Chapter 143: Secret Manual of the Martial Saint

Mo Shaiyu was the original body of the stone statue of the court lady, but the walking-yin woman transformed from the stone statue was no longer Mo Shaiyu.

The true Mo Shaiyu had died the moment she turned into stone.

The walking-yin woman was a newly sprouted sentience born after hundreds of years of worship by the cult's followers toward the stone statue. Although she retained a few memories from the time of her transformation into stone, she had nothing more to do with Mo Shaiyu.

The incense-fire vows and various distracting, negative emotions generated by the worship were all absorbed by the evil god. While this spared the walking-yin woman from being polluted and driven mad by the negative thoughts, it also stripped her of the opportunity to grow stronger.

That evil god permitted her existence solely to use her as a spare vessel for its descent into the mortal world.

Fang Yue withdrew from her memories, pondering in his heart how to deal with this walking-yin woman.

Maintaining this divine descent state consumed merit points and vow power at every single moment, so Fang Yue had merely skimmed through her memories to gain a general understanding.

The two points he focused on most were her relationship with the evil god and the origin of the ghostly entity.

"Since I have already reduced the walking-yin woman to this state, the offense is done. Moreover, she now knows my identity as a deity. Letting her go is out of the question; I must suppress her first."

Fang Yue made his decision instantly. Letting the walking-yin woman go would be far too dangerous for him. As for the evil god behind her, it posed no immediate threat to him as long as it could not descend.

Yet, he could not kill her either. Once killed, there would be no room left for maneuver.

From Magistrate Wen's memories, Fang Yue knew that the faction of evil gods seemed to harbor designs on this world. Once they descended upon the mortal realm on a large scale and threw the world into chaos, it would spell massive trouble.

"I casually took on a task, expecting merely a slightly formidable unorthodox practitioner, only to find an evil god lurking behind the scenes. Truly my bad luck.

Still, beings like evil gods were never on the same path as me; offending one or two makes no difference.

The most pressing matter now is to elevate my divine power to the level of a terrestrial immortal as soon as possible. Coupled with my divine domain, even if other evil gods or entities wish to make a move against me, they will have to pay a heavy price. Only thus can I ensure my own survival.

When that time comes, if the evil god behind Magistrate Wen and the one behind the walking-yin woman descend into the mortal realm, I will simply toss Magistrate Wen and the walking-yin woman back to them. Considering the cost of making a move, they will have no reason to fight me to the death."

As Fang Yue thought this, he unclasped the purple jade gourd from his waist, sucked the yin Qi radiating from the walking-yin woman into the gourd, and then drove his divine power to burst out from the gray-white wasteland.

A fragment of the netherworld like this could not trap him while he was in the state of divine descent.

The night was deep and pitch-black, the surroundings utterly tranquil save for the chirping of unknown insects in the grass by the roadside.

After emerging, Fang Yue had resumed his normal stature. As for the walking-yin woman, she was enveloped by divine power and taken to the Sea God Temple in Yutou Town to be suppressed.

"It's a pity I lack the strength to harvest this fragment of the netherworld; otherwise, it could have served as a material for constructing a divine domain."

Fang Yue shook his head, though he felt no profound regret. Since the walking-yin woman had entrenched herself within this netherworld fragment for so long, it was likely tainted by the evil god's imprint. Truly claiming and utilizing it would leave him uneasy.

...

Early the next morning, Qiaohou Village.

"My hand has returned to normal."

Village Chief Wen Dalong woke up from his sleep to suddenly find that his half-petrified palm had regained flesh and blood, free of numbness.

He immediately thought of Fang Yue, who had arrived the previous day, and hurried over to see him, only to find that Fang Yue had already left.

However, Jiang Fucheng, the bailiff staying next door to Fang Yue, was still there, though he seemed bewildered and utterly unaware of what had happened.

除了Wen Dalong, the other villagers in Qiaohou Village also woke up to find that the petrified parts of their bodies had returned to normal.

This left them—who had been panicked and despairing—overjoyed, some even weeping uncontrollably and kneeling on the ground, for they had narrowly escaped death.

However, not every household was filled with joy.

Those villagers who had completely turned into stone statues had their families discover that morning that they too had transformed from stone back into flesh and blood—only to find that they were already corpses.

...

Longchong Prefecture.

Fang Yue made a trip to the Longchong Prefecture branch of the White Cloud Palace and reported the Qiaohou Village walking-yin woman incident using the black jade slip there.

Naturally, the information reported was somewhat reserved.

"Leave the rest to the White Cloud Palace to handle."

Having finished reporting the matter of the Qiaohou Village walking-yin woman, Fang Yue casually used the black jade slip to check for other missions.

"Here in Longchong Prefecture, including the prefectural city and its subordinate counties, towns, and villages, there are only four unresolved incidents. Two of them have already been accepted by others, and they are mortal-rank tasks, so there's no need for me to take them.

The remaining one is an earth-rank task, which has also been accepted by someone, but the quota is not yet full, so I can take it as well.

Then there is a task of unknown rank with no takers yet; I'll take that one along as well."

Fang Yue accepted both the earth-rank task and the unknown-rank task within Longchong Prefecture. To be honest, he looked down somewhat on mortal-rank tasks.

Furthermore, barring any accidents, mortal-rank tasks posed no difficulty for those with the strength of congenital martial artists or foundation-establishment cultivators.

As long as someone took them, they could basically be completed.

Earth-rank tasks, on the other hand, usually involved ghosts or demons of a century's cultivation, equipped with bizarre and tricky abilities that made them much harder to deal with.

"Let's return to Fengyang Martial Arts Hall first. This trip to Qiaohou Village has yielded tens of thousands of merit points. I can upgrade some martial arts and techniques before setting out to complete the White Cloud Palace's tasks."

...

That earth-rank task had been accepted by someone else. Although Fang Yue had taken it too, he was in no rush to hurry over.

He decided to see if the previous taker could accomplish it first, resolving instead to return to Fengyang Martial Arts Hall, use his merit points to enhance his martial arts and techniques, and then set off to complete the unknown-rank task.

...

Fengyang Martial Arts Hall, inside Fang Yue's room.

"Junior Brother Fang, congratulations on becoming a patron of the White Cloud Palace."

Qiu Shiyan sat opposite him, a sincere smile gracing her face.

Although Fang Yue felt that becoming a patron of the White Cloud Palace was actually quite ordinary—since anyone who was a congenital martial artist or a foundation-establishment cultivator could become one, hardly worth celebrating—

seeing her genuinely overjoyed for his sake made it impossible not to feel a sense of pleasant warmth.

Therefore, a smile naturally bloomed on his face as well. "Has the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall been well during the few days I was away?"

"Same as always." Mentioning the martial arts hall caused the smile on Qiu Shiyan's face to recede slightly. " Aside from a newly opened Mingyang Martial Arts Hall right across our door, which is an eyesore, nothing much."

Fang Yue did not speak. Fengyang Martial Arts Hall was Qiu Shiyan's obsession, not his.

In his view, since the Five Wilds Sect had fallen out with Qiu Rubai and Qiu Shiyan had no major sect backing her, continuing to run this martial arts hall held little meaning.

Yet he understood Qiu Shiyan, so he would not try to persuade her otherwise; everyone had their own persistence.

Fang Yue had promised that upon entering the congenital realm, he would help hold down the fort at Fengyang Martial Arts Hall for a period of time, a promise he would not break. However, he harbored very little interest in the administrative affairs of the hall.

Having spent this period of time with Fang Yue, Qiu Shiyan had roughly grasped his personality. She knew that compared to running a hall and taking in disciples, Fang Yue was far more interested in enhancing his own strength—a trait very similar to her old man, Qiu Rubai.

"There is something, though I don't know if you heard about it on the road." Qiu Shiyan parted her cherry lips to speak.

"What is it?" Fang Yue asked curiously.

"The Martial Saint's manual has appeared."