Chapter 66: The Hat
The old monk Ji Fei and the fat monk Shui Jing were wondering around the area when they suddenly noticed that there were movements behind the mountain wall. They thought it was their enemy chasing after them so they had each stood on one side of the wall in preparation to ambush the enemy. However, they never would have imagined that the person who came charging out of the wall would be Wen Leyang.
The two monks had suffered severe injuries not too long ago and they were unable to run far before they fell onto the ground.
Mumu was delighted as she leaned her weight into the Second Mother, “Hey, you old thieves! Don’t try to hide your faces, I know who you are. Quick, formally acknowledge your Master Teacher and tell me, who is the senior apprentice and who is the junior apprentice?”
Wen Leyang had the awkward expression of not knowing whether to cry or laugh. More than half a month ago this pair of living treasure had wagered with him in front of the Great Mercy Temple’s door that if they were caught by him within a month, the two brothers would formally acknowledge him as their Master Teacher. Back then, he had been venting the hatred that they had deserved, he had no plan to go after the two brothers yet unexpectedly they have now appeared right in front of him.
Only a little over twenty days had pa.s.sed in between the time they had parted ways on Mount Emei and their meeting now.
The fat monk Shui Jing heaved a dreary and reluctant sigh, “This must be G.o.d’s will!” He then pushed aside the sleeve that was covering his face. Wen Leyang and the others immediately yelled in shock – if it weren’t for their treasured weapons and the shape of their bodies, Wen Leyang would not have recognized the two wild monks. Even if Shui Jing were to put his face right in front of them at this moment, it was afraid they still could not recognize him.
On the fat monk’s face and bald head, countless blood vessels of all sizes had puffed up from under his skin. Some of the vessels were s.h.i.+ning while others were dark red in color. It was as if a spider’s web of a wide range of colors had covered his entire head, his condition was so horrible it made everyone look away.
The old monk too slowly let down his sleeves and his condition was almost similar to the fat monk. The wide range of colors on his face was rough and uneven, making the two monks appear like a pair of Spiderman characters in the process of evolution.
The Qing Miao clansmen looked into the eyes of one another and their gazes were filled with slight astonishment. The Second Mother asked Wen Leyang in a low voice, “Are they your friends?”
Wen Leyang nodded his head hesitantly, “I suppose you can say so.”
The Second Mother shot an unconvinced look at him, she did not understand him but she continued to speak, “They have been cursed with evil spells, if they are not saved soon I don’t think they will live for much longer.”
“Can they be saved?”
“If they are truly your friends then they can be saved!”
As they were having their discussion, Ah Dan slowly staggered over. The gaze behind his sungla.s.ses was filled with curiosity as he moved closer to the two colorful faces and looked attentively. The old monk Ji Fei grinned broadly towards the little fellow, “Ah Dan, do you remember me?” Even the old monk’s mouth was multicolored, his smile was so awful that it would make even the ugliest Yaksha Spirit cry out in rage.
Ah Dan’s entire body shuddered and he stumbled onto the ground, followed by him getting up agilely before running back to Little Chili Pepper’s side swiftly. His two little hands were rubbing his b.u.t.tocks continuously as Mumu mocked him after she laughed soundlessly, “Why are you such a coward now?”
Wen Leyang wrinkled his brows as he took a few steps forward and once again blocked everyone behind him, “Why were both of you on the Seven Maidens Mountain?”
The old monk’s colorful eyeb.a.l.l.s rolled, “We….were here to investigate the Mountain Coffin Devilry case. We had made the promise to you, our dear brother, on Mount Emei, that you could count on us in regard to the matter of the Mountain Coffin Spell. Ji Fei is true to his word and resolute in his deeds. This humble monk is a master of the Taoist magic arts, he is bold and heroic and generous in defending the traditional moral principles…”
Wen Leyang chuckled and asked, “So I will ask you this question then, which clue about the Mountain Coffin Devilry was related to the Seven Maidens Mountain?”
The old monk was suddenly tongue-tied, he was stunned and speechless. He took a deep breath in preparation to start talking nonsense. Mumu laughed and interrupted from the side, “Make any more irresponsible remarks without careful consideration and I will condemn you as being disrespectful to your superior!” Her smiling face was as beautiful as a flower yet her tone of speaking was cold and unfriendly. Ah Dan too seemed to sense his master’s rage as he leaped forward with his hands on hips.
The fat monk Shui Jing sat aside and pointed to the old monk as he scolded, “You still don’t mind embarra.s.sing yourself despite being faced with imminent death. If you have the strength to bluff, why don’t you just stand up and cast the spell together with me? Even if I should die I will bring along that group of Miao clansmen and bury them together with me!”
Only now did Wen Leyang notice that at a place not too far away, a few triangular-shaped Taoist prayer flags had been inserted into the ground, forming an irregularly shaped circle. Within the circle, there was a wooden sword, a piece of paper talisman, bell and a few other things. Immediately adjacent to the Taoism protective circle was a huge swastika engraved into the ground with some cutting tools. A string of glittering and translucent Buddhist prayer beads had been placed in the middle of the swastika, it was obvious that the beads were something not from the mortal world.
It seemed as though the two monks had been trying to cast some form of spell earlier but their process was interrupted by Wen Leyang and the rest of the group breaking out of the mountain.
The wild monk stood up with great effort. He walked in front of Wen Leyang, his entire body was emitting an unusually sweet scent as he said, “Wen…brother, the two of us had been cursed with the Miao clan’s devilry. I fear that we don’t have much time left to live. The bet which had been placed a month ago…as you please, I’m only begging you to allow us to complete the ritual and cast the spell so that we can grant them the punishment they deserve before we die!” As he was speaking, the monk’s eyes were filled with vengeance as he stared at the other Miao clansmen.
Chi Shuilie grunted before he started to turn hostile and the Second Mother immediately used her gaze to stop him.
Wen Leyang nodded towards the Second Mother in grat.i.tude. He then spoke to the fat monk Shui Jing earnestly, “Great master, please tell me frankly why the both of you were on this mountain and how did you get injured?”
The fat monk Shui Jing gave his thigh a slap, “It was all my fault for believing in the old monk’s smelly dog fart nonsense. While on Mount Emei he had heard the little girl Wen Xiaoyi mention: ‘Not a single root grows on the Wen. Never befriend a Miao. To die a dog’s death on Crow Ridge’. Afterwards, he had learned that your three families had lived in Shu state but did not a.s.sociate with one another for over two thousand years. He then figured that this would be the safest place to hide in for a month…” Even though he was all colorful, when he spoke of the last sentence, the colors did not cover the fat monk’s blush.
Wen Leyang had not taken the one month bet seriously yet the two monks had truly treated the affair as their top priority. They had the whole wide world for them to hide as they please but the old monk considered himself clever and acted accordingly. He found out that the Wen family and the Qing Miao clan would rather die than to have contact with each other and a.s.sumed that surely Wen Leyang would never come here so he had led the fat monk right into the trap of Miao stockade village.
Ever since they had entered the dense forest they learned things the hard way and they were almost driven to insanity by the ‘Swarm of Bees’. The two Taoist cultivators had been so deranged they almost wanted to kill the enemies in revenge. Half of their success had been based on their actual strength while the other half had been based on their luck. They managed to discover the nesting area of the ‘Swarm of Bees’ but also coincidentally stumbled upon the evil spells which had been cast by the Third Mother.
The two rogue cultivators’ actual strength was unusual, although they had been cursed by the evil spells they managed to concurrently destroy the witchcraft spells protecting the vital fire. However, their actions alarmed the Third Mother Chi Liang and she displayed her skills personally in order to kill the two of them. The two cultivators were severely wounded and they fought hard as they fled into the Seven Maidens Mountain. Soon, they witnessed the wicked witch screaming in agony as they were almost killed before they were able to retreat safely.
The Qing Miao clansmen stared in surprise with their huge eyes, their expressions were strange as if they had just seen a carrot grow wings and fly away.
Wen Leyang finally understood now that it had been this pair of living treasure who had destroyed the evil spells. Only then could he manage to successfully eliminate the ‘Swarm of Bees’. Otherwise, he would have been the one to encounter the wicked witch’s evil spells, at which point it would be very difficult to tell who would have emerged from the fight victorious.
Mumu blinked her huge eyes as she reminded the monks of Wen Leyang’s favor, “Wen Leyang was the one who extinguished the ghost fire and severely wounded the wicked witch, or else the two of you would have died much earlier!” Upon saying that, it was as if she was reminded of something and she pondered deeply with wrinkled brows for a moment. Suddenly, she spoke loudly, “I understand now, it was all their fault!”
The old monk and the fat monk looked at one another; they did not understand what they had done this time.
Mumu was both annoyed and amused, “The two old…monks and all of us had entered the Miao stockade village around the same time. The wicked witch surely thought that they were in the same group as us!”
As she was saying that, Wen Leyang too, was suddenly enlightened. He too had been wondering about the reasons why, since Third Mother was already in control of Miao Bujiao’s disciples, she utterly did not need to have a trial of strength with Wen Leyang. She could have received the letter in a good mood then dismiss them in a light-hearted manner.
If only Wen Leyang and Mumu had brought their troops into the forest, the wicked witch would not have minded them as much. But then she noticed that there were two more cultivators hiding in the dark behind the troop, so this time she had no choice but to pay close attention to them for Third Mother was a cultivator herself. From her point of view, the appearance of Ji Fei and Shui Jing had suddenly changed the nature of the affair. She had thought that the opposing party had discovered her scheme and that the opposing party was trying to deal with her both in a formal way and a secret way. That was why she had instructed the ‘Swarm of Bees’ to kill them. The master cultivators of the Wen and the Luo families had been severely wounded, yet they managed to enter the land of evil spirits and rescue the real Big Dragon’s Root and the surviving genuine Qing Miao clansmen.
As Wen Leyang and Mumu talked and gesticulated to one another and speculated a close approximation of the entire affair, the Qing Miao clansmen remained clearly confused, as well as the fat monk and the old monk.
Ji Fei contemplated for a moment before asking in speculation, “Were the Qing Miao clansmen divided into two groups with one led by the wicked witch and another group which was with all of you?”
The Second Mother wrinkled her brows slightly as she asked, “So, the two monks here were indeed in the same group as us?”
Wen Leyang looked to the left and looked to the right, suddenly he understood his fourth grandfather’s words as he shouted loudly, “Wen Buzuo!”
…
The mystical cultivation of the Wen, Miao, and Luo families had been developed two thousand years ago and each had since formed into a faction of its own. Their skills were old and cruel, even though the other cultivators had their own unique supernatural powers, yet they were still humans by nature only that their bodies were slightly stronger than regular human beings. But if they were targeted by the three families’ methods, they would still die horrible deaths. Back then, Wen Tunhai had casually ‘hugged’ the young priest of the Sun Dynasty Palace to death. If it hadn’t been for Yu Lingzi’s proficient skills, all the priests would have been killed by Wen Tunhai’s poison without Wen Leyang’s help; also when the four elders of the Wen family had first ascended Mount Emei, they too put the monks of the Great Mercy Temple at a great loss.
Even though the wicked witch was proficient in her cultivation of the Art of Devilry, normally she would not reveal her skills to outsiders. The spells which had been cast upon Ji Fei and Shui Jing were the spells of the orthodox Miao Bujiao’s Art of Witchcraft. The two brothers were aware that they are on the brink of death so they had vented their resentment by casting a Taoist protective circle on the mountain slope, risking their last breath to summon their supernatural powers to attack the Miao stockade village in order to avenge themselves as much as possible.
When Wen Leyang finally completed his account of the entire affair satisfactorily, it was the Second Mother’s turn to look like she did not know whether to laugh or to cry. She lightly bowed in salutation towards the two monks, “Regardless, we can finally be free from imprisonment and see the light of day all thanks to your favor.” Upon saying that, she turned around and her gaze met the Great Elder’s eyes. Her tone of speaking was indisputable as she said, “Break the spell!” With one wave of her hand, the faintly green-colored vital fire appeared out of thin air.
Chi Shuilie too clapped his hands together and summoned his vital fire. His vital fire was different from the Second Mother’s as it glowed with a faint blue hue. The flames were not tall but it was fine and closely-woven akin to layers of overlapping earthworms, it was rather creepy-looking.
Wen Buzuo made a critical remark about the fire’s appearance from the side, “It would seem that the Great Elder’s vital fire has a higher oxygen content.”
In the entire Seven Maidens Mountain, only the Second Mother and the Great Elder Chi Shuilie were capable of removing the evil spells planted by the wicked witch Chi Liang.
The witchcraft fire coiled up, it swallowed and spat akin to snake’s tongue as layers upon layers of smog was as thick and dense as a curtain covered the two monks. It took almost half a day’s time before the Second Mother finally exhaled a long breath and declared, “It’s done!” Soon after she sat down beside the Great Elder and the both of them started regulating their breathing slowly, they were both extremely pale.
The thick smog disappeared without a trace and while the two monks lying on the ground were covered in sweat, their eyes were closed as if they were sleeping soundly. The multicolored spider’s web on the faces had completely vanished.
Ah Dan walked around them in total boredom. Suddenly his eyes brightened as he plucked off one of the old monk’s torn shoes and latched it onto his head as a hat. He smirked in satisfaction and angered Little Chili Pepper so much that she struck the ‘hat’ off his head.