When the Riverward was activated, the smoke inside it would run everywhere, changing into all kinds of forms, reflecting the user’s preoccupations like a mirror. 

But, after all, it was only an immortal tool. It couldn’t speak. The outcome depended on whom it turned into—mirroring Xi Ping, it was a little out of luck. The living Xi Ping didn’t have so much “mysticism” to him; anything too mystical didn’t look like him, but like a recollection of him after death. But when it turned into old Madam Xi, it was unusually convincing, because in Zhou Ying’s impressions, this was just what his grandmother was like. 

If he only went to see her, no matter when he turned his head, she would always be watching him like this. Sometimes she was keeping an eye on him, and sometimes she was looking through him to his mother, trapped in Guangyun Palace.  

The old lady was very forgetful, always repeating herself, but it wasn’t annoying. This was probably because she never complained, only reminisced about good things. It was like the way spring flowers always followed the same pattern, blooming just the same year after year, but no one would get tired of them. 

She was clearly an old mortal woman without the strength to truss a chicken, but in her little garden, she could create a paradise like the inside of a mustard seed or an illusion, able to ease worries and cure all poisons. When he was little, Zhou Ying had been very curious—when people got old, would they all harden into a shell like this? Too bad he wouldn’t live long enough to get old. 

But later he no longer regretted that, because he found that people had hundreds upon thousands of ways of growing old—many people grew old and became crafty, became deceitful, became scourges. 

Zhou Ying’s expression changed several times. This time, he didn’t bicker with the Riverward. 

He hadn’t been to see her in five years, even having Bai Ling write the present list for holidays in his place; he had coldly become an ingrate, even skipping the old lady’s eightieth birthday. In fact, Zhou Ying didn’t dare to go, but he couldn’t reveal that in front of the little brat. 

Under the attention of the shed skin masters, amid the graveyard of the surging sea, this demon who had single-handedly stirred up Xuanyin’s thirty-six peaks until the mountains were sealed concentrated his thoughts and dispelled his preoccupations, closing his eyes in meditation. 

The last thought to slip over his spirit was a feeble notion. He thought: What if…what if after I’m done here, I go see her? 

But the aftereffects of a shed skin high elder going mad couldn’t be calmed so quickly. 

The Dignitary of Rule Lin Zongyi’s first order was to seal the mountains. It came just as Xi Ping’s mind was split in two, half tied up with shizun, half hung up on san-ge, hard pressed from both sides. At first, he didn’t realize what Elder Lin’s intention was. 

Until someone stopped Lin Chi. 

“Zisheng, don’t wander around,” another ascended spirit surnamed Lin, a sword cultivator, quietly said to Lin Chi. “Hurry back to Moon Plated Peak and seal the mountain.” 

Only then did Lin Chi realize with a start that something was wrong. 

Right now, apart from a few individuals who, like him, couldn’t read the atmosphere, all the ascended spirit peak masters gathered near the principal peak had now separated into two distinct parties. One party consisted of those whose surname was Zhao, the other of those whose surname wasn’t Zhao. 

Nominally, the Xuanyin Mountains had “thirty-six peaks”, but in reality this was an approximation. Not every mountaintop had a master. There were also positions that were empty after the original peak master had passed away, waiting to be allotted to a new ascended spirit. Apart from that, there were still three or four people of the Li clan’s lineage who always kept their peaks sealed; normally, unless there was a summons by the high elders, they wouldn’t go out to get in on the fun. Excluding these, as well as those who happened to be in seclusion right now, there were around twenty ascended spirit peak masters who had come over. 

All nine of the Zhao family peak masters were present; the two parties were practically evenly matched—the Zhaos were obviously more highly strung, while the other party had people of Lin Chi’s ilk, who didn’t know what was going on, mixed in. 

Xi Ping glanced at the field along with Lin Chi, thinking that if the proportions of inner sect peak masters were like this, then the proportions of the disciples under them would be about the same, and the same for the walkers in the mortal world in the outer sect. 

Was there…going to be a mutiny? 

“Peak Master Lin,” Xi Ping dryly advised amid the atmosphere thick with the promise of battle, “I think you should stay away from them.” 

There was no need for him to give this advice. Without another word, Lin Chi ran away without so much as a look back. “Are they really going to fight with members of their own sect?” 

Xi Ping was silent a moment. “All inner sect peak masters have their dignity. They won’t necessarily come to blows after a single disagreement. There may be a deadlock for a few days. But…” 

“What?” said Lin Chi. 

Xi Ping slowly said, “I’m afraid that the Dignitary of Rule may have sealed the mountains too late.” 

He tried to probe as far outwards as possible with his consciousness, calling his shizun in his mind. 

Shifu, how are you? 

The Dignitary of Fate has gone to the East Sea. If the shard of Zhaoting you’ve left behind really is in my body, have him bring it back. Maybe Master Lin can think of a way to repair it. 

You look after yourself. You can’t even keep accounts right, how can you have attention to spare to fret so much? Don’t pay attention to them, and don’t pay attention to me, either, okay? 

But the demon seal was already back in place and the fetters were upon him. He had no way to make shifu hear him. 

Xi Ping’s crow’s mouth had uttered a prophecy—when Zhao Yin had thrown off the Vitex Branch and flown towards the Latent Cultivation Temple, there had already been Zhao peak masters stealthily sending out the news. 

Xuanyin Mountain’s Heavenly Questions connected the inner and outer sects and fell under the protection of the great mountain array; you could mention the true name on an ascended spirit or shed skin’s spiritual image without being noticed. The great mountain array was no one’s private property; according to regulations, a Heavenly Question could only be used for official business. 

But Xuanyin’s big families all had private Heavenly Questions and could contact their forebears in the inner sect to get word as soon as something happened. 

The Zhao family’s Heavenly Question instantly spread through Xuanyin’s inner and outer sects. Like wild wind and driving rain, it caused chaos in the human world. 

Pang Jian had said he was going to the Marquis Manor to wish the old lady a happy birthday, but he didn’t make it. He was buried under news coming in from Heaven’s Design Pavilion branches all over the country. 

“A wind with no origin flew out of Xuanyin Mountain’s Latent Cultivation Temple. While passing through Lanchuan, it rang the evil-expelling bells.” 

“When the wind passed Canglang, it sent stones flying and rang the evil-expelling bells.” 

“Ning’an is experiencing torrential rains. There are abnormalities in the spiritual energy of the Ning’an Zhao clan. They have shut their doors and won’t come out.” 

“Zhao Wei, Zhao Qishan, and others of Guzhou’s north branch have stolen immortal tools and are slaughtering fellow sect members!” 

The incident had taken place behind a screen, but the disaster was spreading throughout the country. 

Once again, Guzhou was the first to see upheaval, the same as five years ago. This damn place must have been cursed. 

In the North Guzhou branch of Heaven’s Design Pavilion, two half-immortals surnamed Zhao had “gone mad” without warning, stealing what was entrusted to their care, moving a large quantity of immortal tools without authorization. Of the walkers in the mortal world who had been guarding the storehouse that day and came first to assist when they heard the noise, one was dead and another gravely injured. 

Evil cultivators were all desperate criminals. The walkers in the mortal world contended against them in wits and strength year in and year out; colleagues and comrades-in-arms trusted each other to fight back-to-back and guard each other’s lives. Attacking a fellow sect member could be called deranged. 

When the commander of the North Guzhou branch received the news, he flew into a rage and issued warrants for their arrest—dead or alive. 

Karma beasts followed residual spiritual energy to chase down the Zhao family branch in Guzhou. The Zhao family tree was big and deep-rooted; apart from the main family in Jinping, its kinsmen were spread throughout Great Wan. Nearly each province had a branch of the Zhao family; such was their power. The commander of the north branch, out of his mind with anger, wanted to launch a search at once; how could the Guzhou Zhao family with their lofty aspirations be willing to comply with this? The two sides came to blows at once. Immortal tools and downgraded immortal tools flew wildly, unexpectedly exposing the unregistered cultivators that the Guzhou Zhao family had been supporting in private. 

If these weren’t evil cultivators, then who was!? 

North Guzhou requested support from other branches of Heaven’s Design Pavilion, but this matter was difficult to handle everywhere. There were too many Zhaos among the walkers in the mortal world. At this clash in Guzhou, all the other branches, whether there was anything the matter or not, began to split apart and stretch taut. 

Just as Pang Jian was facing this pressure, on the night of the tenth day of the seventh month, a gale blew into Jinping City. 

Rickshaws carrying people ran along Jinping City’s newly constructed carriage roads. The rickshaw pullers, facing into the wind, were so tired they panted for breath like oxen; their drunken pleasure-seeking customers were slapped by the furious evil wind and opened their eyes in confusion. 

In Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s head office, the calendar block wavered wildly between the states of “clear” and “windy”. The dozing karma beasts all stood up with their fur bristling. 

Before Pang Jian could work out precisely what the trouble was in Guzhou, he heard that the Suling Heaven’s Design Pavilion branch couldn’t be contacted—the commander of the Suling Heaven’s Design Pavilion branch was related to the Zhao family by marriage! 

The wild wind that had reached Jinping swept over Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s head office. The bronze evil-expelling bells on the eaves rang with a crash. 

Pang Jian’s heart tensed, but the evil-expelling bells only rang once. Then the tongueless bronze bells seemed to hesitate over whether to ring or not, only shaking with a rustle, like ominous chatter. 

“General commander!” 

A blue-clothed walker in the mortal world flew straight into the courtyard. “The Heart Tower’s Captain Zhao has disappeared!” 

Pang Jian said, “Didn’t I tell all of you to keep an eye on him?” 

“Yes, general commander,” said the blue-clotheser, “but he had an unregistered immortal tool from the inner sect…” 

Pang Jian waved a hand and interrupted him. There was no time for explanations. “The Azure Dragon Towers cannot go unattended. Go to the Yongning Marquis Manor and call Xi Yue, tell him to go oversee the Azure Dragon Heart Tower for me. Report to the court and find some brothers at once to enter the palace and protect His Majesty. Surround Jinping’s Zhao family, activate all the city defense arrays in Jinping. Call everyone from the Kaiming Department you can get to come assist, and also…” 

“Yes, general commander?” 

Pang Jian deliberated for a moment, then said grimly, “Send a letter to Prince…send a letter to Bai Ling. No matter what that bunch of Luwu shit-stirrers are doing, have them suspend it and return to calm the situation!” 

The walker in the mortal world gave an affirmative and left. 

Pang Jian took a deep breath and took from his mustard seed a box of established foundation pills and his protective talisman—the voucher Zhi Xiu had written for him when he had entered Heaven’s Design Pavilion. He used this action to calm himself down, then put the things away. 

General Commander Pang hadn’t spent a hundred years in Heaven’s Design Pavilion for nothing. Apart from the news that came in on the surface, he had in fact also received two horrifying secret letters; he didn’t know whether they were true or false. 

“There is a rumor that the inner sect has been sealed; the circumstances of this are unknown.” 

“There is word that the Dignitary of Rites High Elder has passed away!” 

A shed skin elder passing away—if that were true…if that were true…

Pang Jian shuddered. In the thousands of years since Great Wan’s spiritual mountains had formed and the nation had been founded, this was unheard of. 

Hadn’t the matter in the East Sea been put down five years ago? 

When Xi Yue received the order, he was sitting alone in the gate house of the Marquis Manor. 

The old lady’s birthday feast had broken up, and all the guests had taken their leave. Apart from the opera still being sung in the rear courtyard, the manor had quieted down. Xi Yue had sent the servant standing watch at the gate house to rest and was reading a book of arrays by lamplight; halfway through the night, he hadn’t turned a single page, and he had curled a corner of the page into garlic skin. 

When he sensed that someone was approaching flying a sword, Xi Yue abruptly raised his head. Before joy could appear on his face, he got a clear look at the newcomer’s sapphire robe, and the look in his eyes dimmed. 

After hearing the blue-clotheser’s message, Xi Yue, as usual, didn’t say a word, only gave a calm and collected nod. Then he took out a handful of spiritual stones and quickly laid a circle of arrays inside and outside of the Marquis Manor. But when he came to lay arrays at the side door, he saw the Marquis standing there alone. 

The Marquis of Yongning’s hair was grey, but his back was still upright. His glorious youth had passed, but his charm still remained. The night wind violently whipped his wide sleeves around. He had his head raised, looking towards the top of the wall over the side door. 

Xi Yue walked over and bowed to the Marquis. 

The Marquis of Yongning didn’t turn his head. Without preamble, he said, “Every time your useless big brother came back in the middle of the night after fooling around, he would only dare to use the side door. I’d be waiting here with servants to catch him. I got him every time….but not today. I’m afraid he won’t be coming.” 

Xi Yue’s long brows shook slightly. His calm expression nearly faltered.  

“You have something to do, right?” The Marquis turned—he only seemed a touch elderly when he moved, his movements not as firm as before. He patted Xi Yue on the shoulder. “Go on…go on. I was thinking that this evil wind doesn’t smell right. Take care of yourself, send word home when you’re through to let us know you’re safe, okay? Don’t grow up to be like that scoundrel…” 

Xi Yue was just about to say something when he suddenly sensed a peculiar spiritual energy fluctuation. 

The half-puppet’s sustenance was spiritual stones; he was far more sensitive to spiritual energy than humans…or even ordinary cultivators. He abruptly raised his head and saw that all the spiritual energy in Jinping City was rapidly converging on a single place—Guangyun Palace! 

Xi Yue didn’t have time to say anything more. He unloaded his mustard seed, pushed the downgraded immortal tools he had collected over the years towards the Marquis all at once, and hurried towards the convergence of spiritual energy, but he was cut off midway by Pang Jian. 

Pang Jian grabbed the half-puppet one-handed by the back of the neck, easily lifting this body that was one third lighter than a mortal with the same physique. He pushed him in the direction of the Heart Tower. “I told you to go oversee the Azure Dragon Towers. Don’t come this way, there’s someone violating the rules and establishing a foundation in the mortal world!” 

There was a pop as the wild wind shattered a gas lamp. Heavy clouds appeared above Guangyun Palace, with lightning faintly flicking through them. 

Zhao Yu, the captain of the Azure Dragon Heart Tower, was inside the imperial treasury in Guangyun Palace. He had put the final fragment of the Mount Fu Mirage Drawing in place—the current emperor was restrained and frugal; his only hobby was collecting ornaments and ancient artworks. When the previous emperor had been living, he hadn’t dared to, but since succeeding to the throne he had relaxed slightly, and the flatterers all knew about it and frequently hunted high and low for him. This painting fragment was one of the items from Jingzhou’s tribute for this year. 

To mortal eyes, this was only an antique worth a bit of money. After admiring it a few times, Zhou Huan had tossed it into the imperial treasury. Though it would have been easy for Zhao Yu to infiltrate the emperor’s treasury, he had never dared to act—Prince Zhuang knew that he was looking for this painting. 

Fortunately, the heavens were on his side; Prince Zhuang hadn’t returned to the capital. 

Zhao Yu took a deep breath and used his spiritual energy to assemble the torn up pieces. When the spiritual energy swept over the thousand-year-old ancient painting, the light and shadow drawn in it began to flow. On misty Mount Fu, monstrous shadows flickered. The whole painting “came alive”; he had taken possession of this master’s vital weapon. Zhao Yu took several deep breaths, took out the established foundation pill he had prepared, and swallowed it. 

He couldn’t delay any longer. Word had come from the inner sect that the Zhao family’s sky—the Dignitary of Rites High Elder—had fallen. This would be the whole Zhao clan’s great tribulation. The old forebears had told them to prepare for this. Anyone who could establish a foundation should do so and not stint on the spiritual stones they normally kept hidden. 

There were many downgraded immortal tools in the palace, and a great deal of blue jade in the emperor’s treasury, which Zhao Yu absorbed in one gulp. He didn’t even spare the elixirs and medicinal herbs that the nobles used for keeping in good health. 

His consciousness became unprecedentedly fierce. It swept out from Guangyun Palace. Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s blue-clothed half-immortals, just arriving, all toppled off their swords as soon as they encountered him. For a time, Zhao Yu had the impression that the whole human world was only a painting, and he was suspended high above the canvas and could have complete power over it as soon as he took up his brush! 

Jinping…

The next moment, he quickly located the emperor Zhou Huan in the “painting”. 

With a single thought, the established foundation cultivator had already cheated his way beside the new emperor, who had been startled awake by the wild wind! 

Just then, an arrow that seemed to be carrying flames pierced Zhao Yu’s outstretched hand. The arrow passed by the mortal emperor, leaving the stupefied Zhou Huan unharmed. 

Pang Jian gave a long whistle. Several blue-clothesers landed around Zhao Yu, closely surrounding him. 

Zhao Yu swung his hand slightly, and the palm that had been pierced by the Barrier Dispeller Bow healed on its own. “General commander.” 

“Zhao Yu.” First Pang Jian protected the mortals with a mustard seed, then turned to his former colleague with his hands behind his back. “You joined Heaven’s Design Pavilion just after I did. We were both taught by Elder Su himself and can be considered veterans now. Not having received an invitation, you have established a foundation in the mortal world without authorization and nearly injured a mortal. That is a crime.” 

Zhao Yu smiled. “Lord Pang, don’t play dumb. I know you’re very canny. Don’t you know what has happened in the inner sect? What has happened to the Zhao clan all over the country?” 

Pang Jian said, “What does that have to do with you? Your Zhao family’s kinsmen and relations by marriage are everywhere. Never mind Guzhou—not even the Ning’an Zhao family can lay a claim to you through nine degrees of kinship. Have you gone mad?” 

Having heard this, Zhao Yu only laughed. “What do you know?” 

This Pang Jian was only a carefree watchdog whose parents had been bumpkins from some unknown mountain village, nothing you would find in a genealogical record or on an ancestral tomb. His whole life, his field of vision had been confined to the mortal world. He was the same as that Su Zhun, nominally part of Xuanyin’s outer sect, but in reality unable to even find the door to the immortal mountains. 

The mushroom that grows in the morning doesn’t know the passage of time. He couldn’t understand what a “shed skin” meant to a family. 

“It is pointless to speak further.” Zhao Yu shook his head. “I know you have many tricks and have gone above your grade to kill an established foundation more than once. Come and give it a try.” 

Hardly had he spoken than the two of them were already somewhere else. Pang Jian dropped into the earth without warning and emerged where Zhao Yu had just been standing. Zhao Yu had known what he would do. As soon as Pang Jian showed his head, his spiritual sense was touched; he felt as if everything around him had been gently twisted by an invisible hand. An abyss suddenly appeared behind the emperor, whom he had shielded with his mustard seed. Alarm appeared on Zhou Huan’s face. He was about to fall.

In the space of a breath, Pang Jian located Zhao Yu, but all the talismans he tossed out were dispelled in midair one after another by Zhao Yu. 

The other blue-clothesers were quite well-coordinated. Some went to protect Zhou Huan, and some cooperated with Pang Jian. But presently the mountains and mists of the Mount Fu Mirage Drawing emerged around them, and Zhao Yu easily enclosed them all in the painting. 

All the established foundations they had gone above their grade to kill before had been evil cultivators. Despite having high cultivation and their own magic powers, their resources were limited, after all, unable to match up to Heaven’s Design Pavilion, which had a yearly supply of weapons from Moon Plated Peak. But this didn’t apply to Zhao Yu. After standing shoulder to shoulder to defend the Azure Dragon Towers for a hundred years, the walkers in the mortal world knew each other’s cultivation and tricks better than they knew their own; when they fought, it was simply like the left hand wrestling with the right hand—and the left hand had just taken a strengthening pill! 

At the same time, all of Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s branches activated their local city defense inscriptions. News of the Zhao clan’s mutiny floated towards the capital city like snowflakes; in Xuanyin’s inner sect, which was sealed up tight, the two forces at the principal peak had temporarily been fairly calm when Lin Chi had seen them before. He returned to Moon Plated Peak and hid for a day, then finally couldn’t resist Xi Ping’s repeated urgings anymore and quietly snuck out. He had just flown up behind Flying Jade Peak by a detour when a huge sound came from the principal peak. The blue luan’s feather’s nearly fell off from fright. 

After a two-day standoff, they had begun to fight after all.