Yellow Heaven

Outside Shanyin County's south gate, heads thronged together for a time.

A great crowd had gathered there to watch a white-haired old Daoist.

The old Daoist wore a tattered Daoist robe, tied at the waist with hemp rope, with a fish-drum strapped to his back.

"It is said that when heaven and earth first divided, when primordial chaos had only just been sundered, there were seven innate spiritual roots. One was Fusang, east of the Eastern Sea, dwelling place of the great sun. One was Jianmu, in the Wilds of Duguang, linking heaven and earth. One was Ruomu, located in the Nether Capital, suppressing all ghosts."

"These three innate spiritual roots are called spiritual roots, but in truth they are the roots of life, death, and immortality between heaven and earth. Whoever obtains Fusang will be like the great sun rising in the east, with life force unending. Whoever obtains Ruomu will become lord of the Nether Capital, commanding a hundred ghosts. Whoever obtains Jianmu will connect heaven and earth, their divine powers immortal."

"If these three innate spiritual roots were given a price, then mountains of copper coins and rivers of silk would still not buy them home. Even if the current Great Liang Son of Heaven and the Northern Wei Emperor joined hands and traded their realms for them, they could not obtain them."

Su Che and Little Fox happened to arrive outside the south gate. Seeing the old Daoist speak so extravagantly that flowers seemed to rain from the heavens, they could not help moving closer to watch the excitement.

"This Daoist doesn't look like a cultivator."

Su Che found a corner and watched the Daoist. His speech and conduct were exactly like those of an ordinary man.

Those who cultivated the Dao swallowed the sun and drank the moon, gathered yin and yang. Once they entered cultivation, there would always be something unusual about them.

To put it elegantly, they generally carried a certain "air beyond the mortal world."

This man before him spoke so extravagantly, yet Su Che could not help feeling that he sounded like the merchants he had often heard hawking whetstones and meat grinders at morning markets before he had transmigrated.

There was something of the jianghu about him.

Little Fox held up her umbrella with her left hand, her brows tightly furrowed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this humble Daoist's lineage is called Supreme. You all know that the Daoist sects under heaven each have their own traditions: the Celestial Master Sect, Yellow Heaven Sect, Divine Firmament Sect, Upper Clarity Sect, Complete Reality Sect, Tower-View Sect, Pure Yang Sect, and all the rest. Yet trace them upward, trace them back to their ancestors, and they all have one Supreme Dao Ancestor, most exalted and most true. These many Daoist lineages all came from the same family."

"Later, everyone divided the household and lived their own lives. This humble Daoist's branch reveres the Dao Venerable and still bears the name Supreme. Of the seven great spiritual roots from the time heaven and earth opened, one has been passed down to this humble Daoist. Today, fortunate enough to encounter all you kindred souls, I shall bring out this spiritual root and gift it to one with affinity."

As he spoke, the old Daoist drew a small jade hoe from his sleeve and slowly dug a hole in the earth.

"This spiritual root emerged at the dawn of heaven and earth's division. The Five Elements had not yet settled then, so it cannot touch anything of the Five Elements. Water makes it dissolve, earth turns it to ash, metal kills it, fire extinguishes it, and wood stiffens it." The old Daoist continued, "Only this jade hoe can stabilize earth-nature, and only yin and yang qi can nurture it into life."

As he spoke, he took a seed from his sleeve, gently placed it into the hole, then covered it over with both hands.

"Daoist, can your damned root grow without seeing daylight or water?"

"Master Daoist's root grows whenever it sees a nun. What the hell do you know?"

"After all that talk, he's still here to swindle money. Just watch—this Daoist will ask for money sooner or later."

The Daoist smiled broadly. "Don't rush, everyone. It will grow with only an incantation."

"East becomes north, west becomes south; the Valley Spirit does not die—this is called the Mysterious Female."

The Daoist stepped through the Kui pace and pointed with his right hand.

"Rise."

A jade-green vine emerged from the ground, twisting crookedly like a living snake.

Before long, the vine had grown as thick as a bowl's mouth. Green leaves spread over it like claws, and several fist-sized melons slowly grew from it.

"Daoist, are you selling melons? Are they sweet?"

Some of the villagers below began heckling him.

The Daoist gave a sinister chuckle and simply plucked the fist-sized melons from the vine. There were thirty-six in all, which he arranged at his feet.

"Sweet? Why not smash them open and see?"

With that, he removed the fish-drum from his waist and viciously smashed it down upon the melons.

The melon rinds burst apart, Huang-colored pulp rolling everywhere. From within rolled tiny human heads, each with hair tied in a topknot and eyes shut tight. Melon juice clung to their faces and flowed from their mouths and noses.

"Good neighbors, behold! Growing inside these melons are the Thirty-Six Bandits of Wave-Subduing Mountain. They practiced wicked arts and committed every evil beneath the heavens. Their leader, a great bandit, changed form and exchanged bodies, seizing the flesh of a Cheshi Kingdom prince and defiling the palace. Such conduct makes him a human demon. He has already been transformed by this spiritual root of mine."

Well, well. They had truly misjudged him this time.

Su Che could not help feeling curious.

According to the white-haired old Daoist, one of the crimes of those bandit chiefs from that mountain was changing form and exchanging bodies to seize the Cheshi Kingdom prince's flesh.

As someone who had transmigrated, could he too be charged with "changing form and exchanging bodies"?

One important reason he had fled Jiankang City back then was his fear that others would discover something amiss. He had never expected to encounter an expert in Shanyin County who sought to uphold justice on Heaven's behalf.

The white-haired old Daoist plucked another small melon from the vine.

"As the saying goes, chickens do not pass six, dogs do not pass eight. Livestock that feeds on the smoke and fire of the human world will, over time, inevitably become sprites. In Wannian County, there was an old man who died on the road while traveling as a merchant. At home, he had an old dog he had raised for ten years. It transformed into the old man, seized his household estate, and turned both the old wife and young concubine into servants of a demon. It even plotted to murder the old man's two children."

The old Daoist flung down the melon, and a dog's head smashed straight out of its pulp.

"How could my spiritual root possibly spare such an evil creature?"

"And this one." The old Daoist plucked another small melon from the vine and tossed it onto the ground. "This centipede was originally raised in Shanyin County. A few years ago, she moved to Guobei County and fed exclusively on the brain matter of corpses in mass graves. All things beneath heaven have their meal and their drink; that in itself was nothing. But who could have known that after cultivating divine powers, she would set her sights on children? Transforming into a coquettish woman, she specifically preyed upon boys not yet grown. She has already harmed thirteen good children. Heh heh, now she is inside my melon as well."

Melon rinds splattered everywhere, pulp spread across the ground, and the human heads and beast heads within seemed still to retain lingering breath, as though air still passed through their mouths and noses.

The crowd of onlookers finally came to their senses.

Murder! A demon Daoist!

The crowd cried out as one and immediately scattered clean away, leaving only Su Che and Little Fox standing where they were.

They had truly encountered an expert today.

"Alas, one of the seven great spiritual roots is called Righteousness. I ask all of you to practice every good and commit no evil. Otherwise, should you run into this spiritual root, the underworld may forgive you, but immortals surely will not."

Seeing the empty space before him, the old Daoist gently clapped his hands and sighed.

"Performing this Daoist love-play truly drains the spirit, and there was not even anyone to watch. Young man, tell me, is this old Daoist's lot not difficult?"

"Urging people toward goodness is truly a futile undertaking." Su Che looked at the Daoist before him and knew that today he had encountered a true immortal.

Even Little Fox beside him had been left dumbfounded by this illusion. To make a Cloud Fox from Cloud-Deep Unknown Place in the Eastern Sea unable to see through it, this man was either a living immortal playing through the mortal world or an old demon roaming heaven and earth.

"It truly is futile. At the beginning of this year, I even quarreled with several other teaching guardians over this matter. In the end, the sect leader had to make peace."

A Daoist wearing a high crown and black robes appeared, faint lightning flickering within his eyes.

He flicked his fly-whisk.

"Young Master Su, Wei Zhisheng of the Yellow Heaven Sect greets you."