Chapter Thirty-One: A Small Monster of the Meng Clan

  "Go tell Master Yu Gong that I've never been hurt from childhood to adulthood, and now I'm thinking of my parents very much. I hope to go home and let my relatives take care of me. He should agree. After leaving Ming Shui, find Yun Su with Jiao Long Dong Yue and ask him to come and help me."

  "Uh, anything else?"

  "There is a Mong family village inside Dongyue, and behind the mountain of the village, there is a small courtyard where Mengmu is waiting for me. You can tell him that I have something urgent to attend to now, so he doesn't need to wait."

  "Then I..."

  "Help me finish these two things, and then let the Jiaolong send you back home. You are a mortal, and should stay by your parents' side to show filial piety. Also, in order to protect you and your family, don't mention your master's affairs to anyone else again. I will find out his whereabouts for you, and as soon as there is news, I will send someone to inform you."

  "It's not that I'll listen to you no matter what! Even if I have to listen to your arrangements, I also have a condition - you must let Brother Nai accompany me at home to recover from my injuries. Once I'm better, I'll come back and find you!"

  “……”

  "What? You can't just ignore me, otherwise I won't help you."

  "Alright..."

  Mount Dongyue was on high alert, and the dragonfly-like creature carried the injured Duanmu Yang as it flew around for a long time without seeing Yun Su's face. The two hesitated for half a day, and finally had to tear off a corner of their clothes to write down a message asking for help, begging the guards to deliver it to Yun Su.

  Yun Su is rarely seen, but the village of Meng Jia is easy to find. The two walked into the village on foot, asking from door to door about the small courtyard behind the mountain. But whoever they asked would avoid them as if there were ghosts there.

  "What can be done about it?"

  Jiaolong patted the back of Duanmu Yang and comforted him, "Don't worry, that Mongmu is a top-notch spirit. It's normal for people to be ignorant and mistake him for a ghost. When we meet the next villager, just ask him how to get to the back mountain."

  "Alright then."

  The village was small, and at the end of the sight was a field, where several villagers were weeding in the fields. These people were simple and unpretentious, and naturally couldn't be compared to those noble and cold gods and immortals. But now seeing them, Duanmu Cheng felt like he had returned to his hometown, feeling very close. He didn't even care about the wound on his shoulder, and walked up quickly to chat with them.

  "Hello uncle, could you tell me how to get to the back mountain?"

  The peasant who was asked looked up and saw the thin and gaunt young man in front of him and the dark-faced strong man behind him, and asked inexplicably: "The back mountain is all barren hills, what are you going there for? Which village are you from, and what brings you to our place?"

  "This... is the grave? Duanmu Chengyan's eyes moved, he rubbed his nose, and made a face as if he was about to cry: "Uncle, I won't hide it from you, my sworn brother has been searching for his relatives for many years, but hasn't found them. Just a few days ago, we heard that his family members had died early and were buried in the back mountain of Mengjia Village, so we came to find him, thinking that even if we could just kowtow in front of the grave, it would be okay. Please, elderly sir, have mercy on us and tell us how to get there."

  That old man looked at Du Mu with a red eye circle, this speech said the truth and cut to the point, and didn't sell the key: "No wonder you can't find it, we have a lot of mountains here, if you want to find one mountain after another, even by New Year's Day, you won't be able to find it." He patted the dirt on his hand and pointed them in a direction.

  "See? Those two taller mountains over there are Maiden Peak and Husband Peak, and that shorter one in the middle is actually our village's back mountain." After finishing speaking, he glanced at Du Mu Yang and then at the large, dark-skinned man behind him, mysteriously reminding them: "But I'll tell you this, originally there was a family living in those mountains. While chopping firewood on the mountain, they picked up a small monster. Everyone advised them to get rid of it, but they didn't listen. Not long after that, the whole family died out. The villagers all said it was because the monster ate people, and were so scared they didn't even dare go pay respects at their ancestors' graves. It's been several decades since then, I don't know if that monster is still there or not. You guys be careful if you're going to go."

  "Be good..."

  Smoke rises from the small courtyard, wafting out fragrant aromas, accompanied by the sound of slurping soup.

  Du Mu didn't understand, he had come from afar and climbed the mountain for half a day, but the host not only didn't entertain him, but also asked if he could cook. After cooking a delicious meal, he didn't even hear a thank you, and saw this guy eating with relish.

  "You're so capable, yet you don't do anything worthwhile. What's wrong with you? Dao Jing has been muttering to himself since early morning, saying something about nothingness and emptiness, it's driving me crazy! I didn't think you'd be even more annoying than him!"

  "Go ahead and eat, choke on it." He said while untying his apron and brandishing a sharp knife.

  "This guy eats with abandon, completely unaware of the murderous aura beside him. After a long and arduous journey, Duanmu Chengyang was also starving, so he had no choice but to sit down and eat, but still didn't forget to mock: "What's your face made of?""

  "Tree bark."

  "......" Monster!

  Du Mu thought he had grasped the handle of this guy, well, Guai Dao always felt that he was sinister and strange, it turned out that this guy was a cannibal. Look at how clean his chicken legs were gnawed, not only evil, but simply evil.

  But he once again underestimated the thickness of Meng Mu's face skin

  Meng Mu ate his fill and drank to his heart's content, then began to criticize Duanmu Poyi.

  "I'm telling you, after all this time, you're still so naive. I am a tree, a tree, do you understand? With a patch of land, I can take root, with a scoop of water, I can live. Absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, gathering the essence of the sun and moon, do I need to eat humans?"

  "Where have your family members gone?"

  "What family do I have? I'm just myself, how can one person not be a family? You don't think about it, this place hasn't been visited in decades, how would they know what's going on? They just casually mentioned it, and you actually believed it."

  Duanmu Chengyan suddenly stopped him from speaking, but no matter how he thought about it, he still felt that something was off. "Why don't you go down and live with the villagers together?"

  "There are kids everywhere in this village, crying non-stop all day. If I lived there, I'd be driven mad by the noise. The night owl's hooting sounds more pleasant to me than that. Besides, who are you to tell me where I should live?"

  Watching the two of them quarrel more and more fiercely, Jiaolong felt it was necessary to stop them and explain the purpose of today's visit, otherwise the two people might end up fighting.

  As expected, as soon as he finished speaking, Meng Mu immediately shut his mouth and remained silent for a long time.

  He was not used to being in a lower position, and he heard from Lu Jian about what happened when he was injured. He knew that Meng Mu was being chased by the black-clothed men, and Xu Wu said that the black-clothed men might be after him. Putting two and two together, his mood became somewhat complicated, and although it couldn't be described as guilt, he felt a bit strange, as if he owed him something.

  "Hey, why aren't you talking?"

  Meng Mu suppressed his smile and looked unusually serious: "What happened to Dao Jing?"

  "This..."

  The dragon is relatively understanding of the young master's thoughts, and if the young master doesn't explain, he shouldn't say anything. So he perfunctorily said: "Nothing, just some internal affairs on Tiantai Mountain."

  "Tell me, Duanmu."

  Du Mu thought to himself, "You turtle grandson, you're good at bullying honest people. But thinking about it from another angle, I was originally counting on Yun Su's help. Now, I haven't even seen his face. If I can't find someone to help Dao Jing, then isn't this trip with Jiaolong for nothing?"

  "This won't do," he cleared his throat and asked, "Do you know about Tong Chen Palace?"

  "Uh-huh, I know."

  "Do you understand their curse?"

  "How much do you know?"

  "How much do you know?"

  Meng Mu looked at Duanmu Cheng for a long time, then slowly turned his head to look at Jiaolong and suddenly said: "I understand!"

  The young man in yellow disappeared into thin air like a ghostly wind.

  Facing Jiaolong's angry gaze, Duanmu Cheng raised his innocent hands: "I didn't say anything."

  “！……”

  The originally noisy courtyard gradually quieted down, the mountain wind blew gently on the tender grass leaves, and no one noticed a hunched figure slowly disappearing under the wall of the courtyard.

  “…Yesterday, I met a young man in yellow clothes at the temple. He looked 50% like our young master, but before we could talk, he ran away and didn't seem to recognize me. This person stood in front of the young master's bedroom for a long time with a bewildered expression. Forgive my foolishness, I thought that maybe the young master is still alive…”

  The eternal darkness of Avici hell, a simple-minded Tianyu stood on the steps in front of the Wu Ku gate, holding such a letter.

  From the time he paid homage to Zhongshan, until he ascended to the throne and sat in the Heavenly Prison, this old servant had always followed him, loyal and diligent as could be expected, only...

  The first time I saw him was like that, old and decrepit. So many years have passed, he has become older and more muddled.

  "My little junior brother, how could you still be alive......"

  Tian Yu was originally a small god on Zhongshan. After Zhu Long left the Demon Realm and chose to settle on Zhongshan, he took Tian Yu as his apprentice and taught him for eight years before bringing back a young junior brother from outside. As for this young junior brother's origin, Tian Yu only knew that he was originally a cat demon, said to have been picked up by some god and given to his master. Looking at the small ball of fluff sleeping in his master's arms, with a round face and chubby cheeks, made one want to pinch him. He couldn't help but think that those gods were truly reckless, sending away such an adorable child just like that; if it were him, he wouldn't be able to bear parting with the child.

  Later, he took charge of the underworld prison and was quite strict with the fairy people. The fairy world all said that Tian Yu Shen Guan was upright and unyielding, but in fact, no one else knew that his dissatisfaction with the fairies originated from a cat.

  This cat demon is quite young, and for some reason, it can actually transform into a human form. The Candle Dragon is usually very strict when selecting apprentices, perhaps this time it was moved by the little cat's cleverness and cuteness, and exceptionally took him as an apprentice. However, taking a demon as an apprentice is not in line with the rules, so this matter was not made known to others. This little cat is usually handed over to Tian Yu for care, only when it's time to practice, it is allowed to transform into human form and learn together with Tian Yu.

  Tian Yu thought this was a great idea, having been alone on Zhongshan for who-knows-how-many years, and even after becoming an apprentice, he still practiced alone. Now, with the addition of such a cute junior brother, he was so excited that he almost wanted to go out and shout at the top of his lungs.

  His junior brother was clever and wise, many spells were understood at once, although he was a demon, but there was no demonic energy on his body, it seemed that he might have grown up in the immortal's cave. His master gave him a name called Shen Lingxiao, the old servant who took care of them called him Young Master Xiao, and after calling him many times, he became Little Master. "Tianyu Gongzi and Little Master" was what the old servant often said over the years.

  At that time, they often made trouble, provoking the old servant to report to the master three days and two nights. Either together catching fish startled the river god, or recklessly using magic to burn each other's hair, or taking advantage of his noon sleep to use the move mountain and shrink land to run down to the town at the foot of the mountain to play...

  Later, Tian Yu's cultivation was successful and he was granted a marriage by the Heavenly Emperor himself. He married the second daughter of Zhu Long. His younger junior brother had also grown up and didn't like to return home much anymore.

  Later, he took over the position of Thunder Messenger and had to leave Zhongshan. Thinking that his junior fellow disciple often went to the vicinity of Kusatsu, it happened that there was a Tianlao on the mountain of Xiuyuezhan, which was the largest in the lower world, so he went there under the pretext of guarding Tianlao.

  Xiu and Shan originally didn't have a temple, only a few simple barracks for the jailers and generals to work and rest. After he left, he started from scratch and spent four years building the temple with his own hands, even leaving a bedroom in the temple for his younger brother.

  There is a clay doll in the bedroom that was made by Shidi's original body when he was young, and outside the room are a study and a practice room prepared for Shidi.

  However, in these four years, his junior brother had not come once. Whenever he thought of his junior brother, he would add some things to these rooms. He searched for some magical secrets and folk anecdotes, and personally forged a few good knives with bronze backs and pure steel blades, sharp and cold. It was said that his junior brother had been traveling the world in recent years, and when he came back, it would be just right to give them to him for self-defense.

  Another two years have passed, and these several rooms are gradually filled up, with everything in order, only the master is missing.

  But what arrived was an obituary...