Chapter 234 — Taking a Life on a Night of Wind and Snow

Then the Xuanliao Demon Ape pointed at himself and said in his rumbling voice, "Big, bald, taught. Bald, little, little!"

Shen Mu was baffled. He ventured, "You mean, this great monk comes from Little Leiyin Temple? The monks of Great Tingming Temple found you and taught you skills, and then this monk from Little Leiyin Temple found you too, told you he came from Little Leiyin Temple, and brought you back to Little Leiyin Temple?"

The Xuanliao Demon Ape nodded again and again.

Everyone in the village was dumbfounded. The Dutian Demon King muttered, "How did you work out what he was saying..."

Shen Mu's heart went cold. To be able to walk through the darkness with the Xuanliao Demon Ape in tow — this big-headed, fat-eared monk was likely a being on the order of Old Tathagata, of the old village headman!

An existence like a god.

Long Jiaonan, Daoist Chiyun, and Daoist Shao Yuan felt dread in their hearts and quietly backed away — but to retreat further was to step into the darkness beyond the village.

The three of them cursed their luck in silence. The yin courier of a moment ago, and now this Little Tathagata of Little Leiyin Temple — both were figures Shen Mu knew. A single word from Shen Mu, surely, and they would be dead!

Little did they know that Shen Mu's own heart was in a frenzy of alarm. The Little Tathagata of Little Leiyin Temple was a demon cultivator, a great demon who had fled in rebellion from Great Tingming Temple — a Great Demon King!

His understanding of the Buddha's law had gone to an extreme. He had once used a bronze Buddha to suppress the centipede Qixia'er on the green islet in the middle of the Yong River — and that bronze Buddha Shen Mu had toppled by borrowing the power of the ice tide, setting Qixia'er free!

The big-headed, fat-eared Little Tathagata had a very Buddha-like look, like a living Buddha in this world, majestic and solemn. He glanced at Shen Mu and said, "So it is the young benefactor. The young benefactor spoiled my merit — do you remember?"

Long Jiaonan, Daoist Chiyun, and the others brightened, and hope stirred in their hearts again.

Shen Mu said, "I remember."

The Xuanliao Demon Ape planted himself across Shen Mu's path and said loudly, "Bald, brother!"

Little Tathagata looked at him and shook his head. "Set your mind at ease. My enemy is coming; I will not kill him. My enemy has arrived. Stay here — I will go and meet him."

Scarcely had he spoken when a laugh came out of the darkness. "Little Tathagata, to arrange a duel in the dead of night — you do have a certain flair."

Through the snowy night an old man in a bamboo hat, cloaked in heavy snow, walked out of the darkness into the shabby village. Shen Mu was slightly taken aback and blurted, "Daoist Lingjing!"

The old man in the hat raised it, let his gaze fall on Shen Mu, and broke into a smile. "So you are the Old Sword God's disciple. You even borrowed two Fengdu coins from me. Have you the money to repay them now?"

Shen Mu was embarrassed, and answered honestly, "Those two Fengdu coins are already spent."

Long Jiaonan, Daoist Chiyun, and Daoist Shao Yuan froze. Here came another peerless master who could walk in the darkness — and again he was an acquaintance of this Youmo Sect Master!

Just how many godlike beings did this Youmo Sect Master know?

"There will be time enough to repay when you have money."

Daoist Lingjing took off his bamboo hat, stood it against the wall, looked at Little Tathagata, and said unhurriedly, "A great snow, a black sky — a fine season for killing. Little Tathagata, let us go somewhere far off and have our fight."

"Good."

The two peerless masters went one after the other into the darkness, and the village fell quiet again. Shen Mu looked at Long Jiaonan and the others across from him; Long Jiaonan and the others were looking back at him; none of them moved.

Seeing this, the Xuanliao Demon Ape grew uneasy. From far off came wave upon wave of dreadful tremors, and then the snow in the sky turned to a fine drizzle pattering down — it was the divine powers of Daoist Lingjing and Little Tathagata melting the great snow of the black night, turning snow into rain.

What fell from the sky was now snowflakes, now fine rain. How long it went on, no one could say, when suddenly a cock's crow rang out of the darkness, and the darkness came surging swiftly westward. At that very moment Shen Mu, Long Jiaonan, the Dutian Demon King, and the rest all sprang up in a flash, striking at one another almost in the same instant, every hand dealing a killing blow!

The Dragon Qilin roared, shook itself, and revealed its true form, flames blazing all around it; it raised a forepaw and pinned down the head of the red snake that came lunging at it, smashing the serpent's skull into the earth. In the space of a breath Shen Mu rushed to Daoist Chiyun's side; the countless flying swords of Daoist Chiyun were all blocked by the Dutian Demon King standing behind Shen Mu.

The Xuanliao Demon Ape leaped up from behind the Dutian Demon King, and the Ximilo came down with terrible force on Daoist Chiyun's brow.

With a hiss —

A blade of sword-light ran through Daoist Chiyun's chest. Shen Mu flicked a finger, and the sword-light swept level across the neck of Shao Yuan, who had not yet come to his senses.

Long Jiaonan seized the tail of the great snake; the red snake shrank, and the woman shot into the air, vanishing in a flicker without a trace.

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