The ugly youth Qin Zhui, who had just recently challenged Wen Leyang, was still sitting on the huge rock at the edge of the Gold-Consuming Lair like a well-behaved child, swinging his legs out of boredom. When he saw Wen Leyang coming back, he quickly jumped down jubilantly, “The pangolin did not come!”
Wen Leyang saw that he had not left and knew that he had kept his word. He smiled and pointed towards Po Tu behind him, “Found him!”
Qin Zhui was stunned. He knitted his brows, making himself uglier that it was quite scary, “So fair? So soft?”
Po Tu was angered. He gritted his teeth and glared at Wen Leyang, “You even left an ambush by the river?”
Wen Leyang laughed, “This is something important. No matter what, we had to find out Grand Master Chang Li’s whereabouts.”
Qin Zhui let out a relieved sigh as if released from some heavy burden. He said while smiling, “Good man. Thank goodness you guys found him. Even if he came over and crossed the river, I would not have recognized him. Not long ago there were two people that looked like him, only two tails short and not as soft.”
Po Tu was furious, “Grandfather only has one tail!”
Qin Zhui’s mathematics was not bad, “There were two who went by, each had one tail less.”
Po Tu was astounded, “If three persons went by?”
“Then that’ll be three tails less.”
Wen Leyang quickly stopped their bickering and asked Qin Zhui, “What kind of people went by?”
“A priest grabbing a short-statured man. They crushed the rock and passed by. I saw that the priest was in a hurry. Hence I did not have the nerve to stop him to challenge him.”
Wen Leyang was mind-blown. If Leyang Shoujin managed to barge into the stone forest, it would mean that the Painting Town people have subdued Eyang Sect’s San Tong. How come it ended up with San Tong grabbing Leyang Wen to cross the river?
The Painting Town was a disciple of Lue Luo. Although Wen Leyang was completely clueless now, there was no doubt that they, Lue Luo’s disciples and descendants of Tuo Xie such as himself, had many things in common. The short-statured Leyang Wen must be rescued.
Qin Zhui’s hideous face glowed when he saw Wen Leyang’s expression, “What? Should I not have let them pass? Do you want me to chase them for you?”
Wen Buzuo jumped in, “It’s of the utmost importance. Please do!”
As Qin Zhui laughed, he waved gallantly, “That’s easy. The four words, ‘Hide Force, Zero Force’ are enough for me to help you guys. Also, the priest looked good…his magical powers seemed strong.” As he finished, he landed a punch on the huge rock. The Gold-Consuming Lair howled accordingly. After a brief moment, the river was frozen. Qin Zhui did not waste any time. He skipped and leaped across the river.
Wen Leyang led his group and the two ants across the ice river. When they reached the other side, the ugly youth was already nowhere to be seen. Wen Leyang was astounded and looked at his group, “Is he going to rescue Leyang Wen? What happens after he rescued Leyang Wen? Shouldn’t he have left his number?” While he was saying this, he led the group and rushed down the mountain.
Wen Buzuo was following behind him, “Qin Zhui might not be dependable. Let us find the rabbit demons after we descend this mountain. Let the Great Mercy Temple handle this. We must retrieve Leyang Wen from Eyang Sect!”
Not long ago, in the Wen village, the Great Mercy Temple had strongly backed the Wen Bucao and fought the Weeping Buddha. The first seats of the Five Supreme Monasteries, little stutterer Hope Voice and the old rabbit demon were all exhausted. They needed at least a few months to recover. Only the little rabbit demon Shan Duan was unharmed. He went down the mountain to stalk the defeated Jilong Sect, investigating the “important personage hidden within the disciples of Wen Bucao, who is significant to the destiny of the right and evil path of the cultivation world!”
Judging by the time, Bu Le should have recovered and Shan Duan should have finished the task at hand.
When they descended the mountain, Wen Buzuo arranged for them to stay in a small town and went out alone to look for a chartered vehicle. Among their group, some had a tail, some brought along zombies, some brought restricted weapons, and some brought plus-sized ants, which carried potent poison. If they traveled by air, they would have all been brought into custody. If they traveled by train maybe half of them would be left behind. They had no choice but to find a car and travel in it.
The others tried to get some rest. They had been zipping through the big mountain for some ten days and spent two days inside the Gold-Consuming Lair. Xiaoyi was well past her limit. Chi Maojiu had greatly drained his own power when he broke the Prohibition Spell. Luo Wanggen had been injured when his zombie’s flying sword was destroyed. The giant pangolin was now a tail-bearing normal human being. They were practically remnants of a rabble army.
Wen Leyang charged his phone and recounted the whole story to his family. As he expected, the old demon rabbit Bu Le was still in Wen village. He immediately arranged for the little rabbit demon Shan Duan to rescue the hostage from Eyang Sect. Once Leyang Wen is rescued, the little rabbit demon was to make its way towards Shanghai and rendezvous with Wen Leyang’s group.
The little rabbit demon had already returned from stalking the Jilong Sect. However, they could not relay the whole incident clearly through the phone. Great Elder Wen only told Wen Leyang to take care and they would discuss in detail when he returns.
Luo Wanggen looked for a cyber café and Baidu-ed ‘year 221 before Christ.’ He got more than four hundred thousand related webpages. Chi Maojiu sat beside him curiously and asked, “Then? Search faster…”
Wen Leyang tried to give another small patch of Metal Poison Stream to the two Mo Ya, but they did not take it. It must be because they had not fully digested the patch in front of them. ‘You’ve Got Me’ was also busy these days. It did not spend much time on Wen Leyang’s body but mingled with the two Mo Ya.
Two days later, a motor rumbled. Wen Buzuo brought back an eleven-seater Iveco. He even had two drivers ready to drive in shifts on the road. The men could rest but the car would not stop. Food was ready and he even got Luo Wanggen a wireless notebook. He also got a plus-sized windbreaker, which only made Po Tu look like he was a normal person with a big butt when he wore it.
The Wen family had been around for two thousand years and they had accumulated innumerable wealth. Wen Buzuo had always been a competent man, with a bank card at his disposal, doing things like this were a piece of cake. Even so, three-Inch nail Wen Bushuo complained that he came back too late.
The Iveco zoomed towards Shanghai at full speed. Initially, Luo Wanggen was only Baidu-ing. He then downloaded QQ and started chatting. He even probingly complained, “Big brother Buzuo, next time you buy a notebook, please pick one with a built-in camera.”
Wen Buzuo nodded, “One camera is not enough, it must have at least three.”
The well-behaved child was stunned, “Why?”
Wen Buzuo replied with a straight face, “Because that face of yours is so big that it cannot fit into one single camera.”
Embarrassed, Luo Wanggen chuckled and said, “Then one… one is enough.”
Other than the occasional gas stops, where everyone will go down and stretch their bodies, they spent the whole of two days and two nights on the car seat. Xiaoyi was bored as she was leaning on Wen Leyang’s shoulder. She patted Po Tu who was sitting in front, “That few stories high sword inside the Gold-Consuming Lair. Is it a treasured weapon or is it useless?”
The driver could not suppress his laughter. He repeated, “Few stories high sword!”
Po Tu turned around and replied with a solemn face, “That sword could penetrate deep into the earth of the Gold-Consuming Lair, do you think that it is a treasured weapon or a useless thing? The ground there is harder than the most refined copper or iron. The materials used to forge a normal flying sword treasured weapon is not even as good as a rock from that place.”
Wen Leyang nodded and chimed in, “I figured that it was no ordinary object. At least it could come out unscathed under the Thunder Heart Sand, however…”
Po Tu knew what he was going to say. He shook his head and replied, “That sword cannot be used by anyone. It was mostly a tool to scare people. If that were not the case the Qilian Immortals would not have to wait for Exquisite Ice to grow in the Gold-Consuming Lair. If anyone could refine that flying sword into his own treasured weapon, then I reckon that their power would even be on par with Chang Li’s magic.”
The driver turned around, “Are you guys shooting a movie? Were you discussing the script? Can you let me make a cameo? I’ll give you a discount!”
Wen Buzuo smilingly reminded, “Eyes on the road, just keep driving.”
“The history of that sword, even I am not familiar with it. I only know that it was found by my seniors unexpectedly a few thousand years ago…” His voice barely faded when the driver turned around again, “You guys are artifact merchants? I will be blunt and give you some advice. Whatever our ancestors left behind for us, it is fine so long as it stays among our own people. But never, ever let it fall into the hands of foreigners…”
Wen Buzuo laughed, “You can relax, sir. We were discussing our script. You did not seem like the patriotic type.”
The driver was about forty years of age and the persistence of a man of the South-West was written all over his face. He said curtly, “I may be old, but I still have my warm blood…”
Po Tu continued, “Molten Metal Fire Bell must have been a treasured weapon refined by amazing senior sword saints. It was definitely not an ordinary object. The magic of Qilian ancestors may not be better than Chang Li’s, but it can still be considered extraordinary magic power…”
He had not finished his sentence, when a smiling Wen Buzuo interrupted him, “Stop bragging. That dwarf Taoist priest was no better than Wen Leyang.” Wen Leyang had fought with the dwarf Taoist priest. In terms of magic powers, the Qilian Immortals who once domineered the earth two thousand years ago was no better than the Five Blessings. The dwarf Taoist priest was even far below the former supreme leader of the Jilong Sect Zi Que.
Xiaoyi did not like the sound of it, “What do you mean no better than Wen Leyang!”
Po Tu shook his head and defended the dwarf Taoist priest, “The Qilian Immortals were trained in Fire Element magic, but inside the Gold-Consuming Lair, the sharpness and stubbornness of the Metal Element are everywhere. They had to put in twice the effort for half the results during training, which was very taxing. Naturally, that meant that every generation of Qilian disciples was no better than the former generation!” He then seemed unwilling to continue on this subject and went back to the original conversation, “The Molten Metal Fire Bell is also a Fire Element treasured weapon. It was of the same origin with our magic. Logically speaking, even the wildest and most intractable treasured weapons would have long been subdued after all these years.”
Xiaoyi was growing impatient as she listened on. She urged smilingly, “Quit stretching the story and leave us hanging!”
Po Tu smiled as well, “I am not leaving you hanging. I am just worried that I am not clear enough. The former Qilian ancestors have poured in a lot of effort into this sword. But no matter what magic they used or how much primordial spirit they inserted, the most they could do was to conjure it up at will to scare others. They never did manage to bring out its power. However, there was clearly no trace of its former owner’s primordial spirit left inside Molten Metal Fire Bell.”
At this moment a low, muffled wondering voice suddenly came from Wen Leyang’s chest, “This is strange indeed. Are you sure that there was no primordial spirit left by the previous owner in that huge sword?”
Wen Leyang was startled and came to his senses after a while. He took out the jade knife, which was wrapped in green silk, “You’re awake?”
Guo Huan grunted, “I won’t stay awake for long. I’ll have to sleep again soon. This cycle will repeat itself…” He did not want to banter with Wen Leyang and urged, “Tell me! Tell me! Why…” He did not finish his sentence and there was no more sound.
Wen Leyang called out twice and shook the jade knife. He smiled drily, re-wrapped the jade knife and returned it to his chest.
