“What?!”

From Lin Chi to Bai Ling—right down to Xu Rucheng and the rest of the Luwu—practically everyone taking part in this affair was shocked upon hearing that the Unbound Furnace was in the hands of Sanyue’s sect leader.

Lin Chi’s first reaction was very honest: “Sanyue’s sect leader doesn’t cultivate the way of toolmaking.”

Xu Rucheng temporarily forgot that he was a cultivator: “Is it because it’s too cold being in seclusion on top of a mountain, and he wanted to bring the furnace with him to make fire?”

Bai Ling asked a penetrating question: “Viscount, why is it that whenever you’re involved in something, no matter how unremarkable it seems at first, in the end it always ferments into something world-shattering?”

Xi Ping: “…”

When Hui Xiangjun died, her cultivation wouldn’t have exceeded the middle ascended spirit period. Ordinarily speaking, even members of outer sects like Zhao Yu, who sought Ways of the Heart in relics of predecessors, would think that middle ascended spirit period cultivation was a little low—especially when one couldn’t consult the person they inherited from. Sanyue had taken the Unbound Furnace over two centuries ago, and no one had heard of anyone using it to create anything. Everyone had assumed the Unbound Furnace was gathering dust in some storehouse in Sanyue.

“Stealing a dusty antique from the Sanyue Mountains” and “blowing up the peak shed skin sect leader’s immortal palace” were two completely different things!

“Tell the Luwu to preserve their disguises and take no action—you withdraw,” Zhou Ying said decisively after listening in on the proceedings. “If what the Heartless Lotus says is true and Sanyue’s sect leader and Xuanwu are about to have a battle, that isn’t something for an outer sect to handle. I will send a Heavenly Question to Duanrui at once and have Xuanyin Mountain do as they see fit.”

Xi Ping didn’t answer.

Gritting his teeth, Zhou Ying said, “Xi Shiyong, you won’t rest until you’ve angered me to death, is that it?”

“Hey, hey, I’ll withdraw, I’ll withdraw,” Xi Ping casually fobbed him off, then changed the subject. “San-ge, I have a question. How did Hui Xiangjun actually die?”

This was something he couldn’t understand no matter how he thought about it. At first, Xi Ping had thought of Hui Xiangjun as a commoner female version of Lin Chi, gentle and easily bullied, persecuted wherever she went. But each time he encountered one of her relics, every time he got near to rumors about her, another layer of mysterious fog appeared over this toolmaking master. Now it seemed that even Lin Chi hadn’t altogether understood her.

Also, why had Zhuoming said she was an “unbound person”?

“At first I thought the reason she couldn’t escape was because of the clash between the Law Breaker and the Riverward, but that Zhuoming said that with the Unbound Furnace, you would have no fear of the Silver Moon. If that baldy isn’t just messing with me, then what did Hui Xiangjun have to be afraid of back then? As I see it, isn’t she the one ‘closest to the full moon positions’? Her works are so magical, and her vital weapon is so magical. How powerful must she herself have been?”

“Hui Xiangjun practiced the way of toolmaking. People belonging to the medicine making and toolmaking ways, unless their tempers are peculiar, don’t have much opportunity to engage in battle with others. Hui Xiangjun may very well never have fought with anyone…at any rate, neither the records nor the rumors mention that she did. Until she left for Southern He, no one even knew she had an accompanying plant—otherwise, my guess is that Sanyue’s sect leader wouldn’t have allowed the Unbound Furnace to remain in Lancang for so long.” Zhou Ying paused, then continued, “Rumor has it that when the five great sects hunted her down, Hui Xiangjun didn’t resist at all. She used the Riverward to send away Qiu Sha, who was her personal maid at the time. The whereabouts of the Law Breaker were unknown. And the Unbound Furnace was beside her.”

Xi Ping said, “Beside her?”

“Yes, Lancang Mountain specifically recorded it. She hadn’t put away the Unbound Furnace, so those hunting her thought she was brandishing her vital weapon in order to resist. But for some reason, she didn’t use it.” As he spoke, Zhou Ying personally wrote a Heavenly Question and waved a hand to send it to the Xuanyin Mountains. “In my view, she was waiting to be captured.”

Xi Ping frowned—the Riverward had been able to take Qiu Sha away then and let her hide for eight centuries, then reappear in the world as an ascended spirit. So why hadn’t Hui Xiangjun gone with her?

Even if there was some inside story that hadn’t been passed down to later generations, if she had wanted to sacrifice herself, she could very well have killed herself. Once the spirit was blown up, the consciousness would be destroyed. It was so fast you wouldn’t feel the pain, much more convenient than a mortal slitting their throat or hanging themselves. Why would she have waited to be interrogated and sentenced—didn’t it hurt to have her spiritual bones removed?

It was as if…she could no longer feel pain, and the body she had left for the spiritual mountains was only an old robe she hadn’t bothered to put away.

Xi Ping returned to the maid’s room and meditated, as usual withdrawing his consciousness to Tao County, patrolling through the reincarnation wood trees that hadn’t been dug up.

The garrisoned troops had already obtained the relief provisions. The poorest of the old and sickly now had some prospects. With spiritual energy to nourish all things, the towns with farmland had plowed the earth and seen hope, and had begun to discuss planting something together. The bleak business of the minor merchants had improved out of nowhere, because the cultivators had discovered one benefit of Tao County: this damn place treated everyone the same.

Whether an ascended spirit or a shed skin, once they entered, they would have to ride a horse or equip a carriage. Immortal tools, whether orthodox or evil, couldn’t be used. No one had better think of taking advantage of their higher cultivation to bully others. As long as you bribed the garrisoned troops, business would be even safer than it had been at Wild Fox Country’s Great Market.

Zhou Ying had seen through these cultivators’ ideas from the start. Before they had caught up, he had straightened out all the restaurants and inns within Tao County. He had bought into each one and left someone permanently stationed there, eyes and ears placed to wait to receive the guests coming from all over. At the same time, he had reopened the ferry crossings on the Xia River after reorganizing them. He had used the steamships that had belonged to the waterborne troops to hire a bunch of cultivators to oversee the transport of medicinal herbs and materials from the spiritual beasts of Southern Shu’s Three Islands, publicly selling common materials used for downgraded immortal tools. As expected, Western Chu’s court believed that the garrisoned troops were in their own hands and paid little attention to them, only secretly sending a note to the garrisoned troops to take three Qilin Guardsmen into the fleet. And so the first Common Cultivator Water Transport Escort Group, made up of nine Luwu and three Qilin Guardsmen, was formed. When Xi Ping passed by the docks, he saw the dock workers unloading cargo in the middle of the night. On the ship, two Luwu were playing cards with the Qilin Guardsmen, one pretending to be foolish about money, one helping the Qilin Guardsmen cheat, mutually sighing about how difficult it was for a common cultivator to make a living.

Zhao Qindan wasn’t resting yet—fortunately, while she couldn’t use spiritual energy, a half-immortal who had opened her spiritual eyes still didn’t need much sleep. It was enough to meditate for one ke at dawn.

Those who came to study with her during the day were young children who didn’t need to work. The adults worked hard all day and only had time after dark. But evening after all was an unsuitable time; all those who came were women. She didn’t charge them money. Many people came with items that needed mending to borrow the lamplight. Listening to the disguised “Xu Dan,” “Sir Xu,” explain things from all over the world, or learning a few characters, wouldn’t hold up the work.

Xi Ping didn’t approach them, only listened from afar to Zhao Qindan composedly teaching astronomy. Today, Tao County’s sky was as clear as if it had been rinsed clean, the starry sea resplendent. The young mistress was in fact well-learned; she understood astronomy and geography, as well as the history of the cultivation sects, and she could deftly explain the profound in simple terms.

Suddenly, he heard a young woman say, “Young Sir, you say that the sages have Ways of the Heart devoted to the world, and when they pierce the void and walk through it, that means they go up to heaven to become gods, is that right?”

Zhao Qindan froze. “I suppose that must be right.”

“So which are higher, the gods in heaven, or the gods on earth?”

Zhao Qindan knew that she was talking about “Tai Sui.” Tai Sui was made-up nonsense to start with, and the one who could answer the prayers of the county’s people was in fact a “master from a cultivation sect,” with cultivation unfathomable to her eyes. But however unfathomable, he must at most be an ascended spirit or a shed skin. Zhao Qindan knew that her neighbors were biased, so she didn’t respond.

Next to her, an old woman picked up: “Of course it’s the ones in heaven who are higher. Those in heaven are officers of the court, while those in the human world are their envoys.”

So the young woman said, “So why can a god on earth turn cultivators into humans, but the gods in heaven can’t?”

Publicly discussing gods had an unavoidable hint of heresy. Everyone became quiet.

Then the young woman’s clear and melodious voice alone sounded from afar: “Everyone says that spiritual energy nourishes all things, but most of the spiritual energy is in the immortal mountains. Who do the immortal mountains nourish? There’s only a bit of spiritual energy in the human world, and it’s divided up among all those demons with their factories and medicinal herb fields, making it impossible for the people to make a living. So hasn’t spiritual energy become the root of trouble?”

Everyone quickly tried to stop her. The older people scolded her one after another, telling her “Do not speak recklessly, careful not to let the Exalteds hear.”

The fierce young woman said, “I’m not scared. What can they do if they hear? I’m not leaving the county, anyway. The Exalteds are all deaf as posts here. No one can strike another person dead with a bolt of lightning. They have to talk things out.”

No sooner had she spoken than someone else quietly said, “A couple of days ago, I saw some soldiers capture a person and escort him out. I heard that was an Exalted.”

“My man is a waiter at an inn. The Exalteds also have to eat, drink, and defecate. Those white-clothed Exalteds also sweat, and they also stink if they don’t change their clothes for a few days. Some of them smell rancid, but they don’t notice it themselves.”

One after another, the people marveled at this. No longer caring what was or wasn’t taboo, they lowered their voices to discuss all kinds of gossip.

Zhao Qindan listened in now and then, turning her face towards the sky. Suddenly, she remembered that Luwu who had undertaken her fate and gone to Sanyue Mountain saying in casual conversation, Everything is decided by the spiritual mountains.

Xi Ping also looked towards the starry sky. It was no god in heaven sustaining the paradise of Tao County, and no immortal. It was the Law Breaker.

The Law Breaker itself was a special hidden realm immortal tool. It clearly laid down the laws inside the hidden realm; why was it called the “Law Breaker”?

Suddenly, a faint guess appeared in his mind.

Ripples spread through the lotus pond in front of Zhuoming. A heartless lotus flower petal floated in front of him. Brash writing flashed over it: Deal.

Zhuoming stared expressionlessly at the writing, until the writing and the lotus petal along with it had burned to ashes.

“Haha,” a voice came from somewhere in the lotus pond.

Next, insuppressible giggles and laughter came from all sides.

Until Zhuoming himself stuck up a finger and brought it to his mouth: “Shh—”

“The little Misty Willow said that he and the master of the Luwu are collaborators,” a lotus whispered, drawing in front of Zhuoming. “Liar.”

“Liar…” There was an echo from the water. Another mouth opened on a lotus root and said, “To use an accompanying plant to communicate requires blood as a medium. If he can reach him at any time, it shows that Zhou Ying always carries a piece of wood he’s spilled his blood on. Doesn’t that mean his actions can be observed at any time? Zhou Ying must have a profound connection to that Misty Willow.”

“Zhou Ying may be a little abnormal, but how could the possessor of a paramount spiritual sense lay his heart bare to anyone…?”

Another mouth opened on a lotus leaf and joined in the discussion. “How could that be? What’s so special about him?”

“I want him, too.”

“Want him…want him…”

“Let’s keep him and bury him in the lotus pond.”

Zhuoming, sitting upright in the water, listened to the discussion among the flowers and leaves and slowly closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth gradually turning upwards. His thin lips turned up all the way to the roots of his ears, tearing when they split too wide. Blood fell into the lotus pond. The lotus flowers and leaves instantly threw themselves at it like dogs fighting over food. Before the blood could disperse, it was all lapped clean by the many mouths.

On receiving word, Princess Duanrui’s response was lightning fast. She announced that Xuanyin’s inner sect would send someone to oversee this matter. The Luwu were to aid them in crossing the border.

Xu Rucheng had just received a message from a colleague telling him that the senior from the inner sect had already crossed the river when Bai Ling ordered all the Luwu to stand by where they were and look for an opportunity to withdraw. The Luwu were secret agents. They shouldn’t reveal themselves even to their own people from Xuanyin’s inner sect.

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief—

It was the sixteenth day of the tenth month, with the full moon rising into the sky as usual. When it had just passed the treetops, an enormous seismograph inside Dongheng’s imperial city suddenly shook. The full-moon-shaped machine spat out a Moon Plated Gold bead from one end that travelled along its track and bumped against the gears with a click.

The huge indicator on the seismograph pointed to the northwest. An alarm resonated throughout the imperial city.

There was an earthquake to the northwest!

Dongheng City felt considerable tremors. All the inscriptions around the houses of the wealthy were disturbed.

The residents of Dongheng ordinarily went to bed late. Now it was early evening in the city, when the lanterns had just been lit. No one was asleep. The common people living at the bottom of the valley had no inscriptions to protect them. None of them dared to stay under roofs. One after another, they poured out onto the street. Among the shouting of guards, someone cried out fearfully, “Look at the moon!”

At the same time, Xuanwu appeared out of nowhere on the summit of the East Peak. At the summit, the Silver Moon, like the moon in the sky, was plated with a layer of bronze. It seemed a little fretful, droning as it shook. The motley moonlight seemed to be attracted by something to the northwest.

The features on Xuanwu’s mask settled into a look of anger. “The moon has been stained with blood, and the great mountain array is unstable. An evil cultivator has become an ascended spirit. Two years ago, it was Qiu Sha. Who is it this time?”

From the Silver Moon came Zhuoming’s calm voice: “There is a tidal wave in the Slumbering Dragon Sea to the northwest, a sign of catastrophe.”

Xuanwu abruptly raised his head. “Is it Yu Chang?”

Just then, a fluttering sound suddenly came from the direction of the Central Peak. A messenger peacock dragging its long tail on the ground threw itself in front of him. It spoke in a human voice: “High Elder, the great mountain array is leaking spiritual energy everywhere. May we request that the Silver Moon stabilize the situation?”

Hardly had it finished speaking than another peacock flew over. “High Elder, Southern Shu sends word. They wish to know why yet another evil cultivator has become an ascended spirit in our country.”

“High Elder, Northern Li has sent a letter inquiring…”

“The Xuanyin Mountains say that the sect leader has been in seclusion for two hundred years, and of late evil has frequently emerged here. They are concerned that the spiritual mountains are unstable and ask whether we require assistance.”

“A pack of nonsense!” said Xuanwu.

The brows on his mask pinched together, then were forced apart. The features drawn on the mask changed unnaturally as this happened.

Xuanwu lowered his voice and flatly said, “Qiu Sha absorbed the spiritual stones of the Land of Turmoil and only came to Chu to become an ascended spirit due to her resentment towards the Sanyue Mountains. Yu Chang is indeed from Chu, but the Slumbering Dragon Sea is not within our country. The sect leader is well. Sanyue’s spiritual veins are clear. We have no need to trouble our fellow cultivators to fret on our behalf. We request the cooperation of all the spiritual mountains in arresting the evil cultivator Yu Chang…”

Hardly had he spoken than the surroundings suddenly dimmed. The messenger peacocks raised their heads in astonishment. The Silver Moon had suddenly darkened. A wild gale rose, blowing so hard that the stars and moon vanished.

The immortal mountains once again began to quake—aftershocks from the Slumbering Dragon Sea?

No! Wait!

Xuanwu abruptly turned his head and saw dense clouds suddenly amass over Sanyue’s Principal Peak and combine with the ominous bloody moon, seeming to form an enormous vortex whose edges were illuminated red by the moonlight.

A series of lightning bolts fell, striking directly at the immortal palace where the sect leader was in seclusion, one bolt after another.

The inscriptions on the Principal Peak lit up like a rising ride. This was adding frost to snow for the great mountain array that had been damaged by the earthquake. With a boom, a fireball fell out of the sky. Smoke began to rise from the sect leader’s immortal palace!

The features on Xuanwu’s mask stiffened: was the sect leader losing his mind at a time like this?