Earth Mother's Envoy

The night was deep, and miasma drifted slowly above the swamp.

Shen Qingzhou made no sound as he landed on a small hill outside the village.

He did not return to Sunken-Sand Fort.

That place was wrong through and through. Rather than return to that cage where he could not tell friend from foe, he might as well stay outside.

He stared down at the bare-chested strongmen below, watching them temper their strength in the crudest way possible.

The sun was about to sink below the swampy horizon, and the training here was nearing its end as well.

The young man called Shitou had just returned from hunting. He dropped a stone weight the size of a millstone and let out a long breath, mud and sweat streaming down his bronze skin.

When his wife handed him a waterskin, her eyes were full of worry. Shen Qingzhou saw it all clearly from above.

"Hubby, does your arm still hurt?"

"It's fine now. I ate the mud pill the shaman gave me. One night's sleep and I'll be better. Earth Mother bestowed that stuff upon us—it really works."

Shitou grinned, took the waterskin, and gulped down several mouthfuls. Then he casually ruffled his son's little head.

"Did Little Stone eat today?"

"I did, I did! Dad, look at my hand!"

The child, only a few years old, mimicked the adults. He strained his tiny arm with all his might, and an earthy-yellow mark flashed across it.

The woman tugged Shitou toward their home, keeping her head lowered as she muttered softly all the way.

"Save some strength. I went to the swamp's edge today. There are fewer and fewer blackfish in the water. In a few more days, it'll be time to send sacrifices to the shaman again..."

"What are you scared of? Earth Mother is watching over us."

Shitou patted his chest, utterly unconcerned.

"As long as we're strong and worship the gods diligently, we won't starve to death no matter what."

Back inside the house pieced together from black mud and animal bones, the woman lit an animal-fat lamp. Its dim yellow light illuminated the shabby room as she lowered her head to mend the torn fishing net.

"I heard Aunt Dagen next door say the shaman is choosing people again. She said Earth Mother wants to select the strongest ones to go enjoy a life of ease..."

"That's a blessing as big as the sky!"

Shitou was using a knife to slice dried beast meat. He did not even look up at those words.

"Being favored by the shaman is better than dying of sickness and hunger in this hole. What does a long-haired, short-sighted woman like you know?"

The woman's lips trembled twice. In the end, she said nothing, only sighed and placed the best piece of meat into her son's bowl.

She had only heard some frightening rumors, and unease kept gnawing at her heart. Yet she did not know how to explain it.

"What an ugly sight."

Shen Qingzhou withdrew his divine sense and cursed inwardly.

Ruthless. Truly ruthless.

What these villagers swallowed every day was not food bestowed by Earth Mother at all. They were medicinal pills kneaded from earth-element spiritual materials and Incense and Fire Prayer Power.

As they trained, the medicine's power spread through their bodies. Earthy-yellow rune bloodlines emerged beneath their skin, brightening and dimming with every breath.

Shen Qingzhou had discerned part of the truth.

This was a body-tempering method, and even more so a variant spell technique of the Wèi Earth path.

It looked as though it made ordinary people stronger, but in truth, it had long since secretly drained their fate and vital essence dry.

If I can complete and refine this thing, maybe I can use it myself, Shen Qingzhou mused.

He was a Talisman Master, after all. If he could imitate the cat while drawing the tiger and figure it out, perhaps this would become the first talisman he created himself.

The talismans Su Yu taught were certainly good, but they all belonged to the Kan Water Lineage. When he encountered spell techniques that clashed with them, he would inevitably suffer. It was always good to learn a few more tricks.

Shen Qingzhou was not here merely to learn a craft. He had also made up his mind to squat here until the real culprit came looking for him.

And sure enough, he got his wish.

That day, two young Rogue Cultivators in earthy-yellow Daoist robes rode the wind down before the village.

Neither of them had much cultivation. They looked to be around Qi Refining, Fifth Layer.

One of them headed toward the altar and pulled a palm-sized clay jar from his robes.

Facing the crudely made mud statue, the man muttered something under his breath.

Shen Qingzhou saw everything clearly from above. Threads of grayish-white smoke, nearly invisible to the naked eye, slowly seeped out from the mud statue.

The cultivator collected all that smoke into the jar.

It was Incense and Fire Prayer Power!

"Earth Mother's divine envoys have arrived!"

The village instantly erupted into chaos. Everyone threw aside what they were doing, their faces filled with reverence and fanaticism.

The villagers rushed forward and dropped to their knees before the pair. The old man leading the village trembled from head to toe with excitement.

The two Earth Spirit Sect disciples forced smiles onto their faces and went over to help the old man up, shouting loudly.

"Earth Mother knows all about your sincerity."

"Today, a great blessing has descended. The village will select those with the strongest bones to cultivate on the Divine Mountain. In the future, they will not only live forever, but also protect the village's men, women, young, and old."

The moment those words came out, the crowd below boiled like a pot exploding.

Shitou was pushed out from the crowd. He puffed out his chest and stood straight as a ramrod.

"Divine Envoys, choose me! I'm not afraid of hardship!"

His face flushed bright red with urgency as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

His wife held a toddler who had only just learned to walk and forced her way from the back of the crowd to the front.

The woman looked panicked, yet she did not dare defy the divine envoys. She could only grip her husband's arm with all her strength.

"Hubby..."

"Why are you crying? This is a blessing as big as the sky!"

Shitou grinned, flashing a mouthful of white teeth, and ruffled his child's head with one large hand.

"When I come back after learning immortal arts, I'll let you two live good lives!"

He tore free from his wife's grasp, strode up to the two Earth Spirit Sect disciples, and dropped to his knees with a solid kowtow.

"Thank you, Divine Envoys, for granting this!"

The whole village watched him eagerly. Shitou followed behind the two divine envoys, chin raised high as he strode out of the village in grand spirits.

Before leaving, he even turned around and looked back with delight.

"Wuu..."

His wife clutched the child and crumpled to the ground. In the end, she could not hold it in any longer. Covering her mouth, she wept uncontrollably.

She could not explain why herself, but her heart was pierced by unbearable pain.

Several villagers around her swarmed over to console her, though every word dripped with envy that her family was about to produce an immortal.

Shen Qingzhou, hidden in the distant shadows, shifted his feet and silently followed after them.

The two Earth Spirit Sect disciples did not lead Shitou very far. After circling around a mound of earth, they entered a valley concealed beneath a formation.

Several large temples and altars had actually been built in the valley, far grander than the one in the village.

Besides Shitou, more than a dozen burly men selected from other villages crowded the open ground.

Each was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted. At that moment, they were both eager and uneasy, waiting anxiously for their immortal opportunity to descend.

Before long, an Earth Spirit Sect cultivator at Qi Refining, Seventh Layer emerged from the largest ancient temple.

His gaze swept over the group of strongmen, and he nodded in satisfaction.

"Begin."

The instant he spoke, the two younger disciples stepped forward and led the strongmen one by one before the altar.

They made every one of them kneel and kowtow desperately to the statue, praying aloud.

Bzzzz—

The statue upon the altar suddenly flashed with a ring of earthy-yellow light.

The kneeling strongmen all took on crazed, vacant expressions, as though they had seen something astonishing beyond compare.

Threads of nearly invisible white smoke, mixed with the spiritual force of their thoughts, rose from the crowns of their heads and were completely sucked into the statue.

Shen Qingzhou lay atop the cliff wall, seeing every bit of the filthy scene below with perfect clarity.

As their Incense and Fire Prayer Power was forcibly drawn away, the madness on the strongmen's faces slowly faded. Their eyes became dull and hollow.

The little vitality they possessed was drained completely in just that short time.

And it was not over yet. The Qi Refining, Seventh Layer cultivator waved his hand.

Several disciples came up and dragged those boneless strongmen to their feet. Like dead pigs, they forcibly hauled them into the depths of the largest ancient temple.

Shen Qingzhou frowned. Keeping his entire body tucked in the rock's shadow without making the slightest sound, he slipped in along the edge.