Chapter 15 City God

That night, the moment he spied the gigantic Buddha face, Jia An cut off the Xuan Guang Mirror, thinking the matter was settled.

But he never expected the old monk Dexing to return covered in dirt, never mentioning the construction of a Tathagata branch temple again. How could he not know that something had gone wrong?

However, he had even used the life-saving treasure bestowed by the Ruyi Monk. What could have possibly gone wrong?

Although the life-saving treasure was meant for the wood sprite, its residual power was not something a cultivator of the Natal realm could withstand, unless a cultivator of a higher realm had intervened later.

A Daoist of the Lesser True realm, there were only one or two in Liang Province. Was it Chang Lin Daoist of the Golden Bell Tower? Or Jing Jiu Daoist of the Thousand Crane Shrine?

Or was it that night...

Jia An pondered in his heart.

The two Daoists looked at each other, stammering and unable to speak.

Jia An played with the Finger-Winding Flying Sword, his face darkening: "If I remember correctly, there should still be an old fox in Jiao Yuan Mountain, who annually offers spiritual herbs and fruits, and its shed fur..."

The short Daoist gritted his teeth and spoke: "Venerable, please forgive us, that Fox Daoist has long since vanished without a trace. We've searched for ten days but couldn't find him..."

He was late. Taking Jiao Yuan Mountain as the center, he had scoured an area of three thousand miles, but could not find the old fox.

"Old fox."

Jia An snorted, having expected it. The old fox was slippery to begin with, so he didn't pay too much attention. He looked at the tall Daoist and said calmly:

"Wu Lu, I told you to extract the souls of the living creatures in the mountain. You wouldn't tell me that all the creatures in the mountain are dead, would you?"

The tall Daoist, Wu Lu, smiled wryly:

"There are quite a few creatures in the mountain. I extracted the souls of three thousand wild beasts, but these beasts fled in terror, and don't have much memory at all. They only know that in the end, a sword light soared into the sky..."

Beasts are different from humans. Their souls are weak to begin with. When they are greatly frightened, they are too busy fleeing for their lives, so how could they stop to watch?

"Sword cultivator?"

Jia An raised an eyebrow, and the flying sword flowing on his fingertip also slightly solidified:

"There are only two or three Daoists in Liang Province. There doesn't seem to be a sword cultivator among them... There are a few sword cultivators in the Natal realm, but they are not as good as me, so how could they have intervened?"

The world is vast, but the cultivation world is small.

The Great Qing Dynasty spans tens of thousands of miles, with a population of hundreds of millions, but the number of cultivators is pitifully small, perhaps less than one in a hundred thousand.

In Liang Province, how many cultivators could there be? They can naturally be counted.

He thought it over and over, and his mind settled on the aura that appeared in An Nuo County half a month ago. That aura was so strong that it seemed to have exceeded the limit of the Natal realm.

However, after thinking about it for more than ten days, he still couldn't recall anyone with such an aura.

"Why doesn't the Venerable directly ask the City God?"

The short Daoist was somewhat puzzled.

"Di Long, you don't understand. These City Gods have strange minds, and their dissatisfaction with my Heavenly Will Sect has been around for a long time. It's best to have as little contact as possible..."

Jia An's expression was calm with a hint of coldness:

"Moreover, once there is a friendship, my sword will hesitate when we fight..."

More importantly, if the City God wanted to speak, he wouldn't need to ask. If he didn't want to speak, even if he asked, it would be meaningless.

"This... why do we have to force those City Gods? Isn't everything fine now..."

The two Daoists' expressions changed slightly.

The City Gods were wary of the Heavenly Will Sect, but how could the Heavenly Will Sect not be wary of the various City Gods?

One City God per city, how many City Gods were there in the Great Qing Dynasty? The total number of all cultivators was probably only a few times greater than them. If the Heavenly Will Sect were to attack the City Gods, not to mention the two in the Netherworld, just the sheer number of City Gods alone...

How many lives would it take to pile up?

Even though the Heavenly Will Sect had relied on the power of the imperial court to weaken the City Gods several times over the past hundred years, it could not deny the fact that it was a behemoth.

The collision of two behemoths, even the slightest ripple, would be a disaster sufficient to crush them.

The vast majority of the lower levels of the Heavenly Will Sect did not expect this day to come.

After all, now, they had wealth and glory in their hands, and countless female believers to enjoy. Why seek more?

"You only see this little bit of wealth, gold, and women in your eyes?"

Jia An naturally understood the thoughts of the two, and sneered:

"A Daoist only lives for three hundred years, and a Yuanshen can hardly live past three thousand. A group of wandering souls relying on incense can live forever. Don't you want to be a City God or a Mountain God after death?"

Throughout history, countless living beings have had lifespan limits. Whether you enter Dao or Yuanshen, you cannot escape.

Those who are nearly immortal are the Ten Vile of the Imperial Heavens.

Besides them, the most recent immortals are the ghosts and gods of the Netherworld!

Countless years ago, when the Netherworld Monarch was in power, countless True Ones nearing the end of their lives would go to worship the Netherworld, seeking a divine decree.

Now that the Netherworld Monarch was gone, that path was cut off.

Some wanted to go to the Netherworld to seek this path, while others looked to the City Gods of the world.

"The Sect Leader, is he eyeing the City Gods?"

Wu Lu and Di Long looked at each other, both of their hearts shaken. They had never heard of this news.

At the same time, they both suddenly understood.

Why was the Heavenly Will Sect so insistent on forcing these City Gods? It was because they had set their sights on the very foundation of these Netherworld ghosts and gods!

"How could I..."

The two were overjoyed, but Jia An's expression changed drastically. He suddenly stood up and roared, drawing his sword: "What kind of vermin dares to plot against this Venerable!"

He was furious.

This news was not public within the Heavenly Will Sect. Only the principals of the various great prefectures were qualified to know it, and they were strictly forbidden from speaking it out loud.

How could he have spoken it out loud for no reason?

Buzz~

He rose to his full height, raised his arm, and the flying sword transformed into a rainbow, stretching out a hundred zhang of light to illuminate the night sky:

"Deserves to be killed! Deserves to be killed! Deserves to be killed!"

Rumble~

Three "deserves to be killed" in a row.

The mountain was filled with rolling waves of air. Wherever the sword light swept, all the plants and trees were cut down, and the scattered vegetation rained down, only to be turned into powder by the raging sword light.

The mighty force made the two Daoists tremble.

"Indeed, a good idea."

Amidst the howling sword light, a calm voice echoed in the mountains and fields, ignoring the distance of the void. The impassioned sword light rang in the ears of the three.

The tall and short Daoists looked towards the voice, and saw a white-robed Daoist walking up from the belly of the mountain, where the night hung low. He extended one hand forward, and divine light flowed from his fingertips, blocking the sword energy swept by the flying sword.

Whoosh~

The flying sword circled around the solitary mountain, gathering momentum, but not actually stabbing down.

On the mountain, Jia An's expression was solemn, his eyes flickering uncertainly:

"Who are you?"

An Qisheng flicked away the sword energy, and with his other hand gently raised, the Xuan Guang Mirror outlined by divine light reflected Pei Yuanhua's face, as black as the bottom of a pot.

Under An Qisheng's methods, Jia An's words were heard by him, word for word.

"City God Pei, did you hear that?"

An Qisheng asked lightly.

Sitting quietly in Jiao Yuan Mountain for ten days, while he used the mountain's magnetic field to temper his physical body and mana, he also cultivated many spells of this world at the same time.

In the end, all changes lead to the same origin, and the foundation of any spell lies in spiritual energy.

His Qi seed replaced the 'Heavenly Decree', and he could naturally cultivate other spells rooted in spiritual energy. Even, regardless of Dao, Demon, Buddha, or demon, he could cultivate any spell in this world.

The spell he was using this time was called 'Five Illusions and Three Ways', a strange spell that confused the spirit and soul.

He had entered Jia An's dream many times, and knew all of Jia An's weaknesses. He knew that his spirit was at its weakest after honing his flying sword every day.

His mana was completely different from that of all other cultivators in this world, just like the mountain's qi field and the earth's feng shui, and would not be noticed by them.

That was why he was tricked.

The same spell, if used by other Daoists, would not be able to plot against Pei Yuanhua.

"Pei Yuanhua?"

Jia An's expression also changed, and when he saw Pei Yuanhua in the Xuan Guang Mirror, he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Good, good, very good!"

In the Xuan Guang Mirror, Pei Yuanhua spoke coldly:

"Not satisfied with plundering our incense, you even want to take away our foundation! I will report this matter to the City God of the state without missing a single word, and see how remarkable your Heavenly Will Sect really is!"

"City God Pei!"

Jia An's face was extremely ugly. His chest rose and fell several times. He wanted to speak, but couldn't say anything.

Such words were fine to say behind their backs, but what good was there to explain when someone heard them?

How to explain?

The flying sword hummed in mid-air, the sword light flickered uncertainly, and baleful energy filled the clouds.

"City God Pei! City God Pei! This is all a misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!"

The tall and short Daoists were also terrified, shouting repeatedly.

"This City God is waiting for you to come and seize my City God decree!"

Pei Yuanhua glanced at Jia An coldly and cut off the Xuan Guang Mirror.

Dragons have reverse scales that, when touched, will lead to death. The City God's decree is like the dragon's reverse scale to the City Gods. The weakening of incense can still be tolerated, but without the City God's decree, they will instantly become wandering souls, their souls scattered and never to be reborn.

If he didn't react at all after hearing such words, then his scheming would truly be enough to contain mountains and rivers.

"Big trouble, big trouble..."

The tall and short Daoists' hearts were pounding wildly, uneasy.

If such a thing were known to the City Gods of the world, even if they were wary of the Heavenly Will Sect, they would probably hold them accountable.

Once they investigated, their trouble would be great.

If they fought, they would definitely be cannon fodder. If they didn't fight, they would probably be pushed out to die.

"Huff!"

Jia An took a deep breath, waved his hand, and the flying sword returned to his hand. The substantial sword energy on his body soared into the sky, and the clanging sound was like a dragon's roar.

He looked at An Qisheng coldly:

"Who are you?"

In a short period of time, he seemed to have calmed down, but in reality, the killing intent in his heart was surging.

But he couldn't understand at all how this person had done it.

Although sword cultivators do not cultivate ten thousand spells, a single sword can break ten thousand spells. Before any strange spell could be applied to his body, it would be detected by the flying sword.

Wanting to plot against him silently, even entering Dao and becoming True would be impossible!

An Qisheng's eyes swept over the three Daoists. Apart from the thin blood karma on Jia An, the blood karma on the other two was so strong that it seemed to have turned into substance.

It was conceivable what kind of stuff this Heavenly Will Sect was.

In fact, these two were the ones who collected 'alchemy materials' for the old emperor.

Hearing Jia An's question, An Qisheng restrained his gaze and took out a Qing Gang sword from his waist:

"There's no need for a dead man to know."