Chapter 664: Chapter 664

"Your Majesty, there has been a change!" A voice, sounding very young, came from the scribe at the side of the Great Emperor Chijin.

"What made you so flustered? Speak at once!"

"Today is the Winter Solstice in the mortal realm. Just past midnight, nearly all of the Heavenly Bell Emperor’s statues in the human world were hacked to pieces!"

"What? Who did this?"

"It was a martial sect in the mortal realm’s Guangzhou, called the Thunderstrike Sword Sect. They have many disciples and followers, are fond of martial arts, and often go down the mountain to slay demons and eliminate monsters, ridding the people of harm. In Guangzhou and the surrounding regions, they enjoy great prestige and have always had a good reputation. Moreover, with the public decree issued by the Ministry of Rites’ Department of Sacrifices in the imperial court ordering the dismissal of the Emperor, there were few temples or monasteries willing to step in and stop them."

"A fine move! Striking at the very root!"

"How many of the Emperor’s statues remain in the mortal realm now?"

"Your Majesty, hardly any. In Guangzhou and its neighboring prefectures and commanderies, the statues have been almost completely wiped out. The few that remain are in places far from Hezhou."

"Is there truly not a single temple or monastery willing to stop them?"

"Jianghu men are fond of courage and combat, and now there is an imperial decree from the court… Occasionally… occasionally, some tried to intervene, but upon hearing it was on the current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple’s orders, they all stopped opposing them."

"Good! Very good!" The Celestial Emperor instantly understood the situation. He had simply not expected that the current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple already wielded such influence in the human world.

"Go at once! Descend to the mortal realm with my decree, punish those jianghu men and rebuild the statues without error!"

"Yes!" The scribe accepted the order and left.

"Summon the other Divine Lords for a council, and invite the Divine Lord Lilong as well!"

"Yes!" The curtain-drawer took the order and left.

About three days later, the scribe returned again, even more flustered than before.

"Your Majesty, those jianghu men are guarding the temples and monasteries in the mortal realm, refusing to leave. Whenever anyone comes to reinstall the divine plaques or rebuild the statues, they are stopped. The common people, upon hearing they are from Guangzhou’s Thunderstrike Sword Sect, no longer dare go against them. They even take the divine officers’ dream visitations as the work of evil gods or demons."

The scribe paused for a moment. "And when they hear that these jianghu men are acting under the current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple’s orders, most of them then…"

He did not finish speaking.

The Celestial Emperor understood his meaning. In a surge of rage, he demanded again, "Why have these jianghu men still not been punished?"

"Your Majesty, according to the heavenly laws, each deity has their assigned duties. For mortal humans to desecrate the divine and commit such treachery, the punishment should be handled by the Thunder Division.

"Three days ago, I already delivered the matter to the Thunder Division. But today, they responded… they responded that divine statues are sculpted by mortals to begin with, and there is no justification for venting divine anger upon mortals simply for destroying them. If such were done, one would be unworthy of being a god.

"Moreover… moreover, the Heavenly Bell Emperor has not descended to the mortal realm to manifest for six hundred years. And this matter in the human world has the sanction of the imperial court’s decree, so there is nothing improper about it. Thus, according to the heavenly laws, they will not punish them…"

The white jade dragon throne cracked with a sound like thunder. The Celestial Emperor was instantly enraged.

Several countermeasures flashed rapidly through his mind to salvage the situation. But just as he rose to give the order, he hesitated for a moment, then sat back down, powerless.

The current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple had chosen the Winter Solstice for this move; it was clearly the critical moment of their contest. Now that three days had passed, if he wanted to make up for the loss, it would take even longer. By then, the outcome of this battle of spells would likely have already been decided.

He could only do as the Old Divine Lord had said. At the very least, the Heavenly Bell Emperor had forced the current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple to expend some of his preparations, while the current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple had in turn cost the Heavenly Palace an ancient god whose power could threaten the Celestial Emperor’s authority.

He could only hope the Emperor would wound him severely.

At Hezhou’s Borrowed Mountain…

Beneath the shroud of the Four Seasons Bell, both the ancient god and the Daoist looked worn and weary, yet the outcome had already been decided.

"Ancient God, the power of the four seasons here is now in my hands. Our positions have reversed."

"You were even able to cut off my incense offerings… Quite the method."

The Ancient God of Heavenly Bell’s voice was weak, yet still indifferent.

Though he said that, he could well imagine how difficult it must have been to achieve this.

Once a temple or monastery in the mortal realm enshrined a divine seat, there would always be people who worship that deity. The Daoist priests in the temples and the custodians of the shrines were servants of the gods; the most important duty of their lives was to make offerings to the divine. And among the Daoists in the temples, there was no shortage of those with cultivation and spellcraft, how could they possibly allow someone to casually barge in and smash the statues of their gods? Not to mention destroying the statues across several prefectures all at once.

Could the Celestial Emperor of the Heavenly Palace really sit by and watch?

"The times have changed. The age of the Ancient Gods has long passed. This era no longer belongs to them." The Daoist’s reply was just as weary and weak, yet his tone remained sincere.

High above the clouds, the Ancient God of Heavenly Bell lowered his head. And on the broken peak of Borrowed Mountain, the Daoist looked up toward him.

Their gazes met for but a brief moment.

"Ancient God, please, meet your death!"

The Daoist’s eyes sharpened in an instant. His previously frail body suddenly burst forth with vigorous energy, divine light flaring in his gaze. With a mere flick of his sleeve, a breeze swept in.

The breeze lifted the Daoist straight into the clouds.

Without a sound, the sunlight suddenly grew piercing, and pure yang, unyielding spiritual power filled heaven and earth. Though it was just past the Winter Solstice, it felt as if the Great Heat of midsummer had arrived.

The "Four Seasons Bell" could no longer ring; the power of the seasons in this place was no longer in the Ancient God of Heavenly Bell’s grasp, but in Song You’s. Heaven and earth’s cycles of the four seasons now flowed in his favor; for him, it was as if every moment, with every bit of spiritual power he used, he stood at the most advantageous time of year, aided by heaven and earth themselves.

With a wave of the Daoist’s sleeve, clouds of blazing fire filled the sky.

With the power of the seasons aligned and the aid of the current heavenly phase, it was truly as if the Fiery Sun True Lord himself had descended.

The Heavenly Bell Emperor, dragging his weakened body, met the attack.

But in battles between such beings, it was rare to see brute-force exchanges of technique; the victory had already been decided in the contest beforehand. Whoever held the four seasonal powers of this world was fighting on home ground.

The fields of He Plains were now covered in snow once more, and it was now a vast white expanse.

Thick fog clung to the snowy ground, drifting with the wind like rivers flowing across the land; when it met a tree stump or a boulder, it split to either side, leaving clear traces of its path.

Yet the snowfield remained flat and unbroken. In the wind and snow, visibility was short; everywhere in sight was a blur of white. The land’s contours could not be seen, and even the trees were few and far between, lonely sentinels standing in the storm.

Far from where Borrowed Mountain had once stood, a small tree grew from the ground, less than the height of a man. A single branch jutted out like an umbrella, sheltering a tiny patch from the wind and snow.

Beneath that umbrella sat a calico cat and a swallow.

The cat was not playing, not amusing herself with some distraction, nor had she wandered away. She simply sat properly beneath the tree, leaving a neat silhouette against the wind and snow, gazing toward where Borrowed Mountain had once been.

Behind her, a fluffy tail swayed idly from side to side, sweeping the snow clean from the ground.

"Is it almost the ninth year of Da’an?"

"I think it’s already the ninth year of Da’an."

"Time goes by so slowly…"

"And yet it goes by so quickly…"

The two little demons chatted idly without any particular purpose. To be precise, one spoke, and the other simply echoed her.

Suddenly, a bell sounded in the distance.

Whether it was a scene of normality or a region shrouded in dense clouds, at the sound of that single chime, every vision and every wisp of mist dispersed from top to bottom.

It was like the melting away of an illusion.

Borrowed Mountain reappeared before the eyes of the world, but it was no longer the precipitous and breathtaking beauty it once was. It had become ruined. Its peak was broken, cracks ran everywhere, and what little remained stood as if barely holding together. Yet the whole mountaintop was covered with glowing, molten rock flowing red from heat; strangely enough, this made it even more striking than before.

"It’s over!" The cat instantly perked up, leaping to her feet in a flash.

She shook the snow from her body, and in the next moment transformed into human form.

Her head bumped into the tree branch that had been above her. The branch shook, sending down another shower of snow, which fell all over the little girl’s head and even slipped into her collar. She didn’t notice in the slightest. With one hand, she grabbed the satchel and brocade pouch beside her, slinging them over her shoulder; with the other hand, she snatched up the swallow and stuffed him into the satchel, then pulled out a small flag.

How fast could a cat react? And how much faster could a cat who was once a cat deity and who also had considerable cultivation skills react? The swallow truly couldn’t even imagine.

All he knew was that he had no time to react at all, not even a space in which to react, before he was already in her grasp. In the next instant, he was inside the satchel. By the time he struggled up from amidst the waxed mice and dried salted fish and poked his head out, Lady Calico was already waving the small flag to summon the white crane.

"…" The swallow looked ahead, opened his beak, but in the end said nothing.

He simply stayed huddled in the satchel, trembling.

In the moment’s hesitation, Lady Calico was already astride the crane’s back.

"Invincible, beautiful immortal crane, fly us forward!"

The immortal crane lowered its body, its long legs striding across the snow as it began to run, wings spreading wide. With just a few effortless beats, it caught the wind and rose into the air.

Ahead lay the scene of a battle’s aftermath.

A wave of heat spread out as the barrier lifted, melting the ice and snow at the foot of Borrowed Mountain.

The heat wave even crossed dozens of li of snowy plain and glacier, and when it met the cat and bird flying past on the crane, it was still warm to the touch.

Lady Calico was brimming with energy, and full of anticipation.

The swallow could feel it. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel(ꜰ)ire.net

It was as if she had not the slightest doubt that Mister would win this battle of spells, and as if, no matter who emerged the victor, she would rush there at the very first moment the fight was over.

The immortal crane beat its wings, carrying them along with the wind. Borrowed Mountain drew steadily closer, growing larger in sight.

The dozens of li between them passed in the blink of an eye.

In the distance, divine officials and heavenly generals were still keeping watch, but after seeing the outcome, they quickly departed, paying the two little demons no mind at all.

The pair also approached Borrowed Mountain, seeing the land ravaged by the battle of the gods. At the foot of the mountain, they spotted a Daoist, leaning on a bamboo staff, making his way down.

In his hand, he carried two small ancient bells. In his palm, they looked like two tiny bronze chimes. One shrouded in deathly aura, and the other steeped in unfathomable mystery.

The Daoist picked up one of them, studied it closely for a moment, then tightened his grip.

Bang… A sound of shattering rang out.

When he opened his fingers again, the ancient bell had already broken apart; its fractured edges gleamed with bright white light, then instantly dissolved into countless points of light, dispersing into the heavens and earth.

He then picked up the other ancient bell, examined it once more, and this time tucked it away.

The Daoist halted his steps. He raised his head, gazing toward the distant sky.

Overhead, the snow clouds stretched endlessly, heavy and chaotic. The divine officials and heavenly generals had long since vanished; even if there had been eyes from the Heavenly Palace spying from above, they had immediately withdrawn.

Only then did the Daoist lower his gaze, turning to look in another direction.

A crane was approaching from the sky.

The immortal crane spread its enormous wings, gliding just above the ground. It lowered its long legs and began to run, covering several hundred zhang in the blink of an eye before landing.

A little girl leapt down from the crane’s back and transformed into a cat. Her satchel and brocade pouch tumbled to the ground, along with a swallow who burst out from the satchel.

The cat ran straight toward the Daoist and stopped before him. She looked up at him for a moment, then sat down to lick her paw, licking while also carefully observing him.

The swallow, however, flew closer first and spoke, "Congratulations, sir, on your victory in the duel."

The cat put down her paw, sat up properly, tilted her head up to the Daoist, and mimicked, "Congratulations, Daoist priest, on your victory in the duel."

The Daoist’s face remained calm, his bearing light and easy, without the slightest trace of weariness from the great battle. He gave them a small smile.

Then he bent down, scooped up the cat, and held her in his arms. The weather was cold, and her body was icy to the touch.