Chapter 66 – The Dark Rain Falls Heavily, the Wind Rises Suddenly
When Elder Tao Rong ascended the Cloud Terrace, Zuo Liangshi was sitting cross-legged on a cliff rock, fitting a thin bamboo strip between two bamboo splints to form a grid. Beside him was a pile of exquisitely shaved bamboo strips—it was the half-finished fish-roasting rack that Zuo Yuesheng had started earlier and that had been blown apart by the wind.
“How did it go?”
Zuo Liangshi asked as he finished assembling the bamboo rack his son had failed to complete.
“Which High God from Heaven Beyond Heavens graced Fu City with their presence?”
His words were deferential, his tone laced with a smile.
Elder Tao Rong sat down opposite him. “Pi Mu.”
“Pi Mu.” Zuo Liangshi thought for a moment. “The one said to have six eyes, each observing one of the six paths of sentient beings?”
“Yes. He is the son of Gu Yu.”
“Zhou Ziyan told you that the one who promised to return the sun and moon to Ru City was Gu Yu, wasn’t it?” Zuo Liangshi mused. “One of the Five Emperors of Heaven Beyond Heavens. Since He made the promise, it’s no wonder Zhou Ziyan took such a risk.”
Elder Tao Rong said nothing, his face like a mask cast from raw iron.
Ever since Incomplete Mountain was broken and the “City of Clouds” became “Heaven Beyond Heavens,” the High Gods had vanished from the eyes of the world. Ordinary cultivators didn’t even know that Heaven Beyond Heavens was divided into upper, middle, and lower heavens, let alone which High Gods resided there and what the relationships between them were.
But the upper echelons of the immortal sects clearly had a greater understanding of the mysterious Heaven Beyond Heavens.
In Heaven Beyond Heavens, gods were numerous, and the hierarchy was even more rigid than that of the immortal sects. The Five Cardinal Emperors held the most revered status, and Gu Yu was one of them, with the title “Red.” Pi Mu was thus the Son of the Red Emperor. In the secret archives of the Mountain Sea Pavilion, which only the Pavilion Master was qualified to read, it was recorded: “Gu Yu, an ancient emperor of the primordial chaos, presides over slaughter, punishing the world with weapons.”
“What did Ge Qing refine that Pi Mu, as the Son of the Red Emperor, would actually take a fancy to it?” Zuo Liangshi asked.
“He refined a pair of twin sabers, crude and unsightly,” Elder Tao Rong said. “What Pi Mu was interested in was not the evil weapon, but the spirit of the Fu wood that was refined.”
“Fu wood?” Zuo Liangshi frowned.
Elder Tao Rong looked directly into his eyes. “The Divine Fu Tree was planted by that one.”
Zuo Liangshi’s hand froze in mid-air.
Elder Tao Rong waved his sleeve, and spiritual energy materialized into a map of the cities of Qing Province, suspended between the two of them. He pointed at the location of Fu City, and a faint green light appeared there. Then, his finger moved, connecting numerous cities, sketching out a winding dragon shape coiled over the map of Qing Province.
On this coiled dragon, the inconspicuous Fu City was located at the position of the reverse scale under the dragon’s head!
Zuo Liangshi’s expression changed.
Elder Tao Rong withdrew his hand. “I checked the Geomancy of the Clear Continent. In the Middle Antiquity, although Fu City had a convergence of yang and yin veins, the scale was too small to be significant, far from enough to serve as the dragon scale of Qing Province’s feng shui. But when I went to Fu City last time, I investigated carefully and found that where the roots of the Divine Fu Tree spread, there is a hidden dragon in the abyss!”
“What’s going on?”
“Because of the Divine Fu Tree,” Elder Tao Rong replied in a low voice. “The Fu wood changed the yin and yang there. And the yin and yang, in turn, changed the Fu wood… Yin and yang, sun and moon, doesn’t that make you think of something?”
“Divine Fu Tree… Fusang Tree!”
Zuo Liangshi was aghast.
“Yes.” Elder Tao Rong dispelled the map of Qing Province. “If it endures another great calamity, it can become a second Fusang Divine Tree… The Fu wood is the fire seed he hid in Qing Province.”
“Why would he want to grow a second Fusang Tree? Did he… did he foresee that the Hundred Clans of Kongsang would become what they are today?” Zuo Liangshi asked in a low, hoarse voice after a long silence. “But in the records of the Ancient Heavenly Scripture, he was already mad by then.”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t ask?”
“If I had asked, you wouldn’t be sitting here talking to me now,” Elder Tao Rong said faintly. “You’d be needing to buy a coffin to bury me.”
Zuo Liangshi was stunned.
Elder Tao Rong looked at Zhunan, which was shrouded in a heavy curtain of rain.
At that time, Shi Wuluo had not said a single word, had not even looked at him. The pale, thin man had just stood silently in the rain, his sleeves stirred by the wind. But the feeling he gave off was that the one standing before him was no longer a person, but a blade that had been tempered by hatred for a long time.
The blade’s edge was pointed at the entire world.
It was as if this world had once taken everything from him. The killing intent and hatred bound within the blade could erupt at any moment like a furious dragon, tearing the mortal realm to shreds. Yet something was always restraining his ferocity, his killing intent, his ruthlessness, causing him to exercise restraint, to watch from the sidelines with indifference. But… since there was something that could make him restrain himself, that same thing could surely make him utterly violent!
Tao Rong sincerely hoped that day would never come.
“Sometimes, I really feel that all of us live our entire lives in a fog,” Zuo Liangshi said. “There’s miasma fog outside the city, and a fog of mystery over the past. The more you know, the more you don’t understand.”
How many secrets were hidden behind the fragmented words of ancient scrolls and old records?
“Forget it, let’s get back to the matter at hand. Ge Qing didn’t know that Elder Chou’s appearance in Fu City was a coincidence. He thought the Taiyi Sect was also looking into the matter of the Soul Thread and acted prematurely in his haste. Luring Pi Mu there was probably an accident. Who told Gu Yu about his death in Fu City?”
“The person behind Ge Qing… the true master of the Soul Seed!” Elder Tao Rong’s face was grim. “Gu Yu failed to avenge his son in Ru City. This time, will Heaven Beyond Heavens continue to interfere?”
Zuo Liangshi said nothing.
“This was the first time that brat brought people to the Cloud Terrace to fish,” Zuo Liangshi said. “He really values those friends of his. It’s a pity that I, as his father, couldn’t make him proud. He happily prepared everything himself, but before he could even catch a single fish, it was all ruined…”
He shook his head.
“Pavilion Master.”
“To be a father like this, it’s really unbecoming.”
Zuo Liangshi slowly threaded a thin bamboo strip through a crossbar.
He stood up, took two steps back, and looked down at the fish-roasting rack that Zuo Yuesheng hadn’t had time to finish.
“Heaven Beyond Heavens. Since they call themselves ‘beyond heaven,’ then they should stay nicely beyond heaven. They’ve jumped out of the five elements, yet they want to stick their hands back into the five elements…” A rare trace of grimness crossed Zuo Liangshi’s face. “I’ll just chop their hands off.”
In that moment, his aura became extremely dangerous and terrifying, as unfathomable as the raging sea! Zuo Liangshi had not been a genius in his youth, nor had he been a late bloomer. His cultivation was at the bottom among all the immortal sect masters, and even in the Mountain Sea Pavilion, he couldn’t rank high. But now, Elder Tao Rong felt as if he wouldn’t be able to withstand a single move from him!
Elder Tao Rong was shocked, feeling that this Pavilion Master, known for “smoothing things over,” had suddenly become a stranger.
How long had he been holding back?
“Let’s go.” Zuo Liangshi turned, smiling as usual. “The Grand Elders should be ascending the walls to guard the sea by now. I, as the Pavilion Master, should also lead by example.”
***
“The Pavilion meeting is over.”
Halfway there, Lou Jiang suddenly looked up towards the Mountain Sea Grand Hall.
“How do you know?”
“The chime bells rang. The chime bells of the Mountain Sea Grand Hall only ring when a Pavilion meeting begins and ends…” Lou Jiang said, then paused. “The meeting is over, the Young Pavilion Master should be back… Did any of you leave him a message?”
Everyone looked at each other.
“Uh…”
Lu Jing scratched his head. Even the ever-meticulous Old Mother Lou had forgotten to leave a message. Lu Jing could already picture Fatty Zuo bragging from a distance, rushing into the Wuye Pavilion full of glee, only to be met with a dark, empty room and a look of utter confusion.
“I’ll go get the Young Pavilion Master first,” Lou Jiang sighed helplessly. “I don’t know how his first Pavilion meeting went. I have a feeling he’ll get into an argument with the Grand Elders.”
Lu Jing and Monk Budu exchanged a look, thinking, Brother Lou, Brother Lou, your worrying about whether your kid did well on his first exam and whether he caused any trouble doesn’t make you look like Fatty Zuo’s brother at all… You’re clearly an old mother!
Old Mother Lou, unaware of the two scions’ inner thoughts, was about to turn when a folded piece of paper floated out from the “God-Listener” hanging at his waist, which was used for passing messages.
Lou Jiang unfolded the letter and looked at it.
“It’s a message from the Pavilion Master, saying the Young Pavilion Master’s words at the meeting were commendable… It seems he performed very well,” he said, his expression just starting to relax when he saw the words that followed. “The Pavilion Master also said that the Young Pavilion Master needs to calm his mind and cultivate for the next few days? He asked me to inform you all that the Young Pavilion Master will be unable to accompany you for the time being.”
“Ha? Fatty Zuo? Calming his mind and cultivating?”
Lu Jing nearly choked on his own saliva, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
So the word “cultivate” could actually be associated with that fellow Zuo Yuesheng?
You had to know, due to the shadow of his ten older brothers, Lu Jing would occasionally symbolically circulate his spiritual energy. But Zuo Yuesheng, from the time they met in Fu City until now, had not meditated even once. When Lou Jiang nagged him, he would always use the excuse “I’m too fat to sit cross-legged, if I want to cultivate, I must first lose weight, wait for this young pavilion master to go for a couple of runs first,” and then disappear without a trace.
“Are you sure he didn’t get into trouble and was ordered by his father to face a wall and reflect on his mistakes?” Lu Jing asked sincerely.
Lou Jiang: …
He suddenly felt a little worried.
Chou Bodeng looked thoughtfully in the direction of the Mountain Sea Grand Hall.
“I’ll ask Elder Tao about it later,” Lou Jiang said, folding the letter. “Since the Young Pavilion Master is with the Pavilion Master, he’ll be fine. Let’s go check the place where the whistle sounded first.”
“Aren’t we going to Red Railing Street first?” Lu Jing asked as he quickly followed him across the street. “Won’t someone else go to help?”
Compared to a common call for help from a fellow disciple, surely the clue to the truth of his parents’ murder was more important?
“The junior brothers and sisters over at the Yinglong Division are all quite skilled. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t blow the whistle unless they encountered some very tricky filth. And now, the Black Tortoise has just entered hibernation, and the obscure rain has just begun to fall. For a specter that even the Yinglong Division disciples can’t handle to appear is exceptionally abnormal. I’m worried it’s related to the Azure Batfish appearing in the Tranquil Sea, so I have to go check first. Besides… my parents have been dead for so long. Compared to a clue of unknown truth and intention, I’d rather not have a fellow disciple die in peril.”
The dead are already dead. It’s the living who are most important.
“Old Mother Lou, you’re a really good senior brother,” Lu Jing said after a moment of silence.
“I told you! Don’t call me that again,” Lou Jiang said with a dark face. “Let’s go.”
But you really are like an old mother…
Lu Jing muttered to himself.
“Wait.”
Chou Bodeng suddenly reached out a hand, stopping everyone.
“What is it?” Lu Jing asked.
“Blood.”
Chou Bodeng was concise.
Lou Jiang was startled.
They hadn’t stopped walking as they spoke, moving at a fast pace, but the place where the whistle had sounded was in the direction of Five Elephants Street in the north city, still some distance away. Even if something had really happened over there, the smell of blood shouldn’t have carried this far. Lou Jiang looked around, and his face suddenly changed.
When the disciples of the Yinglong Division patrolled the city, they had a clear division of labor. A group of five was responsible for one block. One of the five would stay on the highest Wind-Vane gate-tower of the block, using a storm lantern as a signal, serving as a guard and guide.
At this moment, Lou Jiang did not see the light on the Wind-Vane gate-tower.
They stopped, right at a crossroads. In the heavy rain, the four connecting streets suddenly became long and dark. Monk Budu took a diagonal step, facing east. Half-Diviner took a step back, facing south. Lou Jiang turned, facing west. Chou Bodeng raised his sword, facing north. Lu Jing stayed in the middle of the four.
Chou Bodeng closed his eyes.
The rain tapped against different tiles, making different sounds. The wind carried the sound of the rain through the long streets, and in the sound of the wind, there was another, extremely faint sound.
Drip, drip.
Slow and viscous.
“They’re here.”
Chou Bodeng opened his eyes.
As soon as his voice fell, a sharp, piercing whistle erupted. It came from all directions, one after another. All the Yinglong Division disciples in the entire city of Zhunan were in peril at the same time, calling for help at the same time!