So Bilu had made his rise by relying on the Dragon-Torture Pillar.
In other words, he was a celestial god who had risen to prominence only within the past century or so, and he had changed his divine title after his advancement. No wonder Mitian had claimed not to recognize him.
Hearing this, He Lingchuan understood that Mitian’s goal in creating the Dragon-Torture Pillars had been achieved—it truly had sown chaos and warfare throughout the divine realm.
Shi Nan spoke again. "Do you know what the two characters of 'Nailuo' mean in the divine tongue?"
He Lingchuan shook his head. How would he know?
"It means 'destiny.'" Shi Nan gave a sneer. "Bilu renamed himself 'Nailuo,' styling himself the God of Destiny. What arrogance!"
"Destiny?" He Lingchuan muttered. "What right does he have to call himself 'destiny'?"
"I've heard a legend—merely a legend—that Bilu had the fortune of stumbling across a fragment of an ancient god's divinity. He hid it away with utmost care and refined it slowly, without letting any deity discover it. It wasn't until his power surged and he became an orthodox god that he fully refined that divine shard of the ancient god, grasping a sliver of the power of fate!"
He Lingchuan caught another unfamiliar term. "What is an ancient god?"
"Your five questions are finished. Until we meet again." Having whetted his appetite, smoke began billowing from the old temple attendant's mouth and nostrils.
"I heard that a major upheaval occurred in Lingxu City a few months ago. How did the divine realm react to it?" He Lingchuan seized his final opportunity to ask. "This hardly counts as a secret, does it? I could find another god and ask just as easily!"
"Turmoil!" Shi Nan twisted his face into a warped, sinister grin. "A bloody, ferocious storm of turmoil. The great show has already begun! You humans truly are amusing."
With that, the smoke poured out completely and vanished into thin air in an instant.
The old temple attendant sank to his knees, utterly exhausted, two streams of fresh blood dripping from beneath his nose.
Though that had not been a true divine descent—only a deity using him to speak with He Lingchuan—he was simply too advanced in age, and his frail, withered frame could scarcely bear the strain.
He Lingchuan took out an ingot of silver and thanked him once more.
Dong Rui led him out of Leigong Temple, stopping by the market along the way to buy several clusters of dugu fruit. Before being peeled, the fruit resembled longan, but once peeled, it looked like lychee—translucent, sweet, and succulent.
The two sat by the river peeling and eating the fruit, neither speaking for a long while.
He Lingchuan stared at the distant riverbank, drifting into deep thought.
The weather was bitterly cold, and even with his cultivation, Dong Rui felt his backside freezing through. He let out a sigh, groping for conversation: "So you carry a divine imprint mark. You're a dead man!"
This fellow didn't seem all that dejected. A truly disheartened man wouldn't have devoured three jin of dugu fruit in less than half an hour.
He Lingchuan didn't even shift his gaze at Dong Rui's gloating.
"Shi Nan said it himself just now—there's no precedent for a failed divine descent."
He Lingchuan lowered his head and peeled another fruit. "Thank you for reminding me."
"Then why go run off to wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace and waste all that effort on futile things?" Dong Rui couldn't fathom it. "If I were in your shoes, I'd eat, drink, and indulge myself for a few good years before the descent comes."
When faced with such a wretched fate, shouldn't an ordinary person lose all hope?
"Human effort decides human destiny," He Lingchuan said calmly. "You've followed me this long—how many times have we escaped from the jaws of death?"
True enough. This kid had a knack for wresting life out of death. Waiting around for the end was definitely not in his nature. "You've thought of a way?"
"Not yet." But he wasn't one to sit and await his doom.
"Haven't thought of one yet, or haven't figured it out yet?"
"Just a faint lead." How could it be so simple to unravel? Dispelling divine arts was no joke.
"Ah." He already had a lead? As expected of him. "It only took two days to reach Xunyang Sandbar. What do you plan to do next?"
"Go back and keep Daniang and Erniang company. Can you handle staying put?" For a shut-in, it shouldn't be a problem.
"I've got plenty of work to keep me busy." Dong Rui ticked them off on his fingers. "The snail-toad was a rush job from years ago. I want to overhaul it to make it more stable so it won't rely on prunella spikes anymore. And the life-extending technique Zhu Erniang taught me—I need to test it on the ghost ape. Not to mention the curiosities you brought out from the Fu Realm; those are well worth scrutinizing too."
As long as he wanted to stay busy, there would be endless experiments to conduct.
"Can they be used?" He Lingchuan glanced sideways at him. "On your demon puppets?"
Dong Rui rubbed his hands together. "Hard to say, which is why it's worth testing." The monsters of the Fu Realm were generally formidable. If they could be integrated with his demon puppets—ah, the thought filled him with anticipation.
He babbled on with a stream of jargon that He Lingchuan couldn't follow, but He Lingchuan didn't interrupt, letting his mind wander in detachment.
By the time Dong Rui realized it, his throat was parched. He quickly wolfed down two fruits to quench his thirst before asking his companion, "And you?"
"I have a long journey ahead. A round trip will take just over two months."
Dong Rui wondered, "Where are you going?"
He Lingchuan gave a slight smile. "Back to my old home, to verify something."
To trace things back to their source, he had to return to where it all began.
If he wanted to resist Nailuotian's divine descent, that might be his only chance.
"By the way, lend me your bat puppet for travel." Taking to the sky would save a great deal of time.
"Fine." Dong Rui had nowhere else to go anyway. "Remember, it only eats fruit! If there's really no fruit, it can make do with a bit of meat, but it doesn't drink blood!"
Just then, the clouds parted to reveal the sun, and a few slanted rays broke through the gap in the overcast sky, falling directly upon the riverbank.
"The sun is finally out!" He Lingchuan had braved the outdoor cold precisely for this moment. "Go stand in the sunlight."
"What for?" Before Dong Rui could grasp the reason, he instinctively stepped into the sunlight.
Basking in the sun in the dead of winter felt rather pleasant.
"Just as I expected." He Lingchuan suddenly drew his blade and swept it around the back of Dong Rui's neck.
Only after the gleaming edge had completed a full sweep behind his neck did Dong Rui react, leaping in fright. "What are you doing?!"
"That god Shi Nan tampered with you just now."
The moment Dong Rui stepped into the sunlight, the pale gray thread behind his neck had nowhere to hide—though, naturally, only He Lingchuan could see it. It was that "thread of karma" celestial gods so often used, the very trick Baizhantian had secretly planted on Zhu Daniang before: "He wanted to track us. No wonder he became so accommodating all of a sudden, even letting us advance five questions. Weaving this thread of karma must have taken quite a bit of time."
Dong Rui also remembered Zhu Daniang's ordeal and knew that He Lingchuan could see and sever such threads. Even so, he felt a pang of indignation. "Why doesn't that damned thing ever latch onto you?"
It couldn't catch He Lingchuan, so it settled for him instead?
He Lingchuan smiled faintly. "What can I say? I'm the chosen one."
***
By day, He Lingchuan traveled on the bat demon puppet, and by night, when he entered Yuheng City, he didn't idle either.
As a new official setting his three fires of zeal, he convened several military councils, rounding up the commanders to become familiar with them, issued a set of directives and targets, and then went to inspect the front lines of the border.
He had once spoken with General Red along the banks of the Yin River, leaving him with a deep impression of the place.
During the high-water season, the river spanned more than forty zhang; now, in the dry season, it was less than fifteen zhang across, its bed of smooth pebbles laid bare.
This river was the boundary between the domains of Panlong City and the Kingdom of Jintao.
Chapter 726