Chapter 343: Obey the Decree
Chen Ping'an was somewhat annoyed, thinking he shouldn't have been so reckless. The moment the thought arose, he let his mind run free, and this three-hundred-mile stretch of water had attracted the covetous gazes of these water demons and ghosts. If a real conflict broke out, the Sword-Nurturing Gourd was still with his physical body. Earlier on the river, practicing the six-step standing stakes, he had been very clumsy, and the few punches he threw were soft and weak. His yin spirit seemed inherently unsuited to martial arts. Thinking of that pair of lantern-like eyes at the bottom of the river, Chen Ping'an felt a lingering fear.
Zhong Kui perhaps saw through Chen Ping'an's thoughts. "Yin spirits naturally love to roam the world at night. On your first time leaving your body for a spirit journey, your newborn yin spirit goes nowhere else but happens to come to this Buried River Water God Temple. According to qi cultivators, this could be a rare and fortuitous opportunity. Still, you must handle it carefully. Fortune and misfortune are uncertain; not everything is good."
Chen Ping'an asked, "Is the temple priest in the Water God Temple a cultivator? Can he discover my identity as a yin spirit?"
Zhong Kui said irritably, "Given the Lady of the Buried River's temperament, she frequently goes to fight water demons to the death. And with so many vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts in the river, all driven by that water demon, do you think the Water God Temple, which houses her golden statue, would lack an expert to guard it? Otherwise, that self-styled 'Yellow Immortal Lord' water demon would have already swallowed the temple and the small hill together."
Chen Ping'an said sheepishly, "That does seem to be the case."
Zhong Kui finally offered some good news. "But rest assured, your yin spirit is very ethereal. As long as you don't enter the shrine to burn incense, no one at the Water God Temple will be able to tell."
Zhong Kui frowned, circled Chen Ping'an, and clicked his tongue in wonder. "Chen Ping'an, have you suffered two major calamities? One very early on, harming your fate, and one just a few years ago, breaking your Bridge of Longevity?"
Chen Ping'an hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Usually cautious, he made an exception and didn't deliberately hide it. "Something like that." He did so because of this man's title as a gentleman of Dafu Academy and because of the "Teacher Qi" that Zhong Kui had referred to.
Zhong Kui rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
Chen Ping'an asked, "How did you figure it out?"
Zhong Kui continued to study Chen Ping'an, speaking slowly. "Trees have rings that show their age. A person's soul is similar, but the human body is a small world, and the world is a large body. The human skin, flesh, blood, and bones act like a wall erected between the two."
Seeing Chen Ping'an's confused expression, Zhong Kui gave an example. "For instance, in the Bright World and the Azure World, if cultivators want to inspect each other, even if they are well-versed in the divine ability of 'viewing mountains and rivers in the palm,' no matter if you're a twelfth-realm immortal, it's useless. But when your yin spirit manifests, the soul becomes clear like rocks emerging from receding water, allowing me to see many clues."
Zhong Kui suddenly laughed. "Chen Ping'an, you've had a tough time as a patcher."
What was broken was the fate porcelain; in the Pearly Pearl Cave Heaven, Chen Ping'an couldn't grasp any fortune. What was severed was the Bridge of Longevity; his body leaked wind and rain on all sides, which was why he needed to practice the Mountain-Shaking Fist to cling to life. Zhong Kui said Chen Ping'an was a miserable patcher, hitting the nail on the head.
Earlier, there was the sage Zhou Ju of Vase Bottle Continent, who could recite poems to make enemies stand in fierce winds, their forms withering instantly. Now, there was the gentleman Zhong Kui of Tongye Continent, even more unfathomable. Chen Ping'an momentarily gained a more complex and profound feeling toward these Confucian academies.
Chen Ping'an asked, "You're going into the temple to burn the first incense? As a gentleman of the academy, won't there be problems?"
Zhong Kui couldn't help but smile. "If some pedantic scholars at the academy found out, there might be some criticism, but it's harmless. Scholars aren't as rigid as you think."
Zhong Kui exclaimed in surprise, a mischievous smile on his face. "Well, thanks to you, I can experience the hot temper of the Lady of the Buried River in person."
Zhong Kui's lips moved slightly, and the water of the Buried River around them flowed around as if encountering a river pillar, simultaneously giving off a faint fluorescent light. A large umbrella-like canopy shielded them, concealing their forms. Then Zhong Kui grabbed Chen Ping'an's arm. "Come with me to watch the show."
The Buried River became turbid and turbulent, as if a series of underwater thunderclaps were exploding in the river. Three or four li from the Water God Temple, a section of the riverbed had become a battlefield.
Chen Ping'an looked into the distance. There was a petite figure holding something; with each swing, it traced a brilliant silver arc through the water. Because of the speed, silver lines accumulated, resembling a messy cursive script, full of freehand style. That figure emitted a faint golden light, like a lit lamp against the pitch-black background, particularly noticeable. The woman was very short, appearing petite and dainty. She looked young, with an ordinary face, somewhat baby-faced and round. But she was clad in a brilliant golden light, with sharp eyes and an imposing manner. At her waist hung a long blade, on her back she carried a longsword, and in her hand she held an iron spear, extremely long, nearly twice her height. The scabbard was blue-purple, mostly wrapped in gold threads. At the junction of the sword scabbard and hilt, five-colored clouds rose, a magnificent sight. Presumably the long sword within was no ordinary item.
She moved through water like the wind, unimpeded, swift as thunder. The spear in her hand repeatedly tore into the massive body of that water demon, blood splattering everywhere, filling the Buried River's water with the smell of blood. Once she was struck by the demon's head and smashed into the riverbed, causing a rumbling sound. In an instant she sprang up and pierced the giant demon's lower jaw with her spear. The demon's wailing shook the heavens as it crazily twisted its body, causing massive waves on the Buried River. Even commoners near the Water God Temple noticed the anomaly, but no one was afraid; they stood on tiptoe, gazing into the distance, treating it as a novelty.
Besides her violent and swift attacks, the short woman was also a black-clad girl who liked to curse during fights.
"You beast, rebelling against heaven! If I don't come after you, it's already your ancestors' good fortune... but you're a beast without ancestors anyway. Since you have the guts to come before my temple, I'll make you leave a few hundred pounds of flesh here!"
"Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you have connections in the court, sending seven or eight hundred thousand taels of silver to Shenjing City every year, always trying to revoke my status as prefect of Biyou Mansion. Even if the Buried River Temple really becomes a heretical shrine of Daquan one day, so what if I sacrifice my golden statue? I said I'd cut you into eighteen pieces, and I won't stop at seventeen!"
"Beast, come on, take another spear! Later I'll have the mansion make a bowl of stir-fried eel noodles, it tastes great!"
The demon was gigantic, golden in color, with no scales on its exposed body, its slipperiness nauseating. It was originally a demon from a famous lake in Daquan. Over time, things become spirits, but its cultivation was slow. Even though it had obtained a great opportunity early on, after more than six hundred years of diligent cultivation, it remained blocked outside the Dragon Gate Realm for over a hundred years. Later, a wandering expert advised it, so it left its lair in the lake, went ashore, and after many hardships, started from the source of the Buried River, imitating a flood dragon walking through rivers, broke through the bottleneck, and entered the Dragon Gate Realm. If it could smoothly travel downstream to the confluence of the Buried River and the great river, then follow it into the sea, it might even achieve a Golden Core.
Unexpectedly, when passing by the Buried River Water God Temple, that damned woman actually resented it for killing some ordinary mortals, claimed to act on behalf of heaven, and even fought it to the death. At that time, it had just entered the Dragon Gate Realm and was full of spirit, so it didn't take her seriously. The lake where its lair was also had a water god stationed, but that god was just its echo, bowing and scraping to it, paying tribute every year.
From the river section outside the Buried River Water God Temple, the two fought all the way upstream. That battle was earth-shattering, eventually flooding both banks for three hundred li. Fortunately, it was a desolate section, so the common people weren't affected. In the water, it was no match for that Buried River Water God, so it had to retreat to the upper reaches of the Buried River and recuperate for decades. After stabilizing its Dragon Gate Realm, it could transform into human form. It appeared on shore as a strong man, carrying a precious treasure, and personally went to Biyou Mansion to apologize. Unexpectedly, that crazy woman attacked without a word. That time its ferocity fully erupted, both sides used all their treasures. The battle was even more tragic than their first encounter; most of Biyou Mansion was flooded, countless things destroyed, cracks appeared in the Water God's golden statue, and it gained nothing. One of its life-bound treasures and one river-suppressing treasure were lost or damaged, and it retreated in utter defeat. For the next two hundred years, it regarded the battle at Biyou Mansion as a great humiliation. Despite various schemes and plans after that, its cultivation skyrocketed, nearing the threshold of Golden Core, but it never transformed into human form again. It swore that only when that madwoman's golden statue crumbled and her temple was abandoned would it swagger ashore. As for those fragments of the golden statue, they would naturally be its meal; perhaps without even going to that river that flows into the sea, it could break into the Golden Core Realm in one fell swoop!
However, in actual aquatic combat, it was no match for this Buried River Water God; it had never gained an advantage even once. After two hundred years of dealing with each other, it seemed that woman was determined to block it in the upper reaches of the Buried River. And because of this self-defeating foolishness, even though she received so many incense offerings from the mortal world year after year, the construction of her golden statue progressed slowly.
Tonight, it again suffered a defeat without suspense and quickly retreated upstream. The short woman saw that it was determined that if she kept pursuing, it would go ashore to harm the people, so she reluctantly stopped. That iron spear had long fallen to the riverbed during the battle. She sheathed her sword and blade, found the most suitable weapon, cursed a bit, and then vanished in a flash, returning to Biyou Mansion.
Only then did Zhong Kui and Chen Ping'an reveal themselves. The two went ashore to the Water God Temple on the mountain. Nearly a thousand commoners were waiting here to burn incense when the temple opened. The foot of the mountain was filled with carriages, horses, donkeys, and mules, so many that many late-night snack stalls were set up outside the temple. Combined with the earlier anomaly upstream, everyone was excited.
Zhong Kui accompanied Chen Ping'an to look at the white jade inscriptions, each standing like bamboo shoots after rain. Most were rain-praying texts from Daquan emperors and local officials over the ages. Some contained content similar to self-criticism edicts, as well as rain-thanking texts after successful prayers. Chen Ping'an read through these inscriptions quickly, scanning them. Zhong Kui had long gone to the front of the stele forest, squatting on the ground, looking at a severely worn ancient stone tablet. Only a few dozen characters of the inscription remained, the content intermittent, with many missing characters.
Chen Ping'an came to Zhong Kui's side and found it was a poem, without a signature or attribution. Probably through the long years, wind, sun, and rain, only about half the text remained.
"Deafened heaven and earth, blind sun and moon... mountains and rivers withered, trees and grass dead, happy people in heaven complain. Bound with iron writ and sent to Fengdu, drive the Thunder God, command thunder and lightning, in an instant between heaven and earth, wind and clouds inhale and exhale... adept in divine martiality, a drop of water from the golden vase in heaven, flying threads fill the sky like a loom... sweep away the world's heat."
Zhong Kui asked, "Can you see anything?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "I only recognize the characters."
Zhong Kui said with emotion, "My teacher once said that the text on this stone tablet is actually a long-lost Daoist cultivation mantra."
Chen Ping'an asked, "So, did you see the trick?"
Zhong Kui said seriously, "I only recognize the characters."
Chen Ping'an chuckled.
The two stood up. At the main gate of the temple, it was crowded. Zhong Kui complained, "For your sake, I won't be able to burn the first incense?"
But Zhong Kui soon said helplessly, "At the back door, officials or nobles must already be waiting. That small door will open a quarter to half an hour earlier than the main gate. So these commoners outside the temple, no matter how many days or years they wait, unless they go to the back and get the temple priest to open the back door personally, they will never burn the first incense in this lifetime."
Chen Ping'an hesitated, "In my hometown, there is a four-character Buddhist saying: 'Do not seek externally.'"
Zhong Kui hummed in agreement. "That saying is excellent. Buddhism emphasizes right faith, which means having a firm belief in the true Dharma. Regarding the first incense, many pilgrims in the world misunderstand. Burning the first incense doesn't mean the first stick of incense in the temple's censer. As you said, 'Do not seek externally,' the first incense is just each sincere person's own first incense—first incense of this life, of this year, of this month—all are first incense."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Makes sense."
Zhong Kui smiled. "Do you think becoming a gentleman of the academy is easy? You need a lot of learning."
Chen Ping'an asked, "Then can you compose a poem for me? The title could be 'Reflections on Viewing the Rain-Praying Inscriptions'? I often see such acts in scholars' writings. Give it a try?"
Zhong Kui looked up at the moonlight. "Tonight is suitable for ascending mountains and entering water, for visiting mansions, for approaching deities, but it is not suitable for reciting poetry."
Chen Ping'an chucked again.
Zhong Kui said in mock anger, "Chen Ping'an, that's no fun."
Zhong Kui grinned and asked, "Do you want to accompany me to Biyou Mansion? That's the future Water God Palace, very rare, one of the few in the entire Tongye Continent. If you're lucky, you might even meet the Lady of the Buried River..."
Chen Ping'an said, "Didn't we just see her?"
Zhong Kui slapped his forehead, and that slap sparked an idea. "Opportunity! The opportunity for your yin spirit's night journey might lie in Biyou Mansion and her!"
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "Never mind, I need to hurry back."
Zhong Kui looked as if he had seen a ghost. Was there someone in the world who took such a casual attitude toward opportunity?
There was a commotion at the foot of the mountain. Zhong Kui grabbed Chen Ping'an. "Trouble is here, let's go see."
The temple's priestess, an old woman, together with an old cultivator with an immortal aura stationed at the temple, stood side by side at the foot of the mountain, blocking the path of a white-clad woman who was about to ascend. Commoners at the distant snack stalls pointed and whispered. The woman's face showed an unhealthy pallor. Moreover, although her dress seemed no different from commoners', upon closer look, the path behind her was wet as if a bamboo basket had been leaking water, the trail evident.
The old woman held a dragon-head staff, struck the ground heavily, and sneered, "A mere water ghost dares to offend the Water God Lady's temple? You're seeking death!"
The old cultivator smiled, "She