ATEG Chapter 144

The moment the wine in the second stone cup was poured, the Flame Lord’s figure flashed into existence at the mountain summit.

He looked at the two filled cups, one eyebrow raised. “You guessed I was coming?”

“No,” Changyang said.

He casually poured out the other cup.

Flame Lord: ……

“Since when did you pick up these mortal customs?”

That cup of wine had been an offering to Shetu.

Changyang slowly sipped from his own cup. “Just a momentary stirring of the heart.”

The Flame Lord flicked his hem aside, sat cross-legged across from him, grabbed the wine gourd, and tilted his head back to take several gulps.

He too had come over upon sensing the disturbance in the Underworld.

The Flame Lord set down the wine gourd and looked at Changyang again. “What you did in the Underworld was far too reckless.”

Because of the Underworld’s affairs, both he and Taiyin had tacitly left matters of the Underworld for Changyang to handle himself — but having seen what Changyang had done today, he could not approve.

What if Nu Xu had not taken that final step? What if her heart had faltered even the slightest bit? What if, though she had been willing to sacrifice herself, she had failed to attain the state of no-self — what then?

Changyang laughed, unconcerned. “Don’t I still have an avatar there?”

At worst, he would simply abandon that avatar. The situation in the Underworld would be somewhat worse than it was now, but it still would not allow Hundun to establish a sixth Yellow Springs Inn.

“You know what I’m talking about,” the Flame Lord frowned at him.

Hundun would not fail to notice Li Quan. If he was scheming against the Underworld, how could he not have considered Changyang’s avatar?

Abandoning an avatar — easier said than done. Even if Hundun’s scheme had been thwarted by that one avatar, he refused to believe that Hundun would not seize the opportunity to use the avatar’s connection to strike back at Changyang himself!

Yet Changyang only smiled. “It’s fine.”

The Flame Lord stared at him for a long while. “In the midst of the great calamity, cause and effect have fallen into chaos. Changyang — you cannot calculate with certainty every single time.”

“I will be careful,” Changyang conceded.

With that one concession, the Flame Lord finally seemed satisfied and was willing to let the matter go, turning to speak of other things.

“The aberrations in the mortal world are growing ever more severe.”

The situation in the Underworld had stabilized for the time being, but the great calamity in the mortal world had yet to abate. The Flame Lord presided over fire and flame, and was extraordinarily attuned to the stirrings of living beings’ hearts. Laughably, now that the Yellow Springs Inn was gone, cultivators inclined toward transforming into aberrations had actually grown more numerous than before.

For cultivators afflicted by the Five Declines of Heaven and Man, even knowing that entering the Yellow Springs Inn to escape the calamity was no different from drinking poison to quench thirst, its very existence had given them a thread of false hope. Now that hope was gone.

The Divine Court, through the White Emperor’s Thunder Arts, could certainly annihilate aberrations — yet the birth of each aberration was itself a wound upon the world. They had slipped free of cause and effect, and even in their destruction, their true spirits fell into Hundun’s hands, tearing a black void in the fabric of cause, effect, and destiny that should have bound them.

Changyang’s gaze drifted downward, passing through layers of cloud, overlooking the mortal world.

“I know.”

****

In the borderlands between the Sui and Lu kingdoms — belonging to neither — lay a tangled range of mountains. Within those mountains stood a crooked-necked old tree, beneath which a winding shadow stretched out, and within that shadow hid a cave concealed by broken stones.

A cultivator with a tilted feathered crown and disheveled crane-feather cloak was crouching inside, carefully suppressing his aura, sensing the situation outside. His features were not unpleasant to look at — were it not for his ragged appearance, he might have been considered quite presentable.

What a pity, then, that not only was he in a wretched state of dress, but his expression was deeply flustered. Ugliness of expression, once set in, renders even the most regular features and stateliest attire incapable of projecting any dignity.

He was hiding from a Divine Court Spirit Inspector.

Since the Luo Sect had been destroyed in the Liang Kingdom, he had been fleeing everywhere together with a few other fellow sect cultivators. Later, after great effort, he had managed to exploit a weakness of a six-pattern rank cultivator and finally escaped Liang through her unwitting assistance.

But life after escape was no easier. Not daring to cross the Daqing Mountain Range, they had followed the water veins and eventually made their way to the border of Sui and Lu. The Divine Court held great power in Lu — not a suitable refuge. Sui, with its mixture of all sorts, was what they sought. Yet things did not go smoothly: before they could cross the Huai River, the world changed.

First came the sudden upheaval in Liang — the Xuanqing Sect was gone, and the King of Liang had vanished without a trace. Then the Five Declines of Heaven and Man descended without warning, and aberrations began appearing with alarming frequency throughout the world…

Among those Luo Sect fugitives, several had themselves succumbed.

Shi Feng was the last one left alive.

By feeding on the life force of the others, his Five Declines had been halted. But he craved more.

If he could not devour more life force, he would still wither away. And even setting aside the threat of decay, the sensation of growing stronger so effortlessly was something he could not bring himself to give up.

But soon, the many spirit-god cultivators of the Divine Court had begun purging aberrations with Thunder Arts. He could not enter Lu, and neither could he cross the Huai River into Sui — trapped squarely between the two.

Fortunately, the space between them was not entirely barren. By feeding on the ignorant mountain folk, he had slowly accumulated strength. He only needed to wait for the right moment — to slip into Sui territory when the river gods of the Huai were not watching — and then his world would not be limited to this small patch of wilderness people.

He would be able to devour more and more flesh and life force!

But why on earth had a Lu Kingdom Inspector suddenly appeared in this remote place?!

****

“Aunt Hua, the Inspector daren already knows about it — don’t worry, everything will be alright,” Liu Yetao said in a gentle, soothing voice to the woman beside her.

This was a border city of Lu Kingdom near Sui. After resolving the matter of the snake-spirit Wumei, the sisters Liu Chuanyu and Liu Yetao had not left. They had settled here, and after making offerings to the local earth deity, had brought Wumei and Juju’s spirits into the open. The earth deity’s guardian had investigated and confirmed they were not wicked cultivators, and had then guided them onto the path of spirit-god cultivation.

Wumei had been in life an ordinary snake that had gained spiritual awareness from prolonged contact with human qi; Juju, though a naturally-born spirit beast, had pitifully weak divine powers. Now, sustained by the sisters’ offerings, they were slowly walking the path of minor household deities. For ordinary mortals, though, they were still capable of resolving small troubles.

As the great calamity grew ever more severe, the local earth deity and guardian grew increasingly occupied and could no longer attend to the city’s many trivial matters. Seeing that Wumei and Juju were still of some use, they simply let them set up a small signboard: if anyone in the city was troubled by minor issues — such as inadvertently accumulating yin taint and being unable to sleep — the sisters could handle it.

There were quite a few small spirit households like theirs in the town. Townsfolk who saw the earth deity’s seal on a signboard knew that it had been brought into the open and was trustworthy — and even if they were truly wronged, they could always go to the earth deity’s temple to lodge a complaint.

Though the small spirit households’ signboards were modest, their function was significant — traces and clues leaked out precisely through these kinds of unassuming small matters.

The Aunt Hua beside Liu Yetao still had red-rimmed eyes, her whole body held taut. She was a lean, bony woman with a coarse, dark complexion, thick calluses on her hands, and shoulders on her jacket that bore layer upon layer of patches, with two fresh lines of wear already rubbed into the newest ones. These were the marks left by years of carrying heavy wicker baskets on her back.

Aunt Hua was a mountain dweller who lived in the borderlands between Sui and Lu — a stretch of rugged terrain that neither kingdom had claimed, essentially a domain without a lord. Yet the mountain folk would often come into the border towns of both countries to trade for goods. Both kingdoms’ border guards kept records of this; no unfamiliar face was permitted entry, and newcomers had to be accompanied by familiar ones several times before being allowed to come on their own. The towns consisted entirely of long-established neighbors who knew each other well, and the mountain folk’s visits — how many days they stayed and what they did — were broadly known.

The settlement where Aunt Hua lived was more easily reached from the Lu side, and so they came here more often. She was an old acquaintance of the sisters Liu Chuanyu and Liu Yetao — though they had not met in this city. Previously, when Liu Chuanyu and Liu Yetao had followed their master around performing snake-charming acts, they had passed through Aunt Hua’s settlement and stayed there for a period of time.

This time, Aunt Hua had come to town only to trade for a few things, and had not expected to run into the Liu sisters — so they had exchanged a few words.

And from those few words, a problem had surfaced.

Aunt Hua mentioned that her brother in a neighboring settlement had sent word to her: a living immortal had arrived in the settlement and could heal the sick and ward off misfortune. Knowing she had a leg ailment, her brother had sent someone to bring her the news and invite her to visit.

As it happened, Aunt Hua’s son had recently been injured on the mountain, and feeling for her son, she had let him go ahead with someone else, planning to bring down the mountain goods the family had accumulated to trade for a few things first, then follow at her own pace — and also to bring offerings for that living immortal.

Aunt Hua chattered about all this to the sisters.

As the sisters listened, something felt off to them. Not that the world lacked cultivators of benevolent heart willing to aid ordinary people — that had not been uncommon before the great calamity. But since the calamity began, such cultivators had become far fewer, and after the Five Declines of Heaven and Man descended and aberrations ran rampant, those who would do so had grown fewer still — they had to ensure their own survival first, and besides, aberrations were a far more pressing concern.

Yet they could not be certain, so Liu Chuanyu asked Juju to go take a look. Juju was weak, but being the spirit of a strange beast, she was swift of movement and skilled at concealing her aura.

When Juju returned, she brought back a piece of not-so-good news.

Juju had not spotted anything wrong with the “living immortal” per se — the “living immortal’s” aura appeared quite normal. What was not normal was what the “living immortal” was doing: having previously healed people, he was now selecting several of them to become “immortal attendants” and “immortal servants.”

The settlement folk, having already built up a great deal of trust through the earlier incident, did not seem to find anything amiss.

Liu Chuanyu passed the information to the earth deity’s temple. The earth deity had duties and could not leave the territory under his charge. As it happened, an inspector was on patrol nearby and took the matter in hand.

****

In the mountain settlement, Spirit Inspector Zhong Qi was going from village to village, setting up arrays to give warning of danger.

Zhong Qi’s expression was grim. The aberration had escaped from his grasp. He had pursued it deep into the mountain forest, only to suddenly lose all trace of its aura. After searching back and forth several times without finding it, and with the villages’ situation weighing on his mind, he had no choice but to return.

He had struck the aberration with a bolt of thunder — it had been wounded, and its aura was scattered and disordered. How could it have concealed its aura so completely and so suddenly?

But Zhong Qi had duties to fulfill and other places to patrol; he could not linger here indefinitely. He could only set up the arrays first and trust that if a warning was triggered, the earth deity could send a guardian to investigate.

Even so, Zhong Qi knew full well that finding this aberration again would be difficult. With aberrations springing up everywhere, the earth deity was already overwhelmed and could not possibly send guardians to remain outside their territory for any extended period. The aberration had already been alerted — even if it triggered the warning array the next time it appeared, it would have ample time to flee before any guardian could arrive.

Troubled by the thought of the aberration that had vanished so inexplicably, Zhong Qi felt a lingering unease. After finishing with the arrays, he said to the settlement folk, “If you have the means, it would be best to relocate to the city as soon as possible.”

Even as he said it, Zhong Qi knew how difficult that would be. If moving away were easy, they would have left long ago. Mountain folk spent their whole lives depending on the mountains for survival; everything they owned was in those mountains. If they left, how would they live?

Zhong Qi sighed inwardly. In the midst of the great calamity, all living beings suffered. This was all he could do.

****

Shi Feng hid carefully in the cave for a long while. He knew his own condition — the Inspector’s thunder art had wounded him badly, and had it not been for the Luo Sect’s secret techniques, he would have died then and there. But he could barely suppress his aura anymore, and his last-moment escape by secret art had worsened his injuries further. Unable to flee far, he had only managed to find a nearby hiding spot to lie low in. Yet he could sense that the Inspector had already tracked him to the vicinity…

Shi Feng’s heart was in turmoil. But after a long time, the Inspector still had not come to find him — and after a while longer, the aura gradually receded, as though having given up.

He waited cautiously for a good while longer, and when the Inspector did not return, he finally let out a slow breath. He hooked a finger into the earth, burrowed down, and pressed his hand over a worm hidden in the soil. The worm barely managed a single struggle before its body shriveled up rapidly.

Shi Feng left the cave, intending to go seek more living creatures to devour — it didn’t matter what: snakes, insects, rodents, ants — anything alive would do. Compared to recuperating in the ordinary cultivator’s fashion, consuming life force to heal was far faster and far easier.

He had barely moved with this intention when he suddenly heard a snicker.

“Who’s there?!” Every hair on his body stood on end. He spun around abruptly.

Within the shadow of the crooked-necked tree, a figure suddenly stretched and elongated, standing right at Shi Feng’s side.

Startled, Shi Feng instinctively stumbled several steps backward in the opposite direction, his eyes wide as bells, and demanded, “Who are you?!”

The figure snickered again. “Why flee? Did you think you could have escaped that Inspector on your own?”

“Was it you who helped me?… No, wait — you’re an aberration!” Shi Feng stared warily at this person. In their eyes he recognized a familiar greed and hunger — just like the greed and hunger that so often arose in his own. Aberrations could devour each other too; those Luo Sect members who had escaped alongside him had all ended up in his own gullet.

The figure let out a cold snort. “Are you not an aberration yourself? Were you actually hoping some ordinary cultivator would come to your rescue?”

Shi Feng was silent for a moment, then asked, “What do you want?”

“They pursue us,” the aberration said. “They encircle and destroy us. No cultivator will cooperate with us — except each other.”

“Cooperate?” Shi Feng narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t tell me you can’t even manage that much restraint — or I’ll simply eat you now.” The figure bared its teeth. “But if you cooperate with us, what we stand to gain is more life force — from mortals, and even from cultivators…”

“Deal,” Shi Feng said.

They regarded each other, mutual greed and hunger plain in both their eyes — yet each was equally capable of restraint, for now. For the sake of… more living beings and more life force.

****

At the summit of Daqing Mountain’s foremost peak.

The Flame Lord’s gaze followed Changyang’s down toward the mortal world. “As long as the aberrations keep arising, the great calamity will only grow worse.”

When aberrations were scattered at random throughout the world, that was not yet the most severe situation. Now that these aberrations had weathered the initial period of fighting alone and were gradually banding together — that was when they would truly become a troublesome force.

Timidity, herd instinct — all subtle shifts of the heart. Once aberrations began to unite, not only would the trouble they caused multiply — the temptation for other cultivators afflicted with the Five Declines of Heaven and Man to become aberrations themselves would also grow ever more severe. Should it give rise to a false semblance of a torch being passed from one to the next, the deficiency in the Dao would become ever more glaring.

With the Dao in deficit, all living beings would lose their guiding light. Cultivators were themselves living beings who walked the path of the Dao — when the Dao fell into disorder, they became more lost than ordinary beings. And lost hearts led to faltering actions, leaving them at the mercy of Hundun’s manipulations.

“The root of the aberrations lies in the heart,” the Flame Lord said slowly. “If the heart does not stir of its own accord, even Hundun can do nothing.”

Changyang could not help but laugh. “Do you have a way to keep all living beings’ hearts from stirring?”

If their hearts did not stir, the Dao would likewise be fulfilled — if all living beings could reach such a state, what would there be left to worry about?

“I do not,” the Flame Lord said. “But they do.”