Chapter 557: Gezao Dao City

Chapter 557: The Jade-Tooth Dao City

Yuan Mingfei suggested that they could not yet move against Yang and Guixi, the considerations behind it, Li Jun naturally understood.

In the clash with Longhu Mountain, their side appeared to hold the initiative, successively dismantling several county Dao temples and delivering several sharp slaps to Zhang Chongyuan.

Yet in truth, their present situation grew ever more perilous.

First, the likelihood of their movements being exposed increased.

Although the Tianque supplied ink‑crafted constructs that shielded the heavens from celestial track artifacts, to claim that Longhu Mountain truly had no recourse with such constructs was nonsense; otherwise the Ink Order could not have sunk to its present forlorn state.

The temporary ability to hide was largely due to the infighting and petty scheming within the Dao sects, each restraining the other.

This forced Zhang Chongyuan to prefer gnawing his own teeth and swallowing blood, grinding slowly against Li Jun rather than yielding flesh to other Dao factions.

But such a stalemate could not last long; Zhang Chongyuan would eventually be unable to contain his impatience.

Then their advantage of ‘the enemy in plain sight, I in the shadows’ would vanish, and they would face a sea of a million fervent Longhu Mountain believers swelling in Guangfu.

At that time, none would survive to leave.

On the other hand, as their attack targets dwindled, Longhu Mountain's defensive focus would contract.

Guerrilla warfare demands ‘swift, precise, ruthless’; strike and vanish, leaving the foe unprepared.

But if they persisted in attacking now, it would become a siege, a direct clash with Longhu Mountain.

Indeed, Li Jun could launch a counter‑strike, raiding Yongfeng and Shangrao again, yet those places now host only insignificant Dao followers rebuilding, rendering such action meaningless.

After all, wrongdoing begets retribution; indiscriminate killing held little appeal for Li Jun.

"Yiyang and Guixi are close; whether we gamble everything on a hard bite of Yiyang or strike a crooked blade at Guixi, where the enemy lies in Guixi, there is no time advantage, the element of surprise is lost, and the Dragon Tiger Mountain will simply wait for us, which is most disadvantageous to us."

Yuan Mingfei said solemnly, "Moreover, from our encounter in Shangrao, once we are surrounded, only you can hope to escape; the rest of us cannot."

"Shangrao also has a 'Xi' clan's Dao three ambush?" Li Jun asked, surprised.

In Zhao Yilong's intelligence, the garrison in Shangrao comprised only Yang Zong, chief of the 'Dou' division of the nine Longhu departments, a mere Dao fourth.

The only noteworthy point was that before descending the mountain, he had been temporarily granted the title of supervisor of the Tianshi Prefecture, clearly intended as bait.

In Li Jun's view, even if Chen Qisheng's condition was unstable now, unable to gauge the situation and risk accurately, he might act impulsively; yet as long as Yuan Mingfei stood beside him, he would not rashly strike.

This was why he chose to delay the Han Shan Temple, sending Yuan Mingfei to the Jiangxi Provincial Office.

Yet after the group assembled at Qingping Dao Temple as planned, while Shen Ca, chased by several Dao fourths in a wild barrage, still hopped about, Chen Qisheng—whose power rivaled Shen Ca's—was knocked unconscious and carried back by Fan Wuqiu.

This was unexpected to Li Jun.

"Shangrao has no Dao three, yet the high‑ranking officials of the nine Longhu divisions lying in ambush outnumber Yongfeng."

Yuan Mingfei, holding a slender pipe, took a leisurely puff and said softly, "When Chen Qisheng saw Yang Zong, his mind went blank; he didn't know whether to flee like Shen Ca, or charge forward with reddened eyes, while Chang Jun trembled and cried out, unable to restrain him."

"Sister Yuan, you can't blame me. Don't think my outward appearance is lacking; inside I am a steadfast man. In the Ink Order I never back down in fights; even if I lose, I must spit contempt at my opponent before yielding."

A long sword hovered above the folded legs of Yuan Mingfei, while Chang Jun's sly figure crouched at the blade's tip, grasping his greasy hair, his tone helpless.

"But this boy is now pure madness; before him lies a vast horde, clearly prepared and waiting for us to reveal ourselves. Yet Chen Qisheng said nothing, seized me, and declared he'd fight to the death. Is that bravery? It's sheer suicide."

"Chang Jun, if your eyes wander where they shouldn't, beware that I'll snap your very essence."

"Alright."

Chang Jun obediently replied, shuffled over to Li Jun's side, and whispered in a barely audible voice, "What exactly was that color, I didn't see clearly."

He proved himself a true loyal follower of Prince Ma, a blue that surpassed its source.

Li Jun twitched his mouth, rubbed his brow, and asked, "How did those old Chen manage to escape?"

"Master Li Xin, have you forgotten me?"

The pipe lightly tapped the step; Yuan Mingfei turned her head, narrowed her phoenix eyes, and smiled, "Do you look down on anyone?"

Li Jun bowed respectfully, clasping his fists, "May I inquire?"

"Don't learn these slick tricks from those lowly whelps."

Yuan Mingfei rolled her eyes, "You certainly can't defeat those stinking oxen, but for a brief Buddhist nation barrier, escorting Chen Qisheng away is possible."

"Sister Yuan, you truly hide depths without leaking."

"Not leaking?"

Yuan Mingfei, puzzled, lowered her gaze and asked, "If I, as I am, still fail, how great must I become to be considered leaking?"

Li Jun was struck as if by lightning, frozen in place.

"Hahahaha."

Yuan Mingfei laughed, her branches trembling, teasing, "You are still too green."

Li Jun ignored her teasing, stared at her faintly bluish face, furrowed his brow, and asked, "Are you injured?"

"Rest assured, a slight wound won't kill anyone."

Yuan Mingfei said lightly, "The Buddhist and Dao orders have contended for years, each knowing the other's roots; when their beards twitch, I know what sigils they intend, and have long been prepared."

"Then that's fine."

Li Jun, without probing further, nodded and said, "Once these matters are settled, we'll accompany you on a journey through the borderlands."

Yuan Mingfei blinked, smiling, "What, you're going to help me step forward? That's wonderful; you have no idea how long I've waited for this day."

Though the words seemed playful, Li Jun sensed a tremor and a sudden sinking in his heart.

Whenever her past experiences were mentioned, Yuan Mingfei kept her tone light, even brushing over them, and Li Jun never inquired.

Even the power she now displays, starkly different from her time in Chongqing, and as distant as the Wok period, went unremarked by him.

Not asking, however, was merely an act of trust and respect.

It does not mean Li Jun forgot the significance of the words 'Ming Fei' in the borderland Buddhist sequence, nor that he disregarded the painful experiences she once hinted at.

"Then you must carry the road well, lest you forget some people, some places."

"Every temple and every road in the borderlands, I could find with my eyes closed."

Yuan Mingfei pursed her lips and said, "I fear that they have forgotten the person I once was, and the events that once transpired upon me."

"If they forget, I will help them recall."

Li Jun calmly said, "A punch to the face makes people more likely to recall things previously ignored."

"Then my reputation in the borderlands may grow ever worse."

Yuan Mingfei smiled brightly, pointing to her nose, "There is no Buddha who is daily poked in the spine; it seems I shall be the first."

"Be your own Buddha, and mind them not."

Li Jun took the pipe from Yuan Mingfei's hand and rose.

"Stay here, tend your wounds, and watch them."

Yuan Mingfei urgently exclaimed, "Going to provoke Jade-Tooth Mountain now will only put us at odds on both sides."

The enemy advances, I retreat; the enemy tires, I harass. To fight guerrilla warfare is to thrive in chaos, fearing no ambush from behind.

Li Jun turned his head without looking back and said, "The Heavenly Master's Mansion isn't trying to wait by a tree stump for a rabbit, are they? Then let's lure them out and strike!"

Yuanzhou Prefecture, Feny County.

Li Jun's first impression of the bustling county was its prosperity; the crowd was dense, far surpassing Guangxin Prefecture under Longhu Mountain.

Dressed in a blue robe and a mixed-yuan headband, Li Jun posed as a wandering Taoist; aside from the shabby footwear, he blended into the passing crowd, observing the "Dao City" under Gengao Mountain with unrestrained scrutiny.

As dusk fell, the lights that flickered in the city were not the dazzling neon of the Confucian stronghold, lacking hedonistic taverns and nightclubs, yet the streets remained alive with chatter and clamor.

Beneath the halo of street lamps, verses of the Daoist classics unfurled like sinuous calligraphy; a few men and women in robes gathered, speaking calmly with gentle smiles.

A vendor bore a bundle of pitch‑black timber, his sign proclaiming "Natural Thunder‑Strike Wood for Sale," yet he wore a tidy cotton robe.

A young novice clutched a box nearly his height, wandering for alms, his robe's cuffs and hem embroidered with "Feny Enforcement Office."

Gazing outward, the streets were crowded with proliferating monastic halls.

Just then, a hall owner sent off the disciples who had finished their evening lesson; he offered a freshly blossomed peach branch—though the season should have withered it—to the departing believer, bowing in respect.

"Great Ancestor Gǔ, I humbly beseech forgiveness for my sins."

Along the alleys, many believers sat cross‑legged on the ground.

Li Jun stood still, gazing for a moment; the man showed no reaction, his mind evidently boundless, yet he was settled in meditation, roaming the Dao.

Having not finished the street, Li Jun's heart was filled with strange and bizarre feelings.

Those who passed by, regardless of age or gender, wore humble, harmonious smiles and identical robes, concealing any hint of poverty or wealth, rank or status.

The most heard phrase was the four words "Great Ancestor Gǔ."

Whether familiar or strangers, even intimate Daoist partners, their speech began and ended with "Gǔ."

Who then is Gǔ?

The founding ancestor of Gengao Mountain.

Such a devout yet chilling scene, even in Guangxin Prefecture, Li Jun had never witnessed.

Yet in Yuanzhou Prefecture, it seemed commonplace, the elaborate rituals ingrained in the marrow.

Fanaticism.

This was Li Jun's second impression of the "Dao City."

"Thump!"

A resonant bronze gong struck from the central Dao Palace, interrupting the discourse below the street lamps; the vendor of thunder‑wood lowered his sign, lifted his head, the running novice stumbled, and the meditating believer beneath the eaves abruptly opened his eyes.

Li Jun halted with the flow, his inner energy slowly gathering, ready to erupt in lethal fury at any moment.

"Great Ancestor Gǔ, in the twelfth year of Jiāxǐ, the Gengao memorial was issued; faithful believers may link to the Gengao realm or approach to collect and read the document."

A line of stiff‑faced Yellow Turban warriors emerged from the Dao Palace, each bearing stacks of rare paper documents from that era.

The bustling hall owner, unwilling to linger, hurried to the Yellow Turban warrior, raised both hands high, and reverently accepted a document.

The surrounding crowd moved as one, pressing forward shoulder to shoulder, their faces now showing a touch of humanity.

Li Jun, mingling within the crowd, also received one.

On yellow paper with red ink, the opening bore the eight grand characters "Great Ancestor Gǔ, Gengao Everlasting," occupying an entire page.

Li Jun lifted his hand to turn the page, and the ensuing text made his brows knit in concern.

【The remnants of Confucian poison have been removed; the Dao Palace distributes benevolence to all.】

Beneath the title, the content was tangled and awkward, filled with largely useless prayers.

Li Jun pressed his lips together, forcing himself to finish, roughly grasping its meaning.

Presently, the entire Yuanzhou Prefecture has comprehensively abolished former imperial systems and institutions—treasury notes, offices, garrisons, Confucian temples, and more—transferring all authority to the Dao Palace, administered by the Taoist officials dispatched from Gengao Mountain.

It resembles the governance of Longhu Mountain's Guangxin Prefecture, yet Gengao Mountain's measures are more refined and comprehensive.

The "Gengao Mountain Taoist Regulations" were promulgated, strictly forbidding officials from plundering the wealth of the governed Taoists, lest it disturb their livelihood and cultivation; also prohibiting officials and laypeople from arbitrarily practicing alchemical arts, lest they undermine the foundation of cultivation.

The territory forbids the mixing of Confucian robes with Taoist garb; all officials and commoners must wear prescribed attire, regardless of rank. Appointed Taoist officials are evaluated annually based on the number of initiates.

Should a governed Taoist commit a crime, the Dao Palace may, according to severity, grant up to three reprieves; however, slandering "Gǔ" or betraying the Gengao sect is an unforgivable capital offense, resulting in the stripping of the mortal body and the immersion of the consciousness into the "Hellish" realm.

Disrespecting a governed Taoist official is a secondary grave offense, stripping one's chance to attain the Dao in this life; descendants inherit the curse, expiated only through three generations in the garb of Yellow Turbans.

Those who excel may be granted free entry into the Gengao cavern to realize the Dao, the duration determined by the magnitude of their merit.

The dense clauses, numbering in the dozens, left Li Jun impatient to read each one.

In Li Jun's view, it sums up to: "Only by entering the Dao can one speak; without entering, one must obediently listen."

Peeling back this layer of Taoist veneer revealed flesh and bone no different from the Confucian order, perhaps even more brutal and direct.

Li Jun turned further, and the headline finally piqued his interest.

【The New Eastern Lin Party's frontier suffered setback; the Great Ming Buddhist sequence is descending into chaos.】

The author brushed past the Liaodong incident, merely noting it as a spark; the New Eastern Lin Party, under the guise of the Great Ming court, dispatched an inspection team into the frontier, ostensibly to investigate the true culprits of the Liaodong province attack.

The memorandum included a photograph of the leader, an elderly man Li Jun did not recognize, yet the caption below made his brow furrow.

Liu Jianxun, a member of the Great Ming inner cabinet, head of the Jinling Liu clan.

The subsequent prose was no longer ornate; it carried a sharp, scornful mockery.

After entering the frontier, Liu and his companions faced numerous attacks by unidentified bandits; judging by their abilities, the assailants included Han Buddhist, Confucian, military, agricultural, and even sect martial sequences.

Uniquely, none of the frontier factions themselves were present.

Though casualties were few, Liu remained blocked at the frontier's edge, unable to advance for half a month.

The Gengao Mountain administration issued this memorandum to address the wealth disparity among its believers, presenting it in a vivid, readable format no less clear than electronic dossiers.

Li Jun read with relish, though some interspersed commentaries made his teeth ache, as they analyzed how, if the Confucian order attempted to enter Yuanzhou's domain, the believers would need to unite in hatred and solidarity.

Li Jun skipped the idle chatter, his gaze dropping to a red‑ink circle that leapt into view, after which the situation's course began to twist and turn.

First, the name Zhang Siyuan began to appear frequently, exterminating all attacking bandits cleanly.

Then, the Great Zhao and White Horse frontier Buddhist forces voluntarily sent reinforcements, offering to escort Liu into the frontier.

Even Sangyan Temple expressed similar intent, but Liu directly ignored them, appearing ready to lay all blame upon Sangyan's shoulders.

Liu abandoned his former cautious demeanor, revealing an iron‑blooded, uncompromising side; he investigated every temple under Sangyan's command, cutting mountains and destroying monasteries, slaying three Fifth‑Level Buddhas and one Fourth‑Level Buddha in succession.

Though Sangyan Temple was greatly displeased, Liu silenced it with a single remark—"disrespecting the imperial official"—effectively shutting its mouth.

With the people already dead, was the disrespect genuine, and how was it expressed—by a shallow bow or a missing smile? Who can say clearly?

The memorandum did not elaborate on Liu's frontier deeds, but devoted extensive prose to depicting the tyrannical oppression of the Confucian order and the treacherous deeds of the Buddhist sequence.

The conclusion inevitably featured a lengthy panegyric to Gǔ, advocating hatred toward the Confucian and Buddhist sequences.

And the "New Policy" underlying the whole affair was never mentioned.

Li Jun closed the text, and the stagnant crowd around him began to stir; the believers excitedly discussed the memorandum, focusing almost entirely on the Dao Palace.

Regarding later mentions of the frontier, most merely gritted their teeth and muttered "Great Ancestor Gǔ's divine power, who dares to offend?" before falling silent.

LiJun slipped the text into his robe, about to step toward the Dao Palace, when a gentle voice suddenly rang out by his ear.

"Gezu Wuliang. Fellow Daoist, please stay your step."