The Spirit Dragon soared into the sky, flickering between form and void with each breath, as clouds and mist wreathed the mountain peaks.
Underfoot was a rolling sea of clouds, overhead the light of the dawn sun. Duan Nanyun hung suspended above an emerald peak, the faint shadow of a dazzling sword flickering behind him.
“The Heavenly Tribulation has passed! Welcome back, Sword God, to your rightful place!”
“We are willing to be commanded by the Sword God! Slay all the demons and devils under heaven!”
“Half a step to Ascension! The undisputed leader of the righteous path! The Three Great Sects are willing to be commanded!”
Tens of thousands of cultivators knelt beneath the peak, bowing in submission.
Duan Nanyun’s gaze was pale and shallow. He looked down, his lowered eyes sweeping lightly across his skin, fair as white jade, before lifting his gaze again, looking around.
From his exquisitely handsome, peerlessly refined brows, no emotion could be read—only a coldness like that of the moon.
His vast Divine Sense swept over the thousands of cultivators below, causing their sabers and swords to emit sharp, ringing cries, as if they could not withstand such scrutiny, even the artifacts themselves trembling.
Then, these magical treasures, sabers, and swords, one after another, rose uncontrollably into the air.
All the cultivators’ heads bowed even lower, not a single one daring to lift their eyes and gaze upon the shadow above the sea of clouds.
“We beseech the Sword God to descend the mountain!”
“We beseech the Sword God to descend the mountain!”
The voices of the cultivators, carried by their Spiritual Power, shook the sea of clouds. Among the forest, birds and beasts fled in panic.
Duan Nanyun let out a soft, disdainful laugh. He extended his right hand, noble and distinct knuckles, against the sunlight, and gently tapped downwards.
In the next moment, those magical treasures and artifacts, divine sabers and spirit swords, immediately reversed direction, stabbing towards their original masters. In an instant, blood stained the mountainside, corpses littering the wild!
The white-robed Sword Cultivator was like a death god, suspended above the sea of clouds. Each time his finger tapped through the air, a thousand, ten thousand people died!
Finally, in this world, not a single person remained alive to open their mouth and shout some slogan like “Sword God descend the mountain! Slay all the demons and devils under heaven!”
From the distant horizon, a voice, neither distinctly male nor female, echoed: “Where exactly did this madman come from?!”
Duan Nanyun spoke flatly, “You’re going to die sooner or later anyway. No need to know.”
“Offering you fine wine, beauties, high office, and a fat salary—you don’t want it. Offering you godhood, status, the worship of cultivators—you don’t want that either. Just what do you want?! Did I provoke you? Provoke you? I was perfectly fine, at home, eating hotpot and singing songs… Bah! You madman, what vendetta do I have with you, that you insist on staying here, insist on taking my life?!”
It was clear: this Demon Creature was on the verge of collapse.
Duan Nanyun: “I lost two things in Xuzhou. Coincidentally, one of them is here with you. Since you’re unwilling to hand it over, I’ll just kill you and take it back myself.”
Demon Creature: “……”
The way today’s Sword Cultivators spoke was exactly like Devil Cultivators—arrogant, amoral, and impolite to boot.
Duan Nanyun added, “If you want to know what I want, then let me into the True Realm. Don’t fob me off with these boring False Realms.”
The voice sneered. “Let you into the True Realm? Wouldn’t you just flip the entire place upside down? I’m not stupid. If you’re unwilling to leave, then just keep killing to your heart’s content here!”
As the voice fell, all the cultivators he had killed stumbled back to their feet, as if possessed by fierce ghosts, and began advancing towards the peak again.
In every False Realm, those he killed would transform into fierce ghosts and walking corpses. Yet every time, he still struck without the slightest hesitation, slaughtering them all — this was also the method to break each False Realm. The Demon Creature had no choice but to keep manufacturing new False Realms for him. In its eyes, Duan Nanyun seemed like a tireless killing machine.
But it was not a tireless manufacturer of False Realms!
After dinner at the restaurant, the sky had darkened again. A wind blew from the north, carrying a hint of chill.
Fu Mingxia told them to go find Mingwu.
Qin Jinghan: “Didn’t that old man already give us everything he knew? Still looking for him?”
Rechen: “How do we find him? During my investigation, I heard Infant’s Cry Temple has a ten-tael bounty for his address. They want to come to his door and clean up the Buddhist order’s bad element.”
Fu Mingxia replied, “I have a gut feeling he hasn’t told us everything he knows. If Mingwu only had these missing persons’ names, how could he know it must be the work of a Demon Creature?”
Li Weiyi: “Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?”
Rechen: “Stupid! She means, even if he knew this large number of disappearances was abnormal, it doesn’t have to be a Demon’s doing. Maybe a Devil Cultivator is committing evil deeds? Since Mingwu could tell Lady Wu it was an evil Demon that took her son, then he knows more than just this.”
Qin Jinghan shot to his feet, gripping his saber hilt. “I’ll go after him right now.”
Li Weiyi, being an observant Player, immediately recalled the earlier clue. “When Mingwu left, he said he was going to the north city to buy materials to fix his roof! We can go investigate the north city!”
Fu Mingxia: “Wait.”
She pulled out a Tracking Talisman. “I left a tracking marker unique to the Wind Subduing Sect on him. Use this talisman following the spiritual guidance, and you’ll definitely find him.”
Qin Jinghan: “…When did you leave a marker?”
Fu Mingxia: “When I poured his tea.”
Rechen wanted to come along. Li Weiyi didn’t want to go back to the City Lord Mansion and be bored either. Qin Jinghan was responsible for tracking the marker.
Fu Mingxia said she still had things to investigate and would rendezvous with them later. Her Wind Riding Art was swift in coming and going, so she wasn’t worried about falling behind.
Tonight, dark clouds gathered densely, but there was no thunder. As night fell, a drizzling rain began. Qin Jinghan tracked the marker all the way to the west city, out the west city gate, around a desolate forest, and finally, through the rain curtain, spotted a lonely, small, broken-down house.
The three reached the door. Before they could knock, the drafty, broken door opened by itself. Mingwu’s wrinkled face appeared before them, wearing a warm smile. “Ah, three patrons, you’ve arrived. Please, come in, come in.”
Once inside, Qin Jinghan swept a glance around and took in the full extent of the place—
What words could describe this Eminent Monk’s dwelling?
Utterly destitute, excellently ventilated, a panorama at a single glance.
Utterly destitute—
Meaning the most valuable things in the house were the four walls themselves.
Excellently ventilated—
Besides the doors and windows, there were numerous ventilation openings in the walls and roof, of varying sizes. Not only ventilated, but also allowed water in.
A panorama at a single glance—
One look: one person, one bed, one table, two chairs, one chest, one rice jar, that was all.
Of course, in the corner sat a few materials, clearly bought today, for patching the roof.
Qin Jinghan: “You knew we’d come?”
Mingwu coughed a few times. “How could that be?”
Rechen: “You clearly did! Otherwise, why did you open the door before we even knocked?”
Mingwu explained, “Didn’t I hear your footsteps? This desolate wilderness, on a rainy night, if anyone came, it’d be too easy to hear. Plus, my treasured abode is excellently ventilated, zero soundproofing.”
Just as he spoke, Fu Mingxia pushed the door and entered. She put her closed umbrella down against the wall, looked up, and upon seeing Mingwu, acted as if she’d just encountered him. “Master, what a coincidence.”
Someone even better at blatantly lying had arrived.
Mingwu squinted. “This is my home. You tell me if it’s a coincidence?”
Qin Jinghan looked ready to draw his saber. “Cut the chatter. Explain clearly: just what is your relationship with the Demon Creature abducting people?!”
Crash! Crash!
“Ouch.”
A tile dropped from the roof where there was originally just a small hole, accompanying the fine rain and smacking right onto Li Weiyi’s head. He stepped back to avoid the new leaky hole, reaching up to wipe his face. “…”
I didn’t say a single word, was watching the plot very attentively. Why did it hit me?
Mingwu looked heartbroken at the broken tile shards on the ground. “Aiyah, aiyah, see? You spoke too loudly and scared my roof into falling apart. Young lady, you tell me—”
He turned to look at Fu Mingxia. “Shouldn’t you be helping me fix my roof?”
So the warmth and smile he’d shown when he saw them were all for this.
Li Weiyi: “Master, the beads of your abacus are bouncing off my face along with your roof tiles.”
But Fu Mingxia nodded. “As cultivators, helping a lonely elderly man is only right. Jinghan, what are you waiting for? Get on the roof and lift the tiles. I mean, fix the tiles.”
Qin Jinghan: “Me??”
Li Weiyi: “I can barely help a little…”
Qin Jinghan said coldly, “No need.”
As a cool guy, he was going to buckle down and complete this task alone.
Needing help to fix a broken roof? Where would his face as an Origin Returning Expert be?
Qin Jinghan climbed up to fix the roof. Rechen, seeing no one was paying him attention, climbed onto the bed and fell asleep. Li Weiyi passed things up from below. Mingwu took a few chipped bowls from his chest and placed them under several leak points. Only after doing all this did he straighten his old back, turning to find Fu Mingxia staring at him. He coughed a few times, massaging his waist. “So tiring. Being old is truly not easy. Not like you youngsters, full of energy.”
Fu Mingxia: “You knew we were coming long ago.”
Mingwu: “Children shouldn’t guess wildly.”
Fu Mingxia: “If you discovered the marker I left, you should’ve known we’d arrive soon. Otherwise, why did you keep delaying fixing this roof? Until the rain leaked like this, and the materials are still just thrown over there.”
Mingwu stroked his graying beard, sitting down on a wooden chair to rest. “You little girl, you truly are your mother’s child. Exactly like her. Those eyes of yours, brighter than anything.”
Fu Mingxia also sat down nearby. “Zhang Qi, the merchant, said you change people’s fates, fulfill their wishes, give them what they desire. I checked around the city, asked a few people. They all truly admire and trust you. Someone with a gravely ill family member got your Spirit Medicine and recovered. Someone who couldn’t bear a child and couldn’t afford Child-Sending Guanyin Incense sought you out and soon became pregnant. Someone who lost an important item asked you and quickly found it. You really seem like a living god. Even with Lady Wu, you didn’t actually deceive her. Her son was indeed bewitched and taken by a Demon Creature.”
Mingwu adjusted his sleeves. “Since you’re so clever, you already have the answer. Why ask me? This old monk is just a poor monk.”
Fu Mingxia: “Your so-called Spirit Medicine was just grabbing medicine from the city and making pills. For the one who couldn’t bear a child, you didn’t do anything. Lost items, if you don’t search, they’ll still turn up. They say you charge money to bribe the heavens, so the heavens turn a blind eye. I’m curious…”
She blinked and asked, “How do you price fate? A few taels of silver, some copper coins—how can that buy it?”
Mingwu burst out laughing. “You have wisdom roots. Pity your secular burdens are too heavy. Otherwise, letting that silly boy on the bed take you to the Buddhist temple, becoming a lay disciple of the Buddhist order, wouldn’t be bad.”
Fu Mingxia: “Thanks for the invitation, but I have no interest in the Buddhist path. I politely decline.”
Mingwu understood what she truly wanted to ask. He poured a cup of cold water into a wooden cup. “Yes. The gravely ill recovering, the infertile gaining a child. They thought their fate was changed, but actually, maybe their fate hadn’t changed. Perhaps it was simply their destiny: their lifespan wasn’t up yet, they were fated to have offspring.”
The so-called life-buying money was simply helping them let go of their obsessions and attachments. Do one’s best, and leave the rest to heaven.
In the flickering candlelight, Mingwu’s cloudy eyes became increasingly ethereal. “In my youth, I thought all living beings were equal, my Buddha was compassionate. I thought there was nothing in this world that couldn’t be done, nothing that shouldn’t be done. Success hinges on effort, fate is decided by man. I thought men should live, Demons should die. Little did I know, I had long fallen into a Devilish obsession. The living beings aren’t just humans; Demons are also living beings. Every blade of grass, every tree, every mountain, every river—all are living beings.”
Fu Mingxia: “And now?”
Mingwu slowly closed his eyes. “Now I’ve realized that living under a leaking roof, you’ll naturally get wet. In the cold, you’ll catch a chill. If not patched promptly, this broken house won’t be livable tomorrow. I’d have to go into the city and stay at a luxurious inn.”
Qin Jinghan had just finished patching the roof and came in with Li Weiyi from outside. Both their clothes were damp. But Qin Jinghan was a cultivator, his body stronger than ordinary folk. Li Weiyi was a Player; after the incident with Zhuyong, he’d learned his lesson and lowered his sensory intensity.
Rechen was sprawled out, fast asleep on the bed beside them, snoring loudly.
Qin Jinghan dusted the debris off his hands. “Fixed. The kind that can pass a quality check.”
Mingwu kept his eyes closed, utterly unresponsive.
Qin Jinghan stepped forward, felt his breath, and sighed in relief. “Not dead.”
He was really worried this old monk had just died sitting there on the spot.
Even Li Weiyi was surprised. “No way, he fell asleep?”
Qin Jinghan frowned. “From up on the roof, I listened to you two talk for ages. Did he confess? What was this old monk babbling on about?”
Outside, the rain pattered, and the night wind blew in through the wall holes, stirring the candle flame.
A long moment later, Fu Mingxia finally answered, “He said, that’s the nature of the Dharma.”
Li Weiyi, standing nearby, seemed to notice something. “What’s this on the table?”
A water stain, about to disappear, clearly what the monk had written moments ago.
Fu Mingxia: “It’s the answer to the question we wanted.”
On the wooden table were written three words:
“A Wish Made.”
The three of them left without waking the sleeping Rechen or the seated Mingwu. They returned to the City Lord Mansion, planning to rest the night and figure things out the next day.
Li Weiyi didn’t understand. “What does ‘A Wish Made’ mean? Is it connected to the missing-person cases?”
Fu Mingxia: “Exactly. Mingwu clearly doesn’t want to get involved in this matter. Maybe, like he said, he can’t handle that Demon Creature. Or it could be for other reasons.”
Qin Jinghan said displeased, “If he knows what’s really going on with that Demon Creature, he should just tell us directly. Why this roundabout nonsense? He’s a monk, not a riddler.”
Fu Mingxia: “We’ve been unable to find the connection between the victims, but now, I think I get it.”
Li Weiyi felt he could vaguely grasp the answer, but couldn’t string it all together. He scratched his head, opting to copy Fu Mingxia’s answer. “What is it?”
Qin Jinghan also understood. “A Wish Made?”
Fu Mingxia: “Exactly. The missing persons—all of them were people who held a wish. Zhang Youwen sought scholarly honors. The scholar likely did too. The woman from the dye workshop lost both her parents; she sought familial love. The wealthy merchant couple deep in gambling debts sought wealth…”
Li Weiyi continued the answer. “The Pork Butcher’s husband sought a mistress!”
You had a way with summaries.
Qin Jinghan: “…”
Qin Jinghan: “He sought carnal beauty.”
Li Weiyi: “Oh, oh, oh! Right, right!”
Fu Mingxia: “I’ve thought of someone. Perhaps asking that person might yield more clues.”
She looked up at the rain which had already stopped. “Rest well tonight. Tomorrow, maybe we’ll find that Demon Creature.”
Find the Demon Creature, and perhaps they’d also find Duan Nanyun, who had been missing for just as long.