Within Dai County, How Dare You Spout Such Wild Nonsense and Show Disrespect to Master Chen?!

In the days that followed.

Chen Jichuan kept the time he spent in the Liang World steady at six shichen each day.

That was to say—

He spent six shichen in reality, then another two hundred days in the Liang World.

In reality, both his internal and external martial arts had reached the sixth level. What remained was merely the slow work of grinding water through stone.

One or two shichen of daily training and refinement were more than enough.

Of the remaining four shichen, he set aside a small portion to cultivate the Grand Yin Body-Refining Method. With the rest of his time, Chen Jichuan could even wander about, using Far-Sight and Wind-Hearing in conjunction with the Insight Art to seek out Altered Humans hidden among the common folk.

This was to strengthen White Jade Capital and enrich his own "spell list."

Within the Liang World, Chen Jichuan devoted most of his energy to cultivating the Grand Yin Body-Refining Method, the Circle-Light Technique, the Form-Change Method, and the Five-Ghost Yin Soldier Method.

Even the simplest among these spells, the Form-Change Method, required two or three years just to begin changing one's appearance. To achieve mastery and transform at will required not only decades of bitter practice, but also observing every facet of human life and remembering the subtleties of countless faces, only then becoming able to take a thousand forms without being easily exposed.

Time flowed on.

One day.

Two days.

One month.

Two months.

One year.

Two years.

Time flew like a colt passing through a crack.

In the blink of an eye, another sixty-five years had passed.

It was now the Xianchun era.

Great Liang was setting like the sun in the west, growing ever more chaotic.

Sixty-six years earlier.

When Chen Jichuan had first arrived in Great Liang, it had still been the reign of Emperor Duzong. Emperor Duzong was licentious and without principle, bringing about natural and man-made calamities. The people could barely survive, while demons and monsters sprang up everywhere.

Great Liang had begun to show signs of decline.

Forty-two years ago, Emperor Guangzong Zheng Pu ascended the throne.

Zheng Pu possessed great talent and grand ambitions. He established the Martial Academy Office, the Monastic Registry Office, and the Daoist Registry Office, recruiting experts from across the land in hopes of setting the world aright and restoring an age of prosperity.

But Heaven did not grant him enough years.

Zheng Pu reigned for only six years before dying thirty-six years ago, at the age of merely thirty-nine.

After Emperor Guangzong.

Came the current emperor, Zheng Yun.

In his youth, Zheng Yun had possessed ambitions as great as those of his father, Emperor Guangzong. For the first five years, he took charge of court affairs; for the next ten, he exhausted heart and mind, selecting capable personnel from the Martial Academy Office, Monastic Registry Office, and Daoist Registry Office to establish the Night-Calming Office, intending to sweep away the darkness and return clarity to the world.

When the Night-Calming Office was first established.

Its effects had indeed been remarkable. Many spirits, ghost kings, wicked monks, and demon daoists had restrained themselves. Later, the Night-Calming Office absorbed fresh blood from the martial world and steadily grew stronger, its momentum unmatched for a time.

But good times did not last.

In the end, Zheng Yun had failed to escape the fate of being valiant in youth and muddleheaded in old age—

He had ascended the throne at twenty-six. More than ten years ago, he had suddenly felt his energy failing and his body weakening. Seeing that the imperial physicians were useless, certain Daoist masters from the Night-Calming Office and Daoist Registry Office exploited Zheng Yun's fear of death, beguiling him with the utterly fictitious Longevity Elixir.

This led Zheng Yun to "honor Daoism and suppress Buddhism." He placed both the Monastic Registry Office and Night-Calming Office beneath the Daoist Registry Office, under its control, and further appointed Qingyun Daoist, the Left Orthodox One of the Daoist Registry Office, as Grand State Preceptor.

For a time, his prestige had been unparalleled.

But this also provoked dissatisfaction among martial artists and Buddhist monks. Several martial Grandmasters and great Buddhist scholars within the Night-Calming Office departed one after another, while the Left and Right Directors of Goodness in the Monastic Registry Office also resigned alongside their disciples and followers.

In an age of turmoil, chaos multiplied.

Demons and monsters rose again.

With the Night-Calming Office greatly weakened and disturbances breaking out in all directions, demons, ghosts, and monsters were no longer suppressed. They gradually resurfaced, growing more and more rampant, with signs of surpassing even the days of Emperor Duzong.

The people of the time worried.

Their suffering was beyond endurance.

On this day.

Two monks came from the south. Upon reaching Wu Family Ravine in Dai County, Meishan Prefecture, they felt thirsty and entered the village to beg for a bowl of tea.

Suddenly, they heard children playing.

They turned to look.

They saw an old woman of seventy or eighty sitting beneath the sun before her door, surrounded by three or four children making a tremendous racket.

When the two great monks saw this, their noses twitched as they took a faint sniff. Their eyes immediately lit up.

One of them, a medium-built monk with a long face, said in a low voice, "Senior Brother, this fox demon has transformed into an old woman. She must harbor sinister intentions. We have come to spread the Buddhist teachings and save all living beings. When we encounter a demon, we cannot simply let it go!"

Monk Liao Jue glanced at his junior brother, his heart stirring as well.

The imperial court honored Daoism.

The Buddhist sect was waning.

If they wished to develop followers and gather incense offerings, they needed to make greater efforts. Now that a fox demon stood before them, if they killed it and forced it to reveal its true form, they would gain the trust of this entire village and easily turn them into believers.

"It truly must be eliminated."

"However, our Buddhist sect has never punished without teaching first. Let me expose this fox demon's identity, ascertain its crimes, and only then deliver it from suffering!"

Monk Liao Jue pressed his palms together, recited a Buddhist invocation, and walked toward the old woman in the distance.

Monk Liao Tong followed behind, secretly chuckling.

Naturally, he understood his senior brother's routine—

This old woman could openly play with children in the village, so she was surely familiar with the villagers.

Once they accused the old woman of being a fox demon, the ignorant villagers would certainly misunderstand them. They might even stir up public outrage, with every household bringing out carrying poles to beat them.

At that point.

The two martial brothers would display their methods, kill the fox demon, and make it reveal its original form. All those ignorant villagers would be left dumbfounded, and their attitudes toward these two "divine monks" who subdued demons and vanquished evil would undergo a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.

Their faith would become incomparably firm.

Smiling to himself.

Liao Tong followed his senior brother to the old woman.

The moment they stopped, he heard his senior brother Liao Jue point at the old woman and roar, "Hah! You fox demon, so you were hiding here! Release those children at once and surrender yourself! This humble monk may yet spare your life!"

With that roar.

It resounded through the heavens.

The entire Wu Family Ravine could hear it.

Nearby villagers rushed over and saw Old Madam Wu sitting in her chair, her four great-grandchildren whimpering in fright as they huddled in her arms and hid behind her.

Before the old woman stood two great monks glaring fiercely, their vicious expressions alarming to behold.

Someone heard the monks clearly—

"Fox demon?"

"Old Madam Wu is a fox demon?"

"Pah! What utter nonsense! Everyone knows that she married into the Wu family in her twenties and spent her whole life diligently washing clothes and cooking meals. How could she possibly be a fox demon?!"

"Exactly! You say she wants to harm those children? Harm your damned ass! Those are her most beloved great-grandchildren!"

The villagers heard the shouting and rushed over. After seeing the situation and exchanging a few words, they quickly understood what had happened.

They began shouting one after another.

They charged out angrily with hoes and carrying poles, surrounding the two great monks as they yelled over one another, "Get out! Get out! Or we'll beat you to death!"

One household that had previously given them two bowls of tea was so furious that their faces turned red. "You sons of bitches! What a waste of my good tea!"

"Boundless Life Buddha!"

Liao Jue and Liao Tong had long anticipated this situation.

Their expressions remained unchanged as they assumed compassionate looks, their dignified bearing stern and solemn.

Liao Jue's voice thundered and rolled through the air. "Esteemed benefactors, do not be hasty. Whether this old woman is a demon or not, this humble monk need only test her to know."

His booming voice rang out.

The villagers were cowed into silence.

As Liao Jue spoke, he removed a string of prayer beads from his wrist. Rolling the beads between his fingers and muttering an incantation, he prepared to hurl them at the old woman.

Seeing this, the old woman hurriedly tore apart a yellow talisman hidden in her sleeve. Then she rose and shielded her four great-grandchildren behind her, saying to the two monks, "Masters, please stay your hands. This old woman is indeed a fox demon, but I have never committed evil. I also registered at Precious Fungus Grove and received a token from Chen the Immortal as proof."

As she spoke.

She drew another object from her sleeve: an iron plaque the size of a child's palm. On its front were the four words "Precious Fungus Grove Chen," while the back bore the four words "Wu Family Ravine Fox." Within it was a ball of azure light. Anyone with even slight cultivation could recognize it as pure Daoist magic power. Someone who had not cultivated genuine Daoist arts could scarcely forge it.

"Such petty illusion arts, and you dare show them off?!"

Liao Tong sneered.

In an instant, he shattered the Illusion Art surrounding the old woman.

The villagers around them had only seen Old Madam Wu's lips move without hearing a sound. When they could hear again, it was Liao Tong's sneer.

They were all somewhat bewildered.

But they quickly recovered. Without time to think further, they shouted and prepared to drag the two great monks out.

Seeing this, Liao Tong anxiously said, "Senior Brother, do not be deceived by this fox demon! Kill her quickly—that is what matters most!"

"Precious Fungus Grove."

"Chen the Immortal."

Liao Jue looked at the old woman, then at the iron plaque in her hand, which had clearly been consecrated by a Daoist master. He hesitated. Hearing his junior brother urge him on, his frown deepened. "Junior Brother, you do not know this. More than twenty years ago, when Master was still in the Night-Calming Office, he came to Meishan Prefecture. It is said that he encountered an expert who commanded ghosts, an extremely troublesome opponent. He mentioned it once after returning, and that person seemed to be surnamed Chen."

His master had said that opponent had been extremely troublesome, and that they had fought to a draw.

But when Liao Jue had listened at the time, he could still tell from his master's tone and expression that his master had suffered a great loss.

A person who could make Master suffer such a loss more than twenty years ago—how formidable must he be now?!

"Sheltering demons."

"Who cares who he is? Kill this fox demon first!"

Liao Tong did not understand the danger and continued urging him.

"But—"

Liao Jue still hesitated. Yet seeing the public fury he had stirred up, if he failed to expose the old woman today, it was clear there would be no peaceful resolution.

Having considered this.

He no longer hesitated.

"What Precious Fungus Grove!"

"What Chen the Immortal!"

"They are surely birds of a feather! Today, you die first; tomorrow, Chen the demon will be executed!"

Liao Tong was unwilling to delay.

The prayer beads in his hand flashed with golden light invisible to ordinary people as he smashed them down toward the old woman's head.

Hu Hongmei had spent her life serving her husband and raising children. Other than a single Illusion Art, she possessed no other divine abilities. Upon meeting Buddhist cultivators, death was her only path.

"Alas!"

Hu Hongmei let out a long sigh. At the brink of death, countless moments from these past decades flashed through her mind.

The innocence and liveliness of her youth, when she had hidden and fled from place to place.

After sixty years, growing weary of drifting and marrying into the Wu family to live a peaceful life.

While in Wu Family Ravine, trembling in fear whenever she heard of demon-slayers traveling the land and the Night-Calming Office slaughtering without restraint.

Then Chen the Immortal of Precious Fungus Grove had judged good and evil and sheltered spirits, monsters, and ghosts innocent of wrongdoing. At last, she had enjoyed several decades of peace, delighting in her children and grandchildren.

And now.

Four generations lived beneath one roof, and her great-grandchildren played before her eyes. Her life had been splendid enough—not lived in vain.

"My life."

"Was worth it."

Facing death, Hu Hongmei did not panic. Instead, she smiled, her expression calm and accepting.

Liao Jue stood solemnly.

Liao Tong glared furiously.

The villagers, each gripping their "arms" and "weapons," were about to strike at the two great monks.

But at that moment.

A clear voice came from beyond the heavens—

"Within Dai County, how dare you spout such wild nonsense and show disrespect to Master Chen?!"

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