Chapter 59

"Whoa!"

Arriving in Xiuyue County, Xiuniang looked left and right, deeply curious.

Although Cuicun Village was only fifteen miles from Xiuyue County, Xiuniang had visited Xiuyue County only a handful of times, especially after her parents' accident, when she never left Cuicun Village again.

Gu Zhao had previously promised to take her out, so this time, coming to Xiuyue County with Daoist Yan Song, he brought her along.

"It's just like our ancient county towns!" Daoist Yan Song transmitted mentally.

Gu Zhao nodded, pointing to the shops lining the streets, "Inns, taverns, teahouses, grain stores, cloth shops, clinics, general goods—all daily needs are covered."

"What about shops selling jade, calligraphy, paintings, cosmetics, gold and silver jewelry?" Daoist Yan Song was quite surprised.

Bai Ke, hidden inside Xiuniang's backpack, whispered, "What's so surprising? Xiuyue County isn't large, but it connects three prefectures; even if it can't match Changping Prefecture, it's far more prosperous than ordinary counties."

Changping Prefecture lies in the southeast of Jiang Zhou; Xiuyue County is southeast of Changping Prefecture, bordered to the east by Yongzhou's Shide Prefecture and to the south by Yazhou's Tianquan Prefecture—it's a convergence of three provinces, and many merchant caravans pass through, naturally making the city prosperous.

"Such a city isn't under imperial rule?" Daoist Yan Song asked.

"The Xuanweishen Sect's altar in Changping Prefecture is already abandoned; the current prefect now worships the Golden Wind Sect, which has established branch altars in all eight counties under Changping," Bai Ke said.

Daoist Yan Song nodded, surveying the surroundings, "So on the surface, Changping Prefecture seems normal, but in truth, demons and monsters are everywhere."

"Exactly. If the Xuanweishen Sect were still here, the Sanjueshan wouldn't dare manufacture Blood Soul Pearls," Bai Ke yawned. "To make one Blood Soul Pearl, they must slaughter an entire village."

"If the imperial court can't reach here, doesn't any other force stop them?" Gu Zhao asked.

"Of course—the Golden Wind Sect!" Bai Ke nodded.

"They stop Sanjueshan?" Gu Zhao said in disbelief. "Aren't they not good either… or rather, not good ghosts?"

"But the Golden Wind God needs incense offerings—he can't let Sanjueshan slaughter indiscriminately," Bai Ke flicked his tail. "The protectors and divine generals in the Golden Wind Sect kill too, but far fewer than Sanjueshan."

Gu Zhao was speechless. "So everyone's evil, then."

Daoist Yan Song was also speechless. "Are there no good people in Changping Prefecture?"

"Usually, when the spirit lords and masters of a prefecture vanish, the Xuanweishen Sect can no longer hold the line and must withdraw," Bai Ke said softly. "Changping is the same—the Golden Wind Sect wants incense, Sanjueshan and Bi'ang Palace devour humans, and only Shi Wangdong doesn't kill much, but it won't help humans either."

"Beyond the Wanling River, Jiangyang Prefecture is much better—the mountain lord of Bailing Mountain is a hundred-spirit bird with a thousand years of cultivation; there are many spirit lords and masters on the mountain, and even the Golden Wind God isn't her match," Bai Ke knew quite a bit.

"Then why doesn't she come to Changping Prefecture?" Xiuniang asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she needs to guard Jiangyang Prefecture," Bai Ke shook his head.

Daoist Yan Song said coolly, "It's also possible a great demon in the Wanling River rebelled against the imperial court, which is why Jiang Nan and Jiangbei are completely different."

Gu Zhao nodded. "Possible."

"But for us, this is actually good," Daoist Yan Song looked at Gu Zhao and transmitted mentally.

Gu Zhao rubbed his hands, replying mentally, "Yes. Otherwise, we'd seem like people sprung from cracks in rocks—facing imperial investigation, we'd have no explanation."

"Now it's better. After wiping out the Golden Wind Sect, we become the top power in Changping Prefecture. Even if we later cooperate with the imperial court, they won't dare probe our origins too deeply."

"Exactly right," Daoist Yan Song stroked his beard and smiled. "For now, let's first rescue the people of Xiuyue County and surrounding villages trapped in fire and water."

After eliminating the ghostly entity that had plagued the neighboring villagers, Daoist Yan Song toured several nearby villages around Cuicun and found no other demons or monsters.

Then he visited the nearest town to Cuicun Village, discovered a man-eating demon, gathered another wave of sha energy, and waited for Gu Zhao's return.

Counting the days, many days had passed since Gu Zhao killed Ren Tian; the Golden Wind God couldn't possibly wait in Xiuyue County forever, so they returned.

Xiuyue County is closest to Cuicun Village, so the threat must be eliminated first—and the rewards will surely be greatest.

"Golden Wind Sect… Sanjueshan… Bi'ang Palace…" Gu Zhao turned back. "By the way, what exactly is Bi'ang Palace?"

"Bi'ang Palace is a water palace located in the Chang River, a tributary of the Wanling River, flowing through Tianquan Prefecture, Baishi Prefecture, and Changping Prefecture—it's filled with water demons. Shi Wangdong is in the stone mountains southwest of Changye County in Changping Prefecture; its master is a corpse king who turns corpses to stone, hence it's also called Corpse King Cave."

Bai Ke continued educating Gu Zhao, then added a complaint: "Where exactly did you guys hide all this time? How could you know nothing?"

Gu Zhao brushed it off. "Our lineage has been in seclusion for centuries, living far and remote—we didn't know the outside world had changed so much."

Bai Ke blinked. "Centuries ago… you're not descendants of the previous dynasty, hiding because you feared the Da Ning imperial court's pursuit, are you?"

"Of course not!" Gu Zhao said solemnly. "Our lineage emerges in chaotic times to subdue demons and exterminate evil, and retreats into the mountains in times of peace. We returned to the mountains because we saw the Da Ning court had stabilized the realm and brought peace!"

Xiuniang gasped, eyes wide. "If the Young Master emerges, does that mean chaos is coming?"

Gu Zhao spoke seriously. "Indeed. The Xuanweishen Sect retreats, the Spirit Court vanishes, demons run rampant, ghosts roam freely—this is precisely when our kind must emerge to uphold justice and restore order!"

Xiuniang looked at Gu Zhao with stars in her eyes, yet deeply worried. "Won't that be extremely dangerous?"

"Don't worry—I have many fellow disciples," Gu Zhao pointed to Daoist Yan Song. "Right now, only Daoist Yan Song is here; soon, other disciples will emerge."

"Are your fellow disciples powerful?" Xiuniang asked eagerly.

Gu Zhao thought: aside from the Quanzhen Dao's qi-refining and martial experts, the Zhengyi Dao not only had the Celestial Master's Mansion for summoning spirits, but also the Maoshan Shangqing Sect for talisman painting, the Bei Di Sect chanting the Tianpeng incantation, and both the Qingwei and Shenxiao sects wielding thunder arts.

These were merely the relatively famous schools—who knew how many others, like Daoist Yan Song, practiced ancient Daoist arts like the Great Yi Fire Palace Secret Method, manipulating wind and fire?

After all, Hunyuan Taiji, Yin-Yang Two Instruments, Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, Earth-Water-Wind-Fire, Five Phases and Five Qi, Six Yao and Seven Stars, Eight Trigrams and Nine Radiance—all were creations of the Daoist tradition.

So…

Gu Zhao nodded. "Extremely powerful!"