Volume Ⅰ Chapter 14

Cheng Qian was new to the cultivation world, and Yan Zhengming was useless. Therefore, they exchanged doubtful glances, not knowing who Lord Beiming was.

Then, Li Yun who finally got out of his stupor spoke.

His voice was as low as the buzz of a mosquito. “Lord Beiming is not a person… According to legend, Beiming is a deep and boundlessly dark sea. So a master of demonic magic is often compared to ‘Beiming’. With time, it became a honorable title that every demonic cultivator fights for – Senior Zipeng, this charm was carved by my master – there’s still sawdust on it – not by some Lord Beiming.”

“What is a master of demonic magic?” Asked Cheng Qian quietly.

“The best among demonic cultivators… the archdevil?” Answered Yan Zhengming unsurely.

From what he has seen so far, Cheng Qian didn’t deem his master as an “archdevil”. But on second thought, he felt it might be true… from the perspective of a hen.

“Bullshit!” Exclaimed Zipeng Zhenren angrily.

Then she turned to Cheng Qian. Pointing at him, the hazy image in the air said rudely, “Boy, come here.”

Cheng Qian was just going to speak when Yan Zhengming stopped him.

Yan Zhengming shook his head at him, advanced, and said to Zipeng, “Senior, my junior brother is still new here. He hasn’t even memorized the sect rules yet. I’m afraid he may offend you. If you need anything, you come for me.”

Yan Zhengming might be tall, but his body was still the one of a thin and weak teenager. Observing him from behind, Cheng Qian pursed his lips, and for the first time, felt that first senior brother was not a good-for-nothing as he had imagined.

“I want him! None of your business!” Zipeng fulminated.

Yan Zhengming frowned. Cheng Qian whispered to him in a haste, “Senior Brother, it’s okay.”

With that, he walked forward against the strong ominous aura from the monster and heard Zipeng Zhenren order, “Pick that talisman up.”

Cheng Qian stopped and picked it up. The instant he touched the tablet, he felt the tyrannical power in it. There was seemingly a fierce beast jailed inside. But that beast probably recognized Cheng Qian, as it gradually tamed and the blaze faded. The tablet in his hand reverted to a peaceful state.

For a second, while Cheng Qian was holding the tablet, the fear of facing the bossy monster miraculously waned a lot and a thought popped into his head: “When can I have such dominating power that allows me to fly between the heaven and the earth, go anywhere as I wish, instead of jittering before an old monster?”

Contemplating the charm, Zipeng’s expression changed several times. After a while, her tone eased up a little. “You came looking for your junior brother? Let’s make a deal. I will give back the guy that strayed in here, if you bring me something I want. There’s a Celestial Platform in the Demon Valley. Monsters are not allowed to enter as it has restrictive spells, but humans can. The thing I want is there.”

Her claim didn’t hold water. The eight-hundred-year-old monster had apparently taken the three lads as little birds that were easily fooled.

But she failed, because these three were not birds, they were human beings. They thought the same, “Bah, nonsense.”

After winking and frowning at one another, Yan Zhengming made the final decision – get into the Demon Valley first.

Regarding how to deal with her when they came back… young master Yan didn’t think much of it. Considering the old hen’s situation, it was likely she would kick the bucket soon.

They bundled off. Yan Zhengming even plucked a feather from Zipeng Zhenren’s abode with his nimble fingers upon leaving.

Once outside the cave, they were surrounded by water again, it was very shallow this time though. They swam across to the shore quickly and arrived at their neighborhood – Demon Valley.

Landing on the ground, Yan Zhengming pinned that chicken feather on Li Yun’s chest and said, “In ancient times, there was a story where a fox assumed the majesty of the tiger; today we have an asshole assuming the majesty of an old hen. Look how fainthearted you are, you may as well wear that to boost your courage – think hard how to find that poor underbite, we have to get back before sunset!”

A twinge of fear went through Li Yun. He asked Yan Zhengming anxiously, “First Senior Brother, does the Demon Valley have any other taboos related to when it gets dark?”

“I mean I have to go back to have a bath, my feet are stuck to my shoes by the mud. You idiot!” Yan Zhengming snarled.

Cheng Qian: “…”

He could tell that first senior brother wasn’t joking. His malevolent face looked as if he was really going to chop his feet off – were it not because one could only have a sole pair of feet in his whole life, presumably he would have done do that without blinking an eye.

Li Yun knew a variety of little tricks. Under the pressure from his first senior brother, he pondered for a bit while nibbling his finger. Luckily, he didn’t let first senior brother down and came up with an idea.

He produced a small bottle from his bosom, which Cheng Qian found familiar.

“Isn’t this the feet-washing water of the toads?” Cheng Qian blurted.

Holding his masterpiece and broken heart, Li Yun gave him a complaining look. “Junior Brother, this is magic water, Toad Liquid.”

He dropped three drops on a small stone and turned it into a frisky toad. Whether because first senior brother was afraid of that or simply because it revolted him, his expression was even worse than when his sword was knocked off by Zipeng Zhenren. He stared at it with awful abhorrence.

Cheng Qian kind of saw how his senior brothers fell foul of each other.

“Go find Han Yuan.” Ordered Li Yun.

The toad croaked and hopped forward.

Li Yun signalled them to keep up and explained, “To tell you the truth, Toad Liquid is a mixture of toads’ urine and Five Deadly Venoms¹. Several drops are enough to turn a small object like a leaf, a piece of paper, or a stone, into a toad. Little junior brother played for a long time the other day, with one that was changed from a leaf. His body and clothes should have picked up the same smell, so it should be able to find him.”

Yan Zhengming freaked out. “Do you mean he hasn’t changed clothes, or you mean he hasn’t bathed since a few days ago? Is he still a fucking human?”

Hearing the formula of Toad Liquid, Cheng Qian felt sick. “Second Senior Brother, you don’t need to detail that.”

The toads piss had limited effect. That little toad hopped only for two or three Zhang before it turned back to a stone. Li Yun had to use the liquid again. He sighed, “This can only last for a short while as it’s not a real charm, but something that is only for fun. I only have this bottle left. I’m afraid we will have to be careful with its expenditure to find little junior brother.”

When Li Yun said that, he was looking at the bouncing toad with a tender and almost wistful expression. Cheng Qian shivered, he felt that second junior brother might not be an ordinary person.

The toad took a break after every jump. At this speed, it guided them through the increasingly luxuriant forest. But abruptly, the vivacious toad fell on his back with its limbs twitching.

Yan Zhengming picked up a three-Chi-long stick from the ground, covered his nose with his sleeve, and poked the toad from a distance. Then he wondered, “Did he finally die due to being ashamed of his very existence?”

With an appalled croak, the toad turned back to a stone. And even after Li Yun dripped “magic water” on it, it wouldn’t come alive.

Li Yun scratched his head in embarrassment. “Umm…”

“Hush!” A look of vigilance flashed across Yan Zhengming’s face.

He lurched to his feet, dropped the stick, and drew out his sword towards the dense forest beside him.

Bodeful rustlings sounded from the forest, followed by a roar which brought a human-headed but beast-bodied monstrous bear to the presence of the three.

That monster was much taller than two adults with a big bull head. You could see its iron teeth when it opened its mouth, and smell a filthy bloody odor effusing from it at a distance of several Li. A shake of its fist accompanied his appearance, which casted a big tree away.

Yan Zhengming pushed Li Yun and shouted, “What are you about here? Run!”

Li Yun froze, he couldn’t move a step. At this critical moment, the tablet in Cheng Qian’s bosom became warm. They simultaneously heard a man’s voice.

“Don’t move.” That man said very calmly.

“Who?” Yan Zhengming swung around.

“Don’t be scared, come over here.” That voice sounded again.

This time, they all heard it. The voice came from Cheng Qian’s direction, but they couldn’t see the speaker. Then something seemed to strike Cheng Qian as he lowered his sight on the tablet slowly.

“S… speaking charms?” Li Yun goggled.

The charm seemed to be amused by him. It said comfortably, with a softer tone, “It’s nothing but two or three small monsters. They won’t hurt you, trust me.”

However, he had hardly finished his words when that mountainous bear spirit dashed towards them. Wherever the “small monster” passed, it shook the ground. No wonder that timid toad played possum!

The three two-legged lads were absolutely not as fast as the big beast. It was already too late for them to run now. However, it never rains but pours. Another shrill roar sounded somewhere near.

The next scene they saw was that a colorful snake twined its tail around the bear’s waist, and the mountainous bear was tossed upward into the sky precipitously, then bashed onto the ground, creating a deep hole in the earth. Those ancient trees and flowers around all met with disaster, flattened and ravaged.

It happened so fast that first senior brother was even deprived of time to mind the mud splashed on his white clothes.

Two small monsters? No matter how rare a speaking talisman was, the three lads all felt that he just said it too easily because it was not his own business.

Indeed, the tablet wouldn’t die!

Later, the snake monster revealed its complete appearance. The upper part of its face was human’s, while the under part was covered with scales and was rattling abuzz. As it moved, an even stronger bloody wind gusted. It wriggled through the ravaged forest so fast that only ghostly images were left. Cheng Qian could only hear the hissing noise of its scales against the ground, but couldn’t see where its head was –

Until it bit into the bear’s neck. The steaming blood spouted three Zhang to the air, forming a blood fountain.

With mortal terror on its face which almost evolved to a human’s, the bear spirit came crashing down in a minute. Its huge body rolled and twitched desperately on the ground, moribund. While the snake coiled around it tightly and rolled about with it.

In death throes and mournful cries, the bear died.

Cheng Qian looked right into its leaden unfocused eyes, feeling like his chest was jammed with ice cubes.

The snake loosened its tie around the bear and retreated. Cheng Qian thought it was going to check whether its prey was seriously dead. But the snake suddenly bolted into the bear spirit’s body. Its head impaled the body’s abdomen like a sharp blade. Then it spurted out with a beast core in its mouth and extended its upper body which was one and a half Zhang long.

Li Yun vomited. He could hardly believe that he’d been a neighbor with such creatures for more than a year, and he had made several attempts to explore here in the first and fifteenth night.

Yan Zhengming felt the blood in his heart pumping frantically into every corner of his body, which set him in a daze. His feet seemed to lose strength. If his sword wasn’t supporting him, he would have collapsed on the dirt.

Facing the bloody ground, with his heart pounding, Cheng Qian fixed his eyes on the dead bear and the munching snake. Once again, an inexpressible feeling welled up in his heart.

If he had such absolute strength, would he also… have the power of life and death over other beings?

1. Five Deadly Venoms: namely, the venom of the centipede, the snake, the scorpion, the lizard, and the toad