Chapter 327: Subduing the Spirit of the Mysterious Whale

"Slay the gods?"

After the temple doors closed, Long Xi Xiang furrowed his brow slightly and looked at his own senior brother with some suspicion:

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"You misread it—it's 'all the gods.' Since this boy took part in slaying the gods tonight, it's time he learned some intelligence about the Xieshen Sect."

Long Long Yingchan pinched his long brows and said solemnly.

"Is that so?"

Nie Xianshan was also somewhat suspicious.

"It's 'slay the gods.'"

Cang Cang Xianzhi suddenly spoke.

"Ahem~"

Long Long Yingchan gave a light cough, forcibly changing the subject:

"Junior brothers, how should we deal with this old ghost of Mount Mo Tian?"

Long Xi Xiang frowned and said nothing; Nie Xianshan, meanwhile, lifted his teacup:

"Just kill him. Though it's not his true body, killing it would be enough to keep him in line for a few years."

"Interrogate him first."

Cang Cang Xianzhi did not agree.

"These old ghosts are neither alive nor dead—how could an interrogation get anything out of them?"

Nie Xianshan found it troublesome.

"Give it a try."

Cang Cang Xianzhi looked toward Long Long Yingchan. The latter thought for a moment, then extended his left hand, slowly spreading his five fingers. A clump of dark-black mist rose up at once, within which the shadowy forms of nine demon-gods flickered in and out of sight, their voice full of shock and fury:

"Long Long Yingchan, very good, very good!"

"This old man is naturally doing very well."

Long Long Yingchan said lightly: "I did not seal your perception. What we just said—you should have heard it, yes?"

"Kill me if you dare. To interrogate this god—you don't even qualify!"

"Pfft!"

Long Long Yingchan's five fingers gently closed, and the clump of mist burst apart. Mount Mo Tian let out a muffled grunt as his aura plummeted—he seemed to have suffered heavy injuries.

"Once this god's true body descends…"

With a 'snap,' Long Long Yingchan's five fingers closed together; with just a light squeeze, not a drop of that dark mist remained:

"This old man will be waiting for you!"

"A waste of effort."

Nie Xianshan shook his head.

"There are some gains, though."

Long Long Yingchan took out that palm-sized statue of Mount Mo Tian's Nine Sons:

"These Nine Sons statues should be a complete set. One is missing—this old ghost truly wants to descend, which is actually good news."

"Enough about this old ghost."

……

Nie Xianshan stroked his long beard and looked toward Long Xi Xiang: "Junior brother, don't you want to say something?

"Hm?"

Long Xi Xiang was somewhat surprised: "Say what?"

"You hid it quite well."

Nie Xianshan nearly laughed: "The jianghu rumors say the master of the Mysterious Whale Hammer is right here at Dragon Tiger Temple. I suspect that so-and-so Li Li Yuanba…"

"Just rumors."

Long Xi Xiang shook his head, indicating he had no idea at all.

……

"Record of Slaying the Gods!"

Inside the small hut, Li Yuan lit the oil lamp and opened the booklet Long Long Yingchan had given him. Although he could see at night, he still habitually lit the lamp.

"Over the past thousand years of the Great Fortune Dynasty, as many as four hundred and twenty deities have been canonized by imperial decree. Including those of the previous dynasty, the total reaches eight hundred, collectively known as the Eight Hundred Gods. The Xieshen Sect worships these Eight Hundred Gods, expanding a single Bai Shen Zheng Fa into eight hundred arts."

The booklet was clearly in Long Long Yingchan's tone:

"Over more than two thousand years, the verifiable records of slaying gods in the jianghu should number around one hundred and sixty. The number our sect's founder slew was twenty-three."

This…

Looking at this booklet, Li Yuan felt some surprise and doubt in his heart.

What startled and puzzled him was not the text in the booklet, but Long Long Yingchan himself.

"How did he know what I wanted to ask?"

Muttering to himself, Li Yuan instinctively looked around. He could not help feeling a chill of dread—he had only asked about how to slay gods inside the Bronze Tower God-Domain and the Cloud Mountain God-Domain.

'That master of Cloud Mountain couldn't possibly be…'

Li Yuan's heart went 'thump,' and his thoughts scattered.

Only a martial master at the level of Qi and Spirit fused together could forge a God-Domain.

And experts of this caliber—Dragon Tiger Temple only had five on the surface. Among them, Cang Cang Xianzhi and Brother Helian Feng were stationed year-round at the Mi Jing of Nurturing Life; only three were out in the world.

He had been to the Old Dragon Head's God-Domain, so that could be ruled out. Then this master of Cloud Mountain was either Nie Xianshan or Long Long Yingchan!

"If that master of Cloud Mountain really is Dao Master Long, it seems… not impossible?"

Li Yuan stood up instinctively, paced back and forth in thought, and the more he considered it, the more likely it seemed.

"If it's really him…"

It seemed like a good thing.

After pondering for a moment, Li Yuan set his mind at ease and continued flipping through the booklet.

"As the saying goes, when a person dies, it's like a lamp going out—a person's soul cannot leave the body and exist on its own. But this only applies to ordinary people. A grandmaster who has thoroughly grasped yin and yang, after death, can briefly persist in the world with the aid of a spirit form. A great grandmaster is the same."

"However, even if the spirit form may endure, memory will fade. Historical records show that only by practicing Chi Bai Shen Fa can one's memories from life be preserved—but even so, they cannot last long."

To break through the boundary of life and death, one still needs incense offerings.

"Incense offerings—the direction of the human heart. Only by drawing upon the will of the masses can one endure. This is the origin of 'gods.'"

Li Yuan recited silently in his heart. With the blessing of a photographic memory, he soon memorized the entire booklet.

The booklet recorded in detail the deeds of the twenty-three generations of Long Hushan ancestors who had slain gods, and from these it summarized four methods of slaying gods.

"The four methods of slaying gods: first, suppress and crush with a spirit form. Second, break its godhood and destroy its divine soul. Third, destroy its ancestral temple and sever its incense offerings. If none of the above are feasible, one may refine and slay it with the incense offerings of another god."

Finally, Long Long Yingchan gave an example that made Li Yuan's scalp tingle:

"Among the eight hundred gods, the supreme rank is called Dharma Lord. The Thousand-Spirit Dharma Lord is the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva. To destroy such a god, one needs incense offerings from a god of the same Dharma Lord rank—for example, the Hundred-Arm Daoist, the Red-Haired Buddha, the Sword Spirit God, the Thousand-Yin Dharma Lord, and so on."

Li Yuan instinctively looked around, feeling a bit creeped out. Could this old man have some way of watching him?

He had previously considered handing over the Thousand-Spirit Soul-Receiving Stele, but after the matter of Chu Shan Xuan Kong's murder gradually faded, he had temporarily shelved the idea.

How did this old man know?

Daoist Li was a bit numb, and it took him a while to react:

"Could it be the Yangsheng Furnace?!"

It must be the Yangsheng Furnace!

Li Yuan pushed open the window and cautiously glanced at the Longhu Pagoda, faintly visible through the rainy night.

Could this furnace be monitoring the entire inner sect?

Recalling that on his several trips out he had not discussed matters with anyone, and that he had been extremely careful and cautious, if he had truly been exposed, it could only be the Yangsheng Furnace.

Careless, so careless!

Realizing he might have been exposed, Daoist Li felt dizzy all over. This greatly exceeded his expectations…

"Damn it, a satellite?!"

Closing the window, Li Yuan pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt this couldn't be blamed on himself—it was simply that he had gravely underestimated the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, and the methods of a great grandmaster.

He secretly thought that with his own Ji De Wu Gong and caution, even with the surveillance intensity of his previous life, it shouldn't have been possible to be tracked down this quickly, right?

"Good thing, good thing."

Leaning against the headboard, Li Yuan felt somewhat relieved. If he hadn't entered under Long Xi Xiang as a peerless genius, and then become famous throughout Longhu Temple—

And instead had chosen to keep a low profile and endure, he would have been caught long ago.

"Longhu Temple has stood for two thousand years without falling—its foundations are truly profound."

Li Yuan wiped a bit of cold sweat, and in his heart elevated the status of the several great Daoist lineages once more. He also made up his mind: he had to pull out that knife from Old Long's chest.

Compared with the unfathomable Dao Lord Long, Old Long put him far more at ease.

"Pull out the knife!"

Li Yuan gritted his teeth and sat cross-legged to meditate.

On the gold-gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, Li Yuan looked up. Among the star map formed by the Soldier-Governing Register, seven great stars shone brilliantly.

"It's time to have a little chat with this hammer."

Aware of the Yangsheng Furnace's power, Li Yuan felt he had been a bit too harsh on this hammer. A talented person—no, a hammer having a bit of temper is perfectly normal, right?

With a shift of thought, Li Yuan had already taken the Rift Sea Mysterious Whale Hammer out from the Soldier-Governing Register.

Red light surged like a tide.

Before Li Yuan's thought had even landed, he was already at the peak of Inverted Mountain. He hadn't even opened his eyes before he heard a roar louder than thunder, and the entire Inverted Mountain was shaking.

"Roar!"

The sea of clouds churned. Li Yuan saw a colossal creature stirring up wind and clouds, venting its anger and grievance.

"What a temper."

Li Yuan clicked his tongue inwardly, but felt slightly relieved. Although the hammer was angry, it was much better than before—at least Inverted Mountain hadn't continued to crumble and collapse…

Clearly, his own taming had been effective.

"Roar~"

Li Yuan looked up. The colossal creature in the sea of clouds had slowly descended overhead, its shadow blotting out the sky. This spirit of the Mysterious Whale was unimaginably huge.

Compared with it, let alone the nine-headed Mount Mo Tian form, even Long Long Yingchan's dragon whose head and tail could not be seen looked slender and small.

"Eh?"

Li Yuan was still pondering how to coax this Mysterious Whale spirit, but he keenly detected a hint of fear in the eyes of this colossal creature?

'Come?'

Li Yuan instinctively reached out, and the colossal being spanning the sky let out a trembling cry, transforming into a jade-like hand hammer that landed in his palm.

At first glance, this hand hammer was red like agate. Looking closer, he realized this hammer spirit had no physical body—it was entirely composed of countless intricate patterns to the extreme.

These unknown patterns flowed like water waves, merely taking the shape of a hand hammer.

"This… counts as submitting?"

Weighing the Mysterious Whale hand hammer, Li Yuan was somewhat astonished. He had prepared himself for a protracted battle, even prepared to find ways to coax it.

"…sc-scared… of the dark…"

From the stone stele came the will of the Mysterious Whale spirit. The text was jumbled, the words failing to convey the meaning.

After a brief thought, Li Yuan understood. It seemed that being governed by the Soldier-Governing Register was not exactly a pleasant experience for these sentient Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing?

Like being locked in a dark room for a whole year?