Under the Moving Mountain Sect

The big man yanked open the curtain of the carriage and couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise. Immediately, everyone gathered around.

Zhang San was secretly groaning in his heart.

Inside the carriage, a baby was sound asleep in its swaddling clothes. On the other side, Iron Foot's face was purplish and swollen, his hands and feet were black, his eyes were tightly shut, and there was a big lump on his left arm, about the size of an egg. He was already unconscious. It turned out that Iron Foot had been forcefully using his internal energy to suppress the corpse poison all along. When he reached the territory of Zhejiang, his mind relaxed a bit, and then after being startled, he could no longer control the corpse poison. It flared up suddenly when they arrived at Tiyun Valley in Yandang Mountain.

Zhang San gently pulled Li Si's hand and made a gesture to slip away. Just as he was about to turn and leave, the big man swept his sharp eyes like lightning over them and shouted, "Seize these two men and take them to the firewood shed in the backyard first, and then hand them over to the Grandmaster for handling."

Four burly men came over. Two of them grabbed Zhang San's arms, and the other two grabbed Li Si's arms, and they dragged them inside.

Zhang San and Li Si kept shouting that they were wronged.

The four burly men shouted in unison, "Behave yourselves!"

The big man in the lead called over a guard, picked up the baby himself, and then picked up Iron Foot. With big strides, he rushed into the valley. In Tiyun Valley, there were lush pine and cypress trees everywhere. Amid the greenery, the three gilded characters "Council Hall" could be seen.

The big man was Ye Chong, a disciple of Jin Laoda, the first disciple of the Moving Mountain Sect. He was alert, skilled in martial arts, and tactful in handling affairs. Therefore, all the second-generation disciples of the Moving Mountain Grandmaster regarded him as their leader. Ye Chong rushed into the Council Hall with Iron Foot in his arms and shouted loudly, "Master, Grandmaster, something terrible has happened! Seventh Martial Uncle has been ambushed!"

The furnishings in the Council Hall were simple. There were only seven antique rattan chairs placed on both sides of the hall. It was hard to tell what material the rattan chairs were made of, but the wood was smooth and shiny, obviously having a long history. Six of the chairs were empty, and only on a rattan chair near the north was sitting a man. That man was not tall, with a square head, big ears, and two slightly upturned whiskers.

On the armchair at the upper end was sitting a short and fat Taoist priest with white beard, white hair, and white eyebrows. The Taoist priest seemed to be about a hundred years old, with wrinkles all over his face. The old man with white eyebrows frowned slightly, and the man with a square head sitting on the rattan chair scolded, "Chong'er, don't you see that I'm talking to your Grandmaster? What's the matter that makes you so panicked?"

The man with a square head and big ears was Jin Shouyang, Ye Chong's master and the leader of the seven major disciples of the Moving Mountain Sect. The old man with white beard, white hair, and white eyebrows was Li Kaishan, who claimed to be the Moving Mountain Grandmaster.

Li Kaishan saw Iron Foot being carried horizontally by Ye Chong and was startled. He jumped down in one step and asked, "Chong'er, what's going on here?"

Jin Laoda was also startled and asked, "What happened to Old Seven?"

Ye Chong replied, "I don't know either. Just now, two coachmen sent Seventh Martial Uncle here, and he was already like this when they arrived."

Li Kaishan asked, "Where are the two coachmen?"

Ye Chong replied, "They've been taken to the firewood shed already, waiting for the Grandmaster to handle them."

Li Kaishan nodded and turned to examine Iron Foot's injuries. He didn't say a word for a long while, and his eyebrows slowly furrowed. After a while, he said to Jin Laoda, "Go and bring that bottle of Tianyi Antidote Pills, a silver needle, a small silver knife, and a copper plate."

Jin Laoda responded with an "Okay" and turned around to go out.

Ye Chong asked, "Grandmaster, is Seventh Martial Uncle's injury serious? Will there be any danger?"

Li Kaishan sighed and said, "There's no danger to his life, but it's hard to say whether he'll wake up or not."

Ye Chong asked, "What kind of poison is so powerful?"

Li Kaishan replied, "Seventh Martial Uncle has been poisoned by the strange poison of the Corpse-Eating Turtle."

Ye Chong frowned and said, "Corpse-Eating Turtle? I've never heard my master mention it before."

Li Kaishan said slowly, "The Corpse-Eating Turtle is said to be one of the ten spiritual creatures in Maoshan Arts . Even your master doesn't know about it. Our sect once obtained a strange book called Maoshan Divine Arts, which recorded various cultivation methods of Maoshan Arts. Unfortunately, two pages were torn off at the back. Judging from what was described in the front of the book, the two missing pages were exactly the Ghost-Controlling and Soul-Manipulating Sutra that recorded how to refine these ten spiritual creatures. Although the Ghost-Controlling and Soul-Manipulating Sutra was only two pages long, it contained the closely-guarded secrets of the Maoshan Sect. It is said that besides how to refine these ten spiritual creatures, it also had the Soul-Shifting Great Method for manipulating ghosts."

Ye Chong was listening with great interest. While they were talking, Jin Laoda had already walked in carrying a copper plate.

On the copper plate were a bottle of medicine, a silver needle, and a small silver knife made of silver.

Li Kaishan stopped talking, took the bottle of medicine, tore open the seal, and poured out two dark yellow pills.

Ye Chong could still feel a strong smell of medicine hitting his face even though he was standing about ten feet away.

Li Kaishan pried open Iron Foot's mouth and gently poured the two pills into it. Iron Foot gulped and swallowed them.

Li Kaishan then picked up the silver knife and gently made a cross-shaped cut on the big lump on Iron Foot's left arm, which was about the size of an egg.

Suddenly, something seemed to be slowly wriggling upward inside the lump on Iron Foot's left arm. Li Kaishan took the silver needle and gently poked it inside the lump, and a thing that looked like a bright green ladybug flew out.

With a soft "pop", it landed on the ground.

The bright green ladybug was about the size of an egg. It landed on the ground and didn't move. Ye Chong walked over and was about to reach out to catch it.

Li Kaishan shouted, "Chong'er, don't touch it!" With a light flick of his fingertip, a faint puff of smoke surrounded Ye Chong to protect him.

Before Ye Chong could react, the bright green ladybug suddenly spread its wings and flew up. It circled once in front of him, seemed to be very afraid of the smoke, then turned around and flew away. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared without a trace.

Jin Laoda whispered, "Master, was that just now the Corpse-Eating Turtle?"

Li Kaishan nodded and said, "The Corpse-Eating Turtle has a strange poison and is also aggressive. Once it encounters the blood of a living person, it will immediately attach itself to the person, live in the body of a living person, feed on the flesh and blood of the living person, and will not stop until the person it lives in is completely dead. Only then will it leave."

Ye Chong broke out in a cold sweat. He had just been on the verge of death without even realizing it. If it weren't for the sulfur powder of the Grandmaster, he would have followed in the footsteps of Seventh Martial Uncle.

Li Kaishan looked at Iron Foot and sighed, "Shouyang, carry Old Seven to the quiet room at the back and let him recuperate slowly."

Jin Laoda said, "Yes." He picked up Iron Foot with both hands and walked out of the Council Hall.

Ye Chong asked with concern, "Grandmaster, is Seventh Martial Uncle's injury okay?"

Li Kaishan frowned and said, "Old Seven's injury is not a problem, but I'm afraid he won't wake up again. By the way, where are those two coachmen?"

Ye Chong walked out and soon brought Zhang San and Li Si over.

Zhang San and Li Si saw the Moving Mountain Grandmaster and immediately knelt down, kowtowing several times and begging for mercy continuously.

Li Kaishan waved his hand and said, "You two, tell me slowly. What exactly happened?"

Zhang San was glib-tongued and told the whole story from hiring the carriage in Liaocheng to evading the enemies in Jinhua. Zhang San said, "Then we just kept sending this gentleman and the baby here. As for why this gentleman was poisoned, we brothers really don't know."

Li Kaishan was surprised and asked, "There was a baby too?"

Zhang San replied, "Yes. We always thought the baby was this gentleman's. Otherwise, if they were not related, this gentleman wouldn't have asked us to take good care of the baby so much."

Li Kaishan pondered for a while and then said, "Chong'er, according to the agreement, give these two men a banknote worth 1,300 taels of silver and then send them on their way."

Zhang San and Li Si looked at each other, overjoyed. Not only could they get out alive, but they could also make some money. They were really grateful. They knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times to Li Kaishan again.

Li Kaishan waved his hand and said, "Go."

Zhang San and Li Si took the banknote and left, thanking Li Kaishan profusely.

Li Kaishan told Ye Chong, "Go and find your master. Let's go and have a look at that baby together."