Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Storming Black Mountain
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It was now noon. Chen Shi casually found a restaurant and ate his fill with Blackie Pot. He then went to the market to buy two iron hats—one to wear on his own head and one for Blackie Pot's head. This way, they no longer had to worry about being jabbed by the rats' sharp tails.
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The hats sold in the county were the kind worn by cultivator soldiers—extremely sturdy. They even had drawings of the Six Ding and Six Jia inside, which could ward off ordinary spell attacks.
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Chen Shi inquired about the location of Black Mountain Granny Temple. It turned out to be in the county outskirts, just over twenty li from the county seat, separated by the De River—not far at all.
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"Black Mountain Granny's magical power is formidable, far surpassing that little Daoist's. The little Daoist's power far outstrips mine. I need to find a way to break her magical power."
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Instead of heading straight to the Granny Temple, he bought several bundles of incense and two jin of exotic beast meat. With Blackie Pot, he first returned to Qianyang Mountain and arrived at the Mountain Lord Temple.
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Black Mountain Granny was also a godmother of the Black Mountain area, with thriving incense worship. The local common folk offered incense and sacrifices.
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At New Year, she even devoured boys and girls.
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Her magical power was an extraordinary force formed from incense worship power—immensely powerful.
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The best way to break magical power formed from extraordinary force was with a treasure infused with similar extraordinary force.
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The place Chen Shi thought of was the Mountain Lord Temple.
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The Mountain Lord Temple was the spot with the strongest extraordinary force he had ever seen.
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His first thought was the incense-burning copper censers.
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The Mountain Lord Temple had two copper censers. One was a rectangular great cauldron one zhang long, five chi high, and three chi wide.
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The other was a tripod-shaped round furnace on a six-legged copper base. Above it was a copper turtle, and on the turtle's back was a round cauldron incense burner.
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Atop that was a three-tiered bronze circular pavilion, over one zhang tall in total.
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When Chen Shi had cleaned these two copper censers, thick layers of incense ash had accumulated inside. Back when the Mountain Lord Temple's incense was at its peak, countless people must have come to burn incense and pay respects.
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These two copper censers had undoubtedly been soaked in incense worship power, harboring vast amounts of extraordinary force.
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Even now, extraordinary force was still seeping out from the censers.
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Chen Shi pondered for a moment but did not take the censers. Instead, he went to the front of the main hall.
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Four pillars stood before the main hall, coiled with stone dragons that had been rubbed glossy and gleaming by human hands.
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The extraordinary force contained in these four pillars was also astonishing. Back in the day, those stone dragons had likely been just one step from taking physical form.
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Taking down a pillar would also break Black Mountain Granny's magical power.
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"But the censers and pillars probably aren't the treasures with the strongest extraordinary force. The strongest should still be inside the hall!"
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Chen Shi pushed open the hall doors and entered the main hall.
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In the main hall, the extraordinary force was at its densest, forming a glow of rosy clouds gathered in the Divine Shrine, as if something was taking shape there.
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Chen Shi looked around, his gaze falling on the empty Divine Shrine.
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At this moment, the thickest concentration of extraordinary force in the hall was at the Divine Shrine.
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"But the place that has accumulated the most extraordinary force isn't the Divine Shrine."
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Chen Shi shifted his gaze and looked up at the ceiling, murmuring, "Incense worship power rises upward, so the thing that has absorbed the most extraordinary force should be..."
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His eyes fixed on the caisson Bagua ceiling of the main hall.
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This caisson was likely the place with the densest extraordinary force.
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"The Bagua ceiling isn't suitable for battle, and besides, it's inconvenient to remove the roof of this main hall—doing so would collapse the entire structure."
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Chen Shi turned and went to the front hall. A great vermilion gilded dragon-painted crossbeam spanned the ceiling there, over two zhang long.
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The front hall's incense worship was no less than the main hall's. The extraordinary force emanating from this great vermilion gilded dragon crossbeam was as dense as that in the Divine Shrine.
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"This is the one!"
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Chen Shi returned to the main hall and took out the bundles of incense he had bought. He lit them all and inserted them before the Divine Shrine, murmuring silently, "Mountain Lord above, this young one Chen Shi seeks to borrow the front hall's great beam of your treasured temple for use. Once the demon is slain, I will surely return the treasure without greed or deceit. Mountain Lord, witness this!"
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He went to the front hall, leaped up onto the crossbeam, and strained to lift it.
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With a boom, half the front hall collapsed.
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This temple had endured wind and rain for ages and lain buried underground for over six thousand years. Today, its front hall could not escape this calamity.
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Chen Shi removed the gilded dragon crossbeam. It was a pillar of golden nanmu wood as thick as a water bucket, planed smooth by craftsmen and coated in red lacquer.
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West Niu New Continent had no golden nanmu. This wooden pillar must have been brought from Divine Continent by the Three Treasures Eunuch's fleet back in the day.
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One could see they had spared no effort to build the Mountain Lord Temple.
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Chen Shi fetched a rag and wiped the dust from the pillar. He called Blackie Pot over, took some black dog blood, ground cinnabar, and mixed in gold powder—so his brushstrokes would shine golden.
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He wielded the brush like the wind, drawing thunder talismans on the pillar: Five Thunder Talisman, Great Five Thunder Talisman, Palm Heart Thunder Talisman, Ten Thunder God Generals Talisman, Five Yang Heavenly Thunder Talisman, Nine Yang Thunderbolt Talisman, Heavenly Thunder Summoning Talisman, and so on—dozens in total.
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He infused these talismans into the wood with his true qi, so they would not easily wear away.
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When one bowl of cinnabar ink was exhausted, Chen Shi finally stopped. He cleaned up, hoisted the great beam onto his shoulder, and strode out the door.
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Blackie Pot, having eaten two jin of exotic beast meat, followed behind him.
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Man and dog headed straight for Black Mountain.
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At the county outskirts by the De River, Black Mountain loomed.
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Halfway up the slope, tendrils of incense smoke rose, gathering into clouds in the air.
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Before Granny Temple.
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Five old white-whiskered rats clad in Daoist robes held incense aloft. With solemn expressions, they devoutly kowtowed to Black Mountain Granny, chanting incantations.
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Behind them was a dense mass of gray-robed great rats, standing upright like humans. Some were taller than grown men, others two or three chi high. All clutched incense and kowtowed to Black Mountain Granny Temple in perfect unison.
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Behind some gray-robed rats hovered Divine Shrines, complete with Divine Embryos enthroned within—looking quite the part.
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They chanted from their mouths. By the sound, it was some profoundly mysterious scripture.
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Hundreds of rats spoke human words, their chants merging into a deafening torrent.
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At the mountain foot were villagers from all the settlements near Black Mountain.
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Young and old alike clustered together, each holding three joss sticks. They knelt on the ground, chanting along with the rats and kowtowing like pounding garlic.
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Black Mountain vicinity had over a dozen villages, and every godmother in those villages had submitted to Black Mountain Granny.
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The people of these villages survived only by her grace.
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The sacrifices offered at festivals and holidays fed the rats on the mountain until they formed a real threat.
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These rats served Black Mountain Granny, cultivating by absorbing moonlight essence. Over time, influenced by the moonlight, they also took in incense worship power and became evils, adept at demonic spells.
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They killed the disrespectful and extorted passing merchants. Not a few cultivators had died by their hands.
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Thus, they imitated humans and cultivated techniques, actually forming Divine Shrines and birthing Divine Embryos.
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Black Mountain lay in Baisheng County, not in Xinxian Province but under Xianzhou Province.
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Baisheng County was on the edge of Xianzhou Province, and Black Mountain was on the edge of Baisheng County. Far from imperial oversight, the countryside teemed with evils, beyond the government's control.
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Fortunately, Black Mountain Granny knew her place. She had the local peasants pay taxes and tribute on time, so the officials turned a blind eye.
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Amid the waves of kowtows and chants, new extraordinary force continuously coalesced from the drifting incense clouds overhead, flowing toward Granny Temple.
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Inside the temple's golden and resplendent main hall, the black god statue absorbed the extraordinary force, gradually forming a new divine image.
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"Just what is that Chen Shi's background? He harbors such a powerful evil in his body—even I couldn't withstand it. From now on, I'll steer clear of him."
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Around the black god statue, roiling black qi churned endlessly, swirling about it.
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This extraordinary force was truly overwhelming.
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Forming a divine image could not be rushed. Even with so many villagers and rats ceaselessly chanting her name to lend aid, it would take days to complete.
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At the mountain foot, a gray-robed rat patrolled the crowd every ten-odd paces. One bellowed loudly, "Whose incense is crooked? Whose heart isn't true? Off with their head!"
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At that moment, a youth shouldered a vermilion pillar as thick as a water bucket and strode toward them.
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He passed through the kneeling, kowtowing crowd.
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The youth wore a light cyan changshan reaching his knees, white trousers, a red silk sash at his waist with an incense pouch hanging from it, and red ribbons tied at his temples under the iron hat, their ends trailing out and dancing in the wind behind his head.
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The great vermilion pillar on his shoulder bore a gilded five-clawed dragon, slender and coiling from front to back.
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The pillar also featured all manner of golden patterns permeating the wood.
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The youth ignored everyone and walked straight upward.
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A gray-robed rat barked harshly, "Who goes there?"
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"Qianyang Mountain, Chen Shi!"
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Chen Shi did not pause, continuing forward.
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The gray-robed rat said, "This is Black Mountain Granny's sacred ground—no trespassing! Wait, what did you just say your name was?"
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Chen Shi shouldered the great vermilion pillar on his right, his left thumb pressing down his ring finger and pinky while index and middle fingers stood extended like a sword. A brilliant smile lit his face.
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His Three Lights Righteous Qi Art circulated within, and suddenly radiant light blazed around his body. Starlight gathered, forming seven different star talismans.
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Behind his head, a Divine Shrine emerged, with sword qi taking shape inside.
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"Little lord hails from Qianyang Mountain, Chen Shi..."
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He thrust his left hand forward in the cloud sword posture. A formless sword qi whistled out from the Divine Shrine.
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In an instant, everything ahead blurred—that was the air shuddering violently from the sword qi's furious spinning vibrations.
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"Shoo..."
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The sword qi streaked past, and the gray-robed rat's upper body flew into the air. It let out a shrill cry: "Enemy attack!"
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Only as it cried out did it realize: "Why am I flying? Wait—my butt's still on the ground!"
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The so-called cloud sword stance involved standing firm, gripping the sword, pivoting on one's legs from front to back in a full circle like drawing a great ring, requiring a flexible waist and the sword parallel to the ground.
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In the Noon-Midnight Evil-Cleaving Sword, this move detached from the hand: sword qi spun in a circle at high speed, incredibly swift.
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This sword sliced through the gray-robed rat's waist without losing any power. Skimming along the mountainside with its spinning momentum, it surged up the slope, flashing over the heads of those kneeling on the ground and kicking up a gale that extinguished who knew how many incense sticks.
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In a blink, the sword qi passed over the crowd and cut into the group of gray-robed rats kowtowing ahead.
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At once, severed limbs flew, blood spraying everywhere.
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The spinning sword qi sheared through countless bodies, shoving forward.
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Up ahead, rat cultivators who had received the warning leaped up. Their Divine Shrines and Embryos activated, sending out streams of Noon-Midnight Evil-Cleaving Sword qi to meet Chen Shi's.
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Chen Shi's cloud sword qi, now stained with the blood of over a dozen gray-robed rats—visible to the naked eye—still moved with terrifying speed.
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The sword qi from the gray-robed rat cultivators collided with this blood-red sword qi and exploded, shattering into countless fragments that instead pierced many of their own.
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They hurriedly dodged the sword qi, only to see the blood-red sword qi bearing straight toward the five great elders.
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The five white-whiskered rat elders rose, fury on their faces.
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One elder turned and unleashed his golden core, an invisible barrier pressing down to try pinning the blood-red sword qi.
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Yet the blood-red sword qi sliced into its golden core force field, spinning forward. Only when it reached four chi from the elder did it shatter under the pressure.
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The five rat elders each showed shock. Looking down, they saw Chen Shi still at the mountainside, climbing up.
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Over sixty zhang away from them. Along that sixty-zhang path, the sword qi had carved a bloody road strewn with corpses.
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"The Noon-Midnight Evil-Cleaving Sword's power only reaches twenty-four or twenty-five zhang at most. It can't reach sixty zhang!"
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One rat elder cried out in alarm and doubt.
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Chen Shi shouldered the vermilion pillar and strode up the mountain, his voice calm and clear: "Blackie Pot, you stay at the foot."
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The dog halted, sat down, and gazed ahead.
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The gray-robed rats, still shaken, charged at Chen Shi. Their Divine Shrines lit up one after another as they prepared spells.
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"Too slow! You're all too slow!"
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Chen Shi's left hand sword mudra shifted from cloud sword to lift sword. Formless sword qi shot out, flicking upward from under the crotch of an oncoming gray-robed rat and splitting it in two amid a spray of blood.
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His left hand sword mudra flowed ceaselessly through thrust, slash, slice, lift, cloud, and cleave—the six sword mudras. Gray-robed rats charging from all sides died decapitated or bisected before they could even enter two zhang of him.
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The formless sword qi they unleashed was either smashed by Chen Shi's formless sword qi or effortlessly evaded as he stepped the Seven Stars.
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Chen Shi advanced up the mountain, leaving a river of blood in his wake.
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Ahead, gray-robed rats tumbled and rolled to dodge his attacks. Finally breaching the two-zhang range, they whipped their tails at him.
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Chen Shi's right arm suddenly bulged with power. He swung the vermilion pillar, the thousand-jin beam whistling through the air. In an instant, thunder pealed, thunderfire and lightning erupted, booming and shaking.
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The gray-robed rats' heads exploded one by one before they could even get close.
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"Black Mountain Granny, little lord Chen Shi has come to fell your mountain and demolish your temple!"
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End of chapter.