Chapter 105: Descent of the Qianyang Mountain Lord
The god who stepped down from the Divine Shrine had ribbons composed of incense and fire qi trailing behind him, pale cyan in color, flowing endlessly around him. Chen Shi observed closely, and within the qi were strange and profound talisman seal patterns. Grandpa had never taught these patterns to Chen Shi!
"In this world, are there fu seals that even Grandpa doesn't know?"
He was greatly astonished.
In his heart, Grandpa was the most learned person, proficient in every kind of fu, seal, and diagram—images of all ghosts, spirits, immortals, and demons could be drawn by Grandpa with a single stroke.
Even the forbidden words of ghosts and gods, Grandpa could invoke effortlessly.
But Grandpa had never taught the various talisman seal patterns of the Medicine King God. They must be an entirely new type of seal!
Grandpa had taught him many Medicine King talismans for treating illnesses and dispelling ailments, health-nourishing talismans, and healing talismans, which included the divine image and seals of the Medicine King God. Yet they differed greatly from the divine image and seal patterns of the Medicine King God before him now.
"Maybe it's not that Grandpa doesn't know them, but that he never taught them to me."
Chen Shi continued to scrutinize him. He saw vast apricot groves in sheets behind the god, blanketed with lingzhi mushrooms, along with medicine mortars, furnaces, bamboo staves, and gourds floating in the air.
As he drew closer, he could even smell all sorts of strange medicinal fragrances, refreshing to the lungs. Upon inhaling, his qi flow surged unconsciously, and his true qi circulated even faster! Beyond that, there was the extremely terrifying Nine Yang Thunder Fire, rolling and exploding endlessly within the ribbon-formed strange looped world!
That power was extraordinarily fearsome—a power mortals could wield, a power even immortals and gods dreaded!
Compassion and destruction formed opposing yet unified dual aspects on his body.
This Medicine King God stood about six zhang tall. Seated in the Divine Shrine, his height was indiscernible, but once he stepped down, the oppressive presence was overwhelming. Chen Shi had to crane his neck to see the god's face clearly.
He harbored a powerful battle lust. With each step, thunder light and fire light rippled across the ground. Within a zhang radius, wrath seemed contained, as if terrifying Nine Yang Thunder Fire could erupt at any moment!
Chen Shi locked eyes with the Medicine King God, his heart pounding in shock!
It was an intense, unsettling battle intent radiating from the Medicine King God's eyes.
This differed vastly from the Medicine King God image Chen Shi had seen from Grandpa. That one depicted an elderly man, leaning on a bamboo stave, with a gourd of life-saving miracle pills hanging at his side for healing the world. The Yellow Tiger lay meekly at his feet like a cat.
But the Medicine King God descending from his small shrine's Divine Shrine was not an elder. He was a middle-aged man with bull horns sprouting from his head, his battle lust impossible to suppress!
He was the being with the strongest battle desire Chen Shi had ever encountered among all people, ghosts, evils, spirits, and essences!
"If I enshrine the Mountain Lord, using him as the Divine Embryo, wouldn't my cultivation speed up even faster?" Chen Shi's heart raced.
The Yellow Tiger rose and came to the Medicine King God's feet, extremely docile. Yet it roared at Chen Shi, as if declaring this was its true master.
You are not the master.
You were merely a stand-in when the master was away and I felt bored.
"Thank you, young friend, for your protection these past days."
The Medicine King God spoke. His voice boomed like deafening thunder rolling through Chen Shi's mind, making stars burst before his eyes.
"Young friend, by the agreement with Her Ladyship, you have awakened me. Does it mean the time has come again when I am needed?"
The Medicine King God's battle intent soared. He drew a verdant green bamboo stave from behind his head. His muscles and bones bulged continuously, lumps of muscle emerging one after another!
His bamboo stave thickened and lengthened, inscribed with talisman seals of destruction and battle. At the same time, the treasure gourd behind his head opened, emanating an incomparably terrifying aura.
It was the aura of intensely concentrated Nine Yang Thunder Fire!
The Nine Yang Thunder Fire in the gourd was so dense that Chen Shi felt if it were released, it could raze the entire Xinduo County to the ground!
"I smell the scent of evil spirits!"
The Medicine King God brimmed with killing intent. Grasping his bamboo stave, he charged out of the small shrine.
This transformation even made the Yellow Tiger fearful for a moment, but it quickly shook off its timidity, roared, and prepared to follow him into battle.
"Wait!"
Chen Shi shouted urgently. "Wait! You can't go out. If you do, the True Gods from beyond the heavens will discover you, and destruction will follow!"
The Medicine King God was still rushing outward. Chen Shi hurriedly willed his mind to return to his body. Though his intent moved and his form flew outward, an invisible force bounced him back. His form remained within the small shrine.
"Huh?"
Chen Shi froze. He tried willing again, and the space of the small shrine shook violently. He flew out but was bounced back once more.
After several attempts, Chen Shi realized he was still trapped in the small shrine.
"Wait, I'm in the shrine, so where are the Medicine King God and Tiger Bro?"
He blinked and approached the shrine door. The sandy mist space before the small shrine gradually dispersed.
Chen Shi saw his own topknot, with the fluttering red silk ribbon occasionally dancing past the front of the small shrine.
He saw Huangpo Village's ancient tree. Its tree spirit was a young girl of marriageable age, now holding a stick of incense, gazing toward "himself," bowing in utmost reverence.
This girl had never shown him such respect, except for crawling into his bed and being inexplicably saved by him once.
Chen Shi saw his own viewpoint turning, gaze falling on Blackie Pot. Blackie Pot no longer walked like a dog but like an utterly ferocious tiger.
Its momentum was majestic. Though it was a dog's body, it strode with the pace of a tiger that recognized no kin!
"Blackie Pot's body has been taken over by the Yellow Tiger!"
Chen Shi suddenly realized. If the Yellow Tiger occupied Blackie Pot's body, then who occupied his own?
"It's the Reverse Heaven's Gang Star!"
He instantly understood. The one possessing his body now must be that muscular, ferociously battle-lusted Medicine King God!
"I was planning to enshrine the Medicine King God to aid my cultivation, but now he's taken my body!"
Chen Shi grew frantic, willing over and over to rush out of the small shrine, but to no avail.
He tried dozens of times. Each time he flew to the shrine's edge, an invisible barrier bounced him back. He couldn't return to his flesh.
"This is bad—"
He sat before the small shrine, hands propping his cheeks, watching the road ahead recede behind "himself."
"He" was walking out of the village.
Villagers along the way saw "him" and wanted to greet him kindly but were so frightened they huddled against walls, legs pressed together, bodies rigid, not daring to move.
The village's chickens and ducks saw "him" and fainted on the spot.
The dogs that often fought with Blackie Pot and Chen Shi saw the current Blackie Pot and were terrified, tails tucked, crawling on the ground, not even daring to bark.
"Chen Shi" strode imposingly out of the village and ascended the yellow earth ridge outside alone.
Chen Shi saw "himself" eyeing Scholar Zhu hanging from the old tree. His heart pounded, fearing "himself" would mistake Scholar Zhu for an evil and slay him! At that moment, Chen Shi noticed Scholar Zhu eyeing "him" too.
Suddenly, Scholar Zhu gripped the crooked-neck tree with both hands, pulled his head from the noose, and floated lightly to the ground, bowing to "him."
To Chen Shi's astonishment, "he" returned the bow and even lit a stick of incense for Scholar Zhu.
Scholar Zhu actually returned a stick of incense!
"God offering incense to ghost, ghost to god—everything's gone haywire!"
As he thought this, he saw "himself" approach Godmother's stone stele, holding three sticks of incense and kowtowing.
Chen Shi was even more stunned. The Medicine King God not only offered incense to his godmother but kowtowed to her!
To the world, the Medicine King God was the Mountain Lord guarding Qianyang Mountain, a deity. But to the Medicine King God, Godmother was the true deity!
He wondered in shock, "What exactly is my godmother's background?"
"Her Ladyship borrowed your hand to awaken me. Was it not to let this Sun fight? Why is Her Ladyship still asleep?"
Chen Shi heard "himself" muttering to himself.
"Why are all the gods asleep? Why have I alone awakened?"
"Why can't I sense their auras?"
"Why has this heaven and earth become like this?"
"Where are Huaxia's deities?"
"Why has the land grown shrouded in demonic qi?"
Chen Shi saw "himself" rise from the ground, and his heart skipped. "I'm flying! I've taken to the skies!"
He saw the dog again. Blackie Pot trod auspicious clouds, striding through the sky, mountains verdant below, long rivers like ribbons, white clouds like cotton.
Before long, Chen Shi saw the black sea.
Beyond Qianyang Mountain, not far off, lay the coast.
Darkness.
Boundless darkness enveloped the ocean.
Yet on land, it was bright daylight under a blazing sun!
With each surging wave crashing forward and retreating, the darkness advanced and receded alongside the daylight.
The sight was utterly bizarre.
The Dark Sea was truly a sea of darkness!
Chen Shi was utterly amazed.
He had thought the Dark Sea merely described the ocean's vastness, endless to the horizon. He never imagined it was literal.
Because not a trace of light pierced it, it was called the Dark Sea!
Back then, the Ming fleet led by the Three Treasure Eunuch had crossed such a pitch-black sea, sailing the Dark Sea for seventeen years before reaching this new continent!
What raging storms had they endured in that dark expanse?
How many hardships? How many perils?
Chen Shi could not imagine.
From on high, he overlooked the sea and soon spotted a prosperous city beside it. Along the coast stood towering, thick city walls, majestic as a mountain range, blocking the ocean—as if guarding against dreadful creatures from the sea.
"Is this the Xinduo provincial capital?"
Chen Shi was stunned. He had never visited Xinduo Province, and his first sight of its capital was from the sky.
He saw clouds churning beneath "his" feet. "He" was gradually descending, landing in the provincial capital, walking its streets like a patrol over the lands he had battled for, inspecting the people he had fought to protect.
"He" paused before ancient sites.
"Governor! Governor!"
In the Li mansion's grand courtyard in Xinduo provincial capital, an Astronomical Bureau official burst into Li Xiaozheng's study, bowing hastily. "Governor, this subordinate has received word—the one named Chen Shi, with a black dog, is flying through the sky and has arrived at the capital!"
Li Xiaozheng's heart jolted. As he was about to speak, another Astronomical Bureau official rushed in and reported, "Governor, Chen Shi and the dog have landed in the city!"
"Could it be that since I didn't go to him, he's come to me instead? Flying through the sky?"
"Just what cultivation realm has he reached?"
Li Xiaozheng composed himself. These past days, he had sent men to investigate openly and covertly for traces of Chen Yindu. If Chen Yindu had faked his death, any activity would leave clues. The scouts hadn't reported back yet, and now Chen Shi was flying in the sky, leaving him uncertain of Chen Shi's realm.
"Pay him no mind!"
Li Xiaozheng waved dismissively. "Meet soldiers with soldiers, water with earth. Mobilize men to watch him from afar. If he causes trouble, handle it impartially. If not, let him be."
The two Astronomical Bureau officials exchanged glances and withdrew on orders.
Chen Shi saw "himself" lingering long at ancient sites in the city, then ascending the tall city walls. Soldiers guarded the walls, with massive bronze mirrors every hundred zhang, mounted in indestructible stone frames.
Beneath each stone frame was a huge stone grinder, about two zhang in diameter, matching the mirror's size and rotatable. The mirror's back bore reliefs of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise.
Two burly soldiers activated Yellow Turban Strongman Talismans to empower themselves, pushing the grinders. As the grinders turned, the mirrors rotated, casting sunlight from the sky onto the dark sea surface.
Monstrous things seemed to roil in the waves, bodies enormous, scales like countless eyes.
They charged toward shore but recoiled when hit by the light.
"Chen Shi" stood before one such mirror. The soldiers, though surprised, had orders from above and did not drive him away, letting him stand there.
Chen Shi, seated before the small shrine, also gazed at the dark sea ahead.
Waves crashed against the coast, roaring as always.
Suddenly, Chen Shi dropped his hands from his cheeks, eyes widening in disbelief at the Dark Sea ahead. He rose involuntarily.
Firelight flickered on the sea surface. Then massive treasure ships burst through the darkness, sailing out of the Dark Sea toward the continent!
Towering, majestic primordial spirits stood atop those treasure ships, guarding them, clashing with the giant beasts lunging from the sea, slaying the horrors, severing heads, blood dyeing the waters red.
Boom!
The first treasure ship slammed into the coastline. Ming soldiers clad in iron scale armor, helmeted with tasseled caps—each iron scale inscribed with the Six Ding Six Jia Gods, helmets bearing red tassels, front talismans of Six Ding Six Jia and Eight Trigrams for protection, rear with Golden Light Bodyguard Seals—charged ashore.
They escorted a soldier leader onto the new continent, finding it devoid of people, only evils spreading death and plague.
They clashed in bloody battle with evils surging from the shore, suffering heavy casualties, many wounded.
"We need a Medicine King God!"
The soldier leader shouted. "Bring out the Medicine King God from the ship!"
The soldiers lifted a massive Divine Shrine from the ship. Inside was a wooden carving, steeped in incense over years, depicting the Tang dynasty famed physician Sun Simiao, later revered as the Three Realms Medicine King Heavenly Physician Great Sage, with a prostrate Yellow Tiger at his feet.
The soldier leader held incense and knelt before the shrine, his voice thundering amid the din of battle, echoing between darkness and light.
"Medicine King above, your subjects have been sheltered for seventeen years, preserving our bodies and spirits hale. Now the situation is dire. We no longer need a healer suspending the gourd to save lives. We need a god of gunpowder wielding Nine Yang Thunder Fire—to heal and save, or slaughter at will!"
"Zheng Sanbao, are you certain you wish to do this?" The deity's aged voice resounded through the killing.
"Confirmed!"
"As you wish!"
The wooden carving rose with a boom. Divine power transformed it—sprouting horns, shifting from aged frailty to youthful strength. Its treasures changed accordingly, and the meek Yellow Tiger grew terrifying and ferocious.
From then on, this Medicine King God protected Ming soldiers, battling on the new continent, allowing them to gain a foothold and establish Xinduo.
Healing was mere duty; slaying evils, refining spirits, executing demons—that was his greatest prowess!
The Medicine King God opened his medicine gourd, unleashing a torrent of Nine Yang Thunder Fire.
He fought at the forefront with the soldiers, blazing everywhere, thunder fire erupting, mountains crumbling, earth splitting, ghosts and gods perishing, evils subdued!
Once Ming soldiers stood firm in Xinduo, driving off nearby evils, Ming commoners crossed the Dark Sea endlessly to the new continent.
He guarded the coast against invading evils and demons, taught gunpowder to Ming folk, showed them to craft firearms, granting even mortals power against evils.
Finally, all settled into calm.
Ming soldiers escorted this Medicine King God to Qianyang Mountain, built him a shrine, planted a yellow apricot tree. Years later, the Ming Emperor's decree arrived in Xinduo, enfeoffing him as Qianyang Mountain Lord.
The grand, surging scenes before Chen Shi's eyes gradually blurred, finally vanishing, leaving only the dark sea.
Just now, he had entered the Qianyang Mountain Lord's memories.
Those visions left him unable to calm for a long time.
At that moment, Chen Shi saw the scene before him shift again.
"He" soared once more, departing Xinduo provincial capital.
"He" returned to Qianyang Mountain.
Before long, "he" arrived before a new temple in the mountains.
Chen Shi was stunned. This temple seemed freshly built, its whitewashed walls still undried. Inside, a newly carved stone statue: bull-horned humanoid, seated on a fierce tiger.
Nearby lay discarded stone scraps from carving, yet to be cleared.
In the new temple's courtyard grew an incense tree, surrounded outside by apricot groves.
"Is this the new Mountain Lord temple Granny Sha and the others prepared?"
Chen Shi realized, new doubts rising in his heart. "What is the Mountain Lord doing here?"
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than his vision blurred. He returned to his own body. Countless strands of incense and fire qi flowed from between his brows into the new stone statue in the Divine Shrine!
Moments later, the Medicine King God, Qianyang Mountain Lord, entered the new stone statue.
His Yellow Tiger mount also left Blackie Pot's body, entering the stone tiger.
The stone statue slowly stilled, gradually falling into slumber.
"Children of Huaxia, when you need me again, awaken me."
Chen Shi seemed to hear a majestic voice by his ear.
"When I awaken, I shall bear horns, command thunder fire, unleash gunpowder's boundless might as Nine Yang Heavenly Thunder, shatter all evils and demons, guard this continent, guard the Yan-Huang bloodline!"
"Remember—awaken me!"