Everyone assumed the sun going dark early followed a pattern, inching earlier by a quarter hour each cycle. Even Chen Shi believed that.
But this time the sun stayed out for a full day and night before lighting again, which suggested their supposed pattern likely wasn’t a pattern at all.
They were merely looking at the sky from the bottom of a well, arrogantly convinced they had seen a rule and treated that rule as truth. Over a larger timescale, the rules and truths they observed would dissolve.
This time the sun went out for a whole day and night, next time it might never come back after it went out.
“The ancestral masters of the Thirteen Great Clans in the Upper Realm must know what happened at the end of the True King era! They survived and passed down to the present! They must know how to handle this disaster!”
Chen Shi suddenly realized that although he had been to the Upper Realm, he didn’t know how to get there.
If the Thirteen Great Clans had been preparing for thousands of years, and the Upper Realm were so easy to find, Despair Slope would have been wiped out long ago.
When Granny Sha arrived in Huangpo Village she now looked like a young woman of about twenty, graceful and dignified. Since regaining her youth she rarely panicked, but this time she was completely unmoored.
“Little Ten, I have never seen anything like this in my life.”
She was terrified, murmuring, “I have never seen... where is your father? If we don’t find your father, it won’t do. We must find your grandfather, he always has tricks...”
She muttered to herself as she paced back and forth.
Chen Shi brought her into his home. Chen Tang and Wu Qingyu were not at home; only Black Pot was there.
Black Pot boiled water and brewed tea, then brought her a cup. Granny Sha gripped the cup with both hands, her eyes vacant, and then suddenly said, “Something terrible is coming, isn’t it? Many people will die, right?”
While Chen Shi tried to soothe her, Hu Xiaoliang’s timid voice sounded outside the door, “Granny Sha is here too? Little Ten, where is your father? I won’t look for him... what do you think about this? I feel my heart racing, something feels ominous...”
The bearded man’s body trembled slightly. Black Pot poured him a cup of tea; his hands shook as he received it, and his voice quivered.
Chen Shi fetched another small stool and asked him to sit.
Just as Hu Xiaoliang sat down, Blue Goat’s voice came: “This is bad! Little Ten, where is your father... I won’t go find him.”
He burst in, and upon seeing Granny Sha and Hu Xiaoliang here he breathed a sigh of relief, poured himself a cup of tea, motioned Chen Shi not to bother moving a chair, downed the tea, and said, “The sun was out for a whole day and night. This is likely not accidental! If Old Chen doesn’t return, we can’t fix this! This isn’t an ordinary calamity, it’s a hundred times worse than a calamitous transformation!”
Du Yiran walked in from outside and said, “Chen Yindu is full of tricks, he must have a way to fix this.”
A flicker of brightness returned to Granny Sha’s eyes. She looked up and said, “Right. Find Old Chen and bring him back! I know where he is! I’ll go find him! But...”
She hesitated, “It will take several days to get there.”
A Zhuo’s voice came from outside, “Even if it takes several days, we must go. The underworld is unstable; let’s search for him together!”
“Good!”
Granny Sha, Hu Xiaoliang, and the others rose at once and hurried outside. Blue Goat said, “No time to waste, Granny start the ritual immediately!”
Hu Xiaoliang asked, “Is Little Ten coming?”
Granny Sha shook her head, “You can’t take him! If he goes there and the owner of the Cyan Ghost Hand flies into a rage, he could crush him...”
They hurried off, leaving Chen Shi and Black Pot behind.
Chen Shi thought to himself, They came to my house and asked where my father was, but in truth they came looking for my grandfather. They know my grandfather is in the underworld and yet still came here, probably out of instinct. Still...
He felt a flicker of hope: Grandpa is really coming back? If Grandpa returns, our family will be whole again!
The Upper Realm.
The thirteen ancestral masters had already explored that shattered realm and returned to Jade Firmament Heaven, quietly listening to Yang Bi’s report about the sun being dark for a day and night.
“It’s starting.”
Gao Xuan recalled the past, “At the end of the True King era it began like this. It started with the sun going dark.”
Fei Zichong sighed, “Countless people will die. The scenes from back then are still vivid in my mind.”
“But we were helpless then as well.”
Xia Gongjin said, “Back then the True King held supreme authority, not us.”
Yang Bi was silent for a long time, listening. After the ancestral masters finished speaking he asked, “May I ask, how long until the sun is completely extinguished?”
Zhang Longhu answered, “The first time the sun went out it lasted one day and one night. The second time it went out for two days and two nights. The third time it went out for three days and three nights, then returned to normal. When the fourth time came, people expected it to go out for four days and four nights, but that time the sun never rose again.”
Yang Bi’s heart jolted, “How did you respond to that great calamity back then?”
Xia Gongjin shook his head, “At that time the True King was in charge of the realm.”
Yang Bi frowned and asked, “Then why did the sun light up again afterward?”
“No one knows.”
Fei Zichong said, “At that time the Western Ox New Continent fell into darkness, people starved and resorted to cannibalism. The True King went to Despair Slope, and afterwards Despair Slope returned the True King’s corpse. Soon after, the sun shone again. Yang Bi, you shouldn’t be worrying over these things; focus on your cultivation. Our goal is Despair Slope. Don’t be distracted.”
Yang Bi bowed to the ancestral masters, then rose to leave.
He returned to his residence, pondered for a moment, prepared the Cloud-Green Grand Chariot, and drove out of the Upper Realm. Before long his carriage arrived at Huangpo Village.
Chen Shi saw Yang Bi step down from the Cloud-Green Grand Chariot and was slightly surprised, hurrying forward to meet him.
Yang Bi alighted and saluted.
Chen Shi returned the salute.
Yang Bi repeated, verbatim, his conversation with the thirteen ancestral masters, saying, “This is all I know. After I tell you this, I will prepare to deal with Despair Slope. I don’t know if we’ll meet again after today.”
Chen Shi smiled, “I’d like to see you again, but if we meet next time it might be when you come to kill me.”
Yang Bi nodded slightly, “If we meet again, that means I have resolved Despair Slope and eliminated the threat. Then you will no longer be my confidant but a serious threat to the Thirteen Great Clans. Of course I will cut you down first.”
Chen Shi laughed, “I hope you die in Despair Slope, but I also don’t wish you dead.”
He said earnestly, “Still, as I said before, we cultivators owe all great power to ourselves.”
Yang Bi smiled, “I have thought seriously about what you said and believed it wouldn’t work. The peak of cultivation now is the Great Ascension Realm, and beyond that you cannot advance. No matter how strong I am, I cannot match the Thirteen Great Clans alone. Only by concentrating the power of the Thirteen Great Clans can we level Despair Slope!”
Chen Shi asked, “Have you never thought of breaking through Great Ascension and ascending? If you obtained the power of Dao Unification...”
Yang Bi interrupted, “Even if there were a new way, Dao Unification would also corrupt. Brother Chen, the new path’s corruption only arrives later than the old path’s.”
He bowed deeply and prepared to leave, boarding the Cloud-Green Grand Chariot.
Chen Shi suddenly called, “Yang Bi!”
Yang Bi turned back.
“If you can’t win, run!” Chen Shi shouted.
Yang Bi paused, then smiled, “I understand. Thank you.”
Chen Shi waved and watched the Cloud-Green Grand Chariot depart.
He steadied himself, then returned to the yellow earth slope to see Scholar Zhu, telling him that the True King died on his second trip to Despair Slope: “The True King died in battle at Despair Slope. He was not assassinated nor did he commit suicide out of despair.”
Scholar Zhu stared into the distance for a long time before speaking, “At a time of crisis the True King would surely shoulder the burden of protecting the common people. He would not cowardly take his own life to avoid catastrophe. He had the vision to reform old laws and introduce new ones, to enfeoff the realm’s immortals. How could such a ruler be slain by the ancestral masters of the Thirteen Great Clans? My ancestors would never disgrace the Zhu family.”
“But his descendant hanged himself here,” Chen Shi said.
Scholar Zhu made a muffled groan.
Chen Shi continued, “In the battle at Despair Slope not only did the True King die, but my Godmother was buried beneath the yellow earth slope. The avatars of the gods from the Divine Continent were also entombed in the mountains and rivers. Their deity statues were smashed, their manifestations killed, their temples destroyed. This is no less significant than the death of the True King.”
His emotions surged. The Qianyang Mountain Lord Temple sank with the mountain into the earth, hidden until it unexpectedly reemerged a few years ago.
The Qianyang Mountain Lord’s statue and manifestation had vanished; it took Chen Shi’s second deification to awaken the Qianyang Mountain Lord from death, returning him as the mountain’s guardian deity.
The Mazu Temple at Gongzhou hid in the mountain and guarded the seas.
The Lord Guan temple in Qingzhou had its statue shattered and its shrine buried.
...
Local deities who had once watched over the Western Ox New Continent were either slain or went into hiding without a trace.
This incident had massive implications, comparable to the True King’s deification, the legal reforms, and the True King’s death—an entire chain of historic events.
Chen Shi looked at the stone tablet of his Godmother and murmured, “What exactly happened back then? Why was Godmother buried under the yellow earth slope?”
Scholar Zhu, hanging from his noose, swayed, “I don’t know. I was born too late. The court when I lived was already rotten to the core.”
He had once been full of ideals, wanting to save the court, to change the world, to explore the secrets of the fallen True King era, to be a savior and restore the True King’s glory.
But reality battered him until he failed.
He fell into despair and came to the True King’s tomb, hanging himself on the old willow tree.
Even with boundless magic, one cannot fight a dead heart.
Chen Shi privately mocked that Scholar Zhu was not as noble as the True King—and he admitted it.
The True King, facing an apocalypse, dared to storm into Despair Slope, while Scholar Zhu, crushed under the weight of the Thirteen Great Clans, could only despair and hang himself here.
Now that he thought about it, it was indeed a stain on the True King’s honor.
“This damned world!” Scholar Zhu suddenly spat in anger.
Black Pot pricked up his ears and looked at him warily.
At that moment Chen Tang’s voice called out, “Little Ten, Little Ten! Hurry back!”
Chen Shi climbed down the yellow earth slope and returned to Huangpo Village, where he saw the Lu Ban Sect’s mechanism Shuji—a towering magic treasure composed of numerous pavilions—parked outside. Chen Tang, Li Tianqing, Situ Wen, Yu Lingzi, County Magistrate Hu and others were busily working around it.
They raised the Celestial Court token and opened the gate to the Minor Heaven, shuttling in and out while hauling many magical treasure components out.
Artisans from the Works Department were assembling these treasure parts.
“Master Instructor is here!” Situ Wen greeted him, beaming.
Chen Shi observed the bustling group and noticed a number of enormous furnaces taking shape under their hands. He asked, “What are you building?”
They felt strangely familiar to him.
Situ Wen smiled, “Master Instructor, do you remember the broken Mysterious Mechanism Hundred Transformations Furnace you once gave me? You said that if we combine that furnace with the Shuji, the Shuji could fly using just coal.”
Chen Shi’s eyes lit up, “You made it?”
Situ Wen nodded vigorously, then blushed a little, “Our Lu Ban Sect couldn’t make it ourselves. We relied on the help of the Works Department brothers. With some modifications to the Mysterious Mechanism Hundred Transformations Furnace, the Shuji can fly on coal.”
Chen Shi examined one of the furnaces and saw that inside were many gleaming thin mirror plates. The talismans painted on the furnace’s inner walls had been changed significantly; many modifications were evident, even the ritual refining methods had been altered.
“This can truly make the Shuji fly on coal?” he asked.
Chen Tang approached, “Coal can do it, but it must use the Shuji to transmit the power. One incense stick’s burn needs three thousand jin of refined coal. Using a cultivator’s magical power is easier, but consumes massive force.”
He activated one furnace; the talismans on the inner wall brightened and reflected on those mirrors. The mirrors spun, and with a whoosh a hair-thin sword-light shot from the furnace mouth!
Chen Shi was stunned, “Xuanwei sword qi?”
Situ Wen laughed, “Master Chen altered the furnace talismans.”
Originally the Mysterious Mechanism Hundred Transformations Furnace would expel all manner of true energy forms, powerful enough to rival a Nascent Soul Transformation or Divine Descent cultivator’s full strike. But after Chen Tang’s modifications, the furnace walls bore talismans for Xuanwei sword qi. Those talismans reflected across the mirrors, which rotated around the furnace wall. Each rotation produced a variety of Xuanwei sword qi shots.
The sword qi that spouted was short, only about three cun long and extremely thin, but when it flew about a zhang from the furnace mouth it would expand to about a chi in length, and at two zhang it would swell to three chi.
Moreover, the more mirrors spun, the more sword qi was produced!
Chen Shi also activated a sword furnace, channeling his power into it. Over a thousand mirrors whirled, and many sword qi beams spewed from the mouth, a tremendous force pressing the furnace downward!
Chen Shi braced the sword furnace with both hands and poured in more power. Suddenly the sword qi from the furnace pierced the sky, forming a flood of sword qi miles long and shooting into the heavens!
The immense pressure rolled down his arms, forcing his legs down and sinking into the soil.
He poured in even more power. With a thunderous rumble the ground beneath him caved out, creating a pit four to five zhang across!
Chen Shi trembled under the strain and slowly withdrew his power. The mirrors in the furnace decelerated, and the torrent of sword qi faded. He felt the pressure ease.
At last the mirrors stopped turning and the sword qi dissipated.
“Good stuff!”
Chen Shi set down the sword furnace and praised, “Truly excellent! If mounted on the Shuji, it could probably fly beyond heaven! But the consumption is huge—my power can’t sustain it for long!”
The Works Department cultivators mounted the assembled sword furnaces onto the Shuji—eight sword furnaces in total.
The Shuji’s houses were not dead weight; they hid power-transmission mechanisms inside. The central area contained a massive dan furnace, and many Lu Ban Sect cultivators were carrying coal into the dan furnace room.
Wu Qingyu had brought Huo Dog and quietly calmed that half-demonic, half-ghostly behemoth. She drew some black dog blood from it so the Red Mountain Hall talisman masters could paint talismans on the Shuji.
Chen Shi asked, “What are you preparing the Shuji for?”
Wu Qingyu said, “We’ll fly to the heavens beyond to investigate what happened to the Celestial True God out there! We need to save ourselves.”
