"clang!"
Sparks flew.
The sword blade dug deep into the stone pavement. Xie Lian gripped the sword with both hands, lowered his head, and pressed his forehead against the hilt. He felt as if his teeth were about to be shattered between his teeth.
"waste!"
Qi Rong laughed heartily, "You useless piece of shit! I knew you wouldn't dare kill me! No matter how I humiliate you, no matter how I torture you to death, as long as I put a knife to someone's neck, you can't do anything to me. You useless coward, being a god has made you like this, what's the point of you still living?"
However, Xie Lian had completely calmed down. He raised his head, his eyes cold and icy. "Don't be too happy too soon. If I can't do anything to you, there will surely be someone who can."
Qi Rong snorted, "Are you trying to cling to Jun Wu's leg and ask him to make decisions for you again? Don't dream on. Did he pay any attention to you back then? Huh? And now you're still shamelessly hanging out with him? Don't be a fool, are you?"
Xie Lian stripped Qi Rong of his dignified and ornate pleasing divine robes, summoned Ruo Xie, bound Qi Rong, and tossed him aside, saying, "You'd better shut up and keep quiet."
Qi Rong said, "I'm not afraid of you, so why are you threatening me?"
Xie Lian asked, “Are you afraid of Hua Cheng?”
Qi Rong's smile finally froze for a moment. At that moment, Xie Lian whispered, "I'm telling you in advance, if I ever get upset, I might hand you over to Hua Cheng and ask him to help me find a way to cure you. So be careful, do you understand?"
Hearing this, Qi Rong's laughter completely died down. He shuddered, "Damn it, you're so vicious! How could you possibly think of such a thing? You might as well hand me over to Lang Qianqiu!"
Xie Lian knelt on the ground and began to pick up the rough particles of varying sizes from the ground and the bottom of the coffin. In truth, he wouldn't hand Qi Rong over to the Heavenly Court just yet. The reason was Lang Qianqiu. If he did, Lang Qianqiu would immediately charge at him, sword drawn, to kill him, should he let him kill him? That was a headache. And if he did, what would happen next? That was also a headache. Therefore, handing Qi Rong over to the Heavenly Court was not an option for the time being.
From this perspective, asking Huacheng for help does seem like a good option. But in reality, he was just using Huacheng to scare Qi Rong. After all, he had already disturbed Huacheng too many times. Every time he thought of Huacheng first when something happened, it felt like he was being too indifferent to outsiders. Just bringing him up to scare Qi Rong now made Xie Lian feel a little embarrassed.
Qi Rong turned around and spat blood in another direction. The child reached out and touched his forehead pitifully, saying, "Dad, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Qi Rong seemed to be enjoying this father-son game very much, and said sarcastically: "Good son~ Daddy is fine~ Hahaha."
Xie Lian, his eyes red, picked up the powder and carefully put it into his Spirit-Pleasant Clothes. The child quietly crawled over and helped Xie Lian pick up some. Xie Lian saw the pair of small hands and looked up at him. The child whispered, "Brother, can you please stop beating my dad and let us go? We will never steal from your house again."
Xie Lian felt a pang of pain in his heart, but he suppressed it and said, "Little friend, what's your name?"
The child said, "My name is Guzi."
Xie Lian gathered all the ashes, wrapped them in clothes, folded them, and placed them back in the coffin. He closed the coffin and then said slowly, "Guzi, that's not your father over there. It's someone else. He's been possessed by a ghost. He's a bad guy now."
The child couldn't understand what he said and said in confusion, "Another person? No, I recognize him. That's my father."
Qi Rong praised, "Not bad, not bad. It's worth it. I got a cheap son! Hahaha... Ouch!" But Xie Lian kicked him.
Gu Zi was still young, having always depended on his father for survival. He was extremely attached to the body Qi Rong leaned over, and would never leave. Xie Lian couldn't think of a place to place him, so he carried the Fang Xin Sword on his back and kowtowed three times before the two coffins. Holding Qi Rong in his left hand and Gu Zi in his right, he left Taicang Mountain and headed for Puqi Village at lightning speed.
After being away for many days, it was late at night when he returned. The door of the Puqi Temple was wide open, and clouds of incense were billowing. The incense burner on the altar was filled with incense sticks, and the table was piled with offerings. Xie Lian walked in, looked around casually, and took two buns from the altar. He gave one to Gu Zi and rudely stuffed the other into Qi Rong's mouth. This body was still a living person after all, and he had to eat well until Xie Lian figured out how to pull Qi Rong out of this person. Qi Rong spit out a mouthful of buns and cursed it for being unpalatable. He seemed a little worried and said, "I say! You are not really going to hand me over to Hua Cheng?"
Xie Lian sneered, "Are you scared?" Unwilling to listen to his nonsense, he turned and began rummaging through the pile of pickle jars on the floor. Qi Rong stubbornly replied, "What should I be afraid of? You're the one who should be afraid. As a priest, you're actually flirting with someone so utterly insane. You..." As he spoke, his gaze suddenly fixed on a single point. As Xie Lian bent down, something had slipped out from under his shirt.
It was a crystal-clear ring. This was what Qi Rong was staring at.
Xie Lian didn't notice his gaze, but Qi Rong, standing behind him, looked suspicious. After a moment, he asked, "Prince cousin, what's that on your chest?"
Xie Lian hadn’t intended to pay any attention to him, but the ring Qi Rong mentioned was something he was somewhat interested in. So, he turned around, hooked his fingers around the thin silver chain, and asked, “This? Do you know what it is?”
Qi Rong said, "Bring it here and let me see it, then I'll know."
Xie Lian said, “If you know, tell me. If you don’t, shut up.”
Qi Rong said sullenly, "You always show off to people you know well. If you have the guts, show off your power to outsiders."
Xie Lian tucked the silver chain back onto his chest, strapping it close to his skin. He said, "If you have the guts, keep talking. I'll take one point for every word you say. Every point you take brings you one step closer to Hua Cheng's sword."
Before he knew it, he'd become quite proficient at using Huacheng. Qi Rong sneered, "Don't try to scare me with it. You might even end up under someone's knife someday! Don't you want to know what this is? I, one of the Four Pests, am telling you it's a cursed weapon, an ominous object! Throw it away! How dare you carry this thing around with you? Do you think you've lived too long?"
Hearing this, Xie Lian suddenly stood up and asked, "Really?"
Qi Rong said, "Nonsense! Whoever gave you this, whether it was a human or a ghost, definitely had bad intentions."
Xie Lian squatted down again: "Oh."
Qi Rong: "What do you mean by 'oh'?!"
Without even turning his head, Xie Lian said calmly, "'Oh' is just a joke. I choose to trust the person who gave me this. I've decided to keep it with me forever."
He was always gentle with others, but he was particularly cold to Qi Rong. Qi Rong was furious and kept cursing, but Xie Lian pretended not to hear anything. He found that no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find the jar containing Ban Yue. He wondered, "Could it be that the Wind Master has come and taken her away?"
As he listened, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.
It was really strange. Qi Rong was clearly terrified of Hua Cheng, yet why did she still dare to nag and irritate him? It was almost like... almost like she was deliberately trying to get his attention!
With this thought in mind, Xie Lian launched a surprise attack. He glanced at Qi Rong, and sure enough, he saw a glint in his eyes, a furtive look. An inexplicable instinct compelled Xie Lian to look upwards. He looked up, and saw a man in black crouching on the not-so-high beam, his back pressed against the ceiling, like a giant bat.
Xie Lian swung his sword back with his hand. The man, whose back was pressed against the beam, spun around to avoid the blow and fell.
Guzi was so frightened that he dropped his bun and screamed. Qi Rong was about to shout when Ruo Xie silenced him, dragged him to a corner and tied him up. Xie Lian originally thought that this was Qi Rong's ambush helper, but after a few quick exchanges, he felt that this person's moves were fast and fierce, and strangely familiar. He could responsibly conclude that with Qi Rong's character, he would never be able to control such a skilled subordinate. He then saw what the person was holding in his other hand, and upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a pitch-black jar. And that jar was the one that contained the half moon!
The Wind Master hadn’t taken Ban Yue away yet? Xie Lian instantly remembered who this person was and blurted out, “Xiao Pei!”
It turned out that Pei Su came to steal Banyue, but he happened to be bumped into by Xie Lian who came back, so he had to hide on the roof beam. Qi Rong was tied up by Ruo Xie Ling and was lying on the ground. He saw Pei Su hiding above at a glance. He didn't know who this person was, but he thought that he wanted to harm Xie Lian, which was good for him. He was afraid that Xie Lian would find out that someone was ambushing above, so he kept making noises to interfere, but Xie Lian still noticed it. Xie Lian was carrying two cursed shackles, and Pei Su was exiled. Both of them had no magic power, so they could only fight with their skills. Xie Lian had fought for the past eight hundred years with his skills, so how could Pei Su withstand it? After more than ten moves, Xie Lian took him down and said, "Give me back the jar!"
He had only casually called out, but Pei Su had actually thrown the pickle jar back to him. Xie Lian was stunned, thinking, why did he just return it when asked? This young General Pei was really straightforward. Normally, wouldn't he have to wait and see for a long time before he died? But as he threw the jar, Pei Su whispered, "Hurry up!"
From the tone of his voice, he seemed genuinely anxious. The jar hadn't even fallen from the sky yet, and Xie Lian was about to reach out to catch it when it suddenly veered off course and flew out the window. The next moment, they heard a man's voice from afar, "You truly disappoint me."
Pei Su's face turned pale and he said, "...General!"
Xie Lian and he rushed out of Puqi Monastery. As expected, the man standing on a distant rooftop was Pei Ming. He wore no armor, only casual clothes. He was quite tall, his expression like the rising sun, and he looked extremely elegant. The jar slowly flew to Pei Ming's side and floated there, while Pei Ming, holding the sword at his waist, said to Pei Su below, "A true man should prioritize the overall situation and his career. You are someone who will accomplish great things, but what's wrong with you now? You're acting so recklessly over a little girl? Do you think you're just a brat?"
Pei Su lowered his head and remained silent. Pei Ming continued, "It took two hundred years to get to this point. Do you think it's easy? I've paved the way for you. Going down is easy, but getting up is not easy!"
As the saying goes, it's lonely at the top. Whenever a deity descends to earth, they usually prefer to stand high; the higher they are, the better they are for overlooking the creatures below. Xie Lian used to have this nasty habit, though after a fall, he now feels a dull pain in his legs whenever he stands on high ground. The problem has been cured. However, the tallest building in Puqi Village is the village chief's house, a simple tiled house, so General Pei's presence here is quite condescending.
However, this is not the point. The point is that Xie Lian knew what was going on as soon as he saw the situation. Last time, Pei Ming intended to drag Banyue to take the blame for Pei Su, but he got it back. Although Pei Ming seemed to have given up on the surface because of Jun Wu, he had not given up. And this time, Xie Lian was exposed for the Gilded Banquet and other scandals. He was in trouble and his reputation was bound to plummet. General Pei probably felt that it was time to bring up the old matter again, so he found Pei Su and wanted to take him and Banyue to the Heavenly Court again to find a way to overturn the verdict. He was really persistent. However, Pei Su didn't seem too enthusiastic. He sighed and said, "General, let's just... forget about this matter."
"you……!"
Pei Ming, speechless, questioned the heavens, feeling incredibly frustrated. He was only too annoyed to berate Pei Su, ignoring Xie Lian's presence. After a moment, he suddenly said, "I'd like to see what kind of extraordinary woman has made all my efforts go to waste." He reached out, seemingly intending to smash the jar. Opening the jar this way was fine, but the problem was that he wasn't sure if Ban Yue's injury had healed. If it hadn't, and it shattered, it would be disastrous. Xie Lian's expression darkened, and he leaped forward, ready to pounce, shouting, "Don't throw it!"
Unexpectedly, before Pei Ming could touch it, the jar exploded with a loud bang.
In an instant, the air was filled with the devastating smell of pickles.
Pei Ming, who was closest to the jar, was unfortunately covered in pickles, completely stunned by the salty wind and rain. Then, a clear female voice said in mid-air, "General Pei is truly upright!"
A man in white came out of a small jar. Originally only the size of a fist, he rolled over and over, growing larger and larger. Xie Lian took a closer look and said, "Master Wind Master!"
Hiding in the pickle jar was Shi Qingxuan, not Ban Yue. She had hidden inside the jar and unexpectedly blasted Pei Ming with pickles. Yet, she herself, still in her white robe, untainted by dust, landed safely. With a flick of her whisk, she said, "Fortunately, fortunately, fortunately, I sent this little girl somewhere sooner rather than later. Otherwise, she would have been unable to escape General Pei's long arm."
Pei Ming always prided himself on being a man of style, always maintaining grace no matter what he did. But now, he looked like a scoundrel. Even when facing the female form of Shi Qingxuan, even the most graceful person would be frustrated. "Qingxuan, why are you going against me like this?"
If it were someone else, he would have probably beaten them up long ago. Unfortunately, when he thought of Shi Qingxuan's brother's background, he could only pick the pickles clean, straighten his hair, gnashed his teeth for a while, and shook his head, saying: "...You, you better not let me know where you sent that girl, otherwise, I will definitely come to visit her myself."
His words were essentially saying that anyone who took her in for half a month was against him, and he would definitely cause trouble. Shi Qingxuan clapped his hands and said, "Very well, very well. I'll tell you where she's been sent to, but I'm afraid you won't dare visit. Listen carefully—the little girl is currently in the Rain Master's cave abode on Yulong Mountain, under the tutelage of Master Yu! Do you dare to go?"
Upon hearing this, Pei Ming's expression changed slightly, and he wasn't as confident as before. He calmed down, suddenly becoming serious, and said to Master Feng, "Qingxuan, you're still young, so you always like to stand up for the weak. I just hope that when you're older, you'll look back on your actions and not regret it!"
With that, he leaped off the roof, his figure vanishing in an instant, leaving him in such a hurry. Xie Lian was slightly taken aback, sensing a hidden meaning in his words. He asked, "Master Feng, what was his last sentence...?"
Shi Qingxuan said nonchalantly, "It's just bluffing."
Pei Su watched Pei Ming's back disappear before he came over, saluted the two, and said, "Master Fengshi, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Shi Qingxuan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Xiao Pei, you were kind enough to come and stop your general this time. Reform yourself down there. I'll speak well of you in Heaven if I get a chance. Don't worry!"
Pei Su was speechless for a moment, then said, "Thank you very much, sir. However, I've always felt that you might have misunderstood. In fact, General Pei is not usually like this. He is just overly worried about me because of the past events. Also, you know, Master Yushi..."
Finally, he seemed to feel that he had said too much, shook his head, and said with a bow, "Goodbye."
The two of them watched him go. Xie Lian then asked, “Master Wind Master, the Master Rain Master you mentioned just now, was that Master Rain Huang?”
Shi Qingxuan turned around and said, "Exactly. The Rain Master has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. So, do you know him? Are you old friends?"
Xie Lian shook his head and said gently, “Although I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him, this Master of Rain has been kind to me, and I am deeply grateful.”
Shi Qingxuan smiled and said, "That's right. Although few people know Master Rain, those who do know him have never said anything bad about him. Oh, except Pei Ming."
Xie Lian asked, “Is there any conflict between these two?”
Shi Qingxuan said, "Of course there will be conflicts. After so many years in the Upper Heaven, who hasn't had some conflicts or collusion? Let me tell you, Master Yu is a shadow in Pei Ming's heart."
"..." Xie Lian asked, "Shadow?" In his heart, he always felt that Master Yu was just a farmer. Shi Qingxuan said, "You know Pei Ming, he has many descendants. His descendants are everywhere. Before Little Pei, Mingguang Hall had another deputy god, who was also appointed by him and ascended to heaven."
Xie Lian was surprised, “General Pei’s descendants are truly talented.”
Not everyone can claim ascension as a "family tradition." Shi Qingxuan fanned out his fan and said, "He's certainly talented, but he's just like Pei Ming: great abilities, but also great flaws. That deputy god often commits crimes on other people's territory, but relying on Pei Ming's influence, no one dares to say anything. Then one day, he ended up committing crimes at the site of the former Rain Master Kingdom."
"Master Rain Master rarely comes out, only farming in the mountains. That's why he's nicknamed 'Old Farmer in the Mountains, Master Rain Master Huang.' But who knew that when he came out, he beat up Pei Ming's descendant, dragged him up to heaven, and finally threw him before the Emperor, who sentenced him to exile."
Xie Lian thought to himself, "Why does this story seem so familiar?"
Shi Qingxuan continued, "Originally, Pei Ming thought, let him be exiled, and it wouldn't be a big deal to pull him back out after a hundred years. But how much can happen in the mortal world in a hundred years? Every year, even every day, new and extraordinary people appear, like a revolving lantern, dazzling, wave after wave, one after another. After only ten years, the original believers have converted to other priests. After fifty years, the deputy priest was completely forgotten. After a hundred years, he never rose again. A young and promising priest was ruined and gone. It wasn't until Little Pei appeared that Pei Ming found a deputy who met his needs again."
No wonder General Pei was determined to rescue Little Pei by any means necessary. It turned out he had done this before, and he was afraid Little Pei would be ruined. Although his method wasn't quite right, Xie Lian seemed lost in thought. He sighed softly and said, "The human world."
Shi Qingxuan also said: "Yes, if you stay in the human world for too long, you will be worn down and lose your spiritual energy and fighting spirit."
They both nodded. The difference was that Xie Lian nodded unconsciously, while Shi Qingxuan nodded exaggeratedly. After nodding for a while, Xie Lian suddenly remembered an extremely important person and called out, "...Lang Ying! That child!"
The series of events happened so quickly and were so stimulating that he hadn't even remembered the child. Shi Qingxuan said, "Are you talking about the child you brought back from Ji Le Fang? The Emperor has seen that child, and he's with me now. I'll bring him down to you later."
Xie Lian thought to himself that Qi Rong and another child were imprisoned in Puqi Monastery, and he couldn't let anyone see them. He said, "That's embarrassing. I'd better go up."
Shi Qingxuan nodded happily: "Same. The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet is coming soon, it's an annual event you shouldn't miss. My brother will be back this year too, and I'll introduce you to him then."
The tone of his voice was filled with pride for his brother, and Xie Lian couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking, "Mid-Autumn Festival banquet..."
Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the gods and spirits celebrate with a banquet, overlooking the festivities on earth for their own amusement. Furthermore, there's a crucial "game" at the banquet, arguably the grand finale of the feast: the "Dou Lantern" (fighting lantern).
A prayer lantern is not something that ordinary people can offer. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, hundreds of gods compete for lanterns. The competition is about how many prayer lanterns each priest can receive from believers on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
While everyone kept saying things like, "It's just a game," "Don't take it seriously," and "I'm just playing around, I don't care at all," how many truly didn't care? Most were secretly eager, hoping for a victory from their followers this year. If there was anyone who wasn't fighting, it was Jun Wu. Naturally, the Shenwu Hall triumphed in the Lantern Festival every year, and his scores were rising year after year. Therefore, he was the only priest who truly treated this game as a game. As for the other priests, they weren't vying for first place, only for second place, and the competition was incredibly intense.
When Xianle Palace was at its peak, it was also the center of attention at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, leading the way alongside the Divine Martial Hall, leaving all other priests far behind. But now, things might look very different. Xie Lian didn't even need to guess how many blessing lanterns there would be this year—definitely not a single one!
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