Chen Shi arrived at Red Mountain Hall when the moon had already set, and the sun appeared, casting a fiery red across the sky.
Streaks of red clouds filled the sky; rain was likely on its way.
The guards at Red Mountain Hall, upon seeing him carrying the lifeless Zhao Kaiyun, hurried forward to greet him and inquire about the reason. Chen Shi, worn out in body and mind, casually said, "Brother Zhao has been killed by the people of the Tianlao Society, and I’ve exterminated their Caiseng Hall. I’m exhausted and need to rest."
At these words, the guards were both shocked and horrified. One of them quickly took the corpse of Zhao Kaiyun while another led Chen Shi to the guest rooms of the main hall.
Chen Shi intended to wash off the blood on his body, but his injuries were severe, and the intense consumption of qi-blood due to the Tianpeng Demon Suppression Technique left him too languid to bother with a bath. He just laid down on the bedding, not knowing whether he fell asleep or fainted, but he ended up sleeping nonetheless.
The guards saw blood all over him and traces of being gnawed by ghosts, quickly going to summon the physician and people like Incense Master Lu and Master Xiao.
Incense Master Lu was still in the incense hall aiding Master Xiao in protecting the law, while Master Xiao was still channeling her Nascent Soul, healing her injuries with the help of the oil lamp.
A guard rushed over and hurriedly relayed the news.
Incense Master Lu stood up in alarm and exclaid, "Brother Zhao is dead? Chen Shi went to destroy the Tianlao Society’s incense hall?"
Master Xiao, who was fully engaged in her healing, nearly lost her composure upon hearing this and was at risk of exacerbating her injuries. She quickly stabilized her spirit and dared not be distracted.
Incense Master Lu, lowering his voice, asked, "Which incense hall of the Tianlao Society did he destroy?"
"The Caiseng Hall."
Incense Master Lu quickly said, "The Caiseng Hall? That place is full of experts, especially Yu Daozhi, who is a formidable practitioner in the Nascent Soul Realm! How many did he kill? Is his injury severe? How did he manage to escape unscathed from Yu Daozhi’s hands? Ah! You’re too slow to answer; I’ll ask him myself!"
He hurried outside, and Master Xiao, upon hearing this, also got up to follow without considering her injuries. She stumbled over the threshold due to her old wounds and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Why follow with such severe injuries?" Incense Master Lu imdiately returned to help her up and reproached her.
Master Xiao said, "With such a significant event happening and brothers from our society being killed, how can I rest easy and heal?"
Incense Master Lu didn’t force her, and both of them rushed to the guest room only to find Chen Shi still in an unconscious slumber, with his body burning hot to the touch.
"He has bite marks all over his body and has lost too much blood. Don’t wake him."
Incense Master Lu asked, "Has the physician arrived?"
Soon after, the physician arrived, and the two Incense Masters hastily let the physician administer treatnt.
The physician said, "Though he has lost too much blood, his vitality remains extrely strong. The qi-blood in his body is still circulating, producing blood in his bone marrow; he won’t die. However, his primordial qi is damaged. I’ll prescribe so restorative dicine for the primordial qi and apply healing ointnt for the wounds; then there should be no serious issues."
The two Incense Masters thanked them and quickly sent soone to get the dicine.
Incense Master Lu and Master Xiao then went to the corpse of Zhao Kaiyun. Seeing his terrible condition, they could not contain their fury. Master Xiao gritted her teeth and said, "The Caiseng Hall has done so much evil; it should have been eradicated long ago! It has now involved Brother Zhao! I don’t know how many demons Chen, the instructor, killed, but I’ll go and slaughter all of them!"
Incense Master Lu hurriedly stopped her, saying, "The Hall Master isn’t here right now; don’t act in haste. Your injuries haven’t healed yet. Let’s wait for the Hall Master to return! Soone, go find out how many people Instructor Chen killed in the Caiseng Hall? Also, summon all the instructors here!"
He frowned slightly. With Master Yu out and Master Xiao injured, he remained the only one left with any fighting power in the hall.
"Yu Daozhi has suffered such a loss; he will surely lead Han Mingyu and Hu Yiqi here to seek retribution."
He comforted Master Xiao but thought to himself, "I’m not afraid of Yu Daozhi and the others; I just fear that they might inform the stronger mbers of the Tianlao Society. If the Heavenly Elder of the Tianlao Society and the other two Incense Masters also co, I fear our Red Mountain Hall is in trouble..."
Incense Master Lu was restless when, after a short while, a Red Mountain Hall disciple returned with news, saying, "The disciple encountered a patrol from the governnt office, which had sealed off the Tianlao Society’s Caiseng Hall. It’s said there was an evil spirit that killed many people. The disciple spent so silver to inquire from a governnt official, who said that everyone in the Caiseng Hall is dead, not a single one spared."
Incense Master Lu was stunned for a mont before quickly asking, "What about Yu Daozhi? Han Mingyu and Hu Yiqi?"
"They’re all dead too."
That disciple continued, "It’s rumored that even the statue of the Heavenly Elder was smashed, and the Heavenly Elder’s avatar vanished without a trace. The people of the Tianlao Society are extrely enraged, and many Incense Masters and instructors are rushing to the Caiseng Hall."
Incense Master Lu’s scalp tingled as he quickly turned to the guard and asked, "How did Brother Chen describe the situation to you before he fell unconscious?"
The guard replied, "He said Brother Zhao was dead, and he had destroyed the Caiseng Hall."
Incense Master Lu gasped, muttering to himself, "So when he said he destroyed the incense hall, he truly ant it."
Destroying an incense hall, though rely a three-word phrase, was exceedingly brutal.
Similar to leveling a mountain or demolishing a temple, destroying an incense hall was a severe matter. In the era of the True King, it required court permission, with orders issued by the West Capital Heavenly Master Mansion for cultivators to undertake such tasks, following strict protocol.
An incense hall was a place for honoring deities, and destruction wasn’t the end of it. According to the rules of the True King Era, for every incense stick burned, a head must be counted, and all disciples who had ever offered incense to a statue must be deed heretics and demons and beheaded, the oil lamps extinguished, and the incense hall demolished, with the deities’ statues executed!
Only then was it a proper destruction of an incense hall!
However, after the True King Era, such destruction was mostly talk, with rare instances of complete annihilation where even the deities’ statues were destroyed.
Incense Master Lu never expected that Chen Shi’s destruction of the incense hall would strictly adhere to the rules of the True King Era, where destroying ant counting each offering, leaving none alive!
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