Chapter 216:

Words : 1413 Updated : Sep 25th, 2025

... Thinking of what Grandma said. Keep three parts of clarity within, show seven parts of worldly manners outside. Bai Hemen didn’t manage that. But in his eyes, Lu Ding did. And he did it well—more than just three parts hidden. More like seven within, three outside. Yet just with that three out of ten, he could suppress his peers, making those older than him not dare to meet his eyes. Bai Hemen learned something again. From now on, he’d hide too!! With the Golden Toad’s death, the suppressive item was gone. The Dragon Vein’s Earth Qi of the Golden Toad Nesting Formation shook the entire Ba’er Mountain. Lu Ding took out the gourd given by the Instructor, injected Spiritual Energy, and a pulling force surged forth, sucking in the scattered Dragon Vein Earth Qi of Ba’er Mountain. This place was different from the other two before. Those places were dead formations. But the Golden Toad Nesting was a living one—once the Golden Toad died, the Earth Qi no longer resisted and was obediently sucked into the gourd. Until it was completely emptied. Lu Ding capped the gourd. With a lift of his hand, an object the size of a chicken egg, glowing golden, flew over from the water. This was the golden egg from the Golden Toad Nesting Formation. Originally, the “egg” the Toad held was just a stone egg, a stone orb carried in the mouth of the Dragon Vein. In the Stealth Formation, the Golden Toad carried it as the Earth Qi flowed along. Anyone who’s seen a dragon dance could picture it. Who would’ve thought it actually ended up hugging a golden egg. Lu Ding could count this as an unexpected windfall. Plus the contribution points rewarded earlier by Yunmeng. Once he reached Xitong 749, he could exchange those contribution points for rare spiritual treasures, raise his cultivation realm, and have the Sin Dragon “River Surge into the Sea” wash away its sins. Lu Ding’s combat power would be strengthened again. His confidence would rise. By then, he could lead these Bai Family Cultivators of Qi and probe the depths of the Bai Family. He put away the golden egg. Lu Ding’s harvest in Ba’er Mountain wasn’t over yet. 【Contained Creature: Golden Toad】【Containment Reward: Well Trap Sky Watch Technique】【Well Trap Sky Watch: Use gold to make a well, trap the enemy within, see but a sliver of sky, utterly trapped】 Well Trap Sky Watch Technique. Not great, but not bad—an extra boon for Lu Ding. As for why only “extra.” Because in Lu Ding’s view, Well Trap Sky Watch didn’t live up to the Golden Toad’s style. Of course, maybe it wasn’t a Three-Legged Golden Toad yet. There are many mentions of Golden Toads in folk tales. The most famous: Patriarch Liu Hai teasing the Golden Toad. There are many versions. The one Lu Ding knew came from a storyteller. That guy slammed his gavel, PAH! With a slight accent, he said: “In Changde City, there’s a loofah well that hides a Golden Toad.” Fine, hide it if you want, but it didn’t behave—it’d shoot a white beam of light into the sky in the middle of the night like a show-off. Liu Hai’s family lived next to the well. He was a filial and honest kid. Had just gone to bed when he noticed—eh? It’s bright out? Why aren’t the roosters crowing? D*mn lazy chickens, I’ll deal with you tomorrow. Everyone’s slacking off. Got up to work, planned to chop firewood in the mountains—and here came the tale of Liu Hai chopping wood. But that’s another story. Axe in hand, honest Liu Hai was ready to go but felt oddly tired, like he hadn’t slept at all. Turned out, it wasn’t morning—the well was shining. Liu Hai checked it out, found nothing weird, and eventually left it alone—saved him some lamp oil anyway. Later on, while chopping wood, Liu Hai ran into a pretty girl—actually a fox spirit. She started off: “Brother~ I watch you chop wood every day, I’m so into you, I want to marry you.” Liu Hai said, “That won’t work. You look delicate and soft, not like someone who can work. I’ve got no money and I have to take care of my mom. Let’s not hold each other up.” Fox spirit Hu Xiuying replied, “Doesn’t matter if you’re broke—I’ve got a way.” Liu Hai heard the first part and thought he’d struck gold—“You’re broke, but I’ve got money!” Turns out she just had a way. Fine. “What way?” She opened her mouth and spat out a pearl—white, covered in saliva, kinda gross. Handed it over and said: “Use this to fish out the Golden Toad from your family well. Once you catch it, you can ride it and ascend to immortality.” “Once you’re immortal, you can marry me!” Patriarch Liu Hai thought: Makes sense! Took the pearl and caught the Toad. Then hopped on and rode it. Speed hit seventy mph, heart racing and elated. Whoosh! Shot straight into Heaven’s palace. They checked Liu Hai’s record—filial, honest, and fated. Time to ascend. And so, the legend of Liu Hai teasing the Golden Toad spread. Lu Ding thought— A Golden Toad that can make you immortal—whether it’s you or not—has prestige. But the Well Trap Sky Watch? That’s kinda low-rent. Just as the thought arose— Hey! The Golden Finger activated. “You don’t need to give up Direct Sight Eye.” “If Well Trap Sky Watch isn’t enough, I’ll give you more.” The words started to change. 【Serpent Devour Great Maw, in position】【Well Trap Sky Watch, in position】 Two techniques merged. A new technique formed. 【Technique: Serpent-Toad Pit】【Punishment of the Viper Basin, devoured by ten thousand snakes, no escape, nowhere to hide】【Death-Body Black Prison 2/5 (Corpse-Roasting Execution, Serpent-Toad Pit): Collect all five techniques to unlock the spell ‘Death-Body Black Prison’】 That’s a lot of information in just a few lines. All in all, Lu Ding hit the jackpot in Ba’er Mountain. Earned more than the last two combined. Now he even knew the conditions to unlock Death-Body Black Prison. And you had to understand, everything Lu Ding had gotten so far were techniques—but this “Death-Body Black Prison” was a spell. Don’t underestimate the difference in word order. The gap between them is astronomical. Just in terms of power, technique vs. spell is like poppers vs. grenades—maybe even rockets. Seeing those words from the Golden Finger, Lu Ding now had a short-term goal. But there’s a problem. The Death-Body Black Prison requires five techniques. Corpse-Roasting Execution and Serpent-Toad Pit are both forms of torture. What could the other three be? Too many tortures came to mind—target too broad. Also, Serpent Devour Great Maw came from the Serpent Demon Beauty, and Well Trap Sky Watch came from the Golden Toad. There’s a connection, but not much—it’s hard to find a pattern. Who’d expect those two to combine into Serpent-Toad Pit? “Looks like I need a bit of luck.” Bai Hemen heard that. Immediately followed up, not letting the conversation drop. “Grandma said: smile more, and good luck comes naturally. If you smile more, good things will come.” Lu Ding couldn’t help but laugh again from being speechless. Our grandma’s the Good Luck Fairy from In Search of the Supernatural? That’s a mythical being on par with Nangong Wenya! Catchphrase: “Smile more, and good luck comes naturally.” “Let’s go, let’s go. Ba’er Mountain’s all wrapped up. Time to head to Xitong.” “Not going back to the training base?” Bai Hemen asked, puzzled. Lu Ding looked at him. “What’s the rush? Don’t you want to check out the Bai Family?” Bai Hemen nodded hard. “I do.” “But we probably can’t beat them.” “We’re just returning someone and asking for justice, not picking a fight. Even if there is a fight, if we lose—well, we’ve got Xitong 749, right? Isn’t that so, Brother Wei?” Faced with Lu Ding’s words, Wei Hong smiled. “You’re the Special Investigator from the training facility. If you say so, then so it is.” The title “Special Investigator” didn’t always carry weight. For most people, if a big city didn’t like it, they’d mock you as “a chicken feather playing general,” and you’d have no comeback. But hey, the one carrying that title right now—was Lu Ding.

Chapter 216:

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