Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Young Master's Grand Entrance
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Outside West Capital City, where the evening glow rose, a white elephant came into view.
The giant elephant was snow-white all over, as if carved from white jade. Its body was enormous, taller even than West Capital's city walls. Fluffy white hairs grew upward from its head, forming a fountain-like shape. Wooden platforms had been built atop the fluff, covered with golden blankets.
Several burly strongmen, each around seven feet tall, stood bare-chested at the four corners, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.
Atop the elephant's back sat a wooden tower, three stories tall, with open verandas on all four sides. Figures in gleaming golden armor stood on each veranda. Towering Primordial Spirits, several zhang high, loomed behind them. In the third-floor tower, several scholar-like men stood by the windows, peering out and chatting amiably.
"Who is the Young Master?" Everyone craned their necks. Someone called out loudly. At that moment, another giant elephant came into view, approaching West Capital City.
Strongmen guarded that elephant's head as well. The Yellow Scarf Strongmen gleamed with golden light and possessed boundless strength. They roared ferociously, their cries rivaling a tiger's roar or a dragon's bellow, drowning out thunder.
A lotus platform, four or five zhang across, rested on the elephant's back. Most striking was a monk with a sixteen-foot golden body. Buddha light haloed his head, manifesting a vision of a Pure Land.
This Pure Land was known as the Western Paradise.
The monk stood atop the lotus platform, gazing down at the people lining West Capital's streets and rooftops, much like a Buddha overlooking all sentient beings. "The Young Master is a monk?"
...
Someone shook his head. "That's not the Young Master! That monk is Holy Son Wuxiang of Great State-Protecting Temple."
A woman also stood on the lotus platform. Her bearing was solemn and dignified, a pure vase cradled in her hands, radiating boundless compassion. She was Saintess Xuan of Bodhi Dojo—her lay name, Ji Xuanxuan.
The other man was a young fellow, refined and dashing. But those around Chen Shi said he was Fan Kongliu, a disciple of the Buddhist holy site Water Moon Victorious Realm. He kept his hair for cultivation yet had a reputation for womanizing.
Chen Shi's eyes lingered on them. He thought, "These are all experts! But with Saintess Xuan here, is she just making up numbers?" He scanned the group. Though exceptional, none struck him as the Young Master.
The two white elephants entered the city one after the other. Their massive frames couldn't pass through the gates. Yet talismans lit up on each of their four legs—hundreds per thick limb—allowing the giants to tread azure clouds. They rose gently, stepping through the empty air above the gates and into the city.
The crowd looked up in awe, as if watching two airborne white islands drifting by.
Suddenly, a massive plum blossom deer approached. Antlers branched thickly from its head, with figures standing on the tines—legs akimbo, bows slung across their backs, eyes alert. These divine archers were no weaklings. Primordial Spirits floated behind them, several times their body size.
The Primordial Spirits had three heads and six arms, each set drawing a bow. They were poised to loose, the result of some peculiar profound art that produced such manifestations. Auspicious clouds blanketed the deer's back, streaked with rosy glows and strands of propitious qi. Several young Daoists stood atop them, each bearing distinguished.
"The young Daoist with the whisk, a subtle ruyi scepter half-visible behind him—Dao title Lingyuzi, Daozi of Daoist holy land Taihua Azure Palace." The man beside Chen Shi spoke excitedly.
Chen Shi glanced at Lingyuzi. The man's qi surged to his canopy of heaven; his vitality blazed. The elusive jade ruyi concealed extraordinary methods. Even from afar, amid the throng, its aura pressed oppressively on Chen Shi.
"Truly extraordinary!" Chen Shi praised.
"The sword-bearing Daoist Jinlu hails from Daoist holy land Taishang Haoyuan Palace's Daozi!"
Chen Shi focused on Jinlu but sensed no aura at all. He felt a chill. "This one has real substance."
The third Daoist sat amid the clouds, a white jade hairpin atop his head. Chen Shi eyed the man beside him, but he said nothing—clearly a stranger to this Daoist. "I thought he knew them all," Chen Shi mused.
After the plum blossom deer passed, three more deer followed. The fellow beside Chen Shi remained thrilled, rattling off names: scions of the great clans.
Once the white elephants and deer were gone, the crowd erupted. Cheers boiled over, the mood electric. Those prior arrivals felt like mere openers. The main act loomed.
Even Chen Shi caught the fever, peering eagerly.
Brilliant radiance from beyond the walls outshone the sunset. Rainbow lights ascended, forming dojos great and small, drifting toward West Capital. "Fuzheng Pavilion experts!" The throng roared.
Primordial Spirit dojos abounded, each harboring unique dao mysteries. Chants of Buddha or gods reciting drifted from them—grand, enigmatic.
Beasts of every shape trod rosy clouds toward the city. Fuzheng Pavilion masters stood or sat astride them, dignified and solemn.
Behind the dojos gleamed an immense Void Great Mirror, boundless as the void. Sun and moon floated within its skies. Though dusk had fallen and the moon risen, those celestial bodies lit the land bright as noon.
Then, a fire qilin treading flames emerged from the Void Great Mirror. "Young Master!" a voice cried.
"Young Master!" "Young Master!" "Young Master!"
West Capital inside and out reached a frenzy. Arms waved; fanatic cheers swelled.
Abruptly, a magnetically masculine voice cut through, resounding clearly in every ear: "Zhen Prefecture Assize Judge Du Wanshu—as an official there, you raised Evils, feeding them the common folk to refine longevity pills for immortality. I've tracked your crimes long. Caught red-handed, you fled. Now in West Capital, what's your escape?"
The fire qilin's head loomed like a hillock, its crown aflame like sprouting fur.
Amid the blaze appeared a young man, peering down imperiously, face obscured. He boomed, "Even with courtiers shielding you today, I'll claim your life—for justice to Zhen Prefecture's people! Du Wanshu, prepare to die!"
His words barely faded when a white-haired elder rocketed skyward from West Capital, fleeing inward. He bellowed, "Young Master, what grudge drives you to kill me? I'll petition the throne!"
"No personal grudge—for Zhen Prefecture's people, I slay you!"
From the qilin's flaming crown, the youth spoke with righteous fervor. He vaulted forth, overtaking the elder in an instant.
The white-haired elder was Zhen Prefecture Assize Judge Du Wanshu. Escape impossible, he wheeled, rousing his Primordial Spirit for desperate battle. One clash—a sword flash—and Du Wanshu fell decapitated. Blood rained down, splattering the crowd below. Head and corpse plummeted.
The young man streaked back as light to the qilin's crown, standing amid the inferno, rays blazing myriad. "Young Master—"
A rasping yell beside Chen Shi jolted him. The man's voice cracked, quavering. "Young Master! Young Master!"
Cheers exploded around. Arms thrust high like greeting a savior. Shouts merged into thunderous waves, cresting higher. Amid the adulation, the Young Master atop the fire qilin strode into West Capital.
Chen Shi exhaled heavily.
He'd heard that voice before—at Taiping Sect, after slaying Sect Lord Peng Wanshan, from the burning Thousand-Li Sound Transmission Talisman.
Then, from behind: "Outwardly saintly, this man is profoundly vile."
Chen Shi turned. Chen Tang had come searching.
Chen Tang held a lantern, eyed the Young Master atop the qilin, then thrust it at Chen Shi. "Home. Dinner time." Chen Shi agreed.
Sun set; moonlight fell.
Yet it paled beside the Void Great Mirror's sun and moon of Fuzheng Pavilion's Chief Secretary. Those orbs entered the city, bathing half of West Capital in daylight—no lanterns needed. "Don't snuff it."
Chen Tang said, "No borrowing his glow."
Chen Shi obeyed, glancing at his father. Father and son headed inward, leaving the din behind.
Long silence, then Chen Tang: "Young Master builds his spectacle, ambitions vast. You clash with him—mind your steps henceforth. Outward saint, inner wolf— no trifling foe."
Chen Shi puzzled. "Why say so?"
Chen Tang: "I know Du Wanshu. Three years back, reporting to the capital, I met him. Du clan, no Thirteen Families ties, ancient in years. If rearing Evils yielded longevity pills and true immortality, Thirteen Families would claim it first—not him. Du Wanshu died wronged."
He paused. "Powerless, backgroundless. Young Master borrows his head for momentum, slights no clans. Schemer deep—no boon to the world!"
Chen Shi eyed Chen Tang keenly, nearly quipping about joining Heavenly Court—but bit it back.
Chen Tang enforced law impartially. Such words might prompt kin-slaying justice, yamen-bound.
Home reached, lantern doused. At dinner: "Out few days," Chen Shi said. "Three or four, won't return."
Chen Tang: "Where? Why? With whom? Speak plain first."
Chen Shi coolly: "Notifying. Not approving."
Chen Tang's fist clenched.
Chen Shi set down his chopsticks.
Eyes locked.
Chen Tang snorted, fist relaxed, resumed eating coolly. "Shun the shady. Law-breaking lurks." Chen Shi snatched his chopsticks, sneered. "My friends shady? Chen Tang, you lack even shady friends."
Chen Tang's forehead veins throbbed. Anger tamped: "Reckless ways land you on Myriad Souls Banner soon!" Chen Shi gnawed his chopstick, teeth grinding. "Us two—who hits it first? Uncertain!" Blackie Pot sighed, bowl in hand, veggies scooped—out to eat.
Moments later, from the hall: Chen Shi's voice. "Not shady crew. Granny Sha, Uncle Qingyang, Uncle Hu. No worry." Chen Tang irate: "Shady lot! They ruined your grandpa!"
"Chen Tang—ever think Grandpa ruined them?" "My father—no speaking ill!"
Quarrel raged. Blackie Pot congratulated his foresight.
Next day, Chen Shi took Blackie Pot, cart, four days' rations. Outside city, met Granny Sha, Qingyang, Hu Xiaoliang. All toward Solitary County.
West Capital backed by mountains thrice, sea-faced—dragonrise land, peak prosperity.
Yet hundred li out: desolation. Villages, towns, counties—worn, decayed.
Passing a town: talisman masters battled a daylight tree Evil. Uprooted, branches clutched blades galore. Swords and knives whirled with the limbs, drenching the talisman masters in sweat.
Chen Shi watched. Red Mountain Hall men. Perilous, but manageable—no aid. Nearby, a Nascent Infant Realm talisman master oversaw. Training, surely.
"Red Mountain Hall—far stronger now." Cart sped. Dusk: Solitary County.
Deep in Huangyan Mountains, Solitary County clung to treacherous ground. Snakes, bugs infested; Evils, demons kinged the peaks.
Its outskirts: famed Death Valley. Once, Demon Transformation raged a hundred days, unsolved—maturity neared. Hundredth day: outer-heaven true god's gaze vaporized the Demon, all hundred li round. Pit remained. Demon qi lingered thick; Evils flocked. Death Valley.
Zhuge Jian found them swiftly, bowed. "No failure. Found reincarnated ghost constable—unsure if Judge Zhong Kui. Born nineteen years past, parents of Shennan Village. In Death Valley, Evils overrun. Godmother: vine sprouted post-Transformation from wastes, Demon blood-stained, sentient."
They walked, talked—Death Valley-bound.
Zhuge Jian spun the tale. "Birth night: Evils swarmed Shennan Village, besieged without, assaulted. Godmothers faltered; breach loomed. He birthed—wailed lustily. Evils burst, perished. Parents sensed anomaly, summoned shaman. She saw: child devouring ghosts, gulp by gulp. Named Tie Chi. Clan Tie."
Death Valley: barren waste. Woods crawled with Evils—more than elsewhere.
Demon qi thick, Evil-magnet. Yet peril housed villages, towns. Fields cleared, crops sown—folk content.
"Solitary County bailiffs shun Death Valley taxes. Dwellers abound. Danger aside, better than outer life." Zhuge Jian chuckled.
Town passed; recitation rang. Chen Shi traced it: private school, tutor drilling pupils. Born freakish—leopard head, ringed eyes, iron face, dragon-whiskered. Martial mien, yet book-held, teaching letters.
Chen Shi looked away. Zhuge Jian: "Tie Chi: innate anomaly, hulking frame, crown-bulged like horn-sprouting. Post-birth rumors: nightly ox-headed man-body, prowling, Evil-devouring."
Chen Shi eyed the leopard-headed tutor. "Him?"
Zhuge Jian shook head. "Nay. Town man, Yong Nan. Youthful under twenty, looks grizzled. Suspected once, probed—clean kin, fine scholar. Exams failed, is all."
Town left behind. "Few li more: Shennan Village. Ah—Yong Nan's sister, hours junior-born. Frail, delicate—quite the beauty."