He stood in front of the temple for a long time. He did not come in, and he did not leave either.

　　Qi Sanguang was curious. He stood up and walked forward to greet him, “May I know if there is anything that I can help you with?”

　　The young man in white folded his folding fan and tapped his fair hands with a hint of playfulness. “I’m here to look for the Goddess of Grains,” he replied.

　　Qi Sanguang noticed he used the word “look for”. He was certain that the young man in white was not a believer and probably had an impressive background.

　　“You may enter the temple if you are looking for the Goddess of Grains,” he replied carefully.

　　“I’m asking you if Shen Lian is here.” He smiled as he shook his head, and he pointed at the temple with his fan.

　　This was a sentence meant for Qi Sanguang’s ears and no one else could hear it. He was backed by the power of the Goddess of Grains, and even though it was not much, it still made him slightly different from the normal people.

　　As for why Qi Sanguang was certain that everyone else could not hear it, he noticed that no one else had reacted to this. Rather, it seemed like the temple and everyone else were in a different world from the young man in white and him. They were completely isolated.

　　The statue of the deity in the temple opened its eyes. A beautiful lady walked over, and she looked exactly like the statue. She held grains in her hand and her eyes were clear. She headed towards the door slowly, “Fellow Daoist, the person you are looking for is not here,” she spoke gently.

　　“He must have been here. I promise to not cause you any trouble if you tell me where he is,” the young man in white replied casually.

　　“I am sorry but I cannot oblige,” the beautiful lady replied after a moment of silence.

　　The young man in white tightened his grip on the folding fan, and he slowly relaxed his grip again. A long shadow was drawn by the folding fan, and it was charging towards the beautiful lady’s chest.

　　A misty water screen appeared at the door of the temple. The folding fan collided with the water screen, and the entire temple seemed to have shaken. In the end, the folding fan did not manage to make its way across the water screen and it could not injure the beautiful lady as well. It was bounced off and was sent charging at the young man in white at a higher speed.

　　He caught the folding fan that flew towards him at a high speed with his fair hand effortlessly. He stared deeply at the temple and spoke, “I will return.”

　　It started to rain. The young man in white disappeared in the misty rain. Those who were staring at him did not notice the rain. When they came to their senses, they were soaked.

　　Qi Sanguang coughed and woke them up. They had since forgotten how the young man in white looked like and also could not remember what had happened earlier. Eventually, everyone left.

　　Qi Sanguang returned to the temple and noticed that the statue of the Goddess of Grains had dimmed slightly.

　　Normal people would not be able to perceive the divine light. As the number of believers increased, the Goddess of Grains’ divine light had been getting stronger.

　　The ground seemed to have turned into mud and had swallowed Qi Sanguang.

　　The arrangement in there was the same as the temple. However, it was empty save for the Goddess of Grains. She was frowning slightly and seemed to be in deep thoughts.

　　Qi Sanguang knew that this was the Goddess’ divine region. No one could enter without her permission.

　　“The person earlier is very powerful. It seems like something big and troublesome will happen soon. You should leave and distance yourself from this,” the Goddess of Grains spoke at last.

　　“I have lived for tens over years. I only feel like my life is meaningful when I am working for you. There is nowhere else that I want to go. If misfortunes were to befall me for staying put, I would still have no regrets,” Qi Sanguang shook his head and replied.

　　“This person is powerful and there are very few cultivators in the world that could rival him. He did not leave today because he could not take me down, but he did so to avoid losses.” A hint of solemnity flashed over the Goddess of Grains’ beautiful face.

　　After all these years, she was not the same loquat tree that she once was. Her divinity had replaced her pure demonic heart. From the worship of the believers, she managed to absorb the wisdom of humans and had become calmer and steadier.

　　Qi Sanguang finally understood why the young man in white was so unusual – he was a cultivator.

　　He thought of something. “He asked about Shen Lian earlier. Was Shen Lian the person from back then?” He asked the Goddess of Grains.

　　“That would be him. He came over ten days ago asking for my help. He seemed to be in a disheveled state, and I was surprised that someone could corner him to that extent. After meeting with the young man in white today, I finally realized what a scary individual he is,” the Goddess replied.

　　“Do you have any solution that I can help you out with?” Qi Sanguang asked.

　　“It’s fine. The only thing we need to do now is to wait for his return.”

　　Qi Sanguang remained silent. He did not ask what would happen if Shen Lian did not return, and he also did not question about Shen Lian’s whereabouts and the timing of his return.

　　Both the Goddess of Grains and him were indebted to Shen Lian. The worst that could happen would be repaying him with their lives.

　　A bright pearl appeared in the Goddess’ hands. It was wrapped in divine light, and there were eight colors swirling within it. At the deepest part of it, there was a ball of black Qi. This was what Shen Lian had left behind, and this was the reason why the young man in white managed to locate this place.

　　Shen Lian said that it contained a huge portion of his cultivation, and part of the original source of the young man in white was within it as well.

　　However, her divine region could isolate the outside world from it. Hence, the young man in white could at most track his way to the temple and he had lost all clues from here onwards.

　　There was also a sword talisman in the temple that contained Shen Lian’s sword will and the Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura. The hints of killing vibes were strong, and it was a set-up that could hold back the young man in white if he had decided to take the temple by force.

　　As for Shen Lian’s whereabouts, she was not sure herself.

　　The Huang River contained the obsessions of the dead, and it connected the heavens and the earth, the living to the dead, and the dead to the living. It was as ancient and mysterious as the Milky Way was.

　　The Huang River was an important component of the reincarnation cycle.

　　Shen Lian did not head for the deepest part of the Huang River. He wanted to go to Yin Mountain.

　　Yin Mountain was huge and had no bounds. It segregated the human realm from the Underworld. The Huang River would flow past the Yin Mountain too.

　　At the back of Yin Mountain was the Underworld Demon Sect, and it used to be one of the most powerful sects in the world.

　　Shen Lian did not go to the back of Yin Mountain. He was at the foot of the mountain, the side that was facing the realm of the living. It was very cold. It was not the kind of cold that would freeze water into ice, but the kind of cold that sent shivers up one’s spirit.

　　Steadily, he walked towards one of the mountains.

　　There was a temple on top of the mountain, and it was as old as Qing Xuan was. It was known as “Da Ming Wang Temple”.

　　This was the reason why Shen Lian had come here.

　　Yanxu was difficult to deal with not because of his strength, but because of his understanding of Qing Xuan’s techniques; like Shen Lian, he too had originated from Qing Xuan. It was difficult to use Qing Xuan’s techniques to go against Yanxu.

　　Moreover, the abstruseness of his Free Form Incarnation was not something that could be overcome by the Daoist Dharma.

　　Shen Lian had to try something different. He was on good terms with the current Da Ming Wang, Huike. It was worth trying to look for a way to deal with Yanxu from Huike.

　　Shen Lian had a question in his heart for the longest time. He wondered where did Yanxu get the “Free Form Incarnation” from, and hence he wished to find out about the origins of this demonic technique from Da Ming Wang Temple.