King Yama

The Prison-Subduing Official, He Chang, the Thunder Official who had failed to gain a promotion, and the near-fatal knife wound found on "You Lin'er's" corpse during their earlier examination.

In other words, they had leads on at least three "remnants of the Divine Dynasty."

"So Turbid Sha Old Man went off to challenge the Prison-Subduing Official himself and entrusted you, his disciple, to Zhang Ping and his crew?"

"Yes. Actually, my master and Zhang Ping weren't that close. For example, Zhang Ping's Demon-Subduing Copper Coin Sword originally came into my master's hands first, but he had no choice but to trade it to him for the Prison-Subduing Official's official seal. If you could protect me, and my master found out, he would surely-"

Xu Qing immediately said.

"Since your master dumped you here and went off to become the Prison-Subduing Official himself, doesn't that mean he doesn't like you all that much?"

Hu Mang suddenly said.

Xu Qing's face instantly flushed red.

Chen Sheng stroked his few remaining whiskers and said:

"The reason I've heard of Turbid Sha Old Man is that, like me, his foundation was damaged. He couldn't cultivate the Three Flowers and could only switch to cultivating the Five Qi. But the Five Qi cultivate nature, not life; they can only improve one's attainment in the Dao, not one's cultivation."

"So later, the old fellow hardened his heart and risked ruining his foundation, sacrificing his Five Qi to cultivate the Five Turbidities."

"The Five Turbidities are something that must be cast aside when transforming the acquired five elements into the innate five elements. I don't know which master of an unorthodox path devised the method, but it actually allows one to transform the Five Qi into the Five Turbidities."

"Cultivating like that does improve one's cultivation, roughly to the level of someone who has cultivated both the Flower of Essence and the Flower of Qi, but it completely ruins one's foundation."

"I considered taking that path myself back then, but I tried to grit my teeth and just couldn't bite down. Turbid Sha Old Man really was ruthless."

Xu Qing listened with his mouth agape. He hadn't expected the old fellow to know his master so well.

"Since his cultivation couldn't advance an inch, he must have entered Demon-Subduing City this time determined to succeed or die trying. Since he's abandoned both his disciple and his immortal weapon, he probably won't care whether Zhang Ping lives or dies either."

Chen Sheng paused, then said:

"So let him stay. It'll be a good connection to make. Though his temperament is bound to change drastically once he becomes the Prison-Subduing Official, since we protected his disciple, there'll be at least a thread or two of goodwill between us."

Chen Sheng was indeed a seasoned veteran of the jianghu. In just a few sentences, he had laid the cause and effect bare.

Hu Mang glanced at Zhou Yu and saw that the siscon's attention was no longer on the other two at all. He nodded casually and turned his gaze to the last female cultivator, Gong Lei.

The female cultivator was in a peculiar state. Her gaze was unfocused, and she seemed utterly indifferent to what everyone else was doing, as though her mind had wandered beyond the heavens.

"Do you know her?"

Hu Mang asked Xu Qing.

Having found himself a new umbrella of protection, Xu Qing was naturally eager to make a good impression.

He hurriedly said:

"Zhang Ping brought her back shortly after my master left. I don't know why, but I could faintly sense that He Chang was somewhat wary of her-even a little in awe."

In awe?

Then why didn't he take her with him?

Wasn't that a contradiction?

"I once tried to sound him out about her background, but He Chang either refused to speak or suddenly flew into a rage."

A flash of resentment crossed Xu Qing's face.

"If he hadn't been wary of my master, he probably would have torn me apart on the spot!"

That worked up?

Just then, though, old Chen Sheng gave a soft exclamation of surprise and leaned over to the woman, getting extremely close. His eyes shone, making him look like a perverted old man.

He clicked his tongue in wonder.

"Remarkable, truly remarkable. This woman's facial features foretell a nobility beyond words."

"What do you mean, Senior?" Xu Qing asked instinctively.

"A sun horn signifies a seat among dukes and marquises. A prominent, straight brow bone signifies a regular seat before the throne. With a lustrous complexion, travelers part to let one pass."

Old Chen Sheng traced a finger through the air from her forehead to the bridge of her nose, then from her left eye to her right.

"Triangular eyes conceal a keen edge; eyes with white showing on three sides reveal authority. Golden light shines in the eyes, a sign of a fierce nature and much killing. In a woman, they signify harm to husband and children, and command over seals and power."

Those were a pair of wolf's eyes.

But the old man soon grew puzzled again.

"Yet this isn't right. Weak Qi and a wandering spirit, lifeless eyes, a gaze that drifts and scatters like mist and smoke—these signify deficient Qi and blood, an uncontained soul, and a life span that is hard to preserve."

"Deficient Qi, a scattered spirit, a soul that won't gather."

"How could two sets of noble features be paired with such signs?"

The old man grabbed her wrist and felt her pulse.

"She has almost no cultivation, either."

"How strange, how very strange."

"Old Chen, you know face-reading too?"

Zhou Yu, whose attention had been fixed on his sister all this time, finally raised his head and asked in surprise.

"A little, just a little."

"Then what do my features say?"

"Your brows meet and lock the seal, your hair is scorched and your lips are pale, your Qi is cold and your form is withered. You'll have trouble living past thirty. Yours are the features of someone destined to die young."

Old Chen Sheng spoke without even turning his head.

"..."

"So, do we keep her or not?" Hu Mang went straight to the point.

"Best not to touch her. Such unusual features are bound to conceal an unusual fate, perhaps connected to something in Demon-Subduing City. Whether we kill her or send her away, we could easily become entangled in karma."

"In that case, we'll leave her alone. Six people is just right anyway."

Hu Mang planted his spear in the ground and plopped down on his backside. His murky yellow demonic pupils receded, turning back into human eyes, and traces of fatigue appeared on his face.

Since he had inexplicably "transmigrated" here, less than twelve shichen seemed to have passed. Yet in less than a day and a night, he had explored the western city, been hunted by a Bone Devil Seed, fought two people—especially the fellow who used the Great Mudra—then retrieved a spear, fought a "scam gang," and finally seized the Thunder God's Shrine. He had hardly had a moment's rest.

And whether it was Chen Sheng, the old hand who had capsized in a gutter, or Zhou Yu, who had resolved to part ways with the gang of blackened cultivators, save his sister, and turn the tables on them, both had reached a mental breaking point.

For a while, no one spoke.

After a shichen passed and the gates of the Thunder God's Shrine slammed shut, making their surroundings completely safe, no one knew who started first, but the sound of long, steady breathing rose one after another in the enclosed space.

Hu Mang had a very strange dream.

He hardly ever dreamed.

So having one for a change was rather novel.

And this dream was a little bizarre. In it, Black and White Impermanence brought him to the Hall of Yama, where he saw "Lord Yama."

More precisely, it was his mother dressed in Lord Yama's official robes.

His little mother filled out the voluminous court robes, though they still looked rather loose and empty on her.

Both her hands rested on the armrests, her ten fingers as thin and shriveled as chicken claws, loose skin wrapped around the bones. Her nails were extremely long and dyed a dark red that was almost black.

The only thing full of life was the tail poking out from beneath her robes.

When Hu Mang was little, he had cried and asked his mother why he didn't have a tail when he was a fox too.

Mama Hu had comforted him, saying he was still young and would have one when he grew up.

As it turned out, his mother had been talking nonsense!

His mother spoke.

"Insolent wretch! You were living perfectly well in the world of the living, yet you refused blind dates, refused romance, refused marriage, and refused to have children. Don't you know that continuing the family line is a fundamental law of heaven and earth? You've severed your own roots and cut off the sacrifices to my Hu Household. One less person in the world of the living means one less soul in my underworld! Guards, drag him away and throw him into the Hell of Solitude! Punish him by making him act as other people's grandson and burn paper money for them every day, never to be reborn for all eternity!"

"Huh?!"

Hu Mang was scared awake.

His hand instinctively tightened around the "Thunder Spear," and threads of electric light flickered around him, startling Zhou Tong, who had come close.

"Master, you-" Zhou Tong looked at him in alarm.

"It's fine, it's fine. I had a nightmare. Scared me half to death."

Hu Mang actually smelled the fragrance of congee and thought for a moment that he was imagining it.

"Master, we cooked some congee. Please come and eat."

"Uh, oh, I'll be right there." Hu Mang froze for a moment and looked around. At the entrance to the Thunder God's Shrine, a small pot was cooking over a fire, with several people squatting beside it. The faint fragrance of congee was drifting in from outside.

Hu Mang put his weapon into his Storage Bag and headed out.

"Master, do Buddhists like you have nightmares too?"

Zhou Tong couldn't resist asking.

Hu Mang rubbed his buzz cut, which had grown out a tiny bit.

"Yeah. Lord Yama said I wouldn't take a wife or have children, so he insisted on killing me."

"..."

Before long, there was one more person squatting among the group outside. His familiar, practiced squat as he dug into his food marked him at a glance as an old hand in civil engineering.

"They sell rice in Demon-Subduing City?" Hu Mang asked casually as he shovelled food from his bowl.

"Master, we brought it ourselves. It's a habit of us Rogue Cultivators," Zhou Tong said, studying Hu Mang curiously.

"Why isn't it spirit rice?"

"Master, we're Rogue Cultivators. How could we be qualified to eat spirit rice? We do grow plenty of spirit peaches on Plum Blossom Mountain, but unfortunately we didn't bring any. The whole mountain should be bearing fruit by now."

"When I was in the Liang Kingdom, I ate spirit rice—the tribute rice for the imperial family," Xu Qing boasted.

"Oh, what about her? Isn't she coming to eat?"

Hu Mang glanced over and saw that Gong Lei was still sitting blankly where she had been, without moving at all.

"She doesn't seem to need to eat," Zhou Tong said quietly.

"She hasn't achieved Five Qi Converging at the Origin, yet she can give up the desire for food and drink?" Old Chen Sheng, who had been eating with his head down, finally looked up.

"I don't know. I've never seen her eat, though." Zhou Tong shook her head honestly.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yu's sister was a chatterbox, talkative and active, while Zhou Yu had grown quiet and reserved after saving her.

Five Qi Converging at the Origin!

That was another term Hu Mang had hardly ever heard.

So after breakfast, while the Zhou siblings began cleaning up the pots, bowls, and utensils, Hu Mang pulled old Chen Sheng aside, paying no mind to Xu Qing, whose ears had pricked up.

"Old Master Chen, you seem to know a lot. How about telling this second-rate monk of yours about the cultivation world?"

"For instance, cultivation methods, ascension, the various major and minor powers in this world, and even what the situation is around Demon-Subduing City."

Xu Qing immediately lost interest, but old Chen, seeing a chance to play the teacher, grew eager to talk.