Chapter 21: Punishment (1)

  The big man took a deep breath and stepped forward, standing in the same row as Shuǐ Shēng. "It's not like that," he said. "This matter was discussed between us two beforehand. If you want to blame someone, blame me. I'm Shuǐ Shēng's older brother, and not only did I not stop him, but I also helped him."

  Wang Long also stepped forward and stood with the two of them, saying: "This matter was done by us three together, if we are to be punished, then let's be punished together! Please don't make things difficult for Shui Sheng alone."

  The triangular eyes of Wumudao suddenly shone brightly, and the three people's hearts were frightened. They hastily lowered their heads. The great hall immediately fell silent, and the three people's minds were in a state of turmoil, not knowing how Wumudao would punish them.

  It was a full minute before Wu Mu Dao Ren's voice sounded again, saying slowly: "Very well, since the three of you are fighting to take responsibility, let's punish you together! Listen carefully, first clean up here, then carry this companion back, and when dawn breaks, I will notify you three to come and accept punishment. As for what happened tonight, I don't want anyone else to know, do you understand?"

  "Understood!" "Understood!" The three little boys hastily replied. Wu Mu Dao Ren hummed and turned to walk out of the hall, his figure flickered twice before disappearing into the night outside, like a ghost or a demon. The three little boys stared with their eyes wide open.

  Wang Long made an effort to shake his head, stretched out his hand to pinch his thigh, but unexpectedly pinched the leg of a big cow instead. The big cow cried out in surprise: "Who? What are you doing?" "Hehe, wrong pinch, wrong pinch, it seems I still haven't gone blind, you guys say that Wu Mu Dao Zhang is or isn't a living god?" Wang Long chuckled to himself.

  Shuǐshēng and Dà Niú's eyes were wide with wonder as they stared in the direction where Wūmù Dào Rén had disappeared, nodding their heads vigorously.

  After the three of them finished sweeping the main hall, they took turns carrying the unconscious child back to their living quarters. The gate had already been opened wide by the panicked Hua Tianyu and his two companions. Shui Sanren and his two companions quietly passed by Jing Shan's room, seeing no movement, before sneaking into Hua Tianyu's room and gently pushing open the door.

  Huā Tiān Yǔ and the three people had already been frightened out of their wits by what they saw earlier. When they heard someone pushing open the door, not only did they not dare to ask who it was, but each one wrapped themselves tightly in thick quilts, shivering with fear, not daring to stick their heads out to take a look. Big Cow put down the little boy he had been carrying on his back onto the cloud bed and helped him cover up with the quilt before leaving the room.

  They tidied up everything and the three of them returned to their room, lying down on the bed with wide eyes staring at the ceiling, but they couldn't sleep no matter what. The dark and eerie figure of Wumu Dao flashed in and out of their minds, refusing to be shaken off, his lean body and ugly face somehow becoming mysterious and majestic.

  Afraid of ghosts, Sun Qianjun slept on the cloud bed against the wall, snoring peacefully, completely unaware that three little partners had sneaked out to do something so unexpected.

  Although the three people did not speak, they knew that none of them had fallen asleep. A strange excitement was burning their blood to a near boil, and they were eager to see Wu Mu Dao Ren as soon as possible. As for what punishment they would receive, the three no longer cared.

  Until the sky turned white, the bell rang in the observatory, and the three of them got up one by one from the cloud bed, looking at each other, and they could see a faint longing in each other's eyes. Sun Qianjun was surprised to find that the three of them actually got up earlier than himself today, and he felt a wave of dizziness.

  At breakfast time, Jing Shan did not see Huatian Yu and the others appear, furrowed his brow, and walked towards their room. The little children waited for Jing Shan to leave, and immediately began discussing in a flurry, following which they cast their gaze at Shuǐshēng and the other two, but the three of them pretended as if they knew nothing.

  Inside the room, four children were lying on the bed. One of them had a bruise on his forehead and was snoring loudly under the quilt, no matter how much Jian Shan tried to rouse him, he wouldn't wake up. Another child's face was pale, eyes dull, body trembling all over, mouth constantly shouting "There's a ghost! A ghost! The ghost is sitting up in the coffin!" Seeing Jian Shan approaching, he cried out "Don't catch me, don't, don't!" while shaking his head and squeezing into the corner of the cloud bed.

  Hua Tianyu and another little boy, although not talking nonsense or snoring loudly, were shaking all over, pale as iron, with a look of being out of their minds. No matter how Ren Jing asked them, the two just shook their heads and said nothing.

  Jing Shan saw that the four people seemed to have been severely frightened and immediately informed Wu Mu Dao Ren, who was meditating in the San Qing Hall.

  Wu Mu Dao Ren was silent for a moment, then said: "I have been guarding this temple and haven't found any evil spirits or ghosts. Where did the rumors of ghostly apparitions come from? These children want to cultivate in Yu Ding Mountain, but they should be more resolute. If they can be scared like this by trivial things, what use are they to Yu Ding Gate? Let the Black Iron Army outside inform their families and take them back home."

  Jing Shan replied with a "yes" and was about to turn around and leave, but Wu Mu Dao Ren said: "Hold on, that Huatian Yu is the son of Xian Lin's Huatian Sen. Since there's no big deal, let him stay in the temple for now, lest his father makes another scene because of this matter. Also, call over Zhou Shui Sheng, Zhou Da Niu and Wang Long for me. These three have always been troublemakers, I want to punish them by making them face the wall in 'Song Tan Ju' to reflect on their actions."

  Jing Shan was taken aback, and asked: "Master Wu, didn't Zhou Shui Sheng and the other two do something wrong? If that's really the case, then I, as their master, should also be punished for not teaching them well." Wu Mu Dao Ren glanced at Jing Shan with a faint smile, saying: "This has nothing to do with you, go down first. Now, go move their luggage over!" Then he turned to the little monk standing beside him and said: "Jing Xin, go with Jing Shan."

  Although Jing Shan was full of doubts, he didn't dare to ask again. The two walked out of the main hall one after the other. "Jing Xin, you've been serving by Wu Mu's side all this time, do you know why Shifu wanted to punish those three little ones?" Little Dao Tong shook his head and said: "Shixiong spends every day with that group of little brats, how would I know?"

  After finishing speaking, she smiled and said: "Why do you care so much? With three fewer mischievous guys, aren't you more relaxed? It's not like you're being punished to face the wall."

  Jing Shang smiled and said, "Master uncle is punishing them to face the wall, not letting them play with you. What are you happy about? Maybe Master uncle will even make you deliver food to them every day."

  Jingxin Bai said with a smile, "That's still better than me staying alone in Songtao Residence to accompany Shifu. Haven't you seen how he is? If he's not in the mood, he won't speak to me for half a month. I'm afraid that if this goes on, I'll become mute."

  As they watched the three aquatic people carrying their luggage behind Jing Shan and Jing Xin, heading towards Songtao House, the crowd of little ones suddenly burst into a loud commotion.

  Huā Tiān Yǔ's eyes were dull and his expression was bewildered, as if he had seen a ghost. The three young children who lived with Huā Tiān Yǔ in the same room were taken away by the Black Iron Army guarding the Guardian Cloud Platform, saying they would return home and no longer practice on Tian Ding Mountain. Following this, Shuǐ Shēng's three people were punished to face the wall and reflect, and even the morning lessons of the crowd were stopped because of this. A series of chain reactions all pointed to yesterday's "feeding the corpse" bet, and although the young children didn't know what had happened last night, they knew that these few people getting into trouble must be related to the two men's bet.

  I wanted to ask Huatianyu if he had gone to feed Zhao Lao Dao, and why things had turned out this way. Seeing Huatianyu's distracted appearance, I couldn't bring myself to speak up. In the end, everyone shifted their attention to Sun Qianjun, who lived with Shuisheng and the three others in the same room. The children gathered around Sun Qianjun, surrounding him in a circle, and took turns "interrogating" him one by one. As expected, Sun Qianjun knew nothing at all!

  Tie Xin Tang and Xiao Juan knew some inside information, but they didn't expect things to turn out this way. The two were anxious and frustrated in their hearts, but there was nothing they could do.

  "Songtao House" is after all the residence of Wu Mu Daoist, not only are there more than a dozen side houses, but also a three-room-sized hall. Jing Shan and Jing Xin helped Shui Sheng and his two companions settle their luggage, then left together, telling them to stay in the hall and wait for punishment, no one is allowed to run around.

  The three of them had no choice but to stay quietly in the hall, not daring to move or speak a word, fearing that Wu Mu Dao Ren would come at any moment. As a result, from morning till night, not a single person came to pay attention to them, as if they had already forgotten about the three of them. The three of them had been staying in Song Tan Ju without eating or drinking anything since their arrival, and now they were getting hungry and afraid.

  Fortunately, Wu Mu Dao Ren finally appeared in the hall after the sky had completely darkened. Upon seeing Wu Mu Dao Ren, the three of them immediately stood up straight and paid their respects!

  Under the lamplight, Wu Mu Dao's ugly face made people even more afraid to flatter him. He expressionlessly waved his hand at the three of them, stopping their greetings. He casually pulled out a book from his sleeve and handed it to Shui Sheng, indicating for the three of them to take a look.

  After the three of them finished reading, they were suddenly excited and puzzled. Although most of the text in the book was obscure and difficult to understand, and there were many unfamiliar words that none of them recognized, the illustrations could be understood by anyone. The pictures recorded various mysterious techniques - control technique, heavenly eye technique, fireball technique, ice cone technique, hidden fog technique, flying technique, etc., and the key to using the techniques and the methods of casting were written clearly.

  One by one, the spells that only masters could cast were vividly displayed in front of the three people, making their hearts feel like they were being scratched by a cat, itching to grasp all the spells recorded in the book and demonstrate them one by one.

  After the three of them finished reading, Wumu Dao Ren put the scripture back into his sleeve and asked: "Do you want to learn these spells?" "Yes!" The three replied in unison.

  With a glance at the three excited children, Wu Mu Dao Ren hummed softly in his nose and said: "Who would not want to? However, wanting is useless. If you three do not have spiritual roots, you cannot condense your magical powers, and none of these spells can be used."

  This chapter is over, your support is my greatest motivation!