Poison of the Human Panacea
Chapter 24
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Yes, it is, why wouldn"t it be?
How to counteract the poison?
The only solution was to take one"s bone out and dig one"s heart out from their chest, death would resolve everything.
Bai Tan shook his head, all of a sudden, his thoughts were all jumbled, at this very moment he exercised qinggong and landed on the river"s surface. With his tiptoe, he stepped on the waves, he moved along the surface of the river as if he was riding the wind and breaking through tides. Then he jumped, and suddenly struck towards the reflection of the falling sun in the water with the hook in his hand, but unexpectedly, the move he made while his thoughts were entangled burst out with a powerful strength that he"d never ever achieved with the move, which caused a t.i.tanic wave to surge on the river"s surface, the shocks made the ship shudder, constantly moving up and down.
"Sect Leader?" Li Wuzhang heard the noises, he walked out of the ship"s hold, and coincidentally, got splashed by the water from the surging wave. He wiped his face, as soon as he lifted his eyes, he saw Bai Tan practicing wushu on the water alone, he couldn"t help but glance at the riversides, worried.
Their current location wasn"t far from Zang Long Dao [1], the place where the Great Wu Lin a.s.sembly would be held in Lop Nur (Nor), without a doubt, there would be plenty of people who chose to follow the same pathway to Zang Long Dao. With Bai Tan"s current striking behavior, it was inevitable that he would attract some trouble.
He looked around, and as expected, in the far distance he saw a group of people with horses in the desert on the river"s right-hand side. Roughly about ten people, all of them wore red clothing and rode white horses, they could be the Mandala Sect from Dongjiang, Li Wuzhang suddenly felt shocked.
For some unknown reason, Gui Yu"er"s expression drastically changed when she heard what Li Wuzhang was saying, "the Mandala Sect?", as soon as she finished speaking, she turned around and hurried into the ship"s hold, accidentally b.u.mping into Ji Du head-on.
Ji Du wrapped his hand around her thin waist, and the handle of his fan stroked over her chin, he teased her, "why does Yu"er [2] swim in such a hurry, is it because the water flow is too fast?"
Gui Yu"er"s face showed a sign of displeasure, which was totally opposite to how she always behaved, she freed herself from him, and lowered her voice as she leaned closer to his ear, "Mandala Sect"s people have come, please don"t let them find out I"m here."
Ji Du"s mind went blank for a second, then he spread out his fan as he spoke with a smile on his face, "oh? Interesting, this is what people call an "unavoidable confrontation between enemies"."
The Mandala Sect was founded by one of the Fu Tu Sect"s Elders a hundred years ago, their wushu has the same origin. When Wu Yanfu was still alive, the Mandala Sect was their ally, especially Mi Lansheng, the Men Zhu [3] of the Mandala Sect who ranked the fifth amongst the Seven Masters. Since childhood, he had long admired Wu Yanfu, he viewed him as a teacher and a friend, and he"d almost acknowledged him as his brother. But now Wu Yanfu had died, to them, it was hard to tell whether the Mandala Sect was still their ally or not.
I wonder, how Mi Lansheng would view Bai Tan, he would definitely not have any positive feelings towards him. This was what Li Wuzhang was thinking at the time, in his mind he sighed, his young and frivolous Sect Leader Shi Di was yet to know how much trouble he could attract after killing the Overlord of the Western Wu Lin. How can he keep him safe and unharmed, he wondered?
"Wu Zhang, what happened to our Sect Leader?" Ji Du patted his shoulder and asked with a low voice.
Li Wuzhang put on a smiley face mask, "I don"t know, his temper is always like this, he"s probably angry again."
"Angry? Who made him angry? Don"t tell me it"s you?" Ji Du joked.
"I hope that"s what it is." Li Wuzhang touched the mask on his face as he laughed bitterly.
Ji Du glanced at him and thought, this poor second Shi Di, infatuated with Bai Tan, doesn"t know that Shizun is right near him, having such thoughts, it"s like pulling out a tooth from a tiger"s mouth. Fortunately for him, he knows, otherwise who knows how he"ll die in the future.
"In my opinion, it might be that the Sect Leader got irritated by the things people were talking about back then." Ji Du leaned against the mast, then looked towards Bai Tan"s back. Within the sunset light, the youngster wore beautiful clothing, his sleeves floated in the air as he cleaved through the wind and slashed through the waves, his movements were like the phoenix"s nirvana, the view suddenly dazzled him.
Shizun, ah Shizun, how can a golden koi always be kept inside a pond, his wushu talent is extraordinarily high, it"s such a pity that you insisted on holding him inside your palm, refusing to let him fly freely. But if you really let him fly away, he could make his mark at the first shot and vanish into the sky, by then you would no longer be able to catch him, no matter how hard you try. So, Shizun, ah, your student truly understands you.
Rustle, rustle — Ji Du heard the noise near him, as he tilted his sight to discover the origin of the noise, he saw his nightmare snake climbing up his arm, it nodded its head as if it had something it wanted to say. So, he immediately walked away and asked in snake language, "Shizun, what"s the matter?"
The snake stuck its tongue out and made light hissing sounds, "this little b.a.s.t.a.r.d performed San Van Po so badly, your teacher can"t withstand it any longer. Go and enlighten him, in this third move, you cleave first, then sweep second, with chi gathered at Xian Shu [4], hold neili first then release it, unlike how he"s waving around and striking nonsensically with great force now."
Ji Du heard his teacher"s words, he cried bitterly in his mind and thought that the one being a man"s teacher failed to teach properly at the very beginning, is now pa.s.sing this difficult task onto him, how do I dare to teach that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d with unpredictable behavior?! I"m definitely going to be killed if I do this! Although he was thinking like this, he didn"t dare to disobey the order, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and spoke, "…yes."
"I will be waiting to test the results. If I see him using the move as he is now, then I will be blaming you." Ji Du"s scalp suddenly became numb.
Far off, the young man that wore a red robe sewn with patterns of flame took the monocular from his left eye off and frowned, the horse underneath him snorted loudly, anxiously. This man was born with the clear features of the Tian Zhu Tribe, a strong and muscular body, a clear outline of facial features, thick eyebrows, and wide eyes. His curly, bushy brown hair was restrained with a forehead ribbon that was embedded with peac.o.c.k feathers, a golden earring was worn in both ears, the man"s body emitted an aura of arrogance and wildness, which made him look extraordinary. The old shaman with a black cape behind the man asked with a low voice, "Men Zhu, who is the person on the other side?"
"Take a look at the movement of the man above the water, it seems like it"s San Van Po," a slight trace of surprise emitted from the voice of the man with red clothing, "although the movement is messy, there"s also a pattern within the messiness, as if he has blended in his own moves."
The shaman in black clothing reached out his old, dry hand, with his hand shaking, he took over the monocular, then looked to the far side, the wrinkles on his face trembled, "that man looks familiar. Could it be… he"s Tian Mo"s…the youngest student?"
"Oh? The Elder remained hidden in the forest for so many years, and yet, you know how he looks?" Mi Lansheng"s eyes became very sharp as he spoke coldly, "this little b.a.s.t.a.r.d is truly amazing, he killed his teacher with his own hands, and now he has become the Sect Leader."
“I really didn"t expect this," the old shaman shook his head, he recalled the back of the man who didn"t even move an inch, when protecting the youngster during the blizzard that caused all light to vanish from the world back then. He suddenly felt deeply touched, then spoke as he sighed, "I wasn"t expecting that he"d really come back to life and kill his teacher."
Could it be, the people who used the demonic vine to resurrect themselves had all became heartless demons?
Mi Lansheng heard the shaman, but he couldn"t understand his words, he was also not in the mood to clarify, "then, let me* go and face this demon."
"How can we bother Men Zhu to confront that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d himself? Let your subordinates go and try first?!"
"I agree, if you, Men Zhu, go challenge that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, aren"t you doing something that would lower your cla.s.s?"
The two Guardians spoke, one after another. Because Bai Tan was the one who killed the Overlord of the Western Wu Lin, it couldn"t be helped that people would be wanting to challenge him themselves, but how could Mi Lansheng not understand their true intent behind their words?
His expression immediately froze, "you just watch from the side after I go to him, don"t interrupt me."
After Bai Tan finished venting his emotions, he leaped back onto the ship, absolutely exhausted.
The time now was close to evening, gazing far into the desert, the glinting river was winding through the desert, it appeared to be a large fire dragon that was flying into the sky, chasing after the sun with the reflections of the afterglow. The view of the desert on both sides of the river was spectacular and beautiful. Bai Tan wasn"t in the mood to enjoy the scenery, when his sight went past the pair of figures riding at the riverside, he suddenly paused.
One person was charging at the front, it was a young girl with luxurious clothing, and the one that was chasing after her seemed like a strong and agile man. Although it was just a pair of ordinary herdsman, they immediately grabbed his attention.
"Shizun… Shizun, save me!" he yelled in a panic, the violent-tempered horse he was riding on charged forward recklessly, his body was being tossed up and down as if he was being washed by fierce tides, he helplessly grabbed the rein tightly, scared of being shaken off the horse.
"Your Shizun isn"t here!" a response came from his side, apathetically and with giggles. A black figure dashed past from his side, the man turned his face around, with a strand of gra.s.s clamped in between his teeth, the man sn.i.g.g.e.red at him and at the moment when they were about to pa.s.s each other, the man whipped his horse"s b.u.t.t in pa.s.sing.
The horse sprinted even faster. He leaned his body tightly into the horse"s back, the weeds that grew wildly in spring brushed along his arms as if they were dandy brushes, his face kept getting poked and he felt burning pain, he couldn"t help closing his eyes and screaming out loud, "Shizun! Shizun!"
"There"s a bottomless hole in the front, if you don"t want to die, then halt the rein and get off the horse yourself."
When Bai Tan heard the distant response coming from the back, he opened his eyes and looked at the pitch black hole that was only inches away. Petrified by what he saw, his body trembled and he was no longer able to get a hold of the rein, and then, charged straight into the bottomless hole. With a cry from the horse, his body suddenly became airborne. "Uwaaaaaaaaa! Shizun!" there wasn"t enough time for him to perform the qing gong he learned secretly from others, and so he opened his mouth and began crying and yelling desperately.
Whoosh…after a burst of wing flapping sound, Bai Tan felt his back became heavy, a big, long and bony hand of a man reached out from behind him, holding his hand along with the rein in his palm, the man locked onto the horse"s belly with his long legs, then shouted at a low volume, "forward!"
Suddenly, as if the violent-tempered horse had become a dragon, it put all its energy into one jump and flew across the gigantic hole that looked like the doorway to h.e.l.l. The running speed decreased slowly, but Bai Tan"s heart was still pounding in time to the beat of the horse"s hooves, yet to recover from the horror he"d just experienced.
When the horse finally stopped moving, he immediately turned around and dove into the body of the man behind him, making the man fall off the horse, and together, they fell into the gra.s.s bushes. After rolling for a while, Bai Tan dug his head into the wide, solid chest of the man and wrapped his arms around his waist, no matter how hard the man tried to get him off by pulling his waistband, he wouldn"t release his grip. Due to the fact that they had been sweating a lot, the man"s clothing released a special smell of incense, which was supposed to be cold and gloomy and ever-lasting, between sleeps and nights, but had now become dense and real, like the sunlight, like the spring breeze.
He greedily took a few sniffs at the scent and was finally able to put his heart at rest. His waistband was loosened and the back of his neck was being pinched by the man, who was playing around with the tip of his ear as if he was a kitten.
He shyly lifted his head and saw that the man"s beautiful hair was scattered across his long and elegant neck, his thin lips were angled in an arc that vaguely resembled a smile. The man squinted his eyes, not cold and sharp, but warm and gentle.
The heat in his face became even hotter, the man sighed, blowing a wet breath onto his face, which was like a catalyst, "well, if you rely this heavily on your Shizun, what are you going to do if your Shizun is not by your side?"
Bai Tan felt like his ears and voice were going to melt, he softly spoke, "was Shizun really willing to let Tan"er jump in and die?"
The man"s Adams apple throbbed, he lowered his eyelashes and gazed deeply at him. Bai Tan opened his eyes widely, his chest was being filled with huge horror and hope, a big hand caressed his cheek and covered his eyes, the big jade ring on the man"s thumb touched the side of his eye, its coldness sank into his bones, but the finger pad was hot, half ice and half fire, he felt like he was being locked up in an icy dungeon and being burnt by fire at the same time. "Why were you born with such a beautiful pair of eyes, Tan"er?"
Bai Tan suddenly felt his heart was echoing like drums, he immediately jumped up from the ground and fled into the gra.s.s bush, "I knew it, Shizun must be unwilling to let me die! But why is he unwilling to?"
The wine bottle plopped onto the ground and shattered into pieces. A breeze blew past his cheek, it was cold and wet. He blinked his eyes dazedly and used the back of his hand to wipe his cheek. Why…why did I cry? Suddenly, a pair of hands covered his eyes, startling Bai Tan.
"Tan gege, you haven"t played with me for many days already." The clear voice of a youngster echoed from behind his ear, and a cape was put on him.
"Stop it, Mi Sha." Bai Tan knocked off his hands and turned around to face him, but then he saw Li Wuzhang, who appeared to be worried, was also standing behind him, and so he asked, "what happened?"
"Look at the people over there, they are from the Mandala Sect and it seems like they are chasing after our ship."
Bai Tan looked towards the direction he was pointing in and saw a group of people wearing red clothing riding fast towards them on the great desert, leaving clouds of sand floating behind them. The clothing of the one who was leading them looked more like a burning flame, flamboyant and almost too bright for people to look at. "Could that man be Mi Lansheng, the one who"s ranked fifth amongst the Seven Masters of the Western Wu Lin? Interesting." Ban Tan"s curled his lips, "if I* am going to become the Overlord of Wu Lin, then I definitely need some stepping stones, so, I"ll start with him."
Li Wuzhang clenched his teeth, "but… you almost lost control of your power yesterday, Sect Leader."
"I"m fine today, stop whining. If I avoid the fight then others would think that I"m scared of him, wouldn"t I be boosting other people"s aspiration and reducing my own reputation?" Tan raised his voice, "halt the ship!"
Translator: Crispyfry
Proofreader: Grumpykit
QC: Xiao
Xiao"s Comments: Crying…Bai Tan was so in love and yet so in denial…sigh. Also, I"m interested in what secrets the old shaman knows~
Translator"s Notes:
[1] Zang Long Dao (藏龙岛) – the name of an island, literal translation would be "the Island where the Dragon Hides"
[2] Yu"er (鱼儿) – the name of this character also means fish, so that"s why Ji Du made a joke about fish with her
[3] Men Zhu (门主) – a t.i.tle in Mandala Sect that is equivalent to Sect Leader within the Mandala Sect
[4] Xian Shu (悬枢) – an acupuncture point that is located on at the middle of a person"s waist, within the hollow below the first lumbar spine. If you are curious about the actual location then Google it.
Chapter 25