Chapter 599

Mandarin Duck United Heart Lock

Does 'never parting, never abandoning' also mean that lovers share life and death?

A Cheng; Three Lives Hall

A Cheng again; older sister; shamanic arts

I exclaimed in surprise, 'It's just a stone—how can it even be retraced to its past and present lives?'

'Things differ from things,' A Cheng said. 'Objects also split into living and dead; this stone is unlike ordinary stone—it is "alive".'

A Cheng

Isn't fine dust just a speck of dust transformed?

dead thing

I placed my hand on the stone, activated witchcraft retrospection, and strove to feel the stone.

clang……

bell sound

Yin Dang Hang; City God Temple

Immediately after, I heard chanting, incessant in my ears.

Later I even smelled thick incense and felt a scorching heat…

All my senses instantly became vivid, yet I could see nothing.

stone's visual problem

retrogression process

bell sound, chanting, incense smell, and scorching temperature

I abruptly withdrew from the witchcraft retrospection, and when I opened my eyes, A Cheng asked, 'Sister, how is it?'

I pondered and said, 'I must have retraced this stone's lifetime?'

A Cheng nodded: 'Yes, it looks like a dull repetition, but it is the life of its refinement; thus we can see this stone's origin is probably not simple.'

City God Temple

But I also dare not jump to conclusions; I just shook my head and said, 'It can't be counted as its whole life—I only retraced its refinement process, missing everything after it was forged into the mandarin duck love-lock, so it's incomplete.'

'This is precisely a good thing,' A Cheng said. 'It shows its mana arises only after being shaped, and it can be refined back to its original form; breaking the situation is a problem for others, but for you, sister, it's as easy as turning your hand.'

Nirvana fire

Nineteen Grotto-Heavens; Mandarin Duck United Heart Lock

His intention wasn't only on his own mandarin duck love-lock; he wanted to use my hand to break the situation!

He could personally chisel a keyhole into his own mandarin duck love-lock, refine his own lock back to its original form, but what about the others?

The others couldn't even be taken down from the beams.

My thoughts turned, and I suddenly thought, what are those few mandarin duck love-locks on the beams? The crucial one should be the huge stone before the Three Lives Hall, right?

(none)

A Cheng worried: 'If the mandarin duck love-lock merely binds your fates, making you share life and death, that's not a big problem, but I worry things aren't that simple—sister, Seventh Lord, have you felt any bodily changes lately?'

'For now there's not much feeling, after all the time is short,' Liu Junyan said solemnly, 'A Cheng, are you worried the mandarin duck love-lock will adversely affect our lives and even our cultivation?'

A Cheng nodded: 'Hopefully I'm overthinking, but we must act fast—better safe than sorry.'

Hui Moqiong; Junzhu Mountain; City God Temple

'It couldn't truly vanish,' A Cheng said. 'If the Nineteen Cave-Heavens ceased to exist, the mandarin duck love-lock would break on its own, and you and Seventh Lord would sense it immediately.'

'What situation is that?' Hui Moqiong said. 'I'll have someone watch it! As long as we confirm it's still there, I can dig three feet deep and dig it up again!'

It was getting late; Li Qingying invited A Cheng to stay for dinner, but A Cheng said he needed to go back to investigate the stone's origin and left first.

Not long after he left, Hui Moqiong's messenger arrived, reporting that the Jūnzhú Shān City God Temple had released news: it would open its doors early tomorrow morning, and the wandering hermit Zhū Yōu, who had been abroad for over ten years, was returning—already people were lining up at the mountain's foot with small stools.

Li Qingying asked: 'Has the City God Temple appeared again?'

Hui Moqiong; Bamboo Seclusion Hermit; Son-giving Immortal Elder; Living Moon Elder

I curiously asked: 'The child-bestowing immortal? The living matchmaker?'

Hui Moqiong said: 'It's very efficacious for praying for offspring and marriage to him.'

Li Qingying; Jiangcheng

(none)

Junzhu Mountain; City God Temple

'I heard those people say the news isn't broadcast widely; Zhū Yōu and the City God Elder alike only ferry those with affinity—those without affinity simply won't get this news.'

Those like us who actively seek out the Jūnzhú Shān City God Temple are few and far between.

In other words, the Jūnzhú Shān City God Temple seems open to all under heaven, but it doesn't cast a wide net, which also gives those who receive the news immense satisfaction.

Li Qingying said: 'No matter black cat or white cat, we'll go take a look early tomorrow morning and find out.'

As a result, we kept watch at the stall until midnight; just after twelve, Hui Moqiong's messenger came again, saying Jūnzhú Shān had appeared, the City God Temple had manifested, its doors were open, and the queued people had already begun entering the temple.

'I've already gone around once,' Hui Moqiong said. 'Strangely, the temple interior is very desolate; I didn't smell a whiff of incense, but those waiting in line seem long accustomed to it—they say this is normal: each time the hermit Zhū Yōu returns from wandering, the temple's incense merit is cleared once, and the cleared incense and merit are all used for the forthcoming charity.'

I sneered: 'People actually believe such nonsense?'

"Hey, you really shouldn't say that, those people truly believe it." Hui Moqiong said helplessly, "They even feel grateful and indebted, they remember the great righteousness of the bamboo hermit, they remember the Cheng Huang Temple's 'cultivating goodness and accumulating virtue, benefiting the world and aiding the people,' and worship them as deities..."