Hearing that his young grandson was in trouble, Old Man Jiang dragged the village head in an anxious rush all the way to the great plum tree. Seeing the boy standing blankly beneath its branches, the old man yanked him over, rolled up his sleeves, and made to swat his backside. The child broke out of his daze at once, wailing and screaming, "Grandpa... don't hit me!"
"How many times have I told you never to play near this tree? When Shi Family's Third Brother died, we should have chopped this cursed thing down long ago!"
It was the village head who held Old Man Jiang back, urging him not to be in such a hurry to beat the boy until they had gotten to the bottom of the matter. Under his grandfather's pressing interrogation, the child tearfully recounted everything from start to finish. Several children nearby, sensing things were amiss, also spoke up hesitantly with a few details of their own.
Only then did everyone piece together what had happened.
Once Old Man Jiang understood the whole story, his legs went limp with fright. Clutching his chest, he breathed, "Heaven be praised, we crossed paths with an expert!"
"An immortal passed through our village?"
"Of course it was an immortal! Didn't you hear how that jade ring expanded with a whoosh, and the immortal took it from his wrist and slipped it over Huzi's head? Growing and shrinking at will—that is the magic treasure of an immortal house!"
The village head gazed up at the great plum tree. "No wonder those plums poisoned Shi Family's Third Brother. I always wondered how such plump, ordinary-looking plums could be so toxic."
Old Man Jiang nodded. "I remember when I was young, this tree wasn't nearly so big. Every year when the plums ripened, countless birds were drawn to them, pecking and choosing among the fruit. I never heard of a single bird being poisoned..."
The village head, a short elder who commanded great respect in the village, offered his deduction: "The flock of birds on this plum tree must have drawn a venomous serpent.
"The serpent concealed itself within the hollow, preying on the flock daily from ambush. Over time, its body grew massive, while the hollow's opening remained narrow, trapping it inside. It could only suck in air to swallow down the birds perched in the branches. As the years passed and it came into its power, its appetite swelled, and it devoured every bird that chanced to land on this tree.
"When Shi Family's Third Brother passed by and threw stones to knock down plums to quench his thirst, he must have knocked down one that had been smeared with the great snake's drool. That was how he was poisoned."
The surrounding villagers nodded in conviction, marveling at their own good fortune that they had never coveted the tempting fruit.
In truth, the plums were simply too sour, and the villagers were not so destitute as to crave them.
Someone recalled the woman who had remarried after Third Brother's death and the orphan he had left behind. While lamenting his ill fate, they sent someone to fetch the Shi family, saying an immortal had avenged him.
Before long, several farmers arrived carrying hoes, along with a youth in his early twenties who threw his arms around the tree and wept the moment he arrived.
The onlookers sighed with emotion. "The Jiang family boy is truly blessed. After playing there so many times without mishap, the moment danger finally struck, an immortal appeared to save him! He is destined for great things. The Jiang family's ancestral graves are buried in good earth!"
Another chimed in, "Earlier today, I saw that immortal too! White hair and a youthful face, a true air of transcendent Daoist grace—utterly extraordinary!"
"Why couldn't I have met him? I would have gone up and asked about my fortune! Legend says immortals have a golden touch. Maybe he would have bestowed some treasure so I could sit back every day and rake in gold and silver..."
"You coward, if you saw an immortal, would you even dare approach him?"
The younger villagers chattered excitedly, mostly daydreaming about the immortal's supernatural powers or how some bestowed treasure might make their families rich. Others wished they had begged for elixirs or sons, as though every one of them had just missed a fortune of a lifetime, sighing with endless regret. Before long, Qian Chen had been transformed in their telling into an elder with white hair and white brows but the face of a youth, riding a five-colored deer and cradling a horsetail whisk, strolling serenely through the mist to wander the mortal world.
Apart from the youthful face—which those who had actually seen Qian Chen insisted upon—everything else was purely the villagers' imagination running wild.
The discussion among the village head and the elders, however, was far more grounded.
"So that master heard how strange this tree was, that it had poisoned someone, and that an uncanny wind sucked people toward it. Knowing something was amiss, he asked whether there were birds in the branches. Sure enough, with a single question he deduced an evil beast was lurking inside! Only then did he borrow your grandson's hand to slay the monster... A true expert is an expert indeed!"
"We have lived beside this tree for decades and watched it change with our own eyes, yet how could we never guess the truth?" Old Man Jiang marveled. "A master is truly a master!"
Perhaps hoping to escape a beating, the Jiang family boy suddenly piped up, "The immortal was that grandpa who was at our door this morning!"
Old Man Jiang froze. "What grandpa?"
"The old grandpa you brought back..." The boy gestured wildly. Only after racking his memory for a long time did Old Man Jiang realize the child meant the young Daoist he had taken to see the village head that morning.
Qian Chen had given them such a deep impression of a wealthy scion, generous with his coin and acquainted with the incoming magistrate, that they could not immediately connect that rich young Daoist with an unfathomable master of immense magical power. Moreover, to dodge a thrashing, the boy had embellished Qian Chen's deeds with great drama, even reshaping his appearance into that of a white-haired, white-bearded elder.
Only now did Old Man Jiang see the truth, and he bowed repeatedly in the direction Qian Chen had departed.
The village head squeezed the gold leaf tucked in his sleeve, frowning in deep contemplation...
While the crowd beneath the great plum tree in Sanyang Village buzzed with excitement, a sinister wind circled the tree three times, sending an eerie chill through the people below. After sweeping through the tree inside and out, the wind sped off toward the county seat of Jiaobu Town, descending into the City God Temple.
The temple was dim and grim. The temple keeper waited beside the City God's statue, watching as a gust of yin wind coalesced into two illusory figures clad in garish official robes, who bowed before the deity. He recognized them as two ghost emissaries under the City God's jurisdiction, appointed as Day Patrol Gods who patrolled by day to report all good and evil deeds within the territory.
City Gods were appointed by the Daoist Academy. If evil ghosts caused unrest, the City God quelled them himself; but if heterodox sorcerers abducted mortals to refine living souls, the City God had to report the matter to the Daoist Academy. The academy, also known as Zhengyi Dao, was staffed by ordained practitioners of the Daoist orthodoxy who worshiped the three Dao Ancestors and held Yuxu Talisman Edicts.
Yuanshi Great Heavenly Venerable presided over the Daoist orthodoxy, and beneath him he had supported a heavenly thearch: the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou, who had been instructed by Dao Venerable Guangcheng.
After ascending, that Zhou monarch had received a dharma edict at Yuxu Palace and taken the Daoist title of Jade Emperor. Today, he ruled the eastern realm of the heavens as the Jade Emperor Heavenly Thearch, establishing the Daoist Heavenly Court under the decrees of the three Dao Ancestors.
Thus, Zhengyi Dao—the true transmission of Yuanshi Dao known as the Zhengyi Dragon Tiger Mysterious Altar—served as the branch of the Yuanshi lineage that supervised, assisted, and subtly commanded the Divine Dao.
Zhengyi Dao held the talisman edict of Yuanshi Great Heavenly Venerable from Yuxu Palace for enfeoffing the pantheon—otherwise known as the Investiture of the Gods List, the pinnacle Acquired Spirit Treasure of the talisman dao. Within this talisman lay an expanse resembling a heavenly palace, manifesting the Heavenly Court itself. According to their rank, deities occupied specific palaces, and with this talisman in hand, Zhengyi Dao could demote or elevate their divine stations.
Naturally, its direct reach was limited to the Central Lands. Should heavenly deities err, they were either dealt with by the Dao Lords of Zhengyi Dao's heavenly lineage, or the mortal Zhengyi Dao had to respectfully petition Yuanshi Great Heavenly Venerable with the celestial gods' transgressions for him to mete out punishment.
For minor deities in the Central Lands like City Gods, Earth Gods, mountain gods, and river gods, Zhengyi Dao typically issued talisman edicts in the name of the Daoist Academy. Inside each edict was a divine register, which allowed an entity to attain godhood once refined by a yin spirit.
Today in the Central Lands, aside from divine dynasties that united the world—whose emperors held divine ranks equivalent to thearchs—and celestial dynasties that united the Great Nine Provinces—whose rulers held ranks equivalent to celestial gods and could enfeoff spirits through their own divine standing—dynasties like the Great Jin were a different matter. Great Jin had not even unified its own great province; calling itself an empire, it was in truth merely the Jin state, and its emperor could only enfeoff ghosts and spirits through cooperation with the Daoist Academy.
In other words, if the reigning emperor of the Sima clan wished to appoint a City God, he still had to summon the Daoist Academy's Grand Libationer to consult with him. That office was held by an expert of Zhengyi Dao who had achieved the Yang Spirit, needing only to refine a heavenly talisman to attain the Primal Spirit.
Qi Refining, Core Formation, Yang Spirit, Primal Spirit... The Primal Spirit was equivalent to an immortal, known as a Yuanshen True Immortal.
Though called a consultation, how could a mortal emperor dare haggle with a figure so close to the Primal Spirit? Once the candidate's merits and faults were presented, the Daoist Academy decided for itself. Under normal circumstances, the academy would not slight the emperor's dignity. Yet if the proposed City God were the deceased father of a favored concubine or some pet corrupt official, the academy would reject the petition without hesitation, reprimanding the emperor and warning him against enfeoffing those without merit to the Central Lands, lest it squander the dynasty's karmic fortune.
The Sima family owed their imperial throne largely to a single Primal Spirit ancestor.
Had the Daoist Academy not sought to preserve the secular dynasty's face, the Grand Libationer it dispatched would have been a Primal Spirit True Person in their own right.
Back in the days of the Heavenly Zhou Divine Dynasty, the very first Grand Libationer had been Dao Venerable Guangcheng himself!
On one hand, local City Gods and Earth Gods were governed by celestial superiors. For instance, the deity responsible for the earth gods of the Central Lands within the Jade Emperor Heavenly Court was the Lord of Mount Tai, who held the status of a celestial thearch, equal to a Daoist Dao Lord. He had established a divine domain in the heavens and also stationed an incarnation at Mount Tai in the Central Lands. All earthly deities of the Central Lands fell under his command, making him the immediate superior of every City God, Earth God, mountain god, and river god.
On the other hand, all spirits were supervised by the Daoist Academy, placing the deities of the Central Lands under the dual leadership of the Daoist orthodoxy and the Jade Emperor Heavenly Court.
They were managed primarily by higher deities and supervised by peer Daoist Academies.
Having heard the Day Patrol emissaries' report, the City God gripped his jade tablet and spoke: "So an expert passed through our county and eradicated a wicked beast plaguing this land... Day Patrol, Night Patrol, that great serpent lurked in Sanyang Village under our jurisdiction for decades. Why was it never reported?"
The Day Patrol emissary replied in terror, "Reporting to Your Honor, that great plum tree had taken root atop a faint vein of earth-fiend aura. Imbued with peculiar spiritual qualities, it masked our spectral sight, allowing the serpent to hide within the tree. We were unable to detect it!"
"I shall record one demerit against you for now. Commit another offense, and you will be punished for both!" the City God declared sternly.
The Day and Night Patrol emissaries hastily begged for mercy and admitted their fault.
The City God nodded. "Since the passing cultivator harbored no ill intent and did not infringe upon mortals, there is no need to report this to the Daoist Academy. Note his passage. If we learn of his background in the future, this official shall credit this rescue to his unseen merit."
With that, the matter was settled. Having spent his time in Taishang Dao, Qian Chen knew little of the Divine Dao, unaware that the ears and eyes supervised by Zhengyi Dao blanketed the world so thoroughly.
Had he known, he would not have wondered why the heterodox cultists of Mount Mei dared only use fox souls to refine their arts, or how the Daoist Academy had uncovered his tracks and origins after he had spent only a few days in Wukang County. While gathering and refining qi, he might have been spotted by mortals, revealing his movements.
Yet helping the spirit fox and slaying the Mount Mei heretic had been done in secret; only local powers like the regional City God could have known of it and reported it to the Daoist Academy, prompting Cui Dan's visit. Every prominent clan in the Great Jin knew that offending the emperor amounted to nothing; were it not for the ancient monster still backing the Sima family, the emperor was worth nothing at all. Offending the Daoist Academy, on the other hand, was truly fatal.
After tending to these daily affairs, the City God glanced toward the temple keeper as dusk fell.
The temple keeper hurried out of the City God Temple, slipping into the back gate of the Wei residence under the cover of night. A short while later, he emerged with a satisfied expression, clutching silver within his sleeve.
In life, this City God had belonged to the Wei clan.
Far from daring to offend the Daoist Academy, the prominent clans went to great lengths to cultivate ties with it, often sending their finest scions to enter the Zhengyi Dragon Tiger Mysterious Altar. For tens of thousands of years, the altar's sect masters had consistently borne the surname Zhang.
Even among the Four Heavenly Preceptors of the Jade Emperor Heavenly Court above, there was a Heavenly Preceptor Zhang.
Thus, though local City Gods were invariably figures of broad unseen merit who had served mankind well, the City God of Qinghe Commandery was guaranteed to be named Cui; the City Gods of Jiuzhen Commandery were inevitably surnamed Gu or Tan; and those of Nan Commandery came only from the Lu or Sun families. Even the City God of Jiaobu Town was deeply intertwined with the local Wei clan.
For a commandery-prominent clan, if they could not conspire with the Daoist Academy above and win over the ghosts and spirits below, how could they endure for hundreds of generations without decline?
Chapter 50