Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 169: The End of the Matter at the Yun Mountain Residence

The two attacks on the True Demon did not merely injure him, but left a mark. All three of them knew that such marks would be difficult to erase in a short period of time. Often, the victim would have the impression that they had recovered, but there would in fact still be some residues remaining, which could not be erased in under one hundred years.

This could ensure that the True Demon that was desperately fleeing beyond the Dazhen border at this moment would dare not stay within the country at all. After all the Old Dragon and Ji Yuan had not sworn any oaths, so it was unequal treaty. The True Immortal would honor his word, but it was difficult to say whether that True Dragon would as well.

“Father, Uncle Ji, do you think this demon will return to Dazhen to do more evil?”

Although the Dragon Son Ying Feng was not very interested in the rise and fall of Dazhen, that did not mean that he approved of having evil beings like true demons causing trouble in the land where he lived.

The Old Dragon glanced at Ji Yuan, who was resting with his eyes closed, and said something in a profound and inscrutable manner.

“At least, until my influence and the influence of your Uncle Ji has been completely eliminated, he won’t dare to have any thoughts of returning to Dazhen. Even if does completely eliminate our influence, he would have to do everything he can to avoid us within Dazhen. Once we discover his existence again, coupled with the strength of the blood oath, he will lose 90% of his strength upon sight. When we fight, the power of the oath would activate and he would die.”

Hearing this, Ji Yuan opened his eyes to look at the Dragon Son and smiled.

“He wouldn’t even dare be sighted by you. Although True Demons are unpredictable, the three of us were all witnesses to his sworn oath.”

The demon’s blood oath was very simple: he could not enter Dazhen, and he could not harm the country of Dazhen in any form. Once one reached the level of a True Demon or True Dragon, there were no such things as word games in agreements, like in Ji Yuan’s previous life. All oaths were based on intent. Although demons lied all the time to play with people’s heart, he still had to decide his intent. The oath he was forced to make this time was no simple matter.

Therefore, although the Dragon Son still harbored some doubts, people like Ji Yuan who could feel the Qi of heaven and earth, and the Old Dragon, who was knowledgeable and powerful, had already set their hearts at ease.

The two dragons and the man in the Huang residence had settled down, but the spirits, gods, Land God, and even the Huang family members outside the Huang mansion were extremely anxious.

The form of Changchuan Prefecture’s City God stood three chi high in the air, staring at the sky that had just now changed. It was now covered in dark clouds, lightning, and thunder, giving off the pressure of an incoming storm.

“Lord Land God, do you think the Immortal can suppress that evil thing? Is he truly just drinking tea in there?”

A judge once again asked the Land God over to the side. After all, he was the only one who had seen the real situation a few times.

The Land God was quite confident.

“It will definitely be fine. Although I’m not very experienced, I can sense that the evil being is at a disadvantage. Besides, a True Dragon is also here!”

“The nature of a dragon is hard to predict, so it’s hard to say if…”

In fact, the judge wanted to say that dragons were monsters, after all, but considering that the Land God was close with the immortal and the latter was friends with a True Dragon, he didn’t dare to say anything more.

“What do you think that evil thing is?”

“It must not be an ordinary demon, otherwise why would the Immortal need to do all this?”

“Indeed, we can’t detect anything unusual in the Huang family mansion even with all of us standing right here.”

“It felt like there was demonic energy right now, but it was a little different.”

“It does feel really similar.”

“What was that short fight just now?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t look like they were fighting with all their strength.”

“We can only wait for the results.”

……

While everyone was conversing, a figure in Taoist robes walked out from the Huang family mansion. The man was not wearing a Taoist hat, and there was no spiritual energy visible in the drizzling rain.

However, all the ghosts and gods cheered up when they saw the Taoist priest. Through the Land God’s words, they naturally knew who he was, so they all bowed in greeting.

“Greetings, Immortal!”

“I greet the Immortal!”

And so on…

In the face of an existence that could almost be confirmed as a legendary True Immortal, even great City God of Changchuan Prefecture did not dare to neglect this courtesy.

The man who had just arrived was Ji Yuan. The ghosts and gods of the underworld were probably uneasy due to the day’s affairs, so it was basic courtesy for him to come out to greet and thank them. As for the Old Dragon, he was too lazy to come see these ghosts and gods either way, so he flew away first.

Seeing ghosts and gods bowing, Ji Yuan hurriedly bowed in return.

“There’s no need to be so polite, everyone. This was an urgent matter, and it was thanks to your help that it could be properly resolved. Here are the two record books of the underworlds, please keep them safe!”

As Ji Yuan spoke, he sent out two underworld record books, which flew into the hands of their respective underworld judges.

The City God of Changchuan Prefecture looked at the Huang residence, then asked carefully.

“Lord Immortal, where is the Dragon Lord of the Tongtian River, and the other being inside?”

Ji Yuan pointed to the sky.

​​

“The Dragon Lord was busy, so he left first. The one who originally occupied Chu Mingcai’s body was a True Demon. He was forced to swear a blood oath to never enter Dazhen again. He was injured and fled Dazhen after being struck by me and the Dragon Lord..”

A True Demon!

Those who heard it were all shocked, but also felt somewhat fortunate. No one wanted to encounter such a strange and dangerous evil being.

“This matter has been settled. The Huang family will have to trouble the Land God to bring them back. Chu Mingcai’s body is still in the Huang residence, I have no opinion on how it should be dealt with. I hope you can handle it properly.”

The ghosts and gods present did not dare bother the True Immortal with such trivial matters.

“Please rest assured, Immortal. I will ask the elders of the Chu family who still remain in the underworld of Changchuan Prefecture to send a message to their family members through dreams. The Chu family will understand that their children and grandchildren have been harmed by demons and will not vent their anger on the Huang family.”

With this declaration from the City God of Changchuan Prefecture, there was naturally much less cause for concern. Even if the Huang and Chu families had further disputes, these would be personal matters.

“Thank you, City God, and thank you to everyone. I will take my leave now!”

Ji Yuan bowed once again, and lightly nodded twice to the Land God. Then mist rose from under his feet, and he disappeared into the dark clouds in the sky, picking up speed as he went.

After a while, the heavy rain stopped, and the dark clouds in the sky dissipated.

This day had naturally been unsettling for the Huang family, and it was even more thrilling for the ghosts and gods, especially the Land God.

Mortals had only heard stories of the dangers of evil spirits, but did not know the details. However, to ghosts and gods, True Immortals, True Dragons, and True Demons were all legendary existences, as elusive as clouds and mist. Today, they had encountered all three of them at once, and they had almost fought in Dongle County. If anything had gone wrong, it would have been like an earthquake. It was definitely no exaggeration to say that they had been quite fortunate.

. . .

Ji Yuan, the Old Dragon, and the Dragon Son returned to Yun Mountain, in the Cloud Mountain Temple on Yanxia Peak.

Qi Wen, who was just about to go out to collect firewood, saw the three of them arriving at the gate of the Taoist temple, and immediately shouted in excitement.

“Mr. Ji! Master~! Mr. Ji is back, Mr. Ji is back!”

“What? Mr. Ji is back!”

Taoist Qingsong also ran out from inside the temple and looked at Ji Yuan and the other two in surprise.

Ji Yuan, who was wearing a Taoist robe, looked to be in excellent form.¹ The old man and younger man beside him wore brocade robes and looked to be full of energy. Neither resembled evil spirits.

“Oh, is this the Taoist Qingsong who dares to boast that his cooking skills are comparable to the immortal palace’s morning dew?”

The Dragon Son teased Taoist Qingsong as soon as he saw him. Then, as if performing a magic trick, he pulled a bighead carp, half the height of a man, out from his sleeve.

“This a fresh, large bighead carp from the Tongtian River. Let me see what kind of delicacy you can make!”

“Such a big fish! Can I look at it?”

Qi Wen’s eyes widened and he walked over curiously, so the Dragon Son handed the fish over to him.

As soon as the fish landed in Qi Wen’s hand, the large bighead carp, which had previously been motionless like the dead, suddenly began to squirm vigorously, shaking Qi Wen around so much that he was almost unable to catch it. He did not care about getting his clothes dirty, so he hurriedly hit and held it tightly.

“Is this fish alive? How did you carry it up the mountain? It’s so heavy, Master, this fish must weigh more than 40 catties!”

Qi Wen spoke, the big fish squirming around in his arms, making an amusing scene. To be honest, if he had been an ordinary man, he would have been entirely unable to hold this fish as he did currently.

“Uh, don’t just stand outside, come in, come in quickly! With big fish, I will definitely cook a delicious meal tonight!”

As Qi Xuan greeted them, Ji Yuan extended his hand to the Old Dragon and invited them inside. They entered the Taoist temple together.

After briefly introducing themselves in the front hall and starting the tea service, Taoist Qingsong found an opportunity to invite Ji Yuan to the kitchen over to the side. He gazed at the two men in brocade robes sitting on the other end of the room. The old one had closed his eyes to rest, and the younger one was chatting with Qi Wen.

Qi Xuan asked Ji Yuan in a low voice.

“Mr. Ji, those two people’s faces make me confused. They are not ordinary people, right?”

“Oh, your old problem has come back again, hasn’t it?² Just treat them with thirty-percent reverence and seventy-percent calm.”

Ji Yuan smiled nonchalantly, and left without saying anything. As of now, he and the Ying family were truly quite close.

In the kitchen, the master and his disciple were busy large fish. At the small table they had moved out to the front of the main hall of the Taoist temple, Ji Yuan and the Old Dragon were chatting about the day’s events, as well as the rumors about Tianji Pavilion.

“Originally, I took the matter of Tianji Pavilion as a joke. I didn’t expect it to have attracted even a True Demon. I just think that he was even more unlucky to have run into Mr. Ji.”​

“Your joke isn’t funny. I can only hope there won’t be too many people who are up to no good. Mr. Ying also needs to take some action. You and I both live in Dazhen, after all.”

The Old Dragon sipped the Taoist Temple’s inferior tea and found it somewhat unfit for his taste.

“Of course. Those guys in Yuhuai Mountain are useless, but still, their reaction time is too slow.”

The Old Dragon’s long rant also reminded Ji Yuan that, although Dazhen was in a remote corner of the world in its position in the southern corner of the Eastern Cloud Continent, it harbored not only a True Dragon, but also Yuhuai Mountain.

“I don’t know what position Qiu Feng holds in Yuhuai Mountain, and I don’t know if the Wei family has gone up the mountain yet…”

Of the miscellaneous books that Ji Yuan currently owned, the vast majority of their authors were immortals. There were descriptions of famous mountains and immortal sects, but some things were kept secret, so he didn’t have that clear of an idea of the specifics inside each immortal sect.

At this thought, Ji Yuan took out the Wei family’s jade pendant. He felt its Qi, then briefly pinched his fingers to calculate a divination, taking advantage of the time he had spent reading about the meticulous suspending technique³ he had learned from a book borrowed from Taoist Qingsong.

Just like some of the strange abilities Ji Yuan had acquired before, his first attempt at fortune-telling was also quite “unorthodox,” but the effect was good. A certain enlightenment rose in his mind. He realized that the Wei family’s affairs had not been fully completed, and there would be a vague opportunity for them that would arise in about three years.

1. Lit: “neither fat nor thin”
2. His “old problem” being his inability to leave well enough alone when it comes to curiosity & fortune-telling
3. 精细 (jīngxì): fine/meticulous/careful, 挂 (guà): to hang/to suspend. I’d imagine it to be a little like a dowsing rod