Head lama Rangjung, who was running around the town in great strides, shouted, “That’s it! Pull out every single house. Start from the outside. Leave the house at the center for last!”
Qin Zhui and the dwarf Taoist priest made their move. They followed in Wen Leyang’s footsteps, gripping the houses, pulling them out like carrots. With a considerable amount of yelling, they too managed to pull out the houses of Tuer Town!
The houses were hollow but remained intact. The walls and roof did not shatter, even under the exertion of great force and the strong vibrations. Wen Leyang and the group pulled out the houses one by one and tried to evade the spray of blood and pus. Then, they casually tossed away the houses in their grasp and moved on to the next target.
When a house was pulled out, foul smelling blood mixed with pus would gush out of the ground and leave an enormous, pitch black hole. However, after a while the gaping hole would vanish. The ground returned to its original state as if nothing had happened.
The surface of the ground of Tuer Town was like the skin and bones of a god. The ground seemed to have magical healing abilities.
The three elites worked together and managed to pull out half the houses in a short span of time. The entire town shook wildly. Underneath their feet, a beast which had been pinned down by heavenly nails for ten thousand years howled. It arched its body continuously, sending tremors through the town, in an effort to break free of its cage!
Within Wen Leyang’s psychic fog, he could not detect the presence of anything other than his own people. However, a foul aura gushed forth and encased him like a spider’s web, covering him in layers. It suffocated him, his bones and tendons felt like shattering!
Yamantaka’s face was ferocious as he soared through the sky. The Buddhist demon-subduing force that the god emitted could not be seen, only felt. It struck the town in waves, raging hit after hit. The waves of awe-inspiring righteousness broke upon the town, like it had encountered an unseen black reef, scattering and fading…
Suddenly, a sharp and furious howl called out. A few dozen flying swords engulfed in blazing flames, rose to the sky! The flying swords of the Qilian disciples had felt the burning call, filled with evil intent, and had broken free of their masters’ control. They leaped into the air, ready to strike.
The trio of elites dismantled the Tibetan Buddhism Sect’s monster-subduing mandala, while the lama summoned the force of Yamantaka. However, it seemed ineffective in suppressing the monster’s restlessness. Wen Leyang howled furiously as he tossed a house far away. He looked up, calling out anxiously to head lama Rangjung, “I don’t think this is working! The monster will break free!”
Head lama Rangjung had already went countless laps around the town. His body was drenched in sweat. He replied in a loud voice, “You mustn’t stop, you mustn’t stop for even the briefest moment! Or else the force of the mandala will rebound and hurt you. Continue what you’re doing and do not worry about anything else!”
Wen Leyang was shocked. He became angry from embarrassment and cried out, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” He rushed towards the houses which still stood tall.
Qin Zhui had already pulled out more than ten houses. He was covered head to toe in putrid, viscous black blood. He backed up lama Rangjung, shouting, “Didn’t you know? We can’t stop the momentum when attempting to break the circle, not even for the briefest of moments…”
Wen Leyang had never learned the basics of magic. He truly had no clue.
Head lama Rangjung finally completed his task in placing the musical instruments around the town. He abruptly stopped running, joined his feet together, and rooted himself to the spot like a nail in wood. He made hand signs as he doubled over, using all his energy as he was tapping into his own life force. He opened his mouth to howl, but no sound came out.
Gu Xiaojun and the sibling, who were watching anxiously from the side, felt a suffocating sensation grow in their chest. They wished they had a knife to cut open their chest and release this madness-inducing pressure.
A few seconds passed, but those seconds felt like an eternity!
Just when they were about to collapse from their maddening suffocation, a series of ear splitting yells, like the godly thunder of the Ninth Heaven, blasted through the night. The evil energy which had enveloped the town was ripped to pieces.
Rangjung opened his mouth and tried to howl desperately, but the voice that rang out came from the god Yamantaka in the sky. Oṃ! vajra! Sattva! Hūṃ!
It was the Tibetan Buddhism Sect’s Vajrasattva mantra! Every syllable of the incantation was like a heavenly hammer which struck down from the sky, down onto the restless town. Wen Leyang felt a weight lift off his body. The pressure from the evil energy, which had made it hard for him to move, had been destroyed by the godly Yamantaka’s mantra. The freed Wen Leyang felt as light as a feather. Head lama Rangjung had invoked the mantra and finally suppressed the unnamed monster’s presence. He did not stop, rushing to the center of the town to join Wen Leyang and the others in dismantling the mandala. Within ten minutes, the houses in the entire town of Tuer were lying on their sides. Only the house in the center was left.
Master Rangjung yelled, “All together now!” The four of them moved like lightning. They each grabbed a corner of the house, looked towards one another and nodded. They heavied out a breath and let out a yell simultaneously, pulling upwards with all their might.
Xiao Sha and Fei Fei could not help but exclaim in surprise!
The final house heaved upwards, under the simultaneous exertion of strength of the four elites, but remained planted. The ground had became soft and sticky, like gum, exerting all its strength in gripping the house, unwilling to let it go.
Head lama Rangjung grew frantic. He yelled loudly in the Tibetan tongue. He rallied his three companions, cheering them on to pull out the house no matter what, or else all would have been for nothing. If they did not destroy the mandala, they would suffer greatly from the recoil of the seal.
The dwarf Taoist priest was the first to give in. He called out to his disciples for help. The Immortal Sect disciples immediately invoked the sword formation, using it to support their supreme leader and carried him upward. Qin Zhui unsheathed his knife and slashed frantically at the ground, using Hide the Force to sustain his energy. Wen Leyang and the head lama gave out a strangled cry. They rode on the remnants of the momentum, used their full strength, and pulled the house upwards…
With a soft pop, the last house detached from the ground under the combined strength of the four elites!
A sad and shrill wail from an unseen force rang out, shattering everyone’s eardrums. It instantly destroyed the combined magical powers of the Tibetan Buddhism Sect, the Taoists, and the Force. Mercilessly striking deep into their minds, like a rusty old blade.
At the same time, the long swords that covered the skies wailed and scrambled in all directions, like a swarm of disturbed bees, ignoring their master’s instructions. Gu Xiaojun and the siblings fell flat on their backs as if having rehearsed it. They let out a strangled cry as they were knocked off their feet by the shrill howl…
Then, thick black blood, flowing like lava of an erupting volcano, gushed out from the hole left behind by the final house. The blood formed a column and shot straight up into the sky, soaring high above their heads!
When the other houses had been pulled up, the black blood only sprayed out. However, under this final house, hid an angry volcano…
The Qilian disciples who were watching from the town’s border, shouted loudly. They directed their swords to intercept the incoming downpour of blood.
The worst fear of the practitioners’ swords was corrosion from foul things. Gu Xiaojun and the siblings held out umbrellas made of an unknown material. The blood-rain made clanking noises as they hit the umbrellas…
Although the black blood looked terrifying, it proved neither poisonous nor harmful. Even when the blood splashed onto their bodies, other than it being sticky, it was not life threatening.
The demon-subduing mandala in the town had finally been destroyed. The efficiency in which the elites had displayed would have made the Relocation Office weep tears of joy for days on end.
Head lama Rangjung held a dignified expression, shaking slightly in excitement. He took a deep breath, composed himself, and said solemnly to the others, “If you wish to vanquish the demon, come with me. This will be an extremely dangerous venture and you may not return from it. Do think it over carefully.” Following that, he went quiet and leaped up to meet the gushing black blood, jumping down the big hole at its base.
Qin Zhui followed closely behind. The pose he struck was like that of an ugly duck. He flailed wildly as he rushed towards the black blood and leaped into the hole after the head lama.
The dwarf Taoist priest turned and shouted to his disciples, “You may not follow me into the hole, this is an order!” His gaze was far off from where his disciples stood but nevertheless, the peace and kindness in his eyes could be easily read. The Qilian disciples started an uproar. A few of the older Taoists wanted to say something when the dwarf Taoist priest squinted his eyes. His kind demeanor was instantly washed away by a sense of sterness and resolution. “Hold your tongues! How dare you speak against my orders! If you do not see me after three days, do not wait for me!” He dives into the source of the black blood, chasing after Qin Zhui and the head lama.
Wen Leyang was the last man. He looked at Gu Xiaojun who was still holding up his umbrella, “Do you guys want to go down too?”
Gu Xiaojun nodded resolutely. He strode towards Wen Leyang and without saying a word, climbed up onto his back with agile movements.. He turned and said to the siblings, “Wait for me here…”
The siblings shook their heads in unison. Gu Xiaojun glared at them. “That is an order! Stop this nonsense. Erm… if I do not return after three days, then you guys… report to Headquarters!”
Wen Leyang laughed and nodded towards the siblings, he instructed, “Stay safe!” Then, with Gu Xiaojun strapped to his back, he leaped into the column of black blood and rushed into the big hole.
After everyone had gone down, Yamantaka’s Dharmakaya seemed to give out a sigh as it descended slowly from the sky. The column of endless gushing black blood grew smaller by the second. The godly deity descended from the sky, its Dharmakaya shook lightly, and firmly pressed on the wound left behind on the ground.
At the same time, a brahman chant called out from the skies. The various musical instruments, which head lama Rangjung had place around the town while circling it, rang out. The light of Buddha surged through the sky. It was not strong but each layer was clearly visible, enveloping the town of Tuer in a myriad of colors. As long as the flowing light and Yamantaka did not vanish, the evil beast under the town would not be able to escape.
The Qilian disciples retreated to outside the circle and retracted their flying swords. They looked towards one another, all their faces etched with unease. One of them came forward and started chanting the Taoist code. He led his brothers to sit down cross-legged and did not move. They sat still, waiting for the reappearance of their supreme leader and the divine beast.
The siblings carried their tent, pitching it beside the Qilian disciples.
…
Wen Leyang broke through the column of black blood and aimed for the ground. After free falling for another thirty meters, he landed on his feet. Then, he gave out a low grunt. A stench, which was much stronger than the black blood back on the surface, had assaulted his senses in an instant. Even though he had dabbled in poisons ever since a young age, his chest could not help but tighten at the smell. Gu Xiaojun, who was riding on his back, was knocked out cold instantly by the stench.
Before him, Qin Zhui, the dwarf Taoist priest, and the head lama were all holding their noses. Qin Zhui complained with all his might, “This stinks! It’s like a f*cking manure pit in here!”
Wen Leyang quickly applied a cleansing medicinal powder onto the nostrils of his passenger.
Gu Xiaojun gave out a loud sneeze. He woke up abruptly. He did not show the slightest hint of stepping down from his perch. He looked around him as he asked in a murmur, “Why is this place so smelly… next time, we should bring gas masks.”
Wen Leyang applied the medicinal powder onto the noses of the other three cultivators. He frowned and said, “That’s the smell of putrefaction!” His sense slowly expanded. His psychic fog emanated in all directions.
Practitioners do not fear poison or foul stenches, they are able to neutralize toxins using their life force. However, this would not only exhaust their powers, they would grow lethargic over time. With the Wen family’s detoxifying and cleansing medicinal powder, they felt a cool sensation spread within their bodies. Their lungs and chest eased.
Despite the strong stench, surrounding them was just a pitch-black empty space. The four elites, Wen Leyang, the lama, the dwarf Taoist priest and Qin Zhui had their psychic powers to protect them while also possessing the Night Eye. Their eyesight was not affected by the amount of light. Only Gu Xiaojun was pointing around a flashlight as he smiled sheepishly, “Military grade. RRT2. Effective illumination range of up to three hundred meters…”
Wen Leyang’s gaze did not follow the flashlight’s beam. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brows. A few seconds had passed and his eyes shot open. He looked behind the head lama and pointed, “What’s that?”
They were shrouded in endless darkness. Through his psychic fog, he could barely make out a large silhouette at the edge of his senses. Head lama Rangjung shook his head. “I am no better than you guys. I know nothing about the undergrounds of Tuer Town! We will know once we see it!” He ran and led the way towards the huge object.
The group followed suit and covered ground quickly. They ran swiftly along the empty darkness. Through their psychic ability, the huge object slowly took shape within their minds. As they grew closer, they were overcome with fright.
Gu Xiaojun exclaimed in astonishment. The light of his torch fell upon a row of stalagmites. They were the size of skyscrapers, or huge mountains. They stood straight and ferocious in the darkness.
Wen Leyang and the group stopped upon reaching the base of the stalagmites.
The stalagmites were thick at the base and tapered off towards the top. From afar, they could barely make out their shape. Standing in front of it was like standing under sharpened peaks. Their vision was filled with the steep and towering image. Dozens of stalagmites were arranged neatly in a row. Each stalagmite’s base measured at least a hundred meters in diameter. The space between each of them was no more than half a meter.
Gu Xiaojun was shocked by the strange sight before him. He lowered his voice and said to Wen Leyang, “The world’s greatest and largest stalagmite recorded has a base diameter of a hundred and thirty four meters, with a height of more than sixty meters, but there is only one such stalagmite! Although these aren’t as huge as that one but this is a whole row of them. Every single one of them as big as the next-” As he said this, he suddenly let out an ‘eh’. He turned sideways and slipped through the space between the stalagmites.
A few meters from where the stalagmites stood, a row of huge stalactites hung down from above. Their tips just barely touched the ground. Although Gu Xiaojun could not see clearly to the top of the cave, he guessed that this row of stalactites were about the same size as the stalagmites behind him.
Stalagmites and stalactites are cone shaped objects. The former grew upwards whereas the latter was the opposite. Geological phenomenons like these could easily be found in karst caves the world over. However, this would be the only place where the two were known to be arranged neatly in rows!
Gu Xiaojun lifted his head and looked around for a long time. He chuckled, “Look at these two rows of sharp rocks, don’t they resemble the teeth of a giant dog-”
He had barely finished his sentence when Qin Zhui breathed out coldly, “I don’t think it’s a dog…”
Gu Xiaojun laughed. “Then what beast is it?” Pausing he had come to a frightening realization. His whole body started to tremble as he stared at the four practitioners with fearful eyes. He gave out a strange cry. “They are actually teeth?! These two rows of rock columns… are actual teeth?!”
Gu Xiaojun’s flashlight clanked as it fell to the ground. The light beam rolled around in the dark. When the flash of light met someone’s eyes, it gave out a dazzling glare…
Wen Leyang, the head lama, the dwarf Taoist priest, and Qin Zhui were top elites in the magical realm. They had already completely scanned the place with their psychic abilities. The rock columns, which looked like sharp, towering bamboo shoots, were exactly that. Two rows of ferocious fangs, fitting into one another!
Wen Leyang hesitated before opening his mouth slowly, “The skeleton of an unknown beast, with an undetermined shape, has been laying underneath Tuer Town this whole time. The huge beast’s skull alone is bigger than a small town!”
Master Rangjung continued, “The Tibetan Buddhist mandala in this town must have been set to seal this beast away. The spot where we jumped down from must have been the top of its skull!” As he said this, he reached out a hand and pointed to the top of his head.
Qin Zhui stood in-between the front and rear rows of teeth. He extended his arms to gauge the distance between them. He laughed coldly, “With a space this big, what did it use to eat?”
Set aside the distance between the two rows of teeth, even the space between two fangs could fit a yak.
Head lama Rangjung frowned. He was as puzzled by this as everyone else. Helplessly he said, “The Tuer Town mandala that suppressed this monster must have been made with great insight and wisdom. The practitioner who did this has done a great service to mankind.”
Gu Xiaojun was not easily deterred. When he was confronted with something he did not understand, he would do all he can to get to the bottom of things. “Regardless how huge the monster was, it is now a just a pile of bones. It is finally dead, isn’t it? The monster that had been subdued by King Gesar has been reduced to bones. Then, another beast captured the pangolin?”
The head lama did not wait for a reply from the others before he shook his head. “No, based on the songs from the divine singers, the beast was sealed away because it proved hard to kill. How could it die of old age that easily? Damn it, if it was only a pile of bones, why does it smell so bad in here?”
The dwarf Taoist priest, who had been silent ever since they descended into this place, suddenly interrupted, “The smell here is not as strong compared to where we first landed!”
Qin Zhui was not bothered about whether the stench around him was strong or faint, he casually helped answer Gu Xiaojun’s question. “That isn’t something very difficult to understand. This monster, which has been reduced to bones, was captured and subdued by King Gesar. The beast, which had captured the giant pangolin and wanted to break out of this cage, must have also been captured and subdued by King Gesar!” As he said this, he held up two fingers and concluded with a serious expression, “The mandala must have been suppressing two monsters. One died while another is still alive.”
Gu Xiaojun’s eyes lit up. He smiled as he nodded, “That makes sense!”
Head lama Rangjung shook his head and refuted Qin Zhui’s words, “You do not know how specific the Epic of King Gesar is. If there were two monsters, it would have been mentioned.”
Qin Zhui pouted. “We don’t even know if the Epic of King Gesar was authentic or not!”
The group fell into silence. If they could not even be sure of their premise, any further discussion would be pointless.
After a while, head lama Rangjung continued, “Although the appearance of those divine singers is questionable, the Tibetan Buddhism Sect was already flourishing seven hundred years ago. Whether the divine singers were authentic or not, they could not have fooled the wise eyes of Buddhists. If they were fake, how could they have convinced head lama Geshe to recall his troops?”
Gu Xiaojun was frustrated to the point of stomping his foot. “Head lama, what are you getting at?”
Rangjung laughed. “There’s only one monster or the poets would have sung otherwise. The death we see before our eyes is not true death. The monster may have turned into bones, but it still exists!”
Qin Zhui laughed and nodded but he was betrayed by the look of confusion on his face. This guy clearly did not understand a word the lama had said.
Gu Xiaojun snorted dismissively. “You’re saying that even after being reduced to bones, this monster still isn’t dead?” Upon saying that, he pondered for a while. He carefully enunciated a word that he heard Xiao Sha mention once, “Ne… Necromancy?”
Rangjung burst out in laughter. There was no trace of worry in them. “I don’t know. It’s fine if you just get the general idea. Anyways, there is still a monster here and it must be related to this skeleton somehow! We shouldn’t have to think too much, just kill the demon and rescue the divine beast! We will know when we see the monster!” After settling the matter, he turned, intending to lead the group down the giant beast’s throat.
However, Gu Xiaojun stood rooted to the spot. He chided Rangjung seriously, “Whether it’s one or two monsters, Master, we should think carefully before making any plans! If there is only one, then naturally we should give chase into the depths of this skeleton. However, if there were two of them… we would accomplish nothing by running around this stinky skeleton. The demon that captured the pangolin could be outside there!” As he said this, he pointed his finger towards the outside the rows of teeth.
At this moment, the dwarf Taoist priest snorted as he looked at Qin Zhui while saying, “Why don’t you step out and take a look yourself.”
Qin Zhui had already gotten used to this. He smiled and looked at Gu Xiaojun, “He was talking to you!”
‘Oh’ replied Gu Xiaojun. He place one hand on one of the ‘stalactites’, which grazed the ground from the sky. He tried to peer through the gaps with the help of his flashlight. Beyond the teeth, there was only darkness. Even the military grade flashlight, which beams had the ability to travel far, could not pierce through the darkness. After looking around for a few seconds with squinted eyes, Gu Xiaojun suddenly let out a low, muffled grunt. The extremely thick darkness, which was impenetrable by his flashlight, seemed to overwhelm him in the blink of an eye. It flowed into this body through every pore of his skin, stopping his flow of blood and strangled his lungs. The sensation almost made his chest burst open.
For a brief moment, Old Gu, whose nerves were tougher than steel, lost his sense of self!
Head lama Rangjung responded quickly. He pulled Gu Xiaojun back and softly pressed his thumb upon Gu Xiaojun’s danzhong acupoint, helping the blood to flow once again and restoring his Qi. Gu Xiaojun slowly came back to his senses. He pointed at the life-threatening darkness outside, which would certainly have killed him if he had stared for a moment longer. “What… what is that?”
Qin Zhui saw the look on Gu Xiaojun’s face and was overwhelmed with glee. “There’s nothing outside. It is a void! This space has been severed from the mortal realm. It’s a space that was opened up by the Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual energy, specifically to seal away the giant monster! That’s why to find the divine beast, we must move into the monster’s belly. We can’t go in any other direction.”
“That was why when we were above ground, we could not reach it no matter how hard we tried to dig. Only by destroying the mandala, could we break the spell and enter.” Head lama Rangjung said this as he turned and walked towards the throat of the skeleton.
The group of elites turned to follow him. Gu Xiaojun climbed once again onto Wen Leyang’s back. From his sour expression, he seemed to have half a mind to install a safety belt onto Wen Leyang when they got back…
