The story of the emperor beheading an immortal and then searching for them all over the city quickly spread by word of mouth. Even ordinary people knew that, since the immortal had been beheaded by the emperor in his rage, he would most likely not return.

Emperor Yuan De handed this matter matter over to Yan Chang, who simply described the old beggar’s appearance in detail to the messengers and officials, and asked them to go to the various spots in the city where there were many beggars to search.

Even as the officials traveled to various places to inquire, Yan Chang asked everyone to be friendly and to not appear too stern. It was impossible to post portraits of the beggar everywhere, and, after all, they were looking for a master: Yan Chang didn’t dare to treat this procedure as though they were searching for an imperial criminal.

Until that evening, he had been receiving a lot of news. Some people heard that the old beggar appeared on the street, others that he had been seen in a teahouse, and some people even claimed to have “found” the old beggar. But when Yan Chang went over to take a look, it was always just an ordinary old beggar, who would be sent away with a bag of rice.

After finishing the day’s affairs, all the princes and ministers began to walk towards the palace for the start of the Longevity Festival Banquet.

Although Emperor Yuan De had suffered a great shock in the morning, at night he was once more the majestic and ruthless Emperor, as if the frustration he had felt during the day was not reflected in him at all.

Before the banquet started, Yan Chang was secretly summoned to the imperial study for questioning. The questioner only asked him about the results, not the process, so Yan Chang, who had prepared quite a bit to say, was unable to utter a second sentence, and could only nervously answer, “no results.”

Fortunately, this time, he was not convicted in anger. Emperor Yuan De actually understood in his heart, so he could only encourage Yan Chang with a few words before accompanying him to the banquet, which flattered the Head of the Astronomical Department, who had been worried all this time.

The whole Longevity Festival Banquet was very grand, and, because it was the emperor’s 70th birthday, it was larger in scale than in previous years.

Even the emperor even directly conferred the title of “Heavenly Master” on the remaining fourteen masters at the banquet, with each being awarded their title and the corresponding thousand taels of gold.

Indeed, there were still fourteen people left. Before the dinner had begun, the monk claimed that he was suffering from not being accustomed to the environment, and that he would remain bedridden in the inn.

Yan Chang even asked the imperial physician to visit him, and he confirmed that the monk was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, and his body was very weak.

Emperor Yuan De himself did not have much hope in the remaining people. Someone who was seriously ill was unlikely to be worthy of his attention, so he directly eliminated him from the qualification of being canonized, thus saving himself one thousand taels of gold.

Of course, most of the remaining fourteen people were only there for the title of “Heavenly Master,” and had no intention of serving the old emperor whatsoever.

While the palace was in the midst of hosting the banquet for all the ministers, with toasts being exchanged and people dancing in the hall, in an inn beside a certain large platform, a handsome monk, whose face was originally sick and pale, secretly lifted his quilt.

Because it was the Longevity Festival, the people in the inn were given wine and food by the landlords. Many people were drinking and eating meat, but the monk’s room was pitch-dark.

The monk quietly got off the bed, put on his clothes and robes, tied the strings on his sandals, then went to the corner to pick up his Khakkhara staff and put on his bamboo hat.

“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha… Let’s run away!”

He tiptoed to the door and opened the door with a “creeeak.”

“Aah…!”

As soon as he opened the door, he saw an old man with a stern expression standing just outside. His aura frightened the monk so badly that he scrambled back over a zhang away.

“Hum hum… Monk, what are you planning on doing?”

The monk’s face was neither flushed nor pale, but beads of sweat were oozing from the top of his bald head under his bamboo hat.

“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha… This humble monk is preparing to leave the inn. Who might the benefactor be?”

The person with a stern expression standing outside the inn was the Old Dragon Ying Hong, who grew even more furious upon seeing the monk’s appearance.

“You…you didn’t go to the longevity banquet, and instead pretended to be ill and slipped away?”

“Uh… Benefactor, are you from the Dazhen imperial court?”

The monk felt uneasy in his heart. With such a person in the imperial court of Dazhen, why would the old emperor still go around seeking immortality?

‘Good Lord Buddha, this is ridiculous! ’

“Haha… me? From the Dazhen court? Haha…”

The old dragon was so angry that he laughed furiously, and stretched out his hand to grab the monk. He was clearly standing at the door, and his arms did not lengthen; he did not use any special technique to grab, but the space of the entire inn seemed to compress. The monk had no way to avoid it by sticking to the wall, so the Old Dragon directly grabbed him by the collar.

Then, like an eagle catching a chick,¹ the Old Dragon picked the monk up, stepped out of the inn, and flew away into the air.

“Hey, hey… Benefactor, Immortal Master! If you have something to say, let’s talk it over! This humble monk can’t fly!”

The monk in the air didn’t dare to wave his hands and feet around, and instead held on tightly to the Old Dragon’s arm, for fear of falling down. If he fell from a height like this, dozens of zhang up, he would either be smashed to pieces or instantly become half-paralyzed.

There had been no previous signs of this oncoming calamity before, so he couldn’t have predicted this. The monk had no idea when he might have offended such a powerful figure.

The Old Dragon carried the monk in the air for a while, and finally flew over the palace, pointing at the the singing and dancing below.

“Where are we?”

The monk felt the strong wind in the night sky and swallowed.

“The Royal Palace.”

“Ah, the title Heavenly Master has just been appointed down there. Do you want to go and ask for one? Don’t worry, I won’t kill you if I drop you, and if you show up like this, the old emperor will definitely reward you!”

“Stop, stop it! Immortal, please don’t make fun of me. When did this humble monk offend you? If you sentence me to death, you must give a clear reason, right?”

Seeing the monk’s unwillingness, the Old Dragon let out a sigh of relief and calmed himself down.

“If you really don’t want to be a Heavenly Master, why did you show off your prowess during the Ninth Heaven Ten Gatherings? Were you bored? I made a bet with Ji Yuan; I originally thought I would win, but then later I thought it would be a draw. Great, just great! Just now, in the underworld of the Capital Prefecture, I felt something in my heart. After calculating a divination, I found out that I inexplicably lost. I couldn’t understand it. It turned out that you, monk, pretended to be sick!”

The monk thought quickly, and found the right opening to speak.

“Immortal Master, since you have made a bet with someone, you must naturally accept the loss. You are cheating now. You can’t do that! You can’t do that!”

The Old Dragon was just a little depressed. He had grabbed the monk to scare him. If the monk had remained calm, he would definitely have been very annoyed. Now, seeing his panic, he was greatly relieved of his anger.

Without saying anything else, he carried the monk and flew directly to the Capital Prefecture, riding on the wind, then escaped into the underworld.

All the demons who had been captured a few days ago were detained in the underworld. Of course, these were all their souls; their true bodies had been digested by the dragons.

This was the first time that the monk had truly entered the underworld. A strong Yin Qi rushed through his body, and he continuously chanted, “Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha.”

Inside the City God Temple in the underworld, a huge circle of fog filled the center of the hall. In the center of the fog was a scene depicting precisely what was happening in the deepest part of the underworld prison.

A large group of people was watching in the main hall of the City God Temple. There was a group of cultivators from Yuhuai Mountain, ghosts from the underworld, the City God of the Capital Prefecture, and also some people who were obviously monsters who had achieved transformation.

“Father, why did you go out all of a sudden? Er, shouldn’t this monk be in the palace?”

Dragon Son Ying Feng was touching a sore point,² but in this case there was nothing to hide. The Old Dragon was willing to admit defeat.

“This monk pretended to be sick and didn’t go to the palace, so he wasn’t conferred the title of ‘Heavenly Master’ by the old emperor.”

“No, how can that be possible?”

The Dragon Daughter to the side couldn’t help but exclaim.

“You lost?”

Aside from some people who were confused, the few people ho knew about the matter all looked to the side, towards Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan took a look at the monk that the Old Dragon had brought back. The latter was paying his respects to a group of monsters, ghosts, and gods. He had cultivated Buddhism up until now, but he had never seen such a scene, let alone even imagined it. It felt like he was standing beside , let alone such a scene, he has never thought about it, and it feels like standing with the Great Mingwang Buddha, or at least in the same group.

“The humble monk just came to participate in the Water and Land Assembly. Now that the Assembly is over, I am ready to leave the capital. I wonder if it might be convenient for you to be lenient with me?”

Ji Yuan looked at the monk’s nervous expression, smiled at him, and spoke.

“Master, you don’t truly believe that Mr. Ying was simply very angry, so he captured you and brought you to the underworld?”

Was that not it?

“Uh… The old gentleman has an extraordinary demeanor, of course he wouldn’t…”

The monk was surprised, but his words were still realistic.

“Master, please take a look!”

Ji Yuan stretched out his finger and pointed to the scene in the fog at the center of the City God Temple. Although there was no sound, the scene was full of horrific images of evil spirits being punished. Their screams of pain were revealed through their hideous and terrifying expressions.

“These are the demons who have infiltrated Dazhen. Among them, there are naturally many people who are simply trying to take advantage of the situation, but there are also some with unusual backgrounds. Although they couldn’t bear the pain of the torture in prison and confessed some things, they themselves know only a limited amount.”

The Old Dragon snorted coldly.

“My Eastern Cloud Continent seems to be in turmoil. You are a monk from Daliang Temple in the north of Tingliang Country. You came to Dazhen. How many years have you been away from home?”

The monk frowned and thought for a while before replying.

“I am now forty-two years old, so if should have been seventeen years.”

Although he knew that the hall was full of old monsters whose ages were unknown, the handsome monk’s appearance was too “youthful”³ that Ji Yuan subconsciously gave him a second look.

“Well, then you should go back and have a look. Although we don’t know who might be involved in backing these evil spirits, a large number of them come from Tianbao Country, which borders Tingliang Country to the north.”

“Tianbao Country!? How could it be?”

“Haha, how can there be so many demons?”

Hearing the Old Dragon’s words, the monk nodded subconsciously. Tianbao Country was known as the “superior country” among the people on the northern border of Tingliang Kingdom, so naturally, it couldn’t be all that bad. But with so many powerful demons coming here, there must be something wrong.

1. This idiom has a surprisingly rich history. “Eagle Catching Chicks” is similar to Hide and Seek, where the seekers are “eagles” and the hiders are “chicks,” and each chick caught becomes a new eagle. Also, actual eagles do catch and eat chickens. It is unclear whether the author is referring to the game or to the hunting. Which is… appropriate for the context, I suppose.
2. 哪壶不开提哪壶 (nǎhúbùkāitínǎhú): lit. “mentioning the pot that doesn’t boil”
3. Lit “not middle-aged” LOL

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read