Volume One: The Kingdom of the Endless Night Chapter Sixty-Five: Cai Tanggu's Little Wish

Looking at the tightly closed gates of the Marquis of Xunyang’s Estate, Xie Wuhang was utterly bewildered.

What was going on?
Why did Brother Jiang always turn a blind eye to him?
Had he ever offended him in any way?
He racked his brains but could find no answer.

Thus, he decided to scale the wall.
Yet, no sooner had he dropped down into the courtyard than he saw Jiang Wang staring straight at him from a rattan chair.
"I really need to build this wall a bit higher."

Xie Wuhang stepped forward and asked, "Why does Brother Jiang keep avoiding me?"
Jiang Wang replied, "Because you are dangerous."

Xie Wuhang said, "Brother Jiang, jest not. Back then, we were evenly matched, though I ultimately lost by a narrow margin. Nowadays, I can’t even hope to catch a glimpse of your back. Brother Jiang is truly a peerless genius, making such rapid progress in so short a time."

Jiang Wang waved his hand. "Spare me the flattery. State your business if you have any; otherwise, farewell."

Feeling quite wronged, Xie Wuhang quickly pulled himself together and said, "The bamboo grove is empty. Xiao Shinian has likely already left Hun City."

Jiang Wang was quite surprised. "I thought he was just casually spouting nonsense. To think he actually ran away?"

What Xie Wuhang wanted most was to uncover Xiao Shinian’s secrets, but due to the latter’s peculiar aura, trying to track him down now was as difficult as ascending to the heavens. He felt deeply melancholy.

Jiang Wang looked at him skeptically.
Xiao Shinian left, so he left. What was with that expression on your face?
Could it be that you not only want to make things infinitely harder for me, but you also want to scale the heights of difficulty with Xiao Shinian?

He experienced a sudden epiphany.
Xiao Shinian had probably also sensed Xie Wuhang’s sinister intentions and had immediately executed a cicada sloughing its shell to escape.

Jiang Wang cursed inwardly.
He only blamed himself for being sickly; leaving Hun City meant certain death, leaving him with nowhere to hide.

"However, Feng Linghuai is still in Hun City. Perhaps we can probe into Xiao Shinian’s whereabouts through him," Xie Wuhang mused, completely oblivious to the look of sheer terror on Jiang Wang’s face.

Yet, a moment later, a wave of joy washed over Jiang Wang.
It seemed Xie Wuhang favored Xiao Shinian even more. This was good news!

He immediately declared, "Brother Xie, investigate to your heart’s content! I will give you my full support!"

Xie Wuhang nodded solemnly and said, "There is another matter I must inform Brother Jiang of. Jian Pavilion has sent me a message. It seems that an immortal from the Divine Capital has made a move, and the crises across all borders of Sui are now basically stabilizing. The great demons that wreaked havoc in Kotan have weakened somewhat; some have been slain, others have fled, and only a few remain. I believe my teacher will resolve them shortly."

Frowning, Jiang Wang said, "If that is the case, the great demons that raided Hun City have lost their initiative. With the Sword God holding the fort, Kotan has returned to peace. This is indeed good news."

Xie Wuhang said, "I have already reported the demon attack on Hun City to Jian Pavilion. My martial uncle will find a way to track down that great demon. The crisis in Hun City can be considered completely resolved."

Jiang Wang thought to himself that it might not necessarily be so. That great demon was hiding in the shadows; if it were so easily found, the various realms wouldn't have suffered such a calamity in the first place. Truly powerful demons likely possessed methods to conceal their aura; as long as they stayed put, they would be hard to find.

And as long as that great demon remained unaddressed, Hun City would still be under threat.

Watching Xie Wuhang mechanically scale the wall and vanish once more, Jiang Wang’s consciousness descended into his divine kingdom.

Lofty mountains stood tall, precipitous peaks rose abruptly, forests flourished, and exotic flowers and herbs exuded strange fragrances. The Night Wandering Deity was playing in a small brook, shaking its wings and sending water droplets splashing in all directions.

"Pity there are no fish to catch."
Strangely enough, despite hundreds of years passing, the Night Wandering Deity had never felt lonely, yet at this moment, it felt profoundly bored.

Jiang Wang sat down cross-legged, picked up a pebble, tossed it into the brook, and asked, "What do you make of this business about an immortal from the Divine Capital taking action?"

The Night Wandering Deity floated belly-up, drifting along with the current of the brook. Once it had drifted a little farther away, it flew right back to its original spot. "I did indeed sense an immortal's aura in Sui, but whether it originated from the Divine Capital, I cannot be certain. After all, I dare not get too close to the Divine Capital. Those places are full of monsters; even a city guard there could easily kill me."

Jiang Wang said, "Didn't Lady Shu and Ning Shisi also come from the Divine Capital?"

The Night Wandering Deity retorted, "I said there are many monsters in the Divine Capital. How on earth did you translate that into it being full of nothing but monsters?"

With a smile, Jiang Wang said, "I used to disbelieve the legends of immortals, but your very existence has made it hard for me not to believe. Even though my guess that the demons attacked the city for reasons other than an immortal might just be a conjecture, it remains merely a guess. What if there really is an immortal hiding in Hun City, one that even you cannot perceive?"

The Night Wandering Deity fell silent for a moment. "That is indeed a possibility."

"But if there truly is an immortal in Hun City, it must be a primordial immortal. The so-called miraculous portents of an immortal's descent have no basis at all—they only manifest if the immortal wishes them to, and naturally nothing happens if the immortal does not."

"Only when a new immortal is born will portents manifest spontaneously, but that only occurs when a cultivator breaches the Heavenly Gates and ascends to immortality. As for why such portents have indeed appeared multiple times in the past, I have never been able to figure it out either."

Jiang Wang pondered, "Could the miraculous portents of immortal descents recorded in ancient texts merely be the speculations of their authors? They thought it was an immortal descending, when in reality it had nothing to do with one at all, yet later generations treated it as absolute truth?"

The Night Wandering Deity replied, "I am merely a deity. There are perhaps certain matters related to immortals that even I cannot explain."

It tilted its head to look at Jiang Wang and added, "I have searched for centuries without ever catching a glimpse of an immortal's trace, yet I firmly believe that six hundred years ago, certain immortals definitely survived. Regardless of the demons' true purpose in attacking the city, Hun City must possess some special trait. You might as well look into it."

Jiang Wang thought earnestly and said, "At the intersection of Xixia Street and Pinglan Street, there is indeed a very strange stone."

It was a stone weathered by countless winds and frosts.
It was said to have been placed there even before the establishment of Hun City, and it was utterly immovable.
A senior Celestial Master had once deliberately inspected its feng shui, but so much time had passed that no one in Hun City now knew what that stone was all about.

It was just that some elderly folk liked to chat about past events, tales that Jiang Wang had occasionally overheard when he sneaked out of the estate in the past.
Even the garrison magistrate's office had once studied that stone.
According to Celestial Master Tao, an extremely dense malevolent and murderous aura was contained within the stone, but this aura was suppressed and posed no threat to the surrounding people.

Celestial Master Tao possessed genuine skills after all, so he likely wasn't speaking without foundation.

The Night Wandering Deity fluttered its wings high, shaking off water droplets, and flew straight onto Jiang Wang’s head as if it were its bird nest. It scratched and ruffled the obstructive hair, settled down comfortably, and said, "Viewed in this light, there is definitely something wrong with that stone."

"Think back to the great war of Qingming, the fall of deities, and true immortals descending to the mortal realm. Some demons with extremely profound cultivation could not be slain and could only be sealed away. Perhaps that great demon from six hundred years ago is suppressed beneath that stone."

Shocked, Jiang Wang said, "You mean there is a demon under Hun City?!"

The Night Wandering Deity said, "To be precise, beneath Xixia Street. But this is merely a conjecture. Besides, centuries have passed, and after the Moyuan Campaign, the mortal world has been cleansed several times over. Even if a great demon were truly sealed here, I fear it would have turned to dust long ago."

Jiang Wang argued, "Demons enjoy prolonged lifespans. As long as they haven't suffered substantial harm, how could they easily turn to dust? If it's a seal, one might call it a demon's prison, but one could also call it protection. As long as the seal remains unbroken, the demon inside should be insulated from the baptism of the mortal world."

Nodding, the Night Wandering Deity agreed, "That is also possible."

Jiang Wang lay straight down on the soft turf. Flapping its wings, the Night Wandering Deity stood upon his forehead and asked in puzzlement, "What are you doing? Since you have this hypothesis, go outside and check it out! Why are you lying down?"

With an indolent tone, Jiang Wang said, "The demons attacked the city either to slay an immortal or to rescue the sealed great demon. There should be no third possibility."

"Right now, they are probably making a desperate gamble because the seal has loosened. If that really is the case, powerful figures of the Sui State will naturally step forward. If the conjecture proves false, then there is even less reason for me to go look at that broken stone."

Shocked, the Night Wandering Deity exclaimed, "You're just being lazy, aren't you?"

Defending himself, Jiang Wang said, "I am actually very diligent, but my constitution is weak! What can I do, I was born with this condition. You mustn't slander me."

The Night Wandering Deity said nothing, grunting and snorting for a long while before letting out a soft breath.

Suddenly, Jiang Wang’s eyes widened.
"Did you actually shit on my head?!"

He grabbed the Night Wandering Deity by the scruff, hurled it away viciously, and then lunged like a released bowstring straight into the brook.

The Night Wandering Deity sneered, "I believe you really are diligent now. Look at how fast you ran!"

Jiang Wang’s cursing echoed throughout the entire divine kingdom.

......

At the second quarter of the *Xu* hour (around 8:00 PM).
Night descended.

Deep in a mountain range five thousand miles away from Hun City.
Dong Chongyang ignited a campfire, roasting flatbreads and some meat.

Cai Tanggu sat on a withered log, staring at the figure gazing up at the starry sky. Having endured for a long time, he finally felt compelled to speak.

"Lady Pei, I was headed to Hun City anyway, and the libationer arranged for me to assist you. Although our task is to find Shanze, 'Shanze' is merely the name of their faction, not someone who literally lives in the mountains. You ran all the way out here—what on earth are you intending to do?"

Lady Pei raised an eyebrow and replied calmly, "I am not searching without purpose; I have clues. But it is clear we are a step too late."

Cai Tanggu was deeply suspicious. Really?

In truth, Lady Pei was furious, thinking to herself that Libationer Chang hadn't made things clear at all!
He wanted to keep her poor sense of direction a secret, but the purpose was for him to guide the way, not for him to just follow her lead!
She couldn't simply ask where they were going out loud. In these uninhabited, desolate mountains, only a fool would want to come here!

In the end, Cai Tanggu chose to believe her.
After all, Lady Pei’s status was extraordinary.
She had no reason to drag him around on wild goose chases.

He shook his head, glanced at Dong Chongyang, and whispered, "Along the journey, we saw no rampaging great demons. I suppose the situation in Kotan will stabilize soon, which won't delay Lord Jijian's affairs. But Jiang Wang... his aptitude is extraordinary. If he manages to hook up with those two Bathing Snow Realm cultivators, we might encounter plenty of trouble when we finally head to Hun City."

Dong Chongyang glanced at Lady Pei, who was still gazing at the stars. A lot of time had been wasted because of her, but there was nothing to be done about it. He could only offer comfort: "As long as Brother Cai attends to proper business and doesn't go looking for trouble, judging by Jiang Wang's attitude toward you back then, he shouldn't deliberately make things difficult."

Cai Tanggu thought to himself, how could I *only* attend to proper business?
Even if revenge had to be postponed, he had to get his hands on the precious treasures in Jiang Wang's possession.
That was his only hope of breaking through into the Bathing Snow Realm!

He wanted to return to his pristine, natural state!
He wanted to become handsome!