Chapter 50: Chapter Fifty: The Passing Immortal, the Spirit God of the City

Jiang Weng, hearing that his young grandson had gotten into trouble, panicked and dragged the village head all the way to the big plum tree, where he saw his grandson standing dazed beneath it; he rushed over, grabbed him, and raised his sleeve to strike the boy’s buttocks—when the Jiang boy snapped out of his stupor and burst into tears: “Ye Ye… don’t hit me!”

“I’ve told you a hundred times—not to play near this big plum tree! When Old Man Shi’s third son died, we should’ve cut it down long ago!”

It was the village head who held Jiang Weng back, urging him not to strike the child yet, to first find out what had happened. Under his grandfather’s relentless questioning, the Jiang boy sobbed out the sequence of events; several other children who had sensed the danger also stammered in hesitant additions.

At last, everyone understood what had occurred.

Jiang Weng, having grasped the full story, turned pale and clutched his chest: “Thank heaven we encountered a high immortal!”

“Did a god pass through our village?”

“Isn’t that a god? Didn’t you hear the jade ring suddenly swell huge? The immortal plucked it from his wrist and slipped it over Tiger’s head… it could expand or shrink—that’s a divine artifact!”

The village head gazed at the great plum tree: “No wonder the plums poisoned Old Man Shi’s third son. I always thought these plums looked perfectly ordinary, yet how could they be poisonous?”

Jiang Weng nodded: “When I was a boy, this plum tree wasn’t nearly this big. Every season when the fruit ripened, countless birds would flock to it, pecking and picking at the plums. I never heard of any bird dying from poison…”

The village head, a short old man with great authority in the village, analyzed: “Likely, the tree attracted so many birds that it drew in venomous snakes.”

“That snake hid within the hollow trunk, feeding daily by ambushing the birds, growing larger over time. The hollow’s entrance was too narrow to let it escape, trapping it inside, forcing it to swallow birds whole by inhaling. Over the years, it grew powerful, its appetite ballooned, and it devoured every bird that landed on the tree.”

“Old Man Shi’s third son, passing by thirsty, ate one of the plums—must’ve bitten into one coated in the snake’s saliva. That’s why he died.”

The villagers, hearing this, nodded in agreement, relieved they’d never been tempted by those tempting plums.

Mostly because the plums were too sour, and the villagers had no shortage of food.

Someone remembered Shi’s remarried widow and her son, sighed over Shi’s third son’s bad luck, and sent someone to fetch the Shi family, saying the immortal had avenged him.

Soon, several farmers arrived with hoes, and a young man in his early twenties came and immediately circled the tree, weeping.

Onlookers sighed: “What good fortune Jiang’s boy has! He’s escaped danger so many times, and now, just as disaster struck, an immortal came to save him—surely he’ll achieve great things! Jiang family’s ancestral graves are well placed!”

Someone added: “Earlier today, I saw that immortal too… white-haired, youthful face, truly celestial bearing—extraordinary!”

“Why didn’t I meet the immortal? If I had, I’d have asked about my fortune! Legends say immortals have golden fingers—maybe he’d have gifted me treasure, so I’d sit and earn silver and gold every day…”

“You coward! Would you dare approach an immortal?”

The young villagers chattered excitedly, imagining the immortal’s miraculous powers and what treasures he might bestow to make their families rich—some wished for medicine, others for children, as if each had missed a fortune, filled with regret… Soon, Qian Chen had become the image of a white-haired, white-browed child-faced immortal, riding a five-colored deer, carrying a dust whisk, drifting calmly through mist, playing among mortals.

Only the child-faced appearance was true, insisted by those who had actually seen Qian Chen; the rest were villagers’ own imaginative embellishments…

The village elders’ discussion, however, remained far more rational.

“So the high immortal, hearing this plum tree was strange and had already killed a man, and learning of strange winds sucking people near its base, deduced something unnatural lurked within—then asked if birds nested there. One question revealed the demon hidden inside! He used your grandson’s hand to slay the beast… truly a high immortal!”

“We’ve lived beside this plum tree for decades, watched it grow—how did we never suspect its mystery?” Jiang Weng sighed: “The high immortal is truly worthy of the name!”

The Jiang boy, perhaps to avoid a beating, suddenly blurted: “The immortal was the old man at our gate this morning!”

Jiang Weng froze: “What old man?”

“The old man Ye Ye brought home…” The boy flailed his hands wildly. Jiang Weng thought hard, then suddenly recalled: the little Daoist priest he’d taken to meet the village head that morning.

Mainly because Qian Chen, dressed as a wealthy young master, generous with gold, and acquainted with the future county magistrate, had made such a deep impression they couldn’t connect this rich young Daoist with the unfathomably powerful high immortal. Moreover, the Jiang boy, eager to escape punishment, had added many embellishments—transforming Qian Chen’s image into a white-haired, white-bearded elder.

Only then did Jiang Weng realize—he bowed repeatedly toward the direction Qian Chen had departed.

The village head, clutching the gold leaf in his sleeve, frowned in deep thought, lost in reverie…

Just as the villagers of San Yang Village clamored beneath the great plum tree, a cold wind spiraled thrice around the tree, sending a sudden chill through those below. The wind circled the plum tree inside and out, then sped toward Jiaobu Town’s county seat, landing in the City God Temple.

The temple was eerie. The temple keeper waited beside the City God’s statue, watching as a cold wind coalesced into two shadowy figures clad in flamboyant official robes, bowing to the City God—he knew these were his two ghost officers, appointed as Dayou Shen, able to patrol by day and report all good and evil deeds within the jurisdiction to the City God.

The City God was appointed by the Daoist Academy. If an evil spirit caused trouble, the City God dealt with it himself; if rogue cultivators abducted people to forge living souls, the City God had to report it to the Daoist Academy… and the Daoist Academy, also called the Zhengyi Sect, housed genuine cultivators who had received the talismanic ordination, worshipped the Three Daoist Ancestors, and received the Jade Xu Fu-zhao.

The Primordial Great Heavenly Venerable ruled the Daoist sect, and beneath him stood a Heavenly Emperor, the Great Zhou Son of Heaven, taught by Guangchengzi…

After that Great Zhou Son of Heaven ascended, he received the divine decree at the Jade Xu Palace, took the title Yuhuang, and now occupies the eastern realm of Heaven, known as the Yuhuang Heavenly Emperor. By the decree of the Three Daoist Ancestors, he established the Daoist Heavenly Court!

Thus, the Zhengyi Sect—the true transmission of the Primordial Dao, the Zhengyi Dragon-Tiger Altar—is the branch within the Primordial Dao lineage that supervises and assists the spirit path, even subtly ruling over it.

The Zhengyi Sect holds the Jade Xu Palace’s Primordial Great Heavenly Venerable’s edict for appointing gods—the so-called Fengshen List, a supreme post-heavenly spiritual treasure… Within this talisman lies a realm like the Heavenly Court, where gods manifest according to rank, their divine positions fixed in their respective palaces. Holding this talisman, the Zhengyi Sect can demote or elevate divine ranks.

Of course, this authority extends only to the Central Lands; if celestial gods commit offenses, they are handled by the Dao Jun of the Zhengyi Sect’s celestial branch.

Or else, the earthly Zhengyi Sect must petition the Primordial Great Heavenly Venerable, pray for the celestial gods’ transgressions, and let the Primordial Great Heavenly Venerable punish them…

For minor deities of the Central Lands—City Gods, Earth Gods, Mountain Gods, River Gods—these are typically appointed by the Zhengyi Sect through talismanic edicts. These edicts contain divine talismans; once refined by a yin spirit, they become deities.

In the Central Lands today, only the divine emperor who unifies the realm, holding a rank equivalent to a Di Jun, or the immortal emperor who unifies the Nine Continents, holding a rank equivalent to a celestial god, can appoint spirits by virtue of their own position.

As for the Great Jin, which hasn’t even unified its own major province but still calls itself the Great Jin, its emperor can only appoint spirits through cooperation with the Daoist Academy.

That is to say—the current emperor of the Sima clan, wishing to appoint a City God, must summon the Daoist Academy’s Grand Sacrificer to consult with him… This is a position held by a high immortal who has achieved Yangshen, capable of forming Primordial Spirit merely by refining the Tianfu Zhenfu.

Qi Refining, Core Formation, Yangshen, Primordial Spirit… Primordial Spirit is equivalent to an immortal, called Yuan Shen Zhenxian.

“Consultation” is a euphemism—how would a mere mortal emperor dare bargain with such a near-Yuan Shen immortal? Usually, after reporting the merits or faults of the candidate, the Daoist Academy decides on its own. Generally, the Academy won’t embarrass the emperor, but if the emperor appoints a City God who is the dead father of a favored concubine or a corrupt official, the Academy will reject it outright—and scold the emperor, warning him not to appoint those who’ve done nothing for the Central Lands, lest they drain the dynasty’s qi.

The Sima family became imperial largely thanks to one Yuan Shen ancestor.

Had the Daoist Academy not cared for the secular dynasty’s face, the Grand Sacrificer sent would have been a Yuan Shen True Person.

During the Great Zhou Divine Dynasty, the first Grand Sacrificer was Guangcheng Daozun himself!

City Gods and Earth Gods are supervised by higher deities: the one overseeing the Central Lands in the Yuhuang Heavenly Court is the Tai Shan Fu Jun, a celestial emperor-grade deity, equivalent to a Dao Jun. This deity has both a divine realm opened in Heaven and a manifestation stationed in the Central Lands at Mount Tai… All earthly spirits of the Central Lands fall under his command—he is the supreme superior of all City Gods, Earth Gods, Mountain Gods, and River Gods.

On the other hand, all deities are also supervised by the Daoist Academy—thus, the spirits of the Central Lands are under dual authority: Daoist Sect and Yuhuang Heavenly Court.

Primarily managed by higher deities, supervised by peers in the Daoist Academy.

The City God, hearing the Dayou ghost officer’s report, gripped his jade tablet: “So a high immortal passed through our county and eliminated a demon plaguing this land… Dayou and Yeou, that serpent has dwelled in San Yang Village under our jurisdiction for decades… why did you never report it?”

The Dayou ghost officer trembled: “Your Honor, the great plum tree is rooted in a faint earth-sha qi, possessing strange spiritual properties that obscure the eyes of ghosts—thus the serpent hid within. We could not detect it!”

“Record this as a fault. If you repeat it, you’ll be punished together!” the City God declared sternly.

The Dayou and Yeou ghost officers hurriedly apologized and confessed their error…

The City God nodded: “Since the passing cultivator meant no harm and did not infringe upon mortals, there’s no need to report to the Daoist Academy. Record his movements. If we later learn his origins, I shall count this act of saving lives as merit added to his yin virtue.”

Thus, the matter was settled. Qian Chen, long accustomed to the Taishang Dao, knew little of the spirit path. He did not know the Zhengyi Sect’s spiritual surveillance network stretched across the entire realm.

Had he known, he wouldn’t have been surprised that the Meishan heretics dared only use fox spirits to cultivate, yet after merely a few days in Wukang County, the Daoist Academy already knew his whereabouts and origins. Perhaps his qi absorption and cultivation had been seen by mortals, exposing his trail.

But helping the fox spirit and killing the Meishan heretics was highly secretive—only the local City God, a local power, would know, and only after reporting to the Daoist Academy would Cui Dan come to investigate. The great Jin clans all knew: what did it matter to offend the emperor? If not for the Sima clan’s ancient monster… the emperor was nothing… but offending the Daoist Academy? That was truly fatal.

After finishing these routine duties, the City God, as dusk fell, gave the temple keeper a glance.

The temple keeper hurried out of the City God Temple, slipped into the Wei family’s back gate under cover of night, and emerged later, satisfied, clutching silver in his sleeve…

The City God’s surname in life had been ‘Wei’.

Great clans not only dared not offend the Daoist Academy—they actively courted it, sending their finest young talents to join the Zhengyi Dragon-Tiger Altar. And for tens of thousands of years, the head of the Zhengyi Dragon-Tiger Altar has always been surnamed Zhang.

Even among the Four Heavenly Masters of the Yuhuang Heavenly Court, one is a Zhang Tian Shi.

Thus, although every City God must be a person of great yin virtue and merit to humanity, the City God of Qinghe Commandery must be surnamed Cui, the City God of Jiuzhen Commandery must be surnamed Gu or Tan, the City God of Nan Commandery must be surnamed Lu or Sun—and even the City God of Jiaobu Town has deep ties to the local Wei clan.

What is meant by “regional aristocracy”? If one cannot bind the Daoist Academy above and win over the spirits below, how can one endure for a hundred generations without decline?