Chapter 593: Sending Off

Before the Gan Ge Hall held a military council, the sorcerers guarding outside the door had to hold up long-handled mirrors to perform security checks on everyone attending the meeting. Embedded in the mirror was a large eyeball that could glance around and sound an alarm; He Lingchuan had personally seen it detect someone carrying a eavesdropping divine ability, which could be said to be very effective.

Later, when he was fighting alongside General Hong, he heard her mention the origin of this eyeball; it was actually gouged out from a great demon named "Mu Lian."

This great demon had dozens of eyes all over its body, each with a wonderful use; its most basic divine ability was the "Eye of Truth," which could not only see through divine abilities but also see through the human heart. But it later betrayed the human world and turned to the Heavenly Gods, causing huge losses to the immortals.

It was known that the great demon "Mu Lian" was later killed by the Great Return Sect, and its iconic eyeballs were taken to be made into many magic treasures, some of which still remained today.

At that time, He Lingchuan was curious: "Mu Lian could see through divine abilities and human hearts, so how could it still be defeated?"

"The so-called 'Eye of Truth' is just a kind of divine ability; where in the world is there a divine ability that is permanently solid and unbreakable?" General Hong told him, "I don't know the details, but I can be sure that the Great Return Sect eventually found a way to blind it."

It seemed that the Miao Zhantian Heavenly God also had a Mu Lian eyeball in her hand, and it was embedded in her own magic treasure.

Thinking that "Mu Lian" had once turned to the enemy, it didn't seem strange that the Heavenly God had its eyeball.

This statue could be said to be very realistic.

Old Ge had also just lit several sticks of incense and, hearing this, said: "Does appearance matter? A Heavenly God is a Heavenly God; perhaps Heavenly Gods have countless manifestations."

He Lingchuan smiled knowingly.

He had seen divine remains in the Western Ji Palace City; the Heavenly God's true self didn't look like this at all. One could barely call them human-like creatures, but some didn't even have a human form.

So Old Ge was wrong; the appearance of the Heavenly God manifested in the human world, which was the divine statue, was very important.

Taking on a human form made it easier for commoners to accept.

His smile was seen by Gao Jilin, who immediately asked: "Brother He, what are you smiling at?"

"Nothing." This person seemed very concerned about his words and actions? He Lingchuan responded vaguely.

At this time, Old Ge said again: "Haven't you noticed that the incense for the Miao Zhantian Heavenly God is particularly strong?"

Reminded by him, He Lingchuan noticed that the incense burner in front of the Miao Zhantian Heavenly God statue was the largest, and there was the most incense; passing believers might not worship other gods, but they would definitely offer a stick of incense to Miao Zhantian.

Truly, they didn't dare to miss it when passing by.

Gao Jilin acted as a qualified straight man: "What's the reason for this?"

"The Miao Zhantian Heavenly God has the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood and judge right from wrong, and occasionally manifests divine miracles, never making a mistake." Old Ge offered a stick of incense to it. "Every time such an event occurs, it is spread far and wide and talked about with relish."

"Manifests divine miracles?" He Lingchuan was curious, "Here?"

"Yes, right here." Old Ge didn't dare to reach out and point, just pouted, "Just use this magic treasure!"

Magic treasure?

Did he mean the balance scale in the hand of the Miao Zhantian Heavenly God statue?

Isn't this just a gold-carved lump; could it really be a magic treasure?

He Lingchuan didn't feel any magic power fluctuations from it.

If there really were a treasure, would they dare to place it openly in the Hall of Veneration, not afraid of some petty thief snatching it away? Forget it, this had nothing to do with him.

He Lingchuan shook his head and stopped thinking about it, carefully looking at the murals on the wall.

Every wall in the main hall had brick carvings or murals, the content of which was the deeds of the Heavenly Gods—either fighting against various opponents who were like humans but not humans, like ghosts but not ghosts, or performing divine miracles, moistening the water and soil in all directions, and benefiting all living beings in the world.

Just looking at the painting and carving skills, they were all of hall-level standard, treasures of art.

He Lingchuan looked at the murals one by one, wanting to see if there was a portrait of Mitian in them.

Well, as expected, he didn't see one.

But he unexpectedly saw a divine statue—

True Lord Tongming.

The divine statue was neither big nor small, the same height as a real person, placed in the left wing of the main hall.

The divine statue had a handsome face, wore a broad robe and a high crown, with sleeves fluttering, a look of an ancient immortal.

Seeing it, He Lingchuan felt very subtle.

Putting aside its entanglement with the He family, True Lord Tongming's true self probably didn't look like this; why did its manifested human form have to resemble an immortal? The entire Hall of Veneration was magnificent, but after He Lingchuan got over the initial shock, he felt it was a bit dazzling after staying too long. Because it was filled with smoke, which was very irritating to the eyes.

He heard Gao Jilin cough twice and also asked Old Ge: "When can we go out?"

But the tourists lingered and wouldn't leave; some even grabbed large handfuls of incense, offering it to every divine statue equally.

"Aren't you going to worship a little longer?" Old Ge pouted at the crowd, "Look at them coming here from thousands of miles away; isn't it just to ask for a divination and burn some incense?"

Gao Jilin laughed: "We don't worship gods where we are from."

"Aiya, you don't know, do you? People from places like yours worship gods the most fiercely." Old Ge sneered, "The more strictly it's banned at home, the more happily they worship here. Look at the people filling this hall; six or seven out of ten come from places that don't worship gods."

Thinking about it, it really was like this; Gao Jilin had nothing to say and sighed.

"They still have to worship for a long time." Old Ge asked He Lingchuan, "Didn't you want to find the Tower of Return? You have time now, I'll take you!"

He Lingchuan immediately agreed.

Old Ge also called a mountain monkey as a guard, and one man and two monkeys walked out of the hall.

There was a small path on the side of Heavenly Pivot Peak that led directly to the Tower of Return.

However, after He Lingchuan walked out of the Hall of Veneration, he realized that Gao Jilin was actually following behind:

"Brother Gao, why did you come out? Where is Brother Jiang?"

"He's still inside worshipping non-stop." Gao Jilin pressed his forehead, "Staying there for too long gives me a headache; can I go with you?"

Go to the Tower of Return? He Lingchuan naturally had no objection; it was originally a public tourist attraction, and Ruin Mountain didn't refuse tourists from going there.

This small path was slippery, long-disrepaired, and the road surface was covered with thin ice, making it very difficult to walk.

Fortunately, the monkeys didn't mind, He Lingchuan didn't find it difficult, and Gao Jilin also seemed to have cultivation, walking no slower than them.

He was a curious baby: "What is this Tower of Return? It sounds like it's been around for a long time."

Not walking on the good small path, Old Ge liked to jump onto the stone strips on the edge of the dangerous cliff to climb: "It's fortunate you asked me; others might not even know about this Tower of Return. It's a memorial tower under the Great Return Sect. When disciples traveling far away die in a foreign land and their bodies and souls cannot return, perhaps they entrust relatives and friends to send their tokens and relics to the Tower of Return to comfort the dead souls."

Gao Jilin's next sentence made even He Lingchuan look sideways:

"Why is it still here today?"

Although Spirit Void City opened Ruin Mountain to the public, most of the Great Return Sect's buildings were destroyed in the war six hundred years ago. The subsequent reconstructions were selective restorations of parts of the landscape, and most of the ruins were either dilapidated or left with only broken tiles and walls, accompanied by desolate grass.

But the Tower of Return wasn't reconstructed, so why wasn't it flattened by the Northern Demon Kingdom back then?

Old Ge shrugged: "I don't know. This thing isn't conspicuous either; perhaps there was no need to flatten it?"

The Tower of Return was built on a low hill two hundred zhang away, blocked by several mountain peaks. If it weren't for Old Ge leading the way, He Lingchuan wouldn't have been able to find this place at all.

There were still some ruins of buildings on this low hill; looking at the base, the scale seemed not small, but now only a few broken walls remained, and the bricks and stones scattered in the grass were all corroded beyond recognition.

On the contrary, the Tower of Return located on the stone platform looked intact.

This was a nine-story stone tower, short and fat, with carving skills so simple they were almost crude—let alone compared to the Heavenly Palace buildings, even the pagodas on the ground were far inferior. Some parts had obvious traces of knife and axe digging, without later polishing. And the height was only nine feet; He Lingchuan could reach the top of the tower if he stood on tiptoe and reached out.

Looking at the base again, it was integrated with the stone platform—

It turned out it was carved from the naturally protruding rock here.

The tower body had no carvings, neither figures nor portraits, but it was full of small holes; wind blew in and out, carrying a wailing, strange sound.

With such a slovenly appearance, no wonder the Northern Demon Kingdom back then had no motivation to flatten it.

At first glance, it looked like a sacrificial tower casually set up outside a desolate village.

It only had one hole in the front that could accommodate a human hand, which was probably the entrance to the second floor of the stone tower.

Gao Jilin looked at the Tower of Return while asking He Lingchuan: "Why did Brother He come here?"

"Entrusted by someone to send their relics into the tower." He Lingchuan took the turtle talisman from his storage ring and sent it into the Tower of Return through this hole.

"Entrusted by someone?" Gao Jilin was moved, "Could it be an immortal?"

Looking at the age of this tower, who would send relics without reason?

"Perhaps. I entered a cave dwelling, and the owner left a will and token, asking me to send them back here." There was nothing to hide about this; immortal ruins were often discovered in the human world.

"Brother He is truly a man of his word, sending them back from thousands of miles away."

"Just on the way; I also wanted to visit Spirit Void City." He Lingchuan's gaze froze as he said this.

He had intended to turn around and leave, but something suddenly slid out of the Tower of Return: the turtle talisman.

Why did it fall out?

He stuffed the turtle talisman back into the tower.

Under the gaze of four eyes, the turtle talisman slid out again.

He looked to the side; did this tower have an angle of inclination? Old Ge laughed: "Did you not send it in correctly?"

He Lingchuan scratched the back of his neck, troubled: "The will only said to send it back, not how to send it. Are there any rules for this?"

The last sentence was asked to Old Ge.

He was also at a loss; this question was clearly out of bounds: "I don't know. Wait until I go down the mountain and ask for you, to see how others send them back."

The mountain monkey behind him said in a muffled voice: "Maybe the tower refuses to accept it."

Gao Jilin couldn't help but say: "Maybe the owner of this turtle talisman wasn't well-regarded by the Great Return Sect, and it doesn't want it to return to the tower?"

It seemed, perhaps, maybe True Lord Dongli had some rift with the Great Return Sect, otherwise why would he have sat in meditation alone in the wilderness at the end? He Lingchuan patted the Tower of Return.

If it said it wouldn't accept, it wouldn't accept; the weeds on the side were taller than the tower tip, and it was still so arrogant? "Forget it." He tucked the turtle talisman into his bosom, "If you don't want it, fine."

The item had been brought; if the Tower of Return wouldn't accept it, True Lord Dongli couldn't blame him, right? Alas, poor True Lord Dongli. They say fallen leaves return to their roots, but in the end, his own sect rejected him.

PS: Someone in the background has been asking, so I'll explain here. In this text, 1 tael of silver = 1000 cash, with purchasing power equivalent to 1000 RMB. That's it.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 594 =====