Chapter 840

Blaze Dynasty, Northern Territory, Clear Prefecture, outside Clear Prefecture City, Dragon King Bay.

Dragon King Bay is an extremely large bay on the Jing River outside Clear Prefecture City, with nearly a million mu of fertile land, thousands of tenant households, plus extensive orchards and medicinal fields—all belonging to the Azure Dragon Temple.

Within the Azure Dragon Temple are three Daoist priests—Clear Wind, Flowing Cloud, and Bright Moon—all accomplished Daoists, renowned figures in the world of romance.

These three priests possess astonishing cultivation; rumor has it they faintly wield the cultivation of a 'King God,' and in the vast Clear Prefecture, few can match them.

Although they are Daoists, they follow the external alchemy path of harmonizing yin and yang and cultivating the tiger and dragon together, often parading through the market with hundreds of followers, mingling in brothels and tile-roofed inns. Moreover, thugs openly abduct women on the streets, yet the Clear Prefecture officials turn a blind eye.

It is also said that these three priests are implicated in several scandals in Clear Prefecture City where unmarried young ladies suddenly became pregnant, their involvement murky and unclear.

Yet the Azure Dragon Temple itself is formidable; it is said to be a branch of the Azure Lotus Temple and has countless ties to the Protect-the-Nation Three Gods Sect. With such background and backing, who would dare provoke them?

Thus, the Azure Dragon Temple has remained the Azure Dragon Temple.

Recently, the Blaze Dynasty has been tumultuous; within Clear Prefecture City, several official clans and a dozen prominent wealthy families have inexplicably become implicated in the case of the Second Prince Feng Shang's rebellion and revolt.

During the day, at the execution ground outside Clear Prefecture City, a great slaughter took place; thousands of bloody heads excited the onlooking populace.

The Azure Dragon Temple's dozens of steward Daoists, like flies drawn to the scent of blood, buzzed excitedly throughout Clear Prefecture City inside and out. Hundreds of thousands of mu of prime farmland, numerous shops and taverns, countless farms and ranches… most importantly, the daughters and wives of the implicated noble households were all snatched up by them for a pittance, absorbed into the Azure Dragon Temple's coffers.

At dusk, a long line of carriages departed from the south gate of Clear Prefecture City, creaking all the way toward the Azure Dragon Temple thirty li outside the city.

Stout and muscular, with oily sheen on their faces, fierce-looking Daoists clad in soft armor, bearing long sabers and whips, shouted hey-hey as they escorted the convoy.

On the carriages, a bevy of gorgeous women wailed and cried out their grievances.

Yesterday they were prominent noble ladies and young misses of Clear Prefecture City; today, out of the blue, as if the heavens had collapsed and the earth split, they became menial maidservants on the Azure Dragon Temple's ledger!

They had often gone to the Azure Dragon Temple to offer incense.

They had also frequently interacted with the Daoists of the Azure Dragon Temple.

But times have changed—what status did they have then, and what status do they have now?

Thinking of the various rumors about the Azure Dragon Temple, the women sobbed so hard they could barely catch their breath, some even fainting from tears.

The Azure Dragon Temple backs onto mountains and faces water, covering over two thousand mu; its successive halls and towers are grand in scale, evidently built at enormous cost.

In the rear mountains of the Azure Dragon Temple, it is said that within the cave abode where Clear Wind, Flowing Cloud, and Bright Moon usually cultivate, a massive teleportation array over five hundred zhang in diameter gradually dimmed its light; the tremendous spatial fluctuations were tightly sealed by the surrounding formations, giving rise to visible rings of transparent ripples.

The three Daoists—Clear Wind, Flowing Cloud, and Bright Moon, each about eight feet tall with waists around nine feet—stood cautiously beside the array, waiting for its residual fluctuations to subside; once the five figures at the array's center became visible, they simultaneously pressed their palms together with difficulty and bowed toward the center.

"May the Buddha be compassionate; good, good."

Clearly they are Daoists, who outwardly act as Daoists and even have obscure ties to the Azure Lotus Temple, yet right now the three Daoists clasp their hands and chant the Buddha's name like monks.

Wu Tie coughed once, spitting out a mouthful of blood-tinged spittle.

Via the emergency giant teleportation array set up by the Red Lotus Temple, he was shifted directly from the Three Kingdoms Continent to outside Clear Prefecture City; the transmission distance was immensely far, and Wu Tie relied solely on his flesh to withstand the tremendous spatial pressure along the way, yet he still suffered some moderate internal injuries.

The surging essence-blood qi circulated within his body, instantly healing his internal injuries, and Wu Tie's aura grew steady.

His gaze swept over the three Daoists standing outside the great array; his vast soul power swiftly spread forth, domineeringly breaking through layer after layer of seal formations outside the cave abode, instantly enveloping the entire Azure Dragon Temple, then the whole Dragon King Bay, and soon after, like flowing water, his soul power slipped past outside Clear Prefecture City, sweeping through tens of thousands of li of the void.

"Are you three from the Red Lotus Temple?" Wu Tie eyed the three plump, round, oil‑shiny faced, smiling Daoists whose aura was mysterious and aberrant with keen interest.

"I am the humble Clear Wind, unworthy to act as master of the Azure Dragon Temple." The white‑plump Daoist whose robe sleeve bore an embroidered Clear Wind laughed and bowed to Wu Tie: "These two are Flowing Cloud and Bright Moon; Flowing Cloud is my junior brother, the mountain‑guardian Daoist of our temple, and Bright Moon is my junior brother, the Dharma‑transmitting Daoist."

Smiling, Clear Wind Daoist narrowed his eyes at Wu Tie and said: "Our primary duty here is to serve as the temple's eyes and ears; our secondary duty is specifically to ruin the reputation of that bunch of old‑fashioned Daoists…"

He let out a heavy sigh, shook his head, and lamented: "We are by nature law‑abiding, compassionate good people… but the temple forces us to tarnish the names of those old‑fashioned Daoists, so we have no choice but to do it reluctantly."

Wu Tie's mouth corner twitched.

Within the range of his soul power, naturally included were those beautiful women who had been weeping all the way, brought to the Azure Dragon Temple by the carriages.

From those women's weeping, he quickly understood what had transpired in Clear Prefecture City and what these three stout Daoists had actually been up to.

His vast soul power washed through the Azure Dragon Temple inside and out, penetrating layer after layer of formation seals; he saw many beautiful women with exposed clothing in secret halls, pavilions, and chambers… and saw much… chaotic furnishings.

He further saw piled‑up mountain‑high land deeds, servitude contracts, and assorted gold, silver, jewels, countless essence‑crystal medicines, and large quantities of rare treasures.

Even a single secret chamber of the Azure Dragon Temple now holds wealth comparable to a millennium's accumulation of an upper prefecture in the former Wei Divine Kingdom.

"You've done well…" Wu Tie was at a loss for words.

The Daoists of the Azure Dragon Temple are actually a bunch of monks.

They masquerade as Daoists here, but are in fact hidden agents of the Red Lotus Temple, and they specialize in all sorts of mischievous deeds, specifically to ruin the reputation of Daoists?

Such underhanded tactics—only the sanctimonious, bald pates of the Red Lotus Temple who constantly chant 'subdue demons, eliminate evil' could pull them off.

Especially, the Daoist names of these three stout Daoists before us…

Clear Wind, Flowing Cloud, Bright Moon… together with what they have done.

That is, Clear Prefecture City lies in the remote Northern Territory, so they merely run rampant there and never dare cause trouble elsewhere; otherwise, a certain Daoist sharing the same name and surname as the Clear Wind master before us would surely have come brandishing his sword to start a massacre.

"Your affairs are none of my concern." Wu Tie said solemnly: "Today you have seen no one, know nothing, and nothing has happened at the Azure Dragon Temple—you… understand?"

The three stout monk‑Daoists—Clear Wind, Flowing Cloud, and Bright Moon—nodded in unison, chuckling: "We understand, understand, understand… we are a group of pure‑hearted, few‑desires cultivators who nurture mind and nature; we know nothing, we have seen nothing."

Amid the laughter, Clear Wind produced from his sleeve a thick stack of ordination certificates and a large pile of palm‑sized green tablets.

"Esteemed patron, this is what we, acting under orders, have prepared for you."

"Here, these are the ordination certificates of the Daoists from neighboring Jingzhou's Azure Cloud Temple—genuine, with not a hint of falsity. This identity token is the matching Azure Cloud Temple disciple order, also absolutely authentic from the Azure Cloud Temple, completely free of forgery."

"Unlike our Azure Dragon Temple, the Azure Cloud Temple is a legitimate branch of the Azure Lotus Temple, a time‑honored chain, boasting 'eight hundred Azure Clouds supporting the Azure Lotus'… and in this Northern Territory they actually have eight hundred branch outlets…"

"Here we have one hundred ordination certificates and one hundred disciple tokens, clean from start to finish, with no omissions."

"With these certificates and tokens in hand, you are a bona fide Azure Cloud Temple disciple; whether you commit murder and arson… or abduct and violate women, you can do so under the Azure Cloud Temple's banner, hehe…"

Wu Tie glanced at the smiling Clear Wind Daoist, and his facial muscles twitched again.

It is obvious that this fellow has done such things many times before.

"You lot are also talent… posing as a branch of the Azure Lotus Temple to do evil and run wild here, yet living so carefree and comfortable… indeed you are talent."

Wu Tie patted Clear Wind on the shoulder and said softly: "Given my nature, I originally wanted to smash the heads of you three…"

The smiles of Clear Wind, Flowing Cloud, and Bright Moon stiffened; they simultaneously glowered at Wu Tie with darkened faces.

They were like a jovial husky that instantly turned into a ferocious wolf; their aura grew grim and deep, every pore exuding dangerous energy.

"Patron, you jest… patron, we have received the edict of the Smiling Buddha, which is why we hastily set up this grand array at great expense to invite you to Clear Prefecture… we ought to be friends, right?"

Qing Feng forced out a faint smile.

"Your cultivation is inferior to the Smiling Face Buddha's. He would love to kill me, but right now, the one most vigorously mobilizing Red Lotus Temple resources to help me with my affairs is also him." Wu Tie patted Qing Feng's head and said calmly: "Study well, you lot; you're still far behind."

Wu Tie strode out of the cave dwelling, with Lao Tie, the Yin-Yang Daoist, the Five Elements Daoist, and the Vast Sea Daoist closely following behind.

"Forget today's affairs… By the way, let me tell you this: heaven's way has cycles of karma, good and evil will be repaid; in your actions, do not go to extremes." Wu Tie walked out of the cave dwelling and left Qing Feng, Liu Yun, and Hao Yue a piece of advice.

Qing Feng, Liu Yun, and Hao Yue stood beside the giant teleportation array, dazed for a moment, then all sneered at once.

"Pah, karma?" Hao Yue muttered: "We're just following orders; if there's to be retribution, it should fall on the Three Buddhas."

"Cut the nonsense, hurry up and dismantle this array, restore everything to its original state." Qing Feng urged, personally taking apart the giant teleportation array before him: "Even the main hall of Red Lotus Temple is surrounded by the imperial guards, and all the branch courtyards are watched by court secret agents… only we, these hidden agents, can barely move about."

"Act carefully; we must not draw the fire onto ourselves."

"The current ruler has gone berserk… tsk, even Imperial Noble Consort Wa Qinghuang was ordered by him to be strangled with three feet of white silk in the inner palace. If we show the slightest flaw, tsk…" Liu Yun, while swiftly dismantling the formation, crushed each inscription-bearing space-dao marker plate one by one, melting them into metal ingots, and lowered his voice to curse: "We haven't had enough of the good days yet; poor monk… no, poor Daoist, I still don't want to die."

Hao Yue asked softly: "Eldest Senior Brother, with the Crown Prince ascending this time, could it be that our Red Lotus Temple is truly being suppressed for thirty-six thousand years?"

Qing Feng narrowed his eyes and gently shook his head: "The Crown Prince's ascension is illegitimate… this matter isn't over; just look, these few are coming with great force, aren't they?"

He chuckled "hehe" a few times, then Qing Feng murmured: "But where did these people come from? Judging by the momentum of this teleportation array's operation, even the Four Nations of Demons and Monsters from the four directions aren't that far away."

"Not long ago, I did hear…" Hao Yue lowered his voice.

"Shh, shut up… if you speak, you must not reveal our tracks." Qing Feng interrupted Hao Yue: "We know nothing, we notice nothing. Hurry, clean this place up; let's go check out the new batch of servant girls."

On Qing Feng's greasy, big white face appeared a strange smile: "Hehe, the thirteenth concubine of Huang Dianjun, Senior Brother I have long admired; tsk tsk, today, Senior Brother I…"

Wu Tie and his five companions had already left the Azure Dragon Temple; not far from it, Wu Tie had already thrown the ordination certificates and jade tablets that Qing Feng gave him into the Great Dao Furnace.

The Red Lotus Temple's foundations are deep; in this enemy state's territory, how could Wu Tie dare to act according to the Smiling Face Buddha's plan?

"Wu Tie kid, where are we headed?" After traveling a stretch, Lao Tie could hold back no longer and asked Wu Tie.

"Find a place to gain a foothold. Well, according to Feng Shang's testimony, we'll go to their borderlands… the Four Nations of Demons and Monsters, seeking a spot where we can plant our feet."

"Demons and monsters, which side do you choose?" Lao Tie curiously asked Wu Tie.

"Of course we choose the Eastern Demon Kingdom. Red Lotus Temple lies east of Sui Du; among the eastern border troops, many are Red Lotus disciples. We possess the Smiling Face Buddha's token; acting there, we will face much less pressure."

"However, the most urgent thing right now is that we still need to find a great banner."

"A banner?" Lao Tie asked Wu Tie vaguely: "Just make a flag, any old pole will do?"

"No, we need to pick a pole so we can raise it as a tiger-skin banner." Wu Tie said solemnly: "So, we should first get as close to Sui Du as possible, gather some intel, then talk about the rest."