Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 533-543: The Master of the Spiritual Pivot at Shen Hour

In the sky, Lin Beixuan casually tossed aside the arrow in his hand, didn't even glance down, and calmly left.

At the current speed of the eaves beast, it only takes one day to travel from Qingzhou to Longzhou. If it were an ordinary person traveling, it would take at least several months.

Located in the north, and being autumn, Longzhou was very cold. As soon as Lin Beixuan stepped into the border area, a cold wind hit him.

Compared to present-day Luozhou, Longzhou appears somewhat desolate.

It wasn't a desolate desert like Luozhou before, but rather a kind of bleakness and loneliness unique to the North.

The bare trees stand straight and tall on the vast horizon, the flat and open terrain resembling a chessboard without any pieces.

"call--"

Lin Beixuan let out a long breath and landed on the ground from the air, while the eaves beast reverted to its previous punk-style appearance.

Lin Beixuan first arrived at the city closest to him, Luyang City.

The wide streets were sparsely populated, and most of the shops had their doors half-closed, giving off a cold and deserted atmosphere.

Occasionally, a few pedestrians hurried past, looking tense, wrapped in thick cotton-padded clothes, as if being chased by something.

Why does Longzhou seem even more desolate than Luozhou?

Lin Beixuan sat down at a table in an open-air teahouse that was still open for business. Soon after, an old man wearing a thick cotton coat, with a hunched back, came over carrying a pot of tea.

"We have crispy cakes and snacks. What would you like, sir?"

Behind the old man was a little girl of seven or eight years old, with two red cheeks from the cold wind, and she was carrying a plate of snacks unique to Longzhou.

Lin Beixuan glanced at the little girl and handed her some silver coins from his pocket.

"Thank you, sir, but it's a bit too much."

"Consider the rest as payment for the information I gathered from you," Lin Beixuan said calmly.

The old man was so excited that he took the money, carefully put it in his thick clothes, and said respectfully, "Whatever you want to know, I will tell you without hesitation."

Lin Beixuan took a sip of the tea on the table. Although it was slightly bitter at first, it quickly turned into a sweet aftertaste.

What is the current situation in Longzhou?

The old man sat down beside him, and the little girl behind him snuggled into his arms; the two were probably grandfather and granddaughter.

The old man runs a tea stall on the street, facing all kinds of customers every day. He is well-informed and naturally knows a lot.

After considering his words for a moment, he said, "Guests must have come from other states. If you are here to visit Longzhou, I suggest you return the way you came as soon as possible."

As he spoke, the old man glanced at the eaves beasts outside the tea stall, which were quietly waiting there without being tethered.

Just by looking at the eaves beast, he could feel the extraordinary aura emanating from it, let alone its owner.

"Actually, most of those who will come to Longzhou during this period are from other prefectures that are currently in the midst of war."

"But what they didn't know was that Longzhou was actually more dangerous."

"Now the barbarian army in the north has reached Jiamen Pass. Once Jiamen Pass is breached, Longzhou will truly be indefensible. The barbarian army will advance unimpeded across this flat plain and head straight for Jingzhou."

"To be honest, after finishing these few days of business, I'm already planning to take my grandson and flee Longzhou."

"It's just that it's hard to leave one's homeland. Until the very last moment when Jiamen Pass fell, I still didn't want to leave."

The old man stroked his granddaughter's slightly yellowed hair, sighed deeply, and looked saddened.

Lin Beixuan frowned slightly, only then remembering that the Rat Prince had mentioned to him that the current situation in the world might actually be more chaotic than they imagined.

Throughout history, the dynasties faced not only forces such as the Evil Spirit Lord and the Goddess Zigu, but also chaos from beyond the Great Wall.

"The barbarians of the Northern Frontier..." Lin Beixuan murmured softly.

Although he had never seen this race, he roughly knew that the barbarians were a people different from normal people.

Some resemble the extraordinary people of past dynasties, but their scale is much larger. They have always lived outside the Great Wall, forming their own country in the icy and snowy land.

Therefore, the lifestyle and spiritual practices of the barbarians were completely different from those of the people living in the interior of the country throughout history.

They practiced shamanism, and some of them even used it to transcend their mortal bodies and become immortals.

The old man said softly, "Yes! The barbarians of the Northern Frontier!"

“These guys are extremely terrifying. They are not afraid of pain, and the blood flowing through their bodies is different from ours. It is blue. Only the few tribes in the Ten Thousand Mountains can compare with them in terms of their strangeness.”

"Zhenbeiguan was originally the most important defensive line on the border. Unfortunately, the barbarian army launched a surprise attack. After holding out for half a month, Zhenbeiguan finally failed to hold on and was completely wiped out."

“My granddaughter’s father also died in that battle, and not long after, her mother also died of illness, leaving only her and me.”

The old man raised his head: "I know that our guest is not like us ordinary people, and must have great abilities, but facing a barbarian army alone is ultimately..."

He didn't say the last few words.

Let alone humans, even the mortal gods they worshipped daily were powerless against the barbarian army.

It is indeed difficult for mortals to resist gods, but it is a different story for an army.

Many powerful armies are so formidable that even mortal gods would flee in terror at the mere sight of them.

Because this is no longer considered the power of 'human beings', but rather leans more towards some kind of disaster.

In common parlance, it was called 'war disaster'.

In the face of disaster, even a mortal god has to think twice about whether he is qualified to confront it.

The incident of Lu Chenjiang decades ago is a good example.

In that terrible war, even great mortal gods perished, let alone lesser mortal gods.

When caught up in it, even the mortal gods are just slightly larger ripples.

"Hmm." Lin Beixuan nodded, not showing much concern for the situation in Longzhou.

He might feel sorry for the people of Longzhou who suffered from the war, but he would never take on the responsibility of providing relief himself.

He is not a saint; he will not be saddened by seeing dead people on the roadside. Luozhou was far more miserable than Longzhou before.

"Have you heard the rumors about the secular master in Longzhou?" Lin Beixuan asked.

Upon hearing this, the old man was visibly taken aback. After pondering for a long time, he said, "Of course I do. My family enshrines the shrine of the Moon God."

"But the Immortal Lord has not been effective for a long time, so I set up other shrines in my home."

Are there any other rumors about secular masters?

"Other secular masters?" The old man thought for a long time, and finally shook his head and said, "I am very sorry, I have never heard of any other secular masters in Longzhou."

"I see."

Lin Beixuan slowly stood up, said goodbye to the old man, and prepared to leave.

But at that moment, the little girl in the old man's arms suddenly spoke.

"I...I know there's another one."

The crisp, clear voice of a child carried a unique, penetrating power.

The old man looked down at his granddaughter in surprise: "Yingying, if you know, you know; if you don't, you don't. You can't lie to people about what you know." "I'm not lying! Er Gou was playing with it just the other day," the little girl named Yingying shouted, somewhat unconvinced.

Lin Beixuan turned his head and looked at the little guy in the old man's arms.

When Yingying saw Lin Beixuan looking over, she immediately said, "It's the Monkey King. Er Gou said the Monkey King is Xiao Shen."

"Monkey King..."

Upon hearing those three words, the old man's cheeks twitched involuntarily, and he tapped Yingying's head.

"What Monkey King? There's no such thing as a 'monkey king'. Don't pretend you're playing house and just give yourself a random name and think it's a real shrine."

After saying this, the old man apologized to Lin Beixuan: "The child doesn't understand the reasoning behind this, please don't be offended, guest."

"It's the Monkey King! The Monkey King is incredibly powerful. Once, Er Gou was almost captured by a monster, and it was the Monkey King who scared the monster away."

Lin Beixuan smiled, leaned down to look at Yingying, and asked softly, "Could you take me to meet this Er Gou?"

Yingying's face lit up with joy when she saw that Lin Beixuan believed her: "Of course, Er Gou's family lives in the alley ahead."

Lin Beixuan followed Yingying's gaze, nodded, and said to the old man, "Could you lend me your granddaughter for a moment? Once I find the information I need, I will return her safely."

The old man hesitated for a moment, glanced at his deserted tea stall, gritted his teeth, and said, "I'll go with you. I know Er Gou's father, so it'll be easier to talk to him."

Lin Beixuan glanced at the old man with amusement, knowing that the other man was worried that he would abduct his granddaughter, so he agreed to the other man's request.

Led by Yingying, the group quickly arrived at Er Gou's residence.

Er Gou is a boy about the same age as Yingying, and he is currently receiving loving education from his father.

When Er Gou's father saw someone coming, he subconsciously stopped what he was doing and looked out of the yard.

"Old man tea?"

The middle-aged man clearly recognized the old man. Then, seeing Lin Beixuan's clothes and the tall, magnificent horse behind him, he stepped forward, opened the door, and invited the group to sit in the courtyard.

Upon seeing Yingying arrive while kneeling on the ground, the little boy immediately got up and showed her his indomitable achievements.

“Yingying, you’re here. Let me show you, even when my dad hit me with such a thick stick, I didn’t cry.”

As he spoke, the boy pointed to the red mark on his buttocks with his finger.

Yingying's exclamation, "You're so amazing!" immediately plunged the boy into a state of emotional self-satisfaction.

A short while later, the middle-aged man called his son over and brought him to Lin Beixuan.

In ancient times, families that were not wealthy often gave their children humble names, believing that the more unpleasant the name, the easier it would be to raise them and that it could compensate for the deficiencies in their destiny.

Like Er Gou, Tie Dan, Hei Wa, and the like.

Of course, they must also have their own names.

Er Gou's real name is Li Jin. He had just been beaten by his own father, so he didn't dare to have any rebellious thoughts. He immediately ran over there like a little puppy.

"Father, what do you want to see me about?"

The middle-aged man pointed at Lin Beixuan and said, "This distinguished guest wants to know about your affair with that Monkey King."

Upon hearing this, Li Jin immediately frowned: "The Monkey King is very powerful, Father, you cannot disrespect the Monkey King."

The middle-aged man clearly knew something about the Monkey King; although his expression was somewhat displeased, he quickly corrected himself.

Li Jin looked at Lin Beixuan and asked, "What do you want to know?"

Lin Beixuan smiled and said, "Tell me everything you know about the Monkey King."

As he spoke, Lin Beixuan placed a piece of gold on the stone table in front of him.

The sight immediately widened the eyes of those nearby, their hearts pounding.

The middle-aged man even secretly kicked Li Jin, urging him to speak quickly.

A seven- or eight-year-old child is not ignorant; he naturally recognizes that the large piece of gold on the table is worth a lot of money.

He had no intention of hiding anything, and now that he could make such a large sum of gold, he told them everything he knew.

"I dug up the Monkey King in a field two months ago. I saw that it looked just like the shrine my father worshipped, so I secretly brought it home."

Li Jin gestured wildly as he spoke, and even ran under the bed in the room to take out the Monkey King.

Lin Beixuan looked at the shrine in the child's hand, a strange look appearing in his eyes.

The shrine is somewhat old, and its material is not stone, but rather more like a special kind of wood. The fact that a small child could hold it in his hand shows that it is not heavy.

Lin Beixuan reached out and took the shrine. The moment his fingertips touched the shrine, a panel prompt appeared in his mind.

[You encountered and came into contact with a special niche item: the Monkey King statue.]

[The Monkey God Statue: An ancient niche object possessing mysterious powers, suspected to be related to the Shen Shi (3-5 PM) Spiritual Pivot, one of the twelve zodiac deities, blurring the lines between reality and illusion, and playing tricks on cause and effect.]

"The master of the Spirit Pivot at Shen Shi (3-5 PM)!"

"Looks like I'm very lucky."

Lin Beixuan raised an eyebrow and exerted a little force with his palm. The shrine, which originally had a somewhat ancient appearance and a blurry surface, and whose shape could only be roughly seen as that of a monkey, suddenly made a crackling sound.

Immediately afterwards, cracks appeared on the outer layer of the shrine, and to the astonishment of the people nearby, the shrine returned to its original state.

The shrine was gleaming with gold. Inside was a monkey, whose species was indistinguishable, sitting cross-legged. The carving was exquisite, with every hair seemingly lifelike and its lively expression appearing as if it were about to leap out of the shrine at any moment.

"This is what the shrine originally looked like."

Lin Beixuan examined the not-so-large shrine in his hand, then looked at Li Jin and said calmly, "Could you sell me this shrine?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jin's face immediately fell.

Li Jin's father glanced at his son, then at Lin Beixuan, and finally made the decision: "If our distinguished guest wishes, we will give it to you."

"??"

Li Jin stared at his father in shock, tears welling up in his eyes.

The middle-aged man chuckled wryly and rubbed Li Jin's head, saying helplessly, "If it were just an ordinary shrine object, it would be fine, but clearly it isn't. If we keep it, it might not only fail to protect us from disaster, but it could even bring us trouble."

Lin Beixuan's arrival today served as a wake-up call for this middle-aged man.

After a conversation, he could tell that the other person was a kind person.

But if some thugs come, their family will probably face annihilation.

After the middle-aged man's earnest explanation, Li Jin naturally understood and sat quietly to the side without saying a word.

Seeing this, Lin Beixuan thought for a moment, then took out a shrine from his pouch and handed it to Li Jin.

Li Jin stared blankly at the new shrine handed to him, then looked up in confusion.

"This is?"

The middle-aged man stared at the shrine for a while, and for some reason felt that the appearance of the statue inside the shrine was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Lin Beixuan smiled and said, "I can guarantee that this shrine will be more effective than your Monkey King."

(End of this chapter)