Chapter 166

At that time I really wanted to retort: Hui Moqiong, are you a monkey sent by monkeys to be an idiot?

My brain must be messed up, otherwise I wouldn't have tattooed a 'slave' character on my cheek.

The refrigerator door was opened and then closed.

Hui Moqiong went to get water.

Holding the water in his hand, he suddenly stepped back, retreated back to my side, and tilted his head to stare at my cheek for a while.

Then he burst out with a swear: "Holy shit! This isn't a tattoo!"

I raised an eyebrow, mentally complaining, this reflex arc… isn't that long.

"If you had just gotten it tattooed this morning, your face would be swollen like a pig's head by now." Hui Moqiong analyzed, "So… Xiao Jiu, is this a sticker stuck on?"

As he said that, he reached to rub my cheek, but I slapped his hand away.

With a slap.

Alright, I finally understand the satisfaction Li Qingying feels whenever she pinches or hits him.

This guy is really asking for it sometimes!

Hui Moqiong looked aggrieved: "Xiao Jiu, you've learned bad from Li Qingying, you actually hit people! Wah wah, why am I always the one getting hurt?"

"If you just kept your mouth shut, nothing would happen." I couldn't help but tease.

Hui Moqiong twisted open the bottle cap and gulped down several mouthfuls of ice water.

I frowned; it's the depths of winter, isn't he cold?

After a few gulps of ice water went down, his head seemed a bit clearer, and he looked at my cheek again.

This time his expression changed: "Xiao Jiu, what's wrong? This character looks like it's seeping out from under the skin, does Seventh Lord know?"

"I know." I said, "It's been there all along, just very faint, and I covered it with concealer."

Hui Moqiong finally grew nervous: "It's only gotten serious these past two days? This doesn't seem like anything good!"

I nodded: "I can guess the cause, but I can't resolve it for now; we'll talk after Liu Junyan returns."

Hui Moqiong scratched his head and said he would help inquire.

He has many disciples under him, and gathering information is Hui Xian's specialty; perhaps with his help we could actually find something.

Thinking that, I said to him: "Then please go inquire about recent changes in Tafengcun."

Hui Moqiong asked: "Is it related to the character on your face?"

"Mm." I said, "Pretty much."

Hui Moqiong readily agreed: "Sure, I'll give the order right away."

"Wait." I called out to him, saying, "I still have something I want to ask you; I hope you can tell me everything you know."

Hui Moqiong laughed: "Ah ya, Xiao Jiu, you've made the atmosphere so tense, my heart is suddenly thumping."

He's good at livening up the mood.

But this time I was serious: "I want to ask, do you know Dahui Chan Master?"

Hui Moqiong tried to recall, then shook his head: "No impression."

"Then let me ask differently." I pointed toward the west wing and asked, "Is that Copper Coin Person a monk? What is his dharma name?"

Hui Moqiong shook his head again: "I don't know."

"You don't know?" I exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't you follow him for many years, with him promising to help you ascend to immortality? How could you not know his dharma name?"

"He never said." Hui Moqiong said solemnly, "I and Xiao Bai were originally cultivating in the Qinling Mountains; when we first took human form, we were badly bullied by those brats in the Qinling, and at our lowest point we met him."

"At that time he was bald, but still quite suave and debonair, which left Xiao Bai dazed; he asked if we wanted to become immortals, and said he could take us away from that place of right and wrong, so we followed him to Wufu Town."

He said his name was Liu Xingyi.

The Copper Coin Person is called Liu Xingyi.

And Songshan indeed belongs to the Qinling lineage.

The location matches, but the identity… seems somewhat off.

I thought for a moment and asked again: "Do you know Dafa Wang Temple? Is Liu Xingyi from there?"

"Dafa Wang Temple is too famous; how could I not know it?" Hui Moqiong said, "But Liu Xingyi is not a monk of Dafa Wang Temple; this person… since you haven't lived with him, you might imagine him as a great monk of an era."

"You would think he must be refined and benevolent."

"Isn't that so?"

"Yes, and also no."

Hui Moqiong was conflicted: "This person, wholeheartedly for the people, did indeed personally forge us into the renowned Five Blessings Immortals, but only we know how ruthless his methods were, to the point that… when that calamity struck…"

As he said that, Hui Moqiong's eyes turned a little red.

He usually goes around laughing and being frivolous, but suddenly like this makes me very worried.

Hui Moqiong lowered his head, raised his hand, and firmly pinched his brow; after a while he said: "From being a great monk in people's eyes, to not even being able to confirm among us five whether he truly went into demonic deviation and became an evil monk, in just a few short centuries, Xiao Jiu, I always feel we have let him down…"

An evil monk of an era…

The term "evil monk" — I've heard it before, not for the first time.

Back then, in the Dou family ancestral tomb, those words Bai Xian'er passed on were still evidence of our wavering on this issue.

And not long ago, in the temple on Niuhu Mountain, that fake ascetic monk also uttered the term "evil monk."

Liu Xingyi… just what kind of person is he?

And what exactly is his relationship with Liu Junyan?

After a long silence, I asked my final question: "When you first saw Liu Junyan, why did you immediately recognize him? He is clearly not Liu Xingyi."

This question also seemed to stump Hui Moqiong.

He struggled to put his thoughts into words: "Xiao Jiu, if I say it's intuition, would you believe me?"

"I believe." I said firmly, "but I'd rather not believe."

I trust Hui Moqiong's intuition, because I also have this kind of intuition.

Liu Junyan has indeed changed.

But I would rather not believe it; I don't want Liu Junyan to one day become Liu Xingyi.

Not wanting him to follow in Liu Xingyi's footsteps, he puts on the shackle "heretical monk".

·

Over the next two days, Hui Moqiong kept gathering information outside.

Li Qingying and I stayed at Dang Pu to rest and recuperate.

Until noon on the third day, Jin Wuya brought a person into Dang Pu.

Whenever Jin Wuya came before, Li Qingying was always happy, bustling about.

But this time, before he even entered the door, Li Qingying saw the woman wrapped like a zongzi beside him and immediately drove him away: "Jin Boss, you're being over the top—you just brought Guo Zaimin over, running us ragged, and we haven't even recovered, yet you're bringing more people to Dang Pu? Do you think we work for you now?"

Jin Wuya was extremely embarrassed, rubbed his nose, and with a smiling face said: "Qingying, you've misunderstood—I'm just a guide this time; they came looking for Xiao Jiu Zhanggui's reputation."