8. Inviting the Mountain God into the Temple (Please Stay Tuned)

Everyone present was exceedingly shrewd. Before Chen Huangpi had finished speaking, both the Twelfth Lady and Granny Tang acted in concert, reaching simultaneously toward the mass of blood and flesh on the ground that struggled to coalesce. One possessed profound cultivation; the other served as the shaman of the mountain god. Their combined efforts drew the formless slurry up into the air with invisible force. Chen Huangpi looked up. From the blood and flesh emerged a furry face, emerald beast eyes, its true form indiscernible, for in the blink of an eye, it morphed into the visage of the young girl.

“Grandmother, why did you abandon me?”

Granny Tang’s expression stiffened. The Twelfth Lady wasted no time, sending a scarlet stream several feet long crashing onto it. With a bang, the mass exploded.

“This is bad…”

The Twelfth Lady cried out in alarm.

“Collect it!”

Granny Tang’s voice rang out. She held a ceremonial staff in one hand, forming a strange seal with the other. Chen Huangpi glimpsed, in a haze, a humanoid fox silhouette behind Granny Tang, its two beast claws pressed together. The exploded mass was instantly gathered back together and flung outside the protection of the gods.

“It has been contaminated by yellow mud. It is no longer ordinary; even its incarnation cannot be slain.”

Granny Tang explained to the Twelfth Lady. The latter, her face cold, addressed several cultivators: “Any place touched by this thing, dig three feet down and throw it out.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The cultivators immediately got to work.

“Wait.”

They paused, confused. The Twelfth Lady frowned, and the pointer of her geomantic compass aimed at one of the cultivators. His face turned deathly pale.

“Lady, I…”

“Silence.”

The Twelfth Lady gave him no chance to speak. With a wave, a terrifying force struck him, sending him flying into the darkness.

“Aaah…”

His scream echoed briefly, then vanished.

“Continue clearing the area.”

She barked at the remaining cultivators, who nodded swiftly. Only then did the Twelfth Lady turn her gaze to Granny Tang, saying coldly, “Since killing it is useless, drive it out. Better it dies outside than before our eyes, sparing us the ill fortune.”

She said it, and acted accordingly, leaving Granny Tang nothing more to add.

“Lady, you are fair.”

Chen Huangpi watched all this, marveling inwardly. He called out to the brass oil lamp.

“Huang Er, this lady is quite the iron hand.”

“Nascents are like that, but even so, they can’t guard against that evil god.”

“Should I warn them?”

“No need. I heard that sly fox has already sent word to the old woman.”

Chen Huangpi looked over. He noticed Granny Tang’s expression suddenly shifted, and she bowed to the Twelfth Lady.

“What is it now?”

Granny Tang said, “Lady, the mountain god tells me that four deities cannot resist the evil god’s influence. Even if all are slain or expelled, it will serve no purpose, only making it more sinister. It is polluted by yellow mud and will not die before the earth dragon’s turning ends.”

“In life, it was also a deity, tasted mortal incense. If its followers remain, they will be affected.”

The Twelfth Lady offered no reply, only frowned in contemplation. Seeing this, Granny Tang knew her words were heard and continued, “And earlier, my mountain god warned me that there is another, more terrifying evil lurking in the shadows. I suspect it is not the same as this evil god.”

“Another evil?”

The Twelfth Lady’s tightly furrowed brow deepened, feeling even more uncertain. One evil god, corrupted by yellow mud, was terrifying enough. Now there was another, even worse.

And it had yet to reveal itself. How could the Ten-Thousand Mountains be so dreadful?

For a moment, the Twelfth Lady was at a loss.

Granny Tang stepped forward, pointing to the wooden cabin.

“If my eye isn’t blind, that should be a temple, yes?”

“Permit me to consider.”

No need for clarity; the Twelfth Lady understood Granny Tang’s intent. At her cultivation level, she knew much of the gods. After all, the path beyond nascence is blocked; one must seek to become a god upon the earth.

Gods hide within temples. The temple is both shelter and the site for consuming incense offerings. Granny Tang wished to invite the fox mountain god into the temple, with the other three deities, to sever the connection between the remnant folk and the evil god.

But gods are not easily persuaded. Moreover, the mountain god is a fox spirit, while the other three are cultivators ascended to godhood. Just as dragons do not dwell with snakes, nor tigers walk with dogs, so it is among gods.

At this moment, Chen Huangpi gazed at the wooden cabin, the so-called temple, lost in thought.

“It’s big, truly vast.”

The brass oil lamp spoke smugly in his mind, “Family, opening the heavenly eye feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Marvelous, absolutely marvelous.”

Just as Granny Tang revealed the cabin’s secret, the lamp whispered to Chen Huangpi that its oil could open the heavenly eye, allowing sight beyond mortal vision—even surpassing the magical eyes of nascent masters.

Chen Huangpi secretly dabbed a bit onto his eyelids.

Suddenly, his view changed entirely. Not clearer, but broader.

He saw white threads drifting from atop everyone’s heads—including the Twelfth Lady and Granny Tang—rising into the void.

He saw within the cabin a vast temple, with three imposing gods standing inside.

He saw the fox mountain god statue, carried by the remnant folk, its eyes shut, sniffing the air like a beast, searching for something.

“Huang Er, it won’t smell the lamp oil and find you, will it?”

“I smeared dog dung—it won’t notice. It’s probably searching for the other evil that hasn’t shown itself.”

Even the lamp was puzzled. Though it had been split by Chen Huangpi’s master into a thousand parts, its essence remained. No god could hide under its nose. Evil entities were trickier, but with careful effort, their presence could always be sensed.

Yet the evil Granny Tang spoke of was utterly undetected.

“I’ve stayed under that sly fox’s nose for so long, and it never noticed. Could it have keener eyes or a sharper nose than me?”

The lamp scoffed, “Family, it’s surely boasting!”

Chen Huangpi agreed, “Right, I see no evil… Wait… Huang Er, am I mistaken? Why are those pits getting shallower?”

Earlier, the cultivators had dug several yards deep where the blood-flesh slurry had been, tossing earth and grass into the darkness, leaving deep pits.

“They really are shallower…”

“What’s shallower?”

The Twelfth Lady and others immediately turned to Chen Huangpi.

He pointed at the pits. “Look, the pits are shallower—there’s something inside.”

“What?”

The Twelfth Lady frowned, instantly appearing at the rim of a pit.

Before she could peer in, a spray of mud erupted.

“Damn!”

Chen Huangpi shouted in alarm. The Twelfth Lady had no time to dodge, and was drenched from head to toe in yellow mud.

Everyone’s faces changed.

“Lady!”

The cultivators were terrified. The Twelfth Lady was the concubine of the Prefect of Xu, the most trusted of all.

Their mission in the Ten-Thousand Mountains was to continue Lin Ye’s task: find the source of pollution, lure an evil entity to Xu’s border to create chaos.

No one knew why such a trivial job warranted the Twelfth Lady’s involvement, but should anything happen to her, the servants would have no hope for mercy.

“I’m fine.”

Her voice, slightly panicked, sounded from within the wooden cabin.

The mud-stained Twelfth Lady outside suddenly transformed into a peach-wood effigy.

The brass oil lamp whispered to Chen Huangpi, “This woman has quite the background, to have such a lifesaving substitute. Family, prepare to flee—I may whisk you away any moment.”

Chen Huangpi replied, “It seems safe here—why flee?”

The lamp offered no explanation.

It was unnecessary.

The next instant, the pits erupted with thunderous noise.

Yellow mud spewed forth.

Not only that—the entire ground trembled and shook.

The earth dragon was turning!

A fissure split open beneath the crowd. Several remnant folk, unable to escape in time, fell in, swallowed by the mud. At that moment, the four gods, as if enraged, unleashed obscure, mighty auras from above, pressing down upon the fissure.

The earth closed up.

For a second, Chen Huangpi glimpsed a savage, blurred beast face.

The evil god.

Whether it triggered the earth dragon’s turning, or seized the opportunity to invade the gods’ sanctuary, it incited the four gods to wrath.

But Chen Huangpi knew—whether by chance or design, even the gods’ immense power could not contain it.

He had witnessed earth dragon turnings before, and evil entities more fearsome than gods. Yet before the yellow mud from the underworld, all could only flee.

Sure enough, the newly closed earth suddenly split again, cracks spreading like a spider’s web, larger than before.

“Ready yourself, Chen Huangpi—we’re about to run!”

The lamp’s voice was uneasy.

Chen Huangpi said nothing. Would fleeing the gods’ protection truly ensure safety?

He did not know.

Silently, he pondered the method known as the Dog-Taming Sutra.

He remembered its words: Dog or beast, all share untamable wildness—subdue with great resolve or force.

Just then, a sharp cry rang out.

“Mountain god, aid me!”

Granny Tang, anxious, shouted to the fox statue.

A strange ripple swept through everyone’s hearts.

Chen Huangpi felt his footing shift.

He, along with the remnant folk, was transported to the temple’s threshold.

The cultivators saw this, realized something, and rushed up as well.

Granny Tang called out to the Twelfth Lady inside the temple, “Lady, how long will you wait? If my mountain god is dragged down by the evil god, it’s one thing. But if it’s tainted by yellow mud, two evil gods—no matter how many substitutes you have, how long could you last?”

“Lady, let us in!”

The cultivators, watching the earth dragon’s turning and the cracks with yellow mud encroaching, grew frantic.

In the fissures, the mud churned.

Figures emerged—people clad in coarse linen, with yellow mud oozing from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.

At their head, a young girl.

Her voice was clear and melodious, like a mountain lark.

“Invite the mountain god into the temple!”

Those mud-soaked “people” bowed, plunged their hands into the mud, and hauled up a sedan base, atop which stood a statue caked in yellow mud.

As the mud fell away, it revealed a standing weasel statue.

“Invite the mountain god into the temple!”

The mud people shouted in unison, “Invite the mountain god into the temple!”