Chapter 1625 - 596: Thread Named "Chaos of Loss" (Part 2)

Such a pity, such a pity,

"A calligraphy of such absolute perfection—if it is used for empowerment, then from now on Zhou Dan Zheng will never again be able to write such a piece, and Jing Country will no longer possess this calligraphy."

Yu Ruying’s will gathered upon the body of West Valley True Monarch, and she spoke with venomous resentment: "You, this one doctor of the human world, deserve death far more than the other doctors."

Yu Ruying had already chosen to trust Zhou Xuan,

and the one who trusted Zhou Xuan even more than she did was his elder sister, Zhou Lingyi.

Since Zhou Xuan had already said he would voluntarily shed the "Nuoshen’s Shadow," she simply followed through.

Even though she too could not guess what her younger brother intended.

"The Ping Shui Ten Directions Grass Gods, all return to the great mountain."

Zhou Lingyi shook the Cow Bell.

The Cow Bell rang out in a rapid peal, like the gong that sounds when troops are being withdrawn,

ding-dang, ding-dang,

and from within Zhou Xuan’s body, those Erlang’s infantry under the command of the Nuo God kept drilling their way out.

One after another, the Erlang’s infantry stepped with either eerie or upright, forceful strides, cheerfully filing into the great mountain,

and in this moment,

the Nuoxi of the Zhou Family’s Troupe in Ping Shui Prefecture, sung again after so many years, also sealed the stage and closed the performance.

...

In the Zhou Family’s Troupe, inside Jingyi Hall,

the play masters led by Yu Zhengyuan had all overexerted themselves from performing the Nu ritual for too long, their strength excessively drained,

once the "gods" within their bodies departed and their flesh returned to their own control, every single one of them, without exception, collapsed, limp, onto the ground, gasping in great heaves,

a few play masters simply fainted dead away on the spot,

inside the hall, there was still a main incense stick of strange origin, burning on and on.

The masters, apprentices, and kin of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, who had been crouching outside watching through the windows, all wanted, at the very first moment, to rush into Jingyi Hall to check whether those play masters were dead or alive.

Xu Li, as the senior sister-in-law of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, called out to halt them: "No one goes in— the main incense has not yet burned out. The Nuoxi has not truly stopped at this moment. If you barge in recklessly, you will offend the Erlang’s infantry."

With that shout from her, the crowd that had been thrown into chaos finally halted their steps and waited for the next instructions from the senior sister-in-law.

The more chaotic the moment, the more it needs someone who can hold the scene down,

Xu Li lay prone at the window, peering into the hall through the glass. Only when she saw that the main incense within the hall had its incense flame stilled, and the curling blue smoke had completely dispersed, did she wave her hand and say, "Go in. The Nuoxi has ended."

"Lao Bai, Lao Bai..."

"Master Li..."

The people of the Zhou Family’s Troupe swarmed into the hall in a rush. As they charged in, they called out the names of the play masters they were familiar with,

Xu Li also wanted to be the first to enter the hall, but she still held herself back,

she was the senior sister-in-law; with senior brother Yu Zhengyuan unconscious, and the junior brother, the Class Leader, absent, she unhesitatingly shouldered the burden of "looking after the troupe,"

and since she had to look after the troupe, she naturally had to let the kin, apprentices, and friends of the other masters go in first, and be the last one to enter herself.

She gazed at Yu Zhengyuan inside the hall, reached out to caress the window glass, as if stroking Yu Zhengyuan’s face, and sighed lamentingly,

"Lao Yu, you mustn’t let anything happen to you."

...

The Nuoshen’s Shadow had been voluntarily shed,

Zhou Xuan turned his head and asked Yun Ziliang: "Lao Yun, now that I’m without the Nuoshen’s Shadow, I’m just a Seven Incense Sticks in the Human World, and you’re a nine sticks of incense,

the two of us mortals going up against a Taoist Heavenly God who’s been famed for so long—are you afraid?"

"What would I, Lao Yun, be afraid of him for? At worst, I just die here on Lotus Mountain."

Yun Ziliang, with the look of one who had already put life and death aside, said, "These old bones of mine should have died three hundred years ago. To die again now is nothing—what is there to fear?"

"Good. To fight a Heavenly God, one must not be afraid."

Zhou Xuan’s folded fan slipped from his sleeve into his hand; he held the fan pointed toward West Valley True Monarch and said, "In today’s battle, I want every person in Jing Country to know—Heavenly Gods are nothing to be in awe of."

"Haha... hahaha... hahahahaha..."

West Valley True Monarch laughed, laughed with unrestrained abandon, even clutching his belly and bending at the waist, indicating that Zhou Xuan’s words were extremely funny.

"If you still had the Nuoshen’s Shadow, you might barely be fit to speak such wild words, but now you are nothing more than Seven Incense Sticks. These wild words sound like... like... like the funniest joke under Heaven."

West Valley True Monarch flicked his hand, and of the twenty-four Copper Coins at his side, twelve scattered and flew out, falling around Zhou Xuan and Yun Ziliang.

Then these twelve Copper Coins each emanated a purple mist, encircling out a small Heaven-and-Earth ten zhang on a side.

Purple Qi is the most auspicious aura of the Taoist sect,

West Valley True Monarch, as one of the Taoist Heavenly Gods, although he cannot, like the Tao Ancestor, cause Purple Qi Comes from the East for ninety thousand li, yet whenever he makes a move, Purple Qi coils around him.

Purple Qi is the Taoist Qi Gang; whoever enters the Purple Qi will suffer a ferocious assault of Qi Gang, like ten thousand swords piercing the heart.

Thus, this ring of Purple Qi became the prison cage for Zhou Xuan and Yun Ziliang.

West Valley True Monarch smiled with contempt and said, "Zhou Xuan, ever since you beheaded Mr. Yan of the Heavenly Dome and hung his maggot-ridden corpse up to ascend to the sky, I truly took note of you,

I also know that, boy, for all your prowess at killing, your greater strength lies in escape,

you have the Shifting Form and Shadow method, you carry Divine Armor at your side, your Divine Soul can also take a Day Trip, and you even possess the Turtle Breath Method, able to hide within the crevices of Heaven and Earth,

any one of these escape techniques would make this Daoist Monarch find you extremely troublesome."

With the composure of one who "holds certain victory in hand," West Valley True Monarch paced with Eight-direction Step, and as he walked, he tapped his own temple and said,

"So, from the moment I decided to look for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack and kill you, I have been thinking,

if one day I truly crossed blades with you, how should I restrain your methods of escape,