Chapter 230 (3): Dark Clouds Over the City

"Terrible news!"

Standing atop the building on the city wall and observing the prefectural city, the old immortal suddenly exclaimed in astonishment. He turned to the confused General Ma and explained, "A huge problem has arisen in the city god hall. By the looks of it, a great demon has unleashed its power and directly obliterated the undecaying gold body of the city god. I need to personally head over to take a look. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease.

"The golden city god is intricately linked with the fortune of Blusher Prefecture, so the predicament of City God Shen Wen has a huge bearing on the future of the prefectural city. If his gold statue is comprehensively destroyed, then the vitality of Blusher Prefecture will be severely damaged even if it manages to overcome this perilous situation!"

The old immortal looked toward the city god pavilion with an anxious expression. He sighed and said with a cold chuckle, "So be it! I'll charge into the area today even if it's a dragon's nest or tiger's den! I might even have to sacrifice my cultivation to see whether I can rescue the severely wounded city god...

"Who would have thought that the troublemaking demons are so powerful? I initially thought that they were simply using a formation to trap the city god. However, to think that they're going as far as to viciously destroy an entire city... General Ma, there's no other option. I'll temporarily leave the east gate of the city to you."

"Elder Huang, should I send a dozen or so elite infantrymen to help you?" General Ma asked in a solemn voice. "There are still several dozen special arrows in the prefectural office, and these arrows are capable of killing demons and fiends."

The old immortal shook his hand and replied, "There's no time. It won't make much difference either."

General Ma was an experienced warrior, after all, so he didn't hesitate at all after hearing this. He cupped his fists and said, "I wish Elder Huang godspeed and victory!"

"Thank you for your well wishes, General Ma!" the old immortal replied with cupped fists. He smiled faintly before jumping down the city wall like a free bird. He fell dozens of meters and landed on the ridge of a house, and he gracefully stood up before dashing forward again. After a dozen or so graceful leaps, he eventually became nothing more than a small speck in the distance. He arrived outside the city god pavilion where the dust was just beginning to settle.

Elder Huang — also known as Immortal Colored Glaze by Old Demon Mi and the middle-aged husband and wife — didn't head inside the city god pavilion straight away. Instead, he went to the large square outside the tall walls in front of the great hall. He slowly walked forward.

He waved his large sleeves, causing a large stack of yellow paper talismans to flutter in mid-air. Smoke billowed from the yellow paper talismans, and they quickly transformed into a dozen or so sword-wielding young women in the blink of an eye. They were dressed in white, and their movements were light and nimble as their slender figures dashed toward the great hall that honored the general who had helped to found Colorful Garment Nation.

When the old immortal walked past the two severely damaged statues of the heavenly officials, the poisonous vermin that had been crawling over them had already disappeared without a trace. He walked inside the great hall. Most of the clay statues here remained largely intact, and Immortal Colored Glaze naturally knew the reason behind this.

There was no deity here, so these mighty-looking clay statues were, in fact, nothing more than just clay statues made by craftsmen. Thus, Old Demon Mi naturally wouldn't spend his time and effort tampering with them. After all, that would be a huge waste of his unique incense offerings.

The sword-wielding young women who had performed on the tall stage in the middle of the lake nimbly dashed to the small square between the god of wealth hall and the Tai Sui hall. One of them moved their mouth slightly, and it was as if they were quietly calling out to someone. However, there was no reply.

Immortal Colored Gaze stepped out the back door of the great hall and stood still. He looked around before frowning and saying, "There's no need to call for her anymore. Your colorful garment sister has already been beaten back to her original form. In fact, even I can't detect her remnant soul. The person who defeated her has a very high cultivation base."

The old immortal suddenly made a waving motion, causing the blood-red sword to instantly fly out from its hiding spot in the crown of the old cypress tree and appear in his hand. Immortal Colored Glaze lowered his head and sniffed the sword. He felt slightly at ease, and this was because he didn't detect any demonic qi on the sword. This was a good sign, as it meant that it wasn't Old Demon Mi who had discovered the abnormalities in this place. It wasn't he who had snatched away the iron essence official seal that appeared like a decorative piece.

He casually tossed the blood-red sword to a young woman in white who had a mole next to the corner of her mouth. He then slowly continued forward. Even though the situation hadn't reached the direst state yet, it wasn't much better than the direst state either. The city god hall had been destroyed, and City God Shen Wen had also been reduced to a pile of rubble. The martial god and the scholarly god had also suffered an identical fate. Meanwhile, the iron essence official seal was nowhere to be seen.

Immortal Colored Glaze's expression was dark, and he contemplated whether it was that mighty figure hiding far behind the scenes who had developed an interest in this seal, the Colorful Garment Nation Blusher Prefecture City God Protection Seal. Was it because of this that the mighty figure had kept things hidden from him and ordered someone to snatch the seal first?

However, the old man quickly rid himself of this thought. There was no need for the mighty figure to do this — most likely. To Qi refiners at the Middle Five Tiers, such a treasure was naturally a valuable item worth as much as a city. These Qi refiners would go as far as to fight with their lives on the line in order to obtain such a treasure.

To that old immortal genuinely standing at the peak of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, however, there was absolutely no need to do this. The seal was nowhere near valuable enough for him to go back on his word and act in such a forceful manner.

The scheme of that person was far, far too grand. He was looking to install chaos and incite a frenzied war between five nations, including Colorful Garment Nation and Ancient Elm Nation. He wanted to hear the drums of war beating in the central region of Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and he wanted to see smoke and ashes spreading through the lands.

Immortal Colored Glaze, this heretical wandering cultivator, had a dark expression as he entered the ruins of the city god hall. In the end, he arrived beside a wall that had collapsed outward as a single piece.

Even though the wall was complete and without large cracks, there were a large number of small cracks and dents along its length. The old immortal carefully examined every last detail. There were eighty-one beautiful women dancing with large sleeves illustrated on the wall, but only thirty or so of them remained mostly intact. The old man stomped his feet and lamented, "What a terrible waste!"

After confirming that there was no one around, the old man still ordered the sword-wielding young women to stand guard in different locations. Only then did he squat down and retrieve a small and exquisite bowl with seven brilliant colors.

The bowl was dazzling and bright, and the old man carefully held it in his left hand after taking it out of his sleeve. The surroundings were instantly illuminated by several different colors. This was a spectacular sight.

Immortal Colored Gaze hurriedly waved his right sleeve, slightly suppressing the multi-colored glow illuminating the ground. He silently recited something, and the beautiful women on the wall mural started to slowly move around. They floated out of the wall one after another, funneling into the colored glaze bowl.

The thirty beautiful women with the most undamaged appearances and clothes entered the small bowl first. Afterward, a dozen or so beautiful women with undamaged face but damaged clothes and limbs entered the bowl. In the end, only the women with damaged face and body alike remained on the wall. It was as if there were quiet sobbing flowing through the wall like a gentle stream flowing over rocks.

However, the old man was unwilling to stop at this, and he even dragged the entire background of the mural from the wall. He placed the background inside his small bowl as well. As if losing their homes, the damaged women on the wall sobbed even harder. Their voices were filled with grief and anguish as they wept on the now-empty wall.

Immortal Colored Glaze put his small bowl away and peered down at the scattered women on the wall after standing up. He shook his head, and there was immense pain in his heart as he raised his large sleeve and launched a heavy palm strike. The wall instantly disintegrated into dust.

————

The rice shop opened its doors again, but it wasn't opening its doors for business. The three shop attendants each went to a location in the prefectural city. There was a delighted smile on the handsome face of the youngest boy as he ran out of the shop. Meanwhile, Old Demon Mi led the middle-aged couple to a quiet alley.

"Hasn't the golden city god inside the city god pavilion transformed into your puppet, Old Demon Mi? Even though its cultivation base declined a little because of this, how could its gold statue suddenly explode without warning? Perhaps there's a powerful cultivator at the Middle Five Tiers hiding in this small prefectural city?" the woman asked.

Old Demon Mi was in a foul mood. His biggest trump card and shield had been mysteriously destroyed just like that. Anyone in his stead would have been just as pissed.

He thought for a moment before spreading his hand open. He was still going to attempt to observe the mountains and rivers through his palm. This was a high-level mystical ability, and it was treasured and kept secret by a small number of immortal forces. It was due to a fated opportunity that Old Demon Mi had obtained a damaged secret text from a heretical force and thus learned some very shallow concepts.

However, the damaged secret text was missing half of the Qi channeling mantras, so using this mystical ability would consume one drop of his heart's blood each time. This was a huge price to pay. Moreover, if there were high-tier Qi refiners present in the area that he was secretly observing, it would be very easy for them to discover his presence. At that time, it was extremely likely that they would follow the traces to hunt him down. And thus, this initially profound mystical ability was now incredibly useless thanks to its damaged nature.

Why did so many immortal forces and clans in the mountains enjoy an unshakeable position? A big reason for this was that they possessed complete secret techniques that had been passed down through the generations. Using these secret techniques wouldn't have any side effects. After being refined by generation after generation of elders, these mystical abilities were almost flawless.

Because of this, there was no need for the descendants and prized disciples of these forces to fumble around and take long and windy paths. It was rumored that some high-grade secret techniques could even give one the opportunity to reach the Upper Five Tiers. Below this, there were also some secret techniques that could help one advance to the Middle Five Tiers.

On the flip side, just how many vagrant cultivators and itinerant cultivators were there in the world? And how many of them had fallen to heretical and demonic ways because of flawed techniques? Countless!

A drop of scarlet blood seeped out from Old Demon Mi's palm. It suddenly exploded apart, and a cloud of blood appeared in his hand. An image quickly materialized on the old man's palm. The focus was none other than the city god pavilion.

The old man squinted his eyes, and he saw the old immortal along with the women in white. He gently swayed his palm, and the image of the city god pavilion quickly became an image of just the destroyed city god hall. The image of the squatting old immortal became much clearer.

Old Demon Mi chuckled and said, "The heavens are on our side! Old Man Chen couldn't contain his curiosity, so he personally went to the city god pavilion to investigate the situation. He's walking straight into our trap!"

There was a bright glimmer in the woman's eyes as she locked her gaze onto the colored glaze bowl in Immortal Colored Glaze's hand. "Is that the immortal relic, the colored glaze bowl?" she asked.

Old Demon Mi suddenly clenched his hand into a fist, causing the cloud of blood in his hand to return to his body. He turned around and chuckled coldly, saying, "What, you want to fight me for it?"

There was a soft expression in the woman's eyes, and she smiled charmingly and replied, "I wouldn't dare to."

Old Demon Mi ignored the acting of this temptress, and he quickly weighed up the pros and cons in his mind.

Old Man Chen's target had always been the wall mural in the city god hall, something that had always been under the golden city god's watchful gaze. The old immortal had claimed that he was after the vitality and energy of that mural, as well as the beautiful women on it who possessed genuine immortal qi after being bathed in incense offerings for hundreds of years.

Moreover, he could use the mural to shelter the souls of the women that he had gathered from the unmarked graveyards. The benefits were twofold, and perhaps he could even nurture a few yin entities as powerful as the woman in colorful robes.

Old Demon Mi finally came to a realization at this moment. Perhaps... that seal from Mount Longhu's Heavenly Master Residence had never been in the prefectural office or the Zhao Clan residence. Instead, it had always been in the city god pavilion! As for his friend, Old Man Chen, he had planned to obtain all of the treasures right from the very beginning. He had never considered giving the seal away to Old Demon Mi, who had worked extremely hard with his disciples to fight for this seal.

What a brilliant plan, Immortal Colored Glaze!

Old friend, since you lack virtue, then don't blame me for lacking loyalty!

————

The clear sky above Blusher Prefecture gradually became dark and gloomy. Dark clouds drifted over from all directions, bearing down on the city and stifling all of its residents.

A horse-drawn carriage peacefully trundled out of the south gate. Holding the horse reins in one hand, the old aide used his other hand to grab a pot of beautiful wine that he had prepared beforehand. Just as he was about to take a sip, he saw an impoverished scholar standing on the official road nearby and furiously waving at them. At the same time, he shouted, "Old Man Song, Old Man Song, it's me! I'm good friends with your young mistress! Is she in the carriage?"

The old aide tensed up upon seeing the impoverished young scholar. Perhaps the demons had locked their gazes onto the prefectural office since long ago? Were they intent on completely destroying them? Were they not going to spare the young master and the young mistress?

The young woman hurriedly leaned down and pulled the curtain back, saying in a happy voice, "Uncle Song, he's my friend, Liu Chicheng, and he's a traveling scholar from White Mountain Nation."

Another head stuck out from the carriage, and Liu Gaohua asked in puzzlement, "Liu Chicheng, didn't you leave the prefectural city long ago? How are you still here? Which young mistress were you teasing and flirting with?"

The old aide hesitated for a moment before deciding to stop the carriage.

If this was a blessing, then he couldn't decline it. If it was misfortune, then he couldn't avoid it.

He could only observe the situation and take action accordingly.

Liu Chicheng rolled his eyes upon hearing the teasing remark of Liu Gaohua, his future brother-in-law. He giddily jogged over. Even though he didn't know why the old monster had suddenly descended from the sky and temporarily returned his body to him, he couldn't be bothered mulling over these things either. In any case, the old monster had promised Liu Chicheng that he would deal with all of the troubles using a single finger as long as Liu Chicheng could convince this carriage to turn around and return to the prefectural city.

Liu Chicheng was in fact still wearing that pink Daoist robe right now, but the old monster had told him that Qi refiners under the 10th tier, including those bullshit Golden Core Tier immortals, wouldn't be able to see through the exquisite illusion technique that he had employed.

Liu Chicheng stood beside the carriage and panted heavily as he asked, "What's wrong? Are you guys fleeing as well? Liu Gaohua, you undutiful son, how can you bear to abandon your parents and leave them in perilous danger like this? There are so many demons causing trouble in the city, so as the son of the prefectural overseer, shouldn't you be leading the charge against them? Or at least raising your arms and calling for action? Shouldn't you be guarding the gate of the prefectural office and refusing to take a single backward step, even if it means death?

"See, I only walked a short distance from the prefectural city before thinking that it was wrong to leave just like this. Just think about it. I'm an outsider, but even I feel like I should sacrifice myself for the sake of righteousness. To be unflinching while dying for the sake of righteousness is the duty of scholars like us..."

The old aide gritted his teeth in anger, and he felt the urge to furiously slap this impoverished young scholar.

Liu Gaohua looked at Liu Chicheng as if he were looking at a retard.

Meanwhile, there was already an intoxicated look in his older sister's teary eyes. She held her hands on her heart, and she felt like Young Master Liu had definitely returned to see her.

Liu Gaohua rolled his eyes and said, "You can return by yourself if you insist. But my sister and I are going to hide somewhere safe."

Liu Chicheng couldn't help but grumble in his mind,

Old geezer, what should I do? My brother-in-law isn't heroic or gallant at all. I'm essentially talking to a brick wall.

In the next instant, Liu Chicheng suddenly discovered that he couldn't control his own arms or legs. He "gently" stomped on the official road.

There was a huge boom.

Plumes of dust rose above the official road. Looking over from the city wall, it was as if a yellow flood dragon of several kilometers long had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Liu Chicheng gulped and cleared his throat. He clasped his hands behind his back, and he tried his best to appear dignified and mighty as he announced, "Truth be told, I, Liu Chicheng, am actually a Golden Core Tier immortal!"

The old aide was shocked, and he was temporarily dazed and rendered speechless.

Perhaps only the most top-notch grandmaster in Colorful Garment Nation — that old sword god living in seclusion — could unleash such a powerful stomp, right?

Was the irresponsible and impoverished young scholar in front of them actually an immortal from the mountains messing around in the mortal world?

Liu Chicheng attempted to stand on his tippy-toes and directly fly onto the carriage. However, his body remained unmoving. In the end, he could only give up and dejectedly climb onto the carriage. After squeezing into the carriage, he sat cross-legged between the brother and sister who were exchanging a glance with each other. Liu Chicheng turned around to look at the excited young woman, and he said with a faint smile, "Miss Liu, sincerity leads to things coming true, am I correct?"

————

Chen Ping'an and Liu Gaoxin arrived on a roof ridge near the prefectural office. Chen Ping'an came to a stop, and the young girl was just about to ask him something. However, Chen Ping'an pointed at the walls and tall buildings of the prefectural office. The young girl looked over, and her heart immediately shuddered. There were numerous powerful bows specially crafted by Mohist cultivators, and all of the arrowheads were directly aimed at the two of them. The dozen or so powerful archers were all dressed in suits of armor from Colorful Garment Nation.

Liu Gaoxin frowned and said, "They look like guards left at the prefectural office by General Ma, so they might not recognize me. Should I shout and explain our identity? Everything will be fine as long as I explain the situation. However, I'm afraid that a lot of time might be wasted if the officials start to interrogate us."

Chen Ping'an looked up at the sky, and he hesitated for a brief moment before replying, "Let's part ways here. You don't need to charge inside too quickly, and you can explain the situation to them when they stop you. However, I need to find my friends as quickly as possible."

The young girl was also a resolute person, and she nodded and replied, "Understood! I'll listen to you, Old Immortal!"

Chen Ping'an took a deep breath before leaping up into the sky. An arrow viciously whizzed over, but Chen Ping'an suddenly rose even higher. He lightly stepped on the arrow and charged toward the prefectural office.