“Liang Chen?” A flash of lightning lit up Su Zhun’s sunken eyes. He looked up in disbelief. “Liang Mianzhi?!” 

“Liang Chen?” Zhi Xiu twisted his fingers, and the note paper dissolved. He vanished from the precipice above the Sea of Stars, leaving behind a mumbled sentence: “Why does that sound familiar…?” 

“What going on with this General Commander Liang Chen? How did he get like this while being part of a perfectly good orthodox sect? Also, since he’s the general commander of Heaven’s Design Pavilion, when he wanted to steal the Dragon Vein at the beginning of the fourth month, why did he go by such a circuitous route? Couldn’t he have just ordered everyone to withdraw from the Azure Dragon Towers?” 

In Jinping City, one blue and one white figure passed through the dim downpour faster than lightning, heading straight for Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s head office. 

Pang Jian shook his head. “His position in Heaven’s Design Pavilion is in name only. He has no true power. Well, it’s a long story. He used to be a mine supervisor in the south.” 

Southern He’s spiritual stone mines had been divided up by the big sects. It was far from civilization, and the mines were an important place that needed to have specialists sent to oversee them. Therefore, starting in the time of Renzong, a special outer sect had been developed, called the “Mining Office.” 

“Lord Liang worked his whole life in the mines. His hard work merited great reward. He ought to have retired like my Su-shixiong. But some years ago, he was attacked while escorting a shipment of spiritual stones and sustained serious injuries. It was said that he might… He never married or had children. He had no wishes. When the discussion came up, his only regret from his youth, which he had always held onto, was not having entered Heaven’s Design Pavilion. At the time, Su-shixiong was just about to retreat to the Latent Cultivation Temple. The superiors came and asked me whether I could let Lord Liang serve as assistant commander under me in name only. It would only be a few years, like compensation for injury. I said that Lord Liang was an elder, and he had once saved me during a mine collapse. Of course I couldn’t let him be my subordinate in name, so they should just give me the real responsibilities. He was always in seclusion tending to his injuries, anyway, and couldn’t be in charge. I have both the Heavenly Question and the Azure Dragon Seal. It makes no difference to my work whether I’m officially a full commander or an assistant commander.” 

Bai Ling had no time to compliment Commander Pang on the tastefulness of his actions. He followed up: “So you mean that since he came to Heaven’s Design Pavilion, he’s been in seclusion tending to his injuries and hasn’t showed his face?” 

“Yes, that’s right. I saw him once when he first came. He was all skin and bones, looked like he wasn’t long for this world.” Pang Jian said “excuse me” and pinched Bai Ling, who had turned into paper, between his fingers, and took him through the wall into the innermost courtyard of Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s head office. 

Inside this courtyard was a perfectly ordinary garden. The rockery was rough and slipshod, and the plants grew wild, untended. 

But as Pang Jian stepped inside, Bai Ling’s eyes swam, and he found that there was a little world in the garden—inside it was picturesque scenery, with flowers and trees as far as the eye could see. A little creek passed through it, connecting scattered pavilions and little houses. At the entrance was a several-zhang high boulder with an enormous karma beast drawn on it. It was napping. When it opened one eye and saw Pang Jian, it rolled over and showed its belly as if begging for pets. 

Bai Ling said, “This place is…” 

“Where we live.” Pang Jian, knowing the way, carried the paper man through the sea of flowers. “The head office’s walkers in the mortal world and our colleagues who come to the capital to report all stay here.” 

For a time, Bai Ling thought this was a little strange, because this “hidden land” like a paradise was obviously a mustard seed maintained by a superior array. However beautiful, it was still only a floating mirage. 

Before he could think much about it, Pang Jian had crossed through a large expanse of inhabited houses like a strong wind, landing in a valley at the end of the creek. 

In the valley, flower petals blown here by the wind lay in a thick layer, covering a path no one had walked for a long time, cushioning a single-entrance, single-resident little house, solitary and secluded. 

Pang Jian called out loudly: “Pang Jian seeks an audience with General Commander Liang on an urgent matter!” 

Xi Yue ran through the rain, tightly clutching a piece of wood to his chest. There was a third-class inscription on this piece of wood. He had just taken it from the Yanhai Building’s fireproofing wood column while returning a book. 

Xi Ping had examined him concerning the position and form of the inscription character six separate times, exercising the greatest caution, to guarantee that he absolutely wouldn’t remember wrong. All the same, while he had been stealing the inscription just now, Xi Ping had still been uneasy and had watched him the whole time through the dragon-taming chain. 

Inscriptions were a thing you absolutely couldn’t fool around with. In all his life, Xi Ping had gotten into so much trouble, and his san-ge had never turned on him; the one and only time he had hit him had been when he was fourteen or fifteen and had carved out a part of the inscriptions at Prince Zhuang Manor. 

That time, even the manor’s secret guard had come out in alarm. Afterwards, that secret guard-da-ge had told him that because the inscriptions on furniture and buildings needed to be dismantled, there was a special design called an “active inscription.” It was the last to be put down and the first to be removed, and it was the only type of inscription that could be carved out by a mortal. 

If you picked up the active inscription, it would immediately take effect. 

Xi Ping’s luck was good. Fireproofing inscriptions were the safest among third-class inscriptions, and a single one didn’t have a strong taboo on the active inscription. 

Xi Ping had picked one up with his own hands; that was why he had dared to send Xi Yue to “borrow” one from the Yanhai Building, in case it was needed. 

Xi Yue had successfully taken the inscription under his observation and was on the way back. Xi Ping had just finished instructing him to put it away carefully and not let the tinderbox touch it when a guest had come at the other end of the dragon-taming chain. Xi Ping had said “wait a moment” and gone to open the door. Since then, there had been nothing. 

Out of nowhere, the half-puppet had an ominous feeling and sped up involuntarily. He ran the whole way down the slope from the Yanhai Building. From a distance, he saw the stone wall of the Qiu courtyard. Then Xi Ping’s urgent voice suddenly came from the dragon-taming chain: “Come back, hurry!”

Xi Ping had calmed down in the blink of an eye. “Senior, let’s talk out anything we need to later. First send the three of them away, all right?” 

Tai Sui ignored him. 

Xi Ping went on: “It is what it is. If these meddlers stay here and keep getting in our way, it won’t do you or me any good. Even Yao Ziming is hardly a nobody, never mind that His Fourth Highness is also here. I can’t make good on anyone’s losses. If you damage one of them, even if you snatch my body later, you still won’t be able to use my identity to infiltrate the orthodox sect…” 

“The orthodox…sect.” For some reason, these words made Tai Sui laugh. “Little devil, I slipped up before and underestimated you, but you shouldn’t think yourself too clever. What use does your identity still have?” 

Xi Ping’s heart tightened—yes, the old roundworm had figured out that he had gotten the information out.

Why were those three still standing there staring? Your Fourth Highness! Where’s your discernment, Your Forth Highness? Didn’t you grow up playing with spiritual stones?! 

Zhou Xi had in fact realized that something was off, so he raised an arm and pushed Yao Qi behind himself. He asked Xi Ping: “Why are you behaving so inconsistently?” 

Xi Ping thought, Oh, heaven, you’ve finally worked it out! Now hurry up and run! 

But His Fourth Highness, who had grown up playing with spiritual stones, righteously advised him: “Shiyong, you’ve already entered the immortal sect, so you must follow the established path, working hard to cultivate. Have you allowed your mind to be confused by some crooked magic?” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

He really would have loved to get down on his knees and kowtow to Zhou Xi—you’d be more clever than this if you’d grown up playing with bird shit! Either His Fourth Highness or his san-ge had to be adopted; it was impossible for them to have the same father! 

Tai Sui laughed loudly. “Following the established path, hahaha, His Fourth Highness has learned his lessons well!” 

Just then, a cord in Xi Ping’s mind moved. He felt the dragon-taming chain approaching. Xi Yue was back! 

Xi Ping still remembered that when the secret guard-da-ge at Prince Zhuang Manor had put back the active inscription, his movements had been very gentle. The guard had said that the active inscription of a fireproofing inscription had no other taboo apart from not being able to come into contact with fire. If wood rubbed together too strongly, there would be sparks, and if a spark touched the inscription, the inscription would be activated. A solitary inscription character couldn’t connect; once activated, it would leave the wood and “flow” towards whatever in its surroundings had the most spiritual energy; then things would go wrong. 

Xi Ping had originally prepared this inscription character in case he unexpectedly opened his spiritual eyes—when a person’s spiritual eyes opened, he would become a “spiritual energy vortex,” pulling in all the surrounding spiritual energy. If you used fire to open up the inscription character then, the activated inscription character would “flow” into your spiritual eyes along with the energy. As long as he chose his time right, he should be able to shatter his meridians at once. 

Though Xi Ping hadn’t opened his spiritual eyes yet, it was near enough. With that evil cultivator on him, he had to be the focal point of the spiritual energy in this courtyard. 

So he decisively ordered through the dragon-taming chain: “Tie the tinderbox and the inscription character together and throw them at me!” 

Xi Yue had traveled all over with an evil cultivator. Of course he knew how powerful inscriptions were. He was startled. “No!” 

The slow-thinking Zhou Xi heard the malicious laughter and finally felt a sense of danger—he suspected Xi Ping was losing his mind. So he said decisively to Chang Jun, “Go get a steward…” 

Before he could finish, Tai Sui raised his hand and pulled Zhou Xi over. 

Xi Ping shouted at the half-puppet through the dragon-taming chain: “Hurry, don’t argue!” 

Under the control of its master’s tyrannical will, the dragon-taming chain took no more notice of the half-puppet’s weak resistance. It irresistibly controlled Xi Yue’s limbs, making him run over. 

Tai Sui had known all along that Xi Yue was approaching, but after closely associating with him for several days, he knew perfectly well how useless this little thing was; he wasn’t even as strong as these pampered young masters. So he took absolutely no notice of Xi Yue. He raised a hand to grip Zhou Xi’s neck. 

Chang Jun let out a shout: “Shiyong!” 

Yao Qi had been scared to his knees. 

The dragon-taming chain dragged Xi Yue towards them. At a distance of three steps, it forced him to roll the inscription character and the tinderbox together, then throw them as hard as he could at Xi Ping’s back. 

Xi Yue’s eyes were red, but the dragon-taming chain around his neck dragged him behind a tree the moment the things left his hand. 

The tinderbox hit Xi Ping’s sturdy shoulder blade and burst into flame, lighting up the cotton bundle. The burning inscription character broke away from the wood at once and seeped into Xi Ping’s back. 

In the chaos, Xi Ping didn’t even have time to feel pain. 

Something pierced directly through his chest. It was as if it wanted to push all his organs out from between his ribs. 

Oh, no! Xi Ping knew at once that he had underestimated the inscription character.

This wouldn’t just rupture all his meridians. It would smash him to bits. 

All these years later, Xi Ping finally understood that he had deserved the beating he’d gotten at Prince Zhuang Manor back then! 

In that flash of time, everything seemed to slow down. Countless things passed instantly through Xi Ping’s head. His mind was unprecedentedly clear. His senses were extremely acute; he seemed to be able to hear things outside the valley, and drumbeats and human voices from even further away. All the joys and sorrows of the human world turned into a vast wind and enveloped him. 

He seemed to have become endlessly large, scattered across all living things; he also seemed to have contracted into a speck of dust, unable to distinguish direction, exiled in a world without bounds. 

When Zhou Xi had knocked on the door, his mind had been in the dragon-taming chain, and his hand rubbing the reincarnation wood carving. He had brought it along with him when he’d gone to open the door. Through the wooden carving, he could see Tai Sui’s ugly, humble followers without having to focus. With only a thought, he found A-Xiang. 

Xi Ping had no time to speak. At the final juncture, he transmitted a thought: 

Don’t trust those goblins! Don’t learn how to disfigure yourself with magic from them! 

Then the jade crumbled and dust flew everywhere—

Pang Jian’s talisman burst open the gate of the general commander’s residence. Bai Ling was about to land when he saw Pang Jian pull a long bow out from his femur. An invisible arrow shot towards the emptiness in the residence. Where the arrow passed, the scenery of Jinping’s high summer disintegrated, and a clammy chill blew Bai Ling two chi away. 

The mask over the courtyard went to pieces, revealing the truth—there was nothing left alive in this courtyard. Withered grass lay on the ground giving off a deathly air, covered in a layer of frost. Some careless flower petals flew over the courtyard walls from afar and landed in the courtyard; before they landed, they had already dried and curled up. 

The courtyard was piled high with layer upon layer of arrays, with the door of the house as their endpoint. For a moment, these two masters were dazed, unable to puzzle them out. 

Before Pang Jian could look closely at the arrays, he suddenly sensed some change. He pulled out a reincarnation wood amulet. 

He saw the amulet letting out a faint, ominous red light. Pang Jian touched it and instantly felt the cries of countless people calling out for “Tai Sui” race up his bones to his brain. 

They didn’t know that Xi Ping had been exposed. But while “Tai Sui” wasn’t a real name, “Liang Chen” was a real name carved on his spiritual image. Heaven’s Design Pavilion and Xuanyin Mountain had fixed on this person at the same time; of course Liang Chen’s spiritual sense would be moved. 

Bai Ling said, “He’s noticed. There’s no time to lose. Commander Pang, lend me your Barrier Dispeller Bow!” 

Pang Jian had faced danger for many years. In battle, his reactions were incomparably fast. Before Bai Ling finished speaking, he already understood. 

He stretched out a talisman paper and wrapped it around the reincarnation wood amulet. He drew his bow. “Brother, you’ll have to run a risk.” 

Bai Ling curled up into a piece of paper and stuck to his invisible arrow. With a whistle, he pierced the group of arrays along with the arrow. 

Meeting provocation, the arrays immediately exploded into fierce light. The invisible arrow from the Barrier Dispeller Bow forced its way through and only ran out of strength when it had come to the end. 

The invisible arrow vanished, and Bai Ling was forced to land. A hurricane curled up at the tail end of the arrays, and within the hurricane, countless blades like a meat grinder pulled Bai Ling in. He seemed to have been pulverized; scraps of paper floated everywhere! 

Pang Jian’s pupil’s contracted sharply, but the next moment, a piece of paper blown up by the wind landed by the door. After plastering itself to the door, it quickly stretched out and turned into a complete human figure. Bai Ling’s feet didn’t touch the ground; he drove a paper knife home. When the paper knife fell, it became a true blade and split open the group of arrays from within. 

Pang Jian darted after him. The door to the general commander’s residence was wide open. The two of them charged in one after the other…and froze. 

Bai Ling said, “…Is this your general commander?” 

Inside the room sat a man’s…skeleton. 

All his shriveled skin and flesh was stretched tightly over the bones. He was sitting cross-legged on a giant piece of reincarnation wood. His hair, beard, and skin all appeared to be the particular pale hue of reincarnation wood. At a glance, it was impossible to tell what was man and what was wood.

But his chest was still undulating slightly! 

On the reincarnation wood pedestal, countless faces appeared and disappeared, all of them shouting something. This image was bizarre and shocking. But the “Grand Duke, the true god,” they were calling upon was hidden behind his amulets, looking more wizened than a corpse that had been dried out by the wind for hundreds of years. The smell of rotting wood came bubbling up from his whole body! 

“His primordial being has left his body?” said Pang Jian. 

Bai Ling raised his paper knife. “He must be in the early established foundation period.” 

“He’s in the early established foundation period, but his primordial being is half a step from the shed skin period? So…the primordial being shunned the body and went flying off on its own?” After saying this, Pang Jian himself thought he was talking nonsense. “No, how could he have a primordial being in the early established foundation period?” 

Bai Ling said, “It doesn’t matter. There’s no time!” 

As soon as he spoke, he drove the knife towards the man on the reincarnation wood. 

The paper knife flashed coldly. With a clang, the blade that had cut apart the arrays slipped and fell onto the reincarnation wood pedestal. On the wooden pedestal, all the faces were infuriated, roaring at him in unison. The paper knife disintegrated, and Bai Ling went flying. He only avoided slamming into the wall by turning into paper at the last moment. When he landed, he spat out a mouthful of blood. 

Among the densely packed faces on the wooden pedestal, a teenage girl’s flashed quickly. Her expression was confused, standing out among the others. 

A-Xiang watched as her companions around her screamed “Tai Sui” as though they had been cursed. She clutched the reincarnation wood amulet on her chest. 

Why had her “vision” been different from the others…? 

The Grand Duke seemed to have just called these people goblins!