anything about what happened today, otherwise my father will be in trouble if he finds out."
Gan Shaolong was a little confused and asked: "Why? The valley owner only caught ten black centipedes a year, and you caught two as soon as you came out."
Miao Xiuzhu glanced at Gan Shaolong, "You can't say anything to anyone anyway, otherwise I will be punished by facing the wall, and you will..."
"What will happen?" Gan Shaolong felt a little panicked.
Miao Xiuzhu hesitated for a moment and said: "I will be expelled from Yaowang Valley. My father once accepted an apprentice... He learned my father's medical skills and martial arts, but he used poisonous techniques to harm people. Later, his enemies came to my father.
My father will no longer accept apprentices, and he will not allow me to learn Poison Kung Fu."
"Oh, I understand, you want to practice poison skills secretly, you... aren't you hurting me?" Gan Shaolong said anxiously.
"Hmph, if I don't learn poison skills, how can I go find that evil thief and vent my anger on my father..." Miao Xiuzhu glared and said, "As long as you don't tell me, no one will know."
Gan Shaolong was confused and threw the bamboo tube in his hand to Miao Xiuzhu. Without saying a word, he walked quickly to the stream in front of the bamboo house and sat on a two-foot-high rock in a daze.
In the past two years, he has been thinking about revenge all the time. He has only just entered the realm of Qi training. He doesn't know any martial arts moves. He can't deal with ordinary ordinary men, let alone four or five people from a wealthy family named Xu.
burly chap.
I just heard what Miao Xiuzhu said and felt a chill in my heart. I thought that Master Miao Valley would not easily accept another apprentice. Thinking of the tragic death of his parents, my heart felt like a knife. Suddenly I heard an old man surnamed An calling for dinner in the distance.
There was a loud voice, and when I looked up, it was already dusk.
After dinner, Gan Shaolong returned to the bamboo house, ignoring Miao Xiuzhu who called behind him. He closed the door and lay on the bed, thinking wildly. Unknowingly, he fell asleep. I don't know how long it took before he woke up and wanted to go.
Relieving yourself outside the hospital.
After coming out of the hut, he saw the light in the downstairs room of the bamboo building where Miao Xiuzhu lived. He felt strange and thought that this guy was sleeping on the second floor. What was he doing on the first floor in the middle of the night? So he walked along the fence
The outer wall bent over and tiptoed close to the brightly lit rear window of the room. He heard a deep voice coming from inside: "Xiuzhu, you... how dare you do this. If the Valley Master finds out, you can
Do you know the consequences?" It was the voice of the old man named An.
"Grandpa An, I, I know I was wrong."
The old man surnamed An sighed: "You should know the reason why the Valley Master does not allow you to practice the Hundred Insects Poison Classic. That Liu Thief... Hey, he is also your senior brother. He has evil intentions, but he has brought trouble to Yaowang Valley... you
Do you know how my martial arts became useless?"
I heard Miao Xiuzhu say in a trembling voice: "I know, I just want to learn the Poison Kung Fu and find that person to avenge my grandfather."
The old man surnamed An said angrily: "You...you have grown up now. A man must keep his grudges clear. Liu Thief is your father's disciple. He hurt someone's lover. It is reasonable for him to seek revenge. How could you be angry with him?"
That man's idea of revenge should be to seek revenge against the willow thief..."
"I...I..." Miao Xiuzhu faltered for a moment.
"If he hadn't been merciful, Yaowang Valley would have been gone. The owner of the valley promised that person not to spread the Hundred Insects Poison Scripture to outsiders. Naturally, he had to do it and send the Hundred Insects Poison Sutra back to the valley owner's study and put it away. These snakes
I will take the insect and burn it, and don’t practice the Poison Sutra secretly again. When it’s time to teach you, the Valley Master will teach you..." the old man surnamed An said solemnly.
Then the lights went out, and with a burst of footsteps, the old man surnamed An and Miao Xiuzhu left the room. Gan Shaolong did not dare to make a sound and squatted outside the fence for a while. He guessed that Miao Xiuzhu and the others had almost rested, so he tiptoed.
He followed the fence to the bamboo house where he lived and climbed in through the back window. He did not dare to enter through the main entrance of the yard.
I went back to the room and lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep all night. I thought that as Miao Xiuzhu said, I am afraid that the Master of Yaowang Valley will only teach some medical skills and general self-defense martial arts. If you want to learn real Kung Fu, it may be impossible, or
When he finished his studies ten or eight years later, his enemy surnamed Sun died. Thinking of his parents' death, Gan Shaolong became even more sad and angry.
Unwilling to do so, he actually had the idea of stealing the Poison Scripture and practicing poison techniques to take revenge. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that this method was feasible. Ten days later, when the old man surnamed An and Miao Xiuzhu were not paying attention, they sneaked into Miao Changning's study.
, but stole the "Hundred Insects Poison Scripture", a bottle of "Dragon Incense Powder" and a bottle of "Guiyuan Pill".
The eagle named "Cang Mang" was supposed to guard the bamboo building, but Gan Shaolong had entered the study several times and often fed it. It was familiar to him, and he never attacked Gan Shaolong, but he succeeded.
After stealing the Poison Sutra, he did not stop for a moment and fled towards Jinzhou. After escaping into a valley more than a hundred miles away from his hometown, he found a cave and settled down. At this time, he was nearly sixteen years old.
He has some martial arts skills and understands medical skills, but he still survived in the mountains. He followed the methods of catching poisonous insects and refining poisonous techniques in the Hundred Insects Poison Classic, and looked for some medicinal herbs to supplement them. However, he refined half a bottle in half a year.
Colorless and odorless venom.
He returned to his hometown in Jinzhou and worked as a boy who chopped wood and carried water in the family of a wealthy family named Sun. He was thin in his early years. After arriving in Yaowang Valley for more than two years, he also practiced some Qigong exercises. In addition, his diet was more nutritious than when he was poor in his early years.
I don't know how many times I got better, and I became tall and majestic, so naturally no one recognized me.
After more than a month, the mistress of the Sun family celebrated her birthday, so she poisoned the food and killed more than ten members of the Sun family and their slaves. They fled Jinzhou. Naturally, some servants did not survive after eating the food.
When the officials came down, they described his appearance and put up posters everywhere to hunt him down.
Gan Shaolong was not a treacherous person. After his revenge was avenged, he wanted to go back to Yaowang Valley to return the Hundred Insects Poison Scripture. If he wanted to be killed, it was up to the Lord of Yaowang Valley to deal with it. After walking for a while, he finally lacked the courage to go.
So they fled over the mountains and ridges to the area east of Hedong.
The "Hundred Insects Poison Classic" records not only methods for refining the venom of various poisonous insects, but also a "Thousand Poison Palm" martial arts technique for refining venom. Gan Shaolong practiced according to the method in the Medicine Sutra, but he did not know how to practice this poison.
The palm needs to be supplemented by the Miao family's "Zhoutianxin method", otherwise the residual toxins after practicing cannot be excreted from the body. Gan Shaolong only learned the basic basic skills of the Miao family. After practicing for three or four years, although he has improved
As a result, toxins are also hidden in the meridians.
One year, he came to Xiangzhou and stayed in a dilapidated temple outside Xiangzhou City. There were more than a dozen beggars gathered in the temple. Seeing his rags, he naturally thought he was also a beggar. After a while of greetings, he invited him to join the group. Gan Shaolong has been here for three or four years.
, mostly hiding in the mountains, hunting some game, river fish and the like to satisfy their hunger. They look like savages, and they agree to join the beggars when they see them.
So a beggar named Cheng San told him the rules of begging in Xiangzhou, and then he realized that this beggar was not a casual beggar.
There is a leader of beggars in Xiangzhou City named Fang Changsheng, who lives in a large courtyard in the city. All beggars have their own lots. Every month there is a rule that they must hand over a certain amount of silver to the leader named Fang, otherwise they will be imprisoned.
Expelled from Xiangzhou, these beggars who live in the ruined temple outside the city have to go to Xiangzhou City to become beggars. Each person has to pay two cents per day. Otherwise, if they are discovered by the beggars in the city, they will not only be beaten, but also all their income from begging will be confiscated.
Gan Shaolong was stunned for a moment.
The next day, the beggars drew lots to decide who would go to Xiangzhou to beg today. Gan Shaolong had just joined the gang and had to go. After his parents died, he went out to study as a teacher for half a year and begged before, but he had never encountered such a situation.
A group of people, old and young, entered Xiangzhou City separately and begged until the afternoon. They got some rations and a few pennies, but did not encounter any trouble. They returned to the ruined temple and distributed some rations to everyone.
Not long after, several people who went to the city to beg came back one after another. Among them, two old men and a child of thirteen or fourteen years old were all bruised and swollen. They thought they were beaten by beggars in the city. The beggars sighed when they saw this. Gan Shaolong
Angry in his heart, he asked Cheng San about Fang Changsheng's residence. Cheng San hurriedly said: "Little brother, why are you asking?"
Gan Shaolong said angrily: "I should reason with him."
Cheng San thought he heard wrongly, and was stunned for a moment, but saw Gan Shaolong looking for a big stone outside the temple, and smashed it into powder with his palm. Cheng San turned around and said to Gan Shaolong worriedly: "There are so many of them."
, It is said that two fists cannot defeat four hands, not to mention that there are also people practicing martial arts among them, so it’s better not to go, little brother.”
"You don't care about this. Is it just the government that doesn't care about it?"
"In today's world, the government will not care about your beggar's affairs, but don't waste your life. In fact, everyone is homeless, hey..."
Gan Shaolong was silent for a moment: "Take me into the city tomorrow and point out the place, and you can come back."
At noon the next day, Cheng San led Gan Shaolong into Xiangzhou City, came to an alley, pointed to a house not far away, and whispered: "They live in the courtyard on the left, be careful."
After saying that, he didn't dare to stay and walked quickly back to the ruined temple outside the city. Two hours later, Cheng San and others, who were worried about Gan Shaolong, saw two beggars coming outside the temple, leaving a bag of food behind.
He also claimed that beggars could stay in the city to beg in the future.
It turned out that Gan Shaolong came to the courtyard to argue with Fang Changsheng. Fang Changsheng thought that he had lost his mind and asked a few beggars to drive him away. Unexpectedly, after a few moves, Gan Shaolong knocked those beggars over. Fang Changsheng was over three years old.
Ten days ago, he was able to be the leader of all the beggars. Naturally, he also had martial arts skills and had already entered the solid yuan realm. Seeing how powerful Gan Shaolong was, he went out to fight with him personally. However, he was hit by Gan Shaolong's palm with more than twenty moves, and half of his body was hairless.
Numb, unable to move.
Under the control, Gan Shaolong was the only one who allowed Cheng San and others to go to the city to beg. However, when Gan Shaolong removed the poison from the "Thousand Poison Palm" for Fang Changsheng, he stayed in this hospital for two days and suddenly realized that he was hiding here.
The place was not bad, so he didn't say anything about leaving. Fang Changsheng naturally didn't dare to drive him away. After getting along for a long time, the two of them became brothers.
After hiding in Xiangzhou, Gan Shaolong sometimes went out to look for poisonous insects in the nearby mountains, and usually stayed in this compound to practice poisonous arts. Once, while practicing in the room, he suddenly had a convulsion, his mouth was dry, and he was in pain for half a day.
It will take a while for the pain to ease itself.
Gan Shaolong, however, didn't know that the toxins accumulated from practicing "Thousand Poison Palms" were taking effect. He was frightened, but he couldn't find the reason. A month later, when he was cooling off in the hospital, the toxins appeared again. He was rolling on the ground in pain, and his mouth was
Unable to bear it, I grabbed the rooster in the chicken coop nearby, bit the chicken's neck, and started sucking on it. Unexpectedly, the severe pain gradually subsided, but the poison would occur at the beginning of every month.
Gan Shaolong began to feel that something was wrong. He knew a little bit about medical skills, but without knowing the reason, he guessed that it was related to the poisonous skills he practiced. He heard that there was a miracle doctor in Xiangzhou City with extraordinary medical skills, so he went to seek treatment.
This miracle doctor was originally an imperial physician in the Later Tang Dynasty. He had superb medical skills. After feeling Gan Shaolong's pulse, he used silver needles to prick various points on his palms. When he pulled out the silver needles, he saw that the tails of the needles were faintly black, and he knew that Gan Shaolong's practice was poisonous.
He told Gan Shaolong that the poison was difficult to detoxify and that it would take more than a hundred years of "ambergris" plus some medicinal herbs to detoxify it.
Gan Shaolong inquired about the origin of this "ambergris" and found out that this "ambergris" was extremely rare. Most of it came from overseas countries as tribute to the imperial court. Generally, "ambergris" that is decades old is difficult to find, let alone
It is a hundred years old, and most of it is hidden in the palace.
Gan Shaolong inquired about the shape of the "ambergris". The miracle doctor hid a piece of "ambergris" the size of half a finger. He took it and looked at it with Gan Shaolong. He said that the color in his hand was gray and black, and the fragrance was overflowing. It was only eight years old.
The century-old "ambergris" is grey-white. Originally, there was a piece hidden in the Bianjing Palace. Later, the Khitan soldiers went south and destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty and were raided. Gan Shaolong wrote it down and asked why he drank chicken blood.
It can also relieve pain, but the miracle doctor was confused after hearing it.