Chapter 78: Mr. Feng

On the walls of Lucheng County, Daoist Chen held a compass and a ruling rod, tracing the flow of earth qi along the ramparts; the county magistrate and several of his disciples followed behind, each time Daoist Chen called out a set of figures, a disciple swiftly recorded it and began calculations.

Though the county magistrate understood nothing of it, he couldn't help glancing at the scrolls in the young Daoists' hands, and elsewhere in the county, numerous xuan cultivators wandered the streets, preventing trouble before it arose.

By normal logic, the prayer force raised during the Kitchen God ritual should be enough to disperse weak malevolent spirits; even if it couldn't fully scatter the evil, it could divide and weaken them, and by the hour of Zi, when the altar was set and the Jade Emperor's patrol was summoned, even a sliver of his divine presence sweeping through would render the scattered evil incapable of further mischief—this combined strategy might even make this year's New Year vigil easier than before.

But for some reason, Daoist Chen felt a persistent unease; though even Deng Miss, the most skilled at tracking objects, and the Gray Immortal had detected not a trace of demonic cultivators, he still couldn't shake his restlessness.

"Have all the new residences in the county been notified?"

After finishing calculations on a new section, Daoist Chen still felt uneasy and asked again; the only problem with the Kitchen God ritual was that some newly moved-in homes had insufficient incense residue on their stoves, which was why the xuan cultivators had been running back and forth.

Upon hearing this, the county magistrate showed no impatience, but pulled out his small notebook and said:

"These are records submitted by the real estate agents; all newly built homes in the county are listed here, and even vacant houses not yet rented have been sent agents to perform the Kitchen God ritual… ah!"

Suddenly, the county magistrate's face changed drastically; seeing this, Daoist Chen grew tense and asked quickly:

"Magistrate, have you remembered something?"

"Yes, earlier, the residence rented by Young Master Feng was damaged by a corpse puppet attack, so I bought a new one as a reward for his demon-slaying… "

"Oh, then there should be no issue," Daoist Chen relaxed slightly and shook his head:

"Young Master Feng is also of the xuan path—he wouldn't overlook the Kitchen God ritual. As for his original residence… I visited it myself; even now, traces of thunder qi remain. Even if unattended, malevolent spirits wouldn't dare approach… but for safety's sake, send someone to patrol it anyway!"

"Absolutely, absolutely!" The county magistrate's heart pounded; he immediately summoned his men to dispatch a team.

Time passed; the county's earth qi map was now complete. Daoist Chen continuously calculated the flow of earth qi, and the disciples behind him held ritual implements, ready at all times to "open the gates and release the malevolence."

Though this method might cause malevolent qi to accumulate at the gates, as long as they safely passed the Hai hour, the Jade Emperor would shatter the evil—sacrificing a little yang lifespan was better than risking the lives of every child in the county for the sake of one's own longevity.

Any orthodox xuan cultivator who had entered the Dao understood that yin virtue outweighed yang lifespan; the disciples holding the Five Gates Banner had long been warned of the risks.

As Daoist Chen chased the shifting locations of the malevolent gates, threads of prayer force rose in tandem with the Kitchen God rituals across the county, each household's incense smoke coalescing into prayer force and ascending.

Though the Kitchen God ritual was held at dusk, no household synchronized their timing, and the accumulated incense varied greatly from home to home; this rising and falling tide of prayer force caused the malevolent spirits beneath the earth qi to begin erratic movement.

When prayer force rose, the spirits turned away; if no escape path existed, they charged straight into it.

With each collision, the malevolent spirits evaporated or split apart, but occasionally, like consuming potent elixirs, they swelled again.

"Sigh…" Daoist Chen sighed, drawing a circle on the earth qi map where the malevolent spirits had grown; wherever people lived, there were always some filthiness that even the Kitchen God would curse if he could, and he couldn't control it—he could only mark it, leaving the magistrate to handle it later. But after being battered by the spirits, even strong, healthy adults would likely fall gravely ill—perhaps it was karma catching up.

As more and more prayer force rose, the malevolent spirits grew increasingly cornered—until, just as Daoist Chen thought "it's settled," all the spirits suddenly obeyed some unseen command, abandoning their scattered, chaotic behavior and rushing en masse toward a single direction.

No matter how much prayer force blocked their path, they showed no intention to detour; instead, they crashed straight through, and though many evaporated, their direct route made them far more efficient than their earlier meandering paths.

Watching the malevolent spirits surge through the city like a flood bursting from a leaking pipe, Daoist Chen's face darkened; he swept his lightning-struck wooden ruler across the earth qi map, extending the path of countless spirits forward until they converged on one single point—

"Magistrate, what is this place?"

"Huh? Let me see… ah!" The county magistrate, a mortal with no spiritual sight, couldn't see the spirits, but he saw Daoist Chen's expression and leaned close—his gaze locked onto the spot, and he shuddered, exclaiming: "That's the residence I gave to Mr. Feng!"

"Impossible! Even if Young Master Feng forgot the Kitchen God ritual, it couldn't cause this… wait—could Young Master Feng be cultivating right now? How could that be?!"

Daoist Chen's face showed profound shock—but this was now the only possible explanation!

Malevolent spirits have no intelligence; they act purely on instinct. They target children because children's primordial qi is abundant and easy to steal—so now, the only thing powerful enough to draw them through the prayer force unflinchingly, besides a massive concentration of primordial qi, was beyond Daoist Chen's imagination.

"Could Mr. Feng be doing this deliberately? To draw all the county's malevolent spirits to one place?" Daoist Chen thought this, and though he wanted to say no orthodox cultivator could possibly withstand a year's accumulation of corrupt prayer and malice, he recalled the ruined residence still holding traces of thunder qi over a week later—and a flicker of hope stirred in his heart.

But regardless, now that all the malevolent spirits were gathered, the risk of spread was gone; Daoist Chen slapped the earth qi map and shouted:

"Le Shan, you and your brothers stay here and watch—if the spirits begin to swell again, open the gates and release the malevolence immediately. Le Shui, come with me! Magistrate, notify the other cultivators—tell them Mr. Feng has shown great righteousness by gathering all the spirits; have them bring their sealing artifacts and rush to support him!"

"Ah, yes!" The county magistrate, a shrewd man, immediately gave orders; Daoist Chen knew this magistrate was the kind who, after death, would become a city god through yin virtue, and he felt reassured. He left a few disciples as a final safeguard, then, with his senior disciple, leapt from the wall and headed toward the Feng residence in Chengnan…

(End of Chapter)