Chapter 505: The Second Day of the Second Month

Chapter 505: The Second Day of the Second Month

The gates of the City God Temple slowly creaked open.

In this Suijia City City God Temple, apart from the City God himself, who was already mired in a predicament akin to a mud Buddha crossing a river, everyone else had turned out in full force: the civil and martial judges, the yin officials of the various departments. Yet all of them stood cautiously just inside the gates.

Although the entire city of Suijia was considered their territory and would offer some degree of fate's protection, standing within the incense-laden temple still provided a greater sense of security.

Chen Ping'an looked toward the gates.

After that tragic incident, the City God had chosen to kill one and spare the other, so the Shackle General was likely a new appointment, while the chief official of the Yin-Yang Department, the head of the six departments, remained the old one.

Chen Ping'an held the Sword Immortal, lowered his head to glance at the Nurturing Sword Gourd, and said, "After I have drawn my sword twice tonight, you all may do as you please."

Raising his head, Chen Ping'an looked toward the temple gates. "Which one of you is the chief official of the Yin-Yang Department of Suijia City's City God Temple?"

Without a moment's hesitation, the civil and martial judges, the Day and Night Wandering Spirits, the Shackle General, and all the other officials turned their gazes toward a middle-aged scholar-like official.

The yin officials' robes in temples across the world largely followed the same regulations as the mortal court, except that the patterns on their official insignia could not be tampered with. There were also minor variations between continents. Here in Beiju, the official robes were mostly black and white, and each official wore a bronze seal inscribed with their rank at their waist.

The official stepped forward nervously, his eyes flickering with uncertainty. Suppressing the panic in his heart, he bowed with clasped hands and said, "An immortal swordsman visits the temple by night, and we failed to welcome you from afar. May I ask what business the immortal swordsman has with this humble official?"

Those who come with good intentions do not come with ill intent—this was a simple truth that he, and all his colleagues, understood. Otherwise, they would not have appeared together.

The next moment, the green-robed immortal swordsman was already standing inside the temple, with the chief official of the Yin-Yang Department frozen in place behind him.

Even the civil and martial judges, despite the man having intruded into the temple, only took symbolic steps back, as if making way, then all looked at their colleague.

A straight, thin golden line appeared on the chief official's forehead and began to extend downward.

In an instant, the golden body shattered into dust.

Even the Martial Judge, who was most skilled at suppressing fierce ghosts, and the newly appointed Shackle General, who enjoyed hunting solitary spirits, could not see how or when the opponent had drawn his sword.

All the temple officials wore grim expressions.

This was bad.

A truly wandering immortal swordsman from elsewhere!

They had only heard that such swordsmen were the most eccentric and overbearing, impossible to predict by common sense.

A faint golden light flickered around the statue of the City God enshrined in the rear hall. An elderly official with a refined demeanor walked out, passing through the front hall's architecture without obstruction. He drifted to the steps of the front hall, stopped, raised a finger, and said sternly, "You, a sword cultivator, dare to slay yin officials appointed by the imperial seal of a nation's emperor?!"

Chen Ping'an looked up at the thick black mist shrouding Suijia City. The yin and baleful energy writhed menacingly.

It was somewhat similar to the half-immortal soldier cloud sea of the Fu family in Old Dragon City, except that the latter was invisible to qi refiners below the Earth Immortal realm. Here in Suijia City of the Yinping Kingdom, ordinary mortals could also not see it.

Chen Ping'an said, "I will try to block the Heavenly Tribulation for you. How will you thank me?"

The City God was first shocked and bewildered, then wild joy surged within him. "Truly? The immortal swordsman is not jesting?"

The green-robed sword immortal nodded.

The City God felt as if there was a way out of a dead end, a village appearing beyond the dark willows and bright flowers! He declared loudly, "As long as the immortal swordsman can preserve this temple from harm, I will give you whatever you wish. The treasures of an entire commandery are yours to take. If you find it troublesome, just say the word; the entire temple will present them to you with both hands, without any hesitation..."

A golden light slashed down from above.

The yin officials in the temple were terrified, their golden bodies unstable. They watched as the City God, who had held lofty authority for countless years, met the same fate as their Yin-Yang Department colleague. A golden speck appeared on his forehead, then a straight line slowly extended downward.

As befitted a City God who had enjoyed incense offerings for years, his thick golden body, steeped in countless incense essences, did not shatter immediately. Not only that, but the City God could still raise his hands to press firmly against his own head from both sides. He wailed, "Are you mad?! If I die, the Heavenly Tribulation will fall immediately! Do you truly think you can withstand it alone? If I live, we can join forces to resist the tribulation and survive this calamity together! You madman! You will die a miserable death!"

Chen Ping'an's gaze passed over the City God and fixed on the lofty, expressionless statue on the altar in the front hall—a statue that also enjoyed the incense of a commandery but was devoid of divine light.

Perhaps it was a case of birds of a feather flocking together, or perhaps it had sensed the impending disaster and had withdrawn its divinity from this temple statue.

Chen Ping'an said, "My apologies, I forgot to mention earlier: you need to die to thank me."

The City God pressed his hands tightly against his head. From all directions, incense—whether pure or tainted with wicked intentions—continued to flow toward him. All the incense from those who burned offerings, regardless of the purity of their thoughts, had long been forcibly detained within the temple by him. He no longer cared whether this was like drinking poison to quench thirst. He only needed to increase his cultivation by a sliver, to give his golden body a slightly better chance of surviving the Heavenly Tribulation. As for whether the temple would be destroyed, whether his subordinate officials and ghost clerks would be caught in the crossfire, or even whether the people of the entire commandery would live or die—from the very first day his "merits were severely depleted and his golden body decayed," the City God had ceased to concern himself with any of it. To that end, he had specially invited a group of cultivators with whom he had a long-standing friendship to travel to the capital, bearing heavy gifts, to lobby the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Observatory. They had persuaded the emperor of the Yinping Kingdom to suppress the news and forbid the people of Suijia City and the entire commandery from fleeing. Otherwise, the worst outcome would be a lose-lose situation for both the nation's feng shui and the local City God. During this time, the descendants of the capital's recipient of his message—especially the current head of that family—had shown a good understanding of the stakes. They had exerted great effort, using the accumulated connections and favors from generations of officialdom to plead on behalf of the City God, finally allowing him to glimpse a glimmer of hope.

Sacrifice a commandery to preserve the golden body.

If one does not act for oneself, heaven and earth will destroy them!

And besides, I am a City God of an entire commandery, a divine being with a golden body who regards mortal kings and nobles as short-lived seedlings!

The City God pressed his hands against his head, his gaze slightly downward. Though the golden line had slowed, it showed no sign of stopping. Great terror seized him, and a trace of sobbing entered his voice. "Why is this happening? Why can't all this incense stop it? Immortal swordsman, immortal swordsman, my lord..."

Standing at the top of the steps, the City God’s arrogant demeanor had vanished entirely. He begged, "I implore the immortal swordsman to spare my life. In all worldly matters, is there truly nothing that cannot be negotiated?"

The City God did not dare point upward. "Immortal swordsman, please look up. Without me, this City God Temple, to harness the temple’s incense and command the local fate to help resist the Heavenly Tribulation, would you not fear, alone, wasting the hard-earned cultivation you possess?"

The civil judge, who was nearly frightened out of his wits, had initially found this unbelievable. But after a moment's thought, he understood, and despair deepened in his heart.

This foreign swordsman had come specifically to take on the Heavenly Tribulation; why would he care about profit or loss? If he did, why would he even enter the temple?

The City God often lectured his subordinates to remain calm in the face of trouble and not to make mistakes in haste. It seemed that when faced with the real thing, he was no different.

But the civil judge felt bitter sorrow. He was no mere bystander now; there was no joke to enjoy. For centuries, they had sat high above, commanding the feng shui of their territories, looking down on the pilgrims who entered the temple to burn incense. The same grain nourishes a hundred kinds of people: foolish men and women consumed by love and hate, lazy young men praying for endless wealth, vicious women hoping to find a loving husband, children whose parents were gravely ill but refused to spend money on treatment, coming instead to burn incense and make wishes, murderous bandits thinking that if they spent more silver and burned bundles of incense in the temple, their sins could be erased. Countless such farces of the mortal world had been seen until they grew numb. Now karma had come around, and it was their turn to become the joke for the qi refiners?

Chen Ping'an ignored the City God. He simply thrust the Sword Immortal into the ground, then slowly rolled up his sleeves. Unlike at Cangyun Lake, he also rolled up his left sleeve this time, revealing the walnut bracelet.

As for the three talismans he had obtained from the Ghost Vale, Chen Ping'an casually tucked them into his belt. One of them, the Jade Clear Light Talisman, had already been opened. The remaining two were the Execution and Investigation Talisman from the Chongxuan Department's Yunxiao Palace and the Azure Firmament Mansion Talisman.

After finishing these preparations, Chen Ping'an finally looked at the City God, whose golden eyes were turning pitch black.

He recalled the City God Pavilion in the Rouge Commandery of the Caical Kingdom. Indeed, it was similar, except that the Golden City God Shen Wen had been framed and harmed by mountain cultivators, while the one before him had brought this upon himself. The difference was as vast as clouds and mud.

Chen Ping'an appeared instantly at the top of the steps, one hand resting on his planted sword, standing beside the City God, who now seemed like a martial artist in the throes of Qi deviation. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, but faced in opposite directions.

The green-robed swordsman faced the front hall, where a hollow statue sat woodenly on its altar. The divine being with the golden line descending his form faced the temple gate, facing the mortal world.

Fighting with all his might to keep his golden body from exploding was already the best the City God could manage. Even with the one who had struck him standing nearby, he had no attention to spare.

The golden thread on the City God's body began to widen, like a flood breaching a dike, a small stream unable to contain the deluge any longer.

He suddenly laughed. "What a fine immortal swordsman! You've come for the manifested treasure too, haven't you?"

The City God, knowing death was certain, burst into hearty laughter, then lowered his voice. "What a pity. Even if I, a mere commandery City God, perish, I can still drag a whole bunch of mountain immortals down with me. Isn't that delightful?"

Chen Ping'an suddenly reached out with one hand and covered the City God's face. His five fingers curled like hooks as he said slowly, "What face do you have left to look upon the mortal world?"

The City God's golden body exploded into dust, scattering a cloud of golden powder across the front hall.

A clinking sound rang out as an object fell to the ground.

It was a rusted fragment of the golden body, not small, larger than the combined golden bodies of the two River Gods of Cangyun Lake.

Chen Ping'an was about to shatter it with the tip of the Sword Immortal, but from the Nurturing Sword Gourd at his waist, the long-unseen Chuyi shot out like a white rainbow of sword light, piercing into that rusted golden fragment. Together, the flying sword Chuyi and the golden fragment vanished into the ground.

The moment the City God's golden body shattered, thunder rumbled above Suijia City, far more violent than ordinary thunderclaps. It was like firecrackers exploding right next to one's ears, startling countless residents of Suijia City from their sleep.

Black clouds churned as if ink-black flood dragons and serpents were swimming within the cloud sea. Moreover, the sea of clouds began to descend slowly.

First, lamps were lit in some household gates awakened by the thunder. Wealthy families hung lanterns one after another.

In a prosperous commandery city, tiny points of light kept connecting into patches, accompanied by the intermittent crying of children.

Finally, the qi refiners who had quietly entered Suijia City stood dumbfounded. After the initial shock, they burst into curses. They had never imagined that the treasure had not yet truly manifested, yet this damn Heavenly Tribulation would descend so early.

There was much subtlety here.

Heaven-gifted treasures born in response to fate possessed innate spiritual nature, making them extremely difficult for qi refiners to capture and seize. The city lord of Huangyue City had once narrowly missed an extraordinary treasure because its flight speed was too astonishing.

Rumors among the mountains said that the treasure in Suijia City was of extremely high rank, born from a thousand years of the commandery’s accumulated literary elegance and fortune. Not only that, but it was said that when Suijia City was first built, a military immortal soldier’s artifact had been buried deep underground, and ultimately, the two had fused into a supreme treasure of the mortal world that possessed both civil and military fortune, excelling in both offense and defense. Whoever obtained it could ascend in a single step, becoming a peak cultivator. That was why the two top-tier immortal sects, Huangyue City and Baodong Paradise, had mobilized together, determined to obtain this treasure. If Huangyue City succeeded, they would truly secure the top position among the mountain strongholds of a dozen or more nations, leaving Baodong Paradise far behind. If Baodong Paradise got their hands on it, their power could surpass Huangyue City.

After the anomaly at the City God Temple...

In Suijia City, where Fan Weiran had taken lodging, she made an immediate decision. She led the cultivators of Baodong Paradise and sent someone to alert the qi refiners affiliated with their sect to leave Suijia City at once and head for Cangyun Lake. After all, the lake lord owed her a significant favor. She expected that, given the severe damage to Cangyun Lake, he would no longer dare to let his eyes wander as he had during that night's banquet, which had caused Yan Qing to find an excuse to leave the Dragon Palace feast in front of her elder, claiming she wanted to visit the Water God Temple of the Zhaoxi Canal Master. After that, there had been one disturbance after another. Ever since Yan Qing arrived in Suijia City, she had been uneasy. Not only Fan Weiran, but even Yan Qing's junior disciples had noticed something was off.

Fan Weiran's hatred for the young swordsman deepened by several degrees. How dare he disturb my Yan girl’s Dao heart! She had already been personally selected by that Immortal as one of the future leaders of Baodong Paradise and the entire mountain sect network of a dozen nations. Once Yan Qing ultimately stood out, Baodong Paradise would receive another immortal technique.

For so many years, Baodong Paradise and Huangyue City had merely been two pawns secretly chosen to fish in the pond of a dozen nations.

So-called life-and-death struggles and irreconcilable enmity—how many cultivators from the two sects had actually died? Very few. And those who died were seemingly at acceptable realms but in truth had no hope for the Great Dao. Most of the dead were actually from the subordinate sects.

Why had no Golden Body martial artist appeared in the dozen or so nations for two hundred years? The last one had been killed by her junior sister and Ye Han in their joint attack.

And now, those six-realm martial artists strutting around in secular dynasties, calling themselves grandmasters of martial arts, number one in swordsmanship, number one in fist techniques—which one of them wasn't a comfortable old man with a rotting body, waiting for death?

Fan Weiran turned her head to look at Yan Qing walking beside her and smiled faintly. She knew exactly why her junior sister had been forced to kill that Golden Body martial artist back then. After all, this enormous secret was known only to one person in each generation of Baodong Paradise and Huangyue City. As for the other mountain sects, they had neither the opportunity nor the qualification to seek an audience with that Immortal.

As for that inexplicably appearing foreign swordsman, it would be best if he died in the City God Temple, caught in the Heavenly Tribulation. That would be letting him off easy. If he was severely injured and captured by her, Fan Weiran, compared to Baodong Paradise's secret techniques in the Ancestral Hall, Yin Hou’s Cangyun Lake ‘Lighting Water Lanterns’ was nothing but a petty poison technique.

The cultivators of Baodong Paradise and its affiliated sects were all heading in the same general direction: rushing to Cangyun Lake. Those who couldn't fly had to rely on their legs, running across the ground. The worst could only ride horses out of the city.

After Fan Weiran left Suijia City by wind travel, she suddenly asked, "Did that pack of worthless military cultivators from Ghost Axe Palace not leave the city with us?"

Beside the old woman, a younger cultivator from her own sect, who had been living incognito as a guest adviser to the current commandery governor, replied respectfully, "Reporting to Ancestor, when I received news at an inn, for some reason they did not move immediately. They claimed they needed to handle some urgent affairs. I did not dare to linger and left first. In the end, I saw that their group headed in a different direction out of Suijia City. For now, I don't know if they will go to Cangyun Lake to rendezvous with us."

Fan Weiran’s face contorted with rage. "And that fellow named Du Yu? Did you see him?"

The old cultivator said, "I saw him at the inn as well. Just as the rumors say—grinning and grinning, no proper conduct. A useless piece of trash."

The commotion at Cangyun Lake that night had been huge, but no cultivator in Suijia City dared to approach and watch. When gods at the level of the Cangyun Lake Lord fought, even if you applauded from the sidelines, neither combatant would appreciate it. A casual flick of the sleeve, a slap, and you would be reduced to ashes. Besides, immortal treasures and divine arts had no eyes. If you went wandering at the gates of hell, death would be meaningless.

So the old cultivator asked, puzzled, "Why does the Ancestor specifically ask about this man?"

Fan Weiran’s face darkened. She did not reveal the secret, only sneered, "I'll settle accounts with that bastard later!"

The precondition, of course, was that the foreign swordsman surnamed Chen was dead, or had lost most of his life in Suijia City.

As Yan Qing traveled by wind, she looked back at the blurred outline of Suijia City.

She could faintly see a golden talisman exploding at the bottom of the tribulation cloud sea.

Yan Qing sighed softly in her heart.

That young swordsman who was so good at calculating people’s hearts... was a fool.

At the summit of Heiyou Mountain, which was farther from Suijia City than Cangyun Lake, stood a somewhat crude mountain-top viewing pavilion. Inside was a tall, lean man dressed in simple clothes, like someone from an affluent commoner family. The only ornament he wore was a jade tablet hanging at his waist.

The man rubbed his fingers gently over the inscription on the jade tablet, lost in thought.

The handsome youth He Lu sat to the side, having taken out a yellowing bamboo flute. He was carefully wiping this beloved magical artifact with a piece of rare, immortal-woven silk.

The middle-aged man simply gazed toward Suijia City. The exceptionally thick black clouds descended slowly, as if the entire sky was drooping down to the earth. Looking up, one could not see the top of the cloud sea.

An old man with white hair sat cross-legged, clicking his tongue in amazement. "Heaven and earth are touching for no reason—this is a great calamity for the mortal world. City Lord, once this Heavenly Tribulation lands, I fear this mountain’s grand formation won’t survive. That old crone Fan is shrewd, cozying up to Yin Hou of Cangyun Lake. She's got the advantage over us, who had to choose Heiyou Mountain and pay out of pocket to set up a formation."

The white-haired old man kept slapping his thigh, looking pitiful. "I really don’t know what that foreign swordsman is thinking. Even if he wants to snatch the treasure from under the noses of both us and Baodong Paradise, couldn’t he at least wait until the treasure appears? If he really killed the City God, the Heavenly Tribulation will target him. What in the hell is he after? City Lord, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. You explain it to me? Every time I run into something I can’t figure out even if I break my head, it itches like seeing a beauty who could topple a kingdom but burns my mouth."

The man standing in the pavilion was none other than Ye Han, the city lord of Huangyue City.

Ye Han said, "A foreign swordsman has barged in and stirred things up, but the chess game is still the same. The variables brought by this man’s cultivation will be mostly worn down by the Heavenly Tribulation. What worries me is not this man, nor Baodong Paradise and Fan Weiran, but a few others who are also outsiders. Compared to this righteous swordsman, they are far more sneaky. For now, I only know that the vixen of the Yinping Kingdom is one of them."

As soon as the white-haired old man heard about the vixen, he immediately perked up. "A revolving door of Yinping emperors, but an eternal empress. Haha, how amusing. So she’s from elsewhere too. I said it, the soil of these dozen nations couldn’t have raised a five-tailed celestial fox."

Ye Han shook his head. "She’s been hiding deep. She’s actually a six-tailed, Golden Core fox vixen. That information cost the life of a Dragon Gate Realm cultivator from Huangyue City."

The white-haired old man was stunned. "Then I’d better steer clear of her from now on. Damn it! Golden Core Realm! Isn’t that the same as you, City Lord?!"

He Lu just kept wiping his bamboo flute, showing no interest in these secrets that were already major matters among the mountains.

Ye Han shook his head. "Cultivators of the same realm can be as different as heaven and earth. Fox vixens are naturally gifted at beguiling mortals, but when it comes to actual combat, fox spirits have never been strong. I don’t think she can defeat Fan Weiran. But since she’s from elsewhere, she must have one or two special magical items. If Fan Weiran or I were to fight her one-on-one, our chances wouldn’t be high. I don’t even hope to kill her."

Ye Han turned his head and smiled. "If there’s a chance, the sword that outsider has been carrying on his back—if it’s really a dharma artifact—I could try to obtain it afterward, perhaps by barter, and give it to you."

The white-haired old man was baffled. "City Lord, barter with what? And here, what do you need to 'try' for?"

Ye Han shook his head. "Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask."

When He Lu heard the city lord’s promise, his eyes lit up. Suddenly, as the young man’s peripheral vision swept toward the direction of Suijia City, his gaze sharpened like a trimmed lamp wick, growing even brighter.

Ye Han shook his head. "Don’t even think about it. Not just you; even I dare not have any superfluous thoughts."

Ye Han’s expression grew grave. He spoke using the ripples of his Heart Lake: "He Lu, with battle imminent, I must remind you of something. Although your aptitude and karmic fortune are slightly better than Yan Qing’s, allowing you to accompany me to visit the Immortal at his immortal residence—though the Immortal himself didn’t appear and only sent someone to receive us, that is already a great honor—it means you are now ahead of Yan Qing. But on this mountain cultivation path, the traveler who covers ninety miles considers half the journey done. The difference of a single realm is like clouds and mud. That little boy attendant at the immortal residence, relying on the Immortal’s backing, dared to shout disrespectfully at me... That extraordinary treasure has already leaked its origin to you: it is a primordial sword embryo. Among the sword embryos of the world, some are for humans, some..."

Du Yu glanced at the long sword whose golden light had dimmed. He shook his head vigorously, then slapped himself several times. Clasping his hands together, his eyes resolute, he whispered, "Senior, please trust me, Du Yu, this one time. I am only carrying you to a quiet place. This place is not good for staying!"

Du Yu waited a moment. "Since senior says nothing, I’ll take it as agreement!"

That day, the ghost mansion had a particularly conspicuous guest.

Du Yu, a cultivator of Ghost Axe Palace.

In a courtyard of the ghost mansion, the white-robed sword immortal sat on a small stool, while Du Yu stood beside him with a mournful face. "Senior, I am really dead this time! Why did you insist on keeping me here? I only came to see if you were safe!"

The man gently shook his bamboo fan. On his face was a smile that Du Yu always felt was somehow strange and unfamiliar. Slowly, he said, "If you had left today, you would truly be dead."