Chapter 71 — The Talisman Painter Who Guards the Village

Heaven Cracks and Earth Shakes

Lam Thủy Town market at off-hours was still crowded with buyers and sellers, the sound of selling, the sound of bargaining, the sound of children playing among the familiar silk stalls - until the ground suddenly shook, so strong that several stalls toppled over, jars broke and shattered, causing the whole market to be engulfed in screams of panic.

A woman selling silk, Âu Bội Nhi's mother, was folding newly imported silk when she fell forward, holding on to the stall's pole to steady herself. She looked up and saw a long crack torn right through the middle of the market street. Heat rose from the crack, bringing with it a burning sulfur smell never before experienced in this land.

*

The news reached Tông Vân Các in just half a day, accompanied by reports from all over Cửu Vân - the northern border, the eastern coast, and even the areas near the capital Lệ Dương. All of them recorded unusual fluctuations in the Linh Mạch at the same time, as if a giant net strung underground were vibrating.

The large hall of Tông Vân Các, where Diệp Sương's sentencing hearing had taken place, was now filled with urgently convened elders, everyone's faces extremely tense.

"This is not an ordinary demon tide," Tạ Vân Khê spoke up in front of the entire council, her voice sharp with worry. "The Linh Đài array recorded synchronized fluctuations in at least seven different areas, hundreds of miles apart. There has never been any precedent like this in the entire history of the sect."

*

"It could be a coincidence," Húc Bá Nguyên countered, although his voice could not hide his uneasiness. "The Linh Mạch has a natural oscillation cycle."

"Seven areas at the same time, with the same intensity, do not form any natural cycle ever recorded. You know that better than anyone," Tạ Vân Khê responded immediately.

Grandmaster Thư Khải Dương sat in the middle of the hall, his face heavy, his eyes looking around at the fiercely arguing council. "Regardless of the cause," he finally spoke, his voice echoing throughout the hall, "we need to prepare for the worst. I declare a sect-wide state of emergency, summoning all inner sect disciples and above to the summit of Vân Tiêu immediately."

*

Sect Master Thư Khải Dương immediately ordered three of the most elite spiritual-talisman tracking teams to the nearest disturbance points to verify the situation, and at the same time sent an urgent dispatch to Khâm Vân Ti requesting coordination to investigate the root cause. But as soon as the order was given, another elder stood up, his voice full of doubt.

"Will Khâm Vân Ti really cooperate?" he asked bluntly. "If what disciple Chu Diệp Sương accused before being expelled is well-founded, maybe that agency is the first place to investigate, not the place to ask for help."

Those words made the whole hall stir. Húc Bá Nguyên stood up, his face stiffened. "Don't rush to make baseless accusations in the middle of a dangerous situation like this! That matter has been clearly decided by the council."

"Just because it's been decided," Tạ Vân Khê replied, her voice cold, "doesn't mean it's been proven right. If you still insist on denying all possibilities, I'm afraid you're putting the entire sect in a passive position in the face of a danger whose origin I suspect you understand better than anyone else."

Húc Bá Nguyên turned pale for a moment at that direct accusation, but quickly regained his composure, did not respond further, just sat down with wary eyes.

*

Cố Thanh Việt stood in the row of outer sect disciples allowed to attend the open meeting, his heart was heavy as he heard each number reported. The uneasy feeling he had on the way back from the trip to find Diệp Sương was now confirmed, and on a much larger scale than he had feared.

"If it's really on such a large scale," he thought, clasping his hands behind his back, "then where is Sương out there? Is she safe, in the midst of the earthquake that is spreading throughout this kingdom?"

After the meeting, he went to Âu Bội Nhi, who had just received bad news about his mother in Lam Thủy Town through an urgent letter sent by eagle.

*

"My mother is safe," Âu Bội Nhi said, her voice still shaking. "But the whole market had to be evacuated. People said a whole block of streets collapsed right after that, but fortunately no one remained."

"I'm sorry," Thanh Việt said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault," Âu Bội Nhi replied, quickly wiping away her tears, then looking up at him with determined eyes. "But this further proves that what Sương and you discovered at the Tiêu Sa Pass is correct. If the sect hadn't admitted it sooner, perhaps it wouldn't have been as late as it is now."

*

At the same time, in the remote northern border area, an imperial army patrol discovered a low hill suddenly subsided in the night, revealing a deep hole emitting a strange purple light, accompanied by a distant roar echoing from the bottom of the abyss as if hundreds of creatures were stirring awake. The patrol commander, who had never seen a similar scene in his military career, hurriedly sent people to report to the capital Lệ Dương, and at the same time ordered the emergency evacuation of all villages within a ten-mile radius.

Similar reports, of varying severity, continued to pour in from all directions in the days that followed — no two places were exactly the same, but all shared a terrifying characteristic: they occurred almost simultaneously, as if some invisible hand had simultaneously clicked on a series of old wounds on the bodies of the entire Cửu Vân kingdom.

*

Meanwhile, at a small inn about three days' journey from Vân Tiêu Peak, Tất Bá Kỳ, who had just ridden non-stop from Tiêu Sa Pass carrying Sầm Nguyên Trạch's urgent report, stopped to change horses and heard news about Lam Thủy Town from the panicked guests who were chatting.

"My God," he muttered, his face pale, "if the whole town of Lam Thủy also encounters trouble, then this is no longer a local matter of Tiêu Sa Pass or any other border area." He hastily wrote an additional report, stuffed it into a leather letter tube, then continued on his way, spurring his horse to gallop toward Vân Tiêu Peak, carrying with him both worries for his friends at Tiêu Sa Pass and vague worries about the place where Diệp Sương was wandering.

Along the way, he witnessed groups of people evacuating in the opposite direction, carrying pots, pans, and blankets. Everyone's faces were filled with panic as they told fragmentary stories about collapsed houses, dry wells, and livestock falling into ravines for unknown reasons. Never, in all his years as a sect disciple, had he witnessed such a scene of widespread panic, and that made every beat of the horse's hooves under him even more urgent.

*

At the Tông Vân Các library, Chung Nhã Trúc and a few other inner sect disciples stayed up all night looking through all the old records related to the major demon tides that had occurred in history, trying to find any precedents that could help predict upcoming developments. But the more she leafed through it, the more she realized that no record had ever described a mass disturbance like the current one.

"There's no precedent," she muttered, closing the ancient book and rubbing her temples, which ached with fatigue. "It means we're facing something completely new, something no one was prepared for."

*

That night, at Cảnh Linh Đài, Tạ Vân Khê stood alone in front of the induction stone, her eyes following each unusual color ripple spreading on the stone surface - a light she had never seen in the decades she had been attached to this location.

She remembered the last night she had seen Diệp Sương leave the three-entrance gate and the promise she had made: "I believe, one day, the truth will be revealed, and when that day comes, I will personally come to take you back." Little did she know that day might come sooner and in more dire circumstances than anything she had ever imagined.

*

"Where are you, Diệp Sương?" she whispered softly into the night, her old hand placed on the cold stone. "If you are still alive, if you are still fighting out there like I believe you always do, find a way back. I fear that this time, the sect will need you more than ever before."

The night wind blew through the observatory, bringing unusually cold air from afar, like a vague response to that question — or perhaps, just a sign of the big storm that was coming closer every moment, not waiting for anyone to prepare.