Chapter 496 (3): Sword Immortals Need to Drink Wine

Black River twisted and wound for one hundred or so kilometers, and it couldn't be regarded as a large river by any stretch of the imagination. However, it was already quite a decently sized river in Malicious Ghost Valley, a place with many mountains but few rivers.

The two turtles hailing from the Great Round Moon Monastery had already occupied this river and acted in a tyrannical manner for a very long time.

The water in the Black River was extremely turbulent.

There was a goddess shrine located at the upstream region of the river, and this was naturally the water goddess shrine of the Sea Turning Primordial Lord. However, not only was this shrine an illegal one, but the small turtle had further failed to form a godly body. Instead, she had only managed to craft an ordinary statue.

However, even if she were truly able to form a gold statue, she wouldn't dare to openly display her godly body in the shrine. Otherwise, everything would be over if a passing Nascent Tier yin spirit casually shattered her gold statue. Indeed, a deity having their gold statue shattered was even more pitiful than a cultivator having the foundation of their Great Dao damaged.

In reality, the moment that a natural fracture appeared on a deity's gold statue was the moment that the deity would feel an ice-cold chill in their heart. The appearance of such a fracture signified that their immortality was starting to show signs of decay, something that couldn't be mended by the incense essence of the mortal world. Not a few kilograms, nor dozens of kilograms.

When Golden Arhats of the Buddhist Sect faced the same tribulation, they would regard this matter as "damaging Dharma," something more frightening than wild beasts.

This was akin to a Daoist immortal achieving a flawless colored glaze physique after cultivating in earnest and overcoming a myriad of hardships, yet in the end, they discovered that there actually existed flaws in the so-called flawlessness, flaws that couldn't be erased no matter how they cleansed their mind's realm. How could they not be terrified?

The scholar had a deep understanding of this matter.

Several powerful cultivators in the history of the Esteemed Mystery Department had passed away because of this exact reason, failing to achieve genuine transcendence.

It was night when the two of them entered the water goddess shrine.

The shrine was surprisingly empty, and not a single person or matter barred them from entering.

The scholar clasped his hands behind his back and looked around, remarking with a smile, "Alright then, you've decided to stick to your roots and genuinely shrink into your shell like a turtle. Whatever shall we do?"

"You don't have any immortal techniques or mystical abilities to dispel water and open waves?" Chen Ping'an asked.

The scholar nodded and replied, "I do have some, and I obtained a half-broken water-repelling jewel when traveling in the past. However, this jewel is far inferior to the water-repelling Gongfu raised by my junior sister.[1] If I possessed this Gongfu, then even the dragon palaces hidden deep under the large rivers would be an absolute breeze to find. The Gongfu is very small, and its pair of horns is only the length of one finger, but it can summon gigantic waves of more than three hundred meters in height with a casual shake of its head. I truly envy my junior sister."

"Oh, then I'll wait here for you to call your junior sister over?" Chen Ping'an said.

The scholar roared with laughter and shook his sleeve, retrieving a snow-white and crystalline jewel. After slapping the jewel into his mouth, he transformed into a burst of rolling black smoke that dashed into the river and didn't make a single splash.

Chen Ping'an continued to wander around the shrine which was quite similar to the water god temples of the mortal empires that enjoyed incense offerings from worshippers. He didn't find any transgressions.

After arriving at the main hall of the shrine and looking up after stepping over the door threshold, Chen Ping'an noticed that the statue of the Sea Turning Primordial Lord wasn't very tall. It strictly followed the rules and etiquette of middle-grade river gods.

The goddess appeared solidly built, and she indeed couldn't be regarded as good-looking.

Chen Ping'an left the main hall and visited the rear hall, and he didn't find anything peculiar here either. That being the case, he returned to the entrance of the shrine and sat down on the steps, patiently waiting for the scholar to return.

Meanwhile, what he thought about was the descriptions of the Lofty Cloud Palace that belonged to the Great Origin Empire's Esteemed Mystery Department that he had read in the books.

Similar to the Three Official Attendant Temple, the Lofty Cloud Palace was also a long-renowned immortal force in the Northern Complete Reed Continent. However, the owner of the Lofty Cloud Palace was also the leader of the Esteemed Mystery Department, so it naturally followed that the Lofty Cloud Palace was comparatively more involved in worldly affairs.

Buddhism was flourishing in the Northern Complete Reed Continent, so as the dominant nation in the central region of the continent, the Great Origin Empire naturally played host to intense debates between different Buddhist branches.

Even so, the Great Origin Empire was able to promote Daoism and suppress Buddhism to the stage of setting up the Esteemed Mystery Department and having the Daoist Sect manage the Buddhist temples of the nation. Apart from the Lu Clan emperor of the Great Origin Empire favoring the Daoist sect, the immense wealth and influence of the Lofty Cloud Palace also played a critical role.

Over at Dragon Spring Prefecture, Wei Bo would often welcome and see off guests at the immortal ferry station of Ox Horn Mountain. He also knew beforehand that Chen Ping'an was going to travel to the Northern Complete Reed Continent, so he had prepared many books and documents related to the various immortal forces of the continent. Among the numerous forces, the Lofty Cloud Palace was one of several main focal points.

Chen Ping'an had also mentioned before that he would definitely visit the large river that flowed into the sea, and the Great Origin Empire was coincidentally a nation along the path of this large river. Not only that, but the Great Origin Empire also regarded this river with great importance, so much so that all of the nations — not just the vassal states of the Great Origin Empire— through which the river flowed had especially established river-supervising officials and flood officials, positions that were assumed by officials from the Great Origin Empire. These were especially high-ranking positions that were equivalent to the assistant ministers of the Six Ministries or third-rank military generals.

Going through the history books, there were naturally cases of nations having shallow relationships with the Great Origin Empire, thereby leading to the imperial courts voicing vehement opposition toward stationing officials from another empire in their own nation. They viewed this as a huge national humiliation. Because of this, the Great Origin Empire had launched three punitive military expeditions on these nations, acting in an iron-fisted manner despite being labeled as aggressive and warmongering by the north and south of the continent and despite falling foul of the Confucian academies.

In the Great Origin Empire, the history of the Esteemed Mystery Department and the Lofty Cloud Palace's inception and rise was the history of the Buddhist Sect and the other schools of thought's decline.

Demolishing Qingxin Palace's Heavenly Official Hall to make way for the Esteemed Mystery Department's Heavenly Origin Hall, using the huge wood members of the Splendid Spirit Temple to construct the Lofty Cloud Palace's Old Master Hall, grabbing materials from the Cloud Sea Temple's Baohua Hall to erect the pavilion building of the Esteemed Mystery Department, tearing down Sweet Dew Monastery in order to build the ancestral hall of the Lofty Cloud Palace, and so on and so forth...

From the founding of the Great Origin Empire all the way to the current emperor, the rulers had always remained extremely bold and tyrannical. Even so, many emperors of the Great Origin Empire had still complained about the Esteemed Mystery Department being crude and unimpressive, so there were many times in history where the imperial family had overseen huge construction projects to expand the Esteemed Mystery Department and the Lofty Cloud Palace again and again.

Any structure in the capital that obstructed the feng shui of the Esteemed Mystery Department was demolished, and the ruins of these structures would become the new locations for the branch Daoist temples of the Lofty Cloud Palace. These Daoist temples were used to guard the fortune of the nation, and all of them were named according to the historical reign titles of the Great Origin Empire. The temples were managed by the Daoist priests of the Lofty Cloud Palace, and the imperial court was prohibited from interfering with the internal conflicts of the temple.

The Great Origin Empire's Lofty Cloud Palace appeared much like the leader of the Daoist orthodoxy in the Northern Complete Reed Continent.

In reality, however, Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, who had traveled south and stayed in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent for many years already, was the true leader of the continent's Daoist orthodoxy.

Chen Ping'an felt slightly curious. Did the two parties detest each other, but their strength was essentially on par, so they could only choose to stubbornly ignore each other? Or did they view each other as a thorn in the side that needed to be removed?

Chen Ping'an raised his head and looked at the river which was still as tumultuous and loud as always.

The scholar was still yet to return.

However, Chen Ping'an suddenly stood up and dashed toward the bank of the river.

The crashing waves became increasingly violent, and water continued to spill onto the shore.

There was a strong smell of blood.

A short moment later, the scholar leaped out from a distant section of the Black River, holding the neck of a sturdy woman in one hand. He dragged her along as he returned, and the sturdy woman's hair was completely disheveled, with the iron armour on her body also entirely obliterated.

The scholar walked across the tumultuous waves as if he were walking across flat ground, and upon catching sight of Chen Ping'an, he waved and said, "I've kept you waiting, Brother Haoren."

The scholar casually tossed the half-dead woman to the ground after he arrived near the water goddess shrine, causing her to roll along the ground and eventually come to rest with her bloody face facing the sky.

Walking over to Chen Ping'an's side, the scholar smiled and said, "It took me a while to find her, and we engaged in a battle underwater just then. It was extremely dangerous and deadly, and it was thanks to me silently praying for Brother Haoren's protection that I was able to stave off the danger. Otherwise, I was almost kidnapped by this woman and dragged to her residence to become her husband."

Chen Ping'an glanced at the Sea Turning Primordial Lord who was lying there with her eyes shut and pretending to be dead.

The scholar flicked his sleeve, striking the small turtle and causing it to create a huge crater in the ground.

He then clicked his tongue in wonder and remarked, "This water goddess truly knows how to enjoy life. She especially constructed a place euphemistically named the Concubine Platform in front of her underwater cave abode, and hanging on this platform are a large number of white skeletons.

"All of these skeletons belonged to the pitiful men who were 'fortunate' enough to become her husband in the past, and beside each skeleton was a burning soul lamp. It was truly a spectacularly lit place, with the sincere love between the men and the water goddess lasting for hundreds upon thousands of years.

"If it weren't for me standing outside the cave abode and threatening to destroy the Concubine Platform, this water goddess may very well have refused to come out to see me. In reality, if she were hellbent on hiding, I might truly have failed to find her even if I destroyed the platform and barged into her cave abode."

"Did you extinguish those soul lamps?" Chen Ping'an asked.

The scholar nodded and replied with a smile, "Naturally. This was a decently significant act of virtue, much more significant than killing Lady Bishu before. You truly are my lucky star, Brother Haoren."

Chen Ping'an squatted down beside the huge crater, inside of which the woman had already sat up and raised her head, screaming in a shrill voice, "The sky has the sun, moon, and stars, the earth has land, water, and dust, and the sentient being have hardships, pain, and suffering! Those men were destined to face this tribulation at some point in their lives!"

The scholar roared with laughter upon hearing this, and he raised his thumb at the Sea Turning Primordial Lord and praised, "What an extravagant explanation. It was so convincing that I almost believed you!"

Chen Ping'an looked at the woman and asked, "Then have you managed to predict your own tribulation?"

"My father and I are old acquaintances with the Great Round Moon Monastery, so do the two of you dare to kill me?!" the woman retorted with a ferocious expression.

Chen Ping'an remained silent.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Meanwhile, the scholar used his mind's voice to say, "There's no rush to make a move, and we'll use her as bait to draw out even bigger fish. This water goddess was relatively easy to find, but it's rumored that the Old Dragon Cave has hundreds upon thousands of twists and turns. It will be far too difficult to track down that old turtle."

Chen Ping'an nodded lightly and compressed his voice to a thread, asking, "Did you plunder her cave abode?"

Once again using his mind's voice, the scholar replied with disappointment, "This water goddess was very resolute and ruthless, and upon realizing that things were going south for her, she directly channeled a mystical ability to shut the entrance of her cave abode before being captured by me. I can indeed force my way in, but doing so would take far too much time. The entrance would be extremely difficult to breach if I don't spend at least two hours on it.

"When it comes to the dragon palaces of various sizes underwater, this is the aspect that cultivators are the most afraid of. Not only are these dragon palaces difficult to find, but they're also extremely difficult to breach and enter. This is because these dragon palaces are far too intertwined with the mountain roots and the water fortune. As such, cultivators run a big risk of failing to obtain the treasures and accidentally triggering a catastrophe instead.

"Once the water fortune erupts, chaos will ensue as the rivers start to churn violently. If this is at a place with many people, then such a catastrophe can easily cause a tragedy and claim the lives of tens of thousands of people. Of course, there's no need to worry about this at the Black River, so the two of us can go underwater to search for treasures once that old turtle takes the bait here. Brother Haoren's divine sword will definitely be able to breach the defenses of the cave abode quicker than my abilities."

Chen Ping'an kept his eyes trained on the Sea Turning Primordial Lord the entire time, and he chuckled, "Unlike you, someone who has a water-repelling immortal treasure, I can't stay underwater for very long. My spiritual energy will be drained far too quickly, so what will happen once I exert all my strength to launch a sword strike at the entrance of the cave abode? What will I do if you launch a surprise attack on me, stabbing me a few times with your flying sword, striking me a few times with your copper seal, and unleashing a few attacking talismans of the Lofty Cloud Palace at me? At that time, won't I be reduced to nothing more than fish feed? Isn't that right, Brother Mumao?"

There was a righteous expression on the scholar's face as he replied, "Brother Haoren, how could you possibly doubt me like this?!"

"You can feel free to visit the underwater cave abode to look for treasures afterward. Since I haven't provided you with any help, we can split the spoils seventy-thirty in your favor," Chen Ping'an said.

"You're still going to get thirty percent for doing nothing?" the scholar mumbled.

Chen Ping'an smiled faintly and explained, "I'll help you keep a lookout on the river bank so you won't face any dangers from above, allowing you to feel at ease as you look for treasures. However, let me say this first. You possess a minimization treasure, so I'll have no way of knowing how many treasures and immortal coins you find in the cave abode. In other words, it's completely up to your own conscience to split the treasures fairly afterward."

"Then how about splitting the treasures eighty-twenty?" the scholar asked.

"Deal," Chen Ping'an said with a nod.

The scholar became suspicious upon seeing Chen Ping'an agree to his proposal so readily, and he asked in an uncertain voice, "Perhaps you're trying to roughly compare the wealth of this underwater cave abode to the wealth of the Moon Hall's treasure chamber, and you'll get so angry that you build the courage to turn against me if you feel like you don't receive your fair share in a moment?"

Chen Ping'an smiled knowingly and replied, "You're the one suggesting this, okay?"

The scholar squatted on the ground and sighed.

The Sea Turning Primordial Lord saw that the two men were seemingly communicating silently and showing no signs of wanting to kill her straight away, so she became increasingly arrogant as she raged, "Hurry up and release me, and I can spare you from death! Otherwise, the two of you will die without a burial ground when my father arrives! The day that my destroyed Concubine Platform is rebuilt is the day that I'll light up the souls of you two detestable bastards!"

Chen Ping'an turned around to look at the extremely amused scholar, and he asked, "Is there anything for you to be proud of to have tricked someone like this out of their residence?"

The scholar shook his hand and replied, "I'm not feeling proud or anything, and I simply find this quite fun. A genuine river god with enough experience definitely wouldn't tell such a hilarious joke regardless of how low their godly status is. Malicious Ghost Valley is unable to amount to anything, and they can't fight their way out of this place no matter how hard they try. By the looks of it, there's a good reason why they've been forcefully contained in this small region and stripped of the right to see the sky and the sun by the few disciples of the Flax Robe Sect."

Chen Ping'an and the scholar looked toward someplace in the river at almost exactly the same time.

"Our guest has arrived," the scholar said with a smile.

1. In Chinese mythology, Gongfu (蚣蝮) is one of the nine sons of the Dragon. It has a flat dragon head and a body similar to Qilin. Gongfu is fond of water and is also known as a water-avoiding beast. ☜