Chapter 146: Pupils Of The Same Master
It was pure chaos outside. A faraway siren sounded in the distance. Liu Zheng was still leaning on the doorframe as he reminded Leyang Tian kindly, “Tangtang, you don’t have to worry about Enlightened San Wei’s body but you should think about those cultivators who had been killed by witchcraft. There were a hundred heads placed there, you would be in no small trouble.”
Leyang Tian seemed to feel very comfortable with his nickname. His expression was that of satisfaction. He did not give the hundred or so lives much thought, “There’s no need to worry, those aren’t corpses anymore. They might look like human heads and human skin but if they were brought back to be a.n.a.lyzed, it won’t be anything they’d recognize. They can only be regarded as hand-crafted items. I’m simply drying my crafts on the rooftop, certainly, that’s not illegal… More so if it’s my own rooftop.”
The corpses which had fallen prey to the Green Head Widow Spell, no matter if it was a complete skull or a thin layer of human skin, have changed in nature. In front of technology, those things would not be regarded as human remains.
Leyang Tian added, “I’ve studied seven years of bioengineering.”
Liu Zheng was happily relaxed, “Then this is your field of expertise! Did you kill those people?”
Leyang Tian nodded. He then asked in a wondering manner, “Your cultivation base doesn’t seem to be too bad. Are you famous?”
The old monk Ji Fei chimed in from the side, “Enlightened Liu Zheng is the Supreme Leader of the Kunlun Sect. You must be difficult, not knowing even him.”
Leyang Tian laughed, “I’m not too familiar with the matters of the Cultivation World. I had divided the responsibilities with my brother. He and father will take care of the Cultivation World while I’ll take care of the others.” As he said this he glanced at Liu Zheng, “Why do you not wish to avenge the Taoist priest San Wei?”
Liu Zheng’s tone was slightly helpless, “Let’s get to the bottom of things before we go any further. The hundred or so men who had died outside, were they the disciples of the Eyang Sect as well?”
Leyang Tian shook his head, “How should I know? I didn’t even know that the enlight… Enlightened San Wei was Eyang Sect’s Supreme Leader.”
Liu Zheng’s brows furrowed, “There were a hundred cultivators. You didn’t even know who they were but you killed them just like that?”
Leyang Tian smiled sheepishly, “It’s not as easy as you made it out to be. The main thing was that they have come here of their own volition, it’s like they jumped into my snare!” As he was said this, Leyang Tian glanced at Liu Zheng who was still standing at the door, “Can you come in? Otherwise, there’ll be a slight problem.”
The siren had stopped downstairs. The sound of footsteps and walkie-talkies soon mixed into a mess.
Liu Zheng walked into the room gracefully and stood beside Wen Leyang, shoulder to shoulder. Leyang Tian gave him a grateful smile. Then, he rubbed his fat and thick hands. A dark-red fire snake appeared out of nowhere inside the room. Ji Fei and Shui Jing jumped as they cursed in unison, “What are you trying to do, kid?”
The red fire snake ignored the people in the room. It flashed before everyone’s eyes and pounced into the doorframe. It then lit up with a red flame and burned with a whistle, sealing the room off. The room shook slightly before the flames died off.
Leyang Tian sighed with relief and smiled, “Done. The people outside won’t be able to find this room. There’ll be no interruptions.”
Wen Leyang’s heart was moved. He asked Leyang Tian probingly, “Was that fire snake your vital fire?”
Leyang Tian was very surprised. He looked at Wen Leyang with interest, “You know about witchcraft as well?”
Wen Leyang’s gaze locked onto Leyang Tian, “There were three pupils; one learned the Art of Poison, one learned Witchcraft, and one learned to control corpses. These secret arts had been pa.s.sed down for two thousand years. Their Grand Master was called Tuo Xie. My surname is Wen and I studied the Art of Poison. However, I have also have seen my brothers performing witchcraft.”
Leyang Tian looked at Wen Leyang with a half smile, “Why are you telling me this?”
Wen Leyang was immediately disheartened.
All the lights inside Painting Town were switched on. Every corner was brightly lit, making it look a bit washed-out. It was the complete opposite of the dubious and hot atmosphere Wen Leyang had experienced when he first came here. Footsteps could be heard from outside the room. Many people seemed to be running up the stairs and pacing around but they never spared a glance at this room.
With the people outside in close proximity, Liu Zheng could not help but lower his voice and asked Leyang Tian in hushed tones, “I still don’t get it. The hundred cultivators…”
Leyang Tian cut him short with a loud laugh, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to be that careful. The people outside cannot see and cannot hear us!” As he was said this, he opened the drawer beside him and took out another gun. He pointed towards the rooftop and pulled the trigger. The shot reverberated loudly inside the room but the people outside showed no signs of a reaction.
Leyang Tian satisfyingly placed the gun on the table before returning to the topic, “This is what happened. I was here minding my own business when suddenly, one day, a hundred cultivators came and surrounded my place shadily. What do you think I should have done?”
The fat monk Shui Jing’s eyes bulged as he asked in a low, m.u.f.fled voice, “Then you should know why they had surrounded you, right?”
Leyang Tian shook his head once again, “Maybe this divine monk is mistaken. I don’t even know who they were, much less the reason why they had surrounded me.” As he was saying this his mouth cracked open with joy. He then hit the table as if he just had a sudden realization, “Maybe those people had come to capture you guys. If that’s the case, then you guys owe me a favor…”
Wen Leyang stared at Leyang Tian with bright eyes, his tone was impatient, “Let’s get down to business. It’s meaningless to continue going around in circles!”
Leyang Tian straightened his body and stood up from the sofa abruptly. He met Wen Leyang’s gaze, “Why do you want to know about things that are unrelated to you?!”
Wen Leyang’s gaze was unrelenting, “I’m a descendant of Tuo Xie…” He had not finished speaking when Leyang Tian interrupted, “Can you prove it?”
Ji Fei and Shui Jing straightened their backs at the same time and replied loudly, “I can!”
Leyang Tian waved his big hand, “You guys don’t count.”
Liu Zheng laughed hysterically and stomped his feet, “Are you guys making a scene or playing house?”
Leyang Tian ignored Liu Zheng. He kept his eyes on Wen Leyang. His voice was sonorous and strong, “So what if you’re Tuo Xie’s descendant? Tuo Xie had entrusted the matter to the Painting Town’s ancestor, not to you, Descendant of Tuo Xie! If you have questions you can go back home and ask your ancestor. I have nothing to say to you! I’m only carrying out my ancestors’ dying wish. If you stand in my way, it doesn’t matter if you’re a descendant of Tuo Xie or even Tuo Xie himself, I would kill you without fail!”
Wen Leyang was bug-eyed. He was left speechless by Leyang Tian’s outburst. Liu Zheng also thought that these words were far too harsh. He stammered for a while, “H-how can you be l-like this?”
Leyang Tian returned to his seat on the sofa and waved his hand casually, “You had mentioned the two words ‘Tuo Xie’. I will spare your lives this time. You guys should leave after the people on the outside have left.”
Wen Leyang opened his mouth after being silent for a while. He said to Leyang Tian through gritted teeth, “The Witch’s Song had sounded twice in the Gold-Consuming Lair; Qilian County’s two thousand years old dream had been crushed; the Ice Forest had turned into stone and revived a Heaven’s Cone Nail; Leyang Shoujin was tasked by Lue Luo to wipe the Heaven’s Cone Nail’s memories…”
When Leyang Tian heard this, his expression became abnormally surprised. Then, it gradually turned solemn.
“I’ve just come out from the Gold-Consuming Lair at Mount Qilian. I know the whereabouts of your father, Leyang Shoujin.”
Leyang Tian’s tone regained its flippancy and was solemn and deep, “My father… That old man isn’t dead?”
Wen Leyang spat out one word, “Change!”
The Stone Forest in the Gold-Consuming Lair has disappeared but Leyang Shoujin’s whereabouts were still unknown. Leyang Wen and Leyang Tian both knew that this boded ill rather than well. However, as sons, they still held on to a sliver of hope.
Liu Zheng had heard Wen Leyang talk about what had the happened inside the Gold-Consuming Lair before. However, when he heard Wen Leyang mention it now he was greatly shocked. He side-eyed him and imagined the consequences.
After Leyang Tian had told Wen Leyang everything that he knew, he asked with a trembling voice, “My father, that old man isn’t dead yet?”
Wen Leyang sighed as he thought, No, he is dead.
…There will be dire consequences.
Leyang Tian was worried about his old father. There was no hesitation in his voice when he opened his mouth again, “What do you want to know? Ask.”
Wen Leyang felt a little guilty as he pulled Leyang Tian and sat down, “What is the relations.h.i.+p between Grand Master Tuo Xie and senior Lue Luo?”
Leyang Tian answered crisply, “Lue Luo and Tuo Xie were brothers. Ancestor Lue Luo was the big brother whereas Tuo Xie was the third brother.”
Wen Leyang was astonished, “What about the second brother?”
Leyang Tian snorted, “The second brother’s name was Mi Xu! There were three brothers in total.”
Wen Leyang thought back to Zhui Zi’s words in the Stone Forest. He asked without thinking, “Was the second brother the fat and burly chap?” When Zhui Zi had been taken out of the ocean by Tuo Xie and returned to sh.o.r.e, there were two people waiting there. Other than Lue Luo, there was another chap.
Leyang Tian shook his head, “I don’t know, matters like this you’d have to ask Fifth Brother.”
Wen Leyang had not expected him to be able to answer and he did not expect to hear that reply either. His spirit rose immediately, “Fifth Brother, was that Hanba the Drought Deity in City G.o.d Temple of Shanghai? He’s a descendant of Mi… Mi Xu?”
“Fifth Brother is Mi Xu’s zombie. If you want to know what Mi Xu looks like, he should know.” Leyang Tian’s tone was light as if he was merely informing them that tonight’s supper will be little steamed buns.
Wen Leyang heard a boom in his head. He was dumbfounded. It turns out that Hanba the Drought Deity or Fifth Brother was one of their own.
Leyang Tian looked at Wen Leyang’s shocked expression and shook his head impatiently, “More than two thousand years ago, these three ancestors were pupils of the same master. Big brother Lue Luo practiced Witchcraft, second brother Mi Xu refined corpse puppets, while little brother Tuo Xie was skilled in the Art of Poison.”
Liu Zheng murmured with surprise in a low voice, “Fifth Brother was a zombie refined by Pickle Jar’s Senior? No wonder he’s so powerful!”
Little brother Pickle Jar Tuo Xie had defended Chang Li and fought a heaven-shaking battle with a group of extreme experts.
Big brother Lue Luo’s witchcraft was immensely powerful, even the shattered Heaven’s Cone Nail was able to be resurrected by him.
Therefore, how could the zombie refined by second brother Mi Xu possibly be weak?
Leyang Tian ignored little Supreme Leader Liu Zheng’s monologue and sighed from the side, “Why don’t you descendants of Tuo Xie know anything!”
Wen Leyang silently replied that their ancestor had not had the chance to say anything before making a ‘thunderous escape’.
Judging by their roots, the disciples of Painting Town, Fifth Brother Hanba and the descendants of Tuo Xie all shared the same origin. They can be counted as pupils belonging to the same master. Painting Town had inherited Lue Luo’s witchcraft magic. A hundred cultivators had been killed by the sound of the Witch’s Song just a moment ago. Some unexplained magic had been being used to deceive the Enlightened San Wei’s telegnosis ability and his skull had been shattered by one shot. A t.i.tle could be faked but these amazing methods can never be faked. There was no need to mention Fifth Brother Hanba. It was a zombie personally refined by Tuo Xie’s senior and had taken on the solitary heaven guardian of Heaven Immortal Tian Shu and the seventy-two Kunlun Esteemed Sword Seniors on its own.
Wen Leyang had always regarded the demon-killing vitality-extracting Fifth Brother as an enemy. Firstly, because Chang Li was a cat demon. Secondly, because the jade knife Guo Huan had once said that Tuo Xie had fought fiercely with the demon-killing vitality-extracting people to save him. No matter what, a person who kills demons would be an enemy of the Tuo Xie line.
Now that he knew Fifth Brother Hanba was of the same Sect and same origins as himself, its seniority… should he be their Grand Master Uncle? If that was the case, then their previous guesses and reckonings would have been all be for naught.
Grand Master Tuo Xie had tasked Lue Luo to revive Zhui Zi. Naturally, his reasoning was to restore the demon-subduing formation on the Black and White Island. However, Fifth Brother Hanba was killing demons to extract their vitality, nouris.h.i.+ng Xiang Liu’s wicked soul. The former was subduing Xiang Liu, the latter was preserving Xiang Liu. It was black and white, a positive side and a negative side…
Other than that, after knowing that the Grand Master’s siblings had trained separately in the Arts of Poison, Witchcraft, and Corpse, Wen Leyang did not understand why Grand Master had pa.s.sed down Lue Luo’s and Mi Xu’s skills without even doing it right. Painting Town’s big gorilla had left no cultivators behind with a wave of his arm whereas the few thousand Miao family disciples had been almost destroyed by a two-bit demon lady in the Miao Stockade Village. Fifth Brother Hanba was fluent in its speech and could do business. It could even hold its ground while facing the full force of the Kunlun Sect. Crow Ridge had just invented a new item, a true cultivator zombie. Its flying sword was rusty and slow and it could not speak but smirked sometimes. The zombies cultivated by Tuo Xie’s descendants had a practical touch to them.
Wen Leyang suddenly realized that he had gone off topic. He hastily gathered his thoughts back. He followed the trail of the previous conversation and asked, “Grand Master Tuo Xie had tasked Lue… I’ll not ask about that. What else do you know about Grand Master Tuo Xie, can you just say it all… Huh?”
His mind was a mess. No matter how he phrased the question, it still did not feel right. A fool might as well use a fool’s idea, it would be better to let Leyang Tian spill it out himself rather than asking. However, Wen Leyang had not finished his sentence before he realized that Liu Zheng, Leyang Tian, and his two old apprentices were looking towards the outside with stern faces as if faced with a great enemy.
A Prohibition Spell had been set up in the room by Leyang Tian’s witchcraft. They could listen to and see the happenings outside but the people outside cannot even see this room. Just a few moments ago, there were still quite a number of people walking about in a hurry, observing the scene and taking testimonies. It had all quieted down now. The police and the waitresses of Painting Town were not heard from anymore. It was a dead silent.
Wen Leyang hurriedly jumped to his feet and stood shoulder to shoulder with Liu Zheng, “What’s the matter?”
Liu Zheng shook his head, “It went quiet all of a sudden…”
Liu Zheng’s voice has barely faded away when a familiar voice rang densely in the room, “Is this how the Kunlun Sect keeps the Five Blessings’ honor?
The Little Supreme Leader was momentarily shocked before he let out a strange cry, “That’s impossible!”
Wen Leyang also reacted. Who had this voice belonged to? He turned and stared at Liu Zheng, “Didn’t you say that he had been shot dead?” His voice had barely faded away when a restless piercing noise sounded from the outside. When it pa.s.sed by the door, it fiercely created ripples in the air. Then, a bursting ‘pop’ sound erupted. The camouflage that Leyang Tian had set up outside the room was dispersed.
With a ‘bang’, a corpse with an almost destroyed head was thrown in front of them. The corpse was st.u.r.dily built. Its arms were thicker than an average person’s waist. It was the Enlightened San Wei.
Little Supreme Leader Liu Zheng immediately pointed at the corpse on the ground, “See, see, see? He’s dead, is he not? I saw him get shot with my own eyes!”
Wen Leyang looked at the corpse before smiled bitterly, “Then who was the one who was talking outside?”
The dense sound just now was obviously Eyang Sect’s Supreme Leader Enlightened San Wei. But San Wei’s corpse was there in front of their eyes.
Liu Zheng reached into his backpack behind him and pa.s.sed the blunderbuss to Wen Leyang. At the same time, he chuckled as he said loudly, “Who is the immortal out there?”
“Poor priest San Wei!”
Liu Zheng and Wen Leyang looked at each other. The person outside was indeed Eyang Sect’s Enlightened San Wei. He smiled bitterly as he continued to ask, “Then who’s the immortal inside the room?”
The priest San Wei outside seemed to hesitate slightly before answering, “Him? I suppose he’s me as well!”
Wen Leyang did not understand. Liu Zheng then thought of a possibility after thinking about it for a while. His face suddenly paled tremendously.