Of course, He Lingchuan knew that having passed the Dharma Eye test, he had likely been crossed off the celestial gods' list of suspects. From now on, surveillance over him would probably loosen considerably.
Yet there was still Bai Ziqi.
Tsk. That fellow had been fixated on keeping watch over him all along, which was utterly baffling.
He needed to find something for Bai Ziqi to do, and quickly.
Seeing him constantly kneading his temples, Fu Shanyue said, "Enough, get some rest first. We'll head over to Pianxiang Villa tomorrow to have a look."
He Lingchuan nodded.
Returning to his guest room, he shut the doors and windows tight, swept the soul-snatching mirror all around to make sure he was neither watched nor overheard, and only then reached into his robes. What he drew out was a leaf.
Obtained from the Juluo tree in Panlong City, it had originally been a magnificent golden-red, but was now withered and curled at the edges, dotted with yellowish blemishes.
At first glance, it looked no different from any ordinary fallen leaf gathered off the ground.
He Lingchuan studied it closely and let out a soft breath.
"A single leaf obstructs the view."
So this was where Venerable Muling's second cryptic verse applied.
The golden leaf had not been meant to block his own sight, but rather the eyeball of the monster Mulian.
With the aid of this leaf, He Lingchuan had successfully passed Miaozhantian's lie test.
Thousands of years ago during the ancient war, the immortals of the Dahuan Sect had used the leaves of the Dao-Seeking Tree to defeat the great demon Mulian;
Thousands of years later, He Lingchuan used a Dao-Seeking Tree leaf bestowed by Venerable Muling to defeat Mulian's surviving eyeball once more, preserving his own life.
Every peck and sip—could it all have been predestined?
Toward Venerable Muling, a mighty senior figure who had calculated events thousands of years into the future with such precision and saved his life in the process, He Lingchuan felt profound admiration. He also grew curious about the final remaining cryptic verse.
What kind of situation would that one apply to?
Right before He Lingchuan's eyes, the leaf slowly dissolved into ash and drifted down to the floor.
The soul-snatching mirror asked curiously, "What happened to the Juluo tree leaf?"
"Its power must have been exhausted." Miaozhantian's touchstone and Eye of Truth were not easy things to withstand.
As for whether the celestial gods would question the test results, He Lingchuan believed they would not, at least in the short term.
The reason was simple: if they lacked confidence in that great eyeball, why would they have conducted the test in the first place?
And though the celestial gods might appear capable of invading his sea of consciousness with ease, Mitian had said long ago that the divine realm and the mortal world were strictly divided; crossing the boundary in any form was far from effortless.
The strongest proof was that Miaozhantian had only asked him three questions, and as soon as they were done, the intrusion had to end.
If they could linger in his sea of consciousness at will, they would not have stopped at three; they could easily have asked thirty or three hundred.
He therefore leaned toward the conclusion that the celestial gods had to expend considerable effort to pull off an invasion like this.
Since they placed high hopes in the Pupil of Mulian, the "truth" it yielded should convince them for a while.
This was the strategic window He Lingchuan had won by risking his life.
At the end of the day, he was still too green; he had underestimated the complexity and danger of opposing celestial gods.
Had it not been for the aid of Panlong City and Venerable Muling, there was a ninety percent chance the celestial gods would have laid bare his secrets this time.
In truth, this contest hadn't been his at all. It had been a confrontation between the celestial gods and the powers backing him: Panlong City and Venerable Muling.
Broadly speaking, it could even be viewed as a continuation of the ancient struggle between immortals and celestial gods.
His side had momentarily gained the upper hand. He Lingchuan had taken a stroll before the Gates of Hell and managed to claw his life back.
The mirror clicked in admiration. "As expected of a treasure from the City of the Dead! To think it could actually block a celestial god's Eye of Truth!"
He Lingchuan held his head and let out a deep sigh.
"I underestimated the enemy!"
Looking back now, he had committed the error of adventurism before he even set out for Tianshu Peak.
"I thought too well of them." He had underestimated the will and methods of the celestial gods.
The intricate schemes, subtle deflections, and careful maneuvers he relied on might matter to the Demon Emperor, but the celestial gods couldn't care less.
They were powerful, tyrannical, and unscrupulous, doing whatever pleased them. If they wanted to crack someone's skull open, they cracked it; if they wanted to test someone, they tested them, without giving a damn whether their victim lived or died.
Nor were they specifically targeting He Lingchuan; in their eyes, all humans were a mere drop in the ocean, as lowly as ants crawling along the base of a wall.
They could be crushed with a press of a finger either way.
Fortunately, protected by Panlong City and Venerable Muling, He Lingchuan had survived this tribulation.
He recalled Venerable Muling's words:
"Young people must be allowed to make mistakes."
When Venerable Muling said that, his eyes had been fixed on the golden-red leaf. Only now did He Lingchuan realize that the venerable elder had been speaking directly to him.
This wise sage had plumbed the depths of heavenly secrets just to win He Lingchuan a single chance to make a mistake without losing his life.
Just once.
He Lingchuan said resolutely, "I will never make this kind of mistake again."
No one would be there to bail him out next time. Just as Venerable Muling had said, what came after had to be left to the generations that followed.
"???" The mirror wore an expression of complete bewilderment.
It could no longer keep up with its master's train of thought—what was it supposed to do?
He Lingchuan pressed his temples, recalling that unreasonable celestial god who had tried to seize his body at the final moment of the divine intrusion.
Miaozhantian had even quarreled with it, showing that the celestial gods were hardly a monolith; they had conflicting opinions and clashing interests too.
It only made sense.
Most important of all, when the cyan light mark lit up, that god had shouted:
"Why is Nailuotian's mark here?"
In other words, it recognized the master of the mark.
This confirmed He Lingchuan's long-held suspicion: the entity that had left a mark deep within his sea of consciousness truly was another celestial god.
It was just that only today had he learned the name:
Nailuotian.
Now he had a name to investigate. Excellent.
Thanks to miraculous elixirs that soothed the spirit and restored the mind, He Lingchuan woke the next morning with his headache gone.
Fu Shanyue and he, accompanied by Jiao Yu and other guards, climbed Mount Qilin to inspect the newly acquired property.
Fortunately, the road up the mountain remained smooth and wide, with no damage to the surface, showing that solid materials had been used from the start.
Compared to Panshan Residence, Pianxiang Villa was actually closer to the center of the Lower City, with an area roughly half the size of Dun Garden—
Occupying half of Mount Qilin, it was already vast.
Facing south from the north, it spanned half of the mountain's sunlit slope. By rights, the first morning rays should have touched the villa's pavilions. However, the gardens had been neglected for years, overgrown with wild flora, and sprawling trees with claw-like boughs blocked the sunlight from reaching the courtyards.
The hill behind the compound was gloomier still, the weeds growing so dense that walking through was difficult, with small critters constantly darting to and fro.
Reaching down to grab a handful of soil beneath the trees, one found it damp.
The tiger sniffed around and rolled twice in a grassy hollow, unexpectedly uncovering a den of a dozen weasels and a large flock of storks and cranes.
When these two types of yaoguai saw people arriving, they showed no fear, though they squeaked and scampered at the sight of the tiger. Only upon hearing that Pianxiang Villa had a new master did they plead with Fu Shanyue to renew their agreement.
As it turned out, these yaoguai had been kept in the back gardens by the Chunyu clan specifically to exterminate pests, eliminating snakes, mice, and insect infestations for their masters.
The Chunyu clan had met disaster, but the creatures had not; they had stayed on in the rear of Mount Qilin, living quite comfortably over the years with no desire to relocate.
Fu Shanyue saw no reason to refuse, though he required them to clear out all the annoying little critters inside the mansion within two days. After all, the house had stood empty for seven years, vast and cavernous, having long since turned into a paradise for snakes, bugs, mice, and ants.
Both groups of yaoguai thumped their chests, promising to complete the job; after all, this had originally been their duty.
One weasel even blinked its beady eyes and asked Fu Shanyue, "I have a few mountain goat friends who are brilliant at pruning garden greenery. Would you like to hire them too? Just cover their meals and toss them a little pocket money—the wages are far cheaper than hiring humans!"
"...Fine."
Though unkempt, the main complex of Pianxiang Villa remained grand and imposing. Its beams and pillars were undamaged by damp ground moisture, and the furnishings were largely intact. This further proved how solid the craftsmanship and materials had been when it was built.
Thanks to the presence of the weasels and other yaoguai, thieves had rarely dared to trespass.
All in all, with just a bit of tidying up, it would be ready to move in.
Upon heading down the mountain, Fu Shanyue immediately sent people to the brokerages to hire servants.
An estate this large would require at least a hundred workers to run properly.
...
Pianxiang Villa wasn't ready to live in yet, and Fu Shanyue was off attending to other business, so He Lingchuan returned to the inn.
After dinner, an inn waiter brought up tea.
"Leave it there," He Lingchuan said without looking back.
The man didn't leave. He stood motionless where he was.
"He Xiao."
Hearing that rigid voice, He Lingchuan knew who it was. He sighed; troublesome matters kept arriving one after another without pause, leaving him not a single moment to catch his breath.
He stepped out of the room and cleared away anyone loitering nearby.
"Well?"
"The National Preceptor has agreed, but on one condition."
"Speak."
"Nian Zanli must not know you brokered the deal, nor can he even know you were involved in this," Xi Yunhe said. "The National Preceptor engaged you because you have no ties to us and no conflicting interests, making the lead you submitted clean and credible. Nian Zanli borrowing troops from the National Preceptor will cause too large a stir; word will eventually reach the Emperor's ears. If the Emperor discovers you were the intermediary, your connection to us will be exposed."
He Lingchuan nodded. "Rest assured. I won't show my face, and he won't know."
Xi Yunhe had handled the negotiations yesterday and was only here today to deliver the message. "Good. The National Preceptor will borrow thirty thousand troops from Baling Kingdom, accompanied by two generals, all placed at Nian Zanli's disposal. This matter will be settled within five months at the latest."
It was done! He Lingchuan drew a sharp breath inwardly.
"The National Preceptor has vast divine abilities; even a matter of this scale could be arranged virtually overnight," he said admiringly. "However, words alone carry no weight. How are we to convince Nian Zanli?"
"In East Second Lane of Heavenly Street, at the very end, there is a paper shop with a pair of white stone horses at the entrance. Walk in and tell the shopkeeper you want ten inkstones from Nanbao Pavilion and ten batches of paper from Qiuhu Jian, at the agreed price of forty wen. He will give you the National Preceptor's token and personal letters."
"Take those two items to Nian Zanli, and he will be able to go to Baling Kingdom to claim the troops," Xi Yunhe added. "The token cannot be forged. There are two handwritten letters: one explains the situation to Nian Zanli, while the other is sealed with wax and addressed to the King of Baling. It must not be opened along the way."
He Lingchuan was genuinely impressed. "The National Preceptor has thought of everything!"
Truly a wily old fox of officialdom over a century old—such arrangements were thoughtful down to the last detail. Everything He Lingchuan had thought of, and everything he hadn't, had already been planned out.
Chapter 595