"Hey, where's Mama Liu? I still wanted to ask her how to turn into a toad. Was that Toad Boy just now? What a rude little kid, leaving without even saying hello." Still tipsy, Ninth Lady chattered to herself nearby.
Could it be... Cui Jiuyang looked at the transparent barrier inside the entrance in the stone wall behind them...
Had Toad Boy taken Mama Liu back through it?
Impossible. That side had already started collapsing. Even if Toad Boy was a proper deity, he couldn't just burrow out through the earth whenever he pleased.
There was still an enormous old turtle outside!
Toad Boy should have been able to defeat the lake god, Giant Softshell Turtle, but victory might not come easily.
He was a god, not an immortal.
Gods and immortals were different.
Godhood was an office conferred by Heaven, mortal rulers, or even ordinary people. With worship and offerings, one could become a god.
Immortality, however, came from an adept's own cultivation and attainment of the Dao.
Toad Boy, for instance, had once been only a child who bravely saved a drowning companion. His deed moved the Old Mother of Mount Tai, who petitioned Heaven to grant him a divine office under her.
As for immortals, there was no need to look farther than Great-Grandfather.
When Great-Grandfather did farmwork, he still dug the soil and planted the crops himself-supporting oneself through one's own labor was a person's duty.
Could he use magic to make farming easier?
He could, but that would neglect his duty and damage his cultivation.
Thus, every cultivator had a clear measure in their heart of where magic could be used and where it should not.
Where, then, should magic be used?
That unlucky Drought Ghost knew best. With a wave of their hands, the two great-grandfathers had unleashed twelve bolts of heavenly lightning and reduced it to ash, leaving not a scrap behind.
Then again, even if Toad Boy cultivated for another five hundred years, he might still be unable to summon twelve annihilating bolts of heavenly lightning with a wave of his hand...
So a god did not necessarily possess profound cultivation. A divine office simply granted a variety of powers and strange divine arts.
Back when Cui Jiuyang had calculated that little Huzi in Jining City had been harmed by a rat spirit, he had silently cursed the beast.
He openly despised the Five Immortals beyond the passes for dabbling in worship and incense offerings. They were clearly following the path of spirit cultivation toward immortality, yet coveted the power of incense offerings they should never have touched.
Little wonder Great-Grandfather said that, in hundreds of years, not one of the Five Immortals beyond the passes had amounted to anything.
And the Giant Softshell Turtle in Lake Taibai had been cultivating for who knew how many years. Though it was still far from becoming a spirit immortal, its magical power and cultivation might not be inferior to Toad Boy's.
It seemed very unlikely that Mama Liu had gone back to Lake Taibai.
Where, then, had she gone?
Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady searched carefully, until at last... they found a small tadpole struggling in a corner of the platform.
The sight of that tadpole made everything click for Cui Jiuyang!
"Ah, Ninth Lady, this trick is called Shifting Stars and Changing Lodgings!" Cui Jiuyang crouched and pointed at the tadpole. "It's the signature art of the Daoist priests of Mount Lao."
"Legend has it that an old Daoist on Mount Lao diligently cultivated all his life without ever showing off his abilities. Before he passed on, he still harbored some resentment, so he performed Shifting Stars and Changing Lodgings in front of everyone."
Ninth Lady crouched beside Cui Jiuyang, her cheeks still flushed with wine, and blinked as she listened to his account of Shifting Stars and Changing Lodgings.
"Standing on Mount Lao, that old Daoist swapped Mount Haiya, ten li away, with Mount Goutou, twenty li away. In the blink of an eye, he switched them back, then died on the spot and ascended to immortality."
"His disciples all said he had used that feat to prove to Heaven and everyone present that he had cultivated diligently. His failure to attain longevity was because Heaven had denied him the opportunity, not because he had been negligent."
Cui Jiuyang clicked his tongue. "It seems Toad Boy cares for Mama Liu, the guardian serving under him. He knew she would fall gravely ill after being possessed, and that she would have little hope of surviving if left in this Water Palace. So before leaving, he saved her with Shifting Stars and Changing Lodgings."
"That Toad Boy really is pretty decent, then," Ninth Lady said. "Mama Liu should be safe now."
Ninth Lady picked up the little tadpole and cupped it in her hands, then climbed the steps one at a time. The staircase hung in midair, extending several zhang out over the enormous lake below.
With a flick of her hand, she tossed the little tadpole out. It wriggled its tiny tail as it fell into the lake.
Watching this, Cui Jiuyang felt something stir in his heart. The tadpole gets to live. What about me?
Standing on those suspended steps, with neither sky nor earth within reach, he felt empty and desolate. After watching Ninth Lady save the tadpole, he sighed over what little remained of his Yang Lifespan.
Lately, in search of an opportunity to cultivate to Ultimate Unity, he had been dragging the others all over Jining City, struggling for all he was worth like that tadpole on the platform.
Wasn't it all simply to stay alive?
He had no idea whether this attempt would succeed.
Perhaps Ninth Lady beside him had noticed something, or perhaps the wine had simply gone to her head. She clapped him on the shoulder. "All right, stop spacing out. This place is huge. Where are we going to find that big lump of iron?"
Cui Jiuyang laughed inwardly at his own lack of composure. He still needed more cultivation. Picking up the conversation, he said, "Now that I think about it, the Japanese probably weren't the ones who brought that big lump of iron inside."
Ninth Lady scratched her head. "If the Japanese didn't bring it in, how did such a huge chunk of iron get here?"
Cui Jiuyang pointed toward the mist-shrouded ritual grounds outside the distant palace and smiled. "See that? The Japanese must have used the Five-Ghost Transport Technique to deliver it to the bottom of Lake Taibai, and then those things dragged it inside."
Ninth Lady looked in the direction he indicated. The mist was thick there, and indistinct shapes seemed to be standing within it, utterly motionless.
"Huh? Why did the Qingyuan Water God leave some tomb guards here? To sweep his courtyard?" Heavily drunk, Ninth Lady spoke so loudly that her voice echoed endlessly along the stone steps.
As though startled by her voice, the figures in the mist all raised their heads.
Chapter 34: The Offering Platform
As the figures in the mist slowly raised their heads, Cui Jiuyang felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight up his spine.
The figures flickered in and out of view amid the swirling vapor, moving in perfect unison, as though pulled by the same invisible thread.
"These aren't living people," Cui Jiuyang said softly, his fingers unconsciously beginning a divination calculation.
Ninth Lady's hand had already moved toward the Nuo Mask at her waist. "Dead people? They haven't been doing a very good job of staying dead!"
Cui Jiuyang did not answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the figures.
As the mist gradually dispersed, he finally saw them clearly-they wore robes patterned with flowing water and flat-topped ceremonial hats hung with strings of beads.
Their skin was an unnatural blue-gray, their eyes hollow and lifeless. They moved slowly along prescribed routes across the stone terrace.
"Divine Attendants." Cui Jiuyang continued calculating on his fingers as he finally spoke. "Legendary tomb guardians who willingly dispersed their three souls and seven spirits, leaving only a sliver of spiritual awareness. That lets them guard a god's tomb for all eternity."
Ninth Lady frowned. "Willingly? They don't look willing to me."
Cui Jiuyang shook his head. "As one of the Four Ancient Waterways, the Ji River has an extremely long tradition of worship. It's hardly surprising that people with such faith existed!"
Just then... a sudden realization struck Cui Jiuyang!
He understood. "That stone tablet back there, the one saying the water god was buried here! The pile of bits and pieces from aquatic creatures behind it was also a sacrificial offering! They left parts of their own bodies to remain buried with the water god forever! Like the Divine Attendants here, those aquatic creatures were all subjects or followers of the Ji River Water God!"
The Divine Attendants began moving slowly, their movements stiff yet extraordinarily coordinated, like puppets on strings.
"Look over there!" Ninth Lady suddenly pointed to a platform in front of the palace.
Cui Jiuyang followed her finger. On the broad terrace before the palace's main entrance stood an enormous stone platform, displaying all manner of objects.
Even in the dim light, those objects gleamed with an uncanny radiance.
"An Offering Altar." Cui Jiuyang sensed the powerful presence of the Malevolent Flood Dragon. "The Divine Attendants must have put the Iron Rhino there too!"
The two exchanged a glance and quickened their pace in unspoken agreement.
As they drew closer, the Divine Attendants made no other moves, but an uncanny sensation told both Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady one thing-They're watching us.
Yet the attendants did not directly bar their way. They merely circled the Offering Altar along intricate routes, as though endlessly repeating some ritual of worship.
When the two finally stepped onto the terrace before the palace, Cui Jiuyang almost stopped breathing.
The objects displayed on the Offering Altar nearby surpassed anything he had imagined—gemstones and jade were commonplace, gold and platinum lay scattered like dust, and most of the piled-up objects were things he did not recognize.
Earthenware jars filled with golden liquid, swords nine feet long, long tusks from unknown beasts... the dazzling array of rare treasures drew a gasp even from Ninth Lady.
And right in the center of the Offering Altar stood that enormous Iron Rhino, weighing over ten thousand jin!
"There it is!" Ninth Lady pointed casually at the enormous Iron Rhino. "You said they dispersed their three souls and seven spirits, so they're not very bright anymore, right?!"
With that, she simply stepped forward.
Cui Jiuyang caught her arm. "Wait!"
He said helplessly, "Ninth Lady, that last sliver of spiritual awareness the Divine Attendants retain... isn't it there precisely to stop uninvited guests like us from taking things out of the Divine Tomb?"
Ninth Lady shook off his hand. "Oh, right."
She slapped her forehead and pulled the blue-faced, fanged Nuo Mask from her Treasure Bag.
"Then we can just try our skills against theirs! Watch my Hundred-Unheard..."
Cui Jiuyang hurriedly stopped her, inwardly resolving that next time, no matter what, he had to persuade Ninth Lady to drink less.
With her drunken temper, it would hardly be surprising if she tore a hole in the sky!
"Ninth Lady... Ninth Lady, let's look first. There's no rush to go up there. It's so heavy that the two of us couldn't carry it away anyway!"
Ninth Lady turned toward him with a look that said he was a clever fellow after all. "That's true... we can't carry it. Hmm... do you think we could beat that big snake? How about letting it out and finding out?"
Cui Jiuyang sighed. "We could let it out, but if we can't beat it, how would we stuff it back in?"
As he walked forward, he carefully examined the Iron Rhino. After pursuing it for so long, he had finally laid eyes on it.
Cui Jiuyang realized that it seemed... somewhat different from what he had pictured.
First, the Iron Rhino was even bigger than he had imagined...
If the Iron Rhino in his imagination had been a rhinoceros, the one before him brought an elephant to mind-and a fully grown male African elephant at that.
Second, the Divine Oracle Cipher rubbing Fifth Master Yang had given him was nowhere near as clear as the markings on the Iron Rhino now. That made Cui Jiuyang glance back at the Divine Attendants nearby.
Had these living dead refurbished the enormous Iron Rhino?
As servants of a god, they certainly possessed the ability to read the Divine Oracle Cipher.
If it had been their work, then that remaining sliver of spiritual awareness must have made them cleverer than they appeared...
He needed to be even more careful around them.
"This enormous Iron Rhino..." Cui Jiuyang narrowed his eyes. "Why are there characters here that Fifth Master Yang didn't copy?"
Only after approaching did he discover that some of the writing was absent from the rubbing Fifth Master Yang had given him!
He and Ninth Lady wanted to move a little closer for a careful look.
Before you continue