Chapter Sixty-Three: The Blood Moon Hangs Over the Sky

Since setting up the formation required Ma the Lame to use his own soul and essence, he would also have to taste the fury of the thunder tribulation. The red cord was not only an array but also a fuse; after pasting the talisman, I immediately dropped to the ground and rolled away, doing my best to avoid the red cord’s formation.

At that moment, the thunder pillar descended.

It was so close that in an instant, the static electricity made my hair and all the sweat-soaked hairs on my body stand on end. Dust in the air crackled and popped. Fortunately, only a small part of the lightning struck the red cord, while the rest crashed into the forest not far from me.

Clearly, my plan had worked. Ma the Lame, clever as he was, had outsmarted himself. He wanted to trap me so I couldn’t escape the thunder tribulation, never realizing he would be the one to suffer.

Sure enough, a deafening boom erupted from the woods ahead.

In a flash, lightning coiled through the trees, the sound of explosions lingering. Splinters, soil, and stones flew everywhere. I was still too close; a wave of heat from the heavenly thunder hurled me four or five meters, dumping me to the ground and covering me with dirt and leaves, nearly burying me altogether.

But I was unharmed, without even a scratch.

I quickly dug myself out and looked ahead to see a huge crater blasted into the forest. Beside it lay a charred corpse, broken in two—half buried in the earth, half draped over a stone.

I didn’t know whether Ma the Lame’s soul had escaped or been destroyed by the heavenly thunder.

I was now close to the Mountain God Temple. Just now, the thunder was overwhelming, but I had managed to avoid it. The clouds overhead still churned, but no thunder pillar struck. Seizing the moment, I dashed toward the temple. Once I crossed the ravine ahead, I would reach my grandfather’s Mountain God Temple.

Holding my breath, I sprinted forward.

But just as I was about to reach the temple, a crimson thunder pillar suddenly fell from the sky. In the mountain hollow, there was nowhere to hide. The thunder-avoidance talismans had been mostly destroyed by Ma the Lame, and the rest I had already used up. Now, I had none left.

There was nothing else I could do—I could only run faster, desperately charging toward the temple. If I tore down the couplets flanking the stone steps, I could enter the Mountain God Temple.

But it was heavenly thunder after all; no matter how fast I ran, I was only human, and no human could outrun lightning. Racing against the crimson thunder pillar was a foolish hope.

The thunder struck so swiftly that, almost instantly, it enveloped me.

Yet in that moment, I saw a flash of red, rushing into the thunder pillar and pushing me out of its path. With a bang, the red figure was shattered.

I myself was thrown aside, my ears ringing, unable to hear anything for a long time.

When I finally got up, I was already at the stone steps of the Mountain God Temple. Supporting myself against the rocks, I looked around but saw no sign of Wei Yang.

The one who shielded me from the thunder pillar had been a red silhouette—could it have been Wei Yang? If the red figure was dispersed by the heavenly thunder, could Wei Yang...

“Wei Yang!” I called out, not daring to think further.

“Hurry back to the Mountain God Temple, I’m fine!”

---

When I called out, Wei Yang instantly replied, calming my anxious heart. I immediately tore down the couplets at the temple entrance, and a mist swirled before my eyes, revealing the Mountain God Temple.

I pushed open the doors and rushed inside, but still saw no sign of Wei Yang. “Wei Yang, where are you? Come back to the temple!”

She had shielded me from the thunder tribulation; if Heaven took notice, it would surely send further calamity upon her if she remained outside. “Don’t worry about me. You get inside first—I’m coming right away!”

“All right.”

I answered and returned to the temple, but Wei Yang still did not appear. Anxious, I went to the doorway to call for her. She said she was just outside and would be back soon.

Feeling uneasy, I opened the door. Wei Yang said, “Why are you coming out?”

I saw her, fingers forming seals, apparently tending to her wounds. Her hair, once jet-black, was now pure white.

She hid outside, not wanting me to see her like this.

I hadn’t expected that shielding me from the thunder tribulation would turn her hair white. My heart ached for her. Bringing Wei Yang back inside, I knew she had been avoiding me because of her hair, but now it was too late to hide.

I asked about her condition, worried that her new injuries, added to old ones, might be severe.

She said the white hair was not as dire as I imagined—it was actually her true appearance.

I nodded, and she followed me inside.

Outside, the sky had finally grown calm.

Wei Yang glanced up, her face brightening. “The temple’s formation is truly powerful—it conceals the secrets of Heaven. Now that the thunder tribulation has struck, Heaven believes you’ve perished, so it has stopped.”

The clouds in the sky thinned, thunder faded, and after the winds swept away the remnants, a full moon appeared overhead.

But it was not a silver moon—it was a blood moon.

Wei Yang frowned at the sight. “A blood moon overhead—this is a dire omen!”

She did not yet know about my and Li Nanhua’s purchase of the Mountain God Token from the Peddler, so I told her. She said, “If that’s so, the Peddler will surely come to claim Li Nanhua’s life!”

I suddenly recalled that when we bought the Mountain God Token, Li Nanhua always rushed ahead of me, determined to make the transaction his own. Otherwise, the Peddler would come for me. Li Nanhua exchanged his own life for my grandfather’s Mountain God Token!

Such sacrifice moved me deeply, and I worried for his safety. Remembering the Peddler’s injury, I wondered if things might turn out differently and told Wei Yang.

Wei Yang explained that the Peddler’s arts were strange and could not be judged by strength alone. Since Li Nanhua agreed to the transaction, the Peddler would certainly claim a life and seven taels and one mace of gold!

“What does ‘seven taels and one mace of gold’ mean?” I asked.

---

“Seven taels and one mace of gold doesn’t literally refer to money,” Wei Yang explained. “It’s the old method of weighing bones—the destiny of a person valued at seven taels and one mace. Such a fate is extremely precious, destined for high office, blessed with great fortune. So what the Peddler meant was the luck of a person valued at seven taels and one mace, and a life.”

Indeed, the price of retrieving the Mountain God Token was steep.

Now that the thunder tribulation had passed, we could safely leave the temple. I wanted Wei Yang to rest there, since she had been wounded again, but she insisted that saving lives was more urgent.

We immediately returned to Soul Severing Cliff. When we arrived, only the altar remained. Li Nanhua lay on the ground, unresponsive. I rushed to him, calling his name, but he did not answer. Checking his pulse and breath, I found no signs of life.

“Master Li’s soul has been taken!” Wei Yang said.

There was no sign of the Flower Maiden, my grandfather, or Niu Dahuang.

The Peddler had indeed claimed Li Nanhua’s life. But whose fate was measured at seven taels and one mace? As I pondered this, I heard movement from the base of the cliff.

I hurried over and saw Niu Dahuang climbing up. “Grandpa Niu!” I called.

He answered and soon scrambled up from below. He told me my grandfather had broken part of the formation below, allowing him to return safely, though he hadn’t found the Mountain God Token.

He asked about my grandfather’s current situation.

I recounted all that had happened. Niu Dahuang was surprised, never expecting so much to occur while he was below.

He said that since Master Li’s soul was taken, he would be escorted to the underworld. Perhaps someone there had accused him, and the Peddler captured him for merit and reward.

I asked if there was any way to save him, but Niu Dahuang was at a loss. He said the Peddler could open the path between worlds and enter the underworld directly; no matter how fast we were, we could not intercept him. Once in the underworld, his deeds would be judged, and he might be sent into the Six Paths of Reincarnation to be reborn.

Alternatively, he might linger in the City of Wrongful Death, awaiting a chance to reincarnate, though nothing was certain.

At this, Niu Dahuang seemed to remember something. “Perhaps Master Li, skilled in the Dao, would not submit so easily. Even in the underworld, he might not be reincarnated—perhaps there is hope yet!”

That was all we could hope for. Not being denizens of the underworld, we could not break open the path between worlds or rescue him.

After a while, the Flower Maiden emerged from the woods nearby. Seeing us, she knelt and said, “Master, it’s my fault—I failed to protect Master Li, and the Peddler took him away, along with the Mountain God!”

“Rise and speak—it’s not your fault,” Wei Yang said. After the Flower Maiden stood, Wei Yang asked, “Did the Mountain God’s three souls and seven spirits finally coalesce?”

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