Juggling assistance for Elder Yuan and simultaneously guarding Chai A Si against him, this Jiang fellow, indeed, finds himself quite occupied, a divine spirit stretched thin.

After all, initiating his plans within the confines of Mo Yun City was proving to be a painfully slow process, no matter how diligently he worked. Even with Elder Yuan and Chai A Si both contributing their efforts, the impact on his injuries was but a drop in the ocean. The sheer difficulty of acquiring medicinal materials effective on a Yaowang’s injuries was a formidable challenge, even with the collective strength of the Flower and Fruit Gathering. As for the Incense Masters beneath these two, their capabilities were even more limited.

Presently, Jiang Wang’s primary focus was on utilizing these already precious medicinal ingredients to stimulate the self-healing capabilities of his Golden Marrow and Jade Marrow. Naturally, the daily illumination from the Light of Heavenly Abundance was also indispensable. However, this rate of recovery, for a being striving for survival alone in the land of the Yao, remained agonizingly slow…

Regardless of the predicament, one’s own strength would forever be the bedrock for confronting any challenge. Until his injuries were fully healed, he could not truly be at ease.

Chai A Si was currently forging a name for himself within the Flower World, a rising young talent already registered for the Golden Sun Terrace Martial Gathering. Elder Yuan, on the other hand, was the unseen hand behind the Flower World, the Pope of the swiftly expanding Faceless Cult in the shadows. Yet, the strength and influence of these two were still far from reaching the level of a Yaowang.

And so, as twilight descended, a portly figure appeared on the streets of Mo Yun City—

This Yao, clad in black night clothes, a black cloth concealing his face, carried a pair of narrow, long twin blades on his back. With a lightness utterly incongruous with his physique, he swiftly traversed the rooftops. The blood moon hung in the sky, a perfect time for the hunt.

“Who goes there?”

As black boots landed upon green tiles, a low shout echoed from within a certain room. The dense blood energy of dozens ignited almost simultaneously.

The masked, portly Yao paused his step slightly, the sound of tile fragments scattering. His massive form plummeted directly into the room!

Within the room, the faint scent of sandalwood lingered. The layout suggested a hidden Buddhist hall, but the dim, shallow candlelight lent it an air of unavoidable gloom. The “devout followers” gathered here were a fierce-looking lot, their faces obscured by malevolent aura.

As he fell, the masked, portly Yao had already drawn his blades, the twin blades leaving his back like spreading geese. Amidst the falling tiles and fragments of roof beams, the sound of blades rang incessantly.

*Swish swish swish swish*, the blade light was like startled lightning, momentarily illuminating the dark room. There were no more screams, for they simply had no time to cry out. After the flickering lightning subsided, only the *bang bang bang bang* of falling corpses remained. The devout followers within this hidden Buddhist hall had been utterly annihilated.

At this moment, the tiles that had fallen from the roof had still not completely settled.

Amidst the swirling dust and debris, the masked, portly Yao knelt on one knee, his arms crossed before him, the edges of his twin blades raised behind his spine, like wings of cast iron. His icy, cruel gaze, in the brief moment of his crossed arms, stared mercilessly forward—

There sat a Buddha statue upon a lotus platform. The statue’s divine light flickered, displaying a considerable aura of spiritual treasure, clearly having received abundant daily incense. Its eyebrows were benevolent and eyes compassionate, its body clad in a kasaya as if a true, benevolent Buddha. Both earlobes were large as hanging beads, emitting the golden light that marked a Yao’s divine presence. Only the lotus platform it sat upon was black. That kind of black that could absorb all light.

Before this black lotus Buddha statue stood a female Yao with a saintly countenance, her body lightly veiled in thin gauze, her wondrous curves vaguely revealed, her voice utterly enchanting, “Husband! How is it you’ve arrived without invitation?”

But before anyone could fully register her flirtatious words.

In the next instant, the black lotus Buddha statue behind her suddenly grew fangs, transforming into a terrifying appearance. The black lotus seat beneath it subtly turned, and the Buddha light behind the statue instantly expanded, turning into a monstrous, colossal shadow that engulfed the entire Buddhist hall!

That shadow— Malevolent eyes were dense, bone spurs like a forest, black, foul blood dripping. The proclamation of extreme evil resounded throughout the space, shaking body and soul: “Since you behold the World Honored One, how dare you not submit?!”

The statue had come to life, the evil god had descended! This was indeed a terrifying scene. But the masked, portly Yao, holding his twin blades, merely flicked his eyes, and within his pupils appeared a seal branded with frost-white wind. The moment this seal appeared, that cold, cruel voice abruptly ceased, as if choked by some great being.

“I am… *urk!*”

In less than a breath, light and shadow rapidly shifted. One saw flowers falling from the sky, golden lotuses surging from the ground, and heard the sounds of bells and chimes, Sanskrit chants rising. Splendid colors like a rushing river flowed by, vaguely resembling a colossal Buddha palm descending, snatching something away. Thus, the shadow and Buddha light, the malevolent eyes and bone spurs, the Buddha light and spiritual treasure, the black lotus statue… all vanished.

Only a shattered offering table remained. And before the offering table, the female Yao from whom all life force had been plundered. That originally saintly-faced, beautiful female Yao was now deeply wrinkled, aged to an extreme, collapsed amidst the fragments of the offering table. Her body emitted a foul odor, and she gasped, “You… you are…”

The massive, masked Yao monster simply returned his blades to their sheaths, stood, and walked out. His twin blades remained crossed on his back, without the slightest pause. And the fresh blood of those who had died in the room, like winding rivers, finally converged in the center of the hall, leaving behind four calm, blood-colored words—

“Taiping Ghost Envoy.”

Slaying gods, exterminating ghosts, bringing peace to the world. The Taiping Ghost Envoy specialized in eradicating evil cults and evil gods! This title, in this recent period, was the most vicious and notorious god slayer within the underground world of Mo Yun City.

The path of the gods in the Yao Realm was prosperous, and all manner of evil deities and gods emerged endlessly. Throughout history, those who upheld justice, taking the slaughter of evil gods as their duty, were not absent. But in the history of Mo Yun City, no title has resonated as loudly as today’s “Taiping Ghost Envoy.”

Having just appeared, he had already annihilated the most ferocious evil god beneath the Fushou Ditch, uprooting the evil cult hidden in the sewers. The Fushou Ditch was the most complex section of Mo Yun City’s sewer system, a place where even cockroaches would get lost and rats would struggle to survive, thus breeding countless evils. The ferocity of an evil god capable of achieving fame in such a place could be imagined. Yet, it too was flattened by the Taiping Ghost Envoy in a single battle, becoming a stepping stone to his fame.

Legend has it that the Taiping Ghost Envoy is three *zhang* tall, two *zhang* around the waist, his movement technique supreme, his shadow hidden and traceless, skilled in twin blades, and able to control divine wind. Of course, those who have truly seen him are few. The evil gods he has targeted, to this day, none have survived. The scene beyond the corpses of the evil god cultists is only the four words “Taiping Ghost Envoy.”

The Yao monsters had to admit, since the appearance of the Taiping Ghost Envoy, the dark world of Mo Yun City had become much more peaceful. And the mysterious organization behind the Taiping Ghost Envoy, the Taiping Dao, had also formally entered the sights of some Yao monsters…

Walking out of the now-destroyed headquarters of the evil cult, the masked, portly Yao soared up, and in several leaps, had already left the block. The red moon overhead illuminated his massive figure as he swiftly moved through the inky night, fulfilling his duty for the night. He suddenly turned and disappeared into a dark corner.

Three-quarters of an hour later, this portly figure emerged from a residence two blocks away. Wrapped in a hooded cloak, he turned east and west, then plunged into a gambling house operating all night, quickly disappearing among the noisy crowd of gamblers.

Emerging from the back door piled with all sorts of garbage, he had already changed into another outfit. As a god slayer whose fame was rapidly rising, he had to be cautious, and then cautious again.

Why were evil gods and evil deities so difficult to eradicate? Not because they were so powerful. But because many so-called evil gods and evil deities were merely the “bloodied gloves” of certain power holders, assisting those true rulers in plundering bloody profits, nothing more. On the surface, this city naturally welcomed the upright Taiping Ghost Envoy; how many pairs of eyes in the shadows were waiting for his demise was uncertain.

Walking out of a dim alley, appearing in another block, the famous Taiping Ghost Envoy had already reverted to his original appearance of a portly head and large ears. The twin blades on his back were, of course, gone. In this frosty weather, he was only wearing a short jacket, exposing his large, greasy belly.

Burly, he casually pushed open the door of Old Yuan’s Wine House. The little brothers watching the place and the waiters selling wine all greeted him successively: “Big Li Ge!”

He was none other than Elder Yuan’s capable henchman, Zhu Dali of Old Yuan’s Wine House!

Casually waving his hand, Zhu Dali sat down at the wine counter, his tone casual: “No trouble tonight?”

“Yuan Bazi is all dead, what trouble could there be in this area?” The charming Yuan Xiaoqing said casually. “And A Si Ge also takes good care of us.”

Zhu Dali frowned upon hearing this. He treated Yuan Xiaoqing as a sister, and seeing this girl getting closer to Chai A Si gave him the feeling of entrusting a non-Yao: “That Chai A Si is not a good thing, stay away from him.”

If it had been in the past, even if he genuinely believed Chai A Si was not a good match, he wouldn’t have dared to say it outright. But now, things were different. Elder Yuan had already found a way to curb the decline of his strength, and his blade technique had improved further. His influence was now rapidly expanding, and he was already the strongest Incense Master of the Water Lotus Hall, capable of rising at any time to become one of the three Hall Masters of the Flower and Fruit Gathering. As Elder Yuan’s capable general, he, Zhu Dali, no longer feared ordinary Incense Masters. This was the surface confidence that allowed him to speak freely. In a sense, the change in his attitude was also for better fitting his disguised identity.

Of course, his deeper reliance came from his behind-the-scenes identity—by chance, he had been valued by the Taiping Dao Master, joined the mysterious organization “Taiping Dao” headquartered in Mingkong Hanshan. He had obtained the Taiping Precious Blade Record, received the Taiping Divine Wind Seal, and was already the Taiping Ghost Envoy who struck terror into the hearts of the myriad evil gods in Mo Yun City. What mountain Mingkong Hanshan was, or where it was located, he did not know. What exactly the Taiping Dao was, he was also unclear. In short, it was very mysterious, and that was mysterious enough.

“Alright, alright, I got it,” Yuan Xiaoqing said without minding, clearly not listening.

Zhu Dali knew that advising was useless and there was nothing good to say about male joy and female love, so he poured himself a jar of wine, found a corner to sit down, and began his watching-the-place duty for the night. Before, he had always liked to be the center of attention among the Yao, enjoying the feeling of being watched and flattered by other Yao monsters. Now, he only felt that all of that was too superficial, crude, and shallow. He only wanted to drink wine low-key, quietly watching the commotion of those ordinary Yao monsters.

After all, he himself… was no longer in the same world as those Yao. Sitting here so ordinarily at this moment, who would know how handsome he was in slaying a god tonight? He slowly drank the slightly bitter wine, enjoying that faint melancholy, sighing that ordinary time was gone forever…

In this ordinary yet not ordinary night, Elder Yuan was painstakingly preaching, Chai A Si was bitterly practicing his defensive Golden Body, and Zhu Dali was sighing about the Yao life. And simultaneously holding the ancient mountain god of Chi Yun Mountain, the ancient Yao Clan’s hell deity Yan Luo, and the Taiping Dao Master, Jiang Wang, was also trapped in his own thoughts.

Zhu Dali learned the Taiping Precious Blade Record, which of course benefited from Brother Dou Xian’s verbal teachings. Although he couldn’t be as casual as when teaching Chai A Si sword techniques, after serious contemplation and research, devising a set of targeted, exquisite blade moves was not difficult. The frost-wind divine seal that appeared in Zhu Dali’s pupils was the method of imprinting a divine seal using the Divine Ability of Bujiang Wind, taught by Jiang Wang.

As for the name Taiping Dao, it did indeed exist in history. It was a branch of the Daoist schools, which later perished in the river of time. Some remnant chapters of this Dao’s classics still exist. Jiang, being well-read in classics, slightly adjusted it, transforming it into a Yao Clan version, and also created a “Taiping Dao Collection” that conformed to the Yao Clan’s worldview. He planned to wait for Zhu Dali’s cultivation to progress before giving him some philosophical teachings, to avoid future difficulty in deceiving him… Of course, this was something that would happen who knows how long from now.

The god-path Pope Elder Yuan, the heaven’s favored son Chai A Si, the Taiping Ghost Envoy Zhu Dali, these were the three chariots that the ancient god surnamed Jiang was wantonly running in the land of the Yao. And with each wildly running chariot, he had reserved for himself the possibility of abandoning the chariot and fleeing. This was what was called a cunning rabbit having three burrows! He, the Marquis of Wu’an of Da Qi, had also read military texts and attended classes at Jixia Academy; it was impossible to say that he truly didn’t understand strategy. He was just lazy to use his brain on a daily basis, willing to give Zhong Xuan Fat a bit more opportunity, that was all.

What truly caused the Marquis of Wu’an to fall into thought this time was actually the evil god he had just encountered… or rather, the evil Buddha? The Shi Family was a prominent school in the present world, and he had not previously thought that it had such influence in the Yao Realm. In fact, in his experiences struggling for survival in the land of the Yao during this period, he had already noticed that many aspects of Human Clan culture had corresponding manifestations among the Yao. Even many common living habits left him unclear whether Human Clan had influenced Yao Clan, or vice versa. Just as in ancient times, many Human Clan Dao techniques were imitating the Yao Clan’s innate Yao techniques. The prolonged blood wars of several great eras had already led to a deep understanding of each other between the two clans, and had also left extremely deep imprints on each other.

The Yao Clan had hundreds and thousands of types, with differing Yao signs. But fundamentally, they still belonged to the same powerful clan group, thus named “Yao.” The differences between different clan types were actually not significant. If Jiang Wang were to describe it, it was more like the differences between major tribes on the grassland. It was also similar to how the people of Jing called the people of Chu “barbarians,” and called the people of Mu “wild.” Just like the three Yao Clan members Jiang, the ancient god, was in most contact with—Chai A Si, Elder Yuan, and Zhu Dali—he, who carried a god master, a Dao master, and a portable old man, had a considerable degree of understanding of the physical structures and even the soul powers of these three Yao Clan members. They were fundamentally differences within the same clan; only the Yao signs differed, and this only affected the different divine abilities they would develop later. And it was completely unlike the racial gap between pigs, dogs, and monkeys.

The Yao were not beasts. This concept, no matter how many times it was said, was not as profound as personally observing it once, and deeply recognizing it.

Jiang Wang couldn’t help but think— even within Human Clan, the divine abilities mastered by different extraordinary cultivators were often different. How was this not similar to the Yao Clan with their different Yao signs? So, setting aside the Yao signs, what exactly were the differences between Human and Yao Clan? Could it be solely that each Yao Clan member was innately born with Dao veins?

Of course, this question was perhaps too large. At this moment, digesting the newly plundered divine power and repairing his soul injuries, he was more concerned with another problem— according to the records of some ancient history books, the creator of the Buddha Gate, the great existence known as the “World Honored One,” was born at the end of the Upper Ancient Era. He experienced the extinction of the magic tide, achieved greatness in the Middle Ancient Period, and participated in the war where the Third Generation Human Emperor Lie Shan Shi drove the Dragon Emperor to the vast sea. And in the mid-period of the Upper Ancient Era, the Second Generation Human Emperor You Xiong Shi had already joined hands with the three Dao Zuns to construct the Myriad Demon Gate, completely severing the Yao Clan’s hope of returning to the present world. Yan Chanyi of Jixia Academy also said in his lecture on the “Bodhi Sitting Dao Classic,” “The World Honored One saw the Lion Emperor and gained enlightenment of the Lion’s Roar.”

This simple sentence, behind it, was such a majestic torrent of history! It explained that the World Honored One had indeed come to the Heavenly Abundance World… That great existence, even in the Heavenly Abundance World, saw the Lion Emperor and gained enlightenment of the Lion’s Roar, a true method of the Buddha Gate. He even passed down the lineage, and the lineage spread quite widely, causing a fallen evil Buddha to appear here in Mo Yun City.

Then… how did He do it? Not long after Human Clan constructed the Myriad Demon Gate, yet not yet able to firmly establish themselves in the Heavenly Abundance World, how did that World Honored One travel safely back and forth between the two realms? Although the World Honored One was powerful, the Yao Clan also absolutely did not lack matching strong ones. How could they allow Him to come and go freely?

If he could capture the experiences of the World Honored One in the Yao Clan’s territory, understanding that necessarily magnificent history, perhaps he could go against the heavenly will of the Yao Clan and truly find the already successful path home!

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