A Great Demon Emerges

The disturbance came from the lower half of the mountain, below the Daoist temple. Fortunately, it was on the mountain's far side.

There used to be a path here. Though steep, the mountain was not impossible to climb, and in lean years, the people of this land had drawn nourishment from every scrap of soil they could find. As a child, Chen Du had followed the trail here while chasing the wind and catching cicadas. But as fewer and fewer people remained in the countryside, even the good farmland at the mountain's foot had steadily fallen into disuse, and no one came up the mountain anymore.

The old path had vanished without a trace.

"Immortal master, this way."

Though Yunzhi carried a treasured sword, she did not dare use it to clear a path. She parted the grass with her hands, searching for a way through, all the while saying, "Passing through. Fellow Daoists in the grass, please make way."

Chen Du followed with the seal in hand, keeping track of their direction and staying alert.

After the Door God escaped and he discovered what the seal could do, he had considered taking it all over the mountain and reinforcing the seals on every demon suppressed there. In the end, he had not done so.

There were many reasons.

First, there were simply too many black and white ink dots in the mountain. There was no telling how many years the founding masters of successive generations had spent suppressing so many demons and spirits here; it might even have taken several generations. Digging them all out and stamping them anew was not something he could accomplish overnight.

Second, the mountain was enormous. Reaching its summit took at least half a day, yet the phantom image on the seal was tiny. Though Chen Du had guessed from the ink dots representing the Door God and the bookworm that their positions might correspond, the margin of error was still far too great.

Even with the seal to call upon the mountain spirit's power, digging them all up would be no different from plowing the entire mountain, and plowing deep at that. It would take enormous effort, destroy the mountain forest, and draw a great deal of attention.

There was one more reason, the most important of all.

By experimenting with the ready-made jade plaques left by the Door God and the bookworm, Chen Du had discovered that when he stamped them again, spiritual energy flowed back in, and as the old was replaced by the new, there was a brief vacuum.

That meant that if he stamped the seals anew, a powerful demon might instead seize the chance to escape-and he would be closest to it at the very moment he applied the seal.

That was what Chen Du was on guard against.

Perhaps the predecessors of the past had never imagined that the Daoist temple would fall so far into decline that their descendants would have no way at all to deal with those demons.

Though it was not quite true to say he had no way at all.

"This is the place!"

Chen Du stopped on a level patch of mountainside. This might once have been a patch of poor soil.

"The seal has loosened, just as I thought."

He could not have pinpointed its location before, but some spiritual energy had already leaked from the seal. When he focused his gaze, he could clearly see the difference between this spot and the surrounding area.

"Immortal master, should I dig?"

"No need."

"No need?"

The immortal master would break his precept if he used magic, so how was he going to dig it up?

Yunzhi watched Chen Du take out a brush, find a relatively thin stone nearby, and write on it:

[Within a radius of twenty feet, turn over the earth to a depth of twenty feet and scatter the soil and stones around the area]

He then took out the seal, breathed on it, and stamped it on the stone.

Yunzhi's eyes went round.

"Stand back."

He tossed down the stone. As if the mountain god had issued a divine decree, the earth, sand, and stones on the ground all came alive at once, churning upward like boiling water and scattering in every direction.

In just a few breaths, a great pit the size of a reservoir had appeared on the once-lush mountainside.

One small stone casket had been turned right out, while the corner of another had just emerged from the bottom.

What was this? The authority of a mountain god!

Yunzhi searched her memories and found something similar to compare it with, leaving her even more astonished.

The immortal master actually possessed a deity's authority!

And he was not even a deity.

In the legends, wasn't such authority supposed to belong to the gods and be claimed by the Heavenly Palace? There were even tales of great gods being punished for losing ritual vessels. How could a deity's authority have been left out in the world, with the Heavenly Palace of legend never coming to reclaim it?

"Good, exactly ten feet."

Chen Du had added considerable depth to the pit the Door God had dug, taking into account movement of the earth's crust and the possibility that the Door God had dug partway out on his own. Fortunately, it had worked on the first try. Otherwise, he would have had to write another one and stamp it again, which would have been a bit troublesome.

"Immortal master!"

Yunzhi drew her treasured sword, proceeding with great caution.

"Not this one."

Chen Du walked straight over and examined the small stone casket that had been turned up.

This was another "white dot."

He opened it. There was little space inside: a piece of yellow cloth wrapped around a small jade jar, rather like the ceramic jar Chen Du used for chili oil. A jade plaque lay beside it.

"Just as I thought."

Chen Du casually picked up the jade plaque to inspect it, but the words carved on it were startling:

[Obtained from an immortal, it is called the Heavenly Palace on a Leaf. I originally intended to make it my abode in my later years. Alas, spiritual energy has dried up, so I have sealed it away to leave to future generations]

Chen Du did not know what the Heavenly Palace on a Leaf was. All he saw was "obtained from an immortal."

The Daoist temple's founding master truly had connections that reached the heavens! He could imbue the seal with something like a mountain god's authority and even obtain things from an immortal.

He picked up the jade jar and opened it.

Inside was an irregularly shaped object that looked like a seed, no bigger than a fingernail.

This was the "Heavenly Palace on a Leaf"?

Chen Du closed the jar and tucked it away.

One reason he had not usually come to dig up these belongings of the founding masters was that they lay too close to the black dots. Now that he had dug this one up, he would not stand on ceremony. He was the temple master of this generation, so he had the final say.

Fortunately, his Daoist robe had pockets.

"Then this must be the stone casket sealing the demon." Yunzhi looked back toward the bottom of the deep pit, her expression growing much graver.

Just as she was wondering whether to jump down, she saw that the immortal master had taken another stone and already finished writing on it. With the seal in his other hand, he breathed on it and brought it down with a smack.

The earth and stones below churned again, bringing the stone casket up.

Yunzhi held her treasured sword at the ready.

Chen Du, meanwhile, could feel spiritual energy steadily leaking out from inside, and the leak was growing faster and faster.

Whether the digging had damaged something or the thing inside had sensed the commotion, he did not know, but it was struggling madly.

He carefully opened the stone casket. Inside was only a jade plaque, its material different from those he had seen before.

Chen Du distinctly saw the jade plaque trembling as he started to open the casket, but once it was open, the plaque went still.

A line of words could also be seen carved on it:

[A demon, relying on its great power, unlawfully occupied the mountains and marshes, robbed travelers, and injured people. In consideration of the hardships of its cultivation, it is suppressed for a hundred years]

What did "relying on its great power" mean?

Unlawfully occupying the mountains and marshes? He wondered whether that was more serious than falsely claiming to be a door god.

But the inscription went on to mention the hardships of its cultivation, whereas the Door God's had only shown pity for his bloodline. Did that mean this demon's cultivation and mastery were greater than the Door God's?

All the more reason not to let it escape.

"Guard me!"

"Yes!"

Yunzhi stood beside him with her sword, while black smoke gathered in the shadows.

Chen Du raised the seal and stamped it down at once.

Smack! The cypress beside them, like a mass of dark green flame, was suddenly struck by a violent wind and whipped about as though it might be snuffed out! All kinds of spiritual energy in the mountain rushed in at the command, the flow even growing somewhat turbulent!

The force was considerably greater than it had been with the Door God.

Chen Du had already retreated several steps.

As the spiritual energy of heaven and earth poured in, the jade plaque's own spiritual energy was fading.

It was quiet inside. The demon seemed to have accepted its fate.

But just as Chen Du let down his guard a little, the spiritual energy flowing from the mountain into the jade plaque suddenly stalled. It was like a falling boulder caught by a great hand, or a raging mountain torrent blocked by an invisible force. The two unseen forces locked in a brief struggle.

Taking advantage of the moment, a stream of black-and-white qi slipped out of the jade plaque. At first glance it was only a thin thread, but in the blink of an eye it surged forth like a collapsing dam.

In an instant, black-and-white qi swirled wildly across the sky, resembling a yin-yang fish diagram.

It needed nothing like demonic or baleful qi to strike fear into the heart; the sight alone was already deeply unnerving.

"Get back in there!"

At the sound of the shout, the black-and-white qi actually faltered for a moment.

But it did not go back. Instead, it surged even more fiercely.

"Stop it!"

Chen Du retreated again, bracing himself.

He had come prepared as well.

He carried several jade and stone talismans, some for protection and others for suppressing demons and subduing fiends.

As he saw it, the Earth Sage Seal's power was beyond question. It could call upon the spiritual power of the entire mountain and suppress so many demons and fiends, but what truly limited it was the amount of spiritual power a stone could hold. Even when he found stones rich in spiritual energy on the mountain, they were still greatly limited.

Fortunately, he now had four jade plaques. The Door God's was still being used on him, but Chen Du had replaced even the bookworm's with a stone talisman. He had erased the seals on the remaining three plaques, written new words on their backs, and stamped them.

One bore [Mountain Spirit Body Protection], to serve as his own protective talisman.

One bore [Slay Demons and Exterminate Fiends], and another [Suppress Demons and Subdue Devils]. The former had a stronger killing intent but was more likely to shatter against a powerful demon; the latter had a weaker killing intent but left room to maneuver.

That was what gave him confidence.

Though it takes time to tell, it all happened in an instant.

Yunzhi needed almost no time to react. The moment Chen Du's words fell, the treasured sword in her hand swept out in a horizontal slash.

Sssh!

The smoky qi in the sky split into black and white halves as the sword qi passed between them.

Immediately afterward, the black smoke spun once in the air like a tornado. Whether it had figured out that Chen Du was the one in charge or had also sensed the seal he carried, it suddenly charged straight at him.

"How dare you offend the master!"

Yunzhi delivered another slash, this one vertical.

Frost sliced into the smoky qi without a sound. Its charge did not slow; instead, another stream of white smoke struck from the side and sent Yunzhi flying.

A clumsy voice rang out:

"This Door Is Impassable!"

The smoky qi struck the space in front of Chen Du but could go no farther. The blocked smoke spread to either side, faintly outlining a circular doorway.

What a ferocious demon!

Chen Du had never actually witnessed anything like this. With the Door God, he had only watched from afar, and the Door God had not attacked as soon as they met like this one had. Instead, he had run the moment he saw Chen Du. It would have been a lie to say Chen Du was not afraid.

Even so, as the saying went, cowardice often arose from hesitation; with a plan in one's heart, courage came of its own accord.

Chen Du took out a stone talisman.

[Suppress Demons and Subdue Devils]

He simply threw it into the thickest part of the smoke.

Boom!

The smoky qi jolted and was actually driven back.

But Chen Du also saw the stone burst apart on the spot.

It had the effect of suppressing demons and subduing fiends, but the spiritual energy it contained could not subdue a demon this powerful.

Yet as it was driven back, the smoky qi had already split into several masses, and pained roars could faintly be heard from within.

Beside him, Yunzhi swept out sword qi like frost!

The treasured sword had great killing power but little stopping power.

The stone talisman had little killing power but great stopping power.

The two complemented each other perfectly.