Since Co Hui was looking at the ground while caressing his chin he didn't notice the surprised stares at him, the first one to react was Huang Xinyi who agreed to him. "Yeah right, even though Lan Sect has the money to do so I wouldn't bet they will do something as reckless as this." Huang Shunyuan's eyes widen when Chen Chenguang stared at them sharply with killing intent.
He turned at Huang Xinyi with a warning. "Xinyi!"
"What?"
Unfortunately, Huang Xinyi and Huang Shunyuan understood the atmosphere in the wrong way. The silence that lingered to the air has a deeper meaning. The nightmare Li Changpu did not wish to happen is unfolding in front of his own eyes. "Did you hear the exact same thing that I heard?" Chen Chenguang asked, sharply staring at Co Hui whose face was still looking at the ground.
"It must be an evil being making a noise." Li Changpu said with his blank voice, as usual. Co Hui was quite insulted but he kept his mouth shut as he continued to think.
Huang Xinyi interjected, "What do you mean? What are they talking about?" Huang Shunyuan can't help but agree with the younger Huang Disciple at his side.
"Co Hui," Called by the man at his side which is Lan Chaun.
"Eh...? How did you know my name?" As Co Hui asked that question he faced the taller man at his side raising his head. Lan Chaun couldn't help but stare at his face, Co Hui swore that he saw that the taller man enlarge his eyes briefly. It then turned into his usual cold and stiff face.
That's when Chen Chenguang started to move forward that made Co Hui hide at the taller man's back. "Now, Now, I swear that I am hearing my friend's voice." The tone Chen Chenguang was threatening to Li Changpu's ear making him alerted when the man is only five-step away from them. "Let me see that person." He ordered.
Lan Chaun didn't budge as he stood noiseless, protecting or perhaps, hiding the man at his back. Instead, the man changed the topic. "The Lan Sect will return the exact number of spirit-binding nets that had been destroyed." He said that without any emotion, his voice light.
Chen Chenguang scoffed, "No need." His voice then declared. "I'll take that person as soon as possible." He chose the opposite direction and walked down calmly. The man who had come from the forest followed behind him, pulling a long face because he knew that it'd be impossible to escape a lecture when he returned.
After their figures disappeared, Huang Xinyi spoke, "How could the Vice Sect Leader Chen act like this?"
On the other Huang Shunyuan properly greeted, "Young Master Co, we meet again. Our senior said that he wishes to talk to you and apologies for his action."
Co Hui frowned upon remembering the scene again before replying, "Tell him that it's okay." Of course, it is not okay, and will never be okay. He was just making an excuse so that he won't go and see that man again.
Not long after that Lan Chaun spoke again, "Do your tasks," The command was simplistic and clear, without any fancy vocabulary for decoration. Co Hui thought the order is for the three juniors. Li Changpu, Huang Shunyuan, and Huang Xinyi but why would Huang Sect disciple take an order from a person, not at their clan? Not long after that more juniors from Lan Sect emerged from the dark making the order for all of them.
The juniors finally remembered the reason behind why they came to Matti Mein Dabana Mountain. They gathered their thoughts and respectfully waited for further instructions. After a moment, Lan Chaun spoke again, "Do what you can. Don't force anything."
The voice was deep and alluring. If one was too near, the tip of their heart would tremble. The juniors replied mannerly, afraid to linger for too long, and walked into the depths of the forest. Co Hui thought that, undeniably, Chen Han, and Lan Yongrui were extremely different from each other. Even their advice for juniors was the complete opposite. While thinking, he suddenly saw Lan Chaun give him a brief stare before looking away. He was quite surprised.
'What's the meaning of that?'
That's when Huang Xinyi reacted. "Huh? Us too?" He looked at the older male. "We have a different mission, right, Shunyuan?" The older nodded. He turned to Co Hui, "Young Master Co, we need to bring you to our Senior or else-" Lan Chaun suddenly gave Huang Shunyuan a cold stare making him stop, tying his tongue.
"Or else?" Asked Co Hui.
Huang Xinyi and Huang Shunyuan looked at each other in sync, both terrified. Lan Chaun, "Call your Senior and bring him here, he was the one who needs to apologize to him." Both of the juniors nodded, bowing before leaving immediately.
After some silence, Li Changpu said. "Senior Lan, please take care of... him." The older gave him a nod that confused Co Hui who was gently dragged by his hand. Lan Chaun was firmly gripping his hands pulling Co Hui with him.
"My donkey..." They stopped as Lan Chaun pulled the donkey's reign, before continuing. "Uhm... I just want to say that I am not a cultivator... So, please take care of me?" The request Co Hui wanted them to hear turned into a question. Two reasons, first, it was his fault why he was here, second, how dare him to ask such a request to the people he only met. But to his surprise, Li Chaun looked at him with a nod. The simple nod made his heart swell because he was the second person that he remembers saying that to him.
Li Changpu already vanished from their back following the other Lan disciple. They still have a mission to be completed. He knows that he will receive punishment when they come back to Lan Sect since he depended on Chen Chenguang.
After walking for a while, the gurgling sounds of a running stream came into Co Hui's ears. He didn't hear this when he came up. Co Hui finally realized that they walked the wrong path down the mountain, and onto another one that forked off.
"What are we doing here, Young Master Lan? The exit is on the other side..."
Still holding the reins of the donkey, Lan Chaun stood beside the running water. Signing for Co Hui he should come. The young man did what the other man wanted him to do, standing near Lan Chaun.
The moon could be seen high in the sky. With no branches or leaves on the banks of the stream, fragments of white reflected over the surface. In the reflection, Co Hui saw a face, ever-changing from the flow of the water. He saw how dirty he looked making him ashamed to even look at the handsome man at his side. The young man's hair is even worst, sticking in different directions.
After realizing what Lan Chaun wanted him to do, he slammed his palm into the water, dissolving the ridiculous features. He lifted his dripping wet palms and wiped away the dirt on his face. He was traveling for days so that's why he looked like that.
A handsome, graceful youth appeared in the reflections of the water. He looked as pure as if he had been cleansed by moonlight, with smooth brows, bright eyes, and lips curving slightly upward. Yet, as he lowered his head to stare at himself, the drops of water hanging from his lashes rolled off, as if they were drops of tears.
Suddenly the other man started brushing his hair with his hands, "Young Master Lan, you don't need to that-"
Either way, the taller man continued even Co Hui protested, again and again, in the end, he gave up. The male was not sure why he let him touch his head, even his hair, Co Hui was also perplexed about why he reacted differently when Li Changpu was about to do it yet here he is, making a higher-ranking person fix his hair.
Co Hui flinched slightly, stunned when the other man started tying the upper part of his hair with a light blue ribbon, fixing it in place neatly.
"..."
Once the man finished, Co Hui can't help himself but look again at the clear water, looking at his new hairstyle which suited him well. The light blue ribbon contrasts his emerald green stained clothes making it somehow funny for him. He turned around saying, "Thank you, someone broke my pin that's why I looked like a beggar."
The other man only nods making Co Hui's eyebrow twitched. 'Can't he talk? He was talking at the Vice Sect Leader formerly and he can!'
The donkey seemed as if it knew that he wasn't in a great mood, and for once, it wasn't being loud out of impatience. He then looked at the other man whose face still stiff as ice, Co Hui was about to speak when Lan Chaun said; "Don't leave, I'll be back." That's what he said before leaving not waiting for Co Hui to agree or disagree.
A moment of silence passed, the donkey turned around to leave Co Hui sat by the stream, not responding at all. It turned around to look, throwing its hooves onto the ground, but Co Hui still paid no attention to it. The donkey had to come back sulkily, biting and tugging on Co Hui's sleeve.
He could choose to go, and he could choose to not go. Seeing that the donkey had gone as far as to use his mouth, Co Hui decided to follow him forgetting what Lan Chaun said to him. The donkey took him to a few trees and circled around an area of grass. In the grass, there lay a qiankun bag, with a ragged golden net hanging above it. It probably fell off as an unlucky cultivator struggled their way out.Co Hui picked up the bag and opened it. There were quite a few items in it, such as gourds of medicinal liquor, talismans, miniature demon-reflecting mirrors, and so on.
-Qiankun bag: Qiankun means "Heaven and Earth" while the whole sentence is this 武动乾坤 Wu Dong Qian Kun. Wu is the word for Martial, Dong is the word to move. Qian Kun means the Heavens and Earth, or the Universe. (I'm not that sure, omfg). A qiankun bag is basically a dimensional bag, holding a lot of items although it looks tiny. (You know, Dora's bag?)
-Gourds: Ancient Chinese people liked to carry everything around in gourds, from the average liquor to level-enhancing elixirs that help with cultivation.
He fished around for some time and happened to pull out a talisman. Immediately, a ball of fire appeared in his hand. Startling him to his core. "Ahhhh It's burning! Burning!!!!"
The burning item was a gloom-burning talisman, which, like its name, used dark energy as fuel. It would burn automatically if it made contact with dark energy. The more energy there was, the stronger the flame was. It lit up as soon as it was taken out, meaning that there was a spirit not far away from Co Hui, which he didn't know.
Once he realized it wasn't burning him he calmed a little but the thing in his hand started to become pulverized slowly, he started waving the talisman around to find out that it was lighting hardly in a certain direction, making him think...
'There's a spirit?'
Co Hui was quite knowledgeable in cultivation which confuses him also but there are also things he wasn't familiar with.
Seeing the light of the fire, Co Hui held it to detect the spirit's direction, watching attentively. When he turned to the east, the fire weakened; when he turned to the west, the fire suddenly intensified. He walked a few steps toward the direction and saw a white, stooping figure appear under a tree.
The talisman had finished burning, and the ashes fell from his fingertips. An old man was sitting with his back to him, speaking in faint murmurs.
Co Hui slowly approached. The words that the old man murmured became clear.
"It hurts, it hurts. It's painful... tired..."
Co Hui as a normal human he is, he asked, "Where does it hurt?"
The old man answered, "Head. My head."
Co Hui replied, "Let me see..."
He walked a few steps to the side of the old man and saw a bloodied, large hole on his forehead. Something crawled up to his arms, as his eyes widened. This was a ghost, probably killed with a weapon which was smashed onto his head. He was dressed in a burial robe made with fine material and craftsmanship, meaning that he had already been en-coffined and buried properly. This wasn't the soul that a living human had lost.
'Then, why is he here?'
Co Hui did not find an explanation for this implausible scenario. Feeling quite worried, he jumped onto the donkey's back, slapped it with a shout, and rode toward the direction of where Li Changpu came up with Chen Chenguang.
Around the area of the ancient tombs, there were a lot of cultivators who wandered around, in hope of if they wait their prey will come out. Somebody dared to hold an evil-attraction flag, but only attracted a bunch of dark spirits who wept despairingly. Co Hui pulled on the reins, scanned around, and asked in a loud, clear voice, "Excuse me and sorry for the interruption, but where did the young masters the Lan Clan go?"
Sure enough, after washing his face, people actually acknowledged him. One cultivator answered, "They left here, for Goddess Temple."
Co Hui spoke, "Goddess Temple?"
The rural clan from back then had sneaked up the mountain again and joined the group of night-hunters, after hearing that all of the deity-binding nets were destroyed. The middle-aged man recognized his clothing and the grimacing donkey, realizing that he was the servant looking man who saw them earlier. He felt quite awkward and pretended that nothing had happened. Nonetheless, the round-faced girl showed him the path, "Over there. It's a divine temple in a cave on the mountain."
Co Hui queried again, "Which divinity is the temple built for?"
The round-faced girl spoke, "I, I assume it's a fundamental rock sculpture of a goddess."
Co Hui nodded, "Thank you." He was about to slap the donkey's back again when the girl asked. "Are you cultivating on your own?" Co Hui was thankful that this person wasn't judging him by his appearance asking him if he was doing night-hunting on his own.
He was flattered.
"Not really, I guess... I'm with the Lan Disciples." After his answer which perplexed the girl, he immediately ran toward the direction of Goddess Temple.
On the other hand, Lan disciples did not find anything in the area of the ancient tombs and had moved on to search for clues in Goddess Temple. In Matti Mein Dabana Mountain, aside from the tombs of the Buddha's Feet ancestors, there was also the Goddess Temple. The being of worship was neither Buddha nor GuanYin, but the statue of a "dancing goddess."
Guanyin is the most famous goddess in the traditional religion of China. She originated from a male Bodhisattva in Buddhism—when the religion was passed through the Silk Road, she somehow ended up becoming a female goddess. (Weird, isn't it?)
People believed that the deity protects the tombs here and keeps the peace but for some reason the mountain contains so much resentful and evil energy making it far from peaceful and such. The townspeople of Matti Mein Dabana's Feet were all astonished and thought that it was a magical stone formed by gathering the energy of Heaven and Earth, making up a series of legends about it. As usual, no one can prove any of the stories true.
Anyhow, there were all sorts of myths, able to make anyone gawk. In the end, the townspeople themselves also started to believe in these legends which came out of their own mouths. Hence, someone turned the stone cave into a temple and the stone platform into a holy seat. The statue was named "Dancing Goddess," and there were worshippers all year round.
The inside of the cave was spacious, with the statue of the goddess set in the center. At first sight, it did indeed look like a human—the maiden's waist could even be considered lithe and graceful. However, after taking a closer look at it, it would seem rougher. Then again, a naturally-formed statue being so similar to an actual human was enough to make most people gasp in awe.
It will really pique your attention if you're a tourist but what people will go here, right?
One of the Lan disciples named Lan Lifen lifted and lowered the compass of evil, but its pointer still didn't move. A thick layer of incense ashes covered the table for offerings, and disordered candles lay on there as well. A sickly sweet scent came from the plates for holding fruits. Most of the people from the Lan Sect had some degree of minor mysophobia. He fanned at the air in front of his nose and spoke, "The locals said that it is quite effective to pray at Goddess Temple, but how can it be this ruined? They should at least come and clean once in a while."
Lan Xiao, "There have already been seven people who lost their souls. Everyone is saying that lightning has let out a fierce creature from the ancient graves of Buddha's Feet, so would anybody dare to come up with the mountain? There is no attendance at the temple and so, naturally, there is nobody to clean the place."
Both Lan Lifen and Lan Xiao still don't have a common name since they're both still young, younger than Huang Shunyuan, and Li Changpu but the same age as Huang Xinyi.
A blank voice came from outside of the cave, "I never thought people could worship this kind of statue." Lan Xiao and Lan Lifen looked at the older cultivator who just entered the cave. It was from Li Changpu.
Lan Lifen whispered to Lan Xiao, "I never thought that Senior Li Changpu can speak." Lan Xiao gave him a disapproving look.
Li Changpu came inside, with his hands crossed behind his back ignoring Lan Lifen's remark.
Lan Lifen looked at the goddess statue and humphed, "These rural villagers don't work hard when they face difficulties, but instead pray to the Buddha and other things every day. There are thousands and millions of people in the world, but gods and Buddhas are already hands-full with their own matters, so who would care about them? Let alone a powerless goddess without status, like this one. If it's really that effective, then I'm gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain to appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?"
A few cultivators from smaller clans came inside, and everyone laughed right after hearing him, agreeing with his words. The originally quiet temple became bustling with noise after the group of people had rushed forth, and space also seemed more cramped. Lan Xiao silently shook his head, turning around and glancing without any aim. His gaze landed on the head of the goddess statue; the features of a compassionately smiling face could vaguely be seen.
Yet, he felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the smile, as if he had seen it somewhere before this.
Where on Earth had he seen it before?
A cultivator who was originally standing behind him had fallen down without any noise. The others were alert with surprise. Li Changpu spoke in a blank tone, "What happened to him?" He seems calm and composed in Lan Xiao's eyes admiring the older disciple from Li Clan secretly.
Lan Xiao held his sword and bent down to examine it. There was nothing wrong with the cultivator's breathing as he had just suddenly fallen asleep. Yet, no matter how hard he was pushed or called, he would not wake up. Lan Xiao stood up, "He seems as if-"
Ere he finished his judgment, the dark cave abruptly lit up. The cave was suddenly covered in red light as if a waterfall of gore was rolling off its surfaces. The candles on the platform for offerings and in the corners of the cave had lighted on their own.
With a few 'shings', everyone in the cave had either drawn their swords or taken out their talismans. At the same time, a person suddenly burst in from outside the temple, holding a gourd of medicinal alcohol. He threw it toward the stone statue, and raging flames sprouted from it, illuminating the stone cave so that it could even pass for daytime.
Co Hui used up all of the items he had found in the qiankun bag. He threw it away and shouted, "Everyone, go back outside! Be cautious of the soul-consuming goddess on the inside!"
"Why would we believe in you?"
He rolled his eyes, pointing at the Goddess' statue.
Someone yelled in surprise, "The goddess pose had changed!"
Before all of the commotion, the statute clearly had one foot lifted and both of its arms raised upward, of which one was pointing directly at the sky, its form graceful. However, amid the crimson and yellow flames, it had lowered both its arms and its foot. There was no doubt—it definitely wasn't a mistake of the eye!
The next moment, the statue lifted one foot again, and stepped out of the fire!
Co Hui shouted, "Run, run, run! Stop slashing your swords around! It won't work!"
Most of the cultivators ignored him because of his attire again. The soul-consuming monster that they had tried so hard to find had finally appeared, so why would they miss out on the chance? However, even with so many swords chopping and stabbing, and so many talismans and magical tools being thrown at it, the statue's advance didn't stop at all.
It was around three meters tall, resembling a titan as it moved (Sings attack on titan openings), giving off a strong sense of oppression. It picked up two cultivators and lifted them in front of its face. The stone mouth seemed like it opened and closed, and the swords in the cultivators' hands dropped to the ground with two clanks. Their heads drooped. Their souls were sucked away.
With no attack methods working properly, the others were finally willing to listen to Co Hui's words. Everyone gushed outside, scattering in all directions as fast as they could. With so many people and faces, the more anxious Co Hui became, the longer it took to find Li Changpu, he wants to say sorry because of something he had done, and that thing weighed on his chest until now.
Co Hui rode on the donkey and ran into a bamboo forest, encountering the juniors from the Lan Clan as he turned around.
Co Hui called for them, "Children!"
Lan Lifen replied, "Who are your children? Do you know which sect we are from? Did you really think that you would be considered a senior just because you washed your face?"
'How did he know I washed my face?! Well, nevermind.' Co Hui spoke, "Okay, okay, okay, gege-s. Send a signal and get your clan's... You know that man that is almost frosting-my-internal-organs up here!"
-Gege means older brother (A cuter term, I guess? They call their Older/Younger Brother/Sister in different terms! It's so many!)
The juniors nodded a few times and ran around while searching for signals. Lan Xiao spoke, "The signal firelights... were all used up during the night at Co Village."
Co Hui's eyes widened. "What are you doing in our- I mean, their village? You're from the north, and what are you doing in the south?!" He shrieked.
Lan Lifen answered, "That's because after Huang Sect cultivates there, All people inside the Co Manor doesn't have any memory of the day before today. They don't even know why they are lying outside so our sect investigated it. Huang Sect cultivator is very irresponsible."
Co Hui raises his brows, he doesn't remember either why is he in Huang Sect's base at that time because he immediately left after that guy broke his pin. He frowned remembering it again.
Co Hui was shocked, "You guys didn't restock afterward?"
The signal firelights were usually only needed once in over eight hundred years. Lan Xiao replied bashfully, "We forgot."
Co Hui tried to scare them as a tease, "Is this a matter that you should forget about? If that guy who almost frost my internal organs knew about this, he's going to make you sorry. As my encounter with him, he was strict."
"How did you know him, and-"
Lan LiFen's face was pale with terror shouting cutting Lan Xiao's words short, "It's over! This time, we are gonna be punished to death by Senior Lan Chaun..."
Co Hui, "Indeed, he should punish you! Without punishment, you wouldn't remember the next time."
Lan Xiao, "Young Master, Young Master! How did you know that it was not a spirit-consuming spirit or beast, but the goddess statue instead?"
Co Hui searched for Li Changpu as he ran, "How did I know? I saw??" He was not sure either.
Lan Lifen also caught up. They each ran on one side of him, "What did you see? We also saw lots of things."
"You saw, so what happens next? What things were in the area of the ancient tombs?"
"What else could there be? There were only dead souls."
"Correct, there were dead souls. This is why it can't be a soul-consuming spirit or beast. It's simple—if it was either of these two, with so many dead spirits in the area, would it have chosen to not eat them? No, it wouldn't have."
This time, there was more than one person who asked, "Why?"
"Just what can I say about your Lan Sect..." Co Hui could not tolerate it anymore, He was quite annoyed. "Why can't you teach less annoying, lengthy nonsense like cultivational etiquette, family trees, and history which requires memorization, and teach more practical things? How is this hard to understand? Dead souls are a lot easier to absorb than living souls. The physical body of a living person is like a shield, and if it wants to eat a live soul, it would have to break the shield. For example..." He looked at the donkey, which panted while running, rolling its eyes, Co Hui chuckled at the donkey's attitude, "For example, if an apple is put in front of you, and another one is put inside a locked box, which one would you choose to eat? Of course, it would be the one in front of you. This creature only eats living souls and knows of a way to obtain them. It is both powerful and selective in terms of food."
Lan Lifen was astonished, "So that's how it works? It makes a lot of sense! Wait, how do you know so much? You're a servant right? I saw you earlier with Senior Lan in the stream, who are you? His slave? how could you know our things? And hey, why are we listening to you in the first place."
Co Hui panted as he felt quite tired but continued to run, "Please lessen your insults for god's sake! I'm also human, you know! I am not a donkey!"
The donkey snarled as if it was insulted.
Lan Xiao explained as he ran, "We all thought that, because the landslide and lightning led to the series of events, it must be a soul-consuming spirit."
Co Hui, "Wrong."
"What is wrong?"
"The order and correlation are wrong. Let me ask you—for the landslide and the soul-consuming events, which ones were the first and second, the cause and effect?"
Lan Xiao answered without thinking twice, "The landslide was the first, and the soul-consumption was the second. The first was the cause, and the latter was the effect."
Co Hui spoke, "Completely wrong. The soul-consumption was first, and the landslide was second. The soul-consumption was the cause, and the landslide was the effect! During the night of the landslide, a storm suddenly started, and a streak of lightning broke a coffin—remember this. This first person to lose their soul, the sluggard, was trapped in the mountains for the whole night, and married a few days later."
Lan Lifen asked, "Where is it wrong?"
Co Hui replied, "It is all wrong! Where would a good-for-nothing and penniless person obtain the money to form such a grand wedding?"
The boys were rendered speechless. But, it couldn't have been helped, since the Lan Sect was a sect that did not need to worry about matters of wealth. Co Hui spoke again, "Did you take a look at all of the dead souls floating in Matti Mein Dabana Mountain? There was an old man who died from a hit to the head, wearing burial clothes that were made with fine craftsmanship and fabric. With such extravagant burial clothes, his coffin couldn't have been empty, and there must have been a few burial items to protect it. The coffin that was broken by the lightning was most likely his. Yet, the people who came to retrieve the corpse did not find any burial items, which meant that they were definitely taken away by the sluggard, explaining why he suddenly became rich. The sluggard suddenly decided to marry someone after the night of the landslide, so something unusual must have happened during the night. On that evening, there was a harsh storm and he took cover in the mountain. Where on Matti Mein Dabana Mountain is it possible to take cover from the rain? Goddess Temple. And, when most people go into a temple, there is one thing that they would do."
Lan Xiao asked, "Pray?"
"Bingo! You must be an intelligent disciple, hahaha. For example, he would pray for himself to be lucky, to become wealthy, to have enough money to marry, and so on. The goddess fulfilled his wish with the lightning that split open the grave, letting him see the treasures in the coffin. His prayers came true and, as the sacrifice, the goddess came to him on the evening of his marriage, and took his soul away!"
Lan Li Fen, "All of these are just your guesses, right?"
Co Hui, "Yes, they are guesses. But, following this train of logic, all of the things that happened afterward could be explained."
Lan Xiao, "How can this explain what happened with the girl, A-Biyu?"
Co Hui, "Great question. You guys probably asked around before you came up the mountain. A-Yan had just got engaged during those days. All recently-engaged girls will definitely have the same wish."
Lan Lifen was befuddled, "What wish?"
Co Hui replied, "None other than something that goes like, 'I wish my husband would love me and care for me for his whole life, attracted to only myself'."
The boys were at a loss, "Would a wish like this really be able to be granted?"
Co Hui held his palms out, "It's simple. If her husband's 'whole life' immediately ended, wouldn't it count as 'loving only one person for his entire life'?"
Lan Lifen finally understood and shouted excitedly, "Oh, oh! So, so, so, the reason behind her husband being eaten by wolves the day after her engagement was that it was highly possible for A-Biyu to have been to Goddess Temple to pray!"
Co hui grabs the chance to continue, "It was hard to say whether he was attacked by a wolf or something else. There is another factor that is unique to A-Biyu: why is that, out of all of the victims, only A-Biyu's soul returned? How is she different from everyone else? The difference is that she has a relative who also lost his soul. Or, in other words, a relative replaced her! Blacksmith Tao is A-Biyu's father, especially one who loved his daughter. So, when he saw that his daughter lost her soul, and there were no ways to deal with it, what was the only thing that he could do?"
This time, Lan Xiao was quick to reply, "He could only entrust his hope to the Heavens. Therefore, he also went to Goddess Temple to pray, the wish being 'I wish my daughter A-Biyu's soul can be found'!"
Co Hui spoke with appraising, "This is why only A-Biyu's soul came back, and also the reason behind Blacksmith Tao losing his soul. However, although A-Biyu's soul was given back, it was still slightly fractured. After her soul returned, she had unconsciously started to imitate the goddess statue's dance and even its smile."
The similarity of the people who lost their souls was that, most likely, they had all prayed in front of the goddess statue. The prices to pay for their wishes were their souls.
The goddess statue was originally just an average rock that happened to look like a person. Having accepted a few hundred years' worth of worship without any reason, it had gained some powers. Yet, because it was greedy and its thoughts ventured off the wrong path, it had wanted to quickly increase its powers by eating souls. These were souls that it obtained by means of swapping wishes, and could be considered as the voluntarily sacrificed souls of the people who prayed.
The two sides had a fair deal, one wish for another, and it seemed to be just and moral. This was why the pointers of the compasses of evil did not move, why the spirit-attraction flags did not work, and why the powers of the swords and talismans were all nullified—the creature in Dafan Mountain wasn't any sprite, demon, ghost, or monster, but a goddess! This was an untitled goddess born from the hundreds of years of incense. Using the items used to deal with evil spirits and beasts to deal with it would be like using fire to distinguish fire!
Lan Lifen shouted loudly, "Wait! Before this, in the temple, someone's soul was also taken away, but we didn't hear him wish!"
Co Hui's heart suddenly jumped. He stopped his footsteps, "Someone's soul was taken away in the temple? Describe to me everything that happened earlier, without missing a single word."
Lan Xiao repeated the scenario both clearly and quickly. When he heard Lan Lifen's talk of 'if it's really that effective, then I'm gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?' He turned to Lan Lifen whose face was struck by the realization, "How is this not wishing? It most definitely is a wish!"
The others agreed with Lan Lifen, so it was accepted that they had all wished the same thing. At the time, the soul-consuming goddess was right in front of them, so the wish was granted. Then, it was time to seize the sacrifice!
Suddenly, the donkey halted and ran in the opposite direction. Co Hui was, again, swung off unprepared, but grabbed on to the rope no matter what. However, in the bushes in front of him, there came a noise of chewing, complete with crunches and slurps. An immense figure was crawling in the bush, its huge head on the ground, and moving using its stomach. Hearing the noise, it immediately lifted its head. Their eyes met.
In the beginning, the soul-consuming goddess's features were vague, and there were only the shapes of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears on its face, but after it had eaten the souls of a few cultivators all at once, it could already form clear features. It was the face of a smiling woman, with blood dripping down the corners of its mouth, munching on an arm that had been torn off.
Everyone, following the donkey, ran in the other direction.
Lan Xiao was breaking down, "That is not supposed to happen! The founder of demonic cultivation Huang You's father had said before, that high-level one eat souls, and only low-level ones eat flesh!"
Co Hui couldn't help but comment, "Why are you blindly worshipping him? Even his own inventions were a mess! No rules stay the same in all situations. You can think of it as an infant—when it lacks teeth, it can only eat congee and soup, but when it grows up, it would, of course, also want to eat meat using its teeth. Her powers had just risen greatly, so naturally, she'd want to taste something new!"
Co Hui slapped his forehead for unknown reasons surprising the disciples at his side. "I don't know whose words this is, but I think what am I saying is true!" He shouted, letting his stress out. His been blabbering for more than half-hour but the source of his information was unknown, it's like he's spouting it out of the blue.
Lan Lifen suddenly asked, "Where's Senior Li??"
The soul-consuming goddess stood up from the ground. Her body was tall. She used her arms and her legs to dance with uncontrollable excitement, seeming like she was extremely pleased. Out of the blue, an arrow came with a whoosh and pierced her forehead, the arrowhead appearing out of the back of her head.
Hearing the sound of the bow's release, Co Hui looked toward its direction. Li Changpu stood atop a tall hill, not far away, and already had his second feathered arrow on the bow. He pulled to the maximum, and another head-penetrating arrow was released, the strength causing the soul-consuming goddess to stagger a few steps backward.
Lan Xiao yelled, "Young Master Li! Send off the signal on you!"
Li Changpu was too busy to hear his words, determined to kill the monster. With a blank face, he set three arrows onto the bow at once. Although she was shot in the head twice, the soul-consuming goddess was not angered and advanced toward Lan Lifen ignoring Li Changpu with the same smile plastered on her face. Although she danced while walking, her speed was terrifyingly fast, decreasing the distance between them by half in just a few moments. A few cultivators appeared from the side and fought with her, hindering her strides.
Li Changpu shot each arrow as the goddess took each step, probably intending to use up all of the feathered arrows first, before fighting in a closer range with the soul-consuming goddess. His arm was quite steady, and his shots were accurate, but all magical weapons were useless against it!
Both Chen Chenguang and Lan Chuan were at Mountain's Feet, Chen Chenguang was waiting for any news meanwhile Lan Chaun was watching his silently, almost as though he won't let him catch nor touch Co Hui that's why he's watching the Vice Sect Leader, so who knows how long it would take for them to realize that something was wrong and come up here.
To extinguish the fire, water was needed. Therefore, if magical weapons didn't work, what about dark sorcery?
"Young Master Co?"
Co Hui unsheathed the sword on Lan Xiao's waist and chopped off a piece of thin bamboo, swiftly making it into a flute. He lifted it up in front of his lips and took a deep breath. The shrill timbre of the flute was like an arrow, slicing through the night sky and shooting into the clouds.
This should have been the last resort for him, but however, with the situation already like this, it didn't matter what he summoned. It'd be fine as long as the dark energy was strong enough and the killing intent was keen enough so that it could rip the soul-consuming goddess into pieces!
Lan Xiao was shocked to the point that he couldn't even move, while Lan LiFen covered his ears, "Look at what situation we are in, and you are still playing the flute? It sounds horrible!"
"Run! The goddess is coming for you!!"
In the battle, three or four of the cultivators who were fighting with the soul-consuming goddess had lost their souls. Lan Lifen pulled out his sword. He was already less than six meters away from the soul-consuming goddess. His heart thumped like crazy, all of the blood in his body went toward his head but after all of those emotions he still let out a sigh, if I can't slice off her head with this blow, I will die here—death it is, then!
Li Changpu stopped fighting with his arrows when he felt someone came. He then saw that it was his friend from the east who wears golden clothing, the new figure wave at him with a cheery smile. "So you're using the bow I gave you, huh? You're soooo good at it!"
Co Hui on the other hand was confused why he made a damn flute not until someone snatched it away from him saying, "Yes, I taught you demonic cultivation in the past but as of now you're not as stable, let me handle this." Co Hui was stared in awe and then again in chaos as he watched the man in red robe play the flute more accurately than him, he wasn't embarrassed on how he played the flute but to Huang You's statement. He can't even react at the moment he was who it was. The wind added effects on the man who is playing the flute, whose robe swayed, his long hair dancing.
"You... He taught me...?"
At the same time, from within the forests of Matti Mein Dabana Mountain, a growling sound appeared.
The sound becomes heavy yet not, It was sometimes faster, sometimes slower; sometimes pausing, sometimes continuing. It echoed in the silent woods, resembling the sound of a tired yet wild beast. It came closer and became louder. For some reason, the sound gave the people an uneasy sense of threat. Even the soul-consuming goddess stopped dancing. It raised its arms, blankly staring into the dark of which the sound came from.
Huang You put away his flute and mischievously looked into the direction.
The sinister feeling that he felt became stronger and stronger, but because it was willing to come due to the summoning, it would at least be something that listened to him. He then smirked when the most awaited pet of his came without any delay.
Then, all of a sudden, the noise stopped. A figure emerged from within the darkness.
After having a clear view of the figure and the face, the cultivators' expressions became twisted.
Even when facing the goddess statue that could suck away their souls at any minute, the group did not cower or show any fear, but however, their shouting voices right now were filled with terror that they could not conceal.
"It's a fierce corpse! A fierce corpse!! It's Huang You's!"
"Huang You is here?!"
"Holy... It's Wu Xian!!"
This was Huang You's greatest weapon.
The word only referred one person—the right-hand man of the son of the founder of the demonic path, who had helped with the tyrant's crimes, stirred upwind and waves, played the jackal to the tiger, overturned the world with him, and most of all was a fierce corpse who destroyed everything on its way in his master's command—Wu Xian.
All of a sudden, Co Hui's surroundings became grey. As if someone poisoned him or something. He held his head, figuring out that his hands were then again bleeding. His breathing distorted, even doing it hurts.