Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 12: Meeting a Mentor on the Brink of Life and Death
Li Zhan let out a long sigh, a bitter smile lingering on the corner of his mouth. He slowly closed his eyes, looking forward to the moment when the sharp claws would pierce his chest. Suddenly, his heart became relieved.

Just as the centipede was ready to attack and leaped up to dismember Li Zhan, a "buzz..." sound of metal breaking through the air suddenly came from the distance, and a long sword, sticking to the ground, flew rapidly towards the centipede that jumped high.

The centipede immediately felt the flying sword and wanted to dodge, but its body was already in the air and it could not stop, so it could only flip its body and use the shell on its back to block. With a "clang" sound, the sword hit the shell, and a section of the shell broke. The centipede let out a "chi" scream and flew more than three feet away before stopping, unable to recover from the pain for a long time.

The long sword flipped over and flew back. A Taoist in a dark yellow robe flew over, caught the flying sword, flipped over and fell down, held the long sword horizontally, and looked down at Li Zhan who fell to the ground.

The Taoist said, "Kid, are you okay?"

Li Zhan slightly opened his eyes and saw the Taoist priest, with silver hair tied with a hemp rope, silver beard floating on his chest, yellow face and bright eyes, and a thin body. Just as he was about to speak, he could no longer hold on and fainted.

The Taoist leaned over to check the injury, frowned, stretched out his fingers to quickly seal Li Zhan's acupuncture points to stop the bleeding wrist. At this time, the centipede twisted its long body, turned over, and moved its legs together, moving across the grass with a "swish" sound, trying to escape.

The Taoist shouted, "Monster, where are you running to!" He raised his sword, stepped on the ground, and jumped more than ten feet away. In a few steps, he caught up with the flying centipede from behind, leaped up, swung his sword, flew above the centipede, and stabbed the sword straight down at the carapace on the centipede's back. With a "puff", the sword pierced into the gap between the carapaces, penetrated the centipede's body, and went straight into the ground. The centipede's body trembled uncontrollably, and it wanted to stop, but it was too late. The back three sections of the carapace and body were cut in half by the sword, and dirty blood spurted out. The centipede screamed "chi chi" and turned its body over in anger, and more than a dozen sharp legs grabbed the Taoist. The Taoist bent the sword, took advantage of the momentum to fly up, flipped his body, and swept the sword across. The centipede's body was standing high, and with a "swish" of the sword, he cut off the centipede's head. Dirty blood gushed out like a fountain. The body tilted and fell to the ground twitching.

The Taoist was agile and skillful with the sword, and he killed the giant centipede with two sword strikes, but he was unable to dodge and his robe was splashed with dirty blood, making him look a little embarrassed.

The Taoist waited until the centipede stopped twitching, then walked over to the centipede's corpse, picked up the sword, cut open the centipede's abdomen, and picked out a black ball the size of a bird's egg with the sword. He caught it with his hand, walked to the stream, washed it, and put it in his bag. He then took off his Taoist robe and soaked it in the water, revealing his thin and strong body. He washed his face and hands with the stream water, and also washed his neck and armpits. He then washed the sword and put it aside to dry. After washing the Taoist robe, he hung it on a tree to dry in the sun. He took out another clean yellow robe from the bag. He put on the Taoist robe and put away the sword. He walked slowly to Li Zhan's side, squatted down, took out the rags from the package, bandaged Li Zhan's wound, picked up Li Zhan's other hand, pressed three fingers lightly on the pulse gate, and took his pulse. Suddenly, he said "Huh", frowned, paused for a long time, stroked his beard and said, "Strange, how could there be such a pulse!" He took out a small white bottle from the package, poured out a small red pill, put it into Li Zhan's mouth, helped him swallow it, and frowned in thought.

……

Li Zhan woke up beside a warm campfire and found himself in a cave, covered with a Taoist robe. The white-haired Taoist priest, who was sitting cross-legged beside the campfire, saw Li Zhan wake up and said kindly, "Child, you're awake!"

Li Zhan coughed lightly and said weakly, "I'm not dead yet?"

"Of course you're not dead, but your pulse is strange. I've never seen a person with such a pulse still alive. When did you get this disease?"

Li Zhan reluctantly sat up and said softly, "I was born with it. Those people said that I shouldn't have lived in this world. I was born with a bad luck."

"That shouldn't be said. There is a reason to live. Just let nature take its course. By the way, why did you run into that centipede monster alone in the wilderness? Where are your family members?"

Li Zhan knew that his life was saved by this white-haired Taoist priest. He wanted to tell him his life story, but when he saw the Taoist robe on him, he developed a grudge against him and said lightly: "My family members starved to death while fleeing, and I was the only one left. I mistakenly entered the deserted mountains and encountered that centipede. If it hadn't been for your rescue, I would have been buried in its belly. I am grateful to you for your help." After saying that, he knelt down and kowtowed.

The white-haired Taoist smiled and said, "No need, it's just a piece of cake. Get up quickly, are you hungry?" He picked up the pheasant meat that had been roasted by the fire and handed it to Li Zhan.

Li Zhan looked at the roasted brown chicken, nodded heavily, said "hmm", took it and started eating. Although this was not the best food he had ever eaten, he felt it was the most delicious food at this moment. After a while, he had eaten the whole pheasant until only the bones were left, which was cleaner than what a weasel would eat.

The white-haired Taoist priest watched Li Zhan finish eating the pheasant, stroked his beard, and laughed, "It seems that you are really hungry!"

Li Zhan said ashamedly: "I lost my temper. I only cared about myself and forgot about my grandfather."

The white-haired Taoist smiled and said, "I have eaten it a long time ago. If you don't want enough, there are more over there." He pointed to three plucked pheasants placed under the stone wall.

Li Zhan exclaimed: "Grandpa, how did you kill so many pheasants?"

The white-haired Taoist picked up a stone and said, "Use this stone!" He shook his wrist and the stone flew out and embedded into the stone wall with a "pop" sound.

When Li Zhan saw this move, he remembered the scene where the Taoist in green robe used the flying locust stone to knock down his mother's dagger. He thought to himself: "This Taoist is as powerful as that Taoist in green robe. I wonder if they are from the same group. I'd better be careful." He opened his eyes wide and said in surprise: "Grandpa actually has such a magical skill. I wonder how he cultivated it?"

"This is not some magical skill. As long as the internal strength reaches a certain level, it will naturally be achieved."

"Where did Grandpa learn all these unique skills?"

The white-haired Taoist sighed and said, "I learned this from my master. My master, whose Taoist name was Ku Liu, was a hermit living in the mountains. He didn't care about worldly affairs and was unknown to the public. He has passed away many years ago!"

Li Zhan bowed his hands and apologized, "I'm sorry for the offense. I hope you can forgive me. I wonder what your title is, do you have any fellow disciples?"

The white-haired Taoist said, "I received my Taoist name Zitan from my master."

After hearing this, Li Zhan felt relieved, but he was still wary of the Taoist priest in front of him. "Thank you for your kindness, Master Zitan. I will always remember your honorific title of grandfather!"

"I'm not a real person. I'm just a wandering Taoist priest. I passed by here and it's my duty to exorcise demons. By the way, kid, what are your plans? Where are you going in the future?"

Li Zhan's eyes dimmed, "I am suffering from an incurable disease. I will live one day at a time and go wherever I am allowed to go!"

Taoist Zitan looked at the child who was in his early teens and actually said such old words, and felt pity for him. "I am over fifty years old, physically weak and mentally old, and I am gradually tired of traveling around. And you are a child, where can you go in these chaotic times? How about this, you and I stay here, I can meditate and understand the Tao, and you can live here."

Li Zhan immediately understood what Zitan meant and knelt on the ground and kowtowed again, "Thank you grandpa for taking me in. If I live one more day, I will definitely accompany you for one more day!"

Taoist Zitan laughed and said, "That's good, that's good. You don't have to be depressed. Although you have a strange disease, you may not die soon. As you said, you have had this disease since you were born, but you have lived for more than ten years, haven't you?"

Li Zhan thought to himself, "I have spent all my mother's savings, eaten all kinds of medicinal herbs, and endured all kinds of pain to survive until now. If it weren't for my mother, I would have died long ago!" Zitan said, "People always think about beautiful things when they are alive. Only in this way can they have a direction in life."

"Junior has learned a lesson!"

"I saw your pulse and I think you must have suffered a lot. Although I am not good at medicine, I know that you are short of energy, so I gave you a 'Qi Condensation Pill' when you were asleep. How do you feel now?"

Li Zhan felt that his body seemed to be lighter than before, "I feel a lot more relaxed!"

"That's right. This 'Qi Condensation Pill' is used to increase the Qi in the body. It was made by my master to help me cultivate. Unfortunately, he passed away early and I was not able to inherit his legacy. I only have three pills left that I didn't need to take at the time. If he were still alive, he would surely make you an endless supply of 'Qi Condensation Pills'. However, from this, I can infer that the cause of your illness is the lack of Qi condensation. Therefore, no matter what tonic you take, it is difficult to absorb. It's like catching fish with a net that slips through it. No matter how many fish you have, you won't be able to catch a single one!"

The doctors who had seen Li Zhan knew that he was deficient in Qi and blood, and his pulse was weak and disordered. The medicines they prescribed were all Qi and blood tonics, but they were not only expensive, but also had little effect. They did not fundamentally solve the problem. Li Zhan had become half a doctor due to his long-term illness. Li Zhan had never heard of Zi Tan's inference, but he felt that it was true. His eyes lit up and he said, "Grandpa, you have a keen eye. Do you have a way to cure me?"

Zi Tan stroked his silver beard and smiled kindly, "I think if you can practice Taoism and condense Qi in your body, you may be able to make up for the lack of Qi in your body and get rid of this disease."

Li Zhan couldn't understand what Zitan meant, so he knelt down again and begged, "I beg you, Grandpa, to accept me as your disciple!"

Zitan smiled and said, "Okay, okay, but I don't even know your name!"

"My disciple, Li Zhan."

“Why did you choose this word?”

"My father gave me this name. He said I was born with a bad luck and cost our family a lot of money, so he named me Li Zhan."

"Haha, your father is quite interesting. He thought his child was a bad boy from the moment he was born. Haha, don't you hate your father?"

Wuzhan felt sad, "How can I hate my parents when my life was given to me?"

"Well, okay, since I have accepted you as my disciple, I need to give you a Taoist name. How about this, your name contains the word 'zhan', so keep the name your parents gave you to show your filial piety. I will add the word 'wu' in front of it, hoping that you can eliminate your illness and have a smooth life. How about you be called 'wuzhan' from now on?"

Li Zhan said gratefully: "Master, this is a good name. From now on, I will be called 'Wu Zhan'!"

"Well, a Taoist practitioner should comprehend the Dao, follow nature, be pure-hearted, and cultivate one's character. You don't need to do that. You just need to strengthen your body and prolong your life."

"Disciple, please obey your master's orders."

"This mountain is called Cangyan Mountain. Legend has it that someone saw a blue dragon on this mountain, hence the name. Master, I found this cave on the mountain. The air here is good. I think it must be warm in winter and cool in summer. We will live here from now on."

Li Zhan, who always appeared indifferent, could not hide his inner joy at this moment. He was relieved at this moment, and his clear eyes flashed with hope.

"Okay, you are injured and need to recuperate. When your body recovers a little, I will teach you the mantra of Qi Condensation." After saying that, he lay on the straw mat that had been laid out long ago, turned sideways and closed his eyes to rest.

……

Wuzhai lay beside the fire without sleeping for a long time. It seemed that in the near future he would get rid of this weak body, no longer suffer from physical torture, and could live a healthy life.

"My mother has been keeping me alive. She was so strong. Now she has left me."

"My father, who always regarded me as an evildoer, gave up everything and was plotted against in order to keep me alive."

"And my brother, he died in such a tragic way."

"All they left for me was to be alive."

“I don’t dare to think whether their bodies will be buried or where they will be buried.”

"The way they left makes me scared and heartbroken when I think about it."

"Who can I seek revenge on for such a hatred? I have practiced hard. Will my cultivation be stronger than that Taoist in green robe? Can I kill him?"

"What if I kill him? My parents and brother won't come back. I can't change that."

……

The dry wood had burned out, and the cave was dark, leaving only warm carbon ash and faint sparks.

(End of this chapter)