Chapter 258:
Mind Games
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
He Xiao Sha was climbing a mountain.
The sc.u.mbag He family did not pride themselves in martial skills, but since it was a Jianghu family which had been around for a thousand years, its disciples had some good basics.
He Xiao Sha’s pace was much faster than the ordinary person. G.o.ddess Peak was, once again, far away. At this moment, a wave of surprised and furious shouts of monkeys rose around him all of a sudden.
Beast taming was one of the nine great Arts of Jianghu which the He family was famous for. When travelling in a forest, summoning a few monkeys to stand sentry was the basic alerting method of the men of the He family.
Xiao Sha’s expression changed slightly. He swiftly spread some medicinal powder over his body. At the same time, he leaned on a big tree. In the blink of an eye, his clothes, skin and even the colors of his shoes blended into one with the dark brown tree. He even grew some crooked branches.
After a brief moment, a fat man and a skinny man appeared silently not far from where he stood.
The fat man had his arms on his waist. His legs were pressed together. It was as if he awkwardly tried to impersonate a woman, there was an unspeakable awkwardness at the sight. The fat man frowned and surveyed his surroundings. His gaze had glanced across Xiao Sha’s body a few times. He was just in front of him but he could not see him. After a brief moment, he spoke with puzzlement, “There was clearly someone here just now…” He had a st.u.r.dy build and was almost two meters tall. He weighed above a hundred and fifty kilograms, but his voice was as airy as gossamer, as if he would stop breathing at any time.
The skinny man was impatient, “Let’s go, quickly. We shouldn’t miss the great fun. I’m tired of games like catching a person!” The skinny man’s pose was stern and imposing, but he looked hungry. The not-so-huge sweater on him caught the wind, but his voice was exceptionally loud. With just two sentences, the nearby forest was shaken by his voice. Countless dried branches fell down like rain.
The fat man laughed softly. He gave his surroundings a final glance. After a final confirmation that there was no one here, he continued to run ahead with resentment. However, he returned to his initial spot in the blink of an eye. He cupped his fists, “Today, us brothers have met an elite but missed him at arm’s length and we are greatly troubled. We dare not bother you, this is farewell!”
At the same time, the skinny man’s face tightened. He cupped his fists with the fat man as he said sternly, “Please pardon our intrusion, we’ll take our leave!” Then, the bodies of the duo swayed and glided towards the direction of G.o.ddess Peak.
Xiao Sha held his breath and focused his mind. He dared not move a muscle. After a brief moment, six shadows shot swiftly past him like excited arrows. They followed the duo who had appeared earlier and sped on their way. They flashed past, but after a dozen seconds, Xiao Sha only saw a blur in front of his eyes. A huge group of densely-packed, strange-looking monsters rushed past him with loud footsteps!
Some had green faces, fangs and had four hooves, some had one horn, long tails and flew low with their wings, some were a dozen meters tall with muscles that looked like rocks, some were no longer than a foot but had nimble feet… In Xiao Sha’s eyes, the most normal-looking being among these monsters were people who had a pair of hands, feet and chattered as they went. However, these ‘people’ only talked to themselves. Each of their heads had three faces…
The expression of Wen Leyang on G.o.ddess Peak was not much different from Xiao Sha’s who had been scared out of his wits by the monsters. His lips curved downwards. His brows almost fused together…
For the greater good, he would bless the world by re-subduing Xiang Liu. Selfishly speaking, if Xiang Liu broke free, it would seek revenge from Kong Nuer even if it had to ascend into the heavens or descend into the ground. Immortal master Kong Nuer knew that the water element Heaven’s cone nail on Black and White Island had been shattered but he was in no hurry to restore the great formation. Instead, he gathered his elite forces which had laid in wait in the world for a million years to capture the cat demon Chang Li?
Chang Li was also puzzled herself. She scratched behind her head. She smiled with some satisfaction, “Could it be… that the demon-subduing great formation could be restored by capturing me?” After she finished, she herself thought that it was not the case, “Whether it’s the attribute of the Heaven’s cone nail or the magic powers of the great formation, it has nothing to do with my demonic energy. Don’t tell me that this is all for revenge?”
Cone Nail’s thinking face broke everyone’s hearts, “Also… why didn’t Kong Nuer come himself?”
Sir Rust who had kept quiet all this while suddenly sneered softly, “How can the immortal master teacher be bothered just to capture a cat demon?”
Chang Li waved her hand impatiently. She made it clear that ‘you do not understand, do not create trouble’.
Fei Fei nodded, “Kong Nuer had pa.s.sed down the magic circle because he was worried that they could not defeat Grand Master Chang Li. Instead of going through all this trouble, he could’ve just made a move himself!”
The golden monkey Qian Ren hugged his shoulders. He a.n.a.lyzed with a silly face, “Even if it was a capture mission, it shouldn’t be about capturing Chang Li only…”
He had not finished when a rigid voice projected from the rock tower which hung high above G.o.ddess Peak, “That’s right! I was also involved in shattering the ice cone nail. They should take me as well!”
Second Mother laughed softly at Wen Buzuo beside her, “This mountain ghost is even more heartless than you!”
Wen Buzuo was astonished. He did not know what to say. He smiled embarra.s.sedly, “Well, you know…”
Now, Wen Leyang was completely confounded by the consecutive mysteries. Putting the other matters aside, even Chang Li’s shattering of the Heaven’s cone nail happened two thousand years ago. What was Kong Nuer doing then? If he could drill a little hole on the top of his skull, he bet that there would be some confused brain cells that would come out for some fresh air.
“Also, something’s not right.” Cone Nail leaned on Wen Leyang’s chest, her eyes were full of exhaustion, “I have been reborn, mister Qian Ren has been freed from his predicament, Xiang Liu’s true soul had even possessed Tian Yin. We are all his archenemies, but Kong Nuer only wanted his subordinates to capture Chang Li?” Speaking of Qian Ren alone, Kong Nuer had left two troops behind, one on the highlands and another on Mount Hua’s Ending Cave. From this, it was evident how much he thought about Qian Ren, but now he did not even bat an eyelid about him.
Although Fei Fei was also confused, but her thoughts were not unordered. She continued to ponder along the lines of Cone Nail’s words, “Unless, mister Kong himself had no knowledge of these things!”
Kong Nuer had only known that I was shattered two thousand years ago, but he did not know that the ice cone nail had been reincarnated into a person; he knew that Black and White Island’s Tian Shu and the others have died, but he did not know that the true soul had possessed Tian Yin; Qian Ren had already broke free and controlled the golden monkey, but he did not seem to know.
Chang Li giggled as she said, “Looks like that immortal master teacher isn’t a know-it-all. It’s useless to think about it now. All I know is once we kill all the little monsters, the old monster will appear!” She had vast knowledge, her thoughts were comparable to Cone Nail’s, but she was too lazy to think about too much.
Fei Fei nodded. She looked at old man Bao Ri and changed another question, “After you’ve captured Chang Li, what then? Where are you going to take her? Or will Kong Nuer come and fetch her himself…”
Bao Ri made a strange expression, “The immortal master teacher also left us a magic circle, he wanted us to transport the person through it…”
Chang Li’s brows lifted, happiness showed on her face. She was happy that they finally had a way of finding Kong Nuer when Bao Ri quickly continued his explanation, “This magic circle… can only transport souls, not people!”
Chang Li was stunned in surprise, “What do you mean? Speak more clearly!”
“This magic circle can extract a cultivator’s primordial spirit from a person’s body, then, it’ll be transported to the immortal master teacher through the void…”
Wen Leyang could not help but grit his teeth, “If we did that, the person would die!”
The golden monkey shook his head, “A normal person won’t survive, but with Chang Li’s cultivation base, she should be able to hold on for some time. All we have to do is send her demonic soul back into her body in time.”
Qian Ren was still explaining when Fei Fei’s cellphone vibrated. She took it out. When she read the screen, Fei Fei frowned with a strange expression, “Xiao Sha said… there’s a huge group of monsters coming towards G.o.ddess Peak.”
Guo Huan, who had hung in midair as he kept an eye on the surroundings suddenly exclaimed in surprise. He laughed hysterically, “Now this is something! How many years has it been since I saw ghost-headed toad-faced monsters. There’re about a thousand of them and they’re flocking towards this spot!” After he finished, he paused briefly. Then, he chuckled, “First, here comes two brothers. Judging by their movements, they shouldn’t be any inferior than Earth Emperor and the others!”
Guo Huan’s voice barely faded when a booming sound louder than running thunder resounded on the pinnacle of G.o.ddess Peak, “Haha, to be able to see so many immortals, us brothers are simply overjoyed!”
The other thin voice also chimed in with laughter, “That’s right! This is our luck for three incarnations, this joy in our hearts is simply unexplainable!”
Chang Li’s eyes were bright. She brought the others with interest and went out from behind the giant rock. Head lama Rangjung voluntarily led the highland cultivators to guard the four sealed monsters.
Xiao Sha had just met the two strange persons under the mountain, one fat and one skinny man. They had already reached G.o.ddess Peak. They were all smiles. They greeted every cultivator they met along the way. They chattered away with much friendliness. The other rogue cultivators entertained them with bitter smiles. n.o.body recognized these two brothers, but they acted as if they were old friends of a hundred years. Their earnest friendliness which rose from the depths of their hearts made the others too embarra.s.sed to push them away.
The skinny man was pulling on a man’s arm as they talked, suddenly, he exclaimed in surprise. His feet went limp as he took a few steps backwards. His tone was surprised and excited. He pointed at the midair and yelled wildly like thunder, “Look, quick! There’s a mountain in the sky! This is… a magic weapon!?”
The thin-voiced fat man also beamed. He quickly walked beside his brother, his eyes were filled with an honest respect, “It’s the ability of a living G.o.d! This magic weapon is truly unequalled under the heavens!”
The two men were alarmed at every ordinary thing. The six cultivators who followed close behind them also arrived and were reunited with them. Like the two brothers, when these six people appeared, they greeted everyone as if they were long lost friends. As if they were worried that they were not respectful enough, whether man or woman, old or young, they saluted them as if they were their seniors…
Wen Buzuo’s eyeb.a.l.l.s rolled. He returned to the giant rock and pulled old man Bao Ri out. He asked him with a low voice, “Do you know them?”
Bao Ri’s old face twitched but did not say anything. The fat and skinny brothers squalled at the same time. Their eyes beamed as they ran towards Bao Ri. They laughed as they ran, “Bao Ri, long time no see! Have you been captured?”
Every wrinkle on old man Bao Ri’s face was mixed with genuine terror. He struggled desperately under Wen Buzuo’s hands. He growled hoa.r.s.ely, “Stop… stop them… stop them!”
At this moment, a m.u.f.fled boom came suddenly from the mountain’s peak. A huge group of monsters leapt into the air, they landed orderly on a patch of empty ground in the middle of G.o.ddess Peak. The unprepared rogue cultivators exclaimed in surprise almost at the same time. They hastily retreated in every direction!
Dozens of species, thousands of monsters. Each one of them bared their fangs and claws at the surrounding cultivators.
Wen Leyang’s heart also skipped a beat. If they kept a random monster from this group in a cage and sold tickets for people to see it, they could have outsold a zoo, let alone a thousand of them showing up at the same time.
Ji Fei was so terrified that his colors drained, but he had Chang Li as a backer after all. His guts were strengthened greatly. He bulged his eyes and was about to scold angrily, but the fat and skinny brothers had turned around and yelled at the group of monsters before he could say anything.
The other sic cultivators who brought the monsters along must have been the subordinates of the fat and skinny brothers. They immediately followed suit and yelled at the monsters. After a brief moment, every unnamed evil beast retracted their claws and fangs under their masters’ scolding. Then, they flashed bone-chilling smiles on their ugly faces. They started to nod and bow to the cultivators on G.o.ddess Peak… The expressions of the rogue cultivators turned even sour.
Wen Leyang drew cold breaths from between his teeth. He could not help but asked, “What are these?”
“Monsters! All of them are monsters!” Old rabbit demon Bu Le’s face twitched, “Like us masters, disciples and Guo Huan started absorbing the essence of sun and moon from birds, beasts, plants and rocks, cultivating life vitality and obtained spiritual wisdom, we’re called demons; whereas these which had spiritual wisdom since birth but had no place in the realms of men, are called monsters!” After he finished, he paused. He seemed worried that Wen Leyang still did not understand, “A demon’s spiritual wisdom is cultivated by itself. These monsters’ spiritual wisdom is the same as that of man, they had them since birth!”
The golden monkey was not like the old rabbit demon who looked like he was facing a great enemy. There was even scorn on his face, “They’re all uncivilized savage things. Although they have spiritual wisdom, but the lives they lead are almost the same as beasts.”
When the weak-voiced fat man who even sounded like a woman heard the monkey’s words, he frowned helplessly and said politely, “These little monsters are beings born with a difficult fate. When humanity flourished, they could only hide in the depths of mountains and in foul lands with their sufferings. If things were reversed and the world was theirs now, I think that the humans that hid in the mountains would be more savage and uglier than them. This… monkey… I mean, great immortal, your words were somewhat unfair.”
The skinny man paid no attention to the monkey. He scrutinized the disciples brought along by the descendants of the Heaven’s cone nail. After a brief moment, he asked them probingly, “Your sect leader has been captured, why are you guys not fighting back?”
A disciple of Sir Rust had a respectful mannerism. He obviously knew the ident.i.ties of the fat and skinny brothers, “I have not received an order from the sect leader, I dare not act rashly.”
The skinny man broke into laughter. He shook his head forcefully, “Your sect leader loves all of you, he’s worried that you’ll all be going to your deaths…”
He was halfway through his speech when Sir Rust’s frantic voice sounded from behind the giant rock, “What do you want…” The skinny man did not stop laughing. He uttered three loud and clear words, “Kill about half!”
The six men behind the fat and skinny brothers grunted in reply at the same time. Their figures leapt like lightning as they rushed headlong into the ranks of the few Heaven’s cone nail’s sect members without hesitation!
Rust and Hot Immortal Aunt who had not fainted yet gave a furious howl in unison behind the giant rock. They did not let their disciples fight back but desperately pleaded them to run for their lives.
With Wen Leyang’s eyesight, he could not see what kinds of magical powers the six of them casted. He could only see that the six men had divided themselves into three groups. They went in pairs as they charged the enemy’s ranks. Immediately, threads of black and white rolling mists rose from their bodies. Where the mist touched, there was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess of minced meat!
The ones who were killed were all the disciples of Shudou, Rust, and the others. In terms of magic powers and arts, the least of them was at least several times more powerful than the First Seats of the Great Mercy Temple’s Five Supreme Monasteries. The many skilled cultivators were powerless against the strange magical powers of the three pairs of cultivators. Any magic weapon that made contact with the rolling mist would wail and fall on the ground. In the blink of an eye, a few dozen Heaven’s cone nail descendant disciples were slaughtered!
When the fat man saw that the skinny man had suddenly ordered his six subordinates to start killing people, he skipped over with anxiousness and anger as he asked with a sharp voice, “Why did you kill them!?”
The skinny man ended his thunderous laughter as he tried hard to lower his voice, but it still reached the ears of every cultivator on G.o.ddess Peak, “I like to listen to Rust’s shouts!”
Fury filled the fat man’s face. He waved a giant fist at the skinny man, “Then you better be quick about it! I don’t like to listen to that piece of metal’s shouts!” The skinny man grunted in reply. He loudly urged his six subordinates to kill off the men as soon as possible.
Wen Leyang burned with rage. He had no good impressions about the people of the Heaven cone nail sect. What truly made him angry was the reason that these two men committed their killings. He grinded his teeth and bellowed, “Stop it!” Then, his body swayed as he prepared to pounce.
The fat and skinny brothers suddenly wore terrified expressions. After Wen Leyang’s bellow, they immediately called back their six subordinates who were killing the cultivators. They looked at Wen Leyang with stunned expressions.
Chang Li also reached out an arm and pressed down on Wen Leyang. The shock between her brows was not concealed.
Only now did old man Bao Ri said in a low, shaky voice, “They… are all the descendants of the Chaos cone nail!” In no time, about half of the Heaven’s cone nail descendant disciples had died tragically.
The skinny man’s expression was slightly depressed. He retorted out of spite as if pleading for his own innocence, “I’m counted as the same sect as them. Their disciples are my disciples. I’m just killing my own disciples, what are you so mad… please don’t be mad.”
The fat man, however, was all smiles. He spoke on a completely different topic from the skinny man. He patted his own chest, “We’re disciples from s.h.i.+wan Mountain. He’s Mo Baiyi, I’m Mo Yibai!”
The golden monkey took a step forward. He absent-mindedly blocked Wen Leyang with ahlf of his body. He sneered coldly, “At least there’re some powerful personas among Kong Nuer’s subordinates. Very good, very good!”
Qian Ren had seen most of Kong Nuer’s subordinates, but he was a complete stranger to the method of practices of this Chaos brothers. When Mount Hua’s ending Cave’s Fengzhang and Xiyu captured the golden monkey, the elite whom condensed the Chaos cone nail did not show up.
Chang Li also displayed a curious smile, “You’re also here to capture the cat demon?”
The skinny man Mo Baiyi wore an awkward expression. He asked Chang Li probingly, “Err… can’t we not capture her?”
The fat man Mo Yibai immediately made a silencing gesture at the skinny man. He pointed at the sky with a terrified expression, as if signaling the skinny man that his words could be heard above the heavens.
However, the skinny man was impatient. Instead, he loudened his voice, “What’re you afraid about? The old thing had only told us to capture, but he didn’t say when we should capture. The original intent wasn’t to capture the cat demon, after all!”
The fat man pondered for a while then smiled with relief, “The old thing also didn’t ask us to save those people. This is turning out just fine!” After he finished, he hastily nodded and smiled embarra.s.sedly at Wen Leyang.
Bao Ri’s expression was extremely sour. They were clearly descendants of Heaven’s cone nails, but whether it was his bearings or his tone, he seemed to harbor a deep grudge against the fat and skinny brothers in front of him. He did not even look at the other party. Instead, he changed sides and defected as he said to Wen Leyang and the others, “The line of Chaos was very much loved by the immortal master teacher. The immortal master teacher never minded their insolent speeches, not even once! The ancestors of our families gathered around the immortal master teacher for the greater good, but the Chaos ancestor did it for fun! Their line… cannot be regarded as one of our own.”
Chang Li gave an ‘eh’. She laughed with shock and surprise. She thought that she had found people who thought like her. She asked the fat and skinny brothers, “Then what about extracting primordial spirits to make the demon-subduing Heaven’s cone nails> Was that for fun as well?”
The skinny man was all smiles, “Naturally. But not everyone can become a demon-subduing Heaven’s cone nail!”
However, the fat man looked dejected, “I reckon that our foolish ancestor must’ve been filled with regret right now. No matter how wonderful a thing is, if you can’t talk ot move, it won’t be any interesting.”
Wen Leyang’s head started to hurt again. He turned towards Fei Fei.
Fei Fei understood his meaning. The edge of his lips twitched slightly as she responded seriously, “He’s not really foolish, nor was he acting foolish. Every word of his was from the heart! I think that is Chaos!”
Old man Bao Ri continued, “That’s right, they’re Chaos, but their nature is savage! Although they’re human by nature, but they joined ranks with the evil monsters. Their ancestors had once slaughtered every village in a thirty-five kilometer radius just to compare whether a man’s blood or a girl’s blood is redder! Once, to make a person grow a tail, they sent a female doll into pigs’ pens and dogs’ lair, then they used magic arts to give birth to a freak! Once, to find a baby which cannot swim, they threw three hundred newly-born babies into the ocean…..”
Wen Leyang’s hairs stood on end when he heard this. The Wen Bucao, since ancient times, had only helped their friends regardless of the truth. They had no notion of right and wrong, but when he heard about the doings of the Chaos cone nail, an insuppressible hatred rose from the bottom of his heart.
Even the golden monkey Qian Ren gritted his teeth. He chewed on every word, “Kong Nuer, these kings of subordinates are your beloved generals! It’s a shame that I have not heard of this beast before this, or else, even if I did not bother myself about the world, I could not let this kind of beast live!”
Bao Ri took a deep breath. He said to Wen Buzuo beside him, “If… you guys can’t defeat him, I’d rather you kill me than to fall into his hands!”
The fat man Mo Yibai seemed to have been greatly wronged. He made a sad face and shook his head forcefully, “My ancestor has also done nice things! He had killed eight hundred savages that attacked the village just so that the children of the village would stop crying!”
Bao Ri chuckled after he reminisced for a while, “That’s true, something like that did happen. But from what I know, after he killed off the savages, the terrified children didn’t stop crying…”
The skinny man Mo Baiyi blinked. He frowned as if he was there when it happened, “Why is this child still crying? This is truly a waste of my ancestor’s good will…”
Chang Li’s gaze had long lost their playful gleam. She asked drily, “then what about your brother, what interesting things has he done all these years?”
The fat man smiled, “Err… Uncountable. Why did a calf gurgle when you pull out its teeth; how to skin a tortoise without killing it; a newborn baby looks just like an old person; why did the old man die faster than a young lad…”
The fat man seemed to be enumerating his family’s fortune, but the skinny man looked in all directions. His gaze swept continuously across the rogue cultivators that were present. There was an unconcealable excitement and joy in his eyes…