Chapter 32: The Background

Miaowai Tower occupies about half an acre. The three-story building, with its roof of upturned eaves covered in glazed tiles, is a renowned restaurant and tea house in Ning'an County. Its breakfast offerings are considered a particular specialty of Ning'an.

Ji Yuan entered Miaowai Tower alongside City God Song of Ning'an County. Inside, the place was bustling, with most tables already occupied.

Immediately upon entering, a waiter enthusiastically approached them.

"Please come in, sirs. We have private seating available on both the second and third floors. The second floor is lively, while the third is quieter. Which floor would you prefer?"

The waiter had sharp eyes. Of the two men, the elder, dressed in a dignified black robe, exuded an air of noble elegance, his silver hair neat and tidy. The younger man beside him wore a simpler, wide-sleeved green robe, and his hair seemed slightly disheveled at first glance. However, his overall appearance felt natural and increasingly harmonious the longer one looked.

"Please take us to the third floor," the elder replied. "My name is Song; refreshments have already been reserved for us."

"Oh, you're finally here!" the waiter exclaimed. "The manager has asked me three times today. Please, quickly follow me; your refreshments are ready!"

The waiter promptly ushered the two men upstairs and led the way.

The Old City God and Ji Yuan smiled and followed.

On the first floor, patrons were chatting and joking, clearly enjoying their conversations, making the overall atmosphere quite noisy.

As they stepped onto the stairs, the sounds from the second floor became even more pronounced.

"They say those nine heroes, each young, handsome, and extraordinarily brave—though barely past their coming-of-age, they had already mastered excellent martial arts. And there was even a heroine, no less capable than a man! They took down the bounty notice from the Ning'an County Magistrate's office, and after a brief preparation, they ascended Mount Niu Kui. That night was truly tumultuous, with wind and rain..."

"Oh my..." "How daring!" "Indeed!"

On the second floor, the storyteller's voice and the gasps of astonishment from the audience below rose and fell in a continuous chorus.

As Ji Yuan and the Old City God followed the waiter from the second floor to the stairs leading to the third, they happened to hear the storyteller beginning to fabricate the details of the tiger hunt.

"They say Hero Du swung his blade at the fierce tiger, and with one strike, a flash of blood appeared! And Hero Lu, using both fists and palms, descended from above, unleashing a stone-splitting palm strike towards the white tiger's head!"

"Wow!" "How thrilling!"

Hearing this, Ji Yuan, already halfway up the stairs to the third floor, couldn't help but smile and shake his head.

"It seems Mr. Ji is interested in the storyteller's tale?"

The Old City God also asked with a smile. In truth, some underworld officials had seen the white tiger's hide; it was magnificent but bore no knife marks. Storytelling is a folk art, much like theater, and a bit of dramatic embellishment is quite normal.

"Hehehe," Ji Yuan chuckled, "it's not that I'm particularly interested. I just happened to hear something amusing."

The reality was that those nine young heroes had been too terrified to even utter a sound in front of Lu Shanjun; the contrast with the storyteller's tale was simply too stark.

The Old City God seemed thoughtful but did not press the matter further.

The three of them arrived on the third floor, which was noticeably quieter with fewer people. Patrons here were either quietly drinking tea and chatting or admiring the view outside.

"Come, come, sirs, this is your table," the waiter announced. "We have bean paste cake, millet cake, fragrant fruit cake, rice ball porridge, pickled fruit, candied fruit, and this pre-Qingming tea. Please enjoy yourselves, and feel free to call if you need anything!"

As the waiter spoke, he pointed to each refreshment in turn.

"Good, thank you, young waiter!" Ji Yuan said. "Much obliged!" added the Old City God.

Ji Yuan and the Old City God thanked him almost simultaneously, then exchanged smiles and sat down opposite each other.

As the waiter left, he scratched his head, thinking, "These two customers are so polite!"

After seeing the waiter off, the Old City God turned his head and spoke.

"Mr. Ji, please try Miaowai Tower's refreshments; their taste is quite good."

Having exerted himself with physical work early in the morning and walked such a long distance, Ji Yuan's stomach had long been rumbling. Without ceremony, he picked up a millet cake and took a bite.

The taste was light, crispy, and soft, with a fresh aroma of rice permeating its subtle sweetness.

"Delicious! Truly delicious! City God, please help yourself too!"

"It's good that Mr. Ji likes it," the City God replied. "As the City God of a small, remote county, my golden effigy has only recently taken form from clay, and I do not possess a physical body. Mortal food, while satisfying for a craving, cannot be consumed too much, and to only consume its essence would be a waste."

No physical body? Was this an avatar then?

Ji Yuan found it awkward to say anything further and simply continued eating. Fortunately, drinking tea seemed to have no ill effect on the City God.

After finishing a bowl of rice ball porridge and eating a few pieces of cake, Ji Yuan paused. The Old City God also set down his teacup, turning his gaze back from the scenery outside.

"Mr. Ji," the Old City God began, "this time you've helped our Ning'an County eliminate a major hidden danger..."

The Old City God pondered for a moment before continuing.

"Seven years ago," he explained, "an earthquake occurred in Desheng Prefecture, spawning a malevolent qi from the earth's veins. This wouldn't normally be a major concern; with abundant sunshine, heavenly thunder, and rain, such malevolent qi would naturally dissipate. But unfortunately, a wisp of dense malevolent qi flowed along the underground water veins..."

The Old City God sighed at this point.

"Underground water veins are inherently yin," he continued. "And this malevolent qi burst forth from a mass grave in the western part of our county. Influenced by the qi of death and malevolence, it transformed into this fierce entity. As the City God of this county, I naturally detected this and personally led my subordinate officials to suppress it. But to my surprise, that fierce entity was incredibly strange. Whether it was due to devouring yin spirits or some other reason, it had actually developed sentience..."

As the Old City God slowly recounted the story, Ji Yuan gradually understood the full context.

The malevolent earth qi seemed to be inherently aggressive. The sentient ghostly entity had actually feigned ignorance, deceiving the City God. At a crucial moment, it devoured the heads of the Quick Report Department and the Yin-Yang Department, then detonated the power of the malevolent earth qi, severely injuring the City God's dharma body.

Fortunately, although the Old City God suffered a great loss, he was still experienced and cunning. When struck by the malevolent earth qi, he decisively consumed the origin of his incense-infused golden effigy and fiercely counterattacked, severely damaging the fierce entity's newly formed sentience.

Although the fierce entity escaped that battle, the City God unleashed his Imperial Crown, drawing all the dissipated malevolent qi into it. Based on this, he rediscovered the entity's hiding place: the well at Ju'an Cottage. He did not risk another direct confrontation but instead poured all his efforts into using yin to bind yin, temporarily sealing it deep within the well. His plan was to await the recovery of his own injuries before seizing an opportunity to eradicate it.

Hearing this account made Ji Yuan break out in a cold sweat. Although the Old City God hadn't explicitly stated it, Ji Yuan understood that if that fierce evil entity had escaped at the time, Ning'an County would have faced grave disaster, possibly even triggering a snowball effect leading to even greater calamities.

As for the residents of Ju'an Cottage, the misfortunes of the first two families were actually due to natural fate, not the entity's influence. However, by the time of the third resident, a scholar, the entity might have recovered somewhat. It was actually able to briefly emerge not far from the Soul-Locking Well, terrifying the scholar to death.

City Gods and other earth deities have their own restrictions; although they protect a region, they cannot directly interfere too much with the mortal world.

So, from then on, the City God's administration, through methods like sending dreams, allowed rumors to spread in the county that Ju'an Cottage was unsafe. This indeed prevented anyone else from moving in. They just hadn't expected Ji Yuan to stumble upon it.

This time, the opportunity was rare, and the Old City God could not wait any longer. He dispatched his capable subordinates while he himself remained in the temple to oversee, ready to mobilize the accumulated incense power from the City God Temple at any moment. It could be said he went all out, and they finally managed to destroy the fierce entity. For Ning'an County, it was a major problem resolved.