Day and night tour

Chapter 395 Using a veiled attack
The incense-burning Taoist priest understood the predicament of the Dream God—if the story of his avatars being severed were spread far and wide by Bi Fang and all the storytellers in the world, then all the people of Jing Kingdom would know that the Dream God had "stumbled."

If you don't get up decisively after you've "stumbled" and fill in the hole that tripped you up, you'll become a laughing stock.

Over time, the common people will feel that the Dream God is no longer worthy of the title of a god, and the faith in him will weaken. The Dream God may even decline and his strength may drop to below the level of a god.

In the Kingdom of Jing, incense offerings, secrets, and the laws of enlightenment are all valuable commodities, but the reason they are valuable is simply because they can enhance one's strength.

Because of the crisis of diminished power, the Dream God had no choice but to get serious.

"No matter what, it's all because you're an old glutton who can't control your mouth and wants to come out and absorb the power of faith."

The Taoist priest, feeling somewhat exhausted, said, "How about we kill Bifang?"

Ultimately, it was all caused by Bifang and the Dream God, one greedy and the other talkative!
If you can't solve the problem, then getting rid of the person who created it is also a solution.

"Can you kill Bifang?"

The celestial being in the dream asked the incense-burning Taoist priest a question in return.

The old Taoist stroked his beard and replied with a smile, "He can't be killed. As long as he stays in the divine kingdom in the heavens, no one can kill him except the supreme will."

After the twenty-four deities of the Well Kingdom ascended to heaven, the supreme will established the rules: the deities, as observers and supervisors of the human order, resided in a divine kingdom, which was one of the highest secrets of the Well Kingdom.

Aside from the disciples of those halls who are only nine incense sticks long, in order to ascend to the heavens and slay gods, one must touch the bridgehead on the Ascension Bridge in the heavens to understand how to cross a certain divine kingdom.

If a disciple cannot find the gods in the divine kingdom, or if he/she has the intention to give up halfway, he/she can touch the "Ascension Bridge" again. Only after the memories of the divine kingdom have been erased can he/she leave.

Therefore, even if a Celestial-level being could easily kill a God-level being, they would still have no way to use their power.

"If you can't kill him, why bother saying anything more?"

The Dream God had made up his mind that he still needed Zhou Xuan to give him an explanation.

"You damn well better calm down. Let me tell you plainly, as long as you make a move, if you touch the Youshen Division or Pengjia Town, Nuoshen and I will naturally not interfere. But you should know... Zhou Housheng will absolutely not allow you to kill indiscriminately. He will fight you to the death, and you'll have a headache too."

"It's better than me losing face throughout the entire Jing Kingdom, my faith declining, and my strength being weakened."

"I told you not to rush."

The incense-burning Taoist priest came up with an idea: "In the end, isn't it just that you're afraid of losing face? I'll inform Zhou Housheng and have him shut up Bi Fang's big mouth. If you don't lose face in the Jing Kingdom, then you'll save face, right?"

Then, repeatedly instruct Zhou Xuan and the others not to mention the matter of slaying your clones to anyone else. You'll regain your dignity, and peace will be restored between you and Zhou Xuan.

"Your clone being destroyed is your own fault. It's pointless to cause trouble and kill indiscriminately in the human world for this reason."

The Taoist priest who offered incense and prayers acted as a peacemaker this time, sometimes resorting to threats and sometimes appealing to emotions and reason.

But the Dream God seized on another point and asked, "You think Zhou Xuan can handle Bi Fang's big mouth? I doubt it..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Dream God suddenly sensed a strange fluctuation in his perception.

This perception did not originate from himself, nor from the incense-burning Taoist priests; the fluctuations in his perception were extremely weak.

He immediately blew the horn, creating a dreamscape around him, in which tens of millions of feathered arrows flew haphazardly, all shooting towards the location where the perception had erupted.

Immediately, in the dream, there appeared a figure dressed in a Taoist robe, moving like a butterfly flitting among flowers, dodging the feathered arrows with strange movements.

The incense-burning Taoist priest didn't even look back. He seemed to have known all along that there were outsiders hiding around. He simply flicked his whisk and broke the dream of the dream god's chaotic arrows.

The dream was so real that when it shattered, it made a "clanging" sound.

"Don't do anything rash, the main character has arrived."

The Taoist priest put away his whisk, and the young man in the blue Taoist robe hovered in the air, smiling as he clasped his hands in greeting to the priest: "Taoist senior, Zhou Xuan greets you."

"Tch." The incense-burning Taoist priest's white beard twitched slightly, and he said in an annoyed tone, "Zhou Housheng, don't go around calling yourself a senior now. You are a disciple of the Taoist Ancestor, and the Taoist Ancestor personally passed on the Xigu True Scripture to you. Your seniority in Taoism is the same as Zhao Wuya's seniority in Buddhism. It's much higher. I wouldn't dare to presume to call myself your senior."

Zhou Xuan smiled and then looked at the horn of the Dream God. He immediately put on a serious face and said, "Dream God, when you descend, others may not be able to see you, but I can."

"You can actually see me? And I still need to go through so much trouble to sense you..." The Dream God was very surprised.

"I forgot, this young man may not be highly respected, but his perception is comparable to that of a god. Moreover, he has the Turtle Breathing Technique of the Dunjia Tiansuan School. After concealing his aura, it is difficult for a god to detect him. He probably revealed his move just now, which is why you noticed him."

The explanation given by the Taoist priest who offered incense was rather "forced".

The Dream God immediately understood and said, "Bull Nose, you are really good to this young man. My true form has not yet descended, and my control over the mortal world is not proper, at least far inferior to yours. I was able to discover Zhou Xuan's whereabouts, so you should have discovered them long ago, but you just didn't point it out to him."

"Cough cough."

The incense-burning Taoist coughed twice to cover his embarrassment. Indeed, just as the Dream God had said, when Zhou Xuan traveled here and used the Turtle Breathing Technique to conceal his aura, he had already noticed the flaw.

The concealment ability of the Turtle Breathing Technique can hide from someone like Li Changxun, who suffered a "shame on the gods," but it can never hide from a Taoist priest who practices incense offerings.

“Old Meng, stop talking nonsense. Zhou Xuan is the main character. It’s good that he’s here. Let’s talk things out face to face.”

The incense-burning Taoist priest tilted his head and asked Zhou Xuan, "Young Master Zhou, Bifang has summoned storytellers all over the world to spread the word about severing Lao Meng's clone. Do you have any way to stop this farce?"

"Of course, no problem. I have plenty of solutions."

Zhou Xuan was very confident. At the same time, he glanced at the Dream God and said, "But you, Dream God, a living god, not only do you not protect the Jing Kingdom, but you also created an avatar to steal my faith power? How shameless."

The Dream God was embarrassed by the accusations, but he was helpless. If he were to teach Zhou Xuan a lesson, the Taoist priests would naturally protect him.

He tried to argue back—but he couldn't; he was indeed in the wrong first.

He remained silent for half a minute before letting out a cold snort and shifting the topic to the main issue, saying, "Zhou Xuan, you've got quite the nerve. You say you can stop Bi Fang? I'll have a bet with you. If you can stop Bi Fang, then our feud will be over. From now on, I'll go my own way, and you go yours; we'll just leave each other alone."
If you can't stop Bifang, then the Wandering God Bureau, Pengjia Town..."

"Sigh, how shameless." Zhou Xuan's sigh and whisper sounded louder than divine thunder at this moment, rudely interrupting the Dream God's words.

"What did you say?"

The horn representing the god of dreams trembled heavily, clearly provoked by Zhou Xuan's whispered words.

Zhou Xuan raised his head and said with a relaxed expression, "I'm telling you, if the God of Bitter Calamity had half your thick skin, he wouldn't have ended up being killed by Zhexing."

After saying that, he waved his fan again and added insult to injury, saying, "I, Zhou Xuan, have seen quite a lot in the State of Jing, but I have never seen such a shameless person."

"How dare you, a mere mortal, utter such insults to the gods!"

"Buzz, buzz, buzz."

The horns sounded loudly, and each change in the dark clouds had the color of a dream. Hidden weapons lay dormant in the dream, ready to strike Zhou Xuan at any moment.

but,

The gods of dreams gather in the dream realm, but the Taoist priest with incense burns on his wrist prevents the dreams from merging. The white whisk in his hand moves without wind, and occasionally a strand of whisk breaks off, floats in the air for a few moments, and then bursts into flames.

After the fire burned the tendrils away, white mist was produced, which was the fragrant mist formed by the burning of Taoist magic.

The fragrant mist entered the dream, and the two ethereal things collided, producing a crackling and popping sound.

After each explosion, a crack appeared on the horn.

"Civilized Taoist priest, you have overstepped your bounds. This arrogant brat has repeatedly slandered me, yet you disregard our past friendship and are still helping him."

"I'm a reasonable person too."

The Taoist priest gestured with his hands and said, "What the young man said was the truth. What does it have to do with slander? Speaking the truth is not the same as slander."

"you……"

The dream god felt that all the disappointments of his life were nothing compared to the amount he had eaten today.

He wanted to fight, but he couldn't; he wanted to curse, but he might not be able to win.

Zhou Xuan, however, was too lazy to waste time with the Dream God, and simply said, "I will take care of Bi Fang's matter, but not because of your status or strength as the Dream God... but because I don't want Bi Fang to benefit from this matter."

"Furthermore, I, Zhou Xuan, fear many people, but I will never fear a god who has lost his courage."

"If you had the courage of a grain of rice, you should have done something for Mingjiang Prefecture during the game of chess, instead of hiding in some unknown place and playing dead."

"If you have truly done something and saved Mingjiang Prefecture, why would you need to sneak around like a vicious dog to steal the power of faith you have today? The people will respectfully offer their power of faith with both hands."

After coldly criticizing the gods of the dream world, Zhou Xuan went on his daytime journey.

"You...you have some nerve...do you know who you're reprimanding...Zhou Xuan...if it weren't for that old Taoist priest stopping me...I would have killed you."

The Dream God was enraged by Zhou Xuan's words, which seemed to stab him in the heart with every blow.

“That young man speaks so well, yet you don’t like listening to him.”

The incense-burning Taoist priest sneered, "Old Meng, you gods have been in power for too long. You have long forgotten that it was those mortals, whom you regard as ants, who, in ancient times, created you with their devout faith. You have long forgotten that it was you nine great gods who protected the human world."

At this point, the incense-burning Taoist priest flicked his whisk and said coldly, "So be it. You gods have forgotten your mission. The places you don't protect will be protected by Zhou Housheng. It is precisely because you gods are inactive that Zhou Xuan has found an opportunity and is very likely to become the tenth god."

Upon hearing about the tenth celestial being, the Dream God immediately retorted, "The tenth celestial being must be the master of the Zoroastrian sect. He is qualified to be the tenth celestial being. Zhou Xuan... is far from qualified..."

"The Zoroastrian master who is far inferior is the one who is extremely well hidden. He only knows how to kill and brainwash his followers. No matter how much faith power he gains, he is still an evil god, not a god."

The incense-burning Taoist priest rode his donkey northward, advising the Dream God as he went: "Old Dream, I advise you to wake up from this. You're becoming more and more like an evil god than a celestial being. I'm here today to mediate, do you think I'm saving Zhou Xuan? I'm saving you!"

"Hmph, you still behave well when you get the advantage."

The dream god disagreed...

……

After Zhou Xuan left, he did not enter Mingjiang Prefecture, but returned to Pingshui Prefecture.

"Oh, you're all here."

After Zhou Xuan descended under the Zhou family's ancestral tree, he saw Zhou Lingyi, Yuan Buyu, Lord Jian, Lord Jiu, Sister Cui, and others sitting under the tree.

They were helping Zhou Xuan. If storytellers were to spread the story of "slaying the god," it would likely cause a huge uproar.

The dignity of the gods cannot be humiliated.

Fearing unrest, they stood before the tree, waiting for Zhou Xuan's "tree gate" to summon them.

"Master, Master Zhou said that you just faced the God of Dreams?" Master Jiu asked.

"That's a piece of trash. Do we really need to use such a sophisticated term as 'face him'?" Zhou Xuan said bluntly.

Lord Arrow and Lord Wine: "..."

Yuan Buyu, having learned of the current situation through the connection with the ancestral tree, asked Zhou Xuan directly, "Disciple, you said you wanted to stop Bifang, how will you do it?"

“It’s not difficult, Master. Let me ask you, are there storytellers in all nine prefectures?” Zhou Xuan wanted to find out about the storytellers first.

Yuan Buyu was one of the most famous veteran storytellers in the storytelling community, and his understanding of the community was naturally extremely deep.

"Yes, every prefecture has them."

"Is there an organization of storytellers in each prefecture?" Zhou Xuan asked again.

"You mean—the incense burner?"

Yuan Buyu tentatively inquired, and after receiving Zhou Xuan's nod of confirmation, he said, "Yes, the storyteller is a large organization, distributed across nine prefectures. In each prefecture, there is an incense altar, and each incense altar has an incense master."

I am the storyteller and incense master of Pingshui Prefecture.

Zhou Xuan then asked, "Does the incense master have the authority to command the storytellers of this prefecture?"

“That’s for sure,” Yuan Buyu replied.

To this day, he still doesn't know what Zhou Xuan is up to—instead of explaining how to deal with Bi Fang, he's asking about the structure of the storyteller's troupe.

Zhou Xuan then asked, "Do you know where each incense master lives and in what situations they usually perform storytelling?"

"Of course I know that."

Yuan Buyu said, "Those storytellers rely on storytelling to accumulate incense offerings. The bigger the storytelling venue, the more incense offerings they accumulate. Therefore, those old incense offerers are all well-known storytellers, and the venues they frequent are practically an open secret."
The storyteller and master of Jingchuan Prefecture was named Mr. Bai Liu, who often told stories at the Yunmo Theater in Jingchuan Prefecture.

The storyteller and incense master of Huangyuan Prefecture was named Li Shenyuan. He ran his own storytelling theater called Tinghua Island…

As a storyteller after all, Yuan Buyu unconsciously adopted the breathing and voice of a storyteller when introducing these incense masters, creating a rhythmic effect that made the people around him want to applaud.

Zhou Xuan made a note of everything and said to Yuan Buyu, "Master, we will have to rely on these incense masters to settle the matter of Bifang today."

"How do you say this?"

Not only was Yuan Buyu curious, but Lord Arrow and Lord Wine also gathered around, eager to hear Zhou Xuan's plan.

Zhou Xuan generously said, "Bi Fang's move is simply to use the storyteller as a conduit for public opinion, to put the Dream God on a pedestal, and force him to attack me."
Then I will impersonate Bifang and deliver another divine message to the storytellers, changing the stories they are about to tell.

"Those storytellers, as long as they don't tell the stories taught to them by Bifang, naturally won't have any negative public opinion impact on the Dream God, right?"

"Substitute one thing for another?"

"The prince has been replaced by a cat?"

Lord Arrow and Lord Wine were the first to realize the truth.

Yuan Buyu then asked, "How did you manage to impersonate Bifang? Bifang contacted those storytellers to bring the consciousness of all the storytellers in the world to the Divine Kingdom Thatched Cottage."

“Master, we can’t be rigid in our thinking. Who says that only storytellers in the world can go to the divine kingdom to see Bifang, but Bifang can’t descend to the mortal world to see storytellers?”

Zhou Xuan countered with a question.

Yuan Buyu lowered his head and remained silent, saying, "It is indeed exciting, but... Bifang never descends to the mortal realm, so those storytellers and incense masters probably won't believe it."

“Master, don’t forget, I am a magician. My magic tricks can fool the entire Mingjiang Prefecture and even Bifang. How could they not fool those storytellers?”

In the Caixi Hall, the old Caixi play has just finished, and the new play is about to begin.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Buyu clapped his hands together and burst into laughter. Filled with immense pride, he said to Lord Arrow and Lord Wine, "Look at that! Look at that! I told you my apprentice is a capable man! He has so many good ideas! You two should hurry up and find a few good apprentices to take on!"

"Only after taking on good apprentices will you know what the happiness of 'living off your juniors' truly means."

Lord Arrow and Lord Wine: "..."

The two were immediately speechless. They had come to help the master, but how did they end up being fooled by Yuan Buyu, this old storyteller?

Now that Zhou Xuan has figured out a solution, and everyone thinks it's feasible, they urge Zhou Xuan to make the arrangements.

Yuan Buyu said, "Fortunately, you have the method of traveling by day and the ability to change shape and shadow. Otherwise, even if you had wings, you wouldn't be able to travel to nine prefectures in one night."

He offered words of comfort to his apprentice: "However, you don't need to travel to all nine prefectures. You don't need to go to Mingjiang Prefecture. Even if Bifang gives orders, the storytellers in that prefecture would never dare to speak ill of you in front of everyone."

In Mingjiang Prefecture today, Zhou Xuan's prestige is outrageously high. In this prefecture, if someone holds a "black meeting" with Zhou Xuan, not only will the Bureau of Expeditions cause trouble, but even the audience below the stage will fight to break the storyteller's legs.

“In Pingshui Prefecture, I am the incense master. You tell me the new book that the storyteller wants to tell, and I will call on the storytellers in the prefecture to not tell the old books that Bi Fang ordered, but only the new books you have compiled.”

Yuan Buyu said.

Zhou Xuan immediately began reciting the new story he intended to tell all the storytellers in the world: "It's actually quite simple. Didn't that Dream God devour my faith power? That's what Bifang asked you to tell us."

My new book still tells this story, but—I've changed the Dream God to Bifang.

Zhou Xuan said, "That old dog Bi Fang sneaked over to absorb my faith power while I was rebuilding Mingjiang Prefecture. He was tied up and beaten like a dog by Yun Ziliang, Xishan Wang, Peng Sheng, the painter, and the musician of Mingjiang Prefecture. He was half-dead. Then we, being magnanimous, let him go, and he slunk back to the divine kingdom."

Yuan Buyu, Lord Arrow, Lord Wine: "..."

“That’s not appropriate, disciple. You’re still talking about the Dream God.” Yuan Buyu said.

Lord Arrow nodded: "He's using a veiled insult to criticize someone else."

"This isn't just veiled criticism, it's veiled criticism itself." Master Jiu was both amused and exasperated, saying, "Instead of trying to ease the icy relationship between you and the God of Dreams through this incident, you're adding fuel to the fire?"

Yuan Buyu also advised, "Although the Dream God is not a good person, it's not good for you to curse him in such a sneaky way. When you were telling the story, you called Bifang an old dog, which is the same as calling the Dream God an old dog."

Although the name has been changed, no matter how it's changed, the common people don't know. The person involved, the dream god, knows everything perfectly well. After hearing this newly made-up story, he'll probably be even angrier.

Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Master, Lords Jianjiu, I also want to ease the cold relationship between me and the Dream God, but I am not very learned, and the only story I can come up with is this."

Upon hearing this, Lord Arrow and Lord Wine exchanged a knowing smile, a kind of "pfft" laugh.

They didn't yet know Zhou Xuan—the most famous storyteller in Mingjiang and Pingshui prefectures, whose repertoire of stories was probably more abundant than the clouds in the sky.
The reason he only wrote the current story was simply because Zhou Xuan couldn't stand the bad temper of the dream god.

You may be powerful as a god, but even if I, Zhou Xuan, can't defeat you, can't I at least annoy you?

"A mortal trying to poison the eyes of the gods—this is the first time in the two thousand years of Jing Kingdom's history." Lord Jiu laughed again, no longer trying to persuade Zhou Xuan to change the "script."

If Zhou Xuanruo weren't such a ruthless person who "wouldn't yield an inch and dare to defy the powerful," how could he have taken control of the entire Mingjiang Prefecture in such a short time?

"Old Yuan was right about one thing: this great storyteller can now have a disciple. With such a disciple, he's become more respected!"

The wine master teased Yuan Buyu...

(End of this chapter)