ATEG Chapter 124

Xingfeng Temple was destroyed.

Xu Kang stood outside Dunxi City, feeling as though he had fallen into a dream. It was as if a veil separated him from the world, and everything around him felt unreal.

Several days prior.

Chang Shou had just returned from the guest reception hall to his own quiet chamber, intending to resume the morning prayers that had been interrupted earlier. But his mind was still turning over the matter of Tao Xi, and it took him some time to settle his thoughts. Then—

The young attendant boy from beside the Master came running over again. “Senior Brother, Master is calling for you.”

Chang Shou: …?

“Did Master not just summon me?”

The young Daoist boy scratched his head. “I don’t know either.”

Very well.

“Where does Master want me to go?”

“Just the tea room where you received guests just now,” the boy said.

Chang Shou: …

At that moment he still had the presence of mind to jest inwardly—and then Master restored his memories. Xu Kang, the eldest son of the Liang Kingdom; Chang Shou, the young Daoist who had grown up in Xingfeng Temple—whose dream was whose? When he awoke from that dream, his parents were already dead, his younger sister imprisoned deep in the palace, the one responsible being the uncle he had always thought merely cold in temperament. The Xuanqing Sect had already come knocking, and Master told him to flee at once.

Without any negotiation, without any attempt at discussion, the Xuanqing Sect had simply moved directly against the lands under Xingfeng Temple’s protection. They had long desired to swallow Liang Kingdom whole, and had only refrained from making contact because Xingfeng Temple was located in such a remote area. Now they felt the time had come. And Xingfeng Temple had absolutely no power to stop the Xuanqing Sect.

“Bringing you back did serve a personal purpose, but I have at least been your Master for several months.” Master concealed a small bronze bell on his person—the most important ritual implement on him. “Live well. Do not let all those behind you die in vain.”

Then Xu Kang fled alongside Tao Xi and some of the temple’s people, fleeing all the way to the outskirts of Dunxi City. This was the only direction open to them, as all others had been sealed off by the Xuanqing Sect. But Dunxi City was the territory of Marquis Wu.

Xu Kang knew of the enmity between Xingfeng Temple and Marquis Wu. In the past, Marquis Wu had forcibly seized the lands beneath Xingfeng Temple’s jurisdiction, spreading plague and fire, killing many of the temple’s predecessors. Not long ago, members of the temple had sought revenge by exploiting the great calamity, but the attempt had ended in failure. Among the three who had gone at that time were himself and his Master; his Master had remained behind at Xingfeng Temple, while the elder who had reincarnated as a young Daoist boy—Shang Jiwang—had been arranged to flee along with them.

Marquis Wu was overbearing, and there was a grudge of several hundred years between them. Had they not simply walked themselves onto another dead end?

Shang Jiwang gazed at the tall, thick walls of Dunxi City, his expression somber. He turned to call for Tao Xi beside him, “Fellow cultivator Tao.”

Tao Xi responded.

“We once swore an oath never to willingly set foot in Marquis Wu’s domain. I must ask you, Fellow cultivator, to make this trip on our behalf.” Shang Jiwang’s voice was low and heavy. “Please explain to him the stakes and dangers of the Xuanqing Sect’s movements. If Marquis Wu is willing to help, Xingfeng Temple… is willing to lay our grievances to rest.”

Tao Xi agreed and entered the city to find Marquis Wu’s temple.

Xu Kang murmured, “Would Marquis Wu agree?” Xingfeng Temple could no longer threaten Marquis Wu—to say nothing of the old grudge. And unlike Xingfeng Temple, Marquis Wu stood alone; he could simply defect to the Xuanqing Sect, or simply abandon his domain and leave…

“He understands what matters.” Shang Jiwang’s voice was heavy. They all knew what the Xuanqing Sect was. He and Marquis Wu had been entangled for hundreds of years; he understood this enemy—arrogant and fierce, yet not an enemy without limits.

****

“Lay our grievances to rest?” Marquis Wu laughed loudly, lifting his wine jug. “No need for that. What I have done, I can bear the consequences of.”

“Flee. Cross the Daqing Mountain Range and escape to Lu Kingdom.” Marquis Wu lifted the jug and poured wine into his throat. “The Xuanqing Sect—I’ll hold them back for you.”

The gates of Dunxi City swung open. One after another, passage through Marquis Wu’s many domains was cleared, opening a road toward the Daqing Mountain Range.

One by one, the city gates closed behind them, raising a solid barrier between the Daqing Mountain Range and the Xuanqing Sect.

Xu Kang was swept along like the wind through Marquis Wu’s domains. Tao Xi did not travel with them—he had circled out from Marquis Wu’s territory and turned back toward the heartland of Liang Kingdom. Without the blood of Xu Kang’s kin, Xu Kang could not survive long even if he escaped, so Tao Xi had to make a trip back first, then find some way to reach Lu Kingdom and rejoin them. The Daqing Mountain Range was no easy crossing, but they had no other choice. They came to rest at the southern foot of the Daqing Mountain Range, and then Xu Kang’s body suddenly trembled—the small bronze bell he wore at his chest let out a long, mournful, distant toll. Master…

Shang Jiwang patted his arm. “Zhengping is gone. Do not let him die in vain.”

Xu Kang squeezed his eyes shut with great force, then opened them again and nodded. “Marquis Wu… how long can he hold them?”

“I don’t know.” Shang Jiwang said. “We must be quick.”

****

Inside Marquis Wu’s temple.

Marquis Wu rested one hand on the hilt of his blade and held up his wine jug with the other, while Yue Niang poured in freshly warmed wine. The clear trickle of liquid gradually grew dull and heavy as the jug filled toward the brim.

“Yue Niang.” He called for her with his eyes half-closed. “Go find my Senior Brother.”

Yue Niang’s hand trembled, and a few drops of wine splattered out.

Marquis Wu opened his eyes and looked at her, laughing. “There’s barely any wine left as it is, and now you’re spilling more on me.”

Yue Niang steadied her uneasy heart when she saw that his manner was no different from usual. “I was wrong.”

Marquis Wu waved his hand. “Go on, hurry! Don’t let him arrive too late.”

Yue Niang acknowledged the order, set down the wine jug, and following the direction the embroidered thread pointed, flew swiftly in search of Chi Zhenzi.

Something great was about to happen here—Marquis Wu was sending her to fetch Chi Zhenzi for help, and she had to be quick!

But she had barely drifted out of the temple when she saw several familiar spirit gods also heading north.

“Where are you all going?”

“Marquis Wu sent us to wait at a certain place at the foot of the mountain for his orders.” “Marquis Wu sent me to check on a village to the north.” …

Without exception, every single spirit god had been assigned a task that took them away from Marquis Wu’s domain. An uneasy feeling suddenly rose in Yue Niang’s heart.

One of the spirit gods of great seniority had remained silent all along, but seeing Yue Niang’s state, they said, “Whatever Marquis Wu sent you to do—go and do it.”

“Marquis Wu…” Yue Niang stared blankly at them. “Marquis Wu sent me to find someone.”

“Go quickly. Go quickly—perhaps there is still time.”

Right. Yue Niang’s figure flickered and vanished from the spot. Marquis Wu had sent her to find Chi Zhenzi; it must be to wait for him to come and help.

She had to… be faster!

****

The wine jug—large enough to hold an entire lake’s worth of water—was empty. Marquis Wu shook it, waited for the last few drops to fall into his throat, then threw the empty jug to the floor with a crash.

At last, a haze of drunkenness appeared in his eyes, and his face twisted into a ferocious grin.

Vast incense-faith surged upward, condensing into a fierce and terrible beast. Countless vengeful ghosts were trampled beneath his feet, and their raging, resentful energy instead gave the beast even greater, more boundless ferocity. The beast crouched over its domain, glaring savagely at the malevolent tide of the Xuanqing Sect that had just engulfed Xingfeng Temple. When that tide reached the edge of the domain he protected, the beast pounced!

You call yourselves evil? You are no more wicked than I!

****

Feiying lurked within the Xuanqing Sect’s formation, watching the beast above with a grim expression. He had initially thought little of the task of finding Xu Kang, yet he had not expected such a task to have escalated to this scale. The Xuanqing Sect wanted to find Xu Kang, but they did not intend to find him quietly. They meant to completely transform the Liang Kingdom into their own territory; finding Xu Kang was merely one objective within that, and the Xuanqing Sect no longer had any need to carry out this step in secret—they could simply take it by force.

The beast born of Marquis Wu’s power was overwhelming in its ferocity, and the vengeful ghosts surrounding it each carried a staggering resentful energy. Under their obstruction, the advance of the Xuanqing Sect was somehow ground to a halt right here.

Feiying could see the reason behind the beast’s frightening power—Marquis Wu had actually dared, as a spirit god’s divine form, to bear the power of resentful energy. But using resentful energy came at a cost. One needed only to wait until the resentful energy completely shattered Marquis Wu’s divine consciousness, and this beast, stripped of its sanity, would become consumed by killing intent, unable to distinguish friend from foe. At that point, one could simply lure its targets into the city. It was a pity about these people—the Xuanqing Sect had no desire to harm ordinary civilians; they still had their uses. But given the situation, it was an unavoidable choice. Drawing Marquis Wu’s gaze back toward the city would on one hand reduce the pressure, and on the other, slaughtering the people of his own domain would bring resentful backlash, causing him to rush even faster toward his destruction.

There had already been countless casualties within the formation, but the beast that had singlehandedly blocked their advance was finally beginning to falter. He would either give up, or allow his divine consciousness to collapse entirely, transforming—under the erosion of the malignant energy—into a more powerful yet more mindless great resentment-fiend. What would he choose?

Inside the city, the ordinary citizens gazed up at the hideous beast looming above and the vast malevolent tide surging outside the walls, each one huddled in corners and trembling with fear.

The battered and wounded beast threw back its head and let out a savage, violent roar at the sky, and the last trace of clarity in its malevolent, energy-filled eyes was extinguished entirely. Feiying curled his lips in contemptuous mockery. A righteous god protecting a domain? In the end, they were all the same.

Fu Daren was directing matters within the formation, attempting to turn the beast’s gaze toward the civilians inside the city. He forcibly broke through the beast’s obstruction and seized a pale-faced temple caretaker. Using this kind of vengeful ghost that had lost all reason was child’s play for them.

Bang!

The beast’s massive claw swept past the caretaker and slammed ferociously against Fu Daren’s chest.

Feiying caught Fu Daren, who had been sent flying back by the beast’s blow. Fu Daren’s chest had caved inward. Feiying stuffed several pills into his mouth, and both men’s eyes held the same shock.

Why was the beast’s target still locked on the Xuanqing Sect?!

Precept-keeping method… Hmph! Several li away, a cultivator wearing an eerily patterned wooden mask watched the scene from afar. A finger lifted, tugging on invisible threads, pulling at the vengeful ghosts surrounding the beast.

****

At the Daqing Mountain Range, Shang Jiwang turned to gaze back into the distance, reading the qi in the air. The ferocious beast was slowly, gradually, collapsing. Countless wronged souls clawed and tore at his body, consuming themselves to vent the bitter hatred of dying unjustly from plague and fire, then being suppressed beneath the floor of Marquis Wu’s temple.

The beast seemed to recover a shred of its reason. It did not struggle, and allowed those wronged souls to pull away its divine spirit. The old temple caretaker who had been saved trembled and murmured, “Marquis Wu, Marquis Wu…”

Marquis Wu had passed away.

The grudge between Xingfeng Temple and him had been settled in this way, of all ways. Shang Jiwang concealed the faint complexity that stirred in his eyes and turned back.

“Let’s go.”