Chapter 207 – Ping’an’s Talent, The Deputy Temple Master of the Holy Tree Temple Arrives in Secret - Part 3

Feng’er finally stirred from behind the counter. She placed several black pouches on a tray, her joints cracking in a sharp, unnatural way. Then, moving stiffly to the door, she opened it just a crack.

From the darkness, a rotting, bloated hand wrapped in black smoke reached inside. It grabbed one of the black pouches and then pushed it back, grabbed another, and pushed it back again...repeating this several times until finally, it did not return the last pouch.

The white-robed clerk spun around and disappeared into the back room. Moments later, she came out dragging a terrified person. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable, but his body was frozen, unable to move.

The clerk opened the door, extended her arm, and handed the captive out. In exchange, that decaying hand in the darkness gave her a sheet of stark-white ghost money.

The trade done, she shut the door again. In that instant, the light outside flickered back to normal.

Li Yuan asked gravely, “What tier of ghost is that thing?”

With her legs crossed and chin in her hand, Yan Yu dismissed it. “Nothing special. A pitiful ghost that can’t even take a life.”

“But when it showed up,” Li Yuan said, “the whole street went black.”

“That’s because it doesn’t even have a proper consciousness,” Yan Yu answered casually. “It lacks the drive to control its own form. Coming here in a mindless swarm, of course it blotted out the light.”

Li Yuan fell silent. He’d thought monstrous beings that bloated out the sky were truly frightening beings. Turns out it was actually the exact opposite. In reality, the truly frightening and monstrous being was Yan Yu herself. She was simply powerful, beyond doubt.

He couldn’t help sighing softly.

Sensing his mood, Yan Yu rolled her eyes in gentle exasperation. She slipped her arm through his and said in a tender voice, “But I’m still your wife, aren’t I?”

“Yeah,” he murmured.

He put an arm around her shoulder. His worries used to center on the Red Lotus Cult and the undying husks, or on how the Zhu Family had been wiped out overnight. Now, a new concern weighed on him, his own wife.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A few days later.

In an estate owned by the Blood Blade Sect outside of the inner district, Yu Chaojin sat outside in the autumn breeze, indulging himself as usual. Beautiful maidservants surrounded him... some massaging his shoulders, others kneading his calves, and one feeding him delicacies. Yet his gaze held a far-off seriousness the maids hadn’t seen in a long time.

After he became sect master, Yu Chaojin had seemed perfectly satisfied, savoring his status. Now, less than two years later, the worry that once plagued him as deputy temple master had returned.

The maidservants, well aware of his moods, stayed on their best behavior. Those who didn’t had long since met a grim fate. Seeing the gloom deepen in Yu Chaojin’s eyes, they knew something weighed heavily on his mind again.

He had recently gotten word that, across the river in Northriver Prefecture, several factions affiliated with the Sacred Fire Palace had reestablished contact with their parent sect. Apparently, Tie Sha was with an inner disciple named Yuan Zongzi, and they’d traveled all the way back to Ocean Province.

And him?

“Out! All of you, get out!!”

Without warning, Yu Chaojin exploded in rage. He swiped an arm across the table, sending fruit platters and cups crashing to the ground, where they shattered with a resounding clatter.

Terrified, the maids trembled. One dropped to her knees while the others bowed and hurried off, faces blanching.

In the courtyard, the final withered leaf fell from a bare branch, making the desolate scene even starker in the western wind.

Yu Chaojin’s refined features twisted slightly as he seethed with envy and frustration. Why should Tie Sha get to go to the Sacred Fire Palace’s main seat in Oceanstate Province while the Blood Blade Sect remained cut off? Why must he languish here under someone else’s thumb?

Just then, he spotted a figure entering through the gate. Rising to his feet, he resumed his calm expression. “Patriarch, greetings.”

Li Yuan stepped into the courtyard, noting the shattered shards on the ground. “Sect Master Yu,” he said, “did I come at a bad time?”

Yu Chaojin forced a cordial smile. “Not at all. In fact, your timing is perfect. The Red Lotus Cult is stirring again nearby, and I was thinking of sending envoys to the Sacred Fire Palace to rebuild our connection. If the bandits attack, having the Sacred Fire Palace’s support would be ideal...”

But Li Yuan strode right up to him and pulled out a wax-yellow leather bracelet. “Put this on,” he said. “It’s a good thing.”

Yu Chaojin accepted it, feeling an intense chill at the touch. It was colder than any normal leather, almost like a shard of frozen bone. Yet with Li Yuan standing before him, he wouldn’t dare disobey. After a moment’s hesitation, he carefully slipped the leather band onto his left wrist.

The moment Yu Chaojin slipped on the leather band, it vanished. At once, he felt his very soul become the property of Li Yuan standing before him, leaving no room for even the slightest thought of betrayal. Many of his notions and desires shifted in that instant.

Moments later, Yu Chaojin abruptly stood up and declared, “We can’t invite the Sacred Fire Palace here. Two tigers cannot share one mountain. If the Sacred Fire Palace comes, where will that leave you? No, absolutely not. We mustn’t let them come.”

Li Yuan gave him a measured look. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this. One day, if an opportunity arises, I’ll send you to the Sacred Fire Palace myself.”

With that, Li Yuan tossed Yu Chaojin a single copper pendant and instructed him to keep it on his person at all times. Then he left.

With that, the internal situation was more or less settled.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

After returning home, Li Yuan took out 10 copper pendants from his equipment box, placed them in a small embroidered pouch, and hung it on Xue Ning’s waist. “Keep this on you every day,” he said. “And make sure no one sees it.”

Early winter came with a flurry of light snow, blanketing the world in white.

Tang Nian finally emerged from her quarters. She was unsteady on her feet and immediately collapsed in a faint. Behind her stood a wooden-faced man with blood and flesh like any normal human. Yet his gaze was chillingly cold. This was

Tang Qiu

.

As soon as Tang Nian fell, Tang Qiu caught her and silently carried her into the inner courtyard. He didn’t utter a word the entire time. Fortunately, Xiao Zhu saw what happened and helped Tang Nian to her room to rest.

At dusk, Li Yuan returned home and headed to the room where his goddaughter was recuperating. He paused briefly outside the door, surprised to see Tang Qiu, who stood vigil with a blank stare. Floating above his head were the numbers 600~601, revealing he had reached sixth rank.

Inside, Tang Nian lay on the bed, pale but awake. A faint, weak smile appeared on her face as she greeted him. “Godfather, without the pills you gave me, I’d have failed for sure... It was so hard...really, so much harder than I expected. I overestimated myself.” She lowered her gaze in dejection.

Li Yuan comforted her gently and didn’t bring up the idea of creating a sixth rank puppet again just yet.

Soon, Xue Ning arrived as well. She chatted with Tang Nian for a bit, then pulled Li Yuan outside to share all the news she had gathered that day. Most of it was the same sort of intelligence he was already getting from Yu Chaojin, rumors of martial artists who could leap and fly, of roaming undying husk assassins... all signs of chaotic battles flaring up all around Gemhill.

Ever since Li Yuan had put the human-skin manacles on Yu Chaojin, the sect master had become fanatically loyal, almost eager in his efforts to investigate every rumor. It gave Li Yuan a complicated sense of relief and alarm in equal measure.

“Make sure you always carry the pouch I gave you,” he reminded Xue Ning, cutting her explanation short.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A few days later.

Li Yuan was talking to Tang Nian, trying to figure out exactly why her attempt at making a sixth rank puppet had been so taxing. What she told him left him feeling a bit deflated.

Since Tang Nian herself hadn’t reached sixth rank, creating a sixth rank puppet should have been impossible. The only reason she managed at all was her remarkable talent, combined with her unshakable dedication, the help of the fasting pills that kept her in a focused, stable state, the strange power of the Daemonheart, and more. If anyone else tried it, they’d likely fail a hundred times out of a hundred.

So, Li Yuan’s notion of

mass producing

sixth rank puppets was hitting an obstacle, though he wasn’t giving up yet. The Tang Family, after all, supposedly had some sixth rank secrets.

Right as the two were talking, a maid called in from outside, “Master, Yan Mu has come to see you.”

Li Yuan smiled. “Tell him to come right in.”

Tang Nian rose and said, “Godfather, I’ll get going.”

He nodded, and she left. Moments later, Yan Mu hurried inside, looking agitated.

“What’s up, Nephew?” Li Yuan asked.

Yan Mu’s voice was rushed. “I’ve just gotten word from the Holy Tree Temple. Our deputy temple master has gone into hiding somewhere to hunt down the Red Lotus Cult. She needs a place to lie low. After learning we have an inner disciple here in Gemhill County, she looked into the county’s geography and...decided to stay here.”

He took a breath, then continued anxiously, “If that deputy temple master really comes, Sheng'er can’t stay at home anymore.”

Li Yuan was taken aback. He studied Yan Mu for a second, making the young man squirm under his gaze.

“W-what is it, Uncle?” Yan Mu asked.

Li Yuan, still reeling from the news, fought the urge to tease him. So many problems.

You sure you aren’t the real protagonist here

? But he swallowed the thought. “Tell me more about this deputy temple master,” he said.