Who told you to close your eyes?
You promised to teach me the family skills tomorrow, how could you just die like that? Did you get my permission?
Old Hu did this in a very casual manner, so Xu Qing decided to be meticulous for him for once.
Taking out the Soul Reviving Pill, Xu Qing spared no pain, he wouldn’t need this thing. If he didn’t give it to someone familiar now, he might not have a clear conscience in the future.
Hu Baosong, who calculated all his life, couldn’t have imagined that Xu Qing would be willing to spend so much, pulling him back from the Ghost Gate with that final kick.
Hu Baosong slowly woke up, raised his head, and saw a young man looking at him with unfriendly eyes.
The young man pointed at the sky outside, squinting his eyes: "Old Hu, see that, the sky is already bright, shouldn’t you fulfill your promise and teach me your skills?"
Hu Baosong widened his eyes, he had already calculated his own time, no matter what, he should not see today’s sun.
If not, he wouldn’t have told Xu Qing that as long as he could wait till today, he would teach him his best skills.
Hu Baosong felt the dense vitality in his body constantly being lost and replenished, though he couldn’t say anything.
"Why are you doing this, I’m just an old man, am I worth you wasting so much energy?"
Xu Qing raised his hand to interrupt: "Don’t think too much, I’m just greedy for your skills. Just tell me, will you teach or not? If you don’t, I’ll certainly turn you into a Walking Corpse and sell you to the Black Mill for debt repayment tomorrow."
Hu Baosong blew his beard and glared, very unwilling in his heart.
Who would have thought that he, an old fox, lived all his life, but ended up being set up by a young lad in the end.
"That’s the Hu Yang Clan’s secret skill, if I teach you, wouldn’t it break the rules?"
Xu Qing smiled: "What’s the big deal? My master Liu Youdao even acknowledged the old willow tree at the village entrance as his godmother. After some days, I’ll go to the Hu Yang Ancient Tomb, offer incense to the ancestors, and recognize them as godparents, wouldn’t we be family then?"
Hu Baosong was silent for a moment, sighed: "This body of mine is already exhausted. Without divine power, it can’t be recovered. Though you’ve done so much, I’m afraid I still can’t escape the limit of life."
"In such a short time, how much can I teach you?"
Xu Qing was silently speechless.
The Soul Reviving Pill can indeed revive the dead and rebuild bones, but it has certain limitations; it only works effectively on those whose lifespan hasn’t ended due to accidental injuries. If one’s life is already ending, it still can’t extend their life.
Hu Baosong at this moment was like a wick burning out; no matter how much oil he added, when the wick burnt out, the flame would still extinguish.
"How much longer do you have?" Xu Qing frowned and asked.
"Xu kid, have you heard of the life and death fate?" Hu Baosong said slowly: "A person forms a soul every seven days from birth, forming seven souls in forty-nine days. After death, a soul disperses every seven days, and in forty-nine days, the seven souls are completely gone."
"That’s why the funeral practices are conducted every seven days because of this life and death fate."
Hu Baosong sighed: "You pulled me back from the Ghost Gate, but I still can’t escape the life and death boundary. Ordinary people lose a soul every seven days after death, I have all seven souls, but my lifespan hasn’t changed. It only means that after forty-nine days of my death, my souls will disperse completely at once."
Xu Qing was surprised; isn’t this just like installment loans and lump sum loans?
"Old Hu, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"
Hu Baosong was amused: "Aren’t you trying to learn skills, why are you asking this now?"
"Learning skills can be postponed."
"These don’t matter, what’s important is forty-nine days. For a living person, it may not be long, but for someone about to die, it’s immensely precious." Xu Qing said, moving familiar to the shelf of urns for sale, counting from left to right, taking down the fourth and fifth urns.
Opening the tightly sealed urn lids, besides various sizes of silver ingots, the top had a corner of a book that was two fingers thick sticking out.
Xu Qing pushed aside the silver ingots and took out the book.
The cover was yellowed, and on the upper right corner, it had four small words "Grotto Heaven Talisman".
Xu Qing looked up at the old man sitting in the wicker chair, smiling at him.
"This talisman is an initial explanation that I obtained when I visited the Qingqiu Cave Heaven site in my youth, it doesn’t count as the Hu Yang Clan’s secret skill."
Xu Qing remembered the lingering demon aura on the Peace Talisman Hu Baosong gave to Wu Yaohua and his son.
"Qingqiu is said to be the Fox Kingdom, does it mean the Hu Yang Clan has a connection with the demon race?"
Hu Baosong nodded: "The Hu Yang Clan has two ancestors, one was a Fox Girl from Tushan who achieved enlightenment, and the other was my ancestor from the Yang surname."
"The Hu Yang Clan has passed down generations, and until today, the fox’s bloodline is very thin, and the Hu Yang Clan is almost at its end."
"Your grandmaster Yang Qiying’s lineage, by his generation, had become no different from ordinary people."
"Tushan Fox Girl..." Xu Qing felt it was familiar, upon thinking carefully, he suddenly remembered a legend.
It was said that when Da Yu was controlling the floods, he met the Tushan female."
The Tushan female was a nine-tailed fox who achieved enlightenment. After Da Yu controlled the floods, he married her at Sang Platform, which later became known as Chu Hill.
Tushan’s other name was Tushan Collection."
Xu Qing thought of this and mentioned the legend to Hu Baosong.
Unfortunately, Hu Baosong didn’t know about the Tushan Fox Girl or who Da Yu was.
"Tssk, Old Hu, you really are deeply concealed..."
Xu Qing walked around Hu Baosong and closely examined him, but found no hidden fox tail.
"Xu kid, what are you looking at?"