Chapter 53: Capturing the Demon

A cool breeze swept across the sky, shifting the clouds and obscuring the sun. All brilliance and clear weather vanished. The fish in the river leaped out of the water, transforming into little doll-like creatures with fish heads, wearing red belly-bands and wielding steel tridents, guarding the riverbanks.

At this moment, Xiao Bugui was in great agony. After all, his backside had been pierced. He dropped back down onto the boat and witnessed the subsequent events.

"Murder! Murder!..." Zhu Xiu shouted at the top of his lungs, acting like a terrified little girl. He feigned panic, but in reality, he was running off to find help.

The abandoned Mao Dahong had a hole pierced straight through his chest, sitting limply beneath a tree. Facing the ever-growing number of enemies, he feared he was going to die. He closed his eyes, his expression filled with remorse: "I should not have been greedy for wealth, and now I've thrown my life away."

Since brothers always stick together in a fight, the crowd was noisy. Zhu Xiu could only shout loudly: "Mao Dazi! Mao Dazi, your brother has been killed by the river side!"

Mao Dazi dropped his work and rushed to the riverbank, witnessing his brother's miserable state. Grief welled up in his heart. He clenched his fists, his hair standing on end, and roared, "Who killed my brother? I want revenge!"

Mao Dahong opened his eyes to prove he was still alive and saw several demons flying in from the sky. Knowing that reinforcements from the Demonic Cult had arrived, he said in a weak and painful voice, "Brother, I'm still alive. This Big-Headed Yu is not easy to kill, and the demons of the Demonic Cult have all rushed here. Don't worry about me, run for your life!"

Mao Dazi said, "Brother, what are you afraid of? At worst, your brother will die with you."

Shi Yuhuan descended from the sky like a ball of fire. Finishing his bold declaration, Mao Dazi watched as Shi Yuhuan directly slammed into them with her scorching body. Mao Dazi picked up Mao Dahong and ran out of the fatal radius, though his hair was still scorched.

The raging flames reduced both the red hair and the purple hair to ashes. Having lost their weapons, the battered Mao brothers naturally wanted to run, but newly sprouted vines entangled their legs and feet. Then the vines grew wildly, constructing a cage like a fence. Hua Lan emerged from the earth, looked at the two battered demons, and smiled faintly: "These two fellows have had all their hair burned off, where else do they want to run?"

The danger averted, Big-Headed Yu stepped ashore to question the two demons: "I have no prior acquaintance with you. For you to seek my life in this manner, under whose instigation did you act?"

Mao Dazi raised his head and completely ignored Big-Headed Yu.

Treading upon a shattered tree trunk, Shi Yuhuan produced a red pill and asked, "Since you dared to come and make trouble on my Demon Mountain, you must still have accomplices, right? Speak, and I will spare your lives. I have a Life-Returning Pill here; eating it can save your life. I will only give you one chance."

Mao Dazi dropped his arrogant posture and compromised: "Give my brother the Life-Returning Pill, and I'll talk."

"Open your mouth!" Shi Yuhuan flicked the pill out. Mao Dahong was indeed afraid of death and opened his mouth, but the pill remained in his mouth and, before he had time to swallow it, he had already passed out cold.

Concerned for his older brother's life, Mao Dazi saw Mao Dahong close his eyes and let his head drop. He immediately embraced him, weeping and crying out, "Brother, do not die!"

"What are you crying for? Since he swallowed my Shi Yuhuan's Life-Returning Pill, he won't die; he's probably just fainted. Quickly reveal your accomplices! Otherwise, I will kill you brothers right now. I don't want to waste any more words." Red light and heat were already gathering in Shi Yuhuan's eyes.

Mao Dazi said, "I'll talk! I'll talk! We came together with the Five Spiders of the Sorrowless Pavilion, and Zheng Fulu, the leader of the Azure Dragon Guild, paid us to come and kill Big-Headed Yu."

Shi Yuhuan asked again, "Where are they now?"

Mao Dazi said, "They are working right among that group of craftsmen!"

Shi Yuhuan said, "Hua Lan, seize all the craftsmen."

Fearing exposure, Zhu Xiu had already found his four brothers and fled. The unsuspecting craftsmen were each working diligently without any guard. The mountain-shaking and earth-splitting tremor left them in a panic, only to see neatly arranged new shoots growing out of the crevices. It was as if growth was being forced artificially; in an instant, the shoots crossed to form a circular fence, trapping the terrified people within.

The fence posts were as thick as tree trunks. Mao Dazi was bound, with Hua Lan pressing down on his shoulders. Together with Shi Yuhuan, Xiao Bugui, Shang Qiufeng, and Big-Headed Yu, they stood atop the fence. Hua Lan looked at the terrified people inside the fence and asked, "Where are they?"

The people inside the fence were all shouting grievances, plunging into complete chaos. Mao Dazi looked around, but failed to find the Zhu family siblings in the crowd, so he said, "They kept moving about, I can't see clearly."

Yuan Lang, who had arrived later, landed on the fence, dragging a person in his hand—that person was Cao Dan, whose face had already turned ashen with fear. Yuan Lang asked about the cause: "Am I a bit late? What is going on? Why are all these craftsmen surrounded?"

Big-Headed Yu said, "There are assassins from the Sorrowless Pavilion among these craftsmen! We caught one and are having him identify his accomplices!"

Yuan Lang steadied Cao Dan and said, "Cao Dan, this is all your doing. Quickly tell your men to stand properly and stop making a fuss."

"It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! Even if you gave me ten times the courage, I wouldn't dare!" Cao Dan stood on a wooden post, his legs trembling violently, and shouted to the craftsmen, "If you don't want to die, all of you stand properly for me and stop shouting or moving around randomly! The Demonic Cult does not kill the innocent indiscriminately. There are assassins from the Sorrowless Pavilion hidden among you; once we find the bad guys, we will all be safe. Liu Dahming, maintain order!"

Foreman Liu Dahming naturally listened to the boss and echoed, "Listen to instructions, all of you. Stop making a fuss and stop moving around. Stand properly, the short ones in front, the tall ones in the back. Ten people to a row."

The innocent people thought to themselves: *Anyway, I'm not an assassin,* and all obediently lined up, raising their faces for Mao Dazi to get a clear look.

With a vine serving as a pole, Mao Dazi was hoisted up like a lantern, pausing in front of each person to identify them.

After carefully inspecting everyone, Mao Dazi said, "They are not in here."

Hua Lan said, "They were here just now, they can't have fled far."

"Let me take a look." Shang Qiufeng soared upward, overlooking from above. Sure enough, he saw five large spiders spinning webs to lower themselves down the cliff, sliding away in escape. He shouted, "Five spider spirits are escaping down the mountain!"

Enduring the pain in his backside, Xiao Bugui said, "I'll go after them!" He transformed into a small bird and gave chase.

Big-Headed Yu wanted to follow, but Shi Yuhuan stopped him, saying, "Big-Headed Yu, you stay here with Yuan Lang and Hua Lan. Shang Qiufeng, Xiao Bugui, and I are more than enough to deal with these little demons."

Knowing that their qinggong was poor and they were doomed, the Zhu family siblings had dug in at a mountain hollow, pulling out all the stops to weave an inescapable net. The spider threads were like blade edges; flying birds that blundered into the net were sliced in two, and running beasts that crashed into it were cut into chunks of meat. Wrapping around mountain rocks, the threads carved out deep indentations; entangling trees, they could fell an entire patch.

Overlooking the chaos shrouded in a sheet of spider webs, five giant spiders bared their fangs and spat venom, waiting for the pursuers to fall into the trap.