Chapter 36 The Witch
Wen Leyang, Wen Xiaoyi, and Mumu stood and gazed at one another in perfect silence. They speechlessly faced the drawing of a pickle jar on the cave wall which had four limbs and a pair of eyes. Wen Leyang’s muttered in his heart that it was highly improbable that Grand Master Tuoxie was a jar that had cultivated itself into an immortal.
Chang Li propped her chin up with her little hand and said, "Even though the drawing doesn’t look exactly like him, but it’s an accurate representation of his essential characteristics." Upon saying that, she heaved a relaxed and cheerful sigh, asking, "Where is he? Why hasn’t he come to look for me personally? Hehe, wait till the day I get out of here, I will surely pull out all of his hair!" Her fierce tone of speaking could not hide the sense of warmness and concern that rippled in her bright and beautiful eyes.
Wen Xiaoyi quietly scooped a little bit of the ‘Thunder’s Heart Sand’ into the big-muzzled weapon as she used her probing gaze to look towards Chang Li.
Chang Li’s expression returned to an unreadable state as she leaped to Wen Xiaoyi’s side and pointed her slender finger towards the depth of the cave, "Aim at that direction and fire!" As she said that, she used both of her hands and to help cover Wen Xiaoyi’s ears and, wrinkling her little nose she tilted her head with her eyes closed tightly away from the weapon.
There was a clicking sound as Wen Xiaoyi pulled the trigger.
A loud booming sound more terrible than the noise of a landslide erupted from the weapon. The sound was like the claws of the demigod Asura and tore through everyone’s eardrums ferociously!
Thousands of rays of arc lights, like Zeus waving his whip in rage, spread out in all directions and plunged headlong into the depths of the cave!
The pressure caused by the loud sound created a bitterly-cold gale that blew everyone’s hair into a mess. Wen Leyang, Mumu and Wen Xiaoyi all exclaimed loudly as they were slammed heavily backwards yet they could not hear themselves over the din of the noise.
It seemed like almost half a day had passed before the void echo slowly dispersed. Wen Leyang, in a great bustle, helped the two young girls up to their feet. Wen Xiaoyi heaved a long sigh and remarked, "The recoil is even more powerful now!"
Chang Li, her face full of pride, was like a child who had just presented a treasure to her friends, "This cave was fortified by his magic arts. There is a force field within the cave, but if you were to fire it outside, hehe…Oh, when we leave for the outside you might as well try it again, I guarantee your satisfaction. But don’t you ever tell the Grand Master, he is stubborn, cowardly and stingy. He will certainly try to snatch the Thunder’s Heart Sand for himself…"
Wen Leyang coughed once lightly and interrupted Chang Li’s speech as he admitted honestly and sincerely, "We…we are the true descendants of Grand Master Tuoxie."
Evidently, Chang Li’s hostile attitude towards them had completely changed after she had witnessed their practice of Tuoxie’s legacy moves.
Chang Li frowned delicately, "Grand Master?" Following that she shook her head lightly to prevent Wen Leyang from saying anything else. She wrinkled her graceful eyebrows and nodded as she pondered on something for a while. A moment later, she asked, "How many years has it been? From the first year of the reign of Emperor Zhongzong until this very moment, how many years is that?"
Wen Leyang did not know when the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of the Han Dynasty was, but he clearly remembered First Grandfather’s mention that Grand Master Tuoxie had lived in the Shu region during a certain era of the Western Han Dynasty. He was staggered by the implication as he asked in return, "Was that during the Han…The Han Dynasty?"
Chang Li frowned as before, "What do you mean by the Han Dynasty, it is the Great Han Empire!"
Wen Leyang let out a sigh and said in all seriousness, "It has been two thousand years."
A look of dismay and shock, like a burning-hot knife, shattered her gentle and graceful expression. Chang Li’s slender body trembled and slumped towards the ground suddenly. Wen Leyang did not manage to react in time but Wen Xiaoyi ran over and held her up.
Chang Li took a deep breath and managed to control the panic in her heart as she looked towards Wen Leyang with revelation, "So, are all of you his disciples or his disciple’s disciples?"
Mumu was plainspoken and straightforward, without waiting for Wen Leyang’s response, she snapped, "We are all the descendants of Tuoxie, but…it has been over two thousand years, how can you not know that?"
Chang Li’s initially alert gaze turned dull as she looked towards Mumu emotionlessly, "There is no sun and moon in the cave. I have been waiting here all alone but turns out it has already been two thousand years." A sorrowful yet gorgeous twist was on her lips as she said, "He said that he would come and take me out of here. From that day on and every moment of the future amounted to two thousand years. But these two thousand years had passed with just the snap of the fingers! Hahahaha, one snap of the fingers!"
Her disappointment and agony intertwined, her bitter laugh was cracked at the edges.
Mumu’s eyes filled with sympathy but her curiosity rapidly won out against her sympathy as she asked, "You…how could you stay alive for two thousand years? Are you a mortal or a ghost?"
Chang Li’s bitter smile abruptly vanished, her gaze turned savage as she glared at Mumu ferociously. Wen Leyang held his breath and started to gather the strength in his entire body while Wen Xiaoyi was still by Chang Li’s side. This woman appeared to be slightly neurotic and no one could predict whether she will suddenly attack or not.
Fortunately, the feeling of savageness in her glare soon turned complicated as Chang Li looked towards Mumu and asked, "What, he never told you all about me?"
Mumu pursed her lips, "We have never met the Grand Master before. No one has seen him since two thousand years ago, more so, how can a human being live that long?"
Chang Li shot her gaze towards Wen Leyang.
Wen Leyang nodded his head in all honesty, "Two thousand years ago, Grand Master summoned our three families’ ancestors for a meeting in the Shu region. They were his disciples but during the night the thunder…he disappeared after a ‘thunderous escape’."
Mumu’s response was exactly the same as Wen Leyang’s second and third grandpa and she could not help but snigger.
Chang Li too, laughed and it brought along a playful warmth, "What do you mean by ‘thunderous escape’? I am aware of this matter, on that day three of his foolish disciples had returned to the mountain. He was extremely happy and so he totally did not anticipate that I would have blown him up along with his cave using the ‘Thunder’s Heart Sand’!" She held out a finger as slim as a spring onion and pointed at Wen Leyang’s forehead, "What’s with your intense look? If I’d wanted to harm any of you, all of you would have been dead several times over already."
Wen Leyang’s little trick was exposed by Chang Li but he did not blush, instead, he questioned her closely with a frown, "Then you…were you the one who killed Grand Master Tuoxie?"
Wen Leyang was hesitating because he wasn’t sure if she would turn hostile. Fortunately, Chang Li only laughed as she shook her head, "With such great capabilities, who could even touch him! I had only used the ‘Thunder’s Heart Sand’ to blast the cave that he had been staying into pieces! Afterwards, he had chased after me with a frenzy of rage."
Mumu’s expression was puzzled, "Why did you get his attention so he would chase after you?"
Chang Li smiled spuriously and looked towards both Mumu and Wen Leyang. Her words hid meanings between the lines, "You have a silly little boy as a guardian by your side, so how can you understand another’s hardship…I cannot tell what good this silly little boy has but...he was only slightly stronger than this silly little boy at that time. He would smile foolishly every day, his puffy cheeks were so hideous."
Mumu’s pretty face turned red, she turned and glared at Wen Leyang then surreptitiously glanced at Wen Xiaoyi who was thoroughly engrossed with listening to the story.
Wen Leyang, too, blushed scarlet. He felt awfully unjust in his heart and met her glance as he reached for a carrot. He wasn’t sure what to say; his heart was completely focused on finding his missing grandfathers. This woman here said that she was an old acquaintance of Grand Master Tuoxie. In addition, the cave at Zhanyan Peak contained the evidence of the Faulty Punch and the Plague Ointment. Judging by the look of things these two were most likely to be connected in some way. However, Chang Li who was standing in front of his eyes was powerful beyond imagination but her way of speaking and handling matters was even more confusing to him. He was too afraid to acknowledge her and even more hesitant to bring up questions about the whereabouts of his four grandfather – perhaps even the grandfathers had fallen into her hands.
Wen Xiaoyi was oblivious to the two big blushing faces and she innocently asked from her side, "Were Grand Master Tuoxie’s capabilities powerful? Was he even more powerful than you?"
Chang Li’s eyes once again shimmered with an enchanting glow, "Of course that is the case! I can only count a few persons in this world who were capable of challenging him. Back then there was a fellow who was attracted to me, he kept bothering me all day and irritated me so badly that I finally killed him."
"Whoa!" Wen Xiaoyi, Mumu and Wen Leyang simultaneously exclaimed in alarm.
Chang Li pursed her lips nonchalantly as if this incident was not worth to make a fuss over, "That fellow’s father came to me seeking for revenge. He managed to catch up to me at a crucial moment as I was about to break through a demon’s spell. I could not defend myself so the only choice was to run, unexpectedly then I met him…" As she was saying that her extremely exquisite face floated with joyous radiance. She continued, "Naturally he wasn’t aware of what had happened for when he saw that I was being bullied by the old demon, he came forward and attacked him. He may have appeared to look like an idiot, but when he fought he was awfully fierce and malicious. I’ve never seen such a ferocious pair of eyes before."
Wen Leyang and Mumu looked into each other’s eyes simultaneously; they both felt that this Grand Master of theirs had been quite an indiscriminate fellow.
"He was exceptional; his physique was tougher than a huge mountain and his fists were harder than titanium. Ever since then, I’ve been following him but he never had any concern towards me. It’s all that old demon’s fault, for he managed to tell him the situation about his son before he died. He had always been simple-minded, when he was bullied by those soulless laymen he would only smile and regard it as nothing. But not for me, those who had bullied him during the day would face retribution when I killed their entire family at night; those who treated him unpleasantly, no one in their village would live to see another day."
Wen Leyang was holding the carrot but he forgot to put it in his mouth as he muttered, "I bet that after this had happened, he cared even less about you." That phrase petrified Mumu so much that she hastily shot him a warning glare.
