Chapter 38 No Entry
Chang Li reached out her arm to stop them, she spat as she lightly cursed them, "Are you trying to get yourselves killed? The prohibition spell that he left behind will never allow all of you to rampage around at will! If all of you were to be within my sight and were then killed by the prohibition spell that he had left behind, how can I ever have the nerve to face him again! Follow carefully behind me, whoever that tries to exceed me by one step, I’ll gouge their eyeballs out!" She seemed to feel that she had reacted too harshly so she chuckled and asked, "Do you actually believe that I would gouge out your eyeballs?"
The three of them had become accustomed to Chang Li’s rapid mood changes so upon hearing what she said, they all nodded their head in agreement. The witch smiled and said, "Since he can’t come to look for me… let’s see if those disciples and their disciples really did die by his hand." In her manner of speaking, she seems to think that this was a very interesting affair.
Chang Li led the way while Wen Leyang and the two young girls followed immediately behind her. They absolutely dared not exceed her boundaries so their speed was not considered to be fast. At every few meters, Chang Li would instruct them to wait as she walked ahead alone and disappeared within the cave’s winding path. Sometimes it only takes less than a minute while other times it takes more than half an hour before she would appear again and bring them along the pathway. Every once in a while she would voice her grievances, "He’s such a stubborn person, ever since my injuries had fully healed, who could still harm me? What was the purpose of setting so many cruel prohibition spells?"
Mumu laughed from the side, "Grand Master must have really cared about you."
Chang Li was like a joyous newlywed and she peeked once at Mumu cheerfully.
The cave was long and winding, its length far exceeded Wen Leyang’s imagination. Even Chang Li was surprised – though she had stayed in this place for almost two thousand years, she had never thought of walking all the way through the cave. However, the witch kept to a slow pace as she knew that Tuoxie had laid out many prohibition spells all along the path before he left the cave. This was the first time she had ever walked this way and she could almost feel the spirit left behind by Tuoxie through traces that he had left behind in the cave. She would gently caress some of the artifacts that they encountered on the pathway for a little while.
The prohibition spells that had been left behind by Tuoxie had almost no effect on Chang Li at all. There was not even a single prohibition spell which was capable of stopping her.
Mumu muttered to Wen Leyang from the side, "She…if she had wanted to go outside…why did she wait two thousand years?"
Chang Li turned around and cracked a charming smile, "If it wasn’t for you telling me that he won’t come back, I would have continued to wait, haha! He told me to wait for him, so I’m better off waiting for him here."
The three youngsters didn’t know what to say, there were very few people in this world who could truly comprehend Chang Li’s willful and extreme way of thinking.
Almost half a day had passed and Wen Leyang and the two girls were stopped at another winding part of the cave. After a tense period of waiting, Chang Li’s voice came from ahead of them, "Come and take a look, are they from your family?"
Wen Leyang’s heart was in his throat as he rushed forward with large strides. He turned the corner and noticed a light in the distance, this winding path has almost reached its end. Chang Li stood with a grimace in front of him, the ground underneath her feet all the way to the cave’s exit was strewn with corpses!
Wen Leyang was frowning as he passed slowly along the pathway of corpses. Wen Xiaoyi and Mumu were ghastly pale but they continued to follow behind him. Both young girls reached out their hand and grabbed tightly onto Wen Leyang’s sleeves.
After a little while, Wen Xiaoyi was the first to heave a long breath, "These are not the people from the Death Trademark, I don’t recognize them at all." Wen Leyang also did not find his four grandfathers amongst the corpses but his heart felt calmer upon hearing the little girl’s words. The people from the death Trademark would have never left the elder’s corpses lying around callously. He then turned to look at Mumu.
Mumu too shook her head.
There were almost a hundred corpses, both male and female, lying on the ground. Judging from their attire and appearance, the majority of them seemed to be from the city and were from a well-to-do background. Wen Leyang had never even heard of the brands of the watches which were on some of the bodies. The victims had all died in different ways; some were badly mutilated, some died smiling, and some had black colored tear stains on their faces.
Wen Xiaoyi gulped nervously and observed with a trembling voice, "Some of them were…poisoned by our Wen family’s poison, some of them were cursed by the Miao’s witchcraft, while some…"
Mumu interrupted from the side, "There’s also the Corpse Refining Art from Crow Ridge!" Her voice was trembling mildly – even though she was used to seeing corpses from a young age, those had been ancient corpses or zombie corpses. It was her first time seeing so many fresh corpses all at once. The prohibition spells that had been laid by Grand Master Tuoxie were rather humane as it also preserved the freshness of the corpses.
Mumu finished speaking and paused for a moment, a look of worry appeared on her face as she asked, "If…the grand elders of our families didn’t come here, then where did they go?"
Wen Leyang’s answer was straight to the point, "You should ask that question to the Great Mercy Temple."
Mumu had a sudden revelation – firstly, the monks from the Great Mercy Temple were obstructing others from ascending to Zhanyan Peak. Secondly, the only place at Mount Emei capable of capturing the Wen Bucao and the master cultivators of Crow Ridge was the mighty Great Mercy Temple. Mumu would have come to that conclusion herself but she was disconcerted by the pile of corpses and her brain froze at that moment. She cocked her eye at Wen Leyag and commented, "You’re actually quite clever!"
Wen Xiaoyi held her big-muzzled blunderbuss and chimed in proudly, "Of course he is!"
Chang Li stood aside with her arms folded across her chest. There was a smile on her face, as if the gruesome corpses on the ground were nothing but carrots and cabbages, not even worth her attention. She explained, "This is the first set of prohibition spells at the entrance of the cave. It looks like witchcraft and deadly poison were combined through the use of the Corpse and Soul Technique. It appeared that he cared for his disciples and this set of prohibition spells were meant as a warning, it was not meant to kill…" She was halfway through speaking when she frowned suddenly and her voice turned shaky, "Unless he…at the time of his leaving he knew that he would never see his three disciples ever again?"
Wen Leyang watched as Chang Li’s expression turned ashen instantly, "Grand Master could be…maybe he just wanted to let you heal your injuries and for you to not worry about other matters. The prohibition spells that he had put in place were not meant to trap you as there is an exit at the other end of the cave too. You would have been able to leave anytime when your injuries were healed. But you… you had waited for two thousand years by yourself?"
Chang Li smiled, but there was no one who could read her smile.
It might be due to the effect of the prohibition spells – the outside of the cave was shining with bright light until it was difficult to see anything clearly, but no ray of light had projected into the cave at all.
A mural with three thick lines had been roughly carved into the stone wall near the entrance of the cave. Wen Xiaoyi explained to Wen Leyang in a low voice, "These are the primary styles of the Faulty Punch, the Witchcraft Play, and the Corpse Dance."
Wen Leyang nodded his head, he knew that these three abilities differentiated the Wen, the Miao, and the Luo respectively with their own unique set of inherited teachings and skills. On the other side of the murals were two large words carved in lively and vigorous flourishes of Guzuan calligraphy which warned: "No Entry!"
Chang Li was still smiling as she explained, "This was a reminder for his disciples and any who came after. Your grandfather probably saw these two words and understood his meaning." As she spoke, she held out her hand and lightly pressed the stone wall. The entire mural and the Guzuan warning immediately turned to dust and scattered down onto the ground. "All the prohibition spells had been broken by me, people can now come and go as they like. Let’s get out of here."
Wen Leyang nodded his head in agreement but made no move to leave the cave. He stared at Chang Li and almost said out loud, "We will follow you out." Zhanyan Peak had been enshrouded with golden light, the group of rogue cultivators and the leaders of the five supreme monasteries from the Great Mercy Temple were also fighting on the mountain. Who knows what might fly towards his nose if he were to leave the cave first.
Chang Li snickered then laughed out loud, she extended her hand and pulled Wen Leyang along as she started striding towards the lustrous and dazzling white light at the cave’s exit.
There was no sensation as they walked through that light, I was like walking through a doorway into another room. The four of them stepped out of that ancient cave as an icy-cold and refreshing mountain breeze blew past their faces gently. Chang Li inhaled deeply and an expression of ecstasy appeared on her face.
Outside of the mountain cave, it was already dusk.
Suddenly, there was a clattering sound.
A wooden fish had fallen onto the ground, bouncing twice before rolling a short distance forward.
