Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 119 Mutual Schemes (3000 words)
Three Immortals Pavilion

Li Wushou sat cross-legged beneath the incense table, bathed in a misty haze.

He has been staying at the Sanxian Restaurant for the past two weeks, and recently he has even stopped the food delivery service provided by Chef Hu from the City God Temple.

The priests in the City God Temple thought he was reducing his appetite because of the food shortage in Wufang City, and they were all very worried. But only Li Wushou knew that he was actually not hungry!

He's actually been eating very well lately! You could even say he's been enjoying himself!
He understood the message Lin You had just sent back, and another matter that had been on his mind was finally showing signs of resolution; the disappearance of the merchant ship was finally beginning to reveal itself.

Zhu Sihai went to great lengths and created a food shortage in Wufang City, all just to clear his name?
Li Wushou found it somewhat laughable; who would believe such a reason?

Since Zhu Sihai still wants to pretend, let's just give him what he wants and give him a false name of benevolence. He'll eventually slip up.

In the past few days, he had actually come to understand what Zhu Sihai was going to do. Zhu Sihai's time was coming to an end, his physical body was withered, and there was no hope of immortality. If he wanted to live forever, he could only take the path of the gods and the Yin gods.

Originally, for him, if he were to become a high priest in the City God Temple like Xiao Panshan, it wouldn't be difficult to ask the City God for help in cultivating the Yin God.

However, Li Wushou guessed that at this time, Zhu Sihai's daughter, Feng Lingdao, had given the other party a lot of confidence.

How could a spirit that is subservient to humans satisfy his appetite?

He had been the city lord of Wufang City for decades, always suppressed by the City God. Even the civil and military officials had more prestige than him, the city lord. Since he was going to follow the path of the Yin God, why not become the City God?

Once ambition takes root, it will quickly run rampant!
Therefore, Zhu Sihai made all these plans. First, he ambushed and trapped the civil official outside the city. Then, he used sparrows to build nests in the heart of the city god and controlled the city god's soul. Finally, he even began to control the martial official.

Li Wushou had always wondered why Zhu Sihai hadn't made a move even though things had come to this point.

In the end, after analyzing the situation with the old beggar, they finally understood something: Zhu Sihai must still have some reservations! Originally, he and the old beggar both believed that Zhu Sihai's reservations were due to the City God's methods.

But after rescuing the Paper Goddess, Li Wushou had a different perspective. This apprehension likely stemmed from orthodox approval, or perhaps both!
The position of City God is not something anyone can simply decide to become. Thirty-six cities are scattered along the banks of the 800-mile-long Hengyang River, and the City Gods and City Lords of these cities all come from Wangxian City! In other words, the position of City God requires the approval of Wangxian City.

This is clearly recorded in Liu Qingmei's personal biography: "After ten years of cultivation, she entered the realm of Yin spirits and was appointed as the City God of the Five Directions!"

In other words, if Zhu Sihai wants to become the City God, he needs to have a legitimate claim and the recognition of Wangxian City and even Xuankong Mountain.

Although the Fengling Dao, from which Quezi originated, is powerful, it may not necessarily be able to govern Xuankong Mountain. Moreover, Quezi is Quezi, and Zhu Sihai is Zhu Sihai; the difference between the two is enormous!
So, if I were Zhu Sihai, what would I do?

It's simply a fait accompli, and there's no way to prove it now that the dead are dead!

As the saying goes, "a fait accompli" means that he rightfully became the City God, and it's easy to understand that he died without any evidence. That is, the City God Liu perished!
How to make it legitimate? Li Wushou also found clues in the Record of Evil Spirits from the Five Directions!
It does not explain how to obtain the position of City God, but it does explain why the City God is stronger than other local deities and evil spirits in the five directions.

One is the power of incense offerings and vows. The City God has the largest incense offerings in the five directions of restaurants, and therefore controls the greatest power of incense offerings and vows.
The second is the Five Directions City God Seal. The City God, holding this seal, can mobilize the power of the earth veins inside and outside the city in the five directions, and suppress one side.

Conversely, if Zhu Sihai wanted to obtain the position of City God, he would need to acquire three things: incense offerings, the power of believers' wishes, and the seals of the Five City Gods!
Although Li Wushou deduced these three things, he did not believe that Zhu Sihai could obtain them, as each one was extremely difficult to obtain!

The power of incense offerings is not something that can be obtained simply by verbally endorsing someone; rather, it requires every household in the Five Directions City to set up a shrine and make devout offerings.

Within the Five Directions City, only one person can have a shrine erected for worship: the City God!
Even civil and military officials could only erect golden statues in the City God Temple and offer incense at restaurants; they could not set up incense halls in people's homes.

How could Zhu Sihai possibly establish a divine position within the Five Directions City under such circumstances?

On the contrary, the five City God Seals are more likely to be obtained by Zhu Sihai, since the other party holds the soul of the City God and may be able to find some opportunities.

So, if the purpose of manipulating the City God's soul is to kill the City God and obtain the Five City God Seals at the same time?
So, after all that effort was put into creating a famine, was the distribution of rice and grain merely a means to establish a divine position?

Thinking of this, Li Wushou's eyes lit up. There must be something wrong with the rice. He just didn't know if it was a cover-up or if there was a serious problem with it.

However, according to Lin You's feedback, Liu Yanchang seemed to be worried that there might be something wrong with the rice. He made it clear that the rice sent by Zhu Sihai would have to be inspected by the City God Temple before it could be sold. This made Li Wushou quite satisfied.

He always felt that these minor priests were all very shrewd, but the City God had given them too little opportunity!
As for the City God's spirit in the River of Yin Qi?

Li Wushou, however, did not intend to intervene. He would just wait and see how things would turn out in the end!

Taking a deep breath of the incense smoke, Li Wushou's face emerged from the rising smoke, his complexion quite ruddy. One could vaguely see him open his palm, take out a speck of incense ash, and rub it on something in front of the prayer mat. Then, the incense smoke enveloped him again, concealing his figure once more.

East City Lord's Mansion

Steward Zhu was bowing and reporting to Zhu Sihai on matters related to the sale of rice and grain.

Zhu Sihai calmly sipped his tea, nodding occasionally.

After a long while, having understood everything clearly, Zhu Sihai nodded in satisfaction.

"Ah Da, you've worked hard. This matter concerns whether we can become the masters of the City God Temple in the future, so please be careful!"

Steward Zhu solemnly replied that he was a man who should have died, but the master had prayed for his life to continue. Now, with his life hanging by a thread, he had the chance to glimpse the divine path, so how could he not be careful and do everything in his power to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
"Rest assured, sir, Ah Da will do anything, even risk his life!"

Zhu Sihai stood up and patted Old Steward Zhu on the shoulder. The two had been together for over sixty years, so there was no need for further words!

After Steward Zhu left the council hall, a question suddenly rang out in the empty hall: "Since it has been decided to send rice, why go through the trouble of burning down the rice shop's granary? Wouldn't that just attract more attention?"

Zhu Sihai was not surprised by this. After sitting back down in his chair, he replied:
"Li Wushou presented us with what we cared about most, but secretly switched things out and deceived us. What he can use, we can use too!"

The sparrow asked again, its voice still cold and clear!

"what for?"

Zhu Sihai didn't speak, but first sighed, and then slowly said, "Because Li Wushou is intelligent!"

Even the arrogant Zhu Sihai had to admit, after several encounters, that this kid who had repeatedly thwarted his plans and ruined his chances was not just lucky; rather, he was genuinely intelligent and had to be taken seriously. He could no longer underestimate him.

"The disappearance of the merchant ships must have alerted them to something amiss. So, the famine in Wufang City, which I instigated, can't be hidden from them. Whatever I do next will inevitably be under their watchful eye."

"Since that's the case, let's just use their methods and put what they want to see out in the open, so they can see it to their heart's content! It's not like Li Wushou is the only one who can pull off the trick of switching the beams and pillars!"

The sparrow, not quite understanding, continued to ask, "Then rice?"

Zhu Sihai took a sip of tea and said confidently, "The rice is fine, no one can tell it's okay, don't worry!"

Seeing that Zhu Sihai was determined, Quezi stopped asking questions. Whether he succeeded or not was Zhu Sihai's own fate. He had done his best and would not feel any resentment.
Zhu Sihai, however, asked with a solemn expression, "How are the civil and military officials within the River of Yin Qi?"

Zhu Sihai was indeed very worried about this. The City God was the core of everything. The Civil Official's innate divine eyes could detect the early parasitic Divine Soul Sparrow. Although it had now reached the late stage of parasitism and the Divine Soul Sparrow had almost merged with the City God, Zhu Sihai was still worried that something might go wrong.

After all, there is a Golden Core cultivator from the Liu family hiding in the shadows. If the Literary God discovers his methods, what kind of countermeasures could he possibly have?

Quezi is just as confident about this as Zhu Sihai was just now!
"Not to mention that the Civil Official lost one of his divine eyes using a secret technique, and his divine abilities have been greatly diminished. Even when he was at his peak, he couldn't detect the Divine Soul Sparrow right now! His condition is very poor. After using his remaining divine eye to examine it a few times, he sank into the River of Yin Qi to heal his injuries!"

"As for the Martial God? His condition is even worse. He has almost completely lost his reason and has been frantically devouring living souls these days without any restraint. He is probably not far from losing control!"

"These two are nothing to worry about. I have recently tried to control the City God's soul to activate the Five Directions City God's Decree. I expect to succeed soon. You just need to take care of your own affairs!"

Hearing what Quezi said, Zhu Sihai's brows relaxed considerably.

When the civil and military officials entered the Yin Qi River, he was nervous for a long time. But after they entered the Yin Qi River, they simply threw Xiao Panshan's physical body out of the Yin Qi River and then went back to sleep and eat as usual!

He would occasionally wake up to investigate the City God Temple, and then do the same thing again! This did not reassure Zhu Sihai; instead, it made him even more uneasy.

Hearing Quezi's conclusion, Zhu Sihai finally felt a little more at ease!
The Liu family's Golden Core cultivator can hold them off, the civil and military officials are nearly crippled, the City God is already under their control, so who else can they do?

Zhu Sihai kept calculating in his mind: Li Wushou? Xiao Panshan who cast the golden body? The twenty-four minor priests who formed the array?
Can these people really stop me from receiving offerings and prayers?
Zhu Sihai didn't believe it!
Li Wushou was intelligent, but he was neither a god nor an immortal!

Therefore, he was full of confidence, and he was sure to succeed this time!

(End of this chapter)