Lord Taishan suddenly started looking for relatives to latch onto — and it startled me. Back in the capital I’d seen what Lu Xiyu’s people were capable of… and knowing that the four great underworld judges were willing to be reborn into that household, this Gu Fancheng really was no ordinary man.
From the tone of Lord Taishan, this Mr. Gu was a major demon of the netherworld — and the two of them were acquainted? If Gu Fancheng shared Taishan’s habit of helping family over justice, and the two of them joined forces, Si Jiangchen and I would be hopelessly outmatched.
Si Jiangchen was formidable, but I knew my own worthlessness. If a fight broke out and he had to face two ancient gods, no matter how great he was, he couldn’t hold them both alone…
I was lost in such desperate thoughts when Gu Fancheng spoke, cool and flat: “You have the wrong person.”
Taishan froze. How could the great demon of the underworld be mistaken? When the nether realms were first formed, Taishan had dragged countless deities together and finally persuaded this demon to stop raging through the world as a demonic god. Because of that deed he had earned unspeakable merit and been put in charge of the underworld’s precincts and court.
This young man before us looked human, yes, but his aura — that terrifying chill — how could anyone mistake it?
“You’re joking, Great Demon,” Taishan stammered, suddenly imploring. “Are you walking the world to gain experience? I’m here purging evil and defending the Way — those two are reanimated corpses run amok. If you help me, you’d gain great merit!”
Taishan’s borrowed face was already fraying; he no longer cared for divine dignity. He tried to rush past us toward Gu Fancheng.
I glanced at Si Jiangchen. He didn’t look surprised at Gu’s arrival; instead he reached out and pulled me behind him, shielding me.
“I’m mortal — what merit would I want?” Gu Fancheng sounded almost uninterested. It seemed he’d really come only to take Lu Ling’s soul and leave everything else to happen as it would.
“Could it be… could it be…” Taishan’s spirit had already been almost shattered by Si Jiangchen’s Tianpeng incantation. In panic, hearing the demon call himself a mortal, a dangerous idea lit up in his mind: what if this demon had incarnated without regaining his mind? If so, borrowing the demon’s body for a moment would be no great sin — after all, Taishan himself was acting through a human shell now.
Cornered and desperate, the old god’s thoughts turned wicked. He’d already possessed that nurse girl once — what harm in trying this enormous demon’s body as well?
Once the thought took hold, Taishan convinced himself it was right. Even if the demon’s mind wasn’t awake, the shell held limitless power. With his own spirit guiding it, how could two petty corpses pose any trouble?
He lunged at us, a remnant soul almost consumed by the Tianpeng curse.
“Hey!!”
I wanted to stop him. The look on that fool’s face told me exactly what he planned.
“No.” Si Jiangchen stayed where he was, calm and cool, as if he were watching a show.
Maybe in his view, underworld matters were the underworld’s to settle. If Gu Fancheng really was a great demon of the nether realms, Taishan’s fellow-deities should deal with him. I wasn’t worried about Gu — I was terrified Taishan would try to invade that frozen man’s body, anger him, and be utterly destroyed. If that doom were recorded as a consequence on Si Jiangchen’s ledger, we’d be the ones to pay the price.
Taishan, forgotten for too long, had become a shallow simpleton — a tool in Shengshi Xun’s hands. Si Jiangchen’s Tianpeng incantation was harsh, but its ultimate goal was to send the celestial marshals to seize Taishan. Otherwise he could have used his five-thunders to utterly obliterate Taishan’s soul — far simpler than any lightning I could muster.
But held back by Si Jiangchen, I could only watch as the fool flung himself like a moth into the flame toward the “divine residence” at Gu Fancheng’s chest.
Possession of this sort differed from a common ghost hop. Taishan was a true god; his spirit enters through the shénfǔ — the divine seat where a god’s heavenly qi gathers in a body. The shénfǔ is literally the “residence of the divine” within a mortal frame.
Gu Fancheng hadn’t expected Taishan to hurl himself straight at his breast either, but he realized the old god’s intent in an instant. His face remained an eternal glacier; he only extended a finger and said, “Stop.”
His voice was like ice that had never thawed. Every hair on our arms prickled.
Taishan’s heart faltered but he pushed on: “Great Demon, I do this for your cultivation!” He had reached Gu Fancheng; his shattered spirit condensed into a thread of pale gold and flowed toward Gu’s chest…
“Want to die?” Gu Fancheng snorted, and at that sound a colossal votive image rose behind him.
I stared, stunned. The monstrous effigy was larger than the five-story Guanyin in the temple — a blue-purple wrathful form with four thick arms wielding ritual instruments. Without sound it unleashed a furious roar at Taishan.
A wave like a tidal surge swept through Taishan’s spirit; his soul was torn apart like dust in the wind and scattered to nothing.
“Hey — you really don’t recognize him?” I couldn’t help poking my head out from behind Si Jiangchen. “Your memory can’t be that bad, can it?”
Gu Fancheng glanced at me; the effigy behind him moved an arm with slow precision and gathered the scattered fragments of Taishan’s spirit like a net. The pieces condensed into a small golden orb that hovered before Gu.
“Si,” Gu said, holding the orb, “you could have taken him easily. Why make me be the one to move?”
Si Jiangchen smiled. “Since you were already here, there was no need for me to overstep. I’m nothing but an escaped fiend from the nether precincts — why invite one more powerful enemy onto my head?”
—Of course. No wonder he hadn’t used the Five-Thunders to end Taishan for good; he always leaves himself an out.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way.” Gu stuffed the golden orb into his pocket. “Xixi is waiting for Lu Ling to finish a certain… tying of fates.”
“Ah!” I suddenly remembered the demon pill Lord Mu Yuan had given me. I hurriedly blocked him. “The congratulatory gift your father-in-law sent for Gu Xiaolu — please, take it back with you!”