[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-book-of-strange-tales":3,"chapter-the-book-of-strange-tales-the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-571":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Book of Strange Tales",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2317851,4532,"Chapter 571","the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-571",571,"\u003Cp>“Congratulations, Master! You’ve cultivated a great divine art!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Congratulations, Master!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, what divine art was that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master… I… I just saw…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All four disciples rushed over—some offered congratulations, some asked curiously, others were out of breath from climbing the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stop joking around,” Lin Jue waved his hand, then asked, “How many years have passed since Master Wan and the others went down the mountain?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master really doesn’t keep track of years,” Xu Yi said. “It’s been ten winters and summers.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Already ten years…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue paused to think, then asked again: “Has the Purple Emperor’s campaign against demons and monsters continued?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s nearly over. In recent years, when we went down the mountain, we found that evil demons and monsters had almost been entirely purged,” Pu Mei replied. “But Master Wan and the others haven’t returned yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They must have their own destinies to fulfill.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue pondered a moment, then swept his sleeve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several beans flew out, transforming into four weapons and magical artifacts, floating in midair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thanks to Bai Luan’s gift of spirit gold, I’ve forged these four weapons and artifacts for you over the past years. Though I specialize in spellcraft, before achieving true enlightenment, relying solely on spells isn’t enough—having one or two suitable tools makes things far easier. Just like me—I once used a long sword alongside my flying sword.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of them brightened and stared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A staff of stillness, more potent than the fifth senior brother’s staff—capable of immobilizing immortals; a blooming fan that could summon spring winds to spur flowers and steal vital energy; a transforming dragon sword that could seize an opponent’s weapon and turn it into a writhing dragon; and a long spear imbued with thunderous power, capable of striking a person’s shadow to injure their true body;\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also four rings, capable of passing through walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, all were manifestations of his own spellcraft—most magical artifacts in the world originated this way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Either they gradually absorbed their master’s spiritual aura and power through prolonged use, gaining wondrous properties that could cast the master’s spells, or the master deliberately infused them with specific magical subtleties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though these artifacts’ abilities fell short of Lin Jue’s own, they were crystallizations of his insights into the mysteries of spellcraft and the Dao—more than sufficient to handle opponents who had not yet achieved true enlightenment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take the staff of stillness—it could nearly immobilize immortals; take the transforming dragon sword—it could turn even a True Lord’s weapon into a writhing dragon. Of course, these alone wouldn’t let them stand against True Lords or True Immortals—but paired with other survival spells and their own cultivation, they might yet escape such foes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This spear must be for the youngest brother,” Xu Yi said cheerfully, exuding the demeanor of the senior disciple as he turned to the youngest. “Of all of us, only you studied spear techniques under Luo Gongceng—this spear was surely crafted by Master for you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come and take it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you, Master! Thank you, Senior Brother and Sisters!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Ran immediately bowed, stepped forward, and carefully caught the spear from the air, treating it like a priceless treasure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the spear was heavy—he struggled to hold it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Younger brother needs to train his strength,” Xu Yi said. “I wonder if Master still has any Giant Spirit Pills? We should flatter him more, beg for a few to try—they’d boost our strength.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“H-How do you flatter him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Ran glanced nervously between his Master and Senior Brother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I heard Master say that in the future, some of our Uncles and Aunts may achieve enlightenment and retreat to seclusion here on the mountain to cultivate with Master,” Xu Yi said cheerfully. “Isn’t it lucky? Just before, when I and Senior Sister studied other spells, Master made us build pavilions, corridors, and halls!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He glanced at the two younger sisters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the rain soaked you, how could the younger brother escape?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Exactly!” Pu Mei immediately understood. “I built the storage pavilion; the corridors were built by Senior Brother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Right!” Xian Zhu added. “I built the pavilion where Luo Gongceng now lives!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Ran’s eyes widened in alarm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where should this pavilion be built? How big? What style? I’ll start tomorrow!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue was both exasperated and amused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t realized that now, tricking new disciples didn’t even require him to speak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, he was an immortal, they were deep in the mountains, and they were close-knit disciples—if this were the imperial court, and the Crown Prince had already arranged everything for the Emperor, the Crown Prince would be in grave danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are three more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll take this long sword,” Xian Zhu said. “My swordplay is better than Senior Brother’s and Sister’s.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stepped forward, took the sword, flicked her wrist—and executed a flawless sword flourish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I’ll take the blooming fan,” Pu Mei said. “Senior Brother knows ‘Flowers Bloom Instantly’—he certainly won’t need this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, the fan was also forged from spirit gold—each fan blade sharp as a knife, capable of summoning wind and blooming flowers, hurling outward to strike foes, and even scattering into temporary flying blades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pu Mei turned it over in her hands, clearly delighted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sister has chosen wisely.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yi took the staff of stillness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Go back and cultivate diligently,” Lin Jue told them. “When the world stirs again, it will be your turn to descend and seek your destinies. If you wish to achieve true enlightenment, you must work harder.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Achieving true enlightenment was no easy thing—but when your own Master is a True Immortal or even a Great Being, it’s not so difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Lin Jue had awakened “Life and Death Creation.” If he deepened his insight and refined his mastery, when this power could act independently upon the external world, he would merge more profoundly with the Dao—truly qualifying as a Great Being.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which Emperor or Great Being doesn’t have several True Lords under them? Which Ancient Immortal or Primordial Spirit doesn’t have a few Immortal disciples?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as previously mentioned—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary cultivators facing a bottleneck have three options: first, to wait and slowly grind through time—Lin Jue, as Master, gave them a Yuanqiu fruit, seemingly simple, yet rare in the world, extending their lives by a century; second, to rely on rare treasures or superior pills—Lin Jue, as Master, kept a Silver-Eating Ghost, cultivated original Dan-fruit trees, and never ran out of Spirit-Essence Pills; the rarest immortal fruits, they had since the start of their cultivation; third, to travel and gather spiritual aura, seeking destiny—Master had also given them ample aid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just this one Master had made their cultivation conditions immeasurably better than ordinary Daoists’.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far better than Lin Jue himself and his youngest sister had ever had; vastly superior to the heirs of ordinary temple Daoists, wandering cultivators of the martial world, or lone mystics with meager lineages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far better than Lin Jue himself and his junior sister had ever been, and utterly incomparable to ordinary disciples of mortal Daoist temples, wandering cultivators of the martial world, or lone mystics with only scraps of transmission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue waved them off and left them to their own devices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue waved them off and let them go, no longer interfering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the far eastern edge of the Dayu Dynasty, snow had long blanketed the entire land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tao Daochang and his disciple looked young—even younger than when they first entered the mountains with Lin Zhen to seek the Dao—but no one knew that beneath these youthful bodies lay two souls already over a hundred years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In recent years, this region had frequently clashed with foreign tribes, resulting in constant deaths—and thus, spirits, demons, corpse monsters constantly emerged; gods purged one batch, only for new ones to arise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>War never ceased; evil entities never stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the Purple Emperor’s grand purge, things were better—the Eastern Green-Hua Emperor had responded to the Purple Emperor’s decree; day and night, celestial inspectors patrolled the skies, and divine beings discerned yin and yang—any emergence of spirits, demons, or corpse monsters was detected immediately; even abnormal fluctuations in yin-yang spiritual energy were noticed, prompting heavenly soldiers and divine generals to investigate. Even during war, spirits and demons here were rare, and even rarer were those who caused trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that the purge had ended, and this was not the Purple Emperor’s direct place of worship, the heavenly soldiers, divine generals, and spirit officials under Green-Hua Emperor immediately grew lax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The master and disciple walked through the snow, leading a mule, leaving a long trail of footprints.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Fucha tribe, which only recently submitted to the court, has rebelled again. After the local General crushed them, they burned, killed, and looted—leaving the entire fortress steeped in unceasing yin and resentment energy. If not purified, spirits, demons, corpse monsters will keep emerging endlessly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The yin and resentment energy here has already coalesced into dark clouds—sunlight doesn’t even reach the ground. How can it ever be purified?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The master and disciple walked on, both frowning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we could remove this yin cloud, would our merit be enough?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we can remove this land’s shadowy affliction, won’t our merit be sufficient?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But only enough for merit—everything else is still lacking.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just do good deeds.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I wonder how Master Wan and Cai Lingyu are faring.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I hope they fare better.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forty years as master and disciple, both a hundred years old—by now, even father and son would have no hierarchy between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Decades of master-disciple bond, both now a hundred years old; even if they were father and son, they no longer held rank between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the south, there was no snow, and war was rare; under the rule of Jade Mirror Emperor, evil demons and monsters were uncommon—but this year, a great drought struck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fields cracked dry; rivers ran dry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crops withered; corpses littered the land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Lingyu, dressed like a graceful scholar, arrived alone, his expression equally troubled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His troubles were twofold:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, whether this drought was tied to the gods—if so, it must relate to the secret struggle between the Purple Emperor and Jade Mirror Emperor. But whether or not it was, his own cultivation was powerless to resolve it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could only save a few more famine victims, and gaze into the eyes of the helpless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, like Tao Daochang’s master and disciple, he had been wandering for ten years, accumulating little merit or destiny—true enlightenment still felt distant to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second was that, like Tao Daochang and his disciples, he had walked the mortal world for ten years, accumulating little in either fortune or merit; becoming a true immortal felt genuinely distant to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Lingyu couldn’t help but sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do what one can; leave the rest to heaven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wan Xinrong rode a horse to the far western edge of the Dayu Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This land had once belonged to the Thirty-Six Western Kingdoms of the previous dynasty, then controlled by Dazhu, and even centuries ago, when the Western Regions were under the central empire’s sway, it had never reached this far. Now, for the first time, it had been incorporated into the central realm under the hand of the ancient emperor he knew well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This land had once belonged to the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions, and later fell under the control of Dazu; even centuries ago, when the Western Regions still lay within the grasp of the Central Plains dynasties, it had never extended this far west—yet now, for the first time, it was incorporated into the Central Plains’ map under the hand of the immortal emperor he knew well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, it was distant from the center, hard to govern. After the emperor was taken away by immortals and abdicated, this region saw repeated rebellions—even the generals stationed here often ignored imperial orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, it lay far from the center, hard to govern; after that emperor was taken by immortals and abdicated, this land saw repeated rebellions, and even the generals stationed here often ignored imperial orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, it was new territory, a new place of worship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The West had always been the worship domain of Miao Ming Emperor—but adding the Western Regions made this domain far too vast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the region already had its own beliefs, and especially revered the Fomen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The secret struggle between Miao Ming Emperor and the Purple Emperor, the clash between the Nine Heavens’ spirits and local deities, and the conflict between Daoism and Buddhism had plunged the region into chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The covert struggle between Miaoming Emperor and Zi Emperor, combined with clashes between the Nine Heavens’ divine spirits and local deities, as well as conflicts between Daoist and Buddhist sects, plunged this place into chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Demons, ghosts, undead, evil entities, deities, and wicked cultivators all thrashed about in chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also the most dangerous place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky gradually darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wan Xinrong picked up his lantern—the one the True Immortal had taken and then returned to him—and walked slowly forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ahead, the mountain peak cast a grotesque shadow in the night, as if a demon ready to devour men. If his judgment was correct, there should be a cultivator here who once coerced an entire nation, turning the whole realm into his blood offering for cultivation; only when the Great Yu army and the Nine Heavens’ deities arrived together did he somewhat rein himself in—but now, taking advantage of the chaos, he had begun again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he was no demon or ghost—he was a man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was laughable: the Purple Emperor had slaughtered every last demon, ghost, undead, and evil entity, yet countless innocent spirits were wrongly killed, and yet this man slipped through untouched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could this be someone who had achieved True Immortality?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wan Xinrong felt uneasy, but not afraid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a Daoist who cultivated the Five Elements, he should never have extended his life much—but since following the True Immortal, he had eaten immortal fruits and drunk from immortal springs, living over a hundred years; he had already gotten his money’s worth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether he had lived enough was debatable, but if he could never achieve True Immortality, he had few years left anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since he had regained his youthful appearance, why not reclaim a little of that youthful spirit and fight this local evil cultivator?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flashing through Wan Xinrong’s mind, besides youthful spirit, were memories of his youth—scenes of following the True Immortal to subdue demons and purge evil, each one as vivid as yesterday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So what if he had achieved True Immortality? Just a barbarian from beyond the borders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Five Elements arts of the Central Plains were not to be trifled with!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sudden whoosh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Chen Niu talisman burst into flame.\u003C\u002Fp>",2446,"2026-06-20T14:45:37.804Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f2f82fd5215f3034186d560c8164ec4b88ca7989a5c89ed6b28f01f8c4871829","the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-572","the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-570",608,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-book-of-strange-tales-cover.jpg"]