Chapter 142 - 115: Mei Lin’s Medicine, a Scholar’s Backbone

Chapter 142: Chapter 115: Mei Lin’s Medicine, a Scholar’s Backbone

Her voice had barely faded when a bizarre scene unfolded.

Jingxin Daoist Nun’s body, like a punctured ball, began to shrivel at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Her once relatively firm face was instantly covered in a crisscrossing web of wrinkles. Her skin became like the bark of a withered old tree, and her hair turned from black to gray, then from gray to white, before falling out in sparse clumps.

In the blink of an eye, the woman of about forty had transformed into a decrepit old crone, withered with age and on the verge of death.

The venomous light in her eyes faded. She collapsed limply to the ground, her head lolled to the side, and she breathed her last.

Jingxin was dead.

A dead silence fell over the main hall, leaving only the sound of the howling blizzard outside.

Mr. Lu looked at the rapidly decaying corpse on the ground and felt a wave of nausea. He spat and said angrily, "This vile creature has harmed countless people. Death is too good for it!"

Chen Ye was silent.

Jingxin’s final words had cast a shadow over his heart.

’Was there some greater power behind her and Jingxuan?’

’And what did she mean by "waiting for you to die"?’

But he quickly suppressed these thoughts.

There were no clues for now, and overthinking it would be pointless.

The most pressing task was to cut the weeds and pull out the roots.

Chen Ye ducked into the cave and found it surprisingly spacious inside. The ground was strewn with bodies—the other Daoist Nuns and Daoist Children of Jingyun Temple. They had all died in the same way, their life force and blood completely withered.

Evidently, they had also made some unspeakable deal with the so-called Lord of the Mountain.

In the center of the cave stood a stone platform, upon which was enshrined a single branch of red plum blossoms. The cloyingly sweet fragrance emanated from this very branch.

Chen Ye also found a small booklet. He opened it to find many names recorded inside.

"Wan’Er of the Zhao Family. Third day of the twelfth month, Gengzi year."

"Third Miss of Li’s Silk Shop. Nineteenth day of the second month, Xinchou year."

"Daughter of Butcher Wang from the south of the city. Seventh day of the fifth month, Renyin year."

...

Behind every name was a precise date.

A quick glance revealed dozens of victims in just a few short years!

It turned out this Plum Demon was utterly lecherous. It loved to seek out beautiful young women among the female worshippers who came to offer incense. Once it chose a target, it would have Jingxin find a way to make her stay the night. The demon would then enter her dreams to forcibly take her as its bride and copulate with her.

Seeing this, Mr. Lu was terrified in hindsight.

If it hadn’t been for Chen Ye, his own daughter, Lu Jinghong, would have likely met a terrible fate.

Qi Shihao was burning with rage. He kicked the offering platform to the ground, then suggested, "Boss Chen, what’s the use of leaving this filthy place standing? We have to destroy it completely."

Chen Ye nodded, and the group got to work.

But things were far from as simple as they imagined.

The blizzard had just subsided, but the ground was frozen solid as an iron plate. A pickaxe striking it only left a small white mark.

The group then tried using fire, but the snow was deep and the grove was damp. A torch thrown in would only hiss, give off a puff of white smoke, and then go out.

For a moment, they were at a complete loss.

"Boss Chen, what should we do?" Mr. Lu paced around anxiously.

Chen Ye, looking thoughtful, suddenly turned and went back into the main hall, slipping through the cave opening.

Not understanding his intentions, the others followed.

Chen Ye observed his surroundings carefully and, just as he’d expected, found a tangled mass of roots underground, stretching deep into the earth.

"Dig here."

The servants and grooms that Mr. Lu and Qi Shihao had brought along immediately set to work.

The digging was much easier here than outside. After a short while, they uncovered a dense mass of rhizomes, twisted together layer upon layer.

When they chopped through them with an axe, a thick, dark red liquid, like blood, oozed from the cuts.

In this way, they followed the root system, digging deeper inch by inch.

The earth was continuously dug away, and a huge underground space was gradually revealed.

Here, the roots were even more densely packed, almost forming a solid wall.

Finally, one of the servants’ pickaxes seemed to strike something hard.

"I’ve hit something!"

Their spirits lifted, and they quickened their pace, clearing away the surrounding soil and tangled roots.

Soon, an astonishing scene appeared before them all.

In the center of the countless tangled roots, lay the corpse of a man!

It was impossible to tell how many years the corpse had been buried here, yet it was disturbingly lifelike, showing no signs of decay.

He was dressed in a scholar’s long robe, washed so many times it had faded to white, but his features were extremely ugly.

Countless plum tree roots of varying thickness, like grotesque blood vessels, were deeply embedded in his body. They burrowed in and out of his orifices, his chest, and all over his limbs, forming a bizarre and terrifying symbiotic relationship.

He was both the nutrient for this Mei Lin and its master.

It turned out that this so-called Lord of the Mountain was not some plum blossom that had gained sentience.

He was a scholar from long ago who, tormented by love, had hanged himself in this Mei Lin.

His resentful spirit and unwillingness to die had miraculously merged with this Mei Lin, transforming him into a monster that was neither demon nor ghost.

Chen Ye stared at the grotesque corpse, his eyes cold as ice.

"Qi, could I trouble you to make a trip to the city and get some explosives?"

The snow had stopped and the sky had cleared. Although the roads were still treacherous and slick, they were at least passable now.

Qi Shihao was taken aback for a moment, then nodded heavily. "Alright!"

’A harmful thing like this should be blown to smithereens, so it can never be reincarnated!’

So, Qi Shihao turned and left without hesitation.

「Half a day later.」

Qi Shihao returned, accompanied by several government officials carrying boxes of explosives.

Explosives in this era had seen significant advancements, and their power far surpassed that of simple black powder.

Chen Ye personally directed the effort, having them bury the explosives in batches throughout the Mei Lin. He had them place the largest concentration of explosives around the scholar’s corpse, then unspooled the fuse to a safe distance.

Just as he had everything set up and was about to light the fuse, something strange happened.

The entire Mei Lin suddenly began to stir, though there was no wind. Beneath the ground, countless roots churned madly, pushing up mounds of earth in what seemed like a final, desperate struggle.

The plum blossoms on every tree began to rustle down. Red and white petals danced through the air, as if weeping and lamenting, creating an atmosphere of poignant beauty and sorrow.

It was as if the fiend was crying, begging for mercy.

Mr. Lu and the others watched, their hearts pounding with fear, and unconsciously took a few steps back.

Only Chen Ye’s gaze remained completely unwavering.

’When it forcibly took those innocent women in their dreams, turning them into its playthings, did it ever once think of their despair and tears?’

’A monster that bewitches people and destroys lives like this must not be allowed to exist!’

He hesitated no longer and brought the torch in his hand to the fuse.

FZZZ— The fuse ignited, and the spark raced toward the depths of the cave.

"Go!"

Chen Ye shouted in a low voice, and everyone immediately scrambled out.

Just as they reached a safe distance, a world-shaking explosion erupted behind them!

RUMBLE!

The ground trembled violently. A terrifying shockwave erupted from the cave mouth, blowing the roof right off the main hall.

Everyone’s ears rang, and they were deafened.

In their daze, they seemed to hear an inhuman, blood-curdling shriek filled with endless agony and venomous hatred, echoing throughout all of West Mountain.

This was followed by a continuous chain of explosions.

The ancient Mei Lin, spanning more than ten acres, was utterly annihilated, blown sky-high by the explosives detonated from deep underground.

Countless splintered tree trunks and mangled bits of flesh were blown to smithereens, and thick black smoke billowed into the air, obscuring the newly cleared sky.

After a long time, the dust finally settled.

The once breathtakingly beautiful Mei Lin on West Mountain was now a massive, charred crater, from which wisps of smoke still rose.

The calamitous Lord of the Mountain was, of course, utterly destroyed, body and soul.

Qi Shihao and Mr. Lu were left dumbfounded by the immense power of the explosion.

They had always thought that subduing demons and catching ghosts was a job for ethereal-looking Daoists and compassionate Monks, using all sorts of miraculous methods. They never imagined it could be done so violently.

’So much for the "Lord of the Mountain." In the face of explosives, it was nothing but barbecue.’

While Mr. Lu was still processing it, Qi Shihao was suddenly energized, as if he had discovered a grand new path for vanquishing demons and fiends.

’Demons and Ghosts? Just blast them first and ask questions later. If that doesn’t work, blast them again.’

And just as an "Explosive Mage" made his spectacular debut, Chen Ye watched on quietly. There was little joy on his face, because Jingxin’s dying words still lingered in his ears.

’Don’t get cocky. You won’t be smiling for long.’

’So... when the fuck was I ever cocky?’