Chapter 123: Calabash Brothers?

"I can do it, but you can't." Yunxiao Huan said inwardly.

His fate is Ye Kai, and Ye Kai comes from Gu Long's novels. Although Gu Long's novels have high artistic conception and pretentiousness, they still belong to the relatively orthodox wuxia genre.

There is no situation where a single palm strike causes mountains to collapse and the earth to split.

"Limits are meant to be broken through," Li Qing said.

The fate of the original owner is not the upper limit of the fate holder, and this is widely recognized among fate holders.

Yunxiao Huan said nothing, and did not know whether he had listened or not.

"What have you found here?" Tang Luo thought everyone should skip this topic.

Hitting my teammate hard was not what he intended; who knew the position would be so coincidental?

Actually, the formed pit was not that big; it just happened to destroy the ground where the house stood.

This is not a large-scale AOE; at least it has not yet had as great an impact as Tang Luo's kick.

Master Xuanzang is best at consecration!

Don't worry about clearing the path—clearing the path is something everyone can do. From now on, we should still promote consecration more.

"Found... uh, those monsters seem not to have respawned?" Qin Menglan suddenly realized, the monsters affected and killed did not respawn immediately as before.

She briefly described what they had encountered.

Tang Luo lowered his head to examine the remaining fragments, thus understanding the situation.

Those monsters look strange, but are actually similar to earth-bound spirits.

They and the entire village are actually one entity; being trapped here, they are hard to dissipate due to the village's existence.

Yes, they are hard to dissipate, not absolutely immortal.

Even if you kill them thousands or millions of times, as long as the village remains intact, you can kill those monsters.

But Tang Luo's stone pillar from clearing the path injured the "village itself," equivalent to heavy damage; even if those monsters reappear, they cannot recover as quickly as before and need time to slowly regain strength.

"If we demolish all these wooden houses, can we truly kill those... villagers turned into earth-bound spirits?" Qin Menglan asked.

"Probably," Tang Luo said.

"Probably?"

"At worst, we'll completely overturn this land—surely we can kill them." Tang Luo said.

"..."

"What have you found here? Besides the earth-bound spirits of this village?" Tang Luo continued asking.

"Here, you were just a little earlier, and it would have been gone!" Li Qing handed over a crumpled, wrinkled note.

This note looks quite old, having been crumpled by Li Qing into a wrinkled ball, and the handwriting has faded considerably.

Fortunately, the content is still legible.

Everyone steadied their minds, gathered together, and began to read: White Elder Sister...

"White Elder Sister—"

"Who is White Elder Sister?"

"Um... don't ask about useless things, just read carefully."

White Elder Sister, hurry and leave! Everyone has gone mad, saying it's all your fault, that you brought disaster upon the village.

An old monk even said he could help us exorcise demons, but he doesn't look like a good person.

I secretly at...

This position has a blob of ink dropped, not intentionally hiding key information, but due to a pause while writing, causing the ink to drip.

Next is a complete address: the Flying Stone to the southwest of the village.

I hid some money I usually saved at the Flying Stone; take it and leave quickly.

The note ends here; the handwriting is rather messy, showing the writer's unease while writing.

"What does it mean? White Elder Sister, and also not a good old monk?" Zhao Gailun unconsciously looked toward Tang Luo.

Monk, not a good person—his first thought was the Xuanzang before him.

"What are you looking at? It's not me." Tang Luo noticed Zhao Gailun's gaze, indicating he wouldn't take the blame.

Zhao Gailun laughed awkwardly, turned his head, and stepped back slightly.

"How does it feel, again like Legend of the White Snake?" Qin Menglan said.

A woman surnamed White, with an old monk leading villagers to capture people, suddenly doesn't seem like Calabash Brothers, but more like Legend of the White Snake.

"We were wrong; from the beginning, we shouldn't have taken Calabash Brothers as reference." Li Qing said.

"I think it's still useful." Gang Jin said, he thinks Calabash Brothers has no problem.

The usually quiet Yunxiao Huan did not participate in the discussion, only frowning.

Unknown whether he was in deep thought or just pretending to think.

"Was this letter sent out, or not sent out?" Qin Menglan said, "What happened in the village, and what does it have to do with White Elder Sister?"

A discovery led to more mysteries.

Moreover, how exactly are these mysteries connected to their mission?

If White Elder Sister is the snake spirit Tang Luo needs to suppress, then who is the grandfather? Is he one of the villagers, hidden among the earth-bound spirit monsters?

"You guys, you're just overthinking; there's an address here—go check and you'll know." Tang Luo said.

"The master is right! Men should face things head-on!" Gang Jin said, the stone pillar earlier doesn't count—later we can face things head-on, but not now.

"Also fine." Zhao Gailun nodded.

Qin Menglan and the other two said nothing, suddenly feeling a bit envious of these three brainless brawny guys.

Could it be that this brainless brawny style made the three stronger? No, or perhaps because they are already strong, this brainless brawny recklessness doesn't truly get them killed, allowing them to survive until now?

"Then let's go check." Qin Menglan said, "By the way, what did you encounter underground again? How did you know the earthquake was coming?"

By now, everyone could accept Tang Luo's "breaking through the earth."

Upon reflection, Tang Luo has a skill that can dig a large hole in the ground.

Using the same skill, employing stone pillars to dig a hole underground is not impossible; according to Tang Luo, passages are everywhere.

The difficulty is greatly reduced, and it is actually feasible.

Exactly, it's mainly because the skill is powerful enough.

Thinking this way, one feels much better inside, accepting the "acceptance."

"I encountered the Calabash Brothers." Tang Luo said.

"Calabash Brothers? That purple calabash?" Everyone was startled.

"Yes, it's an evil thing. The willow arrows we saw were possessed by it, and in the end, it got killed in the pit. If you encounter it, you must be extremely careful." Tang Luo said.

Everyone noticed that Tang Luo was carrying that wooden bow, which indeed resembled the bow and arrow of the willow arrows.

As for whether anyone muttered, wondering if it was Tang Luo or the evil thing Calabash Brothers he mentioned who killed the willow arrows, no one knows.

From his earlier action of saving people without hesitation, he does not seem like someone who would deliberately harm teammates.

However, Xuanzang's conduct always carries a sense of danger, making people anxious and inevitably leading to many associations.

Tang Luo ignored everyone's mixed thoughts and continued: "Besides the Calabash Brothers, I also encountered a snake demon's nest, which contains many snakes."

"Down there?" Lai Qing walked to the edge of the pit and looked down.

Naturally, no traces of snakes could be seen; the passage Tang Luo opened is definitely temporary.

After a while, various collapses occurred; now, even if one jumps down, it's impossible to jump back into those snake demons' nests.

In fact, the terrain around the pit has already undergone some changes, affecting nearby houses, causing the wooden huts to lean crookedly.

"I can't see them anymore." Lai Qing shook his head and stepped back, "Let's go. If those monsters reappear, they will actively gather, greatly increasing their strength, and if we get trapped again..."

The two words "danger" were swallowed again by Lai Qing.

With this "Tang Xuanzang" here, even at worst, we can at least break out, and there's also that enlightened healing, so there definitely won't be any danger.

"Wait, I almost forgot. Let's stay here and liberate these earth-bound spirits." Tang Luo said, "So they can be freed."

"Liberated?"

"Yes." Tang Luo said, "According to your account, villagers merged with poultry, livestock, and even wild beasts, and the wooden huts remain intact, clearly indicating someone deliberately bound them here."

"Retribution, punishment? Is it that White Sister? Snake spirit?"

Everyone seemed to have found a clue.

The old monk and villagers should have lost to that White Sister snake spirit, then been retaliated against, forming this strange village.

"My grandfather I want to save won't be one of these earth-bound spirit monsters, right?" Lai Qing worried.

"... It's not impossible, but let's take it slow." Tang Luo said.

Originally, we could have used the method of completely overturning the village to liberate that group of earth-bound spirits, which would be more efficient.

Lai Qing's concern is not entirely without reason.

Killing grandfather with our own hands would not be good.

"Why not first go check the Flying Stone?" Qin Menglan said, "Saving grandfather definitely can't involve killing him; without special means, we might not complete the task."

"Good." Everyone also felt Qin Menglan's words made sense.

Thus, the task finally has a clue, becoming clear, at least everyone now has a relatively clear direction—southwest.

"Meow!"

At this moment, the Heavenly Roaring Dog suddenly barked, jumping from Qin Menglan's shoulder to Tang Luo's shoulder.

"Resurrected?"

The others immediately reacted; they hadn't forgotten that this little cat had given a warning before the villagers appeared.

"No, something has come."

Tang Luo looked in the direction the Heavenly Roaring Dog indicated; shortly after, a series of rustling sounds came from that side.

The sound of heavy objects repeatedly hitting the ground, mixed with breaking noises.

It was trees continuously breaking and falling, making one think of logging scenes, and also easy to imagine wild boars or similar things, charging wildly, destroying everything blocking the road.

"What could it be?"

"Snake spirit?" Tang Luo's eyes lit up, "Making such a big fuss, finally showing up? Scaring the grass to startle the snake—still effective."

Compared to Tang Luo, others won't be this excited, staring at the direction the sound came from.

Soon, in that direction, trees that seemed to be enclosed by a barrier all fell at once, as if creating an open space.

A figure strode out directly, walking straight toward Tang Luo and the others.

Dragon-like stride, tiger-like step, momentum... yet the momentum is rather unimpressive.

Because the person who came out is short and stocky, looking less than 1.5 meters tall, with short legs and short arms.

There's also an obvious highland red on the face, wearing a red outfit, head held high, a plump little red-clad child, really showing no momentum.

But this appearance and attire...

"Calabash Brothers?"