On the Path to the Great Dao

This sudden turn of events came as a great surprise to Chen Shi, who couldn't help but poke his head out of the cage and peer outside.

"Feifei can speak—her cultivation isn't weak!"

He mused inwardly, "She must have formed her Golden Core! Just now, when we all circled and bit at her, she could have struck back and sent us howling in pain. And Fu Leisheng—he showed up in the east market probably because he'd investigated the goose seller and suspected the old man was the true culprit behind the missing scholars!"

Hu Feifei had once said Fu Leisheng loved money and even claimed he'd sold off scholars' Divine Embryos.

It seemed now that it was likely just a rumor.

If Fu Leisheng were truly that sort of man, he never would have cared about Gu Qingmeng or rushed off after escorting her home.

He certainly wouldn't have risked his life breaking into the county yamen at night.

Fu Leisheng must have spotted that one of the big white geese was Hu Feifei by using a Heavenly Eye Talisman or similar charm.

But how had he known Hu Feifei could speak?

Had he long known she was a fox spirit? Just then, he saw the county magistrate's wife transform once more into that seductive woman, a long centipede body trailing behind her. Her feet clanged against the ground, sending sparks flying everywhere.

"Madam, hold on."

County Magistrate Geng spoke up abruptly.

The county magistrate's wife paused in surprise, refraining from striking Fu Leisheng down as she turned to look at County Magistrate Geng.

County Magistrate Geng wore an apologetic expression.

"Mr. Fu, if this official lets you take these scholars away, will you spare me and my wife?"

The county magistrate's wife flew into a rage.

"Geng Chun, what do you mean by this? How can we let a goose right at our mouths fly away?"

County Magistrate Geng shook his head.

"Ling'er, we've been found out. We can't play county magistrate anymore. This whole affair was our mistake to begin with—how can we compound it? Mr. Fu, to tell the truth, my wife and I aren't evils. We were originally human. My wife, Zhai Ling, came upon a cultivation art by chance called the Nine Heavens Moon-Ring Art. Overjoyed, she began practicing it, never imagining it required absorbing moonlight to cultivate..."

He trailed off here, his face clouding over.

The county magistrate's wife cried out,

"Geng Chun, why tell him any of this? Husband and wife together—let's kill him!"

County Magistrate Geng shook his head.

"Ling'er, we've erred already and harmed plenty of people. How can we err again? Mr. Fu, after my wife cultivated this art, she grew stranger by the day, her body changing—especially after forming her Golden Core, when she stopped looking human at all."

His Divine Embryo dimmed as he continued,

"Once she started on blood food, she took an interest in eating people. Every time the moon rose, she turned more wicked, more like a true evil. I love my wife deeply and had no choice but to indulge her. Sir..."

County Magistrate Geng went on,

"Please, sir, take these scholars. I have no face left to serve as parent official of Xinxiang County. Once you're gone, I'll shed my office, surrender the seal, and take my wife into seclusion on Qianyang Mountain."

Fu Leisheng was visibly moved.

"I never imagined County Grandfather and Madam had such a tale between you. It was presumptuous of me. I'm no bully. I only want to return these scholars. If County Grandfather resigns, I won't breathe a word."

County Magistrate Geng summoned the goose-selling old man.

"Old Wu, take down the goose cages and deliver them to Mr. Fu at Wencai Academy."

The goose-selling old man glanced at the county magistrate's wife.

Helpless, the wife nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Geng Chun, today I'll yield to you. We'll go into seclusion together."

With that, she gradually reverted to human form.

Fu Leisheng's eyes reddened.

"Madam is a pitiful soul too. Without that art, you two would still be a fairy couple, the envy of all onlookers."

The goose-selling old man gripped his bamboo pole and approached the tree, unhooking the goose cages one by one. Then he opened them, releasing the white geese inside.

At that moment, Blackie darted out from who-knows-where, snatched a big white goose in his jaws, and bolted.

The old man gave chase but couldn't catch up. He fumed,

"Damn dog—how hasn't it been caught yet? Are all these yamen runners just eating free rice?"

Fu Leisheng picked up the bamboo pole the old man had dropped on the ground and bowed.

"County Magistrate Geng, Madam—this one takes his leave."

County Magistrate Geng sighed.

"I'll not see you out."

Fu Leisheng prodded the flock of geese along with the bamboo pole, exiting the county yamen's backyard and heading toward Wencai Academy.

The goose-selling old man hurried after him.

"I know geese inside out. Let me help watch them, lest any stray."

Fu Leisheng agreed, and the pair shepherded the flock down the street.

Meanwhile, the big white goose Blackie had snatched away was in fact perched right on Blackie's back, riding the dog silently all the way back to the county yamen's backyard.

County Magistrate Geng sat at the dining table while his wife stood, the two silent.

The county magistrate's wife was still dabbing at her tears, lost in sorrow over her fate.

"Madam, no more tears. Fu Leisheng... he really bought it."

County Magistrate Geng suddenly burst into laughter.

The county magistrate's wife snickered too, tears tracing down her cheeks as she laughed.

"He actually believed it. He thinks we accidentally fell into an evil art and became like this. He never suspected I'm a real evil."

County Magistrate Geng met her gaze and guffawed.

"He naively believed we'd truly let him go. He came in blazing, but who knows his real power? How could we risk clashing with him right here in the yamen? In the yamen? Everyone would know we're evils."

The county magistrate's wife doubled over laughing, her flabby flesh quivering.

"We didn't know his depths—rashly fighting held no guarantees. But now he's saddled with protecting those scholar-geese, hands tied. We can finish him for sure."

"And right on the street, no less."

Excitement gleamed in County Magistrate Geng's eyes as he grinned.

"Even if his cultivation's sky-high, guarding seventeen goose-turned-scholars leaves him at twenty percent strength at best."

"Fetch the Ten Thousand Souls Banner."

The county magistrate's wife brimmed with thrill.

"Let this old scholar take a spin inside it."

County Magistrate Geng chuckled.

"Madam's right. Xinxiang County's Ten Thousand Souls Banner might not hold ten thousand souls, but it's got eight thousand vengeful spirits at least. Shake it out—even a Nascent Soul cultivator gets rattled to death. Better safe than sorry. I'll grab it."

He started to move when suddenly a goose's "honk honk" echoed from nearby.

They followed the sound and spotted a big white goose waddling their way on stubby legs, shaking its rear as it came—the very one Blackie had just carried off.

The goose showed no fear of people, not shying away even upon seeing them.

"Talking like this has me hungry!"

The county magistrate's wife's eyes lit up as she cackled.

"Why not eat this goose first, then go kill the old scholar?"

Meanwhile, Fu Leisheng and the goose-selling old man drove the flock along the street.

The geese were docile and obedient, following the bamboo pole in Fu Leisheng's hand.

The old man sighed.

"I was an old servant of the Geng household, waiting on the young master. When he became an official, I followed. But alas, Madam took up an evil art and turned into... this. This old slave's followed her in wickedness, full of regret and fear—terrified she'll eat me one day."

Fu Leisheng smiled faintly.

"Did the county magistrate's wife truly become like this from an evil art?"

The old man paused.

"I don't follow your meaning!"

Fu Leisheng stroked his beard leisurely.

"I suspect the county magistrate's wife is a genuine evil. Evils come in many kinds: some from the underworld, some born of baleful qi in the yang world, some humans or beasts revived by moonlight after death. The fourth sort: otherworldly beings who cultivate and mutate from soaking in moon essence. Only the fifth are humans who stray into evil paths and transform. I reckon Madam's the fourth."

The old man laughed.

"Mr. Fu, I ought to know better than you..."

"No, I know more—I've a beast cultivator right by my side."

Fu Leisheng smiled thinly.

"So, Old Wu... what's your true nature? Man or evil cloaked in human skin?"

Before the words finished leaving his mouth, the goose-selling old man vaulted upward, vanishing into the darkness with impossible speed.

The old man's voice echoed from all directions—left, right, ahead, behind.

"Fu Leisheng, you shouldn't be so clever. Clever folk tend to die young."

No sooner said than a black shadow plummeted from above: the goose-selling old man.

His body had compacted into a ball like a giant flea, dragging a sack several times his size.

The wind billowed the sack wide as it descended over Fu Leisheng's head.

The old man thudded to the ground and cinched the sack shut, chuckling heinously.

"Turn into a big goose and you're an old goose."

Before he finished, a bamboo pole lanced out from inside the sack with immense force, skewering the old man's body through, Divine Embryo and all, slamming him into the nearby wall—and straight through it.

Fu Leisheng discarded the pole and stepped out of the sack, saying coolly,

"I've studied the spear since childhood—forty-eight years now—and hadn't touched spear arts lately. The reason I picked up this bamboo pole? To skewer you dead."

He yanked the pole free, shaking the old man's corpse loose.

"So clever, and I've lived past fifty. That should tell you how formidable I am."

Fu Leisheng gripped the bamboo pole and wheeled back toward the county yamen, his voice carrying.

"Feifei, take them back to the academy first. Teacher's off to kill a couple of people."

From the flock of geese came a young woman's reply. With a bang, a bright and beautiful girl appeared amid them, laughing.

"Brothers and sisters, let's head back to the academy first."

Fu Leisheng surged with killing intent, reaching the county yamen's front in moments. He glanced up at the "Mirror Hanging High" plaque and murmured,

"Now with no scholars to worry over, I can cut loose—no more distractions."

He strode into the yamen.

In the backyard, County Magistrate Geng blurred forward with blinding speed, reaching the big white goose in an instant. He reached out and seized its slender neck with ease, chuckling.

"Eating it first won't delay killing Fu Leisheng."

The instant his hand closed on the goose neck, it thickened explosively, snapping his fingers apart—and kept thickening.

Alarmed, County Magistrate Geng watched the white goose morph before him into a youth.

Qi and blood churned wildly in the youth's body like raging waves, surging through sinews and bones, fortifying the organs. His flesh gleamed, hands like bear paws—one clamped the magistrate's wrist and bore down while the elbow of the other arm smashed home.

He heard his own arm snap.

His vision went black, followed by his throat bone shattering, his solar plexus hammered, ribs cracking. Then his liver, spleen, and kidneys ruptured as if pulped by a heavy mallet.

Agony lanced through his groin—in that split second, he'd taken seven or eight knees or kicks, he couldn't tell which.

In this moment, his spells, his Golden Core, his treasures—all were too late to deploy.

Chen Shi cupped the man's face in one hand while the other encircled his neck, twisting viciously. Cracks echoed from the arm as bones and sinews tore.

He dropped the corpse in his arms and sprang up, whipping up a gale with a whoosh.

In the next instant, he was beside the dining table, his right leg chopping down like an axe onto the county magistrate's wife's thick neck.

Her corpulent body buckled downward but her hands caught the ground—she didn't fall. She unleashed a deafening roar and strained to rise.

Halfway through her bellow, Chen Shi snatched the axe from the table and buried it in her forehead. His hands flashed, scooping up every utensil in reach—long chopsticks, short ones, knives of all sorts—and jamming them into the wife's vast face.

The county magistrate's wife let out a shrill, ear-piercing screech. She didn't dare face him and fled outward.

Obscenely fat, her flesh jiggling wildly, yet in that moment she moved light as a swallow—one step spanning over two zhang.

"Fat-headed, big-eared old hag."

Chen Shi's voice rang crystal-clear in her ears.

The wife's form froze. A ferocious evil aura erupted from the yamen backyard, climbing higher and higher, more terrifying by the second.

"What did you say?"

She whirled, her pudgy face a mess of blades, axes, chopsticks, and shattered crockery.

Chen Shi grinned.

"I said, fat-headed, big-eared..."

The wife's body ballooned section by section, revealing her true form: a gigantic centipede seven or eight zhang long, its upper body that of a ravishing woman. She screeched and lunged, spewing a blood-red Golden Core from her maw.

"Little brat—you die today."

The Golden Core's bloody glow was far deeper than that of the white-bearded rat elder from Black Mountain Granny Temple.

Wherever the core-light passed, all crumbled—even the rockery collapsed into dust.

In the pond beneath, the water roiled like a boiling cauldron. The fish within were stripped of flesh in an instant, leaving only bones to sink.

This blood-core differed from those Chen Shi had encountered before. The rats' cores were bloodied from impurity, from injuring and devouring people.

This was a core refined with children's essence blood and souls—an advanced technique of evil cultivation.

Its bloody light shattered cultivators' righteous qi, broke orthodox spells, corrupted talismans and treasures—the most insidious sort.

Chen Shi brimmed with excitement, channeling the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art. Seven stars bloomed across his body as his Golden Core rose within, and he charged straight at the wife's colossal form.

The blood-core's radiance was razor-sharp, needle-like rays stabbing his skin and pitting it densely.

But before the evil qi could take hold, it scattered under the onslaught of his supremely vigorous blood qi.

His blood qi was too vigorous—like ice and snow before a blaze.

Boom...

Thunder crashed in the yamen backyard. Fu Leisheng, just charging in, halted abruptly and raised his bamboo pole warily.

Suddenly—

Bang!

The county magistrate's wife's head burst through the thick wall, appearing before him, limbs twisted and broken—dead or alive, who could say.

Fu Leisheng's heart jolted as he peered into the backyard.

There under the moonlight stood a youth, his blood qi surging like an ocean tide, spilling beyond his body to form a godlike demonic silhouette behind him. Man or evil? Impossible to tell.

End of chapter.