Heaven Mending Pavilion

Shu Prefecture, at the southernmost edge of the Human Realm, was known as the Million Great Mountains before the Hundred Sages Reform Heaven.

Since ancient times, hidden sages had emerged from deep mountains and vast marshes.

Shu Prefecture had always produced powerful figures in abundance. Several sacred lands that spanned antiquity to the present and still blazed like the noonday sun had originated here. The Heaven Mending Pavilion Lin Huang intended to visit was one such sacred land that had once illuminated the ages.

The Heaven Mending Pavilion claimed that a single scripture could mend the azure heavens. Its lineage was said to have been passed down from the Earth Sovereign's branch, though whether that was true was no longer knowable. After all, no one had the courage to ascend straight into the Ninth Heaven and ask the Earth Sovereign seated high upon the divine throne.

However, the Heaven Mending Pavilion's Heaven Mending Secret Technique was indeed a supreme art ranked among the top hundred on the Divine Arts and Skills Ranking of the Dream God Realm.

Lin Huang's target was the Heaven Mending Secret Technique.

"Come one, come all, take a look! For just one hundred Crystal Coins, you can tour the sacred land ruins of the Heaven Mending Pavilion, and receive an Enlightenment Stone as a gift..."

The one shouting her heart out was a sweet and guileless-looking girl, around sixteen or seventeen years old. She was pretty, with a touch of baby fat that made her even more adorable. Though it was already winter, the wisps of hair on her forehead had been soaked through with sweat.

"Xiao Meng, stop shouting. Come on, let's go back. If Master finds out, he'll scold us to death." The dark-skinned boy beside her seemed rather embarrassed. His dark face flushed as he snatched the flyers from the girl's hands and spoke urgently.

"Third Senior Brother. The rise and fall of the Daoist Temple is everyone's responsibility. Hurry, hand out flyers with me."

"No. This is too embarrassing. Go back now, or I'll tell Master."

The boy and girl could not settle their dispute. Deep in thought, Lin Huang picked up a flyer that someone had casually tossed onto the ground. He rubbed it between his fingers, glanced at the arguing pair, and a faint smile rose at his lips. "It seems the Heaven Mending Pavilion is in worse straits than I imagined. That's truly good news."

After muttering those words, Lin Huang strode toward them.

"Stop arguing. Someone's coming." The girl called Xiao Meng noticed Lin Huang approaching. No longer bothering to argue with her senior brother, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and forced a sweet smile. "Handsome guy, handsome guy. Want a tour? A one-day trip to the Heaven Mending Pavilion ruins, plus an Enlightenment Stone as a gift, for only one hundred Crystal Coins."

Lin Huang nodded, said nothing more, and handed over one hundred Crystal Coins. "Lead the way."

"Yes!" Yu Xiaomeng clapped her hands excitedly and accepted the Crystal Coins. After thinking for a moment, her adorable little face scrunched into a frown. "Wait, just wait a little longer. We only need three more people before we can set off."

Lin Huang glanced at Yu Xiaomeng, then took out another three hundred Crystal Coins. "Can you lead the way now?"

"That's not what I meant. It's just, it's just..." Yu Xiaomeng became flustered, unsure whether she should accept them or return them.

"I'm in a hurry. Thank you." Lin Huang's brows drew together slightly.

"Then... all right." Somewhat reluctantly, Yu Xiaomeng returned the three hundred Crystal Coins to Lin Huang, then said to the dark-skinned boy, "Third Senior Brother, you stay here and hand out flyers. I'll take this handsome guy to the Daoist Temple first."

"Xiao Meng." The dark-skinned boy nervously grabbed Yu Xiaomeng. "How can you bring someone of unknown background back to the Daoist Temple? What if he's a bad person?"

"He won't be." Yu Xiaomeng lowered her voice. "Look at how scholarly and frail he is. He probably can't even beat me. When I handle things, you can rest easy. Let's go."

Following behind Yu Xiaomeng, Lin Huang boarded the Crystal Energy Vehicle. He quietly sorted through the plan he had prepared beforehand. His silence throughout the journey made the outgoing Yu Xiaomeng unable to bear it any longer.

"You're a student, right? Here to tour Shu Prefecture?"

Lin Huang did not react.

"Shu Prefecture is a land blessed by heaven. There are so many famous sights and historic sites, like Mountain Weir, the Nine-Bend Array, the Cloud Mountain Statue, Great Gate Stone Fire..."

"Of course, the sacred land ruins of our Heaven Mending Pavilion are famous too. You must have heard of the Heaven Mending Pavilion..."

Since Lin Huang did not speak, Yu Xiaomeng continued talking to herself. Since she had decided to use open tourism to increase the Daoist Temple's income, she felt she ought to fulfill her duty as a guide. Only then would she be worthy of the hundred Crystal Coins Lin Huang had paid.

"...Don't judge our Daoist Temple by how it looks now. If you went back a thousand years, we were one of the Ten Great Sacred Lands of the Human Realm, renowned far and wide. If not for the Three Realms War a thousand years ago, when several of our Heaven Mending Pavilion's patriarchs fell..."

"...But even a dead camel is bigger than a horse. Don't be fooled by how Celestial Academy and Taiyi Sect strut about as though they could reach the heavens. Once they come to our Daoist Temple, they still have to behave themselves. Our grand patriarch is a Demigod..."

"I know," Lin Huang suddenly said, startling Yu Xiaomeng.

"Bu Tianque. A human Demigod. He went to the Fire God Realm five hundred years ago, supposedly to search for the legacy left behind by the Heaven Mending Pavilion's patriarchs. His whereabouts are unknown, and he has yet to return."

Yu Xiaomeng's eyes widened. She scrutinized Lin Huang from head to toe with suspicion, wariness rising in her heart.

"That's the Heaven Mending Pavilion?!"

Surrounded by mountains, with peaks rising one after another, it was possible to vaguely make out pavilions, terraces, and waterside halls amid the clouds and mist. Divine cranes danced in flight, while divine deer wandered at leisure.

"It has already declined to the point where the defensive Divine Array can only support the main peak?"

Lin Huang's soul was as powerful as a Saint's. The moment he stepped out of the vehicle, he sensed the Heaven Mending Pavilion's current state.

Lin Huang had investigated beforehand. The Heaven Mending Pavilion's defensive Divine Array was called the Nangong Star-Dou Array. It should originally have formed a spectacle of stars paying homage to the moon, but it was now obvious that every peak apart from the main one had fallen into desolation.

"This way, please. This way. I said we're touring the ruins. We're not going to the main peak."

Lin Huang did not move. With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked toward the main peak.

Yu Xiaomeng's heart skipped a beat. She immediately realized she had let a wolf into the house. This man had come for the main peak from the start.

"Hehe, sorry. The main peak is where our Daoist Temple is located, so it isn't open to visitors..."

"Xiao Meng. Let him come up." An aged voice drifted down from the mountain.

Yu Xiaomeng froze, then cried out, "Master. I..."

She wanted to say something, yet did not know what to say. She could only glare fiercely at Lin Huang before stepping forward to lead the way. As they walked, she threatened him in a low voice, "Behave yourself. My master is a Marquis-Sealing expert of the upper stage."

Lin Huang said nothing. With his hands behind his back, he walked up to the Heaven Mending Pavilion.

By the time they reached the main hall, someone had already prepared tea and was waiting. He had white hair and white brows, frail and decrepit, as though he might die at any moment. Yet in Lin Huang's perception, that seemingly withered body brimmed with vital blood energy, like the Greater Yang itself. Lin Huang immediately knew that this was the Heaven Mending Pavilion's current pavilion master, Bu Kurong, an upper-stage Marquis-Sealing expert.

"Three Gods, Seven Saints, Nine Kings. What a pity—each generation is worse than the last."

His gaze passing over Bu Kurong, Lin Huang looked across the statues of the Heaven Mending Pavilion's past pavilion masters in the main hall and suddenly sighed.

Those words instantly made Yu Xiaomeng leap up like a cat with its fur standing on end.

"Xiao Meng, go find your Third Senior Brother." Bu Kurong waved Yu Xiaomeng away. His gaze remained calm, as if he had not heard Lin Huang's harsh words at all.

"Today, on a whim, this old man cast a divination. I learned that a guest would come from afar, so I prepared tea in advance. Please."

"I have long heard that the Heaven Mending Pavilion's Three-Deficiency Tea is peerless. This is perfect."

Lin Huang laughed and, without ceremony, lifted the fragrant tea placed across Bu Kurong's knees. This was a dangerous move. So long as Bu Kurong had a single thought, he could use the momentum to behead Lin Huang.

Yet Lin Huang acted with complete ease, as though he did not know that Bu Kurong could take his life with a mere thought.

Bu Kurong's eyelids twitched, and his fingers moved slightly. In the end, however, he did nothing, merely watching Lin Huang drink the tea in one gulp.

"Excellent tea. Its reputation is well deserved." Lin Huang praised it, then went straight to the point. "I want the Heaven Mending Secret Technique."