Chapter 133
Chapter 133: Hanba the Drought Deity
Wen Leyang tried to talk to Fifth Brother on a few attempts. Nevertheless, Fifth Brother made no effort to acknowledge him. Fifth Brother was engrossed in the act of rearranging the gold bars in the backpack. Judging by his movement, he was like a stingy miser. However, judging by his expression, he was like an erudite person who considered money as worthless as dirt.
Fortunately, it did not take a long time before Xiao Liu found a stepladder from the outside.
Fifth Brother no longer tried to jump but he carried the backpack on his back and crawled up the ladder with agility. His movements were swift and agile but he appeared to be awkward, missing the sleekness of an ordinary person.
What was even more surprising to Wen Leyang and the rest was that the shop downstairs was only a few square meters big, the upstairs was bright and spacious. It was Xiao Liu’s first time upstairs as well. He was stunned for a moment before he laughed, “Fifth Brother bought all the second floor of the neighboring shop lots?”
Fifth Brother nodded, “I like my room bright and spacious when I’m working.” As he was saying that, he guided Wen Leyang and the rest to pass through a brightly lit workshop, before entering a spacious exhibition hall. On the three racks that were leaning against the wall, dozens of porcelain figurines with different forms and patterns were displayed. All the figurines were much bigger than the toys downstairs. The smallest figurine here was at least half a foot tall.
Wen Leyang did not speak, he led Wen Xiaoyi as he browsed attentively before the rack. At first glance, the porcelain figurines on the second floor were not very different from the products downstairs. Other than the size, they were all equally delicate and lively. Whether it was the human figurines or animals, their expressions were all vivid, maintaining in all kinds of different postures. However, upon staying in this room for a long while, one would feel uneasy out of nowhere. The porcelain figures did not budge at all, but they were akin to being alive secretly and were staring towards the people in the room without blinking. It was as if there was a life that was frozen for thousands of years wrapped underneath every porcelain skin. Some were smiling, some were crying, some were sad, while some were joyous.
A gush of unspeakable ghastly energy started spreading soundlessly.
Wen Leyang conveniently picked up the porcelain figurine of a lady dressed in palace attire. The lady’s thick and beautiful hair was tied high, her appearance was graceful yet charming. The corners of her eyes and brows were filled with the thoughts of love only an experienced person could read, her sleeves and the red-colored silk sash on her waist seemed to be swaying in the wind, so thin and delicate it was as if a wind would blow it away. Wen Leyang held this porcelain figurine in his hands, there was only one sensation: seduction. His entire body felt hot and dry.
The skin on Wen Leyang’s body opened and closed sequentially. The spring water-like Poison of Life and Death started circulated about and rapidly extinguished the agitation in his heart. Wen Leyang was unaware that, just that gush of heat earlier was enough to muddle an ordinary cultivator’s spirit primordial energy and destroyed his power. However, since he refined in the method of a saint’s body, there was only strong poison in his body, there was utterly no trace of spiritual vitality and life vitality within him. That was why he was unharmed.
After he examined it for a long while, Wen Leyang finally understood why was this sculpture capable of making him felt such a sensation. Within the raised almond eyes of the palace-attired lady, there was half a pair of hidden eyes, concealed underneath her pitch-black eyes that were glimmering with a gorgeous yet seductive glow. One could not help but to feel trapped within her gaze the longer one looked into her eyes.
The jade knife’s scoff was akin to a nail that firmly pinned into Wen Leyang’s ears, “That is a demon too. The Nine-tailed Vixen. She cultivated in the Art of Seduction to the highest extent such that she acquired the demon eye. Let alone human, even an immortal could not resist her seductive eyes. This vixen here had a rather profound cultivation base but she had only managed to cultivate in half pairs of demon eyes. She had not cultivated into mastery yet.”
It was only a porcelain figurine that almost made Wen Leyang’s state of mind became distracted. One could only imagine, when this vixen was rampaging through the entire world back in those days, a faint smile was enough for her to kill many people.
Wen Leyang placed the porcelain carving in his hands to the far end, while simultaneously he let go of Wen Xiaoyi’s hand gently. She comprehended. She pretended to be exhausted as she held the guitar bag containing the big-muzzled weapon horizontally across her elbows. Her right hand hooked into the trigger, while the muzzle resting on her left arm appeared to be unintentionally aiming towards Fifth Brother that was standing nearby.
Every single one of the carved statues on the table appeared exactly the same as ordinary people or animals at first glance. However, once examined attentively, one could certainly detect something peculiar about them.
The porcelain monkey that was scratching itself, one would find two little pointy ears hidden underneath its ears. It was like the excess porcelain that was stuck to the statue left behind accidentally during the carving process, but under close examination, the pinna, the helix of the ears was all there; another wealthy-looking koi fish, no matter how hard one examined, one could not locate the problem. Wen Leyang was suddenly enlightened after a long while, its scales were not arranged in the way such that the lower scale overlapped onto the upper scale, but its order was reversed…
Guo Huan’s voice had already turned solemn, “Six-eared demon macaque, Nine-eared saint macaque; Inverted-scale koi, twisted flood dragon, hehe, young fellow, don’t you be afraid of hearing about all these. There is nothing in this house that is not a great demon that has cultivated into human or saint. Some of them even shared meals and drinks with me a few thousand years ago! It seems to me, nine out of ten of those great demons of that is famous in the world are all displayed here. All of you be careful. This is the right place!”
Other than the people who killed demons and extracted their vitality, who else was capable of making so many great demons’ porcelain statues?
The boss, Fifth Brother, suddenly leaped forward by a huge step, he stood right in front of Wen Leyang where their eyes met, his mouth widened into a smile, “Are you satisfied with the products here?”
Wen Leyang was startled, he nodded as he laughed, “You made all of these? They look alive.”
Fifth Brother continued to laugh rigidly. His gaze seemed to be slightly distracted, he appeared lifeless, he ignored Wen Leyang’s first half of the sentence, “They are alive originally, they can think but cannot move now.” As he was saying that, he stretched out his hand and pointed towards the jade knife in front of Wen Leyang’s chest, “Just like it.”
Wen Leyang was greatly startled. Guo Huan that was within the jade knife, the old demon rabbit Bu Le could not even see through despite he was using the Buddhism supernatural power of insight, let alone the master cultivators within Five Blessings. He totally did not expect that he would fail to hide this secret from Fifth Brother.
Fifth Brother continued to laugh, “I don’t understand, all of you are a few ordinary people, why bother to get involved in this matter?” As he was saying that he stretched out a hand and grabbed towards Wen Leyang as fast as lightning.
Wen Leyang focused his entire attention to guard against the enemy all along. However the opposing party’s movements were so swift it was unbelievable, hastily he had no time to withstand the attack, his upper body flipped backwards vigorously, while simultaneously he raised his legs suddenly and stomped onto Fifth Brother’s lower jaw. To his surprise, his neck felt slightly tightened, at the soft sound of a ‘pop’, the jade knife in front of his chest was snatched away by the opposing party.
After Fifth Brother succeeded, he rapidly backed away, he swayed the jade knife in his hands towards Wen Leyang. As he continued to laugh rigidly and said, “Could it be that his spell is seducing you?” He had only finished his sentence when he suddenly screamed out once in surprise, his body leaped high up into the air! A gush of thick yet agile undercurrent rolled underneath his feet soundlessly, following him when he leaped high. The Poison of Utmost Metal Stream’s undercurrent was akin to a hunting serpent that winded upwards and dashed towards Fifth Brother as fast as lightning!
The moment he was exhausting all his strength to dodge the attack of the Poison of Utmost Metal Stream’s undercurrent, Wen Leyang was akin to the Fifth Brother’s shadow. His iron clamp-like hands firmly grabbed onto Fifth Brother’s hand that was holding the jade knife, his back was facing the opposing party as he curled into a ball and shrunk into the enemy’s cradle. The Faulty Punch erupted abruptly, akin to a furious storm that attacked the opposing party madly! While the opposing party was merciless as well. Fifth Brother raised his hand and slammed hard onto Wen Leyang’s back.
Wen Leyang felt as if a lofty mountain crashed onto his back. The Poison of Life and Death that was embodied on his back was like the tossing waves that slammed into the cliff. It was shattered and pulverized in a short while. He dove head first onto the hard floor. However, he managed to snatch back the jade knife in the end. He struggled in an attempt to stand up, as a gush of gloomy deathly energy spread recklessly within his body. The Poison of Life and Death that was dispersed throughout his body once again converged and circulated vigorously, sealing the enemy’s power desperately and was strenuously pushing the deathly energy out of his body!
Wen Xiaoyi clenched her teeth but she dared not shoot the weapon. No matter how spacious was the house, once the Thunder Heart Sand was fired, it was estimated that no one in the house would survive, Wen Leyang gritted his teeth as he tossed the jade knife to Wen Xiaoyi, his entire body was shaking as he launched the Faulty Punch and pounced on Fifth Brother once again. The Poison of Utmost Metal Stream underneath his feet was thick and incisive. It followed his movement as it attacked towards the enemy together.
The Poison of Utmost Metal Stream surrounded Fifth Brother and he started sneering peculiarly in a soft tone. He crossed his hands as he braced for Wen Leyang. His Art of Punch appeared to be exceedingly uncoordinated as if countless invisible ropes were pulling at him in the dark. His joints were not moving at all. His entire body’s movements were set in motion from the vibration of his muscles. There was utterly not a sign that was detected in between each of his movement.
Meanwhile, a layer of white-colored long hair about an inch long spread out from underneath his feet and immediately entangled with Wen Leyang’s Poison of Utmost Metal Stream into a ball!
Two human shadows amongst the sea of Poison of Utmost Metal Stream’s undercurrent and the indestructible white hair rapidly moved about like ghosts. The banging sound of beatings connected into a stretch, occasionally accompanied by Wen Leyang’s painful shouts.
Wen Leyang’s Poison of Life and Death erupted vigorously. However, when it hit the body of the enemy, it was akin to the clay oxen that went into the sea – never to return. At best, the enemy only swayed his body. While when the opposing party’s fist punched onto his body, Wen Leyang felt as if he was bracing a meteor shower. Sparks flew around before his eyes. Even he could not tell how long he could still withstand the attacks.
When Wen Leyang first pounced towards the enemy, Little Chi Maojiu summoned his golden-colored vital fire.
The vital fire burned, the sunlight that was shining in every corner of the entire house was immediately swallowed in whole by the glow of the fire. The spacious exhibition hall dimmed rapidly.
Under the golden-colored flames’ reflection, a humongous shadow projected from underneath Little Chi Maojiu’s feet. Little Chi Maojiu hummed an odd tune in his mouth. After a moment, the entire hall started echoing in a tune that was so disturbing it made one feel nauseated. Every syllable was twisted and crushed by the wall, and bounced back to the depth of one’s eardrums.
Little Chi Moajiu’s limbs were convulsing as he danced around akin to having epilepsy. The shadow underneath his feet too twisted about in excitement, after a moment, Little Chi Maojiu suddenly bit his tip of tongue abruptly and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood into his vital fire. The enchanting golden-colored flame was akin to a greedy poisonous serpent after it was full from sucking fresh blood. It immediately plunged forward vigorously. The shadow on the ground also expanded. Just as the flame surged to its highest peak, Little Chi Maojiu suddenly bent down and stretched out his hand to slash once. The shadow was akin an evil spirit that struggled free from the shackles, leaping out from underneath his feet, pouncing towards the battleground of Wen Leyang and Fifth Brother as fast as lightning.
On the other hand, Luo Wanggen stood next to Xiaoyi with a dazed expression, his face was filled with deep fear. He refused to budge as he looked towards Fifth Brother that was fighting with Wen Leyang into a ball!
Wen Xiaoyi was both anxious and infuriated. She held the big-muzzled weapon but dared not fire the weapon, so she shouted towards Luo Wanggen, “Go ahead and help them quick!”
Luo Wanggen’s nose tip was densely dotted with sweat beads. He stretched out his finger and pointed towards Fifth Brother as he asked Wen Xiaoyi, “Does this look like…does this look like the Corpse Dance to you!” Back then when Wen Leyang and Wen Xiaoyi were on the nameless mountain slope on Mount Emei, Mumu once launched this set of skill that was passed down by the grand master Tuo Xie to the Crow Ridge, Wen Xiaoyi also recognized Mumu’s origin from this dance. The Art of Punch that was launched by the Fifth Brother before their eyes was almost the same as the Corpse Dance’s approach, but it was even more ghastly, his movements were even more rigid. His power appeared to be stronger by how many folds as compared to Mumu’s Corpse Dance.
Wen Xiaoyi was not in the mood to ponder together with Luo Wanggen, she stomped her foot ferociously in rage as she shouted, “Stop staring blankly already!”
Luo Wanggen was akin to finally being jolted awake. He grabbed on to his pair of long Spirit Calming Needles, he squinted his eyes as he stared firmly towards Fifth Brother, his body bent over slightly, akin to a leopard that was gaining momentum he arched his back, in preparation to seize the opportunity to attack.
At the sound of a thud, Xiao Liu’s eyes rolled up. He had finally fainted. A moment before he was still trying to stop the fight.
Wen Leyang’s Poison of Utmost Metal Stream’s undercurrent and Fifth Brother’s white hairs entangled into a mess. Within the stirring they gave out the squeaking sound continuously, piercing everyone’s eardrums with excruciating pain. Little Chi Maojiu’s shadow finally found an opportunity. It rolled up suddenly, and coiled around Fifth Brother tightly! Wen Leyang exhaled loudly as he released a series of uncountable heavy blows, firmly slammed into the enemy’s face. Simultaneously Luo Wanggen gave a muffled roar, his body scurried out robustly. He raised the Spirit Calming Needles and pounced towards the battleground!
Wen Leyang’s series of heavy blows would have already crushed the opposing party’s throat even if it was made of steel ingot. However, Fifth Brother was still thriving as ever, he was not bleeding or bruised. His body struggled for a few attempts, his white hair covered arm flipped once, as he suddenly pulled out a chunk of the edge of the shadow that tightly winded around him. Following that he pulled strenuously at the edge akin to stripping away a piece of cloth that wrapped around him, Little Chi Maojiu’s shadow witchcraft had already been stripped away from his body, the shadow struggled about with great efforts like a catfish.
Fifth Brother waved his hand ferociously and slammed the shadow witchcraft onto the ground like a dead fish. Little Chi Maojiu that was casting the spell on the side spat out a mouthful of blood, as he fell to the ground!
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When the shadow entangled the enemy, Luo Wanggen pounced forward. By the time he pounced in front of Fifth Brother, the opposing party had already flung the shadow witchcraft away. The enemy was smiling savagely. As the enemy stretched out his hand and grabbed Luo Wanggen’s chest! It was unknown since when the Fifth Brother’s hand suddenly grew longer by about half a foot, with nails as sharp as knives yet blackened and dirty!
Luo Wanggen did not have the ability of Wen Leyang to exert his strength for the second time in midair and jumped about freely. He watched helplessly as he was about to suffer from disembowelment when Wen Leyang was like a raging octopus, he pounced and held on to Fifth Brother’s arms suddenly, exhausting all his strength to pull them backwards.
Wen Leyang was not a shadow. He was not that easily detached, the moment when Fifth Brother was struggling with all his might, the Spirit Calming Needles within Luo Wanggen’s hands one in the vertical position while the other in horizontal position, stabbed in from the top of Fifth Brother’s skull, while the other needle stabbed through his ears!
Fifth Brother that was exerting his strength furiously was akin to a robot that had short-circuited. His body stiffened suddenly and stopped moving.
Little Chi Maojiu’s bones were penetrating with Qing Miao clan’s stubbornness, he did not know that Fifth Brother was already restrained. He turned over and jumped up, he squalled as he spat out a mouthful of tongue’s tip blood into the vital fire. The fire was initially weak and feeble. The slowly curling and disappearing shadow jumped again following the golden-colored flames’ swaying all of a sudden. The moment it jumped up it stopped moving. It appeared to be turning around and looked at the master helplessly as if it was asking, “Who are we fighting still?”
Wen Leyang was still firmly hugging the enemy’s arms and dared not let go. After a moment, he asked Luo Wanggen in probing, “Is it done?”
Luo Wanggen nodded definitively, his face was filled with conceit, “This is the Luo family’s Ten-character Corpse Calming, it is the legacy of the grand master Tuo Xie, it certainly…should be done…I guess?” As he was speaking, it appeared as if Fifth Brother struggled once. Luo Wanggen’s heart was filled with uncertainty. He stretched his hand and took out a strand of fine red thread and winded it around Fifth Brother’s every big joint for a few circles attentively.
Wen Leyang was akin to being exhausted at this point. He swayed about as he lied down away from the enemy’s body. The Poison of Life and Death within his body started seeping out of everywhere, and slowly flowed about.
The moment Fifth Brother was restrained, his nails retracted as well. The layer of white hairs that grew from underneath his feet too disappeared, he turned back to the expressionless middle-aged man again.
Wen Leyang rested for a while. He regained some of his strength, only then he sighed with overwhelmed emotions, “So incisive!” He looked towards Luo Wanggen, “Ten-character Corpse Calming? He…this Fifth Brother is…” When he was in the Miao stockade village, the zombie corpse Ah Dan was deranged, he was pinned down by Mumu with this method.
Luo Wanggen inhaled a deep breath, “He is a corpse, Hanba, the drought deity!”
Wen Xiaoyi studied books for more than a decade in the Place of Birth, Life, Sickness and Death. She had read before about the recordings of Hanba the drought deity. Earlier, she was distracted out of her concern for Wen Leyang, she did not ponder much, now that she saw that her lover was fine and her conscience was calmed, her head full of knowledge came back, she was suddenly enlightened, “To be able to disperse the white hair drought spirit, of course it is Hanba!” Following that she did not await Wen Leyang’s question, she blurted everything that she knew, “Hanba is a zombie that has taken the human form. Legend says that it could absorb the essence of the sun and moon and swallow the mist and clouds in the twilight…of course, those are all fake.”
Wen Leyang coughed once, he limped his way in front of Wen Xiaoyi, stretched out a hand and scraped her nose playfully. He was both annoyed and amused as he said, “Tell us some truth then!”
It was as if Wen Xiaoyi was earnestly telling the lie so Wen Leyang would come over and scraped her nose. She smiled contentedly, “Hanba is the most incisive type amongst all zombie corpses. It is naturally attracted to gold and silver. It can transform into the human form and travel everywhere. It can disperse the white hair spirit. The white hairs earlier, it is also known as the drought spirit. The thing that you and Mumu met in the Land of Evil Spirits of the Miao stockade village is called the evil spirit, this form of white hair is called the drought spirit, these two things are equally incisive.”
Upon saying that, Wen Xiaoyi wrinkled her graceful brows, her clear gaze was accompanied by a slight inquiry, “But I have never heard of zombie corpse that possesses spiritual intelligence unless it is like Ah Dan…”
Luo Wanggen interrupted from the side, “This thing not only possesses the spiritual intelligence, but he is trained in our Crow Ridge’s Corpse Dance…not Corpse Dance per se, but the ability that was of the same lineage as the Corpse Dance. The approach is the same but the power appeared to be stronger!”
Wen Leyang recalled the meteor shower that he experienced earlier. He nodded with lingering fear. He then looked towards Luo Wanggen and asked, “Are you sure about that?”
This time Luo Wanggen’s expression was more determined. He nodded his head firmly, “This can’t be wrong!”
Wen Leyang felt as his head gave out a buzz. His thoughts turned into a chaotic mess. Recently, they were at the Gold-consuming Nest trying to locate the grand master Chang Li’s whereabouts, when they finally met the Art of Witchcraft that was of the same clan and same sect as the disciples of Miao Bujiao but was more powerful; right now they were pursuing Chang Li’s clues all the way until the City God Temple of Shanghai, yet they met with the Corpse Dance, and Hanba that was from the direct line of succession as the Crow Ridge’s set of skill. Judging by the pattern here, if they still could not find the grand master Chang Li, perhaps they would bump into a group of masters capable of fighting with the Faulty Punch and used poison despite not carrying the surname Wen.
Wen Leyang could not figure out this matter. Hence, he stopped thinking anymore. He did not care if the person before his eyes was Hanba or Fifth Brother as long as he was restrained. He stretched out his hand and received the jade knife Guo Huan from Wen Xiaoyi’s hands, Wen Xiaoyi shrugged as she told him, “Guo Huan told me that he could not hold on anymore earlier, and stopped moving since.”
Guo Huan exerted his demon vitality in the Gold-consuming Nest. It was already on the verge of death from severe injuries right now. It woke up occasionally for a short period of time. However, it was unknown when would it recover. Luckily, when it was awake this time, as compared to the last time when it only spoke one sentence, it spoke a lot of words this time. It was estimated that it would recover even more next time.
Wen Leyang pointed towards Fifth Brother, he asked Luo Wanggen, “Can you make him talk?”
Luo Wanggen nodded in hesitation, “I can, but I will need to make some arrangements first, that will take some time…” Before he could finish his sentence, Wen Leyang’s expression changed abruptly. His body jumped up like a weird bird, he held onto Luo Wanggen who was staring in bewilderment as they tumbled to the side. A human shadow pounced from the outside as fast as lighting. The shadow was holding a bald brush pen, at the sound of a pop, the shadow dipped the pen into the spot where Luo Wanggen was standing earlier. At the dip of the tip of the soft brush pen, the floor that was paved with reinforced concrete erupted with a loud bang into a huge pit!
Wen Leyang saved Luo Wanggen. The Poison of Utmost Metal Stream’s undercurrent underneath his body suddenly contracted and guarded around Wen Xiaoyi and Little Chi Maojiu. While he was preparing to turn around and pounced towards the enemy, he suddenly screamed out in surprise, “Lord Leyang?”
The short Leyang Wen completely disregarded his close brother Wen Leyang. The brush pen in his hand rapidly drew onto Fifth Brother’s body and formed into a twisted word ‘Death’. Following that his brush pen dipped ferociously in between Fifth Brother’s brows, he shouted loudly, “Break!”
At the crisp sound of a pop, two Spirit Calming Needles simultaneously snapped into two and shot out of Fifth Brother’s head!
Meanwhile, Luo Wanggen gave a muffled humph. His body that was preparing to leap up fell to the ground once again, blood was seeping out of the corner of his mouth and he was ghastly pale.
Four broken needles shot out of Fifth Brother’s head, yet he was like a free person as he twisted his neck once. The red thread that was winded around his joints immediately erupted in black smoke and burned into green ashes. Once he broke free from the restrains, he immediately stretched out his hand and pointed towards Wen Leyang and the rest as he said to the short man Leyang Wen, “They are here for the demon figurines, kill them!”
Little Chi Maojiu hastily waved his hands, “Don’t fight first…”
Wen Leyang put his hands around his back and tossed Luo Wanggen onto his back. His movement was as swift as lightning as he held up Wen Xiaoyi, while his other hand grabbed onto Little Chi Maojiu, “Stop talking nonsense!” When he was talking the Poison of Utmost Metal Stream on the ground exploded with a bang, akin to a storm it splashed towards the short man and Fifth Brother.
Meanwhile, at the crisp sound of a pop, a streak of long silk descended from the sky. It struck ferociously onto the spot where Little Chi Maojiu was standing just a moment ago. A huge pit, as thick as a bucket, was pounded out of the reinforced concrete floor!
On the other hand, Wen Leyang had already brought along the three persons as he broke through the glass window with his head and fell onto the bustling street.
Leyang Wen and the zombie corpse freed themselves of the shield formed by the Poison of Utmost Metal Stream in a flash. They each gave out a bitter long howl, akin to Wen Leyang’s shadow as they pounced towards Wen Leyang! Right behind them, the Poison of Utmost Metal Stream’s undercurrent that was connected to Wen Leyang’s mind control followed closely!