Chapter 52: The Messengers

　　Wen Tunhai was concise and to the point as he explained the object to Wen Leyang, “This is a bamboo talisman. Grand Master Tuoxie had passed one of these to each of his three original disciples back in the past, the three families have since been passing it down from generation to generation as a family heirloom.”

　　Grand Elder Wen held the bamboo talisman, “Four years ago, four dead Qing Miao clansmen brought this talisman with them and ascended our mountain.”

　　Grand Elder Luo squinted his eyes as he asked, “What do you mean by the dead ascending the mountain?’

　　Fourth Elder Wen interjected with a cold tone, “Those undead messengers were not related to your Luo family. Using undead corpses as messengers had always been a unique trick of the Miao Bujiao’s cultivation!”

　　The Miao clansmen on Seven Maidens Mountain had continued to cultivate Grand Master Tuoxie’s legacy in witchcraft. The master cultivators of the Miao had painstakingly bred a type of venomous insect known as the Ben Ming Parasite. Within a period of seven days after a person’s death, the Ben Ming Parasite would carry out its host’s unfulfilled wish and direct the corpse to its final destination.

　　The Ben Ming Parasite can only exercise control over its host’s corpse towards the final intended journey and nothing more; while the Luo from Crow Ridge would control the corpses of other people and refine them to be able to hunt or kill.

　　Grand Elder Luo ignored Fourth Elder Wen’s mocking as he continued to ask closely, “I’ve heard of undead corpses being used as messengers before but what was the message that they’d delivered?”

　　The eldest grandfather procured a piece of white fabric which had been folded under the bamboo talisman, “A word had been carved onto the back of each corpse’s left hand!” He shook out the white silk to show four purplish-black bloody words which had been stamped onto the fabric in a crooked manner: End, The, Here, Nearly.

　　Those four words had been written with savage gestures and were surrounded by bloody palm prints. It looked as if it carried the grudge of a vengeful ghost and anyone who saw them would immediately shudder with fear.

　　Wen Leyang frowned as he repeated those four words over and over again. The eldest grandfather was reluctant to pressure his grandson and explained, “I’ve pondered on this for a very long time. These words were not in the correct sequence but once you’ve arranged them in the correct order, they will say ‘The End (is) Near(ly) Here’!” However, this only made Wen Leyang even more confused.

　　Grand Elder Wen continued to explain, “Even though those from the Seven Maidens Mountain were also descended from the disciple of Tuoxie, to the best of my knowledge, this group of Miao cultivators worships the devil Mara!”

　　At this point, Wen Leyang had finally worked it out that it was more difficult to carve the word ‘Devil’ on the messenger corpse so the Miao clansmen had replaced it with the word ‘End’ which has the same pronunciation but was less complex to write.

　　The two elders of the Luo family did not raise any questions for they knew that Grand Elder Wen still had more to say.

　　The bodies of the corpse messengers had also been covered with dirt. It was theorized that they were killed while they were on their way and buried by the enemy. After dying, the reanimated corpses had clawed their way out of the soil and continued to push on to deliver the message.

　　The master cultivators from the Seven Maidens Mountain must have been very skilled to be able to reach the level of using undead corpses as messengers. The fact that four of these extraordinarily skilled cultivators were killed was an even stranger matter. Due to the type of witchcraft cultivation that the Miao clansmen had cultivated, even if they were to encounter a powerful enemy, they would at least stand the chance to flee. But it would seem that they had prepared for every eventuality as they had carved the message on their palms well beforehand.

　　Grand Elder Wen stopped his explanation at this point and looked at Wen Leyang, “The eyes, mouth, ears, noses, and fingernails of those four messenger corpses were also encrusted with dirt. Their faces were twisted into a horrible grimace and their limbs were convulsed. They had been…buried alive!”

　　Wen Leyang had just reached out for a carrot when he heard that and jumped up, “That…that sounds like the same state as the Wen clansmen who had died on Mount Emei?”

　　Grand Elder Wen’s expression was solemn, his face looked even gloomier under the dim light, “It’s the same with those priests from the Sun Dynasty Palace that we found today. However, the enemy had not expected that the master cultivators of the Miao Bujiao were so proficient with the unique skill of the messenger corpse that even after these four Qing Miao clansmen had died, they would manage to free themselves from their graves and deliver the message to our Wen family!”

　　Only the four elders and the Wen county magistrate knew of this matter. Their investigation had been focused on the four words: The Devil (is) Nearly Here’ from the messenger corpses and not on the cause of death of these Miao clansmen. However, the recent events with the seventeen disciples at Mount Emei and the eight bodies from the Sun Dynasty Palace which had also been buried alive under similar circumstances have forced the elders to take a closer look at this incident again.

　　Grand Elder Wen had been confused by the message when he’d first received it. He knew that some of the Miao clansmen worshipped Mara the devil. There was also nothing exceptionally remarkable about the ancient totem which had been inherited from their ancestor. The physical form of Mara was either an electric rice cooker or a cedar coffin and if Mara had really descended upon them, the worshippers of the Miao clan would have been overjoyed instead of sending such a grim message along with their heirloom seal over to the Nine Peaks Mountain.

　　The Wen family had started getting in touch with the rest of the world in recent times. There had been a large-scale mountain sealing spell which was inherited from their ancestors but this was no longer activated. Though the Wen family village was located in a remote area, every three to five days they would receive study groups and examination groups. If they had activated the mountain sealing spell, these groups of people would all be poisoned to death. The Luo family had also opened themselves up to modern society – the two elders of the Luo both operate accounts in QQ which is a social media network in China.

　　The Qing Miao, however, remained reclusive and refused to engage with outsiders. They protected the foot of the Seven Maidens Mountain with deadly traps which resembled a poisonous mist to deter any visitors from entering their mountain.

　　The local authorities have sincerely advised the citizens that hiking there was bad for health.

　　The master cultivators of the Wen family were also excluded from the Seven Maidens Mountain and were only able to gather information outside the perimeter of the mountain. Finally, they learned from the Miao clansmen who had worshipped Mara the devil that the date of descent for the devil was exactly four years after the date of the message.

　　Wen Leyang was astonished and he chewed on the carrot as he asked, “You mean now?”

　　“It’s a month later, the third day of the twelfth moon of the lunar month,” said Grand Elder Wen in a deep rumble.

　　Wen Leyang immediately took out his cellphone and counted the dates on the calendar application. Not many youngsters can remember the Chinese lunar calendar as they were more used to the solar calendar nowadays.

　　The investigated had stalled for four years as the Wen family was unable to find any more viable clues to move it forward. The matter had gradually slipped their minds but with the revelation of clues to their Grand Master Mount Emei, this was once again brought to the forefront. Though the Qing Miao clan did not seem to have been alerted by the incident, the lost art of the Mountain Coffin Spell was involved and so Grand Elder Wen had no choice but to invite the Luo family over for a discussion.

　　As Grand Elder Wen finished speaking, Fourth Elder Wen added with an icy tone, “More than half a year ago, something else had happened that was related to the Qing Miao clan too.” He then shouted outside the house, “Wen Buzuo, come in here!”

　　A shadowy figure flashed immediately inside the house. It was a husky fellow with a smug-looking smile on his face. His footsteps were light and agile, coupled with that ingratiating smile, it looked as if he had run over while holding in a fart all the way.

　　Wen Leyang got the impression that this person was from the Death Trademark and was always seen near Fourth Elder Wen’s side.

　　Fourth Elder Wen nodded to the man, “The matter regarding the Return-To-Before Herb.”

　　Wen Buzuo looked like he had just been granted a great honor, his face beamed with joyous ecstasy as he bowed with his hands folded in front of him to everyone in the room, “I’m Wen Buzuo from the Death Trademark. I have a brother named Wen Bushuo. If you need any information please do not hesitate to ask me instead of my brother as he only speaks less than ten words in a day, he can even bore a person to death…”

　　In his heart, Wen Leyang was of the opinion that though this man was not boring, he could irritate an impatient person to death.

　　Wen Buzuo was about to continue rambling on when Fourth Elder Wen scolded in a low rumble, “Stop talking rubbish! If you want to keep that tongue of yours tell the story of that matter clearly from the beginning to the end!”

　　Wen Buzuo snickered dryly before settling into the story, “It’s said that there were countless capable men in the world. There were also a great number of parties out there. However, none could stand erect with two thousand years of history like our Wen family with the mannerism of using strong poison to inspire awe throughout the world. Our might was such that we don’t need to keep most parties in our eye as those of them with a bit of background and experience would not dare to fight the masters of our Wen family. We from the Death Trademark would play the ferocious role akin to an evil character…”

　　“You must not want your tongue anymore.” An icy-cold voice came spiraling out of Fourth Elder Wen’s mouth as his usual monotonous expression was gradually being replaced by one of vigorous rage.

　　Wen Leyang has no doubt that should the hefty fellow speak one more word of nonsense, the fourth grandpa would really cut his tongue out with a knife. In fact, he appeared to be anticipating the move now.

　　Upon seeing the rage slowly climb into Fourth Elder Wen’s expression, Wen Buzuo stuck out his tongue and finally got on with the real talk, “Last autumn, we noticed that the Return-To-Before Herb in the mountain was starting to bloom. A flower would bloom on each month every month and by the time all nine branches had bloomed, it was another month before the fruits of the herb would fully ripen. This was the treasure that our four masters were deeply concerned about…”

　　The Return-To-Before Herb was split into nine branches and a flower would bloom every month on each branch. After ten months, the plant would bear nine precious fruits. Wen Leyang’s life was salvaged by these nine fruits which helped him cultivate Wen Lazi’s forceful cultivation technique.

　　Wen Buzuo continued, “The Death Trademark had been guarding the immortal plant since ten years ago. As it grew on the Nine Peaks Mountain it was well within the Wen family’s territory. Naturally, we didn’t need to be courteous with any interested parties as this information was kept secret and also it was reckoned that no one would dare to make a move at it. The Death Trademark diligently looked after the plant but we did not worry too much as we never anticipated such an incident to occur later on.”

　　Wen Buzuo paused for a little while and looked at the crowd expectantly. Wen Leyang was virtuous and sincere, he obliged him by asking, “And what incident was that?”

　　Wen Buzuo suddenly smacked his thigh, the abruptness of his action made everyone jump, “Someone tried to steal the immortal fruits! Our Death Trademark’s negligence caused the big loss. In the next few, days dark clouds obscured the sun while the birds and the beasts were horrified…”

　　This time, even the mild-tempered eldest grandfather could not take it anymore. He hit the table hard and demanded, “Bstard! Which bstard father gave life to this b*stard son? Get out, get out! I’ll tell the story myself!”

　　The two elders from the Luo family laughed uproariously, “What an impression you’ve made! You asked a young lad to story us on such an important matter, it serves you right for making a fool out of yourself!”

　　The Return-to-Before fruit was considered as a heal-all magical fruit and drew the attention of greedy eyes when it ripened. Wen Bucao’s descendants had held the mountain for two thousand years and of course, they would not allow such an indiscretion to slide. The Death Trademark combed through the entire mountain but were unable to catch the thieves. Though they managed to engage them in a few fights, those ended with losses to the Death Trademark as the ones who had stolen the fruits were all trained in magical arts, some of their abilities were out of this world.

　　Grand Elder Wen’s explanation was much simpler and clearer to understand. According to him, just a few days before the Return-to-Before fruits had almost fully ripened, the Death Trademark finally caught up with the opponents. But they found that all of the enemies had died after being hit by the Miao clan’s Green Head Widow Spell. The flesh and skin of their bodies were all shriveled up and only their hairless and heavy head was left behind.

　　Wen Leyang suddenly had a revelation, “Those…corpses at the Red Leaves Forest, they belonged to those who had come to steal the Return-To-Before fruits? Then it was the Miao from the Seven Maidens Mountain who had helped us kill the enemies?” Wen Leyang had thought that those corpses which were cursed by the Green Head Widow Spell were the disciples from the Death Trademark and had silently regarded the Qing Miao clan as his enemy.

　　This was good as the person who had released the Spirit Guiding Light that had drawn in the huge undead serpent which almost killed him was not from the Luo family, and the people who had been killed by that spell were also not from the Wen family.

　　Grand Elder Wen had spoken for a while and the rage within his heart had calmed down. He chuckled as he said to Wen Leyang, “Young lad, not all the matters in the world is as simple as you think!”

　　Afterwards, the Wen family had gathered the nine Return-to-Before fruits and with the revelation of the ancient cave on Zhanyan Peak after the landslide, the Wen Bucao had immediately rushed to Mount Emei with their master cultivators.

　　Grand Elder Luo raised his head, his initial bantering expression has cleared and in its place was a cunning expression of a crafty scoundrel. He chuckled and said, “You crafty old fox with the surname of Wen, you must have been scheming to drag our Crow Ridge down!”