Chapter 16 Moon Plucking Pavilion Battle Lizard Spirit
Hu Cang Cang, full of eyes, watched this cruel scene. She hid in the tree branches outside the courtyard wall, covering her mouth vigorously, but tears could not stop baring down. This is thousands of lives! Just like this, they were lost without any reason? Whether this so-called State Master was a human or a demon, it couldn't be a god. Strangely, although she had never seen what an immortal looked like, she had inwardly decided that such an outlaw would not be eternal.
Also, seeing all this, Xuan Mo, the roaring dog, was hidden behind a cloud above the Moon Pavilion. Those thousands of lives were all his clan's children and grandchildren, and this hateful lizard spirit killed innocent people with such poisonous and cruel means. Xuan Mo, who seldom had emotions, was also indignant in his heart. He secretly swore that he must catch this Demon and avenge his dogs! But now is not the time to be emotional; he found that this demon spirit has already had a not small amount of Taoism, compared to many years ago when he saw a lot of power. And his body seems to have no less than thirty different kinds of mountain demons and elves' breath; what is going on?
Hu Cang Cang was concerned about whether her Pi Dan was hurt. Fortunately, she had just been sent to the top floor of the Moon Pavilion by an errand boy, and her life was not in danger for the time being. She clutched the short sword and waited for her teacher to join her.
Chu Tian Ming instructed the steward to put those selected black dogs within the formation according to his requirements and then dismissed them to leave. There are good things that I want to stay to see: What is this national teacher secretly? But he was gently thrown out of the window in the air, fell downstairs, spitting blood, and was instantly killed. People no longer dare to stay for a moment, helping each other, rolling and crawling to escape from the Moon Pavilion. Fear, like those dogs in general, does the Master of the State's belly rations.
After Chu Tian Ming drove people away, he removed his mask and thick bearskin, revealing his hideous face.
His skin was wrinkled, and he couldn't tell what color it was. In some places, there were pieces of armor that resembled snake scales. That body skin could turn into the color of that place as Chu Tianming walked to a site as if it were invisible. There is also that horrible mouth, able to open at an unreasonable angle. That angle seems to swallow any shape and size of food into its belly. But it seems that Chu Tianming is a gender that is neither male nor female; the appearance is a man's form, but the voice dynamics are unusually feminine. Could it be that this lizard spirit is a hermaphrodite?
Pi Dan stood in the middle of the crowd of dogs, and his heart could not help but feel a burst of nausea. Along the way, the kindred around it is crying and shouting, only it doesn't scream or make noise. But he was also afraid, especially when he saw the way this horrible state master drained his companions in the courtyard of their essence and blood. He also shivered uncontrollably. But he kept meditating: don't be afraid, don't be scared, the teacher will come to save him. For the sake of Cang Cang, he couldn't be easily killed by such ghostly and demonic things.
PiDan silently surveyed what kind of environment he was in. This was a substantial octagonal house on the topmost floor of the Moon Picking Pavilion, reserved for the king of the country and his relatives and close ministers, and had an excellent view as a viewing platform to enjoy the scenery. Built along the Zhuo River, the Moon Pavilion is the best place to see the fishing boats on the river, the distant mountains and the afterglow of the sun in the daytime, and the moon in the evening, when it is full of stars and the sky is full of stars. It is the best place to enjoy the moon and stars at night. You can also see the street lights and fireworks from near and far during Chinese New Year festivals.
Pi Dan grew up following his grandfather on the crow's nest boat; his water is perfect. He weighed if he put his best foot forward to fight with the demon master of the country. What are his chances of winning? If he couldn't resist and escape, jumping into the river was a good way.
He continued observing the room layout: oversized and fitted with several cages. Only these cages were all placed according to a particular formation. There were dozens of dogs in one enclosure. Some were hundreds, while another small cell only held a few. PiDan smiled in his heart, all these years following Hu Cang Cang to dabble and learn in the CaoTang, and the teacher, Mr. Mo, learned quite a lot of formation diagrams of the innate eight trigrams and the principles of knowledge, as long as they find the raw door there will be a way to escape.
"You are thinking about how to escape, right?" A cold and shrill voice rang in his ears. Pi Dan looked ahead in surprise; there was nothing, but he could smell a bloody stench. Then, right in front of his eyes, a horrible face gradually appeared. The other dogs whimpered and wailed in fear while ducking behind Pi Dan. Only Pi Dan stared dead in the face at the State Master before him.
"You knew I could talk?" Pi Dan asked in his mind.
"I didn't know, but you were too calm just now; I felt strange, so I observed you a few more times. I didn't expect that you weren't an ordinary dog. It's interesting, fascinating..."
Chu Tian Ming slowly circled the cage where Pi Dan was, continuing, "But I can't feel the demonic qi on you; you are not a dog demon; could it be an immortal beast? Hahahahaha, if that's the case, I've made a great deal this time!" State Master Chu Tianming laughed wildly as if he had picked up some great bargain.
"What exactly do you want? Why did you capture so many dogs?" Pi Dan continued to maintain his composure to continue climbing with the State Master to wait for the arrival of the roaring dog XuanMo.
"There's no harm in telling you. I'm in an excellent mood today, so I'll accompany you to talk."
Chu Tian Ming suddenly changed the small jar that contained the "Immortal Pill" and placed a pouch inside. Chu Tianming will jar a throw into a giant vat placed in the center of the eight trigrams array. Then, he casually grabbed a dog from a cage. The dog screamed in desperation; Chu Tianming strangled it to death, black and long nails into the dog's flesh; the dog's blood slowly dripped into the tank, and then their fingernails cut through the dog's stomach were taken out of the dog's heart. He carefully took out an "immortal pill" with black and purple light from the pouch and put it into the spirit that was still beating, then the dog's heart with the so-called immortal pill sank into the vast blood tank.
"You know, in the beast's black colorless male dog, Yang Qi is the heaviest; if there are gods and demons of the spiritual beasts as my Dan pool, I do not have to be so troublesome. This one-by-one spirit bead was removed from the hearts of dozens of immortal or demonic spirit beasts; if I didn't have a good dan-raising pool, they should have disappeared and decayed after seventy-seven or forty-nine days. I worked hard to collect them, so how could I let them go bad? So I can only cast a little spell while it's raining to give birth to a strange disease in this Zhuo Yi City and then use you black dogs as a medicine guide, so won't I achieve what I want?"
"Can those sick people be saved using our blood as a medicine guide?"
"Of course not. I don't have that kind heart to care if they live or die. In less than a day, I did a little trick and made these stupid humans serve me so much food and the dog's heart of the Spirit Nurturing Bead for nothing. Aren't I smart? Hahaha~"
"You demon, so vicious, aren't you afraid of heaven's wrath!" PiDan's whole body was solemn. His angry blue eyes stared fiercely at Chu TianMing, itching to pounce over and bite his neck.
"Condemned by the heavens, I'm afraid! I'm terrified! That's why I'm borrowing the mana of these spirit beads to help me cultivate and block the calamity for me." He greedily looked at this black dog Pi Dan incarnated by Ni Zhong and couldn't help but exclaim, "It's not a mortal thing. I'm afraid your blood and heart will be a thousand times stronger than other dogs' effects!" After saying that, he also licked that big mouth hungrily, as if he had seen a delicious meal, and approached him step by step.
Excellency Plucking the Moon, Hu Cang Cang anxiously waited for her teacher. After she saw the officials rolling and crawling to escape, she hurriedly sneaked into this blood-stained courtyard. At that moment, the teacher's voice came from behind.
"Cang Cang."
"Teacher!" Hu Cang Cang heard the voice and, just about to turn around to look, she was covered by Xuan Mo and brought to a dark place. He looked at Hu Cang Cang and gently tapped her brow with his hand. Hu Cang Cang could then hear her teacher talking to her with a voice transmission technique; at the same time, Xuan Mo also transmitted a thousand miles of sound to PiDan.
"Both of you listen up. This State Master Chu Tianming is a lizard spirit that has been cultivated for a thousand years, his bloodlust has been jeopardizing the three realms for many years, and he has been sucking up the essence mana of other Immortals and Demons with his reverse demonic techniques. I am a god of heaven, and it is inconvenient to exert my magic power on Earth to make him bind his hands, so I need you to help me. This lizard spirit is very cunning, so please help me retrieve those spirit beads from him and lure him away from this place.
Pi Dan, you can summon the thousand male dogs around you and divert your energies by tangling with them. Cang Cang takes this time to recapture those immortal and DemonDemon spirit beads that he killed; they must be destroyed, or they will be detrimental to the living beings on Earth. Cang Cang, this DemonDemon is afraid of water, when you get the spirit beads, jump from the Pavilion of Moon Picking to inside Zhuo River, I will meet you there. Use this sword well. It can be blocked with this DemonDemon for one or two rounds. Time is running out; don't get attached to the battle and fight quickly."
The teacher's information is too much; Hu Cang Cang is a little confused; his teacher is a heavenly god, and that state master is a demon; this... is all where it is? But to save Pi Dan and the city's people, Hu Cang Cang does not have time to think more and can not care so much to give up.
The lizard spirit Chu Tianming greedily toward Pi Dan, closer and closer to the time; Pi Dan suddenly loud wolf howls three times, and a howling follows the side of a thousand black dogs. Dogs as a species initially have a strong collective consciousness; the previous scattered is the lack of a king to lead; they are all enraged by this horrible DemonDemon, just waiting for the dog king Pi Dan to give a command. In an instant, the dogs concentrated on smashing the confining cage open and rushed toward the lizard spirit, vowing to fight.
Chu Tianming didn't expect the dogs to explode with such great energy, but he was, after all, a demon with no shortage of magical power. He quickly appeared in his original form - a vast color-changing lizard, opening its bloody mouth to tear and tangle up with the dogs that kept rushing up. The scene was very chaotic and bloody.
The lizard spirit swallowed some dogs while its giant claws tore apart others. But even so, hundreds and thousands of killing red-eyed hounds, also without stopping to take turns, lizard spirit's body made a lot of blood marks. Pi Dan kept pouncing forward, again and again, to fight with the lizard spirit, and soon it was covered in wounds. But it also finally took advantage of the lizard spirit's lack of time to grab the spirit bead pouches that hadn't been thrown into the blood vat.
At the critical moment when the dogs fight with the lizard spirit, Hu Cang Cang rushes downstairs and leaps up to draw his sword toward the lizard spirit's head. The lizard spirit felt the sword's wind and quickly dodged it, but it still cut into his left arm. The lizard spirit was furious at the pain, shouted, and was about to grab Hu Cang Cang. Hu Cang Cang quickly dodged it, received the pouch Pi Dan threw, rushed to the window, and prepared to leap into the rolling Zhuo River.
They still underestimated the DemonDemon. How could the lizard let Hu Cang Cang escape so easily? The lizard spirit saw his most crucial spirit bead was stolen; he also didn't care about the dogs around him; he twisted his body quickly and spat out his long tongue; the tip of that tongue also had countless hooks and thorns like human hands rushing towards Hu Cang Cang's back. Hu Cang Cang could only feel a considerable object flying towards her behind her, but it was too fast. Before she could turn around and block with her sword, the tip of that tongue was already just a foot away from her. In this lightning-fast momentum, the black dog Pi Dan rushed out, blocked behind Hu Cang Cang, and was hit by the tip of the tongue straight through the chest, immediately spitting blood. Pi Dan looked at Hu Cang Cang with despair and determination, then was brought into the enormous demonic mouth by the lizard spirit's tongue in a smooth motion.
"No!"
Hu Cang Cang shouted as he rushed forward and ruthlessly cut off the lizard spirit's tongue with his short sword. Without his tongue, the lizard spirit wailed in pain and rolled on the ground several times. His eyes were scarlet, and he said he would do anything to catch this little girl who appeared out of nowhere.
Hu Cang Cang took advantage of the lizard spirit's pain and rolling, holding the dying Pi Dan together, jumped down from the Moon Pavilion, and dived into the river. The lizard spirit Chu Tianming also followed and jumped down while roaring angrily, but he regretted it before entering the water.
Bad, caught in a trap! He thought to himself. Before the bear skin on his body fell on the moon-picking pavilion, he didn't swim but was afraid of cold; now it is only early spring and March, and Zhuo River's ice hasn't all melted away; if he falls into this cold Zhuo river's midst, the mana will fall by more than half.
But now regret also can't help. Hu Cang Cang's two swords caused Chu Tianming to suffer a minor injury; he wanted to transform and fly away, but he was too late. With a thud, Zhuo River lifted a colossal wave.
Someone in the surroundings screamed in terror after seeing it, "DemonDemon ah! There's a demon!"
Deep in the Zhuo River, Xuan Mo, the roaring dog waiting for a long time, saw Hu Cang Cang jumping into the water with Pi Dan in his arms, followed shortly by the Demon coming down. He quickly grabbed the lizard spirit in the water and took it down in just a few rounds before swallowing it in one bite. He was initially a hound that Erlang Xingjun had visualized with his magic weapon, and his stomach was the best DemonDemon locking tower. Then he got those spirit beads from Hu Cang Cang and instantly practiced turning them into pieces. But he knew clearly that there were still two more that he had yet to get, and he had to fulfill his mission, which was his priority as a celestial god and the best warrior of the divine race.
He didn't go to save Hu Cang Cang and Pi Dan, nor did he go to save the dying dogs. He just turned into his original form and swam ashore, leaving amid the chaos.
Hu Cang Cang watched as his teacher completed the incredible demon-subduing passage instantly. He was also shocked to see him turn into a hound and leave without looking back. He just abandoned them and went on his own? She couldn't accept that the most respected teacher, one of the people she trusted, would disregard them like that and abandon them after using them.
The bottom of the river is icy, although Hu Cang Cang and PiDan have long followed their grandparents, living in a crow's nest boat fishing and shrimping water is perfect. She was holding the large size of the Pi Dan could not swim to shore. The cold and lack of oxygen quickly made her about to faint. Pi Dan slowly opened his eyes in the water and looked at Hu Cang Cang, wanting to tell her, "Do not sleep, Cangcang, wake up; we have to go home together." He was seriously injured and had no strength left, so he had to follow Hu Cang Cang down to the bottom.
On the Moon Pavilion, most of the hounds had been killed or injured, and some were seriously injured and gasping for breath. These dogs, abandoned by humans, limped down from the Moon Picking Pavilion and jumped into the Zhuo River, looking for their king, the city's canine king, Pi Dan, and Hu Cang Cang, the only human who came to their rescue.
Curious people gathered around the banks of the river. They watched the scene in amazement, and how many of them could not forget that scene until long afterward. Hundreds of black dogs with blood all over their bodies jumped into the river as if they were committing suicide. They didn't know how vital loyalty was for dogs, and they didn't understand why the beasts despised by human beings had loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and knowledge of kindness and repayment that was nobler than human beings.
Just as Hu Cang Cang was about to sink to the bottom of the water while holding Pi Dan, a group of hounds swam over. Some of them gently bit Hu Cang Cang's clothes, and some of them pushed their heads against Pi Dan's body, and with this one pull and one push, one person and one dog were saved. Some onlookers found Hu Cang Cang and rushed to rescue them. Hu Cang Cang choked on a few mouthfuls of water, and when she slowed down, she ran to look for Pi Dan, who had already fainted. It still had half of the Demon'sDemon's tongue hooked tightly above the flesh. She hesitated momentarily and coaxed Pi Dan, "Pi Dan is a good girl; it will hurt a bit; you must bear it." Then she picked up her short sword and dug the demonic object out of PiYan's back.
With tears in her eyes, she coldly said to the onlookers, "That state master is not a fairy but a thousand-year-old lizard spirit! This plague is the demonic poison he sent down. These loyal dogs helped me cut off the tongue from that Demon's mouth. I think this is the cure for the plague, and those dogs used as the cure are the heroes that saved the lives of the city's people!"