Chapter 743: The Calamity's True Form Revealed
Chapter 743: The Calamity's True Form Revealed
Even without Little Red Tang's reminder, Kindness Fairy had already alighted from the carriage.
She had overheard the conversation between the physician and Old Abacus, and now she stood at a distance, gazing at the village.
Though her mind was filled with emptiness, her face exuded a look of compassion for the world.
With a gentle wave of her hand, she summoned Xiao Douguan, as if everything was under her control. In a low voice, she asked, "How do they measure calamity in the Robbing Calamity Sect?"
"?"
Xiao Douguan was taken aback for a moment, then shook his little head and quickly climbed into her carriage.
Under a pile of jewelry, clothing, snacks, and trendy items, he rummaged and found a dusty box.
He was relieved that Kindness Fairy, despite her lack of focus on her profession, still had the essential tools.
He carried the box down, opening it to sort through the contents while explaining with gestures, carefully recalling for her.
Kindness Fairy picked up a uniquely shaped small scale and a piece of Green Heavenly Stem that had been cut into sections. She held the dust brush in her hand, slowly approaching the village.
As she passed by the group of commoners, she let out a soft sigh, and the dust brush in her hand swept over their heads.
She was naturally blessed with deep fortune, and had once organized a lantern festival in Stone Horse Town. Now, as she gently waved the dust brush, a gentle breeze blew, dispersing the calamity from the commoners' heads.
Though it wasn't enough to dispel the calamity, it did help clear their minds.
Swinging the dust brush, she drove away the dark energy that surged towards her and gracefully walked to a courtyard in the village. Seeing that the walls and doors of this household were well-maintained, she grabbed a handful of dirt and placed it on the threshold.
She pressed down on the left side with the Green Heavenly Stem and released the dirt on the right, examining it carefully.
After a while, she put away the scale and said, "The physician is right; there is indeed a calamity."
"What is she doing...?"
Hu Ma watched from a distance, curiosity growing within him, as he turned to look at Douguan beside him.
Xiao Douguan looked at Kindness Fairy with utmost seriousness, as if worried she might make a mistake.
Seeing that she had successfully measured the calamity, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Master, the Fairy is measuring the calamity."
"The weight of these disaster-stricken places is different from others, but since they are all affected by the calamity, ordinary weights cannot detect it."
"However, the Green Heavenly Stem is a weight that never changes, so by using a fixed weight as a reference, she can measure it."
Hu Ma found this fascinating and asked, "So, if she measures a calamity, what then?"
"Once a calamity is detected, you must seek the calamity object."
Xiao Douguan nodded, the two wings on his hat fluttering as he spoke. Little Red Tang watched with interest.
"Calamities are formless; when they enter the mortal realm, they attach themselves to objects, becoming calamity objects," Douguan explained.
"Although in the world of martial arts, only the Robbing Calamity Sect has the word 'calamity' in its name, in reality, many others also deal with calamities."
"Everyone faces three calamities and eight difficulties in life; no one can escape them. However, the Year Guard has a strong body and can endure, while the Ghost Walker Sect can pray for blessings and invite ghosts and gods to dispel calamities..."
"Of course, that was in the past. Nowadays, ghosts and gods are also trying to avoid calamities themselves..."
"Unless we can bring the Water God's incense to the world."
"But in the end, nine out of ten people in the world, when faced with calamities, can only hide. If they manage to escape, they are considered lucky."
"The Robbing Calamity Sect is different; they excel in the art of absorbing calamities. They can take away the calamity from a place, but even members of the Robbing Calamity Sect cannot keep too much calamity on themselves."
"It's too heavy to carry, so besides absorbing calamities, they also release them."
"In this process of absorbing and releasing, both killing and saving lives are invisible, and this is the specialty of the Robbing Calamity Sect."
"..."
Listening to Xiao Douguan's clear and logical explanation, Hu Ma became intrigued. Smiling, he asked, "If that's the case, isn't it easy for members of the Robbing Calamity Sect to accumulate merit?"
"If they absorb calamities from a crowd but release them in an uninhabited place, aren't they saving countless lives?"
"Calamity objects don't die; it's not that easy to hide them."
Xiao Douguan shook his head and said, "The strength of a calamity object is determined by the weight of the person."
"If the weight of a person is the same, then saving one hundred people here would mean that, when releasing the calamity, you would owe the calamity object one hundred people."
"When it's time to release the calamity, you must harm one hundred people in the place where you release it, so as not to hurt the member of the Robbing Calamity Sect."
"If the number of people harmed is insufficient, it's as if you owe the debt yourself. You, your family, and your friends will all have to pay the price. Even then, it might not be enough..."
"..."
As Hu Ma listened to these words, he couldn't help but think of the Meng family, which operated on the same principle.
The difference was that the Robbing Calamity Sect sought out calamities, while the Meng family invited calamities to come to them.
"Of course, everyone in the world has a different weight."
Xiao Douguan, seeing that Master was carefully asking him questions, couldn't help but feel proud.
He puffed out his chest, and the two small wings on his head fluttered even more as he said, "When encountering someone with a heavy destiny, killing one can save a hundred. Therefore, the Robbing Calamity Sect is also skilled in reading destinies."
"Every time they absorb a calamity, they must calculate carefully—how much they gained and how much they owe. Only by balancing the account can they avoid being harmed in the end."
Hu Ma nodded, casting an appreciative glance at Little Bean Official, wishing he had some blood food to reward him.
Looking up, he saw Kindness Fairy finish her divination and directly enter a nearby house. After a while, she emerged with a bowl and a pair of chopsticks.
She tossed the bowl upwards and caught it with the chopsticks, balancing it.
The bowl wobbled, but it didn't fall.
Then, she signaled to Little Bean Official with her eyes, gently waved her dust brush, and slowly walked around.
By the pot of boiling herbal medicine, the physician pointed towards the mountains and said, "I don't understand divination, but I remember that the Ghost Walker went in that direction to dispel the disaster."
Kindness Fairy frowned, "If you don't understand, then don't speak nonsense."
As she spoke, she gently waved her dust brush and took a few steps in several directions.
Indeed, as she walked towards the mountains, the wobbling bowl seemed to spin faster. Sensing this, she walked straight ahead.
The villagers around them didn't understand what they were doing.
They only saw the exceptionally beautiful young lady, who didn't seem to be from the mortal realm, gently waving her dust brush. The villagers felt a sudden lightness on their heavy heads.
A strong desire for life surged within them, and they struggled to get up, kneeling on both sides of the road to bow to Kindness Fairy.
"Why don't you go and help her?"
Seeing this, Hu Ma also got down from the carriage and said to Thursday Miss, "If she encounters real danger, she won't be as capable as you."
Thursday Miss hesitated, "I thought she was a good person at first, but later I realized she doesn't follow the righteous path."
"They're inciting rebellion everywhere, who knows how many people they've harmed!"
"..."
Hu Ma said, "Even if she's not a good person now, she's saving people. If even someone like her, who doesn't follow the righteous path, is saving people, why are you, a descendant of the Ten Surnames, just standing by and watching?"
Thursday Miss felt a sudden surge of shame and quickly followed.
After taking a few steps, she suddenly tilted her head and thought, "Wait, I'm not their bodyguard..."
... Never mind, it's not important.
Hu Ma watched from behind as the physician also threw down his medicine stick and followed Kindness Fairy. He instructed Old Abacus and then got off the carriage.
Old Abacus seemed to notice something and signaled to Hu Ma, but Hu Ma only nodded slightly and quickened his pace to walk alongside the physician.
As they walked, Hu Ma said, "The village seems heavily afflicted by the plague. It's fortunate that the doctor's skills are extraordinary."
The physician walked slowly, smiling faintly, "I'm just a country doctor, and I don't have any extraordinary skills. I'm just doing my best."
Hu Ma said, "But from what I see, if you weren't here to keep them alive, this village would have been wiped out long ago."
The physician turned with a smile, his eyes beneath the gray hemp cloth were bright and piercing, "If they were truly wiped out, whose head do you think this debt would be on?"
"..."
The two walked slowly, maintaining a distance of three to five zhang from Kindness Fairy. Just as they were talking, they suddenly heard a soft call from ahead:
"Found it!"
Kindness Fairy had been walking with the bowl balanced on the chopsticks, and the closer she got to the mountains, the faster the bowl spun.
But just as she reached a rocky cliff, the bowl suddenly fell to the ground without warning, shattering into pieces on the dry grass.
Her expression turned serious, and she gripped her dust brush, scanning the seemingly ordinary hillside. She formed a hand seal:
"The heavens descend with thunderous roars, I summon the wind and thunder to reveal the disaster!"
"Wind and thunder rise, the disaster takes form!"
"Quickly!"
"..."
After finishing the incantation, she pointed, but nothing happened in the air, and there was no thunder. Behind the tree, Little Bean Official jumped out, holding a gong with both hands, and struck it with all his might, making a loud noise.
The commotion was loud and abrupt, an obnoxious disturbance in the silent forest.
After a series of loud bangs, the seemingly empty forest began to stir, and the soil loosened as something broke through the ground.
It was a black, rotten creature, resembling a rat but the size of a lamb.
As it jumped out, the sky seemed to darken, and everyone felt a heavy oppression on their heads.
"So, the Toothless Lord still wants to escape?"
Kindness Fairy glanced at it and coldly smiled. With a flick of her wrist, she pulled out a silk thread from her dust brush.
In the Robbing Calamity Sect, this was the collective term for disasters.
Since disasters were formless and needed to attach to worldly objects, the sect had identified twelve types of objects prone to attachment and categorized their characteristics:
Toothless Rat, Toothless Ox, Spleenless Tiger, Lipless Rabbit, Earless Dragon, Footless Snake, Fearless Horse, Spiritless Sheep, Buttockless Monkey, Kidneyless Chicken, Intestineless Dog, and Sinewless Pig.
The end of the thread had a hook that, when released, would instantly wrap around an object with incredible precision.
Her posture and technique were flawless, moving in harmony with the Dao.
But the thread missed its target!
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
