Golden Fetters and Silver Locks

"Luoshu, can you complete this Immortal's Cloud Mica Pill formula?"

Having tasted its sweetness, Zhou Sheng immediately wanted to perform a Turtle Shell Divination.

After all, though this prescription was excellent, it could only be taken twice. Having experienced cultivation advancing a thousand miles in a single day, it became difficult to accept going back to grinding through the years.

What was more, the profession of a Ghost Opera Performer was far too unusual. They kept company with ghosts and gods all day long, like walking a tightrope beneath a pitch-black night sky. At any moment, they could fall into eternal damnation, and few met a good end.

Most Ghost Opera Performers were already considered remarkable if they lived past thirty.

And he was already twenty-one this year.

Therefore, he had to raise his Dao cultivation and strengthen his cultivation as quickly as possible. Taking medicine was undoubtedly an excellent choice.

Within his sea of consciousness, the Turtle Shell Luoshu gave a slight tremble. Light flickered, yet in the end, it failed to produce that golden flame of scorching heat.

This was a sign that it lacked the energy needed for divination.

Yet excitement shone in Zhou Sheng's eyes. That meant that, as long as he could store up enough energy for it, he could use Turtle Shell Divination to obtain the true Immortal's Cloud Mica Pill formula!

Luoshu's divinations could also fail, but failure came in two forms. One was being completely unable to divine something. For example, Zhou Sheng had once asked where he could find a Mysterious Skill Manual or Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

Luoshu had shown no reaction at all.

It seemed it could only divine matters that had already become connected to his real life.

The other kind of failed divination resulted from insufficient energy. Just like now, Luoshu trembled and streamed with light, attempting to condense golden flames, only to fail in the end.

That meant it could be divined, but he first needed to accumulate energy.

Zhou Sheng was already very satisfied.

The watered-down Immortal's Cloud Mica Pill formula was already this powerful. If its core portion had not been lost, what astonishing effects would it possess?

For a moment, his heart brimmed with drive.

However, Zhou Sheng also understood that haste made waste. He would have another chance to take the medicine in seven days, so there was no need to rush before then.

It seemed it was time to leave Yang City. But before leaving, he still had one place to visit.

"Esteemed guest, would you like something to eat?"

In the inn, the waiter saw Zhou Sheng coming downstairs and immediately stepped forward with an enthusiastic question.

He did not know whether it was an illusion, but he felt that this young man before him seemed to have changed somehow compared with last night.

It was impossible to explain, yet equally impossible to ignore.

"Waiter, I have long heard of Duke Lu's great name. I wish to offer incense to the City God. Do you know the way?"

"Heh, you've asked the right person. Our City God is truly efficacious. He is Duke Lu! I heard that when he was alive, he loved listening to Lord Bao Plays most of all, so every year on Duke Lu's birthday, the authorities invite an opera troupe to perform Lord Bao at the City God Temple..."

At the mention of that City God, the waiter's eyes filled with respect, and his words poured forth without end.

But a diner sneered. "If Duke Lu were really so efficacious, the opera troupe that performs for him every year wouldn't have had its stage shut down for over a month."

"Shen Jinhua was such a fine Green-Robed Actress. That voice, that figure—what a pity. I heard that when she was alive, she often paid out of her own pocket to aid orphans. How could such a good person receive no good reward?"

At that name, everyone else's expressions visibly changed.

"Shh, don't talk nonsense. I heard the troupe has been in terrible turmoil lately. Last night, when the stage broke, passersby seemed to hear... someone singing Dou E..."

Though it was afternoon and yang energy was abundant, the moment this matter was mentioned, the entire inn seemed to gain an extra trace of chill.

People shook their heads and hurriedly changed the subject.

Zhou Sheng did not linger. Following the direction given by the waiter, he soon found Yang City's City God Temple.

Its blue bricks were weathered and mottled, solemn and dignified. Incense never ceased in its three or five halls, while the stone steps at the entrance bore the kneeling marks of countless worshippers.

He did not enter at once. Instead, he waited quietly for a long while, only climbing the steps when dusk fell and the place had grown cold and deserted.

One toe was missing from the stone lion's paw at the gate. Moss stains spread over its body like splashed ink, and the hollow beneath the embroidered ball under its paw was stuffed with Copper Coins offered in prayer. They could clearly be taken with a mere reach of the hand, yet no one dared steal them.

As Zhou Sheng stepped forward, he felt, though he could not tell whether it was an illusion, that the stone lion's eyes seemed to be watching him.

An invisible pressure descended upon him, giving him an inexplicable sense of oppression, as if a vicious beast were silently watching him in the dark of night.

Ghost Opera Performers dealt with demons, ghosts, and evil entities all year round, and yin energy often clung to them. They could not easily enter temples, or they might disturb the ghosts and gods enshrined within.

Stone lions were inherently capable of suppressing evil. Having guarded the gates of the City God Temple for centuries and absorbed the living vigor of ten thousand people, they naturally possessed extraordinary divine power.

If an ordinary Fierce Ghost dared drift before the temple, there would be no need for Underworld Soldiers or ghost generals to act. It would first be buried beneath the lion's maw.

Had this been before he took the mica pill, he would have turned around and left at once. He probably would not even have made it past the stone lions at the entrance.

But now, he faced the pressure with his posture still straight and light, meeting the lion's eyes directly.

The surging heat in his Dantian poured into his eyes, making the eye technique he had practiced since childhood even sharper, like a treasured sword tempered for ten years, its cold gleam striking fear into the beholder.

The stone lion was subdued. It sensed that the person before it was not some demonic or filthy evil, but an expert who had truly cultivated Magic Power and possessed Dao cultivation.

The sensation of being watched by a vicious beast gradually faded.

Zhou Sheng stepped forward. Just as he was about to enter the hall, he paused slightly, then took a deep breath and strode in with determination.

The hall was not large, but it was properly arranged, clean, and tidy, with a heavy scent of sandalwood.

The most eye-catching sight was naturally the City God statue enshrined in the center. It wore an official's robes, and its features bore a seventy or eighty percent resemblance to the old man Zhou Sheng had seen last night.

Next were the City God's six generals.

They were Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and the Golden Shackles and Silver Locks Generals.

Black and White Impermanence and Ox-Head and Horse-Face were well known to the public, while fewer people knew of the Golden Shackles and Silver Locks Generals.

But in truth, these two generals were no simple figures.

They were also called the Fifth and Sixth Lords, specializing in apprehending the souls of those who committed great evil or bore exceptionally deep karmic burdens.

For instance, the Hegemon King who, according to legend, cut his own throat at Wujiang.

It was said that after Xiang Yu's death, his soul was too fierce and unyielding to be restrained. In the end, it was these two generals, wielding instruments of punishment, who completed his escort.

Zhou Sheng's gaze settled upon the Silver Locks General.

Because the other party seemed to be looking at him as well.

The bronze statue had a bristling beard and an enraged expression. It wore a golden circlet and blue robes, stood upon an evil ghost, and gripped a silver chain in its hand, binding the evil ghost's neck beneath its feet.

Through those eyes cast in bronze and iron, Zhou Sheng actually sensed a trace of emotion.

Bang!

The temple doors slammed shut. The interior immediately darkened, with only a few green lamps swaying in the wind, their flames illuminating the solemn and terrifying faces of the divine statues.

Clatter~

Zhou Sheng seemed to hear the sound of chains trembling. Then his vision blurred slightly, and he saw the chain binding the evil ghost slowly loosen.

Next, stone flakes fell away. Once freed from its restraints, the evil ghost beneath the Silver Locks General's feet instantly came alive, transforming into a Fierce Ghost with sinister fangs and a hideous, terrifying visage.

An exceedingly shrill cry pierced Zhou Sheng's ears. In an instant, a foul wind swept over him, and a stench struck him full in the face, like a corpse that had rotted for months.

Drowsiness rose within him, but fortunately, his Dao cultivation had improved considerably. With a surge of Magic Power, he immediately regained clarity.

This was actually a Fierce Ghost even more terrifying than Shen Jinhua!

But Zhou Sheng was no longer the man he had once been.

In the flash between lightning and flint, he stepped upon the positions of Qian, Kan, Gen, and Zhen. His feet shifted through the stellar dipper, his movements elusive and flickering, as if he traveled by Borrowing the East Wind, always evading the Fierce Ghost's attacks by a hair's breadth.

This was the Eight Trigrams Steps, the stellar pace Zhuge Liang used while performing Borrowing the East Wind. It contained the wonders of Qimen Dunjia. During the wind-summoning ritual, one had to light Seven Star Lamps in seven steps according to the drumbeats.

In the past, Zhou Sheng's Eight Trigrams Steps had never been sufficiently smooth or nimble. Now that he had taken the Mica Formula, his body was light and full, allowing him to move with both form and spirit, without falling into the commonplace.

Even as a ghostly entity, the Fierce Ghost could not touch even the corner of his clothes for a time.

After a moment, seeing that the Silver Locks General had still made no move, Zhou Sheng frowned slightly and took the initiative to stop.

"Since the general wishes to test my abilities, then I shall make a fool of myself."

He swept his sleeve over his face and, with the speed of lightning beyond the reach of the ears, pressed the Face Paint he had prepared in advance from within his sleeve onto his face.

When he revealed himself again, he had taken on another appearance.

Samadhi Fire marked his forehead, crimson phoenix-tail patterns spread across it.

Heaven and earth were fixed in a cross, his twin eyes severed right from wrong!

The next moment, his operatic voice rang like thunder and blazing fire, shaking even the green tiles upon the roof.

"Thunder and fire refine the hall, shattering the golden palace! I am—the Venerable Manifestation of the Great Unity Thunder Sound!"