Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 164: The Land God In Hiding

The sky was gradually darkening, and it was unrealistic to ask Huang Xingye and his group to head down the mountain at this time.

Taoist Qingsong went into the kitchen to cook again, using the items Qi Wen had carried over, along with some of the things Huang Xingye had brought, as ingredients to make enough dinner for everyone to eat.

Perhaps because he had found Taoist Qingsong, Huang Xingye felt an unprecedented sense of security in Cloud Mountain Temple. He felt more relaxed, particularly after having spoken to Taoist Master Qingsong that afternoon.

Huang Xingye, who had not had much of an appetite in recent days, ate a lot that night, and even had a few drinks.

As for the problem of accommodation, there was an easy solution. Ji Yuan simply gave up his own room. There was enough straw bedding inside for six people to sleep. Huang Xingye was not the kind of person to be concerned about a master and his servants sharing the same space.

Ji Yuan naturally went to the two Taoists’ room and shared their bedding.

When everyone including Qi Wen in their room had fallen asleep, Taoist Qingsong, who was feeling the most uneasy out of all of the residents of the temple, finally couldn’t hold back any longer, and began to ask Ji Yuan in a low voice.

“Mr. Ji, I know you are still awake. You must have thought of a way to help Huang Xingye, right?”

Of course, Ji Yuan indeed had not gone to sleep, and he knew that Taoist Qingsong would not be able to sleep either. Upon hearing Qi Xuan’s nervous question, he joked.

“Of course, I have come up with a countermeasure. The solution is naturally for Taoist Qingsong to go down the mountain with Huang Xingye. If there are any variables, he can help him slay the demons and eliminate the monsters.”

Taoist Qingsong’s heart trembled when he heard these words.

“Oh… Mr. Ji, you know how strong I am. I can only tell people’s fortunes. I don’t know how to slay demons or eliminate monsters… I’ve never even seen a ghost before, isn’t this a bit too difficult? I have only just recuperated my lifespan, what if I die directly after all this…”

Ji Yuan didn’t try scare him anymore. He had previously asked Taoist Qingsong to agree with him, so he naturally had his own plans.

“Hahaha… Taoist Qingsong will definitely go down the mountain with Huang Xingye, but it may not be the real Taoist Qingsong.”

After saying these words in a profound and inscrutable manner, Ji Yuan’s spiritual energy flowed slightly, and some changes began to occur in his body. His nose became a little wider and a little flatter, the corners of his eyebrows elongated and angled a little. He grew crow’s feet wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Even the skin tone, musculature, and mole placement on his face all changed.

In the span of two breaths, two Taoist Qingsongs faced each other.

The stars were bright tonight, with a shining moon hanging high in the sky. With starlight shining through the windows, a certain degree of visibility could be maintained after the human eye had adapted to the darkness.

At this moment, Taoist Qingsong widened his eyes and breathed in sharply, speechless.

Ji Yuan had not yet learned a true transformation technique. In truth, the transformation technique in the Old Dragon’s jade slip was not very suitable for humans. Ji Yuan still needed to comprehend it carefully and find a way to modify it before he could learn it.

Essentially, this kind of transformation was incomparable to Sun Wukong’s seventy-two transformations.¹ It contained the influence of the concealment technique. At present, it was only possible for him to draw a bit of information from it.

In addition, Ji Yuan and Taoist Qingsong were similar in size, so he used his excellent concealment skill to achieve a kind of “face changing” technique.

The characteristics of his own spiritual power were quite mysterious. There was almost no fluctuation of power when it was not actively being used. By referencing some of the “transformation” techniques, it made it extremely difficult to see through this kind of “face changing” technique. He then put on Taoist Qingsong’s Taoist robe, and changed his hairstyle.

By now, he estimated that only Qi Wen, who lived with Taoist Qingsong day and night, could point out the differences. No one else would be able to see it, not even Huang Xingye, any of the people outside, or even ordinary ghosts and gods.

Strictly speaking, his current transformation was similar to a combination of spiritual energy techniques and martial arts disguise and makeup, but the traces of each were extremely faint.

Early the next morning, ignoring Qi Wen’s terrified expression as if he had seen a ghost, the two Taoist priests surnamed Qi from the temple escorted the guests back down the mountain. Finally, Taoist priest Qingsong alone continued with Huang Xingye and his group and they left the mountain.

As for the Mr. Ji from yesterday, it seemed as though he had caught a cold, and did not get up to send them off.

In Cloud Mountain Temple, Taoist Qingsong, who had been hiding in the house, waited for everyone to go down the mountain. It was a long time before Qi Wen returned.

“Master, I’m back!”

Qi Wen hurriedly ran back. When he entered the hall, he saw Qi Xuan, who was drinking tea, and let out a sigh of relief.

“Master, why does Mr. Ji’s face look the same as yours? Is this the disguise technique of a martial arts master? Can you teach me too?”

Taoist Qingsong slapped Qi Wen lightly on the head.

“What kind of disguise are you talking about? It’s an immortal technique. How many times have I told you, Mr. Ji is an immortal.”

Qi Wen rubbed his forehead subconsciously and muttered.

“Mr. Ji himself said that he is not…”

. . .

After leaving the Yun Mountain range, the trail became easier to travel on. In other words, either there was a clear road under their feet, or the path was relatively flat.

Huang Xingye and others had left a horse-drawn carriage in Yunkou Village. They couldn’t use it when they went up the mountain the day before, but now they naturally didn’t have to walk all the way back on their feet when they returned to their hometown today.

There were two carriages in total, one with a canopy and the other with a flatbed cart. They did not return to Dongle County’s capital, but instead went directly to Maoqian Town.

On the carriage, Huang Xingye began to feel uneasy again.

“Master Qingsong, would it be better for us to go to the City God Temple first?”

“No need. Since you have already given offerings to the City God, the City God of Dongle County must already know about your situation by now. He may have already sent ghosts and spirits to inspect the Land God Temple in Maoqian Town.”

While Ji Yuan spoke, his eyes kept gazing outside through the curtain of the carriage, but he didn’t see anything unusual.

“But Taoist Qingsong, wouldn’t it be safer if we hid in the county capital? My wife’s family is in the city, and several children are staying with her temporarily…”

“Mr. Huang did the right thing, but you cannot hide away and avoid it. We still need to face this matter. Even ghosts and gods make mistakes sometimes, and ordinary people even more so. Even if we stay in Dongle County’s capital forever, we cannot guarantee our safety. It would be better to solve this matter thoroughly.”

“Ah, the Taoist master is right!”

After saying these few words, Ji Yuan just closed his eyes and rested his mind, pretending not to want to say anything more. Even though Huang Xingye was nervous, he had no choice but to speak softly to Li Mian beside him.

Around noon, the carriage and horses arrived outside Maoqian Town. The servant driving the carriage informed his passengers.

“Master, we have almost arrived home.”

Before Huang Xingye could speak, he saw Taoist Qingsong, who was sitting across from him, open his eyes.

“Let’s go to see the Land God Temple first.”

“Ah! Ah Fu, head to the Land God Temple!”

“Yes, sir!”

The servant replied and adjusted the direction of the carriage. After a while, the carriage stopped outside the Land God Temple. Ji Yuan, Huang Xingye, and others got off the carriage one after another. Before the servant could come forward, Li Mian, Huang Xingye, and “Master Qingsong” walked over together.

The Land God Temple was located on the south side of Maoqian Town. Apart from the craftsman hired by the Huang family and the old men in the town who were preparing for the construction of the temple, there were no other villagers around.

Ji Yuan stopped a dozen steps outside the temple, and whispered to Huang Xingye and Li Mian.

“There is a daytime patrol in front of the temple, don’t say any unnecessary words.”

“Daytime patrol?”

Huang Xingye asked cautiously.

“It’s the so-called Sun-wandering Spirits. They should have been sent by the Lord City God of Dongle County.”

“Oh, oh! I understand, I understand!”

Huang Xingye felt relieved, while Li Mian beside him was full of doubts. He looked towards the other end of the temple, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

The three of them arrived at the Land God Temple together. The craftsmen and the old man in charge of the temple hurriedly greeted Huang Xingye, which naturally attracted the attention of the two daytime patrol officers. They all looked at Huang Xingye together.

“This person is Huang Xingye.”

“That’s right. He went to the City God Temple to offer sacrifices and report the situation here.”

“Then who is this Taoist?”

“It seems to be Taoist Qingsong from Cloud Mountain Temple, the one who often sets up a stall in front of the temple.”

While the two daytime patrol officers were talking, they scrutinized Huang Xingye carefully. Even though Ji Yuan noticed them doing so, he didn’t inform Huang Xingye, to avoid him making a fuss.

After carefully observing the statue in the temple, Ji Yuan discovered that the statue had many non-human characteristics. At present, the incense power was quite weak, and the residual divine aura was not strong. It was obvious that the Land God had not been to the Land God Temple in the past two days.

He glanced at the arm of the statue in the corner. The master craftsman was filling up the soil to support it, but he hadn’t yet affixed it back to the statue. There was no lingering evil aura, and now it looked as though it had merely been knocked off by some human.

‘Was it just a man-made disaster? ’

After watching for a while, Ji Yuan, Huang Xingye, and the others went back to the Huang Family Residence in the town, and the two daytime patrol officers followed.

Naturally, the Huang Residence was not as expansive as the Wang Mansion or Chu Residence in the Capital Prefecture. However, it was definitely a wealthy family’s mansion for Dongle County.

Due to the arrival of Taoist Qingsong, Huang Xingye was prepared to entertain him with fine wine and good food.

However, before the lunch, Ji Yuan asked the Huang family’s servants to prepare two small wooden plaques, then had some food and wine delivered to the guest house prepared by the Huang family. Then, he entered the guest house alone, and specifically told the Huang family not to disturb him for the time being.

Huang Xingye had no choice but to go out to dinner with Li Mian and the rest of his family.

In the guest house, Ji Yuan picked up a brush, and wrote “The Right Messenger of the Daytime Patrol of Dongle County” and “The Left Messenger of the Daytime Patrol of Dongle County” on each wooden plaque, respectively.

Then, he placed three sticks of sandalwood in a large bowl filled with raw rice grains and lit them.

After a while, the two daytime patrol officers were drawn over. They understood what was happening as soon as they saw the scene.

“Taoist Qingsong, can you actually see us?”

Seeing that one of the daytime patrol officers had asked him a question, Ji Yuan bowed to them.

“There were too many mortals around before. I know the rules of the underworld, so I did not contact the two envoys. I hope you can forgive me.”

The two daytime patrol officers looked the man up and down before speaking.

“Well, I can’t blame you for waiting. This table is quite rich in offerings.”

“I was just about to invite the two of you to enjoy it together!”

“Haha, wonderful!”

The two daytime patrol officers smiled. In the county’s small City God Temple, the daytime and nighttime patrols actually did not have a solid manifestation. They seldom had time to accumulate offerings, so they rarely were able to enjoy rich wines and sumptuous food.

Ji Yuan and the two patrol officers ate as they chatted. Ghosts’ and gods’ act of eating energy did not conflict with his manner of eating vegetables. It was simply that some of the dishes would appear to be untouched after the meal.

During the conversation, he learned that there had been patrols in Maoqian Town day and night for the past two days, but they had mainly been searching for the Land God. It seemed that the Land God had hidden himself so thoroughly that even the messengers from the underworld couldn’t find him.

“Is this true?”

Ji Yuan was surprised to hear this. Did the Land God hide himself away?

“It’s absolutely true. It’s precisely because of this strange matter that despite the underworld not finding any traces of evil spirits, they still have continued to send people here.”

The food and wine had been finished by now. Ji Yuan frowned and thought for a while before speaking to the two ghost messengers.

“Daytime patrol officers, I believe this matter is not so simple. I hope you can go back and report to the Lord City God right now. Tell him that Huang Xingye has a special fate, and it seems that some evil being is plotting something. I hope the underworld will send additional personnel to investigate.”

The two daytime patrol offices looked at each other.

“We will go back and report to the City God later, and wait for the Lord City God to make a decision.”

“Thank you for taking the trouble to do so!”

Ji Yuan bowed and saw the two daytime patrol officers off. After waiting for a while, his eyes flashed, and he lifted his foot and stomped lightly on the floor of the guest house.

The ground rippled in arcs like waves of water.

“I ask for an audience with the Land God of Maoqian Town!”

As long as he was connected to this land vein and wished to become the Land God, he could not escape this “Spirit Binding” no matter how hard he tried.

A puff of blue smoke swirled upwards from the ground, and a hunchbacked “person” in a yellow earth-toned robe appeared in front of Ji Yuan. His faced was covered in yellow hair, but he had human facial features.

As soon as he saw Ji Yuan, the Land God hurriedly bowed and greeted him.

“The Land God of Maoqian Town pays his respects to the Immortal. I greet the Immortals! The Immortal must be a great Taoist master. It is good that you have come, it’s so good that you have come! Please help me!”

The appearance of this Land God was quite similar to Huang Xingye, the man who had gone up the mountain to seek aid yesterday, which made Ji Yuan frown again.

“Lord Land God, please sit down and talk. Why didn’t you show up when the underworld came to look for you?”

This Land God seemed to recognize the strange “Spirit Binding” technique. He seemed very confident at this moment, but insisted on standing.

“To reply to the Immortal, this Huang Xingye has provoked a powerful creature, not even the City God of Dongle County may be able to suppress it. I helped the Huang family unknowingly before. If you hadn’t come here now, I would never have dared to appear!”

1. In Journey to the West, the Monkey King Sun Wukong has the ability to fully transform himself into 72 different kinds of creatures. Consider the difference between an illusion and a full transformation – JY’s technique is more or less halfway between the two.