Chapter 1 The Beginning

Only then did Feng Xiucai recover from the dizzying sensation and, upon seeing Ji Xiang, he howled, "Daoist Ji, thank heavens, you've come! How long have I been asleep? It's not safe here!"

"Don't worry, this is Wudang. The Three Corpses Gods brought you back."

Feng Menglong breathed a sigh of relief upon learning they were in Wudang Mountain. He then patted his head, trying to sort out his memories and thoughts. After all, his Shuangling soul had just been reshaped, and although his intellect was restored, deep thinking at this moment would still cause incoherent speech.

Feng Menglong babbled a string of confused words. About half an incense stick's time passed before he could straighten out his memories and thoughts.

Actually, everything was fine at the beginning. After all, there were three cultivators, and they were keeping a low profile. They wouldn't encounter any major accidents unless they met some great demons. At the same time, the southern demons had mostly been summoned to Yingtian Prefecture because Prince Lu was about to ascend to immortality there. Traveling in Prince Lu's territory at this time was relatively safe.

Going west along the Yangtze River, everyone was quite happy at first, but problems arose near Xiangyang.

"We got separated near a village called Taiping Town near Xiangyang. It was like a moment of bewilderment, and when I came back to my senses, only Hu Xiaoshi was left by my side."

"The village was called Taiping Town..."

When they entered the village, they saw what seemed to be a large-scale event being held, and the clothes and attire of the people in the village were unlike those of the current era, which was quite strange.

Because the two sides suddenly separated without warning, there was no way to find them. They could only try their luck in crowded places.

"Activities to worship gods, such as Shehuo (community fire celebrations), Nuo opera, and local operas, are countless. They have existed since ancient times. At that time, many people gathered to worship gods. The little fox saw the person playing the god, and said that there was a peaceful air between his brows, and his fate was very noble, but when I looked over, I only saw..."

Seeing Ji Xiang staring at him, Feng Xiucai said awkwardly, "I can't read fates."

"But the face I saw was different. Hu Xiaoshi said that the face on the mask was smiling, but what I saw was an angry purple face. And the eyeballs were rolling around, and I lowered my head when it looked at me."

"Then looking at the big temple for offering sacrifices to the gods, what I saw was black, with 'Senluo Hall' (Hall of Yama) written on it. I was shocked. Hu Xiaoshi said that what he saw was a beautiful golden temple, with carved beams and painted pillars, and full of yang energy, which made people feel comfortable, but I felt uncomfortable all over, as if there were millions of insects crawling on my body."

Feng Menglong said that the villagers at that time tried their best to get them to enter the temple to worship, and said that three people had entered the temple before, and described the shape and appearance of Nanyangzi, Lady Hou, and the Fallen Immortal exactly. As soon as the two of them heard this, they immediately went in. There were more than a dozen statues in the temple, all of them looking like divine generals, but the heads of some of them were broken.

And the two rooms in the temple, symmetrical on the left and right, were filled with all kinds of paper money for worshiping gods, and hung two plaques with the words "俸禄" (俸禄, Fènglù) which means "Salary."

The main statue in the middle, in his eyes, looked like an emperor, wearing the same purple mask as the previous god worshiper, so he couldn't see his face.

"There's something wrong with that statue! At that time, I felt like something was staring at me, and then the temple priest wanted me to kowtow, and said that the Heavenly King would bless us, but we didn't kowtow! A man born in the world... I am a Confucian scholar, how can I kowtow to a small wild god!"

Ji Xiang was surprised: "If you don't want to worship, then don't worship. Did the temple priest want to force you?"

Feng Menglong slapped his thigh: "Of course! Bah! What are you talking about, that's an inappropriate term!"

"I'm such a smart person. I thought of what Daoist Ji told you about the Forbidden City. It was because the current emperor didn't pay attention, and the demon gods took the opportunity when conferring gods, so I..."

"I asked, has your god been conferred by the imperial court? All the righteous gods who have been conferred have a divine book. The temple priest said that the local government had conferred it. I asked which system this Heavenly King belonged to, was it a heavenly god or a local deity, was it a water official or a Netherworld official, was it a mountain god or a land god, was it a fire god or..."

"Then guess what!"

Feng Menglong became excited when he said this:

"Hey! The temple priest got angry and insisted that this scholar should worship the Heavenly King. What kind of person is this scholar! When we separated, didn't you give me a Five Thunder Divine Machine? I gave him a shot on the spot!"

Feng Menglong said that the bullets of this obedience to Heaven are authentic, and they knocked down the temple priest all at once!

If it were an Yin demon or ghost, it would die directly after being shot by a talisman-enhanced firearm.

If it wasn't an Yin demon or ghost, it would basically die after being shot by this gun.

Anyway, the result is the same.

"But, the strangeness lies here! I'm telling you, the temple priest took a shot, and a big hole was opened in his head. He fell to the ground and couldn't move, but he could still scold and talk! He also scolded me loudly, saying that I dared not to kneel down to the Heavenly King, which was the greatest humiliation to the Heavenly King, and he would peel my skin and hang me in the temple!"

"Can I bear this anger! I have framed the people of the Wenxiang Sect in the past, and I have seen the Meat Mountain as high as Milong! I have even seen the Corpse Dissolution Immortal in the Jinshan Water Mansion, is there anyone in this world who can scare me?! No, right! So I fired two more shots, and then two strange mists rose from the hole in the temple priest's head, condensing into the shape of a human face. I also saw the villagers outside the temple staring at us blankly like they were possessed. Fortunately, the little fox's charm beads were a little useful..."

In the hands of a powerful demon, the charm beads can control the hearts of the people, and even make those people obsessed and live and die for themselves, but in the hands of a little fox who is completely immune to magic, it is just a tool to escape.

Combined with the incense ash in the copper wire fire cage, the two of them easily ran out, but this time the control time of the charm beads seemed to be shortened a lot, so the villagers quickly returned to normal and continued to hunt down the two of them.

Moreover, not only that, but also tall "people" appeared in the town. It is not known whether they can be called people. In short, they have copper heads and iron arms, and the charm beads have no effect on them.

"Things like zombies, or human puppets."

Zhang Sanfeng said.

Feng Menglong said at this climax, like a storyteller slapping the table:

"Just when there was no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth, we suddenly met another group of villagers. Their eyes were normal, and I could feel that this group of people was different from the previous villagers. They didn't have the creepy feeling on them. They said that there was a way to get out, and said that the previous three people had already left. They also told us not to ask any more questions. Hu Xiaoshi and I had no choice but to follow them and saw an old temple, but the incense was very strong, and there was light in the temple. The statues of the gods could not be seen clearly. These villagers said that they could not enter, saying that they had been determined to be guilty and could not get close, so they only let the two of us in to escape."

"Then the two of us went in. After entering the temple, the unclear statue flickered a few times, and then we went forward and left Taiping Town. But it didn't take long for the two faces of mist to emerge from nowhere and rush into our bodies. At that moment, I felt very sleepy, and I didn't know what happened after that."

Ji Xiang said: "The Yin world is taking action. You just happened to encounter it. But that town, could it be a similar thing to Suzhou?"

"Taiping Town, this town may not really exist. As far as I know, since the founding of our dynasty, there has not been a town called Taiping around Xiangyang City. I often go down the mountain to wander around. The names of the surrounding towns, markets, and villages can be said without missing a word, but only the name of this Taiping Town is unremarkable, but it is not around." Zhang Sanfeng interjected.

Ji Xiang pondered: "A Dharma Realm or a constructed illusion?"

Those female ghosts in the tombs and wild fox spirits often engage in some marriage or opera scenes. In order to make the scholars who are married feel "at home", they will construct those illusions very realistically. In fact, the gorgeous venue is just a primitive man's hut piled up with dead branches and rotten leaves, and the high gate and big courtyard are just some big graves with tombstones standing on them.

"It should be something like an illusion. The things in the illusion, even if you kill it, what you kill is not its real body, but firearms are still a bit useful... in every sense."

Zhang Sanfeng's tone was slightly teasing.

Firearms are very useful. The reason why you can't kill the opponent is because there is not enough firepower.

If you carry a meteor cannon over, the temple will probably fly into the sky with one shot.

"I'll go take a look. But is that place full of Yin energy or Yang energy?"

Ji Xiang wanted to take a trip in person, but Feng Menglong shook his head: "Anyway, that place makes me uncomfortable, and I can't explain it clearly. You might know when you go."

"My wife and Nanyangzi don't know where they went, and I don't know if what the second group of villagers said is true or false."

Ji Xiang said that he would leave as soon as he said, but Zhang Sanfeng said that he would go out with Ji Xiang, and leave this place to Lian Buyun.

The old and the young each used their supernatural powers. Zhang Sanfeng drove up a cloud, but saw Ji Xiang turning over and mounting the Pegasus. He turned his hand and drove away his cloud.

"Disciple of the Heavenly Demon, take me for a ride!"

"Master, you are an immortal. It's just a few hundred miles away. You can get there by flipping over, why do you need to sit on this Pegasus?"

"That's different. It's so majestic to ride a Pegasus! Stepping on thunder, welcoming cloud tides, rolling clouds, swallowing strong winds, this is really showing the style of our true immortals!"

The Pegasus was swift, like a splitting lightning, and soon arrived in the sky above Xiangyang City. Below, the popularity was surging, the national prestige was vast, the voices of people in the martial world were noisy and boiling, merchants from all over the world came and went by boat, although there was demon energy in the surrounding mountains, there was not much bloody meaning. The incense of the three religions and many folk temples was also considered strong, and the coexistence of humans and demons was within a controllable range without any abnormalities.

Continue to move in the southeast direction, and come to what Feng Menglong called Taiping Town. Changes occurred at this time.

The two immortals came on a Pegasus, but they did not see Taiping Town at the expected location. Below were only huge graves piled up with bluestone, and around them stood mud houses and thatched doors, like memorial archways and markets in towns.

"Where is there any Taiping Town here? It's clearly a burial place. Is it really an illusion constructed by the Yin world?"

"But if it's said to be a mass grave, it's not accurate. Whose family would build so many regular graves in a mass grave?"

These huge graves built of bluestone were not something that ordinary common people could build in this era.

Zhang Sanfeng wandered around the surroundings, and then used his magic power to remove a large grave.

"The bluestone is unusually heavy, but there is nothing in this grave. Where are the bones of the dead?"

"Don't worry, let me arrest all the mountain gods and land gods in this area, and I will know after asking!"

Ji Xiang looked coldly, and a thorough white smoke rushed out of his body, penetrating the surrounding mountains and going deep into the nine lands!

The great supernatural power of arresting gods was used!

"This is... the art of arresting gods!"

Zhang Sanfeng sensed the supreme power contained in the rolling white smoke. The gods could hardly resist it. It was a powerful skill that restrained the divine path.

But after a while, Ji Xiang gradually showed a look of surprise.

The mountain gods and land gods around this area have all disappeared. Not only is there a problem with the temples, but even the wooden and clay sculptures used to worship them cannot be sensed, let alone the incense used to worship them. There is no trace of them at all!

Ji Xiang came up with another plan. He conjured a wisp of incense in his hand, and then randomly grabbed a piece of gold and stone nearby, wrote the three characters for land god on it, and offered the incense to the other party.

The land god is the land god of this area and can only receive the incense of this area. But after this group of incense was offered, it was never possible to find the object of worship.

"The mountain gods and land gods have all disappeared, and there is no sign of movement at all?"

Zhang Sanfeng also stroked his beard, feeling unusual. He looked around and said strangely: "Indeed, as Feng Xiucai said, the Yang energy is abundant and there is no Yin energy at all, which is unreasonable in this world."

"The land of the dead must be heavily Yin, unless these graves are all buried with living people."

Ji Xiang suddenly thought of the text displayed on the inner scene divine tablet before, which said that someone had tampered with the myriad phenomena of the universe.

What does this mean? Has it made ghosts able to move in Yang energy? But what needs to be tampered with for this kind of magic? Those living ghosts that can be seen everywhere can come out and jump around in broad daylight, and even help people work. As long as their real names are not called out, nothing will happen.

"There is a way, Master, since we can't find the mountain gods and land gods, and we can't see living people, then there must be demons and ghosts nearby, right?"

The two masters and disciples searched around here to no avail and began to go deep into the surrounding mountains. It is still easy to find places with heavy Yin energy. The only unusual place is this Taiping Town area.

The demons and ghosts in the mountains were immediately panicked. Fortunately, although Ji Xiang was a rogue, he would not kill at will just to ask for directions. He asked several demons in a row, and they all said that there was no place called Taiping Town here.

"What the little demon said is all true. There is indeed no Taiping Town here, only a group of ancient graves. But it's strange to say that the Yang energy is abundant in that place, and the surrounding ghosts dare not approach it. It's obviously a place for the dead, but there is no Yin evil living there..."

"The two immortals want to ask what period the ancient graves are from... this... I don't know. In my memory, it seems that when I had intelligence, this group of graves was already here."

"Illusion? Impossible, no demons or ghosts dare to approach that ancient grave here. No demon would set up an illusion there. That's just a bloody restraint on themselves. What's the point? To make their own skin itchy?"

The demons all shook their heads and waved their hands, saying that even humans don't know about that place, so how could anyone set up an illusion there to catch people? However, an elderly donkey demon said that about twenty-five miles west of here, there is a Mount Da Wang. There is an old demon in the mountain, named Lord Hai, who has lived for many years and may know about the illusion.

In Mount Lion, the old demon was a little panicked when he saw the two masters and disciples. He didn't know what mistakes he had made. Zhang Sanfeng comforted him and said that he was Zhang Dayuan from Wudang Mountain nearby. The old demon breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and said that he had registered in Wudang Mountain, had lived for a long time, and had never harmed anyone.

"I am a wild boar spirit in the mountain. I attained enlightenment in the early years of Jianyan in the Song Dynasty and gained intelligence. When the Yuan Dynasty went south, I avoided the war here and did not ask about the world. When Wudang flourished in the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle came here and said he was looking for Emperor Jianwen's whereabouts, so I went to the mountain to pay a visit to Prime Minister Yao and got some guidance."

"If you talk about Taiping Town, it did exist in the past, but that was a matter of the Song Dynasty. Taiping Town was destroyed when the Yuan army attacked. At that time, there were no giant graves. These giant graves were built here by the Xiangyang government after the founding of my Ming Dynasty. Because of the long time, I don't know the names of the dead, so I built a dozen bluestone graves here. As for those mud houses and thatched doors, I really don't know about them."

Ji Xiang told Lord Hai about Feng Menglong's experience, and Lord Hai looked surprised:

"The two of you said that someone entered Taiping Town and saw an illusion, and that the people not only survived but were also worshiping? This is really unbelievable. According to the descriptions of the two of you, the appearance of the town seems to be worshiping the Song God Heavenly King..."

Ji Xiang: "King Tianluo?"

Lord Hai: "King Tianluo? No, no, no, I remember, this is the divine title conferred by Emperor Gaozong to Emperor Qinzong... He is not the same person as the Song God Heavenly King..."

Lord Hai told the story of the past:

"I also heard it from other old demons. After all, I only gained intelligence in the year of Jianyan. It is said that in those years, the Jin emperor wanted to send Emperors Huizong and Qinzong to Wuguocheng to be imprisoned. Consort Zhao pleaded in vain and scolded the Jin emperor, and was brutally killed by the Jin emperor. On the way to Wuguocheng, Empress Zheng died of illness and was buried hastily."

"When they arrived at Wuguocheng, Emperor Huizong lost his eyes because he cried for Consort Zheng. Emperor Qinzong saw sacrificial instruments in the courtyard. The Jin soldiers said that they were used to worship the Heavenly King, who was respected by the people of this place. That night, in the middle of the night, Emperor Qinzong prayed to the statue in the hut..."

"He said that he only wished to die quickly, and that in the south, he hoped that the Song family would be revived, and that in the north, he hoped to return to the mainland as soon as possible. Then, a divine king descended from the sky and bowed to Emperor Qinzong in the courtyard, saying to him: I am actually the Heavenly King of the north. God has ordered me to command the Yin soldiers and protect the living beings in the north and south. From now on, there will be ten years of peace in the world. The Southern Dynasty will soon be revived, similar to the peaceful days of the past."