Coincidentally, the worship ceremony came to an end. The statue glowed and a gentle looking lady, who was similar in appearance to the statue, appeared in midair with a benevolent look on her face.
The soft feminine voice was as though it resonated from the bottom of her heart, “I have been summoned by Qingxia Zhenren to protect and sustain the people of this land, to harmonize the Qi of the land and mountains, to provide good weather and a plentiful harvest of the five grains.” The crowd understood that they had been favored by fortune and the unseen, they proclaimed, “All hail the Goddess of the grains.” These people could not contain themselves when the Goddess made her presence known, even though it was shallow, drizzles of faith surged from them.
However, this little number of worshippers poured over her body like a hot spring water. The Goddess was of course the Yin spirit of the loquat tree. At that moment, she could clearly sense that her supposedly dispersing Yin spirit was slowly condensing, causing her to avoid the perils of her spirit disappearing.
Furthermore, she had gone through the shapeshifting and trials of the Divine Thunder. Originally, the essence of Yin spirit was Yin in nature, but she was also able to produce Yang essence within the Yin essence. The resolve of the worshippers invaded the spirit and combined with it, blending into it as one and shreds of divinity were formed.
From this moment on, she was no longer the uncultivated deity that was brought up by Shen Lian through deceit, but she had a tight bond with her follower. They were bonded together for good or ill.
At this interval, perhaps the goddess of grains was befitting for her. Suddenly, she sensed a door opening in midair and shreds of virtue Qi leaked out, landing on her body. “Undying Goddess of Grains”, these four words were deeply entrenched in her heart.
The Universal Qi of Virtue did not entirely landed on her. Some of it entered into Qi Sanguang’s body. Qi Sanguang who also sensed it was quite confused.
Some of it also went to Shen Lian. Shen Lian smiled simply and with a wave of his sleeves, the Qi disappeared.
_ _ _ _
The autumn wind blows drear and bleak, the monstrous billows surge up high.[1] Shen Lian was on the upstream of the Yushui River, the water rose and flooded. The red leaves by the banks of the river swirled in the air, it was mournful throughout.
He pressed the sandalwood sword in his hands, there were strands of the Universal Qi of Virtue flowing, as though the entire body of the sword was like a piece of warm topaz, it was somewhat transparent.
This Universal Qi of Virtue was also known as merits.
The heavens were absolute in justice and all fair in rewards and punishments. Shen Lian had set a goddess for Yuguan to harmonize the Qi of the land and mountain. Hence, this was why some of the Qi flowed into Shen Lian when the goddess appeared.
Even though Shen Lian knew about these merits, it was still his first time obtaining it. The Qi of Merit. It could be considered difficult. It could be considered easy. It was nothing more than to just submit to destiny and lead and participate in it personally.
But karma was inevitable when submitting to destiny. To be involved in it might not be entirely beneficial, one may also need to bear some consequences.
Shen Lian had established the Goddess of Grains, he would automatically get a small half of it if the merits descended. But later, with the Yang in the Yin of the Goddess, combined with the worships of the worshippers and divinity was formed, there was a difference with just establishing a deity.
The summoning talisman used by Shen Lian was like a medium, it introduced the loquat tree’s Yin spirit to the living Qi of the Yushui River. Because of the birth of divinity, and the pure heart and mind of the Yin spirit, it harmonized with the mountains and rivers. The two immediately clicked together and thus the Goddess became the Goddess to this area with the approval of the mountains and rivers.
Therefore, Shen Lian gotten a little more the the Qi of Virtue compared to Qi Sanguang, and will not have any bond of karma with the Goddess anymore. In the future, if the Goddess had any wrongdoings, it would not implicate him. As for why Qi Sanguang was able to obtain the Qi of Virtue, this was due to the approval of his identity as the temple attendant by the newly established Goddess, he became the bridge between the God and mortals.
Since Shen Lian had been able to take care of Daoist Sanwen’s descendant, saved the loquat tree from Mister Su’s home, and presented the other with good fortune, his wishes felt more fulfilled.
Somehow, he felt that after he did this good deed, it worked well for him to touch the Huandan state, but he also felt that he was still missing something. He could follow this feeling and forcefully have a breakthrough, but it also seemed like there would be flaws.
Shen Lian suppressed this urge and allowed his emotions to subside, he did not even used the merits to deepen his cultivation so he gave it to his wooden sword instead.
And thus it became to state that it was.
Shen Liam mumbled to himself, “It has been many years and yet I have not given you a name, how about I’ll just call you Xuande sword?” The meaning of Xuande was the hidden morality that was not outwardly shown, plus it was the ‘Xuan’ from ‘Qing Xuan’, combined with the ‘De’ of merits.
The Xuande sword heard this name and whispered in an ancient and low tone.
Shen Lian answered, “Even if you don’t like it, I’ll still call you this. After all, I am the master.” The autumn breeze brushed past his face. Shen Lian’s posture was relaxed and he was not sad, nor did he recalled emotions because of the bleak autumn scene.
Shen Lian felt that he could adapt to any kind of environment but he still ultimately like to be left alone, because he was not from this world. Even when he search for celestials and learn about Daoism, he still felt the distance between himself and this world.
This feeling did not decrease as his cultivation got deeper, when in fact it popped up from time to time.
It seemed that loneliness and solitude would make a person sad, but these emotions would not depress a person.
It was different than meditation or the silence between life and death. To best put it in word would be, ‘There was nothing in the beginning’.
Shen Lian trickled past the Yushui River. The rushing river tide did not affect him at all. He walked westwards and he did not know how long he walked. Shen Lian was still not entirely clear what kind of place would Temple of Killings be.
Without realizing, he had walked out of the Dazhou land and really reached the wasted Xi Huang.
The ‘waste’ did not mean that it was laid to waste but it was desolated and uninhabited.
Of course, how would that be the case when he heard someone belted out, “The king told me to patrol the mountains.[2]” Shen Lian was jarred by this unpleasant singing.
He did not reach an epiphany but it was just that his heart and soul were really at ease.
Of course, the owner of this voice did not seemed to let him off the hook just yet, “Oi, the young fellow in front, you better stay right there.”
To put it more accurately, the one singing was no human, but someone with the head of an animal and the body of a human.
It was a Water Deer Demon, his mana was shallow. The reason he was able to take human form was most likely him getting external help by other powerful demons.
The Water Deer sniffed from far away and came up holding a steel fork. He said, “What are you? There is no human scent on you but how do you look like a human?”
The demons of Xi Huang loved to eat humans. To be able to eat humans, they developed an ability. That ability was that whenever they wanted to eat humans, they would sniff from the top of the mountains and they could smell the human scent around tens of miles.
Shen Lian did not have any human scent.
Shen Lian had a pure fragrance of grass and tree on him. To the demons that were used to the bloody smell of meat and fish, it was not really a good taste.
There were bound to be demons who were vegetarians but this demon was an exception.
Shen Lian simply smiled, “I am a human.”
The Water Deer Demon shook his head and replied, “No, no. You do not have the human scent, how could you be human? Do not think of lying to me.” He then lifted his head and with an angry look, he followed, “I guess you are lying to me on purpose so that I would embarrass myself in front of the king. Because the king has allowed me to patrol the mountains, capture a human and make it into a dish for the newly arrived guest.”
Shen Lian suddenly thought of this sentence, “If this demon was going to die, it would be because of his stupidity.”
Translator’s note:
[1] 秋风萧瑟,洪波涌起 are verses from Cao Cao’s （曹操）‘The Sea’,”观沧海”.
[2] 大王叫我来巡山 is an actual song sang by Zhao Yingjun (赵英俊) for the movie ‘Surprise’”万万没想到:西游篇”.