Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Chapter 39 Lightning strike
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Chen Shi blushed a deep crimson, stammering as he was about to reply. Young Master Xiao coughed once and reminded him,
"Before you answer, mind where you are. This is Veracity City—watch out, or you'll get your tongue yanked out."
Chen Shi's heart jolted. He shot a wary glance at the red-clothed woman, mentally classifying her as dangerous.
"If I'd played it coy just now and said no, my tongue definitely wouldn't have lasted. Can't say one thing and mean another here!" he thought to himself.
Young Master Xiao said,
"Golden Red Tassel, why hassle the kid?"
The red-clothed woman rolled her eyes at him. She leaned her elbows on the tea table, her ample bosom pressing down atop it, and smiled sweetly.
"Young Master Xiao, you've got some nerve snatching from my Divine Machine Battalion. Hand it over, and we can let bygones be bygones."
Chen Shi blinked. Divine Machine Battalion?
He had heard of the Divine Machine Battalion. Yandang Village had produced a juren scholar once—a man of great talent, it was said—who later joined up and became one of their soldiers.
When he returned to the village, matchmakers had worn a path to his door.
Word was the Divine Machine Battalion served the emperor directly: high pay, high status. To make it in there, your ancestors' graves had to be smoking.
Young Master Xiao ignored her beauty entirely and said coolly,
"I took it, so what? You expect me to give it back?"
Golden Red Tassel dipped a finger in her tea and traced lazy circles on the table. With a faint smile, she said,
"Isn't that what this little meeting's for—to discuss the return? Otherwise, why meet at all? Young Master Xiao, I'll give you two paths. First: hand it over willingly, and the Divine Machine Battalion lets it go. Second: we kill you and loot it off your corpse."
She looked up with a smile.
"That wound from last time probably hasn't fully healed yet. This round won't be so simple as a mere injury. We could even send you on your way!"
"Young Master Xiao was injured?"
Chen Shi's mind stirred, recalling his first encounter with Young Master Xiao.
Back then, Young Master Xiao had been recuperating in a coffin at the mountain manor, just like him.
But wasn't that place a prime yin site for nurturing corpses?
Young Master Xiao wasn't a corpse—why heal there?
What puzzled him even more was, "I'm no corpse either—why did Grandpa send me there to recover?"
Young Master Xiao's expression remained impassive.
"My wound's healed."
Golden Red Tassel's heart chilled. She leaned back, her bosom quivering slightly, and smiled.
"So, no deal then?"
Young Master Xiao nodded lightly.
Golden Red Tassel kept her smile, saying leisurely,
"I've heard Young Master Xiao is a peerless talent, dashing beyond compare. I came along too late to see it myself. But tonight? Who knows—you might give us a show. Survive till dawn, and I'll let the matter of you stealing from the Divine Machine Battalion slide."
She rose, glanced at Chen Shi, and smiled.
"Little brother, don't tag along with him. You'll die."
With that, she sauntered off, hips swaying.
Chen Shi pulled back his gaze. Young Master Xiao asked,
"Enjoy the view?"
Chen Shi nearly answered before clamping his mouth shut. "Young Master Xiao's dangerous too—almost got my tongue pulled!" he thought.
Young Master Xiao sipped his tea and watched Golden Red Tassel leave Veracity City. A moment later, he stood.
"Stay here. I'll be back soon. If I don't return, leave the city before dawn. Don't linger."
Chen Shi blurted,
"What if I don't leave Veracity City?"
"You'll vanish with it."
Young Master Xiao headed downstairs, his voice drifting back.
"Everyone who vanished with Veracity City in the past... never reappeared. No one knows if they're dead or alive."
Chen Shi shivered.
Young Master Xiao left on foot without his carriage, soon vanishing into the moonlight.
Chen Shi sipped tea, munched on preserved fruits and meats, and waited quietly.
After a long while, he blinked and chuckled.
"What's so funny?" a voice asked from beside him.
Chen Shi laughed.
"I'm laughing at how bizarre my night's been. Hunting revenge on the post road, sudden illness on the way home, chased by evil spirits, then running into Young Master Xiao."
He went on,
"Then I end up in this weird city, bump into Divine Machine Battalion folks. Now here I am, sipping tea and snacking in a ghost town, waiting for Young Master Xiao to return from battling the Divine Machine Battalion. It's all so absurd! Ridiculous enough to make me burst out laughing..."
In mid-sentence, realization hit: Young Master Xiao was gone—who was talking to him?
He whipped his head around. The four-armed waiter was nowhere in sight. In his place squatted a freakish toad-headed creature—head the size of four or five normal ones, striped in blue and white, with a massive mouth clamped around a pipe stuck with three fat, short incense sticks. It puffed away rhythmically.
Its legs were spindly thin, somehow propping up its bloated body. In its hand dangled an absurdly huge teapot.
It must be the teahouse's tea master, here to refill Chen Shi's cup.
"What're you staring at?" the voice asked again.
Chen Shi finally noticed: it wasn't the toad speaking, but the teapot it carried.
The lid flapped open and shut, questioning him, with two eyes peering from beneath.
"Don't speak."
The toad tea master whispered to Chen Shi,
"It loves asking questions. Don't answer. It's gotten several guests' tongues pulled today."
Chen Shi went on high alert and sealed his lips tight.
The big teapot quizzed him a few times. Getting no reply, it lost interest.
The toad tea master refilled Chen Shi's tea and carried the big teapot to another table.
"Got worries?" the teapot asked those guests.
"No... ah—"
A scream rang out. Chen Shi saw a strange force yank the man's tongue clean out. He clutched his mouth, whimpering wordlessly.
"Were you sneaking peeks at that red-clothed woman's chest earlier?" the teapot asked another table.
"I didn't... ah—"
A spray of blood arced through the air, another tongue flying free.
Chen Shi shuddered and added the big teapot to his danger list.
"Of course—this Veracity City must be a Ghost God Domain too!"
Enlightenment dawned on Chen Shi. Ghost God Domains came in all sorts: the Kiln Works that turned folk to porcelain, ones twisting tomb guardians into gods and demons, time-warped ones, and now Veracity City, where lies weren't tolerated.
Any fib brought disaster—tongue-pulling torment. Hence the name.
"Sincerity without delusion! Veracity City is a city of truth—no lies allowed."
Chen Shi grasped it, his heart lifting. Fear of the city evaporated.
A mountain boy at heart, he knew rules were key to survival.
Follow them in Ghost God Domains or against evil spirits, and you'd be fine.
Suddenly, lightning cracked and thunder boomed beyond the walls. Chen Shi rushed to look. Bolts shot from the earth, streaking red arcs through the sky to hammer a moonlit peak!
Mushrooming fireballs erupted, lighting the mountain bright as day!
Chen Shi leaped up, peering at the distant ridge. Thunderbolts fanned out one after another, rising from the ground into the air to pound the peak. In moments, hundreds struck home.
By the flashes, Chen Shi saw clearer: a tiny silhouette stood atop the summit.
A hair-thin gleam whirled around him at blinding speed!
Even from afar, it was too fast for the naked eye!
"What is that?"
Chen Shi gaped, unable to make it out.
The gleam was minuscule yet always pierced each bolt an instant before it hit, needling it apart.
The bolts exploded on puncture—fire and sparks spraying, followed moments later by deafening peals.
Those bolts never touched the mountain!
What he'd seen as thunder striking rock was mere illusion.
Chen Shi watched, pulse pounding. The barrage thickened; the gleam faltered. Bolts began breaching, blasting the peak.
Each impact shook the ground!
More and more pierced the defense, hammering the summit till it glowed red-hot, dazzling brighter.
In Veracity City, man and ghost alike watched, gripped.
If those bolts hit the city, this Ghost God Domain would blaze to ash in seconds—all gone!
Cityfolk craned necks to gawk. Some cradled their heads, yanking them free of necks to hold aloft.
Chen Shi even spotted one whose neck stretched like a bamboo pole, thin and long, hoisting his head a couple zhang high for a better look.
"Want to grab some scissors and snip his neck?" the teapot quizzed others.
"No..."
"Pffft!"
Chen Shi stayed vigilant, lips locked. No matter who asked, he wouldn't speak.
The barrage lasted over an hour. The peak shrank visibly under the thunderfire—rock blasted and melted away!
Suddenly, someone yelled,
"Dawn's breaking—run! Too late otherwise!"
The city surged, crowds flooding outward.
Chen Shi bolted downstairs. Everywhere, people jammed against people, ghosts against ghosts, monsters against monsters.
"Esteemed guest, your carriage is ready." The four-armed waiter popped up from nowhere.
Chen Shi followed him to the yard. Young Master Xiao's carriage was there, driver and four steeds not stone this time—sans their master.
Chen Shi boarded. The driver cracked his whip; the team charged for the gates!
Faster they flew, crowds thickening ahead—about to trample ghosts and folk aplenty—when clouds bloomed under the horses' hooves. They trod the clouds, sailing over heads straight to the exit.
Chen Shi marveled as they burst through the gates, dropped to earth outside, and clattered into pre-dawn gloom.
"The carriage is heading for that mountain!"
Chen Shi's heart skipped. The driver whipped on; speed mounted. Gunpowder scent filled the air.
Puzzled, Chen Shi saw, two li farther, roadside corpses—and a massive metal contraption.
A cannon, barrel over three meters long, weighing tons.
"The Divine Machine Battalion's famed Red Barbarian Cannon!" Chen Shi's eyes bulged.
Yandang villagers had spoken of it: unmatched power, unleashing thunder's might. One boom equaled heavenly tribulation!
But this one's thick barrel was sheared clean—razor edge—even the talismanic runes inside severed!
A glimpse showed the red-tinged bore: cinnabar ground in black dog blood for soaking. How the Divine Machine Battalion etched runes inside was a mystery.
Nearby sat a cart of shells, bigger than children's heads: cast iron, rune-etched, traced in cinnabar and dog blood for extra punch.
"Great Five Thunders Talisman!"
Chen Shi recognized it at a glance, heart lurching.
The Great Five Thunders Talisman was fearsome lightning magic. Paired with black powder, power multiplied!
It hit him: last night's "thunderstrike" wasn't spells—it was cannonade!
That spectacle? Dozens, hundreds of Red Barbarian Cannons firing in volley, amped by Great Five Thunders Talismans, shelling Young Master Xiao!