Chapter 573: Another Move

The sunset glow in the west grew increasingly dim.

The black smoke filling the sky gathered into dark clouds. The seven-tailed white fox, holy and elegant, stepped through the air, its divine light illuminating the night. More than a dozen flying swords, reflecting the sunset glow, wove back and forth across the night sky, creating a dreamlike scene.

Lin Jue drifted down and landed on the ground:

"Wan Gong, have you been well since we last met?"

"Many thanks to the Zhenren for coming to my rescue!" Wan Xinrong bowed first. "Otherwise, my path of cultivation would likely have ended here!"

"Wan Gong, you have great courage..."

"The Zhenren flatters me," Wan Xinrong said. "As the Zhenren once said, achieving the Dao is no easy task; one must naturally seek it in perilous places. I was initially somewhat apprehensive, but thinking of the Zhenren's own path to the Dao, I felt that such danger was perhaps deserved."

"And how have you fared, Wan Gong?"

"I have had some small gains."

In the distance, dark red blood surged up from time to time, transforming into giant hands rising from the ground, crashing toward the seven-tailed white fox, only to be instantly frozen into ice sculptures by a breath of cold air from the fox. At other times, countless blood-worms gathered into a black dragon, baring fangs and claws as it lunged at the fox's golden divine fire, only to be burned to nothingness.

The dozen sword lights wove incessantly, ignoring all defensive counterattacks as they pursued a black shadow. If black smoke attacked, they would pass straight through it; if the opponent hid in the mountains, they would pierce the mountain through.

The battle there was incredibly intense, with movements that shook the heavens and the earth, yet the two men conversed here with composure.

"The Zi Emperor's campaign to purge demons has already ended. Apart from this demon,

Wan Gong, are you still not returning to the mountain?"

"Although the campaign to purge demons has ended, the world is not necessarily peaceful because of it. There are still opportunities to be found in this human realm."

"I see..."

Lin Jue sighed and said, "Then I wish Wan Gong success. If you have need of me again, just call."

"Many thanks, Zhenren!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

In the distance, the twelve sword lights flew back, their blades stained with black blood and still emitting black smoke.

The fox also jumped back elegantly and lowered its head to lick its fur.

"Hoo—————"

Lin Jue blew a breath of air.

The black blood on the flying swords instantly turned into flower petals of various colors and types, falling from the blades. The sword bodies quickly became clean and bright, even reflecting the stars in the sky.

Thunder clouds gathered beneath his feet, and with a faint rumble of thunder, he left this place.

"Safe travels, Zhenren!"

Wan Xinrong watched him depart.

Looking back, the remaining half of the high mountain was already riddled with holes. The night sky became clean and bright; the black smoke and blood-worms had all disappeared. Instead, black blood kept bubbling up from the ground, staining the wilderness that had looked normal during the day into a foul-smelling black blood marsh. A figure fell in the distance, still emitting flames.

Such power...

Wan Xinrong felt a yearning in his heart.

And so, he continued on his journey.

Daoist Tao and his two disciples passed through the snowy forest, walked to the seaside, and then followed the sea down to Lin-hai County in Lu-zhou.

Nearly a hundred years had passed, and this small city still circulated the story of the immortal who sold flowers to encourage people to do good. Such fascinating tales often spread longer and deeper into people's hearts than many earth-shattering demon-purging events.

Here, there also circulated the story of the immortal who restored a general's courage and helped him eliminate a giant turtle.

It is said that on the E-tou Mountain, the general built a pavilion named the Immortal Pavilion, and on the beach below, two stone mountains faced each other, looking exactly like a turtle, so they were called Turtle Mountain.

It is said that after that, because of his fierce fighting, that general was highly valued by the King of Yue. He was very skilled in leading troops into battle and repeatedly repelled the Northern Court's attacks for the King of Yue. Later, because the King of Yue committed suicide and surrendered, the general also submitted to the Northern Court, and his descendants remain prominent to this day.

The master and his two disciples climbed E-tou Mountain, saw the Immortal Pavilion, and went to see the Turtle Mountain below. Knowing this was the work of their own Zhenren, they felt as if they could visualize the scene from back then, feeling both nostalgic and amused.

Cai Lingyu traveled to the south of the Yangtze River, and Yang-zhou was unavoidable.

The pear fragrance that appeared for no reason in the streets back then, and the thunder that purged filth on New Year's Eve, were still being talked about.

He knew that the Zhenren had once accompanied his senior brother to refine pills in Yang-zhou, so while listening with great interest, he could also guess from the details that this too was the work of his own Zhenren.

Before he knew it, it was time for another Snow Lotus Society.

Wan Xinrong, representing his own Zhenren, went respectfully to Tianshan to pay a visit to the Tianshan Ancestor. Returning to the West Sea, he saw that a type of demon-purging talisman was circulating there, rumored to have been passed down from Lin Zhenren, capable of purging demons.

A rough look, and it actually seemed to be the Chen Niu Talisman?

A closer look, and it was indeed the Chen Niu Talisman!

It was just that this "demon-purging talisman" was only seven or eight parts similar to the Chen Niu Talisman; some lines and strokes had slight differences, likely having deformed during the process of circulation. Furthermore, it did not have the Chen Niu seal stamped on it, so it clearly lacked the function of summoning Chen Niu, let alone any demon-purging effect.

Curious, he inquired and learned—

It turned out that decades ago, after the Zi Emperor took control of the Nine Heavens, he issued an order through the Zixiao Palace for all places to demolish the temples of the True Lords and Divine Generals who served under the former Heavenly Lord. The local people here had originally planned to tear down the Temple of Husheng Husheng Zhenjun Jiling, but unexpectedly, Lin Zhenren came here in person. He persuaded them by saying that this was the hometown of Husheng Husheng Zhenjun Jiling, that they were fellow townsmen of Husheng Husheng Zhenjun Jiling, and that if they worshipped him well, the Husheng Husheng Zhenjun would protect them.

To prevent Husheng Husheng Zhenjun Jiling from taking their offerings without doing his job, or from falling into evil, he left behind three talisman papers, saying that if they burned the talisman papers, he would arrive.

Since then, the local people had indeed worshipped Husheng Husheng Zhenjun Jiling with sincerity, and Husheng Husheng Zhenjun Jiling had protected this place, with no demons or monsters causing trouble. The story of the three talisman papers also spread, and as it spread, it became a spiritual talisman bestowed by Lin Zhenren, capable of reaching Lin Zhenren and possessing Lin Zhenren's divine power, which even True Lords would fear, let alone ordinary demons and monsters.

Thus, ordinary people and wandering sorcerers alike began to copy these three talismans to draw their own, using them to ward off evil, protect their homes, and guard their bodies against demons.

Wan Xinrong only then learned—

To say these talisman papers were useless was not entirely correct.

Because Lin Zhenren's name was so renowned, and demons and ghosts were not necessarily smarter than humans, and there were often simple and dull ones among them, since humans believed these talisman papers were useful, demons and ghosts might naturally believe it too. Therefore,

some demons and ghosts invading a home, seeing such talisman papers pasted on the door, did not know if they were real or fake, but they dared not gamble with their lives, and they really did stop in their tracks.

There were also people who encountered demons while walking at night, and by brandishing such talisman papers and using Lin Zhenren's name to intimidate them, they actually succeeded in scaring off the demons and ghosts.

It had the same effect as the incident with Master Fan Tian back then.

By the time Wan Xinrong returned to the mountain, another ten years or so had passed.

He was also the first to return to Fengshan.

It was also in this year that a major event occurred in the human realm.

The Southern Heavenly Master, who had lived for over a hundred years, passed away.

Over the past hundred years, whether in the north or south of the great rivers, in the human realm or the demon realm, in the pugilistic world or the imperial court, the Southern Heavenly Master had accumulated enough prestige.

On the day he ascended to immortality, the people of the capital were polarized: some believed from the bottom of their hearts that the Southern Heavenly Master was a great god from heaven who had descended to the mortal realm and was now returning to heaven; others believed that the Southern Heavenly Master would become a god, so they did not feel sad upon hearing of his passing, but were instead happy for him; others, upon hearing the news, felt as if struck by a bolt of lightning, unable to believe it, and wept bitterly, spontaneously gathering before his door to see him off.

The very next day, the Emperor issued an edict to honor the Southern Heavenly Master's merits, conferring upon him the title of "Emperor of Monitoring Heaven and Subduing Demons, Radiant and Illustrious." He also ordered temples to be built across the country to erect his divine statue, to be worshipped and offered sacrifices for ten thousand generations.

It was not rare for an Emperor to confer divinity, and conferring the title of "Emperor" on someone was not particularly strange; it ultimately depended on whether the human people accepted it. It was common for emperors to wishfully confer divinity on spirits, only for the people not to buy it, or for a trend to emerge for a few decades, only for the spirit's incense to fade away or disappear entirely after a few decades when a new emperor took the throne.

Therefore, there were many "Emperors" in heaven who actually lacked the divine office and power of an "Emperor," and might not even possess the divine office and power of a "Husheng Husheng Zhenjun."

In the current dynasty, because the Zi Emperor was overbearing and the Zixiao Palace was also very arrogant, the subsequent emperors were ultimately not as strong as Lord Luo. Even if they tried their best to balance things, they did very little conferring of divinity.

And they had never conferred the title of "Emperor" on anyone.

But the Southern Heavenly Master was different!

As soon as this edict was issued, it immediately received support and recognition both inside and outside the court. It spread rapidly out of the palace gates, to the capital, and then from the capital in all directions—the world knew the Southern Heavenly Master and recognized him, so naturally, they recognized the Emperor's conferment. Even before the Emperor's conferment, while the Southern Heavenly Master was still alive, many people already had the Southern Heavenly Master's divine statue and spirit tablet worshipped in their homes.

At this point, even if the Zixiao Palace and the Nine Heavens wanted to oppose it, it was already completely useless, not to mention whether they could be in time or whether they stood on firm legal ground.

From the imperial family down to beggars and criminals, and everyone in between—high officials, commoners, peddlers, scholars, and soldiers—everyone had already begun to offer incense before the Southern Heavenly Master's divine statue.

There was one more "Emperor" in heaven and earth.

This "Emperor" had weak divine power and a shallow foundation, and was still far from being called an Emperor, yet no human or spirit dared to underestimate him. In fact, as soon as he ascended to heaven as a god, many True Lords and spirits would subconsciously stand straighter and shrink their necks when they saw him, fearing they might be scolded by him.

In Mount Yishan, the blind Daoist placed another piece on the board.

The eldest senior brother had taken in two more disciples, and the eight disciples of this generation of Fuqiu Peak were now complete.

By this time, Ji Yang and Ji Yin were both quite old.

Although the eldest senior brother was still alive, he had already achieved the Dao and did not know how many more years he would live. If his disciples could not achieve the Dao, he would certainly be able to outlive them. Therefore, after much deep thought, he gave up the position of Temple Master of Fuqiu Temple and passed it to Ji Yang, allowing him to continue the inheritance of the temple. He also followed the ancestral rules, made arrangements, and told the other disciples to go down the mountain.

He wondered which one would be able to live in the temple that the people of Jinping County had built for Lin Jue back then.

The second senior brother left his temple to his disciples.

Immediately after, the eldest, second, and sixth senior brothers built a few thatched huts on the nearby Scissor Peak, living in quiet cultivation with the wild cats on the mountain.

The junior sister still lived in the Red Leaf Temple.

It seemed Ziyun had no intention of taking in disciples.

At this time, the world had entered another golden age. There were no wars on the borders, the people lived and worked in peace, the weather was favorable for years, no demons or evil objects appeared, and the Emperor was benevolent. Looking through history books, it was one of the best periods.

Lin Jue had arrived in Huizhou, at the foot of Flying Mountain.