Chapter 44: The Luo Family
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The very toxic, harsh and potent poison had completely fused with the air of the courtyard in a highly concentrated manner. Once the skin has been contaminated, the poisoned person would die immediately. This was the Wind Poison from the Wen family.
Without mentioning the poison’s severity and composition, the method of releasing it requires an exceedingly high level of skill. One would have to fuse the poison in the air but not allow it to be dispersed by moving air. So as long as a person was outside the courtyard, they could stand by the doorway and not be poisoned at all. However, just by pointing a finger into the courtyard, they would immediately trigger the poison’s effect. Amongst the hundreds of people in the Wen family, only the four elders were capable of releasing this poison, even the First Uncle might not be able to do it.
Wen Leyang was an inner disciple so he wouldn’t be harmed by his family’s poison. But just as he was about to use his family’s inherited secret technique to expel the poison, all the three million and six thousand pores on his body contracted and relaxed vigorously, absorbing the Wind Poison rapidly into his body.
The extremely toxic poison which was originally condensed in the air suddenly behaved like a fly which was attracted by the smell of blood and rushed towards him in all directions!
Ever since Wen Leyang had successfully cultivated his ancestor Wen Lazi’s practice, this had been his first time coming into contact with poison again. He did not expect his body to react like a giant cupping gla.s.s, in a flash he had drawn up all the Wind Poison towards himself and before he could jump away, the strong poison had been absorbed into his body. He s.h.i.+vered once, the sensation was similar to after he had urinated on a normal day. All of his sweat pores moaned without a sound before relaxing in a satisfied manner.
Wen Leyang hurriedly took out the poison antidote but held it in his hand without making a move to take a dose. When the Wind Poison had entered his body, he had unexpectedly not shown any symptoms of being poisoned and only his skin feels a little unwell from the tightness of his pores.
Suddenly, a grumbling voice sounded from the big house in the middle of the courtyard, “You disciples of the Wen Bucao never think with your brains when you are handling matters. You’ve set up the toxic poison in the courtyard and it’s driven away all the monks who used to bring us our meals. Now, they toss us steamed buns over the wall like we are their pet dogs!”
An old and gloomy voice answered, “Yet you ate all the steamed buns that they’d tossed in.” The person who spoke sounded extremely ancient and it was impossible to tell if they were a male or a female.
Wen Leyang was overjoyed and completely forgot about checking his body as he leaped up and cheered. That second voice was very familiar to him, there was no one else in this world other than Fourth Grandpa who had wrinkles were so deep they could trap a fly and would speak in such a manner.
The other majestic voice shouted in haste, “Fourth brother’s night air has been broken!” Before his voice had died away, the big house turned dark suddenly and five or six shadowy human figures appeared in the courtyard. They looked like wandering ghosts in the dim light as they pounced towards Wen Leyang silently.
Wen Leyang’s sharp eyes immediately recognized that the shadows which were pouncing at him from ahead, above, and from the left and right side were his four grandfathers. He shouted in surprise, “Grandpas, it’s me!”
The four elders of the Wen family immediately paused simultaneously as stunned expressions appeared on their old faces.
However, another two shadows flashed out from behind the four elders and pounced towards Wen Leyang without a pause. One of them cursed, “Little b*stard, he’s pretending that he knows the family elders! He must be looking for death!”
The two old men were both attired like old farmers, there was utterly no sense of honest kindness that can be said about their faces. In their hands, they held dreadful white-colored long needles which were waving and rustling. The atmosphere in the Buddhist courtyard, which was originally serene and still, changed into a gruesome and ghostly one.
The movements of their long needles were almost like Little Chili Pepper’s Spirit Needles but their martial style and power were far more ruthless and spicy.
Wen Leyang leaped up abruptly as he cried in alarm, the four long needles were stabbing towards his body simultaneously!
He had been fully prepared and leaped up to dodge the soul-attaching and bone-chewing long needles wielded by the two old men. However, in the end, he did not manage to jump as high as he’d expected. His body was somehow heavier after absorbing the Wind Poison.
Even though the weight increase wasn’t much, he had not been prepared for it and this lowered his agility significantly.
The four needles s.h.i.+mmered in ashen and decayed colors before stabbing into Wen Leyang’s shoulders and chest. The two old men’s gazes were triumphant but their hands unexpectedly became heavy. The long needles had pushed into the flesh for half an inch before meeting a strong resistance from their opponent’s body. To them, it felt like the young fellow was like a strong but flexible rubber man. The ferocious needles could not break through the skin and not a single drop of blood was spilled.
The two old men were shocked, they are brothers and the elders of Little Chili Pepper. Both were outstanding cultivators from the Luo family at Crow Ridge. They had dealt with corpses all their lives and the points where their Spirit Needles had hit was the weakest points on a human body. It did not matter if they were living or a thousand-year-old corpse, their body will tremble from the needles’ attack on the shoulders and intercostal s.p.a.ces. The two old men weren’t sure if the person they were attacking was a friend or foe and did not use their full strength. But it was still an extremely strange occurrence for all four Spirit Needles to be unable to pierce through the skin, this was something that they had never encountered before.
The two elders of the Luo family raised their voices and pushed with their hands again when Second Elder Luo on the right cried out in agonizing pain. He let go of his needles and stumbled back hurriedly, grabbing onto the wrist of his right hand. The two Spirit Needles remained embedded on Wen Leyang’s body.
‘You’ve Got Me’ raised the long bristles on its body and rolled happily around on the back of the old man’s hand. Its poison spikes that were harder than steel p.r.i.c.ked straight into the skin.
Second Elder Luo shook his hand as if he was being electrocuted. ‘You’ve Got Me’ uncurled itself and lay tightly on the back of his hand, posing like a surfer on its surfboard.
Grand Elder Luo, upon seeing that his younger brother was injured, no longer cared to have the contest of strength with Wen Leyang. He retracted his long needles and reached to pluck the Buddha’s Light Bug from his sibling’s hand. Though ‘You’ve Got Me’ was still relatively young it was no pushover either, it had retaliated upon seeing its master being attacked. After injuring the Second Elder, the bug’s body rushed forward with great speed and flew through the night sky with a red glow towards the older brother’s face.
The Grand Elder of the Luo family cursed, “F*cking vermin!” He twisted his body and dodged the Buddha’s Light Bug without a moment to spare, swinging the long needles in his hand. ‘You’ve Got Me’ made an agonized sound and tumbled to the ground, it lay there for a moment as if it had been beaten senseless. The bug then crept around for a while before it located Wen Leyang and crawled dejectedly towards him. It made a pitiful howling sound with its mouth as if asking for Wen Leyang to avenge it.
Grand Elder Luo exhaled a long breath before rus.h.i.+ng to check on his younger brother’s injuries. However, before he could take the first step, the four angry-looking grandpas rushed towards him and without saying a word swung out their fists and began to beat him up.
The Luo and Wen family were both equally well-known but upon arriving the zombie corpses which had been destroyed by the monks. The temple, which was like a holy land for Buddhists, naturally disallowed this type of creature from entering it. Though Grand Elder Luo would hold his own in a solo fight, he was overwhelmed by the four grandfathers – he got punched in the nose and his tears and snot began to flow uncontrollably.
Grand Elder Luo bellowed in pain and yelled, “Come out and help me!” Similar to the Wen family, the elders from the Luo family had brought the secret elite members of their family along to Mount Emei. They were all also captured by the monks and imprisoned here.
A group of enormous chaps with poker faces and rigid body movements ran out from the rooms on the west side of the courtyard. They carried themselves with a heavy and oppressive force.
Fourth Elder Wen snorted, “Even The Centipede is not invulnerable!” Before the sound of his voice had died away, a hundred other humanoid shadows glided out of the rooms on the opposite side and silently made their way to the people of Crow Ridge.
The silence of the dim night was immediately torn apart by the sounds of a battle; every corner of the big courtyard was filled with the sound of punches. The Death Trademark of the Wen family and The Centipede of the Luo family finally broke the two powerful clans’ peaceful and harmonious coexistence after two thousand years.
The people from the death Trademark latched themselves onto the enemy while the four elders of the Wen family continued to fight wholeheartedly as a team with the elders of the Luo family. Grand Elder Wen cursed savagely as he fought, “Did you think it was easy for my grandson to raise up such a good bug?” When the four elders had met, Fourth Elder Wen had told them about the incident that Wen Leyang had experienced at the Red Leaves Forest.
In the same time it takes for one to roll their eyes, Wen Leyang had managed to sneak into the courtyard and cause a fight between the four elders of the Wen and the two outstanding cultivators of the Luo.
Wen Leyang’s skin had tightened as soon as the long needles had touched him, all that remained at the spot was an indentation on his skin and he wasn’t injured. ‘You’ve Got Me’ jumped onto his palm and circled around it twice in grievance before slowly crawling up his sleeve.
The elders of the two families fought against one another while the younger ones fought amongst themselves. More than a hundred men were tangled in a hideous mess but everyone knew very well that this was a personal dispute and not a life or death battle. They fought with boisterous clashes and bangs but not one of them drew his knife and risked his life.
The fighting went on for a while before Grand Elder Wen withdrew from the battle, he smiled as he looked at Wen Leyang and asked, “Young fellow, are you alright?”
Wen Leyang nodded his head hastily in response and turned around to show that he was unharmed. This time he was certain that his body definitely felt heavier than before. Grand Elder Wen burst out laughing as he grabbed Second Elder Luo’s hand which had swelled up as red as an apple. He then took out his bamboo detoxification needles to help draw out the poison.
The remaining three elders struck a few more blows before stopping. The excited look on their faces settled back into their usual stern and somber expression as they gazed at Wen Leyang and asked, “Why are you here?”
Wen Leyang looked at the four elders in turn and tried to suppress the excitement in his heart with all his might, “Are…the four elders unharmed?” Ever since he had discovered the corpses of his clansmen on that mountain slope, he had been getting more and more worried. Now that he could see that the four elders were relatively safe and sound, the giant rock which had been weighing on his chest finally loosened and dropped away.