Chapter 370: Chapter 259: Call Me Brother Jing
"Why is the thing you’re looking for in the intestines?"
Seeing the location pointed by the half Star Disc, Zhang Ze asked curiously.
"Shut up." The half Star Disc responded, quite displeased.
"It’s strange, isn’t it? You said you sealed the Tao Embryo, so why is part of you inside the intestines?" Zhang Ze persisted.
[Indeed, and if it’s in the intestines, hasn’t it turned into crap already?]
The Profound Identification was as sarcastic as ever towards the half Star Disc.
"You bastard, I’ll kill you all! Can you two have some culture? This is the body of the Innate Tao Embryo, you know! Pure and undefiled, unto itself it is a universe, can you not be so vulgar!"
The half Star Disc shouted like a female Little Ghost.
"Artifact Spirit Brother, calm down. So, what is so miraculous about that Star Crown?" Helm Leader Li tried to mediate.
"Huff, it’s my other core part. Strictly speaking, I’m an aggregation of magical artifacts. After my fall, part of me was saved. If I sensed correctly, one of my Star Crowns is right there.
"To claim my other self, I must first seize the Star Crown and then find a chance to blow it to smithereens!"
[So why is your Star Crown inside the intestines of this Tao Embryo?]
The Profound Identification didn’t give up on this topic.
Now dependent on others, the half Star Disc hesitated for a moment before saying, "I didn’t expect the Tao Embryo to suck its finger after falling asleep, so... that’s how it happened."
"If the Tao Embryo hadn’t swallowed the Star Crown, there wouldn’t be all these troubles afterward."
[Still not entirely your fault...]
"You lousy mirror, wait for it. Once I retrieve the Star Crown, I’ll battle you to the death!"
[Sad, you’ve lived for tens of thousands of years. Can’t you be as mature as me?]
Seeing this, Zhang Ze quickly pulled the Immortal Binding Rope to break up the quarrel.
"We’ll talk about the duel later. I have two questions."
"Go ahead," the half Star Disc said.
"First question: When you exit from inside the Profound Identification, can you maintain your current form?"
"Hmm, no, I can’t exist independently after exiting. If I return to Li Yu’s body, Li Yu will revert to that muddled state. I will also fall back into slumber."
[So you have to stay inside me, right? Come on, call me Brother Jing and let me hear it.]
"I’ll kill you!"
Once again, the half Star Disc issued worthless threats.
Zhang Ze watched the trembling and incoherent Star Disc, then glanced at the Profound Identification teasing in the black space.
Suddenly, he somewhat understood the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
The reason being nothing other than the half Star Disc presenting too tempting a target.
Among the magical artifacts that could exchange words with the Profound Identification, the Jade Book Tower was more of a steady type, offering not much fun in interaction.
The Celestial Calculation Disc had a somewhat intolerant temperament, if you upset it, it could ignore you for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Only the half Star Disc could argue with the Profound Identification and yet lose every time.
It’s a case of defeat after defeat, battle after defeat.
"Ahem, you two pause for now. There’s a second issue. If my memory serves, there’s a statue blocking the intestines as well, right? How do we get through?"
The half Star Disc stopped arguing with the Profound Identification and turned its disc towards Zhang Ze, saying, "This problem is for you to solve. How did you revive the Immortal statue at the sacrificial site? Just do that again."
"Ah, this..." Zhang Ze scratched his head; he was indeed unsure.
But it didn’t matter; he could slowly try when he got there. After all, exhaustive trials were his specialty.
With the plan set, the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror carried a few people through the body of the Innate Tao Embryo, checking everyone’s condition as they flew. Another Wooden Fish Taoist was still in seclusion in a stone house, writing his book "New Canon in Canon."
The other Wooden Fish Sect cultivators, divided in two, were quietly silent in their rooms, hugging the sect canon in a daze.
The recent commotion caused by the resurrection of the Great Mother Goddess statue at the sacrificial site did not cause any disturbances.
These followers, influenced by the Tao Embryo, whose minds were ruled by the Great Mother Goddess, were truly easy to manage.
After circling around, the Profound Identification paused at the starting point of the small intestine.
Then unloaded Zhang Ze and Li Yu.
When exiting, Zhang Ze softly reminded the Profound Identification, "No matter what, the half Star Disc is a venerable predecessor who sacrificed for the peace of the Four Continents, don’t mess it up too badly."
[Understood, I just want to chat with it.]
The statue of the Great Mother Goddess at the head of the small intestine was not completely identical to the one from the sacrificial ground. This statue’s head was larger, and it was sitting in a knee-hugging pose, blocking the hole completely.
Standing before the stone statue, Zhang Ze reflected on the mischievous operations he had performed in recent days.
It likely had nothing to do with the blood sacrifice to the Mother Goddess and head-to-head epic battles. After discussing with the half Star Disc and Li Yu earlier, they confirmed these actions were actually ineffective.
The issue likely stemmed from Zhang Ze’s handling and the additives he included in his process.
"Helm Leader Li, any new discoveries?" Zhang Ze turned and asked.
"My knowledge is shallow; I haven’t found anything new. Let’s proceed as we discussed before."
With those words, a black aura appeared in Li Yu’s hand, foul and heavily laden with Yin Killing Qi.
As his entire palm was enshrouded in black aura, he placed his hand on his thigh. Amidst the sizzling and corroding sound, he gouged out a large piece of grey clay.
The once deadly black aura now used on his own body.
Nonetheless, this body was just a clay statue, so there wasn’t any major damage.
After digging and scraping here and there, Li Yu managed to shape another small figure from clay for Zhang Ze, but he now looked significantly shorter and much thinner.
Zhang Ze accepted the clay figure and then began to rummage through the Hundred Treasures Bag.
Quickly, a pile of junk was laid out on the ground, and Zhang Ze started fiddling with the automatic Merit Machine, with Tang’s voice emanating from the battered device once more.
A warped chanting sound echoed softly beneath the Mother Goddess statue.
Once the necessary BGM was prepared, Zhang Ze began stuffing items into the small clay figure in his hand.
There were inexplicable metals, Divine Talismans drawn personally by Tang, and other various items that might or might not be useful.
By the eighth experiment, the Great Mother Goddess statue in front of him suddenly began to tremble.
This time, Zhang Ze had stuffed in some waste slag from Dan Dan Mine.
The waste slag from Dan Dan Mine had allowed Lily to unlock the Storage Bomb and Earth Vein Transmission tech tree, and now it seemed incredibly enticing to the Great Mother Goddess’s innate Tao embryo.
The curled-up Mother Goddess statue didn’t eject the clay figure as normal rites would demand but instead raised its head, uttering a series of hollow wails.
It was somewhat like a newborn child or a freshly born cub, was it hungry?
The statue extracted its body from the blocked hole, then spread its arms and crawled toward Zhang Ze.
Just like a child wanting a bottle.
The statues existing within the Innate Tao Embryo also possessed some attributes of the Innate Tao Embryo.
Their image originated from the faith of primordial ancestors, both influencing the world while being influenced by it, forming a closed feedback loop that constituted the internal space of the Innate Dao Body.
The obsession of the Wooden Fish Sect believers had shaped that sacrificial place, and through cruel sacrifices, turned the Great Mother Goddess statue there into a monster.
But this one, blocking the small intestine, remained pure and untainted since it hadn’t been affected by sacrifices and beliefs.
Zhang Ze clapped his hands, holding up the mine slag to lure out the Great Mother Goddess statue, and just as he was about to signal for the Profound Identification and Li Yu to enter the cave, he suddenly had an idea.
Why not pack this thing up and take it along?
If they didn’t find the Star Crown mentioned by the Star Disc inside the intestines, wouldn’t they just be going from one prison to another?
Besides, it seems like this Innate Tao Embryo doesn’t have the ...
At least, according to the fragmented memory of the Star Disc, there really isn’t a hole behind this enormous Innate Tao Embryo.
Not sure if the Star Disc was censored, or if this Innate Tao Embryo indeed lacks one.
Zhang Ze beckoned forth the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, transforming it into a fog door behind him.
Then, like a cat teasing a mouse, he began breaking off pieces of the Dan Dan Mine slag and dropping them onto the ground, guiding the statue’s crawl.
The Great Mother Goddess statue also crawled forward bit by bit like a child, quietly picking up and eating the slag from the ground, then crawling into the Profound Identification’s internal space.
...
Within the Profound Identification’s internal space, the fragmented Star Disc was restlessly reading a book.
Complaining while flipping through pages.
"Wait, Dongqi is really gone? What about my National Guardian Duke title? Is the Sword Sect going to compensate me?"
"Who is Lu Yuzhou? Back then, the Celestial Sect Leader was called Xie, sigh..."
"What is this Hundred Demons Sect, where did they come from? Once I regain my strength, I’ll catch them all and send them to the Purification Room!"
"Hey, why did you touch me? Am I wrong?"
[I didn’t touch you, look behind you.]
The fragmented Star Disc turned around and saw a large stone face staring at it.
The statue that crawled in wanted to grab it and stuff it into its mouth.
Kids are like that, they’ll put anything in their mouth to taste.
Knowing full well it was now useless, the fragmented Star Disc yelled out in panic, "Damn, where’d this come from! Help me!"
[Call me Brother Jing.]
"You damn...!"
Seeing how stubborn the fragmented Star Disc remained, the Profound Identification conjured a whirlwind in the dark space, preventing its escape.
"Alright, brother, I was wrong, just keep that thing away from me."
Once the fragmented Star Disc relented, the Profound Identification raised a black wall to separate the statue from it.
Sitting on the ground within the partition, the statue gazed around the black curtain in boredom, idly sucking its fingers. Soon, however, some children’s toys appeared in the enclosed space, and the dark curtain transformed into a sunny forest.
As Understand Brother, the Profound Identification indeed had read parenting books; it was just unexpected that besides quarreling, he actually got to use this knowledge one day.
The relieved fragmented Star Disc was about to hurl some harsh words to reclaim its pride when it noticed the Profound Identification writing on the ground.
[If you scream while reading again, I’ll throw you in there to play with it.]
The fragmented Star Disc immediately quieted down.
Besides, speaking truthfully, the infant-like statue was indeed quite unsettling.
Standing there, it was about three meters tall, with a large face and a gaping hole for a mouth that occupied half of it.
Throw it into any horror game or creepy little story, and it’d suffice as a boss for the last few levels.
...
Inside the small intestine, Zhang Ze and Li Yu were traversing the passage, occasionally communicating with the Profound Identification to relay messages to the fragmented Star Disc, confirming the location of the Star Crown.
After they rounded a corner, someone stood up from behind a protruding large rock.
Someone was following them.