"Is the Cyan Ghost Hand related to that supre ghost god?"
After bidding farewell to A Zhuo, Chen Shi headed towards the Hanging Cliff.
Was the master of the ghost hand that supre ghost god?
He felt sowhat lancholic. Back then, when Grandpa saw him standing on top of that supre ghost god's head, was it just an illusion or did it really happen?
If it truly happened, then why was he standing on the head of the supre ghost god?
Who was the supre ghost god?
What was his relationship with Chen Shi? Was Chen Shi his prisoner, or his accomplice?
Later, Grandpa went to the underworld seven more tis, all to search for Chen Shi. Could it be that he was actually searching for this supre ghost god, waiting for an opportunity to snatch Chen Shi back from the ghost god's hands?
When Grandpa snatched Chen Shi back, why did the supre ghost god grip Chen Shi's heart, occasionally squeezing it to death?
Chen Shi covered his chest. He had died many tis, mostly because the ghost hand squeezed his heart to a stop.
Although this problem hadn't flared up again in the past year, Chen Shi didn't dare let his guard down in the slightest. After all, his heart was in soone else's grip. That person could make him die whenever they wanted.
"During my eight years in the underworld, I must have been captured by the supre ghost god and beca his prisoner."
Chen Shi felt deeply saddened and whispered to himself, "I've suffered too much... I must definitely compensate myself properly. I can't suffer anymore, can't be plotted against anymore!"
At that mont, Granny Sha's voice ca: "Little Ten! Little Ten!"
Chen Shi stopped walking. True energy circulated, and he stood on the lake's surface. The water beneath his feet sank into a smooth, curved depression.
The wooden cart drove over. This ti, it didn't use its six arms and tongue; instead, four wheels turned in the water, making for a very steady ride.
Granny Sha and Black Pot were in the cart. Black Pot was very excited to see him, mouth open and tongue lolling, wagging his tail vigorously.
"Black Pot really is like a dog," Chen Shi thought.
The wooden cart pulled up beside him. Chen Shi got on, and the cart headed towards the Hanging Cliff in South Lake.
Granny Sha asked him about his experiences over the past few days. "You were captured by A Zhuo. He didn't give you a hard ti, did he?"
Chen Shi recounted his encounter with A Zhuo and the conflict with the Mountain-Moving Clan. "Granny, don't misunderstand Uncle A Zhuo. Those bee creatures are underworld soldiers. They repeatedly searched for you just because you violated underworld laws. They have to obey the underworld laws. Every ti they ca to search for you, it was Uncle A Zhuo who stopped them."
Granny Sha sneered coldly. "That little rascal told you that? He can only fool you, he can't fool an old hand like !"
Despite her words, her expression softened considerably.
Chen Shi said, "Uncle A Zhuo beca an underworld marshal by chance during that last trip to the underworld with you all to search for . Over the years, he worried that eting you would force him to fulfill his marshal duties, so he kept his distance. He cares deeply about you all."
Granny Sha's expression softened even more, though she still sneered. "He just talks the talk. Every ti I co to Great South Lake, I get chased off by the bees he keeps. They're fierce and nacing."
She smiled. "But I won't hold it against him. How is A Zhuo doing?"
She couldn't help but ask, "Eight years ago, during that trip to the underworld, he carried us back. He was badly injured too. He used to just follow us around, never did such dangerous work before. In the past, we just had him keep watch..."
Chen Shi said, "Uncle A Zhuo should be close to achieving Great Ascension."
Granny Sha let out a relieved sigh and smiled. "His talent is frighteningly high. He learns everything instantly, understands everything upon reflection. Breaking through to the Great Ascension Realm is only natural. Back when Chen Yindu brought him over, I was shocked. He looked like he wasn't very bright..."
A smile hung on Chen Shi's face as he listened to her talk about the past.
That was thirty years ago. Granny Sha hadn't been abandoned by her husband, Xiang Yunfei, yet. She was still a beautiful woman and had already achieved remarkable accomplishnts in soul arts. Hu Xiaoliang wasn't dead yet, just constantly worrying about his impending lifespan limit. Du Yiran was still wandering the streets and alleys, carving tombstones for people.
Back then, Blue Goat liked following Du Yiran around, nibbling on grass from grave mounds everywhere.
Back then, after being ganged up on, Creation Little Five disguised himself well and worked as Chen Yindu's assistant.
A Zhuo looked as dumb as an ox, but the group was startled by this ten-year-old kid. His talent was simply too high. Apart from the flaw of being too honest, you couldn't find any other faults.
Even Creation Little Five repeatedly wanted to target A Zhuo, to study the composition of his brain, but was always interrupted by the ever-suspicious Du Yiran, and never succeeded.
They went searching for the lost gods of China, trying to decipher the lost talismanic seals of the True King's era, to uncover the secrets hidden within these seals.
They encountered great dangers, many tis nearly losing their lives. It was through such adventures and trials, ti and again, that A Zhuo gradually grew up, his cultivation and strength increasing.
At first, they treated him as a little boy. Later, he gradually beca one of them.
Chen Shi blinked and said, "Granny, Uncle A Zhuo said he's not among the Five Great Villains of the Five Lakes, but you are."
Granny Sha sneered coldly. "He told you that? The Five Great Villains are all n. I'm a woman, so it definitely can't be . A Zhuo lied to you. Don't be fooled by his honest appearance."
She sighed. "What a pity about Blue Goat. He was young, originally had over a thousand years of lifespan left... I told him, don't nibble on grave mound grass, don't nibble on grave mound grass! He wouldn't listen, insisted on nibbling!"
She gritted her teeth angrily and sneered. "And ended up getting himself killed! Serves him right!"
As they talked, they arrived below the Hanging Cliff.
Rembering A Zhuo's instructions, Chen Shi climbed up the Hanging Cliff along the black iron chains.
The wooden cart couldn't go up and stayed below with Black Pot. Though Granny Sha was old, she was very agile and followed him up to the Hanging Cliff.
The Hanging Cliff was a floating island about eight or nine hundred acres in size, as if it had flown out of Great South Lake, chained by gods or demons to prevent it from flying into the heavens. The island was covered in moss everywhere; even the trees were thick with it, making the place very damp.
Walking on the Hanging Cliff, the air was fresh. Looking around, the scenery was beautiful with clear waters and green mountains.
Surprisingly, there were even so people gathering firewood here. However, it was difficult to bring the firewood down because the chains were also mossy and slippery. A mont of carelessness could send you plumting down.
Chen Shi was puzzled. How did they transport their firewood down?
Granny Sha said, "They are people who live here. This place isn't big, but there are six or seven villages."
Chen Shi said in surprise, "They live here? How do they get down?"
"It's inconvenient to go down, so they simply don't."
Granny Sha smiled. "The governnt bailiffs also have a hard ti coming up to collect taxes, so they can manage to survive."
Chen Shi said seriously, "The governnt may have a hard ti coming up, but evil spirits can co up easily. How do they deal with evil spirits?"
"Co with and you'll see."
Granny Sha led Chen Shi to the temple on the Hanging Cliff. The villages on the Hanging Cliff were actually built right next to this temple!
An offering table was placed in front of the temple, with incense and candles lit. The energy of incense offerings drifted smokily towards the temple.
This temple was the Godmother for all the villages on the Hanging Cliff!
Chen Shi was greatly astonished. He had seen hundreds of Godmothers, but this was the first ti he'd seen an entire temple serving as a Godmother!
The outer walls of the temple gate were painted with talismans. Chen Shi walked up and examined them for a mont, confirming they were Grandpa's handiwork.
These talismans were a type of altar-purifying charm that repelled living beings and ghosts. People couldn't get close either; if they did, they would kneel and retreat.
Of course, these talismans guarded against people without cultivation. Against those with unshakable willpower, they weren't very useful.
Granny Sha opened the temple gate and led him inside.
Chen Shi entered the courtyard and looked around. The temple was quite large, covering over ten acres. A large tree was planted in the temple courtyard, its canopy covering six or seven acres. There were a few smaller trees in the corners.
These few large trees precisely shaded the temple, preventing sunlight from shining down.
Chen Shi looked up. Though he could see sunlight through the dense leaves, the gaze of a True God probably couldn't notice this place.
The temple was precisely at the center of the Hanging Cliff, and the chains that anchored the cliff were precisely buried at the four corners of the temple.
Chen Shi's heart stirred slightly. "It seems what Uncle A Zhuo said is true. This place really does look like it's suppressing sothing. And it was suppressed during the True King's era."
Granny Sha led him into the temple. "No need to guess blindly. Back then, your grandpa brought people from the Celestial Court here to explore this place. We researched it. The temple is from the True King's era. Below the temple is a deep pit, cold and bottomless, leading straight into the interior of the Hanging Cliff. The temple builders constructed a well within this deep pit. The well opening is inside the temple."
Chen Shi saw the well. It was an iron well, with walls cast from black iron. The opening was about ten feet wide. Outside was a well base arranged in an iron Eight Trigrams pattern.
Besides the hexagram symbols, there were also so ancient seal script characters, such as "Seeking like lightning, stirring wind and thunder," "Blessings carry longevity, rging with the Dao to beco immortal," "Transforming marsh into mountain, as easy as turning a hand" (adapted from Bai Yuchan's ancestral hall at Wenbi Peak in Hainan).
Chen Shi read them one by one and was slightly taken aback. "These are mantras about the Eight Trigrams and the Dao-Union Realm!"
Unfortunately, the iron Eight Trigrams only had eight sides. The mantras about the Dao-Union Realm recorded on them were too few. It was impossible to deduce the content of the Dao-Union Realm based on these scattered mantras.
He walked to the well opening and looked inside. It was pitch black; he couldn't see the bottom, only felt a piercingly cold wind blowing out from the well.
Outside the well, there was another iron Eight Trigrams, which should have been the well cover, but it had been tossed aside by soone.
Whatever was suppressed in the well had long since escaped.
"We went down to the bottom of the well and found nothing."
Granny Sha said. "We don't know who opened this well. The thing inside the well, we don't know where it ran off to."
Chen Shi speculated, "Could what's suppressed within the Hanging Cliff be a prehistoric demon god? Otherwise, why would people of the True King's era specifically build a temple to suppress it?"
Granny Sha smiled. "Who knows? Although the thing in the well escaped, isn't the world still peaceful? No earth-shattering event has occurred."
Chen Shi nodded lightly.
The thing in the well might have long been refined to death, or it escaped and was eliminated by soone.
He ca to a main hall. The plaque above it read "Hall of the Sage King Who Opened Zhangzhou."
"The Sage King Who Opened Zhangzhou? Is he also a deity from China?"
Chen Shi paused for a mont, then walked into the hall. The central miniature shrine was empty, devoid of a deity statue, only extraordinary power drifting within.
"After the True King's era ended, the incense offerings here never ceased, but a Divine Manifestation never condensed into form."
Granny Sha followed him into the hall. "A pity for the extraordinary power here. Your grandpa left a heroic spirit talisman in the shrine, but over the years, it never awakened the heroic spirit of this place."
Chen Shi examined the shrine carefully. There was indeed a heroic spirit talisman on the shrine wall, gathering the extraordinary power of this place.
But because no consciousness remained, the extraordinary power within the shrine couldn't condense.
The extraordinary power here was too strong. The villages on the Hanging Cliff worshipped the Godmother, and the energy of incense offerings all flowed into this shrine, causing divine power to accumulate within. At the bottom, it had ford a bowlful of bright, shimring liquid, radiating divine light!
Chen Shi had never seen such a phenonon in any other ancient temple!
"The god is dead."
Granny Sha leaned against the doorfra, muttering. "The gods from China are all dead. Our Celestial Court has searched for so many years, heh, haven't found a single living one..."
Her face darkened, and she fell silent.
Chen Shi's heart stirred. He took out the Western King's Jade Seal, bowed respectfully, and offered up the seal.
"...In the True King's era, demons ran rampant, chaos reigned. The Sage King arose, tilled the land with fire and blade, opened up fertile fields, suppressed demon lairs, guarded South Lake and opened Zhangzhou. Now, this humble one, Chen Shi, inheriting the True King's will, awakens the Sage King. Presumptuously acting on behalf of the True King, I hereby confer upon the Sage King Who Opened Zhangzhou the title of God of Great South Lake, to protect the eight-hundred-li area of water and land around South Lake, ensuring the people's peace and health, with favorable weather and bountiful harvests."
He activated the Western King's Jade Seal. The seal flew up but had nowhere to land.
The scene in the Hall of the Sage King Who Opened Zhangzhou was different from any ancient temple he had encountered before. Those temples all had Divine Manifestations condensed, while here there was only an empty shrine and extraordinary power, with no Divine Manifestation.
Chen Shi hesitated for a mont, then pressed the Western King's Jade Seal onto the pool of water ford by the extraordinary power within the shrine.
That pool of divine water shone brightly, illuminating the characters of the treasure seal.
"By Heaven's Mandate, Eternally Guard the Western Wastelands."
The eight characters appeared within the shrine, lingering for a long ti.
Chen Shi took out three sticks of incense and stepped forward to offer them.
The energy of the incense offerings drifted towards the shrine. Behold, within the shrine, the incense energy gradually began to form a blurry figure, as if a gust of wind could scatter it.
Granny Sha, who had been leaning against the threshold watching Chen Shi's actions coldly, couldn't help but be moved when she saw this.
"The Western King's Jade Seal is just a ceremonial treasure for conferring titles, a symbol of royal authority. It can't gather a Divine Manifestation! It was Little Ten holding the incense and bowing that made a Divine Manifestation appear in the shrine!"
She was both shocked and doubtful, her gaze falling on Chen Shi.
"We've bowed too, and no Divine Manifestation ever ford in the shrine! Why did the Sage King Who Opened Zhangzhou start to condense a Divine Manifestation as soon as Little Ten bowed? Could it be Little Ten's Godmother... What exactly is the origin of his Godmother?"
Granny Sha steadied her mind, also stepped forward to offer incense, and said, "There are several villages on the Hanging Cliff that worship the Sage King as their Godmother. This temple's incense offerings never cease. The Sage King's Divine Manifestation will surely form quickly. Little Ten, we should head back."
Chen Shi nodded and left the Hanging Cliff with her.
They took the wooden cart back to Qianyang Mountain. Just as they left the area of Xuan Yan County, suddenly a paper crane flew over, flapping its wings noisily, and landed on Chen Shi's arm.
Chen Shi unfolded the paper crane. It was a letter sent by Li Tianqing.
He read it carefully. In the letter, Li Tianqing talked about his cultivation progress in the ancient temple these days, saying he was improving rapidly.
He also ntioned so interesting things. The ancient temple he found had spirit fields inside with dicinal herbs. At midnight, they would co out—yellow-shirted children, only half a foot tall. They would fight fiercely with black-hatted children from another spirit field, sotis with casualties.
He went to diate the conflict between the two sides and helped them resolve their dispute. Only then did he learn the yellow-shirted children were called Huang Jing'er (Yellow Essence Children), and the black-hatted children were called Wu Tou'er (Aconite Children). The two families had long-standing grievances over competing for the spirit fields in the temple and often fought and killed each other.
Both sides were grateful for Li Tianqing's diation and gave him so essence fruits.
After consuming them, his cultivation increased greatly, and his lifespan exceeded the five-hundred-year limit.
"Planting dicinal herbs in the temple may extend lifespan," Li Tianqing wrote in the letter.
Chen Shi's heart stirred. He asked, "Granny, how many years of lifespan do you have left?"
Granny Sha laughed, very happily, and held up two fingers. "This old woman can still live for twenty-four years!"
Chen Shi's heart thumped wildly. If Li Tianqing's guess was correct, he might have found a way to extend the lifespan of cultivators like Granny Sha!
"When I get back to Qianyang Mountain, I'll verify this!"
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