Wang Ping, You're Not Dead?

Longxing County. "Jie-jie-jie!" The shrill shrieks of countless fiends echoed through the county seat. The town's seventeen prominent households had summoned every guard and martial artist in their employ, facing the crisis as if confronted by a formidable army, barely managing to maintain a tenuous semblance of order. Yet the ordinary folk suffered terribly. One after another, they had their lifespans devoured by the fiends. Boys in their prime shot up several inches in the blink of an eye. Robust young men suddenly developed patches of gray hair, while frail elders collapsed straight into comas, hovering on the brink of death. Such horrific sights spread unchecked through every quarter. Wherever the fiends passed, agonized wails rang without pause. "My hair!" "Father! Father, wake up!" In the streets and alleys, people screamed in terror. These fiends possessed neither form, color, nor scent; unless they deliberately manifested, mortal eyes could not see them at all. Even martial artists had to rely on divine intent to sense their presence. To the law-abiding folk of the city, this upheaval struck out of nowhere without rhyme or reason, leaving them no way to hide or flee. The sheer unknown only intensified their panic. Yet in the midst of this escalating chaos, one location in Longxing County remained eerily peaceful. From start to finish, not a single fiend dared draw near, nor did anyone notice its tranquility. Though sharing the same county seat, it seemed completely sealed away in another world entirely. Youshen Temple. Before the temple gates, atop the nine hundred and ninety-nine cloud steps, the paper-bodied Xu Bingzheng sat cross-legged with a register in his hands, gazing down upon the sprawling county seat. "Feast! Feast to your hearts' content!" Xu Bingzheng's expression remained tranquil, completely unbothered by the turmoil below. Longxing County held three thousand households and over ten thousand law-abiding souls—they had been prepared specifically for this moment. Just then, his gaze suddenly shifted. Through the crisscrossing streets and alleys of the county seat, he spotted two figures racing straight toward Youshen Temple. It was Shen Monkey and Xu Dog. "The Royal Enshrinement Hall... hmph." Xu Bingzheng let out a cold sneer, not paying them any mind. Their arrival had long been anticipated by the Imperial Academy, given that this affair involved the previous dynasty's providence buried within Longxing County. On that matter, the Imperial Academy and the reigning Emperor did not see eye to eye. The current Son of Heaven wished to thoroughly destroy the previous dynasty's providence, whereas the Imperial Academy preferred to preserve, harness, and transform it, turning it into the Academy's own reserve of power. Yet there was one detail that many high-ranking court officials remained unaware of: the reigning Emperor's aims also differed from those of the Royal Enshrinement Hall. Rather than a simple relationship of superior and subordinate, the two parties were more like partners. *The root cause must be that that person became the head of the Enshrinement Hall... Ever since then, the Royal Enshrinement Hall's core mission ceased to be loyalty to the Emperor.* *Instead, it shifted to dealing with thaumaturges.* *It's the same now. The Royal Enshrinement Hall has hurried to Longxing County less because of the Emperor's secret edict, and more to stop the thaumaturge pulling the strings behind this matter.* This gave the Imperial Academy an opportunity to exploit. *When all is said and done, the head of the Enshrinement Hall is merely a martial artist, incapable of shaking the imperial court. So long as we can please His Majesty afterward, any storm can be quelled.* To that end, the Imperial Academy had already made arrangements. Once the Longevity as Old as Heaven Gourd was refined, the Imperial Academy would first establish favorable ties with the thaumaturge, and second, obtain a batch of Longevity Golden Elixirs. The Confucian masters of the Imperial Academy had always been willing to shoulder burdens to relieve the sovereign's worries. Thus, they had agreed that despite their immense merit and toil, they would take only seventy percent of the Longevity Golden Elixirs for themselves, surrendering the remaining thirty percent to the court for the Emperor's longevity. In that case, the Son of Heaven would surely be grateful. As for Longxing County and the previous dynasty's providence, when stripped bare, it was nothing extraordinary. What were one or two petty counties compared to the Nine Provinces and all under heaven that filled the sovereign's heart? And without the Emperor's backing, the Royal Enshrinement Hall would lose its moral mandate and prestige. What threat could they possibly pose to the Imperial Academy? Nothing more than clowns jumping on a stage. With these thoughts, Xu Bingzheng fixed his gaze on Shen Monkey and Xu Dog. He resolved to teach the Royal Enshrinement Hall a lesson. If those two truly did not know what was good for them, he would make sure they stayed here forever! Just at that moment, however— "Hmm?" Xu Bingzheng suddenly seemed to sense something. His eyes narrowed, and turning his attention away from Shen Monkey and Xu Dog, he looked toward the county gate. There, a young man holding a great banner walked with his head held high into the county seat, and behind him followed a vast, surging crowd whose footsteps sounded like rolling thunder. ... *Thump! Thump! Thump!* Spread across each individual, the thundering footsteps were not especially loud; due to days of starvation, they even sounded somewhat weak and faint. Yet when gathered together, that wave of sound seemed endowed with a strange power that compelled one to listen, an irresistible pull drawing all eyes to its source. Filling the view was a dense sea of common folk, ringed by the soldiers and officers of the Black Armor Battalion guarding them. As they marched into the county seat, the nearby residents cried out in shock—for everyone could see the fiends circling above their heads. "M-Monsters!" The townspeople scattered in terror, not daring to look. Yet unlike the panicked residents, the common folk wore calm, peaceful expressions. The ferocious, menacing fiends did not frighten them in the slightest. They already understood that these fiends were their departed kin, standing alongside them now, shielding them from their enemies. There was nothing to fear. In the next second, at the very head of the procession, Wang Ping looked around him, then raised the banner high. His resonant voice boomed out, suppressing all the clamor in the city: "To the granary! Take back what belongs to you!" *Rumble!* At his command, the fiends born of the common folk under Wang Ping's command swept forward with a howl, clashing with the city's fiends and carving open a path. Almost at the same moment, before Youshen Temple. "Insolent peasants!" With a furious roar, Xu Bingzheng snapped to his feet, clenching his fists in blinding rage. "A horde of mere commoners dares to loot the official granary?!" "Where is the Tabai Battalion?!" "What is Yan Weichuan doing? Where the hell has he gone?!" Xu Bingzheng peered outside the county walls, but trapped in a paper body relying on borrowed arcana, he could only muster a modest measure of spiritual sense and could not see very far. Even so, he quickly formed a guess: *Those two imperial consecrated masters entered from outside the walls. Could they have joined forces with the Black Armor Battalion to defeat the Tabai Battalion? No, that can't be. Yan Weichuan received a rare treasure from the Perfected, granting him the power to command the heavens and the earth. How could he possibly lose?* Xu Bingzheng could not fathom it. His gaze then fell upon the stalwart youth at the head of the common folk. For some reason, the youth's features looked remarkably familiar. *Familiar... That's not right.* After rolling in officialdom for so many years, Xu Bingzheng had great confidence in his memory. If he remembered someone, he remembered them; how could someone look familiar without him knowing who it was? *To this day, there is only one stretch of memory that remains blurred and hazy to me.* The memory just before his death. How he had died, and who had slain him—owing to the flaws of the paper puppet resurrection technique, nearly all of it had been lost. It was the sole void in his mind. Looking at it from this perspective— *Could this person be connected to my death?* *Who is he?* At that thought, Xu Bingzheng felt a throbbing headache. Soon, however, his attention was pulled back toward the common folk drawing ever closer to the granary. "Bastards! What are the constables doing?!" "Fools in uniform, stop them!" Though Xu Bingzheng cursed bitterly, the constables of Longxing County had long lost all morale, seeking only to save their own skins. Not a single person was willing to step forward to block the common folk. *The granaries... cannot be lost. That is my official record of merit and my life-saving talisman! After such a catastrophe in Longxing County, reason dictates the magistrate must be held accountable. If the granaries remain intact, Master Cheng and the others still have grounds to protect me. But if they are lost, my offenses will compound upon one another!* With that realization, Xu Bingzheng could sit still no longer. Guarding the ritual for Perfected Youshen was important, but the granary... Good heavens, his entire official career was on the line! When it came to the momentous choice between selfless duty and personal gain, Xu Bingzheng had always known where his priorities lay. He immediately resolved to rush to the granary. As for Youshen Temple... "Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'll recall the fiends from the city first. The lifespans... haven't been fully gathered yet. Fine, I'll just have to strike at the seventeen prominent households." Xu Bingzheng gritted his teeth. Prior to this, the fiends had focused primarily on ordinary citizens, sparing the seventeen wealthy families. After all, those prominent clans had paid him substantial bribes, and some warmth of acquaintance remained between them. Now, however, Xu Bingzheng could no longer afford to care. With a single thought, he commanded the fiends to tear into the great compounds to gather the remaining lifespan as swiftly as possible. Listening to the shrieks and wails rising from the wealthy manors, Xu Bingzheng could not help but shed tears. "Ah, the common people suffer so." "It is my own incompetence that failed to stop these villains from poisoning the county. Afterward, I shall confess my fault to Master Cheng and accept a penalty of three years' stipend, so that it may serve as a daily reminder of today's sorrow." With that, Xu Bingzheng urged the fiends to hasten their work. Before long, the required lifespan had been assembled. Only then did Xu Bingzheng wave his hand, recalling the fiends to Youshen Temple, before turning his gaze toward the granary. "The fiends can protect the temple in my stead." "I shall go put an end to those unruly rabble myself!" Xu Bingzheng burned with impatience. Watching the snow-white grains of rice about to be handed out to the common folk felt like a sinful waste, something he could never tolerate. ... A bright moon hung in the sky as cool breezes swept past. Now possessing a paper body, Xu Bingzheng made slight use of arcana to ride the wind, drifting downward toward one of the city's granaries before drawing out a talisman. He cast his eyes about; the common folk were practically right before him. "I'll stop them first... Hmm?" Mid-thought, Xu Bingzheng suddenly froze. Lifting his gaze once more toward the approaching crowd, he realized that a certain figure was missing. *Where is that young man?* The mysterious youth who had led the common folk with the great banner, who looked so familiar, and who seemed tied to his own death—where had he gone? In that instant, fear and rage gripped Xu Bingzheng. Reduced to a paper body, he was no longer among the living; struck from the Weapon Register, his cultivation had regressed from a titled martial master, leaving him without divine intent. In the past, he would have instantly perceived danger, but now he had no warning senses left and could only raise his guard. *Something is wrong.* Out of caution, Xu Bingzheng decisively abandoned the idea of attacking immediately. Instead, he pinched a hand seal and began chanting, intending to take to the air and observe the situation before deciding. Then he froze. Because he failed to lift off. Or rather, a split second before he could take flight, a hand silently came down upon his shoulder, pinning him firmly back in place! In an instant, Xu Bingzheng felt his scalp tingle with dread. Who? When? How? Countless thoughts whirled through his mind, yet not one translated into action. Instinct screamed that at this distance, the slightest movement would spell certain death! "Now this is... an unexpected pleasant surprise." A voice sounded faintly behind him like a key, instantly unlocking the sealed chambers of Xu Bingzheng's memory, clearing away the fog to reveal the other's identity. At the same time, it brought rushing back the soul-searing terror he had felt just before his death. "Wang Ping... You... You're not dead?!"