Before any military council began in Gange Hall, the spellcasters stationed outside the doors had to hold up long-handled mirrors to conduct security checks on every single attendee.
Mounted on each mirror was a large eyeball that darted about, watching people and sounding alarms. He Lingchuan had seen it sniff out an eavesdropping divine ability planted on someone with his own eyes, proving it remarkably effective.
Later, while fighting alongside General Red, he had heard her speak of this eyeball's origin. It had actually been gouged from a great demon named Mulian.
That great demon had dozens of eyes all over its body, each with its own miraculous use. The most fundamental of them was the Eye of Truth, which could see through not only divine abilities, but also the hearts of mortals. Later, however, it betrayed humanity and defected to the celestial gods, dealing catastrophic losses to the immortals.
It was known that the great demon Mulian had eventually been slain by the Dahuan Sect, and its iconic eyeballs were harvested to craft numerous magic artifacts, some of which survived to this day.
At the time, He Lingchuan had asked out of curiosity, "If Mulian could see through divine abilities and mortal hearts, how was it ever defeated?"
"The so-called 'Eye of Truth' is merely a divine ability itself. Where in this world could there ever be an eternal, unbreakable divine ability?" General Red had told him. "I do not know the details, but I am certain the Dahuan Sect eventually found a way to blind it."
Evidently, Miaozhantian also possessed one of Mulian's eyeballs, which had been set into her own magic artifact.
Considering that Mulian had once defected to the enemy, it did not seem particularly strange for a celestial god to have its eyeball.
This statue could be considered remarkably true to life.
Old Ge had just lit several sticks of incense as well. Hearing their chatter, he remarked, "Does it matter what it looks like? A celestial god is a celestial god. Who's to say a celestial god doesn't have countless manifestations?"
He Lingchuan smiled knowingly.
He had seen divine remains in the royal palace of Xiji. The true forms of the celestial gods looked nothing like this. Calling them humanoid was already generous; some did not resemble human form at all.
So Old Ge was wrong. The shape a celestial god assumed when manifested in the mortal realm—the divine statue—was very important.
Adopting a human form made it far easier to gain acceptance from common folk.
Gao Jilin caught sight of his smile and immediately asked, "Brother He, what are you smiling about?"
"Nothing." Why was this man paying so much attention to what he said and did? He Lingchuan answered evasively.
At that moment, Old Ge spoke up again: "Haven't you noticed that Miaozhantian's incense offerings are especially abundant?"
With that prompt, He Lingchuan noticed that the censer before Miaozhantian's statue was indeed the largest, heaped with the most incense. The passing pious men and faithful women might skip worshipping other deities, but they would never fail to offer a stick to Miaozhantian.
They truly dared not pass it by without offering respect.
Gao Jilin played the dutiful straight man. "What is the reason for that?"
"Miaozhantian possesses the power to distinguish truth from falsehood and judge right from wrong. Moreover, she occasionally manifests miracles, and she is never wrong." Old Ge offered a stick of incense to the statue. "Whenever such an incident occurs, word spreads far and wide, becoming the talk of the town."
"Manifests miracles?" He Lingchuan asked, intrigued. "Here?"
"Right, right here." Old Ge did not dare point with his finger, merely jutting his chin forward. "Using that very magic artifact!"
A magic artifact?
Was he referring to the balance scales held in Miaozhantian's hand?
Wasn't that just a lump of carved gold? Could it really be a magic artifact?
He Lingchuan felt no fluctuation of magical power from it.
If it truly were a treasure, would they dare leave it out so casually in Chongyang Hall without fearing some scoundrel would snatch it away?
Never mind. It was none of his business.
He Lingchuan shook his head and pushed the thought aside, examining the murals on the walls with care.
Every wall of the hall featured brick carvings or painted murals, all depicting the deeds of the celestial gods. They were either fighting adversaries that were neither fully human nor fully ghost, or working miracles to nourish the land and shower blessings upon all living beings.
Judging purely by brushwork and carving, the artistry was masterful, a true treasure of art.
He Lingchuan inspected the murals one by one, hoping to see whether there was a portrait of Mitian.
Hmm, as expected, none to be found.
Yet to his surprise, he spotted another divine statue—
Tongming Zhenjun.
The statue was neither large nor small, life-sized, placed in the hall's left wing.
It possessed delicate, refined features, dressed in wide robes and a tall crown, with billowing sleeves that exuded the air of an ancient immortal.
Seeing it gave He Lingchuan a peculiar mix of feelings.
Setting aside its entanglements with the He family, Tongming Zhenjun's true form most likely did not look like this either. Why did its human manifestation bear such resemblance to an immortal?
The entire Chongyang Hall was resplendent and magnificent, but once the initial awe wore off, lingering too long began to sting the eyes. The swirling smoke was intensely acrid.
He heard Gao Jilin cough twice and ask Old Ge, "When can we head out?"
Yet the crowd of visitors lingered, unwilling to leave, some even clutching thick fistfuls of incense to distribute equally among every single statue.
"Aren't you going to worship a little longer?" Old Ge gestured toward the crowd with his chin. "Look at them—haven't they traveled thousands of li just to cast a divination and burn some incense?"
Gao Jilin smiled. "Where we come from, we don't do deity blood sacrifice."
"Oh, you don't know the half of it. Folk from places like yours are the ones who pray the hardest!" Old Ge gave a scoffing chuckle. "The stricter the ban back home, the more enthusiastically they worship here. Look at this packed hall—six or seven out of ten hail from places that forbid deity blood sacrifice."
Thinking about it, that was true enough. Gao Jilin was left speechless and could only sigh.
"They'll be worshipping for quite a while yet." Old Ge turned to He Lingchuan. "Didn't you want to find Guihua Pagoda? We've got time right now. I'll take you there!"
He Lingchuan agreed at once.
Old Ge also called along a shanxiao as an escort, and the party of one man and two monkeys made their way out of the hall.
A small trail ran along the flank of Tianshu Peak, leading straight to Guihua Pagoda.
Only after stepping outside Chongyang Hall did He Lingchuan notice that Gao Jilin was following behind him.
"Brother Gao, why did you come out? Where's Brother Jiang?"
"He's still inside, bowing without end." Gao Jilin pressed a hand to his forehead. "Staying in there too long gave me a headache from all the smoke. Mind if I tag along?"
To Guihua Pagoda? He Lingchuan had no objection. It was a public attraction anyway, and Mount Xu did not bar visitors from going there.
The trail was slick and long fallen into disrepair, with a thin layer of ice on its surface, making the footing treacherous.
Fortunately, the monkeys did not mind, He Lingchuan had no trouble, and Gao Jilin clearly had cultivation of his own, walking no slower than the rest.
Gao Jilin was quite the inquisitive soul: "What is this Guihua Pagoda? It sounds ancient."
Rather than walking the path properly, Old Ge preferred leaping onto the stone ledges along the precipitous cliff face. "Good thing you asked me; others might not even know about this Guihua Pagoda. It was a memorial pagoda under the Dahuan Sect. When disciples traveled far and died on foreign soil, their bodies and souls unable to return, they might entrust friends or kin to deliver a token or keepsake to Guihua Pagoda to comfort their wandering spirits."
Gao Jilin's next question even drew a glance from He Lingchuan:
"Why does it still exist today?"
While Lingxu City had opened Mount Xu to the public, most of the Dahuan Sect's structures had been destroyed six centuries ago in the fires of war. Subsequent reconstructions had selectively restored only certain sights, leaving most ruins either severely battered or reduced to broken tiles and crumbling walls, keeping company with desolate weeds.
Guihua Pagoda, however, had never been rebuilt. Why hadn't the northern demon kingdom razed it back then?
Old Ge shrugged. "I don't know. The thing isn't conspicuous. Probably just wasn't worth the trouble of leveling."
Guihua Pagoda was built upon a low hill two hundred zhang away, obscured by several peaks. Had Old Ge not led the way, He Lingchuan would never have found it.
The low hill also held remnants of other structures. Judging by their foundations, they had once been quite grand, but now only a few crumbling walls remained, the bricks and stones scattered among the weeds corroded beyond recognition.
By contrast, Guihua Pagoda, sitting atop a stone platform, appeared completely intact.
It was a nine-tiered stone pagoda, short and squat, its carving simple to the point of crude. Let alone compared to the Heavenly Palace, it was far inferior even to ordinary pagodas down below. Distinct marks from chisels and axes remained on some parts, unpolished by later craftsmanship. Moreover, it stood only nine chi tall; He Lingchuan could probably touch its peak just by standing on tiptoe and reaching up.
Looking closer at its base, it was seamlessly joined with the stone platform—
It had been carved directly from the natural outcropping of rock here.
The pagoda bore no decorations whatsoever, featuring neither figures nor portraits. It was, however, riddled with small holes through which the wind whistled in and out with eerie, mournful sounds.
With such an unkempt appearance, it was no wonder the northern demon kingdom had felt no motivation to tear it down.
At first glance, it looked like some sacrificial stone tower hastily thrown together outside a desolate village.
It had only a single opening in the front large enough to admit a human hand, roughly at the level of the stone pagoda's second tier.
Examining Guihua Pagoda, Gao Jilin asked He Lingchuan, "What brings Brother He here?"
"Entrusted by another to place his relic inside the pagoda." He Lingchuan retrieved the turtle tally from his storage ring and, through the opening, set it inside Guihua Pagoda.
"Entrusted by another?" Gao Jilin was moved. "Could it be an immortal master?"
Judging by the pagoda's age, who would return a relic here for no reason?
"Perhaps. I entered a cave dwelling once, where the master left behind a letter and a token, bidding me to bring it back here." There was no need to hide this; mortal realms frequently saw discoveries of ancient immortal ruins.
"Brother He is truly a man of his word, traveling thousands of li to return it."
"It was on my way. I wanted to see Lingxu City anyway." He Lingchuan's gaze suddenly froze as he spoke.
He had been just about to turn and leave when an object abruptly slid out of Guihua Pagoda:
The turtle tally.
How did it fall out?
He shoved the turtle tally back into the pagoda.
Under four pairs of eyes, the turtle tally slid right back out again.
He peered at it from the side. Was the pagoda tilted?
Old Ge burst out laughing. "Did you deliver it wrong?"
He Lingchuan scratched the back of his neck, at a loss. "The letter only told me to return it, not how. Are there supposed to be specific rules?"
The last question was directed at Old Ge.
Old Ge looked equally bewildered, as the question was clearly beyond his knowledge. "No idea. Let me ask around once we get down the mountain to see how others do it."
The shanxiao behind them spoke in a muffled rumble, "Maybe the pagoda refuses to take it."
Gao Jilin could not help remarking, "Could it be that the owner of this turtle tally wasn't well liked by the Dahuan Sect, so it doesn't want him returning to rest inside the pagoda?"
It seemed Master Dongli might indeed have had some rift with the Dahuan Sect; otherwise, why would he have passed away all alone in the wilderness in the end?
He Lingchuan patted Guihua Pagoda.
If it wouldn't take it, it wouldn't take it. The weeds nearby were taller than its peak, yet it still put on airs?
"Forget it then." He slipped the turtle tally into his robes. "If you don't want it, so be it."
The item had been brought here. It was the pagoda that refused it, so Master Dongli could hardly blame him, could he?
Alas, poor Master Dongli. They said fallen leaves return to their roots, yet his own sect had shut him out.
Chapter 579