The Poison of Life and Death in Wen Leyang’s body which had swallowed the chaotic force of the entangled Yin and Yang energy was scattered amongst his limbs and bones. It slowly started to move again, wanting to converge into a stream like before.
Compared to before, the Poison of Life and Death was much stronger now and Wen Leyang’s body could hardly withstand it. Every inch of movement brought an intense pain as if his bones and tendons were being shattered! Wen Leyang could clearly feel that the Poison of Life and Death had not completely assimilated the chaotic Yin and Yang forces. It was like a stream which was carrying dense iron lumps as it moved along laboriously. The chaotic force which was savage and sharp like iron sand continuously grazed Wen Leyang’s blood vessels as they were brought along by the Poison of Life and Death. It felt like there were countless steel needles inside his body which poked about everywhere in all directions with no discernible order at every instant.
Wen Leyang almost ground his teeth to dust to suppress the pained moans in his throat. He was afraid that he would interrupt Leyang Tian if he made a sound.
Painting Town, Hanba, San Wei, Zhui Zi, the true body of the nine-headed monster, Xiang Liu’s wicked soul, the Black and White Island…
Killing demons to extract their primordial energy, reviving the Heaven’s Cone Nail, restoring the demon subduing great formation, hunting the wicked soul…
A group of extraordinary elites and various unbelievable events had utterly become a mess. Wen Leyang could make no sense of the situation, he could not even tell who was friend or foe. Countless mysteries were entangled and nested within one another until he could not even find the end of the thread.
Even if an all-knowing know-it-all was to appear, Wen Leyang would not know what to ask about. Now, at least he was finally nearing the truth. Leyang Tian obviously knew much more than him about the various incidents from the past two thousand years – every cause, consequence, and reason.
Leyang Tian’s tone was still light and even as he recounted, “The ancestor of Painting Town, Lue Luo, Fifth Brother’s master Mi Xu, and the ancestor of your family were brothers and pupils under the same master. However, for those who did not have any outstanding achievements, Grand Master Grandfather had not noted down their names let alone their sects. The three brothers each had their own magic and abilities but the one who had inherited the mantle of their master was little brother Tuo Xie.”
Endless fascination beamed from Wen Leyang’ eyes though he was still wracked with intense pain. Whether it was Lue Luo, Mi Xu or Tuo Xie, they were all top elites who could have ruled the world. The nameless Grand Master who had nurtured these men can only be described as the Great Luo Immortal.
Liu Zheng’s thoughts were deeper than Wen Leyangs’s and he asked with a surprised face, “Inherited the mantle? Other than the Art of Witchcraft, the Art of Corpse Controlling and the Art of Poison, that old immortal had other skills as well?”
Leyang Tian shook his head, “I don’t know much about these things. If you guys have the chance, you can try to ask Fifth Brother Hanba. After the three Grand Masters had acquired their skills, they went their separate ways in terms of cultivation…” He had not finished his sentence when a set of light but unmuffled footsteps sounded clearly in the room.
Ji Fei and Shui Jing both jumped at the same time. They each took out their magic weapons and shielded Wen Leyang as they held their breaths. Leyang Tian was dying, Wen Leyang and Liu Zheng had been badly injured. The ones who could still fight were Wen Leyang’s first big disciple and last small apprentice, the two priestly brothers.
Leyang Tian’s expression was relaxed and his tone even carried a hint of a smile. He said to the person coming in, “If you had arrived a bit later, you won’t be able to see me for the last time!”
An old man, who looked to be in his sixties but was still hearty with a straight back, walked in with his hands behind his back. What surprised Wen Leyang and the others was that this old man was wearing a smart and tidy soldier uniform.
When Leyang Tian saw that the old man had arrived, he behaved almost like a tired child who had just seen the lights of his home and smelled his mother’s cooking. He looked invigorated and his eyes showed a sincere carefree attitude and trust. He pointed at the old man with some effort and said to Wen Leyang, “This is Gu Xiaojun. He’s the Sapper Gold Troops’… Heh, he’s their Leader!”
The old man Gu Xiaojun did not look very happy. A sternness as sharp as a stabbing knife was evident in his tone, “City God Temple of Shanghai in the afternoon, a whole new world in the evening, the mess that you guys make is getting bigger and bigger!”
Leyang Tian’s face had a bitter smile but his eyes flickered with a carefree light. He chuckled as he replied, “I’m dying, can we not talk about this kind of things? After all, I’m sure you could handle it. Also, I want to be buried in the ancestral grave after I die, don’t put me in the Martyr’s Cemetery…”
Gu Xiaojun glared, “You want to enter the Martyr’s Cemetery? If you weren’t dying, I would’ve sent you to be executed at gunpoint!” Although the old man had sounded stern, he still bent over and placed a palm on Leyang Tian’s heart. Shock registered on his face and his brows furrowed as he stayed silent for a long while. He obviously had not expected him to be so badly injured.
Leyang Tian continued to smile, “Don’t you get it? I’ve told you many times, the Ben Ming can preserve my consciousness though my physical body is already dead. Even my heart has become mush.”
Though Wen Leyang may not be familiar with worldly affairs, he could tell that Gu Xiaojun was no ordinary soldier and the Painting Town disciple Leyang Tian seems to have another identity.
As expected, Leyang Tian continued his explanation to Wen Leyang. As he spoke to Wen Leyang and the others, his tone regained its original lightness, “The Gold Troops are Sappers. They dig the sand in Gobi Desert every day in search of gold mines and there’s nothing unusual about that. However, there are a few other units under the name of the Gold Troops. Gu Xiaojun is the person in charge of one of those units. I’ve always been a soldier under his command…”
Gu Xiaojun unexpectedly snorted, “You’re too polite. You weren’t just my soldier, you were my living ancestor!”
Leyang Tian laughed and waved laboriously at Gu Xiaojun. He made an apologetic sign and his smile quickly vanished. He continued to look at Wen Leyang, “When I found out that San Wei’s true body had come, I then sent a message to Gu Xiaojun asking him to come quick. In the afternoon, Fifth Brother had summoned the Drought Spirits in the City God Temple of Shanghai which caused quite a bit of trouble. The leaders must have personally attended to it so I had guessed that he was already in Shanghai. It seemed that my guess was right.”
Gu Xiaojun’s expression was still all business and no smiles but the pain in his eyes cannot be concealed, “The appearance of the white-haired Drought Spirit in Shanghai’s City God Temple had caused a huge commotion but nobody lost their lives. The people inside had only been exhausted and unconscious, they were able to recover after a while. However, many people have truly died here and the whole of Shanghai is currently experiencing a blackout. Heh, you think too highly of me!”
Leyang Tian quickly shook his head and his Beijing dialect was full of skittishness, “Leader, these people had not been harmed by me, it was the demon priest San Wei. He even summoned the Yin Army to wreak havoc. I activated Painting Town’s ultimate skill just in time to stop the ferocious attacks of the enemy and protected this country from loss. I’ve protected the safety of the people’s lives and properties, I’ve even displayed…”
The old monk Ji Fei snorted and interrupted Leyang Tian’s words, “Painting Town was the first family of the rogue cultivators but who would’ve thought that the great Painting Town disciple, the arbiter of witchcraft, was a man of the government!”
Since olden times, no matter if it was the righteous or the evil path, most cultivators were unwilling to have ties with the government or public administration. The cultivators who were willing to complete tasks for the public administration, although they were not considered as scum in the eyes of the righteous path, they were still looked upon with disdain. Although the old monk Ji Fei was a rogue cultivator, he was unwilling to have anything to do with anyone from the government. His words were all the more impolite.
Leyang Tian squinted his eyes slightly and his tone was dry to the point of suffocation, “Painting Town had never been a bullsh*t Heaven Cultivation Sect. The bloodline of the Leyang family learns witchcraft! The Heaven Cultivators regarded the world as a market only for salted fishes (a bad environment) but in the end, how many of you could actually be free of the big world? Did you spin the cloth for your own garments? Did you sew it yourself? Did you pin the buttons? Were the fruits which you had eaten planted by yourself? You may have refined the pills in your pockets yourself but did you make the stove used to refine your medicine? Did you excavate the iron ore to forge your stove by yourself? The bamboo books left behind by the seniors were handwritten by them but had they make their own carving knives and their brushes? Who fired the bricks of the Kunlun Sect’s Yuxu Palace? Who made the candles in the Great Mercy Temple?”
Leyang Tian had fired off a slew of questions in one go and left the usually eloquent old monk Ji Fei at a loss for words. He then continued drily, “The rogue cultivators under the heavens will only knock on Painting Town’s doors when they have a favor to ask. When my household was helping you guys settle matters in the world, why didn’t you snort then, saying ‘who would’ve thought the great Painting Town were people of the government’? These few decades, the matters that Painting Town had settled on your behalf, half of them had been settled by Gu Xiaojun.”
The old monk Ji Fei was dazed for a while before he suddenly folded his hands and said to Leyang Tian, “I concede! This old monk had been mistaken!”
Leyang Tian was surprised. He then smiled. Before this, his brother Leyang Wen was the one who had showed his face for matters regarding Painting Town so he had not met Ji Fei before. He did not expect this old monk to be so straightforward.
The Little Supreme Leader Lu Zheng also nodded forcefully from the side, “Well said! But… why had you called him here?” He at Gu Xiaojun as he said this.
This time, Gu Xiaojun did not wait for Leyang Tian to speak but answered the question directly, “If I did not come here, then at least three hundred policemen will come instead with at least thirty snipers outside and three helicopters in the sky. You could only surrender peacefully or get killed by a rain of bullets. Do you think you’ll still be able to sit here and point a finger at my nose?”
In a cosmopolitan metropolis like Shanghai, the equipment of the armed forces, the speed of their reaction and their force of execution was one of the best in the world. They were on alert especially after the strange incident which had happened in the City God Temple that afternoon that had caused a huge commotion. Later that night, someone was shot inside Painting Town, followed by an uproar with ghostly wailing and the howling of wolves. A dozen policemen who had gone in to investigate had not returned. If nobody had stood up and assumed command, the special forces would have barged in long ago.
Leyang Tian explained, “I saw that San Wei’s real body had come so I knew that a great battle would then take place. No matter who wins or loses this battle, there must be someone here to cope with the aftermath.”
Gu Xiaojun cursed angrily, “It’s like this every single time. You never tell me when something’s happening then when there’s trouble you’ll call me there to wipe your behind. I must’ve been blind to have recruited you. Now, finally, you’re going to die! I can then relax the next few years before retiring to take care of my grandchildren!”
Liu Zheng looked at Gu Xiaojun and smiled politely, “General, may I ask what exactly do you do?”
Gu Xiaojun seemed to be surprised. He quickly shook his head, “I’m no general. My rank is very low, it’s really not worth mentioning.”
Leyang Tian laughed as well, “Gu Xiaojun’s unit specializes in affairs relating to true cultivators. For the details, I’ll leave that to him!” As he was talking he looked at Gu Xiaojun, “You’re not young anymore. You have risked your life for so many years. Let’s not talk about being a general, you can’t even be a colonel…”
Gu Xiaojun glared at Leyang Tian, “What do you know? The files of the colonels and higher-ups all have an immense danger of being leaked. I’m not short of money and I have a special right so why should I want an army title?” The old man paused after his tirade. When he spoke again, it was with a heavier tone of voice, “How much longer do you have?”
Leyang Tian was surprised as if he had just remembered that he was about to die. He shook his head dejectedly.
Gu Xiaojun sighed softly, “You guys finish your talk. Call me when you’re done.” After he said this, he turned and walked to the door without looking back. He lit a cigarette for himself and inhaled strongly before coughing in a sad, elderly fashion.
Leyang Tian looked deeply at Gu Xiaojun’s back. He then turned suddenly to look at Wen Leyang and said drily, “I have a favor to ask.”
Wen Leyang was in agonizing pain. The heavy Poison of Life and Death was moving slowly, almost crushing bones. The chaotic force which had not been completely assimilated by the Poison of Life and Death was like a blunt knife which followed the poison stream and continuously scraping away at his tendons and flesh. As the others were chatting merrily, he had been gritting his teeth and fighting the pain. When he heard Leyang Tian’s words, he nodded laboriously, “What is it?”
Leyang Tian hesitated slightly before smiling, “I’ll get to that later. Let’s get back to the topic. After the three Grand Masters Lue Luo, Mi Xu and Tuo Xie had accomplished their skills, they went their separate ways. Grand Master Lue Luo cared little for worldly affairs and led a monastic life. Grand Master Mi Xu went for glory and achievement, rendering his services to the royal family. Grand Master Tuo Xie walked amongst the world and looked at his surroundings with a smile. However, sometime after they had separated, Tuo Xie had suddenly requested aid from his two brothers.”
Lue Luo was shocked when he got Tuo Xie’s message. Amongst the three of them, Tuo Xie was the most highly skilled. Only the sky falling and the earth cracking would be an obstacle to him.
When Lue Luo found Tuo Xie, second brother Mi Xu had already arrived before him. The three brothers had grown up together and learned their skills together. They then separated and continued to work on their unique skills individually. Although they had not contacted each other often, their bond was strong. If one of them was in trouble, the other two may curse and pull faces but they would help out to the bitter end!
What surprised Lue Luo even more was that his exceptionally skilled little brother Tuo Xie had been seriously injured. Although it was not fatal, he needed to recuperate for a while. Second brother Mi Xu erupted in anger on the spot. He had grabbed his zombie and wanted to go out and avenge his brother. Luckily, Tuo Xie stopped him or there would have been a bloodbath in the cultivation world. Then again, if Lue Luo and Mi Xu had been present when Tuo Xie and Chang Li were battling the elites under the heavens, the result of that fight would have been very different.
Tuo Xie had waited for his two brothers to arrive before telling them the full story. He did not hold back on the process of the incident and told them frankly that a demon lady had caused a great trouble but he wants to bear the consequences.
Lue Luo and Mi Xu cursed in anger. The vocabulary of swear words two thousand years ago was not as rich as modern times. Basically, they cursed by describing others with animal comparisons. The two brothers cursed non-stop for almost half a day which only caused Tuo Xie to chuckle, he was not even the least bit angry.
They may curse but they held each other dearly in their hearts. If one of them was being reckless, then the other two would accompany them to take down the south wall. Who cares if this wall was a jade column which supported the heavens, who cares if this wall was the Buddha’s rib!
The events which Tuo Xie had recounted to the other two were about the same story that Wen Leyang had heard recently. One of the Heaven’s Cone Nails on Black and White Island had been shattered. The demon-subduing formation had been badly damaged. When the nine-headed monster breaks free of its shackles, not only will Chang Li incur the divine punishment, it would also be a day of great misery for all life.
Tuo Xie wants to find Zhui Zi’s remnant soul in the vast oceans then have Lue Luo bring it to the Gold-Consuming Lair and cast a spell to revive it. After two thousand years, when the spell is completed, Zhui Zi’s memories will be wiped clean and she was to be returned to the Black and White Island to subdue the monster.
This was what little brother Tuo Xie had tasked big brother Lue Luo with.
When the Heaven’s Cone Nail was shattered, the wicked soul of Xiang Liu had seized the opportunity and escaped. The wicked soul and the Heaven’s Cone Nail both share the same fate. If the wicked soul dies, the Heaven’s Cone Nail would die as well. However, if the Heaven’s Cone Nail dies, the wicked soul would not be harmed at all.
If Tuo Xie wants to restore the demon subduing formation to protect Chang Li, he cannot let the wicked soul die. He then tasked Mi Xu to preserve the wicked soul no matter what and to keep it alive for a long time.
When he said this, Leyang Tian paused briefly and smiled drily, “Your Grand Master Tuo Xie was truly a practical person! The two tasks which he had passed down were harder than ascending the heavens! Let’s not talk about reviving the demon subduing Heaven’s Cone Nail but even to preserve Xiang Liu’s wicked soul, hah, it’s not that easy.”
Xiang Liu’s wicked soul was not like a cat or a dog. When it grows stronger and takes shape, not only will it cause bloody wind and rain, it could even return to Black and White Island to help the true body of Xiang Liu break free of the remaining eight Heaven’s Cone Nails. What second brother Mi Xu had to do was to protect Xiang Liu’s wicked soul which was being hunted by the Sword Immortal of Black and White Island and to not let this wicked soul grow into a formidable force. These words may sound easy but when one tries to actually execute them, it was as hard as ascending the heavens.
Liu Zheng did not conceal the displeasure on his face, “We were the only ones from Black and White Island who were hunting the wicked soul for the past two thousand years. To be frank, this odd person Tuo Xie had entrusted someone to go against my esteemed teacher and my two uncles! Regarding the issue of restoring the demon-subduing formation, these three experts, Lue Luo, Mi Xu, and Tuo Xie did not even think to give us from the Black and White Island a heads-up? Heh, rather than doing it this way, they should’ve just taken on Black and White Island and killed us off. Wouldn’t that have been easier?”
The enlightened person Tian Shu of Black and White Island had only learned of Tuo Xie’s grand plan of reviving the Heaven’s Cone Nail after meeting Wen Leyang. Before that, they had spent two thousand years searching with all their resources for the escaped wicked soul. Now, it seems that they have been troubling themselves over an imaginary problem. Even though the Little Supreme Leader Liu Zheng was quite level-headed most of the time, he could no longer hold his temper in.
Wen Leyang also felt that something was amiss. Tuo Xie had begrudged Black and White Island for Chang Li but reviving Zhui Zi and preserving Xiang Liu’s wicked soul was a common goal for both parties. Under these circumstances, both parties would have momentarily set aside their grudges and put restoring the demon-subduing formation as a first priority. Grand Master Tuo Xie should have informed Black and White Island about this no matter what. The only explanation was that the three brothers of Lue Luo were proud men, unwilling to ask for help from others.
To finish what his little brother entrusted him to do, Lue Luo then tricked the Qilian Immortals for two thousand years. Tuo Xie was no better. When the cat demon was being nice to him, he ignored her. Only when the skies were falling did he jump out to bear it. Mi Xu, by all reckoning, was also the same. At the end of the day, these three odd men had very peculiar personalities; not one of them was normal.
Wen Leyang suppressed the intense pain and managed to open his mouth to ask Leyang Tian, “What about Grand Master Tuo Xie? What did he go off to do?” The tasks entrusted to the two brothers were heavier than the last. Tuo Xie must have had another important thing to see to.
Leyang Tian unexpectedly snorted lightly, “Tuo Xie? Who knows what he went off to do. After he had entrusted the tasks to his two brothers, he went out to sea and brought back the Heaven’s Cone Nail’s remnant soul. Then, he vanished. He had not been sighted for two thousand years! Even my ancestor Lue Luo did not know what he had gone off to do!”
The old monk Ji Fei exclaimed in astonishment before asking, “Tuo Xie had not mentioned what he was going to do but Lue Luo and Mi Xu had helped him anyway?”
Leyang Tian’s tone had sounded light and almost emotionless when he was talking to Wen Leyang and the others. However, after listening to it for a long time, a trace of hatred from many years of discontent has become unmistakable, “With the bond they had, one request was enough! If the two ancestors Lue Luo and Mi Xu believed in him, hehe, then let them believe!”
Tuo Xie had not mentioned what he was going to do and his two brothers had not asked him either. They even dedicated their own disciples and their descendants’ fortune to that single promise!
After Lue Luo had cast his spell inside the Gold-Consuming Lair to revive Zhui Zi and nicely set up the deception of the Qilian Immortal Sect, he did not leave for good. Instead, he went to help Mi Xu imprison and take care of Xiang Liu’s wicked soul.
Liu Zheng was very unhappy upon hearing all this and he huffed a breath from clenched teeth, “Without the nourishment of demonic primordial energy, Xiang Liu’s wicked soul would not be able to stay alive for long. But if it had been nourished by demonic primordial energy, it would reach the sky in a single step. Who could control it then? I would like to know how these two odd persons had managed to accomplish such a feat!”
Leyang Tian did not have a good impression of Tuo Xie but he respected the two Grand Masters Lue Luo and Mi Xu very much. When he heard Liu Zheng’s words, he revealed a smile filled with scorn, “In these two thousand years, have you heard of any wicked soul wreaking havoc on earth? There aren’t only profound orthodox sects in this world, even amongst the lesser sects, there are extremely powerful methods! Xiang Liu’s wicked soul had been nurtured within Fifth Brother Hanba’s body!”
When Leyang Tian said this, everyone was shocked!
Liu Zheng was stunned and he shook his head with some effort, “Impossible! Xiang Liu’s wicked soul had been formed by the condensation of the vital essence of Heaven and Earth, it can’t possibly be swallowed by a zombie!”
Leyang Tian waved an arm impatiently. Without anyone noticing, his voice had gradually become deeper and every word he spoke now took effort, “Who told you that Fifth Brother had swallowed the wicked soul? Grand Master Mi Xu had used the Corpse Figurine Magic to bind the wicked soul within Fifth Brother’s body. It’s different from swallowing a primordial soul. The wicked soul remains as the wicked soul while the Fifth Brother remains as the Fifth Brother. It was nothing more than Fifth Brother using his own body to rear a wicked soul who had no will of its own!”
A sound boomed in Wen Leyang’s head. If the Wicked Soul was reared inside Fifth Brother Hanba’s body then that explains almost everything. Hanba killed the demons to extract their primordial energy to preserve the wicked soul and also Zhui Zi’s life.
As long as Zhui Zi was still alive, the demon-subduing formation on Black and White Island has a chance of being restored. At the end of the day, Fifth Brother Hanba was one of their own. He was completing the task which Tuo Xie had entrusted to Mi Xu two thousand years ago.
However, what puzzled them now was, if the wicked soul was inside Hanba’s body then who was the priest San Wei who had even refined a body double?
The Little Supreme Leader Liu Zheng’s voice was filled with fright, “Xiang Liu’s soul could be reared!?”
Leyang Tian seemed to have anticipated their surprise. He smiled with slight satisfaction, “Of course it’s not as easy as it sounds!”
