Nineteen stayed on the Nine Peaks Mountain for a few years. During the arduous battle on Mount Hua four years ago, when Wen Leyang, Chang Li, Zhui Zi and the rest were almost certainly dying, Tuo Xie still did not show up all along. It was only then she could confirm that Tuo Xie’s whereabouts were unknown.
Chi Maojiu was starting to look absentmindedly into her white robe again. Nineteen finally could not refrain herself anymore. She stretched out her hand and waved her hand before Chi Maojiu’s eyes, “What’s wrong with my clothes? Is it dirty somewhere?” As she spoke, she lowered her head and checked for any dirty spots on her white robe.
Chi Maojiu gave out a ‘heh’, “This attire of yours looks very familiar! When I was on Mount Hua, that mysterious white-robed man was you right?”
Nineteen pouted her lips, her face was filled with dissatisfaction, “You have only recognized me now? I thought you would’ve already discovered my identity! I saved all of you twice at the time!”
Nineteen then parted her spring onion-like fingers. She counted with them one by one, accompanied by a sense of pride, “The first time was when the demon immortals and the heavily-moustached man were engaged in a fierce battle. The tremendous force generated from the rhythm of their final strike because I launched my supernatural power in secret. I saved the few people with poor cultivation bases and those who were closest to the Wen family.”
Chi Maojiu stretched out his finger and pointed to his nose, “The people you saved during the first round, included me.”
“The people that I saved during the second round, included you too!” Nineteen giggled, “When Wen Leyang and the demon immortals were chased into the Desert Rebel Mountain by the heavily-moustached man formed from the Sword’s Resolve, the few descendants of the heaven’s cone nails sects’ disciples were about to launch a countercharge. I descended the mountain first to disguise my appearance, then, I came back to assume command of the scene. Otherwise the big and small demon rabbit, Kunlun Sect’s Liu Zheng, would all die on the spot.”
Nineteen seemed to be a little tired. She moved her shoulders as she continued, “I was already the new generation of New Moon at the time. It was as easy as lifting a finger for me to save you, but this friendly sentiment of mine is still not considered small. Even though we are not on the same path, the domineering influences that gathered around the Nine Peaks Mountain are truly not small, leaving behind some favors. If there were truly some misunderstanding in the future, then my act is considered leaving behind some leeway for us.”
At this point, Nineteen’s smile gradually faded, “However… I did not expect all of you to be here. There’s really nothing that I can do this time.”
Chi Maojiu frowned, “How are we not on the same path? If you’re going to deal with Kong Nuer too, why don’t you join hands with us?”
Nineteen on the other hand, shook her head, “You’re wrong. It is you who want to deal with Kong Nuer. We are only hoping to resurrect our first ancestor! If we were to fail at locating Tuo Xie, the only person capable of resurrecting the first ancestor under the heaven, can only be one person!”
Wen Leyang heaved a sigh then spoke, “Kong Nuer!”
Nineteen nodded in slight helplessness, “That is correct. Unless we can confirm that we have found a method to resurrect the first ancestor, Kong Nuer is absolutely not allowed to die. That is why I can’t allow all of you to leave.”
Chi Maojiu was still defiant, “Even if you were to fail to locate the grand master’s whereabouts, under the vast advancement of my Art of Witchcraft, perhaps I can be of help to you.”
Nineteen did not wait for him to finish his sentence before she feigned laughter, “There is only one Kong Nuer, and no more of him when he’s dead. Yet after you’re dead, there will still be new great witches appearing amongst Miao Bujiao’s disciples, who have inherited the three Arts that fused into one continuously… We still have other opportunities in the future. If the choice is on you, which one will you pick?”
Chi Maojiu was staring in bewilderment from the choke.
Wen Leyang waved his hand indifferently, “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Please continue to tell us about what happened afterwards.”
In the beginning, the descendants of moon cone nails tried every possible way to erase the spiritual spell on their bodies in order to allow them to run errands conveniently without being controlled by Kong Nuer. In the end, they finally understood that in order to resurrect the first ancestor, they could only count on Tuo Xie’s return or Kong Nuer’s help.
Four years ago, Kong Nuer’s track reappeared. In Nineteen’s perception, this was also considered an opportunity to resurrect the first ancestor. It was only then she plucked off half a stem of Centipede Grass as an initiative to show her friendliness. As for the disappearance of the spiritual spell, they had their own set of excuses. With the Centipede Grass, and also four top master cultivators’ actual power, Kong Nuer’s inferiors accepted them once again with joy.
Wen Leyang coughed, “All of you wouldn’t mind the trouble?”
Nineteen was more tormented than he was, “This was a matter of not being left with a choice, but to do so, our ancestors thought that they could accomplish the mission by only depending on our strength initially, yet they discovered that it was impossible afterwards. It was either Tuo Xie, or Kong Nuer. We would still need to rely on one side anyhow.”
After Nineteen was done narrating the past events of the descendants of moon cone nail, she directed the topic of conversation back to the present.
That five-element demon was supposed to be sound asleep itself, but he was suddenly awakened by the immortal master teacher’s oracle. It was only then he came out from the mountain and led a group of descendants of the heaven’s cone nails, as he started to make preparations for the place of the outer fringe.
This demon seemed to be a little innocent himself. He could only remember that he was the immortal master teacher’s disciple, while the conspiracy this time was related to the immortal master teacher’s life and death. He must not be careless in handling this matter regardless.
In the past four years, the demon led a large group of master cultivators. They laid down a total of three magic formations.
The first magic formation was launched by the three people of Shudou, Sir Rust and Hot Immortal Aunt in the place of the outer fringe. It connected this stretch of sky and land to Shiwan Mountain soundlessly.
The second magic formation was managed by the five-element demon. He laid down the position of the place of the outer fringe according to the calculation done earlier. In order to generate huge earthquakes and seal the old path, they opened the new path to the central region of Shiwan Mountain.
It was only then Wen Leyang had understood, that the final huge earthquake in the place of the outer fringe, was not implicated by Shiwan Mountain, but was caused by Kong Nuer’s magic formation.
The third magic formation was already completed, but it was still not launched. Nineteen too, did not understand the specific purpose of the magic formation, but only knew that it could only be launched by the combined effort of the four people – Hot Immortal Aunt, Shudou, Sir Rust and the five-element demon.
After the huge earthquake, the five-element demon ordered the descendants of the heaven’s cone nail to guard the outside of the exit and to reinforce the people on the inside at any time. In the meantime, he would entere Shiwan Mountain to destroy the spiritual rocks that were used to suppress the evil caves, and release the countless monsters from the huge mountain. The five-element demon spent more than a month and had only returned when the monsters in Shiwan Mountain were completely agitated and were lured by the demon’s magic spell to here.
In the end, Kong Nuer’s doing was meant to feed the countless cultivators in the place of the outer fringe to the monsters. The specific reason for doing so was that it feared that no one else apart from Kong Nuer himself, knew.
Nineteen did not interfere with others temporarily; she understood that if Kong Nuer were to live, she must complete his design. That was why the descendants of the moon cone nail revealed themselves. They entered the place of the outer fringe to save Hot Immortal Aunt and the rest of the two people.
Nineteen was done explaining everything she could. She blinked her slightly-moistened eyes and attempted to swallow her tears, yet she accidentally outsmarted herself. The tears rolled down her eyes and left crystal-clear tracks on her face. She opened her arms wide and bent over as she hugged Wen Leyang, “Qin Zhui and I treated you as our friend. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. We shall part ways here and now. If all of you were to survive this… forget it, how is it possible for all of you to survive this?” At this point, Nineteen suddenly bawled and cried out loud. She stood up and turned around as she left!
With the moonlight protecting her body, a streak of shimmering arc flashed across the sky and Nineteen disappeared from the exit of the place of the outer fringe there and then.
The large group of cultivators were staring at her with hostility, yet none of them managed to do anything in time. It was until after she had already vanished, did they scream out in surprise together. At the same time, the sound of a roar that roused the heavens surged skywards suddenly. A dozen strange, three-eyed elephants with green scales covering their legs, dashed wildly into the place of the outer fringe from the entrance!
Soon after, the sound of strange cries and long howls erupted in the blink of an eye. It was unknown how many monsters there were; they dashed in from the outside in a large number!
The group of cultivators cursed and yelled in rage. Some were screaming in panic, and waved their treasured weapons as they pounded towards the monsters messily, to seal the exit.
Wen Leyang’s body finally felt limp. He leaned on Chi Maojiu as he slumped onto the ground and exhaled a breath strenuously, “She has left! Take it out quick!”
Chi Maojiu was still smiling proudly initially, but upon hearing Wen Leyang’s words, he was suddenly stunned, “How… how did you know?”
Wen Leyang stirred his wounds as he slumped onto the ground. His entire body was being pulled to a point of agony. The muscles of his face squeezed into a ball, but his voice still sounded rather relaxed, “If the number one witch from Miao stockade village were to retain no other aims, how could he be so foolish to engage the First and Last Quarter Moon in a close quarter fight?”
Chi Maojiu burst out laughing, “Whether we live or die, will depend on what is contained here!” He turned his hand over and brandished a small embroidered purse. There was a wheel of last quarter moon embroidered on the purse. He did not hesitate at getting severely injured to engage the enemies at close quarter fight, because he wanted to… steal something!
When Chi Maojiu was fighting desperately with First and Last Quarter Moon, the wild vines were waving around messily in the sky. The strange bugs were tossing and turning; there was not an ounce of lethality, yet the fine vine capable of hiding from cultivators’ telegnosis ability pulled out this embroidered purse soundlessly. The other half of the Centipede Grass was seized away by the descendants of heaven’s cone nails. If this species of immortal grass was capable of retaining a person’s life, they would certainly bring it along with them. In the end, Chi Maojiu was risking his life in order to retrieve this embroidered purse!
As expected, three pieces of frosty green leaves were lying on the inside of the embroidered purse; its medicinal effect was sealed by a dash of silver-colored moonlight.
Under the heaven, there was no one who lacked the ability of killing Last Quarter Moon, yet the person who was capable of causing him to lose his embroidered purse without his realization was feared to be only Chi Maojiu.
Chi Maojiu did not waste time talking nonsense as he stretched out his hands to retrieve a piece of leaf, which he stuffed into Wen Leyang’s mouth.
Wen Leyang could only feel as a gush of coldness spread out in his mouth. Soon after, he felt boundless dizziness, and before he could manage to speak, he had already fainted and went into slumber…
Chi Maojiu exhaled a long breath. Before he could manage to stand up, Tu Mi had already jumped and landed by his side. She pointed to Wen Leyang and asked, “How long does it take before he wakes up?”
Chi Maojiu shook his head, “It will not take too long – a few days, at most. I can’t tell the exact period of time.”
The cultivators in the place of the outer fringe had already turned into a great confused mess. They were shouting loudly, as they guided their treasured weapons to blast the monsters that were squeezing into the place of the outer fringe messily.
The dwarf Taoist priest too walked in quick strides to the front of Chi Maojiu. He shook his head and there was no way to tell who he was looking at, “It’s not alright to blast away like this!”
The monsters came in large numbers, but the entrance to the place of the outer fringe was limited. In reality, the position where the cultivators were standing could allow them to guard with ease but it was difficult to attack. They occupied the topographical advantage, yet thousands of cultivators were attacking on their own in a disarray. They waved their treasured weapons around together, and thousands of supernatural powers converged. But alas, they only managed to kill one monster.
Soon after, many people realized that their supernatural powers were all in vain, so they stopped attacking in unison. Those supernatural powers that sealed the entrance almost completely vanished in the blink of an eye, and the monster almost dashed into the place once again…
The dwarf Taoist priest continued, “With ten percent of our manpower now, we can firmly guard the entrance for half an hour!”
There were a total of over twenty thousand cultivators who were gathered near the entrance now. A majority of them, albeit possessing panic expressions, had not run away. The depth of the place of outer fringe had already been shaken into a stretch of ruins. Anyone could understand in his heart that once the monsters broke through the exit, it would just be a stretch of boundless plain. There was no other tenable position of defense.
There was not a sense of anxiousness that could be seen in Tu Mi’s expression. She spoke directly, “Divide the people into ten groups, send them forward and repeat in cycles, but if you want these people to listen to you, then you will need to use the name of Tuo Xie’s descendants.”
Yet the dwarf Taoist priest shook his head, “Divide the people in five groups. Every group is divided into two teams – one is in charge of watching out for the enemy, while the other is in charge of flanking them.”
Tu Mi was a woman of great force. She was skilled in military strategies, and would only need a moment’s ponder, before she understood the dwarf Taoist priest’s intention.
The monsters’ actual power was uneven. Judging by the situation now, ten percent of manpower was capable of guarding the entrance for one hour, yet they could not tell at which point, there would be a large group of strong and tyrannical monsters charging forward. So, using ten percent of cultivators to rotate at this point, was not a very secure move.
Tu Mi chuckled as she nodded to the dwarf Taoist priest, “Below the Cloud Heavenly Sect, there are seven hundred cultivators who are called to the old immortal’s order.”
The dwarf Taoist priest returned the salutation to Chi Maojiu, “Great Master Tu’s saying had truly shamed the Taoist priest to death…”
Chi Maojiu hastily jumped aside. He laughed as he spoke, “We are helping each other in times of trouble. There is no need for too much courtesy amongst us. Will the Qilian Immortal senior please be in charge of the matter of guarding and killing the monsters? I will be in charge of buying us some time!”
Upon saying that, Chi Maojiu inhaled a deep breath. He suddenly exhaled out loud and shouted to everyone in his vicinity, “Four days ago, the three families of Wen, Miao, Luo summoned their master cultivators, along with a group of demon immortals they entered Shiwan Mountain. It will not take long before they can break the thief’s magic formation and return the serenity back to the place of the outer fringe!”
The moment Chi Maojiu spoke, he first sketched out the idea of ‘reinforcement was about to arrive’ to the crowd.
A majority of the cultivators revealed a surprised expression. Under the continuous violent battles earlier, a few top sword immortals were shouting out the name of ‘Wen Leyang’. The cultivators in the entire world were aware that Wen Leyang was the most famous disciple in Shudao. The three families of Wen, Miao, Luo would never neglect this matter, so upon hearing Chi Maojiu’s words, they were feeling more steady in their hearts.
Chi Maojiu continued, “We can only hope that everyone will help each other in times of trouble. As long as we can pull through the next few days, the world will be at peace!”
Before his voice died away, the sound of a responding promise echoed in all directions from the crowd, “There is no need for the immortal aunt to waste her words; we will abide by the assignment!”
Tu Mi smiled. The people who broke out in an uproar amongst the crowd were all her sect’s disciples, but the reputation of Tuo Xie’s descendants grew vastly over the past few years. Both Chi Maojiu and Wen Leyang made a grand display of supernatural powers even earlier. They continuously injured the top sword immortals severely before everyone else, and had already become the crowd’s life saver by now. The sound of their response grew more and more, and turned into the loud sound of agreement, capable of toppling the mountains and overturning the seas!
Chi Maojiu burst out laughing, “Everyone knows their own ability best. My ability is that I am alright at acting as a reinforcement soldier, but if I were to become the general… regardless of anything, the monsters outside would even laugh aloud at me in their dreams.”
Many of the cultivators were laughing, but even more were talking all at once, “There is no need for the immortal aunt to modestly decline…”
Chi Maojiu shook his head in all apparent seriousness, “Not too long ago, Tuo Xie’s disciple said that everyone is to follow the lead of Qilian Immortal Sect. Not in the sense of wild talks and lies, but of the magic formation’s military strategies, Tuo Xie’s disciple greatly admires the Qilian Immortal senior!” He then turned around and bent over as he saluted the dwarf Taoist priest, “Will the immortal senior please take the lead of guarding the entrance?”
The cultivators were mostly stunned. Chi Maojiu did not wait for the others to respond. He shouted in a sonorous voice, “In a life and death occasion, we will still need to request for everyone who shares the same path to pull together and work hard as a team! I shall buy us some time. Those that believe in Tuo Xie’s descendant are to abide by the immortal senior’s order. When we are done killing the thief and defeating the monsters, we shall get good and drunk on the Seven Maidens Mountain!”
Upon saying that, Chi Maojiu looked up to the sky and bellowed loudly, “Fellow divine immortals, please retract your supernatural powers and treasured weapons!” Before his voice died away, fiery falcons that covered the sky appeared once again. At the sound of their sharp cries, he summoned the thundering witch’s song! The soil around the entrance of the place of the outer fringe had stalks of small grasses suddenly breaking out from it. In a flash, a stretch of a green-colored forest raised from the ground and was shimmering enchantingly. Every single one of the monsters that was dashing from the outside sank into the forest, and gave out a sorrowful and painful howl!
Within the sound of his loud laughter, Chi Maojiu kicked and stepped on his shoes. He walked into the forest of witch’s kill that was condensed out of his entire witchcraft power.
The sound of a ghost’s wail and wolf’s howl urged the forest into shaking continuously. No one could tell how the situation inside the forest was. What they could see was puffs upon puffs of thick and foul-smelling fresh blood spurting out continuously towards the sky!
Chi Maojiu depended on his own power to block the entrance of the place of the outer fringe in order to buy the dwarf Taoist priest some time! Every one of the cultivators felt aroused and excited. Moreover, the dwarf Taoist priest was not from the place of the outer fringe. He was utterly not biased. In addition to the Word Sect’s full force support, none of the cultivators at the scene truly left.
The dwarf Taoist priest did not have the time to equalize the actual power. So he issued an order to instruct all cultivators to stop moving. Following that, he was akin to cutting through a tofu. He divided the pitch-black twenty thousand people that stretched as far as the eyes could see, into five groups of ten teams…
After a while, the first group made up of a total of two thousand cultivators shouted in unison as they waved their treasured weapons to take the place of Chi Maojiu. Chi Maojiu was already almost exhausted; he lay in Tu Mi’s arms as he gave a forced laugh, “I’m going to sleep for a few days too!” His witchcraft power was almost exhausted. He was severely injured too. Rather than watching helplessly as the cultivators fought with the monsters, he might as well eat a piece of leaf to heal his injuries.
Tu Mi giggled, “Off you go to heal your injuries; I shall protect you!”
Chi Maojiu did not speak anymore. He procured a piece of Centipede Grass leaf and placed it into his mouth…
The dwarf Taoist priest was an experienced and orthodox sect leader; he had a good knowledge of all sorts of Taoist magic. Twenty thousand cultivators, divided into five groups and ten teams, took turns and repeated the cycle with each other. Under his orders, they served with their cultivation base and supernatural power according to the level of their treasured weapons, talisman, sword formation, magic spell and et cetera. Their rhythm became smoother and smoother. Soon, they had already become more relaxed.
The life vitality of the cultivators was limited. Even if they were to advance and retreat to a certain degree, as well as conserve their energy, sooner or later, their life vitality would be exhausted too.
While the monsters in Shiwan Mountain were ceaseless and boundless, there was no end to killing them. They were akin to tempestuous waves, that were charging continuously without a moment’s stop at the place of the outer fringe. The Taoist priest and Tu Mi understood that in the state of hopelessness without reinforcement, it was a matter of sooner or later, before the monsters would come dashing in…
