Shitou went to pay respects to his mother, remaining silent from beginning to end.
Perhaps in the past ten years, he had never thought that his mother would pass away.
Even less did he expect that it would be on the day he left.
Many villagers originally wanted to reprimand him a few words when Shitou returned.
But now they didn't know what to say.
Perhaps because of his childhood experiences, when his heart's illness was hard to resolve, he ca to Chu Xun's house.
Qi Ermao was also there. Seeing Shitou, he hurriedly stood up.
"Ermao," Shitou raised his hand and called out. Not having seen each other for many years, he had a lot to say.
Qi Ermao hesitated for a mont, glanced at the black iron token at Shitou's waist, and the awe and inferiority in his eyes beca even stronger.
"Lord Liao..."
Shitou frowned upon hearing this, "Why call so distantly?"
Qi Ermao, with a trace of panic, bent his waist even lower, "Your official position is now even bigger than the County Magistrate's..."
Seeing Qi Ermao inexplicably in awe of him, wringing his hands, bending his body, looking panicked and constrained.
Shitou's expression went blank, and he suddenly felt a sense of sorrow in his heart.
Returning ho for a trip, his old mother was gone, and the brother he grew up with was now also going to be gone.
He knew that no matter how much he said there was no need for this, it was impossible for him and Qi Ermao to return to the tis when they called each other brothers.
Back then, one left, and one stayed.
When they t again, there was already a barrier between official and commoner between them.
Even if this pathetic barrier was not what he desired.
The other people in the village were all like this. The only one who remained unchanged seed to be Chu Xun.
Chu Xun brought a stool over for him and said, "Sit down, let's talk."
Shitou sat down as told, but didn't know what to say.
Chu Xun said, "Tell about your experiences over these ten years?"
Over the years, the farthest Chu Xun had gone was Fenggu City, and his understanding of the outside world was not considered much.
Occasionally, he heard passing rchants in the town say that the Kingdom of Jing was not a very large country. There were many dynasties around it, and even more people with strange and extraordinary abilities.
Relatively speaking, although Pinecone Village had once had a hard ti, it was now more like a worldly paradise.
Chu Xun wanted to know about the outside world, and even more so, wanted to use this to divert Shitou's attention.
After a mont of silence, Shitou said, "After joining the army, I didn't go to Mobei first, but to the Luanping Main Camp. That place is still hundreds of miles away from Mobei..."
He slowly recounted his experiences over these ten years, from the Luanping Main Camp to the campaigns in Mobei.
From a lowly soldier to a Squad Leader, then to a Platoon Commander, and a Centurion.
He had killed enemies and had also suffered severe injuries.
He had traveled to many places in the Kingdom of Jing and seen many different kinds of people.
There were high officials of the current dynasty, and also lowly pawns of the marketplace.
There were even wondrous sights that ordinary people could hardly imagine.
"In the fifth year, I finally knew that this world doesn't only have martial artists."
"When pursuing the Ma tribe in Mobei, I saw a streak of cyan light tear through the sky like lightning. A few days later, there was news that soone hundreds of miles away had their head taken by a cyan longsword flying from beyond the heavens."
Chu Xun was stunned upon hearing this. A flying sword from beyond the heavens?
Sword Immortal?
Shitou looked at Chu Xun and asked, "Does Brother Xun know why His Majesty wants to classify the City Gods of the world?"
Chu Xun shook his head, "I don't know."
"I heard the Commander say that every dynasty must have the protection of Orthodox Gods."
"The Kingdom of Jing was newly established and didn't have its own Orthodox Gods, so His Majesty had no choice but to classify the City Gods."
Shitou said, sighing, "Our Songliu Water God is truly a pity. If he had co out a few years earlier, received incense offerings, and fought for the position of an Orthodox God, he would be able to truly protect a region."
"It's a pity that now the City God occupies the position of the Orthodox God. If there really is a Songliu Water God, I'm afraid he has already been taken by the Underworld and obliterated."
"From ancient tis to the present, immortals and gods who do not obtain orthodoxy are all considered evil cults, precisely because of this reason."
"One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, let alone immortals and gods."
If the matter of the flying sword only made Chu Xun feel amazed.
Then Shitou's subsequent words made him suddenly feel his blood run cold.
He had always thought that the title of the Songliu Water God didn't conflict with the City God, as both were for blessing a region.
Hearing it now, it was actually a thorn in the side of the orthodox immortals and gods?
Qi Ermao beside them also listened in amazent and said, "But the Songliu Water God Temple has incense every year, and no strange phenona have appeared. A few days ago, soone even saw the snake immortal under the Water God's command."
Shitou curled his lips and said, "You and I are but ordinary mortals, how could we see the forms of immortals and gods. As for the snake immortal, it presumably hasn't amounted to much, and the Underworld is just too lazy to bother with it."
"If it truly obtained a divine position and received incense offerings, then it would have to die."
Strictly speaking, if Shitou hadn't spoken, there wouldn't even be many ordinary commoners who knew about these things, let alone seen them.
Only in the countryside were there occasionally so tales of ghosts and gods, echoing what others said, and ultimately being treated as demonic words deceiving the public.
Chu Xun listened with increasing horror, suddenly rembering that many years ago when he accompanied Huan'er to Fenggu City to participate in the prefectural examination, passing by the City God Temple, he occasionally had a strange feeling.
He didn't take it seriously at the ti, but now combining it with what Shitou said, he only felt terrified upon careful thought.
Could it be that at that ti, the City God of Fenggu City sensed sothing?
It was just that he had Qi Condensation cultivation and not an incense divine position, which was why it didn't attract subsequent disasters.
Shitou said that the Songliu Water God might have already been obliterated by the Underworld.
But Chu Xun knew very well that this was not the case.
The Songliu Water God had always existed, accepting the incense offerings of the commoners.
But because of so special reason, the Underworld hadn't found where the Songliu Water God was.
Chu Xun took a deep breath and asked, "If the Songliu Water God deliberately hid, the Underworld might not necessarily be able to find him, right?"
"They can find him." Shitou said without hesitation, "A person leaves a na, a goose leaves a sound, let alone immortals and gods. Having received incense, there must be clues. The higher the cultivation, the more obvious the traces."
Shitou then changed the subject and said, "However, orthodoxy is only conferred by His Majesty. I heard that in other dynasties, there are also examples of evil cults suppressing Orthodox Gods and replacing them. Just like in troubled tis, who is orthodox only depends on who wins in the end."
Chu Xun listened in silence. Not having been troubled by the Underworld until now was probably because his cultivation was too low, only at the first level of Qi Condensation.
What about when he advanced to Foundation Establishnt? Could he still not be discovered?
If discovered, I'm afraid there would be an unavoidable life-and-death struggle.
The advancent of cultivation was related to how long he could live.
If he gave up the quest to avoid the Underworld, he would still die in the end.
So... he could only fight!
If he lost, his body would die and his Dao would vanish.
If he won, he would replace them!
Perhaps seeing that Chu Xun was very interested in this aspect, or perhaps he himself was speaking enthusiastically, temporarily forgetting the pain of his old mother's passing.
Shitou poured out all the hearsay he had heard.
The Orthodox God of the Kingdom of Jing was the City God, but that might not be the case in other dynasties.
Rivers, lakes, seas, mountains, rivers, vegetation, all could have orthodox immortals and gods.
Belonging to the sa system, yet relatively independent.
As for the flying sword ntioned earlier, it belonged to immortal cultivators, similar to immortals and gods, but not enjoying mortal incense.
Such people either hid in the mortal world carefree, or lived alone in deep mountains at ease, rarely known to others.
If one could encounter them by chance, there might be an opportunity.
There were also those who established sects, their mountain gates hidden invisibly, not sothing mortals could ascend to.
These were all things Shitou had heard people ntion over the ten years.
He didn't know if they were true or false, right or wrong, after all, he was just a Centurion.
Except for that flying sword that took a person's head from hundreds of miles away, proving that there really were immortal cultivators in this world.
The rest, he hadn't seen with his own eyes.
And the Princes, nobles, and aristocratic families who really intended to rebel earlier used these tales of ghosts and gods to bewitch the refugees into rioting.
If the old Emperor's sches hadn't been superior to theirs, suppressing the rebellion in ti, the Kingdom of Jing might already be in great chaos at this mont.
After talking for a long ti, Shitou ate dinner here and drank a lot of wine.
From beginning to end, he didn't ntion the matter of his old mother's passing.
Finally, drunk, he was supported back by Qi Ermao and Qiaohua.
Zhang Anxiu stood at the courtyard gate, looking at the figures gradually fading into the night, and sighed, "If he hadn't co back, perhaps it would be easier to bear."
"If he didn't co back, what would Qiaohua and her son do?" Chu Xun asked.
Zhang Anxiu was stunned. Yes, if Shitou never ca back, what would this mother and son do?
Chu Xun closed the courtyard gate, held her hand and walked back, saying, "What should co will definitely co. It cannot be avoided, and there is no need to avoid it."
Zhang Anxiu didn't hear the other aning in these words, but having been together for decades, she keenly sensed that the tone when her husband spoke seed sowhat different from before.
A wealthy man who had no crises, who besides having a hard ti when young, had always had smooth sailing afterwards.
Aloof from the world, his tone was always plain and dull.
But now, she heard a trace of sharpness.
...
It is because he does not contend that no one in the world can contend with him.
Now that he wishes to contend, even ghosts and gods will find it hard to block his edge!
[End of Chapter]
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