The immortal is beside me

Chapter 62: Fierce fighting spirit, the immortal is moved

"Could it be that so many demon corpses are the result of internal strife among the demon tribe, forcing the bird demons of Mount Qishan to migrate en masse, and thus fly to the imperial court?"

Ye Qiansheng pondered, "This Qishan has always been a place where demons live in peace. How could there be such a large-scale internal conflict? It would be great if I could find a little demon with awakened intelligence to ask them questions."

After listening to her, Zhou Wuqing walked forward, used his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings, and suddenly made a stroke in the air. A wisp of breeze came out from his fingertips, whistling through the bushes on the side.

The cries of frightened birds were heard, and a hiding bird demon was carried out of the bushes by the wind and landed at his feet.

The bird demon looked like a sparrow, but was several times larger than an ordinary sparrow, half the size of a human arm, and its feathers were the same color as the surrounding demon corpses, all crimson.

It was rolled to Zhou Wuqing's feet, spinning around in a daze. It took a while for it to see the person in front of it clearly, and it was so scared that all the feathers on its body stood up.

"Please spare my life, Immortal, please spare my life. I didn't mean to spy on you."

The red bird begged for mercy repeatedly. It seemed to have just regained its intelligence and its speech was still halting.

"Are you also a little demon here?" Zhou Wuqing asked, "What happened in Mount Qi?"

"My clan has inhabited Mount Qishan for thousands of years. But not long ago, three demons arrived, claiming to be under the command of the Buddha. They seized the Qishan Cave Heaven for themselves and slaughtered all the demons who resisted, including my clan."

It can be seen that the Red Bird's cultivation level is not very high. Although it can speak human language, it speaks vaguely and intermittently, and one can only understand the general idea.

But just these few words were enough to attract the attention of the two people in front of him.

"By the order of the Buddha?"

Chique nodded, confirming what he said, which made the two of them immediately serious.

As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Buddhism had already been elevated from a sect to a religious sect. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties' anti-Buddhist wars, the Jiuli Immortal Alliance wiped out most of the Buddhist sects in the territory. However, with the blessing of faith, Buddhist disciples were like wildfires that could not be extinguished, and they would spring up again every few years.

Now the Buddhist forces may have infiltrated Qishan. This news alone does not seem to be a big deal, but once combined with a series of recent rumors, the whole thing becomes unusual.

As early as several months ago, the Immortal Alliance received news that the soon-to-be Human Emperor Wu Zetian had begun recruiting male favorites in the palace, regardless of their wealth or status, and dozens of handsome men had been received by her.

Originally, this was nothing. After all, every emperor in the past had three thousand beauties in his harem. The fact that the empress now has a male favorite is just a replica of the same. As long as it does not harm the country, the Immortal Alliance will not interfere in even such a small matter.

However, among this news, a name called Xue Huaiyi attracted attention.

According to the memorial, Xue Huaiyi was originally a monk. Recently, he suddenly appeared beside Empress Wu Zetian as a male favorite and was deeply loved by the emperor. The emperor conferred him the title of Duke of Liang and granted him various important positions. Xue Huaiyi also widely spread Buddhist scriptures such as the "Dayun Sutra" in the court and posted Buddha statues everywhere, trying to build momentum with Buddhism.

All this really made the Immortal Alliance alert.

Simply favoring a lover is not a problem, and even if the lover is a monk, it is not a problem.

But the reality is that someone is trying to implant Buddhist beliefs into the Tang Dynasty court, with the intention of competing with the Taoist magic of the immortals. For the Immortal Alliance, this is tantamount to playing tricks under their noses. It is hard not to suspect whether there are Buddhist forces behind him to support him and to deliberately deceive the Human Emperor.

If this is true, then the Buddhist forces in the Central Plains may have branched out again and developed to a considerable level.

After that, the Immortal Alliance sent a letter to Empress Wu Zetian, demanding a thorough investigation of the monk Xue Huaiyi and the Buddhist forces behind him. Shortly after the decree was issued, Xue Huaiyi was stripped of his status as a concubine and exiled to the White Horse Temple. (Note 1)

Meanwhile, the Immortal Alliance was rigorously investigating any traces of Buddhism throughout the Tang Dynasty. The fact that these traces had appeared in the seemingly unrelated Qishan demonic territory was hard to ignore. Combined with the recent frequent disappearances of civilians near Qishan, the whole matter became even more suspicious.

"Lead the way and take a look into the cave." Zhou Wuqing said to the red bird.

Upon hearing this, the red bird trembled all over, its feathers stood up in fear, and it jumped up and down with its wings flapping.

"Those three demons are incredibly powerful. Even with all our might, our clan has been unable to defeat them. Immortal, I'm afraid you'll be in great danger if you go there. It's best to flee!"

"I've never seen anything that can't defeat it." Zhou Wuqing grabbed the feathers on the back of its neck with one hand and threw it back to the ground: "Lead the way."

The red bird seemed stunned for a moment, and looked at Ye Qiansheng behind it. She stood behind him without saying a word, as if she agreed with what he said.

Chi Que looked at Ye Qiansheng, then at Zhou Wuqing, back and forth several times, still undecided: "Those three demons are too powerful, I'm afraid."

With a whoosh, a ray of fire flashed before its eyes, just a hair's breadth away from singeing its feathers.

Chique was startled and said: "I, I will lead it, I will lead it"

The flames went out, and its frightened feathers calmed down. It looked at the Taoist in red with fear and alarm, then reluctantly flapped its wings, flew up, and headed towards the inside of the mountain path.

"Fellow Daoist Ye, you can do some cleaning here and observe the situation."

Zhou Wuqing gave instructions to Ye Qiansheng beside him, and when he saw the latter nod in response, he took off and followed closely behind the red bird. Man and bird walked side by side, deep into Mount Qishan.

The SUV stopped in front of the last mural in the row. Cheng Xiaomeng leaned against the window and watched carefully.

In this picture, the sky is bright red as if burning, and beneath the sky are rolling mountains. A figure in a red Taoist robe and a bird with crimson feathers are walking side by side across the mountain road. At the end of the road sit the three demons high above.

"To slay the three demons and avenge his own people, Your Majesty fled to Mount Qishan and unexpectedly encountered an immortal outside the mountain."

Peacock pointed at the mural and simultaneously explained its content to everyone at the Super Research Institute.

"Your Majesty is single-minded in reclaiming Mount Qishan. Even when facing the three powerful demons, you show no fear. Witnessing your Majesty's fierce fighting spirit, the immortal was moved by it and so journeyed with you to Mount Qishan to face the three demons head-on!"

Everyone in the car was staring at the mural. Although it couldn't match the finesse of a human craftsman, the majestic composition still gave those outside the painting a sense of unparalleled dominance.

"I've seen many legends of phoenixes being moved and blessing people before, but in this demon country, it's become an immortal blessing the phoenix. It's really interesting."

A researcher stared at the mural, "The immortal was moved by the fierce fighting spirit. This phoenix is ​​worthy of the title of Demon King, and truly possesses the demeanor of an emperor."

On the other side, Cheng Xiaomeng was pondering.

When she first heard the legend of the demon kingdom's "immortal and phoenix," she had simply assumed the phoenix had formed a bond with some powerful being. But now, with these murals and stories, she had become increasingly suspicious.

Let's assume for a moment that this "immortal" was a powerful cultivator. Previously, aside from specialized demon tamers, most cultivators considered themselves kind if they didn't kill a demon outright. Yet, this immortal came to the aid of the Demon King upon their first encounter. If he was truly moved by the Demon King's will, wasn't that a bit too philanthropic?
Something seemed to be wrong. She looked at the murals and fell into deep thought.

Note 1. In real history, Xue Huaiyi fell out of favor about 1-2 years after Wu Zetian ascended the throne. Here it is advanced a little for the sake of the plot, so please be gentle with the history experts.

(End of this chapter)