Chapter 67: The Bargain
It was almost dusk a few hours later. The fat monk and the old monk sprang up at the same time and checked their bodies in surprise while happily laughing. They bowed again and again to the Second Mother and Chi Shuilie. They patted their chests, “Please rest a.s.sured, the life of that wicked witch is in our hands!” With that, both of them made to rush down the hill.
Wen Leyang and the Second Mother both shouted simultaneously, “Hold on!”
The Second Mother gave him a puzzled look and laughed softly, “You go first.”
Wen Leyang walked to the two monks, “I’ve got a favor to ask the both of you.” With that, he took a look at Little Chili Pepper who was standing aside.
The brothers Bushuo and Buzuo were uninjured and had only been fatigued during the past two days. They have fully recovered by now and would have no problems to fight on. However, both Little Chili Pepper and the final survivor of The Centipede were still seriously injured, they were unable to walk without feeling exhausted.
The old monk Ji Fei immediately guessed his intention with a glance. He then winked to the fat monk as they pulled Wen Leyang a few steps further away. The old monk said solemnly, “You want us to stay behind and protect the girl?”
Wen Leyang nodded to which Ji Fei quickly responded with a look, “No way! I’ve never been made a fool of so badly since birth and I’ll never quit until I kill that wicked witch with my own hands!”
The old monk rubbed his hands and pondered upon the difficulty, “Both of us had made an oath to seek revenge and never got bullied blindly so it’s logical for us to get revenge on our own. But the little girl has been injured and was in need of protection right now. You’d definitely have to go to the Miao’s Village and other than us two, there’s really no one else to rely on. Sigh, what should we do now?”
Just as Wen Leyang was about to speak, the old monk and the fat monk both slapped their thighs at the same time and startled him for a moment. The old monk then continued, “Forget it! I will break the vow myself. After all, it’s not a big deal if I can’t kill the enemy with my own hands. There’re only words that we can just laugh off since no one’s taking them seriously.”
The fat monk, who was standing brazen-faced at the side, asked Wen Leyang, “You understand?”
Wen Leyang felt like laughing on his face while scolding with his mouth, his whole body felt extremely uncomfortable. However, upon remembering how the two monks had put in so much effort to beat around the bush just for the master-student bet they had made earlier on, he suddenly felt mischievous and finally asked with a laugh, “What if I order you both to guard Mumu as your Master then?”
Shui Jing and Ji Fei had looked at the weird expression on Wen Leyang’s face and thought that things had been working out to their advantage. They had moved closer to him with a smile. Alas, their expectation was met with such a sentence. Dumbfounded, they both looked at each other and neither one knew if one of them should acknowledge by clasping their hand and a “Yes, Master.”
When the old monk recovered from his shock, he became enraged and gave the fat monk a hard slap on the back of his bald head, “Talkative bold donkey! That sentence of yours ‘you understand’ is so redundant that it triggered the Wen character!”
Shui Jing replied with a punch as he scolded back, “I…I was afraid that he couldn’t understand it. This boy doesn’t look all that smart from his appearance, what if he really did not get your hidden message, then all your efforts would have been in vain…”
The others had observed the three of them talking and laughing initially until the two monks suddenly started beating each other up. No one had any idea about what was happening and whether they should go over and intervene.
Wen Leyang quickly stood in between them and separated the two, “As long as I come out alive from the Miao Village and the two of you are still with Mumu safe and sound, we’ll forget all that has happened in the past.”
The old monk, who was the one with the sophisticated mind, immediately asked, “What if you don’t make it out from the Miao stockade village?”
Wen Leyang replied with a smile, “Then I’ll have to ask you two to please escort Mumu back to Crow Ridge at Southern Chuan and the other condition will still remain the same.” He paused for a while after that and thought of something. The fat monk and old monk both have some skills up their sleeves but whenever they were together, most of the time they would end up messing with each other instead. For others, it was one plus one to get three, however, in their case, one plus one actually equals to 0.25. With that in mind, he continued, “I think, it’d be better if the old monk would join me instead. I’ll still have to rely on your help to fight the witchcraft of the wicked witch at the Miao stockade village. As for Mumu, I’ll entrust her to the fat monk then.”
The fat monk, after all, was slightly more honest. If they were to really meet with an accident at the village, with the cultivation level of Shui Jing, it should not be too difficult for him to escape to safety with Mumu.
The old monk, however, still wanted to bargain further, “I’ve never been separated from the fat monk…” To which, Shui Jing leaped over and spoke in a low angry voice, “You’d better agree to that. If this guy insists that he’s our teacher, we also have to be respectful and listen to him in the end!”
Though mischievous and cunning, Ji Fei and Shui Jing were not outright crooks. They will resist for as long as they could on calling Wen Leyang their Master. However, if Wen Leyang had insisted, they really could not betray their Master.
When the three of them had finished their discussion and returned to the group, Little Chili Pepper felt anxious when she got to know of their plan. How could she miss out on such an important event to catch the wicked witch at the Miao’s village? She looked as if she was starting to get mad when the fat monk quickly came over and intervened by saying how could he call Wen Leyang as his Master if he had failed to protect her.
Great Elder Chi Shuilie said with a sharp and bitter voice, “It’s not like you’ve experienced the cruelty of Miao Bujiao.”
The Second Mother also advised as she shook her head with a smile, “You’ve yet to recover from your injury. If you really do go, you’d only drag the feet of Wen’s down.”
Wen Leyang explained, “I’m not worried about you dragging us down, I’m just afraid that I’d be unable to take care of you.” He glanced at her as he said that. While Little Chili Pepper had wanted to say something further, she cracked a smile in the end, “Then you’d better take good care of yourself! Ah Dan…”
Just as Little Chili Pepper was about to ask Ah Dan to go along with Wen Leyang, the zombie baby jumped out immediately and hung onto his Master’s lap with both hands and legs tightly, refusing to let go.
Laughing, Wen Leyang said, “You’d better keep Ah Dan by your side, I’m a stranger to him after all.” With that, he turned to the Second Mother, “Is Little Chi Maojiu staying behind as well?”
The Second Mother and the Great Elder shook their heads with a firm look, “He’s the Big Dragon’s Root, he has to go even if he dies!” Pausing for a moment, she then solemnly entrusted the rest, “The wicked witch has been seriously injured but please do be extra careful and aim to kill. We can’t afford to let her kill the whole clan with her witchcraft.” To the few Qing Miao clansmen, this mission was as much to seek revenge as well as to rescue their clan.
Wen Buzuo was nodding in agreement at the side and said with a laugh, “I wouldn’t dare to cause the Qing Miao’s wicked witch to die completely…But it’s been four years since then, wouldn’t the Miao Bujiao have all died already?”
The Second Mother knew about the bad mouth of this guy and didn’t seem to be at all bothered by it. She went on to explain, “When we escaped, there were about two thousand people left in the village. If that wicked witch doesn’t want to attract unnecessary attention, there should still be quite a number of clansmen left.”
Wen Leyang also gave Wen Buzuo a hard glare before turning to Ji Fei, “The wicked witch should have some companions, help me find the one who has been casting the Mountain’s Coffin Devilry Spell.”
Ji Fei smiled confidently and said, “Leave that to me!”
Shui Jing will stay on the mountain to protect the two from the Luo family. The rest did not waste any more time and started running to the foot of the mountain stealthily under the glow of the setting sun. Chi Shuilie led the way with a few Miao disciples at the front.
Their pace was tremendously fast and before the day had turned completely dark, they had arrived a hundred meters away from the Miao’s stockade village. The Miao’s at the village all looked busy and sincerely happy without an exception as if something good was about to happen.
The last ray of sunlight struggled helplessly at the bottom of the sky for the very last time before being engulfed by the endless darkness. Meanwhile, a shocking light came into Wen Leyang’s vision. A blazing huge flame so bright that no one could look straight into soared into the sky from the fire altar at the center of the Miao village! Hundreds of Miao clansmen then walked out from their bamboo houses and gathered around the fire altar. Unable to withhold their faces of ecstasy, they wors.h.i.+pped the fire in silence…
When the Second Mother, Chi Shuilie, and the few Miao clansmen saw the almost white-colored blazing flame, all of their expressions changed into a strange and shocked look without exception.