Chapter 89: The Demon Flame
Shan Duan, who was the Abbot of the Great Mercy Temple, stood up with the support of the little stutterer and staggered forward in preparation to welcome the guest. At the same time, the old rabbit monk Bu Le organized the group to watch the screen as he explained to Wen Leyang, “The One Word Palace cultivates differently from the Taoist schools and the Buddhist sects; they use martial arts as their sole method of cultivation. The three supreme leaders’ martial arts approaches are also quite different from one another. The first brother Xia cultivated in the Soul of Spear. His martial art style is cunning and eccentric and he calls it ‘A Break’. The second brother Ma cultivated in the Spirit of Knife. His martial style is swift and forceful and he calls it ‘A Snap’. The third brother Wei cultivated in the Shadow of Rod. His martial art style has an awe-inspiring manner and he calls it ‘A Knock’. With the combination of ‘A Break’, ‘A Snap’, and ‘A Knock’, they’ve brought up the domineering influence of the One Word Palace for the past few millennia.
Wen Leyang looked at the display screen where a skinny old man with a nervous expression was clenching his teeth in frustration while playing the game ‘Snake’ on his phone. Wen Leyang then turned around and looked suspiciously at the old demon monk Bu Le.
The old demon Bu Le chuckled once, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!”
The fat monk Shui Jing nodded his head firmly and gasped in heartfelt admiration, “He does play the game ‘Snake’ pretty well!”
On the display screen, the door to the spacious meditation room opened and Shan Duan walked into the room with a smile. Third Brother Wei immediately put his cellphone away and walked forward a few steps. He was smiling in preparation to make small talk when he suddenly frowned, “Is the divine monk injured? Who was the enemy? The Great Mercy Temple and the One Word Palace are comrades-in-arms for millennia. So long as the divine would utter an instruction…” His expression was earnest and his tone of speaking was filled with sincere concern.
Shan Duan glossed over the fact about his injuries, “Those are all petty matters. It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. I really can’t believe that the third supreme leader would personally pay a visit to the Temple, you have truly neglected your courtesy already.”
Third Brother Wei hesitated for a moment before his frown slowly relaxed and he looked into the eyes of Shan Duan sincerely, “So long as the divine monk would utter a word of instruction, those with the surname ‘Wei’ will surely exert themselves to the utmost to accomplish the task!”
Shan Duan’s smile vanished too as he nodded, “The Five Blessings are of the same breath and branches. If there’s any trouble Shan Duan will surely point it out bluntly!”
Third Brother Wei then roared with laughter. His laughter was bold and unrestrained like a large bell and was contrary to his skinny physique, “That is correct! As for having the courtesy or not, Third Brother Wei has never paid any attention to it. We recently received the divine monk’s summon so Third Brother Wei has come running anxiously to hastily try to explain the situation to you.”
Third Brother Wei appeared to conduct himself in a bold and delightful manner. He utterly did not behave like a guest as he followed the little stutterer and helped to support Shan Duan to his seat. He then received the cups of tea from the receptionist monk’s hands and placed it next to Shan Duan. He bustled about for a long while before he finally took his seat, “Third Brother Wei is an impatient man. I’m not accustomed to formalities and I think that courtesy is plain bullshit. If it’s the monk that I admire, I can be nice to everything but if it is an old Taoist monk that I despise, I will not even let out a fart in his face!”
Wen Leyang sniggered and burst out laughing as he sat in front of the display screen. The old demon rabbit Bu Le too was chuckling as he explained, “The One Word Palace and the Great Mercy Temple, when compared to the other three Taoist schools in the Five Blessings, are much closer to one another. Those old Taoist monks are too pretentious!”
Third Brother Wei continued to say to Shan Duan, “Master, please be truthful to me. What is the relationship between the Wen family of the Nine Peaks Mountain from Western Chuan and the Great Mercy Temple?”
Shan Duan’s voice as he was speaking was obviously insufficient in splenogastric Qi, but his tone of speaking was still determined with no room for doubt, “Our teachers were closely connected centuries ago. This monk is insistent that the Wen family’s matters are the matters of the Great Mercy Temple, the friends of the Wen family are also the honored guests of the Great Mercy Temple, and the enemies of the Wen family are also the Great Mercy Temple’s archenemies. The relationship between the Wen Bucao and the Great Mercy Temple can be summed up with sixteen words: ‘same breath and branches, live and grow together. Never abandon one another, sharing joy and woe’. It’s just the same as the relationship between the One Word Palace and the Great Mercy Temple.”
Wen Leyang was full of admiration in front of the display screen as he said to the old demon rabbit Bu Le, “The Master is so knowledgeable.”
Third Brother Wei was full of admiration on the display screen as well as he said to the little demon rabbit Shan Duan, “The Master is so knowledgeable.”
Shan Duan’s speech was actually extremely uncourteous and he had only dragged along the One Word Palace in the end in respect for their feelings. Anyone would understand that the Great Mercy Temple has taken a firm stand and so long as the Wen family was not bothered they would definitely not interfere.
Third Brother Wei had not minded that at all as not only was his countenance unchanged or angered, he was on the contrary overjoyed by the pleasant surprise. His gaze was blooming with joy from the bottom of his heart as he roared with laughter and slapped his thigh, “Sure enough, that is awesome! Now that First Brother Xia wants to betroth that precious niece of mine to that young fellow from the Wen family, we are considered doubly related! The One Word Palace and the Great Mercy Temple shall join hands, heh-heh, and see how long the old monks of the three Taoist schools can remain savage!”
Shan Duan was startled as, judging by Third Brother Wei’s intention, he wanted the two families to join hands and deal with the three Taoist schools of the Five Blessings. Shan Duan hastily waved his hands in denial as he laughed, “The three Taoist schools of Kunlun, Jilong and Eyangshan are albeit not as close to you and me, but they are still our good friends after all.”
Third Brother Wei made an arrogant ‘humph’ sound and Shan Duan hastily changed the topic. He asked directly, “Third supreme leader, I’ve met that child Wen Leyang before. This monk doesn’t understand, even though his natural talents are not bad but he is still a youth from the mortal world. There are countless people with outstanding talents in the world, how was it that the old immortal Xia had only taken a fancy on him?”
Third Brother Wei’s gaze suddenly changed as he stared at Shan Duan as if he was a monster. Shan Duan touched on his cheek in puzzlement to make sure that he had not accidentally revealed his true self. He then heaved a long breath of relief as he asked with a smile, “Why are you staring at me?”
Third Brother Wei, with an expression of ‘who do I stare at if I don’t stare at you’ said, “The reason for the One Word Palace and the Wen Bucao to unite by marriage is because we want to have a closer relationship to the Great Mercy Temple! We had not been aware of the relationship between the Wen Bucao and the Great Mercy Temple initially but we knew that the ancient cave on Zhanyan Peak of Mount Emei had lured in many evil spirits of all kinds. The Wen family had then been involved in some misunderstanding with the Great Mercy Temple. Finally, the Temple had thought highly of and regarded the Wen family with great importance, to the extent of almost beaten the group of rogue cultivators once more because of those Wen mortals. After that, we heard that the divine monk also attended to the Miao stockade village because of the Wen family as well.”
The monk Shan Duan’s tone of speaking was rather chilling, “So, it would seem that anything that happens at the Great Mercy Temple doesn’t escape the eyes and ears of the One Word Palace, you really have a good set of tricks here!”
Third Brother Wei hastily waved his hands in denial as he made a forced smile, “You have wronged us, you have wronged us! The entire world knew about the rogue cultivators creating troubles and we knew about the incident at the Miao stockade village because we accidentally discovered some surviving followers of Jingpo. When we had rushed over we found out that fellow divine monks had already entered the Miao stockade village. Since the Great Mercy Temple was personally handling the matter, naturally we didn’t step in and disturb anymore.”
The monk Shan Duan made a noncommittal smile and did not speak. There were eyes and ears everywhere on the right path of the Five Blessings and the majority of them were aware of each other’s movements.
Third Brother Wei continued to speak, “We had only got to know then that these mortal people and laymen of the Nine Peaks Mountain have a close relationship with the Great Mercy Temple. After us three brothers have discussed thoroughly, we decided that this marriage was the right thing to do!”
Shan Duan was at a loss on whether to laugh or to cry. He pointed to his nose, “So what you’re saying is that the One Word Palace is betrothing its maiden daughter to a disciple of the Wen Bucao all because of the Great Mercy Temple?”
Third Brother Wei nodded his head as if he did the right thing, “I’m not fooling you! We’re only doing this so that we can become your relative by marriage! That’s only a mortal family after all, what else can we scheme from them? If it wasn’t for the monks’ inability to get married, why do we need to go through so much trouble for them?” As he said that he appeared rather furious, the gaze he then shot to Shan Duan implied the meaning of ‘if you aren’t a monk now, we would have immediately betrothed our maiden daughter to you’.
Shan Daun was afraid that Third Brother Wei might continue to speak nonsense so he immediately interrupted Third Brother Wei’s train of thought. However, he did not know what to say and he did not want to use this as an excuse for the leader of the One Word Palace had personally came over to explain the situation to the Great Mercy Temple. They were already more than courteous and now their conversation has ended. After all, it would seem that the One Word Palace do not plan to do anything to the Wen family and they weren’t thinking of trying to take advantage of the Wen family. So, after a long consideration he spoke in a light tone, “The One Word Palace thinks highly of the Great Mercy Temple, this monk shall always remember that in his heart. But the great affair of marriage still requires the willingness of both parties…”
Third Brother Wei waved his hands casually, “The divine monk shouldn’t be worried, this is still a joyous event for the sect and everyone’s happiness is certainly taken care of. Even if we aren’t the One Word Palace, based on Nineteen’s talents, any lad in the world would never be a good match for her! The young lad Wen Leyang has truly received the best gain this time, hah-hah-hah!”
Third Brother Wei laughed for a few moments before he adjusted his expression and spoke to the monk Shan Duan solemnly, “Recently, the unorthodox doctrine sects of the World Sect have become restless and are eager to cause trouble. They were searching madly for some ‘broken gong, big flat cake, and a dog’. Heh, we really didn’t notice their existence until they started creating trouble, this group of evildoers has recuperated and multiplied for centuries and now their actual powers have advanced greatly. They are growing more rampant with time! The three Taoist schools are still acting self-righteous and whatnot, there will come a day when these unorthodox doctrine sects will fight their way into the mountains!”
The Abbot Shan Duan fully agreed, “Previously, on Zhanyan Peak, a few master cultivators of the evil path of cultivation had appeared. Hope Sense, the Master, and his disciples with their two hundred and fifty years’ worth of cultivation base were almost of no match to the enemies. If it hadn’t been for the seats of honor of the Five Supreme Monasteries who came to the rescue, heh… I really can’t imagine that. Since when had these personages appeared on the evil path of cultivation?” As he said that, he put his palms together devoutly and chanted a Buddhist hymn. His eyes were full of compassion, “The Buddha is always merciful, the barge of mercy ferries all the miserable people to the world of bliss.”
Third Brother Wei stood up before bowing and saluting Shan Duan with his hands folded and raised in front of his face, “The Great Master has a heart of gold and is always merciful, he always believes and values the lives of human beings. The One Word Palace has always looked up to you all this while! With the emergence of a prominent figure in a time of crisis, a storm is approaching soon and there is nothing that can stop it. The One Word Palace and all its thousands of fighters will look to the lead of the Great Mercy Temple!”
He did not say anything else after that nor did he require an escort. He laughed merely out loud and said: “Farewell!” before turning around to leave.
Not long after that, Shan Duan, with the support of the little stutterer, returned to the meditation room where Bu Le and the rest of them had been waiting in.
The moment Shan Duan entered the meditation room, he suddenly gave out a dreadful long sigh.
Wen Leyang was startled and he hastily asked, “Divine monk, are you alright?”
Shan Duan shook his head and his face as ashen, “There was an entire plate of carrots here and you’ve eaten them all!”
According to Third Brother Wei’s saying, the union of the One Word Palace and the Wen Bucao by marriage was actually to firmly tie itself to the Great Mercy Temple. As the unorthodox doctrine sects which had disappeared centuries ago were suddenly restless and eager to cause trouble, even though the world was still as peaceful as always, the churning of the clouds and wind meant that a great storm was approaching. The One Word Palace rarely rubs shoulders with the three Taoist schools in the Five Blessings so this was the right time to strengthen their relationship with the Great Mercy Temple.
The fat monk Shui Jing has a more cautious intention, the old monk Ji Fei had once described him as a person whose ‘hair was growing in his brains’ as he cautiously asked the crowd, “So, the One Word Palace is trying to unite with us Wen Bucao by marriage because of this reason?”
By now, Shui Jing and Ji Fei had already become used to it that the moment they mentioned the Wen Bucao, they would add an attributing clause in front in honor of the family: ‘us’.
Ji Fei said to Shui Jing, “You should just pretend that they are bullsh*tting!”
The old monk Bu Le chuckled, “What Third Brother Wei had said earlier was perfectly logical and reasonable but there was an extremely huge flaw in it. The One Word Palace should have come over to Mount Emei in advance and reveal their intention to us, to ask around if they were allowed to do this or not, or at the very least give us a notice! They place themselves among the Five Blessings but they’re actually careless little pricks who act rashly when handling matters!”
The rest of them including Wen Leyang smiled except for the fat monk Shui Jing who was suddenly enlightened.
Ji Fei broke out in a charming smile to flatter Chang Li, “Fairy maiden, I think that we shouldn’t be making wild guesses. Your Highness can strike a blow on Third Brother Wei and pin down him while we interrogate that old lad about what the One Word Palace was trying to hide from the Wen family.”
Chang Li opened her eyes wide and her expression was noncompliant, “How can I do that! Why should we even do that now?” Her cat-like behavior was mischievous and Chang Li had utterly no intentions to solve the riddle. ‘Xia, Ma, Wei’ had only started their performance so she would never willingly leap onto the stage and hit the actors right now regardless of anything.
In the blink of an eye, the sky had darkened. Shan Duan issued an instruction that no matter what happened on Mount Emei tonight, no one from the entire Temple was allowed to go out and investigate.
This time, they have the ultimate great demon of the world Chang Li as a backup so everyone was exceptionally confident. Other than Wen Leyang, the little stutterer, the big and little demon rabbits, Ji Fei and Shui Jing also insisted on traveling together with them. The old monk’s eyes were filled with brightness now and his blood was boiling with anticipation in the face of the oncoming great event.
The group of people walked with agile footsteps and they left the Great Mercy Temple as the sky turned dark. By the time the moon rose to the middle of the sky, they have already arrived at the desolate mountain where the two demon rabbits had been attacked.
Chang Li cast a spell to conceal their breath before she too turned herself invisible and hid in the depth of the cave. She said with a smile to the two demon monks, “Reveal your true selves now!”
Both of Shui Jing and Ji Fei squeezed their bodies back desperately as their mouths muttered, “Make way, make way. The two demon rabbit’s true selves are certainly huge…”
Before their voices have died away, layers upon layers of ghastly momentum abruptly squeezed over akin to violent billows and fierce waves. The vigorous and flourishing demonic energy surged skyward as the two demon rabbits curled their bodies into a ball. The surrounding air vibrated rapidly and finally, at the last vigorous quake, two plump and huge white rabbits slumped onto the ground weakly. Their red ruby-like eyes rolled round and round towards the direction of Wen Leyang’s group.
Wen Leyang was delighted. Of course, the demon rabbits’ true selves would be exactly the same as an ordinary rabbit and the sight of them made Wen Leyang hungry.
Chang Li’s voice coagulated like a stream of mercury and flowed into everyone’s ear clearly, “When the enemies approach, all of you start fighting first.”
Wen Leyang nodded his head as he slowly relaxed all the pores on his entire body then systematically contracted and opened them. His mind sense was like water as it spread out in all directions. He could sense his surroundings with perfect clarity. Ever since the two monks released their demon flames and revealed their true selves, all the living beasts around them appeared to have been provoked by something. The beasts were seized with panic as they fled from their lairs and ran outside. Soon after that, they fled out of the coverage of Wen Leyang’s mind sense and everywhere was a stretch of dead silence.
Even though it was the beginning of summer, the moonlight of the remote mountain was still chilly and desolated. The two white rabbits lay on the ground utterly bored. They moved their buttocks around clumsily every once in a while and changed to another position before they continued to lie down…
The folks were bored from waiting when Chang Li suddenly made an astonished ‘huh’ sound as if something was stirring vigorously through her state of mind, her voice was even trembling slightly.
Ever since Wen Leyang had got acquainted with this Grand Master Grandmother of his who used the land as her bed and the sky as her blanket – carefree and fearless, he has never seen her so surprised before. He was deeply puzzled when he suddenly felt his widely-spread mind sense start to tremble vigorously.
Wen Leyang’s mind sense could pull himself out of his surroundings, it felt very much like watching a movie in a panoramic theater and this exact moment felt like the monster on the display screen was surging forward in high speed, almost like it was struggling and trying to surge out of the screen.
The ground started to shake with loud roars as trunks of huge trees nearby were uprooted. A gigantic soil mound the height of a few levels was moving at a high speed from far beyond one’s naked eyes could see. It was cruising forward at lightning speed!
The two old thieves and the little stutterer were dumbstruck, no one had ever seen such a thunderous manner. Wen Leyang could not ponder on this anymore as the skin on his entire body suddenly tightened, the heaviness of his body rippled in a vigorous momentum as he pounced forward. His conscience quivered as he stood in front of the two fat rabbits as he thought in his heart: ‘why wasn’t Chang Li trying to stop him at all?’
He watched helplessly as the little hill was almost upon him when the hill vanished by turning invisible abruptly. Wen Leyang’s Faulty Punch struck into thin air, in the eyes of Ji Fei and Shui Jing from behind he appeared as if he was doing the Shaman’s dance.
Within Wen Leyang’s mind sense, the monstrous creature had turned into a fish-like shadow. The shadow flashed once and passed under his feet.
A burly fellow bore out of the ground soundlessly from behind him. Wen Leyang let out a muffled groan as he flexed his legs strenuously and rolled himself into a flesh ball. He then somersaulted and crashed ferociously towards the man!
The burly fellow had not expected that Wen Leyang could attack with such an agile movement, he made a ‘huh’ sound but his body remained unmoved and he bumped right into Wen Leyang.
Every piece of muscle and every joint on Wen Leyang’s entire body was vibrating rapidly. The Faulty Punch contained the Poison of Life and Death’s power as it poured out like tidewater. However, the moment his body came into contact with the enemy, he felt as if there was a sliminess that he could not cling to and shook off all his attacks in a flash. Even his body was sliding to the side involuntarily!
The burly fellow’s expression was even more astonished now as even though he had managed to shake off Wen Leyang’s attack, he was not feeling that well either. He staggered back two steps and his big feet almost stepped onto the rabbits. The gaze of the two huge rabbits laying on the ground was wild and panic-stricken, they looked almost shocked to death. Ji Fei, Shui Jing, and the little stutterer had been completely startled by the oncoming vigorous little hill earlier. Before they could react to the situation, Wen Leyang and the enemy had already exchanged an attack with one another.
Wen Leyang made a muffled growl as he prepared to turn over and attack again when the burly fellow hopped away backwards. He waved his hands messily towards Wen Leyang as he yelled, “Stop fighting me, stop fighting me! I’m not here to pick a fight!”
Wen Leyang took a quick stride forward and hid the two rabbits behind his back. He then narrowed his eyes as he looked the opposing enemy up and down, yet his heart still rattled for a while.
The burly fellow had a strongly-built physique. He had a square head and a wide face but he was also dragging a thick tail along behind his back. His body was covered with turquoise-colored scales which were still dripping with slimy mucus under the moonlight. He appeared extremely like a big standing lizard at first glance.
The burly fellow ignored Wen Leyang’s astonished expression as his gaze circled past Wen Leyang and he roared loudly at the two rabbits on the ground, “Are you trying to get yourselves killed by revealing your true selves? You should run away quick!” Upon saying that, he turned around to survey the incoming road with an anxious expression as if he was trying to avoid someone.
Wen Leyang knew then that this burly fellow was not the enemy.
The burly fellow’s last words to the two rabbits were, “Both of you be careful, I’m getting the hell out of here!” Soon after that he abruptly leaped up high above the ground, his body expanded with a bang in midair and quickly turned into a gigantic pangolin. He dove head first into the soil and dug out soil mounds akin to little hills once again before he continued to rush forward in another direction.
The soil mound has yet to run off by two steps when a burst of crystal clear laugher akin to silver bells echoed in everyone’s ears. Chang Li was like a gust of wind as she ran in a circle around the soil mound twice. She then stopped her footsteps as she laughed and spoke in the manner of soliloquy, “Little b*stard, you’ve cultivated into a human form already!”
Wen Leyang knew that this Grand Master Grandmother of his had the unique skill of drawing circles. Other than cellphone signals, there was nothing that could escape the circle that she drew. As expected, the soil mound dashed forward to the left and the right but still could not surge out of the prohibition spell cast by Chang Li. He was like raging bull as he rampaged madly within the circle. A loud noise like the mountains falling and the earth splitting echoed from all directions.
Wen Leyang stood right next to Chang Li as he asked softly, “Do you recognize this demon?”
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