Two Erhai Taoist disciples were imprisoned in iron coffins. One was desperate, the other was ferocious. The Taoist surnamed Lai next to them was still nagging, saying: "Taoist Master, these two are not the same thing. Look at them."
His complexion and soul are very pure, without any filthiness at all, so it is perfect for practicing."
When Xu Dao heard this, the expression on his face was still stern, and he whispered softly: "Oh? How extraordinary, tell me."
Seeing that Xu Dao did not take action, Taoist disciple Lai breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly continued to explain.
But the next moment, Taoist disciple Lai found that he couldn't move his body and couldn't control his speech. He was trembling and sweating, as if there was a weight of ten thousand kilograms on his body.
The same thing happened to the two skinny Taoist disciples next to them. They both looked frightened and could only move their eyes.
Xu Dao ignored the Xihai Taoist disciples. He stepped on top of the iron cage and walked to the two Erhai Taoist disciples, sighing softly.
He stretched out his finger and swiped lightly. As the sword energy cut, all the chains tied to the two Taoist disciples were broken, and a black thin line stretched out from Xu Dao's back and fell on the iron coffin.
, gnawing away at copper and iron like snakes and insects.
Bang! Two sounds of heavy objects falling to the ground were heard. A man and a woman fell out of the coffin, hitting Xu Dao's feet hard.
The expressions in their eyes were shaking, and they were a little unable to react. The female Taoist disciple among them raised a desperate face, and her eyes gradually recovered. She looked up at Xu Dao, and then her eyes were blank again, as if she had recognized something.
Similar.
Another male Taoist disciple did not look at Xu Dao after untying his restraints. He struggled to crawl to the side of the female Taoist disciple, hugged her tightly, and wanted to say something, but could not say a word.
His mouth was scarlet red, and he spat out a few mouthfuls of blood hoarsely.
Xu Dao glanced at this man and found that his tongue had been cut off and he could not speak.
Xu Dao casually flicked his fingers, and two decontamination and calming spells fell on each other. Regardless of whether they were conscious or not, their eyelids immediately became heavy and they had to slowly fall asleep.
Among them, the tongueless male Taoist disciple had a ferocious face and wanted to resist Xu Dao's spell, but after hearing a few words, he suddenly felt a long-lost sense of peace of mind, and his tense spirit completely relaxed.
A sigh rang out: "It's just a good rest."
Xu Dao waved his sleeves and released dozens of scale soldiers from his sleeves. The scale soldiers pulled the cloth, wrapped the two Erhai Taoist disciples, and carried them to the deck to take care of them.
After taking care of these chores, he turned his head and looked at the three Xihai Taoist disciples.
A sneer appeared on his face: "You can speak now. If you ask a question, please answer it. If the answer is wrong, you will be responsible for the consequences."
There were gurgling sounds in the throats of the three Xihai Taoist disciples. Their pupils shrank suddenly, and they immediately saw a surge of white air coming up, surrounding them. The noise in their ears suddenly stopped, and only Xu Dao's indifferent voice continued.
Rings.
Immediately, frightened shouts and screams could be heard from the bottom of the black ship.
"Ah! Taoist priest, just ask, just ask!" The three Taoist disciples said everything they knew like pouring beans.
Through the mouths of the three of them, Xu Dao suddenly had a clearer understanding of the entire West Sea, especially the tens of thousands of miles of sea nearby. And what he saw was not false. The other three were traders who sold people as animals.
.
This type of merchant travels between various islands, occasionally reselling scarce items, buying low and selling high, but what they handle most are living goods, and they also have a special name - Yaren.
As for the dishonest and beastly people the other party calls, the situation is completely different.
The former refers to mortals without magic power. For spiritual practice, they are just like vegetables and radishes. They only have souls to use, so they are called "vegetable people".
The latter refers to defeated monks with magic power and demon blood. Regardless of their level of cultivation, human form or not, in addition to their souls, they can also chew flesh, flesh, bones and other things. They are more like cattle and sheep than vegetables and radishes.
Pigs and dogs are called "animal people".
The reason why the Taoist surnamed Lai sailed to the Shark Island was to make a profit by selling living people so that he could accumulate enough resources to build a foundation for himself.
In order to make a lot of money from this ticket, he sold all his family property, started a business, and personally led two guys to buy this black boat and run an independent gang.
But he did not act recklessly, but had planned for more than ten years in advance. But this year, he looked at the wind direction, the channel was just right, and there were big things happening in the West China Sea. Only then did Taoist Lai make up his mind and quickly spent money to collect a batch of goods.
Hurry out of the island and take a walk to the sea.
His luck was also good. Before he met Xu Dao, he had a smooth journey. Occasionally he encountered dangerous beasts in the sea, but he successfully solved them with the help of a black ship that cost a lot of money.
This made him happy, thinking that those merchants who traveled by sea in the past had exaggerated the risks in the sea...until he met Xu Dao today.
After being taught a lesson by Xu Dao several times, both Taoist disciple Lai and his two assistants vomited out their things quite happily. They did not dare to take it in front of Xu Dao, but just begged Xu Dao to leave them alone.
Destined to be a cow or a horse.
If it were just an ordinary businessman, Xu Dao would really consider letting the other party off after questioning him, but the goods the other party was selling were living people, and two Daoist disciples were involved. Xu Dao never thought about this.
A little bit possible.
What made Xu Dao somewhat concerned was that when the other party talked about the sale of living people, they had no intention of hiding anything. They were so open and frank, and their words were as if they were talking about animals. They had no idea that they were also "living people" themselves.
This made Xu Dao suspicious. After questioning him for a while, he took out the other person's soul and placed it in the inner world, so that he could look through the other person's memory.
The three "Tooth Men" were of low moral character, and even though their souls seemed to have been manipulated, Xu Dao was able to successfully search for them even after spending some effort.
He first tested the authenticity of the content of the interrogation, and then used the other party's memory to gain a more vivid understanding of the Xihai environment.
The bottom of the black ship.
Xu Dao crossed his legs in the air and frowned. Pictures were flashing through his mind, making his face look even uglier than when he was questioning the Taoist disciples of Xihai.
Through what he saw with his own eyes and what he obtained from searching souls, Xu Dao had to admit the fact that although there were not very few people alive in the Western Sea, the situation of people was even more difficult.
The entire Western Sea has long been filled with fishy smell. Although the people in the Taoism are not demons, they are still part of it.
This reminded Xu Dao of the "eighteen levels of hell" he heard about when he was at the White Bone Temple. He silently said in his heart: "Has cannibalism become an industry?"
He had some disbelief in evil and wanted to find out the clues that caused this situation through the memories of the three Taoist disciples, and whether there was still an orthodox Taoist sect in the West Sea.
But after all, Xu Dao was only searching for souls, not eating souls, so he couldn't dig them out in detail.
After hesitating several times, he completely suppressed the urge to eat souls, and his Taoist heart was unbreakable.
After several attempts, the souls of the three Xihai Taoist disciples had been tortured to the point of being shapeless. Before Xu Dao could see any clues, they were shattered into the inner world and turned into nothingness.
While sighing, Xu Dao also slowly opened his eyes, looked at the dark cabin, and then took a few glances at the iron cage at his feet.
In addition to the two imprisoned Erhai Taoist disciples, there are also living creatures in the iron cage below, which are also "animals" with magical powers. However, they are not from the Wu Kingdom, but are produced locally in the West Sea.
After looking at it for a few times, he withdrew his gaze.
Xu Dao did not attack the "beast man" below, nor did he release it directly. Instead, he put his hands behind his hands and walked up to the cabin.
……………………
The interrogation did not happen in the blink of an eye, and the subsequent soul search took a lot of energy and lasted for more than three days.
During these days, the black ship has been suspended in place, and the two Taoist disciples he rescued also woke up early on the deck.
Just because of the obstruction of the scale soldiers, the two of them did not dare to go down to the third floor. They could only wait on the deck and manage the entire black ship together, preparing drinking water for the living people on the first and second floors.
But they were not busy just yet. The slave workers were responsible for every detail on the ship. All they did was to calm people's hearts.
When Xu Dao passed by the first and second floors, he suddenly discovered that although the wooden cage was still crowded, the environment was completely different from before. It was no longer as messy as a pig pen, and the complexion of the living people inside was also much better.
.
Among them, the first-floor cabin, which has the largest space, has many new residents. Their faces are thinner, and occasionally there are voices, but they are still very timid.
After walking all the way, when Xu Dao appeared on the deck, it was just noon outside, the blue sky on the sea was like a mirror, and the golden sunlight shone on the dark and shiny deck, making it shiny and silky.
As soon as Xu Dao stepped out of the cabin, he felt as if he had stepped into a glossy painting. The blue sky and white clouds outside were incompatible with the crowding and depression below the deck.
At this time, he had tied up his hair and exposed his entire face. He simply raised his head and bathed in the sunlight, as if he wanted to wash away all the images in his mind.
Just at this moment, two figures appeared beside him and shouted: "See the Taoist Master!"
The voices belonged to a man and a woman. Xu Dao was unfamiliar, but also somewhat familiar. They were the two Erhai Taoist disciples he rescued from the bottom of the boat. Xu Dao continued to raise his face and did not respond immediately.
The two Taoist disciples respectfully shouted again: "Disciple Wu Bixi, come to see the Taoist Master of the Taoist Palace."
"Disciple Liang Xia, I went to see the Taoist Master of the Taoist Palace."
The two of them knelt directly in front of Xu Dao, kowtowed three times and bowed nine times.
Xu Dao opened his eyes at this time, with some surprise in his eyes. What surprised him was not the two people kowtowing, but the words they shouted.
"Do you two recognize Pindao?" Xu Dao lowered his head and looked at each other.
Among them, the female Taoist disciple who called herself "Wu Bixi" still lowered her head and said hesitantly: "Reporting to the Taoist Master, the disciples are all disciples of the Taoist Palace. When they first entered the Taoist Palace, they were fortunate enough to see the Taoist Priest. They were attracted by the Taoist Priest's grace.
I was convinced, so I recorded the Taoist priest’s appearance.”
Another male Taoist disciple who called himself Liang Xia also said, his voice was dull and weird: "The same is true for my disciples."
Xu Dao found that the other party was not opening his mouth, but was using some kind of magic to vibrate the airflow, and spoke like a mortal ventriloquism.
He glanced at the two people, compared their faces one by one, retrieved a memory from his mind, and suddenly said: "It turns out it's you two."
Then he laughed again and said: "What a coincidence, that was when Pindao first entered the Taoist palace, so you and I can be considered to be of the same year!"
These two people were a man and a woman that Xu Dao met by chance outside Shuiwu when he rushed to the Taoist palace to attend the initiation ceremony after killing Taoist priest Lei Zhao.
Although it was just a one-time relationship and there was no interaction after that, the Taoist priest's memory was amazing, and Xu Dao did not forget the two of them.
Xu Dao just had an extraordinary memory, while the two Taoist disciples secretly envied and even envied Xu Dao because he was a real person back then. They were touched by his high-spirited appearance, so they remembered him deeply and recognized him at a glance.
Time has passed, and now the two people, whether they are men or women, are kowtowing on the deck, and hurriedly return: "I don't dare, I am just a Taoist disciple, and I am really grateful to have the chance to meet the Taoist Master today."
During the speech, although the male Taoist disciple Liang Xia was excited, his voice was muffled and nothing could be heard, while the female Taoist disciple Wu Bixi was crying profusely, which made people sigh.
Xu Dao looked at the excited expressions of the two, and then remembered that the other had been imprisoned at the bottom of the boat for many days. He sighed in his heart, and used his magic power to lift the two up.
He did not immediately appease the other party, but straightened his voice and said: "You and I are both from the Taoist palace. We can do nothing if we kneel down. We just stand up and speak."
The two Taoist disciples trembled, thinking that Xu Dao was annoyed, and the sobs in their mouths suddenly froze. But then they heard again:
"This place is already the West Sea, not the Kingdom of Wu. The things you two have experienced when you fell here can be explained to me by a poor Taoist." Xu Dao said warmly.
Wu and Liang were supported by his magic power, with different expressions on their faces, but they finally talked about their experiences word by word.
It turns out that more than half a month ago, when the Wu Kingdom collapsed, not only the Taoist priests from the Taoist Palace were sent out, but the rest of the Taoist Palace disciples, slaves, and even the entire Wu Kingdom were sent out.
It's just that the way they were sent out was different. Instead of flying out on paper boats, they were in the fragments of the Wu Kingdom and came to the West Sea along with the pieces of Wu Kingdom's world.
The fragments of the Wu Kingdom that fell from the sky did not fall directly into the sea, but were either taken away by the Xihaidao people or turned into islands on the sea.
The entire land of Wu returned to the realm of mountains and seas in a fragmented state, and all merged into the Western Sea.
The closer it is to the boundary of the Dao Palace, the smaller it is. It almost mixes the entire Erhai Lake and then scatters it randomly.
Wu and Liang were on a building ship in the Taoist Palace and came to the West Sea with others. However, after falling into the West Sea, they were immediately captured by the nearby Taoists of the West Sea and were directly reduced to cargo.
Xu Dao listened to the two people's stories and suddenly realized that the collapse of the Wu Kingdom that day was really not just a plan to break the jade, but also a plan to carry on the fire.
He looked at the two people in front of him, not yet figuring out what it meant, but the mark on his forehead started to beat, shaking his soul.