CH 116

It was Long Shen!

Dong Zhi widened his eyes. He almost forgot about his desperate situation on the verge of death as he stared at the figure that suddenly appeared.

Long Shen raised his sword high and slashed from behind the demon!

The sword light was like a heavenly sword, splitting from the sky. Purple lightning covered the sun, sending stormy waves, as if the heavens were judging Mara for the crime of trespassing by leaving the abyss without permission.

At this time, the grip around Dong Zhi was tightly pinched by the heavenly demon with one hand, and he was unable to move. He even felt he was losing his breath and that his sanity was wandering from the realm of yin and yang, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion. He didn’t know whether the Long Shen he saw was real and out of danger or whether it was an illusion moments before his death, but this illusion was so beautiful that he couldn’t bear to blink.

Dong Zhi gritted his teeth, flicked his wrist, and his qi cleansed the sword. He laboriously lifted the Changshou Sword, which felt as if it had become tens of millions of pounds heavier than himself, pinched with his left hand, and started chanting out the words that he had already memorized without any padding to summon heavenly thunder.

“The four great enlightenments, heaven and the earth are eternal, by the Jade Emperor’s orders, clear the three yuan. The mighty sword of the Divine King, slay evil and destroy its traces. The purple qi ascends to heaven, the landscape collides, swallowing demons and ghosts, and drinks the wind. With the sound of wind and thunder, startling ghosts and spirits from thousands of miles…”

Mara’s perfect face was like a hellish ghost in his eyes, unable to tempt or shake him in the slightest. The top of his head suddenly lit up. Thunderclouds surged, announcing the arrival of Long Shen’s qi!

The heavenly demon finally changed his color slightly.

When Dong Zhi had exhausted the last bit of strength in his entire body, he thrust the Changshou Sword into the heavenly demon’s body and was thrown away like a rag doll.

In the last scene, he saw a fusion of lightning and the sword light that was dazzling white, mixed with a trace of purple. Clouds had gathered from all sides, forming layers upon layers, and the sky had descended. Heavy clouds accumulated under the power of thunder and wrapped the heavenly demon in them.

With the heavenly demon at the center of the circle, the white light was intertwined with a huge cyclone. Dust flew everywhere, and the breathing was mixed. Even the remnant body of Songen’s disciple was swept in and thrown about in all directions before it fell into the river and was quickly washed away by the turbulence.

The next moment, Dong Zhi fell heavily to the ground.

All his bones and limbs were in severe pain. It felt as if he had broken his neck, but he couldn’t feel any pain. He closed his eyes and let himself fall into boundless darkness.

Dong Zhi didn’t see it. In the cluster of light, the heavenly demon watched in disbelief as his hands were swallowed up by the light and turned into ashes, followed by his arms, shoulders, and finally his entire body.

He shouted miserably, just like the screams made by the people whose necks he broke, but this cry was sharper and angrier, as if it were coming from the abyss. It roared with the intention of making a final struggle. Suddenly, a ray of black qi desperately broke free from the light cluster and swept towards the back of Long Shen, where the original black cyclone appeared.

Long Shen frowned. His heart moved at will. The sword was already let go, and the sword light turned into a rainbow shadow chasing after the black qi. As if knowing this was its only chance to escape, the black qi sped up to a speed that the sword light couldn’t catch up to.

The passage to the abyss was blocked by Long Shen, and the black cyclone disappeared with it. Before the body of Hong Rui, which the heavenly demon used as its vessel, fell to the ground, black qi had emerged from his nostrils, merged with the escaped black qi, and flown into the sky, disappearing without a trace.

Seeing as it had lost its target, the sword light stopped in the sky. The dazzling light, together with the presence of Long Shen, made the nearby villagers think that this was a punishment from the gods, and they kneeled down and kowtowed.

Long Shen recalled the sword light, slowly landed, and looked around at the wreckage of the flat terrain. Just in this battle alone, almost everything within a 10-mile radius had been destroyed, including Songen’s stockade and the nearby villages; all were reduced to ashes.

His gaze swept past Kenta, who was holding onto Xinchai’s body and sobbing, then fell on Songen, not far away.

Songen’s heart had been eaten by the heavenly demon just now, and there was a big hole through his back, but his other body parts were still intact.

Long Shen walked over and thrust his sword into his head!

Sorcerers’ shenanigans were endless. Since Songen could curse Dong Zhi, there was no guarantee that there weren’t some unknown secrets that remained in this dead person. Long Shen would not give him the chance to resurrect again.

“Burn him!”

Kenta’s voice suddenly came. He carefully put down his master, strode over, took out a bottle of unknown liquid from his arms, and poured it on Songen’s body. He lit a fire and threw it down. The fire instantly ignited, setting Songen on fire.

“As long as the body is burned, he will no longer be able to do mischief!” Kenta said angrily, with tears streaming down his face.

After taking care of Songen, Long Shen strode towards Dong Zhi and helped him up. He rubbed his hand against Dong Zhi’s arm and found it was broken and couldn’t help frowning. He found a wooden board, took off his coat, and made a temporary splint, then gave Dong Zhi a Shanqing pill.

After a while, Dong Zhi slowly woke up. He wanted to open his mouth but choked instead and coughed due to the sudden inhalation of air.

“Don’t talk,” Long Shen said.

He shook his head and saw that there was blood at the corner of Long Shen’s mouth. He couldn’t help but reach out and wipe it away, but when he raised his hand, he found it was fixed to a wooden board.

Long Shen noticed his gaze. “Your hand is fractured. It should have been when you landed just now. Other places should be fine. We’ll check once we return.”

Since entering this job, injuries had been commonplace, so fractures were nothing.

Dong Zhi nodded. “I just thought you…”

Long Shen knew exactly what he was going to ask and said slowly, “This heavenly demon isn’t a real heavenly demon.”

To be exact, it was the heavenly demon Mara, but not its true form, which could make even Buddha helpless. Its power, even if it could not match Buddha’s, was still quite powerful, and by no means could mortals compare to it. Simply put, it was a powerful existence that didn’t belong in this world.

The universe had its own unique laws for maintaining balance, and the forces that would cause the world’s balance to run askew would naturally be abandoned. As in ancient mythology, when Pangu created the world and the door of heaven and earth opened, chaos was first created. A being such as Pangu was too powerful, so he was no longer suitable for the world. Because his joy and anger and every little move would lead to the world’s premature destruction, he decided to decompose himself and divide his power into mountains and rivers, vast lands, and scatter it to every corner, finally allowing the world to exist safely.

Naturally, Mara didn’t have such great love as Pangu, so he could not come into the world in his complete and true form. He had to separate a phantom of his body through the gap in the abyss. Using Songen’s long-lasting worship, the phantom was nourished by flesh and soul. When the so-called resurrection day commenced, even if it was a demon’s phantom, it could still set off a huge bloody storm, involving countless people.

“Like Xinchai, I initially assumed that because it hadn’t been fully resurrected and was only a phantom of a heavenly demon and not its true form, it wouldn’t be too difficult to deal with. I didn’t expect that our arrival would prompt its resurrection in advance, but we managed to kill it because of its unstable strength when it was first born.”

“The reason why you can’t kill that heavenly demon just now is because of the black cyclone. That’s actually the entrance to the abyss. He draws power continuously from it, and as long as the passage is opened, no one can kill him.”

Hearing this, Dong Zhi finally realized something. “So you have to seal the passage just now before you can kill the demon!”

Long Shen nodded. “The entrance is in the body of the woman who gave birth to the magic fetus. When the magic fetus is born, the woman becomes a natural passage to the abyss. In order to find such a suitable vessel, Songen must have found many people, Han Qi being one of them.”

Dong Zhi: “Is the passage completely sealed now?”

“It’s sealed. When the heavenly demon is first born, it’s also its weakest moment. I had to seal the passage to cut off its power source, so I wasn’t able to help you just now. However, the heavenly demon is extremely cunning. There are still traces of the demonic qi that escaped. We can only hope to find another opportunity to destroy it next time.” Long Shen showed a trace of exhaustion between his brows.

Dong Zhi leaned against a tree. The pain in his body made him not want to move.

As soon as he pulled on Long Shen, the other party also sat down, and the two watched as Songen’s corpse burned in the raging fire that was gradually shrinking.

The villagers nearby had most likely noticed the commotion, but no one came. Rather, no one dared to come. They were probably hiding in their own rooms, trembling, not knowing that the mysterious and powerful Master Songen had been reduced to ashes.

Dong Zhi lowered his head. Master Xinchai had died in order to save his disciple, without even leaving any last words. Kenta must have a good relationship with his master. He knelt beside Master Xinchai’s body, lowered his head, and remained motionless for a long time.

Only four people came to find Songen. Dong Zhi felt wronged, because he knew that Long Shen was strong—strong enough to bring down a bone dragon alone, so he didn’t call a few extra people for help. This was probably within Long Shen’s consideration.

Seeing Xinchai’s death, he couldn’t help but feel guilty, because in the end, it was indirectly because of him.

“It has nothing to do with you,” Long Shen said.

Dong Zhi found that he seemed to have spoken his thoughts unknowingly and hurriedly said, “Master, I’m not complaining about you.”

Long Shen: “I understand what you mean. The Special Administration Bureau is running around trying to find the stone tablets, and we can’t mobilize more manpower. If you bring a few people casually and aren’t prepared, you’ll only die in vain. The United States can help, but if they get involved, things will only get more complicated, so this time, it was my decision after discussing it with Xinchai.”

At that time, they speculated that there was still some time before the heavenly demon was fully resurrected and that its body was unable to descend due to space constraints. The heavenly demon in front of them wasn’t sufficient, so the four of them were enough to destroy it.

Looking at the entire Special Administration Bureau, there were few who could match or were stronger than Long Shen. Those who were most likely played other important roles. It was impossible for them to leave their posts. If there were more people like Dong Zhi, Long Shen would get distracted and would be bound, unable to let go like he did just now.

What was more, Xinchai was a peer and a top sorcerer.

Things didn’t turn out as planned as the heavenly demon was born in advance, which they didn’t expect, and with the battle constantly changing, there were countless possibilities. Just as when he was in the underground tomb in Yinchuan, no matter how many people there were, ultimately there would be sacrifices. Life and death were entirely dependent on oneself.

But Long Shen didn’t say much about these things. He believed that Dong Zhi could figure it out on his own.

When the Special Administration Bureau didn’t have so much manpower back then, Long Shen single-handedly manned many missions that had just as much of a risk factor as this one. He was used to this feeling of not being burdened.

It wasn’t so easy to find a tacit combat partner. In the past, he had tacitly cooperated with Song Zhicun, but later, Song Zhicun got promoted to deputy director and led a group himself. It was impossible for the two of them to have the opportunity to go on missions together. Currently, Zhong Yuyi couldn’t do it. Seeing that Kan Chaosheng’s temperament was too jumpy, let alone He Yu, could barely do it. Since He Yu was the best in Group 2, he had more opportunities to take the leading role, but he was likely to take Kan Chaosheng with him on missions.

Dong Zhi was like a rising star. Long Shen found that his performance often surprised him, but in reality, he was surprised beyond what he expected.

At that time, he had been busy blocking the passage to the abyss and hadn’t appeared in a while. In Dong Zhi’s eyes, he most likely thought that he had encountered misfortune, but Dong Zhi didn’t lose his sanity or fighting spirit. He was able to support him until he came back. Compared to the young man who was pale with fright and was at a loss when they met on the train that day, Dong Zhi had grown up more than expected, and it had only been a year since then.

Long Shen wiped away the blood stains on Dong Zhi’s face with his hands. Dong Zhi seemed to be able to sense his mood. He rubbed his face against Long Shen’s hand, but there were no other intimate actions. The two sat under the tree and enjoyed this rare moment of peace.

In just a few words, Dong Zhi already understood the dark tide that was surging under the calm.

“Master, is there any progress on the stone tablet?”

Long Shen was silent for a moment before revealing amazing news. “Ding Lan from Group 3, together with Yu Buhui and Li Ying, have gone to Japan.”

Dong Zhi was silently stunned, then let out an exhale.

China was vast, so it wasn’t easy to find a few stone tablets on land that was 9.6 million square kilometers. Even if they knew that the stone tablets were hidden on dragon veins, there were many of them, small and large, and they were inextricably linked. Not to mention anything else, the Kunlun Mountains alone stretched for thousands of miles, and its terrain was so vast that the stone tablets could be anywhere.

And with this, it seemed that Otowa Yasuhiko and Songen were two separate groups. Otowa didn’t care about the heavenly demon that Songen was about to resurrect, so whatever he wanted to release by destroying the demon seal array must be more powerful than a heavenly demon. Instead of continuing to look for a needle in a haystack, the most effective way was to go to Otowa Yasuhiko’s lair and either kill him or find the source on which he relied on. Naturally, once that was over, everything else would be resolved.

Dong Zhi had never met Yu Binghui. He had heard about him several times but wasn’t familiar with him. He only knew that he was a powerful figure in the Special Administration Bureau. Ding Lan was Song Zhicun’s deputy. When Song Zhicun was absent, Ding Lan would take charge of Group 3. Dong Zhi remembered that during the Special Administration training when the groups were split into two, he and Chi Banxia followed Zhong Yuyi to summon God, while Li Ying, Liu Qingbo, and the others followed Ding Lan into an unearthed tomb.

Naturally, these three people weren’t small fry by any means, but Japan was Otowa Yasuhiko’s home turf. Such a visit would be extremely dangerous.

Dong Zhi couldn’t help asking, “Then they are now…”

Long Shen said, “This is an internal decision by the General Administration. I don’t agree with it, but most people think we can try it. Ding Lan and Yu Binghui also volunteered. Before we came here, they should have already set off as well. There’s no news yet.”

When they set off and when they started, these were top-secret information that would affect the safety of the operators at every turn. It wasn’t possible to inquire at Dong Zhi’s level, so he no longer asked.

Long Shen pressed Dong Zhi’s hand to probe and, after a long while, breathed a sigh of relief.

“Your curse has been completely lifted.” This was the best news of this trip. Even Long Shen couldn’t help but feel relieved. “Let’s help Kenta send back Xinchai first. In Bangkok, there are a few people from all over the world who are waiting to meet me. Since you’re here, you’ll go with me as well.”

Naturally, Dong Zhi had no objection.

The rope around his neck had been cut, and the remaining injuries were minor in comparison.

After the darkness dissipated, the sky was still bright as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds again. Being close to the equator, the night was overwhelmed by the battering daylight that was reluctant to descend. Dong Zhi realized it had only been a day since they came to Xianda village.

Though a day had passed, it felt like he had walked through the underworld, surviving near death.

Some people were dead, and some were still alive, but everything wasn’t over yet. Those who were still living had to continue to fight.

“Happy birthday.” He heard Long Shen say.

Dong Zhi was stunned for a moment and suddenly realized that today was the winter solstice and also his birthday.

Though there was no cake or candles, the one he loved was by his side. This, Dong Zhi felt, was the best gift he had ever gotten.

Dong Zhi thought for a while and said, “I hope that every year and every birthday will be spent with you in the future.”

—-

Over the years, Songen practiced many dark arts, of which most were appalling. He used the human body and soul as an introduction to his curses, and he wasn’t afraid to maximize the evil of human nature. To him, it was nothing to take others’ lives. After killing many people, he used their bodies as a vessel, and even their souls would be imprisoned eternally. However, the heavenly demon that he tried his best to summon didn’t take him seriously at all and killed him without hesitation. Dong Zhi didn’t understand how he felt if he knew this.

Now, as the stockade had turned into ruins, those bottles and jars and insidious magic arts were all destroyed without leaving any traces behind, which saved them a lot of trouble when addressing the aftermath. Accompanied by Dong Zhi and Long Shen, Kenta packed up his mood and burned the body of his master on the spot.

There were many unknown special doorways in witchcraft. Death, in the opinion of a sorcerer, was not the end of everything. There were at least a hundred ways to use human corpses to do various things through witchcraft, and Kenta would never let his master be used in such a way after his death. There would be no peace, so he hurriedly cremated the body and took the ashes back.

When the three of them left, none of the villagers in Xianda dared to stop them. They all regarded Dong Zhi and his group as more powerful sorcerers. Even Suqi’s grandmother, who had appeared before, was missing.

Dong Zhi had thought about negotiating with the local government and having them burn the poppies but was stopped by Kenta. Kenta told him that the United Nations had brought a lot of seeds for alternative crops and taught these villagers to grow coffee and other cash crops to replace poppies, but the villagers believed that those alternative crops didn’t earn money fast enough like poppies, so after the United Nations staff left, they all secretly planted poppies again. In fact, the government had banned them several times, but to no avail. Due to the proximity of the border and being located in the high mountains and dense jungle, if the poppies were burned, the villagers would hide in the mountains and come out after the limelight faded. Then things would only get worse. If the entire village was destroyed, they would start cooperating with drug lords and create vicious circles, so the local government could only turn a blind eye in the end.

In human nature, there was both the good that was willing to help others and the evilness of being extremely selfish and only caring about immediate interests. Long Shen and Dong Zhi weren’t omnipotent either. They could kill real monsters, but they were helpless against such weak-willed people who were willing to serve as slaves to demons. Such people were inexhaustible, and they existed as citizens of every country, including their own. Since their own government couldn’t intervene, Long Shen could only at most negotiate at the government level and strictly guard the national borders to prevent these raw materials and finished products from entering the country.

After leaving Xianda and moving all the way to Chiang Mai, the traces of modern civilization came back. What Dong Zhi experienced in Xianda seemed to be an illusion, but he knew very well that those people and things had really existed, and even the trace of the heavenly demon qi that escaped may also become a hidden danger in the future.

Xinchai’s hometown was in one of the provinces of Chiang Mai. In order to prevent his master’s rivals from learning that his ashes were returned to his hometown, Kenta divided Xinchai’s ashes into several parts: one to a lake, one to fertile soil, and one to his parents’ tombstones.

After doing this, Kenta set off to Bangkok with Long Shen and Dong Zhi.

Recently, not only China but also other parts of the world, like the United States’ Group 51 under the CIA, heard that Long Shen had come to Southeast Asia and specially proposed a meeting before the World Exchange Conference, to which Long Shen agreed. The original white robe master from the White Robe Association who was originally going to attend was Xinchai, but now that he was dead and his apprentice wasn’t qualified enough, they could only send another senior white robe master in his place.

At first, Dong Zhi thought that Group 51 was the 51st group of a certain department, but he later discovered it was completely different.

The code name 51 came from Area 51*, one of the most mysterious air bases in Nevada, USA. It was claimed that it gathered all of the United States’ mysterious research results that were not open to the public, including extraterrestrial civilization and the like. Group 51 had little to do with Area 51 but invoking this code name was enough to imagine the mystery.

*A highly classified United States Air Force facility in Nevada. Details of its operations aren’t made public, but it’s said that it’s an open training range and is commonly thought to support the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. There have been many conspiracy theories about UFOs related to it.

Of course, this was for ordinary people. In the eyes of Long Shen and the others, Group 51 wasn’t mysterious and was nothing more than the same relevant department as the Special Administration Bureau. The members of the group were all practitioners, but they call themselves demon hunters over there. They also had scientific workers dedicated to high-tech research. The zombie simulation training they had received during the administration test was the result of a joint effort between Group 51 and the Special Administration Bureau. It was said that this system was now being introduced in Britain, France, and other countries. The price was still being negotiated. Knowing this was eye-opening for Dong Zhi, who suddenly realized that this kind of simulation system could be used to make a lot of money.