Chapter 13 – Miasma Moon Passes, Four Wilds Open
“Hey, hey, hey,” Zuo Yuesheng said, carrying Ye Cang, his legs trembling. “Young Master Chou, don’t you be fooled by a little bit of flattery! Look up at the sky, does that look like something a good person could do?”
Lu Jing, his face pale, nodded in agreement.
With their eyesight, they couldn’t make out the specifics of the battle ten thousand meters in the sky, but the clash between the two combatants had thrown the entire night sky into turmoil. It didn’t matter if thirty-six stars were many or few.
Because they couldn’t be seen at all!
The six-eyed, red-faced Martial God moved his arms and legs, brilliant golden light radiating from him, gilding half the sky in a layer of molten gold—a perfect picture of holy light shining down. In contrast, the Oracle Master fighting him brandished his saber and sleeves, sending blood-colored torrents everywhere. The other half of the sky was filled with a mournful, sinister wind, as if billions of vengeful souls were weeping and wailing in unison.
The distinction between good and evil was stark and clear.
If they hadn’t experienced it themselves, who would believe they had just been in such close proximity to such a “fierce and malevolent god” for so long, and even dared to trouble such a ruthless figure over a mere jade pendant?
“The ritual is still ongoing,” Chou Bodeng lowered the paper lantern to illuminate the human puppets walking forward step by step. “He is only responsible for ensuring this ritual isn’t interrupted by the summoned ‘High God’. The one presiding over the ritual, hidden in the shadows, is someone else. That person is the true puppet master.”
As he spoke, he looked at Lou Jiang.
“You’ve guessed it too.”
Lou Jiang nodded with a grim expression.
He had only said what he did earlier to make Zuo Yuesheng feel better and to fool these second-generation profligates… lest they become too scared to walk after learning of the greater danger lurking in the darkness, adding a burden to their already difficult escape. Lou Jiang had originally thought that these profligates, whose greatest crisis until now was at most a beating from their elders, would be easy to deceive. He hadn’t expected Chou Bodeng to be so unexpectedly sharp.
Lou Jiang’s approach was, in fact, wise.
Because as soon as Chou Bodeng finished speaking, Lu Jing let out a whoosh and pressed his back tightly against the wall, looking everywhere in terror as if a mastermind was hiding in every corner.
“If you’re scared, then hurry up and go!” Lou Jiang cursed irritably. “The ritual has just begun, so even if there are demons and monsters, they won’t have time to bother with us. If you’re going to wet your pants, wait until we’ve escaped.”
Chou Bodeng stood on the wall, his field of vision wider than the others. As Lou Jiang spoke, the corner of his eye caught something in the darkness at the end of their alley, moving silently along the base of the wall where the firelight didn’t reach, like a long snake.
“Behind you!”
Chou Bodeng cut Lou Jiang off, reflexively reaching to draw his sword.
Although the Taiyi Sword enjoyed gloating and poking him from time to time to vent its frustration, it had always been reliable at critical moments. But this time, when Chou Bodeng tried to draw his sword, it felt as if it were welded to the scabbard, incredibly heavy in his hand. His heart skipped a beat as he suddenly remembered something.
Earlier, on the Fu tree, the moment the six-eyed, red-faced Martial God appeared, the Taiyi Sword had forcibly dragged him down from the tree!
Just as Chou Bodeng’s shout fell, the black shadow moving along the base of the wall erupted, coiling toward Lu Jing, who was closest to the wall, its movements like a swift, great serpent.
Clang—
Sparks flew.
Lou Jiang’s sword struck the long shadow, knocking it to the ground.
The moment it landed, it immediately shot toward Zuo Yuesheng’s back. In a flash, it struck at Zuo Yuesheng, quick as lightning. Zuo Yuesheng hastily swung his club with all his might. The club hit the long shadow, and the recoil made his hand go numb, sending the club flying from his grasp. At the same time, Zuo Yuesheng felt a weight lift from his shoulder; the Ye Cang he was carrying had been snatched away.
“Damn it!”
Lou Jiang cried out.
The attack on Lu Jing had been a feint; the long shadow’s true target was the unconscious Ye Cang!
Once Ye Cang was ensnared, the long shadow instantly shot back into the depths of the darkness like a rubber band stretched to its limit and then released—in the direction of the city center they had just left, where the main root of the Fu tree was located! It was also the direction all the numb people of Fu City were currently heading!
“Everyone, get on the wall!”
Chou Bodeng gave up trying to wrestle with the Taiyi Sword and called out to the others.
Zuo Yuesheng subconsciously wanted to give chase and rescue Ye Cang. Without a word, Lou Jiang grabbed him and Lu Jing by the back of their collars, one in each hand, and leaped onto the wall as if they were little chicks.
“What was that just now?” Lu Jing asked.
“It looked like…” Zuo Yuesheng, having just had a close encounter with the long shadow, said uncertainly, “a tree root?”
“Not a tree root.” Lou Jiang’s expression was utterly foul. “It’s Wood Vine.”
“What?”
Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing asked in unison.
Their expressions were quite something to behold, as they probably both remembered that they had just been stepping on this very thing to climb the Fu tree not long ago.
“Damn it, didn’t Ye Cang say the Wood Vine was some kind of stupid agreement? And something about how for thousands of years, Oracle Masters and Oracle Maidens have stepped on the Wood Vine to ascend the Fu tree, singing praises and tying knots, and that walking on the Wood Vine wouldn’t disturb the creatures on the tree,” Zuo Yuesheng felt a little numb, unable to count how many times he had unknowingly teetered on the brink of life and death tonight.
“What do the Soul Threads look like?”
Chou Bodeng looked back at the tall, gray tree rising from the city in the distance, thinking of the Wood Vines that draped the ancient Fu tree.
“They can look like anything,” Lou Jiang gave an unexpected answer. “Although Soul Threads are ‘planted’, they are not any kind of plant. The Soul Thread seed is actually… a secret art! Using an extremely vicious technique, a person is tortured to death, and their soul is condensed into a seed, which is then planted in a yin-attributed plant. The dead soul’s unwillingness and resentment will then grow like fine threads beneath the roots and stems.”
“No wonder Daoist Priest Xuanqing was furious when he heard someone was selling Soul Thread seeds, denouncing it as ‘utterly devoid of conscience’,” Chou Bodeng said.
So that was how Soul Threads were made.
“The shadows! The shadows!” Lu Jing pointed with a trembling finger, nearly standing on end. “Look at their shadows!”
The men, women, and children holding torches were all walking forward, heading toward the Fu tree in the city center. But at this moment, the black shadows they cast behind them were all twisted around, looking toward the side of the street, looking at them! As their gazes fell upon them, the shadows on the ground began to distort, as if they would break out of the ground at any moment and pounce on them.
Lou Jiang subconsciously prepared for battle, but the strange shadows made no further moves.
They were wary of something.
It was the light.
The light coming from the paper lantern in Chou Bodeng’s hand!
“The Miscellaneous Notes on a Southern Journey says that when Qiu Mingzi arrived in Fu City, he saw ‘children playing in groups of three and five, on the treetops and under the trees, tying colorful ribbons and hanging lanterns, people and tree rejoicing together’.” The others gathered around as Chou Bodeng held up the lantern, his face grim as he watched the shadows that were both menacing and hesitant to approach. “And three hundred years ago, the old City Diviner, on the grounds of ‘propriety’, forbade idlers from climbing the Fu tree. Is three hundred years long enough to grow enough Soul Threads in the Wood Vines?”
“Enough,” Lou Jiang said through gritted teeth. While making sure the others didn’t leave the lantern’s light, he led them toward the south of the city. “Are you suspecting the old City Diviner?”
“Have you seen Liu Aren?” Chou Bodeng asked in return.
As he spoke, the group happened to pass by the Liu family’s grand residence. Lord Liu, the green-robed steward, the maids and servants… all were just like the others, holding torches high and walking forward numbly.
The only one missing was the “heaven-ordained Oracle Maiden,” A Ren!
Zuo Yuesheng murmured, “That kid Ye Cang used to be the most talented person in the City Divination Department. The old City Diviner once said that within ten years, he might be able to communicate with the essence of the Divine Fu Tree and understand its divine will.”
But the most talented Ye Cang was expelled from the City Divination Department for breaking a rule.
The only one with the authority to expel an Oracle Master or Oracle Maiden was the old City Diviner.
“I suspected him,” Lou Jiang said. “But he’s dead too!”
“Dead?” Chou Bodeng frowned and suddenly stopped. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” Lou Jiang said decisively. “I’ve been keeping an eye on him. When I went to the City Divination Department today, I specifically checked the body. It was definitely the old City Diviner himself.”
“Keeping an eye on him?” Chou Bodeng laughed, holding up the paper lantern. “Are you sure you were keeping an eye on him, and not the other way around?”
Lou Jiang froze, a chill suddenly slithering up his spine like a snake.
He realized Chou Bodeng was right.
Until just now, he had been trapped in a misconception… he had believed his mission to investigate the Soul Threads in Fu City was a secret. But when an entire city of people had unknowingly been turned into puppets, then no matter what he did, he was under the watch of countless eyes. Even the matter of the Liu family’s young lady being possessed by an evil spirit was, in all likelihood, a carefully set bait to test him. If that was the case, even if he had seen the body with his own eyes, was the old City Diviner really dead?
It was a net cast from heaven to earth. The only thing the other party hadn’t calculated was the variable of Chou Bodeng.
No one had expected that the Little Martial Grand-Ancestor of Taiyi would come to Fu City alone, from thousands of miles away, bringing with him the mountain-suppressing treasure.
“Young Master Lu,” Lou Jiang turned his head abruptly and asked Lu Jing, “why did you come to Fu City?”
Lu Jing was startled by his ferocious expression. “I, I, I came because I heard there was a ten-thousand-year-old silver Fu tree here. Silver Fu trees only grow where yin and yang veins intersect, and Soul-Returning Grass also only grows in such places…”
“No wonder,” Zuo Yuesheng realized with a start. “I was wondering why you were so easy to fool!”
“I found it strange too,” Chou Bodeng said softly. “Such a small city not only has a two-meter-tall iron-smelting furnace, but an ordinary old blacksmith also knows the method of ‘drawing heavenly fire to smelt iron’. And what a coincidence, he was even able to produce a Spirit Cleansing Stone.” As he spoke, a slight smile played on his lips. In the flickering light, his beautiful features took on a somewhat sinister cast. “He said he was guided by an elder from the Heavenly Works Mansion. Unfortunately, he was a bit ignorant and didn’t know that everyone from the Heavenly Works Mansion, from top to bottom, has a certain quirk.”
“What quirk?” Zuo Yuesheng asked subconsciously.
“Anyone from the Heavenly Works Mansion will definitely hang a sign at their door that says: No Entry for Taiyi and Dogs,” Chou Bodeng said calmly.
“Pfft—”
Lu Jing, who had been terrified, still burst out laughing at this, nearly falling off the wall.
Lou Jiang’s cheek twitched. “You discovered so much, why didn’t you say anything?”
“You didn’t ask. Who are you to me that I have to report every little thing I encounter? Wake up, that person hasn’t been born yet,” Chou Bodeng replied matter-of-factly. “Besides, didn’t I inform you all that Fu City was in danger?”
“…”
Lou Jiang felt a tightness in his chest and suddenly understood why Daoist Priest Xuanqing would rather sacrifice himself to summon a High God than lead these people out of the city to escape.
This Chou fellow’s mouth was just too infuriating.
“Stop arguing, stop arguing,” Zuo Yuesheng quickly tried to smooth things over. “Lou Jiang, where are we running to? It’s the Miasma Moon outside the city, leaving is also a death sentence!”
“Daoist Priest Xuanqing set up a small Teleportation Formation in Fu City,” Lou Jiang explained with a blank face. “It can only be used once. If you all hadn’t run around, you’d be safe by now.”
Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing shrank back, feeling the killing intent in Lou Jiang’s words.
Chou Bodeng acted as if nothing was wrong, carrying the strangely quiet Taiyi Sword and ignoring Lou Jiang’s continuous cold killing aura. He was still thinking about what happened when he came down from the Fu tree’s crown. If it wasn’t his imagination, at that time, after the Martial God summoned by Daoist Priest Xuanqing opened its eyes, it seemed to… want to look at him?
He wasn’t quite sure.
Because he didn’t see what happened next.
“Wait,” Zuo Yuesheng suddenly pointed behind them. “Look!”
Chou Bodeng turned to look. At some point, a fire had started in the city. The fire surged and writhed along the rooftops like a red snake, quickly shooting upwards. The silver, snow-like leaves of the Fu tree swayed in the great fire but couldn’t stop its spread. Just as the fire was about to ignite the Fu tree, thousands upon thousands of black shadows, large and small, swooped down from the tree.
It was birds!
A flock of birds, even larger than the one that had attacked them, gathered together, circling and repeatedly attacking the fire that had spread to the Fu tree. The sound of the flock beating their wings, at this moment, even drowned out the sounds of the battle in the sky.
The birds circled, like moths to a flame.
The group stopped in their tracks.
At this moment, from the four directions—east, south, west, and north—came the sound of bells!
The sound of the bells reverberated between heaven and earth, so majestic, so heavy, enveloping the entire city in a bronze cry. It was like the surging heartbeat of the earth, as if it could travel far into the wilderness, hundreds, even thousands of miles away. Upon hearing this sound, everyone except Chou Bodeng turned deathly pale.
“The city gates’ Bell of the Four Directions rang!” Zuo Yuesheng cried out. “What’s happening!”
The Bell of the Four Directions.
Chou Bodeng suddenly understood why the others’ faces had become so ugly.
Above every gate of every city hung a bronze bell, known as the “Bell of the Four Directions.”
This bell only rang once a year. Its ringing signified that the Miasma Moon had passed, that the four wilds were clear, that the darkness had retreated, and that the world had returned the fertile land to the people.
Upon hearing the bell, people would put on new, vibrant clothes, singing ancient songs of blessing while joyfully dancing hand in hand to the city gates to welcome the “Clear Moon,” which represented the time for planting. Fu City, this small city of just over a hundred thousand people, should have welcomed the clearing of the clouds and the arrival of the wind after the miasma, time and time again with the ringing of the bell. It should have grown like the Fu tree, bit by bit accumulating its brilliance, with more and more people, and a bigger and bigger city.
Until finally, it flourished and thrived, becoming a star in the sky.
But not anymore.
It was now the Miasma Moon.
The opened city gates during the Miasma Moon would not welcome the bright light but would instead swallow this star that had yet to mature.
“It’s going to die.”
Chou Bodeng whispered to the Taiyi Sword.
The fire grew larger.
The streets and houses were reflected in the flames. The carved patterns on the gables and ridges of the eaves and walls, their rises and falls, became gaunt and skeletal. Yet, during the day, when he had run across the rooftops, everything under the tree’s shadow had been full of life.
Now, amidst the sound of the bronze bells, only the silence of a dying star remained.
He didn’t like this silence.
He didn’t like this Fu City.
The others didn’t hear what Chou Bodeng was saying, because a hoarse, aged voice spread out from the direction of the Divine Fu Tree to all four corners:
“The Miasma Moon passes—”
“The four wilds open!!!”
The city gates boomed open.