When they were battling outside the stone forest, as the force of the giant sword ‘Molten Metal Fire Bell’ that was summoned by the dwarf Taoist priest was extensively domineering, Wen Leyang had considered him one of the greatest cultivator that he had ever seen in his life other than Chang Li, the big and small demon rabbit and the demon monk San Duan. He did not expect that the giant sword was actually a pewter spearhead that shines like silver. It was actually an impressive looking but useless object. The moment it came into contact with the Thunder Heart Sand, it dropped down from the sky like a dead chicken. When Wen Leyang and the dwarf Taoist priest fought again and bashed each other madly, Wen Leyang finally got to the bottom of his capabilities.
In comparison to the sword-bearing enlightened person Qing Niao, the dwarf Taoist priest was perhaps a little stronger. However, he was still quite far off compared to the supreme leader Zi Que that had committed suicide in the Wen family village.
However, Wen Leyang was astonished that the dwarf Taoist priest could escape from the second layer of prohibition spell that made one very confused and disoriented.
Little Chi Maojiu was not surprised at all. He told Wen Leyang in a low voice, “The second layer of prohibition spell was initiated by Lue Luo for the purpose of preventing the descendant of Red Mark from being held as a hostage by the others. It was triggered after the first layer of prohibition spell was broken and could only be considered as a trick for contingency. The process of muddling directions and mangling space was exhausting. One could not sustain the effort for too long. However, within this short period of time, it was enough for the person who was held hostage to escape.”
Wen Leyang shielded everyone behind his back and retreated sideways. He, the dwarf Taoist priest and the maiden Cone Nail formed a triangle.
The maiden Cone Nail realized that Wen Leyang was not standing on the same side as her. Her eyes immediately filled with sorrow and grievance.
The dwarf Taoist priest’s eyes were bloodshot due to the heartfelt rage. There were even some blood veins that were bulging. His enmity gaze continued to cruise past Wen Leyang and Cone Nail’s faces. Wen Leyang knew very well in his heart that when the Taoist priest was looking at him, he was actually staring at Cone Nail…
After a long while, the dwarf Taoist priest squeezed out a few words from between his teeth ferociously, “Oh Lue Luo, that bastard Lue Luo, he was the one that caused my Qilian…” Before he could finish his sentence, Cone Nail, with a fearful expression, suddenly pounced in front of him, flipped over her hand and waved once towards him!
Crack! A crisp sound accompanied by a raging roar. The dwarf Taoist priest did not even have the opportunity to dodge or resist, she had already slapped his mouth ferociously. His disproportionate body suddenly tumbled backwards. When he sat up once again, his lips cracked into a red gaping wound, a few of his teeth were pulverized and fresh blood was flowing rapidly out of his mouth.
Cone Nail trembled nervously, her tone of speaking was close to pleading piteously, “Lue Luo is a good man, he is the savior of my life, I beg you…beg you not to scold him.”
The dwarf Taoist priest realized that there was a vast difference between his and the maiden’s cultivation base. He did not even plan to strike back. He straightened his body as he leaped up from the ground. His speech was vague and muffled, but each word he said was akin to the scorching charcoal that was burned from rage, squeezing out from his throat strenuously, “Lue Luo is a good man? He deceived the Qilian Immortal Sect for a total of two thousand years!” As he was saying that, he swung his fist and struck heavily onto his chest as if that was the only way he could slightly vent his anger.
The Qilian Immortal Sect was indeed thoroughly entrapped by Lue Luo. Two thousand years of plastic dream, they sacrificed human lives, sacrificed their strengths, they expended generations of hopes, only to find out now that they had been helping the opposing party all along. No one could suppress such an insult in his chest. Merely the thought of that was suffocating. Wen Leyang heaved a sigh softly from the side, he wanted to console but he did not know how. On the other hand, the dwarf Taoist priest spat a mouthful of shattered teeth and fresh blood ferociously from afar towards him, “Shut up little demon! The Taoist priest is willing to die rather than to see your pretentious…”
Another crisp sound accompanied by raging curse echoed. Cone Nail struck the Taoist priest so hard that he flew. Her pale hand was tainted with droplets of glaring blood, “They are here to rescue me, and they are good men too. Will you please not scold them?” Cone Nail’s expression remained piteous and innocent as before. However, she struck in a quick and hateful manner. The back of her hand rippled with powerful momentum as she struck onto the Taoist priest’s cheek. Her eyes brightened for a flash as if she had found her true happiness.
Wen Leyang and Wen Xiaoyi gave a humph in unison, Wen Leyang took a step forward, he shouted to Cone Nail in a low voice, “Stop hitting him already!”
Cone Nail heaved a short sigh sadly, she raised her eyes and looked towards Wen Leyang and spoke faintly, “I don’t want to hit him either, but he…”
The dwarf Taoist priest did not leap up to stand on one attempt this time. He panted heavily, the air passed through his throat that was overflowing with fresh blood, and made a terrifying gurgling sound, his voice was still filled with strength, “The Qilian Immortal Sect was deceived by the bastard…”
Cone Nail’s body moved a little, but she did not leap forward anymore. She only peered towards Wen Leyang once.
The Taoist priest chuckled in rage as he continued to swear, “That bastard used his trickery and caused harm to my Immortal Sect, even if the Qilian disciples were transformed into ferocious ghosts, we will still…”
Suddenly, a female voice that was filled with sternness erupted akin to a thunder and mercilessly cut short the dwarf Taoist priest’s raging swears, “Shut up, you mean fellow!”
Wen Leyang was startled. It took him a moment before he reacted to the situation. The shout earlier was surprisingly Cone Nail but her tone of speaking completely lost the earlier piteous yet enchanting manner. Instead, it was filled with awe-inspiring righteousness.
The entire stone forest quaked heavily along with Cone Nail’s raging shout. A layer of purest mist rapidly circulated about. The initial delicateness and solitary on Cone Nail’s body were thoroughly cleansed away. Instead, an immortal radiance on her face circulated about. There was a gush of exceedingly great heaven’s prestige that one dared not look straight into penetrating from her entire body. The maiden that one could not help but to hastily hug her within one’s cradle to love dearly a moment ago, the piteous maiden that was dressed in rags, turned into the Saintess of the Heaven that was only worthy of worship, that was even a blasphemy should one stared towards her slightly strenuously!
At this moment, Cone Nail’s voice was filled with awe-inspiring righteousness, “Mean fellow, you kept proclaiming about the situation of the Qilian Immortal Sect. I am the embodiment of the vital energy of the heaven and earth and the true water of five elements, I spent millennials executing demons and stabilizing the heaven, my body is tied to the endless welfare of the world. If I don’t exist, the mountain collapses and the ground sink. If I don’t exist, the sea dries up and the water ceases. If I don’t exist, the sky falls and the earth opens up. If I don’t exist, people are plunged into misery and sufferings! A little inconvenience for the Qilian Immortal Sect, is there a necessity to nag at me nonstop?”
As she was saying that, Cone Nail’s gaze abruptly stared towards the dwarf Taoist priest.
No one could have expected that Cone Nail would turn from a delicate and seductive little demon-like person to a Ninth Heaven Goddess-like righteousness without a sign. All of their state of mind felt unguarded, their minds were in a mess and they felt the urge to kneel and give kowtows to her.
The dwarf Taoist priest was the first to be affected. When Cone Nail was looking towards him, the thirty-six thousand pores on his entire body simultaneously sensed the invasion a gush of vigorous bright light, akin to all the sunlight in the world shone in front of him in a flash! His heart felt like a leather drum that was going to explode. His heart pumped in a vigorous yet weakened manner. At the shout of an ‘oh’, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood filled with countless fragments. His legs felt limp as he suddenly sat on the ground. His old face was the color of greenish-black of the dead, yet his eyes were brimming with tears. He felt as though he wanted to look up to the sky and howled but also to burst into loud sobs. He wanted to curse but also to worship on bent knees devoutly…
The grand master Chang Li’s expression followed her emotions, there were countless transformations, her frown her smile her scowl her sigh made one could not help but to be immersed together into her emotions, unable to break free; Cone Nail’s expression was also constantly changing, whether it was happiness anger sorrow or joy, there was a sense of delicate seductiveness within. It was akin to a thoroughly wet puppy, even if she was happy she was still forcing a smile from within her trembles, one felt heartache for her from the bottom of one’s heart. She suddenly revealed her unappalled holiness, as if this was the other side of her that embodied all the righteousness in the world.
Two extremely powerful women beyond Wen Leyang’s imagination were both persons with many faces.
Wen Leyang could not help but to turn around and looked towards Wen Xiaoyi, who was ghastly pale. He thought about Mumu, who should still be recovering from her severe injuries back in Wen family village. He felt very pleased with himself within his heart at a very wrong timing. From his point of view, the sense of purity was even cuter and more important to him.
The dwarf Taoist priest’s mouth trembled for a long while before he started gagging loudly. His expression was filled with rage, helplessness, and even more unwillingness as if he was a lioness that witnessed its king lion bit its young cubs to death. The sound of his cry accompanied his sorrowful gagging.
After a moment, Cone Nail turned back into the prior piteous maiden, she looked towards the dwarf Taoist priest with her apologetic eyes, “So do you understand now? If I can’t be resurrected, the world will soon be an apocalypse. The Qilian Immortal Sect’s laborious efforts for the past two thousand years, in exchange for the grand namesake of a meritorious deed to the Heaven.”
The dwarf Taoist priest was shivering all over. He raised his head once again. His murky gaze gradually turned crystal clear when he suddenly snarled, “Fuck your grand namesake!” Suddenly, he was like a raging black bear that its tail was chopped off, he dove head first towards Cone Nail.
No one noticed that Cone Nail’s eyes brightened with excitement and joy. She flipped over her hand and waved once. The dwarf Taoist priest was struck so hard he flew away again before his body fell to the ground. Cone Nail followed him like a shadow as she struck again. The Taoist priest flew up once again! When Cone Nail edged her way through on the third attempt, in preparation to wave her hand once again, Wen Leyang suddenly blocked himself in front of the Taoist priest. The scar on his face under the reflection of the sunlight was slightly reddening.
Body shape aside, Wen Leyang’s speed could never catch up to Cone Nail, but it was not a difficult task for him to chase after the Taoist priest’s falling body. The Qilian Immortal Sect was not evil to start with, their foundation establishment was destroyed by the grand master Chang Li out of no reason back then. Following that they were under the manipulation of Lue Luo’s schemes because of the Gold-consuming Nest. Even though there must be some painstaking effort of the grand master Tuo Xie within the scheme that he could not understand, the Qilian Immortal Sect did not do any wrong. He could no longer watch as the dwarf Taoist priest suffer these savage beatings.
Wen Leyang blocked before the Taoist priest, he lowered his voice as he shouted to Cone Nail, “That is enough…” But surprisingly before his voice died away, a sweet-smelling wind rippled before his body. Cone Nail did not even slow down. As she was only wrapped in a few streaks of green silk, her almost half-naked body slammed towards his cradle.
If the cultivation world was a huge stretch of grass plain, Wen Leyang at best was the kangaroo with slight combat effectiveness in it. Suddenly, there was a lioness wrapped in green silk, that was diving into his cradle exuding tenderness and love…
Wen Leyang immediately leaped backwards once desperately and handed over the Taoist priest behind him. A strand of mischief entangled with sadness flashed past Cone Nail’s gaze, she waved her hand once and struck towards the dwarf Taoist priest that was embarrassed and deranged and almost lost his sanity.
The Taoist priest flew up once again, his body stiffened with an agonizing scream. His attention was dispersed off by his fury, as he was knocked unconscious.
The veins on Wen Leyang forehead were bulging. He caught the dwarf Taoist priest in mid-air. He scolded, “Why don’t you just kill him then. Such torment and humiliation, he did not even offend anyone!”
Cone Nail stopped moving, her eyes were filled with the sorrow of being misunderstood, “I am only hitting him because I want him to wake up. For the past two thousand years, the Qilian Immortal Sect’s charitable and pious deed was as great as the heaven, yet he insisted to act out of rage and complained constantly. Sooner or later he would fall into the evil path. Even though he would not be accustomed to it, one day he would cause a bloody massacre.”
Wen Leyang was stunned for a moment before he started speaking, “If the Qilian Immortal Sect is seeking for revenge, naturally us the descendants of Tuo Xie would handle them! I am not too reckless even if I were to kill him now, but you keep humiliating him this way…” As he was saying that he nodded heavily, and said in a resolute and decisive manner, “You are not allowed to!”
Within the eyes of a person who only spoke when there was a deed, Wen Leyang was a little pretentious, but within the eyes of Wen Xiaoyi, he was too handsome.
Cone Nail could no longer care about her injustice. She raised her brows as she repeated, “The descendants of Tuo Xie?”
Wen Leyang nodded, “Two thousand years ago the person who stood on the sea surface and scooped you out was that pickle…erudite person, his name was Tuo Xie, he is my grand master!”
Cone Nail nodded as if she was deep in thoughts. She looked towards Wen Leyang in an extremely sad expression, and spoke without a reason, “You still refuse to believe in me.”
It was the second time already that she mentioned this, the first time she said this was when she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the dwarf Taoist priest.
Wen Leyang declared his status right now because he wanted the opposing party to have some extent of scruple, he did not deny nor confirm, but he only looked towards Cone Nail and asked a question in reply, “How will I know that? Perhaps the prohibition spell was initiated to seal you?”
Based on Cone Nail’s words, it was the grand master who scooped her up, the grand master’s friend Lue Luo who rescued her. One could even figure that out with one’s incisors, that the grand master wanted her to return to the Black and White Island so she could pin down Xiang Liu the Nine headed monster once again, so she could bring about a radical change in the existing state of affairs. If that was true, as Cone Nail said that she had already regained her strength, she should break out of the cocoon, take a ride in the car or the boat or fly as an immortal to the Black and White Island, yet she remained in the stone forest.
The moment before the Taoist priest appeared, Luo Wanggen wanted to ask why did she choose to remain in the stone forest, but he was interrupted by Wen Leyang. Once the question was asked, if Cone Nail could not answer that, she would certainly turn hostile on the spot, then their group of people would certainly suffer a great loss.
Back then Wen Leyang was still trying to beat around the bush, he wanted to clarify the matter before he continued, such that he was leaving the space for the opposing party not to be suspicious, such that they had plentiful time to escape just in case. However, afterwards when he witnessed her as she almost humiliated and murdered the dwarf Taoist priest in cold blood, he could finally confirm that this Miss Cone Nail was certainly cruel and merciless. There was no other way to succeed today’s matter, so he straightforwardly assumed the fighting mannerism. At least he could make Luo Wanggen who was treating Cone Nail like a relative understood the situation.
The scene was extremely oppressive. Cone Nail was utterly depressed. Wen Leyang placed the Taoist priest on the ground, and guarded in front of his companions, even though Wen Xiaoyi was unaware of the situation, she raised her big-muzzled weapon just as well.
The Three-inch Nail Wen Bushuo who was quiet all along suddenly spoke to Cone Nail in a muffled voice, “The grand master left behind this prohibition spell, perhaps it was because…” Following that he paused for a moment, and realized that nobody else was chiming in, he turned around and gave his brother the gossiper Buzuo an evil stare, “Are you afraid that she might kill me that’s why you dare not speak? Pfft!” As he was saying that, to everyone’s surprise, he spat a mouthful of thick phlegm onto Wen Buzuo’s clothes, “The people of Death Trademark, who else in the world can intimidate us!”
Wen Buzuo stared back towards his Three-inch Nail brother, a gush of hostility appeared slowly on his face. He exhaled a foul breath deep from his chest. He had not spoken for almost half a day. He was almost suffocating to death, his gaze alternated as he looked towards Cone Nail, he continued the Three-inch Nail’s words, “You were resurrected by that master of witchcraft named Lue Luo, the grand master realized that and cast his supernatural power to trap you within this stone forest!”
Cone Nail was akin to a little deer that was startled. She looked towards Wen Buzuo fearfully, her gaze was filled with dread, while her split vision that was floating towards the Three-inch Nail next to Wen Buzuo, was akin to a crocodile that was ice-cold, dull, and merciless!
For the first time in Wen Leyang’s life, he could see two types of exactly opposite gaze within a person’s eyes. He immediately used his body to block against Wen Bushuo, he stared at Cone Nail and spoke beyond all doubt, “If you were to harm him, no one amongst us is willing to survive alone!”
Wen Bushuo refused to hide behind Wen Leyang’s body. He took a stride forward as steady as a nail and stood side-by-side with Wen Leyang.
The well-behaved child Luo Wanggen was bewildered, he did not understand why everyone was still joyous a moment ago, yet in the blink of an eye they were prepared to fight…not fight, but being beaten, his mouth moved twice and made two unrelated sounds.
The expression of being wronged gathered in between Cone Nail’s brows, she shook her head, “All of you here brought along the key to enter the prohibition spell. If the good man Pickle Jar meant to seal me here, why did he leave behind the key for all of you to seek your doom here?”
Wen Buzuo’s endless pestering to the others was always bold and justified, “Naturally the grand master had his painstaking effort, but it was an accident for us to enter the prohibition spell. That was not the grand master’s legacy! Moreover, decades had passed since the grand master left behind the method to break the prohibition spell, before he went out to the sea and scooped you! The matter of the key had the order reversed, it didn’t make sense and it was unjustifiable.”
Cone Nail laughed for a moment, it was as if she had no way to refute Wen Buzuo’s explanation anymore. She looked towards Wen Leyang once again, “I am the Heaven’s cone nail, your grand master pinned me down. The Nine-headed Liu Xiang would surge out of the Black and White Island eventually, by then the people of the entire world would be plunged into misery and suffering, could it be that your grand master is the devil?” Regardless of whom Cone Nail’s gaze was looking towards, a strand of split vision still remained dull and icy-cold fixated on the three-inch nail Wen Bushuo’s face.
Wen Buzuo immediately interrupted, he revealed his maniacal smile, “Unreliable! The grand master is a generation of marvel, if he truly were to cause disaster to the world, we of the junior generation could only follow his footsteps then. It is not that difficult for us to believe in you…”
Wen Leyang nodded from the side, he seized the opportunity to chime in, “As long as you can tell us, why are you still here and refuse to go.” Wen Buzuo was initially procrastinating the story to keep the listeners in suspense, yet his topic of conversion was interrupted when he was caught off guard. He gave Wen Leyang an evil eye out of rage.
Whether it was a truth or a lie, everything revolved around one point, that was why Cone Nail was still staying in the stone forest. Cone Nail was preparing to speak, when Wen Buzuo suddenly halted her, “Wait! Call upon the giant pangolin first, we want to see him, and will only discuss when we see him!”
Cone Nail smiled gently, “There is no purpose for him to be here, he can never bring along all of you to escape together.” Even though her words were as such, but she still walked away in gentle footsteps, after a while, she returned to the crowd dragging along the giant pangolin’s tail.
A skinny maiden, dragging along a giant pangolin the size of dozens of meters as she walked leisurely, it was a splendid sight indeed.
The pangolin was all bald, there was not a piece of scale on it. It appeared just like a shell-less tortoise, even Wen Leyang felt bitterly disappointed on behalf of it. It was a Mountain-guarding Divine Beast after all, yet surprisingly two witches managed to strip its scales off twice. Not many people had such a favorable opportunity in the world.
Cone Nail sounded helpless, “All of you don’t understand at all, I have never lied even once since the beginning. Since all of you are here, you will certainly save me and bring me out.”
Wen Leyang grinded his teeth for a moment, but he did not speak. If it was the grand master who imprisoned her here, then this group of people could be tormented with their tendons pulled out and skin flayed, they would still never set her free.
Cone Nail continued, “I am the heaven’s cone nail, I was shattered by the demon cat and Guo Huan. Tuo Xie rescued me from the sea, Lue Luo resurrected me here, those are all true, I can’t leave here now, because…” As she was saying that, she stood on slight tiptoe, such that her heart-wrenching expression could float gently.
Wen Leyang was obviously standing almost ten meters away from her, but he suddenly felt that Cone Nail’s raised chin, was almost touching his face, he could not help but retreat back by a step.
“Lue Luo still left behind a witchcraft prohibition spell to pin me here, such that I can never leave this stone forest.”
Wen Xiaoyi was a well-rounded person, but she had a shortcoming, that was she fancied listening to stories. As long as someone was telling a story she would immediately immerse herself completely, her little face was filled with puzzlement, “Lue Luo saved you, and then he pinned you down afterwards? Why?”
Cone Nail laughed, “Because I can remember every single past event!”
Wen Xiaoyi swayed the big-muzzled weapon, she scolded in rage out of her anticipation, “Don’t you dare to make riddles and keep us from guessing!”
“After I was resurrected, if I don’t remember about the past, my heart then belonged to the God’s will. I will immediately rush back to the Black and White Island and suppress Xiang Liu. But now that I can still remember everything from the past, those boring old days, I really don’t want to endure anymore.”
Little Chi Maojiu laughed under extreme anger, “You are supposed to be the Heaven’s cone nail, your purpose in this life is to suppress the nine-headed monster…”
It was as if Cone Nail utterly refused to recall her days on the Black and White Island, she shook her head strenuously in a wide range of motion, “I have already persisted for a lifetime. I don’t want to follow the tracks of an overthrown chariot and recommit the same error!”
Wen Buzuo’s smile was a little savage, he laughed towards Wen Leyang, “This lass here, she has f*cking evolved!”
Cone Nail was puzzled, she had never heard of the word ‘evolve’ before, “Lue Luo’s method was amazing, but he could not master the correct measurement, such that I was resurrected but I won’t remember about my past life and would only concern about the God’s will within my heart. However, he was a meticulous thinker, he had already expected that once I remembered about my past events, I would refuse to return to the Black and White Island. So, he hid a prohibition spell within his witchcraft. Whether I could remember about the past or not, when I was resurrected I would still be trapped in this stone forest. When I am reincarnated, his descendants would come rushing over and used the spells and treasured weapons handed down by him, to erase my memories, only then to break the prohibition spell. By then I will only remember the God’s will and will only rush towards the Black and White Island.”
“While he, is sent by Lue Luo, the person who will erase my memory.” As she was saying that Cone Nail pointed towards the ground, to Leyang Shoujin that had already turned into ice shavings, “He brought along Lue Luo’s precious and almost hurt me. If it wasn’t for the giant pangolin that suddenly came boring out and distracted him, I will be heading towards the Black and White Island by now.”
While Cone Nail was talking, she also lifted the long silk on her body without a care in the world, revealing her half nectarine-like charming and delicate seductive curves, a fine small blood hole left behind from a long needle, that was stamped impressively onto her heart.
Wen Buzuo genuinely laughed in bitterness this time, he pondered for a moment before he asked in probing, “That red mark…is a universal key, even though it is not as useful as the original key, but can it unlock as well?”
Leyang Shoujin entered the prohibition spell almost in a flash, while Little Chi Maojiu needed to suffer for half a day.
Back then on the outside of the stone forest, the giant pangolin burrowed underground and entered, Leyang Shoujin then dashed into the forest following that. As his method that was passed down by Lue Luo capable of breaking the prohibition spell, he departed later but arrived first, he managed to locate Cone Nail before the pangolin. With the intention of erasing Cone Nail’s memory, once he had succeeded, there was only God’s will that would be left in Cone Nail’s heart. Lue Luo’s prohibition spell would be broken alongside. Yet, before the crucial moment, the giant pangolin Po Tu surged out with its mouth wide opened, Leyang Shoujin failed on the verge of success, he died with resentment.
The well-behaved child Luo Wanggen frowned once again, “Then, why did Leyang Shoujin try to kill me?”
Cone Nail chuckled, “He had since completely died, it was me who made him stand up, I wanted to see which one amongst you is the most incisive.” As she was saying she stretched out a hand and pointed towards Wen Leyang, “You, not bad.” Then, she stuck out a tiny tip of the tongue and licked her constantly moist lips.
Wen Leyang grinded his teeth. Thinking within his chilled heart, “Is she hungry?”
