Patrol Captain

Under Chen Yuan's watchful gaze, in the flickering candlelight, an old man dressed in coarse linen clothes, with gray and disheveled hair and beard, moved slowly and slightly hunched over as he leisurely walked out of the shadows, a broom in his hand.

Those eyes were incredibly deep, their sockets almost completely hidden by layers of loose eyelids.

"May I ask your Excellency?"

Chen Yuan forcibly suppressed the restless fire within his body, his eyes lowered slightly, the golden light in them flickering uncertainly.

The old man stood at the boundary between light and shadow, his wrinkled lines resembling the bark of an aged tree. As he opened his mouth, the wrinkles smoothed out slightly. "I am the temple keeper of this place."

"I usually sweep the floor and burn incense. Over the years, my throat has been choked by the smoke and dust, and I always cough."

"Cough cough."

His voice was calm yet powerful, with a slightly husky quality.

As he spoke, his sleepy eyelids twitched upwards, revealing his deep gaze. "Come in and sit down. It's been a long time since anyone has come here."

After the old man finished speaking, he turned around and walked into the dimly lit incense hall.

Chen Yuan opened his eyes slightly. Since he was already there, he might as well make the best of it. He relaxed his tense muscles, lifted his feet, and silently followed.

Meanwhile, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the rows of offerings on both sides, the clay sculptures reaching straight to the top, each with a red face and blue complexion, wearing robes and armor, subduing dragons and tigers, majestic and imposing.

"This is the Unbound Sky-Soaring Golden God General!" The old man walked along, seemingly introducing the sculpture to Chen Yuan. He paused in front of a painted sculpture with three pairs of flame-shaped wings on its back, a golden seal raised aloft on its right arm, and a tiger crouching beneath it, resembling an angry Vajra.

"This man was one of the twenty-four meritorious officials who helped establish the Great Qian Dynasty. During his lifetime, he fought with the founding emperor on horseback for the world. He was a member of the Thunder God and Wind Woman clan. He fought a great battle at the Sishui River in Yuzhang. He could shout the wind and thunder and had unparalleled supernatural powers. He was defeated by the founding emperor and followed him as a general. Later, when the founding emperor cleansed the world of filth and built a temple here, this man was placed in the Temple of Martial Arts. He was later posthumously honored as the Kangjin Divine General."

Then, the old man continued walking and looked up at a clay sculpture on the other side. The clay sculpture had eyebrows that stood up like iron brushes, a beard that stood up like steel needles, a wide mouth that revealed gleaming white fangs, an indigo face, and bulging blue veins on both sides of its cheeks. It was violent, majestic, and ferocious.
"This is the Kui Gang Demon-Slaying God! He once guarded the tides of the East Sea, slaughtering two hundred thousand alien races from the other shore in a single battle. His indestructible body, as solid as a mountain, blocked the tides, but he eventually died from exhaustion."

"this."

As the old man recounted his story, pausing every few steps, the life stories and origins of the clay sculptures enshrined in the incense hall became astonishing.

Just from the old man's simple description, one can glimpse the magnificent spirit of the figures represented by these clay sculptures, who possessed the strength to uproot mountains and the grandeur to overwhelm the world in the long river of time!
At the same time, one chapter of history after another seemed to be turned over, revealing astonishing new pages.

Many of the words were ones that Chen Yuan had never heard of before.

Wind Maiden, Tide, Alien Race, Other Shore.
These past events, as the old man recounted them, sounded somewhat unreal.

Chen Yuan did not interrupt rashly, but listened attentively and absorbed the information. He believed that the old man, who was likely a martial saint, was not making these remarks out of thin air.

The other party seems to be releasing information from another dimension.

Coupled with the sounds he heard when he entered the room, and the strangeness of the contents, it undoubtedly piqued his interest.

Why is the other person saying these things to me?

He could clearly feel that as he moved, the clay sculptures on the altar seemed to turn around, their eyes staring at him, making him feel a sense of oppression.

Before long, he followed the old man through the dimly lit incense room, illuminated by oil lamps, and arrived at a large library.

The room was filled with books, including bamboo slips that exuded the scent of time, and stacks of ancient thread-bound books.

Among the bookshelves, there are many bronze figures, each about a meter tall, with big eyes, bustling about, some climbing ladders, others carrying books, their movements crooked and wobbly, yet somehow endearing.

The old man put down the broom, and immediately some bronze figures rushed over to snatch it. They tumbled and rolled around in a struggle, making strange noises like children, completely ignoring the two people who had come in.

"boom"

The door to the library closed as Chen Yuan entered, cutting off the prying eyes of the "people" in the incense hall outside, and the piercing feeling behind Chen Yuan disappeared as well.

He looked around the room; the smell of ink and the patina of time filled the air, and the room was much brighter than before.

"Sir, I've been listening to you talk all the way here. May I ask if these people are still alive? I saw their spirit tablets and heard their voices."

"Some people are alive, some people are already dead." The old temple keeper turned his head, then raised his hand and inhaled from the upper left.

Suddenly, a bamboo scroll flew out from the bookshelf and landed in the old temple keeper's hand with a whoosh.

The bamboo slips were oxidized and blackened, indicating that a long time had passed. The old temple keeper threw the bamboo slips at Chen Yuan.
"The path of becoming a god through incense offerings is nothing more than a way to prolong one's life."

Chen Yuan lowered his gaze to the slightly blackened bamboo slip in his hand, which had a jade-like texture. He spread his hands out, and golden light swept over the seal script on it, revealing that it was a secret method of the Incense Path.

This method involves drawing incense offerings to sustain the rapidly disintegrating primordial spirit when one's lifespan is nearing its end. The primordial spirit is then used as a furnace to cultivate this path. However, the drawbacks of this method also become apparent. When drawing incense offerings from the people, one will be corrupted by the six thieves of sentient beings, and have one's essence stolen by these thieves. This can lead to demonic possession, death, or the gradual loss of one's true self.

Chen Yuan looked away, rolled up the bamboo scroll again, and the old temple keeper's voice rang out at that moment.

"Your incense clone has taken a different approach. If I'm not mistaken, there must be a novelist by your side. With the power of public opinion, this clone of yours would be unrecognizable if one didn't cultivate the divine path."

"Then I, Chen, would like to ask, when I came in, what were those enshrined figures outside saying that I came from that place? May I ask what the meaning is?"

Chen Yuan slowly raised his head, his eyes gleaming with a golden light, showing a serious expression.

“Those old guys suspect that you are a reincarnation of a celestial being, who smuggled yourself here, and that you are not a person from this world.”

"Of course, that includes me!"

The old temple keeper was hunched over, his emotions unreadable beneath his deep-set eyes, before shaking his head.

"Your cultivation trajectory is illogical. You were originally an ordinary person, but you made rapid progress, achieving in a few years what others have accomplished in a hundred years of cultivation. This raises suspicions."

The old man coughed once, and then, with a stoop, climbed up a ladder on the right-hand bookshelf.

His words, however, stirred up a storm in Chen Yuan's heart.

He is indeed not from this world; that is his biggest secret.

This is the second time that people have suspected he is a reincarnation of a celestial being.

The first time was when the "deceased master" of that night-voyage ship spoke of it.

The second time was here.

He is not some celestial being; in his previous life, he was merely a cow or a horse.

As for his rapid advancement in cultivation, it was undoubtedly due to the Mountain-Moving Tiger Talisman within his body.

Also, what does the word "smuggling" mean?
"May I ask, sir, what is the meaning of celestial beings being reincarnated and smuggling themselves across the border?" He remained expressionless, his voice slightly deep. This old temple keeper seemed to know many secrets of this world; this was a good opportunity.

"The primordial spirit of the Celestial Beings reflects the void and the heavens, and is born and dies at different times. It is a special stage above the Martial Saint. They are subject to the Five Decays of Celestial Beings. When they are strong, they can destroy the world. When they are weak, they can crush even a Qi Refining Martial Artist. They avoid calamities through reincarnation and have the wisdom of their past lives. Once they awaken, they absorb the fortune of a region and rise to the top, becoming unstoppable."

The old temple keeper's voice recounted the secrets of the celestial beings, without any concealment. As he spoke, he moved a small wooden box from the top shelf, blew off the dust, and opened it with a snap.

Then, it pulled something out of it and flew it towards Chen Yuan's direction.

Chen Yuan raised his hand and snatched the object into his hand. He looked at it closely and was somewhat surprised.

The pattern on it is actually a memorial to the emperor.

He unfolded the memorial with a slight hint of doubt, his eyes quickly scanning the text. He was astonished to find that it was written in the 216th year of the Yuanhe era, the reign title of the previous emperor, more than 300 years ago.

The memorial was written by a celestial angel at the time!

The memorial recorded an investigation into a person from Jian'an Road. It detailed everything from his birth and social background to his deeds corresponding to his age. He was ordinary for the first thirty years of his life, but his character changed drastically after he turned thirty.

Chen Yuan's eyes flickered as he read the investigation.

At that moment, he heard the old temple keeper's eerie voice.

"Four hundred years ago, the person mentioned in this memorial was a reincarnation of a celestial being. A few years after this memorial, this person caused great chaos, frantically plundered the fortune, and triggered a great war between heaven and earth. That war almost caused a land to sink. But this person then freely shattered the void and left."

"And there are many earlier records of related events here."

"It seems that the same thing happens every now and then."

"Those people looted this place and then left in a huff."

"It seems that our world is like a breeding farm, where people are raised and harvested when the time comes. In the void, there are countless gods and demons lurking in the shadows."

"Therefore, we call them illegal immigrants."

"Kill them as soon as they're found!"

As the old temple keeper uttered these last words, his deep eyes gazed at Chen Yuan, causing Chen Yuan's hair to stand on end and a sense of unease to rise within him.

Damn it, apart from the fact that I was a cow or a horse in my past life, everything else seems to match up.

They took it personally.

But he's just killing demons and seizing fortune and destiny; what does it have to do with him?

Although he was inwardly turbulent, he didn't show it on his face. He found the old temple keeper's astonishing words somewhat unbelievable.

Upon closer examination, it feels breathtaking!

However, he only heard a few words and did not investigate them, so he had no way of knowing whether they were true or false.

Furthermore, whose side are these old temple priests on when they want to kill the reincarnated celestial beings? Is it for the sake of the Great Qian Dynasty, for the Emperor, or for themselves, to investigate the celestial beings and replace them?
This is not something I should be thinking about.

"Then may I ask, sir, what exactly is Baiyujing?" He looked directly into the other person's eyes.

"The old gentleman called me over and spoke to me at length; it must have been for a reason, and it must be related to this matter!"

"May I ask, sir, if you know anything about this?"

The old temple keeper stared intently at Chen Yuan for a moment, then shook his head and coughed.
"I also want to know. It is said that the place is the abode of celestial beings who live long lives. But as far as we know, celestial beings are subject to the five signs of decay. The more prosperous and beautiful the place is, the more cruel the truth behind it often is."

"If we hadn't used our secret methods to investigate your condition and found out that you weren't an illegal immigrant, I would have thought that the trap in Shu was set up by you."

"For the harvest!"

"However, the military achievements you made in Shu are hard to doubt. In fact, His Majesty is aware of these achievements, otherwise there would be no such thing as today."

The old temple keeper's tone was intriguing, and Chen Yuan found it somewhat absurd.

That game was actually set up by himself!

wrong!

The moment the thought crossed his mind, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

From the moment he obtained that phoenix coffin, had he fallen into a karmic entanglement? The several carvings on that coffin would inevitably appear in the world sooner or later, arranged by his hand.

The person who actually orchestrated the whole thing did nothing; they used him to achieve their own goals.

It's the person who "came back to life" from the coffin!
Chen Yuan felt as if he had discovered a new way of thinking, and the more he thought about it, the more chilling he felt.

This feeling annoyed him, even though it was just his wild guess.

He immediately made quick adjustments to his plans in his mind.

Chen Yuan felt that further discussion was pointless and didn't want to stay in this place any longer; this Martial Temple was probably not a pure land after all.

"Please, sir, stop keeping me in suspense and just tell me!"

The other party was a seventh-realm Martial Saint. He knew nothing about the other party and relied entirely on the other party's language to impart information to him. This unequal conversation made him feel restricted and prone to losing his own judgment.

The old temple keeper's eyelids twitched slightly when he heard Chen Yuan's straightforward words.

"Lord Chen has been ordered to go to Shu to take over the Zushan matter. I would like to give Lord Chen a gift!"

As he spoke, the old man swung himself off the ladder and pulled a pure black iron box from his sleeve.

square.

The unopened parts resemble a completely sealed box.

"This is a large formation, and it will take a lot of people to set it up."

"If the celestial beings in that mountain are truly resurrected like the stone tablet, this formation can be deployed in times of crisis."

"Capture the Celestial Being!"

The temple keeper's tone became firm and his eyes became incredibly bright.

Chen Yuan's eyes flashed with golden light a few times before he accepted the item under the old man's gaze.

"Thank you, sir!"

He grabbed the armrest.

"Then I'll take my leave!"

Chen Yuan put the black box into his sleeve, already planning that after returning to Shu, he would let whoever wanted to use the formation use it, and let whoever wanted to go to Zushan go as they pleased.

His targets have always been demons and fortune, and he wants to reach the seventh realm as quickly as possible.

After saying this, he clasped his hands in a fist and turned around, opened the door of the library, and walked through the dim incense hall, where menacing shadows flickered in the dim candlelight.

Under the watchful eyes of those people, Chen Yuan left the place and returned to the Sky Patrol Division.

Above the capital, soldiers and horses awaited with their neighing.

There were crimson, green, and purple robes, people dressed like beasts in human clothing, banners waving, and golden armor gleaming in the clouds. (End of Chapter)