Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 21: You're Too Late

It was already afternoon, but Xu Province City was still bustling with people.

It bordered the Hundred Thousand Mountains and had a population of several million.

A large population easily attracted evil entities.

It also easily attracted deities.

Wisps of human qi floated into the sky, dyeing the entire sky above Xu Province City gray. Vague figures stood above the nine heavens, inhaling and exhaling human qi.

After the heavenly change, the path of cultivation was broken.

The same was true for deities.

Human qi was the only choice for cultivators and deities.

However, in the mouths of cultivators, there was no such thing as human qi, only spiritual qi.

In the eyes of deities, it was originally incense.Over time, it became a conventional understanding.

Only mortals were ignorant of it.

At this time, inside the Song Mansion, Governor Song Tiangang of Xu Province was handling various affairs, with a loyal servant waiting by his side.

The servant had been with him for many years.

Every member of the Song family would choose a loyal servant at birth. Although they were called loyal servants, they were as close as brothers.

Even when doing certain things, they would have them wait outside.

"My lord, someone from the imperial court has come to press for taxes again, and they have specifically requested to see you."

"Oh? Who is it?"

"It's Grand Tutor Wang. He has brought His Majesty's decree, demanding that the taxes be collected before the autumn harvest and sent to the national treasury before planting."

"So it's Wang Taiyu..."

"He and I were in the same year, we were classmates."

Song Tiangang wrote his approval on the document and said lightly, "However, he doesn't know his manners. My Song family has gone through two dynasties, with nine dukes in ten generations. He, a mere commoner, climbed to the position of Grand Tutor by being a dog to His Majesty. It should be him who comes to see me. Tell him to pick an auspicious day, prepare a generous gift, and come to my door personally. Otherwise, he can go back where he came from."

"As for the taxes..."

Mentioning the taxes, Song Tiangang became a little impatient.

Previously, he had been quite concerned about this matter.

In the spring of the fourth year of the Qingli era, when he returned to the capital to report on his duties, he had seen a deity in the imperial palace.

That deity had been invited by the current emperor at a great cost, and it was said to hold the secret to becoming an immortal.

The price was the ever-increasing taxes year after year.

The entire Da Kang dynasty was suffering.

Besides grain, gold, and silver, the most important part of the taxes was human qi.

Song Tiangang, being from a noble family, felt that he needed a legitimate reason for his actions. So he thought of sending people to the Hundred Thousand Mountains with a Geomantic Divine Compass to find the source of corruption, and then stage a play of an evil entity attacking the city outside Xu Province.

At that time, the city would be in a panic.

Naturally, he could then increase the taxes and collect more human qi.

Cultivators could not absorb human qi, nor could deities.

Only when mortals worshipped deities, used money and other things, or in their daily lives would human qi be generated.

Deities had religious means to make their believers more fanatical.

The imperial court, composed of cultivators, naturally also had means such as selling protective talismans to collect human qi.

However, human qi could not be harvested too harshly.

Because if too much was harvested, people would not live long.

People were the foundation.

Cultivators and deities would abide by the rules and give mortals a break, either by killing evil entities or by protecting mortals.

Taxes were important.

But there were things more important than taxes.

An existence identical to the deity that held the secret to becoming an immortal.

The mutated deity statue.

"The secret to becoming an immortal..."

Song Tiangang sighed in his heart, "If I get you, what is the Da Kang emperor? If one can become an immortal, who would want to become a god?"

Perhaps it was the price of using human qi as a cultivation resource.

The path of a cultivator came to a dead end at the Nascent Soul stage, and they could only seek to become a god on the spot.

The ancient techniques were not feasible with human qi.

Any cultivator who practiced them would grow strange things, and those things would devour their cultivation along with their soul.

Once it grew, a Nascent Soul Monarch could only last for a day, while Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't even last half a day. They would turn into evil entities in a short while.

Therefore, the ancient techniques and magical arts had long been listed as forbidden books.

They were checked and banned every year.

However, any disciple of a noble family would be taught a move or two.

In case of a life-threatening crisis, by forcefully practicing the ancient methods, they could turn into an evil entity on the spot, which was another means of counterattack.

Seeing Song Tiangang's worried expression, the servant thought he was worried about the taxes.

The servant said, "Twelfth Madam has already gone to the Hundred Thousand Mountains with people. She should be able to find the source of corruption soon. At that time, you won't have to worry so much."

"Source of corruption?"

Song Tiangang said in a strange tone, "I have to worry..."

The matter of finding the mutated deity statue was extremely important.

He had not told Twelfth Madam, only giving her a Geomantic Divine Compass. That divine compass could find the location of another Geomantic Divine Compass.

Because he felt that the mutated deity statue would not let Lin Ye and the others go and would definitely swallow them all.

The Geomantic Divine Compass was consecrated by a deity.

It would not be digested within a few days.

Finding that Geomantic Divine Compass meant finding the mutated deity statue.

At that time, he would personally take action and capture the mutated deity statue.

"Twelfth Madam entered the Hundred Thousand Mountains yesterday, right?"

"She went in with people as soon as it was light, and she even brought horse-beasts that can travel a thousand miles a day and can move freely at night."

"Hmm, then she should be dead."

"Dead?"

The servant's face was full of astonishment.

"Why are you so surprised?"

Song Tiangang said indifferently, "A Nascent Soul has a lifespan of eight hundred years. A deity seems immortal, but without incense offerings, it is nothing but dust. Only immortals can live forever."

"But that's Twelfth Madam..."

"If Twelfth Madam is dead, there is still First Madam, Second Madam, Thirteenth Madam, and Twenty-eighth Madam."

The servant instantly understood and said no more.

At this time, Song Tiangang had no mood to write anymore and said, "Xu Province City is too small to accommodate so many people. You take some people and move a batch away."

"Where to?"

"To the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

The Hundred Thousand Mountains were teeming with evil entities.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, no one wanted to go there.

Not to mention Lin Ye and the others. Song Tiangang had only sent them to find the source of corruption. Who would have thought they would encounter that mutated deity statue, which then led to Twelfth Madam taking people into the mountains again.

And now, Twelfth Madam had followed in their footsteps.

If he continued to send people in, it would probably not yield any results.

Therefore, a bridgehead was needed.

"Take eighty, no, one hundred deity statues with you. Find a suitable place and build a temple on the spot."

Song Tiangang stood up and paced, thinking for a moment before saying, "Also, this matter cannot be covered up. Forget it, I'll go see that Grand Tutor Wang first."

With that, Song Tiangang's figure instantly disappeared.

About a quarter of an hour later, all the cultivators in the city saw Song Tiangang fly out of Grand Tutor Wang's residence, his face extremely gloomy.

"Lord Song, did you go to see the Grand Tutor?"

"Get lost! You worthless cultivator, do you need to meddle?"

Song Tiangang berated the man, flicked his sleeve, and disappeared in a streak of light.

In a short while, the disciples of the noble families and the powerful officials in Xu Province City all knew that Song Tiangang had been angered by Grand Tutor Wang over the matter of taxes.

And at this time, Song Tiangang had returned to his mansion and said to his servant, "Now, you can go and do what I asked you to do with peace of mind."

The servant said, "This servant will go and do it now."

"Wait..."

Song Tiangang beckoned again, "There are too few people in Xu Province City. Inform those deities and have the mortals give birth to more."

"Yes, my lord."

There were many people in Xu Province City, so some had to be moved away.

There were few people in Xu Province City, so more had to be born.

Whether it was many or few, Song Tiangang decided with a single thought.

...

On the other side, in the Pure Immortal Temple, Granny Tang felt as if she were dead.

Even her neck was broken.

After an unknown amount of time, she slowly opened her eyes.

"Huangpi'er, she's awake, she's awake!"

The purple-robed old Daoist shouted excitedly.

Chen Huangpi made a shushing gesture, "First Master, don't scare Granny Tang. Let me handle it."

"Granny Tang, how do you feel?"

"Ah!!!"

Granny Tang screamed, "Don't eat me, don't eat me!"

Her consciousness was chaotic, and she hadn't yet figured out the situation.

Chen Huangpi glared at the purple-robed old Daoist angrily, "First Master, Granny Tang is a good person, but you scared her like this. She's probably going to go mad too."

After speaking, ignoring his chagrined master, he turned to Granny Tang and said, "Don't be afraid. I'm Chen Huangpi. I won't let my master eat you. You are old and frail. The medical classic says your body is full of toxins, which is not good for the body."

"Chen Huangpi..."

Only then did Granny Tang wake up with a start and said in fear, "What on earth are you?"

This Daoist was so evil and terrifying that he could even eat deities raw.

The Yellow Peril was half-eaten by him, but he only commented that the earthy smell was too strong and not moist enough for the mouth.

Chen Huangpi was his disciple.

If the master was like this, how much better could the disciple be?

At this moment, looking at Chen Huangpi's tender, yellowish-white face, Granny Tang only felt her hair stand on end.

She almost couldn't catch her breath and was about to faint again.

Chen Huangpi quickly explained, "Granny Tang, I'm not a thing, I'm Chen Huangpi. My First Master's brain was just damaged from his cultivation practice, that's why he eats people. But our Daoist temple usually doesn't have living people coming over, so he doesn't eat much. You don't have to be afraid."

This was the truth.

In all his life, Chen Huangpi had only had people come to the Daoist temple twice.

Once was the day before yesterday, with those cultivators like Lin Ye.

Once was today, when Granny Tang was picked up by his master.

Granny Tang had also recovered some of her senses at this time.

She really wanted to say that Chen Huangpi was lying.

Your master bit a green onion to death in front of me. That green onion could talk, it was a green onion person, also a kind of evil entity.

That green onion person used human corpses as fertilizer to grow.

It would eat people whenever it encountered them.

In some places in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, these things grew, and often the corpses of an entire village of remnants were buried underground.

However, the green onion person couldn't move and only looked a little taller.

It could only wait for ignorant people to touch it, or for someone to feed it corpses.

The fact that a green onion person grew in the Pure Immortal Temple meant that someone was often feeding it.

Crunch, crunch.

The purple-robed old Daoist timely chewed on the green onion.

Granny Tang couldn't bear it anymore and said, "Chen Huangpi, this green onion of yours..."

Chen Huangpi said, "This was planted by my master. It's planted very well. It's very sweet to eat, and it removes the fishy smell and enhances the fragrance. Do you want some?"

As he spoke, he broke off a section from the purple-robed old Daoist's hand and handed it over.

Granny Tang shook her head repeatedly.

"Alright then."

Chen Huangpi took a bite in disappointment, "Then I'll eat it myself."

"By the way, granny, what are you doing at the Pure Immortal Temple? Are you here to thank me on behalf of those remnants?"

"I..."

Granny Tang felt her throat go dry and said with difficulty, "I'm here to find my mountain god. Is it still in this..."

The three words "in your stomach" just couldn't come out.

Chen Huangpi had a sudden realization, "So you're here to find the fox mountain god. You're too late. It seems to be completely dead."

He finished the white part of the green onion in a few bites.

Chen Huangpi moved aside.

And so, Granny Tang saw a palm-sized fox statue lying on the stove. The statue was covered in cracks, and there was a hole poked in its body. It looked like a dead fox.

"Lord Mountain God, you..."

The hot-blooded part starts tomorrow.

(End of Chapter)