Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 14: The Prison World

Wuzhan's fingers were bleeding as they were tightly clasped in the cracks of the rock wall, veins bulging, his body attached to the vertical cliff, sweat dripping profusely, his knees resting on the protruding stone edges, which had been scratched, revealing a deep abyss below. He was exhausted and had been trapped in this position for an incense stick of time. There were still several feet to go before he could climb to the cave entrance to rest.

Wuzhan turned his head to the side again, frowned, and looked with a resentful look at Zitan who was lying on a pine tree against the stone wall not far away, covering his face with a hat. Wuzhan had begged many times, but he always pretended not to hear.

Wuzhan bit his lip and looked up at the crack in the rock that was a foot high from him. Only by grabbing that crack in the rock could he climb to the cave entrance, because he had already climbed the few feet above, and the height he had to climb today had increased.

Wuzhan couldn't reach that place with his hands, and the only way to grab that place was by leaping with all his strength. However, he thought he couldn't do it because he had no strength left and could only cling to the stone wall like a gecko.

If we can't get through, we will have to stay here until noon, miss lunch, and watch the master eating barbecue on the cliff with relish, and continue the next day.

This was something that bothered Wuzhan very much, because every day his master would take him to the cliff and he had to climb. He knew that his master did this to make his body stronger, but after these few days, not only did he not become stronger, but he ate much less and became thinner.

Wuzhan mustered up his courage, calmed his breathing and decided to give it a try. He first supported himself with his hands for a while, loosened his legs, and then supported himself with his toes for a while, loosened his hands. When he felt he had some strength, he gritted his teeth, frowned, and exerted strength with his hands and feet at the same time. His whole body leaped up like a frog. When his fingers were only a palm's distance away from the crack, his body stopped rising and turned to fall. Wuzhan cried out, "Not good!" and slid down the stone wall uncontrollably. When he slid back to his original position, he wanted to grab the crack, but he missed it and continued to slide down.

When he was about to fall into the abyss, Zitan's ears moved slightly, and he swung his hand, and a rope flew out. The rope flew rapidly towards Wuzhan and instantly wrapped around Wuzhan's waist. Wuzhan's body swung and was hung under the tree where Zitan was resting. He swung for a long time before stopping.

Wuzhan sighed and closed his eyes. Zitan took off his bamboo hat and said with a chuckle, "How about it, do you still have the energy to climb up? If not, then you'll have to hang here all afternoon!" Then he took out a roasted pheasant wrapped in leaves from his arms, and said with a sigh, "I'll have to eat it myself!"

Wuzhan frowned and complained, "Master, you just like to bully your disciples for fun. Where in the world can you find a master like you?"

"Haha, you see, there is no such lazy disciple as you in the world. Besides, you are bored all day long, and even a good person will get bored. If not you, who else can I find to have fun with?"

"It seems that my great master must have tortured my master in this way, so my master tortures me in this way."

"You are wrong. He never cares about me because he can't see anything."

"How could that be?"

"I don't know about this, and he didn't say anything. Maybe he lost control during the training. Let's not talk about this." After saying that, he threw the chicken leg to Wuzhan, "You pass today. Eat first, and then practice swordsmanship!"

Wuzhan took the chicken leg and just after he finished eating, his body was lifted up. Zitan threw the sword to Wuzhan, "Show me the first move of the Liufeng Sword Technique!"

There are ten moves in Willow Wind Sword Technique, which are: Spring breeze blowing the willows, green on the treetops, Thousands of worries hanging on the bank, Jade becoming thin, Flying catkins in the clear wind, Dancing in the wind and playing with shadows, Thousands of silk ribbons, lingering at the river head, Drawing silk to cut the water, and Dragons chasing the sun.

The tenth move 'Dragons Chasing the Sun' combines the previous nine moves into one, done in one go. It is extremely powerful. It was just an idea of ​​Ku Liu back then. Neither Zi Tan nor Ku Liu could use it.

Wuzhan took the long sword with one hand, his eyes fixed, and lightly supported the sword with one hand. His palm spread out, and the long sword was moved in front of his chest, trembling slightly, like a willow branch swaying in the wind. This is the first move of "Liufeng Sword Technique", the sword starts with 'Spring Breeze Blowing Willows'. After concentrating for a moment, he saw the long sword waving, the sword's momentum was light, the trajectory was undulating, erratic, neither fast nor slow, soft yet tough.

Zi Tan nodded in praise, stroked his silver beard and sighed. When Wuzhan finished his demonstration, he put away his sword and returned his hands to Zi Tan. Zi Tan sighed, "You have displayed this 'Spring Breeze Blowing Willows' to the fullest. Even I, your teacher, cannot grasp it as accurately as you. It's a pity that although your swordsmanship is exquisite, it only has the form and lacks internal strength. This is not your fault. You have a poor physique. If you had enough internal strength, you could exorcise demons with this move alone. No one is perfect. What a pity!"

Wuzhan said: "It's not a pity. I am just killing time by practicing sword skills."

"Haha, you are quite frank. Don't you want to venture out into the world in the future?"

"No, I am used to being alone, and there is nothing in the outside world that I care about. Could it be that Master has lived here for too long and feels lonely and wants to go out?"

Zitan pondered for a long time and said, "That's not the case. It's just that I have a regret in my life. I hope I can make up for that regret in my lifetime."

"Master, you have such a high level of cultivation, have you ever had any regrets?"

Zi Tan smiled bitterly and said, "Who doesn't have regrets? Besides, my cultivation level is mediocre in this world of cultivation!" He paused and said, "You must know that there are always people better than you. I am just a wandering Taoist priest. How can I be compared with those famous and upright sects? There are many ways to cultivate Taoism, and there are many schools of thought. The most famous Taoist sects I know of are the Immortal Yunmeng of Huangshan, the Bixia Yuanjun of Taishan, the Longquan Zhenren of Songshan, and the Feijian Zhenren of Lushan in the Central Plains, the Ye Yi Zhenren of Kunlun Mountain and the Holy Mother of Snow Lotus of Tianshan in the Western Xinjiang, and the Qinglian Yuanjun of Emei Mountain in the Southern Xinjiang. It is said that they have all reached When you reach the realm of a Sanxian, your cultivation is many times higher than your master. There are also some evil cults whose realm is not lower than that of Sanxian, but they will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, which is despised by the righteous. These are only well-known in the cultivation world. There are also some hidden real people, which are even more unclear. It is said that there is an extremely mysterious sect, and it is unclear what it teaches, where the church is, and who the leader is. It is said that the four Dharma Kings of the sect have the ability to split the sky and cover the sea, and can destroy a country in an instant, but no one has seen them, so it may just be a rumor. "

Wuzhan listened to his master's description of many famous Taoist sects and felt that there were many cultivators in the world. He was full of curiosity and asked, "Why do they cultivate Taoism?"

Zitan smiled and said, "Is there any need to ask? Of course it is to attain immortality and live forever."

Wuzhan asked again: "After becoming immortal, what else can you do?"

"Live as long as the heaven and earth, comprehend the great Dao, and enjoy peace and tranquility forever!"

Wuzhan's clear and beautiful eyes moved as he sat on the ground and said calmly: "Master said that those who practice Taoism should go with the flow, have a pure heart and few desires, go with the flow. Life is like the weeds, withering and flourishing every year, there is life and death, this is nature, this is the Tao. If you want to be immortal, wouldn't that be going against the Tao? Have a pure heart and few desires, this rock has a pure heart and few desires, it can exist forever, without thoughts, without feelings, always looking at the world, never thinking, never changing anything, what is the meaning of existence? And those who practice Taoism, don't they just want to turn themselves into a stone?" In fact, Wuzhan's heart is also contradictory. He can't figure out why he should live. He wants to live, but he doesn't know what he is living for. Especially when he sees his loved ones die, he feels that living is painful. There is an innate loneliness in his heart. His coldness is by no means heartless.

Wuzhan's words made Zitan fall into deep thought. After a long while, he said, "I have never heard what you said before. Thinking carefully, it is true. You have spent your whole life trying to attain the Tao and become an immortal. When you die, all you have left are regrets. As you said, why are you still so depressed? Shouldn't you be happier?"

Wuzhan said: "I don't know either. Nothing has made me happy since I was a child. I want to live happily, but I always think about death. When I want to do something, I can predict the ending before I even start to do it."

"Then don't think about it. It's good to live in confusion."

Wuzhan's eyes revealed a sly look, "So, Master asked me to climb rocks, but it's useless." "You little bastard, you're trying to be lazy in a roundabout way. Isn't this for the sake of your master to let you live a few more days? Don't dawdle, show me the second move!"

……

In the blink of an eye, Wuzhan and his master have lived in Cangyan Mountain for eight years. In the past eight years, Wuzhan's daily routine is to take a bath and climb the mountain. Occasionally, he would play chess with his master. At first, he climbed up along the stone wall, and later he climbed down. Zitan once said, "Upward is the pursuit, downward is the state of mind. It is harder to go down than up. If you want to climb up, you need to learn how to come down."

But Li Zhan thought that it was all the same. His body did not become as strong as he had imagined. Even though he was wearing his master's Taoist robe, he was still thin.

He only learned the moves of "Liu Feng Sword Technique" and Zitan did not teach the rest, because Wuzhan could not condense Qi. Condensing Qi is the foundation. Without this foundation, no advanced spells can be practiced. Zitan was also unwilling to touch Wuzhan's injury, and Wuzhan was unwilling to make trouble for himself.

Zi Tan often took out the inner elixirs from the package at night and meditated and observed under the light. These inner elixirs were taken out from the bodies of monsters after he eliminated them. Some were big, some were small, and of different colors. Some of them even emitted a faint light.

In recent years, he often took a duck egg-sized dark stone and studied it with great concentration. Sometimes he would study it all night. This stone was extremely strange, with densely packed small holes on it. He took it out many times, and Wuzhan saw it and asked what it was. Zitan said, "This stone is called the 'Soul Requiem Stone'. It is the regret of my life!"

Wuzhan asked puzzledly: "What regrets can a stone have?"

"Alas, fate plays tricks on me. This stone is not an ordinary stone. It contains powerful magic power. I have studied it for twenty years and still cannot crack it. If I can crack this stone, I can leave with peace of mind!"

Wuzhan knew that he couldn’t help his master with anything, so he didn’t ask any more questions.

……

Wuzhan lay on a gently sloping rock wall with his eyes closed to rest. He had become more skilled at climbing over the years and it was much easier than at the beginning, so his master no longer "monitored" him. He often hid here to slack off and delay time to avoid having to increase the workload next time. However, he was wrong this time, and Zitan hung him on the tree above the cave entrance.

The reason was that the entrance of the cave was densely packed with caterpillars, which were crawling around the entrance, and there was no place for them to step on the ground. Zitan had a little bit of mysophobia and didn't like to see caterpillars. Only he knew the reason. When he saw many insects on the tree beside the cave entrance, he ordered Wuzhan to catch them and step on them to death. Wuzhan saw that there were too many caterpillars on the ancient tree and he couldn't catch them all, and it would be too disgusting to step on so many of them, so he thought of a way. He put the caterpillars in a circle at the entrance of the cave, and used a wooden pole to lead the caterpillars on the tree into the circle, and the result was what it is now.

Zitan pointed at the caterpillars filling the cave entrance, his stomach churning, his face livid, and he asked angrily, "What's the point of this? Do you want to disgust Master to death?"

Wuzhan was hung on the tree and explained: "Didn't the master ask me to catch insects? I saw there were too many insects, so I thought of this method to tire them to death."

"How can you be so tired? Can't you see? They are all there..." He turned around and pointed at the densely packed insects. He couldn't hold back his food and vomited it out. After he felt better, his face flushed. "You are obviously being lazy. As a punishment, you must not eat for a day!"

"If he's not dead now, he will be dead by tomorrow morning. Then I'll sweep him away."

"Okay, since you are really trying to make your master suffer, you will hang here tonight, and these..." He was about to vomit again, but forced himself to hold it back. "When I die, you will come down!" After that, he left angrily and meditated by the waterfall all night. Wuzhe was hung all night, and those insects also circled around the cave entrance all night.

……

The next morning, when the sun came out, all the insects at the entrance of the cave died and piled up at the entrance, forming an insect mountain.

When Zitan came back to see it, he was disgusted at first, then surprised, and asked, "How did you do that?"

Wuzhan opened his sleepy eyes and said, "Master, let me down and tell you later!" Zitan stood up and untied the rope. After Wuzhan stretched his muscles, he picked up the broom and swept the insects off the cliff. After sweeping them clean, he sat down and said, "I have observed that these insects have a habit of following their companions, so I surrounded them in a circle, and they followed one another, circling around in circles until they were exhausted and could not get out of the circle."

After hearing this, Zitan slowly sat down on the stone bench at the entrance of the cave and said in deep thought, "I can't get out of that circle!" He fell into deep thought for a long time, then said with regret, "We are actually the same!"

……

For the next three days, Zitan never left the cave. He took the "Soul-Restoring Stone" and kept refining it with magic until he became possessed.

Zitan's white hair stood up, his eyes were bloodshot, his veins bulged, and he roared wildly. Wuzhan could only go over and shout at him. Zitan jumped up and almost killed Wuzhan with a palm.

When he saw Wuzhan's calm eyes, he controlled himself. The fierce look in his eyes gradually disappeared. He retracted his raised hand, looked at Wuzhan, and confessed, "It almost caused a disaster!" He sat down on the ground.

After looking at Wuzhan for a long time, he suddenly handed the "Soul-Rescuing Stone" to Wuzhan and said, "You keep it for me first. It is an evil object and I cannot control it for the time being. You have no true energy in your body and it will not harm you." After a pause, he said, "I am going down the mountain to do something. You stay in the mountain and keep it well. I will be back in three days!" After speaking, he walked out of the cave and disappeared down the mountain after a moment.

After Zi Tan left, Wu Zhan held the Requiem Stone and thought, "What kind of magic power does this stone have that Master almost killed me by mistake? What secret is hidden here that makes Master so regretful?" He observed it carefully for a long time but still couldn't figure it out. "Forget it, this is so important to Master. Master asked me to keep it well, so I will keep it well."

"Where should I put it?" Thinking of his master's worried departure, he always felt that this stone was a little weird and vaguely uneasy. It would not be safe no matter where he put it. He hesitated for a long time with the "Soul Stone" in his hand. Later, he thought of a safe place. He climbed to the tree above the cave. The tree was rooted in the cracks of the rock. There was a gap between the roots and the cracks where he could put the stone. If he didn't reach in and dig, he would have no idea what could be hidden there.

No need to take a shower, climb mountains or practice swordplay, Wuzhan had much more free time. Three days passed quickly, and when Zitan came back, Wuzhan was still sleeping.

Wuzhan was brought up by Zitan, "Your inferior disciple is weak and lazy by nature, I'm sorry to make you laugh." Seeing that Wuzhan's eyes were still closed, "Why don't you go meet your uncle quickly? You're making a fool of yourself!"

Wuzhan opened his sleepy eyes, looked at the green-robed Taoist priest beside Zitan, knelt down and said, "Greetings, Master..." Suddenly his eyes widened.

(End of this chapter)