Villainous Junior Chapter 14
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 14: The Bride
If the place Taixuan Sect disciples feared going to most was the Disciplinary Hall, and the place they were often forced to go was the Library Pavilion, then the place they most eagerly anticipated going was the Task Hall.
The missions in the Task Hall came from various places in mainland Shenzhou. There were requests for help from common people, as well as bounties from Jianghu factions. The difficulty levels varied, and disciples could choose based on their own abilities. If they successfully completed a mission, they could receive rewards such as pills or magical tools, depending on the mission's difficulty.
Compared to being cooped up on the mountain all day reading, cultivating, and meditating, disciples undoubtedly preferred going down the mountain for training. Not only could they temper their mental state in real situations and improve their abilities, but they could also take the opportunity to experience the beautiful scenery of various regions. The newly admitted batch of disciples had been longing for this for a long time, and recently they finally caught wind of some news.
"Have you heard? We can go down the mountain to do missions now!"
"Is that true!?"
"Of course it's true, Elder Yu told me himself! But because it's our first time on a mission and we lack experience, we have to go as a group, and a senior brother will lead us."
"Which senior brother?"
"I'm not sure about that, but I heard it used to be the eldest senior brother from either Wuzhao Peak or Yuhua Peak. It should be one of them this time too, right?"
It wasn't until the day of departure, after they had packed their belongings, that they met their team leader. Excitement and surprise immediately appeared on their faces as they called out in a jumble. "Senior Brother Meng Chen!!"
Who could have imagined they would be so lucky that their team leader turned out to be Meng Chen!
In fact, a senior brother at the Golden Core Stage was already very capable, able to handle various situations down the mountain and even put up a fight against ordinary demonic cultivators. Those at the Nascent Soul Stage could definitely be considered experts. When the disciples saw Meng Chen, they all felt reassured, as if they had taken a pill to calm their nerves. Any previous worries about the mission being too difficult or dangerous completely vanished, leaving only excitement!
Xue Lang, who had been standing quietly at the back of the group, couldn't help but discreetly raise his head.
Because they were going down the mountain, everyone had changed out of their sect uniforms and into their own casual clothes. Meng Chen wore a moon-white robe, which made him appear even more handsome and otherworldly. He passed the mission scroll around for everyone to read, saying, "The difficulty of this mission is medium-low, but you must not let your guard down. I require everyone to maintain discipline and vigilance at all times. Do not act alone, and if you encounter any unusual situations, report to me immediately."
The ten new disciples had different personalities, some obedient and some lively, but at this moment, they all stood before Meng Chen as meek as chicks, standing at attention and responding loudly in unison. "Yes!"
Meng Chen nodded and distributed something to everyone. "These are communication talismans. In case we get separated, you can use them to contact me."
Upon hearing this, Xue Lang felt as if a small pebble had been kneaded into his heart, and he unconsciously pressed his lips together.
Communication talismans?
Did everyone get one?
He kept a straight face and discreetly looked over, only to see that Meng Chen was giving everyone yellow communication talisman scripts, which were very common in the cultivation world, not the small white paper cranes.
His knotted heart immediately relaxed, and the young man's expression instantly changed from gloomy to sunny, even showing signs of elation.
After Meng Chen finished distributing the communication talismans, a female disciple named Lian Zhi looked at Xue Lang at the back of the group, then at Meng Chen. After hesitating for a while, she finally spoke up weakly: "Um... Senior Brother Meng, Xue Lang doesn't have a communication talisman yet."
Meng Chen glanced at Xue Lang and said, "He doesn't need one."
The other nine disciples inwardly gasped, casting sympathetic looks towards Xue Lang.
This guy must have really offended Senior Brother Meng with what he did before. He won't even give him a communication talisman! How pitiful!!
Xue Lang calmly met the "fend for yourself" gazes of the others, tucking the small paper crane that was obediently nestled in his sleeve closer to him. He then set out down the mountain with everyone else, heading towards Zhangbai Village in Heyang City.
The mission scroll stated that Zhangbai Village had recently experienced a series of disappearances. The identities of the missing people were quite special – they were all newly wedded brides. The villagers thought it might be bandits kidnapping brides, so they reported it to the authorities. However, after several days of investigation, the patrolmen couldn't find any suspects, and there were no clues about the whereabouts of the brides. Rumors began to spread, saying that the brides had probably been taken by ghosts. The villagers were both shocked and frightened. After someone's suggestion, they hurriedly sought help from immortals. Taixuan Sect was closest to Heyang City, so they accepted this commission.
Meng Chen led the group to Zhangbai Village. This village was surrounded by mountains on all sides, isolated from transportation. The villagers didn't seem very wealthy and had never seen what cultivators looked like. When they saw a group of people with flowing robes descend from the sky on swords, they were all shocked and fearful. They kept their distance, whispering among themselves while observing the newcomers. Only the families of the missing girls approached, crying.
"Immortal, please save my daughter!" The woman crying the hardest wore a blue cloth headscarf. She immediately recognized Meng Chen as the leader and fell to her knees at his feet, tightly grasping the hem of his robe with both hands.
Her hands had become rough and cracked from years of hard work, with streaks of black dirt accumulated under her nails, looking somewhat unsightly. However, Meng Chen paid no attention to this and gently helped the woman up, saying, "Can you tell us the details of what happened?"
The woman wiped away her tears and sobbed, "Not long ago, my daughter Er Feng got engaged to the youngest son of the Zhang family from Heyang City. Three days ago, the wedding procession came to our village to take her away. Who would have thought that within two hours, news came back saying the bride had disappeared!"
As she spoke, she began crying again. One of the disciples listened anxiously and couldn't help but ask urgently, "How did she disappear?"
"They said that halfway through the journey, the weather suddenly changed. A strong wind kicked up, stirring up dust and sand. The people in the wedding procession all covered their heads and eyes. When the sandstorm passed and they looked again, the person in the bridal sedan was gone!"
The disciples looked at each other in bewilderment. This sounded quite strange indeed. Even if it were bandits kidnapping the bride, how could they have the ability to create a sandstorm?
Meng Chen questioned the others and found that a total of three families had lost their daughters. Their accounts were all similar to that of Er Feng's mother.
"Um, I have a question," the female disciple named Lian Zhi spoke up timidly. "According to what you've said, the three brides disappeared three days ago, five days ago, and six days ago respectively when they got married. So, when the first bride disappeared, didn't the other two families realize something was wrong? Why did they still proceed with the weddings?"
Hearing this, the woman with the blue headscarf became even more agitated. She cried and lunged at a tall, thin man who was shrinking in the back without saying a word. "I said we shouldn't let Er Feng marry after what happened to Gui Hua and Er Ya, but her father wouldn't agree! You pushed our daughter onto a path of death with your own hands!!"
Er Feng's father, after taking two slaps, also lost his temper. "How can you blame me? When Gui Hua and Er Ya went missing, everyone thought it was an accident. Who could have imagined Er Feng would also disappear? How could I harm my own daughter? Besides, the marriage was arranged long ago. How could we explain to the Zhang family if we backed out at the last minute? We can't afford to offend them!"
A disciple asked, "Can't afford to offend them? What does the Zhang family do?"
The man replied, "They run a pawnshop in Heyang City. It was a blessing that they took a liking to my daughter. How could we dare to break off the engagement?"
"Running a pawnshop, they must be quite wealthy," Xue Lang suddenly spoke up. "So it's not that you didn't dare to break off the engagement, but that you couldn't bear to part with the bride price, right?"
Hearing this, the other disciples all showed looks of realization. Er Feng's father looked as if he had been stepped on a sore spot. His face turned from green to red, and he seemed to want to curse loudly, but was wary of Xue Lang's status as an "immortal" and didn't dare to be too disrespectful. So he took out his anger on his wife, grabbing her arm and shoving her roughly, saying angrily, "I said we should just let the authorities handle this, but you had to call these so-called 'immortals'! What can they do? How can there possibly be ghosts in this world? It's ridiculous!"
Upon hearing this, the disciples all showed indignant expressions. Some with more impatient temperaments wanted to speak up and argue, but they saw Meng Chen slightly raise his hand, so they immediately suppressed what they wanted to say and stepped back into line.
"We understand the situation now," Meng Chen said to the woman with the blue headscarf. "We need to go to Heyang City. We'll come back and inform you when we have results."
The woman thanked them profusely as she saw them off. Meng Chen and the others then went to Heyang City, first visiting the Zhang family's pawnshop.
"I never imagined a person could just disappear like that!" The pawnshop owner, who was over seventy years old, immediately felt short of breath when mentioning this matter. The shop assistant hurriedly poured him water and patted his chest. He waved his hand and said with a pained expression, "Ah De had reached the age for marriage. I specially had someone calculate his birth date and time, and the matchmaker said that Er Feng was a beautiful girl with good character, so we arranged this marriage. Who could have thought the bride would vanish on the way!"
"This matter is truly strange," the busy assistant said in a low voice. "I was in the wedding procession at the time. Everything was fine along the way, then suddenly the sky darkened and a strong wind started blowing. That wind was uncanny; even us strong men were almost blown apart. For a moment, no one could attend to the bride in the sedan. When the wind stopped, we found the sedan was empty."
One disciple couldn't help but ask, "Could the bride have been blown away by the wind?"
"Impossible," the assistant replied without hesitation. "That place isn't that big. We searched countless times but couldn't find a trace of her. In my opinion," his voice lowered, "this incident must be the work of demons or ghosts."
After leaving the Zhang family's pawnshop, the group visited the families of Gui Hua and Er Ya's fiancés, the Li family and the Wang family - one a salt merchant and the other a cloth merchant. Although both families were very cooperative, they didn't provide any new useful information.
By the time they left the Wang family, it was getting late. Meng Chen looked at the new disciples and asked, "What are your thoughts?"
The disciples all tensed up, like students being questioned by a teacher. They racked their brains and each tried to give their own analysis.
"I think these are all ordinary people. Their anxious demeanors don't seem to be an act. They probably have nothing to do with the brides' disappearances."
"I think so too. Mortals don't have the ability to cause weather changes. This incident is likely the work of demons!"
Meng Chen listened to each disciple's opinion, and finally asked, "Xue Lang, what about you?"
"I have two questions," Xue Lang said after a moment of silence, looking up. "First, those who met with us were all the parents and elders of the grooms. Why didn't the original grooms appear? Shouldn't the grooms be the most anxious about their brides going missing?"
"Second, the Zhang, Li, and Wang families are either wealthy or noble, all prominent households in Heyang City. Their marriages should typically seek equal social status. Why would they choose girls from farming families in the remote Zhangbai Village?"
