The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 183 The Majestic Prestige of the Prefect, The Lion's Fate Arrives

With a single decree, the lands of a thousand miles came forth in obedience, thus sealing the earth's veins for a thousand miles. Such a gesture caused the old Taoist to pause slightly, stroking his beard, speechless.

Generally speaking, the local deity would not agree to such a request.

But this time, on one hand, it was because of Zhou Yan's friendship and face, and on the other hand, it was because they knew that the person they had to deal with was the culprit who caused the incident at the Reclining Buddha Temple and almost caused a century of drought and crop failure in the Guanzhong Plain.

What's more, this time they only need to play a support role.

Using one's authority to seal off the earth's veins, forcing that great monster out, would not only repay the debt of gratitude but also vent one's anger. The risks were minimal, so why wouldn't one do it?
The local earth gods, who lived within a thousand miles, all bowed to the young Taoist priest and said:

"promise!"

"We respectfully receive the decree of the True Lord."

Then, to the old Taoist's astonishment, it spun around and transformed into clouds, disappearing back into the earth.

Zhou Yan said, "The Weaver Girl spent a thousand years weaving this network of earth veins, and then spent a long time fixing it. But it was the work of a demon after all. The Earth God's authority sealed off this network of earth veins, and he couldn't stand it."

Zhou Yan understood this quite well.

It's like playing a very boring and tedious game, but with rich rewards, and after playing it for two thousand years, you've created a perfect game save file.

Now you're telling me the save file is corrupted?

Everyone's about to explode.

Zhou Yan said, "Once the Weaver Girl is forced out, we will have to trouble you, Master."

Xiweizi remained silent for a long while, then suddenly stroked his beard and laughed heartily:

"I see, I see. Hehe, I didn't know before that a mountain lord could have such great power, able to command the local earth gods within a thousand miles of Zhongnan Mountain to do things for him."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It's not my name. Back at the Reclining Buddha Temple, didn't I use the power of the local deity to thwart the Weaver Girl's plan to ascend to immortality? The local deities just want to repay a favor to me."

This answer was also quite airtight.

Xiweizi thought about it and it made sense, but the old Taoist still had some doubts. Zhou Yan saw that no one was around, so he took Xiweizi's hand, reached into his sleeve, took out a book that he had roughly copied and put inside.

The young Taoist priest had a hearty smile:

"By the way, I'll have to trouble you with this. I saw that you like this kind of book, and I happen to have seen a few of them before. I've written them down for you. You're welcome."

"Look at this, it's powerful!"

Xiweizi froze, opened it and looked inside, her pupils widening.

Suddenly flipping to the front, he saw the titles "The Record of Goddess XX", "Jin Moumei", and "Fairy Jie XX". He looked up at the Taoist priest in front of him, his lips twitched, and he said awkwardly, "This, this is not allowed, this is not allowed, Grandmaster Uncle."

While turning around and waving his hands repeatedly, he pushed the booklets back.

He refused repeatedly, his attitude extremely firm.

He opened his wide sleeves.

Like the kind of child who says no to New Year's money on the one hand, but then opens their sleeves to accept it on the other, after several refusals, the old Taoist priest coughed and said righteously, "Well, as the saying goes, one should not refuse a gift from an elder."

"In that case, old Taoist priest, you won't stand on ceremony."

"Ahem, this kind of thing requires me, an old Taoist priest, to give it a proper critique."

Seeing the old Taoist's appearance, Zhou Yan simply followed his lead and finalized the logic for dealing with the ancient great demon spider spirit—first, let the local earth gods compress and control the earth veins in turn, and finally force the great demon out from the newly formed lake in Cuihua Mountain.

"The Weaver Girl..."

Zhou Yan thought about his past experiences and felt a murderous intent in his heart.

Whether it's from the perspective of a semi-Taoist sect regarding the Weaver Girl's occupation of the Zhongnan Mountain's ley lines, the crisis she caused in the Wugong Town area, or the matter of Li Pingyang, Zhou Yan's hostility and murderous intent towards the Weaver Girl are gradually accumulating.

Such a demon must be slain!
Karma and its consequences are sealed within the jade book.

Thinking of the insect demon powder, the human skin, the people who died in the calamity of the Reclining Buddha Temple, and the [Golden Cicada Jade Dew], he also wanted to understand which beings this monster was colluding with.

However, hiding within the earth's veins is the more troublesome thing.

Xiweizi is incredibly powerful. Even when fighting the incarnation of one of the nine enlightened leaders of Kunlun, he can gain the upper hand. However, the earth veins are yin in nature, while Xiweizi is a pure yang body with yang energy and lightning. If he is not careful, it will greatly affect the purity of the earth veins.

"If this guy is forced out by the local deity and the others, then it might be alright."

"What if the Weaver Girl is patient enough to figure out the problem and hides in the ley lines, refusing to come out no matter what?"

"We need to think of a way to get rid of this monster."

"Ideally, there would be mountain gods or earth spirits who could penetrate the earth's veins and drive the Weaver Girl out..."

Zhou Yan remained silent. The most suitable party for this matter was actually the Western Yue, but the Weaver Girl had personally experienced the power of the Lord of Mount Tai. The great demon knew that the Lord of Mount Tai was Zhou Yan, and this secret could not be known to the Western Yue.

After much thought, Zhou Yan thought of the Stone Star on Mount Tai.

Having descended to earth and lived long enough, and having received the mountain god's decree, allowing him to infiltrate the earth's veins, Shi Xuanxing, with his strength, even if he is no match for Zhiniang, should be able to force Zhiniang out of the earth's veins.

Speaking of which, how have Shi Xuanxing and the others been doing these past few days?

Zhou Yan returned to the quiet room arranged for him, closed the door, set up a shrine, and resonated with Mount Tai in this place. His consciousness settled on Mount Tai, and he first took off his armor, feeling a sense of relief in both his spirit and body.

Using four pieces of divine-grade armor at the same time puts considerable pressure on Zhou Yan.

Old Land, Stone Star, and Flying Eagle General learned that the Prefect had arrived, so they showed off their achievements, drawing out the six thousand Taishan Guards, each one showing off their spirit, displaying their ten-foot-tall bodies, and marching in formation.

In the eyes of Shi Xuanxing and the others, the training over these past few days has been quite good. However, in Zhou Yan's view, the young Taoist seemed to want to raise his hand, cover his face, and sigh.

He suddenly understood what it looked like when he looked at the freshmen at the beginning of their military training from a high place.

However, he overlooked one point: strict adherence to orders is actually a very difficult standard to achieve.

Zhou Yan inquired in detail about Shi Xuanxing and the others' training methods. When he learned that these two brilliant minds had further increased the intensity of their training, which they had already adjusted to match the monsters, by a super-double, even Zhou Yan was speechless.

Lord Zhou couldn't help but say, "What kind of beast are you?"

Shi Xuanxing froze, then clenched his fist and pounded his chest, saying, "Reporting to the Lord!"

"This humble general is not an animal!"

"This humble servant is a stone."

Zhou Yan was speechless. Seeing the numb, listless, and lazy expressions of these stone spirits, he knew that he couldn't trust Shi Xuanxing's brain too much.

With a slight tremor of the mind, he tapped the armrest of the altar with his fingers.

A ripple spread out.

In the air, the jar of wine that Zhongyue Zhenjun had thrown to test and provoke him earlier flew out and slowly rotated. The seal of the spirit wine was opened, and before it was even poured, a rich spiritual aura emanated from it.

The test by the True Lord of Zhongyue was genuine, but so was the wine he sent. The spiritual wine the True Lord drank was buried deep within the Zhongyue earth veins and aged there. It was extremely beneficial to all kinds of rocks and stones. Although Zhou Yan felt a pang of regret, he did not hesitate when he saw the rocks left behind after the training.

The Prefect's voice was calm: "This is the reward."

With a flick of his finger, he tapped the void, and the jar of spiritual wine slowly poured out, the wine liquid splashing out like rain. Zhou Yan used his divine power as the Lord of the Palace to fill the huge jar with water mist and pour it down, stopping in front of the six thousand Taishan Guards.

These mountain spirits all sensed the aroma of wine in the air.

Their previously dull and uninteresting gazes suddenly became lively. They were not made of flesh and blood and did not need to eat. They usually liked to bask in the sun and feel the breeze. However, since they had gained spirituality by chance, they would be extremely interested in anything that possessed spiritual energy.

In the blink of an eye, these Taishan guards, who had been so dull just moments before, now had bright eyes and were eager to try, but dared not drink the wine because of the rules.

Zhou Yan chuckled softly; the Prefect's laughter was like the wind passing through the mountains and forests.

He tapped his fingers again, and the wine was out of control. He said, "Let's drink together, everyone."

The rocks didn't understand anything yet, but Shi Xuanxing sighed and said:

"The Lord has bestowed upon you this sacred wine; hurry and drink it!"

"Thank you for the wine, Your Excellency!"

"Thank you, Lord Prefect!"

"Your Excellency, you are so kind!"

"You treat me even better than my own mother, so you are my mother, Lord!"

"Bullshit! You're a rock, what mother do you have?!"

This time, the mountain spirits and stone monsters were much more eager, and then they all swallowed the spirit wine. They felt waves of extremely strong primordial energy flowing through their bodies. The cultivation of the mountain spirits and stone monsters was already very difficult, and the primordial energy accumulated day by day piled up together.

Upon being infused with this spiritual wine, their spiritual energy surged, causing them to stumble and stagger as if they were drunk, which was rather endearing.

Zhou Yan chuckled softly, then noticed that the so-called weapons and armor of these Taishan Guards were all transformed from their own rocks, which consumed vital energy and were of poor quality.

Zhou Yan thought for a moment, then lowered his eyes and asked the local earth god.

"The God of Fortune and Virtue".

“I remember that the Taishan Duke’s treasury contained many weapons and armor.”

The Earth God was stunned. This time, even Shi Xuanxing and General Flying Eagle were stunned. They seemed to have vaguely realized something. Zhou Yan moved his divine sense, and the treasury of the Duke of Mount Tai was opened.

Inside is the very treasure vault that Shi Xuanxing saw when he came here before!

This was also the first thing Shi Xuanxing wanted to obtain when he first came to the Taishan Duke's Treasury.

Eighteen kinds of weapons and various armors slowly emerged, hovering in the air, faintly shimmering with precious light. Among them were many good ones, at least of the level of a hundred-times-forged elite weapon from the mortal realm, imbued with spirits by talismans.

Shi Xuanxing said, "This, Lord, this is..."

With a flick of his sleeve, Zhou Yan sent all the weapons and armor flying out.

He didn't understand why the previous Lord Taishan had put all these things away and not used them. If he wanted these Taishan Guards to help sweep away evil spirits, then he should have given them the best things to use.

"Stone Hanging Star".

Shi Xuanxing's face no longer held its previous naive look. He took half a step forward and solemnly said:

"The end will be here."

"A legion cannot be without armor and weapons, or it will be a laughing stock of Mount Tai. All these armors and weapons can be distributed to the Mount Tai Guard."

Shi Xuanxing exhaled and solemnly said:

"...This humble general thanks the Prefect for the reward."

So these Taishan Guards first drank the spiritual wine, which stimulated their own spiritual energy. Then they received weapons and armor. Once they put them on, they transformed, becoming tall and exuding a truly fierce aura.

Zhou Yan looked at the empty divine throne rotating in the sky, and at the Taishan Guards, now clad in armor and completely renovated, which finally looked somewhat presentable. He then noticed that there were still quite a few spiritual fruits and herbs in the Taishan Duke's treasure.

After thinking about it, I decided to ask Xuan Zhuzi how to deal with these things, refine them into pills, and distribute them to the Taishan Guard.

The training intensity needs to be maintained.

Corresponding equipment and supplies, as well as cultivation pills, must be provided.

Currently, we are simply taking out the pills from the Taishan treasury—medicines for injuries, pills for cultivation, and pills for restoring magical power—and distributing them in three parts to the Taishan Guards.

Zhou Yan's time at the altar was almost up, and he slowly dispersed and left.

Shi Xuanxing waited respectfully until the Lord of the Underworld was no longer on the altar before slowly raising his head, exhaling, and looking back at the old brothers he had taken in. He felt something itchy in his chest.

General Flying Eagle's expression also became somewhat calm.

Zhou Yan treated the Taishan Guards as his own people, and their souls were sent to the afterlife. The mountain spirits and stone monsters he left behind were armed with the relics of the Taishan Duke. However, throughout history, no righteous god has ever treated such ordinary little demons as this.

Only now did Shi Xuanxing sense the difference, and sighed:
"I came here that day to offend the magistrate, originally to obtain these treasures; but I never imagined that I would end up obtaining them in this way..."

General Flying Eagle fanned himself with his feather fan and said, "There is a saying among humans: 'A scholar will die for one who understands him.' Although we are demon spirits, we cannot disregard the rules. Since Lord has treated us so well, we should give him a gift."

"It's better than..."

Shi Xuanxing looked at the newly transformed troops, his eyes deep and unfathomable, and said:
"It's time to practice."

........................

Zhou Yan left the quiet room, thinking about how to ask Xuan Zhuzi how to refine pills, or how to "lure" this successor of the demon king to help refine pills, when he suddenly smelled a fragrance coming from the room.

"Hmm? Have you eaten?"

Zhou Yan was puzzled. He went to his residence, opened the door, and then froze in shock.

I am the supreme one!

Lord Zhou glanced at the three dishes and one soup on the table.

I looked over there at the white jade lion cat with heterochromia, standing upright, wearing an apron, its paws gripping a shovel and chopsticks.

This world is so strange.

Why did I drink with Stone Gate before going home?

I saw a cat cook itself three dishes and a soup overnight?

The white jade lion cat opened its mouth:
"Meow~"

"you are back?"

(End of this chapter)