The Immortal’s Poison

The demon tower had a narrow top but a wide base. It was an arduous ordeal to dig it out carefully. However, climbing to the top of the tower felt like nothing for a bunch of demon immortals, who had exquisite skills. In no time, Wen Leyang felt his eyes brightening. He had broken through the surface.

What followed was a cheer. Fei Fei, Xiao Sha and Wen Shulin immediately came forward to greet them. They all talked at once as they asked him about the conditions underground. After all, they saw that a dog-headed eagle went down but a golden monkey appeared. Fei Fei’s face blushed in a charming and tender bright red.

Wen Leyang was waiting to cross the god’s punishment, he had no time to chat with them. He hastily ordered the three mortals to back away. Suddenly, he felt that the sky was gleaming with a glaring brightness. Stunned, he asked, “Where’s the god’s punishment?”

It was close to midday. The end-of-winter, beginning-of-spring sky was crystal-clear blue. Not even a normal cloud could be seen, let alone black clouds that gave birth to the godly thunder. There was only a full golden sun, which was hanging in a slanted manner by the mountain. It giggled as it looked down on them.

The other three demon immortals had confident expressions. They were chuckling as they followed beside Wen Leyang.

Wen Leyang looked incredulously at the sky as he hesitated, “Could it be… similar to Ah Dan. I might be crossing god’s punishment any time within these three years?”

Qian Ren’s monkey face twitched. He exclaimed in utter surprise, “What kind of elite is Ah Dan? He has reached the cultivation base worthy of invoking god’s punishment?”

Chang Li ignored the monkey. She shook her head at Wen Leyang, “Ah Dan’s punishment depended on when he reincarnated into a human. The god’s punishment appeared when his veins in the heart were connected. The god’s punishment of an accomplished cultivator follows the same reasoning. They will only invoke god’s punishment once they reach a certain level of power. This kind of punishment is called a divine immortal punishment. The punishment that you’re about to face is nothing like that!”

Cone Nail continued Chang Li’s sentence and continued to explain to Wen Leyang, “You’ve killed a great demon and destroyed a great fortune, you’ve invoked the heaven-earth punishment, we also call it the ‘disobedience punishment’. This punishment will start brewing after six hours. It’ll take form after twelve hours and strike after eighteen hours! If that wasn’t the case, how could we be so calm and chatting away down there after we killed the devil fetus?”

After she finished, Cone Nail wore a heartbroken expression. She pointed at Chang Li, her eyes were wet with tears, “She hit me and broke the great formation on Black and White Island. If there comes a day where the nine-headed monster escapes, she would be facing this kind of heaven-earth punishment as well!”

Cone Nail’s eyes were full of sorrow. Only an unconcealable laugh line at the edge of her lips betrayed her.

Wen Shulin took no notice of the atmosphere as he shook his head and sighed, “Three, six and nine are numbers of heaven path!”

Chang Li ignored Cone Nail. She looked at Wen Shulin with half a smile.

Wen Leyang only felt his limbs growing cold, even the roots of his hairs exuded cold air towards his surroundings. Cone Nail had mentioned in the Gold-Consuming Lair, the punishment which Chang Li had to cross was an unpardonable god’s punishment, it could never be crossed. It would not stop unless the target was blasted to smithereens…

Cone Nail quickly comforted from the side with a smile, “Divine immortal punishments could be divided into a few types, their powers are different as well. It is the same with the disobedience punishment. Killing a devil fetus and releasing a primordial monster are two different things, both invokes different god’s punishment. Don’t worry, if we work together, we can face it!”

Wen Leyang found a tree and sat down as he leaned on it. He looked up at the empty blue sky, “We still have a couple of hours left. Why not we… wait?”

The other demon immortals were amused. They nodded together, “We wait!”

Fei Fei understood what happened under the demon tower. She was a mortal, there was not much difference between a demon fetus and a devil fetus to her. When she knew that the demon tower was divided between Wen Leyang and Guo Huan, she was so shocked that her colors drained. Even if she did not understand magic arts or magic powers, she could still grasp the notion of a big mountain crashing down on someone.

Xiao Sha looked at Wen Leyang with a face full of empathy. This matter was mainly Old Gu’s fault. He had insisted that Wen Leyang provide support after he was hospitalized with appendicitis. As a result, Wen Leyang dug the rock tower and triggered the god’s punishment.

Fei Fei told the others about the cultivators’ gathering on Mount Hua’s Goddess Peak. As Gu Xiaojun had transmitted some information over to them these few days, it was confirmed that the meeting was called by Ji Fei and Shui Jing. However, until now, both the sects that were attending or the scale of the meeting had long exceeded the bounds which the two brothers could control.

Wen Leyang requested for pen and paper from Xiao Sha. He wrote his will as he listened to Fei Fei. At first, he was indifferent to what Ji Fei and Shui Jing wanted to do but when he knew that Second Mother, Chi Maojiu, and the Bushuo Buzuo brothers had all arrived at Mount Hua, he was slightly moved and said with a bitter smile, “Let’s go to Goddess Peak together after we’ve crossed god’s punishment!”

Fei Fei nodded with a smile. Xiao Sha’s gaze was slightly suspicious. He hesitated, but in the end, he did not say the words, ‘Shall we go ahead first?”.

They waited from noon to dusk, from evenings to when the skies were filled with stars. Especially after sunset, even a bird flying over their heads would startle Wen Leyang. However, up until the morning of the second day, the sky did not make any moves. Calculating from when the human-faced phoenix was killed until now, at least twenty hours had passed. The god’s punishment showed no signs of appearing.

Wen Leyang had experienced a lot of suspense. He completely understood that the pain of waiting for the god’s punishment was no less inferior to suffering god’s punishment itself.

Finally, Chang Li squinted her eyes. After she carefully observed the position of the sun, she broke the worrisome silence, “The hour has passed, god’s punishment… has not appeared!” After she finished, she did not allow Wen Leyang to say anything. Chang Li flashed beside him, her delicate and beautiful face was filled with delight, “Young lad, your luck is good beyond compare. The god’s punishment did not appear, what are the odds!?”

God’s punishment was not an automated action, nor was it controlled by intelligence, it was only a way to balance out the energy. It was some sort of law or rule. By now, the devil fetus had died for more than eighteen hours, if the disobedience punishment had not happened, it would most likely not happen anymore.

Wen Leyang did not expect for there to be good fortune before he fell into the depths of despair. He asked with joy and worry, “Then the god’s punishment… won’t happen?”

Chang Li and Cone Nail exchanged a glance. They nodded at the same time. However, the looks on their faces were not that confident. Everybody knew the principles but nobody could be sure.

Only the golden monkey Qian Ren grunted drily. It folded its arms and paced beside Wen Leyang, “It’s not that it won’t happen, it’s that there’s no god’s punishment to begin with!” Its tone left no room for doubt, its expression was stern and grim but the little darling was amused by its expression and she convulsed with laughter.

The golden monkey had a natural silly look, there was a certain foolishness to its serious face.

When it saw that it had amused the little girl, Qian Ren was immediately dispirited. It no longer put on airs, “Robbing a good fortune will invoke the disobedience punishment, that much is true.”

As it was a matter of life and death, Wen Leyang’s reactions were much faster. He immediately questioned, “The human-faced phoenix is not the devil fetus? It’s only an ordinary demon fetus…”

Chang Li shook her head and cut him short, “What kind of demon under the heavens dare to appear in Gou Mang’s form? Also, if it’s not the devil fetus, how can it possibly refine Qian Ren’s Ending Vine and Guo Huan’s rock element split body? Not to mention that it had survived for a few days under our relentless attacks before it died!”

Cone Nail squinted her eyes as if she was lost in thought. She hummed and said nothing.

Qian Ren heaved a long sigh. Its voice had regained its usual sharpness without anyone noticing, “The one that was killed by our joined forces was the devil fetus, that much is true. However, this devil fetus is not formed naturally by the heaven and earth, hence there is no god’s punishment!”

Cone Nail suddenly lifted her head, her eyes were full of fright, “You’re saying that… this devil fetus was not formed naturally but intentionally reared by someone else?!”

Even a spiritual creature like Gou Mang, if it wanted to become a god or turn into a devil, it would need some extremely great coincidence. However, if it was intentionally reared by someone, no matter how much spiritual primordial energy of the universe it absorbed, no matter how powerful it was after it took form, it could not be counted as created by the heaven and earth.

Xiao Sha was not quite sure he understood the whole thing. He asked Fei Fei softly, “If they killed a wild one, there’s god’s punishment but if they killed a farmed one, there’s not?”

Fei Fei nodded hesitantly, “Maybe!”

Wen Leyang was still puzzled. He furrowed his brows and looked at the golden monkey, “Gou Mang’s seed was shot into the soil by you when you vented your anger the last time… Does this count as you who planted it?”

Ever since Qian Ren saw the human-faced phoenix, It confidently derived the devil fetus’ origins. This seed was shot into the soil by it out of anger the last time, there was no mistake in its location. It eventually utilized the Foulness of the great mountain. With the casual flick of a finger, the devil fetus had turned from wild breed to farmed species?

Qian Ren understood Wen Leyang’s meaning. It shook its head with a stern expression, “It’s not what you think! Of course, it doesn’t count as farming the devil fetus with me just flicking it into the ground. However, if someone laid a magic circle and intentionally condense the mountain’s Yin Foulness to nourish the devil fetus, this artificial act could not be counted as created by the heaven and earth!”

The golden monkey Qian Ren suddenly moved. It skipped and hopped around the demon tower’s great pit in a circle. Its voice projected calmly into everyone’s ears, “I was also puzzled at first. This is the center of Ending Cave. Even if the wood spiritual energy had completely dissipated, it was still a beautiful treasured land, there shouldn’t be any mountain Yin cold Foulness. However, thousands of years ago, I thought that there has been some change over the years and that the mountain’s setting had somehow changed.”

The land of wood spiritual energy had turned into a Yin source of the cold mountain. Although this matter was slightly strange, Qian Ren had not thought much about it. Only when it confirmed that the hour had passed and the god’s punishment had not come, it finally joined the dots. The entire matter had become clear. The person who farmed the devil fetus, although unable to move the location of Gou Mang’s seed, he changed the setting of this place and directed the mountain Yin Foulness to this place.

The others were still contemplating but He Xiao Sha had already stood up, terrified, “Someone changed the setting of the mountain? Changed the Feng Shui of this place?”

The arbiter of He family knew all sorts of Art of Jianghu. They also knew a thing or two about Feng Shui. He roughly understood Qian Ren’s meaning. Changing Feng Shui would require changing the mountain’s shape and the water’s force. It was not just arranging a few bricks, which could be altered at one’s whim. Unless the person who did it knew the Art of Feng Shui and had the abilities to move mountains and fill oceans.

“If one wanted to direct the mountain’s Foulness, it is not necessary to excavate the mountain and break the ground!” As Qian Ren said this, it quickly stopped in its tracks. It sneered, “It’s here!” Then, it joined its fingers and made a diving pose. Its joined palms swiftly pressed on the ground’s surface. After pressing it, the seemingly intact ground surface released a crisp bang as if some pottery had been shattered.

Shortly after, on the ground before Qian Ren’s feet, a fine crack grew rapidly. It emanated in all directions as if it were alive. It kept spreading until it formed a perfect circle with a diameter of a dozen meters.

The monkey leaped out of the circle. It reminded the others in a low voice, “Look carefully!”

After the crack formed a perfect circle, it no longer spread outwards but it did not stop. Instead, amidst layers of soft crackling sounds, it continuously loosened and broke the mountain rocks and soil within the circle. The ridge was visibly thinned as if it was loosened up in layers. After a dozen minutes, the soil within the circle had turned into the finest powder, the grains were more evenly-sized than the finest flour in the market!

A gust of mountain wind blew softly. The fine powder dispersed in the air and left behind a round big pit.

Qian Ren snorted, “The person who farmed the devil fetus had planted a magic circle here. The magic circle runs unceasingly, the cold Foulness of Mount Hua is continuously directed towards this point. Over time, it has condensed into the mountain’s Yin’s Black Tortoise Heaven-Swallowing Mannerism.”

The group of people crowded around the edge of the round pit. About a dozen meters down the pit, there was a giant piece of green jade. On its surface, a drawing of the sun, moon and stars was carved. There were also some strange-looking talisman scripts here and there. From its appearance, it did not seem very powerful, it also did not enshroud in the aura of a treasure. Compared to a normal stone tablet, it was at most smoother.

Xiao Sha was still dissatisfied but this sort of thing had long exceeded the bounds of his knowledge. He opened his mouth to retort, but he did not know what to say.

Qian Ren’s patience was admirable. It explained calmly, “The Art of Feng Shui is in differentiating Yin and Yang, giving directions and tacit understandings. To put it bluntly, the art explores the relationships between the mountain’s shape, water’s route and the spiritual primordial energy of the world. However, when the spiritual primordial energy of the world moves, it does not rely solely on the shape of mountains and rivers.”

Qian Ren became more motivated as it explained. Its eyes had already turned clear and deep, but its face was still a silly look of a monkey’s, “The sun rises and the moon wanes, the stars move in the sky, all of them contain a great giant force. As small as the flourishing and withering of plants, as big as the changing of seasons, as light as the dripping of waterdrops, as heavy as the ocean’s tides, everything is influenced by the forces of the sun, moon and the stars! The spiritual primordial energy in Mount Hua is also the same! The mannerisms of the mountain and the rivers did not change, but the cycle of the heavenly bodies have changed, naturally, the Feng Shui that you speak about has changed!”

He Xiao Sha had never heard of such a thing. He only managed a reaction after being stunned for a while, “The rising of the sun and setting of the moon, the movement of stars in the sky, of course, these will affect the Earth… I mean the world. But these are eternally immutable, things that never changed. Feng Shui’s calculations were also based on these unchangeable premises for it to be able to derive anything!” As he said this, he snorted with a face full of sneer, “According to your explanation, the person who farmed the devil fetus used this stone tablet to change the law of time in which the heavenly bodies moved and also the distances they moved? This… this is too…”

Wen Shulin had been following the conversation closely. He could not help but finish Xiao Sha’s sentence, “Preposterous!”

Wen Leyang chuckled. Changing the mountain’s shape and the rivers’ route to alter Feng Shui was already preposterous. According to the words of the monkey Qian Ren, somebody had altered the movements of the heavenly bodies with a magic circle. Although Wen Leyang was not a scholar, even he could have guessed. Setting the sun aside, even if the Earth suddenly stopped spinning for a second, that giant inertia would have the entire ocean crash onto land.

The little darling saw that the two young men and an old man had ganged up on the monkey. She took swift, little steps with a face full of contempt and shielded Qian Ren behind her.

Qian Ren did not know whether to laugh or cry as it shook its head. Although everyone knew that it was an ancient cultivator with amazing experiences, anyone who saw a monkey shaking its head would find it funny, “Of course it’s not changing, it’s borrowing! This is a magic art that cultivated in the powers of sun, moon and stars. Let alone you guys, even I have only heard about some superficial information about this! This magic circle did not break the law of the cycle of sun and moon but it borrowed the powers of sun, moon and stars and changed the flow of spiritual primordial energy on Mount Hua. It had turned this land of wooden spiritual energy into the source of the Yin force in this mountain!”

Let alone Wen Leyang and the others, even Chang Li was dumbstruck, “Who is the person that laid this magic circle and farmed the devil fetus?” Directing the powers of the sun and moon through a magic circle to change the flow of the world’s spiritual primordial energy. She had never heard of such a magic before.

Wen Leyang’s heart skipped a beat. He vaguely remembered when he first met the monkey Qian Ren under Tuer town, he had said that his archenemy Kong Nuer cultivated in the magic of heaven and earth, he understood the powers of the movements of the heavenly bodies.

“Kong Nuer!” As expected, these three words which had been gnawed on and crunched on by the monkey was spat out from its mouth. Then, it panted heavily, “If it’s not him, who else can locate the position of this Gou Mang’s seed? Who else can secretly change the beauty of a great mountain with such a small magic circle! Heh, his appearance, the words he said, the method of practice he cultivated in, his handwriting, his everything, I would not forget, even for one second!”

Qian Ren’s words were as obvious as it could be. The devil fetus under the rock tower was intentionally farmed by Kong Nuer.

Wen Leyang sighed. Now they had proof. The devil fetus was farmed by someone. Even if they killed it, it did not count as destroying the heaven and earth’s creation. He could also be regarded as ‘successfully crossing the god’s punishment’. He had felt worried for a whole day. He almost wrote half a book’s worth of his will, he had even left messages for his parents, grandfathers, First Uncle, his two fiancés, Bushuo Buzuo, Chi Maojiu, Second Mother, Liu Zheng and the others. Suddenly, everything was fine. He felt surprised and comforted. Nevertheless, he also felt like he had launched a full-force punch towards the empty air.

Chang Li muttered the name ‘Kong Nuer’ a few times. Her bright eyes filled with an alertness of a demon immortal, “This Kong Nuer… who is he?!”

After Wen Leyang pondered for a while, he thought of something, “Kong Nuer had harmed you. Could it be… he intended to use Gou Mang’s seed to nourish the devil fetus?”

If one wanted to farm Gou Mang’s seed into a devil fetus, one had to think of some way to remove the immortal root spiritual primordial energy from the seed. It was understandable why Kong Nuer picked Qian Ren as a suction pump.

Qian Ren shook his head, “That can’t be! Rearing the devil fetus and the survival of Ending Cave had nothing in common. However, when he sealed me into the golden monkey, it was to sever all ties between me and Ending Cave to preserve this activated land of the wood element. Kong Nuer should still need Ending Cave to refine his magic weapon. As for why he wanted to rear this devil fetus, I still don’t understand!”

The devil fetus was not a pet. If it became matured, it would be a devil. It would not listen to orders, it would also not acknowledge a master.

After the death of the devil fetus, Guo Huan had kept himself busy with familiarizing with his new body. He finally could not hold it in and interrupted, “It’s true that Kong Nuer had planted Gou Mang’s seed but he didn’t intend to farm Gou Mang’s seed into a devil fetus! The demon’s spell within Gou Mang’s seed had found my split body after some years, that’s how it obtained the vital fire and grew into the shape of a fetus. With the forces and tricks at Kong Nuer’s disposal, getting a vital fire for Gou Mang’s seed is as easy as pie!” After he finished, Guo Huan added as if he had not expressed his thoughts fully, “Then, the demon’s spell within Gou Mang’s seed turned into the devil fetus. I daresay even Kong Nuer himself had never thought of this!”

The monkey Qian Ren was hit with a sudden realization. It nodded forcefully, “What is that Kong Nuer thinking? Planting Gou Mang’s seed but not wanting it to take form…”

Only Kong Nuer himself could answer that question. Since there was no god’s punishment and the skies had brightened up, Xiao Sha started packing up their luggage. He readied himself to ride Wen Leyang and rush towards Goddess Peak.

At this moment, Chang Li suddenly looked at Cone Nail and asked a brainless question, “You were once killed. Was your primordial spirit extracted and refined into Heaven’s cone nail?”

The fury within Cone Nail’s eyes disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Her expression turned into self-pity which Wen Leyang was very familiar with, “Aren’t you worried that I might feel sad if you bring this up?”

Wen Leyang smiled bitterly in his heart, he did not understand why had Grand Master Chang Li attacked Cone Nail this time. He quickly stood in between the two demon immortals. Cone Nail wore an extremely pitiful expression. This was her killing look.

Unexpectedly, Chang Li did not continue to taunt as she normally would. Instead, she waved her hand, her gaze showed no signs of hostility, “I have no time to fight with you. How much can you recall now? I only meant to ask you if you remember whether the one who extracted your primordial spirit was a human or an immortal devil?”

Cone Nail smiled sorrowfully, “His looks are very unclear, but… it should be a human! If it was a god who cast the spell, how could I have retained memories of my past life?”

Wiping a memory or sealing a memory relied on magic spells. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, it all came down to a contest of strength. Judging by Cone Nail’s current abilities, since Cone Nail’s memories were sealed and not completely wiped clean, that meant that although the other party was stronger than her, he was not at the level of the gods.

Chang Li nodded and continued to smile, “The nine Heaven’s cone nails on the Black and White Island were all refined by someone. I reckon that the one who subdued the nine-headed monster was not a primordial god!”

Cone Nail’s brows furrowed. In the end, she nodded, “I think so too, but… as for what exactly happened, we’ll have to wait until my memory is restored. After going about it many times, the parents that I thought I had are my true enemies!” Chang Li suddenly let out an extremely joyful laughter. Cone Nail could not hold it any longer, she bellowed and a wave of icicles crashed towards Chang Li.

Chang Li exclaimed in mild surprise. She dodged Cone Nail’s magical powers as she waved hastily, “Stop fighting, stop fighting. I wasn’t laughing at you! I’m laughing about the divine punishment that was in my mind all these while. After all, my actions are similar to killing the devil fetus. Shattering Heaven’s cone nail and releasing Xiang Liu does not result in god’s punishment after all.”

This surprise came out of the blue. It left Wen Leyang dumbstruck, riveted to the ground.

“As someone intentionally farmed Gou Mang’s seed, even if it turned into a devil fetus, there is no god’s punishment even if Wen Leyang killed it!” Guo Huan mulled over the words from the rock tower with a low voice, “The one who refined Heaven’s cone nails was a cultivator, the one who laid the demon-subduing great formation was also a cultivator. The one who subdued the nine-headed monster was a human, not the heavens! Even if we shattered Heaven’s cone nails and broke the cultivator’s magic, helping the nine-headed monster returning to the mortal realm is not something against the will of heaven! There is no bullsh*t god’s punishment!”

The little darling Xiaowu chewed on her chewing gum. She looked on indifferently as she asked Guo Huan with a childish voice, “There’s no god’s punishment? Then, is there still a monthly pass?”