Chapter 34: The Wind Rises and the Water Stirs (1)

  They left the broken temple in less than a stick of incense, and from the grass beside the temple, a black shadow flashed silently, jumping out a giant beast, landing silently, without roaring or making any noise. It jumped two or three times to a large stone, lying on the ground, its eyes as big as bronze bells staring at the broken temple with extreme focus. This giant beast was said to be like a large dog, but it would be better to say it was like a black lion, with a body of dark curly fur, and the hair around its head was especially thick and long, several times longer than the rest of its body. Its head was as big as a water buffalo's head, with its mouth open wide, revealing rows of shiny fangs, and its dark purple tongue darting in and out between the fangs, making a slight hissing sound.

  It should be a mad barking dog, chasing here, but this giant beast is extremely abnormal, lying down here, like a predatory leopard, not only silent, but also seems to be fully focused on observing the movement in the broken temple.

  The giant beast crouched for a moment, slowly stood up, and then, like a cat, half-squatted its body, and crawled forward into the grass thicket covered with large stones. The giant beast moved a distance, looked around, stared at one direction, and made a low humming sound in its throat. Suddenly, an even larger giant beast jumped out of the grass thicket in front of it, similar in appearance, but its body was about 30% larger than this one.

  The newly emerged giant beast neither roared nor howled, sniffed the ground, raised its enormous head, and stared viciously at the broken temple. It turned its head to another one of its kind and let out two low growls, seemingly responding to each other.

  The two giants seemed to have understood human nature, and they nodded at each other. They stood up on their hind legs, and with a loud thud, they jumped five or six feet high onto the rocks beside the ruined temple. Their massive bodies landed firmly on the ground, and they looked down at the temple from above. The larger of the two giants raised its head, furrowed its brow like a human, and sniffed the air again before shaking its head repeatedly and letting out a low growl. The other giant followed suit, also shaking its head and growling.

  The two giants did not move rashly and remained standing firmly on the boulder, staring at the broken temple.

  After a moment, the mountain direction was surging with people, and a group of blue-clothed men also flashed out silently, advancing swiftly and lightly. The three leaders were actually pulling a black giant beast, which was flying like an arrow, and the three men were being pulled by this beast as if they were flying off the ground, arriving at an empty space not far from the broken temple.

  The people in blue clothes gathered more and more, but they didn't say a word. They only communicated with each other through eye contact and gestures, which seemed to be very tacit. Outside the broken temple, only faint footsteps could be heard. In the blink of an eye, these people had already surrounded the broken temple.

  Two more people arrived swiftly, stopping beside the giant beast being led by three others. Their breathing was steady and calm. One of them patted the giant beast's large head, saying: "Well done, Big Chomper!"

  These newcomers were indeed Zhang Siye, Mr. Zhou and a group of hook-handed soldiers, as well as the three giant beasts that Yan Jingtian and Shuixiao'er had mentioned - the leopard dogs. Erjiaozi and Sanjiaozi were leading the way in front, not barking or making any noise, because they were being led by Dajiaozi who was following behind Zhang Siye's group, so this group of dozens of people climbed up the mountain without making a sound. Unlike some modern-day mountain searches where people lead wolf dogs and make a ruckus all along the way, anyone with some skill and agility would hear the noise and know where the pursuers were coming from, and before they could even arrive, they would have already run off to who-knows-where.

  In the old days, the Wind Chaser's pursuit of thieves was all about capturing notorious bandits, each with exceptional martial arts skills. How could you possibly shout "Catch the thief!" and expect them to stick around? They'd be long gone by then. That's why Zhang Siye and Zhou Xiansheng's trained hook-handed soldiers and leopard dogs were so formidable - they wouldn't attack unless they had their opponent cornered, and when they did, it was always a sure thing. It's no wonder that even master thieves like Yan Jingtian and Shuiyao'er would quickly retreat rather than directly confront Zhang Siye and his team.

  Zhang Siye and Mr. Zhou were also wearing tight-fitting blue robes, exceptionally neat and tidy, with a silver embroidered cloud pattern on their chests.

  Mr. Zhou wondered, "Zhang Siye, Erjiaozi and Sanjiaozi look strange, stopping here, could it be that Yan Jingtian and others are hiding in this broken temple, setting a trap for us, waiting for us to come and have a final showdown?"

  Zhang Siye waved his hand and said: "There is indeed something strange. If they were up to some trick, Erchunzi should have discovered it by now! However, just in case... come here!"

  Zhang Siye's personal guard emerged at once and stood aside with fists clenched and head bowed.

  "Deploy the formation! Seven Webbed Arhat Formation! A single fly"

  "Nor can fly!" Hook soldier listened, nodded, jumped away, crossed his hands in the air, and whistled a string of sounds.

  In an instant, more than a dozen hook-bearing soldiers jumped out, holding the three-clawed hooks in their hands, securing their formation and surrounding the broken temple. The three giant beasts, leopards and dogs, crouched down with their front paws, stretched out their sharp claws, scratching the rocks with a loud crackling sound, raised their big heads, shot out fierce glows from their eyes, opened their mouths wide, and let out earth-shaking roars.

  Three leopard dogs barked at the same time, and their barks were truly earth-shaking, with a deafening roar that could be heard for miles around. The momentum was huge. If it were someone with a small heart, seeing such a fierce beast as big as a cow barking, they would be so scared that their legs would go soft and they would surrender immediately!

  The leopard dogs barked for a while, but there was no response from the broken temple. Zhang Siye frowned, stretched out his hand and whistled, and the three leopard dogs almost simultaneously stopped barking, staring fixedly at the broken temple, with only low growls in their throats.

  "Second Uncle! Go!" Zhang Siye shouted.

  Only the largest leopard dog at the highest point, with a sudden movement, its massive body leaped into the air, and surprisingly landed on the roof of the broken temple, causing bricks, tiles, and stones to fly everywhere. The second dog's body was extremely agile, without stopping, it twisted its body, and with a loud crash, jumped into the broken temple through the broken hole in the roof.

  "Third son! You go too!"

  The leopard dog, slightly smaller than the second one, also jumped down from the big rock and rushed straight to the ground, like a black whirlwind, jumping into the broken temple window, smashing the already rotten window sill into fragments, flying in all directions.

  Zhang Siye let the two leopard dogs rush in, which was a very ruthless and poisonous trick. If the leopard dogs found anyone alive in the room, they would tear them to pieces without hesitation. If it were someone like Huo Xiaoyao who stayed in the room, he might not even have time to cry out before his head was bitten off by the leopard dogs.

  Two leopard dogs jumped into the room and were silent for a moment, but soon they started barking loudly again.

  Zhang Siye heard the leopard dog's barking and frowned, scolding: "Damn it! No one is here!"

  Zhang Siye ordered the withdrawal of the Seven-Webbed Arhat Formation, and he himself strode forward, kicking open the broken temple's rotten door with one foot. He walked in with a loud creaking sound. Er Jiaozi and San Jiaozi were still sniffing around on the ground, looking extremely reluctant to give up.

  "Zhang Siye sniffed and scolded: 'Smells like smoke and fire!'"

  Mr. Zhou also followed into the house, looked around and quickly walked to the front of the ashes on the ground, squatted down, used his finger to pick up a bit of ash, licked it with the tip of his tongue, and said: "It's been only two incense sticks' time."

  Zhang Siye nodded, looked around and walked to the corner where Huo Xiaoxie was tied up. He squatted down and felt around for a while, muttering to himself: "They've also tied up another person, it seems this one hasn't managed to untie the ropes either. Hmph, it's highly likely that they took away Huo Xiaoxie. What use is there in taking away such a useless thing? Could it be that the Yu Tai Zhu was never in Huo Xiaoxie's belly in the first place?"