Wild God Dojo, Scroll Fairy

The moment he passed through the silk of the painting, it felt like stepping through a curtain of cold water.

Su Ding'an felt his body grow light, then his feet sank, and when he opened his eyes again, he was already standing on unfamiliar ground.

Lu Yuan did not speak, observing his surroundings without leaving a trace.

The sky was a hazy gray, devoid of sun, moon, or stars, filled only with a uniform, deathly pallor.

Beneath his feet lay a bluestone path lined with stone lanterns; though there was no fire within them, they emitted a faint, chilling glow.

In the distance, there were mountains, water, pavilions, and winding corridors, all rendered in shades of gray and white, as if sketched by an ink brush.

"My lord, is this the inside of the seal?"

Su Ding'an's tone was filled with shock.

The stone slabs beneath his feet, the chill in the air, and even the mist drifting between the distant mountains.

Everything before his eyes did not look like a painting; it felt entirely real.

Lu Yuan looked toward a hall in the distance.

"Be careful. We don't know what state that thing is in now. If there is any movement, you had best stay far away!"

Lu Yuan looked cautious as he and Su Ding'an walked forward along the bluestone path.

Su Ding'an took the opportunity to raise the Demon-Revealing Mirror, sweeping it around the area.

In the mirror's surface, the hazy sky rippled like water disturbed by a thrown stone.

The distant mountains, water, and pavilions twisted within the glass, shedding their gray-white hue to reveal their true forms.

The mountains were runes, the water was a restriction, and the pavilions were all nodes of an interwoven array.

Su Ding'an gasped, hurriedly aiming the mirror toward the distance.

As the hall entered the frame, golden light flickered on the mirror's surface, and four large characters appeared.

Scroll Dojo!

"Scroll Dojo? It seems the one sealed here is the Scroll Fairy."

As his voice fell, several lines of small text appeared on the mirror, recording information about the Scroll Fairy.

It was essentially an ancient painting that had cultivated into a spirit, eventually becoming a Wild God after long years of receiving incense and wish-power.

According to the records of the Demon Suppression Bureau, there were two types of gods in this world.

One type was the Orthodox God, enfeoffed by the Great Gan imperial court, entered into the sacrificial rites, enjoying incense, and protecting the land—such as the City God, the Earth God, and the Mountain and River God.

The authority of an Orthodox God was granted by the Heavenly Dao; they would not harm people, nor would they dare to.

With the Heavenly Dao above and the imperial court below, they could afford to offend neither.

The other type was the Wild God, whose origins were quite varied.

Mountain spirits and wild monsters that gained power, or ancient objects that became sentient and were worshipped, gathering wish-power through incense to manifest.

The imperial court did not recognize these beings, and the Heavenly Dao did not claim them; they were left to their own devices.

If they behaved well and protected the peace of a region, the imperial court would turn a blind eye.

If they behaved poorly, like this Scroll Fairy, they would gather followers and commit many heinous acts.

Later, the Great Gan Demon Suppression Bureau investigated thoroughly and uprooted them entirely.

The dojo was burned, the golden body smashed, and the followers dispersed.

At the very bottom of the mirror, a line of text remained:

The divine soul has been extinguished, the foundation destroyed; no longer a threat.

But looking at it now, that statement had been made far too early.

Su Ding'an swallowed hard, tucked the mirror back into his robes, and trotted to catch up with Lu Yuan.

"My lord, this Scroll Fairy was a Wild God who received incense. The Demon Suppression Bureau wiped it out back in the days of the founding emperor, but it seems it escaped that disaster!"

Lu Yuan nodded, his gaze sweeping the surroundings as he kept walking.

"So that thing must be hiding somewhere, nursing its grudge and waiting to ambush us."

"Keep your eyes sharp. Once you find its hiding place, kill it on the spot!"

After walking along the bluestone path, they finally arrived at the hall.

The hall was not large, spanning three bays with gray tiles and white walls.

A plaque hung above the lintel, inscribed with the four ancient characters: "Scroll Dojo."

The door was open, emitting a faint, cold light from within, where human silhouettes could vaguely be seen.

Lu Yuan slowed his pace and stepped over the threshold.

When he saw the scene inside the hall, Su Ding'an's pupils shrank violently.

In the center of the hall, more than forty mummified corpses were kneeling on the ground.

They maintained a posture of worship, knees on the floor, upper bodies prostrate, foreheads pressed against the stone slabs.

He reached his hand forward, his withered fingers slightly curled in a gesture of offering.

Judging by the texture of their clothing, these mummified corpses included masters and servants, men and women, the old and the young.

They were all kneeling in the same direction—

Toward the deepest part of the hall, where a clay statue sat enthroned upon a stone dais.

The statue was over a person's height, depicting a woman with a long dress trailing on the ground and a blurred face.

It was not the kind of blur caused by the erosion of time, but rather that the sculptor had deliberately left the features undefined, leaving only a silhouette.

Yet, the lines of that silhouette were soft and fluid; even without clear facial features, one could sense an indescribable charm.

In front of the clay statue sat an incense burner, its ashes long cold.

On either side of the burner stood a pair of eternal lamps, their oil completely exhausted.

Su Ding'an stared at the mummified corpses for a long time before suddenly speaking, "My lord, these are all members of the Shen Family!"

"The one at the very front is Shen Huaishan, beside him is his wife, and behind them are the steward, the maids, and the servants—not a single one is missing; they are all here!"

As he said this, his eyelids twitched violently.

"The people of the Shen Family were not killed by Shen Yulou; it was the Scroll Fairy!"

"Shen Yulou was nothing more than a blade, a mere smokescreen!"

His expression grew grave as he scanned the hall, looking at the murals, the incense burner, and the clay statue...

"The Scroll Fairy, it really is it! The entire Shen Family was harmed by it!"

"When the Demon Suppression Bureau wiped out the Wild Gods back then, it not only escaped the catastrophe but was sealed within this scroll, using the clay statue as a vessel, waiting for a chance to make a comeback."

Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the mummified corpses before he stepped toward the clay statue on the stone dais.

"My lord, be extremely careful!"

Su Ding'an stood behind, his eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings as a strong sense of unease rose from the bottom of his heart.

Lu Yuan stood before the clay statue, looking up at its blurred face as golden light flickered in the depths of his pupils.

Inside the clay statue, a mass of black energy was curled up, wrapped in wisps of residual threads, as if it had fallen into a deep slumber.

It was indeed not dead.

It was playing dead.

Lu Yuan did not hesitate; he raised his hand and fired a Crystal Spike, aiming it straight at the center of the statue's brow.

Just then, the clay statue moved.

Two cold lights suddenly ignited in the depths of its blurred eye sockets, and the surface began to crack, fissures spreading across its entire body as chunks of clay fell away with a rustling sound.

A thick, suffocating demonic power surged out from beneath the cracks.

As the Crystal Spike struck, the clay statue exploded with a roar.

A voice filled with shock and fury rang out.

"You wretch! How dare you disturb my peace!"

A figure rose from the debris, hovering in mid-air.

Unlike the Lady from before, she stood high above, wearing a long ink-colored dress that cascaded like a waterfall, with golden patterns flowing across the hem.

She looked at Lu Yuan, her eyes devoid of anger or fear, filled instead with a condescending scrutiny.

Her voice was calm and indifferent, like a deity looking down upon an ant.

"The Great Gan Demon Suppression Bureau? My lineage has already been destroyed by you once; must you insist on exterminating me completely?"

As she finished speaking, her brows furrowed slightly, and her gaze quickly locked onto Lu Yuan.

"There is killing intent on you!"

"You want to kill me?!"