Chapter 170

The West Market is extremely large inside, and the small commotion at the street corner just now could not affect the prosperity of the market at all.

With the Qianqiu Festival imminent, both the East and West Markets received imperial decrees to open an hour early. The Chang'an commoners from various wards, the purchasing servants from noble mansions, the idle officials waiting for selection in Chang'an, the foreign barbarians from all nations, the foreign maids greeting guests at the doors of taverns, and merchants from all over the country buying goods were all crowded into the West Market, bustling and rubbing shoulders.

One could even see women wearing wide-sleeved silk skirts, the colorful silk shirts embroidered with exquisite flower and bird patterns, adorned with bright flowing silk. This kind of clothing is worn with a long skirt, tied with a wide belt, with the chest to the shoulders basically exposed.

Such women usually have several maids following behind them, swaggering past, which made Seeing Yan Shu, who came from the Wei Jin dynasties, very ashamed. Although he was no longer as dumbfounded as when he first saw this scene upon arriving in this realm, he was still very unaccustomed to it.

Qian Chen smiled: "General Pei, why are you acting like a thief? If you keep dodging your eyes like this, the Bad Constables from the Martial Guard post nearby will come up to interrogate you!"

Seeing Yan Shu whispered: "In this world, why is it so open? The Wei Jin dynasties in the Central Lands often said that we overseas were shameless and lacked ritual education, but this Great Tang, compared to us overseas, is even more..."

He stammered and didn't finish, and Qian Chen smiled: "Even more dissolute? Even more shameless?"

"General, this is the atmosphere of enlightenment, the prosperity of a golden age!"

Qian Chen looked around generously. It was not that he coveted this cheap visual pleasure, but that this generous, open atmosphere made Qian Chen, who was still a transmigrator in his bones, feel very relaxed. He even sang on the street: "Straight from the many arts, the heart works hard, the heart's path is exquisite and the style is high. The dancing sleeves linger like real butterflies, the red lips are deep and shallow like fake cherries. The powdered chest is half-covered, suspected to be clear snow, the drunken eyes slant back like small knives. Only after the rain and clouds must we part, the words are ashamed to be inferior to the pipa groove..."

The romanticism sung out from that profound depth made the scholars and Tang people beside him smile in silent agreement. Seeing Yan Shu hurriedly held him back and said: "Qian Shidi, save some face for Senior Brother!"

Someone nearby said loudly: "Good poem, another one!"

Qian Chen said loudly: "The youths of Wuling are east of the Gold Market, silver saddles and white horses pass through the spring breeze. Where do they go after stepping on the fallen flowers? Laughing, they enter the foreign tavern." After saying this, he pulled Seeing Yan Shu and turned directly into the foreign tavern nearby where the foreign maid was serving wine. Seeing Yan Shu said in surprise: "Aren't we going to investigate the suspicious matters in Chang'an? Qian Shidi, why did you pull me into the tavern?"

Qian Chen pulled Seeing Yan Shu to a quiet place and said to a person who had just followed them to the door: "Brother Cen... over here!"

Cen Can turned his head to look at them, got up and followed. The three sat down, and Qian Chen first ordered a pot of the most famous Langguan Qing wine in Chang'an, smiling at Cen Can: "Brother Cen, why are you willing to see us again!"

"Yesterday, General Pei challenged Imperial Censor Feng. Imperial Censor Feng is my patron and also a close friend! So I felt indignant." Cen Can said sharply to Seeing Yan Shu: "Your sword technique is superb, and we are no match. But General Feng has fought for the country for decades and has many merits. Why did you humiliate him so much?"

Seeing Yan Shu drank the wine in the cup and said: "A demon thief, what is there to talk about?"

Cen Can said angrily: "The Sage embraces the three religions, and the Great Tang accommodates all rivers. The Supreme Emperor once said: 'Since ancient times, all have valued the Central Lands and despised demons, but I alone love them as one, so their tribes all rely on me like parents.'"

"Now demons have entered the Great Tang, respectful and grateful, just like the citizens of the Great Tang. There are many foxes, badgers, rats, and dogs, and demon hybrids in Chang'an city, but within the Divine Capital, isn't it still a world of peace? When have you seen them harm people or cause chaos?"

"During the Supreme Emperor's reign, there was a ghost king who turned into a human to take the imperial examination. During the palace examination, he couldn't bear the Qi of light, revealed his true form, and left in shame... The Supreme Emperor sent people to chase him and still granted him the position of Top Graduate. Now that ghost king is the Governor of Chang'an, the Yin Mansion City God who governs the demons and ghosts of Chang'an at night—Lord Zhong Kui!"

"General Gao and General Geshu resist the demon barbarians in the north and attack the demon kingdom of the ice plains in the west, loyal to the Great Tang. Even if they practice the demonic path, should they be humiliated by you?"

"General Pei... you call yourself a general, do you have any merit to the Great Tang?"

Seeing Yan Shu slapped the table and said angrily: "I came to Chang'an to save your Great Tang!"

Cen Can was suddenly silent. After a long time, he murmured: "So that's how it is, so that's how it is... You two, you came for An Lushan!"

Qian Chen was slightly surprised. Just because of one sentence? He could guess this?

Seeing Yan Shu sneered: "Just birds of a feather... Those demon generals, superficially submissive, will inevitably cause big trouble in the future. Right and evil are incompatible; a demon is a demon after all. Sooner or later, they will become a serious threat to this Li Tang."

Cen Can shook his head: "Generals Gao and Geshu are ultimately different from An Lushan."

He looked up at Qian Chen and Seeing Yan Shu and said: "Since the Xuan Emperor reused An Lushan and enfeoffed him as the Prince of Dongping, his various actions, indulging demon cultivators, harming the people, and raising demon armies, have naturally been seen by those with insight. Even that treacherous prime minister... even the Right Prime Minister Yang Guozhong has repeatedly remonstrated that An Lushan has the heart to rebel."

"But the discord between Yang and An is already known to everyone with eyes. The Xuan Emperor only thought it was the discord between the general and the prime minister... and didn't care. This time, summoning An Lushan to the capital for the Qianqiu Festival to investigate his rebellion and disobedience is exactly what Yang Guozhong is insisting on." Qian Chen sighed.

"You two asked me what strange things are happening in Chang'an, is it to investigate clues about the movements of demon cultivators?" Cen Can asked.

Seeing Yan Shu sneered and didn't answer, obviously not prepared to tell this person, who he saw as a fellow demon cultivator, anything. On the contrary, Qian Chen, after all, had half a foresight cheat; core matters, including the fake identities of Qian Chen and others, and even the secrets of the Samsara Realm, could not be let him know. But investigating the unusual movements in Chang'an was something he could help with.

Cen Can continued: "In this market, you can only hear about things like the illusion of beheading people. If you want to truly know the abnormalities in Chang'an..." He stood up and said: "I have a strange story I can tell you."

"This happened in Luoyang not long ago!"

Cen Can talked eloquently...

"I have a good friend named Wang Sheng, who is from Luoyang and also from an official family. One day, he left the city from Jianchun Gate in Luoyang and went to Yan Shi. By the side of the road, he encountered a new grave. A woman in white was setting up a sacrifice and crying in front of the grave, accompanied by two maids. The woman in white was eighteen or nineteen years old, with excellent looks. Wang Sheng asked about the reason and learned that her husband had traveled to Luoyang as an official and died there. Seeking her husband with no one to rely on, she was crying and sacrificing here."

"Wang Sheng liked her looks, so he took her as his wife!"

"A few months later, Wang Sheng returned to Luoyang for some reason. In Luoyang, there was a Daoist named Ren Xuanyan, who was a master of strange arts. As soon as he saw Wang Sheng's complexion, he said: 'The person you are with is not human, but a ghost of prestige. You should cut it off quickly, and you might still survive.' Wang Sheng didn't listen to his words. Ten days later, Wang Sheng met Ren Xuanyan's Daoist arts in the South Market of Luoyang. Ren Xuanyan told him again: 'You will surely die. Tomorrow the ghost will come, and you will die.' He then gave him a talisman, told him to place it in his bosom, and said he could see the ghost's true form."

"Wang Sheng was full of suspicion. The next day at noon, when his wife came, she passed through the middle gate, and Wang Sheng threw the talisman from his bosom at her. The eighteen-year-old beauty's figure instantly grew, her clothes were torn to shreds, her whole body turned indigo like leather, her muscles were clearly visible, her claws were like knives, her teeth were jagged, her red eyes slanted, and she let out a sharp scream. She grabbed Wang Sheng and lifted him into the air. And my friend had already been scared into a faint. His servant heard the ghost say: 'You have some nerve, daring to make me reveal my form.' Then she threw Wang Sheng backhand, like throwing a rag."

"Afterwards, the fierce ghost threw him on the bed, stepped on his spine, and left. Poor friend of mine, his spine was broken, his flesh was blurred, and he died miserably!"

"At dusk that day, when Ren Xuanyan came, Wang Sheng was already dead. He asked his servant what the ghost looked like. The servant told him. Xuanyan said: 'This is the ghost of endurance under the right foot of the Northern Heavenly King. It is replaced every three thousand years. When the ghost's time is up, it naturally chooses a replacement, so it turns into a human to take it. If Wang Sheng had died sitting, he would also have sought a replacement after three thousand years. Now that he has died lying down, he will never be able to get a replacement for the rest of his life.'"

"This happened two months ago in Luoyang!"

Seeing Yan Shu frowned upon hearing this, slapped the long sword on the table and said: "If I had been there at the time, I would naturally not have let that evil ghost harm anyone and leave, but now that this matter has passed for several months, that ghost of endurance has already left with a replacement. What's the use of talking about it? And we are asking about Chang'an; what's the use of you talking about Luoyang?"

Qian Chen heard something wrong.

"Luoyang is the Eastern Capital, known as having two hundred and eighty temples, and there are extremely many temples in the city. Naturally, there are countless high monks with cultivation. What kind of ghost would dare to cause chaos in Luoyang city? And that Ren Xuanyan, since he had already recognized the ghost's form, why did he do nothing and let it harm people?"

"Only explaining after the fact? There are many suspicious points in his words."

Qian Chen asked: "That Northern Heavenly King, also known as Vaisravana, or the Heavenly King of Hearing, is he an image of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King?"

Cen Can nodded: "There are many Heavenly King Halls in temples, and there are also these Heavenly King images in many temples in Chang'an. It should be holding a pagoda and stepping on a demon king. Not far from this West Market, there is a Heavenly King Temple, which enshrines the four Heavenly Kings."

"Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King..." Qian Chen sneered several times.

"Brother Cen, why did you only say half of what you had to say? Is there anything else you want to tell us? Please speak directly." Qian Chen picked up the wine bowl and said: "Respect the Sage..." People of the time used clear wine as the Sage and cloudy wine as the Wise. The Langguan Qing that several people were drinking was the clear wine produced in the Chang'an ward, so Qian Chen toasted like this.

Cen Can's expression was solemn: "Respect the Sage... Do you know that Ren Xuanyan is a man of the Right Prime Minister Yang Guozhong? He was once recommended by the Right Prime Minister to the Xuan Emperor as a Doctor of Forbidden Spells. A month ago, he entered Chang'an to prepare for the Emperor's Qianqiu Festival."

"What kind of magic ritual?" Qian Chen asked.

"The technique of Nightmare-Victory!"

Seeing Yan Shu and Qian Chen both nodded secretly. The technique of "Nightmare-Victory," besides being able to suppress objects and harm people with spells, can also exorcise ominous evil spirits with spells or suppressed objects. It is a common magic technique that is both right and evil.

"Just a few days ago, the Crown Prince's subordinate, the famous Hanlin scholar Li Bi, set his sights on him!" Cen Can's next sentence was like a thunderbolt to those who knew the upper echelons of the Great Tang.

Li Bi became famous at a young age, came from the Li family of Zhaojun, had a prominent background, and had mastered Daoist studies in his childhood. At the age of seven, he had already reached the first rank of Foundation Establishment and was known as a prodigy.

He has always been valued by the Xuan Emperor and relied upon as a future prime minister. Moreover, this person is close to the Crown Prince, and it is almost known to everyone that Yang Guozhong and Crown Prince Li Heng are at odds. Li Bi set his sights on the Daoist recommended by Yang Guozhong; this is not just a strange ghost and god story. It is the political struggle between the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister!

But Qian Chen and Seeing Yan Shu ignored these things. In order to resist the demon calamity and save the common people, even if they killed the Crown Prince himself and the Prime Minister together, they wouldn't blink an eye.

"Because of the ghost of endurance under the Heavenly King's feet looking for a replacement?" Qian Chen's expression slowly became solemn.

Cen Can's expression was solemn: "Yes, and no!"

"Speak human language!"

"Yes, because Li Bi set his sights on this person, there should only be this one reason. No, because Li Bi never said he wanted to deal with Ren Xuanyan. Everything was guessed by me."

"Then why are you talking nonsense!" Seeing Yan Shu thought he was here to tease them and was so angry he wanted to leave with his sword.

But Qian Chen didn't think so. He just looked at Cen Can and said: "Brother Cen, what exactly is the strange story you mentioned?"

"Someone saw a two-story, several-zhang-high, indigo-colored Heavenly King statue staring at his residence near Ren Xuanyan's house. Since then, there have been rumors in Chang'an city that Ren Xuanyan prevented the ghost of endurance from finding a replacement, offended the Northern Heavenly King, and is about to die by divine punishment!" Cen Can whispered: "I think Ren Xuanyan is going to die, and his death may cause the Right Prime Minister and the Crown Prince to clash again!"

"The death of a small official in Luoyang, involving a Daoist with magic power, then involving two true gods, the Crown Prince and the Right Prime Minister, and now it's going to cause party strife! Does this count as a strange story?"

"It is indeed very bizarre!" Qian Chen leaned on his sword and said: "General Pei, let's go and meet that Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King and see if he is a god or a ghost?"

"And ask him the reason for indulging the demon king and evil ghost under his feet to find an innocent person as a replacement!"