Volume 3: Nightmare Attacks Chapter 0072: Corrupted Mage
Inside the Taoist temple, in a simple hut , Master Corruption was staying with his master.
His master looked very old, with long wrinkles all over his shriveled face and his eye sockets deeply sunken, making him look like a dried corpse that was thirsty for human flesh and blood.
The reason why Master Eruption became a Taoist priest was because of a mudslide he encountered in his childhood. More than ten years ago, there was a small village here, built at the foot of the mountain, where people lived by hunting in the mountains.
Their family was part of this small village. His father hunted, his mother farmed and raised livestock, and he followed a group of older children around. At that time, his biggest wish was that his father would take him to the city once to play Zhang Gouzi fighting against the monster he boasted about. (Actually, it was a Subor game console.)
When he was seven years old, his parents discussed and decided that they should send him to the city to receive education there, so that he could not live in such a remote place like them, and be one of the lowest class of people all his life.
When his father told him the news, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep for several nights. He even thought about the envious looks that Zhang Ergou and his friends would have on him when he came back from the city and learned about the city.
Just as he imagined, his father prepared many novelties that he had never seen before, such as a folding pencil case, various cartoon erasers (the kind that turn black when erased), and a square school bag.
He would bring them to the village to show off every day, which made Zhang Ergouzi and others chase him every day, but he never got tired of it. Finally, the day of departure came, and many people in the village came to see him off. He felt very proud at the time, and Zhang Ergouzi and others must have been very angry.
My father drove his donkey cart slowly away, and the figures in the distance became increasingly blurred. He felt that the sky above him seemed to have suddenly changed, and he felt more and more depressed, his nose was sore, and he no longer had any of the excitement he had before.
He changed his mind and cried to his father that he wanted to go back, but before his father could stop the car, a deafening roar was heard in the distance.
The loud noise covered up his crying, and also covered up his father's lively eyes.
"Xiao Ye, listen to your father and stay here. I'll go back and take a look."
At this point, he could clearly hear his father's voice trembling and choking, and his father's eyes becoming moist.
He stared blankly at his father's back as he walked away, until the back completely disappeared. From then on, he never appeared again.
He waited and waited for three days, but his father did not show up. During this time, he saw white cars passing by him quickly, and cars with flashing red lights and shrill horns.
Finally, he could no longer endure the hunger and cold and passed out.
When he woke up again, he was in the Taoist temple and saw a worried face. He still remembered the first words his master said to him after he woke up:
"Boy, your village was buried by a mudslide, and you are lucky to have escaped. The police are outside now. Do you want to go with them, or continue to live with me?"
After hearing this, he burst into tears, and without asking why the village disappeared, he nodded and agreed. Later, as he grew older, he learned that there was not much vegetation on the mountain, and the ones that were there had been cut down by people living down the mountain over the years. In addition, there were several heavy rains in those days, so the mudslide occurred.
There were more than a hundred households in the entire village, and anyone who did not leave the village that day was crushed to death by the mudslide.
Without his parents, he naturally couldn't go to school. Although he was still young at that time and didn't understand many things, this incident was enough to make him silent for a long time.
During this time, his master comforted him and gave him a lot of care and attention like a parent. In this way, he gradually opened up his heart.
It was at that time that his master accepted him as a disciple, and then began to let him learn some things related to Taoism, some of which required rote memorization, and some that allowed him to gain insights.
He thought it was interesting, so it was not difficult for him to learn it, and his master praised him highly. Then he boarded the pirate ship and followed his master to cheat people in the city, saying that this family had bad feng shui and that family was haunted by ghosts.
Although his IQ is not high, his EQ is not low. He can naturally see that his master is just earning a living, so he doesn't need his master to remind him. He also knows not to talk too much when doing things and to act according to his master's instructions.
Every time he succeeded in cheating, he would always ask:
"Is what you just said true or false? Are there really ghosts in this world?"
His master would always repeat:
"Of course I lied to them, but ghosts must exist, otherwise my ancestors were lying to me."
Every time he heard his master say this, he would secretly call him a liar. He inexplicably felt aversion to this kind of thing, but he had no choice but to continue for a living.
When he was older, he finally realized a problem. Where did his master get all the money he cheated over the years? After careful calculation, it was a considerable income. Exorcism, feng shui, naming, fortune-telling, rituals... However, their lives were still very poor.
Later he went to ask his master, and his master just said coolly:
“I donated it.”
He didn't say anything at the time, but cursed in his heart: "Fuck!"
This was a turning point, because in the days that followed, his master would often brainwash him inhumanely, such as good deeds will be rewarded with good and evil deeds will be punished with evil, and that one should do good deeds and help others, and that one can seek wealth but must not kill...
I think his worrisome character was cultivated by his master at this time.
He actually likes such days very much. Although he would feel sad and his eyes would turn red when he couldn't sleep, and he would carefully reminisce about his parents, but such times were few and far between after all.
As he grew up, his master also got older. Although he still looked strong, his eyes were not as sharp as before. He gradually took over the business and, according to his master's instructions, donated most of the money he earned from "doing good deeds".
He became a lone ranger, a hermit master in the eyes of outsiders, and he also gave himself a Buddhist name, the Degenerate Master. This Buddhist name is somewhat self-deprecating and can be regarded as a satire on the decadent life of city dwellers.
He originally thought that the days to come would belong to him and his master would not interfere in anything. But one day, his master suddenly became panicked, as if he knew something incredible.
The master gave him a book with many strange symbols recorded in it, and told him to remember the contents of the book and be able to draw every symbol.
He was puzzled at the time and jokingly asked his master if it was the treasure of the town, but his master did not answer him. He just repeatedly reminded him to remember the contents of the book and understand the symbols on the painting.
Not only that, his master would test him every day. During the process, he noticed that his master did not know the content and would use the book to check when testing him.
In fact, he had already gone through his master's things countless times, including the pillows, under the bed, and other details, but he had never seen this book. Moreover, if this thing really existed, his master would have taken it out long ago, and would not have taken it out now to let him memorize it.
What was even stranger was yet to come, because in the following time, his master accompanied him to go out and work, and he could truly feel that the atmosphere was much heavier than before.
He didn't really care about it at first, after all, his master was old and his personality was bound to become eccentric. It was not until that day that he knew the reason for all this.
