Chapter 1 The Candy

"Candy, hee hee... I want it, I want candy..."

The little boy drooled, giggling foolishly.

".......”

Xiao Feng's face twitched. He flipped his other hand and slammed it down on the boy's head.

"Ah!"

Even with his soul fragmented and his mind lost, the little boy couldn't help but let out a earth-shattering scream, his limbs twitching uncontrollably.

"Brother!"

The little girl couldn't help but exclaim.

*Crack!*

Xiao Feng's fingers trembled, crushing the head in his palm.

Fresh blood mixed with brain matter flowed down the little boy's limbs, which hung down like noodles. His face was as cold as a ghost:

"Pei Yuanhua?"

With his soul fragmented and his memories scattered, the only three words in Jia An's broken soul were Pei Yuanhua, and they were filled with killing intent.

"Vice Leader? Senior Brother Jia, he was?"

The corners of the disciples' eyes twitched as they asked in low voices.

Xiao Feng casually tossed aside the corpse, the dripping red and white substance flowing from his hands without sticking:

"Cleanly dead."

His expression was indifferent:

"That trash. It would have been fine if he had been killed by Gongliang Shen, the City God of Liang Province, but it seems he died at the hands of Pei Yuanhua, the City God of An'nuo County..."

"How could that be? Just a mere county City God. Senior Brother Jia was a Benming cultivator, his flying swords were sharp. Even in the City God's mansion, he shouldn't have been killed..."

The disciples were incredulous.

What was a City God?

In their eyes, these City Gods were just lonely wild ghosts barely surviving on the power of incense. When they were alive, they could crush hundreds of them with one hand.

After death, they had the power of incense to rely on, so they were not weak, but their application was crude and they were not good at fighting.

A county City God was comparable to a Benming cultivator, but if they really fought, they would lose more than they won, even in the City God's mansion, let alone a sword cultivator.

He could barely protect himself, let alone kill someone?

"There are many doubts about this matter..."

Xiao Feng was expressionless.

Of course, he knew that there must be something wrong, but the killing intent towards Pei Yuanhua that filled Jia An's soul could not be faked.

Thoughts raced through his mind, but he said nothing, and walked out of the room.

The two disciples followed him out, locking the door behind them.

From beginning to end, none of them glanced at the little girl cowering in the corner, her face full of fear and tears.

Not one glance.

.......

"Tianyi Sect..."

In the City God's mansion of An'nuo County, Pei Yuanhua bowed slightly before the pieced-together Incense Mirror, his face slightly gloomy:

"Lord Gongliang, that's what happened."

Inside the fragmented Incense Mirror was an antique courtyard with a person sitting there.

It was an old man with a bloated figure, a wealthy face, and extremely large earlobes, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

His name was Gongliang Shen, and he was the City God of Liang Province.

It was said that a thousand years ago, he was a wealthy merchant who traveled the world. As he approached old age, he became increasingly afraid of death and sought immortality. He gave up his family business and traveled to famous mountains and rivers to seek the Dao.

However, he was old and weak. Even if someone saw his extraordinary aptitude, no one would pass on the methods of cultivation to him. Instead, he encountered many ghosts and monsters, and all his followers died along the way.

Even so, he was still unwilling.

Later, he got the opportunity to exchange a huge fortune for a method taught by a Daoist. Surprisingly, he successfully received a talisman and broke through one level after another, eventually entering the Dao and enjoying a lifespan of three hundred years.

However, his luck ended there. Until his death, he failed to take another step to become a Zhenren.

But this man was very lucky. He obtained a City God's appointment from an unknown source. After death, he became a county City God. After hundreds of years of alliances, he became the new state City God after the old one died.

"Sigh."

Listening to Pei Yuanhua's report, Gongliang Shen sighed deeply, seemingly not surprised.

"Lord Gongliang?"

Hearing the sigh, Pei Yuanhua's heart skipped a beat.

Shouldn't you be indignant, burning with anger, and then filled with murderous intent when someone wants to seize the City God's appointment?

What's with the sigh?

"After the Lord Fuguan left, this day would come sooner or later. If it's not the Tianyi Sect or the Rulai Monastery, it'll be someone else, ghosts, demons..."

Gongliang Shen sighed, but his face didn't change:

"I know what you said."

Just like that?

Watching the fat figure get up and turn to leave, Pei Yuanhua couldn't help but ask, "Lord Gongliang, are you just going to ignore it?!"

He couldn't understand how important the City God's appointment was to a City God.

Someone wanted to touch the appointment, how could this old fatty be so calm?

Did he already know?

"Otherwise, what else?"

Gongliang Shen looked back at him:

"The Lord Fuguan is gone, and the Seventh and Eighth Lords can't be counted on. If we take action, we can destroy all the Tianyi Sect's branch halls with a small loss, but then what?"

Pei Yuanhua's expression froze.

"Who will bear the wrath of a Yuanshen Zhenren?"

Gongliang Shen shook his head slightly:

"He is now the State Preceptor, rooted in the dragon energy and national fortune. Even those of the same Yuanshen level are not his opponents. If he insists on taking action, the Capital City God may be able to protect us state City Gods, but may not be able to protect you."

Pei Yuanhua was silent for a moment before speaking again:

"If that's the case, where is our way out? The Tianyi Sect is acting like this, and our incense is declining day by day. Even if the Rulai Monastery wins, what will happen? It's just a change of sects. If this continues, isn't it the same as waiting for death?"

His voice was slightly hoarse, with a rare hint of confusion.

Whether it's a person or a demon, their cultivation is rooted in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but they, the City Gods, cannot get rid of the power of incense. How unwilling are they to watch their enemies erode them step by step?

"There will be a turning point."

Gongliang Shen walked out of the range of the Incense Mirror with his hands behind his back, like a country squire:

"All we can do is wait..."

His voice grew softer and softer, until it disappeared into the Incense Mirror along with the image.

Wait?

How long to wait?

Pei Yuanhua stood blankly in place for a long time before letting out a long sigh:

"You can wait, but I can't wait..."

His lifespan was only eighty years left. Gongliang Shen had at least two hundred years left. He might get a turning point, but he couldn't wait.

As the long sigh fell, he waved his sleeves and put away the Incense Mirror, and walked out of the gate, summoning a group of little ghosts:

"You are to listen to my orders! Go quickly and send this City God's invitation to Qingshui County, Nanyan County, Yongxiu County, Yugan County, Huaiyang County, Shitou City, Pingjiang County... Invite all the City Gods to come, and say that this City God wants to hold a banquet for them, it concerns life and death!"

"Ah?"

The group of little ghosts, old ghosts looked at each other in dismay. It was normal for City Gods to invite each other, and the state City God would not interfere in the gatherings of City Gods.

However, inviting most of the City Gods of Liang Province to a gathering in one breath, who could withstand that?

How could the state City God allow it?

"Go quickly!"

Pei Yuanhua glared angrily, and the group of little ghosts were so frightened by the shout that they ran away in a panic.

The group of little ghosts all dispersed, and the only old ghost left was a little numb and asked in fear:

"Lord City God? Are you rebelling?"

"Get out!"

Pei Yuanhua kicked the old ghost away: "Get out and report to Zhenghe Mansion!"

"Ouch!"

The old ghost was kicked more than ten zhang away, and retreated screaming.

Now, the huge City God's mansion became empty.

"Sigh!"

Pei Yuanhua frowned and let out a long sigh:

"I can't wait..."

Without An Qisheng, he could only wait for death.

But at this point, he could only take a gamble.

As long as he could live.

He wouldn't hesitate to move the entire Liang Province mountains!

.......

The death of Jia An, who presided over the Liang Province branch of the Tianyi Sect, didn't seem to affect anything. The incense of the Tianyi Sect was still strong, and countless believers worshiped every day, offering gold and silver.

After returning, An Qisheng no longer had any other actions. He didn't urge Pei Yuanhua, but either sat quietly in a dream, or cultivated many Daoist techniques. In his spare time, he guided Sa Wuling, who had condensed a Qi seed with one hand, and occasionally guided the yellow dog in his cultivation.

More often, he comprehended the changes in the earth's magnetic field.

The human body is a small Taiji, and the heaven and earth are a large Taiji. Yin and Yang, sun and moon, also rotate in the same way, and the four seasons and five elements also change in the same way.

The paths of the various realms are different, just as the system of the Jiufu Realm cannot correspond to the Huangtian Realm. His own system, which gathered the strengths of the three realms, cannot correspond to this realm either.

According to the division of this realm, he belonged to Benming, but his accumulation was too strong. Even if he entered the dream of the Changlin Daoist, he was not his opponent.

And with the tempering of the earth's magnetic field, his physique and mana were still changing day by day. He didn't feel the 'bottleneck' that the cultivators of this realm talked about. It seemed that if this continued, there would never be a day to enter the Dao and become a Zhenren.

However, he didn't care about the so-called realm of this realm. It was enough that his power was increasing day by day.

It would be quite boring if cultivation only cared about the realm.

The sun rose and set, the moon rose and fell, not stopping for anyone.

In a flash, more than a month had passed.

On this day, An Qisheng woke up from his meditation, and saw a shadow slowly falling down under the night, turning into two little ghosts.

The two little ghosts bowed respectfully with both respect and fear:

"This Zhenren, our City God invites you to a banquet, saying that he has agreed to your request!"

"Hmm?"

An Qisheng nodded steadily and followed the two little ghosts away.

With his realm, he naturally didn't need to enter a dream. Walking in the physical body on the road of incense, he wasn't afraid of damaging his body at all.

Listening to the little ghosts carrying the sedan chair panting, An Qisheng's eyes were deep.

After entering the dream many times, he was clear about the situation in Daqing, and naturally knew how to do what was more beneficial to him. Pointing out Jia An was naturally to make Pei Yuanhua make up his mind.

However, he guessed that Pei Yuanhua would only figure it out after the Tianyi Sect attacked him again, but he didn't expect that he would figure it out so quickly.

Soon, the City God's mansion arrived.

An Qisheng glanced over, and could vaguely feel more than one hundred and fifty different City God auras, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow:

"This Pei Yuanhua's connections are wide enough..."

Liang Province was certainly not small, and there were many cities, but nearly two hundred City Gods almost occupied more than half of the county towns in Liang Province.

Although he knew that Pei Yuanhua had wide connections among the City Gods, he was still a little surprised.

With so many City Gods, although their power weakened a lot after leaving their fiefdoms, they were still a force not to be underestimated. Even a small Zhenren who had entered the Dao would probably flee at the sight of so many City Gods.

"Zhenren, we're here!"

After walking for a while, the two little ghosts slowly lowered the sedan chair.

At this time, Pei Yuanhua, who was standing outside the door to greet him, also stepped forward:

"It's truly an honor for Zhenren Wang Quan to come..."

.......

*Whoosh~*

Three sword lights pierced through the sky like shooting stars, and soon came to the sky above An'nuo County.

"Letting me run around for nearly two months, truly deserving of death!"

Looking at the quiet An'nuo County under the night, one of them chuckled and took out a scarlet-red seal engraved with many runes:

"How can Senior Brother Jia die in vain? This time, this dog City God will pay with his life!"

"Senior Brother Zheng, don't be impatient. Such action will inevitably affect the people in the city. Although these people are lowly, they are still somewhat useful. Is there any reason for a shepherd to slaughter his sheep at will?"

Another tall and cold Daoist nun stood in the sword light, and said with a faint smile:

"These City Gods rely on incense, and think that outsiders are not their opponents in this City God's mansion. Why don't we let him see our insight today, and kill him in the City God's mansion to warn others!"

"Junior Sister is right! These lonely wild ghosts think they are gods with a little incense, and dare to oppose my Tianyi Sect everywhere. This time, we will kill them to suppress their prestige!"

The last middle-aged Daoist spoke hoarsely:

"Junior Brother Zheng, Junior Sister Li, watch Senior Brother's methods!"

*Whoosh!*

With a wave of the Daoist's sleeve, the mana spread, and the incense in the city floated along with it. Amidst the whistling night wind, the void in front of the three of them was slightly distorted, and they could vaguely see the City God's mansion, which was located in the dark surroundings and at the end of the road of incense.

"Go!"

The three of them exchanged glances, and stepped forward in unison, forcibly squeezing into the incense City God's realm with their physical bodies.

With another step, they had already stepped onto the City God's mansion.

"Dog City God, we have arrived, why don't you quickly welcome us!!"

A roar resounded throughout the huge City God's mansion, shaking the group of little ghosts and causing them to fall on their backs.

In the hall, nearly two hundred City Gods raised their heads together and looked coldly:

"Who are you calling?!"