Chapter 319
Chapter 319
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Ancestral Gods and the White-Clothed Immortal
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Chen Tang stepped down from the carriage, his face filled with genuine admiration. He praised, "The heritage of the great families is truly extraordinary. I, Tang, am full of admiration."
Yan Xianzhi studied his face closely, as if trying to discern whether the admiration was real.
Chen Tang's admiration was indeed sincere, which pleased Yan Xianzhi greatly.
Yan Xianzhi smiled and said,
"Lord Chen Tang, this celestial phenomenon in the sky is visible only to you alone. 'For ten years I honed the sword, yet the frosty blade has never been tested.' Today, I reveal it to you so you can see that the blade of our thirteen great families remains sharp. Your father beheld this sword in the past, and now it is your turn to witness it."
Chen Tang felt a surge of respect well up within him. He said,
"The thirteen great families possess profound depths and harbor grand ambitions."
Yan Xianzhi gave him a deep look and smiled.
"Once you have seen it, you must never speak of it to outsiders."
He clapped his hands. Several clerks hurried over, presenting wine vessels.
Yan Xianzhi poured a cup of wine and said,
"My lord, you served as an official for many years, and the court never truly mistreated you. To leave without a word has chilled the hearts of many friends."
"It was my fault."
Chen Tang dropped to his knees on the ground. He said,
"If the lord wishes to beat or punish me, I submit entirely to your will."
Yan Xianzhi lifted a wine cup and held it before him. He smiled and said,
"Punishment is unnecessary. After all, we served together for many years. Though not close friends, as Vice Minister of Revenue, you performed your duties diligently and flawlessly, ensuring the court's operations ran smoothly without mishap. I admire your talents, though regrettably I cannot employ you further. In honor of our decade-plus of colleagueship, allow me to toast you."
Chen Tang accepted the cup. He said,
"Thank you, my lord."
Yan Xianzhi raised another cup, and the two drained them in unison.
Yan Xianzhi set down his cup and smiled.
"Once you return to Xinxian, live out your days peacefully on Qianyang Mountain. The court will retain your official rank, and your monthly salary will be delivered to your home by the Xinxian county yamen. Little Chen lord will remain in Xijing as before—no need for you to worry about him."
Chen Tang nodded silently.
Yan Xianzhi's eyes reddened. He said,
"Your departure leaves me uncertain when we might meet again, filling me with sorrow."
Chen Tang let out a sigh and bowed in farewell.
Yan Xianzhi watched him depart into the distance, still waving from afar.
Seated in the carriage, Chen Tang glanced back and could still see the gods filling the sky—the ancestors of the thirteen great families. Six thousand years of unbroken incense had elevated their divine power to an inconceivable level.
The wooden carriage traveled a thousand li, yet the celestial vision of gods persisted. Whenever he looked back, he beheld the deities in the heavens, basking in endless streams of incense.
At nightfall, the weary carriage halted to rest.
Chen Tang hung up a lantern to ward off the evils lurking beneath the moonlight.
He took out spirit beast meat and fed the carriage. He kindled a bonfire, cooked a meal, fed Chen Shi's mother, and only after a long while had he finished his tasks.
Night had deepened, and the moonlight grew hazy.
When Chen Tang looked back, what met his eyes was not moonlight but radiant divine light. He could still see the gods filling the sky.
Two days later, they crossed the great desert and arrived at Great West Lake. Chen Tang glanced back, and the gods filled his vision once more.
Another day passed, and he reached Xinxian, returning to the long-missed Qianyang Mountain.
The journey had been dusty and exhausting by cart and boat. He did not worry for himself but for whether Chen Shi's mother could endure it.
As dusk approached, he arrived at Huangpo Village. At the village entrance, he felt a moment of hesitation and slowed his steps unconsciously.
"Little Tang... Little Tang is back!"
Grandma Yuzhu was at the village entrance, winnowing soybeans in a bamboo tray and picking out the shriveled ones. Her cloudy old eyes watched the wooden carriage and Chen Tang draw near slowly. After a moment, she recognized him, hurriedly set down the tray, and exclaimed in shock,
"Chen Tang, how have you aged so much? You've been gone for years! We thought you had died!"
Chen Tang's anxious heart suddenly settled. His stern expression softened into a smile.
"Auntie, I'm back. How have you been?"
Grandma Yuzhu seized his hand and chattered on.
"...I remember when you were little and could read books. You were such a poor wretch, couldn't afford a tutor, so you'd take your books up to Shipo slope outside the village and read aloud. So clever—you were praised by everyone in the village. Then you passed the exams, married a wife, had a child. Your wife was so virtuous and kind to people... Where is she?"
Chen Tang smiled, though a shadow of sorrow crossed his face.
"She's in the carriage, Auntie. Her health is poor—she's been comatose for many years."
Grandma Yuzhu said with pity,
"Yes, now I remember. Your wife went mad and then became paralyzed. She lost her mind when your son died, couldn't accept that he was gone and went insane from the grief. Later she was paralyzed, and you took her to Xijing for treatment. After all these ten-plus years, she still hasn't recovered? Oh, and I forgot to tell you—your son is alive! He came back to life, scared us all. We thought the revived Little Ten was some evil spirit. Have you seen him yet?"
Chen Tang listened with a smile, chiming in now and then.
"Yes, Auntie, I've seen Little Ten."
"Don't mistreat Little Ten—he's suffered so much."
"Yes, Auntie, I won't mistreat Little Ten."
Chen Tang parted from Grandma Yuzhu and walked into the village. He greeted every villager he met with a smile, stopping to chat and listen as they rambled on about old times. He saw many unfamiliar faces—children born after his departure, and familiar ones now aged beyond recognition.
Many familiar faces were missing, no doubt passed away.
Old Lady Wuzhu approached. Her keen eyes, honed from years of catching melon thieves in the fields, widened in shock.
"Chen Tang, how have you aged so much in just half a year? I saw you last year—you were full of vigor then!"
"Auntie, the one you saw was my brother Chen Wu."
"Nonsense! I heard Little Ten call him Dad. If it were your brother Little Five, he would've eaten me alive!"
"Auntie, it was my brother Chen Wu."
Chen Tang explained.
Old Lady Wuzhu's face drained of color. She trembled back home, lay dazed in her own coffin for a moment, burned two bundles of incense for herself, and only after a while regained her composure.
"What great fortune, what a sturdy life!"
The hundred-odd steps to the old Chen home took Chen Tang a long time to traverse. The house had stood empty for months, but thanks to the cleansing dust talismans and the like pasted about, it remained spotless.
The rooms held drying talismans as well, keeping everything dry. The bedding had no musty dampness.
Chen Tang settled his wife, set up Chen Yindu's spirit tablet properly, and lit incense before it.
With all the clamor behind him, he finally found peace. Night had fallen deep.
He glanced back. Divine lights filled the sky, along with great cauldrons, rising incense, and heavenly gods standing in the air.
From then on, every day, whenever he looked back, he saw those gods filling the heavens. This was the thirteen great families' show of intimidation toward him.
"Father, did you witness this sight back then as well?"
He murmured softly.
In those days, after Chen Yindu left Xijing, every time he turned his head, he would see those majestic heavenly gods gazing sternly at him.
It was an immense pressure and intimidation, like a warning: do not cross the line, make no strange moves, and dare not attempt to overturn the heavens.
"Not enough. Thirty-seven talisman gods and heavenly mechanisms—far from enough."
Chen Tang whispered,
"Little Ten, you must hold firm in Xijing."
Yan Xianzhi returned to Xijing. Though not the head of the Yan family, his cunning was unmatched. He shouldered the fifty provinces of Xiniu Xinzhou single-handedly and kept everything steady.
Back at the Yan residence, he entered his study, troubled over the evening ahead.
His newly taken thirteenth concubine was a young woman with insatiable demands, leaving him utterly spent.
"Even a mill donkey gets a night's rest after long toil. Pity these old bones of mine can't even catch a break."
He mused inwardly.
"I hope tonight passes safely."
At that moment, a Yan family informant reported,
"My lord, Chen Shi is wandering the city—no anomalies."
Yan Xianzhi waved him off.
"Keep constant watch on Chen Shi. Also, order the Department of Astronomy to monitor the underworld and guard against Chen Shi slipping away from there."
He breathed a sigh of relief and murmured,
"Chen Shi has always been compliant in the past—either cooped up at home or heading to the Hanlin Academy. His wandering today is to let more people see he's not leaving, so there's no need to pursue Chen Tang. The boy knows when to advance and retreat."
Soon after, another informant reported,
"My lord, a woman has appeared at Chen Shi's side. They are presently at Qixia Temple, amusing themselves."
Yan Xianzhi hadn't cared at first, but the mention of a woman perked him up. He asked,
"What sort of woman?"
"Unknown."
"Where did she come from?"
"Unknown. She appeared out of nowhere."
Yan Xianzhi's interest piqued.
"You're all useless. I'll look myself."
He brushed his hand lightly through the air. Before his desk, the air rippled like a mirror, revealing the scenery of Qixia Temple.
With a flicker of his mind, the view zoomed in sharply, locating Chen Shi's position. Sure enough, a woman stood beside him, clad in flowing white robes, her figure graceful and lithe.
"Little Chen lord is already thirteen. By rights, it's time he started a family."
Yan Xianzhi chuckled.
"A graceful lady stirs a gentleman's affections. He avoided feminine charms before, but now he draws near them. We can use this to give him a weakness."
At that moment, the white-robed woman seemed to sense something. She turned her head skyward, and her face came into view.
Yan Xianzhi found her vaguely familiar. Then memory struck, and his face went deathly pale. He shuddered violently.
"Corpse!"
He shoved back his desk and chair, stumbling in retreat and knocking over a vase standing in the corner.
Yan Xianzhi stared in terror at the white-robed woman in the mirror, as if beholding a ghost, nearly fleeing in panic.
At the same time, the lords of the other great families, monitoring Chen Shi's movements, each spotted the white-robed woman. They recoiled in horror, nearly leaping to their feet.
The white-robed woman was no stranger to them. After the Moon-Hugging Palace collapsed, she had appeared at the end of the White Jade Path. When the Immortal Bridge Grotto collided with Qixia Temple in the underworld, she had stepped from Qixia Temple's mysterious space into the Immortal Bridge Grotto, attempting to cross the Immortal Bridge, revive the dead, and return to the mortal world.
She was the white-clothed female immortal trapped in a bizarre realm at the end of the White Jade Path—the one who had beaten Li Yiran and dozens of ancestors, compounding their injuries. She had forced Xijing to activate the nine palaces, bombarding the Immortal Bridge Grotto and smashing it into the underworld.
Though her depredations had been minor so far, she was deemed a calamity-level evil entity, a taboo in Xijing.
Ancient tales warned that should she emerge, she would unleash a calamity of the highest order.
After the Immortal Bridge incident, however, all trace of this female immortal had been lost. Yan Xianzhi had assumed the True King Nine Palaces had obliterated her. He never dreamed she would now appear at Chen Shi's side.
And Chen Shi had even brought her back to Qixia Temple for a visit.
Did he not know that if this calamity-level evil erupted, half of Xiniu Xinzhou might be wiped out?
Before long, the thirteen cabinet ministers assembled in Wenyan Pavilion, each with a face ashen as earth. Yan Xianzhi's hands trembled; he could not steady his teacup, the lid clinking noisily against it.
His was not the only one ringing—the other twelve teacups rattled too.
"Chen Shi aids the tiger and has become the shepherd ghost of that calamity-level evil."
Xia Canghai's voice was shrill, frightened into a eunuch-like falsetto. He cried,
"Bomb them! Activate the True King Nine Palaces at once and obliterate the evil and its shepherd ghost!"
Fei Zhong shook his head.
"That is Xijing itself. The Nine Palaces' power would reduce the capital to rubble as well."
Xia Canghai said,
"Wait until they leave Xijing, then bomb them."
Gu Yanshan said,
"And if they do not leave? What if the evil senses our hostility and strikes within Xijing?"
Xia Canghai clenched his fists, his face turning iron-gray. He fell silent. The cabinet was wrapped in silence.
In the True King era, evils from immortal realms had appeared, surpassing demons and disasters. Legends called them prehistoric remnants' immortal portals—calamities.
Evils targeted individuals or small groups. The weak could be slain even by Qi Refining Stage minor cultivators—for instance, brain bugs. Pry open the host's skull, scoop out the bug, and even mortals could crush it underfoot. Potent evils could affect Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators, dipping into inconceivable powers.
Spirits possessed abilities mortals could scarcely comprehend, like ghost brides, which could rampage through regions, slay godmothers, devour entire villages, and threaten towns. Their strength rivaled Nascent Soul cultivators or even Soul Transformation ones. Some mighty spirits wielded demon-like powers, albeit over smaller areas.
Demons triggered transformations spanning a hundred li, forming bizarre and eerie domains that even experts who severed the three corpses and refined their spirits might not defeat. Once the transformation ended and the demon reached full maturity, its power grew even more terrifying—even Great Vehicle Realm cultivators might fail to subdue it.
Disasters blanketed a thousand li, occurring perhaps once a century, known as heavenly calamities.
Calamities were the stuff of legend. Wherever they passed, myriad li became graveyards of bones, all life extinguished—the pinnacle of evils.
The True King's nine immortal palaces had been left precisely to suppress such spirits.
Their purpose: to crush them before they activated or matured fully.
Should a calamity-level spirit reach full maturity, even the True King Nine Palaces might prove insufficient.
The immortal corpses among prehistoric remnants were all calamity-level evils.
The white-clothed female immortal was a calamity lying in wait for the real world, poised to erupt at any moment.
And now, this calamity prowled Xijing's streets alongside Chen Shi. The cabinet's atmosphere grew unbearably oppressive.
They had kept Chen Shi as a hostage, never imagining the hostage would deliver such a blow. Yan Xianzhi steadied himself and began,
"On this matter, I believe we should plot deliberately." Just then, a clerk from the Department of Astronomy rushed in to report,
"My lords, Chen Shi and the white-robed woman have left Qixia Temple and are heading toward the inner city."
Yan Xianzhi shuddered, tried to speak, but his throat had gone hoarse.
Chen Shi led the white-clothed female immortal out of Qixia Temple. Earlier, to ease the thirteen great families' suspicions and reassure them, he had wandered the city. Unwittingly, he had arrived at Qixia Temple. The white-clothed girl, who had been recuperating in the Divine Shrine of his small temple, had somehow run out, babbling "aba aba" and insisting on following him inside.
Chen Shi could not understand her words, but fortunately Blackie Pot could. The dog solemnly informed him that the girl felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the place.
"Aba."
The girl happily patted the dog's head.
Chen Shi escorted her around Qixia Temple, hoping she might recall something. But she remembered nothing, merely clutching her head and whimpering "aba aba" in pain. Resigned, Chen Shi led her out of the temple toward the inner city. He murmured,
"I'll swing by the nine palaces. Lest they lose sight of me and target Chen Tang. If I appear outside the True King Nine Palaces, the thirteen families will know I'm the hostage Chen Tang left behind and feel completely at ease."
In the cabinet, Yan Xianzhi and the other thirteen ministers stared in terror. Lord Gao Quan said in a trembling voice,
"He's entered the inner city—heading straight for the True King Nine Palaces."
His voice rose to a piercing shriek, gripped by fear.
"He's threatening us—threatening the thirteen great families! He's using the white-clothed female immortal to force us to let Chen Tang go, to let him return home!"