Volume One: The Journey of the Useless, Blazing Demon-Slay Chapter Seventy: The Mountain-Sealing Artifact and the Catastrophe Unleashed

The black market mentioned by Old Qu left a deeply sinister impression on Yang Chengzi and Chen San. Although Monk Suichang was well-traveled and knowledgeable, he had never encountered such shadowy corners as the black market. In truth, if Monk Suichang and Old Taixuan had ever come into contact with these black markets, they would have eliminated them long ago, leaving none to continue harming others.

After discussing how to seal Zhufeng Town the next day, the group prepared to sleep. As usual, Monk Suichang set up a formation in the middle of the room to conceal the spiritual energy from heaven and earth. Chen San, feeling helpless, did not want to lie in the center of the room, but only there could the formation be set. Lying within it left him somewhat depressed.

Chang Yu, still awake, looked at Chen San’s gloomy expression and asked, “We’re about to reach Chen Family Town. Tell me, what’s it like there?”

Chen San lay with his hands behind his head and eyes closed. “Chen Family Town, ah, it’s a beautiful place with clear mountains and waters, plenty of little fish in the stream, and many animals on the hills. It’s a wonderful place to live. Old Taixuan and the Spirit Tiger live on the back hill. That’s where I met them.”

“That sounds far more interesting than my hometown. My father never lets me go out, saying it’s indecorous for a young lady to be seen in public. It’s stifling.”

Chen San inwardly rolled his eyes at Chang Yu. “A young woman always wanting to run about—are you so eager to marry?”

Chang Yu scoffed at him. “Nonsense! It’s not that at all. Waking up every day to music, chess, books, and painting at home is tedious. Even though I learn many stories and knowledge from books, it cannot compare to the excitement of real experience.”

“That’s true. Catching fish is much more fun than simply eating them. You can eat fish either way, but the joy lies in catching them yourself.”

The two chatted back and forth for half the night. Suddenly, Chen Wan’er drifted in from outside and said to Chen San, “Chen San, there are newcomers in town. They don’t seem local and probably followed the trail of spiritual energy.”

Chen San’s bull-like eyes widened, and he sat up abruptly. “How many? What do they look like?”

“Three people, exuding a sinister aura. I didn’t dare approach, couldn’t see their faces clearly. Their attire is similar to ordinary travelers. They don’t appear to be sorcerers, but each carries a magical artifact. I could feel the oppressive presence of artifact spirits.”

Yang Chengzi also snapped open his eyes, clearly having heard Wan’er’s report. He extinguished the oil lamp with a sweep of his palm and pressed his face to the cracks in the wall to peer outside.

Monk Suichang remained motionless, still seated in meditation. Chang Yu didn’t know what was happening, but saw from Chen San and Yang Chengzi’s reactions that something was amiss, so she quickly shut her mouth.

Chen San wanted to check the door, but realized the visitors may have followed the spiritual energy. If he stepped outside the formation laid by the master, it would only guide them straight to him. He withdrew his foot, sat quietly in the formation, and closed his eyes to sense carefully.

Outside, the three travelers—two men and one woman—were dressed plainly, much like the townsfolk, nothing remarkable. Each carried a large bundle. The tall man held a hefty iron tool.

The woman was named Qu Ling, sharing a surname with Old Qu, but unrelated and not from the town. The burly man wielding the iron tool was called Tian Daqiao. He had once been a butcher; though he looked honest, his murderous aura was so strong that even ghosts feared him.

The cold-eyed, taciturn man was Dongfang Shaoyan, formerly a disciple of Dragon Tiger Mountain. After violating the precepts of greed and causing great trouble, he was expelled by the mountain’s chief priest and founded his own sect, the Spirit Command Sect.

It was a sect in name only, with no established base or other members—just the three of them. Yet their reputation in the martial world was considerable. The Spirit Command Sect was unrelated to Daoism or Buddhism, and neither aligned with good nor evil, but it was connected to Chen San—or more precisely, to the spiritual energy within him.

Over ten years ago, Dongfang Shaoyan was the chief disciple of Elder Kui Xin at Dragon Tiger Mountain. Though not the mountain’s senior disciple, Elder Kui Xin’s reputation was second only to the Chief Priest, Master Wangchen, so Dongfang Shaoyan’s standing was not insignificant.

Dongfang Shaoyan was naturally reticent and, like Yang Chengzi, exceptionally gifted in Daoist arts and sorcery. His particular passion was collecting rare magical artifacts and spells—a harmless hobby unless unchecked by self-cultivation and renunciation of greed, in which case it became a dangerous obsession. His downfall stemmed from this very greed.

At that time, Dragon Tiger Mountain received astonishing news: a woodcutter on Qiming Mountain, several hundred miles away, had discovered an iron artifact, which might be the long-lost Mountain Guardian artifact, the Ze Tian Ruler.

This artifact was forged by the renowned craftsman Dian Cang, who shaped hundreds of pounds of meteoric iron into a sword-sized ruler. Its body was engraved with incantations, capable of cleaving mountains and stones, exerting immense force. The unique meteoric iron magnified the incantation’s power, and the artifact spirit cultivated by generations of Chief Priests made it so formidable that even ghosts fled at its mention.

For years, the Ze Tian Ruler was enshrined in the mountain’s secret chamber, known only to a few elders and the Chief Priest. It had been summoned only twice: once when hundreds of sorcerers besieged Dragon Tiger Mountain to rescue an elder captured by Daoist priests, and once when the Soul-Cleaving Blade appeared and the mountain sensed ghosts approaching the gate, prompting the retrieval of the Ze Tian Ruler for protection.

Though the Ze Tian Ruler didn’t manifest its power during the Soul-Cleaving Blade incident, since the ghosts never reached the mountain, during the sorcerer siege, Chief Priest Lu Chengfeng wielded the Ze Tian Ruler to vanquish the attacking sorcerers almost single-handedly, and its artifact spirit forcibly sealed the calamity demon summoned by the sorcers' evil array.

This battle made the Ze Tian Ruler famous, and its feat of forcibly sealing a calamity demon was spread far and wide, ultimately leading to its theft. Such a divine artifact was exceedingly rare, and possessing it rendered many impossibilities possible.

When the Ze Tian Ruler was stolen, the secret chamber’s mechanisms gravely injured the thief, and blood traces extended into the forest before vanishing. Since then, the Ze Tian Ruler was never seen again.

Upon receiving news of its possible whereabouts, Dragon Tiger Mountain immediately dispatched Senior Brother Mo Li and Dongfang Shaoyan to investigate. If it was indeed the Ze Tian Ruler, they were to return it at once. The two, excited by the artifact’s reappearance, especially Dongfang Shaoyan, whose passion for magical artifacts would make seeing and handling the legendary artifact that sealed a calamity demon the highlight of his life.

They journeyed across mountains to Qiming Mountain, made inquiries, and indeed found a woodcutter who had picked up an iron artifact. Upon explaining their purpose—though withholding some information—the woodcutter admitted the find, but had no use for it, so he traded it for silver at the blacksmith’s shop.

The brothers then sought out the blacksmith. The Ze Tian Ruler lay beneath the iron shovels and knives, easily spotted. They paid a hefty price to buy it back.

The blacksmith, having acquired the iron artifact from the woodcutter, found it heavy in hand and intended to forge it into knives, but after heating and hammering for hours, it remained unchanged. Frustrated, he tossed it aside and ignored it.

When Mo Li and Dongfang Shaoyan came searching, the blacksmith, seeing their determination, drove a hard bargain, which they unhesitatingly accepted. Thus, the brothers hurried back to Dragon Tiger Mountain with the Ze Tian Ruler.

Qiming Mountain lay hundreds of miles from Dragon Tiger Mountain; even traveling day and night, it took four or five days to return. The trouble emerged during these days. Senior Brother Mo Li carried the Ze Tian Ruler, and Dongfang Shaoyan was eager to examine it closely but had little opportunity. The journey was long, and during a night spent camping in the wild, Dongfang’s persistent pleading wore Mo Li down, and he handed over the Ze Tian Ruler.

Dongfang Shaoyan’s eyes gleamed as he studied the artifact for nearly an hour, caressing and polishing it. The Ze Tian Ruler, once coated with dirt, now gleamed black under the moonlight. He scrutinized the incantations engraved upon it, discovering one of the eight great divine spells—the Purification Spell—making the artifact impervious to evil.

He began to study the Purification Spell. Although extraordinarily talented, he could not possibly comprehend one of the eight divine spells in a short time. After much study, unable to discern the Ze Tian Ruler’s power, he decided to use his soul sense to probe the artifact spirit.

This was where disaster struck. The artifact spirit of the Ze Tian Ruler was forcibly sealing a calamity demon. “Forcibly” meant the seal was barely adequate, nearly failing.

The calamity demon sealed within the Ze Tian Ruler was only known to the Chief Priest. Those elders who once knew had long passed away, so the artifact’s true secret was hidden, preventing many from seeking it. Naturally, Dongfang Shaoyan and Mo Li were unaware.

When Dongfang Shaoyan used his soul sense to probe the artifact spirit, it resonated with his comparatively weak soul, causing the sealing power to wane and the seal to show signs of collapse.

A powerful soul would not have triggered such an effect, but Dongfang Shaoyan, then only a youth in his twenties, though gifted and already at the soul realm, was still inexperienced. His soul was no match for the Chief Priest’s, and far from the level required to wield the Ze Tian Ruler.

Had it been an ordinary artifact, it would not have mattered, but the Ze Tian Ruler sealed a calamity demon. The seal collapsed almost instantly, unleashing a storm of demonic energy.

Mo Li was alarmed. Though he did not understand what had gone wrong, the sudden eruption of demonic energy chilled him to the bone. His first instinct was to kick the Ze Tian Ruler from Dongfang Shaoyan’s hands and pin him to the ground. Both remained motionless.

Dongfang Shaoyan quickly realized the gravity of the situation and dared not move. As Mo Li suspected, soon the demonic energy coalesced into a giant demon behind them, which did not linger but transformed back into demonic energy and dissipated into the distance. The brothers, once doomed, survived by fortune.

The two looked at each other in silence, still shaken by the terror of the demonic energy and uncertain what had happened. Yet the spectacle seemed to declare that they had unleashed a catastrophic disaster.

Mo Li rose to retrieve the Ze Tian Ruler, his face ashen as death. Dongfang Shaoyan dared not look him in the eye, knowing he was responsible for releasing the unknown monster. Mo Li did not blame him, only telling him to confess everything to the Chief Priest and take full responsibility.

Thus, burdened by anxiety, the two returned to Dragon Tiger Mountain with the Ze Tian Ruler.