Chapter 368: Chapter 257 Troubled Celestial Sect
Zhang Ze sat on the stone bed, looking at the man in front of him.
He was slightly shocked when he heard the man claim to be Li Yu.
Because the Wooden Fish Taoist’s name was also Li Yu.
Upon closer inspection, Zhang Ze found that the man’s eyebrows and eyes indeed bore some resemblance to that old lunatic, the Wooden Fish Taoist.
However, he appeared much younger, looking about thirty years old.
Yet, despite his youth, his complexion was much worse than that of the cult leader, Wooden Fish Taoist, resembling an older corporate slave who stayed up late and overworked.
One can only say that going mad and tormenting others might truly be good for one’s physical and mental health.
However, if Li Yu was truly the halved version of Wooden Fish Taoist, then were the remaining four hundred ninety-nine also split in half?
Just as Zhang Ze was preparing to conduct an intense interrogation of Li Yu, he heard a strange loud noise.
Something shattered.
In this secret realm, where nothing but humans could be destroyed, such a sound should not exist.
And the source of the noise was the priest’s hall.
A sound like a mountain collapse echoed through the space, as if something massive had fallen to the ground.
Then, after a moment of silence, heavy footsteps approached from a distance.
Zhang Ze gestured for the fallen Li Yu to keep silent, then took out the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror and captured him inside. After ensuring nothing went wrong, he also entered it himself.
Entwined by the Night Demon Emperor Armor, the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror floated quietly in the air, waiting for the sound to approach.
Soon, at the end of the corridor outside the little stone chamber, a massive stone eye appeared.
The roughly carved lines were clear to see, just like the large Mother Goddess statue embossed above the priest’s hall.
That thing, for some reason, had come alive.
The enormous Mother Goddess statue curled up in the bronchus-like corridor.
Sharing the indestructible nature with the walls, the path leading to the narrow stone room where the slaves lived became a genuine safe house.
The Mother Goddess statue strained to reach into the path but couldn’t do it.
Though its expression didn’t change,
Zhang Ze felt the sculpted face was filled with helplessness and irritation.
Like trying to reach a phone that fell between the bed slats but couldn’t, wanting to lift the bed but couldn’t move it, searching for a clothes hanger but couldn’t find it, just like a plump person.
The Mother Goddess statue grabbed for a while and finally chose to give up entirely.
It curled back up, hugging its knees, and just like the statue blocking the intestines, the wind sound hummed from both mouths.
With the wind sound, the Mother Goddess statue began to change; its color started turning red, flames ignited from within, and hot wind howled with a curious melody.
Soon, with the melody, a slave and a priest crawled out from the narrow corridors on either side.
Their eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar too.
After these two knelt before the Mother Goddess statue, it stretched its hand, grabbing them as if collecting figurines, then stuffed them into the two mouths.
The sound of crumbling soil echoed in the corridor, and this time no new clay figure appeared.
After ’consuming,’ the Mother Goddess statue returned to the curled position, hugging its knees.
Then...
It awkwardly retreated back to the priest’s hall.
It was too large to turn around.
Upon returning to the priest’s hall, it straightened up on the altar, as if time rewalled, bringing itself back to the wall with earth and stone.
Except for the slightly redder appearance because of the dying fire, it seemed as if nothing had happened.
All of this was witnessed by Zhang Ze and Li Yu hiding inside the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
"Have you seen such a scene before?" Zhang Ze turned to look at Li Yu and asked.
Li Yu shook his head.
"Then do you remember how you got here?"
This time Li Yu fell silent.
After quite some time, he softly spoke, as if a dreamy wandering soul.
"Originally, it should have been five hundred and one people, but one person didn’t come, he..." Li Yu took out a magical artifact with a black lens linked to a small handle from his bosom, "You’re not that person..."
Seeing Zhang Ze still wanting to ask more questions, Li Yu shook his head, parted his gray robe, revealing skin that turned to a dirt-like appearance, soon, a broken star disc emerged like a fresh sprout from the soil.
It was the Celestial Sect’s Star Disc.
...
Wind Chime City, under the night sky.
Chen Qianhu looked up at the stars in the sky, identifying the celestial Feng Shui.
This happens when you get old, you know a little about everything.
"Dad, can I ask you something?" Chen Qin, who was standing by the side, tugged at her father’s sleeve.
"You want to ask about the Celestial Sect’s path, right?" It seemed that Chen Qianhu already knew what his daughter wanted to ask.
"Yeah, I remember they said their cultivation wasn’t about Unity of Heaven and Man, why does that Sect Leader feel like..."
The junior sister didn’t know how to describe it, just felt it was quite something, including the seemingly normal Lu Ning.
Also felt quite something.
As for the reason, it’s probably a woman’s intuition.
Chen Qianhu sighed, "She’s not something, she’s just sick."
Chen Qianhu never minced his words when evaluating that old friend.
"The Celestial Sect has the longest history, also got entangled with the Demon and Barbarian Races deepest, after all, during the Primordial times, many things weren’t that clear-cut.
"The Barbarian Race worships the heavens, so do we humans, they revered those Innate Gods and Demons, and so did we.
"Those Innate Gods and Demons varied from good to bad...well this isn’t entirely accurate, since the evaluation of good and bad follows our standards after all.
"The most powerful ones are basically no different from wild beasts, yielding to their own instincts."
"The origins of the Celestial Sect’s path trace back to the Primordial times, a worship of an Innate God and Demon."
"That Innate God and Demon was known as the Great Mother Goddess or the Mother of Yin and Yang."
"Isn’t the Celestial Sect’s path very dangerous then!" Chen Qin exclaimed, feeling that this name did not sound like a good person.
"Not dangerous, using the words of that kid Zhang Ze, the current Celestial Sect has long since cut ties with the old Gods and Demons worship of righteousness." Chen Qianhu shook his head.
"The Celestial Sect seeks the way to the heavens, believing the path’s end is the Unity of Heaven and Man, but the heavens and earth are heartless, and in the end, people become heartless too. If people are replaced by the heavens, living like those Innate Demon Gods on instinct alone, then what’s the point of living."
"So..." Chen Qin asked.
"So, that’s the reason why the Celestial Sect people have wooden faces, due to the path’s influence.
"And to avoid being devoured by what is referred to as the heavens, they all seek an object of attachment, to affirm their own existence, to not lose their true self in the pursuit of the state of Unity of Heaven and Man."
Chen Qianhu sighed, "So the people of the Celestial Sect are somewhat paranoid. If you get entangled with a person from the Celestial Sect, it’s either a lifetime friend or a lifetime trouble."
Or form a lifetime band, or forever stalk you...
Chen Qin clapped her little hands, "I get it, Aunt Lu is your trouble, Dad."
Chen Qianhu looked speechlessly at the sky.
Indeed, Lu Yuzhou is his trouble, and because of cultivation, both of them would live for a very, very long time.
This life is indeed too long.
"That magical spell from Aunt Lu..." Chen Qin was referring to that soul-captivating spell.
"That, oh, that’s not from the Celestial Sect, that’s something she learned on her own back then to kidnap me."
Chen Qin glanced at her father, then quietly asked, "Does Mom know about this?"
"Yes."
Chen Qin secretly stuck out her tongue, stopped asking further, and instead hugged Zhang Ze’s Golden Core, finding a sheltered place to sit down.
She thought to herself, luckily, neither she nor her brother has any close ties with people from the Celestial Sect, which is very safe and won’t lead to trouble.
...
Inside the space of the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
Zhang Ze looked at the Star Disc on the ground, to be precise, half of the Star Disc.
He then glanced at Li Yu, who looked bewildered, feeling somewhat puzzled.
Li Yu’s issue is not urgent as he has been absorbed into the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror by Zhang Ze and cannot escape.
But Zhang Ze was very interested in this Star Disc, why this object would be inside Li Yu’s body.
However, just as Zhang Ze was about to pick up the Star Disc, a few words suddenly appeared on the ground next to the Star Disc.
[Don’t touch it]
It was a warning from the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
Simultaneously, the Star Disc flew up.
"I’m here, Great Mother Goddess, show yourself to me!"
A spell array like a sky of stars appeared above Zhang Ze, but before it could descend, it was blocked by the Profound Identification.
The ground beneath Li Yu’s feet suddenly became like water, he didn’t react before being placed into a separate space by the Profound Identification, while Zhang Ze raised a hammer to smash towards the Star Disc.
A hammer is still more handy.
This place is the inside of the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, and though the Star Disc seemed imposing, its strength was not commensurate with it.
Instead, it was pathetically weak.
Within a few strokes, it was subdued by Zhang Ze and the Profound Identification. They used the Immortal Binding Rope borrowed from Tang and forgotten to return, to bind this half-disc up.
However, it kept on shouting.
"I am a Sacred Artifact of the Royal Family! Crafted personally by the Sect Leader of the Celestial Sect! How dare you hit me! Even the Emperor of Dongqi never hit me!"
"Who are you, demon? Could you be the dog beneath the Great Mother Goddess’ loins!"
"And you, we are both Sacred Artifacts of the Royal Family, why do you collude with the villain! Come, serve in the Purification Room!"
Zhang Ze squatted to the side, his head buzzing.
He finally understood the benefit of having a mute Artifact Spirit.
This thing had no mouth, when it got boisterous, there was no place even to plug its mouth.
"You..." Zhang Ze wanted to speak, but after opening his mouth several times, couldn’t find a gap to interject, helplessly he could only swing the hammer in his hand down again.
It’s unclear if the half Star Disc was too old, or Zhang Ze’s strength too great, but a piece of it chipped off from his blow.
A gemstone fell out of the groove, causing ripples in the dark space.
The half Star Disc finally quieted down.
"Shut up, if you speak again, I’ll knock all these beads off you. Now it’s my turn to ask questions."
Zhang Ze took out a small stool, holding a hammer in one hand and tugging on the Immortal Binding Lock in the other, glaring at the half Star Disc as if interrogating a prisoner.
"Now, I ask, you answer."
"Ask away, ha, you pitiful..."
Before the half Star Disc could finish, Zhang Ze’s hammer came down beside it.
The Profound Identification Treasure Mirror also chimed in with a strike of lightning.
"What is this place, and what exactly are you?"
This time, under the threat of Zhang Ze and the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, the half-disc finally softened.
"You ask as if you don’t know, this is the Innate Tao Embryo of the Great Mother Goddess, we are inside this Tao Embryo."
"Hmm, got it. Then the second question, who are you?"
"I am the Jade Book Tower." The half-disc whined.
"Huh?"
Zhang Ze thought he had misheard.