Above the Great Dao

Though there are a thousand hardships, there are always times of joy.

Many people still came to the talisman stand to buy talismans.

Chen Shi and his grandfather were busy for a long time when suddenly Black Pot barked twice. Grandfather looked up at the sky and put away his pen, saying, "It's getting late, time to go."

Chen Shi looked up at the sky, where both suns were still high, showing no signs of setting.

The grandson and grandfather packed up and rode the wooden cart out of the village. Seated in the cart, Chen Shi looked towards the small temple in front of the ancient elm, where the young girl was still sitting quietly in the shrine.

In Fangdian Village, Xinxiang County's government officials collected taxes from each household, loaded them onto horse carts—four carts in total. A few officials were tying Armored Horse Talismans on the horses' legs to make them run faster.

"Hurry up and pack! Let's return to the county before it gets dark!" Lu Tiannan urged loudly, "We still have other villages to visit tomorrow!"

"Sir, it's still early, we have plenty of time to return, what's the rush?" asked an official with a laugh.

Lu Tiannan shook his head and said, "The countryside is not like the city; there are fewer evils roaming at night in the city, but the countryside has many. Although there are few evils that can threaten us, it's better to be safe than sorry, who knows what we might encounter."

As the wooden cart left Fangdian Village, grandfather organized the medicinal herbs they bought at the market, all kinds of poisonous creatures like snakes, bugs, centipedes, along with some herbs that looked quite unsafe.

Chen Shi felt apprehensive; these were his dinner.

After traveling about six or seven miles, suddenly grandfather looked up at the sky and said, changing color, "Something's wrong! It's gotten dark a quarter hour earlier than usual!"

Chen Shi hurriedly looked up, only to see the two suns in the sky slowly closing like eyelids, no longer perfectly round but elongated!

This was a sign that the Outer Heaven True God was closing his eyes, and night was about to descend!

"Could it be that Black Pot reported the time a quarter hour late?" Chen Shi looked toward the black dog leading the way, somewhat suspiciously.

Grandfather also looked at Black Pot, "Possibly. The sun wouldn't set a quarter hour early, so this blame must fall on Black Pot."

Black Pot barked sadly, expressing his discontent.

Chen Shi suggested, "Grandfather, this dog is useless now, but the meat is still fresh."

Grandfather nodded, "If he reports the time wrongly next time, we'll stew him."

Black Pot, with his tail between his legs, reflected on the hardships of a dog's life.

However, in just a moment, the sky was ablaze, and the flames formed a vast expanse of evening clouds. Although they hurried, they could not make it back to Huangpo Village in time.

Chen Shi looked around and suddenly pointed to the left side of the road, excitedly saying, "There's a temple over there!"

Grandfather looked and saw, indeed, not far off the postal road on a small hillside, an ancient temple, quite dilapidated.

"Do you remember, when we came, was there this hill, this ancient temple?" Grandfather suddenly asked.

Chen Shi recalled carefully and exclaimed. When they had come, this was clearly a flat land, no hill or ancient temple!

This hill seemed to have emerged from beneath the ground!

The scene was as if the ancient temple along with the entire hill had been buried underground, and as the hill grew, it arched the temple and the hilltop up!

Such peculiar occurrences, he had neither seen nor heard of!

"We'll stay overnight at the ancient temple."

Grandfather fiddled with the compass as the wooden cart clattered up the hillside.

The temple, long out of repair, was covered with broken tiles, shattered blue bricks, collapsed gatehouses, and cracked stone pillars. The roof of the temple was also full of holes, leaking air everywhere.

Grandfather took out his pen, ink, paper, and a small knife, while Black Pot obediently came forward, got stabbed with a chuckle, and then, holding back tears, took a piece of Exotic Beast Meat to a corner to slowly eat and lick his wounds.

Chen Shi did not help but took some wooden nails from the cart, picked up wooden boards from the ground, and quickly boarded up the broken doors and windows.

The bolt was already rotten, but there was a huge rock outside the temple. Chen Shi approached a rock which weighed hundreds of pounds and was about to call his grandfather for help. Unexpectedly, with a bit of force, he lifted the rock, which was not as heavy as he had imagined. Chen Shi then slowly moved the rock into the temple, blocking the door.

He looked up at the dilapidated temple roof, bent his legs, and leapt up. In the next moment, he jumped almost as high as the temple roof!

Chen Shi was shocked inside but then calmed down, "I can jump this high, naturally I can land safely too. No need to worry about dying from a fall."

He placed his palm on the nearby pillar and slid down smoothly by using it.

He gathered wood and, before nightfall, managed to patch up the holes in the temple roof.

Grandfather also drew the Peach Talismans and hung them on the doors, windows, and at the top of the temple before starting to "cook" again. The so-called food was a pot of medicinal soup stewed from the herbs bought during the day.

At this time, the sounds of horses and carriages came from outside. Chen Shi looked through the window and saw that the fiery glow of sunset in the sky had vanished, leaving the moonlight to spill coldly over everything. Lu Tiannan and the Government Officials were escorting four horse carts their way.

"Boss, something isn't right!"

A Government Official looked up and said, "The sun shouldn't have set this early! We won't make it back to the government office, should we retreat to Fangdian Village?"

Although everyone was Cultivators who had reached the Divine Embryo Realm, they had heard that the countryside at night was extremely dangerous and hosted several sinister beings that could easily kill Cultivators of the Divine Embryo Realm.

Lu Tiannan was also a bit worried but then he saw the broken temple and laughed, "There's a temple over there, let's rest there for the night and proceed in the morning."

The Government Officials agreed, and they drove the horse carts towards the broken temple.

Chen Shi stood by the window and, under the moonlight, could clearly see that behind the horse carts, a small figure had appeared from nowhere. The figure, holding a bright red apple, ate it while closing in on the carts.

"The foster mother from Fangdian Village, the little girl from this temple!"

Just as Chen Shi thought of this, he saw that in front of the apple-eating little girl, one of the Government Officials suddenly stiffened, his body convulsing like it was cramping, tensing as he bent backwards, trembling.

Then, with two soft thuds, sharp branches pierced through his chest, sending sprays of blood everywhere.

"An ambush—"

Lu Tiannan was the first to react, a divine light swirled behind his head, forming a sanctuary with the Divine Embryo seated within it, and True Qi circulating. But in a moment, countless branches, swaying in the moonlight like black venomous snakes, spread and wove through the air!

One of the branches had already reached his forehead!

Lu Tiannan quickly stepped back, suddenly feeling a piercing pain in his back, the sound of breaking bones filling his ears. He looked down and saw several bloody branches bursting through his chest!

"It's too fast!"

Lu Tiannan's heart was pierced by the branches, blood swiftly filling his lungs, throat, and rushing to his mouth.

He twisted his neck with difficulty; he saw that some of the Government Officials who followed him managed to summon their sanctuaries but couldn't invoke the Divine Embryo's Divine Power before being impaled by branches. Others only managed to run a few meters before a dozen roots emerging from the ground pierced through them!

Even the spirited horses were impaled by the suddenly appearing branches and roots, dying on the spot.

Lu Tiannan choked, blood gushed from his mouth.

Under the moonlight, the bodies of dozens of Divine Embryo Realm Government Officials and eight horses floated outside the ruined temple. If not for the moonlight, the dark branches and roots would have been nearly invisible.

The little girl, stepping on the moonlight, moved soundlessly through the branches.

She approached Lu Tiannan, took another bite of her apple, and examined his face closely.

"Foster mother will not give up the desires of any of her people, especially those who are sacrificed."

The little girl nodded slightly, "It's indeed you, I didn't kill the wrong person."

The branches shrank back, and the bodies of the Government Officials and horses fell from the air, hitting the ground with heavy thuds.

—Thanks for Alliance Hierarch Reed's support of 360,000 points, wishing you health and safety during the Dragon Boat Festival.