Chapter 88

The halfway altar.

Dozens of prayer sticks were gathered together, and the sacred fire symbolizing hope was lit. The flames that rose this time were different from those used to burn offerings—a water-blue blaze shot up into the boundless night, the ink on the slips dissolving as it touched the fire.

Countless sky lanterns were handed to the devotees, ten thousand points of light dotting the dark earth before gradually drifting toward the heavens.

People clustered in twos and threes, pressing their palms together, closing their eyes and making wishes toward the lanterns as they floated away. Even though they knew the odds of the gods hearing their prayers through such lanterns were infinitesimal, they still made their wishes with devout sincerity.

Unlike the devotees on the long steps, the senior patrons beside the halfway altar did not release lanterns. Some lit theirs but never let them fly; others did not even glance at the lanterns at all.

They were convinced their visions would reach the heavens along with their prayer slips, so they cared little for the lanterns that ordinary devotees treasured.

People were not created equal.

What some struggled and pleaded for—a chance to release a single sky lantern—was, to others, nothing but a useless burden they would not even deign to look at.

Several thousand bright lanterns drifted to the sky. Once they had floated far enough to vanish from sight, the Spring Festival came to a complete end.

And it was at that very moment that something went wrong.

While everyone was praying with their eyes closed, a cry of alarm rang out from somewhere high above. "Wha—what is that?!"

"Just a fierce beast. What's so strange about that?" Someone glanced over and immediately looked away, offering a casual dismissal.

The crowd had experienced a beast riot not long ago, and after that episode, they had become certain that the beasts were tamed by Heaven's Mandate Tower and would not harm anyone. No one paid the matter any mind.

With that reminder, the fear of those nearby transformed into curiosity. "Why is it standing so high up? It looks like it's standing in the clouds—hazy and unreal, but it looks pretty impressive!"

"Come down!" A man laughed and waved at the beast in the clouds. When it ignored him, he called out to the High Priestess instead. "Hey, your Heaven's Mandate Tower's toy isn't obeying! Tell it to come down so we can have a look!"

Yun Chi pressed her lips together and looked up at the sky. For a moment, she could not quite tell what kind of beast was lurking among the clouds, but her instincts screamed that something was wrong.

The ritual was over now. Once the lanterns melted into the long night, the devotees would leave. Whatever happened from here on had nothing to do with the ceremony. Her duties were done. As High Priestess, she no longer had to walk on eggshells, dreading a sudden catastrophe or the Xianzun's wrath.

Yun Chi squinted, using the scattered lantern light to make out the beast's silhouette in the clouds. Her gaze froze. Was that... the divine beast Di Ting?

Fragmentary memories flooded back, and the events of the day resurfaced one by one. Lin Yu appearing behind her at the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods, the new sacrifice who had been killed and sent back, the ghost realm beast stirring panic among the believers... Everything seemed to have an explanation now. Every event of the day pointed in a single, predetermined direction—the Ghost Realm.

And now, there was Di Ting, openly perched above the Divine Mountain. Everything had to be connected to him.

But why? Yun Chi could not figure it out.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Tell it to come down! Why aren't you answering?"

Yun Chi's thoughts were interrupted. She hurriedly put on a polite smile. "I was not trained at the Beast Taming Bureau, so I do not know how to control beasts. I'm afraid I can't help you."

"You... Even your little apprentice can do it, but you can't? Who would believe that? And you call yourself the High Priestess..."

In that instant, something like a thunderclap went off in Yun Chi's mind. Little apprentice?! Lin Yu? Where was Lin Yu?

She looked around and, sure enough, Lin Yu was nowhere to be seen. Her spine stiffened again, and her thoughts snapped back into focus. Finally, she understood what connected everything: it was Lin Yu. Unease crept up Yun Chi's spine for no reason at all.

"The ceremony has concluded." Yun Chi made a gesture of invitation. "Everyone should head down the mountain now."

Yun Chi recalled what Lin Yu had said at the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods that afternoon—that she wanted to bring down Heaven's Mandate Tower and had invited Yun Chi to join her. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity now?

Or perhaps, in the few hours of the ceremony, Lin Yu had already made several attempts to bring down Heaven's Mandate Tower, and Yun Chi simply had not noticed.

Take, for instance, releasing the beast to frighten the senior patrons, which led to Lord Zhang being taken away by the Immortal Venerable. That had also set the stage for Di Ting's second appearance—people had already seen a fierce beast and been assured it was harmless, so they no longer feared it. That was why Di Ting could stand barefaced in the clouds now without anyone raising a suspicion.

Or take Lin Yu's muddying the waters to free the original sacrifices and offer up the Immortal Venerable's personal disciple in their place. Or... the Immortal Venerable had been run ragged all day, appearing only briefly during the ceremony before disappearing again. Perhaps that was Lin Yu's doing too...

And now, what was she planning? To kill these crucial patrons? To sever Heaven's Mandate Tower's biggest source of income? Or...

Yun Chi swept her gaze around. The disciples of Heaven's Mandate Tower surrounded the altar. They should not be too hard for Lin Yu to deal with.

But if she wanted to kill people, why had she not already gone on a killing spree? Why wait until the dead of night, doing nothing?

Just then, a spark of light leapt into Yun Chi's eyes—a sky lantern drifting further and further away. Yun Chi suddenly thought of herself. She seemed to understand. This was the final stage of the ceremony. If something major happened now, Yun Chi could wash her hands of it completely.

The ceremony over, the High Priestess had completed her duties and left as usual. If the devotees were attacked by a divine beast after that, it could hardly be blamed on her, could it?

Was Lin Yu choosing this moment precisely to avoid implicating her? Yun Chi remembered Lin Yu's promise to help her secure the position of High Priestess. She believed Lin Yu would keep her word.

The colossal divine beast crouched motionless in the clouds, like a stone guardian statue. Only its abdomen rose and fell faintly—it was breathing, and it was waiting.

An emotion Yun Chi had never felt before welled up in her chest. She and Lin Yu had only met a few times. In the end, she had done nothing, helped with nothing. Yet Lin Yu had resolved all her worries, helped her complete an entire ceremony, earned her the Immortal Venerable's approval, and secured her position as High Priestess.

She suddenly regretted not agreeing to Lin Yu's plan at the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods. Hiding in Heaven's Mandate Tower as a priestess, forever and ever, until death—spending her whole life as a High Priestess who killed and offered sacrifices against her conscience in exchange for stability—that no longer seemed so important to her now.

She wanted to fight for herself too. What if she won?

She did not believe in herself, but she believed in Lin Yu's ability. She believed that one day Lin Yu would shatter the decades of reputation and prestige of Heaven's Mandate Tower—might even destroy the Tower itself.

Yun Chi let out a soft sigh and fixed her gaze on the senior patrons before her. They had no intention of letting the matter drop; they were still waiting for Yun Chi to command the beast in the clouds to come down for their amusement.

Yun Chi's expression hardened, and she repeated her previous words. "It's getting late, and the ceremony has already concluded. Please, everyone, return."

"What's the meaning of this?! It's just a beast—can't you control it?" A young man dressed like a rich scion had finally lost his temper after being snubbed repeatedly.

Someone chimed in, "We asked you to bring that thing in the clouds down, and now you're chasing us away? I'll stay in this Heaven's Mandate Tower as long as I like. You're just a priestess—young and inexperienced, but you've got quite the attitude!"

"I'm not leaving! What are you going to do about it? The money I've given your Tower could buy ten of your worthless lives, and you still dare put on airs with me?!"

Yun Chi did not reply. A few harmless insults meant nothing to her. She merely looked at the man with a pitying expression. You can't save someone who's determined to court death. Fine, don't leave. She would.

Yun Chi ignored everyone and turned to walk away, leaving everything behind. Seeing the High Priestess leave without even answering, the senior patrons' faces burned with humiliation.

A nearby disciple hurried over to console them. "The lowly beasts of the Ghost Realm can't understand human speech anyway, and they have no intelligence to speak of. Please, honored sirs, don't lower yourselves to their level..."

"Why's it hiding up in the sky? A thing unfit for the light! Come down and let the gentlemen have a look!" The disciple scolded, but what happened next made his eyes go wide.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Di Ting plummeted straight down from the clouds, charging toward the crowd!

The divine beast's body grew larger and larger in everyone's eyes until it landed on the mountaintop. When it had been hidden in the clouds, its size was impossible to gauge. Only now, up close, did the arrogant onlookers realize just how enormous this beast truly was—nearly as tall as a tavern.

In an instant, a monster with blazing eyes appeared before them. Its jet-black fur rippled in the wind, and its amber eyes shimmered with moisture, glowing especially bright in the dark night. It narrowed its pupils and stared down at the crowd below, its mere presence enough to inspire awe.

The more alert among them could feel the killing intent in the wind and furrowed their brows unconsciously. But some still had not realized the danger. One man clicked his tongue in admiration. "Heaven's Mandate Tower actually has a beast this big? Look at that glossy coat—it would make a fine fur cloak if you skinned it!"

"ROAR—" Di Ting let out a long howl at the man who had spoken. The roar shook the very earth, the entire Divine Mountain trembling, the ground seeming ready to split apart. An even greater commotion followed!

When faced with danger, people's first instinct is always to flee. Those standing on the distant long steps felt the tremors and immediately thought: earthquake!

An earthquake this violent meant disaster for sure. They could not see the path ahead, but their panic drove them to push and shove their way out.

"What's happening? Is the earth turning over? With all this shaking, can we even get out? Is the tower going to collapse and crush us?" Someone asked amid the chaos, but everyone was too busy saving themselves to answer.

At that moment, Di Ting carried Lin Yu past the long steps at the summit and leaped down from the peak, landing precisely on the ancient altar. The instant Di Ting's feet touched down, the altar could not withstand the impact and shattered into pieces!

Di Ting did not disguise himself as an ordinary fierce beast as he had in previous appearances—he was in his true form. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the four realms and cultivation would recognize Di Ting, the ancient divine beast long dwelling in the underworld.

It was possible that Heaven's Mandate Tower had tamed a beast from the Ghost Realm, but taming Di Ting, a primordial divine beast of the Ghost Realm, was absolutely impossible. The disciples nearby sensed the danger immediately, and dozens of them drew their swords!

"Wretched beast! How dare you trespass on the Divine Mountain and set foot on Heaven's Mandate Tower's territory!"

They clearly knew only Di Ting's appearance and reputation—they knew he was powerful, but not how powerful. These cultivators had been isolated from the outside world for far too long. They had only knowledge from ancient texts, no real experience, and thus were blindly overconfident in themselves.

They had no idea how vast the gap between an ordinary cultivator and a divine beast truly was. They surrounded it without a moment's hesitation, and in the eyes of Lin Yu and Di Ting, they might as well have been walking to their deaths.

"Surround it! So what if it's Di Ting? It's just a divine beast from the Ghost Realm—our Beast Taming Bureau keeps several divine beasts from the divine realm! Nothing special! It can't beat all of us!" The group raised their swords and began chanting incantations, trying to form a formation to suppress Di Ting.

"Where's the Immortal Venerable? Has anyone seen the Immortal Venerable?" The formation kept failing to take shape, and a fierce wind had risen. An older disciple squinted, seeming to sense that something was off.

"The Immortal Venerable has been moving around all day. We haven't seen him—he only appeared during the fire sacrifice, and after it ended, he left with an honored guest." Someone answered. Even though the gale had scattered the formation several times, he remained unbothered, still looking smug and utterly unafraid.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother. I've already sent word to the Immortal Venerable. This beast from the lowly Ghost Realm is nothing compared to the divine realm. It can't stir up any real trouble!"

By now, the sky lanterns had flown far away, and all light had vanished from the night. Pitch blackness swallowed heaven and earth. There was no moon, not a single star—only the biting wind, with coarse sand and grit carried along, stinging people's faces mercilessly.

The older disciple kept feeling that something was wrong. He stared at the pitch-black divine beast before him as if trying to bore a hole through it, but the stinging pain on his cheek broke his concentration. He raised a hand to touch the sore spot and found that a stone carried by the wind had cut his face, blood seeping from the wound.

The wind grew stronger and stronger, nearly blowing people off their feet. Some who lost their footing were sent tumbling down the long steps. People cried out and fled in all directions. The Yu Kingdom had never seen wind this fierce—never.

When a second pebble slashed his other cheek, the disciple finally grew incredulous. He listened to the gravel whipping past his ears. "This wind was summoned deliberately! Everyone, be careful!"

At those words, everyone froze. Wind belonged to heaven and earth, and like water or fire techniques, it was among the hardest to control. Anyone who could command the wind was not to be underestimated!

A formation spread out from Di Ting's body at terrifying speed. Before anyone could react, the shockwave blasted them all flying!

Di Ting casually stepped down from the ruined altar, kicking aside the ritual implements that had been fixed in place. They clattered and clanged without end, the shrill echoes scattering in the wind until they were barely audible.

The scattered ritual implements were crushed to dust beneath Di Ting's feet with ease. At the same time, a woman in flowing red robes, bound from head to toe in rope, tumbled out from behind Di Ting and landed in the open space before them!

Her bright red clothes were especially conspicuous in the darkness. Anyone could see her crimson silhouette from afar. She looked utterly helpless. The sharp-eyed disciples immediately recognized the "captive" as Lin Yu.

"How could this be..." A disciple who knew the situation widened her eyes and murmured, "The Divine Maiden was taken by Di Ting, which means... the one who killed over a hundred of our fellow disciples was also Di Ting!"

Once Di Ting's identity was known, every clue seemed to fall into place. The Ghost King had been surrounded by Heaven's Mandate Tower, and by the time Di Ting arrived, the Ghost King was already dead. In a fury, Di Ting had taken everyone captive to threaten the Tower!

When word had first come back that the Divine Maiden had been abducted, she had suspected who the mastermind was. Now the mystery was finally solved, and the real culprit stood right before them—only to be exposed in such a scene.

Everything was happening too fast, and it was too dark. There was no way to evacuate all the devotees in such a short time, and the only one who could command the situation, the High Priestess, had already left. They were leaderless and demoralized.

But at this moment, everyone understood one thing: if the devotees learned that the Divine Maiden had been taken by the Ghost Realm, where would Heaven's Mandate Tower's face go?

They absolutely must not let the devotees find out!

In everyone's eyes, the Ghost Realm was the lowest of the low, far inferior to the Human Tribe. And yet this most inferior ghost tribe had, right in front of Heaven's Mandate Tower, snatched away their most revered Divine Maiden—the one closest to the gods. What greater humiliation could there be?

Was this not a display of Heaven's Mandate Tower's incompetence? Letting the ghost tribe walk all over them?

"Quick! Summon the Immortal Venerable! Something terrible has happened!"

"The rest of you, send word. Notify the other disciples to evacuate the devotees. Hurry!"

Meanwhile, a ghost emissary possessing a body, one of those fleeing, looked back and gasped. "The one tied up... that's the Divine Maiden?!"

"The divine beast Di Ting has taken our Divine Maiden hostage! She's in his hands—her life may be in danger!"

The ghost emissary shouted Di Ting's name openly, but he was standing among ordinary devotees, and cultivators were the minority. Announcing the name meant nothing—who would know him?

Many people stopped in their tracks at the sound. Thanks to the large number of ghost emissaries lurking in the crowd, news that the Divine Maiden had been abducted by the ghost tribe spread at terrifying speed. Within moments, everyone knew.

"It's not an earthquake! No danger! Stop running and come back! It was that divine beast on the altar—no need to be afraid, everyone!"

But the ghost emissaries had no intention of letting the crowd leave and miss the show. "The Ghost Realm is trying to intimidate us! Who here can stand for that? Follow me, let's get him!"

The timid ones ignored the ghost emissaries' incitement and hurried away. But far more were devotees who loved a good spectacle. They suddenly lost their urge to leave and instead moved back up the mountain, many with angry expressions.

They had already seen one so-called "tamed fierce beast" before, and it was nothing special. So this time, few of them thought much of Di Ting either, assuming all ghost tribe beasts were the same caliber.

A small number even had a strange glint of excitement in their eyes. Heaven's Mandate Tower had been hoarding wealth and killing people for years. They had long wished for the Tower's downfall. Wasn't this the chance?

The disciples could not get close to Di Ting, so they could only surround him and issue threats, trying to buy time until the Immortal Venerable returned. Lin Yu glanced sideways at the shifting flow of people in the distance, confirming that most were heading up the mountain. Everything was proceeding according to her plan, step by orderly step.

The stalemate did not last long. Lin Yu finally saw two beams of white light flying toward the altar—the Immortal Venerable and the Moon God had arrived. Lin Yu curved her lips upward. Finally...

She lowered her gaze and commanded Di Ting, "Make your move. Kill them all."