Lu Chen winced as his shoulder was slapped hard. “Sir, easy! You’re at what rank, and I’m at what rank? You’re about to rattle my bones apart!”
Yu Feng burst out laughing. “That was my oversight. So tell me, how did you capture him?”
“The Jiangdu City God lent a hand.”
“Oh?” Yu Feng didn’t seem surprised. “Then that counts as your merit too!”
He looked at Qiu Qianluo on the ground. “Did you get anything out of him?”
“This one’s tight-lipped. Didn’t reveal much. The most crucial piece of information is that he comes from Xiangnan, and he’s dead set on becoming a ghost immortal.”
“Xiangnan?” Yu Feng’s eyes sharpened. “Just as I thought! I suspected from the start that someone from Xiangnan might be behind this. That’s the only place that breeds this kind of foul sorcery!”
Lu Chen was curious. “Sir, what exactly is Xiangnan? What makes it so special?”
Yu Feng turned and gave him a deep look. He pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “Never mind. That place… don’t go poking around. Knowing too much won’t do you any good.”
Lu Chen was speechless.
Fine, keep your secrets. I’ll just ask Zeng Rou and Wang Zhidong later.
Yu Feng waved a hand, ordering the guards to haul the man away.
“Kid, you handled this beautifully! I thought you’d only provide leads, but you actually caught the man yourself! Rest assured, I keep my promises. This city lord never goes back on his word. Get yourself ready—you’re about to rise as a new elite. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Wait, sir. This isn’t over yet!”
Yu Feng paused. “The killer’s already been caught, hasn’t he?”
Lu Chen shook his head. “This one is a killer, yes, but only one of them. The other is still out there.”
“There are two killers!?”
“Correct!” Lu Chen explained as simply as he could. “Sir, you may not be deeply familiar with the ‘Five Hells Immortality’ method. The ghost immortal produced by this technique isn’t just one—it’s… two! This man is only one of them. The other is still in hiding. But here’s the thing—this man is an outsider, yet he knows the local area so well. Someone must be helping him from behind the scenes. So I suspect…”
He paused and glanced at the guards behind him.
Yu Feng caught on. “Don’t worry. These are all my personal guards. Speak freely.”
Lu Chen nodded. “Nine times out of ten, the other one… holds considerable influence in Jiangdu City!”
Yu Feng’s eyes narrowed. “You mean… one of the Four Great Families, or the Ten New Elites?”
Lu Chen shook his head. “I can’t be that certain. After all, Jiangdu has too many wealthy and powerful people. It’s not necessarily a new elite or one of the Four Great Families. However, I can say one thing for sure—the other culprit is either gravely ill or on the verge of death. Do you have any leads on that, sir?”
“Gravely ill… on the verge of death?”
Yu Feng frowned and muttered to himself. “The Four Great Families—Sun, Wu, Zhao, and Qin—I haven’t heard of any mishaps in those households.
As for the ten great families…
—The Fang family.
—The Liu family.
—The Peng family.
…
…
—The Ma family.
Even I can’t possibly know everything about them all.
How about I go investigate first?”
Lu Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter if we don’t investigate right now anyway.”
He checked the time. It was already past midnight.
“By tomorrow evening, I should know. Investigating now would only tip them off.”
“What do you mean by that?” Yu Feng was confused.
Lu Chen didn’t hide anything. He briefly recounted the afternoon’s worship of the Kitchen God.
“What!?” Yu Feng was stunned on the spot, eyes wide as saucers. He stared at Lu Chen strangely. “Worshipping the Kitchen God?! No—wait—kid, do you only worship obscure deities? You even worship this household god?”
“Sir, you can’t say that. The Kitchen God is just a bit overlooked these days. Back in the day, who’d dare call Him obscure? Your ancestors definitely worshipped the Kitchen God too!”
Yu Feng thought about it and had to agree. He gave a thumbs-up. “Say no more. You’re something else! I can see it now—worshipping obscure gods, you’re absolutely a professional!”
“You’ve got a good eye, sir!” Lu Chen grinned and returned the thumbs-up.
“But what’s this ‘ritual’ you mentioned earlier? I’ve never even heard of it.”
“That…” Lu Chen smiled and glossed over it. “It’s the whole ‘an immortal pats my head, and I’m granted eternal life’ kind of thing.”
To the gods, he claimed it was a family tradition.
To mortals, he claimed it was bestowed by immortals.
—Unverifiable!
—Completely unverifiable!
Yu Feng gave him a long look and sighed with admiration. “You, kid, are quite a character! Alright, I won’t pry further. What do you need me to do?”
Lu Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Nothing. I can handle it myself. Actually, if I had to ask for something—if my ritual happens to stir up some heavenly phenomena, I’d appreciate it if you could hold back the curious onlookers so they don’t disturb my altar.”
“Rest assured. With me here, no one will dare interfere.”
“Good, that’s all I need! I’ll leave this man in your hands.”
Yu Feng glanced at Qiu Qianluo and grinned viciously. “I’d like to see how long his mouth stays shut. Take him away!”
After seeing Yu Feng off, Lu Chen stretched his limbs.
“Alright, back to it.”
—Copying scriptures.
Still fucking copying scriptures!
…
The night deepened. Lights dimmed. Thin mist drifted through the streets.
City North, the Zhao family villa.
At this moment, the Zhao family’s young master—Zhao Wanliang—lay gloomily on the sofa.
He had long since dismissed his personal attendants.
The vast hall held only him.
A black jade talisman floated before him, its patterns eerie, ghostly light flowing across its surface.
“What is it?”
A low, wary voice came from the talisman.
Zhao Wanliang suddenly sat up and snapped coldly, “Where the hell were you? Why did it take you so long to respond?”
“It’s so late. What orders does Young Master Zhao have?”
Zhao Wanliang suppressed his irritation and lay back down. “I’m contacting you today to tell you something. Qiu Qianluo has been captured.”
“What!” The voice on the other end suddenly grew anxious. “What happened?”
“What’s the panic? You’re the head of the Ma family, for heaven’s sake. If you get rattled by every little thing, how will you ever accomplish anything big?”
The other party’s voice was clearly older than Zhao Wanliang’s, yet Zhao Wanliang spoke with the condescending tone of an elder reprimanding a junior.
He shifted to a more comfortable position and said casually, “I’ll tell you this much—Qiu Qianluo’s capture was within our plans. No need to be nervous. He won’t give you up.”
The talisman was silent for a moment, as if letting out a sigh of relief.
“But the Five Hells Immortality still lacks one human demon to be complete. Without that, how can we perform the ghost immortal technique? Does that mean… the young master wants me to do it myself?”
Zhao Wanliang sneered. “Stop obsessing over that half-finished Five Hells Immortality method. The ghost immortal produced by that technique not only carries extremely high risk—even if it succeeds, it’s nothing but the lowest grade of ghost immortal. If I weren’t keeping it as a backup, I wouldn’t even spare it a glance.”
“So the young master means…?”
“There’s a better method now. One that guarantees success in becoming a ghost immortal—and a high-grade one at that.”
“Is that true?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions.” Zhao Wanliang was impatient. “As long as you follow my instructions, not only can your old man become a ghost immortal, but you can become one too, if you’re willing.”
The talisman went silent again.
“Young master, just tell me directly. What do you need me to do?”
“That’s the right attitude.” Zhao Wanliang’s tone softened slightly. “What you need to do is simple. Tomorrow, go about your business as usual. But by evening… Yu Feng will likely bring the authorities to find you. When that happens, put up a brief resistance, then surrender.”
“Didn’t you say Qiu Qianluo won’t give me up?”
“It’s not Qiu Qianluo. It’s that kid named Lu Chen. Tomorrow, he’ll be worshipping the Kitchen God. When that happens, they’ll naturally learn about your meeting with Qiu Qianluo. You don’t need to panic—you won’t die anytime soon. And even if you do die… that’s a good thing. Death is rebirth! I can guarantee you this: once you settle this debt, the day you die is the day you become a high-grade ghost immortal.”
“Young master… that joke isn’t funny.”
“You think I’m joking?” Zhao Wanliang’s eyes turned cold. “I’ll be honest with you, Ma Shilong. Every trace of contact between us has always been erased with secret methods.
Even if the Kitchen God rewinds time, all He’ll see is your conversation with Qiu Qianluo.
If you want to sell me out… go ahead and try. Without ironclad evidence, I’m not afraid of you talking.
But the consequences—you’d better think those through carefully.
You should know what I’m capable of.
If you’re smart, do as I say.
I guarantee the Ma family a bright future.
And I guarantee you and your father… safe ascension to immortality!
I, Zhao Wanliang, always keep my word!”
The talisman was silent for a long time.
“Young master, this ‘we’ you speak of… who exactly is it?”
“That’s not for you to ask. The path is yours to choose.”
…
City North, the Ma family estate.
Inside an elegant chamber.
Ma Shilong stared at the jade talisman as it shattered and dissolved into nothingness, silent for a long, long time.
He took a deep breath and turned to look at the motionless Old Master Ma on the bed. He murmured softly:
“Father… have we truly chosen the right path…?”
…
Time flowed on. Two days later.
Cloud Top Villa.
Lu Chen stood before the Kitchen God’s statue, carefully explaining the [Consecration] ritual procedures.
“Kitchen God, the ceremony is roughly like this. Once the ritual begins, if I call Your honored name, please manifest and present the [Smoke and Fire Register].”
“Very well. We shall do as you say, little friend.”
With the instructions complete, the Kitchen God’s divine light faded.
Lu Chen reverently lifted the statue down with both hands and placed it into his ring.
Then he opened a nearby chest.
Inside were ritual implements, scriptures, and ceremonial robes—all complete.
Come to think of it, this Daoist robe had been specially tailored during his earlier trip to Longhu County. Lu Chen thought it was nice, so he brought it back.
“Sure enough, wearing these clothes puts my mind at ease.”
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
“I wonder when I’ll be able to advance to the green robe…”
In his past life’s Daoist tradition, the rank of one’s ritual robe could be advanced through the Register Conferral ceremony. After five conferrals, one could wear the purple robe and be honored with the title of Celestial Master.
But this world had no such thing as Register Conferral.
To advance, the only way was to reach the supreme, mysterious realm of Daoism: [Heaven-Man Resonance].
The Daoist classic “Essays on Register Conferral and Resonance” records:
—”The conferral of the register in Daoism is not merely a formal ceremony; it is the very essence of the covenant between Heaven and Man. In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor sought the Dao at Kongtong and received the register from Guangchengzi. He felt the pure qi of the nine heavens descend, and spiritual light coursed through his body. Thus it is known that the register is the carrier of Heaven’s mandates and Earth’s covenants, the bridge between man and god…”
Simply put: the so-called Register Conferral was never as simple as one person passing it to another. In essence, it is recognition and blessing bestowed by Heaven itself.
And the resonance between Heaven and Man cannot be triggered by talismans alone. The true foundation is the cultivator’s own virtue.
As long as one’s heart aligns with the Great Dao, Heaven will naturally resonate and connect with that person.
—This is [Register Conferral].
Of course, the higher the register’s rank, the deeper one’s [cultivation].
For the spell-casting lineage, a Celestial Master can wield divine and mysterious powers. For the internal alchemy lineage, one comes near to ascending as an immortal.
As for Lu Chen’s lineage—the Rites and Rituals lineage—they preside over grand ceremonies.
Such as the Great Rites of Luotian, Zhoutian, and Putian—these ceremonies can only be conducted by a Celestial Master. They can invoke the presence of all the sages, protect the altar, and bless all living beings.
Of course, Lu Chen currently had not a shred of [Heaven-Man Resonance].
He could only wear the yellow robe and perform ordinary rites.
He checked the time. Three hours remained until the auspicious hour.
Lu Chen organized his things and headed to Nanshan Community.
The mastermind behind all this would soon be revealed…
