Chapter 113

Lin Yu was unconcerned. "Is that not allowed? If they're all dead, that's perfect."

"Once everyone is dead, won't I, as the Divine Maiden, be able to leave the Heaven's Mandate Tower with complete justification?" she retorted. "Wouldn't you say? I'm not about to stick around a pile of corpses."

Right—according to their original plan, Lin Jiyue was to kill Lin Yu, take her place as the Divine Maiden of the Heaven's Mandate Tower, become the one everyone looked up to, deceive the Myriad Spirits Sword, and make it acknowledge her as its master.

Everything they had done so far was proceeding smoothly according to plan, with one exception that neither of them had initially realized.

That was: after Lin Jiyue became the Divine Maiden, how was she supposed to leave the Heaven's Mandate Tower?

Forget the Xianzun's death for now—the Heaven's Mandate Tower still had dozens of elders, and they would not allow the Divine Maiden to stay away for long. If Lin Jiyue simply left, they would certainly come looking for her and interrogate her sternly.

The Divine Maiden was the lifeblood of the Heaven's Mandate Tower, the next mortal to ascend. She carried not only the tower's hopes and the faith of believers, but also countless unseen eyes.

Everyone was watching her.

The Moon God had initially only thought that the Divine Maiden was the focus of everyone's hopes, believing that as long as Lin Jiyue successfully replaced her, they would have a chance to obtain the Myriad Spirits Sword, so he had agreed without hesitation.

But he had forgotten the intricate web of interpersonal relationships behind it all.

Their journey would take at least half a year. The Moon God pondered this, then hesitated. "Killing them all is a bit too ruthless... Do we really need to go that far?"

"Since when did you grow a conscience?" Lin Yu laughed.

The Moon God seemed to have forgotten where he came from, but Lin Yu remembered clearly: the two hundred thousand people of Liangcheng had become stepping stones for the Moon God and Crimson God's ascension, swallowed into the earth without a trace. Now he was putting on a hypocritical show of mercy.

Who was truly ruthless? Who had gone too far?

The Moon God said, "The Heaven's Mandate Tower exists for the Nine Heavens, after all. If they all die, who will deliver divine oracles, build temples, or hold sacrifices in the future? As a mortal, you don't understand the importance of the Heaven's Mandate Tower to the gods. They are the ones who speak for the gods, the sharp tools that maintain the gods' presence in the mortal world."

"Don't forget, the world is full of believers. The Heaven's Mandate Tower cannot disappear."

Lin Yu had no interest in listening to his lecture, finding it annoying. She nodded casually. "Yes, yes, the Moon God is so compassionate, unable to bear seeing the people of the Heaven's Mandate Tower suffer. Truly a living Buddha."

The Moon God's gaze swept over Lin Yu, obvious displeasure in his eyes. He hated being belittled and mocked like this.

If anyone else had said this, they would probably have been struck to ashes by now. But the speaker was Lin Jiyue, the notorious god-killer known throughout the Nine Heavens. He still needed her, so he couldn't lay a hand on her.

The Moon God's emotions were too easy to read. Lin Yu could tell he was upset, so she stopped while she was ahead; she didn't plan to provoke him further, since they still had to work together.

"I have a way to leave the Heaven's Mandate Tower smoothly, and the Xianzun's death won't be investigated."

"Let's hear it."

"Let the Divine Maiden die again."

The Moon God looked at Lin Yu. "Die again? How? You're mortal, not a god. When a mortal dies, they're truly dead. By then, even your soul will be impossible to retrieve. If you're looking for death, I won't stop you, but you can't die now."

"I mean, set a fire here and burn it all down, so that the Xianzun and the Divine Maiden die together in the flames. I'll fake my death and escape. The north is too far away, with few cultivators there, and gods never set foot in that region, so news travels slowly."

"It'll take at least two months for news of the Xianzun and Divine Maiden dying in the fire to reach the north."

Lin Yu gazed at the moonlight outside the window. "And in those two months, I can use the Divine Maiden's name to win people over and rally believers without any suspicion, as long as the news hasn't spread yet."

Two unexpected events had occurred tonight. Lin Yu had originally only planned to fake her death and flee the Heaven's Mandate Tower before the Xianzun returned, then head north.

As luck would have it, the Xianzun had returned early and was even waiting for her in Bushou Hall.

After personally killing that enemy, the Xianzun, her second enemy had also shown up at Bushou Hall for some inexplicable reason.

Since he was already here, why not take advantage of it? It would be a waste not to.

The Moon God's eyes lit up. Yes, they only needed to speed up their plan and complete it within two or three months—surely no one would notice. Once the Myriad Spirits Sword acknowledged a master, there would be no turning back.

Then the Crimson God and the God of War would be in imminent danger.

As for the Heaven's Mandate Tower, they were the most self-interested. Once the Xianzun and the Divine Maiden died, as long as the murderer couldn't be found, they would certainly keep it quiet to save face. Then they would choose a new Xianzun and Divine Maiden. Within a year at most, the tower would recover its former vitality, and no one would remember the two who died on a certain night.

In the future, the Heaven's Mandate Tower would still defer to the gods, causing no trouble to the Nine Heavens.

Seeing that the Moon God had agreed, Lin Yu said, "Then I'll leave it to you to clean up here, Lord Moon God. We'll meet at the Snow Mountain of the Resting God in half a month."

Without waiting for his reply, Lin Yu left, abandoning the mess behind her. She had only walked a few steps when she heard the Moon God respond, "Understood."

Exiting Bushou Hall, with the mess taken care of by someone else, Lin Yu felt considerably lighter. Though seeing the Moon God had disgusted her, he would likely handle the scene well—at least cleaner than she could have. Not a bad trade.

By now, the moon was setting in the west. A pale light appeared on the horizon, clouds stretched across the entire sky in unbroken layers, and the air was thick with misty dampness. The world had been washed by the spring rain, leaving the mountainside scenery bright and spotless.

Lin Yu breathed in the unique scent after rain, and she thought she caught the fragrance of magnolias.

Spring had arrived.

But with clouds stretching thousands of miles, today looked like another overcast day.

...

Back in her familiar courtyard, Lin Yu spotted a splash of bright color the moment she entered—a red string tied around a peach tree branch.

The red string was wound in circles around a newly sprouted branch, now wet and drooping from the rain. At its end hung the most common type of prayer charm.

The charm fluttered in the wind, knocking loose a drop of water that fell onto the peach leaves with a patter, like another tiny rain shower. The branch was not high; Lin Yu could touch it if she reached up.

The back of the charm had no writing—she'd seen that from afar. Now, as she turned it over, it was still blank. An empty charm.

"You're back!" Chen Lu ran out from the courtyard and threw her arms around Lin Yu's legs. "Where did you go again? We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"We?" Lin Yu caught Chen Lu, worried the girl might slip on the rainy path. "Who else?"

"And Sister Zhang," Chen Lu said, tilting her head up. "She arrived before dawn, looking very urgent."

Zhang Yulin?

Since the new year, Zhang Yulin had gone on another long trip, mostly running around with her divine beasts, her whereabouts uncertain. Lin Yu hadn't seen her for nearly a month.

The last time she'd left, she said she was going to inspect the southeast. She'd returned surprisingly quickly.

Of course, Lin Yu hadn't told Zhang Yulin about her own departure either.

Lin Yu patted Chen Lu's shoulder. "Alright, I'll go see her. You go play outside for now."

Chen Lu hummed in acknowledgment and ran off. Though she could be playful at times, she was always clever and good at reading situations; she never disturbed Lin Yu when she had things to do.

As Chen Lu ran out a few steps and Lin Yu headed toward the house, Chen Lu seemed to catch sight of the red-stringed peach branch and suddenly turned back to call out, "Oh, right!"

"After you left last night, His Majesty came by."

Lin Yu stopped, turning to look at Chen Lu. Chen Lu stamped her foot and said, "He stood right here tying this red string, and hung a prayer charm."

Chen Lu stood beneath the peach tree. "He stood here for a long time, staring at the unopened buds, and in the end never wrote his wish. He didn't look happy."

Lin Yu smiled, saying nothing more. "Got it."

Chen Lu didn't press further and skipped out of the courtyard, splashing through puddles and sending water flying.

Lin Yu turned back for one last look at the red string swaying in the wind. From Chen Lu's brief description, she could almost see the man standing under the tree, earnestly hanging the charm. She smiled, then walked inside.

As soon as she entered, Zhang Yulin pulled her to sit down, looking mysterious. "Do you know where I've been all these days?"

Lin Yu thought for a moment, then shook her head—Zhang Yulin's whereabouts were always unpredictable; she really couldn't guess. "No, where did you go?"

"I was headed to the Cang region. It's pretty desolate there, no sign of people for dozens of li outside the city. But just as I arrived, I ran into officials pressing men into service. They called it conscription, but really they were just rounding people up to throw into battle—to be cannon fodder."

Lin Yu frowned. "The Cang region is in the southeast. What war is going on there? Why conscript in Cang?"

The southeast was far from the northern battlefields—a thousand li apart, practically in opposite directions. Conscription usually drew from the nearest areas; they shouldn't be grabbing people all the way in Cang...

If things were truly so desperate that they needed to drag men across a thousand li to fight, the imperial court would certainly have known. But the capitol had heard no wind of it, and Fu Ming had never mentioned it either.

Those officials had plenty of free time to gossip about the Divine Maiden and the Emperor—they showed no signs of an impending war.

Zhang Yulin glanced around, confirming there was no one else in sight except a white cat napping nearby. She lowered her voice. "I couldn't figure it out either. Those officials were fierce and menacing. I tried bribing them with money and treasure, but they wouldn't take it. I couldn't get any information out of them."

"So I had no choice but to take a shortcut to Cencheng to see what was going on there."

Cencheng lay at the very border of the Yu Kingdom. Seven or eight years ago, Lin Yu had heard people mention it—a desolate city where all the inhabitants had died long ago, leaving it masterless.

But the border was vital to a nation; without holding the frontier, there was no homeland, no peace. So many cultivators had joined forces to lay a death formation over Cencheng, cutting off armies from neighboring kingdoms, thereby guarding the Yu Kingdom's border.

Living people couldn't get near that death formation. It was said to be extremely powerful—anyone who approached died. The enemy forces had besieged Cencheng for only a month before giving up on that hard nut to crack, never attempting to break through again.

In the years that followed, the formation had weakened with age, no longer devouring souls or making approach so deadly. So many refugees from the border regions had drifted there and settled in Cencheng.

Because the formation remained, enemies didn't attack Cencheng, and it gradually became the most stable city along the border.

Because the formation was there, Cencheng had no external threats, but also because of it, people living there didn't live long.

"Cencheng..." Lin Yu mused. "Isn't it protected by that death formation, so it's especially stable? There shouldn't be fighting there."

If they were conscripting soldiers, wouldn't they go to a less stable city?

"I'm alone, so of course I didn't dare storm into those cities with heavy fighting. That's why I went to Cencheng first," Zhang Yulin said, touching her nose, but quickly turned serious. "Anyway, forget that. Do you know what's inside that death formation?"

"What?"

"A massive temple to the God of War, towering into the clouds, nearly half the size of the city. All the refugees there live inside that temple."