Chapter 43: The Difficulty of Qian Shan

  Mr. Dongling slowly ascended the makeshift podium, but instead of starting his lecture, he followed the customs of scholars in Zhongtu, tidied up his clothes, and led a group of disciples to busily arrange the altar, carefully placing the five deities of Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers, preparing for worship.

  Benzi stood behind Dongyuan Xiansheng without doing anything, still carrying the huge trunk on his shoulder.

  Under the urging of Liang Xin, Langya slowly opened his mouth: "Four years ago, the high-ranking officials of Donghai didn't know what they were thinking and wanted to build a sky-watching platform on the steep cliff by the sea. The design of this pavilion is extremely complex, and it's located in a dangerous place, ordinary civilian craftsmen can't do it, so Donghai asked for people from the imperial court through two national masters."

  The Emperor Taizong of the Great Flood yearned for the Immortal Way and did not dare to slack off. He immediately summoned a large number of skilled craftsmen and laborers to open up the mountains, and they set off in great numbers towards the East Sea. The commotion caused by this project was no less than that of the opening of the Ku Nai Mountain five years ago, but Qu Qing Shi and Liu Yi had never mentioned it before, so Liang Xin naturally did not know about it either.

  Langya finally finished the second bowl of porridge, and only then did he let out a satisfied sigh. He continued: "It was about three months ago when I first saw the scale of Wàng Tiān Tái. It happened to be an auspicious day, and the elders of Dōng Hǎi Qián led their disciples to Xīn Tái Gé to worship heaven. No one expected that with a loud rumble, the mountain would suddenly collapse, and half of the mountain cliff where Wàng Tiān Tái was located would disappear!"

  Qingmo was stunned and exclaimed: "What's going on? Are there enemies attacking? A divine ability destroyed half a mountain cliff?"

  Langya smiled and shook his head, her bright eyes and white teeth sparkling in the clear autumn air with a hint of spring: "It's not divine intervention, it's fire and thunder... Great Flood Fire Thunder! After investigation and speculation: Taking advantage of the construction, someone who is proficient in civil engineering measured out more than a dozen stress points on that mountain cliff; someone who is skilled in tunneling took advantage of the construction to drill holes and excavate the mountain; and the official in charge of firearms, Great Flood, smuggled a large batch of fire thunderbolts there! Just waiting for Donghai Qian and everyone to gather at Wangtiantai, then ignite the fuse. As for who these people are and why they targeted Donghai Qian, it's still unclear."

  Liāng Xīn's heart had already stirred up a stormy sea, the collapse of Donghai Gan's mountain and the cave-in of Kunai Mountain's mine were identical.

  As long as Donghai Qian is still around, Qingmo's head will forever be hanging with a sharp sword, and the three brothers who participated in the killing of Nanyang Zhenren cannot escape their connection. Liang Xin naturally knows that his two sworn brothers are both bold and ruthless individuals, for the sake of their siblings and themselves, it is not impossible to plan a massive explosion, at the same time, they also took down half of the isolated cliff and more than half of the Qianshan Dao.

  The more Liang Xinyue thought about it, the more she felt that this matter was done by her two elder brothers.

  Qingmo was taken aback and hadn't expected this, he hastily asked: "What about the casualties of Donghaijian?"

  "Ha! It's nothing compared to the explosion, but the landslide it triggered is terrifying. The casualties in Qian Shan Dao are severe, with three deaths and seven injuries among the senior members, not to mention countless junior disciples. After the incident, the sect leader, Chao Yang Zhen Ren, had no choice but to put aside his cultivation and take charge of the situation, leading an expedition to seek justice from the imperial court. Hmph! If it weren't for the strange circumstances surrounding the Tong Chuan Fu case, I'd still be in the Imperial City watching the excitement!"

  She had just finished speaking when she suddenly let out a slightly surprised "huh" and laughed: "What's the old man doing?"

  On the high platform, Mr. Dong Ying had already arranged the five gods' thrones for Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parent and Teacher, but he didn't kneel or worship. Instead, the old man strode forward, lifted his leg and kicked the 'Heaven' god tablet off the long table with one foot, while loudly shouting: "You control the weather with your whims, sitting high above without regard for mortal affairs; you don't even bother to look at me, so why should I worship you!"

  Mr. Dongling lifted his foot again in front of the "earth" character spirit tablet, hesitated for a moment and put down his leg, but still stretched out his hand to move this tablet to one side, laughing loudly: "You are indeed kind-hearted and generous, welcoming all who come, not only raising food for humans and animals, but also breeding poisonous snakes and beasts. With your indiscriminate kindness, there's no difference with being stone-hearted, I won't worship you."

  Liang Xin and the other two were both surprised and amused, walking out of the restaurant and squeezing into the crowd. The sheep's horns moved quickly, jumping onto Liang Xin's neck, its claws firmly grasping his forehead. At this moment, Tie Xie Street was already packed with people, except for the areas around the monks which were unusually quiet. Even the walls, eaves, and tree branches were crowded with people. With Liang Xin leading the way, they finally squeezed into a good position.

  At this moment, Mr. Dongli smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, raised the "King" token, and with a casual wave of his hand, he slammed the token heavily onto the ground, making a loud cracking sound, splashing wood chips everywhere, and shattering the token into pieces.

  Everyone who came to listen and watch was shocked, Mr. Dongli smashed the heavenly plaque, most people thought he had gone mad, but no one came to stop him, but when he smashed the "King" plaque in public, it was a serious crime of disrespecting the imperial court and the emperor, from now on all the police officers in the world would come to arrest him.

  Mr. Dongling was not yet satisfied, pointing at the memorial tablet on the ground and laughing: "The emperor of the world does not think about protecting the world, only thinking about cultivating heaven and understanding Tao, I have been arrogant for half my life, how can I kowtow to you, it's almost the same!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, several places in the crowd shouted boldly, rudely and treasonously. There were officials dressed as public servants and plainclothes detectives in green clothes who took out their official tokens to separate the crowd and rushed towards the podium to arrest Mr. Dong Que on the spot.

  Mr. Dongling's eyes widened and he shouted at the approaching servant: "Back off!"

  Others only thought that the old man's voice was quite loud, and there was nothing unusual about it. However, those scattered officials were like they had been struck by lightning, their bodies trembling a few times before collapsing to the ground, whereupon they fainted.

  Mr. Dongling didn't move the two divine plaques of "Qin" and "Shi", but instead led his disciples to worship according to ancient rituals, without any deviation. Some timid people who saw Dongling rebelled dared not look again and slipped away secretly.

  The people of Tongchuan are bold and forthright, but they also understand the principle that the law does not blame the masses. Most people stayed where they were, discussing and speculating with each other in hushed tones, all feeling very excited.

  The monks in threes and fives stood still with a calm expression.

  To the left, Langya; to the right, Qingmo; and on his head, a monkey riding on Liang Xin's head. Yet he felt that something was off. After some careful thought, it suddenly dawned on him that although there were many people gathered to watch the commotion, the Tian Ce Gate, which was just a stone's throw away, had its doors tightly shut and not a single disciple came out to join in the excitement.

  Mr. Dongling finally finished the ancient ritual, but he didn't show any intention of starting the lesson. Instead, he nodded slightly to his disciple behind him and said softly, "Bring it out." The disciple responded with a sound, took out another plaque from the book basket behind him, and carefully placed it on the long table. Mr. Dongling knelt down on both knees, facing the plaque and kowtowing heavily. The old man, who was steady and unyielding, suddenly burst into loud wails and began to cry uncontrollably while kneeling.

  Liang Xin under the stage also saw clearly the inscription on the tablet, a row of golden powder characters prominently in the center: The spirit of Liang Gong One Two!

  The sky was shining brightly, but Liang Xin only felt a chill wind around him. He couldn't have imagined that he would see his ancestor's memorial tablet here, and even more unbelievable was that Dong Ling Mr. Xuan knew his own ancestor Liang Yier. This meant that... Dong Ling Mr. Xuan was also an old demon who had lived for hundreds of years?

  At the same time, Liang Xin suddenly realized that Dong Yizong had said that his own eyebrows and temperament were similar to those of a friend from his past. The friend of this old man was actually Liang Yi's descendant who had fallen into crime and would almost never be able to turn over a new leaf!