Hearts Gradually Fall into Chaos, Demons Dance

Hearts Gradually Fall into Chaos, Demons Dance (Please bookmark, vote monthly, and keep reading)

"Lay Devotee Huang, what's there to regret?"

"There'll be plenty of chances in the future!"

Thinking over Tian Ming'an's words, Huang Shiren hurried down the mountain and rushed back to the county seat.

Tian Ming'an's words could not bear close thought. The more he thought about them, the more wrong they felt!

What did he mean, there would be plenty of chances in the future?

Why was Jiang Sheng cultivating in seclusion and nurturing his sword right now?

Was he preparing to strike at Lord River God during the River God Grand Sacrifice?

Could that so-called future be referring to the River God Grand Sacrifice?!

After turning it over and over in his mind, Huang Shiren reached a conclusion: Jiang Sheng was conserving his strength, planning to summon a fire dragon at the River God Grand Sacrifice and deal with Lord River God!

Water and fire could not coexist. Jiang Sheng was truly venomous-minded!

At that thought, Huang Shiren wished he could fly straight back to Qingshan County and report to Lord River God. Seeing the sun climbing ever higher, Huang Shiren grew impatient inside the carriage. "Faster!"

"Master, if we go any faster, the carriage will jolt too badly. How could you endure it?" the driver advised.

Huang Shiren snapped, "What I say goes! Hurry up and pick up the pace!"

Helpless, the driver cracked his whip and urged the horses to run faster.

The fine horses pulling the carriage let out painful neighs and surged down the road, making the carriage lurch wildly. Huang Shiren was jolted until he felt like vomiting.

But thinking of Lord River God's grand plan, Huang Shiren forcefully endured it. "Damned driver! I told you to go faster, and you toss your master around like this! I'll deal with you once we're back in the county seat!"

At the same time, inside Qingxuan Temple.

After seeing Huang Shiren off, Tian Ming'an headed to the rear hall.

Within the rear hall, Jiang Sheng wore a robe of blue, his hair casually gathered into a Daoist topknot. He stood straight as bamboo.

His left hand rested behind his back while his right held a brush dipped in ink. As he swept the brush across the paper, the ink-soaked tip spread and bloomed upon the xuan paper, forming a landscape painting.

"Master," Tian Ming'an called softly.

Jiang Sheng did not slow his brush, his expression calm and unhurried. "He's gone?"

"Mhm," Tian Ming'an replied.

A faint smile touched Jiang Sheng's lips. "In the depths of winter, he climbed the mountain to burn incense and seek talismans. Lay Devotee Huang is truly devout."

Recalling Huang Shiren's behavior, Tian Ming'an said, "When Master Huang entered the front hall and saw the Patriarch's portrait, he was clearly afraid and guilty. After offering incense, he rushed out in a panic."

"That portrait was brought out of Penglai by your master. Though it possesses less than one ten-thousandth of the Patriarch's bearing, it can still see into one's nature and distinguish black from white," Jiang Sheng explained.

Tian Ming'an nodded thoughtfully. Then, seeing that Jiang Sheng did not wish to say more, he stood quietly to one side and watched his master paint the landscape.

When Jiang Sheng set down the final stroke, he blew out a breath of clear qi. The entire painting immediately gained a touch more spiritual vitality.

Looking over it, the rolling mountain ranges coiled like dragons, peaks layered upon peaks, with green pines and emerald bamboo. Beneath the mountains, the river flowed eastward; white waves crashed across its surface, carp leapt from the water, and the scene carried a majestic force.

Mountains and waters blended as one, extraordinary beyond measure.

As Tian Ming'an looked at the ink painting, he could not shake the feeling that it was far from ordinary.

Jiang Sheng tilted his head at his own work, then suddenly chuckled and rolled up the painting. "The Daoists say: 'If one's thoughts are wicked, then no amount of incense-burning will help; if one's heart is upright, what harm is there in not bowing before me?'"

"Lay Devotee Huang's belly is full of filth, yet he dared come test this poor Daoist. Does he not know he has delivered himself to my door?"

"Master," Tian Ming'an said, "that Master Huang must have long been secretly won over by the demon in the river, which is why he came to probe into your circumstances."

"But this disciple does not understand. Master Huang is already a renowned gentryman in Qingshan County. His family owns fertile fields stretching in every direction and countless servants. It is said that every county magistrate throughout the years has treated the Huang family with great respect."

"Why would he still worship demons?"

Jiang Sheng merely smiled. "The ravines of the human heart can never be filled. You have yet to master martial arts, yet do you not also think of cultivating qi?"

"When one is destitute, one longs for freedom from hunger and cold. Once clothed and fed, one longs for wedding candles in the bridal chamber. After wedding candles in the bridal chamber, one seeks success in the imperial examinations. And after earning a place on the golden list, one longs for high office and rich salary."

"Even a mere household servant hopes that when his master attains the Dao, the chickens and dogs will ascend to heaven with him. Lay Devotee Huang possesses a fortune worth hundreds of millions, so naturally he craves even more."

"Presumably, that demon promised him a legacy lasting ten thousand generations, promised him immortality, promised him attainment of the Dao and ascension as an immortal?"

As he spoke, even Jiang Sheng could not help shaking his head. "A snake trying to swallow an elephant out of insatiable greed. The more Lay Devotee Huang desires, the more thoroughly that demon will devour him."

"In the end, he will inevitably be skinned and stripped to the bone, eaten clean without a scrap left, until he has nothing at all."

With that, Jiang Sheng gazed through the doors and windows at the mountains beyond the temple. "There is not much time left until the River God Grand Sacrifice."

"For the next few days, your master must still his mind and calm his qi, drawing in the essence of the great sun to paint a fire talisman. You should recite scriptures and practice martial arts on your own. Do not let outsiders come disturb me again."

Tian Ming'an hurriedly agreed, though he was also curious. "Master, why are you suddenly expending such great effort to draw a single talisman?"

Jiang Sheng smiled. "Now everyone in Qingshan County says this poor Daoist is skilled in fire arts. For all we know, even the demon of the Taiping River believes this poor Daoist's fire arts have reached divine heights. If I cannot produce some impressive fire art, would that not be embarrassing?"

Tian Ming'an was somewhat bewildered. "Master, are you not truly skilled in fire arts? But that day, you drew down flames filling the sky and turned them into a dragon—"

As he spoke, Tian Ming'an suddenly froze.

He thought of how Jiang Sheng had never forbidden the gossip outside, even allowing rumors to spread everywhere. Recalling today's events, he suddenly understood why Jiang Sheng had permitted him to tell Huang Shiren everything he knew.

Everyone in Qingshan County said Daoist Jiang wielded marvelous fire arts, divine and transcendent.

But what if Daoist Jiang one day used some other kind of art...

Tian Ming'an stared at Jiang Sheng in astonishment. This master of his seemed to sit idly in the mountains, yet he had already seen through the whole board and held strategies long prepared in his heart. He was truly awe-inspiring!

Jiang Sheng smiled and waved Tian Ming'an away. Alone in the hall, he looked at the yellow talisman before him, his expression tranquil, his heart still as water.

The sun rose higher, hanging at the center of the sky and scattering threads of golden radiance. Though it was deep winter, the warm noon sunlight still brought a gentle warmth.

Jiang Sheng stirred his qi, drawing in strands of the blazing, intensely yang essence of the noonday sun. At the same time, the vermilion brush in his right hand moved lightly, pouring the dharma power within him into it as he traced an arcane mark across the talisman paper...

As the River God Grand Sacrifice drew closer, several more groups of visitors came to Qingxuan Temple.

First came the gentry of Qingshan County, petitioning Daoist Jiang Sheng to reconsider and stop the county magistrate from recklessly raising arms, so that he might save the people of Qingshan County from water and fire.

Then came large numbers of Qingshan County's common folk, desperately begging Daoist Jiang Sheng not to leave the mountain. Otherwise, should Lord River God fly into a rage, floods would sweep through Qingshan County, leaving living beings devastated and the people to suffer hardship.

Naturally, none of them could enter Qingxuan Temple. They could not even reach the mountainside before Tian Guofu and his men stopped them. He would not allow these people to disturb his grandson's studies under Daoist Jiang as he pursued the Dao and immortality.

Yet their weeping, shouting, and clamor still carried into the temple, truly irritating those within.

Afterward, County Magistrate Zhang Qingyun sent a letter asking Daoist Jiang Sheng to come down the mountain and discuss the matter of slaying demons and eliminating evil. But Jiang Sheng had not emerged from seclusion, so Tian Ming'an could only explain the situation.

Zhang Qingyun even climbed the mountain in person, intending to meet Jiang Sheng, but Tian Ming'an still stopped him outside the temple.

Even now, Tian Ming'an could not forget Zhang Qingyun's stunned, humiliated, and furious expression.

That alone would have been one thing, but Young Master Kongxu and Fairy Xu Xiao also came up the mountain hoping to meet Jiang Sheng.

After testing the waters, Young Master Kongxu had considered forcing his way in, but in the end, wary of Jiang Sheng's abilities, he left. Yet his face was filled with venomous resentment as he departed.

He increasingly felt that Jiang Sheng held everyone else in contempt. Now, despite coming in person, he could not even secure a meeting, blocked outside by a mere mortal boy of twelve with no cultivation at all. What kind of contempt was this?!

If Jiang Sheng had not been inside the temple, he truly would have wanted to kill the boy with a single stroke of his sword, extract his soul, refine his spirit, and thoroughly torment him for a hundred years!

Fairy Xu Xiao stated outright that she had to meet Jiang Sheng in person, claiming she had an important matter to discuss, yet Tian Ming'an still refused her entry.

Xu Xiao tried several times to persuade Tian Ming'an, but he remained planted before the temple gates, even assuming the stance of, "If you want to enter, step over my corpse."

In the end, Xu Xiao snorted coldly in furious frustration and left, clearly harboring resentment as well.

So many people wished to see Jiang Sheng but could not. Gradually, rumors began spreading through Qingshan County, saying that Daoist Jiang Sheng thought too highly of himself and disdained to concern himself with ordinary mortals.

Others said Daoist Jiang Sheng was cold-hearted, viewing Qingshan County's gentry and common folk as mere straw dogs, not caring in the least whether they lived or died.

There were even rumors that Jiang Sheng was deliberately sitting back and allowing Magistrate Zhang to bring about disaster, so that he could take the opportunity to harvest incense offerings and merit.

In the end, it became: all cultivators were no good, never treating mortals as people, taking whatever they wanted and doing as they pleased...

As the River God Grand Sacrifice approached, all manner of rumors mingled with earlier talk that the county magistrate intended to use the River God Grand Sacrifice to kill the River God and become a god himself, turning Qingshan County's more than two hundred thousand residents into his slaves.

Panic continued to spread. Hearts fell into chaos, and demons danced.

Jiang Sheng knew all of this, but he did not care in the slightest. He was immersed in drawing talismans.

Though Jiang Sheng could only draw a few strokes each day at noon, as time passed, the vermilion marks upon the yellow talisman became increasingly clear and gradually took shape.

On yet another day, Jiang Sheng once more drew down the essence of the great sun and gathered it together with his own dharma power upon the talisman paper. As he completed the final strokes, the breaths across the talisman connected, spiritual vitality stirred, and cloud-script resembling both fire and dragon danced lightly onto its surface.

Merely looking at it gave one the feeling of blazing fire spanning the sky, of peerless domineering yang strength and unyielding force.

Though Jiang Sheng looked somewhat weary, a faint smile lingered in his eyes. Looking at the six-inch yellow talisman before him, he softly chanted:

"Beneath Qingping Mountain, the river flows east; mortals trouble themselves over west winds."

"Though frost joins northern snow, southern light arrives to burn the river dragon!"

The grand play takes the stage, and the cast makes its entrance. When demons run rampant, knights descend the mountain; when flood dragons commit evil, Daoists slay dragons. Lin Yuan wishes to join you, honored lords, in slaying the River God and plotting a great undertaking together! All that is needed now are a few monthly votes, recommendation votes, rewards, and bookmarks to lend your support!

(End of this chapter)