Enemies Meet, Killing Intent Arose

When Grandpa returned, Chen Shi was already asleep. After being threatened by Chen Shi, Black Pot had become exceptionally alert and hurriedly wagged his tail as he went up to greet him.

"Asleep?"

Grandpa sat down beside the bonfire, added a few sticks of firewood, and looked at the sleeping Chen Shi. His body relaxed.

"Chen Yindu, you truly are old, but you can still hold on!"

He stared at the dancing flames. His icy body seemed unable to feel any warmth at all.

"Chen Yindu, you can hold on until he grows up!"

Grandpa exhaled a faint, chilling breath, making the flames shrink considerably.

"If one day you can no longer hold on, then you can only kill him with your own hands and take him with you to the underworld. You must never leave him alive to bring calamity upon the common people!"

Lost in his thoughts, he too fell asleep after a while.

At dawn, Chen Shi's cries of amazement came from outside the temple. The small hill where they had sheltered the night before had somehow grown overnight into a mountain more than a hundred zhang tall!

And the ruined temple happened to stand right atop the peak!

"There are as many strange things in the Western Ox Continent as hairs on an ox. What is there to be surprised about?" Grandpa was building a fire and cooking inside the temple, deeply disdainful of the boy's loss of composure.

Chen Shi flattered him against his true feelings. "Grandpa has seen much and knows much. You must know a great deal. Why did this temple appear here? Why were the temple and mountain buried underground? Who built this temple, and who buried it? Where have those people gone now? Why did this temple and mountain grow out of the ground at this particular time? Is this related to the appearance of the malignant spirits? Is it related to the sun setting a quarter-hour early?"

Grandpa thought for a moment. "Double your medicine tonight."

Chen Shi obediently shut his mouth and returned to the temple to begin his morning cultivation.

He activated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art when two other unfamiliar forces suddenly surged toward him. They became golden and silver specks of light in the air and poured into his body!

Chen Shi was utterly astonished. The golden force was like blazing fire, carrying scorching heat into his body and igniting his vital energy, making the tempering of his flesh far more efficient!

The silver force, meanwhile, was like flowing water—calm and cold. It happened to counter the scorching heat, preventing it from harming his body.

These two forces were more vast than starlight power. Working together, they tempered the body far faster than starlight power alone!

"Could these be the Sunlight Righteous Qi and Moonlight Righteous Qi within the Three Lights Righteous Qi?"

Chen Shi was puzzled. In the past, he had never sensed Sunlight Righteous Qi or Moonlight Righteous Qi while cultivating. Why could he absorb these two kinds of righteous qi today?

Moreover, it was daytime. This was when the True God from Beyond the Heavens closed the vertical eye between its brows. There was no moon at this time, so where did the moonlight come from?

His heart stirred. He stepped outside the temple, and the Sun-Moon Righteous Qi immediately vanished.

Chen Shi returned to the temple, and golden and silver specks drifted toward him like snowflakes. The Three Lights Righteous Qi Art operated at full force.

"Why can I only absorb the essence of sun and moon inside this ruined temple?"

Chen Shi was even more confused. He glanced at Grandpa, who was still tending the fire and cooking, but remembering that his medicine dosage would be doubled, he did not ask.

Even if he asked, Grandpa probably would not know.

"I once guessed that the moon and sun of the True King Era might not be the same moon and sun as those of today. Back then, one could gather the essence of sun and moon and cultivate Three Lights Righteous Qi. If my guess is correct..."

Chen Shi's expression turned strange. He steadied himself and murmured, "If my guess is correct, then the heaven and earth inside this temple are not the same heaven and earth as outside!"

He drew a long breath and raised his head to look at the sky beyond the temple.

The sky was clear and blue, dotted with puffs of white cloud.

He walked outside and looked up. The blue sky was profound enough to reveal outer space. White clouds drifted through it, with nothing else in sight.

The sky seen inside the temple was no different from the sky seen outside it.

"Was I wrong?"

Chen Shi scratched his head. He simply stopped thinking about it and returned to the temple to continue cultivating.

Cultivating all three kinds of righteous qi together made his progress much faster than before. His bones, flesh, tendons, and membranes became tougher and tougher, his qi and blood more vigorous, and his internal organs stronger.

Only when Grandpa had finished cooking and called him several times did Chen Shi reluctantly stop cultivating.

After the Moon Festival, I must come often to cultivate at this ruined temple in the wilderness!

After breakfast, grandfather and grandson did not return to Huangpo Village. Instead, they headed for the next village, intending to sell more talismans during the Moon Festival and earn more money.

The Moon Festival lasted three days in total. On the afternoon of the third day, they arrived at Yandang Village. Yandang Village's Godmother was a stone statue more than a zhang tall. Hands grew from the statue's eyes, and eyes grew from those hands. It was exceedingly bizarre.

The houses of Yandang Village had been built in circles around that stone statue.

Yandang Village was near Shuinui County, only a little over twenty li away, but it was more than two hundred li from Xinxiang County. Thus, people around Yandang Village usually went to Shuinui County for the market, while the nobles and dignitaries of Shuinui County often came near Yandang Village for spring outings—nothing more than pleasure and hunting.

There was not much business left that afternoon. Grandpa went to buy medicinal herbs, while Chen Shi sat idly behind the stall. Then he heard someone ask, "Do you have Peach Blossom Talismans?"

Chen Shi perked up and smiled. "Yes, yes!"

The newcomer was an Imperial Guard in a red horse-face skirt. He was not old, only around twenty, shrewd and capable-looking, though the dark circles around his eyes suggested that drink and women had hollowed out his body.

"How many do you have?" the man asked.

Chen Shi counted them. "Three left."

Peach Blossom Talismans were the best-selling talismans. Young men and women often bought them to wear close to their bodies in hopes of winning the hearts of the opposite sex. The talismans truly could greatly improve one's chances with the opposite sex, so there were not many left.

"I'll take them all."

The Imperial Guard said, "But that still isn't enough. Are you a talisman master?"

Chen Shi hesitated, then nodded. Although he had no Divine Embryo and could not retain magical power, he could still draw talismans as long as he activated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art.

"Come with me and draw more Peach Blossom Talismans on the spot!"

Chen Shi was still hesitating when the Imperial Guard tossed him a large silver ingot—a horseshoe ingot. It weighed a full fifty taels.

It was the first time Chen Shi had seen such a large piece of silver. He immediately took out his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, packed them into his bookcase, called Black Pot over, and asked, "Where am I drawing them?"

The Imperial Guard glanced at Black Pot, somewhat surprised. "Come with me."

Chen Shi slung the bookcase over his back and followed him. They headed out of the village, but the road led into the mountains. Chen Shi asked in confusion, "Young Master, where are we going?"

The Imperial Guard smiled. "Don't call me Young Master. My name is Li Guang, and I serve my Young Master. Of course we're going into the mountains. My Young Master is hunting in the hills and has already set up camp. He wants to win the hearts of several young ladies, so he needs Peach Blossom Talismans."

"I see."

Chen Shi came to a sudden realization. "May I ask your Young Master's name? So that when I see him later, I won't be disrespectful."

Li Guang of the Imperial Guard said, "My Young Master's surname is Li. He comes from a prominent family in Shuinui County."

Chen Shi's eyelids twitched wildly, and his heart began pounding violently. His voice grew hoarse without him realizing it. "The Li Family of Shuinui County? Could this Young Master Li be Scholar Li, Li Xiaoding?"

His voice trembled slightly.

Fortunately, Li Guang did not notice. He asked, "You've heard of my Young Master?"

Chen Shi hurriedly steadied his emotions and lowered his head. "Young Master Li took first place in the provincial examination. Who has not heard of him? Who does not know of him?"

Li Guang burst into laughter. "My Young Master did fairly well on the exam, but his true ability... heh heh, it is nothing more than being born well."

Chen Shi's heart was still pounding, blood buzzing as it rushed to his head.

Li Xiaoding of Shuinui County was precisely the Young Master Li mentioned by Second Miss Zhao, the woman in purple—the one who had taken his Divine Embryo and reduced him to a cripple!

He had originally ranked first among the Fifty Provinces in the County Examination and possessed a bright future, only to be ambushed by experts of the Li Family. They pried open his skull and stole his Divine Embryo!

From then on, Young Master Li soared to great heights, while he became a cripple. Every day, he drank medicine and soaked in medicinal baths, enduring the pain of Ghost Hand Squeezing Heart from time to time. Even his father, Chen Tang, no longer acknowledged him as a son!

He had even forgotten all his previous memories. He did not even know who his mother was!

These days, he had thought countless times of revenge, of tearing this Young Master Li into ten thousand pieces. Now, the chance for revenge had finally come! But I am still a cripple. I have no true qi and cannot use spells... Yet Grandpa said my physique is already strong enough to defeat constables in the Divine Embryo Realm. As long as I do not give them a chance to use spells, I may be able to kill Young Master Li!

A fierce, violent aura surged up within Chen Shi, but unease still remained in his heart. Can I truly kill a cultivator in the Divine Embryo Realm?

He had cultivated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art these past days, yet he did not know exactly how far he had progressed. He truly had no confidence in whether he could kill Li Xiaoding.

Before he knew it, he had followed Li Guang into the mountains.

Li Xiaoding and the others had chosen a campsite nestled against mountains and water, enclosed by three mountains. A stream of water poured from between the mountains, larger than a creek but not enough to be called a river.

The first things to greet his eyes were four yurts—three white and one yellow—and four fine horses.

Three Imperial Guards had removed their outer garments, leaving only their undershirts. They were digging trenches and setting up chevaux-de-frise, clearly intending to build a small camp and spend the night in the mountains.

They used spells to fell trees and strip away their branches. Chen Shi saw faint arcs of light flash through the air, nearly too fast to see. He could only see the air trembling faintly before trees as thick as washbasins came crashing down. His heart turned cold.

Grandpa was right. If I face a spell, I'll die in a single move.

The path of a spell could not be seen, making it impossible to evade.

Two more Imperial Guards were setting up a barbecue stand and arranging some fruit.

Another Imperial Guard was fiddling with a weapons rack, upon which lay short blades, long spears, bows, crossbows, and other weapons.

Several reclining chairs stood before the yellow yurt, with a parasol overhead to block the sunlight.

On the middle reclining chair lay a young man with his robe open at the chest. He was plump and round, weighing more than two hundred jin. He wore a blue scholar's robe, half undone, with a white inner garment beneath it, also opened to reveal snowy-white fat.

"He must be Young Master Li, Li Xiaoding!"

Chen Shi's eyelids twitched. This camp was not large. The three Imperial Guards setting up the chevaux-de-frise were only three zhang from Li Xiaoding. The two by the barbecue stand were merely one zhang and six or seven chi away. The Imperial Guard beside the weapons rack was even closer, less than one zhang away.

Six Imperial Guards, plus the one who had led him here—seven in total.

Seven people capable of killing him in one move!

The moment any of those seven used a spell, he would die!

"Young Master, the talisman master is here." Li Guang bowed with a smile. "There were not many Peach Blossom Talismans, so I took it upon myself to bring him to the camp to draw them here."

Chen Shi's heart thudded wildly. He kept his head lowered, afraid Li Xiaoding would recognize him.

After all, Li Xiaoding was the one who had dug out his Divine Embryo.

The potbellied Li Xiaoding raised his head. Seeing that the talisman master was merely a boy of ten or so, he was rather surprised. Then his gaze fell upon Black Pot behind Chen Shi, and he said in surprise, "There's even a dog! Here, here! Come over!"

Black Pot wagged his tail, lowered his head, and shamelessly trotted over to Li Xiaoding's side.

Li Xiaoding tossed him a piece of meat. With his head pressed close to the ground and a fawning grin all over his face, Black Pot wagged his tail furiously in utter ingratiation.

"This dog is good!" Li Xiaoding laughed heartily, completely ignoring Chen Shi.

Chen Shi relaxed, yet anger rose within him as well. Li Xiaoding had not recognized him, which clearly meant he had never seen him before.

A child of such a powerful and influential family had no need to know the pitiful wretch whose Divine Embryo he had stolen. He only needed to enjoy the benefits brought by the Divine Embryo. Trifling matters like stealing another person's Divine Embryo were naturally handled by others.

Li Guang led Chen Shi to a table nearby, one zhang and eight or nine chi from Li Xiaoding. "Draw here. Draw twenty. Young Master, will twenty be enough?"

Li Xiaoding smiled. "The more, the better! Several young ladies from the Ding and Zhao Families of the neighboring county have also camped nearby. If I can win their favor, my position in the Li Family will rise greatly. Besides, those little women of the Ding and Zhao Families are seductive as hell. They make my heart itch. No matter what, I have to take every last one of them!"

He sat up, stroked Black Pot's head, and laughed. "You will get your share too. Give the extra Peach Blossom Talismans to them. As for the maids of the Zhao and Ding Families, take them down if you can!"

Hearing this, the Imperial Guards all burst into laughter and worked even harder.

Chen Shi set down his bookcase, took out his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and spread them out. His state of mind settled considerably.

These seven Imperial Guards had unsteady steps and weak breath. All had been hollowed out by drink and women. Though they possessed the means to kill Chen Shi in a single strike, they had lost the vigilance expected of guards!

Chen Shi had followed Grandpa through the forests for years and seen many fierce beasts. Those beasts were calm and composed, their bodies relaxed yet always ready to erupt with a fatal blow!

But these seven Imperial Guards were far too relaxed. They possessed none of a fierce beast's vigilance.

Chen Shi even felt that he could take down any one of them whenever he wished!

"At such close range, I can reach Li Xiaoding in two steps and kill him in a single move!"

Chen Shi looked around and dismissed the thought.

After killing Li Xiaoding, he would not have time to flee before the seven Imperial Guards blasted him to death with spells.

Suddenly, a bold thought rose in his heart. If killing Li Xiaoding means the other seven will kill me, then what if I kill all seven Imperial Guards too?