The Adventures of a Naive Apprentice 2
Calamity has arrived; there is no escaping it.
With his baggage packed and protective artifacts gathered, Huaiwen was both excited and cautious before his departure. However, Liu Xi, deeply concerned for his disciple, feared that his only apprentice might die on the training journey.
So he gave the two little ghosts to Huaiwen, worried that Huaiwen alone couldn't defeat those monsters and Taoists. At least one little ghost could go home and report the news, and if it died, Liuxi could come and collect the body.
Huaiwen felt wronged, but he was used to it. He just kept thinking about what was recorded on the scroll, going through it in his mind, and finally decided to go to Baidi City in Wei to find Song Ziheng first.
The two strange creatures left the city of transvestites, intending to find lodging before nightfall. However, their legs couldn't keep up with those on horseback, so they couldn't find a place to stay in the town. They had no choice but to stay in a dilapidated temple.
Huaiwen entered with a mouthful of cobwebs. In the pitch black, he tried to pull out the small nightlight from the transvestite quarters. Suddenly, a red light flashed.
Demon Slayer was startled and cried out, which made Huaiwen scream as well. The master and two servants were so frantic that they paced back and forth in place.
"call--"
A gust of wind blew in from somewhere, accompanied by the red light flashing in the temple, like a thunderstorm.
With a loud "boom," a red light illuminated the temple's statue. It was clearly a statue with sharp angles and exquisite details, yet it appeared deathly pale.
The statue's eyes appeared gentle and kind, yet Huaiwen's fear was reflected in its pupils; its lips seemed to be merely adorned with a slight smile, but that smile was utterly mocking and contemptuous.
The statue sat cross-legged on a lotus flower. But Huaiwen felt that the statue was not sitting on a lotus flower, but on a coffin. It wasn't that it was sitting cross-legged; it was that it was suppressing the resentment beneath the coffin.
The little ghost who should have been beside Huaiwen was nowhere to be found; she was all alone in this eerie and bizarre temple. Huaiwen turned to run, but he couldn't escape.
Huaiwen hurriedly took out a white talisman and wrote the character "破" (break) on it, but the magic was useless. Just as she was about to find a prop to help her, Huaiwen suddenly felt a shadow rise up behind her, and she froze.
She turned around stiffly and saw that the statue had suddenly come to life and stretched out its large hand to slap Huaiwen.
Huaiwen didn't have time to run, so she fell to her right, the fall causing her chest to ache. But before she could think further, the statue's massive hand tried to crush her once more.
She could only dodge and weave like a little groundhog, barely managing to calm herself down before digging out a useful little magical artifact to temporarily block the giant palm's attack. Who knew the statue would suddenly stand up and rush straight at Huaiwen, seemingly intent on devouring her whole.
Huaiwen clutched his head, thinking how pitiful it was to die so soon after leaving on a long trip. He wondered if he would even have a complete corpse. As he was lost in thought, he suddenly saw a flash of cold light, and the statue was cut in two. Blood splattered from the clay statue, dripping onto Huaiwen like a light rain.
Although she had been rescued, she was terrified. She remembered Liu Xi saying that the last guard, when killing, loved to explode people, letting the blood fall through the air and listen to the dripping sound. Thus, he earned the nickname "Blood Bell."
The temple was completely dark, yet the Blood Bell clearly lifted Huaiwen up, dangling him in the air and bobbing him around. Huaiwen held his breath, only able to stealthily pull out the white talisman from his body.
She tried to use a little trick to deceive Xue Yulinling, but was grabbed and thrown heavily to the ground, her face contorted in pain.
Huaiwen suddenly remembered that there was a scroll in the human and demon world that described the Blood Bell: This demon is evil and will bring chaos to the world, but if there is a chance, it can still be used.
She rolled on the ground, instinctively crying out, "Lord City Lord! Show mercy!"
Sure enough, the temple fell silent instantly upon hearing those words. Several candles were suddenly lit, gradually illuminating the entire room. Huaiwen's mind raced, and she carefully turned around.
Xue Linling, dressed in a deep crimson robe, sat imposingly on the platform, toying with Huaiwen's small nightlight. His features were distinct and clear; he looked at Huaiwen with a half-smile and casually asked, "Still alive?"
Huaiwen dusted off his clothes, stood up, and bowed respectfully: "Thanks to the city lord, I'm fine."
"Do you know who I am?"
Huaiwen wiped the blood from his face and sighed helplessly, "It's hard for me not to know who you are."
"Not too stupid."
A red light shone on Xue Linling's face, and Huaiwen couldn't help but recall Liu Xi's instructions to her before she left: if she saw the last guard, her first priority was to save her own life.
Huaiwen shuddered, trying hard to recall the deeds of this Xue Linling. Perhaps it was Xue Linling's cold and indifferent demeanor that gave her goosebumps, causing her to forget the contents of the scroll.
But I remembered his great name—Lingshan Xuanye.
Huaiwen thought that even if she had to save her life, since she had encountered the Demon King as soon as she went out, she couldn't miss this opportunity. She should test him appropriately and then subdue him.
After a moment of hesitation, Huaiwen spoke, "Lord City Lord, thank you for saving me from injury. However, I'm quite curious, what brings you here?"
Xuan Ye glanced at Huai Wen, as if he could see through him and discern something about him. His senses were heightened; he sensed that Huai Wen's scent was unfamiliar. He frowned, remained silent for a long while, and then gradually calmed the turmoil in his heart.
I've never seen you before.
Huaiwen was puzzled but replied, "This isn't the first time we've met, so of course you haven't seen me before."
Xuan Ye ignored that question and asked, "Aren't you afraid of me?"
Who wouldn't be afraid? It's said in the Three Realms that if you encounter Ling Shan Xuan Ye, you should avoid him. However, Huai Wen remembered that a hundred years ago, a ferocious beast came out to do evil. The cultivators' skills were not deep enough, and they were defeated. Even the gods who came down were defeated.
People were filled with fear and anxiety; the world was in turmoil. They prayed for peace and hoped for the emergence of heroes.
Perhaps it was a sincere prayer that brought salvation, for Ling Shan Xuan Ye, dressed in red, appeared and slew the beast.
People have seen a new hero.
The usually cold-blooded demon king Lingshan Xuanye, who was indifferent to worldly affairs, actually stepped in to help, killing the century-old ferocious beast and changing the world's perception of him from a ruthless killer to a living bodhisattva sent from heaven.
The millions of people were deeply moved and knelt down to kowtow. Before them, they did not see the cruel and murderous demon king Lingshan Xuanye, but the king who had saved their lives.
At this point, Lingshan Xuanye also changed his image; he became a savior, a demon god to whom hope was placed.
How could a demon god who has changed his image like this like others saying they are afraid of him?
Huaiwen thought for a while and finally replied, "Ha, how could I be afraid? Didn't I say you just saved me? But I have no way to repay you, so I'll give you that little nightlight you're carrying. This little nightlight is very useful..."
Suddenly, Xuan Ye sealed Huaiwen's mouth shut, preventing him from speaking.
Xuan Ye placed the nightlight on the table and stepped down from the altar: "You are thin, with loose skin, a pale complexion, poor Taoist skills, and a cowardly nature. In what way do you resemble her descendant?"
Huaiwen opened her mouth to refute, but couldn't speak. She looked at Xuan Ye as he examined her and said, "Covered in wounds, bound by curses, your master is stupid and incompetent, yet you still want to cultivate immortality and attain enlightenment? What a fool's dream."
"Throughout the generations, not a single one of them has been able to withstand the demons and monsters. Now that it's your turn, there's no chance of survival. This is your last chance. If you can't find those two little monsters and escape from this temple, you're just a useless piece of trash, and I don't need to worry about you anymore."
After saying those words, Xuan Ye disappeared.
With a "thud," Huaiwen's closed mouth was able to speak. She took a few breaths to clear her throat, looked around, and only relaxed slightly after seeing that Xuan Ye had really disappeared.
But then she remembered Xuan Ye's words and became wary. What kind of talk was that? How could she have eliminated the demon? How could her master be incompetent? And how could he have made her seem so worthless!
She's going to show him!
Huaiwen first shouted the name of Onikiri, but there was no response. She then rushed towards the door, but she couldn't get past it, as if she was trapped inside.
Huaiwen frowned, took out a white talisman, used her hand as a pen to write the character "broken," and threw it towards the door, but there was no reaction. Immediately, she rummaged through her treasure bag for small props.
The demon-revealing mirror, the scented sachet, the cooling pills, the steamed buns… none of these seemed to be of much use in escaping the temple. Huaiwen sat cross-legged on the ground, scratching his cheek and ears.
Xuan Ye, who had witnessed everything from outside the temple, had reddened eyes and an icy expression. He had received a letter from his informant saying that the transvestite Suo Liuxi had taken on a male apprentice, and he had simply asked someone to keep an eye on things.
These past few days, he had suddenly felt a vague unease for some reason, so he went to the transvestite monastery in person. However, he received news halfway there that the monastery's young apprentice was going down the mountain. This piqued his curiosity, so he came to take a look.
Unexpectedly, he saw this ignorant apprentice leading Demon Slayer into this dilapidated and eerie temple, and coincidentally, he knew who the god worshipped in this ruined temple was. So he simply set a trap to test this young apprentice.
Who would have thought that this young apprentice from the ladyboy temple would first fail to recognize who the gods in the temple were, and then, even more timid than little ghosts, scream in terror. He was then bullied by the enormous statue, jumping and dodging about helplessly.
What a waste of our ancestors' bloodline!
Xuan Ye let out a long sigh of relief. He still had questions about the person in front of him. How could someone who was only seventeen or eighteen years old be covered in cursed shackles? He had never seen such vicious cursed shackles in his thousand years of life.
Driven by curiosity, Xuan Ye looked up and peered into the temple again. He had expected Huai Wen to try to find a way out, but to his surprise, she was so tired that she started eating steamed buns on the spot.
Xuan Ye suddenly lost the desire to test him.
As night fell, birds fluttered their wings and flew away from the branches. Inside the temple, Huaiwen took a few bites of her steamed bun, her eyes darting left and right. She sighed deliberately, "I knew it! Onikiri definitely didn't store these buns properly; they're all covered in sand. And Onikiri too, he said he prepared a pot of water, but I haven't seen him go anywhere."
A sound came from somewhere in the temple, but Huaiwen deliberately didn't look. She took another bite of her steamed bun, stood up, walked to the doorway, looked up at the night sky, and exclaimed, "Hey, why are there fireworks outside?"
Sure enough, the sound grew louder. Huaiwen seized the opportunity, held the white talisman she had prepared between her two fingertips and shot it, shattering the illusion set up by Xuan Ye and revealing the two Onikiri that had turned into wine jars.
She ran over, sullen and hands on her hips: "How did he turn you all into wine jars?"
The two wine jars wobbled precariously, seemingly lamenting their plight. Huaiwen tried to transform the two little ghosts back to normal, but discovered that the illusion magic surrounding them was extraordinary.
Huaiwen sighed. What was Lingshan Xuanye trying to do by falling to the ground? She shook her head and took out a white talisman, then a pen from her treasure bag, drawing incantations on it. She stuck it on the wine jar, chanting a spell.
The little monster that should have turned back into its original form instead became a round, chubby winter melon. Huaiwen hummed in agreement, tilting her head as she realized she had made a mistake in the previous step.
Just as Huaiwen was worrying, she suddenly felt a chilling aura coming from behind her. She stiffened, and when she tried to sweep her leg, her whole body was frozen in place.
A red thread emerged from Huaiwen's head and stretched all the way to the outside of the temple. With the sound of footsteps, it seemed someone had entered. The red thread was gently plucked, and Huaiwen was turned around like a puppet.
Huaiwen froze for a moment. Where did the footsteps come from? Where was everyone? Only the red silk thread fluttering in the air.
Just as Huaiwen was about to reach out and grab the red thread, a stream of light came from the other end of the red thread, as if it had been injected into the red thread. Huaiwen's mind went blank.
Her body began to burn, and gradually something entered her blank mind—a chaotic mix of screams, cries, and the sound of blood splattering…
Huaiwen couldn't help but kneel on the ground, clutching her head in excruciating pain. Suddenly, a burst of black energy exploded from her body.
The demon slayer, Onikiri, was also affected, exploding into its true form and bleeding. It seemed that if this continued, Huaiwen would bleed to death from all seven orifices.
Just as he was about to faint, Huaiwen saw Xuan Ye returning from outside, having fought his way back. He lit the red thread and burned it to ashes.
The moment Huaiwen collapsed, only one thought occupied her mind—she was determined to take him down.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com