Swallow Return

To prevent this fellow from suddenly attacking and hurting people, Liu Yun had no choice but to take action, punching and kicking him until Miyabe Zenshōbō was bruised and bleeding from the head.

This increased "physical therapy" finally calmed Miyabe Zenshōbō down, leaving him too exhausted to continue.

Liu Yun had thoroughly exercised his muscles and bones and felt quite refreshed.

I heard in my past life that moderate, healthy physical activity can improve one's mood. And it's true!

Especially afterwards, there was a beautiful girl like Saeko serving him, wiping his sweat with her fair and delicate hands while blinking her big eyes and saying with a face full of admiration, "Master, you've worked hard"...

Of course, this is just a trivial detail; the main thing is that exercise brings joy.

After being beaten up, Miyabe Zenshōbō lay on the ground, his face bruised and swollen, his head bleeding. He seemed much more conscious, and the demonic aura around him gradually disappeared.

He probably knew why he got beaten up, so he didn't show any dissatisfaction towards Liu Yun.

Despite the danger, Lady Ningning approached gently and offered a few words of comfort, saying, "There is a Master Zhu Zhong in Hengshan City, you must have heard of him. His Yin-Yang arts are unfathomable. No matter what the problem is, if I ask him to take a look, he will always have a way to solve it."

Seeing this, Miyabe Zenshōbō was deeply moved. He sighed deeply and shook his head sadly, saying, "Thank you, Madam! If it weren't for you all... I wouldn't even know when I was cursed... Alas, this is troublesome!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yun frowned: "You don't know who harmed you?"

Miyabe Zenshōbō shook his head blankly: "Since you ordered me to release the Tiger-Gozen Monster to attack the Oda army, then it must have been someone from the Asai family who did it. But looking at the Asai family, none of them seem to have the ability to do that. Including Lord Bizen (Azai Nagamasa), although he is quite skilled in martial arts, he has never demonstrated any magic!"

Ningning pondered for a moment and explained, "I've heard Lord Takenaka mention the evil technique of 'Heart Mantra.' Those under its spell will involuntarily carry out commands without any other abnormalities, believing they are doing it voluntarily. Even if someone reminds them and they realize something is wrong, they will fall into a frenzy, just like Zen Master Miyabe Zenshōbō did. And after a period of frenzy, they will gradually forget the truth and involuntarily carry out the commands again."

Saeko stood to the side, her expression slightly somber, muttering to herself, "Compared to the magic array used by my bastard father, this 'heart incantation' technique seems... not so evil after all."

Ryuun gently squeezed Saeko's hand to comfort her. Then he asked Ningning, "Madam, you are born with spiritual power. In your opinion, is it possible for Lord Takenaka to undo this spell?"

Ningning looked troubled and hesitated, saying, "To undo a spell, one needs more magical power than the caster. I dare not answer that question. Besides, Lord Takenaka probably won't be able to return for a while. I heard he's also encountering difficulties in the south."

Liu Yun shook his head and sighed, "It seems that the monk's problem can't be solved in a short time. Let's deal with the widow's problem first."

Ningning nodded, squatted down to look at Miyabe Zenshōbō at eye level, and said softly, "Master, may I ask you where those innocent widows are being held?"

“Of course, of course!” Miyabe Zenshōbō cooperated readily and said honestly, “Actually, it’s on Toragomae Mountain. Go up from the southwest, at the second fork in the road, there’s one…”

He was only halfway through his sentence when the monk's expression suddenly turned extremely ferocious and pained, and his words changed abruptly: "No! We can't tell anyone! We must release Toragozen to deal with the Oda clan!"

At the same time, Miyabe Zenshōbō roared and stretched out his arms as if to strangle Lady Ningning.

Ningning instinctively tried to dodge.

But Miyabe Zenshōbō was born with superhuman strength and was as fierce as a tiger. As a woman with little martial arts skills, she was too slow to react and had no chance to dodge.

Fortunately, there were drifting clouds nearby.

Liu Yun saw that Madam Ningning was approaching the Gongbu Zensho-bo despite the danger. Although he did not stop her, he kept a close eye on her.

Now that things had gone wrong, he leaped forward like lightning, grabbed Ningning's waist with his left hand, pulled her back forcefully to protect her, and raised his right leg high, delivering a flying kick that landed squarely on the crazed monk's chest.

Miyabe Zenshōbō was sent flying again, gliding through the air for a few meters before landing with a thud.

Then Liu Yun released Ning Ning's waist and apologized, "In this emergency, I had to act expediently. Please forgive my rudeness."

Compared to his beautiful wife and concubines, Ningning's waist was not slender and delicate; it seemed to have a little bit of excess fat.

Liu Yun felt the elasticity of her skin against his and felt slightly embarrassed.

Lady Ningning, true to her reputation as a heroine, showed none of the shyness or fear that one might expect from an ordinary woman. She simply nodded and smiled calmly, saying, "Thank you, Lord Sasaki. I am deeply grateful and would never have thought you would take offense."

After a while, Miyabe Zenshōbō struggled to get up from the ground. His body was covered in bruises, his lips were cracked and his nose was bleeding. He was also covered in dust and mud, looking utterly wretched.

The monk awoke once more, ignoring his own injuries, and asked anxiously, "You didn't hurt Lady Ningning, did you?"

Ningning calmly replied, "I'm fine. Fortunately, Lord Sasaki intervened."

Miyabe Zenshōbō breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. Madam Ningning is so kind and friendly. If I had unintentionally hurt you, I would have felt terrible."

At that moment, Liu Yun suddenly had a thought—just now, Ning Ning knew that this monk might go mad at any moment, yet she still approached him. Perhaps it wasn't negligence, but rather a deliberate act. She probably understood the monk's nature and intentionally provoked him to feel guilty, so that she could use him in the future.

Of course, this is just a guess and there's no way to verify it.

If it's true, then Madam Ningning's character is truly quite profound.

Liu Yun stopped thinking about irrelevant matters and felt that important business was more important, so he first went to Miyabe Zenshōbō to ask about the exact location of the group of widows.

Miyabe Zenshōbō himself is willing to answer, but each time he only says twenty words, his mind changes drastically and he enters a berserk state.

At this point, Liu Yun would give him another "physical therapy" session to help him recover.

After repeating this process three to five times, the matter was finally clarified.

It turns out that the widows were imprisoned in a cave in Tiger Imperial Mountain.

By this time, Liu Yun was already somewhat exhausted from making his repeated attacks.

Fortunately, Saeko was there to take good care of me, wiping away my sweat and giving me a massage, so although I was physically tired, I felt quite refreshed.

As for Miyabe Zenshōbō, he was beaten so badly that he was unrecognizable, to the point that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him.

This is all thanks to his innate superhuman strength and extraordinary physique.

If it were an ordinary person, after being beaten a few times by Liu Yun, they would probably have turned into mincemeat long ago.

Despite being beaten so badly, Miyabe Zenshōbō still expressed his gratitude in a weak tone, thanking Ryūun for not causing him to lose his mind.

Lady Ningning comforted the monk gently and advised him to stay in Yokoyama City for a while, and wait for Takenaka Shigeharu to return so they could find a way to break the curse.

Miyabe Zenshōbō agreed without much thought.

On one hand, he had developed some trust in Ningning, and on the other hand, he had already been beaten so badly that he had no other choice.

Seeing this, Liu Yun didn't refuse. He reached out and lifted the barely breathing Miyabe Zenshōbō onto his shoulder like a piece of merchandise.

After a moment's thought, Ningning said, "Tiger Mountain is not far from here. In my opinion, it would be better to rescue the imprisoned widow first, lest things get complicated."

Confident in his martial prowess, Liu Yun readily agreed to the proposal and set off to rescue the people.

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Chapter 109 The Peaceful, Noblewoman-like Female Demon

Tiger God Mountain is located in the southern part of Odani Castle. It is a small mountain range with an area of ​​three to four kilometers in circumference.

Of course, no matter how small it is, it is still an undulating mountainous area. Without a guide, it would be very difficult to find the imprisoned widows in a hidden cave, like finding a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately, Miyabe Zenshōbō hadn't reasoned with Ryūun, and had already been persuaded, obediently pointing out the way.

As evening approached, the group reached the foot of the mountain to the southwest and found a narrow path, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

After walking up the path for a while, we came to a corner when suddenly a dozen or so monks appeared, armed with bows and arrows, naginatas, arquebuses, and other weapons. They stood guard on the hilltop, looking down at us and sternly warning us: "This is the territory of Yuji Shrine. Do not approach without an invitation!"

Seeing this, Liu Yun realized that he would have to explain things to Liu Yun before he could continue.

He put the bald, burly man he was carrying on his shoulder down on the ground, and was about to start reasoning when—

One of the observant monks glanced down and immediately changed his expression: "Isn't that Brother Shanxiangfang? How did he get beaten up like this?"

Although Miyabe Zenshōbō possessed extraordinary strength and physique, he didn't have the "healing power" of Ryūyū. At this moment, he was still weak and on the verge of death, trying his best to shout upwards, "It was indeed this humble monk... who couldn't beat them..."

Before he could finish speaking, the group of monks above looked at each other, bewildered and at a loss.

One of the leaders shouted, "Even Brother Shanxiangfang has been beaten to this state and taken prisoner. How can we stop him? Run!"

In an instant, the monk soldiers put away their weapons and scattered.

Liu Yun was very curious: "They are clearly monks, shouldn't it be a temple? Why are they talking about 'Yuji Shrine'? What surprises me even more is that the fighting spirit of these monk soldiers is so low..."

Miyabe Zenshōbō lay on the ground and weakly explained, "The so-called local manifestation and protection of the Dharma are common occurrences between temples and shrines... As for fighting spirit, the Asai clan is about to be destroyed, and the Oda clan's attitude towards Buddhism is unclear. It's already good enough that my fellow disciples haven't packed up and fled."

Liu Yun nodded in realization, but then said with ill intent, "You monk, you can speak normally now, it seems you've recovered quite well. To prevent you from going berserk again later, you might need to be beaten up again."

Miyabe Zenshōbō's face immediately turned bitter, and he said weakly, "This humble monk will try his best to control himself..."

Liu Yun smiled without saying a word, and casually picked up the monk and carried him on his shoulder.

Keep going up.

There's a fork in the road after the turn.

To the left is the path to the so-called "Yuji Shrine". That place is used to worship both Buddha and other deities. It has a torii gate in the shape of the Chinese character "开" (kai) on the outside and a pagoda with sharp angles inside.

The local Shintoism and the imported Buddhism merged into one, with monks as the main religion and priests as secondary religions.

This is a situation very characteristic of Japan.

The main reason was that the loosely organized Shinto sects couldn't compete with the tightly organized Buddhist sects, but the powerful outsiders couldn't completely suppress the local snakes either. After dealing with each other more and more often, they simply colluded to do business together.

This forms a rational basis, namely what Miyabe Zenshōbō just referred to as "local manifestations and incarnations protecting the Dharma."

Liu Yun had been a monk for a few years, but he only knew how to practice martial arts and was not proficient in professional knowledge. He had only heard of these two words, but did not know their specific meaning.

But it doesn't matter if I don't know, I'm not going there anyway.

The road to the right at the fork in the road winds diagonally towards the summit, leading into the depths of the remote mountains and forests.

According to Miyabe Zenshōbō's description, the group walked along this road, made several turns, and arrived at the entrance of a small cave.

It is said that the group of widows were imprisoned deep inside, trapped by two barriers.

At this time, the sky had begun to darken, and Madam Ningning took out a small pearl from her bag and emitted a light to illuminate the area.

Before they even got close, two monsters with blue faces and fangs, resembling apes, suddenly jumped out from the side. Each of them held a thick, broken gold cudgel, and their demonic aura was not strong.

Liu Yun asked the monk he was carrying on his shoulder, "These people are probably not acquaintances of yours, are they?"

Miyabe Zenshōbō shook his head: "It should be a wild yokai. Strange, I've hardly seen any yokai in all these years."

Liu Yun then gripped the hilt of his knife and said, "Since they're not acquaintances, and they're standing in my way, I'll make my move!"

Two blue-faced, fanged monsters wailed and howled meaningless interjections, brandishing their broken gold cudgels in a threatening manner, but they did not attack proactively.

Just as Liu Yun was about to draw his sword, a faint female voice suddenly came from inside the cave: "They have no intention of harming anyone, they are just trying to protect themselves. Could you please show mercy?"

At the same time, a deep yet calm demonic aura swept over us.

A graceful and elegant woman emerged from the cave, dressed in elaborately patterned kimono that reached the ground when she knelt, resembling a noblewoman from the Heian period.

The woman's appearance and figure were quite ordinary, not particularly outstanding. Her brows were filled with traces of loneliness and desolation, but she possessed a very mysterious charm, both dignified and kind.

Madam Ningning is very similar in type, but her aura is inevitably overshadowed.

The noblewoman waved her hand, and the two blue-faced, fanged monsters lost all their violent aura, turning into harmless little animals, dropping their sticks and disappearing into the forest.

Miyabe Zenshōbō, who was being carried on Ryūyū's shoulder, widened his eyes in shock: "Torō-no-Zen! Torō-no-Zen has reappeared? This humble monk hasn't even used the spell to awaken her yet!"

Everyone was astonished.