Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 100 The Mysterious Disappearance of the Fishing Village

The fierce battle with the monster was extremely tiring. When she woke up, she felt her stomach was empty. The food she brought was left in the package in the cabin and disappeared along with the boat. Now she smelled the barbecue and felt even hungrier. However, she had been a vegetarian since she was a child and had never eaten a piece of meat, so she could only endure it. She never wanted to make a fool of herself in front of a boy.

Wuzhan picked up a red-hot river crab, turned around and threw it in front of Bixia, saying lightly: "Eat one, otherwise you won't have the energy to take me to unlock the seal!"

Bixia didn't look at the crabs that fell on the beach. She closed her mouth and said, "I never eat meat!"

Wuzhan looked at Bixia who was sitting cross-legged in meditation and thought for a moment, "If Yuanjun turns into a fairy, who will stop the breach and save the people?"

When Bixia heard the mocking words, her true energy almost went astray. She opened her eyes, stared at Wuzhan, and said coldly: "If I die, I will never let you live!" After saying this, she realized that she had said something wrong.

"If Yuanjun wants to kill me, he needs strength. He can't kill me if I'm hungry. There is one more thing I don't understand. Yuanjun can't bear to eat even a river crab, but he is unwilling to let me go. Is my life not worth even a river crab?"

Bixia stared into Wuzhe's clear eyes and said, "If you hadn't blown up the important river bank, causing the people downstream to live in unrest, why would I kill you? You are so cold-blooded. If you were to become a high-ranking official, would you care about the safety of the people?"

Wuzhan smiled faintly and said, "How can Yuanjun know what will happen in the future? Just like last night, I thought Yuanjun would definitely be able to kill the giant turtle?"

No one had ever dared to mock Bixia like this, let alone a rookie. If her arm had not been injured, she would have knocked him away with one palm. She suppressed her anger, her jade-like face flushed, her hair tilted, and she stared at Wuzhe.

Wuzhan saw Bixia was angry but speechless, and he felt relieved. He said calmly, "Don't be angry, Yuanjun. I just hope that you can recover quickly and seal the breach as soon as possible. As for my life, you may not have to do anything."

After hearing this, Bixia felt a pang in her heart and her anger mostly disappeared. She retracted her gaze and said in a deep voice: "You don't have to persuade me, I won't eat it!" She closed her eyes, meditated and regulated her breathing to recover from her injuries.

Wu Zhanzhi tried to dissuade her, but failed. He also knew that she had a high level of cultivation and would be fine if she went hungry for a few days. He turned around and ate the remaining river crabs. He felt much better in his stomach, but was still exhausted. So he had to lie down on the beach again and close his eyes to rest.

……

Blue sky and white clouds, warm sunshine, sparkling blue water and gentle breeze.

By noon, Bixia had repaired the damaged meridians, but the broken bones would take some time to heal, and her arms still could not move freely. She stood up and stared at Wuzhe, who was lying on the beach with his face up, for a long time before she said in a deep voice, "Stand up, let's go!"

Wuzhan opened his eyes and sat up. Seeing that Bixia had stood up, he asked, "Are you recovered?"

“Walking is still possible.”

Wuzhan stood up lazily and asked, "How far is the journey?"

"Continue downstream along the river and you will arrive in one day by boat. There is a village downstream of this beach. Perhaps we can borrow a boat there. We need to get there as soon as possible." After saying that, without waiting for Wuzhan to answer, he took light steps, stepping on the fine mud and sand, and walked downstream.

Wuzhan followed slowly behind him. Although his stomach felt a little better, his whole body ached. It was very tiring to follow Bixia. Bixia stopped from time to time to wait for Wuzhan. In fact, her muscles and bones were seriously damaged and she needed rest. But she was thinking about plugging the breach as soon as possible to prevent it from expanding and bringing greater disasters. So she endured the severe pain all over her body and insisted on walking fast.

The two people walked one in front and one behind, stopping from time to time, leaving their shoe prints on the beach.

After walking for more than a mile, they still hadn't walked out of the beach. Wuzhan couldn't hold on any longer and sat down on the ground, coughing violently. His sleeves were covered in blood. Bixia saw this and stopped, frowned and looked at Wuzhan. After Wuzhan's cough eased, she asked, "When did you get this disease?"

Wuzhan panted, "It's like this when I'm born."

Bixia knew that Wuzhan had a special body. There was no true qi in his meridians, his pulse was disordered, and his qi and blood were weak. Logically, such a person could not survive. Living was a kind of pain. She said such contemptuous words on the wooden boat because of anger. Now she felt that she was a little too much at the time, and she felt guilty. After thinking for a long time, "If you unseal, give up being an official, and return to Mount Tai with me to cultivate your mind and enlightenment, after I recover, maybe I can temporarily control your illness."

Although Wuzhan knew that her cultivation was far higher than that of Master Zitan and Master Xuanqing, her method must be to consume her true energy to prolong his life. How could Wuzhan have the nerve to go to Mount Tai with her? More importantly, how could he not go to take back the five-colored stone and fulfill those instructions? "Let's unlock the seal first." After saying that, he slowly stood up and continued walking. The two of them were silent.

……

The setting sun cast golden light, the Yellow River meandered across the land like a golden dragon, the mountains were all red, and looking at the fishing village in the distance, Bixia frowned slightly, feeling that the situation was not good. When she came, the village had not been relocated, so why was there no smoke from cooking at this time? She ignored the tired Wuzhan behind her and quickened her pace, walking towards the village.

The entrance of the village is shaded by green willows and leans against the river. There are more than a hundred thatched houses in the village, scattered in an orderly manner, but there is no one in sight. It is so quiet that the only sound is the singing of birds circling in the sky.

Bixia visited more than a dozen houses but still couldn't find anyone. When she passed by a few days ago, she could still see many fishing boats and fishermen on the shore. But only five days had passed and those people had disappeared. "Did they migrate too?" She walked slowly into the thatched house and saw that the items in the house were intact, and even some valuable items were not taken away. If they had migrated, these items would not have been left behind. "Could it be that they were attacked by that monster?" But looking at the entire village, there was no sign of flooding. The houses were intact, as if the villagers had just left. Bixia fell into deep thought.

Wuzhan was carrying a bowl of chicken, eating as he followed Bixia, "Yuanjun, it would be a pity if we don't eat this chicken." Seeing Bixia frowning and searching, she ignored him, "If you don't eat the chicken, you should eat this!" She reached out and took out two pumpkin cakes from her sleeve and handed them to Bixia. Bixia was already starving. Seeing that it was pumpkin cake, she thanked him, took it, turned around and ate it in small bites. Wuzhan turned around and sat on the ground, continuing to eat the chicken in the wooden bowl. Bixia asked while eating, "Where did you find it?"

"There is food in every kitchen pot. You just need to open the lid and you will find it."

Bixia thought, "It seems that they disappeared suddenly yesterday evening without even having dinner. Where could they have gone?"

“It went downstream.”

“How come you see?”

"The fishing boats are gone. We came down from upstream and didn't see any. Where could they have gone?"

When Bixia heard this, she looked toward the river and indeed saw no boats. She immediately believed Wuzhan's words, but she was still confused as to why these people were in such a hurry to leave without even eating. She wondered, "Did something big happen?"

Wuzhan asked, "Now that the boat is gone, what will Yuanjun do next?"

Bixia asked, "Don't you think what happened in this village is too weird?"

"Of course it's weird, but does Yuanjun have time to figure it out now? They have been traveling for a day and must have reached the downstream of the seal. We can't catch up with them."

Bixia certainly knew how serious and how light it was. Moreover, she was seriously injured and it was impossible for her to deal with unknown dangers. "Okay, let's see if there are any remaining ships. We need to get there as soon as possible."

The two began to look for any boats that had not been launched in the village, but found nothing. Wuzhan had no choice but to find bamboo poles with Bixia, tie them together with ropes, make a bamboo raft, and float downstream.

The moonlight was bright and the night was charming. Bixia stood on the bamboo raft, but the doubts in her heart never dissipated. The bamboo raft was only two meters long and one meter wide. When the two of them stood on it, their feet were in the water. Wuzhan stood behind Bixia and of course knew what Bixia was thinking. He said, "Yuanjun, have you ever heard of a technique called 'beast control'?"

Beast taming is an extremely profound and mysterious magic spell that uses powerful mental power to control the actions of wild beasts through musical instruments or other objects, and can even be used to attack enemies, but this method has long been lost.

Bixia turned to look at Wuzhan and asked doubtfully, "I have heard something. What do you want to say?"

"I suspect that the people in that village were controlled by a technique similar to this and taken away together?"

“How come you see?”

"It's just a hunch. No other explanation can explain it. Only this explanation makes sense."

Of course Bixia couldn't believe Wuzhan's words, and how could this "Beast Taming Technique" control the actions of so many people? If so, how powerful would that person's mental strength be? But thinking about it, the other possibilities really didn't make sense.

Wuzhan added: "Yuanjun, it's better not to think about it. Wait until your injuries are healed before checking it out in detail."

Bixia looked up at the night sky and saw dark clouds under the bright moon, as if half of the sky had collapsed. At this moment, her heart was even more overcast, and she sighed: "This world is becoming more and more chaotic!"

Wuzhan asked: "In Yuanjun's eyes, which is more important, the safety of the world or the ascension of Taoism?"

"I can only do what I can in this world, and ascending to heaven is beyond my reach. I am just a drop in the ocean, and what I cultivate is peace of mind."

After Wuzhan heard this, he looked at the beautiful figure with awe and thought to himself, "If she wants to kill me, I will never resist!"

……

The two of them stood on the bamboo raft and traveled all night. In the early morning of the next day, the boat was already in the canyon. The green mountains on both sides were majestic and magnificent, and the water was turbulent. Bixia's vitality was greatly damaged. She could not control the bamboo raft with her breath, and it creaked and bumped up and down. Wuzhan had to sit on the bamboo raft, holding the bamboo pole with his hands, half of his body immersed in the water, to stabilize his body. Fortunately, the canyon was not too long. Once out of the canyon, they saw a wide river again. Wuzhan had not yet recovered his breath, and Bixia asked in surprise: "How did they get here?"

There were more than twenty large and small fishing boats parked on the bank of the West River, with no one on board. The river bank led to a dry canyon.

(End of this chapter)