Queen of Ten Thousand Demons Insists on Marrying Me - Chapter 26

Hearing the footsteps coming from behind, Dantai Jing swiftly grabbed Lu Xiaoxiao’s waist sash and flew up, landing securely on the head of a Deva King statue in the center of the main hall.

This main hall had three passages, and footsteps rushed through all three simultaneously. The sound echoed in the hall, occasionally accompanied by sharp, ear-piercing screams.

Not long after, a group of monks, whose faces consisted only of one large mouth, rushed in. They didn’t even have noses, so it was a mystery how they smelled the blood. As soon as they entered the hall, they made a clear path toward the newly shattered Buddha statue.

Looking down, a large crowd of monks frantically jostled to get to the broken pieces, dense and repulsive, like cockroaches finding rotting food.

Lu Xiaoxiao stood on top of the Deva King’s head, pointing and counting. It took two full counts to determine there were a total of one hundred and eight large-mouthed monks.

Dantai Jing’s original intention was also to find out exactly how many of these large-mouthed monks there were and whether they could be gathered in one place to be annihilated.

After a moment of thought, she dismissed the idea. The sheer quantity was too great, and the space was too small. If she exerted her full power, it could easily cause a collapse. Furthermore, these large-mouthed monks did little damage but were very resistant to strikes.

Lu Xiaoxiao looked at the chaotic numbers flashing before her eyes and felt that this ‘Golden Finger’ ability was useless. What good was knowing their attack power and defense if she still couldn’t beat them?

Seeing Lu Xiaoxiao winking at her, Dantai Jing knew she was asking what their next step should be. She gestured for Lu Xiaoxiao to take out the Chaoyuan Sword. The two cautiously stepped onto the sword and silently slipped away, flying in a chosen direction.

The passage slanted downwards, indicating that this tunnel led to a lower level.

A quarter of an hour later, the two stood before another grand hall.

Lu Xiaoxiao said: “Is this a Ghost Wall (a type of illusion where one circles the same spot)? Why is this place identical to the one we just left?”

Dantai Jing shook her head, made a mark, and chose another direction to proceed.

They passed through seven consecutive floors, and the Buddha statues on each floor were the same. The mark they had made earlier had never reappeared.

Just as the two were about to continue, wondering if this place had an end, they heard footsteps approaching from below. Unsure if it was the large-mouthed monks, they quickly hid behind a Buddha statue.

However, they heard the clinking of prayer beads and the gradually approaching voices of a man and a woman talking.

The male voice said impatiently: “We’ve been stuck in this place for seven years. Qin Yueshan, is the information you got accurate? If we don’t get the White Tiger inheritance, we might be trapped here forever and never get out.”

Qin Yueshan: “Soon, soon! It’s been so many years. We’ll find it eventually. When we get the White Tiger inheritance, we’ll go out, cultivate peacefully for a few years, and we’ll have everything we wish for.”

The man scoffed: “You only know how to trick me with empty talk. If we can’t get out, won’t we be stuck underground with those monks for the rest of our lives? The thought makes me sick.”

Qin Yueshan comforted him: “Now we’ve figured out how to control those strange monks. If we leave and bring this batch of monks with us, it will be enough to match the strength of a medium-sized Sect.”

The two were about to continue their rambling, but Dantai Jing had heard enough.

A flash of red light appeared, and the man was sent flying backward, slamming into the wall before collapsing onto the floor, motionless.

Dantai Jing’s eyes held no warmth. She asked directly: “Who are you people? Are you two responsible for the tricks happening beneath Wule Temple?”

The woman named Qin Yueshan remained calm, not even sparing a glance for her severely injured companion.

She cautiously took a few steps back before replying: “May I ask how Fellow Daoist entered this place? We two were trapped here and don’t understand what ‘tricks’ you are referring to. If Fellow Daoist knows how to leave this place, please let us know.”

Dantai Jing naturally didn’t believe a word she said. Without another word, she raised Gui Chen and lashed out at the woman. Qin Yueshan had just witnessed the power of Gui Chen. She hadn’t expected this person to be so ruthless—a response that didn’t please her instantly earned a death sentence. She immediately cried out: “Fellow Daoist, spare me! We two were also tricked into entering Wule Temple.”

Fearing that Dantai Jing’s whip would scatter the breathing woman’s soul, Lu Xiaoxiao quickly intervened: “Wait! She doesn’t look like a bad person. Since she’s been here longer, maybe she has a clue that can help us all get out.”

Dantai Jing’s expression was displeased, but she retracted Gui Chen and remained standing.

“Don’t be afraid, Miss. What is your name? My friend here is highly temperamental and has become anxious from being trapped here for too long. If you have any clues, please share them. After all, two heads are better than one,” Lu Xiaoxiao smoothly played the role of the good cop.

Qin Yueshan looked hesitant. Finally, after weighing the difference in power between the two sides, she spoke: “Seven years ago, we bid on a piece of information and a key in Qingzhou City. The message claimed that the descendant of the Four Divine Beasts, the White Tiger—Bai Wu—perished here. After we arrived, we realized that we weren’t the only ones who knew this information; many others also entered through Wule Temple.”

Lu Xiaoxiao asked: “Are there any others besides the two of you here?”

Qin Yueshan hesitated: “There used to be, but they’re all gone now.” Perhaps afraid that the two women would misunderstand that they were the killers, she quickly added: “It’s the monks here… no, not monks, but monsters. Those monsters only have one big mouth on their faces. They pounce and eat people whenever they hear a sound. There are many of them.”

Dantai Jing said blandly: “Nonsense. If that were true, how did the two of you survive? We encountered those large-mouthed monks earlier. With your combined cultivation, you might handle one, but you wouldn’t last a single stick of incense against five or more.”

Qin Yueshan’s face changed several times. Finally, she sighed, as if having made up her mind: “There is actually a way to deal with those monks. If I tell you, please take me with you when you leave. I beg you.”

Dantai Jing: “Cut the nonsense. You are in no position to bargain with me.”

Qin Yueshan was not angered by Dantai Jing’s treatment. Finally, she explained slowly. It turned out that the hall containing the Buddha statues had eight levels. The large-mouthed monks were usually active in the upper four levels and only descended to the lower levels on the fifteenth day of every month. The eighth level contained a flower called the Arhat Pistil. The flowers emit a rustling sound that the large-mouthed monks dislike.

Although Qin Yueshan didn’t understand what was special about the rustling sound, carrying the Arhat Pistil had allowed her to escape the sudden attacks of the large-mouthed monks every time.

After hearing this, Dantai Jing did not express her opinion but instructed Qin Yueshan to lead her to find the Arhat Pistil. When they passed the fallen man, they found that he had been too weak to withstand the blow and had already passed away.

The three entered the eighth floor. Amidst the eighteen Buddha statues, which resembled the ones above, the floor was indeed covered with clusters of purplish-red flowers, along with many broken stems where flowers had been picked.

Qin Yueshan said timidly: “Fellow Daoist, I didn’t lie to you. Look, these are the Arhat Pistils. Only when a flower stem is plucked does it make a sound.”

While the other two were completely focused on examining the Arhat Pistil, Qin Yueshan silently moved toward the wall behind them.

Dantai Jing, however, was not focused on the Arhat Pistil at all and had already been observing her every move.

Qin Yueshan suddenly retreated behind a Buddha statue and pushed hard. The statue slid forward, rushing toward the two, and in the place where the stone Buddha had stood, a man-sized hole immediately appeared.

Gui Chen‘s rainbow light swept out, striking the Buddha statue hard. Immediately, the ground was littered with more shattered stone pieces, but the corpses inside this statue were different from those above.

The corpses inside this Buddha statue all resembled the large-mouthed monks.

Looking closely, this wasn’t entirely true. These people’s clothes were not martial monk attire, and some of the corpses still had visible facial features. However, most of the corpses were missing features, either lacking a nose or having lost an eye.

Qin Yueshan didn’t believe that this single blow could harm the two of them. She knocked the stone Buddha out and leaped down, but her speed was no match for Dantai Jing’s Gui Chen. Despite Qin Yueshan’s meticulous planning, she did not manage to avoid Gui Chen‘s second strike.

Along with Qin Yueshan’s mournful scream, the stone cave closed due to the mechanism she had triggered. Whether she was dead or alive was unknown to anyone.

Lu Xiaoxiao’s face was also strained because she suddenly remembered that the moon was exceptionally large and round when they came up the mountain tonight.

“Is today the fifteenth or the sixteenth?”

Dantai Jing frowned at her, not answering. But from her expression, Lu Xiaoxiao knew that today was the accursed fifteenth. She could only hope that the part about the large-mouthed monks gathering on the eighth floor every fifteenth was another one of Qin Yueshan’s lies.

When you’re unlucky, you get choked even by cold water. Out of all the days in a month, it had to be the fifteenth.

The two looked at each other. Neither of them dared to touch the Arhat Pistil.

Qin Yueshan didn’t even bat an eye when her companion died. She feigned weakness to lead them to the eighth floor and then seize an opportunity to escape. Who could know if her story about the Arhat Pistil warding off the large-mouthed monks was true or false?

Familiar sounds of running and roaring were already coming from above. Lu Xiaoxiao quickly ran over to check the hole where Qin Yueshan had escaped, but the ground was tightly sealed and as smooth as a mirror.

Dantai Jing had also overturned all the Buddha statues on her side but found no other hole.

She looked at Lu Xiaoxiao and said: “Perhaps only that one statue had a mechanism that allowed things to come out by losing weight. Once inside, it can only be opened from within. However, Qin Yueshan is definitely dead after taking a whip from me. Even if she were alive, she wouldn’t open the mechanism for us.”

Lu Xiaoxiao held her forehead and asked: “Have you also always had rather bad luck?”

“It appears to be so.”

The Arhat Pistils beneath their feet suddenly bloomed. From the stamens, wisps of purplish-red mist sprayed out. The mist slowly filled the air, swirling and rising.

Lu Xiaoxiao covered her nose and said: “What kind of broken flower is this? It stinks!”

At this moment, hundreds of large-mouthed monks, baring their massive, ear-to-ear grins, streamed in. The first thing they did upon entering was not rush toward the two women, but rather fight over the Arhat Pistils on the ground, snatching them up to eat.

Even at a time like this, Lu Xiaoxiao joked: “These monks have a heavy palate.”

Dantai Jing retreated while replying: “They do. And they’ll be coming to eat you next.”

Imagining a group of large-mouthed monks tackling her to the ground and tearing at her, Lu Xiaoxiao suddenly couldn’t smile anymore.

What made Lu Xiaoxiao even more despairing came next.

Behind the two women, the eighteen-foot-tall Great Buddhas, whose eyes had been hollow before, began to slowly turn. Their lips gradually curled up, revealing an inexplicable, sinister smile.

Their stone bodies emitted a light scraping sound. Their movements were perfectly coordinated, and in an instant, they completely surrounded the two.