Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Escorting the Buddha All the Way to the West
Wu Chang returned to Huai Valley Village, pretending nothing had happened, and continued to stake out outside the villagers’ residential area.
The sounds of shouting and killing from the direction of the Year Expulsion Ceremony gradually became weaker, likely reaching a conclusion soon.
After the Year Expulsion Ceremony, how should he persuade Liu Shan to complete the side quest?
Before he could think of a suitable pretext, he saw a villager running fast toward the residential area while yelling, "Hero Wu!"
The villager was shouting passionately, but who knew a voice suddenly came from behind, scaring him into a shudder.
"What’s the matter?"
The villager turned back, anxiously saying, "Hero Wu, the village chief requests your presence."
Wu Chang followed the villager to the ceremony site and immediately saw Liu Shan standing on the altar, holding the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp.
Seeing Wu Chang, Liu Shan seemed to have found a savior and hurriedly came to him, explaining the current situation.
As the battle continued, with the increase in casualties, the villagers’ fear of the Evil Qi intensified.
The intensified fear allowed the Evil Qi to break free from its seal to a greater extent.
A faint black Evil Qi spilled out from the Hollow Mountain, penetrating the bodies of two New Year’s victims controlled by the Evil Qi.
The Evil Qi inside the New Year’s victims surged, making them incite the villagers’ evil thoughts and bring diseases and plagues.
The villagers fighting the New Year’s victims began to show obvious symptoms, such as fever, cold, tinnitus, dizziness, and general weakness were just basics.
Villagers wounded by the New Year’s victims would fall seriously ill and collapse on the ground, with foreheads as hot as red coals, able to cough up blood after three sentences.
Given the medical conditions in ancient settings, not to mention continuing the fight, even an ordinary doctor would say "Can’t treat" "Just wait to die" "Goodbye" one after another upon seeing them.
The villagers had to spare some to care for the wounded while constantly guarding against the possibility of those carers being controlled by evil thoughts, then harming the wounded.
All this led to a drastic disadvantage for the villagers’ side, even after Liu Wei killed a New Year’s victim.
Liu Shan anxiously asked, "Hero Wu, what should we do?"
Wu Chang quickly thought, with the seal inside the Hollow Mountain loosening, wasn’t this the best chance to observe the source of the Evil Qi?
He lowered his gaze to prevent Liu Shan from seeing his thoughts and said solemnly:
"The situation is complex; I plan to go to the Year Expulsion Array in the Hollow Mountain and see if there’s a way for a breakthrough there."
Liu Shan hesitated slightly before agreeing to Wu Chang’s request.
Liu Shan held the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp, and with the light from it, they could easily navigate through the pervasive Evil Qi.
They quickly reached the Hollow Mountain, where, due to the loosened seal, the cave inside was already filled with Evil Qi.
The two villagers guarding the cave front had already turned cold.
They stood straight, each pulling out the Mountain-Cutting Saber from their waists, decisively slashing toward each other.
The force of the slash was substantial enough to tear flesh with the poorly maintained dull blade, embedding it in the other’s neck.
They watched each other’s neck blood spurt with faces of blissful smiles.
The two villagers who perished together formed an arch in front of the cave, welcoming Wu Chang and Liu Shan in.
Liu Shan used the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp to shine on the two, purifying the Evil Qi on them, allowing their bodies to collapse and give way.
The cave inside was even more dire.
The villagers maintaining the Array inside the cave had all been murdered, killed in mutual slaughter, their post-mortem faces with smiles.
The enclosure for the Mountain Guardian Beasts was also destroyed amidst the chaos, and the Mountain Guardian Beasts were all gone, likely having escaped amidst the chaos.
Looking at the mess in front of him, Liu Shan didn’t know if the shock was too great, but he fell into a strange numb state.
He turned to Wu Chang, asking, "Hero Wu, where should we start the investigation?"
Wu Chang feigned a casual look around, not forgetting to make some hand calculations.
He circled in place twice before suddenly stopping, sharply looking at the Stone Buddha.
"From my observation, the Evil Qi is emerging from below ground; is there still a path in the village leading to the Bottomless Pit? Perhaps there will be some discovery there."
Liu Shan frowned tightly, shaking his head, "Hero Wu, the underground is perilous; there were previously some heroes who entered, but none returned. If you go..."
Wu Chang reached out to stop Liu Shan’s words.
"No worries, with the constant tragedies in the village, how can we cultivators stand idly by? Chief, please do not dissuade me, I’ve decided to fight the Evil Qi to the death."
Liu Shan sighed and asked: "Hero Wu, are you sure you want to go?"
Wu Chang nodded.
"Very well, hero, follow me."
Liu Shan led Wu Chang to the front of the Stone Buddha, pressing on the Stone Buddha, and a secret door opened at the Buddha’s belly.
Wu Chang holding a torch walked to the secret door and peeked down.
As Liu Shan said, below the mountain was a Bottomless Pit, pitch black and of unknown depth.
He was about to turn back to ask Liu Shan how to descend when suddenly a gust of wind sounded behind him.
In his peripheral vision, he saw the slender, elderly Liu Shan, now like a vulture, moving as swiftly as flying low, who had been five meters away from him, arrived at his back instantly.
Bone-knobbing, slender hand curled to a claw, grabbed his back heart.
With immense force, he was uncontrollably flung into the secret door, plunging into the Bottomless Pit.
Luckily, although the pit seemed bottomless, in reality, three to four tens of meters down there was an underground dark river forming a pool.
Thanks to this underground dark river, he didn’t end up crashed.
Relying on his robust physique, Wu Chang dog-paddled out of the pool, spitting out the water in his mouth, his eyes full of astonishment.
Old Liu Shan, usually frail-looking and hiding behind people with a frightened look when the New Year’s victims mutated.
Who knew he was the top combat strength in Huai Valley Village, his true ability exceeding Liu Wei’s by a notch.
Truly, the biting dog doesn’t bark. What an old dog.
He looked up, seeing Liu Shan holding the Four-sided Age Fire Lamp, looking down at him from the secret door.
"Chief Liu Shan, what is the meaning of this?" Wu Chang hollered.
"Hero Wu can still speak? I’m truly getting old; back when I roamed the martial world, peers called me the Flying Cloud Eagle, with one claw it should be able to break half of the hero’s bones. Haven’t made a move in ages, my skills are rusty."
The disguised Liu Shan now stood straight, shoulders broad, posture imposing.
The hunched stature now surprisingly looking quite burly.
"The matter of the Evil Qi concerns the lives of the whole village, yet we especially trust the competent persons from outside going up the mountain, willing to let them act boldly, Hero Wu, do you know why?"
"Why?"
Liu Shan leisurely said, "Because the Evil Qi is no different from livestock, it’s a fool driven by instinct, as long as you feed it, it will quiet down and fall back asleep."
"Hero, delivering the Buddha escorts to the west, since you said you have resolved to die, please help Huai Valley Village for the final stretch."
Saying that, Liu Shan burst into a wild laugh, his laughter hoarse and piercing, akin to an aged crow.
"Chief Liu Shan, wait!" Wu Chang shouted, stopping Liu Shan who was about to leave.
"If Hero Wu has any last words, please speak tersely, the village is still waiting for me," Liu Shan coldly said.
"It’s nothing major, just a suggestion."
"What is it?"
Wu Chang cleared his throat and said:
"As a villain, you don’t need to laugh ’ke ke ke ke ke’, lacks the proper taste. Go practice it when you get back, I’ll assess you next time we meet."