Golden Armor Divine Generals, creatures birthed from obsession, lack much self-awareness. Xu Qing took advantage of this, tossing Ascendant Fuluan before them like a bone, causing the divine generals to chase like frenzied dogs!
He, the chief culprit who prevented the Ancestral Emperor from achieving immortality, an enemy buried alive with an entire gang of divine generals, has lived for two thousand years alone, and is still enjoying his freedom... a fugitive of broken promises.
Each of these charges is enough to make Ascendant Fuluan drink a pot of bitterness—how loathsome!
Monk Xinyuan glanced at the Sect Leader who so easily dismissed the Golden Armor Divine Generals, feeling rather foolish himself.
"He's also a pitiable walking corpse."
Xu Qing, soft-hearted, couldn't bear to see souls unrested in death. He had already decided that once the Mystical River calmed, his shop must arrange an Exorcism Ceremony for these divine generals.
At that time, he must tie Ascendant Fuluan before the Imperial Mausoleum, having the Immortal recite seventy-seven days of repentance sutras for all the interred souls.
...
In the mundane world, the Fen River.
Ascendant Fuluan was passionately describing the state of the Mystical River to Xie Qiongke.
"Now we trio have allied with the Sect Leader to completely exterminate the Witch Qi at the entrance of the Mystical River!"
Fuluan spoke with such calm confidence, that an uninformed listener might actually think he contributed mightily.
Xie Qiongke, at least a Primordial Spirit True Man, and knowing Zhang Pingsheng and Xinyuan well, thought to himself that although Xinyuan often feigned madness and pretended to hide his abilities, there was no way he could have failed to recognize Zhang Pingsheng's capabilities.
Given the cultivation of Fuluan's group, the only reasonable explanation for defeating the Mystical River's gate without a cost would be Xu Qing, the Great Luo Sect Leader who once personally eradicated the Ghost Law.
"Could the Sect Leader be an immortal among men?"
Xie Qiongke found it truly incomprehensible how, in this era, a man who upheld the righteous path could possess such deep cultivation, able to pacify the demons of the Mystical River with his own divine power...
Ascendant Fuluan shook his head, saying, "The Sect Leader's background is beyond what you and I can guess."
As they spoke, Ascendant Fuluan suddenly felt a stirring in his heart, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
"Hmm? Could this be a change in destiny?"
Instinctively, Fuluan utilized the technique of prophecy, randomly scribbling with a peachwood pen on the sandy riverbank of the Fen River.
This was the divine technique of Luan's Proclamation, blending ancient and modern divination essentials, his most adept method of divining.
Fuluan's pupils, black and white, clattered like chess pieces, his peachwood pen similarly guided by celestial energy, sketching a hideous bird with its head buried.
"This is... an Underground Street crane?"
Recalling those cranes that often came and went, Fuluan's face turned pale. This omen was extremely ominous!
With growing unease, Fuluan returned to divination, this time seeing in the sand the imperial sign representing the short-lived Emperor, a character for 'king' (王).
In the white sandy ground lay the 'king' character, symbolizing the Emperor.
But writing on sand is the least enduring; wind and rain would swiftly erase it, aptly signifying an Emperor's short lifespan.
These gloomy cranes arriving and departing, this short-lived Emperor's fate among them—a worrying omen...
Feeling increasingly uneasy, Fuluan sensed something ominous awaiting him.
Unable to resist another divination, he saw his own name, Xu Junfang, arise in the sand.
"Is my retribution myself?"
Fuluan felt déjà vu about this scene.
"Not good!"
Xie Qiongke, watching from the side, still hadn't realized what was happening.
It wasn't until the two felt their hair stand on end, noticing dark clouds gathering over the Fen River, that Xie Qiongke reacted.
Amidst the turbulent river, a thunderous explosion cracked the air. As the thunderclouds dispersed, they looked upward.
There appeared in the sky above the river, a divine figure of a girl with three heads and six arms, manifesting from incense to obstruct the charging Yin Thunder.
Nearby, Skinny Daoist Qingwei stood speechless as he gazed at the three-headed, six-armed girl.
Reckoning he should not have dared harbor lucky thoughts, considering her cultivation, he feared she might even be fit to be his grand-ancestor!
Shiyue's face remained stern as she criticized Fuluan for attracting Celestial Thunder.
While this thunder cost relatively little of her incense, the Bao Sheng Temple's incense wasn't exactly blown their way by the wind, and with important matters entrusted by the Sect Leader awaiting resolution, Fuluan's actions came at the worst possible time.
With a guilty conscience, the Immortal could only offer a placating smile, not daring any rebuttal.
Though he was indeed an Immortal outside, among the original stakeholders of Underground Street, he was nothing more than the lowest on the food chain.
Meanwhile, Fuluan resolved that henceforth he would renounce divination entirely, at least until he ascended to immortality and enlightenment, refusing to foretell even a single fate again!
In the Fen River basin, Shiyue inspected them like a supervisor, keeping a close watch over these somewhat unreliable True Men, afraid they might delay crucial matters for the Sect Leader.
The little storm of Celestial Thunder had just passed, when the waters of the Fen River suddenly surged. At the appointed position where Xie Qiongke stood, the Tai Chi Magic Sword cleaved apart yin and yang, subsequently revealing a mountain river cauldron opening a passage from the Mystical River to the mundane world, starting to pour the cosmic energy once stolen by Witch Qi into the Fen River.
Xie Qiongke sharpened his focus, immediately activating the array disk given by Xu Qing.
The next instant, a complex array transformed into a celestial star chart, with the three enclosures and twenty-eight lodges spanning underfoot, filling the skies with myriad constellations arranged like a chessboard, covering a staggering swath of land!
In the center of the array, Xie Qiongke was momentarily stunned, this array...
"It's the Grand Celestial Array!"
Worldly-wise, Fuluan immediately recognized this supreme array as it invoked celestial power and controlled earthly tides.
In the array's core, Xie Qiongke's heart skipped a beat. He, a mere Primordial Spirit True Man, wondered what virtue or ability granted him command over such a celestial formation?