I had but the deepest loathing for such ways of tormenting people ever since our last bout with Bai Chuanwei, one of the Thirteen Apostles of the Creed. That was because ways to cause pain to people could only be concocted by those with the vilest and most insidious of intents. Moreover, I detested troubles that were messy and required a lot of grunt work. But everything hinged on the answers that the boy would give us.
Bewildered, he scratched his head. "Urm... I bought this small cauldron from a stall at the market. It's a long time ago. But the methods to use it were taught to me by an online friend I met through Internet forums." Rubbing my chin, I uttered an "Oh?" with interest as he continued again, trusting us fully, all thanks to our small-time fame, "Most, if not all, of the discussions at the forum, is about you. The things that you all do. Of course, most of us are merely amateurs in such matters. There have been fellow users who claimed to be mediums or sha
Zheng Shuang had barely settled in but he immediately dove right into business. "The online ID you asked for my help has been found, Brother!" I nodded. I poured him a glass of beer as I asked, "Relax. Take your time." He took the glass of beer from me and took a sip. "The owner of the online ID is a smart one. He has not done any verification with his true name, and every login IP we've traced came from Internet cafes. Safe to say, it's merely a burner account, so there's not much value I can give you, I'm afraid." Chongxi slapped the table. "Heavens! All the trouble for nothing!" But I chuckled through the smoke of my cigarette and hushed him down. "Relax. Let Zheng Shuang finish." Zheng Shuang gave me a quick nod and smiled. "Well, it's not completely nothing, though. We were not able to find the identity of the ID's user, but we know where is he from! The IP addresses every time he logs into the ID shows that he is from Yizhou City!" "I
Hearing this, Lao Tao bowed and said his thanks. He must have already expected my answer. With the can of Coke still unopened, he took his leave and left. The primary purpose of this ancient Mountain Deity's visit was mainly to enlist our help to drive the weasels away; everyone knew full well that no peace would come if the marauding weasels were allowed to continue their reign of terror. When Lao Tao had left, Chongxi asked, "How can you accept the challenge just so haphazardly, Shiyan! After all, we know nothing about this benefactor of theirs..." I yawned and glanced at my watch. "So who do you think that might be?" Chongxi shook his head with a blank face, indicating his lack of knowledge. Lin Feng went to the table and picked up the can of Coke that Lao Tao had left unopened. He popped it open and took a swig. "Who else? I bet it's the one we've asked Zheng Shuang to find out!" "Oh, my! I've almost forgotten about him!" Chongxi exclaim
I was so astonished by Lao Tao's appearance that I had almost thrown all manners and decorum out of mind. But he was hardly perturbed, giggling jovially as he answered, "I've been here all along." As it turned out, Lao Tao had long sensed our presence since we had entered into his domain, the Yellow Soil Ridge. He had not appeared to us, watching our banter with interest and silence while we were climbing. It was only when we reached the top he appeared. But he remained quiet to not disturb us, while observing us behind our backs. It was hardly unexpected though; he was, after all, the Mountain Deity here, although the prospects of being quietly watch did send a chill down my spine. Lao Tao led us to an inconspicuous part mid-hill, before he turned to us suddenly and gestured with a flourishing wave of his arm. "Please, all of you." Behind him, a door appeared out of thin air on the rock-hard face of the solid rock with a loud "Click". "Wow,
The farmer could hardly believe what he had heard. As a native of Baishan Village, he had lived at the foot of Tizishan Mountain for all his life. A mantra, long dormant in his mind, came back to him like an apparition returning to haunt him, "The day grows grey and the mountains old; In darkness lay the silver and gold; Deep behind Mount Tizishan, a trove is stashed beneath the trees; There lies the gold in forest deep; Ere it wakes again from sleep." And yet here was a Southerner who was speaking about a legend where treasures were hidden at the rear of Tizishan! The farmer felt an exhilarating rush of joy swelling in his chest, but he did his best to maintain his facade; trying to look grieved and rattled by the loss of the gourd. "Well, the missing gourd can do you no good now. I'm sorry that it has to be stolen. Back to where you come from then, Outsider." With a few simple words, the farmer tried to send the Southerner away. Before the break of the
Oh my, I gasped quietly. I would never have expected the weasels from Yizhou City to notice me entering Zunhua City. They must be thinking that I was here to launch a preemptive attack against them, which made them anxious enough to call for their benefactor. I might have told Lao Tao about my decision to answer the weasels' challenge, but I certainly had misinterpreted the status quo. Not only it was more delicate than I presumed, but my mere presence had caused a chain reaction that escalated the situation; I became the person who had struck a match to the tinderbox of the conflict. So, the fight has become inevitable, eh? I grimaced, shaking my head helplessly. Still, there was no escaping from this; the wellbeing of Father and the plans for his ascension hinged on this upcoming battle. Then, I told the fox demon. "I will fight beside you, no matter who their benefactor is. But there is something you have to know: the day to ascend into the Heavens is
I could not believe it! Chongxi was holding up a book, one that looked freshly-printed and its pages held tightly by string bindings, with its cover facing us; and there were the words, printed clearly even from our distance: the Demigod of the Soaring Sword! My eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. Of all the names for books and stories, I would never have expected to see this title. The style of "the Demigod of the Soaring Sword" belonged to no one else but my father, Murong Hai! Although I had heard him being addressed in this name for one too many times, I never thought I would see a book bearing his name! It must be the reason that prompted Chongxi to begin reading it. We walked to Chongxi's table and sat beside him. The nice proprietor of the stall and his wife immediately welcomed us with three steaming bowls full of wontons even before we had made our order. The warm friendliness was further garnished with a plate of garlic freshly-chopped.
I stared at Chongxi blankly for seconds. Then I swooped up his book and looked into its pages. The more I read, the more I found traces that could only indicate Father was part of the whole story, including many other fairy tales and myths I had not been privy of. One of them was the tale about Ba, who was commonly assumed as the matriarchal forebearer of the Chinese vampires, the Jiangshis, was actually the daughter of Huang Di in the legends. But what was more intriguingly interesting, were the nine toenails that certain tribesmen under Chiyou's command had in the tales. I skipped to the end of the book and leafed through the final pages of the book when I stopped. The final part of the novel was a short account about the Wufang Shangdi, a tale heavily promulgated among entities of the Underworld and mediums alike. The Wufang Shangdi (The Five Emperors of the Highest) comprised of Bai Di (Emperor White) of the East, Qing Di (Emperor Green) of the West,
Standing at the top, looking downwards, we could hardly move when the dark dog zipped through the underbrush and streaked beyond mid-hill in the blink of an eye! Knowing there was no time to lose, I uncorked my Spirit Gourd. Six tendrils of mist swirled out and materialized into snowy-white wolves snarling at my feet at the incoming hound. The wolves charged at the hound, white meshing into black, and their melee, savage and horrifying, began. Yet despite being outnumbered, the huge black hound held its ground. It attacked with a dogged decisiveness, all while defending itself from my wolfish minions with frightening composure. The sight of its valor, even though it was an enemy, made cold beads of sweat roll down my forehead as my mana began to drain; instead of wounding the black dog, my wolves were bitten, clawed, and mauled by it. The wounds that my minions suffered would cause a toll on my mana and I had lost almost half of it in just mere moments! S
Along the way, Qiao Yu asked the sword bearing youth, "The youth senior just now is ......" The sword-bearing youth replied with the same color as usual: "My old man." Although Qiao Yu had already heard the previous conversation between the two, but at this time the youth personally said number, or let Qiao Yu again ate a shock.The accompanying magistrates were all confused as well, and the martial youth laughed and said, "Don't you guys always talk about gods and goddesses, but this time you've seen a real one, why don't you all recognize it?" The crowd was instantly startled and turned back to look, even though they had long since left the place of the incident by a great distance. Qiao Yu at this time sighed: "Immortals can only, heaven and earth with spring. At today's sight, it is really so!"The sword-bearing youth laughed, at which point the shorter youth asked, "Do you think that this old Uncle Hai is the same person he was three hundred years ago, or the same p
And this is the end of the southern part of a place called Chao Luowo, the county's two big rivers, return to the township, artichoke transport through this place. Because Wuling has been very close to the sea sea water rise and fall along the river, up to this, so the name Chao Luo nest.The military rations of Xingzhou Zuotunwei and the nearby guards established by the imperial court had to be transported through here via the Huixiang River. Because of the return to the countryside of the river turned a corner here, the river flows here, and then with the tide upstream of the sea water meeting, will cause the river siltation. Nine floods in ten years, often affecting the transportation of military rations. Therefore, the court ordered Yutian to dredge the river. Qiao Zhixian field survey, decided to straighten the bay some, the project involves the shore of an ancient well, already do not know how many years. It was the digging of this ancient well that brought considerable
And said no end of the three absolute and Qiao Zhixian line back to the city, not yet into the courtyard will encounter a messenger led a little girl kneeling down in front of the four people crying for help. Negative sword youth went forward to pick up the child, this is a little girl of eight or nine years old, on the fat side, long and sturdy. Round face is very cute, negative sword youth asked her: "What's wrong ah? Saving whose life ah? Who is trying to harm you?" That child was very much in tune with the negative sword youth and hugged the negative sword youth's neck, saying, "Uncle save my father!"The officer who led her said, "This is my relative's child, who traveled thirty miles to the city to look for me, saying that her father had been lost for three days. The village can't find him, so I think the three masters can calculate what's wrong with this relative of mine!"The short youth shook his head like a rattle drum and said, "How can the child say her fathe
It is said that a family in a village in the southern part of Wuling held a wedding ceremony, and the groom died violently on the wedding night. The county magistrate, Mr. Qiao, received a report of the case and took the coroner to the scene to investigate.The pallbearer examined the body and saw that the groom had no visible trauma. Face serene, slightly smiling. Asked the bride, the bride said the morning found the groom sleeping, greeted get up did not answer, lifted the brocade quilt only to find the groom is dead! In-laws rushed to find their son died violently, rushed to find someone to the county to report! Lord Qiao saw that the groom had no external injuries and no signs of poisoning, so he could only conclude the case by saying that the groom had been over-excited on his wedding night and had died violently.Not a day and the people reported that the southern part of the county, a wedding night groom died violently. Mr. Qiao, the county magistrate bu
It is said that there is a Lian Sheng Inn in this Endless City, and this day a merchant came to live in the store.After the meal, the merchant greeted the fellows to ask the shopkeeper to come to see, see the shopkeeper, the merchant took out some loose silver, said to the shopkeeper: "My name is Wang Hui, is a few hundred miles to the west of Qizhou, do the business of medicinal herbs. I have a store in the capital, and recently I've expanded my business, so I'm planning to open another pharmacy in this city. Before staying in the store in the city around, to open a pharmacy is best with the city now several pharmacies to distance themselves. I have already looked at a street frontage and negotiated with the owner there, but the shopkeeper and the doctor-in-charge must have family members to come with them, so I need to buy another mansion not far from the store. Although I have found a house, I don't know if the owner is willing to sell it. I'd like to ask the shopkeeper ab
It was said that there was a village in Wufeng called Xijiatun. There was a villager named XI Maungzhao, who was a businessman. Catch this summer to Henan for business, unexpectedly Henan flood capsized the boat, folded the capital. And encountered porcelain extortion, only to engage in penniless, then picked up the eight rope. From the market on credit some vegetables, pick to the village to sell, to make up some money. After a lot of hard work, the next year only bounced back home. After coming back, he got very sick, and used up all the family's savings before he could barely save his life, but he could not work and often vomited blood.This day, sitting on the stone in front of the door to rest cool, came three guests passed by the door. Xi Maung Zhao recognize that these three is the famous endless three great, said that they have been unlucky for years, recently met the three immortals, I heard that some people know them, then mixed with the county's errand boy. Why don'
That said, the two to the county government office two people are still tearing. Qiao Yu busy asking why the conflict, the Taoist priest said that the fortune-teller to their own insults for no reason, but also blinded his eyes.Qiao magistrate immediately asked the short young man for what reason conflicts with Taoist priests, short young man said Taoist priests involved in plotting to take people's wives, killing and harming life, he is for the yin and yang line clean up the door. The specific case only need to Wan Zidong couple of Wan Jia Zhuang in the east of the city will be summoned to the hall, a question from the clear.Less inclined Wan Zidong brought, saw the hall kneeling that Taoist priest, immediately ate a shock.Qiao magistrate immediately slapped the shocking wood: "Daring Wan Zidong, how did you plot to take a man's wife to kill and harm life, tell us the truth!" That Wan Zidong shivering, can not say a word.The short youth said, "All you ne
And that out of the endless mountains, east out of the pass, is the Luanzhou territory. In Luanzhou, there was a Huang Xiu Cai, who had failed in his repeated attempts, and became obsessed with shadow puppetry. He traveled all over the country performing on weekdays to make ends meet.This day, Huang Xiucai is a village performance of shadow puppet theater, the stage down three dressed in strange costumes, one of the visitors actually still carrying a sword. Generally, the sword is across the waist, but this person is carrying it on his back is very strange! These three people did not watch the play in the front stage, but went around to the backstage to watch Huang Xiucai operate. The audience has never seen this dress of people, have wondered if the shadow man alive, a closer look, three people dressed and shadow man is not the same, then they have been curious to watch. For a while, no one watched the play, all around the three people, do not know what the origin of the thr
And say this day, no end of the mountain slopes in front of the path came a pick eight rope. What Wuling called "picking eight ropes" was in fact a cargo man. At that time, the income of the cargo man was not as high as that of the farmers, so he had no choice but to make a living.This pick eight rope, saw the hillside in front of a tree under the three people are resting in the cool, recognized that it is the Terminal Three, then went up to chat with the cool. During this eight rope picking, asked the endless three, said: "small Pu two, three masters of the magic power is profound, can you show me, I'm tired of running around every day, when I can buy a few acres of land, when an honest farmer ah?"The short youth of the Three Jedi smiled and said, ''Your requirements are not too high. Although people's lives are predestined by heaven, but it is not like the legend of the difference. This sometimes ah, the same opportunity, people's character is different approach is d