Chapter 66 Blasphemy 15. Today I intended to kill that heavy...

"Good news?"

Chen Chou hooked his arm around Ming Yin's neck and tilted his head slightly: "The plan has been ruined, so what's the point of talking about it?"

"The good thing is that we received a pleasant surprise." The statue smiled slightly and then told Shen Chou and the Imperial Advisor Ming Yin about what they had seen in Yuejia Village.

"...As soon as the white lotus lantern appeared, I knew that we had been deceived during our investigation of Shenxiang Temple last time."

Chunshan Gongdao said, "Although I was surprised by his scheming and concealment, I didn't take it to heart. Even if this Shenxiang Jun is a deity, so what?"

"I don't know about the past, but in recent years He has secluded Himself in the deep mountains, relying solely on the incense offerings of the Shen family. Let alone the fact that He wasn't once a renowned deity, even if He was, after twenty years of such desolate worship, He would have long since become weak and feeble. Judging from His appearance, He is roughly similar to the evil dragon puppet, but I never expected..."

He paused, a strange expression twisting between surprise and delight on the stone statue's face: "One move... just one move, and my puppet was defeated, killed on the spot by a single sword strike! I've never seen that sword strike before!"

Mingyin's brows furrowed slightly.

Shen Chou's eyes widened in astonishment: "That Shen Xiangjun is not only a deity, but also possesses such power? How is that possible!"

It's impossible to say it, but people can't sit still any longer.

He pulled himself out of Mingyin's arms, leaned to the side, and bit his finger as if anxious or possessed.

You see, if Shen Xiangjun were just Shen Xiangjun, that would be fine, but he also happens to be Shen Mingxin's sworn brother, and he even seems to have helped Shen Mingxin get rid of the incense seed from last time. As a result, Shen Chou felt uncomfortable, as if he had a fishbone stuck in his throat.

Mingyin said, "Since the divine aura has been displayed, it must be real. What you saw must be correct. But if it is correct, how could you have killed the evil dragon in one move? The strength of your puppet is such that even my eldest disciple would have to fight it for several rounds and use a treasure to have a chance to kill it."

"This is the surprise I wanted to tell you," Chunshan said. "This Shenxiang Lord's aura is not grand, and his divine power is not particularly profound, but the former is extremely pure, and the latter is extremely solid. His aura is so pure that there is not a trace of turbidity or evil energy, and his divine power... If the divine power of the gods in the world is like mountain streams, then the divine power of this Shenxiang Lord is like milky nectar, extremely solid!"

"Besides that, there's His amazing magic!"

“The magic we use, though called magic, is really just manipulating divine power. It's about using divine power to create clouds and rain, move mountains and rocks, seep into people's bodies, and stir up souls. It's about using divine power as your hands and feet, and using brute force. But Shen Xiangjun is different. He can truly create miracles out of thin air.”

"I can vaguely sense that the energy of heaven and earth is being mobilized by it. No other demon or god in the entire land, including the Divine Illumination Kingdom, has such power."

"A clear and bright aura, solidified divine power, exquisite magic—could there be such a deity in this world? Ming'er, you know how powerful this is, don't you?"

Upon hearing this, Mingyin's expression finally changed: "Do you really believe what you're saying?"

"I have personally experienced it, so it is absolutely true!"

The statue of Lord Chunshan trembled slightly, and his gentle smile seemed to be excited, like damp clay being squeezed, oozing thick juice: "This is truly an unexpected and wonderful surprise for us!"

The juice, like overflowing soft, mushy tendrils, slowly flowed down the edge of the table, soaking Mingyin's fingers.

He seemed oblivious, his chest heaving heavily.

Clear and bright weather, solidified divine power and exquisite magic.

The latter two aside, no one understood the astonishing meaning of the word "Qingming" better than him.

The divine way has flourished in this world for only a little over a hundred years. All gods are born from nothingness, taking form from the spiritless things in heaven and earth. He and Xu Yin, also known as Lord Chunshan, are the two earliest gods to be born.

In their infancy, they were ignorant and absorbed incense offerings to increase their divine power. However, as time went on, they discovered that they were also entangled by malevolent forces, which they tried to resolve but could not. They attempted to connect with heaven and earth and realized that divine power and malevolent forces were two sides of the same coin. As long as a deity wanted incense offerings and to increase their divine power, they could not avoid malevolent forces.

Humans are extremely strange beings, neither entirely pure nor entirely impure. The offerings they make are also neither purely pure nor purely impure.

The pure is divine power, the impure is wicked power; the gods cannot separate them, so they accept them all.

However, if there is too much evil energy, it will breed filth and cause the gods to turn into evil gods and demons.

Twelve years ago, Xu Yin did the same. He couldn't bear to see one of the two great Heavenly Venerables of Shenzhao Kingdom transform into a demon, so he personally beheaded him.

He was righteous and awe-inspiring when he was executed, but afterwards he was filled with remorse, missed the executioner every day, and suffered greatly, even his divine power was scattered and unstable.

Later, upon seeing tribute items from a certain place in the Northern Pearl Kingdom, he noticed a familiar aura emanating from them, which brought him back to his senses and made him perk up.

Limited by his divine sense, he could not leave the Divine Illumination Kingdom. So, he secretly took advantage of the divine opportunity to turn the Divine Illumination Kingdom's national teacher into a puppet, and used his divine sense to enter the kingdom and drive the puppet to go out and search for him. After many hardships, he was able to meet him again today.

But this goodbye is truly heartbreaking.

His former twin lovers had found new partners, and he felt guilty but could not force them, so he had no choice but to join them. Fortunately, this new love was quite interesting, and her yin-yang nature was beneficial to stabilizing his divine power. Over the past few days, his reluctance had turned into willingness.

Ultimately, a broken mirror can never be mended, and nothing can ever be as perfect and carefree as it once was.

What is the crux of the problem?

It all comes down to these two words: karmic force!

But today, Xu Yin said that there was a wild god in the countryside who not only possessed solid divine power and exquisite magic, but also had a pure and clear aura, without any evil power. How could Xu Ming bear to do that?

If there truly is a way to undo karmic debts, then what about the struggle and self-reproach he and Xu Yin endured when they shared human offerings? What about the unbearable pain he felt when he killed his lover? And what about the endurance, torment, and near-death weakness he has shown in recent years in order to avoid becoming a demon by abstaining from incense offerings?

Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!

“We must obtain the secret method of Shenxiangjun,” Mingyin raised his eyes, his expression as cold as stone. “If a person gets in our way, we will kill him; if a god gets in our way, we will kill him.”

Upon hearing Ming Yin speak, Shen Chou immediately beamed with joy and grabbed his arm, saying, "Since the Heavenly Venerable is willing to take action, even if it's not his true form, it must be a piece of cake. Shen Zhuan was blind; the Shen family deserves this retribution."

Several months ago, he had a chance encounter with the old servant who had taken care of him when he was young. He learned that the misfortunes in his family were all due to his grandfather Shen Dong's past, and that Shen Zhuan was the one who orchestrated these events. He then developed an intense hatred for Shen Zhuan and the Shen family, who were still living in peace and happiness.

No matter how miserable the Shen family is, it's not that miserable. And no matter how much power he has to help them take revenge, it's not that much.

“That rural deity, he must have some unique ability to obtain such an opportunity,” Chunshan said. “We must not underestimate him. It would be best to test him and see how much strength he has before we plan to take action.”

“Ming’er, I have a real feeling that as long as we obtain the secret of the Divine Xiangjun this time, we will be able to get rid of the entanglement of the evil force that no god can escape, and from then on we can truly live a carefree life in the world and never have to repeat the tragedy of the past again… This is simply a gift from heaven to us!”

Mingyin nodded in agreement: "You're right. In that case, I'll have my disciples make the arrangements and test this Shenxiang Lord first..."

“Hey,” Shen Chou interrupted Ming Yin’s movements, “My good national advisor, my good celestial venerable one, you really have a bad memory, don’t you even remember what you’ve been doing these past few days? Isn’t that a perfect opportunity right here?”

Mingyin's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Aside from Chunshan Gong's affairs, the only other thing being done these past few days is the selection of disciples.

“You mean…” Mingyin looked at him.

"My sworn brother is suffering, can you really be so heartless as to watch him die?" Shen Chou laughed. "I originally intended to kill Shen Mingxin immediately today, but if it is for the sake of the two great gods, then it would not be inappropriate to let him live for a few more hours."

“Look,” he looked outside, “it’s already dawn. At this hour, the show is about to begin.”

Mingyin followed the heavy gaze.

As dawn broke outside the window, some commotion could be heard from the nearby county government office. The five-day selection of disciples had come to an end.

Near the county government office, at the martial arts training ground.

Before dawn, Shen Mingxin was dragged out of bed by the second steward, Qinggui, Shushi, and others, stuffed into a carriage, and thrown into the county government office. There were also a dozen or so other people who had come with him early in the morning.

A few days ago, when the National Preceptor of Shenzhao Kingdom entered the city and announced the selection of disciples, the number of people was many times greater. Almost all the young people in Yu County who were of legal age or younger came. The county government office and the adjacent training ground were too crowded to hold them all. People poured into the streets, filling two streets to capacity.

It was both a coincidence and an odd one; the day the Imperial Preceptor arrived in Yu County was exactly the same day Shen Zhuan left. The only difference was that one left early in the morning, and the other arrived in the afternoon, thus their departures were perfectly timed.

The unexpected arrival of the Divine Illumination Kingdom's Grand Preceptor disrupted Shen Mingxin's plans.

His original plan was to wait until nightfall after Shen Zhuan left, and then go up Wangqiu Mountain. It would take at least three to five days to travel from Yu County to Xiling County, even at the fastest horse. By the time Shen Zhuan read the letter he had entrusted to the old steward and wanted to come and stop him, it would be too late. But once the Grand Preceptor of Shenzhao Kingdom entered the city, he could no longer leave even if he wanted to.

The Grand Preceptor arrived not alone, but with his disciples and the escorting armies of Shenzhao and Beizhu.

To protect the Imperial Preceptor, the army surrounded all four city gates as soon as they entered the city. The county magistrate, who was used to holding his head high, was so afraid of the general that he wanted to bury his head in his belt and was very obsequious. He didn't dare to utter a word. Shen Mingxin was just a rich young master. How could he possibly sneak out at night?

If you go during the day instead of at night, that would be fine too.

However, the Imperial Preceptor announced the selection of disciples on the very day he entered the city, which Shen Mingxin did not want to attend. Firstly, although this was Shen Zhuan's wish, he felt it was unreliable. Secondly, when the Imperial Preceptor entered the city, he went to see him, but even just watching from afar, he was almost knocked over by the strange incense smell emanating from the group and vomited on the spot, let alone anything else.

He couldn't muster any trust or respect for the imperial advisor.

He didn't want to participate in the selection, but too many people in the Shen family wanted him to. The second steward had even received orders from Shen Zhuan before he left, and as soon as the news spread, he rushed to the county office to register his young master. When Shen Mingxin found out, he was so angry that he almost crushed the folding fan in his hand.

Is it possible to remove it?

Shen Mingxin grabbed the person and asked.

"How can we withdraw?" The second steward smiled bitterly. "Even if we could, we couldn't! Everyone in the county is rushing to help, and we're the only ones backing down. Wouldn't that be a slap in the face to the Imperial Advisor? Such a divine figure could kill us with the flick of his little finger!"

Helpless, Shen Mingxin had no choice but to suppress her anxiety and inexplicable resistance. She participated in the disciple selection during the day and slept soundly at night, hoping that the old steward would not break his promise and that her grandfather would not return too early.

"Why is Young Master unwilling to participate in that selection?" Shushi asked Shen Mingxin curiously, "I heard that this is a great opportunity that is like a pie falling from the sky. Many princes and princesses of Beizhu Kingdom are eager to have it."

"If the young master truly becomes the disciple of the Grand Preceptor of Shenzhao Kingdom, he will surely receive divine guidance in the future. Then why would he need to worship any other deities? He himself would be a deity! No, that's not right. He's not a deity, but better than a deity! That's what people outside say about the Grand Preceptor of Shenzhao Kingdom..."

Shen Ming thought to himself, "It would be good to be able to grasp powerful strength and the opportunity to control one's destiny, but there's no such thing as a free lunch."

"Every such opportunity comes with a price; you may not have to pay it now, but you'll have to pay it in the future. If the price is good, that's fine, but what if the price is bad?"

Soseki was taken aback: "Young Master, do you mean you think that Grand Preceptor is... is bad? But he's so powerful, slaying demons and monsters all over the world..."

“I don’t know either,” Shen Mingxin unfolded her fan and covered her face, “I just don’t like it. Since things have come to this, let it be.”

The two were outside in the corridor when Soseki cautiously glanced at the small statue inside and whispered, "Young Master, between the Imperial Preceptor and Shenxiangjun, which one do you prefer..."

Shen Mingxin did not answer.

Since Shushi couldn't see Shen Mingxin's face, he assumed he had fallen asleep, so he didn't say anything more and went to ask Qinggui for a blanket to prevent Shen Mingxin from catching a cold.

However, after turning around and taking only a few steps, a sound like jade striking jade came from beneath the fan of Peach Blossom Flowing Water, as light as a faint breeze: "Talking nonsense all day long, who says I don't like Him? I just..."

Just what?

Shushi didn't hear it, and Shen Mingxin didn't spit it out either.

"Shen Mingxin, Shen Mingxin!"

A rough, hoarse voice pulled Shen Mingxin back from her wandering thoughts: the constables were counting the men.

"arrive."

Shen Mingxin shook her fan.

This was the last day of the selection. He hadn't stood out in the previous four days, and he didn't know how he had made it to the end. Today, they said they would use treasures to test the purity of one's heart. Shen Mingxin considered himself a worldly and impure being, so he figured he should be eliminated. Therefore, he relaxed a lot.

The constable glanced around, then turned and respectfully addressed a young man in flowing white robes: "Sir, everyone has arrived. What do you think..."

The young man didn't even look up, and said calmly, "Let's begin."