Chapter 51: The World-Quelling Struggle

Starting from the deserted village where the Floating Cloud Sect was located, and heading south for hundreds of miles, the mountain ranges rose and fell, with ravines crisscrossing, like the corpse of a giant that had been cut a thousand times, emitting a foul stench that reached the sky.

The evil entities and evil spirits, like flies and maggots on a corpse, multiplied wildly and grew in distorted shapes, creating a different kind of liveliness.

At that moment, downstream of the filthy river, a mountain that looked like it had been split by a knife rose from the ground, dividing the river into two branches—one flowing east, the other west.

On the bank of the western river was a low hill with unusually gentle curves.

Massive stone tablets surrounded the hill, forming a circle about five kilometers in diameter. Inside the circle was a small town and large tracts of farmland.

A stone wall encircled the outer edge of the town, and inside the wall were rows of closely packed houses. Judging by the scale, the population here was nearly ten thousand.

If one could ignore the temple, dozens of meters high and shrouded in dark clouds at the very center of the town, and the nearly ten-meter-tall evil god idol inside the temple that was impossible to look at directly, this town could truly be called a paradise.

“Caw! Caw! Caw!”

In the gloomy sky, three enormous blood-feathered crows circled wantonly above the temple. They stirred not gusts of wind, but showers of blood—because they were feeding, and their food was the readily available residents of the town.

But there were no screams, no wails, no chaos. Instead, the town was as quiet as a graveyard.

Most of the town’s residents hid inside their houses. The remaining few dozen were currently serving as the food…

Even they, however, had given up any resistance. They simply knelt numbly in the square before the temple, hoping they might be left as scraps.

The temple doors were tightly shut. Two humanoid figures, entirely enveloped in a blood-red glow, stood imposingly there. Below them stood a row of six men clad in crimson robes embroidered with the pattern of nine-headed blood crows.

Beneath them were over a hundred Evil God Cultists dressed in black robes.

Finally, there were five hundred warriors in black armor, holding shields, carrying crossbows on their backs—closer to ordinary mortals.

The entire temple square was deathly silent. Everyone was waiting for the three huge blood-feathered crows overhead to finish their meal, for they were the true messengers of the gods.

At last, when the last piece of ‘food’ in the square was torn apart and consumed, the three blood-feathered crows cawed with satisfaction. Suddenly, they transformed into three clouds of blood mist and rushed into the temple, where they then became three men and women of extraordinarily sinister and striking beauty. They wore gentle smiles and friendly gazes—truly worthy of being called ‘celestial envoys.’

“Greetings, Divine Envoys!”

Only then did the people in the temple square seem to come alive, uniformly bowing and offering greetings.

“No need for such formalities, and no need to be restrained. It’s rare for us to visit; we apologize for the disturbance,” one of the men, transformed from a blood-feathered crow, replied shyly. His clear eyes seemed as innocent as a naive puppy—if only the heavy scent of blood and the scattered remains were mere illusions.

“Now, report the situation. It’s been nearly a hundred years since a World-Quelling Celestial Idol was destroyed. I don’t need to elaborate on the function of the World-Quelling Celestial Idol, do I?” another stunningly beautiful woman, transformed from a blood-feathered crow, said coldly.

“Those so-called Twelve World-Quelling True Immortals are like rats hiding deep in their burrows. The World-Quelling Celestial Idol is a crucial arrangement for contending with them over fate. It’s also a large net, gradually tightening, slowly strangling, stirring up numerous illusory calamities, giving them no chance to catch their breath.”

“Now, such an important World-Quelling Celestial Idol has been destroyed. It takes at least three months for the Blood Pool to regenerate a new World-Quelling Celestial Idol. In just these three months, those World-Quelling True Immortal rats might just escape! I’m giving you only ten days now. If you still can’t find traces of those immortal rats, you will each jump into the Blood Pool to atone for your sins!”

—

It was already past noon, but for some reason, the daylight was slightly brighter than usual. Others couldn’t perceive it, including Ji Chang.

But Li Si, carrying a high-level divine ability, the Mind-cleansing Aura, had senses that were incredibly sharp. Combined with his Foundation Building cultivation, he noticed it immediately.

Still, he didn’t make a fuss and simply acted like a good student, following behind Ji Chang. He watched as Ji Chang skillfully released the Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman, trying to lure a few little mushrooms along the way. Whether he succeeded in luring them wasn’t important; what mattered was maintaining that mindset.

Of course, this wasn’t meant to belittle Ji Chang. In fact, the Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman that Ji Chang brought out seemed quite decent. Once activated, it created a Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Aura that, like hunting dogs, could locate and erase all related traces within a two-mile radius in just over ten seconds. It effectively prevented enemies from tracking them.

Besides this talisman, Ji Chang also tossed four small talisman papers, each about an inch long, in the four directions—front, back, left, and right—every two or three miles.

These four talisman papers would then transform into four green birds, chirping as they flew away.

Li Si actually knew about this kind of talisman. Ji Chang had described it in detail in his True Guide to Talisman Drawing. It was called the Day Patrol Talisman, used for scouting the surroundings during the day. It could investigate up to four directions at once, with a maximum range of five miles, and would give a warning if enemies were detected.

Overall, it was like a beggar’s version of the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl.

“Junior Brother Li, when traveling in the wild, the most important thing is to conserve your magic power, because no one knows what might happen next. Sometimes, a small careless thought can bring fatal disaster. So, the best method is to use talisman techniques. Talisman techniques can be considered an extension of Dao Techniques.”

Ji Chang began explaining to Li Si again. Actually, this theory was mentioned many times in his True Guide to Talisman Drawing. He had even given himself the nickname ‘Ji Three Hundred’—meaning if he had fewer than three hundred talisman papers on hand, he would feel insecure.

While Ji Chang spoke ahead, Li Si listened quietly behind him. He also cast a low-grade version of the Disaster Warding Aura on Ji Chang.

As they headed south, the traces Li Si had left earlier were found and erased, and basically nothing happened. Just as they reached the river, Li Si finally asked,

“Senior Brother Ji, using this Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman has indeed wiped out the traces I left this morning. But we’ve also left traces along the way we came. Do we have to do this all over again later? If that’s the case, why didn’t we just come here first and then start the track-finding and trace-erasing?”

“Good question, Junior Brother. This actually touches on the core of the Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Curse. Do you think this Dao technique only erases your footprints and scent?”

“It doesn’t?” Li Si was taken aback.

“Of course it does, but that’s only part of its function. The true core of this technique is erasing the traces of your path from the level of causality and fate.”

“Wherever you go, you leave traces. When you made that round trip this morning, you already formed causal traces with the village across the river. You think if no one saw you, it’s fine? An expert could immediately find you out.”

“That’s why, starting from when we left the village, I’ve been erasing the traces from your earlier trip. Wiping out those causal traces. Then, the new traces we leave now are one step further removed from the causal traces of that village.”

Ji Chang spoke without much thought, but Li Si listened attentively. He immediately asked Ji Chang for a Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman.

The moment he got it, his expression changed subtly.

“Obtained mid-grade talisman paper [Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman]1. Consumes one point of magic power to activate, creating a track-finding aura. It searches for specified targets or traces within a one-kilometer radius and effectively reduces the chance of being deduced by enemies.”

Li Si was speechless.

This was it?

Just this?

He couldn’t bear to criticize. After hearing Ji Chang boast earlier, he thought this Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman was amazing. But it turned out the success rate against deductions was only ‘effectively reduced.’

Didn’t that mean if enemies launched a deduction, there was still a high chance they would succeed?

Sigh, no peace of mind at all.

After that, Li Si quietly watched Ji Chang perform all sorts of maneuvers. One Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Talisman after another was used—truly impressive from start to finish…

Then they returned along the same path, and everything went smoothly.

After returning to the village, Ji Chang was still eager to continue. True to his word, he taught Li Si the Track-Finding and Trace-Erasing Curse and prepared to explain its key points.

“It’s still early, Senior Brother Ji. I’m going to take a walk over to Western Mountain.”

Li Si said cheerfully. Without waiting for Ji Chang’s agreement, he turned and left the village.

“Hey, you—be careful!”

Ji Chang was a bit bewildered and couldn’t figure it out. He just thought Li Si was really young and stubborn. In this wild, desolate area, they all feared it like a tiger and hardly dared to leave the village. But this guy just said he was going for a walk and really went.

Does he think this is his backyard?

“Sigh, the Floating Cloud Sect is hopeless. I babbled on and on to him the whole way, and it turns out I was just talking to the wind…”

For a moment, Ji Chang felt deeply depressed. Although he snapped back to reality the next second, it was already too late. A small purple mushroom stood swaying in the wind, looking especially sorrowful.

Hmm, truly freaking sorrowful.

Wait? Why didn’t I get affected!

Ji Chang suddenly realized. Without a second thought, he threw out a handful of Evil-Warding Talisman papers, unleashing a frantic barrage to take down that lone little mushroom.

By the time Xu Shen, Jiang Ying, and the others heard the commotion and arrived, the fight was already over.

Ji Chang was fine, holding a Mushroom Remnant Husk in his hand, his expression peculiar.

“Dear heavens, Little Li’s Heart Cleansing Curse is truly mighty and domineering. This surely means our Floating Cloud Sect is destined to rise!”