With One Smile, the Sword Tramples the Mushroom Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Nonsense!" Mo Qingyuan muttered quietly until Gu Xiaomo grew docile. Still furrowing his brows, he turned to Old Man w.a.n.g. "Uncle, I heard that everything started after you returned from the mountains. Just what happened up there?"

Old Man w.a.n.g's face curdled for a while before he spoke haltingly, "There…nothing, really. All I did was see a friend. He’s a hunter, so he shot and gave me two wild chickens he caught when I left…"

Suo Ying and Gu Xiaomo both came to a sudden realization. Domestic chickens had short lives, so it was difficult for them to enlighten to a Way, but wild chickens were another matter. If you ran into a wild chicken deep in the forest, there was a chance that it was actually a chicken spirit with 1,000 years of cultivation.

"Uncle, could you take us to see the wild chickens?"

Old Man w.a.n.g agreed and brought the trio to his kitchens behind the house. There was a cage on the ground, inside which lay…

The trio grew stone-faced.

Mo Qingyuan deserved his position as eldest martial brother, because he was the first to recover. "Uncle, who told you this was a wild chicken?"

"Hunter Li, ah. I’ve never seen such a beautiful wild chicken before…"

Gu Xiaomo was very decisive with her words. "It’s obviously a peac.o.c.k…"

Inside the cage was a poor, pitiful bright green peac.o.c.k with its feathers all stuck up, clearly on its last breath. As if affected by the aura of cultivators, it uneasily raised its head to struggle within the cage.

"Weren’t there two peac.o.c.ks?" Suo Ying asked in an odd tone.

Old Man w.a.n.g dropped his voice. "I lost one when I got back home… Aye, with everything else that happened, I wasn’t in the mood to look for that wild chicken."

"It’s a peac.o.c.k," Gu Xiaomo corrected severely.

A conflicted Mo Qingyuan muttered to himself before smiling. "Uncle, you should set your cares aside and go rest. If things go smoothly, everything will be resolved by tomorrow."

"Really?" Old Man w.a.n.g's joy carried hints of doubt, but when he saw Gu Xiaomo staring gloomily his way, he hurried away to urge on the preparations for dinner instead.

When the meal was finished, only Gu Xiaomo was left unsatisfied. Although there was no chicken on the table, they still had beef, pork, and lamb. But Gu Xiaomo was still unhappy because every single dish had mushrooms.

Ah, mushrooms. Velvety smooth and absolutely disgusting. Chewing on them made people feel like falling apart. Of course, these were all Gu Xiaomo's personal views and had nothing to do with the mushrooms themselves.

This family loves eating mushrooms so much, it serves them right for getting mixed up with monsters… Gu Xiaomo crouched bleakly behind the chicken coop as the night breeze carried over the scent of chicken p.o.o.p to their face. She was so hungry that it felt like her empty stomach was plastered against her back.

The weather was going to change.

The warm and tranquil evening suddenly surged with violent winds as if something was wriggling free to cause trouble in the dark. Naturally, cultivators felt something off with this wind as well. In Gu Xiaomo's sensitive view, at least, the aura of demonic qi had intensified. Even if the opponent was merely a peac.o.c.k spirit, peac.o.c.ks and large Peng were once known as the fiercest of man-eating beasts during ancient times, so this was no trifling matter.

Still, she could only stay alert for so long while enduring the stench of chicken p.o.o.p to stare at the chicken coop. After the period of time between 11PM to 1AM had pa.s.sed, her head started nodding off, and the chicken feathers she was twirling around in her fingers somehow ended up stuck in her nose.

Some time later, a voice lightly brushed by her ear. "Hey, what are you doing?"

The voice was neither coa.r.s.e nor fine, but sounded grating to the ears. A drowsy Gu Xiaomo replied, "Lookout duty…"

"Lookout duty?" The voice gave a start before it broke out into hoa.r.s.e laughter. The noise was so overwhelming that it startled Gu Xiaomo awake in time to hear a burst of noise in the distance. Following that, bright sparks exploded into the air.

Gu Xiaomo leapt to her feet, plucking feathers from her nose as she shouted, "Monster? Where are you?!"

The wind suddenly stilled. The chicken coop and its chickens were still the same as before. Ahead stood Mo Qingyuan in his ethereal white robes, Suo Ying by his side.

…urk, then who was this glossy green fellow in front of her?

"Mother! It’s a monster!" In a flash, a certain someone shrank into a shivering ball at the corner of the walls.

All right, Mo Qingyuan felt himself wearing an expression with black lines even under such life and death circ.u.mstances. But he quickly cleared his throat as his clear, handsome eyes turned cold. "Peac.o.c.k?"

The richly attired man in green robes raised his head to reveal a wild and charming countenance. He cast a glance at Gu Xiaomo before breaking into an elegant smile. "Cultivators?"

His voice was a bit hoa.r.s.e and didn’t match his lovely looks at all. Everyone said that peac.o.c.ks were attractive but had grating voices; it looked like this was the truth. Mo Qingyuan knit his brows. Though this peac.o.c.k had to be connected with the happenings in the town, there wasn’t a thread of demonic qi coming from this monster. It was unimaginably queer.

"Since you’re a cultivating monster, why create such disasters for humankind?" Mo Qingyuan said, his voice even colder now that he’d figured things out.

The bewitching peac.o.c.k smoothed out his hair and laughed. "Which eye of yours saw me causing disasters for humankind?"

Mo Qingyuan hesitated, only for Suo Ying to speak up tenderly, "Isn’t it a crime to kill lives?"

The peac.o.c.k spirit gave a cold laugh. "Ignorant little children, don’t think that you can meddle in this grandpa's affairs just because you know how to draw a few incantation spells…"

Tianyan Sect was a righteous faction of the Central Plains with widespread renown. Though Mo Qingyuan might not have exactly enjoyed comforts with his high position, he had grown up listening to enough flattery and compliments to make him proud and ambitious. On the other hand, Suo Ying couldn’t stand someone speaking ill of her heart's desire. She secretly pinched an incantation between her fingers before stealing a chance to charge forward with a cry when the peac.o.c.k was distracted.

Mo Qingyuan couldn't stop her in time and cried out in alarm, "Ying Ying!"

The peac.o.c.k spirit's expression shifted. Gu Xiaomo stopped shivering to look up, the cry of 'Ying Ying!' ringing clearly in her ears. She saw the peac.o.c.k spirit doing some gestures with his fingers behind his back and impulsively ran out to block Suo Ying with her body.

Boom!

Another explosion rang out before a mighty blast of air sent Gu Xiaomo and Suo Ying flying straight into the chicken coop. They rolled around until they were covered in feathers and p.o.o.p. Fortunately, both of them were very light and only got some scratches instead of serious injuries. Mo Qingyuan's heart flared with rage before he quickened his spell gestures. A shapeless, thick rope appeared in the air and wound itself around the peac.o.c.k spirit before tightening around him. Only then did the peac.o.c.k spirit look alarm and gave a slight smile.

"I never expected you to know 'Immortal Binding' already. It's not an easy task for one so young…"

Despite his surprise, he didn't panic. He flicked the wrist of his left hand as he began to chant under his breath, preparing to unleash an evil skill of his own.

"Cluck cluck, cluck cluck cluck cluck…"

The peac.o.c.k spirit blanched as he turned towards Gu Xiaomo and cried, "Little Blossom!"

Little Blossom? Gu Xiaomo gave a start, before sensing something squirming by her feet. When she looked down, it was to see the fat hen she’d set her eyes on earlier in the day. The hen seemed to be squashed beneath her feet and was clucking plaintively. Gu Xiaomo's eyes rolled in her sockets before she grabbed the chicken by its neck with her left hand. If she used any more strength than now, then the chicken's life would be forfeit.

Mo Qingyuan had already unsheathed his sword and aimed the weapon at the peac.o.c.k spirit's weak point. Unexpectedly, the peac.o.c.k spirit suddenly flew into a panic as he looked towards the chicken coop, his hoa.r.s.e voice turning shrill. "Don’t hurt Little Blossom!"

Gu Xiaomo wore the savage smile of a villain as she threatened him. "I’m warning you now, if you make another move, I’ll send this beautiful hen off to meet Buddha…"

The peac.o.c.k spirit's voice trembled. "I’ll listen to whatever you say, just don’t hurt her… I’m not to blame for what happened in this village to begin with…you mortals can capture me and kill and torment me as you wish…" as he spoke, he began to shed tears. "But Little Blossom didn’t do anything, so why do you have to hurt her…"

Mo Qingyuan's sword was frozen in mid-air, while Suo Ying was utterly gobsmacked. Only Gu Xiaomo spoke with black lines on her face, "Just talk, what are you crying for? At your age, aren’t you embarra.s.sed…"

"You think I want to cry?" the peac.o.c.k spirit lisped as he sobbed. "I used to be a demon peac.o.c.k sprite of the southern mountains who attained the Way, and yet… I ran into that hunter and got one of my tail feathers plucked out, making it impossible for me to escape. I had no choice but to come to this village. After hearing about the tragic lives of the chickens here, I decided to help them out, that's all…"

"All things in the world have their own destiny in life," Mo Qingyuan resheathed his sword. "If they suffer in this life, they'll find happiness in their next."

Suo Ying and Gu Xiaomo nodded in unison. Because the latter was careless, Little Blossom let out a few more plaintive cries from her prison between Gu Xiaomo's armpit, agitating the peac.o.c.k spirit so much that he nearly mutilated himself to beg for mercy.

"What's the relationship between you and this hen?" Gu Xiaomo asked amicably as she stood up from the ground.

"Ah, you mean Little Blossom?" the peac.o.c.k spirit's thickly powdered face suddenly reddened. "Her…I… I, towards her…"

"You're a beautiful peac.o.c.k, but she's only an ordinary chicken…" Suo Ying couldn't help but say quietly.

"So what? Little Blossom is the most special one of all. Look at her fiery red c.o.c.ks...o...b..and those soft and shiny feathers. Especially her eyes, they're so limpid and clear…even her stray bits of down carry their own unusual glamour that attracts me deeply…"

The trio felt their jaws drop. It was a long time before they could shut their mouths again. They never expected to run into such an explosive situation on their first trip. The so-called interspecies romance with an age gap… Heavens, what a strange world lay at the bottom of the mountain. Maybe it was better that they run back up instead.

Gu Xiaomo carefully examined Little Blossom. She didn't look all that wonderful aside from whetting her appet.i.te. A while ago, the three of them had been caught in a hostile faceoff against this monster, but now things had turned harmonious. Mo Qingyuan suddenly recalled something.

"Demonic qi has spread all over this town, but you said you're not the cause…"

The peac.o.c.k spirit gave a start before smacking his head. "Yah, I almost forgot. In this town, there's an even bigger…"

Before he could finish, a frantic cry rose up from all the chickens, stirring the nearby coops of other houses into unrest as well. All of the chickens in the town began bawking at once, causing a huge racket. Gu Xiaomo wanted to see what was the matter, but she was plucked up by the peac.o.c.k spirit like a chick and thrown none to gently into Mo Qingyuan's arms. He blanched. Following that, everyone was on their guard. n.o.body noticed how Gu Xiaomo's face had slightly reddened. The demonic qi filling the air suddenly burst forth from within the chicken coop, carrying with it an evil, devilish air. The peac.o.c.k spirit curled up three fingers in his right hand before covering them all in a transparent barrier.

"Take care of Little Blossom for me!"

Before Gu Xiaomo could react, the fat hen ran happily into her arms. The peac.o.c.k spirit seemed to have changed into a completely different person…urk, demon…in a second, his face filled with an indifferent smile as he hid his right hand behind his back in preparation. A few more sad, shrill cries came from the chickens as the demonic qi grew. Mo Qingyuan's face shifted. This smell… They should've known they made a mistake with the peac.o.c.k spirit from the very start.

Generally speaking, all demons in the world carried the same scent except for creatures like fox or weasel spirits. Even though they existed on a separate realm, one could still smell the scent emanating from the monster that emerged from  the chicken coop. It was covered from head to toe in a foul stink. Both Gu Xiaomo and Little Blossom in her arms wore expressions as if the world was ending, their eyes wide as they tried to see. When Suo Ying saw the weasel spirit appear, she quickly backed away. Mo Qingyuan clutched her hand and tightened his grip. When the weasel spirit stood next to the peac.o.c.k spirit, it highlighted the peac.o.c.k's n.o.ble beauty.

"You balding bird, you're still meddling around here?" there was still chicken blood trailing from the giant creature's lips. His long, sharp teeth protruded in front of his nose, while his bloodshot pupils had narrowed into straight lines. The uneven patches of fur on his body were all stuck together. Even though he was a monster, Gu Xiaomo still found fault with his poor personal hygiene.

"Dirty beast, you've only learned how to acquire human form and you're still acting atrociously before this grandfather?" the peac.o.c.k spirit had his back to the trio, his right hand glowing green as the fingernails slowly lengthened. Soon enough, his entire body was bathed in a hazy green glow.

The weasel spirit was no slouch either, but gave a low growl as he arched his back and stuck up his yellow fur.