The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 54 Return!
Zhou Yan gazed at the Ganquan Plain, which was shrouded in a faint aura of yin and evil, and listened to the old local earth god Mu Degong recount these past events. He asked, "The Kunlun treasure? What is that?"

Mu Degong initially wanted to roll his eyes in annoyance, but realizing that the young man before him was the mountain god, he had no choice but to answer honestly:
"I'm just a weak and old local deity, what could I possibly know?"

"Knowing even a little bit about the Kunlun relics is already the limit."

"However, I guess it must be related to the true path to immortality. Only this could stir up so much bloodshed and allow these great demons to stir up trouble again."

Mu Degong was muttering to himself.

Zhou Yan's fingers tapped lightly on the hilt of his sword. The stories in the jade book, and the stories within them, flowed before his eyes. In the shadows and gaps of those stories, the Qingming Fangzhu, sometimes laughing and sometimes cursing, became increasingly clear.

Representing "desire," yet obsessed with desire, transforming into insatiable cravings, it is one of the six realms of existence in Buddhism—the hungry ghost realm.

It represents greed, yet it also represents the unbridled greed that leads to a bottomless pit of debauchery, turning gambling dens into Buddhist temples.

Wang Chun represents "life," yet he resorts to any means necessary, violates human ethics, kills his own family and children, and brutally murders the innocent.

And that tiger that gradually became twisted.

The stories in the jade book flashed before Zhou Yan's eyes. At this moment, everything in the past connected and turned into a clear trajectory. He realized that what the Qingming Pavilion Master had been doing all along was actually guidance.

If all of this was done by the Master of Qingming in order to achieve a breakthrough and obtain the Kunlun Relics, then the spirit of the Kitchen God in this place must not be unfounded.

And if we say that the Kitchen God's spirit is also cultivated and distorted.

So all the reasons that caused the Kitchen God's spirit to become distorted are probably related to the Master of the Azure Netherworld.

The words Mu Degong had just said came to Zhou Yan's mind and gathered together. A thought arose in Zhou Yan's mind. He looked at Mu Degong and said, "I want to ask, sir."

Mu Degong said, "Huh?"

Zhou Yan exhaled and said, "The image of the Kitchen God has come to life. Is the man in the family named Zhang Shoutian, the wife named Yang Xiaomei, the son Zhang Jincheng, and the girl named Zhang Qiao'er?"

Duke Mude was stunned, looking at Zhou Yan with a puzzled expression:

"Does the mountain god possess foresight?"

"Isn't it just their family?"

Zhou Yan finally understood.

Everything I saw along the way came to mind.

He sold his own woman.

It appeared in the demon market near Chang'an City.

Although it was owned by the owner of the Azure Netherworld Shop, it inexplicably manifested as a butcher shop in the human world.

And then there's Zhao Man the butcher, who actually agreed to let a woman sell herself and even paid her in advance; and the weasel monster who mingled among the foreign merchants and took the initiative to expose the origin of the money, leading Zhang Shoutian from hope to utter despair and suicide.

Details that I hadn't noticed before are now clear and distinct.

The times change like waves, but behind tragedies like the one involving Zhang Shoutian's family, there is also an invisible hand pushing things along.

To coerce human nature, to manipulate people's hearts.

It causes relatives to turn against each other, families to be separated, and life and death to end.

It was like a play.

Human joys and sorrows, heartbreak, struggles, resentment, despair, and wails are all contained within the silk threads, ultimately thrown into the flames by the Master of the Azure Netherworld to twist the born spirits into demons and bring them under his control.

Master of the Azure Netherworld...

Truly, a monster!
Zhou Yan let out a breath, and in his little notebook, he wrote down the name of Qingming Fangzhu again with a tally mark, and asked, "Lord Mude, is there any way to resolve the matter of Ganquanyuan?"

Mu Degong stroked his beard and said, "Yes, it is possible, but this old man cannot do it."

“We [spirituals] are merely manifestations of the Daoist principles naturally nurtured by all things. Although we possess some methods for protecting the Dao, firstly, we are not very good at cultivation, and secondly, we do not know any martial arts for slaying demons and eliminating evil.”

"how to spell?"

"I have no choice but to hide to avoid being discovered by this [Demon Temptress]."

"It sounds like the mountain god intends to handle this matter?"

Zhou Yan nodded and said, "I have a grudge against Master Qingming and an agreement with Zhang Shoutian. Since I've come across this, I want to help within my power. Besides..."

Zhou Yan had just sensed being watched. The Mountain Lord's supernatural powers included wind manipulation, and the whispers carried on the wind revealed a discussion: 'Does this person possess the aura of a mountain god?'

'Is it a mountain spirit?'

'Write it down, write it down, tell the shop owner, and we'll exchange it for a treasure!'

Zhou Yan twitched the corner of his mouth: "Although I don't know what Qingmingfang wants to do."

“But if the enemy wants to do something, I will ruin it.”

Mu Degong felt that what this kid was saying seemed a bit eerie.

However, the target of his actions is Qingming Fangzhu, which makes him appear very righteous.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to put it out of his mind and said, "If that's the case, I observe that the mountain god lacks spiritual power. Does he have any reliance on it?"

Zhou Yan wanted to pick up the knife in his hand, but the knife had already broken.

So he had no choice but to lift the sword in his hand.

Mu Degong glanced at the sword with his small eyes and said, "This is a magic sword, Mountain God. You're not planning to use this thing to cut down those Demon Slayers, are you?"

Zhou Yan asked, "A magic sword?"

Mu Degong asked, "Does the mountain god not know?"

He had a strong sense of dislocation.

He's skilled in combat, possesses magical abilities, and can control ghosts, but he lacks basic common sense. The local earth god said, "The so-called magic sword..."

"It is a weapon that is activated by the Lord's magic power and carries out the will of the gods. Its materials are mainly jade, wood and cinnabar. It is good at destroying souls, sweeping away evil spirits, and killing the bodies of ghosts, achieving twice the result with half the effort."

"Such a treasure, if it were to go head-to-head with a flesh-and-blood, scaled and armored beast, would inevitably break."

"The Mountain God's sword, I'm afraid..."

The old land spirit originally wanted to say that it was probably because the mountain god lacked magical power that this magical sword containing divine intent could not be unleashed, so he had to use wind-type magic to kill the enemy. But after thinking about it, he realized that the mountain god had just starved himself out with one hand, so he obediently shut his mouth.

Using the high emotional intelligence of someone who has lived for eight hundred years, he said:

"I didn't want to get into a physical fight with my own flesh and blood, that's why I didn't draw my sword."

“Correspondingly, there is the knife in your hand, Mountain God.”

"Made of steel and tempered with blood and evil, this kind of weapon is not very effective against ghosts and the like, but against most monsters that are toughened up and have flesh and blood, it is much more effective than magic swords."

"I think the mountain god is quite skilled in martial arts and has a magic sword with him. The demon-sed messenger is just using evil methods, so it's not a big deal. It's just that the miasma here is a bit disgusting."

The old earth god looked at Zhou Yan, whose clothes were ordinary and whose belt was hung with many odds and ends. The bronze Buddha lamp was interesting, but the old earth god soon noticed the gourd that Zhou Yan had obtained from Black Wind.

The old man replied, "I've got it! I've got it!"

The fallen leaf where the old earth god sat spun around and turned into a cloud of white mist. The earth god, who was originally only the size of a palm, transformed into the size of a normal person, and twirled his cane.

The old tree swayed, and a green aura flowed out. The old earth god turned it around and guided it, saying, "Go!"

boom! ! !
The azure energy directly struck the gourd at Zhou Yan's waist.

The gourd was originally a wood-attribute spiritual object. When it was drawn in like this, it was infused with pure energy, and a hazy blue light shone on it, gradually spreading out a flowing breeze.

When the green mist finally dissipated, the thing at Zhou Yan's waist transformed into a palm-sized green gourd with a slightly concave bottom and vines coiled at the top to form a natural handle.

The old man said, "This thing must have come from a Taoist priest. I don't know which Taoist priest was so idle. Oh well, Taoist priests are usually very idle. He made it into the shape of a gourd out of a hundred-year-old peach wood heartwood. I used the five elements I collected to fix it for you."

"Wood represents vitality, and it also nourishes and generates through water and soil."

"This item now has the ability to collect evil spirits and cure diseases. When you enter the village, if you carry this gourd, you can collect all the miasma, evil spirits, disease spirits, and yin spirits within a radius of ten feet."

"I know a secret talisman. About six hundred years ago, a man wearing a yellow cloth on his head was teaching others here. I overheard it and it should be able to solve this problem. Mountain God, please come closer."

The land whispered in Zhou Yan's ear, telling him the incantation.

Shen Cangming looked at Ganquanyuan and said succinctly, "Be careful. Leave the spiritual miasma and the Demon Temptation Envoy to me."

Zhou Yan said, "Uncle Shen, about your injuries."

Shen Cangming's voice remained calm as he said:

"But these monsters are not qualified to make me injure myself."

"Although the formation here is extreme, it is quite rare and just right to dispel the evil energy of that blood pill."

Blood Pill, the cornerstone of the Xuanguan Beacon Tower.

Zhou Yan knew that this meant Shen Cangming had decided to pass on the Xuan Guan teachings to him.

After this, you can advance to the next level.

Slaying demons, fulfilling contracts, and advancing in rank—it's a win-win-win situation.

Zhou Yan said, "Okay."

The old land disappeared. Zhou Yan saw the big trees swaying, the wind scattering leaves that flew forward. Zhou Yan took something from the caravan and plunged directly into the miasma, following the direction guided by the wind.

The land had previously guided the people to flee; this time, it was guiding Zhou Yan inside.

Zhou Yan heard the voice of the local deity: "Mountain God, I have used my supernatural powers to conceal your presence. Keep your movements low so you won't be easily discovered." Zhou Yan nodded and hurried on his way.

The young man, sword in hand, hurried through this malevolent and ghostly realm.

But they didn't notice that the sword sealed in its sheath was becoming increasingly active.

The marks on the sword faintly glowed.

Zhou Yan arrived at the front of a courtyard.

The lanterns by the door swayed, and smoke rose from inside.

The protection of the old earth god slowly spread out, and Zhou Yan knew that this was where the spirit of the Kitchen God resided, and also where Zhang Shoutian's family lived. Under the protection of the old earth god, the demon-luring messenger did not discover him. Inside the house, wisps of smoke rose from the chimney, as if the family was reunited.

There was only cooking smoke, the aroma of food, and the soft sound of the wind blowing through the lanterns.

The absence of human voices made it seem especially desolate and eerie.

Zhou Yan raised his hand and knocked on the door.

When, when, when.

Three breaths later, a faint voice came from inside the door:

"You're back?"

Seeing the rising resentment and yin energy, Zhou Yan, sword in right hand and a bundle in left, said softly and solemnly:

"Zhou Yan, a chivalrous knight-errant of Chang'an".

"He brought Zhang Shoutian, Yang Xiaomei, Zhang Jincheng, and Zhang Qiao'er, a family of four."

He paused, the faces of those people flashing before his eyes, and said, slowly and deliberately:
"Go home."

As the sound faded, the lingering spiritual energy, yin energy, and resentment paused, and then surged violently like a tidal wave!

(End of this chapter)