On the Path to the Great Dao

The terrain in the mountains was ever-changing. One wrong step, and you could easily lose your direction amid the peaks. Chen Shi ventured into these mountains year-round, but if he let his guard down even slightly, he could still end up lost.

Now, however, the stone ship stood like a beacon amid Qianyang Mountain, with waves of rosy light continually rising into the air, guiding their way.

Even more terrifying were the clashes between those who had formed their Primordial Spirits. The shockwaves they unleashed, even after being weakened layer by layer by the mountains and trees, still reached Chen Shi and made his heart race with panic, as if invisible waves pierced straight through him, causing his heartbeat to stutter to a halt or pound wildly.

Those who had formed their Primordial Spirits were just that powerful.

"

Lord Li faked his death to slip away, turning the stone ship into the focal point of contention among the various powers. He could then watch coldly from the sidelines—a brilliant scheme indeed."

Chen Shi led the way ahead and suddenly said, "But Lord Li only faked his death, after all. Once the stone ship incident blows over and Lord Li starts moving about again, won't people mock him?"

Li Xiaozheng didn't take it to heart and said leisurely, "If one gains real benefits, who cares about a bad reputation? Besides, if I obtain the Great Ming treasure ship, my strength will soar, and the Li family will value me even more.

My position will rise higher. Some may curse me, but others will revere me.

At that point, I'll just pick a few esteemed great scholars, give them some money, and naturally, they'll speak well of me. Even their unreasonable words will be spun into something reasonable."

They climbed over a cliff and passed through a valley. Chen Shi suddenly slowed his pace.

Li Xiaozheng and Li Tianqing were puzzled and followed his gaze. Ahead, on the grassy ground, dozens of gray-clothed little figures—no taller than seven or eight inches, wearing gray shoes and gray hats—were playing.

The gray-clothed little folk spotted them and, as if startled, hurriedly fled into the woods.

Li Xiaozheng's eyes lit up. "This group of gray-clothed little folk must be spirit herbs that have endured for ten thousand years and gained sentience! If we follow them to their roots, we can harvest many top-grade spirit herbs. Consuming them can boost one's cultivation realm or even save a life!"

Chen Shi took out several sticks of incense, lit them, and stuck them in the ground. He gestured for them to bypass the woods.

Li Xiaozheng was surprised but stepped forward to follow him.

"My lord, you guessed wrong.

They're aconitum spirits that have condensed a spirit. Eating them would cause even someone with a formed Primordial Spirit to drop dead on the spot."

Chen Shi carefully scanned their surroundings and said, "Moreover, these gray-clothed little folk have fierce temperaments. They've refined many fine needles—so slender they're even thinner than cow hair, coated with poison.

If you show them disrespect, they'll charge out with bamboo tubes and blow poison needles at you."

Li Xiaozheng looked back and saw many gray-clothed little folk emerging from the woods again. Each held a bamboo tube, with quivers woven from leaves on their backs, filled with poison needles.

Spotting the incense Chen Shi had left, they immediately gathered around it, sniffing at the fragrant smoke.

The leader of the gray-clothed little folk gestured toward Chen Shi in a bizarre manner, seemingly communicating with him.

Chen Shi gestured back, his posture equally strange.

The gray-clothed little folk leader returned to its kin, while Chen Shi led Li Tianqing and Li Xiaozheng onward.

"Qianyang Mountain is truly full of marvels."

Li Xiaozheng was quite surprised and chuckled. "If one's cultivation were any lower and they barged into the mountains rashly, they'd die without even knowing how.

But such petty tricks are useless against scions of great clans."

No sooner had he spoken than they saw a dozen or so corpses sprawled haphazardly along the mountain path on both sides, their faces pitch-black, blood oozing from all seven orifices—clearly poisoned to death!

The surrounding woods were a mess of devastation caused by Golden Cores.

These people seemed to have fallen victim to an ambush, suffering heavy casualties.

Li Tianqing examined the corpses and said, "These are people from the Xia family. There are more ahead! Those are Yang family members... And over there, Xu family experts—many of them dead too!"

Li Xiaozheng's expression remained unchanged as he said to Chen Shi, "Even those with formed Golden Cores are merely peripheral disciples of great clans.

They don't keep their Golden Cores active at all times, so getting ambushed by the gray-clothed little folk is death they deserved.

If they'd activated their Golden Cores, it wouldn't have ended like this."

The three humans and one dog pressed on, spotting several middle-aged men who had collapsed dead along the road.

One still clutched the corpse of a gray-clothed little folk in his hand, his death quite gruesome.

Blood streamed from all his orifices, and the muscles of his body—including his internal organs—had completely dissolved, leaving only skin and clothes. Remarkably, a Divine Shrine remained intact at the back of his head, though the Divine Embryo and Nascent Soul had melted into a puddle of black water. He must have died quite recently.

The others had died in equally tragic ways, but not from eating the gray-clothed little folk.

After inspecting them, Li Tianqing said, "Their soles are pierced with countless hair-like fine needles. The needles must have been laid on the ground, piercing through their shoes and feet, leading to their poisoning."

Chen Shi looked toward Li Xiaozheng.

Li Xiaozheng's expression was as calm as ever. He smiled faintly and said, "Even among great clans, there are greedy Nascent Soul mediocrities who don't recognize poisons, mistaking them for supreme spirit herbs. Dying here is fitting retribution."

Chen Shi couldn't help praising, "Lord Li needs no great scholars.

Lord Li is a great scholar himself."

Li Xiaozheng burst into hearty laughter, showing no embarrassment.

When they reached the vicinity of the dry riverbed, they spotted another oddly dressed person, quite some distance from the stone ship. He sat motionless, but suddenly his ears began growing rapidly. In a short time, they had stretched longer than plantain leaves—over twelve feet long and seven or eight feet wide.

His ears stood erect, facing the direction of the stone ship, as if listening intently.

His vital energy condensed, sprouting six arms from his sides—three in front and three behind.

The arms busied themselves furiously, wielding brushes to scribble and draw on paper, though it was unclear what they were writing.

Li Xiaozheng seemed unfazed and withdrew his gaze. In a low voice, he said, "That's a Heavenly Listener.

Exploring the stone ship is a major event for the Heavenly Listeners too. It's only natural they'd send someone to record it."

This was the second time Chen Shi had heard the name Heavenly Listener. He asked, "What exactly do the Heavenly Listeners do?"

"The Heavenly Listeners are those who convey intelligence to the heavens, true emissaries of the gods."

Li Xiaozheng didn't answer, but Li Tianqing said, "This one is a low-level Heavenly Listener Apostle, responsible for listening to the people's hearts, observing their livelihoods, and gauging public sentiment.

It's said they can communicate with the True God, patrolling the mortal world on the True God's orders to prevent chaos."

Chen Shi looked up at the sun and moon in the sky. With the sun and moon already watching over the world, why were Heavenly Listeners still needed?

Of course!

The True God could see all living beings but couldn't hear their voices!

Thus, the True God needed people to serve as his ears, listening to the sounds of the world!

"Then what are Loose Practitioners?"

Chen Shi asked.

The ears of the Heavenly Listener Apostle by the riverbed seemed to catch something. They swiveled abruptly toward Chen Shi!

Li Xiaozheng's expression shifted slightly. He shook his head and said, "We can't mention that! Speaking it draws the Heavenly Listeners' surveillance. One misstep, and if the Apostle deems you a blasphemer against the gods, they'll come to purify you!"

Chen Shi's heart tightened. "What does 'purify' mean?"

Li Tianqing said, "The Heavenly Listeners believe that erasing you in every sense is purification.

For instance, your clan registry and lineage, your parents,

your children, relatives, friends, and neighbors—their memories of you will all be wiped clean. Every trace of your existence must be erased. Items you've used will be burned. They'll even go to the underworld to hunt down your heavenly and earthly souls, find your lifespan tablet, and kill you again."

Chen Shi felt a chill and glanced at the Heavenly Listener Apostle.

Wherever he went, the Apostle's ears turned to follow—clearly deeming him highly suspicious!

And according to Madam Hua Li's words, he had joined the Loose Practitioners, becoming one of their youngest members!

"You must not utter that term again for a while,"

Li Xiaozheng said. "Not until the Heavenly Listeners drop their suspicions of you.

Being targeted by them is no small matter, but don't worry too much. If you have nothing to hide, they won't touch you.

There are many Heavenly Listeners in Xijing, constantly monitoring the great families.

We clan powers hold secular authority, while they wield divine authority."

Chen Shi withdrew his gaze and looked toward the stone ship, feeling puzzled.

The Loose Practitioners were clearly a loose organization—why did the Heavenly Listeners monitor them so closely?

"What if we kill this Heavenly Listener?"

He quietly asked.

Li Xiaozheng's face changed drastically. He snapped sternly, "Don't say another word!"

The Heavenly Listener Apostle heard this too and grew tense, scribbling furiously on the paper. He folded it into a paper crane, blew gently on it, and the crane flapped its wings, flying off into the woods and vanishing.

Li Xiaozheng sighed. "That Heavenly Listener Apostle now sees your threat level as elevated by a grade. The paper crane that flew off is summoning other Apostles.

From now on, there will be many such Apostles around you. Everything you do will be under their watch!"

He shook his head. If Chen Shi weren't useful to him, he definitely wouldn't partner with this troublemaker.

With the Heavenly Listeners targeting Chen Shi, they'd scrutinize him too!

Little did he know Chen Shi was a Loose Practitioner. If he did, he'd never work with him, even on pain of death!

The three humans and one dog continued onward. On the riverbed stood a stone statue. Behind the statue's head was a petrified Divine Shrine containing a Divine Embryo!

It was frozen in a running pose.

"Someone has triggered the stone ship!"

The three tensed up. Clearly, this person hadn't outrun the expansion of the stone ship's Ghost God Domain and had been petrified!

Chen Shi stopped, set down his book chest, and took out a Galloping Horse Talisman, binding it to his legs. Feeling it wasn't secure enough, he added two Swift Travel Talismans.

He called over Blackie Pot and bound Galloping Horse Talismans to all four of its legs.

Li Tianqing stopped too and affixed his talismans.

Li Xiaozheng didn't urge them on. Only once they were prepared did he proceed.

His realm was high and his cultivation profound beyond measure—no need for talismans.

On the riverbed, stone statues began appearing here and there, all frozen mid-flight outward, overtaken by the Ghost God Domain.

Chen Shi and Li Tianqing also spotted some armless or legless statues and couldn't help looking up at the sky.

The stone statues were sturdy; even falling wouldn't easily snap limbs. The reason these lacked arms or legs—or even had broken necks—was that they'd fallen from the air!

"Even Nascent Soul experts couldn't outpace the Ghost God Domain's expansion?"

Chen Shi frowned slightly.

Suddenly, Blackie Pot's barks came from ahead. Chen Shi hurried over and saw a corpse lying on the ground.

They had seen many statues on the riverbed, but this was the first corpse preserved in flesh.

Chen Shi halted and carefully examined the body. Li Tianqing ran up too, and the two flipped it over while taking notes with paper and brush.

Li Xiaozheng urged, "You two, stop dawdling. What's so fascinating about one corpse? Let's hurry—the experts from the various clans have mostly arrived!"

Without looking up, Chen Shi said, "All the other corpses are statues. Only this one is flesh and blood. Isn't Lord Li curious?"

Perplexed, Li Xiaozheng said, "With so many great clans personally exploring the stone ship, conflicts are inevitable. Killing a few rivals on the riverbed is commonplace.

What's curious about that?"

Li Tianqing didn't look up either. Working with Chen Shi, they stripped off the corpse's clothes and said, "Even corpses can't escape the stone ship's petrification.

There are many petrified corpses in the riverbed, but not this one.

What does that mean?"

Li Xiaozheng froze and pressed, "What does it mean?"

Chen Shi looked up toward the distant stone ship. The majestic giant vessel hovered high up, overlooking the dry riverbed like it was perched on a cliff face, some seventy or eighty feet above the river bottom.

Li Tianqing said nothing, continuing to search the corpse's belongings for items that might identify him.

Chen Shi's expression grew odd. "It means this corpse is from the True King era—at least six thousand years old.

Tianqing."

His expression grew even stranger as he rapidly continued, "This man fell from the ship and then drowned right here in this dry riverbed!"

Li Tianqing pulled an ancient token from the clothes pocket. His eyes lit up, and he laughed. "I've seen this kind of token in the Li family records. It's a badge from the True King Navy! He was a sailor on the ship!"

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes gleaming brightly.

"Why would a treasure ship sailor from over six thousand years ago end up on this dry riverbed?"

Chen Shi's eyes widened.

Li Tianqing's were round too. "Why did he drown on the riverbed? Why is his corpse still flesh, unpetrified?

Blackie Pot squeezed between them, face grave, and barked, "Woof woof, woof woof woof!"

"Blackie Pot is right!"

The two said in unison, "The stone ship sealed a segment of time, trapping the sailors on the ship and the De River along with it!"

Li Xiaozheng hesitated. What did the dog say?

Chen Shi smacked his fist into his palm and rapidly said, "Blackie Pot is spot on! We absolutely can't dispel the stone ship's Ghost God Domain by entering it! Only by triggering the Ghost God Domain to restore the De River can we dispel it!"

Li Tianqing excitedly said, "Right! Without triggering the Ghost God Domain, no matter how many die, it won't work!"

Blackie Pot wagged its tail vigorously. "Woof woof!"

"Blackie Pot speaks well!"

The two praised simultaneously.

Li Xiaozheng watched the two boys and the dog, hesitating. He felt like this new Deputy Inspector was rather superfluous.

Even without a God-Descent Realm powerhouse like him, these two lads could probably unravel the stone ship's Ghost God Domain. His own role seemed less vital than the big black dog beside them—