Chapter 88: The Visit
Bu Le adjusted his expression and he nodded his head earnestly, “After the arduous battle in the Miao stockade village, both I and Shan Duan were severely injured. We needed to reveal our true selves in order to heal our injuries so we returned to the immortal’s cave that I had stayed in before I had cultivated my human form to recuperate. All was well and peaceful over the past one year until a few days ago. It was at the crucial moment before we were fully healed when this child Shan Duan’s, whose cultivation skill was still slightly shallow, accidentally spilled out a little of bit of demonic energy.”
The little demon rabbit Shan Duan moved his little mouth as he chanted a phrase of Buddhist hymn in shame.
Back then, the old demon rabbit Bu Le had paid no attention to the matter as before they had started healing their injuries, he had ordered the fellow monks under his seat to seal off the entire mountain. They were also not allowed to investigate any unusual phenomena so even if anyone from the outside were to discover the demonic energy, they would have been blocked on the outside of the mountain by the five supreme monasteries. Also, the demonic energy that had been was accidentally leaked out by Shan Duan was extremely weak so no one should be able to notice it at all.
However, shortly after, the enemy used an unknown method to cut through the Great Mercy Temple’s great spell soundlessly and suddenly appeared with killing intent right at their door!
Bu Le has almost two thousand years of cultivation experience so he was alerted in advance just moments before the enemy appeared. He immediately hit the little stutterer Hope Voice and knocked him out to prevent the innocent from getting harmed. Following that, he ignored his recuperation as he joined hands with Shan Duan and braced for the enemy!
There were a total of seven men and each of them had an exquisite cultivation base and shocking supernatural powers. This was especially so for the treasured weapons they had brandished. The weapons had been hardened with sparkling n.o.ble Spirit! In addition to that, these seven’s physiques were quite unique. Even without the help of their n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons, their bodies were extremely resistant towards ordinary demonic spells.
Wen Leyang was slightly confused as he asked, “n.o.ble Spirit?”
Chang Li liked this silly little fellow so she controlled her impatience as she explained it to him, “This n.o.ble Spirit which we’re talking about is not the same as the awe-inspiring n.o.ble righteousness spirit. Not only those practicing the right cultivation path can engage in the Art of Cultivation. n.o.ble Spirit is the name of a form of energy. All living beings continuously reinforce and counteract each other between the Five Elements of the Universe. The n.o.ble Spirit is specially used to exercise restraints over the vitality force of some of us from the Demon Sect. It is ineffective against other cultivators from the righteous and evil path of cultivation; it will only cause significant harm to those of us from the Demon Sect.”
Bu Le grimaced from the side, “Heaven’s way isn’t always fair, we are also cultivating in the Art of Heaven but we were all born as beasts. Even if we can cultivate to the point of perfection we will still be demons and not immortals. Also, if we were to compete and fight with a cultivator of same cultivation base, we will still be at a disadvantage. They can refine themselves with n.o.ble Spirit which is especially effective against counteracting demonic power but we have never been able to find a power to counteract a human cultivator.”
Chang Li smiled proudly, “You only need to strengthen your cultivation, don’t mind those whatever awe-inspiring n.o.ble righteousness spirit. Those are all bullsh*t!”
Wen Leyang was more concerned about those enemies in his heart as he asked, “What do those seven people look like?”
The old monk Bu Le’s expression turned peculiar and he thought for a while before he finally concluded in four words, “An utterly confusing mess.” Upon saying that he made a forced smile as he shook his head, “These seven persons each have their own supernatural power, their abilities were rather impressive but their minds were like…”
At this point, the sound of two thuds was heard as the old monk Ji Fei and the fat monk Shui Jing who had been sitting properly earlier suddenly tumbled to the ground. The old monk’s ashen old face trembled as he looked up while pointing at Bu Le and Shan Duan. He said, “So…so it turns out that both of you are demons?!”
Even though the old monk Ji Fei had devoted his entire life to fis.h.i.+ng for rumors and gossips, out of professional sensitivity he could at least have tried to be understanding. However, this gossip has truly been too shocking for him, it was so shocking that he could die eighty times and the enemy would still be murdering him to keep the secret from spreading.
The Abbot of the Great Mercy Temple was a little demon while there was an old demon behind the scenes who had led the Great Mercy Temple on the right path of cultivation and joined the Five Blessings. Furthermore, behind that the scene was an ultimate demon who was turning the entire cultivation world upside down.
When the old monk Bu Le was talking about his experience in the Miao stockade village, he had not mentioned that he was a demon outright. One or two of his phrases had sounded ambiguous while and those who knew him would understand but those who didn’t know would not be confused as well. Now that he was discussing his experience in recuperating, the old demon rabbit had finally clearly disclosed his true ident.i.ty to the rest of them.
Chang Li stared at the old monk Ji Fei with her charming eyes, “I’m a demon too you know!”
The old monk immediately screamed out in agony, “I don’t know anything!” Upon saying that he felt insecure and immediately continued, “Shui Jing and I, we are both Wen Leyang’s uhm…student…”
The fat monk Shui Jing too stood up, his face was pale with anxiety as he roared at the old monk, “Stop twisting your words!” As he was saying that he looked at Chang Li, “We are both Wen Leyang’s disciples, you are our Grand Master Grandmother so the both of us would belong to the Demon Sect’s…uhm…people?”
Chang Li had spent a year and a half traveling around the world. She had learned almost everything as she smiled and asked, “So, are you a demonic human, or a human demon?”
Wen Leyang had been concerned about the big and little demon monk’s encounter since earlier. He had completely forgotten about this pair of living treasures and he was afraid that this Grand Master Grandmother of his, who was subject to ever-changing moods, would murder these two monks keep the secret safe. So, he hastily interrupted and spoke solemnly to Ji Fei and Shui Jing, “Bu Le and Shan Duan are two demon monks who are the supreme leaders of the Great Mercy Temple. They have spent their entire lives devoted to wors.h.i.+pping the Buddha with all their hearts. Their physical bodies may belong to the Demon Sect but their hearts are at… Uhm…” He could no longer continue for he was only a youngster from the mountain village and he was not eloquent at discussing philosophy. He pondered for a while before he instructed with finality, “Anyhow, this is an important matter. The both of you must never reveal this information to others!”
Chang Li had a carefree expression as she looked at the two monks with a smile, “It’s alright even if you were to tell this secret.”
Ji Fei and Shui Jing’s heads shook so hard that they almost turned into a drum-shaped rattle. They then swore and pledged loudly that not even half a word of today’s incident would ever be revealed to another person. Otherwise, their primordial spirit would perish while their bodies would be pulverized into ashes; all the blood oaths known to the cultivators were almost completely recited by the both of them.
When Ji Fei was done with making the oath, he was afraid that Chang Li might investigate further so he looked at the monk Bu Le hastily and a.n.a.lyzed the situation in all seriousness, “So, those who had come were persons who were engaged in the refinement of n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons, were they here for the demons only?”
Shui Jing too nodded his head, “This matter is really queer, isn’t it? The world is peaceful and no one has heard anything about hards.h.i.+ps caused by the Demon Sect during the past few centuries…” The refinement process of the n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapon was extremely complicated and it was only effective for counteracting demonic energy. Now that there were no cruel demons lurking around in the cultivation world for a very long time, the effort to refine such a treasured weapon was purely an arduous and fruitless task.
Wen Leyang finally understood the entire sequence of events and he frowned as he made a wild guess, “Could it be that the enemies had known about these two divine monk’s true ident.i.ty which was why they had specifically prepared those n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons?”
The old demon rabbit Bu Le shook his head in a determined manner, “That’s impossible!”
The little demon monk Shan Duan too laughed, “They had made such painstaking effort and prepared these n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons in preparation to vanquish my Master and me, but they had miscalculated by one portion. They had not expected that we, the Master and disciple, did not cultivate demon power. Instead, we had cultivated with Buddhist dharma! The n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons would still affect us a little but the weapon’s power was much weaker than a normal treasured weapon to us!”
The two demon rabbits had used their demonic body to cultivate the Buddhist dharma so their skills and abilities were all great supernatural powers which were derived from the Buddhist Sect. It was utterly not demonic power and the enemies had gone through painstaking efforts in order to prepare the n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons yet it had been ineffective. This proves that the opposing party had no idea about these two demon rabbit’s true ident.i.ty and that they had paid this special visit only to vanquish demons.
The seven people from the opposing party have an extremely valiant cultivation base. Their skills and abilities were mixed and a.s.sorted. Even though the treasured weapons they had prepared in advance were deemed useless, they had then depended only on their abilities to fight a grand battle with the two demon rabbits. The fierce battle went on for one day and one night. The seven enemies could see that the two demon rabbits had suffered severe injuries and they were afraid that all of them would perish together if they continued to fight. According to the old monk: ‘They went as far as withdrawing from the battle and left while laughing’.
Bu Le and Shan Duan’s crucial moment in recuperation was interrupted by the incident. Their injuries became so severe to the extent that they could no longer heal themselves. They had no other choice but to hide in the Temple and await their deaths. During the battle, the two demon monks had used supernatural powers cultivated by Buddhist dharma. They had disappeared without a trace after the incident and though they had not revealed their true ident.i.ties, anyone with moderate intelligence could figure out that most probably they had escaped back to the Great Mercy Temple. It was just yesterday when they found out that someone had attempted to sneak into the Great Mercy Temple and had fled once they were discovered by the Mountain-guarding Divine Beast.
The chilling frost on Chang Li’s face was gradually melted away by her excited expression. She laughed as she clapped her hands, “That’s really great, that’s great that they still haven’t left! They are the reason why I have been searching around for a year!”
Everyone was startled, judging by Chang Li’s manner of speaking it was as if she had been in contact with these people since the beginning. Wen Leyang asked in surprise, “You’ve fought this group of crazies before?” These seven persons had sounded like they were professional demon-vanquishers. Chang Li was already a matchless great demon since two thousand years ago so if anyone could truly vanquish her, that person would deserve an outstanding contribution award.
Before Chang Li could speak, the old monk Ji Fei stared at her and said arrogantly, “She scared them to death!”
Chang Li did not acknowledge the old monk’s flattering words as she turned her brilliant gaze to Wen Leyang, “If I’m not mistaken, there’s a group of reckless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds out there and they’ve been targeting demons all around the world. It’s the same thing this time, they were drawn in by the strand of demonic energy which was leaked out by the little rabbit but they had not been aware of Bu Le and Shan Duan’s true ident.i.ty beforehand.”
With the gossip right in front of him, the old monk Ji Fei temporarily forgot the fear in his heart towards Chang Li as his eyes glimmered with curiosity, “What do you mean?”
Chang Li smiled faintly, “Before I had entered the ancient cave on Zhanyan Peak, the righteous and the evil path of cultivation were battling each other heatedly every day. Those of us from the Demon Sect utterly did not partake in this matter on most days, G.o.d knows how much hards.h.i.+ps we had suffered in order to cultivate into a human form. We were better at understanding Heaven’s Way more than the rest of them. No one had bothered to compete for that false reputation and even though those of us from the Demon Sect were not as strong as those from the righteous and evil cultivation paths, there were still a few great demons that had dominated a territory each. They were not simply challenged by anyone.”
Wen Leyang stuck out his tongue and laughed at his Grand Master Grandmother, “You did not fight them? You used to create such a mess for all the cultivators in the world…”
Chang Li’s eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with cute mischief upon hearing Wen Leyang’s recollection of old tales. She did not mind that those in front of her were all her juniors as she spoke righteously, “He had not allowed me to fight them! Don’t talk about that little mess in the cultivation world, I have all the courage to overturn the rivers and the seas, and to even collapse the Heavens and the Earth!
Wen Leyang roared with laughter, “Fortunately, our Grand Master was softhearted or things would have become even more troublesome.”
Chang Li revealed her pearly whites as she smiled gracefully. In a flash, all the rays of light in the meditation room were attracted by her smile.
The old demon rabbit Bu Le was not as brave as Wen Leyang. He dared not make a joke out of his Grand Master Grandmother but made two distracting coughs before he cautiously continued, “The battle of the righteous and evil path in the cultivation world has existed since the old times. These battles became more ferocious with time yet the Demon Sect still chose to remain as an indifferent spectator. Finally, the evil path had lost to the righteous path and the rest of the unorthodox doctrine sects’ foundations were mostly destroyed by us. They then faded into the mortal world with their tails between their legs and became people and that contributed to the prestigious reputation of our righteous path’s Five Blessings. Hah-hah!”
The old demon rabbit had used his demon’s body to cultivate Buddhist dharma so he also considered himself as belonging to the righteous path. When he talked about the event of their great victory in the past he was in high spirits and his old face glowed with pride.
Chang Li spoke in an unpleasant manner, “Those humans had wanted to fight amongst themselves, why did you bother to poke your nose into other people’s business? You may consider yourself as a cultivator of the righteous path but what if the b*stards from the righteous path were to find out that you are a demon? Heh-heh!”
The old monk Ji Fei poked at the fat monk Shui Jing and the two brothers simultaneously explained loudly, “That’s impossible, no one will ever know about them!”
Chang Li ignored them again as she continued to scold the old monk, “The b*stards from the evil path are still hiding in the mortal world with their tails between their legs as people right now but so are you! You are hiding in this Temple with your tail between your legs as a demon! When you were injured you still needed to look for a desolated mountain cave to hide in and recuperate. When you were beaten by the others, you dared not tell any of your millions of disciples and your disciple’s disciples.”
Wen Leyang laughed as he caught the key point. Of course, in the eyes of the Grand Master Grandmother, anyone from the righteous or the evil path of cultivation was still a b*stard.
Though the old monk Bu Le had received a great scolding from Chang Li, he was still smiling as if he did not mind at all. His big eyes were glimmering with a sense of mischief that was totally mismatched with his age and ident.i.ty as he said to Chang Li, “Think about it, I have a demon’s body yet I still could become one of the leaders of the righteous path’s Five Blessings. I’ve been instructing the righteous path to fight the evil path since millennia ago. This little pleasure of mine is way more fun than those demon kings who have occupied hills so that they could act as kings. When I’m dead and can finally reveal my true self, all the followers of the righteous path in the cultivation world will be surprised. Everyone will be slapped in the face by the old monk… Oh no, this old demon won’t blame him for slapping them round and round in the face. Hah-hah-hah!”
The little demon rabbit Shan Duan hastily interrupted, “Master, when you are dead, I still want to continue to play too!”
Bu Le was talkative he said in a generous manner, “It’s decided then. When you’re dead you can reveal your true self and then you can give the slap! But you must also be good to not let those people seize you before you’re dead. I may be a ghost by that time but I just might be resurrected by rage if I knew you were seized!”
Chang Li’s gaze completely brightened and she roared with laughter as she held up both her thumbs, “Rabbit, my effort to plant that demon foundation on you back then was not wasted at all!”
Bu Le was beaming with delight as he pestered Chang Li, “So, do you want to try to become a supreme leader?”
Wen Leyang finally understood what was meant by ‘to conjure up a host of demons and make trouble’.
The three demons laughed and squalled with their strange voices for a while before the old monk Bu Le finally regained his composure. He diverted the topic of discussion back to its prior theme, “The evil path of cultivation had almost been completely destroyed by us but somehow, unexpectedly, the Demon Sect too gradually vanished from the world. All the four demon mountains in the east were turned into Chinese AAAAA-rated tourist attractions. Those unsuccessful demons have all disappeared but no one has heard anything about the sect which had put on a grand scale of preparations to vanquish those demons. Otherwise, we would never have sat by idly and not do anything. In the most recent centuries, not even one tiny demon could be seen!”
Chang Li nodded her head and her expression revealed that she was slightly puzzled. She looked at Wen Leyang once again, “You know that he was an extremely kind person. Even if he really is dead he would have at least left behind some deeds or clues. He’s… Perhaps he was not considered all-conquering under the Heavens but he deserves to be unparalleled in the world!”
Wen Leyang earnestly repeated the phrase ‘not considered all-conquering under the Heavens, but deserves to be unparalleled in the world!’ a few times in his heart as he nodded his head strenuously. He felt a gush of naturally-acquired pride within the disciples of Wen Bucao flowing through his veins.
After Chang Li has stepped into the society once again, she spent some time browsing through this dazzling human world with its myriad temptations while she sought after the Grand Master Tuo Xie’s whereabouts. She tried to find many of the great demons that she had been acquainted with in the past but she soon discovered with surprise that all these demons had since disappeared without a trace.
Even though those great demons or demon kings’ actual strength was weaker than Chang Li’s, yet they were still pretty formidable. All of them were ultimate demons that had mastered their cultivation two thousand years ago. Their destined age should be extremely long and old by now. Perhaps it was the equilibrium of Heaven’s Way as a demon’s cultivation may be much tougher than a human’s cultivation with the final level of cultivation almost impossible to complete. That was why, since the ancient times, only human cultivators could ascend to Heaven as an immortal but no demons had been able to ascend to the land of immortals. However, there was one major advantage upon a demon’s prime cultivation: longevity.
Even though two thousand years have pa.s.sed, Chang Li was still alive with not a wrinkle on her delicate complexion. Therefore, most of the great demons of her time should still be alive at this point.
A demon’s nature was roguish and carefree so perhaps they have entered the dazzling human world with its myriad temptations out of loneliness. However, the immortal’s cave would still be where their foundation was built upon. Before the existence of monks, there was an idiom which goes ‘one could escape a demon but one could never escape a cave’…
During Chang Li’s trip, she first circled around Huaxia the Divine Land of China and then she circled around the earth once. She even went to Fiji but out of her expectation, she did not manage to find even one of the demons she had known in the past. It wasn’t only that the great demons who were missing, even their immortal’s cave was deserted. Most of the cave’s prohibition spells had been broken by someone. Chang Li’s effort to travel all over the world over the past year and a half had been fruitless.
Bu Le and Shan Duan were dwelling in a Buddhist temple, they had been afraid to accidentally expose their true ident.i.ty so they ceased all contact and movements with the Demon Sect. Subsequently, they didn’t notice that the rarely-seen Demon Sects have been gradually disappearing from the world. It was only until this moment that they began to comprehend Chang Li’s opinion, the old demon rabbit’s little mouth opened wide as he spoke with an astonished expression, “So, what you’re saying is that… Someone had been sneaking around and quietly exterminating all the Demon Sects out there?”
Chang Li’s originally radiant gaze suddenly turned into sharp ice needles and she nodded slowly, “The moment both of you revealed your demonic energy, someone immediately brought their n.o.ble Spirit treasured weapons and rushed over. Heh, there really are some people who were intentionally opposing the Demon Sect!”
The old monk Bu Le seemed suddenly pleased with himself in a ghastly manner. He staggered and stood up, “I will join you and leave the temple tonight to draw them out. Those b*stards most probably still think that we are suffering from fatal injuries and that we have no choice but to reveal our demonic bodies to enforce our healing process.”
Chang Li smiled faintly, “Leave the rest of the matter to me and I will heal the both of you tomorrow.”
The little demon rabbit Shan Duan stretched out his hand abruptly and held on to the old monk’s arm as he spoke in an unusually determined manner, “I will go together with you, Master!”
Wen Leyang too, said hastily, “I will go too!” He was already here to offer help so how could he just sit by and watch the two monks lure the enemy in while the Grand Master Grandmother went to catch the enemy.
Chang Li waved her hand around as if she was paying no attention to them, “All can go, all can go. This isn’t an extraordinary matter anyway…” As she was said that, she seemed to recall another matter, “There’re quite a few obscure cultivators hiding on Mount Emei.”
Wen Leyang made a ‘huh’ sound as this was the first time he had heard of the word ‘obscure cultivator’.
Ji Fei puffed up his chest and explained to him, “An obscure cultivator is an old monster who is engaged in the cultivation process wholeheartedly in order to cultivate into the mastery of an immortal. They will ignore such things like the battle between good and evil, the evil killing demons, the demons eating humans. As long as their cultivation was not disturbed then they won’t care about anything else!”
Wen Leyang nodded his head. He was thinking in his heart that all cultivators ought to be this way yet it was the ‘Five Blessings’ who had turned the cultivation world into an organized crime structure. He continued to ask, “Then the actual strength of an obscure cultivator must be…”
Ji Fei shook his head, “Some are strong while some are weak, even though they are cultivators too but they had dissociated themselves from the world. They don’t wors.h.i.+p any deities but they believe in Heaven. Under most circ.u.mstances, they aren’t interested in worldly possessions, even if a half-naked Ginseng Baby were to run in front of them they wouldn’t even take a look but continue to lower their heads and cultivate attentively. No one would try to startle them on most days but during a ferocious battle or when one employed the mind sense and accidentally bothered them, heh-heh, then they would come leaping out at times.
The old demon rabbit chuckled and vouched, “This time, we will go to the cave where the both of us had been attacked. It’s extremely desolated over there so there are no obscure cultivators nearby as well.”
After the few of them had finished discussing the important matters and were chitchatting, the sound of knocking echoed from the door outside the monastery. The little monk Hope Voice went out to inquire and when he returned he informed the folks with utmost respect, “O-One Word Palace… th-th-three…”
Bu Le and Shan Duan listened with smiles as they had all the patience in the world but Chang Li, Wen Leyang, and the others soon grew impatient.
The little stutterer spoke for a long while before he could finally clear up the situation. After Bu Le and Shan Duan were severely injured and had returned to the Great Mercy Temple, they heard about the marriage arrangement between the One Word Palace and a disciple of the Wen Bucao. They had sent over the little stutterer as Wen Leyang’s reinforcement and they also sent some people to visit the One Word Palace. They had vaguely implied that the disciples of the Wen Bucao and the Great Mercy Temple were closely connected, indirectly telling the One Word Palace to stop messing around while conveniently asking about the One Word Palace’s intention to see what they were up to.
The Great Mercy Temple had coordinated with the One Word Palace to form the Five Blessings of the world. In the past, they were battle comrades who have fought side by side. Their relations.h.i.+p over the past millennia was also deep and profound. The Great Mercy Temple was very influential but if the One Word Palace wanted to betroth their maiden daughter, not even the emperor could intrude on this matter. So, the Great Mercy Temple could only lightly touch on such a sensitive topic. As long as the One Word Palace did not cross the line, the monks would never turn hostile.
However, the One Word Palace was truly honoring the Great Mercy Temple’s reputation this time as after the monks who had delivered the message have left, the third brother of the three supreme leaders of ‘Xia’ ‘Ma’ and ‘Wei’ had personally paid a visit to the Temple to visit the Abbot Shan Duan as if he had the intention to explain himself.
Chang Li, who has a desire to see the world plunged into chaos was suddenly elated as she grabbed the little demon rabbit Shan Duan and urged repeatedly, “Off you go quick, off you go quick! There should be a dark room behind the meditation room that receives visitors right? Judging by those little b*stards’ cultivation base, they would never realize I’m there!”
The old demon monk sn.i.g.g.e.red, “We just installed some new hidden cameras last year.”
As he was said that he reached into his chest pocket and felt around on the left and felt around on the right before producing a remote control. He pressed down on the remote control as he aimed it at the direction of the meditation room’s wall. The wall slowly moved aside and revealed a display screen. The little monk Hope Voice stepped forward and fiddled twice on the display which then revealed a s.p.a.cious room which was recorded from every direction. There was a thin and bony old man who was seated on the chair playing a game on his phone.
The tooting sound of the game ‘Snake’ echoed out from the loudspeakers.