115: Chapter 115 He is a god!

Qin Family Village, divine temple.

Inside the temple, Qin Ling sat cross-legged within the shrine, his eyes closed, fingers resting on his knees, motionless.

His attention was still focused on the prompt that had his cultivation stuck at [Xiansheng Realm 40%]—

The jurisdiction must cover the entire Guanhai County.

He had stared at those words far too many times.

Now with his cultivation restricted to the peak of the Fourth-Turn, how could he possibly slay the Five-Turn Evil Tree?

Could it be that he could only watch helplessly as the Evil Tree devoured all living beings?

Qin Ling opened his eyes, rose silently, and with a flash of his figure, stood atop the temple roof.

He lowered his head, overlooking Qin Family Village.

In the evening, dark red twilight leaked through the gaps in the barrier, falling onto the rooftops of Qin Family Village.

Cooking smoke drifted out from the chimneys, thin and straight, with no wind to blow it away, just suspended there in mid-air.

The villagers of Qin Family Village had busied themselves in the fields all day, returning home tired to firewood burning in the stoves and water bubbling in the pots.

A woman squatted in front of the stove adding firewood, while a young girl lay prone on the threshold practicing her calligraphy, holding a twig to draw crooked marks on the ground.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang sat on a stone stool in the courtyard, holding a bowl of thin porridge in his hands without drinking it, just holding it like that while staring blankly at the layer of black barrier on the horizon.

Cooking smoke drifted up from the roofs of every household, merging into a single sheet.

Someone shouted at the top of their lungs, "Goudan—come back to eat!" The voice traveled from this end of the alley to the other, then bounced back from the base of the wall.

A child ran over from the other end of the alley, their shoe soles making pattering sounds against the stone slabs.

Several others followed behind, chasing each other with crisp, bright laughter.

The reason why these villagers of Qin Family Village could feel so at ease even living beneath the barrier of evil specters was because the temple in their village enshrined Lord Qinling.

Watching this scene, Qin Ling knew deeply that he was unwilling to see Qin Family Village become a dead zone.

Not only Qin Family Village, but through his various avatars, he saw villages like Zhou Family Village, Wangjia Village, Sun Family Village, and Liuhe Village.

Even the villagers who had experienced such tragic conditions were still striving hard to live.

Then, as the deity protecting them, how could Qin Ling give up?

That being the case, he made his decision.

He would try once more using a new method he had thought of.

Whether he could slay the Evil Tree would depend on whether his new method proved effective.

...

On the other side.

A giant bird pierced through the clouds, its wings spreading fully three zhang wide, with pitch-black feathers and a few dark golden flight feathers embedded only at the wingtips.

It did not fly fast, but it was very steady, every flap of its wings carrying a muffled sound of wind.

Two people sat on the bird's back.

The man wore the official uniform of a fourth-rank official of the Daqian Dynasty, a stone-blue badge embroidered with wild geese, a silver belt around his waist, and his black gauze hat pulled down very low, the brim concealing half his face.

His right sleeve hung empty at his side, pressed tightly against his body by the wind, while his left hand rested upon the hilt of the saber at his waist.

The man was none other than Qilianshan, the newly appointed Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture and Vice President of the Demon Slayer Association.

Pei Se sat behind him in dark red martial attire, a row of wine gourds hanging from her waist with only two remaining full while the rest were empty.

Her hair was blown into a mess by the wind, a few strands clinging to the corners of her mouth, too lazy to brush away.

This bird was called the Ink-feather Stork, which could be ridden by people after being tamed. It had a gentle temperament, exceptional endurance, and could travel a thousand li a day without feeling fatigued.

However, it was exorbitantly expensive; a fledgling Ink-feather Stork alone was worth a small fortune, and there was no telling how much more money had to be spent to train it to the point of being rideable.

Pei Se could not afford one, but Qilianshan could. After all, Qilianshan was, to say the least, the Vice President of the Demon Slayer Association.

The Ink-feather Stork flapped its wings and flew past. Pei Se sat up straight, her hands gripping the feathers of the Ink-feather Stork.

Then, she saw the layer of black barrier on the eastern horizon, resembling an inverted cauldron, covering the entirety of Guanhai County beneath it.

Surging evil qi flickered across the barrier from time to time, like something slowly breathing.

Qilianshan saw it too.

He did not speak, merely patting the neck of the Ink-feather Stork.

The Ink-feather Stork let out a low cry, its wings beating fiercely as it accelerated toward the direction of the black barrier.

The Ink-feather Stork hovered at the edge of the Evil Domain, its wings slowly flapping, the generated airflow blowing ripples across the black barrier.

Qilianshan sat on the bird's back, tilting his head up to look at the layer of black barrier hanging from the sky to the ground.

Pei Se stood up from the back of the Ink-feather Stork, leaning forward and extending her hand.

"Do not attempt to touch this Evil Domain; even the outer layer is shrouded in evil qi."

Qilianshan sat behind Pei Se, watching as she still dared to reach out toward the Evil Domain, and spoke.

Pei Se's hand froze in mid-air, slowly retracting.

She turned around to look at Qilianshan, her gaze carrying sorrow.

Qilianshan looked away, his gaze falling upon the slowly flowing layer of black barrier.

"Guanhai County probably no longer exists; with the Evil Domain unfolded for so many days, few of the living beings inside can survive."

"Once the Evil Domain disperses, it will likely be a dead zone."

Pei Se's heart felt as if it had been gripped by something and given a twist.

"But that deity named Lord Qinling..."

Qilianshan sighed, looking at that layer of black barrier.

"After going through so much trouble, in the end, we still failed to save this entity you mentioned that might be a deity."

"Might be?"

Pei Se's voice suddenly rose sharply, and she straightened up from the back of the Ink-feather Stork, her eyes frighteningly bright.

"Lord Qinling might not be a deity; he is a deity!"

Her voice drifted away in the wind.

Qilianshan's left hand lifted from the hilt of his saber, palm facing upward, fingers spread out, and he shrugged.

He hadn't expected that even with an imperial edict brought along this trip, they still couldn't save Lord Qinling, the deity in Pei Se's words.

Had he known this would happen, there would have been no need to go through all that trouble to fetch this imperial edict.

Qilianshan exhaled a breath of turbid air and said,

"This time, not only did we fail to save Lord Qinling, but we also incurred the grudge of that fellow Prefect Yin Wuji."

"Prefect Yin Wuji is certainly not a magnanimous master; we used the imperial edict to force him away from Zhenhai Prefecture and off to Anqing Prefecture."

"He won't just do nothing and swallow this grievance."

Qilianshan still remembered Prefect Yin Wuji's furious rage upon hearing the imperial edict that day.

If not for later hearing that evil specters had unfolded an Evil Domain in Guanhai County, that fellow would never have so readily headed to Anqing Prefecture to serve as prefect.

And if Prefect Yin Wuji were to retaliate later on, even he would find it a bit tricky to handle.

Pei Se did not talk back anymore.

She lowered her head, looking at the two empty wine gourds at her waist, watching them knock against the feathers of the Ink-feather Stork and produce a hollow sound.

She opened her mouth, her voice very low.

"Vice President Qilianshan, can I stay a little longer?"

Qilianshan looked at Pei Se for a few breaths, then turned his head and patted the neck of the Ink-feather Stork.

The Ink-feather Stork gave a low cry, spreading its wings without flying further forward or turning around.

It simply hovered at the edge of the Evil Domain, occasionally flapping its wings to maintain altitude.

The wind blew from the east, brushing past Pei Se's messy hair, Qilianshan's empty right sleeve, and the few dark golden flight feathers at the wingtips of the Ink-feather Stork.

The Ink-feather Stork hovered there, waiting.