Shifting Winds and Clouds (Congratulations to "Sanshengyuan Maomao" on Becoming a Patron of This Book, and Thank You for Your Support!)

It was the first day of the 428th year of Ming.

At daybreak, Cheng Xinzhan took the village children to put up pictures of the door gods.

This time, there was not only Daoist Yuandan but also the Demon-Suppressing True Lord. The two occupied opposite sides of every gateway, one holding a sword and the other drawing a bow. Where thunder and fire stood, sinister evils naturally fled.

The old village chief watched with a smile, saying that seeing these two lords there put one's heart at ease.

They worked for most of the morning before finishing. Cheng Xinzhan handed all the remaining pictures to the old village chief for safekeeping, explaining that he might not be able to come next year, so the villagers should put them up themselves when the time came.

The old village chief agreed and put the remaining door-god pictures away with the utmost care. These were precious treasures. Not a single villager had lost their soul over the past year, and the old chief believed that was thanks to the pictures.

Once the pictures were up, the children surrounded Cheng Xinzhan and demanded a story. They already knew his earlier stories about Daoist Yuandan by heart, and this time they wanted a new one.

Cheng Xinzhan was naturally undaunted. A story about Zhang Shuye came readily to his lips.

He had barely begun when a command arrow suddenly darted out of thin air and shot toward him.

His gaze sharpened, and he caught it. It was a blue-green jade command arrow, with a silver cloud edged in gold depicted at its tail. Several words were carved along its shaft:

Upon seeing this arrow, return to the sect immediately.

His expression changed. This was a recall arrow from the sect. Those words almost never changed;