Chapter 100: Wager
The One Word Palace was the only non-monk cultivators amongst the Five Blessings, not wors.h.i.+pping the Emperor of Heaven nor Buddha. All of their disciples made their ways into Taoism through martial arts. Their three masters, Xia, Ma, and Wei, each had their own unique skills. However, Third Brother Wei died in Mount Emei almost one year ago.
This time, only First Brother Xia made his way up the hill, Second Brother Ma did not turn up.
First Brother Xia had a loud voice but his physique was tall and skinny. Nearly two meters in height, he weighed no more than forty kilograms. He looked just like a huge chicken rack. Upon entering the village, he nodded lightly to the other four masters before walking straight up to greet the elders of Wen family smilingly and apologized, “Previously some of us were caught up with some urgent issues and sent Second Brother Ma up the hill. That silly head messed the supposedly happy event, I hope the few of you wouldn’t mind.”
With that, he walked up to Wen Leyang, gave him a good look from head to toe. He then patted on his shoulders fiercely with a laugh, “Not bad, young lad! Not bad at all! Nineteen, come over here and meet Wen Leyang, young people should mix around more.”
The girl behind First Brother Xia came forward and nodded to Wen Leyang gracefully. She then walked up to Wen Xiaoyi and Mumu. With a pleasant smile, she said, “Uncle Ma told me about this thing before.” She then pointed to the big-muzzled weapon in the hands of Wen Xiaoyi, before shaking her head with a wry smile and whispered to both Wen Xiaoyi and Mumu in a low but firm voice, “When the day comes, you can blast me with this thing!”
Stunned, Wen Xiaoyi asked her with a frown, “What do you mean?”
Frowning as well, Mumu said nothing.
The demeanor of Nineteen restored. She shook her head smilingly, “You’ll know it later. What’s your name?”
“Wen Xiaoyi.”
A hint of envy flashed pa.s.sed the eyes of Nineteen, she nodded, “Such a nice name, you can call me Nineteen.” She then looked at Mumu, “You?”
“…” The lips of Mumu moved slightly but did not make a sound.
The jade-like pure and innocent face of Wen Xiaoyi was full with puzzlement, “Your name’s Nineteen? Xia…Xia Nineteen?”
Other than First Brother Xia, Wen Leyang and several others, the rest of the people were feeling helpless. Being someone with status, they were reluctant to interrupt the two little girls’ talk.
Nineteen was a typical the-more-you-look-at-her-the-more-beautiful-she-appears that kind of beauty. When she first stood next to Wen Xiaoyi and Mumu, she was immediately overshadowed. However, with time, she recaptured quite a lot of eyeb.a.l.l.s again, “That is not my name. The daughters of One Word Palace have no name nor surname. I’m nineteenth in seniority amongst my siblings, so everyone calls me Nineteen. This…I’ll tell you later. Oh, whose baby is this?”
She then picked up Ah Dan from the back of the Delicate Pony, who was giggling and twisting his body around. He then bit on the back of the fair hand of Nineteen suddenly.
First Brother Xia was kind towards the few juniors and repeated, “You young people should mix around more in the future!”
Nineteen quickly left Ah Dan back to the back of the pony while shaking her hand. She then let out a scream and both her hands grabbed the hands of Wen Xiaoyi and Mumu simultaneously, her eyes opened wide and round, with an almost dreamy tone,
“It’s…it’s…”
First Brother Xia no longer paid attention to the three girls. He turned to First Grandpa and said smilingly, “The issue between Wen Bucao and us is not in a rush, the reason I came up the hill is to give my support to the several divine monks of the Great Mercy Temple.”
First Grandpa nodded without saying a word, First Brother Xia had made it very clear that he was not here to help Wen Bucao but the Great Mercy Temple. Even though the Wen family was stubborn and withdrawn, there was nothing else to counter that.
The demon monk Shan Duan put his hand together and saluted again. Since First Brother Xia was giving face, he could only continue, “Thank you so much, Old Fairy Xia.”
The smile on the face of First Brother Xia quietly subdued and was replaced with a sense of justice, staring at Jilong Sect and Eyang Sect without concerning about others, “No matter how high one’s cultivation level is, it can’t go beyond the sky; no matter how big one’s ability is, it can’t be greater than truth. I consider myself a cultivator with a certain level, I’ve yet to witness any demonic sect nor dishonest practice since I’m here, but a bunch of people making troubles!”
The Five Blessings gathered on the Nine Peaks Mountain. Jilong Sect was looking to seek revenge. Eyang Sect was following behind. The master of Kunlun Sect was being indecisive. The Great Mercy Temple was determined to help Wen Bu Cao. The One Word Palace brought the girl to marry up the mountain.
The master of Jilong Sect, Enlightened Zi Que, had finally spoken, “We need to capture the demonic sect as well as seek revenge for the forty-two lives of Jilong Sect.”
The enlightened sword-bearer, who was standing behind him, waited no further for others to speak and continued immediately after his master, “We seek fellow fairies and Taoism friends to do a notary regarding the private affairs between Jilong Sect and Wen Bu Cao!”
After recruiting the other two sects, Jilong Sect invited the Great Mercy Temple to go up the hill as well, with the intention of showing face and power at the same time. Considering that the Five Blessings were the major sects in cultivation world. It was still too early to quarrel openly. However, the att.i.tude of the Great Mercy Temple was uncompromising since the beginning and Kunlun Sect, that was an ally initially, was now unclear on their stand. To make things worse, One Word Palace dug their own nose in this muddy water as well.
To capture the demonic sect, anyone from the right path or sect could speak up. If they were to get entangled here, no conclusion could be drawn until the next year. It was simply easier to put the issue aside. As Jilong Sect wanted to seek revenge, whoever supported Wen Bucao became the enemies of Jilong Sect as well.
The demon monk Shan Duan was about to speak up when he noticed the old rabbit demon mixed amongst the disciples of Wen family winking at him. Smiling slightly, he took a step to the side without speaking further.
First Brother Xia was caught in surprise as he did not expect the Great Mercy Temple, who had been backing Wen Bucao all this while, to suddenly back down and there was nothing else he could say. Just moments earlier, he was still praising the name of Great Mercy Temple, and right now, he could only step aside with a wry smile.
There was no way that Enlightened San Wei from Eyang Sect would object the suggestion, he returned to his team with a sneer, “There’s only about an acre of land on the Nine Peaks Mountain, there’s no way for those demons to hide and it’s never too late to let Jilong Sect seek their revenge first.”
In the contrary, the little master of Kunlun Sect, Liu Zheng said hesitantly with a frown, “But… the Wen family are all ordinary people…”
Not waiting for him to finish his sentence, San Wei, the master of Eyang Sect interrupted, “Ordinary people? If they’re ordinary people, how could they kill all forty-two lives of Jilong Sect and injure fellow Qing Niao seriously!”
The little master, Liu Zheng, looked slightly panicked but still retorted, “The enlightened, please understand that the cultivation art only strengthens our bodies and allows us a chance to achieve Heaven’s Enlightenment, it doesn’t mean we’re invincible nor unbeatable. Although there’s less chance of getting hurt when fighting an ordinary human, it’s not…”
His tirade was interrupted for the second time. This time by the master of Jilong Sect, Zi Que. His usually faint tone was now dense and thick and snapped at Liu Zheng, “Enlightened Liu Zheng is still young, there’s no need to speak further!”
Liu Zheng let out a wry smile, but fellow Kunlun Disciples behind him could hold it no more. A middle-aged fellow standing in the front row abruptly said, “Fellow Zi Que, what did my master say wrongly? Fellow San Wei, when did any of the Kunlun Disciples interrupt your speech? Both of you can’t give us a reply. Hey, my master may not match you both in terms of age, but in terms of cultivation level, I’m afraid it might be the other way round!”
Liu Zheng let out a cry, his tone sounded panicked, but his words were random, unlike the usual prestigious master, “Senior Brother, if you want to fight, just go ahead since I’m young with no reputation, you don’t have to ask for my permission, but you can’t provoke others to fight me!”
That disciple of Kunlun seemed to know the character of his master, he was not mad but felt that it was ridiculous and stomped his feet helplessly.
First Grandpa finally spoke. He first nodded to the young master of Kunlun Sect, “Sorry to make you worried, priest. Since it’s a private affair, all of you please make a notary then.” With that, he looked at Old Priest Zi Que, “Not catching the demons and demonic sect but seeking revenge first?”
First Grandpa barely finished his words, when an abrupt laughter suddenly heard from behind, “I’m Wen Buzuo, would like to seek advice from fellow immortals from Jilong Sect!” With that, Wen Buzuo stepped out with a brisk.
Wen Leyang was startled. The extent of surprise was akin to Zhang Fei and Lu Bu quarreling in front of Tiger Prison Gate and just when it was time to war and the coalition side suddenly sent a comedian to fight against Lu Bu.
Since his second visit to the mountain. The enlighted sword-bearer Qing Niao of Jilong Sect had been teased by Wen Buzuo constantly, with him almost losing his cool several times. Seeing Wen Buzuo swaggering before others this time around, with a shout of “Infinite longevity and happiness”, he stepped forward to face his enemy. Unexpectedly, his shoulder sank suddenly, his master, enlightened Zi Que had held on firmly onto his shoulder, while struggling to gasp for air and shook his head, “Converge your mind, he’s just a clown…”
Just when he was talking, one of the Jilong Disciples suddenly noticed something was moving beneath the ground he was standing on. The sword-bearer had told them about his experience on the Nine Peaks Mountain. Worrying about enemies attacking from underground, he blasted a few silver lightning into the ground. With a squeak, a fat rat was beheaded by the silver lightning with its blood oozing out.
Relieved, the young disciple let out a sigh of relief and laughed at himself. However, the Jilong Sect Master, Zi Que suddenly roared, “Thief!” He then quickly dragged on Qing Niao with his old body to back off while commanded his disciples, “Stand behind me!”
Wen Buzuo stood around and sighed with a grin, “This is the Mouse Fairy, you shouldn’t have hurt it!”
Before he could finish, the air at the location where the Jilong Sect Disciples were standing started convulsing violently. Black cracks rapidly appeared and disappeared from view. The air was visibly thinning out. In an instant, a storm was formed!
The black whirlwind surrounded all the disciples of Jilong Sect in a twinkle of an eye!
No one had expected the Wen family would launch an abrupt attack without warning. They also could not figure out the secret ability to execute such a wind and lightning magic.
The surrounding air was transmitting a beautiful yet strange demonic blue color under the sunlight. The skilled disciples from the Death Trademark appeared from nowhere like a phantom, spreading the wind poison randomly. Upon coming into contact with the air, the wind poison was immediately engulfed by the black cyclone and attacked the disciples of Jilong Sect ruthlessly!
Wen Buzuo then happily hopped to the front of Wen Leyang, “This is the ‘Dragon Hurricane’ from the Death Trademark!”
It had been a while since Wen Xiaoyi last gave Wen Leyang a lecture. Not bothering to showcase her Prada to Nineteen further, she walked to the side of Wen Leyang and explained, “While refining the Fire Poison, our twenty-third generation ancestors of the Wen family accidentally refined a blindly strange medicine. This drug is non-toxic and harmless under sunlight. However, when it comes in contact with blood, it’ll corrode the surrounding air and reduce it immediately by half. This drug’s then given a name, ‘Eye of the Wind’.”
One part of the air diminished out of a sudden, creating a low pressure, which caused the surrounding atmosphere to flock over immediately, mimicking the theory behind a tornado.
Since the invention of the ‘Eye of the Wind’, it had gone through several hundred years of improvement by the Wen family with its application getting handier, and eventually became a brutal means of weapon like the ‘Earth Cover’ and the ‘Swamp of Worms’ by the Death Trademark. The ‘Eye of the Wind’ created a whirlwind, followed by the release of violent Poison of the Wind by a poison master wilfully.
Eyang Sect had been very close to Jilong Sect all this while. Master San Wei utterly did not see this coming at all. Within a blink of an eye, he and his ally were already in trouble. Just when he was about to react with a shout, the sunlight in front of him dimmed. The thin as bamboo First Brother Xia appeared in front of him, “Enlightened, this revenge is the private affairs of the two. We’d just ensure that justice’s observed.”
The black whirlwind had been dyed by the violent Poison of Wind into blue color. Although raging around under the sunlight, it failed to eventually gather up. The four elders of the Wen family took a glance at each other and frowned respectively.
Following a thick gasp, a Taoist mantra was chanted and slowly sounded from the furious whirlwind, “infinite longevity and happiness.”
Instantly, dozens of tiger-roar like voices echoed, “Infinite longevity and happiness!”
The chanting of the Taoist mantra was like the thunder, blowing up from the mountainside of the Nine Peaks Mountain. As the angered voices spreading afar along with the wind and echoing between the overlapping mountains, the sound of ‘Infinite longevity and happiness’ had not only dissipated but was getting louder and heavier. It was similar to attacking waves, connected to one another and gathered from all sides gradually. Every echo of the Taoist mantra was packed with an awe-inspiring vitality of all living things and impressively became the roar of heaven and earth!
The echo of the ‘Infinite longevity and happiness’ gradually became dull, hoa.r.s.e and full of craziness. Amidst the majesty chanting, a clear and bright brilliance that sent one’s blood and bones into stagnation soared up into the sky, like a crazy sickle, romping around the demonic blue whirlwind relentlessly!
The old rabbit demon Bu Le chuckled and whispered to Wen Leyang from behind, “This is the ultimate magic weapon of Jilong Sect Master, the Moon’s Disaster of the ‘Unmovable Sun and Moon’s Disaster’.”
Wen Leyang watched attentively and indeed it was a huge green moon blade, akin a magnified waning moon with an estimate of three meters in diameter.
“But…” The tone of old rabbit demon was somewhat perplexed, “It looks as if that Zi Que brat is unable to tame this magic weapon. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to chant the Taoism Infinite Mantra before displaying the magic weapon. I’ve seen the ‘Unmovable Sun and Moon’s Disaster’ several times before, the Moon’s Disaster supposed to be dark green in color, but it’s displaying a faint silver brightness. Interesting.”
Whilst the old monk was talking, the Moon’s Disaster was flas.h.i.+ng repeatedly and broke away the poisonous ‘Dragon Hurricane’ launched by the Death Trademark. A golden globe of a fist size was floating steadily in front of enlightened Zi Que, exuding a soft light to protect the dozens of disciples of Jilong Sect.
The old rabbit demon Bu Le continued, “There’s no mistake and the Sun’s Disaster is now mixed with black, quite mottled indeed.”
The green Moon’s Disaster had dispersed the poisonous whirlwind, emitting a m.u.f.fled blare and circled around Enlightened Zi Que a few rounds before disappearing into the air with the Sun’s Disaster.
The recently appeared masters of Death Trademark had also hidden amongst the disciples of Wen family and disappeared.
When the ‘Dragon Hurricane’ was launched, the pressure difference created between the internal and external air was almost impossible to blurt out the ‘Eye of the Wind’, even for disciples from major cultivation sect like the Jilong Sect. If it was not due to the treasured weapon of their master, apart from a few seniors with exceptional cultivation level like the sword-bearer, a majority of their disciples would have lost their lives. The face of enlightened sword-bearer Qing Niao was livid. Without further nonsense, he gave the giant sword in his bosom a wave and the rest of the disciples displayed their weapons one after another. Just when they were about to strike, the abbot of the Great Mercy Temple, Shan Duan stood at the center and smilingly said, “Since I’ve become a notary, both sides please listen to a piece of my advice.”
The old priest Qing Niao felt like beating up the monk altogether. He was about to start scolding with his eyes bulged when his master Zi Que took a step forward and blocked his way and said with an expressionless face, “Divine monk, please speak.”
The old monk Shan Duan nodded his head with a smile, “In my opinion, instead of such a messy gang fight, which is quite unpresentable, it’d be better to send a representative respectively. Place a wager to determine the winner in one fight.” While saying that, he gave a few glances to old rabbit demon Bu Le standing behind Wen Leyang as if having an intention.
The suggestion by Shan Duan seemed to be advantageous to Jilong Sect. After all, close to thousands had gathered at the side of Wen Bucao, it was impossible for a proper sect to kill up to thousands of ordinary people in the name of revenge. Moreover, Wen Bucao was only a strong clan amongst the ordinary mortals. Even though with some skills, it was still beyond their ability when it was a one-on-one battle.
In the eyes of Wen Bucao, if they had to kill, they would kill; if they had to revenge, they would revenge. They would not care less about rules and regulations. However, they ought to give face to the Great Mercy Temple. Further, Shan Duan was already biased and sided them in the first place. The only other step he could take was to fight them himself.
Enlightened Zi Que took a suspicious look at Shan Duan, hesitated for a while before lifting his eyelids and looked at First Grandpa, laboriously stretching out three fingers and said, “Three matches. If you win, we’ll leave and never step a foot on the Nine Peaks Mountain; if you lose, pay back those forty-two lives.” Enlightened Zi Que was an old man with experience and wisdom. For fear of any hidden master or sophisticated means by the Wen family, he changed the bet into three, giving him almost absolute chances of winning.
Frowning, the demon monk Shan Duan was about to speak up when First Grandpa nodded with a smile, “Let it be three then, but with one more bet.” With that, he pointed to the enlightened sword-bearer Qing Niao, “I’ll bet with a pair of my arms to exchange for the pair that injured my grandson!” Zi Que took a look at Qing Niao, with the latter nodding his head ignorantly.
First Grandpa and old priest Zi Que looked at each other and smiled. However, seeing the confident smiles of the other party, none of them felt certain deep down in their heart.
Shan Duan originally could not figure out the reasons behind Wen Bucao agreeing to the term of having three battles and thought that Wen Leyang would be able to fight for Wen Bucao. Nonetheless, old monk Xi Jue came up to him and gently pointed to the big-muzzled weapon of Wen Xiaoyi. It only dawned on him that one match was for the old rabbit demon and one match was for the big-muzzled weapon. There would not be third.
Moments later, Zi Que, Qing Niao, and five other middle-aged Taoist monks walked into to the scene.
The sword-bearer Qing Niao took a few steps forward, “Junior Brother Huang He will fight the first match, and I’ll take the second match.”
Nodding his head, Shan Duan asked, “The third match will be enlightened Zi Que?”
Chuckled, Qing Niao nodded his head, “There’s no third match,”
There were far fewer people on Wen Bucao’s side, with only three persons walking up. The first match would be taken by the old rabbit demon. Wen Buzuo, with his borrowed big-muzzled weapon from Wen Xiaoyi, would take on the second match and lastly, Wen Leyang.
With a face of a smiling villain, Wen Buzuo checked out his opponent from head to toe before turning his back and shouted to First Grandpa, “You’ll keep your arms for sure.”
Ji Fei and Shui Jing were beating themselves up as they had totally forgotten about Wen Xiaoyi’s weapon earlier on and ended up hiding behind everyone, letting go of a golden opportunity to rise to fame.
In Jilong Sect, there were a total of seven famous masters. In addition to the enlightened Zi Que and the sword-bearer Qing Niao, the enlightened Huang He had the highest cultivation level amongst the rest and was regarded as a top cultivator in the world of cultivation.
Not underestimating his enemy, Huang He nodded to his master and floated up the stage. Instantly, a looming lightning was seen flas.h.i.+ng by the light green-robed Taoist. Four small swords in greenish blue color appeared between his fingers. He nodded with a smile to old rabbit demon, who was clad in a typical mountain-boy look, and chanted, “Infinite longevity and happiness!”
Old rabbit demon almost replied with an Amitabha, but he held on and cracked a smile before charging at enlightened Huang He.
Bending his body slightly, Huang He was on his guard. Not too long ago, Wen Bucao deflated the edge off enlightened Qing Niao’s spirit, and again, moments earlier nearly destroyed all of them with a strange whirlwind. In the heart of Huang He, he no longer considered them as ordinary people. With a shout of “Quick”, the flying swords in his hands charged out. Thunder lines immediately appeared in the air, forming lines of purple arcs connecting the four swords, composing into a big net with blazing lightning, and charged towards old rabbit demon with lightning speed.
Just when the lightning net was about to hurt its enemy, all of a sudden, old rabbit demon accelerated to the speed of thousand times quicker than before! Almost at the instance of him disappearing, he reappeared right in front of Huang He. Zi Que, who had been watching the fight with his eyes squinted, suddenly jumped up and roared, “Surrender!”
The old rabbit demon came to a sudden stop, with his nose almost touching Huang He’s nose. He smilingly returned to the demeanor of an old man before trembling unsteadily down the stage.
Defiant, Huang He was confident that his Art of Thunder Gesture would be able to put up a fight even with close body combat. He turned around to look at his master and moved his mouth as if wanted to say something. Instead of looking at his disciple, Zi Que was staring at the back of old rabbit demon Bu Le and asked, “Who’re you actually?”
Old rabbit demon replied without turning his head, “Wen Bule!”
Wen Buzuo laughed out loud and pointed at Qing Niao with the big-muzzled weapon in hand, “Now it’s your turn! How’d you want to go about it?”
Qing Niao had been antic.i.p.ated him. With his giant sword in his arm, he slowly walked up the stage. Just when he was about to speak up, a loud bang suddenly came smas.h.i.+ng mercilessly, deep into his eardrum. Thousands of purple arcs flas.h.i.+ng and the blazing strong light got him losing his eyesight completely.
Wen Buzuo dared not let Qing Niao release his treasured weapon and fired right after saying those words. The Thunder Heart Sand sprayed out and transformed into a ma.s.sive lightning in mid-air, smas.h.i.+ng ruthlessly at the clay-like old priest Qing Niao, who seemed not to know what had happened at all!
This time around, Zi Que had no time to throw in the towel at all, seeing the ma.s.sive lightning striking right in front of him. At that moment, a surge of his vital energy and blood flowed through his chest and the blood attempting to projectile out from his throat. Watching his pre-elected successor, his most appreciated and favorite junior brother to be swallowed by the ma.s.sive lightning, the enlightened Zi Que’s rock-solid mind, acquired from his three hundred years of cultivation, came to a sudden collapse. He let out a cry of grief and vomited a mouthful of thick blood!