Chapter 587: Conquest

While Lin Jue continued cultivating and contemplating the Dao, Mount Yishan was engulfed in clouds like an ocean, submerging most of its strange peaks and rocks, leaving only Lotus Peak and Tiandoufeng visible above the mist.

Several divine officials descended on clouds, bowing and calling out:

“Mount Yishan’s Mountain Lord!”

Below, the clouds churned, yet the largest Lotus Peak remained utterly still.

“Mount Yishan’s Mountain Lord!”

“Is Mount Yishan’s Mountain Lord present?”

“I am a messenger from Heaven—dare you not answer?”

After a long while, three figures ascended to the summit of Lotus Peak.

Upon closer inspection, the lead figure was an unremarkable-looking Daoist, followed by two spirits: a macaque and a cloud leopard, the macaque holding a lantern in its hand, the cloud leopard carrying another in its mouth.

“What brings you divine officials here?”

The Daoist below, surprised, asked respectfully.

“Who are you?”

“Respectful divine official, I am the abbot of a small Daoist temple in the mountains, meditating on Lotus Peak. Hearing your calls and receiving a plea from the Mountain Spirit’s emissary, I came up to see.”

“Which temple?”

“Fuxiang Peak’s Fuxiang Temple.”

“Hmph! I could’ve guessed!” said the foremost divine official. “I didn’t summon you—why are you here?”

“The Mountain Lord isn’t home! You called and got no answer—I feared you’d waste your breath, so I huffed and puffed my way up.” Ji Yang wiped his sweat. “What do you need with the Mountain Lord?”

“He’s not in this mountain?”

“He’s not in this mountain.”

“Truly not?”

“Truly not!”

“Bold Daoist!” The divine official above flew into rage. “I’ve shown you courtesy because you’re human—how dare you deceive me!”

“He truly isn’t home!” Ji Yang wiped his sweat again, raising his right hand. “I swear by the name of the Heavenly Emperor!”

“How dare you desecrate the Heavenly Emperor!”

“I would never!”

As the current abbot of Fuxiang Temple, Ji Yang had been rigorously selected by his master’s “Method of Knowing Men and Fates,” granting him far greater talent than the other disciples of Mount Yishan.

Though he hadn’t received the relentless training of his eccentric junior uncle—whose abilities bordered on those of a Great Being—he had now reached the brink of attaining true Dao. Even without a Golden Core, he could cross the threshold. By mortal standards, he was a rare high cultivator, ranking just below Immortals and True Lords, his status no lower than these divine officials. Yet before them, he remained deeply respectful.

Not for any other reason—

But because his sixth uncle had said: “Junior uncle is in deep contemplation—the later he awakens, the greater his advantage.”

So he was here to buy time.

“What brings you divine officials here? Why not wait until Mountain Lord returns? I shall deliver your message immediately.”

“You’ll deliver it?”

“What else can I do?” The Daoist spread his hands, glancing left and right. “You’ve seen for yourselves—these two Mountain Spirit emissaries are clever and human-like, yet poor at speech. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have rushed to wake me from meditation.”

The divine officials exchanged glances and smiled.

They clearly saw the Daoist was stalling them.

But first, their power was too weak to intrude—neither could they face the Mountain Lord himself nor the several Immortals within the mountain, let alone the ancient spirits that could easily kill them. They were civil officials, possessing divine power but no combat skill.

Second, such a formidable being as Mount Yishan’s Mountain Lord, located within the domain of the Jade Mirror Emperor of the South, meant the Nine Heavens would never send a great army over a trivial matter.

The Daoist below wished to delay—so did they, following procedure step by step:

First, send divine officials to summon the Mountain Lord to the Nine Heavens. If he went, he’d never return. If he refused, send martial gods to capture him. If he resisted, the next step would be the arrival of True Lords, Spirit Officers, Celestial Soldiers, and Divine Generals.

“This Mountain Lord has long seized Mount Yishan. During this time, as Mountain Spirit, he received offerings but failed to properly govern this Immortal Mountain. Many have entered and died within it; wicked demons and ghosts from within have ventured out to cause chaos. These matters were already reported to the Mountain Lord—summon him to the Nine Heavens for investigation!”

“Also, there is a den of cat demons here—once Earth Spirits. We came before and asked them to come to the Nine Heavens for questioning, but they vanished. Could it be that this Mountain Lord, fearing they’d reveal damaging truths, captured and imprisoned them?”

“Divine officials must be mistaken,” Ji Yang said at once. “The Mountain Lord here is benevolent and kind—these matters have nothing to do with him!”

He paused:

“As for the matter of Fourth Auntie and the Scissors Peak companion—I know of it. Heh, surely you know too: Fuxiang Peak and Scissors Peak are neighbors. Fourth Auntie’s entire family and our Fuxiang Temple Daoists have been longtime friends. Recently, we heard the Heavenly Emperor was ruthlessly exterminating demons across the mortal realm, indiscriminately targeting good and evil. Fourth Auntie grew fearful and fled.”

“Bold indeed!”

The divine official above laughed:

“We’ve come, we’ve delivered our message. We’ll return tomorrow. If Mount Yishan’s Mountain Lord still isn’t here, it will be deemed defiance. Next time, we’ll search the mountain ourselves.”

“When the Mountain Lord returns, I shall inform him.”

The divine officials rode their clouds away; the Daoist below wiped his sweat and turned back.

The two Mountain Spirit emissaries followed silently behind him. As they raised their lanterns, the light revealed a staircase appearing on the steep, perilous Lotus Peak, leading down the mountain.

As the divine officials said, they returned the next day.

Ji Yang met them again, saying the Mountain Lord was still absent, pleading for a few more days.

The divine officials departed with smiles.

Three days later, they returned with over a dozen Spirit Officers and Divine Generals, all clad in armor and helmets, imposing and fearsome, radiating overwhelming pressure.

“Has Mountain Lord still not returned?”

“Mountain Lord has returned! I shall inform him at once!”

“I shall wait here!”

“...”

“Divine officials! The Mountain Lord is sleeping!” Ji Yang said. “Why not wait one more day? The Mountain Lord is always kind—he’ll surely follow you to Heaven when he wakes.”

“If I were to say so, waiting a day would be fine. Heh—but these martial gods are impatient and refuse to wait.”

Ji Yang turned to the martial gods.

Before he could speak, the Spirit Officers and Divine Generals glared, fierce and menacing:

“Knowing the Nine Heavens summoned him, you repeatedly evade—do you hold the celestial spirits in contempt?”

“No, no! Martial gods, don’t act rashly!”

“Step aside! Whether he’s home or asleep, we’ll find out ourselves!”

“This is the Mountain Lord’s sacred ground! You cannot intrude!”

“What sacred ground? This is the mortal realm—beneath the Nine Heavens. Since this Mountain Lord has not been recognized by the Purple Emperor, he is no true Mountain Spirit! Any mortal may come—how much less can we, celestial spirits, not enter?”

The Spirit Officers and Divine Generals surged forward boldly. Though they knew they stood no chance against a Great Mountain Lord, they feared nothing, riding white clouds downward, plunging straight into the endless mist below.

The divine official followed them.

“Hey hey hey...”

The Daoist on the peak waved frantically to stop them. Seeing he couldn’t, he sighed in regret: “It’s admirable that you divine lords from the north are fearless—but too reckless! The mist here obscures all paths—how can anyone unfamiliar find their way?”

The celestial spirits truly became lost in the mist.

They had descended straight from Lotus Peak, yet within the fog, disoriented, they could no longer find it.

Worse—they couldn’t find their way out either.

“Why didn’t you listen?”

Ji Yang clapped his hands in lament and returned to report.

This could delay things—but only briefly.

After several days, the Nine Heavens noticed the divine messengers had not returned. A divine spirit with a bloated belly appeared in the sky, blew a single breath—and a hurricane scattered the mountain’s mist. The divine officials and martial gods emerged.

Later, thunder rumbled across the sky. Listening closely, one realized it was not thunder—it was the sound of war drums.

A deer grazing peacefully in the mountain suddenly trembled, then

lifted its head.

A Daoist meditating in a mountain temple, a monk chanting in a mountain monastery—both rushed out upon hearing the thunder.

Above, the heavens were now filled with white clouds, each cloud densely packed with Celestial Soldiers and Divine Generals. True Lords stood atop golden wheels at the front; Immortals gazed down from the clouds; dragons pulled golden chariots; armored giants carried burning boulders; floating warships and pavilions drifted in the air, banners fluttering.

The Long Snake True Lord raised his chin. A divine official rode forward, calling down:

“Audacious Mountain Lord of Yishan!”

“You have seized Mount Yishan, claimed yourself a spirit, failed to protect the mountain’s peace, disrespected the Nine Heavens’ true deities. The Heavenly Emperor has summoned you repeatedly—yet you defy his edicts. Today, we come to arrest you! Surrender at once!”

His voice echoed like thunder through the mountain.

Birds took flight; rocks tumbled from cliffs; even the mountain’s mist seemed stirred and reshaped by his cry.

After a moment, a voice rose from the mountain:

“I am a spirit of this mountain, born naturally from the essence and spiritual grace of this land. I am this mountain’s true spirit—how can you accuse me of seizing Yishan or falsely claiming divinity?”

“This is the mortal realm—beneath the Nine Heavens. Without the Nine Heavens’ mandate, you are a demon spirit!”

“Below is the mortal realm. The mountaintop is the Nine Heavens.”

“You claim to be your own realm? Clearly, you intend rebellion!” The Long Snake True Lord gripped his sword. “Our army has arrived. If you do not surrender and return with me to the Nine Heavens to answer for your crimes, I shall destroy you—and restore this mortal mountain to humanity, installing a human spirit to govern it!”

“I am the spirit of Yishan. This is Yishan. Within this mountain, you are far from enough.”

“Sound the drums!”

The sky erupted again with thunderous war drums.

The mountain’s stillness shattered.

From countless temples, monasteries, and hermit huts, people poured out in panic, bewildered.

Others seized swords, ready to defend their Mountain Lord.

As he had protected them for years.

……

Almost simultaneously, a True Lord arrived at Fengshan.

He came to demand Fuyao from him.

……