The family of three wept, screamed, and tangled themselves up in a mess. A crowd had already gathered nearby. Some seemed righteously indignant and ready to step in, but their fierce stares were aimed at the young woman. Others seemed inclined to come forward as well, but after looking at the young woman and little girl, then at their own families beside them, they quietly retreated.
Shi Xuan found it hard to watch. Believe if you wanted to believe; becoming crippled or dying was your own choice. But you could not let your wife and daughter starve to death along with you. He stepped forward and lightly struck the back of the sallow middle-aged man's head. With precisely controlled force, he knocked the man unconscious without making a sound. The people who had been about to step forward were stunned into stopping where they stood.
Only when the sallow man collapsed did his wife and daughter realize something was wrong. Two pairs of eyes, one large and one small, swollen red from crying, stared at Shi Xuan.
"Take him home... sigh." He had originally wanted to say that he could handle matters for a time, but not for a lifetime. Once he left, if this man still insisted on acting this way, what would become of the mother and daughter? But when Shi Xuan spotted two figures hiding in the shadows ahead, an idea came to him.
The young woman dragged her husband up. Just as she was about to thank the young Daoist, she saw him speak blandly toward the corner ahead. "Come out. What show are you still waiting to watch?" Puzzled, she looked in that direction as well.
Two men in strange pale-red clothing emerged from the corner. They were Divine Lord Temple servants. One of them, a weather-beaten man with a pockmarked face, glared at Shi Xuan with an ugly expression. "You little daoist priest, do you know this is disrespect toward the Divine Lord?!"
The townsfolk watching also pointed at Shi Xuan one after another. "This little daoist priest is no good. He actually dares disrespect the Divine Lord!"
"Wang Family's second brother willingly offered himself to the Divine Lord, yet he actually dared stop him!"
There were quieter voices too. "I say, husband, isn't Wang the Second a little too foolish?"
"That's called devotion. Don't talk nonsense!"
Holding the Black Banner, Shi Xuan took two steps forward and chuckled. "Oh? This humble Taoist would like to see what happens to someone who disrespects the Divine Lord."
The faces of the two temple servants immediately darkened. Ever since becoming temple servants, they had never encountered anyone who held their master in such contempt. Yet this little daoist priest looked so composed—could he have something to rely on? Their hearts beat a little uneasily.
But when they looked around, the surrounding crowd had become enraged by Shi Xuan's contemptuous words toward the Divine Lord. This included those who had hesitated earlier, as well as the aunties, mothers, young women, and girls. Only the children hid at the side, watching with both fear and curiosity. The two men's hearts immediately settled. The weather-beaten man stepped forward and shouted, "You demonic Daoist, so arrogant—you deserve to die! Everyone, bind him and take him to the temple! Let the Divine Lord send down divine punishment and leave him without even a burial ground!"
Shi Xuan merely raised the Soul-Bewildering Banner and gave it one sweep. After a flash of black light, the two temple servants collapsed unconscious. The people preparing to surround him recoiled two steps in fright. Then, after looking at the two temple servants on the ground, another three or four people rushed out from the crowd—men and aunties alike—and pounced toward Shi Xuan. The rest watched him in terror and involuntarily backed away to the sides.
Shi Xuan swept the banner again, and the few who had charged him also fell to the ground. He then turned and looked around. Everyone he looked at retreated with pale faces, muttering, "He really is a demonic Daoist, a demonic Daoist." They nearly backed into the ditches on either side of the street. In the children's eyes, however, alongside fear was sparkling excitement. Fun.
"Everyone, tell me—if the Divine Lord truly possesses a Manifest Spirit, how should he punish this humble taoist?" Shi Xuan asked with a smile that was not quite a smile.
More and more people gathered around. Those who had not witnessed the earlier events questioned those who had. A few people who seemed particularly devout stepped forward. "You, you... you demonic Daoist! The Divine Lord will definitely Manifest Spirit! Maybe, maybe tonight you'll... you'll fall ill and die! Just look at what happened to Zhang the Wealthy!" Their voices gained some confidence toward the end.
At this moment, Wang the Second was shaken awake by others. Seeing Shi Xuan, he charged forward furiously. "Demonic Daoist, die!"
Shi Xuan extended his left hand, seized Wang the Second by the collar, then slid his grip up to the man's neck. He easily subdued him and held him aloft in one hand.
"This humble Taoist is going to the Divine Lord Temple to see how the Divine Lord punishes me. Why not come and watch together?" Shi Xuan held the banner in one hand and Wang the Second in the other. Without waiting for anyone's response, he strolled leisurely toward the Divine Lord Temple as though taking a walk. The little girl, Er Niu, stumbled forward, grabbed the hem of Shi Xuan's robe, and timidly followed him. Her mother walked at the side, her expression deeply conflicted.
The angry yet fearful crowd followed Shi Xuan toward the temple in oppressive silence. Some secretly picked up stones, while others quietly slipped to the very back.
With several hundred people behind him in a grand procession, Shi Xuan arrived at the Crimson Cloud Divine Lord Temple at the western end of the street.
The Divine Lord Temple had been newly built on the site of the Land God Temple. Its appearance still retained some of the Land God Temple's distinctive shape, just like those Shi Xuan had seen in other cities. But the entire Divine Lord Temple had been painted crimson, making it especially eye-catching.
The temple servants and divine envoys inside had long been warned by someone who ran ahead with the news. More than twenty people gathered outside the gate, holding iron staves and broadswords. When they saw Shi Xuan approach, they rushed at him under the divine envoys' lead, shouting for the Divine Lord's protection.
Shi Xuan shook the Soul-Bewildering Banner. A sweep of black light flashed over them, and more than half of these men, who possessed only rudimentary martial skill, fell unconscious. Another sweep left only one divine envoy, who rolled away relatively quickly.
While rolling, that divine envoy suddenly produced a flash of fire from his hand and shot it toward Shi Xuan. Shi Xuan had long noticed that this divine envoy possessed some foundation in Daoist magic and carried talismans. After all, one look with the Qi Gazing Technique revealed that a beginner who had not yet learned concealment techniques had no secrets to hide.
Another black light descended and easily blocked the fire. At the same time, the first black light swept the divine envoy unconscious. A few people nearby had just been about to cheer for him, but upon seeing the demonic Daoist handle it so effortlessly, their faces immediately fell again.
"You, you, you... you, and you. Carry them all into the main hall." Shi Xuan pointed at several of the more frightened people in the crowd and had them carry the divine envoys and temple servants into the main hall. He did not spare even the two who had fainted earlier.
Upon entering the main hall, they faced an ornate male divine statue standing there. Its entire body was red, and it sat solemnly atop the altar with a dignified, treasure-like appearance. Its face resembled a man's, but bore additional patterns.
Shi Xuan stood to one side, watching with a smile at the corners of his mouth as the divine envoys and temple servants were laid in the center of the hall. Once most of the townsfolk had arrived, he stood beside the statue, had all the children leave, and then said to the townsfolk, "Since everyone says the Divine Lord possesses a Manifest Spirit, if this humble taoist kills his temple servants here, will he send down divine punishment?"
With a wave of his hand, a pale-white Wind Slash directly severed one temple servant's neck—the weather-beaten man from before. A column of blood sprayed high into the air. Cries of alarm, retreating footsteps, and sharp gasps rose and fell all around. No one had expected this demonic Daoist to kill the moment he said he would.
Shi Xuan stood there with an easy expression. After a moment, he said again, "Look, this humble taoist has already killed one of his temple servants, yet he has not reacted. But everyone says the Divine Lord truly possesses a Manifest Spirit. Then if this humble taoist kills them all, he should become angry, shouldn't he?"
The crowd was struck speechless. Shi Xuan spread his hand, and amid the ringing clash of metal, a bolt of azure lightning struck the center of the hall. With a boom, the temple servants and divine envoys were charred black and blown to pieces. Several townsfolk fainted on the spot.
"Tsk, this Divine Lord truly has a fine temper. He still has not come to punish this humble taoist. But this humble taoist cannot wait any longer. What do you all think I should do?" Even Shi Xuan felt that his tone was asking for a beating. He was preparing for the main event. "Tell me, if this humble taoist destroys the Divine Lord's statue, he should finally come and punish me, right?"
Without waiting for anyone to answer, he threw Wang the Second amid the corpses in the center of the hall. Turning around, he swept the banner once, and the faint divine light around the Divine Lord's statue was brushed away by black light. Shi Xuan had long seen that this god possessed some Dao practice, but according to the Qi Gazing Technique, its strength was not great. Especially in this small town's temple, its divine light was almost nonexistent, sustained mainly by the townsfolk's Incense and Fire Prayer Power. That sweep had used foul qi to corrode the Incense and Fire Prayer Power, so the divine light naturally vanished.
Yet the area where the Qi Gazing Technique detected the densest divine light was unexpectedly not far away. From what he had learned while asking for directions earlier, that was Kaiyang City. He simply could not see where the source of that divine light was. Presumably, that god knew concealment techniques. Shi Xuan had not planned to go to Kaiyang City, but now he had no choice. If he was going to do this, he had to uproot the weeds and destroy the roots.
After brushing away the divine light on the statue, Shi Xuan did not use any spells. He smashed the statue apart with punch after punch. From somewhere in the unseen, he sensed a burst of furious emotion transmitted from the statue. Hmph. If you want to transmit Spiritual Sense across the void, cultivate for several hundred more years and reach beyond the Primordial Spirit stage first.
With a boom, the statue completely collapsed, and the furious emotion vanished as well. The townsfolk stared dumbfoundedly as Shi Xuan destroyed the statue. Some muttered, "Divine Lord, Divine Lord." Some looked at the statue skeptically. Still more wore expressions of utter collapse. Wang the Second, for example, cried out as though breaking down, "How is this possible? How is this possible?!"
Amid the clamor, someone shouted, "My silver!" Then that person rushed madly toward the donation box. Unable to open it at once, he knocked it to the ground and smashed it into pieces before squatting down to seize the valuables inside.
Many people suddenly came to their senses. Apart from a few still standing there stupidly, all rushed forward to snatch valuables. The clever ones ran directly toward the side rooms behind the hall, while those unafraid of disgust searched the corpses on the ground. But because Shi Xuan stood there, no one dared make a move against anyone else.
Only then did Shi Xuan feel somewhat annoyed. He had struck too ruthlessly earlier while establishing his image and had left no survivors. Now he had no idea where the souls had drifted off to, so how could he interrogate them for information? It seemed he could only ask the townsfolk.
Suddenly, Shi Xuan saw a small figure enter. She walked all the way to his side, tugged at the hem of his robe, and looked up at him. "Daoist priest uncle, can you save my mother? Mother is very sick, boohoohoo." She was a little girl of seven or eight.
"Alright." Shi Xuan had no reason to refuse. At the same time, he turned to the townsfolk in the hall and said, "This humble Taoist believes some of you must think the Divine Lord will definitely come punish me, only not yet. Why not let this humble taoist stay in town for a few more days, so you can see whether the Divine Lord comes or not?"
If the Divine Lord Temple retaliated, staying in town a few more days would allow him to stop it. Kaiyang City was only half a day's journey from here.
PS: I went out for lamb on the winter solstice today and returned a little late. Sorry about that. Also, as I meant to say at noon, recommendation votes have risen quickly these past few days. Thank you all for your support—many thanks.
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