novelraw Chapter 85: A Smile to End All Grudges
Chapter 85: A Smile to End All Grudges
Yellow Peril's mind went blank.
The one standing beside it was clearly the Great King Yellow Skin. How had it become Chen Huangpi?
One was an annoying little brat.
The other was the Great King Yellow Skin — devourer of evil spirits.
How could they possibly be the same person?
"Lord Yellow Peril, you don't understand."
Song Jiu rushed to explain. "That Chen Huangpi was already on his way to the God-Burying Mound anyway. And he calls himself Great King Yellow Skin. How many coincidences can there be? If it's not him, then who?"
At those words—
Yellow Peril's gaze turned dangerous.
After all, it had first met the Great King Yellow Skin at the marketplace in the mountain cave.It had not only offered the Great King a seat of honor to watch the show—
But shared blood-food and even given it a grain of yellow earth that could guide the way to the God-Burying Mound.
If the Great King Yellow Skin was Chen Huangpi—
Didn't that mean it had been played for a fool by the boy from the very beginning?
Even so—
Yellow Peril despised Chen Huangpi, but it also knew that Song Jiu's words were one-sided. Believable, perhaps, but not entirely trustworthy.
Besides, the Great King Yellow Skin hadn't said a word yet.
What if there was a misunderstanding? It would shatter the relationship Yellow Peril had worked so hard to cultivate.
"Great King Yellow Skin, do you have anything to say?"
Yellow Peril's voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
The other evil spirits, however, erupted into commotion.
"Great King Yellow Skin — are you really human?"
"Nonsense! What human eats evil spirits?!"
"I don't eat evil spirits either. Does that make me human?"
"Then I'm human too!"
"Wonderful — so you're ALL human!"
In an instant, the atmosphere turned bizarrely tense.
The biggest issue was that the evil spirits were now eyeing each other with suspicion and hostility.
Yellow Peril was livid.
It knew these evil spirits weren't the sharpest, but it hadn't expected them to be this dim — the conversation was supposed to be about Chen Huangpi, yet somehow they'd spiraled into accusing each other and nearly starting a brawl.
"Everyone, shut up!"
"Lord Yellow doesn't eat evil spirits either! He must be human too!"
Some oblivious evil spirit had blurted it out without thinking.
Every agitated evil spirit immediately turned to stare at Yellow Peril.
Yellow Peril erupted with fury. "You idiots! You brainless fools! I am Yellow Peril — I feed on gods! How could I possibly be human?!"
"See — it admitted it doesn't eat humans! It's definitely human!"
"Lord Yellow is human!!"
"Has to be!"
The evil spirits filling this passageway weren't one or two in number.
There were hundreds of them.
That many evil spirits couldn't actually kill Yellow Peril.
But they could give it an unbearable headache.
And just then—
Chen Huangpi cleared his throat, spread his hands, and addressed the crowd. "Everyone, quiet down. Let me say a few words."
"Great King Yellow Skin, go ahead!"
"You eat evil spirits — we're all scared of you!"
"Just don't eat me and we're fine!"
The evil spirits settled down at once.
To Yellow Peril, this sight was infuriating beyond words.
The Great King Yellow Skin was stronger than before, sure, but nowhere close to rivaling it.
Yellow Peril had even been the one to spread his fearsome reputation!
Yet somehow, he'd become the one the evil spirits rallied around.
'Chen Huangpi, can you really spin your way out of this?'
'I'll try. If it doesn't work, we fight immediately.'
Chen Huangpi calmed the anxious Brass Oil Lamp and turned to face the expectant crowd of evil spirits. "First — whether we eat humans or not, we are all evil spirits!"
"Great King Yellow Skin is absolutely right! We're all evil spirits!"
"Second — my surname is Huang, and his is Chen. I'm an evil spirit; he's a human. How could I possibly be him?!"
"Great King Yellow Skin is right!"
"I believe him!"
"Me too!"
Seeing the evil spirits rally behind him, Chen Huangpi turned to Song Jiu. "You — a coward so desperate to live that you'd become a traitor to your own kind, offering to let evil spirits slaughter fellow humans. Even we evil spirits wouldn't stoop that low. A wretch like you deserves to die!"
"He's right — kill him!"
The evil spirits despised Song Jiu to their marrow.
Humans truly were despicable — just a few words and they'd nearly turned the evil spirits against the Great King Yellow Skin.
If they didn't kill him, it wouldn't be enough to quench their fury!
Song Jiu raged, "Chen Huangpi! I don't know what trick you used to disguise yourself as an evil spirit, but a human is a human! Lord Yellow Peril — I have a method that can reveal his true form! If you believe me, let me try — one look and you'll know!"
True forms were peculiar things.
One could alter body and gender a thousand ways, but a true form was immutable.
It was what it was.
Chen Huangpi, however, was different.
His true form seemed to be constantly changing.
Previously, when an evil spirit capable of reflecting true forms had revealed his — it had shown a stillborn fetus. A stillborn that was growing. Its caul was crawling with golden-black characters shaped like tadpoles, slowly forming into script that resembled flowers, birds, fish, and insects.
No matter how you looked at it, his true form was more monstrous than any evil spirit's.
"Fine. Go ahead and show it."
Chen Huangpi stood before the assembled evil spirits without a shred of fear.
Song Jiu's heart surged with excitement. He immediately began to channel the technique that would reveal the true form.
But just then—
The Mutant Divine Statue's towering body suddenly moved, stepping directly in front of Chen Huangpi.
The move was utterly unexpected.
Every evil spirit present — Chen Huangpi included — froze.
Even Mang Shan Jun spoke up, its voice cold. "Great Calamitous Evil God, what is the meaning of this?"
The maw on the Mutant Divine Statue's chest yawned open, and the Big-Head Evil Spirit crawled out. "The Great Calamitous Evil God says it has known the Great King Yellow Skin for a long time. He is absolutely not some 'Chen Huangpi,' and there is no need to reveal any true form."
Mang Shan Jun nodded and said nothing more.
Song Jiu looked as though his soul had left his body. His face went sheet-white. "How — how is this possible?"
No matter how he looked at it, the Great King Yellow Skin had to be Chen Huangpi.
Why had the Mutant Divine Statue suddenly vouched for him? Was it truly just a coincidence?
But the names were almost identical!
That was too much of a coincidence!
"Enough. This matter ends here."
Yellow Peril gave the Mutant Divine Statue a long, searching look, then turned to Chen Huangpi with an apology. "Great King Yellow Skin, I was careless. Don't let this come between us — otherwise, we'll have fallen right into this human's trap."
Chen Huangpi waved dismissively. "You and I are kin, Lord Yellow. How could I hold a grudge?"
As the words fell, both of them broke into laughter.
A smile to end all grudges — nothing more, nothing less.
But Yellow Peril did not feed Song Jiu to the tomb guardian beast. Instead, it casually snatched the nearest evil spirit and flung it over.
The tomb guardian beast opened its jaws wide and swallowed it whole.
"I'm full! You may proceed!"
With that, the beast's enormous head withdrew into the darkness.
The Disasters exchanged strange looks at Yellow Peril's behavior.
Yellow Peril said lightly, "That evil spirit was disrespectful to me. Consider it a lesson."
This non-explanation of an explanation immediately cooled the Disasters' interest.
They were here for one reason: to find their fortune and evolve into Calamities.
As for why Yellow Peril had spared Song Jiu — they didn't care.
And so the Disasters followed behind Mang Shan Jun, filing one by one into the darkness.
Chen Huangpi went with them, slipping in at once.
After every evil spirit had passed through, Yellow Peril's fury finally erupted.
"Great Calamitous Evil God! Why did you protect that Chen Huangpi?!"
There was no "smile to end all grudges."
Yellow Peril knew with absolute certainty that Chen Huangpi had recognized it had seen through his identity.
Both sides had simply chosen, by tacit agreement, to drop the subject.
Chen Huangpi clearly didn't want to be exposed in front of so many evil spirits.
And Yellow Peril's restraint was because of the Mutant Divine Statue.
"You were a god enshrined in that temple, and I and the fox spirit were both created by one of its Daoists."
Yellow Peril's voice seethed with rage. "And last time, at the marketplace — he was disguised as an evil spirit then too, and you already knew he was Chen Huangpi, didn't you?!"
Even a Nascent Soul cultivator could only live eight hundred years.
That Chen Huangpi was barely more than a small child.
Yet this Mutant Divine Statue was an Upper God.
A deity enshrined in the Pure Immortal Temple, existing since before the Heaven and Earth Mutation, having weathered untold ages.
A short-lived species and an undying god.
How could they possibly be old acquaintances?
But no matter how Yellow Peril pressed, the Mutant Divine Statue remained stonily silent. It didn't even deign to look at Yellow Peril.
Indifference — the deepest form of contempt.
Yellow Peril's fury boiled to its peak.
But just as it was about to explode—
The Mutant Divine Statue took a single step and vanished into the darkness.
As though its only purpose in lingering had been to waste Yellow Peril's time.
...
Inside the God-Burying Mound.
After stepping through the darkness, Chen Huangpi felt the world spin around him.
As though he had arrived in an entirely different world.
Countless shards of light appeared before his eyes.
They wove together, and at last formed a membrane of grey.
He passed through it.
The scene before him shifted abruptly.
A grey sky. Black earth.
Moss-covered stone slabs formed a path.
In every direction, dead grass and withered trees.
A spectral wind sent leaves skittering across the ground.
Chen Huangpi rubbed one between his fingers — it crumbled instantly to powder.
He walked to a dead tree and blew on it.
It too dissolved into dust.
The Brass Oil Lamp spoke up. "It seems this God-Burying Mound really was modeled after the Old Temple's layout. The form is there, but none of the sinister essence."
Chen Huangpi nodded. "The other evil spirits aren't here. That corridor must connect to many different areas within the mound."
The evil spirits had not been teleported here with him.
This place held only him, the Brass Oil Lamp, and the Life-reaping Ghost.
"What a shame."
Chen Huangpi shook his head. "If only Yellow Peril were here. But it seems the Mutant Divine Statue held it back."
He knew Yellow Peril had definitely seen through his identity.
If he didn't kill it, he wouldn't rest easy.
"Contractor, that Mutant Divine Statue wanted to kill you before. Why did it suddenly vouch for you?"
The Life-reaping Ghost had been ready to fight to the death moments ago.
No one had predicted the sudden reversal — it had exceeded all understanding.
The Brass Oil Lamp scoffed. "It wanted to kill him before. Doesn't mean it wants to now."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you already forgotten what happened last time when Chen Huangpi drained its black smoke?"
"You're saying it regained its sanity?"
The Life-reaping Ghost frowned. "But that was ages ago. It reverted to its former savagery long since. By all logic, it shouldn't..."
"It's the true form!"
Chen Huangpi suddenly interjected. "Last time, when that evil spirit tried to mirror my true form, both of us attacked and killed it simultaneously. The statue didn't want my true form revealed."
Hearing this—
The Life-reaping Ghost finally understood.
Chen Huangpi's true form was indeed bizarre.
And the Mutant Divine Statue had been cast out of the Pure Immortal Temple. Perhaps it knew his true form harbored some great secret, and so it stepped in to help.
Just then—
The Brass Oil Lamp suddenly spoke up. "Wait — something's coming!"