Lord of Zongshedu Mountain

"The Lord of Zongshedu Mountain is a demon who presides over Zongshedu Mountain." Mu Liang'er explained his background to Li Fuchan, then added, "The mountain lord is a demon of True Person rank."

When Li Fuchan first heard this, a trace of delight rose to his face. He thought he had found a powerful ally to lean on. But once Mu Liang'er finished her last sentence, his face finally darkened.

A demon of True Person rank who presided over a region could easily keep watch over a hundred miles around him. Yet he had watched this affair unfold, coldly standing aside. Li Fuchan already had some suspicions about what lay behind it. Besides, even if he exhausted every ounce of his strength, he could never kill such a demon.

Did Jia Hua intend for me to die here?

The thought rose within Li Fuchan, only for him to swallow it back down.

The cultivation arts he had converted to came with many restraints and clear limitations. Since Jia Hua had gone to such trouble to capture him, he would never let Li Fuchan perish here so easily.

Li Fuchan glanced at Mu Liang'er. She looked frightened and uneasy, and her expression did not seem feigned. If that was the case, she too knew nothing of the truth here. Had he not been wary of whatever means the Peaceful Way Abbey might have left to protect its disciples, he would already have used Illuminating Light to cow and interrogate her, refusing to stop until she spat out some secrets.

Whatever happens, I must find a single opening for change. Otherwise, my death calamity will come to pass here.

"Senior, that old man just now..."

Mu Liang'er suddenly spoke.

"He went to make trouble for the Wisdom King," Li Fuchan said coolly.

Although Mu Liang'er was dispirited now, the Peaceful Way Abbey had always put people first. The old man's wretched condition remained vivid before her eyes, and Li Fuchan had used some unknown means to stir up a heart full of hatred and fury in him. She could not help worrying. "He was only an ordinary mortal. I'm afraid he'll..."

"Wouldn't it be better if he died?"

Li Fuchan turned toward Mu Liang'er, a flash of Golden Light passing through his eyes.

Under Golden Light's scrutiny, Mu Liang'er's mind was dazed, which was why she had uttered such ignorant words. It was not because she was naturally kind, but because her cultivation art was unusual and her emotions had slipped their guard. Yet that one glance let Li Fuchan discern something else.

Ever since I began cultivating thunder arts, even with Illuminating Light and Treasure Light frequently holding them down, and the Turbidity-Linking Method reinforcing them, my actions have grown increasingly ruthless. Demons and evil things stir my anger; Ghosts and hauntings make me want to kill. When I ride the wind through the sky, there are times when I can hardly rein in the thunder. Yet with her mind in such turmoil, Mu Liang'er merely shows some unnecessary kindness. It seems that, for the Immortal Sect and aristocratic clans, the hidden dangers of using cultivation arts to scour away the Three Calamities can no longer even be called dangers.

With a death calamity upon him, he would not readily die without sufficient benefit or unless forced into it. But neither would he shrink back at every turn and refuse to advance. Li Fuchan gathered his thoughts. "Since the Mountain Lord governs the hundred miles around here, sorry for the trouble, Fairy Mu, but please show me the way and take me to him."

Mu Liang'er naturally knew where Zongshedu Mountain lay. Though her mind was weighed down with worries, she understood that nothing was settled until the final moment. Moreover, the Peaceful Way Abbey had close ties with the Lord of Zongshedu Mountain. She nodded. "I'll take you to see the Mountain Lord now, Senior."

Li Fuchan murmured his assent.

When they passed the ruined temple, fierce flames were already rising around it. Many novices were fighting the fire, and a faint scent of gardenias drifted through the air.

Li Fuchan's nostrils twitched, and he sealed off his sense of smell.

Mu Liang'er clearly lacked such caution. She even sniffed twice before saying, "The Buddhist scriptures speak of 'champaka,' which closely resembles gardenia. The Vimalakirti Sutra says, 'As one enters a champaka grove, one smells only champaka, and no other fragrance.'"

However inexperienced she might be, Mu Liang'er was still a personal disciple of the Peaceful Way Abbey, with extensive learning.

Li Fuchan was happy enough to listen, but did not take it to heart.

Amid the blazing fire, an unfinished flesh-and-blood image of a Wisdom King actually gave off a faint gardenia fragrance. Li Fuchan's nose stirred slightly, but he dared not smell it.

"Someone with unshaven hair!"

"A Demon who doesn't believe in the Wisdom King!"

"Kill it!"

"The Wisdom Consort is here too!"

"The Demon has bewitched the Wisdom Consort! Save her!"

The novices busy fighting the fire spotted Li Fuchan and Mu Liang'er. At once, they shouted in a chaotic chorus and surged toward them like a tide.

At the words "Wisdom Consort," Mu Liang'er's expression abruptly changed. Li Fuchan had been watching her coldly all along, and naturally missed none of it. Linking this to her earlier strange behavior, he began to weigh his suspicions.

The exalted standing of a Wisdom King is far beyond the likes of the Peaceful Way Abbey. Mu Liang'er seems ignorant of the truth here, yet she was sent to Longzhu Forest. When I said earlier that this place was sealed by restrictions, she looked thoughtful, then became dazed. It seems she had already begun to suspect that her sect meant to offer her as a sacrifice. Now that all these novices believe she is the Wisdom Consort, that suspicion carries some weight.

At this point, Li Fuchan instead felt no resentment at having been schemed against. If his skill fell short and others held him in their power, he could only blame his own inadequacy.

He showed no mercy to the novices swarming toward him. With a sweep of his sleeve, he flung out several bolts of thunder and struck down those in front.

Yet Li Fuchan noticed that, at the moment of death, the light shining from the eyes of the novices he killed carried a meaning he could not fathom.

Even more novices rushed toward Mu Liang'er. She showed no mercy either. With a sweep of the fly whisk in her hand, flames suddenly sprang up over their bodies. Those flames were bright vermilion, upright and weighty in nature; once they touched a body, they burned fiercely and were difficult to extinguish. By the time the flames became conspicuous, the novices had already burned to drifting ash.

Li Fuchan was nearby and felt a scorching heat pierce straight into his sinews and bones. His Dharma Power showed faint signs of being eroded. Only after he secretly circulated it for a while did the effect gradually fade.

Such a magical artifact, held by a cultivator of Aperture Opening rank... Li Fuchan's face remained calm, but inwardly he was shaken. People like these have claimed every last portion of the world's benefits, and everyone else still ends up owing them. I am no exception.

There were simply too many novices charging at them. Li Fuchan had no desire to become entangled with them. He seized Mu Liang'er, rose on the wind, and headed straight for Zongshedu Mountain.

Now that she was closer, Mu Liang'er suddenly caught the faint scorched smell drifting from around Li Fuchan after he took to the wind. Looking carefully, she saw arcs of Golden Thunder flowing over his clothes, flickering like hissing flood serpents.

This senior seems to be in poor condition.

Li Fuchan paid no attention to his own abnormalities. "Tell me about the Wisdom Kings," he said.

Mu Liang'er paused, not expecting him to ask about this now. Then she reflected that the Li Thunder Dao Lineage had long remained hidden from the world. Perhaps this senior was an ancient cultivator who had lived in the south for many years and rarely stayed in the Northern Lands. "Which Wisdom King would you like to hear about, Senior?"

"The Great Compassionate Venerable Wisdom King."

That was the flesh-and-blood Wisdom King.

Mu Liang'er shook her head. "I've never heard of that Wisdom King."

Li Fuchan did not mind. "Then tell me whatever you like."

Mu Liang'er answered in assent and nodded.

There was a story in the Buddhist scriptures, though its truth was uncertain. Long ago, there was a water Ghost who had never committed evil after his death, but instead often helped drowning people survive. As the years passed, people grew grateful for his virtue and voluntarily built a temple and fashioned an image for him, offering incense and worship. The water Ghost thus gained a measure of supernatural power.

Later, a Buddhist monk named Lianmin passed through the area. Seeing the shrine and the sinister Ghostly aura faintly seeping from its stone image, he assumed an evil Ghost was oppressing the people and demanding worship.

The two fought, and neither could gain the upper hand for a time.

The water Ghost tried several times to explain, but Lianmin sharply interrupted him each time. As their struggle dragged on, genuine anger flared.

They fought all the way to the Wisdom King’s Sanctuary.

The Wisdom King manifested his compassionate majesty, drew the two before his seat, and asked, "Why do you quarrel without end in my pure sanctuary?"

The water Ghost prostrated himself and reported, "Since my death, I have never harbored a single thought of harming anyone. Instead, I have often rescued drowning people, without cease for more than ten years. The mortals voluntarily built a temple to worship me, yet this master attacked me without hearing a word of explanation. I humbly beg the Wisdom King to judge with compassion and discernment."

Lianmin pressed his palms together. "A Ghost's nature is inconstant. It may show kindness for a time, but that cannot endure. Since I began cultivating, I have seen more than a dozen Ghosts who performed good deeds. Within fifteen years at the shortest, or twenty at the longest, they invariably became tainted by the turbid thoughts of the mortal world and turned to harming people."

"In the past, in Qinshui Commandery of Great Chu in the south, there was a female Ghost who initially longed for her parents and husband, her feelings deep and devoted. Moved by pity, I allowed her to return temporarily to the human world. Yet when I returned twenty years later, that Ghost had fallen into vicious evil, devouring every living soul in a village and turning it into a Ghost domain."

The Wisdom King listened to both, then used his Dharma eye to survey the ten directions and the three ages. He said, "The Ghost speaks no falsehood, and the monk's intentions are sincere. He has earned merit through service to the people. Let him go."

Still troubled, Lianmin asked further, "Wisdom King, please hear me: if we release him today and he commits evil tomorrow, what fault have the common people committed?"

The Wisdom King said, "He need only practice my Buddhist teachings and constantly recite my name. If he devotes three parts to cultivation, I shall answer with seven parts. If he devotes ten parts, my gaze shall fall upon him at all times. Throughout the worlds of the ten directions, past and future, nothing escapes my knowledge. If he falls into an evil path, I shall never pardon him. So it is for all beings."

This offered a glimpse of a Wisdom King's power.

Rumble.

As Li Fuchan listened, his mind suddenly shook. A bolt of Golden Thunder burst uncontrollably from within him, lighting his eyes gold and scarlet. Fury surged in his heart, inexplicably impossible to quell.

Evil Spirit!

The magical wind supporting his body abruptly collapsed. Fortunately, he had prepared for this. Seizing Mu Liang'er, he flipped in midair and landed steadily before looking up.

A pair of enormous amber eyes gazed down from above, fixing him in a merciless stare. That single glance made Li Fuchan feel sluggish throughout his body, unable to move.

This is the might of a True Person?!

He desperately suppressed Li Thunder's urge to rush forward to its death and bowed respectfully. "Li Fuchan, a rogue cultivator from Bianbei Commandery of You Province Prefecture, pays his respects to the mountain lord."

"Oh?" A muffled voice rolled down from above. "A Flood Serpent, or Li Thunder... no wonder."

The remark came without explanation, and Li Fuchan could not immediately grasp its meaning.

The Mountain Lord turned to Mu Liang'er, his gaze sweeping lightly over the sword on her back and the fly whisk in her hand. "From the Peaceful Way Abbey? Ever since True Person Quan Lian died, each generation has truly been worse than the last. They actually sent you here without knowing the truth."

Mu Liang'er's expression dimmed. She felt that every suspicion in her heart had been confirmed. Her sect did indeed intend to sacrifice her to respectfully summon the Wisdom King. Yet not a trace of resentment arose within her.

When I was little, my parents wanted to send me to an old farmer from a wealthy household as his concubine, reducing me to a plaything to be toyed with. It was my master who brought me up the mountain, taught me to offer incense, and imparted immortal arts. Now, I am merely repaying that kindness with my life.

Li Fuchan's gaze, however, grew deep. The Mountain Lord's remark had resolved one of his doubts.

This old demon knows a great deal of the truth. Jia Hua may not have meant to harm me. Perhaps he sent me here because he didn't know what lay behind this place. I'm afraid I am certain to die this time... If I can draw some more information out of him, that would still be better than gaining nothing.

He was just about to ask something when the Mountain Lord slowly said, "Since you have come, wait a while. Let us respectfully welcome the Wisdom King's arrival..."

Li Fuchan's expression changed sharply.

This is bad, very bad. This Monster is in league with those bald donkeys.

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