Chapter 43: Send the Buddha All the Way to the West

Wu Chang returned to Huai Valley Village, pretending nothing had happened, and resumed his stakeout outside the villagers' residential area.

The cries of battle coming from the direction of the Sui Festival ceremony were growing fainter; the outcome must be near.

After the Sui Festival, how could he convince Liu Shan to let him complete the side quest? Before he could devise a suitable excuse, he saw a villager sprinting toward the residential zone, shouting as he ran: "Great Wu!"

The villager was fully immersed in his cry when suddenly a voice came from behind, making him shudder.

"What is it?"

The villager turned around, urgently saying: "Great Wu, the village chief asks you to come."

Wu Chang followed the villager to the ceremony site and immediately saw Liu Shan standing on the altar, holding the Four-Sided Sui Flame Lantern.

Seeing Wu Chang, Liu Shan looked as if he'd found a savior and hurried over to explain the current situation.

As the battle dragged on and casualties mounted, the villagers' fear of the malevolent force intensified.

This heightened fear allowed the malevolent force to break free from its seal further.

Pale black malevolent qi seeped out of Hollow Mountain and entered the bodies of two Sui People already under its control.

The malevolent qi within the Sui People surged, causing them not only to stir the villagers' evil thoughts but also to spread disease and plague.

Villagers fighting the Sui People began showing clear symptoms: fever, colds, tinnitus, blurred vision, and weakness in limbs were merely the basics.

Villagers wounded by the Sui People fell gravely ill, collapsing to the ground, their foreheads burning like red coals, coughing up blood five times after speaking three sentences.

Under ancient medical conditions, let alone continuing to fight, even a Physician would look at them and immediately deliver the "Can't cure," "Just wait to die," "Goodbye" trio of Bian Que's verdicts.

The villagers had to assign personnel to care for the wounded while constantly watching whether those caregivers had been corrupted by evil thoughts and might kill the wounded.

Because of all this, even after Liu Wei killed one Sui Person, the villagers remained at a severe disadvantage.

Liu Shan asked anxiously: "Great Wu, what should we do?"

Wu Chang's mind raced—wasn't the weakening seal inside Hollow Mountain the perfect chance to investigate the malevolent force's origin? He lowered his gaze so Liu Shan couldn't see his thoughts, speaking solemnly: "The situation is complex. I think I should enter the Sui Festival array inside Hollow Mountain—perhaps there's a way to break the deadlock."

After a brief hesitation, Liu Shan agreed to Wu Chang's request.

Liu Shan held the Four-Sided Sui Flame Lantern; its flame's light allowed the two to move easily through the thick malevolent qi.

They soon reached Hollow Mountain. Due to the weakened seal, the cave was already filled with malevolent qi.

The two villagers guarding the cave entrance were already cold.

They stood rigid, both having drawn their Mountain-Cleaving Knives, swinging them desperately at each other.

The force of their swings was immense, enough to tear through flesh with their dull, poorly maintained blades and embed them in each other's necks.

They stared silently as blood gushed from their necks, their faces wearing joyful smiles.

These two villagers, dead in mutual destruction, became a grotesque archway at the cave entrance, welcoming Wu Chang and Liu Shan inside.

Liu Shan passed the Four-Sided Sui Flame Lantern over their bodies, purging the malevolent qi; only then did the two villagers slump to the ground, clearing the path.

Inside the cave, it was worse.

The villagers who had remained inside maintaining the array were all dead, killed in the same way as the guards—by each other's hands, their faces still smiling.

The animal pen that had held the Mountain-Subduing Beasts had been destroyed in the chaos; the beasts were gone, likely having escaped during the turmoil.

Liu Shan stared at the ruin before him. Whether from too much shock or something else, he fell into a strange state of numbness.

He turned to Wu Chang and asked: "Great Wu, where do we begin investigating?"

Wu Chang feigned a thorough survey of the area, all while secretly tracing talismanic signs with his fingers.

He walked two full circles around the spot, then suddenly stopped and sharply turned toward Shi Ning.

"According to my observations, the malevolent qi is surging from underground. Is there still a passage to the subterranean caverns within the village? Perhaps we'll find something there." Liu Shan frowned deeply and shook his head: "Great Wu, the underground is perilous. Several martial artists entered before—none returned. If you go…"

Wu Chang raised his hand to cut off Liu Shan's words.

"No need to dissuade me. With so many tragedies unfolding in the village, how can a cultivator stand idly by? Village Chief, don't try to stop me—I've already resolved to fight the malevolent force to the death."

Liu Shan sighed and asked: "Are you truly going?"

Wu Chang nodded.

"Then come with me."

Liu Shan led Wu Chang to Shi Ning, pressed his hand against the stone statue, and—within the seamless stone—a hidden door opened in the Buddha's belly.

Wu Chang held up his torch and approached the hidden door, leaning down to peer into it.

As Liu Shan had said, beneath the mountain lay a bottomless cavern, pitch-black and depthless.

He was about to turn and ask Liu Shan how to descend when suddenly a gust of wind came from behind.

In his peripheral vision, he saw the frail, elderly Liu Shan transform like a vulture—his body darting low and swift. One moment he was five meters away; the next, he was right behind Wu Chang.

His bony, withered hand curled into a claw and seized Wu Chang's lower back.

With immense force, Wu Chang was flung uncontrollably into the hidden door, tumbling into the bottomless cavern.

Fortunately, though the cavern appeared bottomless, thirty to forty meters down lay a pool formed by an underground river.

Thanks to this underground river, he didn't land and die.

Wu Chang, relying on his formidable physical conditioning, surfaced from the pool using dog-paddle strokes, spat out the water, and stared upward in shock.

Liu Shan, this old bastard, had always appeared frail and ancient, hiding behind others during the Sui People's transformation, feigning terror.

Yet he was the true strongest fighter in Huai Valley Village—his real strength surpassed even Liu Wei's.

Indeed, the dog that bites doesn't bark. What a clever old hound.

He looked up above and saw Liu Shan holding the Four-Sided Sui Flame Lantern, peering down at him from the hidden door.

"Village Chief Liu, what is the meaning of this?" Wu Chang shouted at the top of his lungs.

"You can still speak? Old man that I am, back when I roamed the martial world, my peers called me Flying Cloud Eagle. Back then, one claw would've shattered half your ribs. It's been so long since I fought—I've grown rusty."

Freed from his disguise, Liu Shan now stood straight, shoulders spread, posture expansive.

His formerly hunched frame now appeared almost imposing.

"The malevolent force concerns the lives of every man, woman, and child in the village, yet we placed our trust in outsiders who came to the mountain—why, Great Wu, do you know why?"

"Why?"

Liu Shan said leisurely, "Because evil spirits are no different from livestock — they're brainless creatures driven by instinct alone. As long as you feed them, they'll quiet down and fall back into slumber."

"Hero, if you're sending a Buddha, send it all the way to the west. Since you've already resolved yourself to die, please see Huaigu Village through to the very end."

With that, Liu Shan burst into wild laughter, hoarse and grating, like a decrepit old crow.

"Village Chief Liu Shan, wait!" Wu Chang bellowed, calling back Liu Shan, who had been turning to leave.

"If Hero Wu has any last words, please keep them brief — the village is still waiting for me to return," Liu Shan said coldly.

"It's nothing major, just a suggestion."

"What."

Wu Chang cleared his throat and said, "As a villain, when you laugh you shouldn't go 'hehehehehe' — it doesn't have the right flavor. Go back and practice. Next time we meet, I'll test you on it."

(End of chapter)