Chapter 52: The Bronze Bell Falls into the Mist
Cang Ming was saying in confusion, "What a familiar sound..." when he saw two figures appear in the distance on the opposite mountain.
The way these two people walked was very strange, as if they had to overlap each other, taking steps forward with their hands and feet in unison, looking like close brothers.
When I walked closer, I found that it was one person carrying another person.
Only after they climbed up the mountain did they finally see that it was Zhong Wuqi who was walking into the mountain with a puppet tied to his back, making a clanging sound.
Cang Ming stood in the open space halfway up the mountain, looking down at Zhong Wuqi and his loyal followers. Wei Ci crossed his arms and said sullenly, "You came back at this time, really disturbing other people's work."
Zhong Wuqi's five senses were unclear and he was panting heavily from climbing. It was not until he reached the top of the hill that he suddenly realized there were two people standing in front of him.
"Hey!" Zhong Wuqi shouted, pointing at Cang Ming, "You thief, return my carriage to me!"
"What carriage?" Cang Ming was stunned, then he remembered the shabby carriage that the deputy general found, and almost laughed.
Wei Ci looked at Zhong Wuqi coldly: "Put your finger back."
Zhong Wuqi quickly pulled his arm back, fearing his fingers would be chopped off by the swords. He put his hands behind his back and cried out, "The immortal is trying to kill people... The death star stole my master's ancestral carriage..."
Cang Ming, sword in hand, walked slowly towards him on the green grass and asked simply, "Do you have money?"
Not yet resigned: “?”
Zhong Wuqi immediately rolled over on the ground, howling as he was hit by the rocks on the mountain and the puppet on his back, while complaining, "The immortal is trying to steal my money..."
Cang Ming opened his pouch with a sword, and the cold touch of the sword tip made him shiver. Zhong Wuqi froze in place like a stone statue, holding up his hands.
The puppet behind him was still singing a duet with its jaw opening and closing: "Immortal, I advise you not to kill mortals indiscriminately, or you will be punished..."
He searched Zhong Wuqi's body with the tip of his sword, but found nothing but an IOU. Cang Ming retracted his sword and said coldly, "You don't have the money to take back Tongduo Mountain. I will buy Tongduo Mountain from that Green-Faced Ghost. From now on, you have nothing to do with the Tongduo Sect, and you are forbidden to enter the mountain again. Get out of here!"
"Bah!" Zhong Wuqi suddenly forgot his fear of death. "I am the orthodox master. Why do you want to expel me from the sect? You can expel me just like that?"
Wei Ci snorted, "Idiot."
Cang Ming imitated his tone and said, "Idiot."
The two of them didn't need to look at each other, they just smiled. Cang Ming took out the deed to Tongduo Mountain from his hidden pocket and asked Zhong Wuqi with a grin, "You said you were the master of the Tongduo Sect? Then how did this thing end up in my hands?"
Zhong Wuqi's pupils shrank in shock and fear. He finally realized that he no longer had any written evidence to prove his status as the current Master of the Tongduo Sect.
With a bang, Zhong Wuqi was like a big carp that flew into the air. When he landed, he tried to hug Cang Ming's legs: "Bandit!"
Cang Ming leaped back lightly in disdain. Wei Ci stepped on his back, his brows dark and his eyes glaring. Cang Ming berated him, "If you hadn't encouraged all the disciples to fight for the Weiyang Crown, how could the Tongduo Sect have declined to this point?"
Zhong Wuqi spat out the black blood in his mouth and laughed: "I have to thank my good brother Wulu."
Cang Ming's expression suddenly changed.
Zhong Wuqi said recklessly, "If Wu Lu hadn't betrayed your whereabouts, I wouldn't know where to find you. I wouldn't even have been able to steal the Weiyang Crown."
Wei Ci glanced at Cang Ming, who seemed to be well aware of the rumors from that year. He whispered soothingly, "General, that loser might be mentally ill, so he revealed your whereabouts."
After being accused of a crime, Cang Ming fled from the pursuit of those zealous disciples. For a time, he hid his identity in a remote village and opened a small Taoist ghost-catching shop. This was the prototype of the brand "Ghost Catcher Sister".
At this time, Wu Lu still had a little trust in Cang Ming. Considering their childhood friendship, he would come to the ghost-catching shop to help every now and then, and would also bring some information from the outside world.
One day, Cang Ming was repairing her patched mask in the shop when she saw two ghosts flash outside the door. One ghost said to the other: "Hey, run faster, or the child will be far away and we won't be able to eat."
Cang Ming was startled at the time. When he jumped to the door, he saw only two shrunken figures. Coincidentally, Wu Lu came over with two buckets of water, shouting, "Sister Cang, why don't you go take a bath in the river? Why are you using up the water so quickly?"
Cang Ming hurriedly said to him, "I'm going to catch ghosts. Please watch the door for me." He then followed the direction the two ghosts had taken. Unfortunately, before he could catch up with the two man-eating ghosts, he was surrounded by the vast number of Tongduo Sect disciples who arrived. The leading disciple said that Zhong Wulu had been undercover for days, enduring humiliation and finally seized the opportunity to report Cang Ming's whereabouts.
It was so long ago that it was pointless to overthink things. Cang Ming sighed deeply and said to Zhong Wuqi, "I think he was forced by you to reveal my whereabouts."
Zhong Wuqi was almost suffocating from being stepped on, but he still stretched his neck and said desperately: "What coercion? It was clearly him who said that the Death Star went east to chase two man-eating ghosts..."
"Wait!" Cang Ming suddenly frowned, but then his eyes became brighter and brighter. "I didn't say what kind of ghost I was chasing... and I didn't say there were two ghosts!"
"Oh?" Wei Ci raised his eyebrows, tactfully released Zhong Wuqi, stepped aside to watch the fun, and left the situation to Cang Ming to handle.
Cang Ming squatted down and stared at Zhong Wuqi, who turned his head around because of guilt. Cang Ming said, "You sent two little ghosts to lure me out."
Zhong Wuqi stiffened his neck and asked, "What evidence do you have?"
Cang Ming ignored him, staring at him and continuing, "How could it be that you found me...it was you who led me into your encirclement!"
"So what?" Zhong Wuqi bared his sharp white teeth. "It was just a divisive ploy. My good brother Wu Lu has been separated from you for nearly ten years... You people who talk about family ethics all the time, are nothing more than that!"
"?" Cang Ming laughed in anger, too lazy to argue with him. She stood up and slowly looked back. Among the several peaks of Tongduo Mountain, the highest one reached the clouds. Hidden among the lush trees on the top of the mountain was the Tongduo Taoist temple.
Time flies, and countless emotions well up in her heart. She looked at Wei Ci, who was also looking at her. Cang Ming said softly, "It's not Wu Lu."
"Yes." Wei Ci smiled slightly and nodded, "Then I won't want to hit him anymore."
Zhong Wuqi suddenly had an idea and shouted proudly, "I am proficient in the Qimen Dunjia magic array in the mountain. This is the proof that I am the honorable head of Tongduo Mountain! I will return to the mountaintop immediately. My disciples are still waiting for me..."
With a single blow, Cang Ming swept aside countless past events, soaring through the air to reach the moon. He turned and flew, silently chanting a spell, and slashed the ice blade diagonally downwards. This time, Liu Feng Hui Xue used all his strength. The fallen leaves on the mountain were shaken by the sword energy and flew up into the night sky, circling for a long time before finally transforming into countless yellow talismans that exploded silently together like a grand fireworks display.
A rain of yellow talismans fell on Tongduo Mountain. Tiny golden scraps fell endlessly, blocking every path into the mountain. So many were the fragments of yellow talismans that the rain could have lasted for decades.
Wei Ci looked up at the golden threads filling the sky, his breath stagnating for a moment. Then he looked at Cang Ming, his face as bright as the moon, radiant and brilliant: "General, very beautiful."
Cang Ming extended a hand, and Wei Ci grasped it tightly. Holding hands, they watched the yellow raindrops fall. The evening breeze blew petals like snow, swirling with golden debris. The mountain path was breathtakingly beautiful.
Zhong Wuqi was covered in yellow talisman fragments. He suddenly began to twist and twitch like a strange insect, scratching his body and asking, "What's going on?"
Cang Ming glanced at him indifferently. He had already scratched himself until blood was all over his body, and screamed like a madman: "You witch! Ah! The talisman... the talisman is poisonous!"
"I've cast a simple gate-guarding spell on the yellow talisman. I wonder if the holy immortal can undo it." Cang Ming said amiably, his hands behind his back. "Anyone who isn't an orthodox disciple of our sect will definitely not be able to pass through the yellow talisman rain array in the mountains and reach the Tongduo Taoist Temple on the mountaintop."
Zhong Wuqi's eyes turned bloodshot with hatred, but he couldn't bear the pain all over his body, so he finally turned around and crawled down the mountain.
Wei Ci raised an eyebrow and said with a smile: "The general is still as naughty as ever."
Cang Ming put his hands behind his back, pretending to do nothing, and asked knowingly: "Isn't this Yellow Talisman Flying Rain good? Is there anything wrong with this?"
"The general has boundless power, stands up for justice, has ingenious strategies, and is full of aesthetics. He truly has first-class taste and style." Wei Ci clapped his hands lightly in admiration. "Now, should we go find that creditor, the ghost, and redeem the mountain?"
Cang Ming threw himself into Wei Ci's arms, resting his forehead on his shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, look, tonight is really beautiful."
Wei Ci put one hand on her waist and lifted her up. His breathing was heavy, his forehead resting on her temples. He said in a barely audible voice, "I want to take you back now." A fiery heat rolled off him.
Cang Ming said hurriedly: "Then, let's go find the creditor ghost."
“…”
When the creditor Lan Gui was summoned out by Cang Ming again, he almost burst into a curse: "Is this never going to end! Ping pong, ping pong, I haven't had a good night's sleep all day!"
Cang Ming stood before him and solemnly announced, "I have driven away the king who tried to steal the mountain from you. From now on, the mountain still belongs to you."
"Fuck." The ghost slapped his thigh, his brows raised with joy, "Taoist grandma, you actually helped me!"
"But," Cang Ming said with a faint smile, "I want to redeem it from you."
"Fuck." The ghost slapped his thigh again, "Auntie Taoist, I can't bear to part with this piece of fat meat."
Wei Ci snorted, and the ghost immediately retreated in fear: "What are you doing? Are you going to send thugs if we can't reach an agreement?"
Cang Ming said with amusement: "He is too lazy to hit you."
The more this happened, the more worried Lan Gui became and he dared not believe it. In the end, he had no choice but to agree to Cang Ming to pay off the debt with a roll of silver notes, and the mortgage on the land deed would be written off.
As for the banknotes, of course, Cang Ming shamelessly borrowed them from Wei Ci, and even wrote an IOU in a serious manner, stating that he would definitely catch ghosts and earn money to repay the debt within a few years.
Wei Ci put away the IOU as if nothing had happened and said with a smile, "With this contract, the general can't just run away."
Cang Ming nodded strangely and said, "Of course, why would I run away?"
"Nothing." Wei Ci raised the corner of his lips and put his arms around her waist. "Go back and tell Yin Luxian?"
Cang Ming waved his hand proudly and said, "Oh, no need. Since I solved it for him, there's no need to let him know." Anyway, Wu Lu's inn doesn't make much money.
Once he stood up for his friend, Cang Ming's face lit up and he became full of energy, completely changing from the decadent and heavy mood he had been in for the past few days.
Wei Ci looked at her with sparkling eyes: "So, should the general treat me to that meal?"
"Of course, of course. Whatever the Demon King likes to eat, I'll treat you today." Cang Ming looked up and smiled, took his hand, turned around and walked out of the mountain.
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