Chapter 126: Listening to

"You're not going to act?"

Li Qing glanced at Yunxiao Huan beside her and asked.

The battle between Tang Luo and the black centipede, they simply couldn't get close.

Zhao Gailun roared and charged forward, only to be struck by the black centipede's tail and flung away; had it not been for his courage skill blocking somewhat, he would have suffered serious injury.

Moreover, as the black centipede burrowed in and out of the ground, the surrounding terrain had become extremely fragile.

If they drew nearer or exerted more force, they might fall into the underground.

Qin Menglan fired several arrows that missed, then decisively unleashed the Dragon Fist strike—unfortunately, the effect was poor; after pursuing for a distance, she merely broke a few of the centipede's legs, only briefly hindering its assault.

Although Li Qing possessed Nie Feng's destiny, she actually now only knew a few moves of the Wind God Legs.

She couldn't perform any other stronger martial arts, thus unable to be of much help.

King Kong's condition was clearly no better than Zhao Gailun's; the Ascending Dragon Fist was still on cooldown and unusable.

At present, the only one who could still assist Tang Luo was Yunxiao Huan.

Yunxiao Huan held small pebbles, flicking them with his fingers; some struck the black centipede, yet failed to truly pierce its armor, inflicting no effective damage.

Yunxiao Huan's Little Li Flying Dagger, naturally, possessed power far beyond merely that.

Li Qing's question was actually asking whether Yunxiao Huan would unleash the Little Li Flying Dagger.

The black martial arts exterior was hard, but that did not mean other parts were equally hard; at least the face on the head, the mouth, and the gaps between the exterior were all vulnerable.

With Tang Luo there buying time, the unfailing Little Li Flying Dagger would surely hit.

Even if it couldn't kill, it could severely wound the black centipede, thereby resolving Tang Luo's current perilous predicament.

That descending Tathagata Divine Palm, and the Thousand Hands unable to defend—clearly also not a technique to be used casually.

Yunxiao Huan furrowed his brows, he was hesitating.

The Little Li Flying Dagger is not a skill, thus has no cooldown limit; yet once unleashed, identity would likely be exposed, which Yunxiao Huan did not wish.

Moreover, he always felt that even if the opponent temporarily lacked those two immensely powerful techniques (skills), facing this centipede, they would not have to worry about their lives.

No matter what, Xuanzang's mission differed from theirs; his task was to suppress the snake spirit!

If subdued by the centipede essence under the snake spirit's command, that would be too shameful for the mission given by the gods and demons.

Yunxiao Huan, the more he thought, the more reasonable it seemed; he said: "He's fine, you're worrying unnecessarily."

"Fine?" Li Qing blinked in surprise.

"Of course, although the situation appears perilous, in reality it's merely a close call—Xuanzang handles it with ease..." Just as he said this, he saw Tang Luo's black centipede's pair of massive black mouthparts clamp down and drag him underground.

Originally already riddled with holes, the ground, upon this impact, became wholly shattered, forming a deep pit extending into the earth.

"……" Yunxiao Huan widened his eyes—had he guessed wrong?!

"Keep up, don't lose him." Fortunately, Tang Luo's voice came from underground, uninjured, promptly easing Yunxiao Huan's embarrassment.

"See, I told you he's fine." Yunxiao Huan said.

"Hehe." Li Qing chuckled, first composing her startled expression before speaking.

"Even if he's a master, this is too arrogant." King Gong couldn't help but say, walking to the edge of the pit, where a part of the black centipede could be vaguely seen frantically dancing.

"Let's go." Qin Menglan approached, glanced, showed no hesitation, and jumped straight down.

As wanderers of gods and demons, this courage they still possessed; everyone followed suit and jumped down.

Following the passage opened by the black centipede, the group advanced swiftly; before long they reached the underground world Tang Luo had mentioned.

Indeed, various passages crisscrossed, extremely easy to get lost in.

However, with Tang Luo guiding by voice and the black centipede leading the way, there was no need to worry about getting lost.

Rapid advance, up and down, left and right, for a full hour.

A turn, and everyone saw the white-clad Xuanzang standing in the passage, beside him twisted, most of his body sunk into the adjacent "wall," yet utterly motionless, devoid of vitality—the black centipede.

Further off, a beam of light shone in, clearly another world within.

"Arrived?" Qin Menglan looked over, using the light to examine Tang Luo—indeed, uninjured.

Not only uninjured, his body bore not a trace, spotless.

Compared to the arriving group, each was grimy and dusty.

It would easily lead one to mistakenly think the ones who had just undergone battle were them.

"Arrived." Tang Luo gazed toward the exit where light poured in, stepped forward, and walked over.

Initially letting the centipede lead a bit, later it became him striking this black centipede, prompting it to instinctively flee—fleeing toward what place, naturally, a lifesaving refuge.

The light pouring in from the outlet was a vast expanse of red.

Indicating the time was already evening, quite reminiscent of the setting sun like blood.

The group exited the passage; before their eyes appeared, indeed, a beautiful scene.

Lush green grass like a carpet, flowers in full bloom, green trees forming shade, and clear stream water trickling by.

Moreover, one could hear some insect chirps and bird calls.

As if the essence of the entire mountain range had been gathered here.

"A valley……" Li Qing murmured, gazing around—towering cliffs surrounded them; this was a valley floor.

At the center's position, there was a raised small mound, giving the feeling of a burial mound.

Before the mound, there was also a protrusion formed by entwined vines, resembling a tombstone.

"Someone!"

Zhao Gailun approached, exclaimed in surprise, seeing within the vine-like tombstone a person seated.

Nearly the entire person was covered by vines, only barely able to discern a withered old face, and the upper body with palms pressed together.

These vines were precisely those entwined around this elder, forming the tombstone-like shape.

"Could it not be that old monk!" Zhao Gailun retreated two steps, considering a possibility.

Tang Luo stepped forward and directly reached out toward the old man's withered, tree-like face.

The others stood behind Tang Luo, not getting too close—this kind of bold probing, testing the waters with skill and courage, is not something just anyone can do.

It's very easy to directly probe someone to death.

Just as Tang Luo was about to touch the old man, the old man, who had tightly shut his eyes, suddenly opened them.

Two beams of sharp light shot from his eyes, seizing the soul and startling the heart.

"Who comes here!"

He spoke in a loud voice, but upon careful listening, one would detect the weakness he was desperately trying to conceal.

Having startled the old man, Tang Luo withdrew his hand, clasped his palms together, and gave a slight bow: "This humble monk is Xuanzang, passing through this place. I do not know why the Dharma Master is here."

The old man's clothes were extremely tattered, but one could still barely make out that they were once a set of gray monk's robes—at least they are gray now.

What color they were before, I no longer know.

"Ah, so it is Master Xuanzang." The old monk said, "This place is by no means a good one—hurry and leave."

"This humble monk has seen as much; otherwise, I would not still be here." Tang Luo said.

The old monk sighed, about to say something, when he suddenly noticed Qin Menglan and the others behind Tang Luo. His expression changed instantly, and he assumed the posture of an angry Vajra: "It's you lot of wicked obstacles again!"

Without saying more, Tang Luo reached out and pressed his finger to the old monk's forehead: "Master, it is better not to give rise to anger."

This old monk is but a step away from the exhaustion of oil and wick—Tang Luo fears that if he becomes agitated, he might expire directly.

The old monk felt the gentle power of the Merit Jade Lotus, was somewhat surprised, and then his expression calmed: "This humble monk's dharma name is Fashan..."

"Why don't you call yourself Fahai instead?" Everyone's faces twitched—this dharma name, are you sure you're not playing us?

"Master Fashan, could you tell this humble monk what has happened in this region?" Tang Luo sat down cross-legged without further ado, looking at Master Fashan as he spoke.

Master Fashan glanced at Qin Menglan and the others behind Tang Luo.

"No problem, they are all good people." Tang Luo cheerfully handed out good-person cards.

Before Master Xuanzang, there are no bad people—and if there were, they would soon cease to be.

Master Fashan glanced at Qin Menglan and the others, then looked at the confident Tang Luo, sighed softly, and said: "I do not know if the Master would be willing to listen to a story?"

"Sure." Tang Luo belongs to the listening faction and would naturally not refuse.

Moreover, basically, this old monk should be able to unravel all the mysteries of this mission.

Not only is Tang Luo eager and enthusiastic, but the others have also pricked up their ears, wishing they could move closer to listen together—but due to this Master Fashan's inexplicable hostility, they can only stand still in place.

Fortunately, this position also allows them to hear what Master Fashan is saying.

The story took place over ten years ago, when this village received a pair of outsiders—a man and a woman. The woman was beautiful, with a gentle and graceful demeanor; the man was handsome and refined, both talented and virtuous.

Their bearing and style were utterly out of place with the village, and they claimed to have come fleeing disaster.

The village head and villagers did not say, "From poor mountains and evil waters come troublesome people"—instead, they directly drove the two away, but promised to let them temporarily settle.

At first, the fleeing Xu Xuan, Doctor Xu, and "White Sister" were together, but not as husband and wife—at most, they harbored mutual affection, not yet reaching the stage of flirtatious glances or secret dalliances.

However, after settling in the village, their feelings quickly deepened, and in the presence of the villagers, they formally became husband and wife.

Xu Xuan occasionally taught the village's wild children to recognize characters and read. When villagers suffered headaches, fevers, or injuries from hunting or chopping wood, Xu Xuan treated them all.

Doctor Xu and White Sister (Lady) gradually became the most beloved people in the village.

In short, the more I listen, the more it feels like the Legend of the White Snake—but the setting has shifted from the West Lake to this village, which can also be considered remote from the dust and turmoil.

"Then Master Fashan appeared, discovered that Lady White was actually a demon, and thus moved to subdue the demon?" Tang Luo asked.

Master Fashan's withered face revealed a trace of sorrow, a trace of anger, a trace of pity—extremely complex: "No."

The beginning of the tragedy occurred before Master Fashan arrived.

Sometime unknown, the villagers began to contract a strange illness—occasionally, severe pain would sweep through the body; sometimes the limbs would go weak; sometimes they would become violently aggressive, with boundless strength, so that several people could not restrain them.

At first, Xu Xuan was also at a loss and even invited renowned physicians from other places to treat them, but to no effect.

After seven or eight villagers had died, Xu Xuan and his wife finally prepared a decoction that could temporarily suppress and slow the strange illness.

But as the number of infected villagers grew, the decoction was far from sufficient—and in fact, it kept dwindling.

Few villagers noticed that, at that time, the pregnant White Lady's face grew increasingly pale, and her body grew weaker day by day.

"That medicine..."

"That medicine—the main ingredient is none other than the blood of the white snake!"