Wandering Gods of Day and Night

"How audacious! The Gods are to be revered, not your servants. Do you think your trivial matters are worthy enough to contact them?"

"Those aren't trivial matters. It's about the lives of hundreds from Feng Family Manor and the tens of thousands of drought victims in Corridor River."

"Master, please help Second Brother." Yuan Buyu pleaded as well.

"Still these trivial matters. I named you 'Mo Yan,' hoping you'd learn restraint. Restraint is the cornerstone of our storytellers' path."

"Feng Moyan, asking me to beseech Bi Fang for the sake of Corridor River—this is not restraint. Without restraint, how can our incense offerings advance further?"

Master refused.

Yuan Buyu and Mr. Feng knelt and begged. This stalemate lasted two hours until Master's patience was completely worn thin.

Mr. Feng stood up, revealed his folded fan, and said, "Master, please."

"What do you mean?"

"In the Storytellers' Tangkou, only the Hall Master can communicate with Bi Fang. If I kill you, I'll become Hall Master."

Without waiting for Master's reply, Mr. Feng lunged at him with a deadly intent. Both were seasoned practitioners, adept storytellers, and fought bitterly with methods equally matched.

Master summoned a Buddha dreamscape, the Green Robed Buddha trampling down on Mr. Feng.

Mr. Feng countered with his own Buddha dreamscape, invoking the Seven-leaf Revered One to hold off the Green Robed Buddha.

Yet Master, with the advantage of age and experience, gradually gained the upper hand after dozens of exchanges.

Seeing Mr. Feng in dire peril, Yuan Buyu, who had been brainwashed with "restraint," finally made his choice. Standing by his close friend, he revealed his folded fan and, at six-incenses strength, ambushed Master using the divine method of inducing dreams to breach Master's defenses.

Master's guard was broken, and Mr. Feng landed a decisive strike.

"Yuan Buyu, who would have thought—a six-incenses storyteller, trained in Daoist arts by Feng Moyan? You lowly scum never deserved to learn such skills. Your life should've been spent as a humble storyteller, scraping by for survival!"

Despite his grievous injuries, Master continued to hurl insults.

Yuan Buyu, provoked and red-eyed, attempted to thrust his folded fan into Master's throat, but Mr. Feng stopped him.

Mr. Feng looked down at Master and said, "If you refuse to teach, I won't let my junior's talent go to waste."

With that, he used the folded fan to sever Master's throat.

Staring at the blood-stained fan, Mr. Feng sighed regretfully and said, "Junior Brother, leave. I must meet Bi Fang."

Once Yuan Buyu departed,

Mr. Feng's incense began to break through limits. Fueled by vengeance and the act of killing his Master, he unintentionally aligned with the Domineering Method, achieving a breakthrough to eight incenses strength.

He might have become the first storyteller in three hundred years to reach eight-incenses strength. Yet, even before undergoing the ascension ritual, he perceived the existence of the "Will Heavenly Book" and realized this generation's Bi Fang had used the book to seal off the hope of promotion for all Tangkou disciples.

Within the Secret Realm, he even glimpsed Bi Fang's visage—

Bi Fang's face was fierce, saturated with murderous intent. Clearly, he despised this soon-to-be eight-incenses disciple and wanted him dead.

Bearing deep hatred, Mr. Feng knew he must not perish here. But he had uncovered Bi Fang's plot—the Heavenly Book had sealed the disciples' path forward, and Bi Fang would not let him live.

Moreover, he now understood that Bi Fang's nature would never support his quest for vengeance.

Mr. Feng had killed Master to confront Bi Fang, seeking revenge. But now, Master was dead, and Bi Fang had seen him. The task before him was survival.

With his incense linked to Bi Fang, no matter where he fled, Bi Fang would locate him, sending Daoists to hunt him down. Bi Fang might even descend in person to kill this newly ascended eight-incenses disciple.

Mr. Feng made a swift decision. He severed his own incense, pulling the broken incense from his body to preserve his usefulness and escape.

As for the future, when he would reforge a single incense and establish the infamous "Kidnapper" Tangkou with Mo Tingsheng, that was another story altogether.

When Yuan Buyu returned to the room out of concern for Mr. Feng, he only found a broken incense. The incense had lost its Spirit, lifeless like shattered stone.

Yuan Buyu searched for Mr. Feng but could not find him. From then on, he never knew where Mr. Feng had gone...

Now, time has passed. Holding the folded fan in his hand, Yuan Buyu means to take Mr. Feng's life. Recalling the bond they once shared, his hand trembled with sorrow.

"Junior Brother, back then, when Master mocked you into a frenzy, driving you to kill him, do you know why I stopped you?"

"Because killing a Master is a grievous sin, and you didn't want me to bear it," Yuan Buyu replied.

"Then today, do you know why I want you to kill me?"

"No, I don't."

"Because I am the traitor who killed our Master. I am the villain who founded 'Kidnapper' Tangkou. I am the sinner who is rejected by this world. That's why I must die by your hand."

Seeing that Yuan Buyu hesitated, Mr. Feng supported himself with both hands, raised his head high, and leapt forward, driving his throat onto Yuan Buyu's folded fan.

"Senior Brother!" Yuan Buyu let go of the fan, now embedded in Mr. Feng's throat.

He quickly knelt down, cradling Mr. Feng, tears streaming from his ageing face.

Mr. Feng extended his hand and gently rested it on Yuan Buyu's shoulder, saying, "We are brothers. I bear the infamy; you must take the honor... I... my life... has been sufficiently brilliant..."

Before finishing his words, his hand slipped weakly from Yuan Buyu's shoulder.