Chapter Ninety-One: Mars Guards the Heart of Heaven

There was indeed a hidden mystery in this nameless stele.

Seeing that, I immediately pressed my entire right hand against it.

In an instant, it felt as though someone stood before me, palm joined to mine.

Purple clouds churned overhead, lightning flashed and thunder rolled, and the earth flickered in and out of sight.

Yet in that shifting light, I saw a shadowy figure emerge from within the stele. The moment it stepped out, the purple clouds pressed low and bolts of lightning plunged downward again and again, as if they meant to strike the stele itself. But at the last instant, each bolt veered aside and crashed into a nearby mountain hollow instead.

After the lightning and thunder came a deluge. The shadowy figure walked out of the nameless stele, came before me, and merged with my body.

Then, from the point where my palm met the stone, cracks began to appear.

I drew my hand back, and the fissures spread at once. In the blink of an eye, they had run through the entire stele. The next moment, it collapsed with a thunderous roar, crumbling into shattered rock that tumbled into the ravine below.

The purple clouds and torrential rain had come swiftly, and vanished just as fast.

After the stele fell, the dark clouds scattered and the rain ceased.

What had just happened seemed like nothing more than a dream. Though I had stood beneath the downpour, not a drop had touched my clothes.

I wondered: what, exactly, was the shadow that had entered my body?

On the way back from the rear mountain of White Bridge Town, Yinggou told me that back then, when the will of Heaven sent down a heavenly tribulation and destroyed my Ghost Way, thirty thousand believers were buried alive in the Forest of Returning Burial. Before that calamity, the Ghost Way’s leader had already calculated that this disaster would come. Yet the heavenly punishment was unavoidable, and the deaths of those thirty thousand followers could not be reversed. Thus, the Ghost Way’s leader had personally laid the Nine Dragons Suppression Evil Array, sealing the Corpse King Yinggou beneath the White River to conceal the heavenly secrets and preserve the bloodline of the Ghost Way corpse clan.

Before leaving, the leader had given an order: when the Nine Dragons Suppression Evil Array was broken, that would be the day of his return.

The Nine Dragons Suppression Evil Array beneath White Bridge Town had originally been set by the Ghost Way leader himself. No wonder that when my blood stained it, White Bridge collapsed and the formation was broken.

All of it seemed to have been within the Ghost Way leader’s calculations.

As if sensing something, Yinggou looked at me and suddenly asked, “Leader, your present life is very different from your former one!”

“How is it different?” I asked.

“There is actually a trace of heavenly aura upon you. Why is that?” Yinggou asked again.

“The aura of Heaven? What do you mean?” I asked.

Yinggou did not answer directly. Instead, he asked another question: “May I ask, Leader, who were your parents in this life?”

I had not expected him to ask that. I did not know, so I could only smile wryly and say, “To tell the truth, I have lived since childhood with my grandfather. As for who my parents are, I have never known.”

Later, when the Corpse King Yinggou and I returned to White Bridge Town and met the others, all except Daoist Li were stunned beyond measure.

So Daoist Li had indeed known about this.

Though others did not understand, I went forward and explained. However hard it was to believe, that was the truth.

As for the Corpse King Yinggou, he stepped before them, bowed slightly, and said, “I am Yinggou, Corpse King of the corpse clan, and I pay respects to you, fellow disciples and friends!”

The rest returned the salute. At that moment, Daoist Li seemed to sense something. He lifted his head and kept staring at the night sky.

I was about to ask what he had seen when Daoist Li spoke first, his voice trembling with excitement. “Just now, a strange omen appeared in the northern heavens, and purple clouds have formed. Now the stars show Mars guarding the Heart, the punishing star has descended, and it foretells a changing world, a turning of seas into mulberry fields and fields into seas. Lin Yi, could it be that you have already found your destined life-force?”

When Daoist Li asked that, I was still somewhat confused. But after thinking through what had happened beneath the nameless stele on the northern mountain, my mind suddenly cleared.

“That’s right!” I said.

“Good. Now that the punishing star has descended and the Ghost Way has emerged once more, the world has been given notice!” Daoist Li declared.

When the White Immortal Lady heard this, she too was greatly stirred and said, “The Ghost Way has reemerged; let it be proclaimed to the world!”

The three thousand Ghost Way believers under her command had gathered along both banks of the White River by then, and all shouted in unison, “The Ghost Way has reemerged; let it be proclaimed to the world!”

The corpse clan within the White River also surfaced one after another, making mournful sounds as though answering the proclamation.

Watching all this, an inexplicable sense of familiarity rose in my heart.

The next day, news of Mars guarding the Heart caused a great uproar in the Daoist world.

After observing the celestial signs, the major Daoist sects gathered their most capable members to deliberate over the matter.

Ever since long ago, it had been widely said among Daoists that the omen of Mars guarding the Heart presaged an age of great disorder. Once such a sign appeared, the legendary Ghost Way would surely return, and when that happened, both the Daoist world and the realms of yin and yang would be plunged into catastrophe.

The new chief disciple of the Heavenly Master of Mount Dragon-Tiger, Zhang Yu, had been entrusted by the Heavenly Master to travel among the great Daoist sects. He sought to form an alliance with the others and assemble a righteous army to crush the returning Ghost Way in its cradle.

Three days later.

Zhang Yu arrived at Mount Zhongnan, where together with Qi Yuanzhen, the chief disciple of the Orthodox Unity Sect, he calculated the grand fortune of the Daoist world. The omen was ominous.

Afterward, the two of them also divined the prospects of the Ghost Way. The hexagrams changed endlessly, auspicious and inauspicious signs tangled together, impossible to read. No hidden truth could be glimpsed. Yet the sign of the Ghost Way’s return was the appearance of its leader in the world. Thus, through the hexagrams, they deduced the name of the Ghost Way leader and were both greatly shocked.

Zhang Yu looked at the hexagrams, his brow faintly furrowed.

“So it really is him!”

The other Orthodox Unity disciples nearby asked who it was, and Qi Yuanzhen said, “The Ghost Way leader is the same man who, a few days ago, shattered Zhang Changlu’s primordial spirit with one punch. His name is Lin Yi!”

“What? It’s him!”

Zhang Yu and Qi Yuanzhen were the chief disciples of Mount Dragon-Tiger and the Orthodox Unity Sect respectively, and both had already cultivated a primordial spirit. However, like Zhang Changlu, they had only recently stumbled upon their opportunity, refining breath into spirit. Their power was no different from Zhang Changlu’s, and perhaps even slightly inferior.

With the might of Lin Yi’s single punch having already shattered Zhang Changlu’s primordial spirit, even if the two of them joined forces now, they could not say with confidence that they could contend with Lin Yi.

Just as the two of them were fretting in silence, someone came to report, “Senior Brothers, someone seeks an audience below the mountain gate!”

Zhang Yu and Qi Yuanzhen exchanged a glance, each puzzled. Qi Yuanzhen asked, “Who is it?”

“The chief of the Mount Mao Sect says he has urgent business to discuss with the two of you.”

“What? Why would the chief of Mount Mao come down personally to discuss matters?” Qi Yuanzhen could not understand. Among the Daoist sects, when outside matters were discussed, it was usually the chief disciple who handled such affairs. He had never heard of a sect chief personally visiting another school for consultation.

Still, since the chief of Mount Mao had come, they could not refuse him at the door. They had to receive him properly. Qi Yuanzhen said, “Very well. Since it is the chief of Mount Mao, invite him up at once!”

After a while, a one-armed man arrived.

When Zhang Yu and Qi Yuanzhen saw him, they were both taken aback. They had both visited Mount Mao before and had met its chief. The chief of Mount Mao was Mao Yi, Daoist name Xuanzhen, ninety years of age, and he was neither one-armed nor a middle-aged man such as this.

At that moment, the one-armed man introduced himself: “I am Ma Zhenlei, Daoist name Yunlei, the newly appointed chief of Mount Mao. I have urgent matters to discuss with the two fellow Daoists!”

As soon as those words were spoken, the entire room of Daoists began to murmur.

The Mount Mao Sect was one of the three great Daoist sects. The retirement of its chief and the succession of a new one was no small matter, yet Orthodox Unity and Mount Dragon-Tiger had heard nothing of it?

Then another man entered from outside. He was a Daoist responsible for relaying all the news to Orthodox Unity. He came to Qi Yuanzhen’s side and whispered, “Senior Brother, word has come from the Daoist world that something unusual has happened at Mount Mao. The Mount Mao chief has died under mysterious circumstances, and a lay disciple of Mount Mao named Ma Zhenlei has succeeded him as chief.”

“What? A lay disciple can inherit the position of chief?” Qi Yuanzhen asked.

The man nodded.

Qi Yuanzhen glanced at Ma Zhenlei and realized, to his surprise, that he truly was the new chief of Mount Mao.

Seeing this, Qi Yuanzhen immediately stood and bowed to Ma Zhenlei. “This poor Daoist had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. If I have offended you in courtesy, I beg your pardon, Chief Ma. Please, take the seat of honor!”

Ma Zhenlei smiled and said it was nothing, then sat down. Zhang Yu said, “I am Zhang Yu, chief disciple of Mount Dragon-Tiger. Greetings, Chief Ma. May I ask what brings you here?”

“I would not presume to offer instruction, but I believe all of you have already seen the celestial omen of Mars guarding the Heart. For our Daoist world, this is a disaster from nowhere. I have come precisely to discuss with your two sects how to destroy this Ghost Way in its infancy and avert this calamity,” Ma Zhenlei said, gently stroking his false beard, his tone seemingly modest.

“Great minds think alike. Chief Ma, to tell the truth, this poor Daoist and Daoist Zhang have been discussing precisely this matter,” Qi Yuanzhen said.

“Do you have any countermeasure?” Ma Zhenlei asked.

Zhang Yu and Qi Yuanzhen both shook their heads. Qi Yuanzhen said, “We never imagined that Lin Yi, who shattered another’s primordial spirit with one punch, would actually be the leader of the returning Ghost Way!”

At that, Ma Zhenlei let out a cold laugh. “The two of you should not be frightened merely because he shattered someone’s primordial spirit with one blow. The Ghost Way has only just emerged; its foundations are thin and its power weak. Lin Yi is not nearly as terrifying as you imagine. To tell the truth, a few days ago, this poor Daoist, lacking in ability, once killed him. It is only unfortunate that someone from the underworld helped him return to the world of the living, allowing him to escape calamity.”

“What? Chief Ma was actually able to kill Lin Yi?” Qi Yuanzhen asked in astonishment.

“Of course. However, as you can see, I was injured as well. If I were to face him again, I fear I would find it difficult to prevail. Still, you need not worry. I came here today because I have a brilliant scheme to discuss with the two of you. It will certainly allow us to slay Lin Yi and wipe out the Ghost Way!”

“What brilliant scheme? Speak quickly!” Qi Yuanzhen asked urgently.