A Tale of Encounters with Immortals: A Peach Blossom Temple in the Martial World

Supreme Treasure is dead.

Qingxia left the Spider Cave, carrying the Purple and Green Sword and the Moonlight Box.

She walked into a field of yellow sand, and as the red sun suddenly shone on the sand, casting a blood-red glow on her body, she suddenly collapsed.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a person's face.

"Daoist Master, wasn't I in the Spider Cave? How did I end up here?" Fairy Zixia looked at Zhang Zhengdao with surprise. "Oh... I know, did you steal me from the Spider Cave last night?"

Zhang Zhengdao: "Yesterday, Supreme Treasure pulled out your Purple and Green Sword."

Fairy Zixia nodded and said, "I know!"

Zhang Zhengdao: "So your ideal person is Supreme Treasure."

Fairy Zixia shook her head and said, "Why should my destined one be decided by a sword?"

That makes a lot of sense.

Zhang Zhengdao was stunned.

"But you said it yourself, the person who drew the sword is your beloved. How can you go back on your word?" Zhang Zhengdao decided to reason with this woman.

Zixia Fairy scoffed, "Daoist, are you out of your mind? I also said... my husband is a peerless hero who will come to marry me riding on auspicious clouds. A peerless hero? Auspicious clouds, huh?"

Zhang Zhengdao pointed at her: "A person cannot break their promise!"

Fairy Zixia: "Daoist Master, are you trying to reason with me?"

Zhang Zhengdao: ...

Yeah, what's the point of reasoning with a woman? Back on Earth, I've never actually won against a woman just because I've won an argument.

This is true from junior high school to high school, and then to university.

"Okay, I have some news for you, but I don't know if it's good news or bad news."

Fairy Zixia: "You speak."

Zhang Zhengdao said, "Zhi Zun Bao is dead. He was killed by your sister Qing Xia last night, and his body is in the Water Curtain Cave."

Zixia said, "It's not the Water Curtain Cave, it's the Spider Cave."

Zhang Zhengdao said, "Since Supreme Treasure is dead, then that's the Water Curtain Cave."

Zixia said, "It really is the Spider Cave. I saw it with my own eyes. It's the Spider Cave, not the Water Curtain Cave. You can go and see for yourself. I'm not lying to you!"

Zhang Zhengdao sighed: "Am I talking about what the cave is called? I'm talking about..."

"Isn't it just that Supreme Treasure is dead?" Fairy Zixia suddenly interjected. She knew what Zhang Zhengdao meant: Supreme Treasure was dead.

Her sister, Qingxia, killed Supreme Treasure.

"Are you sad?" Zhang Zhengdao asked.

Zixia looked at Zhang Zhengdao and said, "He's just a bandit. Do you think I should be sad?"

“I never try to guess what women are thinking.” Zhang Zhengdao said, standing up and patting the yellow sand off his hands. “I’m going to a nearby mountain villa. Someone died, and I need to perform a funeral service.”

Zixia looked at Zhang Zhengdao and suddenly said very seriously, "After you've finished your ritual, could you do one for me too? I want to... perform a ritual for Supreme Treasure. No matter what, he did pull out my Purple and Green Sword, and I still feel a little sad... but I don't know why I'm sad. We were just strangers who met by chance..."

Zhang Zhengdao said, "Supreme Treasure doesn't need me to perform a ritual for him, because he might just be a peerless hero... Since he's a peerless hero, he won't be so easily killed. Let's go..."

Fairy Zixia was stunned for a moment, then stood up and walked towards Flower Fruit Mountain.

Zhang Zhengdao's encounter with Fairy Zixia was merely a coincidence, while Supreme Treasure's meeting with Fairy Zixia might have been destiny. The destiny of this world seems to have changed, yet it also seems unchanged.

The Way of Heaven is the destiny of a world.

But within destiny, is there a great Dao that even the Heavenly Dao doesn't know? Is destiny still the same ultimate destiny? Zhang Zhengdao actually felt quite sorry for Fairy Zixia's love-struck mind.

Perhaps Sun Wukong didn't truly love Zixia; perhaps she simply shielded him from a knife. Or perhaps her pursuit was so ardent that he mistakenly believed she was his, only to have her snatched away by the Bull Demon King, leaving him somewhat resentful. Perhaps…

Anyway, there are many possibilities.

There was a village near the desert. Someone in the village had died; it was an old woman who was eighty-one years old.

Zhang Zhengdao only chanted scriptures to help the deceased pass on to the afterlife; as for guiding the spirits of the deceased and carrying the coffin for the funeral, they hired monks to do those things. The monks were originally supposed to come tonight to guide the spirits of the deceased, but they received a big order in the prefectural capital and had to cancel the contract at the last minute.

After Zhang Zhengdao guides the spirits of the dead, the monks will take over tomorrow.

The host provided meals and gave them two taels of silver.

Zhang Zhengdao asked the host when he was eating at the banquet.

"If a Taoist priest guides a monk to the underworld, but the underworld doesn't recognize the monk's guidance, what should be done?"

The host said, "That's none of your business. The monks here are very powerful. The abbot of Tianlong Temple even said that they have connections in the underworld. Even the Ten Kings of Hell have to give them some face."

Zhang Zhengdao was stunned.

This can be done through connections?

But this seemed to have nothing to do with him anymore. After finishing his business and taking the silver, he decided to wait for the monks to arrive tomorrow, watch the excitement, and then leave. It was rare to see a monk connected to the underworld.

Sure enough, a group of monks arrived the next day.

When the monks arrived, they actually ate meat and drank alcohol, which opened Zhang Zhengdao's eyes to a whole new world.

As night fell, a woman stood far away on the loess slope, watching the brightly lit and bustling village, the wind ruffling her hair.

However, around midnight, a sudden gust of cold wind blew over.

The lively scene suddenly became quiet.

Everyone was blown to their knees by this gust of cold wind.

Even monks with connections to the underworld are no exception.

Only one Taoist priest remained sitting in a corner, touching the tea beside the small stool and eating cloud cakes, taking a bite and a sip of tea.

After a gust of wind passed, the Taoist priest suddenly spoke to the air: "Did I count the merit of the person I guided as a monk?"

Suddenly the air turned cold, and then it seemed as if some sound came out of the air, but it was indistinct, like a person talking, but not quite.

The Taoist sneered, "Don't bother with any accusations. The underworld, which is under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court, is actually controlled by monks. If someone were to file a complaint in Heaven, even the Ten Kings of Hell wouldn't have enough heads to chop off."

The air felt even colder.

The muffled sounds in the air seemed to be getting more urgent, becoming increasingly rapid.

The Taoist priest's expression was not good, and he snorted.

Suddenly a gust of wind swept over them, ruffling the Taoist priest's hair and dispelling the chilly air, instantly restoring the table to its original temperature.

Zhang Zhengdao turned and left.

However, he walked towards the dark, desolate area outside the manor, and disappeared in just one step. When he reappeared, the surroundings were a gloomy and dark place.

A large city stood before the wasteland.

The words "Youdu" were written on the city gate of the great city. Outside the city, a group of wandering spirits were drifting around. When they saw a Taoist priest approaching, the presence of a living person drew them all over.

Zhang Zhengdao ignored them and went straight to the gate of Youdu City.

Ghostly soldiers guarded the city gate, which was tightly shut.

Upon seeing a Taoist priest approaching, he immediately shouted, "Bold Taoist priest, how dare you trespass into the underworld! Turn back at once, or I will make your soul scatter and you die a horrible death!"

Zhang Zhengdao kept walking forward until he reached the entrance of Youdu. Suddenly, the tightly closed gate opened automatically.

The ghostly soldiers were taken aback and tried to rush over, but they couldn't move at all; their bodies seemed to be bound. They had no physical bodies, but they were bound, unable even to move their souls.

The few ghostly soldiers inside the city scattered and rushed back into the city.

Before long, the Black and White Impermanence arrived.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face, City God, Ghost Judge, and others led countless Yin soldiers to swarm in, filling the sky above Youdu with an extremely cold atmosphere.

“Una Dao…”

"Snapped!"

He slapped the Ghost Judge across the face, and it immediately swelled up, looking like fermented dough, with his mouth twisted to one side.

What terrified the judge was not his swollen face, but that he didn't even know how he had been beaten.

"The judge has been attacked! Everyone, attack him together!"

Suddenly an old woman let out a scream.

"Snapped!"

He slapped the old woman again, and half of her face swelled up.

"Let's all charge in together!"

This time, it was a city god who shouted, and immediately countless ghost soldiers, as well as Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence, etc., rushed towards Zhang Zhengdao with weapons.

"Certainly--"

Zhang Zhengdao softly uttered a profound mantra.

The massive army galloped in, but suddenly froze in the underworld, unable to move an inch.

Zhang Zhengdao walked up to the City God, looked at him, and said softly, "You were the one who said we'd all attack together, right?" His voice was very gentle.

But to the City God, it was like a thunderbolt, shaking him to his core.

As Zhang Zhengdao passed by him, a breath escaped from his mouth, and he immediately became weak. All the Yin soldiers and ghosts felt an aura colder than the cold air of the underworld rushing straight to their heads.

"Cuckoo-"

A series of icy sounds rang out.

Countless ghost soldiers and ghost gods were frozen in ice.

Zhang Zhengdao looked at them and shook his head: "Tens of thousands of Yin soldiers and Yin gods, yet not one of them is innocent. I never imagined that the underworld would degenerate to such a degree..."

Suddenly, several trembling voices and loud shouts were heard.

"Immortal, Immortal, please have mercy! We are truly... utterly wronged!"

The ten Kings of Hell rushed over in a panic, shouting in unison.