Chapter 225: Rain, Temples, and Unseen Forces

Spring rain fell in a constant, soft drizzle.

It pattered on the black tiles, echoing like the steady ticking of a clock.

Under the eaves, Old Chen, mid-brush of his teeth, abruptly stood up.

He glanced over from afar, a trace of worry flickering across his weathered face.

The Temple Guardian Division?

And not just any, but the one in Daocheng!

Remember, the Imperial Court established the Temple Guardian Division in Daocheng not only to subdue bizarre temples but also to counter the Divine Sect.

Thus, the Daocheng Temple Guardian Division was no ordinary force.

It was leagues beyond what Jin Guang Mansion in Daocheng could match.

These were true behemoths – their prowess nearly on par with that of the Qianyuan Divine Sect’s orthodox forces. Though differences in foundation existed, every divine emissary dispatched by the Court was a top-tier expert.

Inside, Zhang Ya also stepped out. With her dark brows drawn in worry, she hurried over.

“Husband…”

Li Che raised his hand and gently patted her shoulder.

“It’s nothing. Lord Xie needed my help with something, so I just have to run an errand,”

Li Che said with a warm smile.

His tone was gentle, utterly devoid of any urgency or worry.

“As a Second-Class Guest Official of the Imperial Watch, I once joined an expedition to the bizarre temple to worship the Temple Spirit. But then that temple simply vanished… Perhaps it was just a coincidence.”

Li Che’s calm voice was meant to soothe his wife.

Watching him, Xie Jing couldn’t help but feel admiration.

After all, every cultivator invited by the Temple Guardian Division usually harbored deep anxieties.

To the practitioners of cultivation, the Temple Guardian Division was an overwhelmingly fearsome presence – a force summoned specifically to deal with bizarre temple threats. Though their emissaries were few, each was immensely powerful.

Once caught in their grasp, even the slightest misstep meant inescapable doom.

Li Che’s composed demeanor immediately dispelled Xie Jing’s suspicions.

Before Xie Jing arrived, he had indeed doubted Li Che.

After all, a few coincidences…

Coincidences of this magnitude always seemed to occur around Li Che.

Both bizarre temples where he went to worship the Temple Spirit had mysteriously disappeared – evaporated from the mortal realm. How could one not draw parallels?

“Lord Xie, let’s go.”

“Clear is clear,” Li Che said softly, his black robe fluttering in the spring rain as he smiled gently.

Moved, Xie Jing respectfully patted him, then said, “Please.”

After ensuring Zhang Ya need not worry about her own safety, Li Che and Xie Jing stepped out of Liu Xiang Alley. They boarded the Temple Guardian Division carriage, piercing through the slanting curtain of spring rain towards the headquarters.

Inside the carriage, a carbon stove boiled water. Scalding steam danced around tender early-spring buds, and a few emerald tea tips tossed into the cup unfurled like a lazy stretch as the boiling water rolled over them.

Gradually, the transparent tea turned a soft green.

During the ride, Xie Jing and Li Che discussed many matters – most concerning events unfolding in Jin Guang Mansion City.

Being from the same city naturally made their conversation more intimate.

“The Temple Guardian Division in Jin Guang Mansion City is set to dispatch a new governor to the Eight-Armed Yulian Furious Third Prince Bizarre Temple. After the upcoming Temple Spirit Resonance, it should settle into a long period of calm. But if another uprising occurs, things could really get out of hand…”

“Perhaps by then I might be reassigned back to Jin Guang Mansion City once more,”

Xie Jing said with a chuckle, taking a sip of tea.

“Oh? Do you think the Third Prince’s Bizarre Temple in Jin Guang will erupt into a major rebellion?”

Li Che asked, puzzled.

“Absolutely. The Third Prince’s Bizarre Temple, compared to the other Four-Yu Bizarre Temples, tends to flare up in a short burst. Every bizarre temple experiences a great upheaval at least once…”

“Such outbreaks… are what the brilliant Grand Inspector of the Imperial Watch in Divine Capital calls ‘Temple Spirit Rebound.'”

“Every one of the Four-Yu Bizarre Temples has experienced it. Before the ‘Temple Spirit Ascension,’ even if divine essence spread and infected the area, it remained controllable.”

“This is also why neither the Divine Sect nor the Court ever stationed powerhouses at the Third Prince’s Bizarre Temple. But when the ‘Temple Spirit Rebound’ activates and the Temple Spirit resurrects from death, Jin Guang Mansion City is bound to become the epicenter of a maelstrom…”

“At that point, more than one divine progeny or martial saint might descend,”

Xie Jing murmured.

Leaning back in the comfortable carriage seat, his eyes darkened with gravity.

“And…”

“I suspect the Third Prince’s Bizarre Temple in Jin Guang might be different from the other Four-Yu Bizarre Temples…”

“I once trained amidst the eerie passages of two Four-Yu Bizarre Temples in Qianyuan Daocheng…”

“Be it the temple suppressed by the Qianyuan Divine Sect – the 【Miaodao Xiansheng San Yan True Lord】 Bizarre Temple, or the one jointly subdued by the Tang Clan, Su Family, Yun Family, and Zhong Family – none struck fear into me like that Third Prince’s temple passage.”

Xie Jing clutched his sword, his gaze growing distant and haunted.

“It was on a full-moon night. I never even entered the passage; just beyond the uncanny fog, I sensed an overwhelming terror, as if countless horrors were parading by…”

“The oppressive aura was so severe that my divine essence and qi couldn’t even flow freely…

It left me utterly desperate,”

Xie Jing whispered.

“I’m not sure if it was all my imagination, but I know one thing – it wasn’t a false alarm,”

he said in a low tone.

“Since then, I’ve never witnessed anything resembling a ‘parade of gods’ in any temple,”

he added solemnly.

“Daocheng’s Temple Guardian Division even dispatched a grand master with united heavenly talents to investigate, but they came up empty-handed.”

“They claimed I must have hallucinated from too much sword practice, but I know what I saw,”

Xie Jing’s voice grew pensive.

He seemed to have forgotten Li Che’s presence, as if he just needed to unburden his heart.

Li Che fell into silence.

He couldn’t help but recall the visions his Star Plucking Gaze had captured within the fog.

Wasn’t it eerily similar to what Xie Jing described as a ‘parade of gods’?

But then…

It wasn’t gods parading.

It was…

An endless procession of demons and monsters!

Li Che made no reply, his face betraying shock and disbelief.

“Lord Xie… what you just said is terrifying,”

Li Che finally mustered.

Xie Jing paused, then offered a wry smile.

“Master Li, just dismiss it as rambling,”

The carriage rumbled on as the spring rain crushed the black tiles and water splintered like shattered mirrors.

The carriage eventually pulled up before the sprawling compound of the Temple Guardian Division Headquarters in Qianyuan Daocheng.

Like other Temple Guardian Divisions – or rather, wherever they were set up – the layout was uniform: rows of pavilions and towers.

In each building, numerous divine emissaries were busy processing documents and recording information collected from all corners of the realm.

Xie Jing led Li Che along a stone-paved avenue in the main hall of the headquarters.

Before long, they arrived at a magnificent, imposing pavilion deep within the compound.

“Master Li, please.”

Li Che nodded and stepped into the building.

After Xie Jing clasped his hands in salute toward the interior, the vermilion doors were closed.

As the doors shut, it was as if even the light was snuffed out.

The main hall was vast and spacious, lined with rows upon rows of bookshelves made of spirit wood, crammed with texts related to bizarre temples.

Li Che scanned them – every one pertained to bizarre temples.

“Have they arrived?”

Suddenly, from behind one of the bookshelves, a middle-aged man in a gray cloth robe emerged at a leisurely pace.

The refined man had neatly bound his thick, jet-black hair with a cord.

He dusted off the books in his hand, blowing away the accumulated dust.

With a warm gesture, he beckoned Li Che.

“You must be Master Li Che, right?”

“Please, have a seat.”

The man’s gentle smile and laid-back aura were unmistakable.

Yet within Li Che, the Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit in his chest beat thunderously!

It was as if he were facing not a refined, affable scholar, but a terrifying, bloodthirsty beast – a true juggernaut of flesh and qi!

So immensely powerful – truly overwhelming!

Even though the meat pill in his dantian thumped violently, Li Che kept the flow of his qi steady by controlling his Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit.

Martial Saint?!

Could he be a Martial Saint?!

Li Che’s heart pounded with shock.

Was this scholarly man actually a Martial Saint?!

He immediately activated his clone to begin intensive research!

Even You Liqing with his flourishing aura couldn’t impose such pressure.

The middle-aged man flipped through some ancient texts, as if noticing Li Che’s reserved attitude, his eyes flashing a hint of something unexpected.

He smiled and said, “No need to be so tense… I’m just here to talk. After all, you’re a Second-Class Guest Official of the Imperial Watch. Although you aren’t a formally appointed Court officer, in many ways, we are colleagues.”

“I serve as one of the two chief governors of Qianyuan Daocheng,” he continued. “I am Yu Wen Wenlong.”

Li Che sank into a wooden seat crafted for a grand master.

“Did you know that the two bizarre temples you visited have mysteriously vanished?”

The middle-aged man, still perusing the ancient texts, inquired.

Though his eyes did not rest on Li Che, the pressure in the air was unmistakable.

Li Che shook his head.

His answer was flawlessly evasive.

He was confident that as long as he didn’t confess, Yu Wen Wenlong would be unable to uncover any clue linking him to these events.

After all, making bizarre temples vanish from the mortal realm was nothing short of a monumental feat, wasn’t it?

Li Che had always done good deeds anonymously.

“Bizarre temples disappearing… isn’t that a good thing?”

Li Che replied in an unassuming tone.

Yu Wen Wenlong, whose divine perception was intensely focused on Li Che, had found nothing amiss.

After a while, he closed the ancient texts and finally let his gaze settle on Li Che.

Yet, he offered no reply to Li Che’s comment.

“Very well, Master Li, you may leave for now… regarding the disappearance of the bizarre temples – you’ve been involved twice. Perhaps it was truly mere coincidence.”

Yu Wen Wenlong dismissively ordered him to depart.

Li Che stood, clasped his hands in a bow, and said goodbye.

“Then I wish Supervisor Yu early success in uncovering the truth and finding the culprit responsible for erasing the bizarre temples from the world.”

Yu Wen Wenlong smiled and nodded slightly.

Li Che exited the pavilion, where Xie Jing was already waiting outside.

Only after Li Che’s silhouette faded into the hazy spring drizzle did the scholarly Yu Wen Wenlong slowly divert his gaze.

“Li Che…”

“It wasn’t him,”

he murmured, “His aura is too weak… though his body is robust and conceals his cultivation, he’s merely at the late Master realm…”

“Besides, his divine aura doesn’t match that of the two Temple Spirits…”

Yu Wen Wenlong lightly tapped the table with his finger.

Whether Li Che could hide his cultivation before him…

Yu Wen Wenlong chuckled. To even entertain that thought would be an insult to his own prowess.

He opened a ledger which chronicled Li Che’s life – starting from his days as a laborer at a woodcarving shop in Feilei City.

“Just four short years… From a laborer in a minor family’s woodcarving shop to a Second-Class Guest Official of the Imperial Watch?”

“A master of mechanisms, and even fathered a prodigious daughter radiating purple aura. In just four years, he rose from a small-town nobody to a figure in Daocheng.”

Taking out a calligraphy brush laden with thick ink, Yu Wen Wenlong’s eyes deepened with an all-seeing wisdom.

He slowly inscribed two characters next to Li Che’s name.

【Ogre】

……

……

Xie Jing then escorted Li Che back to Liu Xiang Alley.

“Lord Xie, do you know the cultivation level of our Supervisor?”

Before parting, Li Che had curiously inquired.

Xie Jing laughed, “Don’t you feel the oppressive sensation, as if everything is laid bare before you?”

Li Che merely nodded.

Indeed, that divine perception was so overwhelming that Li Che had to rely on his Dragon Elephant Vajra Dao Fruit to accidentally leak a hint of his cultivation – revealing him from the early to the late Master stage.

“Our supervisor is a rising martial saint… not inferior to a divine progeny.”

Xie Jing said mysteriously before taking his leave.

“In martial arts, one who can challenge a divine progeny is naturally a Martial Saint…” Li Che’s eyes flashed.

It was his first encounter with a Martial Saint.

Indeed, the sheer power was terrifying, an energy so immense it resembled tens of thousands of divine chess pieces colliding in a massive avalanche.

What was even more astounding was that Yu Wen Wenlong could contain all that power within himself without letting any escape.

It was truly fearsome and mighty!

This was Li Che’s first direct confrontation with a Martial Saint. Even in a defensive, restful state, the Martial Saint exuded a bone-chilling aura.

“I can’t beat him… I can’t beat him at all…”

Li Che exhaled a turbulent breath.

“If a newly risen Martial Saint like Yu Wen Wenlong is this terrifying, imagine what someone like Ji Mo Li – a peerless martial saint and divine progeny in his extreme form – must be like?”

A strong sense of impending crisis suddenly loomed over Li Che.

Before encountering a Martial Saint, one might view things from a narrow perspective.

But facing a Martial Saint revealed just how greatly he had underestimated their power.

Previously, within the passage of the Third Prince’s Bizarre Temple, the resonance of the Temple Spirit had shattered the will of the hidden martial saint in Ji Haihui’s bloodline, making Li Che mistakenly believe that martial saints were unimpressive.

Li Che patted his face.

“This world is dangerous. My naive perspective from before is no longer reliable. I must change my strategy.”

“Every enemy deserves a grand ceremony of respect.”

Glancing at the misty spring scenery, Li Che turned and re-entered the courtyard.

……

……

Spring rain falling on the black tiles, like droplets endlessly descending from an ancient bell, broke into a continuous, crisp patter.

Time slipped by, diffused by the rain’s fragmented echo.

Ever since the Temple Guardian Division had taken Li Che for an inconclusive investigation that day, he had ceased his official visits to worship the Temple Spirit as a Guest Official of the Imperial Watch.

Yet Li Che had not given up on summoning the Temple Spirit of the bizarre temples.

According to his cultivation plan, his Seven Emotions Divine Foundation needed to transform into Divine Vision – and the best method was through summoning the Temple Spirit.

So Li Che persisted, treading an inconspicuous path that none could detect.

Although he no longer visited the Temple Spirit, the Imperial Watch continued to send Guest Officials for these rites, for only by doing so could the renowned woodcarvers improve their craft.

Meanwhile, Li Che discreetly concealed Feilei Chess Pieces on the bodies of the Guest Officials about to enter the bizarre temple.

Once inside, he would remotely manipulate the pieces so that they dropped and concealed themselves within the temple.

Just like sowing a seed.

In truth, Li Che was simply placing chess pieces one after another.

Like an experienced chessmaster methodically laying out his strategy.

He chose only the Seven-Yuan Bizarre Temples – all five of them had Feilei Chess Pieces hidden within.

It was only after nearly half a month that, in the dead of night, Li Che would enter one of these temples to quietly perform his summoning ritual.

Thus the days unfolded in orderly succession.

Over at Shendiao Ridge, Li Che once went to inquire about the elders’ assessment schedule.

On his first visit, an elder at Shendiao Ridge almost drove him away because of his youth.

Had Li Che not produced Elder Jiao Shaoqiu’s recommendation Jade Pendant, the elder might not have even granted him a word.

This incident made Li Che keenly aware of how much Shendiao Ridge valued experience.

No wonder Elder Jiao Shaoqiu said it would be challenging for Li Che to become an elder at Shendiao Ridge…

He would have to compete with woodcarving masters from all over, many with decades – even centuries – of experience.

Li Che had only been studying woodcarving for a few years…

Naturally, expectations were low. But on account of Elder Jiao’s token, he was received and informed that if the elder assessments began, he would be notified in advance.

Thus, Li Che’s chance to quickly enter the Divine Sect remained slim.

Fortunately, Li Che could always visit XiXi with Zhang Ya in the quiet depths of night.

In the beginning, the Qiankun Dao Inscription at the Mountain Gate would react to Li Che’s presence, giving some feedback.

But eventually, the inscription just gave up, allowing Li Che to come and go at will.

Zhang Ya got to see her daughter every day and didn’t long for her absence, so she devoted even more effort to her martial and divine cultivation.

With Li Che’s ample resources, Zhang Ya never lacked what she needed.

Over time, Li Che immersed himself in cultivation, and his life gradually fell into a steady rhythm.

He exchanged lavish gifts from former enemies at the Imperial Watch for a piece of Five-Old Spirit Wood known as 【Xuelei Liuli Dragonbone Wood】, along with several Six-Class spirit woods.

Once the spirit wood arrived, Li Che began crafting the mechanical beast described in Tang Sanjia’s Tang Clan Mechanism Records – the 【Xueyang Nine-God Vajra Ape】!

A Six-Stage Ascending mechanical beast!

But this was truly a colossal project.

The beast was composed of 139,872 mechanical parts – each piece painstakingly hand-finished by Li Che.

Every component demanded extreme precision!

Moreover, the assembly required the configuration of the Nine Seals of Mechanism; each of the ten thousand parts had to be embedded with a seal in the right order, and not a single mark could be mistaken.

Fortunately, Li Che had his Painted Immortal Clone.

Apart from studying the mechanical beast, Li Che spent his days refining the Corpse God Seal.

Even after a fierce beating from the Ape God’s divine vision, the Corpse God Seal remained stubborn; refining it proved extremely difficult!

An unseen force seemed intent on hindering his efforts.

Yet Li Che persevered, bombarding the seal daily with the power of Black and White Collapse.

Slowly, he managed to pry open the cold inner seal of the Corpse God Seal and began its refinement.

Every day he practiced fists, nurtured his divine essence, built mechanical beasts, and hammered on the Corpse God Seal…

His days were extraordinarily full!

During this period, Li Che didn’t bother rooting out the mavericks of the Corpse God Sect hiding in Qianyuan Daocheng.

There was no need – once he refined the Corpse God Seal, every rogue of the Corpse God Sect would tremble before his overwhelming aura.

When the time came for battle, taking them down would be effortless – hardly a ripple would be caused.

Daocheng’s days passed peacefully; the vast city ran like a well-oiled machine.

Day after day, time slipped by like smooth silk.

After spring came summer. When the cicadas sang their final songs, autumn arrived.

The crimson hues of maple leaves stained the clouds, and a biting chill swept in from the north.

Snow as heavy as goose feathers began drifting in the sky.

The cold wind howled, biting with icy ferocity.

In Qianyuan Daocheng, within a Seven-Yuan Bizarre Temple under Su Family’s jurisdiction,

Li Che clenched his fist as a flurry of snowy wind surrounded him.

He appeared within the bizarre temple, where white candle flames flickered before suddenly turning a ghostly green!

There, a female Temple Spirit holding a flower basket sat atop the altar – dignified yet tinged with a hint of the uncanny.

“Oh mournful divine Temple Spirit…”

Li Che, wearing a bamboo hat and the Ogre Mask, raised his hand to gently brush off the snow from his black robe.

In the next moment, his body suddenly swelled. One after another, nine sinuous, ferocious dragon tendons burst from his back, glowing like hot irons. His bare skin appeared as if forged from the hardest steel.

With a snap of his fingers,

a crisp sound resounded as if a thunderous roar shattered the calm.

A glowing, interwoven stick flashed in the air before landing firmly in Li Che’s hand.

“Smack!” it was gripped tightly by Li Che.

With one arm, he wielded the Xuankin Eight-Treasure Thunder Dragon Staff. His robust figure grew even more imposing as his thick, raven-black hair under his bamboo hat began to surge wildly.

“Tower Ascension!”

The divine power of the Temple Spirit, drawn from his Divine Vision, surged into Li Che.

The altar seemed to come alive as the Temple Spirit unleashed a deadly intent, engaging Li Che in battle.

A smile curled beneath Li Che’s mask as thirty streams of Five-Yuan Divine Guts erupted in unison.

The staff’s shadow fanned out like a peacock’s tail!

“Hun Yuan Qi Tian Gun!”

The surrounding air shattered under the onslaught of raging gales.

Explosive bursts of qi crashed like boulders plunging into a lake, with turbulent winds intertwining in chaos.

Moments later, the Temple Spirit was violently shattered by Li Che.

Using his Summon the Divine technique, he dragged it into the Cosmic Chessboard.

With a deafening roar, the bizarre temple trembled. Walls crumbled and debris exploded, until a massive, coarse blue finger smashed down onto the temple threshold!

An overwhelming fury raged, like heavenly thunder obliterating everything!

Yet, Li Che had already disappeared.

Outside the uncanny passage,

a silhouette tore through the air and appeared at its edge.

The scholarly Yu Wen Wenlong’s expression turned grim.

“Another one…”

“Another bizarre temple has vanished into thin air.”

“Who on earth is behind this?!”

“This is the sixth one!”

Yu Wen Wenlong exhaled deeply.

The formidable figures of the Su Family had also arrived, their expressions grim.

“This is the fifth Seven-Yuan Bizarre Temple under Su Family’s control that has vanished!”

“Who is it? Why are they targeting our Su Family so relentlessly?”

Yu Wen Wenlong shot a cool glance at the Su Family warriors.

“Think carefully… could it be that you’ve offended someone?”

After his words faded, Yu Wen Wenlong tore through the uncanny fog and crashed into it. But the divine power was now a thing of the past, and the temple had long since become void.

……

……

Back in Liu Xiang Alley, within the Workshop Courtyard,

Li Che returned, his fingers tightly gripping as turbulent qi scattered the snow from the courtyard.

“The Seventh Temple Spirit… summoning successful.”

Without even removing his bamboo hat, Li Che sat on the ground of the courtyard.

“The Seventh mournful Divine Vision is prepared!”

Li Che focused his thoughts.

In the next instant, he raised his hand and pressed a Mud Pellet onto his brow.

A storm of divine power erupted from his brow, surging outward like a tidal wave!

That female Temple Spirit, once tethered within the Cosmic Chessboard by divine chains, was gradually dragged into the final stage of his Seven Emotions Divine Foundation.

Originally, the female Temple Spirit had resisted.

But Li Che sacrificed his remaining six Temple Spirit Divine Visions, fixing his gaze upon her.

The female Temple Spirit abandoned her struggle, choosing elegance over crude defiance as she accepted her fate within Li Che’s divine foundation.

A majestic torrent of divine power roared around Li Che, summoning a fierce, whirling wind.

Slowly, Li Che opened his eyes, his black robe and flowing vestments rippling in the wind.

His resilient hair danced wildly in the breeze.

Li Che lifted his hand and forcefully pressed his fingers down.

In an instant, every shred of divine power coalesced into the Mud Pellet on his brow, as still as sediment in a vast sea.

The entire courtyard fell silent; the wind died away.

Only the soft thud of snowflakes landing on the roof could be heard.

Li Che extended his hand, palm up towards the sky.

A flake of icy snow drifted into his open palm, only to be dissolved into transparent water by his scorching qi.

Li Che clenched his fist.

A subtle smile touched his lips.

He tilted his head back…

Gazing up at the falling snow against the heavens.

He recalled the heavy snowfall of yesteryear.

When he once carried a frozen fish, heralding the news of his wife’s labor.

“Once again, the season when snow graces the world.”

“And my XiXi…”

“Is five years old now.”

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