The Celestial Master Lu opened his Heavenly Eye ability, attempting to see Xu Qing's true form. However, the endless yellow sand not only covered the sky but also blocked the heavenly secrets, making it impossible for him to see the scenes within the sand.
Celestial Master Lu stared intently. As Xu Qing's nine avatars, armed with the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword, slashed towards his face, he gritted his teeth, and instead of dodging, he used the "Fate Connection" technique on Xu Qing!
The Fate Connection is one of the ten commandments and divine techniques passed down by the Ancestral Celestial Master. This method allows one to link destinies with someone causally connected, sharing in their fortunes and losses.
As long as he died, Xu Qing would also perish!
To prevent the young man before him from going down in a blaze of glory, Celestial Master Lu, after casting Fate Connection, didn't hesitate to sacrifice fifty years of his own lifespan, just to deliver a fatal blow to the young man at the critical moment when his body's functions were damaged!
However, to Celestial Master Lu's shock, the young man before him not only showed no abnormal reaction but even accelerated the speed at which the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword was slashing down!
Empowered by the Celestial Spirit Axe Technique, the sword opened the great hall and simultaneously inflicted severe injuries on Celestial Master Lu's physical body!
The Elder Celestial Master collided with the altar, and as he fell to the ground, the Celestial Master, who was coughing up blood, suddenly burst into laughter.
"You've fallen into my Fate Connection divine technique. As long as I suffer, you... why are you unharmed?!"
Celestial Master Lu raised his head only to see Xu Qing still menacingly raising the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword towards him!
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How can you be unaffected..."
The Elder Celestial Master was seething with rage, yet he was met with another merciless strike of the sword!
As the dust settled, Xu Qing reached towards Celestial Master Lu's corpse, but the usually effective Sutra of Salvation showed no reaction.
Xu Qing furrowed his brow, and his Yin Pupil rapidly swept around the area. As expected, above the broken great hall ceiling, several shadows, like eels, were fleeing along the roof timbers and tiles!
Quick as lightning, Xu Qing swung the Ghost-slaying Treasure Sword towards the ceiling, slicing down on three shadows. Nevertheless, several shadows continued to flee into the distance.
Leaping into the air and casting a downward glance over the ruins of the great hall, Xu Qing found no trace of the Celestial Master anywhere!
The sky-covering yellow sand had evidently become an accomplice aiding Celestial Master Lu's escape.
Xu Qing attempted to use the mystical arts of Qi Men Dun Jia for divination but found nothing. He then took off his shoes and employed the Shoe Throwing Inquiry Technique, but the shoe astonishingly stood upright upon landing, its tip pointing towards the heavens!
"..."
Xu Qing suddenly recalled what Zhang Pingsheng had mentioned before.
According to Zhang Pingsheng, Celestial Master Lu possessed the secret art of Nirvana Rebirth. As long as a shadow existed, he could hitch onto someone else's shadow and be reborn nearby.
"Rebirth?"
Moved by the idea, Xu Qing's spirit immediately plunged into the Blood Lake Realm, whereupon the Living Scripture floating above the blood lake began to rapidly turn its pages.
After the Life Protection Scripture spread throughout the Grand Yan, the registry of fetuses recorded in the Living Scripture increased tenfold!
At this moment, Xu Qing opened the scripture, and within a thousand-mile radius, including the Imperial City, all information of pregnant or expecting women was laid bare.
Xu Qing closed his eyes and, upon reopening them, saw pinpoint-like red glows scattered irregularly around the Capital, like beacons shooting upward.
Upon cursory examination, even just within a hundred-mile radius, thousands of red glows appeared.
Examining the varying intensity of the glows, Xu Qing immediately selected a beacon representing a woman about to give birth and pursued it!
In the Capital City, within the Qionghua Courtyard.
Like a caged canary, a Yangzhou Thin Horse was giving birth inside a loft.
The father of this child was said to be a nobleman residing in Lishi Alley.
And what is Lishi Alley? It's where the Imperial Court officials of fifth rank and above reside!
Today, this Thin Horse defied the noble's wishes, secretly becoming pregnant to leverage the bloodline, aspiring to shed her status as an external mistress and enter a prestigious family estate.
But is the nobleman truly so easy to coerce?
In the hastily prepared birthing room, the Thin Horse was exerting all her effort to deliver; outside, a steward pulled a silver ingot from his sleeve, whispering instructions to the midwife.
"Oh my, this is so sinful! I can't bring myself to do such a despicable deed..."
Hearing this, the steward pulled out a silver note from his sleeve and handed it over.
"Steward Li, rest assured. Leave it to this old woman. If anyone's to blame, it should be the child's mother for her folly, not anyone else!"
The steward nodded, standing vigil outside the birthing room, awaiting the completion of the task.
However, Steward Li hadn't waited long before he heard exclamations coming from the birthing room, along with the sounds of scissors, basins, and various utensils clattering to the ground.
Steward Li frowned, disregarding any taboos, and immediately lifted the curtain. What he saw left him utterly shocked!
On the birthing bed, a newborn baby drenched in amniotic fluid was holding the umbilical cord, strangling the midwife's neck.
Upon sensing someone spying from outside, the baby suddenly turned its head, its cold gaze landing squarely on Steward Li.
Steward Li was terrified, exclaiming about ghosts as he scrambled to crawl out, but before he could exit the room, the curtain was once again lifted by someone.
He looked up to see a young man, wielding a Treasure Sword, enveloped in steaming Evil Qi entering with murderous intent!
"..."
A brief silence filled the air. Inside the birthing room, the baby clutching the umbilical cord instinctively retreated.
There is a saying, "Kindness is widespread, one meets friends everywhere; grudges should not be held, narrow paths are hard to avoid." Today, Elder Celestial Master blocked at the birthing room finally understood these words.
"Why must you press so hard, Daoist friend? We can talk it over. I've accumulated quite a lot over the years. If you want Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, just say so. Wealth, companions, the Dharma, and the place—I can offer all of these!"
"Or I can give you the position of Celestial Master, and I am willing to be a disciple and await your command in the future..."
Xu Qing's face was extremely dark. As he approached Elder Celestial Master step by step, the incense fire of the Blood Lake gradually enveloped his body.
"You've practiced the Demon Dao, indulging your disciples, which could be discussed; but you should not have used a baby for cultivation! Today, even if you kneel and beg for mercy, even if the Grand Celestial Master comes, you owe me an explanation!"
Revealing the Life Protection Divine Form, Xu Qing was utterly enraged.
As Elder Celestial Master looked at the holy and majestic visage of the meritorious Divine Form in front of him, it was as if a rat from the gutter had seen the rising sun. That blinding light rendered him momentarily unable to open his eyes!
"Wait! I..."
Xu Qing didn't allow Elder Celestial Master to speak further. He flung the jade Ruyi in his hand, and the next instant, the Ruyi, empowered by the meritorious incense fire, struck the baby holding the umbilical cord heavily.
A series of screams echoed in the birthing room as the remaining four shadows of Elder Celestial Master were ejected from the baby's body.
Simultaneously, Xu Qing used the incense fire of the Blood Lake as the law, igniting endless meritorious flames to completely burn the karma-ridden Elder Celestial Master to ashes!
All of this happened in a flash. When the dust settled, Xu Qing reached out to gather the falling baby into his arms.
Seeing the baby's face turning dark and barely breathing, Xu Qing reached for a small blood-colored bottle, dabbed a drop of condensed incense dew, and applied it to the baby's forehead.
The next moment, the baby, initially devoid of color, suddenly wrinkled its nose and pursed its lips. The long-quiet birthing room resounded with the bright cries of a newborn.
Yet, when the baby opened its eyes and saw the person in front, it abruptly smiled through the tears, reaching out to touch the chin of the person before it.
Xu Qing smiled slightly, stepped forward quickly, and placed the baby back on the birthing bed.
At this moment, the pale young woman, who had been in a coma, also opened her eyes. She gazed at Xu Qing, who was manifesting the Life Protection Divine Form, and before she could recover, her attention was drawn to the baby beside her.
In the birthing room, Xu Qing casually performed salvation for the midwife's corpse.
Before leaving the attic, the still-frightened Steward Li continuously bowed to Xu Qing in gratitude, only to be met with the unfeeling claw of a Zombie.
...
In the Yangxin Hall of the Imperial City.
Zhu Huai'an was pacing back and forth anxiously, while the silent Three Awareness Mage stood nearby.
Not until the Imperial Guards reported that the Celestial Master's Mansion had turned into ruins, with not a single corpse found, did Zhu Huai'an finally quiet down.
"To flatten the Celestial Master's Mansion, yet disregard the obstruction of the national religious fortune, without harming the Grand Yan in the slightest..."
Zhu Huai'an's heart was filled with suspicion. Compared to the Celestial Master's Mansion right under his nose, he found himself more wary of the person who had flattened it.
"Can they ascertain who did this?"
The messenger official truthfully reported:
"The person wasn't seen, but outside the main hall of the Celestial Master's Mansion, there are sword-carved characters stating that the affair of the Celestial Master's Mansion was done by a true successor of the Orthodox Dao, claiming it was internal cleansing and unrelated to the outside world."
Zhu Huai'an pondered silently and, for some reason, he first thought not of any true successor of the Orthodox Dao but of a certain funeral director in Jinmen Prefecture...