Chapter 75: The Giant Frog
Shui Jing was on the mountain slope when Ah Dan had delivered the note to him. They then descended the mountain in great delight but upon walking a few steps forward, the fat monk noticed a whiff of faintly discernible demon scent. Shui Jing was bad at exercising self-restraint over his magic art and he knew that the old monk had won the war at the foot of the mountain. If he could successfully catch a monster before he joined the rest of them then it would be his honor too. Mumu was even more elated as she left the only surviving disciple of The Centipede on the mountain slope and was carried by Ah Dan as she joined the fat monk to hunt down the monster.
However, the sitting toad had swept by them in a flash and swallowed both Mumu and Ah Dan in a single gulp before it burrowed and escaped. The monk croaked in panic before chasing after them…
Shui Jing’s treasured weapon was accompanied by a thick sense of killing intent as it surged down from the sky. Wen Leyang too rose up vigorously as he pounced towards the sitting toad. Suddenly, the huge toad made another m.u.f.fled croak and disappeared into thin air!
Dozens of Buddhist prayer beads s.h.i.+mmering with Buddha’s light slammed ferociously into nothingness. The stretch of Qing Miao clansmen’s bamboo houses exploded with a loud bang. Fortunately, the Qing Miao clansmen had been gathered outside and were paying their salutation to little Chi Maojiu so no one was further injured.
Wen Leyang ignored his agonizing injuries as the pores on his entire body opened and closed vigorously. He felt as if he was shaved by thousands of razor blades every time his pores spat and swallowed. He immediately turned and rapidly dashed towards the opposite direction. The fat monk too made a weird squalling sound as he ran into the Miao stockade village. His inverted bell made a loud chiming noise in midair, causing the air to shake vigorously until the noise rippled continuously. The Buddhist prayer beads surrounding the golden inverted bell spun round and round, ready for another attack.
The old monk released his flying sword in an askew manner. He was so exasperated that he broke out into curses at the fat monk, “You can’t even protect a little girl, how did I even befriend such a bald donkey as you!”
The fat monk’s eyes were bloodshot, he had been provoked by the sitting toad into a thundering rage but he flew into an even bigger rage after the old monk’s humiliation. He retorted, “Screw you…stop talking nonsense…” He suddenly stopped talking and roared suddenly – the fat monk’s big and tall body was akin to being wound up by an invisible rope as he abruptly fell sideways without warning.
Wen Leyang pounced ahead as the fat monk Shui Jing was wound up from behind. The two of them were surging towards the same direction when suddenly, a drum-like loud noise covered the sky. Wen Leyang positioned himself with his arms and legs outstretched as the Faulty Punch rippled through the thousands of vital points on his entire body, slamming into the air ahead with a bang. In the blink of an eye, Wen Leyang couldn’t care less about the agonizing pain as he launched forth countless heavy blows and exerted the last ounce of strength from his body. Finally, the air before him trembled vigorously and burst like a soap bubble. The sitting toad once again reappeared before everyone’s eyes.
The fat monk Shui Jing was being rolled in by the giant frog’s tongue and the frog immediately began retracting its tongue back into its mouth.
Seated on top of the giant frog were the wicked witch and the skinny lad who immediately changed their expressions for they had not expected that Wen Leyang could make the sitting toad reappear in its true form.
The giant frog was gifted with two naturally-acquired conjuration and self-protection skills. One was the ability to burrow underneath the ground and the other was the eye-and-ear s.h.i.+elding ability. The ability to burrow underground allowed it to shuttle back and forth underneath the soil smoothly and it could come and go without leaving any traces. The eye-and-ear s.h.i.+elding ability was as its name implies, no one would be able to hear its movements nor see its true form. On most days it could go anywhere and destroy anything as it pleased. The enemy would have no chance to discover its existence and needless to say, they could not vanquish it. It was only the most prestigious master cultivators who could notice the frog.
When the fat monk Shui Jing was still on the mountain, he too had caught a whiff of the demonic scent yet he could not pinpoint the specific location of the sitting toad.
The three families of the Wen, Miao, and Luo’s ancestor grandmother Chang Li was right. The Faulty Punch left behind by the grand master Tuoxie could be used to break a vitality spirit spell. The skinny lad had completely relied on the two self-protection spells of the sitting toad and he did not plan to escape even after rescuing the wicked witch. Even though he had been delighted to learn of his wife’s death, yet she must still be avenged.
The sitting toad had not managed to leave the scope of Wen Leyang’s telegnosis ability so he had immediately rushed over and pounded on the frog madly with the Faulty Punch and broke its naturally-acquired self-protection spell.
As the sitting toad suddenly reappeared, it was surprised by itself. Its tongue retracted out of shock and tossed the big monk into the sky, following that it swept and surged towards Wen Leyang.
Wen Leyang felt as if his bones were shaken into fissures. Before he could take a momentary rest, he saw the huge tongue that was split into two rolling towards him at lightning speed. He yelled once before he started running in the opposite direction.
If the toad were to crawl on top of one’s feet one would feel gooseb.u.mps rising all over one’s body. What more if the toad were to lick one’s face… (Author’s note: Anyway, I cannot stand to describe the feeling anymore).
Bushuo and Buzuo simultaneously stomped their feet before rus.h.i.+ng to the rescue of Wen Leyang. At the same time, a ray of chilling brightness flew past the both of them in a whoosh as the old monk Ji Fei guided his flying sword to chop away the giant frog’s tongue.
Wen Leyang had only taken two strides when he felt a force tighten around his entire body. A sense of fishy-stench stickiness was wrapped all over him and before he could struggle with all his might, a sudden sharp stabbing pain radiated from his shoulder. His body fell limp and his vision dimmed, he was swallowed whole into the giant frog’s mouth with a dazzling silver-colored little sword on his shoulder.
The old monk Ji Fei’s expression changed drastically. Soon after that, he acted as if nothing had happened and pointed at the two wicked people on the giant frog’s head as he roared loudly at the fat monk, “Take them down!” He walked in swift motion towards the giant frog and no one had noticed where his flying sword went.
The flying sword and the frog’s tongue had moved so quickly that it was utterly impossible to see it with one’s eyes. The brothers Bushuo and Buzuo felt the vision before their eyes blur and Wen Leyang was already gone…
Wen Leyang had just flown into the giant frog’s mouth when he felt something slide past him. A hand grabbed his hair from beside his body and the tremendous force pulled him out of the entangled layers of the frog’s tongue with great urgency.
Wen Leyang opened his eyes and shouted in surprise, “Ah Dan!” The little fellow’s expression was anxious as he stomped and made punching gestures at Wen Leyang. He then pulled Wen Leyang along and ran towards the giant frog’s cheek area.
The wicked people on top of the frog were not aware of the situation in the frog’s mouth. They thought that Wen Leyang had been swallowed into the stomach and roared with laughter as they directed the giant frog to once again conjure up the eye-and-ear s.h.i.+elding spell. It hid silently within the air in preparation to swallow the fat monk and the old monk before leaving.
The fat monk was burning with a frenzy of rage. He had guarded his treasured weapon without a moment’s worth of negligence and had finally understood that it was not the monk who had caught the demon but the demon who had eaten the monk. This can be considered similar to the treatment of Tang Sangzang in the ‘Journey to the West’ story. The Qing Miao clansmen in the stockade village were all severely wounded and could not help. The brothers Bushuo and Buzuo looked at one another and immediately started scattering poison all around, hoping to stall the giant frog and made it reappear again.
The old monk Ji Fei secretively pinched his hands into the sword controlling gesture in an attempt to guide the flying sword. He released his magical awareness to explore the area around him and it was akin to a clay oxen plummeting into the sea, he could not get a response at all. The sitting toad was also a monster with a strong demonic disposition and with its mouth closed, the old monk’s primordial spirit utterly could not penetrate through it.
The old monk was slightly relieved. Even though he could not sense the flying sword, his treasured weapon was at least not destroyed or he would be suffering from severe injuries by now. As long as the flying sword was still intact then all was fine, the toad would need to defecate eventually…the old monk was tossing out talisman upon talisman yet he had been pondering in secret…
Wen Leyang and Ah Dan walked swiftly until they reached the giant frog’s cheek and were greatly surprised. Mumu was there with her eyes closed, she was tightly wrapped in what appeared to be an air bubble. Earlier, the skinny lad who controlled the giant frog had seen that Mumu was a young and beautiful girl. He could not bear to let the giant frog swallow Mumu completely so he had temporarily sealed her up in the giant frog’s mouth.
Ah Dan swung his arms and kicked in frustration. The air bubble was slammed repeated with loud bangs but no matter what he did, it would not break. The air bubble was obviously one of the sitting toad’s magic spell and it was not affected by the outside force of kicking and punching. Right now, there wasn’t an ounce of energy left in Wen Leyang and he could not launch the Faulty Punch. Just as he was getting worried, Ah Dan suddenly stopped his movements as he raised his head to stare at Wen Leyang and stretched out his hand to point towards his shoulder.
Only then did Wen Leyang realize that the old monk’s little flying sword was stabbed onto his shoulder. It wasn’t that he was slow in responding, but the ‘Adventures of a Frog’s Mouth’ was beyond sophisticated (Author’s note: Heh-heh, the word ‘beyond sophisticated, is that word familiar…), his entire attention had been distracted and even without the flying sword stabbing him, his entire body was already in agonizing pain.
Wen Leyang squatted down and aligned his shoulder with Ah Dan as he said, “Pull out the sword!”
Unexpectedly, Ah Dan waved his hands in a great bustle and took a few steps back. He pointed at himself, then at the flying sword and shook his head frantically as if he was trying to tell Wen Leyang that he could not touch such an object.
Wen Leyang wasted no time as he gritted his teeth while reaching towards the little sword on his shoulder and pulled it out. Strangely, the buddle did not break even with Ah Dan’s infinite strength but with a few pokes of the little sword, it erupted with a soft pop and shattered into a million pieces.
Mumu’s breathing pattern was even and the color of her face was pink. She appeared to be utterly uninjured as if she had only fallen asleep. Both the big person and the smaller person were overjoyed with the unexpected good news. Ah Dan pulled Mumu up in one go and ran towards the frog’s mouth, leaving Wen Leyang behind.
Meanwhile, at the same time that the air bubble had been pierced, it was as if the giant frog felt the pain and its mouth opened into a slit. Ah Dan cheered and brought Little Chili Pepper along as he jumped out. Wen Leyang was still hiding cautiously underneath the frog’s tongue that was rolled up into a ball next to him.
Neither the fat monk or the old monk, nor the skinny lad and the wicked witch, had expected that during the crucial moment of a standoff, a red-s.h.i.+rted young girl held up by a bald little fellow would burst out of the thin air.
The old monk had sharp eyes and he was overjoyed as he cheered, “The little girl is out! The monster is right behind her!”
Once Mumu had leaped out, the sitting toad’s camouflage ability was rendered useless as even an idiot would know where it was. Dozens of Buddhist prayer beads which were wrapped in thick wind and thunder erupted towards the air right behind Mumu mercilessly!
In the midst of the thundering explosions of the string of Buddhist prayer beads, the sitting toad’s eye-and-ear s.h.i.+elding spell was once again broken causing its humongous body to reappear all of a sudden! Wen Bushuo and Wen Buzuo were afraid that they might hurt Wen Leyang as they turned around simultaneously and cursed at the fat monk before pouncing with agile movements towards the giant frog.
The sitting toad had suffered through repeated attacks. It croaked twice as its plump body staggered and somersaulted. It regained its stability before trying to counterattack. Wen Leyang, who was in its mouth, could not hold on to anything in the slippery interior and with the sudden shaking, his body slipped and fell onto the giant frog’s tongue.
The giant frog’s tongue was as agile as a starving snake, it immediately rolled and wrapped around Wen Leyang before tossing him into its stomach.
When the pair of brothers from the Death Trademark arrived next to the giant frog’s body, it was just in time to see the sitting toad’s throat s.h.i.+ver once as it swallowed Wen Leyang into its stomach. Soon after that, the giant frog’s half-shut eyes suddenly popped wide open abruptly. Its eyes were full of surprise, resulting in an extremely cartoon-like scene…
A m.u.f.fled but familiar voice echoed from within the giant frog’s mouth and said, “Help me…”