Chapter 23: The Old Thieves
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Approximately half a year ago, Little Chili Pepper was preparing to lure a corpse when she encountered the old monk, Ji Fei and the fat monk, Shui Jing.
The Spirit Guiding Light, Necromancy Seal and the two Spirit Needles each had its own purpose, while concurrently they were important instruments in the Luo family’s mystic technique of the Corpse Raising Formation.
At the time the fat monk and the old monk had each exhibited their abilities. Together they brought Little Chili Pepper into submission. She thought that she had come across people of erudite learning but as the other monk was pinning her down, the old monk seized the opportunity to steal the Spirit Guiding Light and the Necromancy Seal. By the time she noticed, the two old thieves had already escaped to an unknown location.
The people of Crow Ridge were from a strong clan that had lived in seclusion for over two thousand years and no Inner Disciple had ever suffered such a severe loss. Little Chili Pepper had not been doing anything else for the past half a year except to look for the thieves. A few days ago, she heard the news that Ji Fei and Shui Jing were spotted at Mount Emei so she rushed over immediately. She had circled the mountain for some time before she could finally catch up to them.
Little Chili Pepper was quick of wit and eloquent, her speech carried a light Southern Chuan accent which was crisp yet somehow still had a burning hot sensation. It was pleasant to the ears beyond explanation. Ji Fei and Shui Jing stood aside unrepentantly, every once in a while they would try to use lame arguments and flawed logic to defend themselves.
Once she had finished speaking, Little Chili Pepper looked towards Wen Leyang and implored, “Help me.”
Wen Leyang fished out a carrot, in one bite he bit off the thin, sharp end and said, “Earlier, the old monk said that the lantern was taken away by the Chan Master, Shui Jing?”
The old monk Ji Fei chimed in hastily, “Yes, there were two precious treasures, we each took one so it’s fair and square.” He glared gleefully at the fat monk, seeming to take delight in his misfortune.
Shui Jing’s huge face turned scarlet and he stuttered for almost half a day. Suddenly, he smacked his thigh and said, “d.a.m.n it, I can’t endure this hards.h.i.+p any longer!”
Wen Leyang was astonished in his heart as he thought that the monk would try to escape. Unexpectedly, Shui Jing straightened his back and walked in big strides until he was in front of Little Chili Pepper, “I can’t stand this Ox Nose’s flowery words and cunning statements anymore, I was the one who damaged the lantern! Now that it is gone, how can I compensate you? Please instruct me as you please, even if you wanted the respected Laozi’s trousers, this monk would steal for you… bring it on!”
Without waiting for the red-clothed girl’s reply, Wen Leyang interrupted and asked, “How did this fine lantern get damaged?”
The fat monk pointed at the old monk and resentfully lamented, “It was none other than his lousy idea! He damaged a fine item without a cause and it almost killed me!”
The old monk awkwardly rubbed his palms as he smiled mockingly, “We came across a rainstorm in the Nine Peaks Mountain! Though the Art of Corpse Luring appeared to be a dishonest practice, we as Taoist pract.i.tioners do not always keep the stereotype of only holding on to our family’s practice. Instead, we should corroborate from a wide range of sources and collect every strong point from a million types of practices. To us, knowledge has no limits… Hey, young fellow, what has all these got to do with you?” Halfway through his conversation, the old monk Ji Fei noticed Wen Leyang’s expression and immediately switched the topic. Ji Fei had a ‘none of your business’ look on his face as he glared askance at Wen Leyang.
Bang!
A loud noise was heard and black smoke veiled the air, Wen Xiaoyi waved the big-muzzled weapon around and moved forward, “I will shoot the two of you mother*ckers to death!”
As the sooty black smoke dissipated, two African-looking monks leaped about and screamed in pain, “Why is there a gun!”
The two monks were not ordinary beings, their vision and reflexes were unbelievably swift and once they heard the loud bang, their years of self-cultivation practice immediately kicked into gear. They condensed the power from their entire bodies onto their face while at the same time they walked backwards at full speed.
The impacting force of the iron pellets and the firmness of their face contested for a while.
The iron pellets lost.
However, the black smoke that had exploded from the gunpowder was not wasted for it was now plastered all over the two monks’ faces.
Wen Xiaoyi was quickly and dexterously refilling the big-muzzled weapon with gunpowder and pellets.
The old monk stretched out his finger and pointed towards Wen Xiaoyi, “You… why are you shooting at us!” He had a face full of black ash like the other monk and they jumped around in pain. But because Wen Xiaoyi is a little maiden, both of them were too embarra.s.sed to raise a hand to her.
Wen Leyang hastily stepped forward to protect the little girl, “Who are the two of you, really?”
“This poor monk’s Taoist monastic name is Ji Fei, my practice of the Buddhist magic arts is beyond the prediction of the divine and evil, my three feet of double-edged sword…”
Wen Xiaoyi finished refilling the gunpowder in just a moment, she raised the big-muzzled weapon and ran forwards while shouting at Wen Leyang, “Move aside, Wen Leyang!”
Wen Leyang grabbed her before she could run forward and felt, for the first time, that the nice little girl has turned out to be a violent and hot-tempered person.
Little Chili Pepper has a head full of question marks as well, “You… is your surname… Wen? From the Nine Peaks Mountain?” As she was saying that, she unwittingly s.h.i.+fted her pose to a defensive one. The undead toddler Ah Dan too immediately stood protectively in front of its master.
Wen Xiaoyi cursed ferociously, “These two f*ckers released the Spirit Guiding Light outside the Red Leaves Forest and it almost killed my dear brother!”
Ji Fei and Shui Jing looked at each other when they heard Wen Leyang’s name. They both had an odd expression on their faces, followed by an expression of sudden revelation. A considerable amount of black soot fell off their shocked faces and the fat monk appeared to be even more embarra.s.sed, “You… you were in the Red Leaves Forest at that time?”
The old monk too, hastily forced a smile, “Misunderstanding, what a misunderstanding!”
Wen Leyang laughed out loud and asked with interest, “How is it a misunderstanding?”
The fat monk and the old monk were two people who were engaged in self-cultivation. Usually, they battled one another like two shadows, and matters of the real world rarely mean anything to them. However, they possessed one redeeming feature, that is if they were caught performing an evil deed, they would try to escape if they could or they would deny it if they could, they would never bully their way through and hit another person. They would not even use their powers to cause trouble for ordinary people.
The secret Corpse Raising Art of the Luo family had initially no connection to the two monk’s cultivation practice at all. But when they came across Little Chili Pepper who was behaving mysteriously, they felt it was exciting and so stole the Spirit Guiding Light and the Necromancy Seal. Not long after they stole the two precious treasures, they were able to figure out their usage and set about looking for an old corpse with the intention of trying out these precious objects. There were some excellent corpses in Mount Mogan, but the two of them dared not set foot back there for fear that they will encounter Little Chili Pepper once again.
Afterwards, the two of them wandered all the way to the Nine Peaks Mountain. While they were there they unintentionally discovered that there was a corpse’s smell around the Red Leaves Forest. The two monks were overjoyed as if they had discovered a precious treasure and under the old monk’s instigation, the fat monk tempered a drop of blood and essence into the lantern and released it into the air.
They only had a superficial knowledge and did not know that if the lantern was not released according to the correct ancient time units or did not conform to proper practice methods, essentially it would not lure out the ancient corpse. Furthermore, the Wen family had its own method of corpse suppression so even if it was done personally by a master necromancer from Crow Ridge, he may not have necessarily succeeded as well. They did not know that one should not release the Spirit Guiding Light in a rainstorm. But the most unexpected thing to them was the giant serpent’s corpse that had lain dead for a countless number of years near the Red Leaves Forest.
Once the lantern had been released, a fully-dead giant serpent was forced out of its tomb and even triggered the Red Leaves Forest’s brutal Prohibition Spell. The heavy rain then extinguished the Spirit Guiding Light and the fat monk was severely wounded due to the repercussion. The old monk carried him and ran away as far as he could.
The old monk and the fat monk recounted their tale together and as they completed their narrative, Ji Fei suddenly turned around and punched the fat monk as he cursed, “Motherf*cker, are you collecting a new apprentice or a plaintiff!”
Wen Xiaoyi was holding the big-muzzled weapon as she said ferociously, “Wen Leyang, you can’t just let the both of them go so easily!”
Wen Leyang, however, had an indifferent att.i.tude towards the two. To him, it was adequate as long as they had been speaking the truth. In the first place, he did not have the impression that these two monks were truly evil. They had decent abilities yet their refusal to bully the weak deserves admiration. In the second place, he was virtuous and sincere, albeit the two monks had shameful means of handling matters, they did not have truly evil intentions. So, even though he had almost been killed because of them, the misfortune had become a blessing in disguise as under an enormous coincidence he had managed to accomplish Wen Lazi’s legacy cultivation method. One could say that this serendipitous achievement was granted by the actions of these two monks.
The red-clothed girl could see that there was an eagerness in Wen Leyang’s gaze as she asked, “The Red Leaves Forest? Isn’t that Wen Bucao’s place of Birth, Life, Sickness, and Death? In that case, you are the Inner Disciple who had pa.s.sed the Major Examination three years ago?”
The three families, despite these years of having little to no correspondence or conflict with one another, had a sense of pride at their shared legacy of being the descendants of the ancestor Tuoxie and would feel a burst of delight at meeting a fellow descendant.
The old monk rolled his eyes around furtively and saw that there was a tinge of compet.i.tive pride in the red-clothed girl’s being. He chuckled and attempted to stir her u by saying, “It would seem like the girl and the young fellow here are old family friends. However, if this old monk was to speak the truth, the young girl’s abilities are far more lacking when compared to the little brother’s.”
Little Chili Pepper flicked her eyes towards the old monk but refused to be drawn into his trap, “Wen Leyang, these two old thieves are full of lies, you ought to not trust them so easily!”
Wen Leyang tossed the remaining half of the carrot into his mouth. After chewing for a while he grinned cheerfully, showing a row of neat, pearly white teeth which shone cleanly from his face. When the entire Prohibition Spell of the Red Leaves Forest had been triggered by the Yin Chi during that dark, stormy night, the Place of Birth, Life, Sickness, and Death was like an undefended city. If the two monks had intentionally schemed on bringing down the Wen family, they would have attacked the place in the beginning. They would also not have let Wen Leyang and Wen Xiaoyi slip away so easily from the Forest when they were tricked by the two foolish uncles.
Wen Xiaoyi angrily spoke to the two monks, “There was a foot-long Yin Chi hidden in the dead giant serpent and it bit Wen Leyang once. He almost died!”
The fat monk’s expression was obviously shocked, followed by him nodding his head repeatedly as he muttered to himself, “That’s impossible! If you were bitten by the Yin Chi you would have certainly died by now!”
Wen Leyang looked at him askance and said in an ill-mannered way, “Why don’t you help to perform a Buddhist ritual for me to release my soul from purgatory?”
The old monk Ji Fei felt guilty and as he dared not offend the poor victim any longer, he immediately tried to divert the topic of the conversation. With a dry laugh, he said to Little Chili Pepper, “Your precious treasure was extremely cruel, it can even lure out a dead giant serpent…”
Wen Xiaoyi shook her head with great determination, “It’s not possible, the Spirit Guiding Light does not have the ability to manipulate the Yin Chi!”