Chuchenzi

"Whew~ whew~ whew~~"

At the foot of Qingyun Mountain, Gu Xuanwu leaned against a large tree and kept panting. His chest and lungs felt like bellows, and he was breathing far too heavily. Exhaustion mingled with a searing pain.

"Wu Xin, what are we doing here?"

Leaning against the tree, Gu Xuanwu asked Wu Xin beside him, "That Japanese brat Shirakawa Rin is still following us from behind! There’s also that Wolf Demon hunting you down, and Yue Qiluo, who’s nowhere to be seen. Good heavens! Why are we so unlucky? All our enemies have shown up at once."

Wu Xin helped Yueya sit in the shade of a large tree. He glanced at the Taoist temple faintly visible among the distant mountains, pointed at it, and said to Gu Xuanwu, "See that Taoist temple up there? That’s Qingyun Temple. Didn’t we investigate it before?

"Yue Qiluo was sealed by an expert from Qingyun Temple. There might be some reclusive experts here as well. If we ask for help, maybe we can find someone willing to lend us a hand."

"Qingyun Temple! Zhang Xianzong mentioned this place to me before."

Gu Xuanwu paused, then carefully recalled what Gu Sheng had said. "He said Qingyun Temple had already declined. Its strongest temple master, Chuchenzi, was only mediocre. He could deal with ordinary little ghosts and demons, but against someone like Yue Qiluo or Shirakawa Rin, he’d probably be completely useless."

"We can’t worry about that now. Let’s get to Qingyun Temple first!"

Wu Xin was also somewhat speechless after hearing that. He had originally planned to see whether they could find reinforcements at Qingyun Temple.

"You’re right. We might as well try anything at this point! Come on, come on~~~ Let’s head up the mountain!"

Gu Xuanwu thought that made sense. He found a wooden stick nearby to use as a crutch, then followed Wu Xin, who was supporting Yueya. Not long after the three of them reached the main road, they nearly got hit by a car.

Inside a quiet room at Qingyun Temple, Wu Xin, Li Yueya, and Gu Xuanwu followed in behind a Taoist priest with an extraordinary bearing and handsome appearance. This Taoist priest was Chuchenzi, the very person they had come to find—and the fellow who had nearly hit them on the main road earlier.

"Three guests, what brings you to my temple?"

Chuchenzi poured each of the three a cup of tea. The group gathered around a small table and chatted over tea and pastries.

"Master, we came to find you because of someone—Yue Qiluo!"

Wu Xin calmly took a sip of tea, then slowly uttered the name that left Chuchenzi trembling with fear.

"Pfft~"

Chuchenzi spat out his tea. After hurriedly wiping away some of the tea stains, he looked up in disbelief. "What~"

"Yue Qiluo!"

Wu Xin confirmed it again, already certain of his success.

"What do you mean? What Yue Qiluo? I don’t understand what you’re talking about~"

Chuchenzi’s gaze at Wu Xin changed, as if he were looking at a heap of trouble.

"Really~"

Wu Xin asked, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Of course~"

Chuchenzi answered firmly, but he simply did not dare meet Wu Xin’s eyes.

"Really~"

Gu Xuanwu questioned him from the side, while Li Yueya also looked at him in disbelief.

"Of course it’s true! I’m the dignified master of Qingyun Temple. What would I gain by lying to you?"

Chuchenzi naturally had no intention of accepting this trouble. He spread both hands, indicating that the matter had nothing to do with him.

"You don’t know, Master? What a pity. We were actually planning to give you a warning. Since you’re not interested, we’ll be leaving."

Wu Xin shrugged, looking extremely regretful.

"What do you mean?"

Chuchenzi panicked. He lowered the tea he had raised to his lips and questioned Wu Xin.

"Heh heh~~"

Wu Xin chuckled. "It’s nothing, really. It’s just that an evil being named Yue Qiluo, who was sealed in Wen County back then, has escaped and is causing trouble everywhere. Wen County is in complete chaos now. A group of evil beings even attacked the city a few days ago."

When Chuchenzi heard that Yue Qiluo had escaped, his grip on the teacup slipped. The entire cup of tea spilled onto the table. He did not even bother wiping it up before standing and demanding of Wu Xin, "Who are you?"

"Who I am isn’t important. What matters is, are you really saying that Yue Qiluo has nothing to do with Qingyun Temple?"

Wu Xin stood and met Chuchenzi’s gaze, delivering a soul-searching question from Wu Xin himself.

Chuchenzi turned his back to them, his brows tightly furrowed. After letting out a sigh, he said, "If I’m not mistaken, this Yue Qiluo should be a young girl, right?"

"That’s right! She looks about sixteen or seventeen!"

Wu Xin knew they had come to the right place and answered Chuchenzi’s question.

Chuchenzi recalled the past and sighed. "Actually, if you count it all up, she should be my grand-mentor."

"Grand-mentor!"

Li Yueya and Gu Xuanwu both stood up. They had never expected that Yue Qiluo, who looked like a mere young girl, would have such an origin.

Li Yueya approached Chuchenzi and asked, "How could a young girl be your grand-mentor?"

Chuchenzi turned around and sighed. "It’s a long story. My grand-mentor was originally an abandoned baby…" Chuchenzi recounted Yue Qiluo’s origins.

She was an abandoned baby who grew up in Qingyun Temple. After cultivating forbidden arts, she was expelled from Qingyun Temple and became its enemy. After being defeated several times, she ultimately chose to withdraw. However, by a twist of fate, Qingyun Temple discovered her whereabouts, and Chuchenzi’s grandmaster eventually sealed her away.

Wu Xin, the other two, and Chuchenzi sat down again. This time, Wu Xin had Chuchenzi’s weakness in hand. "Daoist Priest, Yue Qiluo is an elder of your Qingyun Temple! She’s causing havoc outside, so you can’t just ignore her!

Wu Xin had come specifically to find help. Now that he had such a good reason, of course he intended to drag Chuchenzi into the mess. In any case, he would never tell Chuchenzi that the main force hunting them down was not Yue Qiluo at all, but the completely unrelated Japanese.

"As the esteemed master of Qingyun Temple, you ought to shoulder this responsibility, descend the mountain, clean up the sect, eliminate Yue Qiluo and her followers, and restore peace to the people of Wen County."

Wu Xin kept heaping praise on Chuchenzi. After all, kind words cost nothing.

Chuchenzi was no fool. He had absolutely no intention of getting involved in this mess. "What sect am I supposed to clean up? She was expelled from the sect by my grandmaster over a hundred years ago. She has nothing to do with Qingyun Temple anymore!

"I’m telling you, you’re the ones who released her, not me. She’s not after me either. You want to drag me into this? No chance!"

"But she isn’t our grand-mentor. She’s yours!"

Wu Xin chuckled and gave Gu Xuanwu a meaningful look, signaling him to help trick Chuchenzi.

"Exactly~"

Gu Xuanwu answered with a grin. Patting his own cheek, he said, "Daoist Priest, if she goes out there causing trouble, it won’t be our reputation she damages. It’ll be the reputation of Qingyun Temple!"

"Utter nonsense!"

Chuchenzi remained unmoved. He raised the teapot and poured himself another cup, then lifted it to drink. Across from him, however, Wu Xin and Li Yueya both wore expressions of amusement.