A Madman

He Zhuoming suddenly understood: "Ah! So that's when the Corrupted Deity gets its chance!"

Xu Feixian: "Mm, exactly. Did you just make a wish?"

He Zhuoming, still thinking about the Corrupted Deity and Lin Qingyun, answered distractedly: "I did... Am I allowed to say that?"

Xu Feixian shook her head: "Don't say it. If your wish comes true, just remember to come back and fulfill your vow."

The two walked down the steps side by side. Xu Feixian suddenly stopped at the temple gate and said solemnly, "What I told you before—think it over again."

He Zhuoming was taken aback: "...What?"

Xu Feixian: "About switching sects."

She looked around cautiously; no one was nearby. This was the temporary temple of the Dao Lord of the Two Principles. In the courtyard pond, only lotus flowers grew. The tree hung with red cloth strips wasn't a crabapple tree, but a very tall camphor tree.

Not only was there no crabapple tree in the courtyard, but even on the top of the courtyard wall, there wasn't a trace of a crabapple tree.

Even so, Xu Feixian carefully walked back up the temple steps, making sure she was completely within the temple grounds before speaking: "I'm only advising you this because you treated me to a meal—how much do you really know about the Pear Garden and the Earth Immortal?"

He Zhuoming: "I know the Earth Immortal is one of the nine True Deities, and the Pear Garden is the sect he protects."

Xu Feixian: "Did you know that the Pear Garden Earth Immortal didn't used to be called the Pear Garden Earth Immortal, and the sect he protected wasn't the Pear Garden?"

Her expression was serious, as if she was about to share a major piece of news.

He Zhuoming hesitated for a moment, then said, "I've heard a little... It seems his previous incarnation was called the Guye Immortal, and later he borrowed a corpse to return to life—can I describe it that way?"

Xu Feixian: "That's all?"

He Zhuoming nodded: "That's all."

Xu Feixian let out a long breath. "I knew it. You really have no common sense at all, and you have no idea how terrifying the Earth Immortal is."

"The greatest difference between a True Deity and a Corrupted Deity isn't the gap in their power, but their ability to control karma. A Corrupted Deity can't control karma, so making a wish to a Corrupted Deity carries great risk. Sometimes you might just wish for a full meal, and the way the Corrupted Deity grants it is by having you inexplicably captured and beheaded—but before the beheading, you get to eat a hearty last meal."

"Even the example I just gave is the best possible outcome for a Corrupted Deity strong enough to intervene in karma to some extent, because in that case, there's at least a causal relationship between the wish and the price paid. But most Corrupted Deities can't even do that. They can grant their worshippers' wishes, but the price that follows is completely illogical. Maybe death, maybe becoming a monster worse than death."

"The backlash of karma doesn't just affect the worshipper; it also affects the Corrupted Deity. The stronger the karma, the greater the impact on the Corrupted Deity. Many powerful Corrupted Deities, having absorbed too much karma, have their souls become disordered—to put it simply, they go mad."

"Think about how terrifying a madman with immense power would be."

Listening to Xu Feixian's words, He Zhuoming couldn't help but shiver.

She thought of the Corrupted Deity in the mountain village, and the villagers who had been so influenced by the Corrupted Deity that they had become completely inhuman.

Xu Feixian said seriously, "True Deities have the ability to regulate karma. They assess the worshipper's wish, adjust the karma to a range both they and the worshipper can bear, and then grant the wish."

"For example, the Two Principles Dao Lord's protection talisman. If worn by someone with a minor illness, the illness will soon heal. If worn by someone seriously ill, the illness will be moderately alleviated. But if someone has a terminal illness, even carrying the talisman won't improve their condition, because a dying person can't bear the karma of defying fate. If they were forced to recover, the karma would spread to all their connections and bring disaster to nine generations."

"As for the Pear Garden Earth Immortal—when he was still the Guye Immortal, he was indeed a qualified True Deity. He protected the Xia Kingdom and its vassals, and the wishes he granted and blessings he bestowed were all within the limits his worshippers could bear."

"I don't know why the Guye Immortal, as a True Deity, declined to the point of needing to borrow a body to return to life... But I do know that after he succeeded, he abandoned the sect he originally protected, and even his former attendant deities disappeared without a trace."

"The abandoned sect quickly declined and was carved up by the original vassal sects. The Pear Garden, as the new True Deity's favored land, gained the most benefits. Meanwhile, more and more examples of successful wishes to the Pear Garden Earth Immortal emerged, and in most of these cases, the worshippers bore karma far beyond their own capacity."

"Karma is completely controllable for a True Deity, which means the Pear Garden Earth Immortal deliberately amplified the karma—True Deities can regulate karma, but they can't bear it without limit. It's only a matter of time before he's corroded into a madman and falls into a Corrupted Deity."

"Even the imperial family of the Xia Kingdom wants to run away and cut ties with him. But the Xia Kingdom is too deeply bound to the Pear Garden Earth Immortal—whether they cut ties or not, they're doomed. They've simply given up and are lying flat now. But if you're just a Pear Garden disciple who hasn't made a wish to the Earth Immortal yet, leaving the Pear Garden is your best choice, and the Earth Immortal won't even notice."

Xu Feixian's reasoning was completely sound.

Even though anyone with discernment could see that the Earth Immortal's condition was extremely dangerous and he had a high chance of falling into a Corrupted Deity, the Earth Immortal was also much more generous in granting wishes than other True Deities!

Gamblers harbored the mentality: As for the price—we'll worry about that when we actually have to pay—and still chose to join the Pear Garden.

Others held another kind of fluke mentality, thinking that a True Deity's ability to bear karma must be stronger than other things. Sure, the Earth Immortal was a bit unstable now, but maybe he could hold on for another thousand years before going mad? Anyway, by then they'd be dead, so the Earth Immortal could go mad all he wanted.

Aside from the above two types, there were also those desperate outcasts, people pushed to the brink by the mortal world. When they saw the Pear Garden's open gates, they would crawl in to serve, even if behind the door was not a True Deity who might go mad but hadn't yet, but a Corrupted Deity who had already gone mad.

So, in summary, even veteran cultivators with some experience knew the Earth Immortal had problems, but the Pear Garden still had many disciples, and the Divine Palace never lacked attendants who had offered up their souls.

And from Xu Feixian's observation over the past two days, He Zhuoming idled about all day, knew few Pear Garden disciples, and just mooched off the Divine Palace—she couldn't possibly hold an important position.

The Earth Immortal residing deep in the Divine Palace wouldn't even notice such a person existed in his territory, and wouldn't pursue her if she ran away.

What Xu Feixian didn't know was that He Zhuoming could freeload in the Divine Palace because she had already become good friends with that terrifying, high-risk-of-falling Earth Immortal—of course, He Zhuoming didn't know that either.

Suddenly hitting with too much information, He Zhuoming felt her brain couldn't keep up. She walked back to her lodging in a daze, sat by the window, and stared blankly at the flute in her hand.

The matter of meeting another Lin Qingyun today had been completely crushed into a thin sheet of paper by Xu Feixian's information-packed words, forgotten in some corner of He Zhuoming's mind.

Her mind was full of the terror of the Pear Garden Earth Immortal, and then she thought: maybe the person she met in Wen County wasn't the real villain? After all, that guy who only used underhanded tricks didn't seem to have any capital to sit at a gambling table.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence of names.

Maybe the Earth Immortal would soon go mad, and then pretend he hadn't gone mad and start doing evil—right! Isn't Lin Qingyun working as that, what, blessing sushi... no, priest.

Blessing Priest.

Could it be that because he was that Blessing Priest, he was targeted by the villain and relentlessly harmed?!

He Zhuoming was lost in thought. When the white-clothed girl came to deliver her dinner, she looked at the stranger's smiling face, thought of the dangerous Earth Immortal, and gathered her courage to ask: "Sister, can you let Li Shui continue delivering my meals? I've gotten used to her over the past two days."

She wanted to test something.

The white-clothed girl neither nodded nor shook her head, just kept a faint smile and gazed at He Zhuoming.

Previously, He Zhuoming had only thought her smile was gentle and kind—the young women in white in the Pear Garden all seemed to wear such smiles, from the curve of their eyes to the angle of their lips, so similar they seemed copy-pasted.

Now she found that silent, smiling face terrifying. Her heart pounded with anxiety as she ate three bowls of rice, barely touching the dishes, and quickly handed the bowls and chopsticks to the white-clothed girl.

Holding her breath until the other left the room, He Zhuoming immediately jumped up to pack her things, shoving all kinds of items clattering into her schoolbag. She hugged the bag, face full of worry, wanting to sigh and cry at the same time.

Because He Zhuoming remembered two things: Lin Qingyun, that idiot, was happily preparing to be a sushi... priest!

And Xu Feixian had said the Divine Palace didn't allow free entry and exit; disciples of other sects could only buy food within the Pear Garden, let alone her and Lin Qingyun.

She didn't know if Lin Qingyun knew about the Earth Immortal's current condition. If she urged him to leave with her, would he be willing?

Although she considered Lin Qingyun a good friend, and he had said she was his only friend, He Zhuoming still wasn't sure.

She didn't know how deep his feelings for the Pear Garden were...

He Zhuoming tried to recall: When Lin Qingyun was in Wen County, he didn't seem to respect the Earth Immortal much.

But he was willing to stay in that white room without eating, drinking, or sleeping for a full fifteen days just to become a Blessing Priest in the Divine Palace! That... that should count as having feelings, right?

On the other hand, Lin Qingyun's blindness also seemed to have started after he voluntarily stayed in that white house—could this be, what, the price of a wish?!

The more she thought, the less certain she felt. Worried she couldn't convince Lin Qingyun, her mind was in a turmoil, and she spent the whole night thinking about it without falling asleep.

The candle in the room burned from night to dawn, wax dripping down the unburned body.

A drop of wax fell on Tang Shuyu's fingertip.

He sat quietly, head bowed low. The shadow cast by his short bangs reached the middle of his nose bridge, obscuring a third of his upper face in shadow.

He wasn't smiling; his lips were pulled straight—because there was nothing to smile about.

Xiao He hadn't come to see him last night.

Yes, true, he hadn't required He Zhuoming to visit him every night, and she hadn't promised to come every night, but why hadn't she come last night?

She had happily gone to play with her new friend after breakfast, watched her new friend fight in the arena, played the flute for her new friend, and gone out to eat with her new friend—they even entered the Two Principles' temporary temple.

That doghouse-like structure, growing nothing but hypocritical white lotuses, hung with the Two Principles' cheap and infinitely proliferating talismans... Lin Qingyun couldn't perceive what happened inside another True Deity's temple.

He only felt that after coming out, He Zhuoming had become somewhat taciturn, her steps not as light as before. At dinner, she had asked about the previous attendant.

Was she unhappy because she couldn't see that attendant? But Xiao He hadn't come to see him today either...

Xiao He, Xiao He, why can't you put yourself in my shoes?

Or do you prefer your new friend?

Talk, talk, talk.

So many words.

Only eleven days left, why won't you come talk to me?

Hate Xiao He.

Your legs aren't broken, so why don't you come?

Your tongue is still in your mouth, so why don't you come speak to me?

Hate Xiao He, hate Xiao He, hate Xiao He, hate Xiao He.

Tang Shuyu's fingertips gradually pressed into the candle due to excessive force. The burning flame suddenly burst into a sharp, wailing cry—a miserable ghostly keen echoed in the room. The green smoke from the candle formed an illusion of a burning hell in midair, where many twisted souls struggled and writhed.

He lifted his face, the shadows of the smoke playing across the white silk covering his eyes.

His voice remained soft and gentle: "What are you screaming about? You can still talk to each other; I haven't sewn your mouths shut. What's there to scream about? A pack of ungrateful ingrates."

The ghostly cries immediately quieted down, turning into pitiful sobs and whimpers.

Even so, Tang Shuyu was still displeased.

He coldly scolded the ghosts: "Crying so quietly, haven't you eaten? If you want me to cut you open and stuff something into your guts, just say so."

When he spoke interrogative particles, his tone remained declarative, with that soft voice, giving off an indescribable eeriness.

The ghosts immediately dared not even sniffle, huddling together to silently endure the burning, not daring to look back at Tang Shuyu's expressionless face.

He wasn't even smiling—it seemed Tang Shuyu was in a very bad mood today.

They fell silent, but Tang Shuyu smiled slightly: "Why aren't you making a sound? Do you have a problem with me? It seems you do."

The ghosts now dared not make a sound, yet feared silence—and Tang Shuyu's freshly curved smile quickly fell. He realized he could no longer derive any pleasure from tormenting these ghosts. The irritation and emptiness in his heart persisted, not improved in the slightest by their misfortune.

He was still bothered by why He Zhuoming hadn't come.

Tang Shuyu tossed the candle aside and stood up abruptly.

He took a step toward the exit of the pure white room, the thought of leaving just arising in his mind.

The pure white room instantly turned crimson. From all four walls, the floor, and the ceiling, countless red threads extended. These threads bound densely around Lin Qingyun, almost engulfing him and the room.

Tang Shuyu only took that one step. The red threads were pulled by him, twitching and writhing like the cross-section of fine, lively red flesh.

The wooden puppet's body was cracked by the red threads. If he continued forward, he would likely die.

He stopped, silent for a long time, slowly suppressing the thought of leaving in his mind.

As that thought gradually faded, the red threads binding Tang Shuyu also vanished. The room returned to pure white, as if the overwhelming red had never appeared.

He lowered his head, sat back down on the ground, and picked up the candle.

Tang Shuyu took out a box of needle and thread from his sleeve and began to sew the mouths of the ghosts in the prison shut.

He muttered to himself: "Better to do something than sit idle. I always need to find myself something to do."

"I can't stay so downcast! I need to find something to do!" He Zhuoming slammed the table and stood up, deciding to go see Lin Qingyun first.