Chapter 154: Mandarin Duck

　　The vital fire was the source of power for a witch and would not burn someone on its own. The greater the vital fire burned, the more power the witchcraft spell would contain. Now that the entire mountain range has transformed back into Leyang Tian’s vital fire, the encompassing Witch’s Song suddenly increased in intensity by a thousand-fold.

　　Countless witchcraft prohibition spells erupted at the same time!

　　Dull cracking sounds reverberated as countless huge fissures opened on the ground and emanated in all directions in no particular order. The fissures swallowed up countless soldiers from the Yin Army.

　　A red-colored raincloud covered the skyline. The sound of thunder was sharp and fine, resembling a toddler’s pained cry. Then, blood began to rain heavily down. The Yin Army’s soldiers which were splattered by the blood rain wailed sharply before turning into a sludge of thick pus and blood in their struggles.

　　Millions of long black vines converged and formed into a stream. This stream went amok amongst the Yin Army’s ranks. Great swathes of soldiers from the Yin Army were mercilessly swept away by the vines.

　　A lizard with the face of a man, a venomous serpent with a long horn, a giant hornet covered in feathers, a crying toad… Countless fantastical beasts which Wen Leyang had never seen before appeared and filled the land, engulfing the enemy to their hearts’ content in their excitement…

　　The cracking of the earth, the blood rain, the stream of vines and the thousand fantastical beasts… Who knows how many types of witchcraft magic were now mixed in together with the Yin Army. There were boundless soldiers from the Yin Army and there were boundless witchcraft spells! The Yin Army’s soldiers were slaughtered mercilessly in waves. Wen Leyang had witnessed the Qing Miao clansmen casting their witchcraft spells before so to him, Leyang Tian’s tricks were not particularly magical. However, its power was vastly different. If the former was a torrential rain, Leyang Tian’s witchcraft was an apocalyptic meteor shower!

　　Leyang Tian had resolutely mobilized Python Mountain not to rescue and protect Wen Leyang but to attack. He was trying to seize the opportunity when the enemy had been distracted by Wen Leyang to wantonly massacre them. The Yin Army was overwhelmed by the various witchcraft spells and was in a mess. They were like falling wheat being harvested layer by layer. AS the Yin forces suffered a great reduction in Wen Leyang’s body, the Vitality Energy and Yang forces quickly gained the upper hand.

　　At the same time, a tremor came from his raised arms. The Little Supreme Leader let out a long, obvious sigh. Wen Leyang finally realized that Liu Zheng had been pretending to be unconscious all along and let himself be raised up high in an erect position. If it was not for the immensely bone-breaking and heart-cutting pain in his body which rendered him immobile, he would have thrown Liu Zheng onto the battlefield of the Yin Army and witchcraft spells.

　　Liu Zheng knew that Wen Leyang had sensed his movement and he turned his head with some effort. He flashed a smile that was uglier than a crying face at Wen Leyang and said, “I really can’t move too. Keep holding on, next time, I’ll carry you instead!” As he said this, he reached out his hand with a great effort and tried to cover You’ve Got Me who was on his chest. However, no matter how hard he tried, both his arms could not even rise two inches.

　　Liu Zheng had suffered grave wounds before the painting had broken through the wall for the witchcraft world to take form. He had also exhausted all his Taoist Life Vitality for the rescue from Ning Jiao’s fangs. Now, his whole body was numb and limp, unable to muster an ounce of energy. His condition was slightly better than Wen Leyang in that he could still talk and he was also not in as much pain.

　　The Yin forces in Wen Leyang’s body could not withstand the Buddhist prayer bead’s power. It was swiftly scattered and defeated by the Buddhist prayer bead’s Vitality Energy as though it had been a withered plant. Without the entangling process of the two evenly matched forces, the Poison of Life and Death could no longer swallow and assimilate them.

　　The Poison of Life and Death was unable to directly consume the Yin forces or the Yang forces. The Poison of Life and Death could only assimilate them when the Yin and Yang forces were evenly matched and entangled to the point where they would be mutually destroyed.

　　The unbearable feeling of swelling to the bursting point finally abated. However, the Poison of Life and Death’s surge was beginning to converge back into a flow. Every slight movement of the Poison of Life and Death would cause Wen Leyang to feel as if a giant iron wheel was heavily grinding on his flesh and bones. Not only had the pain not subsided, it became more intense instead.

　　Liu Zheng could not reach the bug on his chest and became very dispirited. He returned his attention to the battlefield before him. After focusing on the scene for a moment, the color which he had just regained faded away once again!

　　After the initial fluster, the Yin Army had started to retaliate. They rushed without hesitation towards the witchcraft prohibition spells behind them with a cold and decisive mannerism that rivaled the sonorous horn which resounded in the Heavens. After a short while, the advance of the various witchcraft forces slowed. It was like a great, prehistoric beast which had rushed headlong into a thick, muddy swamp. No matter how fierce and terrifying its power was, after the initial rush, it was forced to slow down its pace!

　　Yin Army and witchcraft spells were two forces which could wreak havoc in the human world. In this decisive battle which shook the heavens and earth, time became meaningless. Every second felt like a millennium and every millennium was no longer than a flick of a finger. Who knows how much time had passed before the edge of the Yin Army’s angry wave appeared within the range of Wen Leyang’s telegnosis ability. Although it was still a big patch of paleness, it was better than it being boundless.

　　There was no longer any embers of flames on Python Mountain behind Leyang Tian, only a layer of charred ground and puffs of green smoke could be seen. It looked abandoned and powerless. Similarly, the exhausted witchcraft magic became soft and limp. The bloody rainclouds were long gone and fragments of black vines covered the entire battlefield…

　　The Little Supreme Leader Liu Zheng looked at Leyang Tian with a face full of worry, “We… We can win this, right?”

　　Leyang Tian smiled proudly, “We had to conserve some energy to face the Enlightened San Wei after this. I’ll shrink this world after we’re done with the Yin Army. I don’t believe that he can still escape…” He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly squealed!

　　On the right side of his chest, a flower had blossomed without warning. A short, thick, and strong blood-stained hand with clearly defined tendons and bones then emerged from the flower…

　　The bloody hand slowly retracted, leaving a large, gaping hole in Leyang Tian’s chest. Fresh blood began gushing out like a fountain!

　　The sturdily-built priest San Wei appeared behind Leyang Tian. He casually wiped his bloodied hand on his robe. He had his usual air of stern righteousness and imposing manner without the need to be angry as if he was the one who had just been attacked just now.

　　However, in Leyang Tian’s gaze, there was not much surprise or bewilderment. Instead, he abruptly broke into laughter as if he had just fulfilled his life’s dream. His smile twitched with pained but his laughter was gallant and relieved. Following his mad laughter, the dying Python Mountain’s fire had blazed into a furious flame once more! The witchcraft magic in the battlefield also regained their power following the Witch’s Song which had sounded once again. The almost spent Yin Army wailed unwillingly as they were quickly purged.

　　A puzzled look flashed across the San Wei’s face. He frowned at Leyang Tian as he asked, “Why did you do that? You knew that my attack was not fatal as I had missed your heart. If you were to conserve your energy and heal yourself, you can still save your own life. So what if you manage to annihilate the Yin Army? I won’t even take any damage.”

　　Leyang Tian still spoke in his fluent Beijing dialect but due to his hoarse voice and spent energy, it has lost its usual skittishness and easiness, turning into a voice with heavy enmity, “You’ve been fighting with Painting Town for so many years so you should’ve heard of the Mandarin Duck’s Curse!”

　　The priest San Wei shook his head, vexed, “The tricks of Painting Town are unpredictable. Even if we had fought for another ten thousand years, I wouldn’t be able to guess it. What is the Mandarin Duck’s Curse?”

　　Leyang Tian continued to smile, “A pair of Mandarin ducks shares the same fate. The person who manages to wound me will be also jinxed by my Mandarin Duck’s Curse.”

　　The priest San Wei raised his eyebrows in amusement, “And then?”

　　“After you’ve been cursed, any injury that I sustain will also be inflicted upon you!” As he said this, Leyang Tian reached out his right arm to tear at his left arm fiercely, tearing off a chunk of his flesh with his skin still attached. Blood immediately gushed forth!

　　At the same time, the sleeve on San Wei’s right arm also tore with a ripping sound. Five scratch marks immediately appeared on his arm. However, the wound then healed in the blink of an eye without leaving a single trace.

　　The cursed person will suffer the same damage as the caster of the Mandarin Duck’s Curse. However, the priest San Wei’s skin and flesh were much tougher than Leyang Tian’s. Leyang Tian was covered with fresh blood whereas only a few scratch marks had appeared on the priest San Wei’s body which then healed in an instant.

　　The priest San Wei’s expression had become even more filled with wonder, “That’s it?”

　　Leyang Tian nodded with effort. Nobody knew when it had started but fresh blood was now gushing out of his mouth. It dyed his chin, clothes and the ground red.

　　The ghostly cry and wolf howl which had filled the sky and the sharp wailing of the sinister wind abruptly retracted. The sudden silence was even more nerve-wracking than the sound of a thousand galloping horses!

　　The boundless Yin Army was nowhere to be seen. The witchcraft magic which had covered the sky had also disappeared at the same time. Python Mountain’s great fire had finally been extinguished after a final struggle.

　　The priest San Wei frowned as if in pain, “I’m only cursed after I had hurt you?”

　　Leyang Tian panted laboriously before managing to speak again, “You will only be cursed after you have injured me. You will then suffer the same fate and the same damages as my body. Even if you had killed me just now, you would also have been cursed.”

　　The priest San Wei suddenly laughed, “Don’t tell me that all that talk about having some energy left to kill me after killing off the Yin Army had been to entice me to injure you?”

　　Leyang Tian’s expression was savage and pained. Every word was dyed by a Witch’s Madness in the immersion of fresh blood, “Whether you had attacked me directly, or by the hands of the Yin Army which you had invited, or by some flying sword magic to harm me, it’s all the same. As long as we’re in this painting, it doesn’t matter who or how, if I’m harmed then the Mandarin Duck’s Curse will be planted. I was only hoping that you would show yourself. Seeing your face will let me die peacefully!”

　　The priest San Wei nodded in understanding. Then, he sighed softly before asking, “I still don’t get it, is this Mandarin Duck’s Curse effective on me?”

　　The Mandarin Duck’s Curse was only activated after Leyang Tian had been injured by San Wei, which meant that the wound on Leyang Tian’s chest was for nothing.

　　Moreover, this curse only transmits the damage, not the injury or death. If Leyang Tian had a cut on his neck, the priest San Wei will also have a cut on his neck. However, the same knife with the same amount of power could stab clean through Leyang Tian who had a mortal’s body whereas, on the priest San Wei’s body, the most it would do was to leave a small hole in his shirt.

　　If San Wei’s body was a steel ingot, Leyang Tia’s body would be as fragile as an egg at most. A rock can shatter an egg into pieces but could not even leave a scratch on a steel ingot.

　　The priest San Wei, not fully understanding Leyang Tian’s reply, laughed anxiously, “You want me to protect your corpse after you’re dead? Heh, troublesome!” As long as Leyang Tian was not injured, the priest San Wei would not suffer the same damage.

　　Leyang Tian had been smiling all this while. Even though the muscles on his face was twitching from pain and fresh blood dripped continuously from his mouth, the relaxed smile on his face steadily grew as if the destruction of heaven and earth could not stop him from being happy. His smile seemed to deepen as he looked at the suspicion deep within the priest’s eyes. He ignored the priest and suddenly relaxed, allowing his body to fall heavily while looking up at the heavens. His gaze penetrated the sky for a long while before he lifted his hand to point up at it.

　　The priest San Wei was surprised. He followed Leyang Tian’s hand and looked up. After a moment’s hesitation, his face turned whiter than a sheet of paper! Without anyone noticing, the originally curved firmament was filled with countless densely-packed, thick and fine red colored cracks. It stretched like a big, ferocious net above everyone’s heads!

　　The gorilla-like Leyang Tian was still lying on the ground. He smiled drily and asked, “Can you even protect yourself? You’re double has been killed and you are badly injured. You’ve also expended your energy to invite the Yin Army so you must be spent now, correct? I wonder, do you know what kind of repercussion the caster of this witchcraft spell would experience if the spell had been broken by an external force? Hah, even if you had not attacked me, at the end I would’ve jumped amongst the Yin Army myself. I’m a dead man and I will pull you down with me.”

　　They were still the steel ingot and the egg but this time, the object which would shatter the egg was not a rock but a meteorite from space which could destroy the entire world!

　　The priest San Wei suddenly cursed angrily, “Don’t f*cking mess with me! If Third Brother wasn’t dead, how could I be gravely injured? If I was not injured, what could a witchcraft spell’s repercussion do to me?”

　　At this point, even the pained Wen Leyang was curious. San Wei’s double who had been shot dead in Painting Town was the Third Brother? Then who was the First Brother and the Second Brother? Was there the Fourth Brother and the Fifth Brother as well? Wen Leyang could not help but think of the Rainbow brothers who were still in the Wen Village.

　　Leyang Tian completely ignored San Wei’s curses. His tone did not change much as he discussed the matter of life and death as if he was describing the sweetness of a tangerine which he had just tasted, “This world has been harmed by external forces and is about to collapse. The world which even your Yin Army could not shake is about to collapse. Can you believe it?”

　　The priests San Wei’s initially upright and outspoken face contorted. He turned and yelled at Leyang Tian, “Spit it out!” He was holding on to a glimmer of hope which was why he had forced himself not to grind Leyang Tian’s bones and scatter his ashes. He hoped that he could find out the reason this witchcraft world was collapsing so that he can do something about it.

　　Leyang Tian turned his head and no longer looked at the sky. He gazed at the proud giant sword Molten Metal Fire Bell which towered over them from a short distance away, “It’s this sword. My world cannot contain it. If you can destroy that sword, we might have a chance at life!”

　　The priest San Wei appeared before the giant sword in a flash. He pressed his palms onto Molten Metal Fire Bell’s wide blade before exhaling forcefully and yelling. A dull booming noise sounded as a bright light flashed and dissipated. The giant sword still stood tall and unmoved whereas fresh blood covered the priest San Wei’s palms. His fair skin had been cracked by the great force which he himself had exerted!

　　The priest San Wei became hysterical. He landed blow after merciless blow onto Molten Metal Fire Bell with dull shouts akin to thunderclaps. He was like a maddened large ant who wanted to shake the god tree which had been around for thousands of years!

　　Leyang Tian’s laugh, however, sounded as lighthearted as before with a tinge of satisfaction that was faintly discernible. He no longer cared about the maddened priest but turned and spoke to Wen Leyang, “You guys will be unharmed even if this world collapses. Take some rest after you return to your mountains. The matter which had taken place two thousand years ago had nothing to do with you guys. I intended to ask you more about my father but it looks like you can’t even speak right now.”

　　Leyang Tian’s light words were like thunder which vigorously erupted inside Wen Leyang’s head!

　　Initially, Wen Leyang did not have a good impression of Leyang Tian even though they were brothers from the same two-thousand-year-old sect. However, ever since Wen Leyang had found out that Painting Town and the Grand Master shared the same origins, it had been a one-sided affair. Wen Leyang had treated them as brothers but the people of Painting Town, whether it was the short-statured Leyang Wen or the gorilla-like Leyang Tian, they had not given much face to the other descendants of Tuo Xie.

　　When Leyang Tian had fallen prey to the priest San Wei’s plot, although Wen Leyang was surprised, angry, and flustered, his emotion on that subject was not that strong.

　　The casualness in Leyang Tian’s tone now had unexplainably caused the poisonous, bright-red blood in Wen Leyang’s entire body to boil!

　　The priest San Wei suddenly turned his head and laughed madly, “You still want to live? If I die, who amongst you can live, who amongst you dares to live!” As he was saying this, his arms shook and he appeared before Wen Leyang like a phantom. He then struck mercilessly on Wen Leyang’s chest.

　　Two blood-curdling screams sounded at the same time! Wen Leyang felt that a tremendous force had mercilessly wedged itself into his chest. The Poison of Life and Death which had just converged and was beginning to flow slowly was immediately scattered into Wen Leyang’s limbs and bones by the impact of the great force!

　　A mouthful of fresh blood mixed with the potent Poison of Life and Death sprayed from Wen Leyang’s mouth as he screamed. It splattered mercilessly on San Wei’s face! Wen Leyang’s body had contained too many forces which he himself could not bear. This mouthful of poisonous blood was even more overbearing than the force of a strong crossbow. Immediately, a puff of charred black smoke arose. The priest San Wei’s facial features, skin, and bone had been quickly corroded by the potent poison.

　　The priest San Wei had seen that his end was nigh and his thoughts were a mess. He only wanted to pull the others into the grave with him. Under that unruly state of mind, he was hit directly by Wen Leyang’s poisonous blood. He fell back heavily with a horrible shriek.

　　Liu Zheng was sent flying by the great force and his body flew a great distance away…

　　At this moment, a strong wind which was tougher and sharper than a knife swelled in the world, instantly slashing the space into pieces. Wen Leyang could no longer or see anything!

　　It turns out that the falling skies and the cracking earth was not a mad howl or collapse, it was the loss of all feeling. One could not tell if one was waiting for death, dying or was already dead…

　　When Wen Leyang reopened his eyes and his mind was in a slight daze. After a short lull, he could finally see clearly and saw a familiar smile. He abruptly sat up and let out a surprised cry. Then, he grimaced and fell back down. After his chest had been hit by San Wei, the newly converged Poison of Life and Death had been dispersed into his limbs and bones but the blood clots amongst his heart and lungs have also been expelled. He could speak now.

　　Liu Zheng was lying beside him as he asked with a chuckle, “You’re also surprised?”

　　Wen Leyang did not have the energy to entertain Liu Zheng. He stared at the dark, fat man in front of him, “You’re… not dead?” The man who was leaning on the side while smiling at them was dark-skinned and fat. He did not look like a man but resembled a small-eyed black gorilla. It was, impressively, Leyang Tian.

　　Two surprised screams followed. The two votarists, Ji Fei and Shui Jing jumped down from the second floor. They quickly ran to Wen Leyang and carefully propped him and Liu Zheng up into a sitting position. These two brothers were smart. After they had been dragged into the witchcraft world, they immediately released their magic weapons to protect themselves and did not dare to simply go around and explore. After all, no Ning Jiao had been chasing them and the Yin Army was far away from their position. Although witchcraft traps would be activated around them from time to time, these traps’ power was not too great and were no match for the priest and monk’s magic weapons.

　　When the witchcraft world was destroyed, the brothers had returned to Painting Town. They were originally on the second floor and they had reappeared on the second floor at the exact same position.

　　If it were not for the pangs of pain in his body, the towering Molten Metal Fire Bell nearby, the decapitated head and body of the Ning Jiao, Wen Leyang would genuinely wonder if he had just woken up from a dream. He has now returned to Painting Town. The floor was a sorry mess with the nine withered Corpse Nails which had become bodies with shriveled skin and bones, no longer resembling the human form. The big hole from which the Yin Army had surged out was still enshrouded by a dense, cold air…

　　Leyang Tian smiled tiredly, “I’m dead and my innards have become minced meat. My Ben Ming is still here so I can hold on for a few moments more!”

　　This was not the first time Wen Leyang had heard of this ‘Ben Ming’. Other than enabling a desperate witchcraft elite to exchange a powerful spell by activating the Ben Ming, it could also be used to preserve the caster’s final trace of consciousness. A few years ago, the four Qing Miao Elders had used their Ben Ming to activate the ‘Undead Corpse Messenger’ to request reinforcements from the Wen Bucao. However, they could not be as carefree as Leyang Tian.

　　The night outside was still thick and heavy. Leyang Tian knew what he was thinking about and he smiled slightly, “The Tuo Xie descendants have been refining witchcraft the wrong way after two thousand years with no proper direction.”

　　Wen Leyang was not interested in investigating the Ben Ming, “What about the priest San Wei? Who… who was he? Is he the wicked soul of Xiang Liu?”

　　The priest San Wei had known how to invert the demon subduing formation on the Black and White Island to summon the Yin Army into the world. According to Liu Zheng’s speculation, he was Xiang Liu’s wicked soul. If that was true, when he dies, Zhui Zi who shared the same fate as him would also die. The nine-headed monster Xiang Liu would then break out of the Black and White Island sooner or later and the cat demon Chang Li would incur Divine Punishment.

　　Leyang Tian ignored Wen Leyang’s worries. His smile was full of pride, “San Wei is dead. Not even a God could withstand the repercussion of that witchcraft world.” He then changed the subject, “Time is running out, I’ll tell you the whole story as you tell me the life and death of my father. You’ll eventually figure out the priest San Wei’s origins.”

　　Wen Leyang nodded, “The old man Leyang Shoujin is…”

　　Leyang Tian unexpectedly cut him short, “Stop! The descendants of Lue Luo cannot go back on his word. Since the agreement was for me to say my part first, you’ll shut your mouth and wait until I’ve finished my story!”

　　Wen Leyang’s body shook, he never thought that there would be a person like that in this world.

　　Leyang Tian, however, did not find his own actions strange. He continued to speak drily, “If the line of Leyang would go back on their word to survive, they would never have fought for two thousand years and put the lives of their ancestors at stake all for the sake of one sentence! Oh, child of the Tuo Xie Sect, listen well!”