Gu Xiaojun did not have time to reply before another familiar voice exclaimed, full of rage, “Lunar calendar, the fifth day of the sixth month!” First Uncle Wen Tunhai strode over and punched Wen Leyang.
Wen Leyang’s heart went cold. Two months have passed.
They were still in the Miao stockade. After the witchcraft dimension vanished, the trio had re-appeared on the same spot.
Little Chi Maojiu’s broken arm had healed. He was sound asleep. Under Second Mother’s command, the Miao Bujiao carried Chi Maojiu away in a hurry.
Upon exiting the witchcraft dimension, Chang Li did not bother to greet the others. She lifted herself to her feet and turned to leave. Wen Leyang grabbed at her, seemingly to have forgotten his wedding troubles. “Take me with you!” After a pause, he added. “We should wait, until you’ve completely healed.” Chang Li looked at him with half a smile and glanced at his hand through the corner of her eyes. Wen Leyang quickly let go.
Chang Li then scolded even as her smile lingered, “Foolish boy, do I need you to tell me that? I have waited for thousands of years, what’s a few more months?”
Wen Leyang nodded, then shook his head vigorously, he could not understand it.
Chang Li coughed weakly before continuing with a chuckle, “I have to recuperate first. I’ll be back in a few months, then I will bring you to Black and White Island.” As she said this, she paused and lowered her head in thought. When she lifted her head, her expression was solemn. “I will have to use my demon powers to recuperate this time. I am not to be disturbed in this time, no matter what! Before I return, you should not go looking for Black and White Island on your own. Even if you manage to find it, the three Taoist priests would not have a problem dealing with you. With the Prohibition Spells around the island, even if ten of you were to be work together, it wouldn’t make a difference. Also, Black and White Island is forbidden land. If you step foot on the island, even if you were the son of Tian Shu… Nay, even if you were Tian Shu’s father or living ancestor, they’ll stab a hole clean right through you.”
Wen Leyang quickly nodded in agreement. Chang Li nodded towards Second Mother and Wen Tunhai. She did not waste any more time. She put on the shining Qing Miao costume and disappeared from sight.
The moment Chang Li departed, Wen Tunhai and Second Mother came up to him. Wen Leyang recounted their experiences in the witchcraft dimension to them. Obtaining Grand Master Tuo Xie’s message and inheriting his inner power should have been something to be celebrated, but it was marred by a layer of solemnity and confusion by little Chi Maojiu’s arm-breaking, the Grand Master’s continued absence, and Black and White or the enlightened person Tian Yin telling them a lie.
As Wen Leyang talked, he fished out his dead cellphone. He wanted to give it to Second Mother but after some hesitation, he gave it to First Uncle instead. There still wasn’t any electricity supply in the Miao Stockade Village. They have had to light fires every night.
First Uncle took the cellphone gingerly. He and Second Mother looked at each other. With a groan, he lowered his voice and opened his mouth, “When little Chi Maojiu wakes up, please bring him up to Nine Peaks Mountain.”
Second Mother nodded, “Please inform the two old men on Crow’s Ridge.” Grand Master Tuo Xie’s practice of the Dark Arts have been rediscovered, the three families of Wen, Miao, and Luo could not suppress their excitement. They would have to discuss the details as soon as they could.
Wen Leyang stood to the side, he then turned to First Uncle and asked lamely with a stutter, “Mmm… the wedding… what happened?”
Wen Tunhai slapped him across the back of his head, “What happened? It was postponed! Most were understanding but there’s just a bunch of rogue practitioners making a ruckus, unwilling to accept it.”
Wen Leyang had a headache just thinking about it. “How did you deal with them?”
Wen Tunhai suddenly smiled. His face took on the usual trademark villain smile of Wen Buzuo. “Big Father found a way around them. He told them that the wedding was on the tenth day of the fourth month next year all along, it was the old monk Ji Fei who was mistaken.”
Second Master burst out laughing. Grand Elder Wen would definitely pull off something like that.
Wen Leyang was still worried. He asked his First Uncle in a soft voice, “The ceremony on Crow Ridge…” He knew he did not have to ask about Xiaoyi. Wen Leyang was more worried that the Grand Elder Wen had used mountain produce as betrothal gifts.
As expected, Wen Tunhai snorted.. He did not even try to conceal it in front of Second Mother. He said in a somewhat depressed tone, “We almost fought. The two old men of the Luo family had intended for her to be married, but the betrothal gifts that our family have brought… but in was settled in the end. The three elders still sounded angry on the phone though. When you have the time, go up to Crow’s Ridge, bring gifts and pay your respects to your future in-laws!”
Wen Leyang felt easier after having inquired about his own affairs. Then, he remembered why he was so eager to get married in the first place. “The people in the Place…”
Wen Tunhai smiled confidently. “Relax! Fourth Father has personally assumed the role of command. Divine monk Bu Le has already healed completely. He’s hiding Wei Mo somewhere not far from the Forest of Red Leaves. If anything comes up, they will act. Wei Mo is doing his calculations in the Forest of Red Leaves. We don’t understand his method but according to him, he’s making great progress. Outsiders do not know about this yet, so we are free of problems for now, as long as we do not frighten then. With divine monk Bu Le taking care of things, we should be fine.” Wen Tunhai paused briefly and continued, “Shan Duan has also awoken!”
Wen Leyang rapted to attention, “How is he?”
Wen Tunhai’s expression relaxed a little. “He’s badly injured but his life is in no danger. Given time, he will heal completely. He also told us about his experience in Mount Eyang. Everything matches up with the stories you have uncovered about the Taoist priest San Wei.”
Enlightened person San Tong, who had followed Painting Town’s master, Leyang Shoujin, was one of the Taoist priest San Wei’s close friend. Although he did not know about the thousand year conflict between San Wei, Painting Town, and Hanba, he knew that his supreme leader had to bring down Painting Town. While they were inside the Gold-Consuming Lair, he had intended to join forces with the Qilian Immortal Sect and attack the Leyang family but the Qilian Immortal Sect was busy dealing with the stone forest and metal mountain demons and had backed out on him. After some turn of events, San Tong had eventually succeeded in capturing the short-statured Wen Leyang.
Wen Leyang had asked Qin Zhui for help in chasing after San Tong while he asked the Great Mercy Temple to investigate the Eyang Sect. Shan Duan, the little demon rabbit, he wasted no time. When he heard of he rumour that Wen Bucao was hiding an important person, one who would play a significant role in the fate of the magical realm, he sneaked his way up to Mount Eyang in the dead of night.
WIthin the past few months, Wen Leyang has went through numerous challenges. Earth-shaking elites had appeared, one after another. The two thousand year old plan had been rediscovered. On top of that, his body had been infected by the Poison of Metal twice and his bones had been broken and remade once. Personally, he feel like he could not contain it all, his brain felt like it was about to explode. He had not thought much about little demon rabbit Shan Duan’s injuries. Now that he had heard First Uncle Wen Tunhai’s recountings, his heart grew light and he was grateful for his good luck.
The different branches of the Five Blessings each had their own abilities, but by the look of things, the most dangerous among them would inarguably be the former Eyang Sect. San Wei’s true body was no more inferior to Chang Li’s or Hanba’s. Naturally, his abilities were not either. His three body split alone should have easily killed little demon rabbit. For Shan Duan to have returned safely from Mount Eyang was a miracle in itself.
Shan Duan was indeed lucky. When he reached the top of Mount Eyang, San Wei’s true body had already left for Shanghai. The magic in the split body of the ‘First Brother’ were still sealed and were not any different from the average Five Blessings elite. Shan Duan has walked among them without finding anything. Just as he was about to leave, ‘Third Brother’ had returned with a massive force which were to provide reinforcements to the true body at Shanghai.
Shan Duan’s presence was immediately discovered by the split body ‘Third Brother’. A gruesome battle ensued. At first, Shan Duan could not shake off the split body ‘Third Brother’ no what matter what he did but on the verge of death, his body suddenly unleashed a powerful and monstrous demonic power, greatly injuring the enemy and barely escaping with his life.
When Wen Leyang heard this, he frowned and pondered. Then, he came to a sudden realization. He chuckled and asked, “It was because of Grand Master Chang Li, wasn’t it?”
Little demon rabbit had been greatly injured fighting the Rainbow Brothers, who killed demons to extract their primordial energy, back on Mount Emei. He had attracted them after unleashing his demon body. When chasing down the giant pangolin Po Tu, Chang Li had planted a seed of her own demonic energy into their bodies to heal them. Even little demon rabbit himself did not know that he could not fully absorb this domineering demonic energy. It had been hanging around in his Qi points, becoming his life line in his time of need.
That seed planted by Chang Li showed how strong she really was by being able to injure the split body, ‘Third Brother’. Also back in Painting Town, he got a direct hit from the Desert Eagle to the head, which also took a toll on split body ‘Second Brother’, resulting in them perishing together with Tangtang Leyang Tian.
The Rainbow Brothers, who killed demons to extract their primordial energy, had greatly injured the demon rabbit. Chang Li then had planted her demonic energy into him to heal him. The demonic energy in turn exploded and injured split body ‘Third Brother’. With split body ‘Third Brother’ badly injured, he made an easy target; split body ‘Second Brother’s power were greatly diminished as well due to ‘Third Brother’s tragic death and could not kill Wen Leyang and the other back inside the witchcraft dimension.
Wen Leyang understood these events were a sequence of events, like ripples in a pond. If traced back to the beginning, the reason for killing demons to extract their primordial energy could be traced back to Chang Li’s shattering of the Ice Cone Nail, no, it started when Tuo Xie started giving Chang Li the cold shoulder… At the root of things, it was due to the unlucky demon who rashly proposed to Chang Li more than two thousand years ago. To go even further, it was because the parents of this unlucky demon gave him life… I cannot go on!
Shan Duan did not know that ‘First Brother’ and ‘Third Brother’ were two different people. Although he was surprised at his opponents’ madly powerful skills, he did not think any more of it. He thought that he had greatly injured the Taoist priest San Wei.
Little demon rabbit had barely escaped. Even while gravely injured, he was worried about Wen Leyang in Shanghai. He had wanted to bite down on his wounds and wait to meet with Wen Leyang. However, his wounds were much worse than he had initially thought. Instead, he left Wen Leyang with the big Buddhist prayer bead, and returned to Nine Peaks Mountain to recuperate.
Wen Leyang took a deep breathe. Wen Tunhai knew what was on his mind. He squinted his eyes and nodded, “The kindness of Great Mercy Temple’s two divine monks cannot be repaid by the descendants of Wen Bucao even after the skies have fallen and the ground collapses!”
Shan Duan had crossed paths with the Eyang elites in Shanghai while he was running for his life. Coincidentally, Wen Leyang was also passing through and they fought together on the highway, saving Shan Duan’s life. The big truck driver, Zhang Xiaohua, was still being remanded bu Gu Xiaojun, in fear that he would spill the beans when he got out.
Wen Leyang replayed the scenes in his head and continued to ask, “What about Qin Zhui?” Qin Zhui did not seem like the conniving type, but he had great power. His skills were almost as great as that of the Five Blessings’ elites. Old demon rabbit had went to aid in the defense of the Forest of Red Leaves. Without anyone controlling him, there would be nobody to control Qin Zhui.
Wen Tunhai shook his head unexpectedly, “We will leave this discussion for another time.” Then, he pointed towards Gu Xiaojun who was waiting at the sides. “He came to Nine Peaks Mountain looking for you, so I brought him here. You’ll have to ask him for more details.”
Gu Xiaojun saw that it was his turn and he acted most impolitically. He immediately pulled Wen Leyang into a house and pulled out a deck of photos from a briefcase and presented them to Wen Leyang.
There were another two person there, a man and a woman. They stood up as Gu Xiaojun entered.
Gu Xiaojun pointed to the both of them and introduced them to Wen Leyang. “This is Fei Fei, the elder sister, and the other the younger brother, Xiao Sha.”
The girl Fei Fei looked to be about the same age as Wen Leyang, early twenties. She was not particularly pretty, faint freckles dotting her face, but her smile was infectious, causing all who looked upon her to burst into a big grin.
On the other hand, Xiao Sha was stoic and cold. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. He had thin lips. His eyes were like small cracks carved into a hard-boiled egg with a pencil knife. His eyes were filled with a sense of immaturity and it showed that he did not understand the truth of life.
Wen Tunhai and Second Mother walked in then. By the look of things, they already knew why Gu Xiaojun had brought him here.
Wen Leyang nodded towards the siblings Fei Fei and Xiao Sha. He started looking over the photos. As he looked though through them, he lifted his head and regarded Gu Xiaojun with suspicion.
The first set of photographs were of eight blonde, blue-eyed Europeans. They were of mixed gender and different fashion sense. It showed them looking out at the scenery with smiles. One could tell they were at ease, looking at these photos. They were obviously tourists. After that, there were close-up shots of each of them.
The second set of photographs depicted a dozen short-statured, dark-skinned Southeast Asians. They all had the look of alertness and gloominess of guerilla troops. The only thing missing was a ‘this man is dangerous’ or a ‘do not approach’ sign on their foreheads.
The third set of photographs were of a group of Indians.
The fourth set of photographs were of a group of Koreans or Japanese. He could not tell.
The fifth set of photographs were of a bunch of black skinned people. Due to their tall and lanky stature plus signs of malnutrition, Wen Leyang concluded that they were Africans, North Africans at that.
…
The photos had been secretly taken and they were all of foreigners. The photos were separated by their origin countries. The groups numbered from as few as seven, to as many as thirty of them, the background of all the photos was China.
Wen Leyang finished flipping through all the photos. He chuckled and looked at Gu Xiaojun. “Drug dealers? Firearm smugglers? These things aren’t under your jurisdiction.”
Gu Xiaojun smilled. He waved at the girl with the infectious smile, Fei Fei, who was standing behind him. “You tell him. There’s no need for formalities, just get on with it!”
Fei Fei was taken aback. Her smile turned bitter as she shook her head. “Chief, this is our first time meeting. I don’t think it’d be appropriate…”
Gu Xiaojun’s eyes bulged. “What’s not appropriate about it? It’s for the glory of the country!”
Wen Leyang was puzzled. He could not make sense of any of it.
Fei Fei looked like she did not know whether to laugh or to cry. She walked up to Wen Leyang and shook hands with him. She whispered, “I’m his soldier. Forgive me for this.” After she had finished, she blinked and proceeded to scrutinize Wen Leyang’s face with a smile. This made Wen Leyang uncomfortable. He did not know if he should return the smile or just stare back at her.
Second Mother laughed while looking at Wen Leyang’s awkwardness. She cheered him on, “Good brother, stare back at her. Don’t be afraid!”
Fei Fei continued to smile. She took two steps backwards and spewed out, “People’s expressions are divided into four main categories, namely, pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy. Additionally, there’s shyness, nervousness, lust, etc. That would make up a total of thirty-seven expressions. Every expression has different effects on the facial features. If we divided the face by the forehead, center of the brows, the left and right eyebrows, et cetera, we can divide the face into forty-nine areas. The effects of the thirty-seven expressions are all different on these forty-nine areas.”
To Wen Leyang, it was baseless and sounded like nonsense. He smiled gingerly as he shook his head and asked, “What do you mean?”
Fei Fei was patient. She continued, “The expressions in these forty-nine areas will combine according to the master’s true feelings, which gives rise to one’s expression. For example, when you are happy, only if forty-nine areas smile together will it really count as a smile. If you’re were only making a show of being happy, even if your lips curve and the corners of your eyes crinkle, the other areas will subconsciously reveal your true feelings.”
Wen Leyang was shocked. This time, it made some sense to him. He repeated, “What… What do you mean by this?”
Fei Fei did not want to keep him guessing any longer and answered straightforwardly, “I can read people’s true feelings. Even a highly skilled actor cannot hide his feelings from me. The the forty-nine areas that convey feelings are largely uncontrollable by thought alone.”
Wen Leyang gulped. He had not heard of such a skill before. Second Mother was not satisfied. She asked Fei Fei with a smile on her face, “Then look at me now. What am I feeling now?”
Fei Fei’s gaze swept across Second Mother’s face and she answered with a smile, “Sad!”
Wen Leyang and First Uncle Wen Tunhai were intrigued. Although little Chi Maojiu had broken his arm, he had after all inherited a tenth of Grand Master’s powers, the gain far outweighed the loss. He had unlimited potential now and the three families have now obtained the instructions to Tuo Xie’s ultimate practice. Everybody should have been happy. There should be no place for this sadness.
Second Mother’s expression changed suddenly. She stared at Fei Fei for a while, astonished, then nodded with a bitter smile. The Miao Bujiaos were stubborn in nature and had always lived in seclusion. Their way of life and practice methods were largely different from that of the other families. Second Mother was indeed sad. Little Chi Maojiu going on his journey and inheriting the Grand Master’s legacy upon his return were indeed causes for celebration, but this has delayed Wen Leyang’s wedding, she could not forgive herself.
Wen Leyang and Wen Tunhai’s expressions turned unnatural quickly. They met Fei Fei’s gaze and felt as if bugs were crawling all over their faces.
Fei Fei smiled good naturedly, “Not only expression, even the tone of one’s speech can be differentiate into many categories. Changes in intonation, coupled with observation of one’s expression, which I mentioned earlier, the truth is, nobody can lie their way past me. Nobody can deceive me. Sometimes, I can even guess the truth, but if the matter is too complex, then it is beyond me.”
Wen Tunhai coughed and said loudly, “I had hot and sour vegetable soup for dinner last night!”
“That is a lie.” Fei Fei said as she looked at First Uncle with a smile, her tone confident.
“I had roasted buns and fried bee larva!”
“Lie.”
“Next.”
“Dough drop noodles with soup.”
“Now that is the truth.” Fei Fei’s smile was dripping with honey. Then she added, “And you do not like it.”
The admiration on Wen Tunhai’s face immediately turned into awkwardness. Second Mother gave a strained smile. “If you do not like it, then just say so…”
With this ability, let alone actors, even elites of the cultivation world would not be able to deceive her, unless they shielded their faces and did not say a word.
Fei Fei paused briefly and looked at Wen Leyang. “Just now, after you had looked through the photos, you spoke lightly, but your heart was uneasy. There was even a note of impatience and frustration”
When Wen Leyang was holding the photos, he smiled easily at Gu Xiaojun but he was indeed secretly uneasy. Gu Xiaojun was only a mortal but Wen Leyang knew what his presence meant. If a flying thief were to make an appearance in the magic realm, Gu Xiaojun would know who it is. Wen Leyang was truly impressed and wanted to further inquire about this skill immediately.
However, Fei Fei just smiled and shook her head, “I can’t tell you that. If you learn too much about it, my readings would no longer be accurate.”
Gu Xiaojun opened his mouth then, “With Fei Fei here, you do not have to hide anything, it would be useless.”
Wen Leyang decided to cut to the chase. “Why did you come looking for me, tell me.” He had barely finished when Gu Xiaojun took out another bundle of photographs.
These photos were different from the ones before, There were no people inside them, only sceneries. Some were of huge, majestic stone statues, some were of colorful wall murals, some were of a small, handmade, carved plate. Wen Leyang’s expression turned dark quickly. The style of the symbol in these photographs were different and their size varied, but they were all unmistakably of a nine-headed snake.
Gu Xiaojun said slowly from the side, “Do you remember the joke we had, that beasts belonged to mankind?”
Fei Fei added, “The nine-headed snake symbols exist all over the world. In the Persian Empire, ancient Greece, ancient India, East Africa, Cambodia, Japan, the list goes on. The names vary greatly as well as it’s teachings, but they all worship the nine-headed snake. These cults have branches all over the world and still has followers to this day.”
“Evil cults?” Wen Leyang asked and searched his empty pockets. First Uncle Wen Tunhai laughed. He fished out a carrot from his pocket and tossed it to Wen Leyang.
Gu Xiaojun nodded confidently. “Yes! Not only in the present, no matter which dynasty or generation, cults that adopted the nine-headed snake as their symbol were known as evil. They have been the target of extermination for generations. However, due to the core personas of these evil cults having some special abilities, they could not be exterminated completely…”
Wen Leyang munched on his carrot, it was crunchy and sweet. He asked, “Special abilities?”
Gu Xiaojun nodded with a bitter smile, “It is akin to something like sorcery. There are some magical aspects to it,”
Wen Leyang nodded, signaling for Gu Xiaojun to continue.
“Starting a month ago, the core personas of almost every nine-headed snake worshiping cult in the world suddenly arrived here. At first, we thought it was them just establishing contact, but we later discovered that some indigenous people from remote corners of the world had emerged and entered the country through various routes. We can see the nine-headed snake believers from developed countries such as Japan and Europe establishing contact with one another, but those black people from the great African mountains, they don’t even know how to write the world ‘electricity’. There should have been no way to reach them. Judging from when they entered our country, they have yet to contact one another.”
When Gu Xiaojun had finished, Fei Fei added, “That’s why we think that what summoned them to China was something like a revelation or divine instructions.”
Wen Leyang looked relieved. He knew his guess was correct. This was indeed troubling.
Gu Xiaojun did not bother to ask Wen Leyang of his thoughts before continuing, “These people are so-called fanatics. They can even resist deep hypnosis. We could not find out why they came here or what they plan to do.”
Second Mother sneered, reflecting the biting savagery the Miao Bujiao was known for, “Why question them? Just kill them all!”
Gu Xiaojun snorted, “Kill? They have not done anything, how can I make my move? Ï don’t even have the manpower to investigate let alone arrest people.”
Wen Leyang turned and looked at Fei Fei. He asked with a smile, “Your chief is lying, why didn’t you say anything?”
Fei Fei smiled coyly, “Our chief has never lied and will not lie in the future.”
Wen Tunhai laughed loudly. It looks like he had become closer with Gu Xiaojun. He patted Gu Xiaojun on the shoulder, “This young girl is telling you off!”
Gu Xiaojun said with a bitter smile, “It’s not like I do not have the manpower, I do have enough men, but the capable ones…” As he said this, he shook his head and sighed, “The death of Tangtang felt like both my arms were ripped off!” Wen Leyang cursed the old fox.
At the mention of Leyang Tian, Fei Fei, who loved to smile, adopted a mournful expression, as well as the small-eyed Xiao Sha.