Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 6: Twelfth Madam

The earth shook and the mountains swayed, and a hundred beasts fled.

As far as the eye could see, it was a scene of apocalypse. Towering trees fell without warning, cracks riddled the ground everywhere, and large swathes of yellow mud spewed out from them.

With the brass oil lamp on his head, wind rose under Chen Huangpi's feet. He stepped on a fallen tree and leaped dozens of meters in a single bound.

Even so, he was nearly tainted by the mud several times.

While fleeing, Chen Huangpi saw many beasts also running for their lives, but in the complete opposite direction.

"Huang Er, is there really a safe place ahead?"

"Of course there is."

"Then why are all these beasts running behind us?"

"Because there are people ahead, a lot of people."

Hearing this, Chen Huangpi was stunned.In his entire life, besides his master, he had only seen those few cultivators like Elder Lin.

Now that he was about to see other living people, he felt a strange nervousness in his heart.

He had never killed anyone before. What if he left a survivor?

Pah...

Why would he kill anyone?

It was all Huang Er's fault, it had corrupted him!

The brass oil lamp didn't know Chen Huangpi was slandering it in his heart. It widened its eyes, which looked like two beams of golden light, and gazed into the distance.

"This is bad! Chen Huangpi!!!"

"What's wrong?"

"These people have the protection of a deity. I saw the statue. It's a fox, and it stinks."

"Is there a problem?"

Chen Huangpi was very confused.

In the past, there were many deities worshipped in the temple, and they were all very kind. Sometimes when he stole a few offerings, the deities wouldn't scold him and would even ask if he had eaten his fill.

Even that mutated deity, which was very fierce and evil, was only like that because it had been corrupted.

"Deities are all good people!"

"Good my ass! When a deity sees me, it's like a dog seeing shit, or the Temple Master seeing you. Anyway, I'm playing dead. You be careful."

With that, the brass oil lamp used its hands and feet to climb down from Chen Huangpi's head and find a good spot to hang on his waist.

Finally, it even reached out a hand, scooped up some mud from the ground, and smeared it on its body.

Chen Huangpi held his nose and thought with disgust.

"Huang Er, you're smearing dog poop."

"I know. Be careful, those people are coming."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Huangpi indeed saw a group of people appear ahead.

These people were dressed in linen clothes. Some were injured, some held weapons. The strong young men protected the old, weak, women, and children in the middle, carrying a human-sized fox-like statue.

At the very front of the group stood a hunched shamaness holding a staff.

When Chen Huangpi saw this group of people, they also saw him.

"Granny Tang, there's a child over there."

A bare-chested man with a bloody gash on his chest said, "Could he be a remnant from a nearby village? Separated from the others?"

"He's a cultivator."

Granny Tang squinted, carefully sizing up Chen Huangpi.

He was a cultivator with cultivation.

But it seemed he had some treasure on him, as she couldn't see through his specific realm.

Could it be that outside cultivators had entered again?

Thinking of this, Granny Tang did not let down her guard.

There were too many evil entities in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. She had seen ones that looked exactly like ordinary people before.

"Mountain God, is this person that evil entity?"

Granny Tang's heart moved, and she looked at the mountain god statue being carried by the crowd.

However, to her astonishment, the statue, which had been fine just a moment ago, had somehow closed its eyes.

"The mountain god has closed its eyes!"

"Granny Tang, what's going on?"

"Has the mountain god abandoned us?"

Seeing this, the group of remnants immediately panicked.

Granny Tang frowned, continuously communicating with the statue in her mind. However, deities were always mysterious and unpredictable, and they wouldn't respond just because she wanted them to.

And just at that moment, Chen Huangpi's voice sounded, "He's probably just hungry."

"When I'm hungry, I close my eyes and sleep to endure it. It's the same for deities. Do you have any offerings?"

As soon as he said this, everyone was stunned.

The bare-chested man, hearing Chen Huangpi's absurd words, immediately said rudely, "Kid, what nonsense are you talking about? Deities live on qi. Do you think they're some cat or dog that will go hungry without offerings?"

Chen Huangpi said in surprise, "Don't deities eat offerings?"

"Nonsense! Of course not!"

The man waved his hand to drive Chen Huangpi away.

"Get lost. You're being disrespectful to the mountain god. We don't welcome you."

At first, Granny Tang thought this kid might be a cultivator from outside the mountains.

Now she was a little shaken.

How could an outside cultivator not even know this common sense?

And just at that moment.

"Wait."

Granny Tang suddenly looked behind Chen Huangpi.

"Child, are these people with you?"

"Huh?"

Chen Huangpi was stunned for a moment and turned to look behind him.

He saw that at some point, more than ten cultivators on fast horses had already ambled over.

The horses these cultivators rode had mouths full of sharp teeth and were covered in scales.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived in front of everyone.

"Remnants?"

One of them rode his horse forward, looking down on the crowd, his gaze finally resting on Granny Tang.

"Indeed."

Granny Tang looked at the group warily and stepped forward. "The earth dragon is turning over. What business brings you gentlemen into the mountains at this time?"

The man did not answer, only saying lightly, "It's about to get dark, but you only have one deity statue for protection. I'm afraid that's not enough."

Among cultivators, it was taboo to get to the bottom of things.

Granny Tang had also left the Hundred Thousand Mountains in her youth and had dealt with outside cultivators.

She knew how dangerous these cultivators were.

So she said, "You need not worry about that, sir. Even ants have a way to survive. We remnants naturally have our own ways to live. It's getting late, we won't block your path."

"Everyone, clear the way."

At Granny Tang's command, the large group immediately parted, creating a path.

Seeing this, the cultivator couldn't help but look at a veiled woman behind him.

"Twelfth Madam?"

The woman called Twelfth Madam said impatiently, "The earth dragon turns over once in a hundred years. Each time, the evil entities become even more terrifying. This madam has three deity statues, plus yours, which is enough to get through the night safely."

"This..."

"Granny Tang..."

Hearing this, the remnants were tempted.

Granny Tang was too. When they fled their original town, they had only brought one deity statue. The other was swallowed by the yellow mud that spewed from the cracked earth.

If they added the three deity statues of this group, it would indeed be enough to get through the night safely.

By dawn, the earth dragon's turning might be over.

And earlier, besides warning of an evil entity ahead, the mountain god had also conveyed that there was a path to survival ahead, telling them to move forward.

Could it be that the path to survival lay with these people?

And just at that moment, a hurried voice sounded in Granny Tang's mind.

"Quick, quick, agree to their offer."

It was the mountain god's voice.

Granny Tang breathed a sigh of relief in her heart and immediately said, "In that case, we will trouble you all tonight."

Twelfth Madam did not speak. She rode her horse to a clean spot and stopped, then took out a small house-shaped object from her pocket. With just a toss on the ground, a wooden house suddenly rose from the earth.

As for the other cultivators, they all dismounted and sat cross-legged around the house.

Chen Huangpi was somewhat dumbfounded.

He had never seen such a method.

He also felt that Twelfth Madam had a grand air about her.

Chen Huangpi, who was still eight years old yesterday, was greatly shocked.

At this time, Granny Tang noticed Chen Huangpi and frowned. "Child, you're not with them?"

"No, I'm not."

Chen Huangpi said, "Granny, can I stay with you for one night? I'm small, I won't take up much space."

Granny Tang hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "I can't see through you. I don't want to keep you, but I asked the mountain god, and the mountain god won't respond. I don't know if I should let you stay."

The mountain god had given two warnings, one of a path to survival, and one of an evil entity.

The path to survival had now been fulfilled by this group of people, because they had three deity statues.

But there was still an evil entity...

"He is not."

A voice suddenly sounded in Granny Tang's mind.

It was the mountain god's voice.

Granny Tang was stunned. If this kid wasn't an evil entity, then where was the terrifying evil entity the mountain god had warned about earlier?

And why had the mountain god closed its eyes?

"Forget it, you can stay. But you must leave at dawn."

"No matter what happens at night, pretend you didn't see it, and don't run around."

After speaking, Granny Tang turned to leave, but then paused and suddenly said, "Also, you look to be the same age as my granddaughter, but you're not sensible at all. Your words are nonsensical. That's not good, you'll offend people."

"Then I'll try not to talk!"

Chen Huangpi nodded obediently.

At this moment, night was falling.

The last ray of the setting sun disappeared from above Chen Huangpi's head.

A strange, bone-chilling cold suddenly enveloped everyone's hearts.

In the darkness, it was as if something was whispering.

And just at that moment, three strange sounds suddenly came from the wooden house where Twelfth Madam was staying.

The sounds were grand, yet they seemed to be some kind of syllable.

Three halos of light emerged from within.

The fox deity statue worshipped by Granny Tang and the other remnants also shot out a halo of light.

The four halos of light shot into the sky, covering everyone within.

The sounds in the darkness and the terrifying strangeness were instantly blocked out.

Seeing this, Chen Huangpi felt a sense of relief.

So the difference between deities and deities was greater than that between humans and dogs.

The deities outside really would protect people.

But the deities in the temple only ate for free. No wonder his master had driven them all out.

Suddenly, someone looked up at the sky, their voice filled with terror.

"Look, the red moon, the red moon is gone..."

"How could the red moon disappear?"

"This has never happened before..."

"Calm down!"

It was Granny Tang's voice. She struck the ground with her staff, her sharp eyes looking at the remnants.

"With the protection of four deities, we will act as if nothing has happened tonight."

At this point, Granny Tang's single eye glanced at Chen Huangpi, who was sitting motionlessly on the ground not far away.

"This kid is really carefree, a simpleton."

Chen Huangpi didn't know Granny Tang thought he was a simpleton. He just muttered in a low voice, "The red moon always disappears when the earth dragon turns over. Why do these people seem like it's their first time encountering this?"

The earth dragon turned over frequently in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Chen Huangpi had encountered it many times.

He was indeed very experienced. He simply closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"I'm spending the night outside. I wonder if master will miss me."

"I hope master doesn't miss me too much. It's so dark. What if he comes out to look for me and accidentally falls?"

Chen Huangpi muttered and fell into a drowsy sleep.

The night was as still as water.

The surroundings were unnaturally quiet.

After an unknown amount of time, a voice suddenly sounded in Chen Huangpi's mind.

"Chen Huangpi, wake up."

"Huang Er?"

"Don't talk, don't open your eyes. Something is staring at you."

However, Chen Huangpi had already opened his eyes.

He saw a muddy figure, a little shorter than himself, standing just outside the protection range of the four deities, waving at him.

"Hello, big brother."

(End of Chapter)