Unsheathed

Chen Ping’an was only roughly aware of how far the water god temple was and in which direction it was located. Fortunately, however, he only needed to travel along the river and keep his eyes on the two banks.

According to Yao Zhen and Yao Jinzhi, the water god temple was 150 kilometers downstream from the relay station. It was located on a small and gently sloping mountain with no name beside the river, and it would host a temple fair from the first day to the fifteenth day of the third lunar month every year.

Hundreds of people would go on a pilgrimage, traveling to the temple to give offerings and display their talents to the water god. It was extremely lively and boisterous. During the temple fair, officials and wealthy nobles from the nearby provinces and prefectures would also hand out free congee and free tea.

Yao Zhen had sighed with emotion and remarked that constructing a residence was the first big challenge for mountain gods and water gods. Moreover, they would only become more genuine if their residence was promoted to the level of palace.

This was analogous to forces in the mountains obtaining the title of sect.

Yao Jinzhi had also emphasized to Chen Ping’an another remarkable aspect of the water god temple. There was a statue of a female deity worshiped in a side hall, and this female deity was incredibly effective in granting people their wishes for a child. Such was the renown of this female deity that women would travel here from far and wide every single day.

Many of them were women from wealthy clans who had difficulty falling pregnant or giving birth, so they visited this side hall in the water god temple to kowtow and offer incense, also donating some loose silver to obtain a small clay doll with a red string around its waist from the temple attendant, an old lady.

Once these women succeeded in falling pregnant and giving birth, they didn’t need to return to the temple to thank the female deity for answering their prayers. Instead, they simply needed to enshrine and worship the small clay statue that they had obtained from the temple. This could be regarded as thanking the female deity for her benevolence.

However, what Chen Ping’an truly wanted to see was the two hundred large white jade tablets that stood in front of the water god temple. Many of them contained beautiful words of praise for the water god of Burial River, and these had been written by literati and officials in the past after Burial River had helped the Great Quan Empire’s Imperial Liu Clan resolve many disastrous droughts.

Approximately four hours later, Chen Ping’an looked left and right as he flew down Burial River and finally hovered over to that small mountain beside the river.

It was late at night, and the entrance of the water god temple was already shut. However, Chen Ping’an was still able to see the bright lights in the distance and easily locate the water god temple.

He suddenly realized something. Pei Qian and Zhu Lian might not be able to see his yin soul, but what if there were Qi refiners at the Middle Five Tiers in the water god temple? Would they be able to see him? Would they treat him as a demon sneaking through the night?

This caused Chen Ping’an to feel slightly hesitant.

Perhaps he would have to give up after traveling 150 kilometers? Taking into account the return trip, and that would quickly balloon to three hundred kilometers.

After mulling over this for a while, Chen Ping’an’s yin soul hovering above Burial River still decided to drift down to the shore and see how things went first. In the worst-case scenario, he would glance at the entrance of the water god temple from a distance before alerting the temple attendant or some local cultivators. Afterward, he would be pursued for 150 kilometers, all the way until he returned to the relay station. At that time, he would have no option but to ask Old General Yao to explain the situation for him.

Right at this moment, however, a familiar voice suddenly sounded next to his ear. “Traveling through the night with your yin soul? Chen Ping’an, aren’t you a pure martial artist? Can you please be a little more reasonable?”

Chen Ping’an turned around, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Thirty paces away, a scholar in azure was squatting on the surface of the river and forcefully tugging at a handful of long hair. It was as if he were trying to drag someone out from Burial River.

This scholar was none other than Zhong Kui.

Chen Ping’an hovered over to Zhong Kui and asked, “What’s going on?”

Zhong Kui looked up and chuckled, “I was fighting for territory with someone near the water god temple just then. I was thinking that it would be good to offer the first stick of incense tomorrow morning when the temple opened, praying for the protection of the water god and praying that Jiu Niang can see me in a better light in the future.”

Chen Ping’an pointed at the hair in Zhong Kui’s hand and said, “I was talking about this.”

Zhong Kui rolled his eyes and replied, “This is a water ghost who has died an unjust death in Burial River. What else can it be? It was probably attracted here by your yin soul. After all, eating your yin soul will allow its cultivation base to rise explosively. I saw its head bobbing up and down, and its face surprisingly wasn’t mangled and ugly like most ordinary water ghosts. It actually looks quite pretty. That being the case, I wanted to strike a deal with this female ghost and have it come out of the water to chat with me for a while.”

Unlike that night when he had released his yin soul and his yang soul, Zhong Kui appeared very ordinary and unremarkable tonight, just like he had always appeared in the small inn. There was no aura of righteousness flooding the surroundings, and he was instead concealing his powerful aura on purpose.

Thus, his presence simply made the water ghosts in the river sink to the bottom of Burial River and tremble in fear. Otherwise, if Zhong Kui simply released his aura and approached the water god temple, they would all be instantly destroyed.

There was chilly and murderous autumn wind in Zhong Kui’s sleeves, and these wisps of wind didn’t care whether the water ghosts were victims of injustice or prisoners serving sentences for their crimes.

Chen Ping’an looked at the long hair in Zhong Kui’s hand, then back up at Zhong Kui.

“Is this fun?” he asked.

Zhong Kui nodded in response.

Chen Ping’an turned around and looked at the water god temple in the distance.

Zhong Kui released the long hair, and the dark shadow in the river instantly disappeared in a flash, extremely relieved that it had finally been granted freedom.

Zhong Kui stood up and placed his hand on the shoulder of Chen Ping’an’s yin soul, smiling and saying, “Look carefully, and you’ll know whether this is fun or not.”

The two of them suddenly dived into the river.

When yin souls traveled through the night, all matter in the world would appear as clear as day.

Even though Chen Ping’an’s yin soul was in the river now, his vision was still completely unobstructed as he looked around. The eyesight of his yin soul was just as good as that of his physical body.

Chen Ping’an had come across many spirits and ghosts before, yet this was the first time that he had felt… disgusted.

The water god temple and the brightly lit mortal city were not far in the distance.

Even so, Chen Ping’an and Zhong Kui were still surrounded by countless “standing” water ghosts as they swam to the bottom of Burial River. The water ghosts remained still, and most of them were dressed in snow-white clothes. Their pitch-black hair was draped over their faces and stretched all the way to their waists, making them appear like reserved young women who were wearing a veiled hat as they prepared to go outside.

Not only that, but Chen Ping’an could also see a pair of lantern-sized silver eyes when he looked down. The pair of large eyes was incredibly cold as it stared at them, but Chen Ping’an was unable to see the owner of these eyes clearly.

There were at least five hundred meters between them, yet the silver eyes still appeared so strikingly large. That being the case, one could imagine just how colossal this creature was.

Zhong Kui smiled and explained, “This creature and the water ghosts were all attracted here by you. However, they don’t dare to rush over and eat you for a few reasons. Firstly, your yin soul is slightly different from normal even though it’s only in a rudimentary form. As a result, they don’t dare to act carelessly. Even so, they’ve continued to gather around you because they’re genuinely eager to devour you.

“Secondly, they harbor ill intentions, and they dearly hope that you somehow provoke that demon at the bottom of the river and engage in a fierce battle with it. That way, they can also get some scraps to eat. However, you coincidentally stopped right next to the water god temple and refused to walk a step further.

“I reckon the demon at the bottom of the river is about to explode in anger. However, it still doesn’t dare to act carelessly, especially since Green Roving Residence of the water goddess is not far from here.”

Chen Ping’an decided to go with the flow and accept the current situation.

He looked around, and treated this as another sightseeing journey.

Zhong Kui also looked around, and shouted, “Oi, the water ghost lady who looked quite beautiful just then, are you still here? If you don’t want to be a water ghost anymore, I can smack you to death and help you escape this fate. As for whether you can reincarnate into a good life, of course, I don’t dare to make any guarantees. But it won’t be difficult to help you break free from the grasp of that demon at the bottom of the river. That way, you won’t need to help the demon commit evil and harm others in the future.”

The pair of lantern-sized eyes grew slightly larger.

Chen Ping’an instinctively narrowed his eyes.

This was similar to the times when he had gone near the fields to catch eels when he was still little. He would occasionally see an eel slither through the water and slowly swim to the surface.

At a rough glance, Chen Ping’an found that this demon at the bottom of Burial River was surprisingly larger than the black and white python from Go Table Mountain.

“Isn’t the water god of Burial River going to deal with this demon?” Chen Ping’an asked.

“Deal with this demon?” Zhong Kui chuckled. “How is she going to deal with it? The hot-tempered water goddess has already damaged the foundation of her godly body three times while trying to kill this demon, and this is the reason why she doesn’t like to show herself in public.

“She teaches this demon a lesson once every thirty to forty years, and she’ll even engage in a genuine life-and-death battle with it once every one hundred years. On the most serious occasion, even her gold statue in the water god temple ended up fractured. At the same time, more than half of her Green Roving Residence was also destroyed.”

Chen Ping’an became even more curious, and he asked, “Isn’t the imperial court going to try its best to encircle this demon and slay it? If the Great Quan Empire can’t do this, then isn’t your Confucian academy going to do something about it?”

Zhong Kui wrapped his hands behind his head and replied, “The world isn’t so simple. How was this water demon able to survive until today? Apart from its strong cultivation base, it’s relied even more on its smarts. In any case, the central region of Parasol Leaf Continent is so large, yet the number of people in Great Subduing Academy is so few. Even fewer people possess the ability to kill this demon.

“Scholars in the academy need to cultivate their bodies and minds, and they also need to read and learn new knowledge every day. Scholars are very busy people, and they need to strive to become virtuous scholars, noble scholars, sages, and great sages who are worshiped in that Confucian temple in Middle Earth Divine Continent. With this in mind, the scholars need to do much more than just read and study. Anyhow, there’s already a noble scholar watching over the Great Quan Empire.

Chen Ping’an nodded in understanding.

He had seen all kinds of people and witnessed all kinds of human emotions during his trip to Lotus Flower Blessed Land.

Chen Ping’an immediately understood the situation once Zhong Kui revealed that there was another Confucian noble scholar watching over the Great Quan Empire. By the looks of it, competition between factions also existed between the various Confucian academies.

However, what Zhong Kui did next allowed Chen Ping’an to broaden his horizons once again. He pointed at the pair of lantern-sized silver eyes at the bottom of the river and threatened, “Go on, stare at me again if you dare. Do you believe me when I say that I’ll skin you alive and rip out your tendons? Do you want me to offer you to the water goddess as a congratulatory gift?”

The water demon slowly retreated and left.

The water ghosts also dispersed into the distance.

“Congratulatory gift?” Chen Ping’an asked.

Zhong Kui nodded and replied, “The reason I came here is that I received news that Green Roving Residence is about to be promoted to Green Roving Palace. This is unprecedented, but the Great Quan Empire has decided to make an exception for this case. Our academy has also tacitly agreed to this.

“In reality, the Great Quan Empire doesn’t have the right to confer the title of ‘Palace.’ In other words, this is most likely a desperate move by that noble scholar in Mirage City.”

A water god regarded as a formal god first needed to receive official recognition from the imperial court. The emperor needed to make a decree and confer a title upon them, the Ministry of Rites needed to bestow them with the necessary documents, and they also needed to be recorded in the imperial genealogical records. Only then would they have the right to build a temple, form a gold statue, and enjoy offerings and incense from the world.

In parallel to this, the water gods also needed to receive recognition from the closest Confucian academy in the continent. Otherwise, they would still be regarded as an illegal temple of the continent even if they were a legal temple of the nation.

Some minor water gods and their small temples could ignore this, but that was not the case for bigger temples. Failing to receive recognition from a Confucian temple would mean that their Great Dao was incomplete. Thus, they would beseech the emperor to ask the Confucian academies for a sagely classic, one which they could enshrine so that it could enjoy the offerings of incense with them.

In terms of which sagely text was chosen and which sage the author was, this would be decided according to the circumstances. More often than not, it was up to the Confucian academy to decide. However, there was a very small number of stubborn water gods who would explicitly ask for a certain classic written by a certain sage.

This kind of situation was very rare, and it would happen less than once every one thousand years in Parasol Leaf Continent. After all, could there exist many simple-minded water gods who dared to struggle against the seventy-two Confucian academies in Majestic World?

Zhong Kui didn’t reveal the entire truth to Chen Ping’an. He had only left Fox Town and come here to become involved in the situation because the famously hot-tempered water goddess of Green Roving Residence had surprisingly not felt flattered by the imminent promotion of her residence.

She didn’t sob in gratitude and profusely thank the Great Quan Empire’s Imperial Liu Clan and Great Subduing Academy, and she instead announced that she wanted a Confucian classic from a certain sage in her water god residence. Otherwise, she would continue to display the plaque with “Green Roving Residence” outside her home.

However, the sagely Confucian classic that she was asking for was no longer sagely in any sense.

This was the most headache-inducing aspect for the Great Quan Empire’s Imperial Liu Clan.

The sagely Confucian classic that the water goddess was asking for had been written by the Scholarly Sage.

After hearing of this farcical matter, Zhong Kui had felt like it was absolutely necessary for him to travel to Green Roving Residence and get involved in this situation.

It was just that he hadn’t imagined that he would come across Chen Ping’an’s wandering yin soul.