Meng Yuan's hands were covered in blood, most of it Wolf One's, though some was his own. The back of his hand had split open, with bits of bone still clinging to it.
Now that he had calmed down, Meng Yuan's mouth was dry and his tongue parched. He felt no lingering fear, only tense excitement.
Sitting on the ground, he steadied his breathing while cleaning the wounds on his hands.
That chase had truly been perilous, even more so than his great battle against Black Mian and White Mian. And this time, no one had been there to watch over him. One careless misstep, and he really might have left his life here.
After resting briefly, Meng Yuan rose. He did not have much strength left to carry Wolf One's corpse, so he tucked the long saber and Monk's Saber beneath one arm and dragged Wolf One back by his long tail with the other.
He still did not know how Master Nie was faring, but Meng Yuan reckoned that Master Nie had been stronger than Great Tail Venerable to begin with and was the sort to appear loose outside while keeping tight within. Defeating Great Tail Venerable should not have been difficult for him.
Spring rain pattered softly, urging all things toward revival. Meng Yuan stepped over the slippery ground, leaving a footprint with every step as he made his way back.
Before long, he saw that little yellow weasel, drenched from head to toe, still hanging from a peach branch. Its body was long and its limbs short, and it now looked like a tightly drawn bow hanging there.
The little yellow weasel swayed back and forth, muttering pleas for help. Upon hearing Meng Yuan's footsteps, it hurriedly looked over.
It would have been better not to look. Seeing a blood-smeared figure dragging Wolf One along by the tail, the little yellow weasel did not dare make a sound. It tried to cover its mouth with its paws, but being tied up, it could not move. It was so anxious it was nearly crying.
The little yellow weasel simply closed its eyes, hoping the newcomer would fail to see it. But as the footsteps drew closer and closer, it opened one eye and saw the man standing directly before it, a faint smile on his blood-smeared face.
"Grandmother, you don't recognize me anymore?" Meng Yuan stepped forward and flicked the little yellow weasel on the head.
"You are..." The little yellow weasel was utterly bewildered. She vigorously twitched her nose, then cried out in surprise, "Ah! You're Little Gelder!"
Meng Yuan smiled. "Grandmother, what immortal art are you practicing here?"
"I was hung up here by bad guys!" The little yellow weasel failed to catch Meng Yuan's teasing. Instead, she said in a crisp voice with grave seriousness, "Little Gelder, you really don't know much. If you roam the martial world in the future, you'll suffer for it!"
At a time like this, stop trying to act like a teacher!
"Then I'll be leaving." Meng Yuan said.
"Don't, don't, don't!" The little yellow weasel hurriedly tried to keep him. "Little Gelder, save me!"
"Tell me first. What is your name, and where are you from?" Rather than rescuing her, Meng Yuan began questioning her.
"My name is Xiang Ling." The little yellow weasel answered honestly. "I'm the Grand Inspector of Old Turtle Pit on Big Head Mountain!"
"Grand Inspector?" Meng Yuan was intrigued. "Are there junior inspectors too? Who else is there?"
"Nope, just me!" Xiang Ling opened her round eyes wide, looking thoroughly earnest.
Old Turtle Pit had only you, and you were the Grand Inspector. Perfectly reasonable!
Meng Yuan smiled and asked again, "I remember before the New Year, you said you were going to celebrate your godmother's birthday and look for a match. Did it work out?"
"Alas, a child without a mother has a long tale to tell." Even while hanging there, Xiang Ling still had the air of an old hand, though her tone was full of pride. "It almost worked out! The groom's family is terribly wealthy, and they wanted a clever, smart one to manage the household! The matchmaker took one look at me and said I was sure to do! And just as expected, after the matchmaker spoke to the groom's family, she came back with five eggs for me and said they liked me very much!"
Why did this sound more and more unreliable? They liked her without even meeting her?
Meng Yuan asked again, "Then how did you end up here?"
Xiang Ling sighed again. "The matchmaker said they wanted to see my sincerity first, so my godmother and I took out all our savings and gave them to the matchmaker, asking that venerable elder to pull some strings and settle the marriage sooner. Then..."
"Wait a moment." Seeing Xiang Ling about to continue, Meng Yuan pinched her mouth shut with one hand and rubbed his brow with the other. "What kind of monster was this matchmaker? And what kind of monster was your godmother?"
"The matchmaker was a Green Pelt Old Fox, so kind and amiable! She knew so much about the city and even taught me how to dress up!" Xiang Ling had an excellent impression of the matchmaker and lavished praise upon her the moment she was mentioned. Then she continued, "My godmother was a Roe Deer, and she was wonderful too!"
Well then. A single old fox had used five eggs to fool a foolish roe deer and a foolish yellow weasel until they spun round and round, and neither had even noticed it was a scam!
"Then how did you get here?" Meng Yuan asked again.
"My godmother and I had no savings left. We heard that people here could receive eggs just for listening to someone sing opera, so we came." As Xiang Ling spoke, her voice gradually took on a sobbing tone. "Godmother said we had to earn ourselves some family property, so we would have face after marrying into the husband's family. At first, Big Tail Bro handed out eggs in the morning and then sang opera, so we took the eggs and left. Later, he only handed them out after the opera was over, so we waited until the performance ended before coming. Boohoohoo..."
Well then! Not one lesson did you mother and daughter listen to, but not one bit of benefit did you miss! You kept plucking Great Tail Venerable's wolf fur until there was nothing left! No wonder he was going bald!
And besides, he had clearly been preaching Buddhist teachings, yet to you mother and daughter, it became a grand opera performance!
"And then?" Meng Yuan listened with great interest.
"Boohoohoo, and then..." Tears filled Xiang Ling's two round eyes before pouring down in torrents. "Godmother thought coming every day for eggs was too troublesome, so she told White Mian, who handed out the eggs, to just give us a month's worth at once and save everyone the trouble. White Mian had known my godmother since they were little, and she thought what Godmother said made sense, so she gave them to us."
Meng Yuan could only feel that this was truly a meeting of worthy rivals.
"Boohoohoo, later Wolf One learned about it and had Black Mian and White Mian go down the mountain to steal medicine, then he captured my godmother and ate her!" Xiang Ling wailed. "Big Tail Bro said I had Buddha-nature and hung me up here, saying I had to endure five hundred years of wind and five hundred years of rain. Boohoohoo, he wouldn't even let me go home to bring some clothes!"
So Black Mian and White Mian going down the mountain had something to do with you two as well!
It was a sad story, yet Meng Yuan still found it terribly funny.
"Enough, stop crying. I'll get you down." Meng Yuan was kindhearted after all. Seeing that Xiang Ling had been cheated in marriage, lost her godmother, and been hung up for so many days—and that she had never done evil—he decided to save her while he was at it.
He drew his blade and cut the rope, then untied Xiang Ling. The little yellow weasel sniffled. "Little Gelder, you're really quite nice."
"Hurry and leave. Don't come here again in the future." Meng Yuan said gently.
"Did you kill Wolf One? Where's Big Tail Bro?" Xiang Ling shook the rainwater vigorously from her body and timidly glanced at Wolf One's corpse.
"Ask no more. Leave quickly." Meng Yuan said.
"Then I'm going!" Xiang Ling ran several steps forward with her round eyes wide open, then turned back. She stood upright on her hind legs, pressed her front paws together in a clasped-fist salute, and then darted away toward the northwest in a flash.
Meng Yuan rested a while longer before continuing to drag Wolf One by the tail in search of Nie Yannian.
After walking three or four hundred paces, he saw Nie Yannian standing there, entirely unscathed.
Great Tail Venerable, meanwhile, was slumped against a withered peach tree. He had long lost any air of solemn majesty. His Monk's Robe was torn to tatters and covered in blood. His limbs seemed shattered, and two enormous saber wounds gaped across his chest, exposing white bone and internal organs.
As for Ren Debiao, there was still no sign of him. He was presumably still pursuing Wolf Two.
Nie Yannian paid no attention to Meng Yuan. He merely gave a cold laugh, fixed Great Tail Venerable with an unblinking stare, and demanded, "Big-tailed wolf, tell me who that master is, and I'll spare your life!"
"Amitabha. What difference is there between life and death? It is merely another entry into reincarnation. Even if you break every bone and shred every piece of flesh in my body, it will be of no use." Great Tail Venerable had lost all his malice by now. His tone was compassionate, and he truly carried a trace of a great monk's bearing.
"Then I'll send you to the Demon Suppression Division. There will naturally be experts there who can dig out everything you have seen and heard!" Nie Yannian said.
"No matter. No matter."
Great Tail Venerable's voice was weak. Forcing himself, he raised his arms, whose bones no longer had a single intact piece, pressed his palms together, and lowered his eyes. "I carry karmic fire within me. This is how it ought to be."
As he spoke, tiny flames rose from the wounds in Great Tail Venerable's chest and abdomen. They swiftly grew, enveloping his entire body.
Nie Yannian frowned. He did not attempt to save him, saying nothing, his expression exceedingly grim.
At the very moment Great Tail Venerable entered final nirvana, he left behind a gatha: "Chant Buddha, see Buddha, and ascend the shore of awakening; Withered Body, Faint Life, Entering the Furnace Broth. Carry karma into rebirth and cultivate righteous fruition; settle in the Pure Land, where joy knows no end."
His voice drifted slowly on. There was no agony of flames consuming his body; instead, a measure of benevolent compassion appeared on his face, yet it also seemed steeped in venomous resentment and hatred. It was strange in the extreme.
Only several breaths after his words fell silent, Great Tail Venerable had become nothing but ashes.
Before you continue