Inside the Gathering Fortune Pavilion, a peculiar scene was unfolding.
Visible on the roof, the Wanshou Tortoise seemed to harbor an extreme distaste for the red rain falling from the heavens. Even though the water was pure, it seemed to find the liquid revolting.
A massive, transparent phantom of a tortoise shell had been propped up over the pavilion, shrouding the entire building and keeping it perfectly dry.
The red rain slid off the light barrier, unable to touch a single drop of the structure.
On the branches of the unaging pine in the courtyard, a temporary sanctuary for birds had formed. Several immortal cranes perched there, preening their feathers.
Only the Nine-Age Crane refused to join the flock.
It stood on one leg atop an empty stove near the gate, staring blankly at the burner and crying out at the red rain for a long time.
The stove had been haphazardly built a few days prior by Wu Gou, who had coaxed Jiu'er into helping him so they could roast sweet potatoes. Wu Gou had been too lazy to dismantle it, so it remained there.
Chen Zhou walked into the courtyard and approached the Pool of Fortune and Longevity.
The several dragon carp in the pond also seemed restless, swimming incessantly and slapping their tails against the surface.
Upon Chen Zhou's arrival, there was a sudden splash as the largest dragon carp leaped from the water.
Black smoke billowed beneath the fish, instantly transforming into a dark cloud that carried it to float directly in front of Chen Zhou.
This dragon carp had now grown to three feet in length. Its once golden scales, now concealed by Cloud Sea Resplendence, were a glossy, jet-black, appearing as if cast from black gold.
On its head, where there were once only bumps, a pair of tender dragon horns had grown. Though they had not yet reached their full majesty, they already exuded a draconic pressure.
"What is it?" Chen Zhou reached out and scratched the fire-red vermilion crown atop the dragon carp's head.
The fish flicked its tail, and the dark cloud beneath it shifted shape, pointing straight toward the east.
Chen Zhou's eyes flickered. "What is it? The east? You mean something is wrong in the Eastern Region?"
The dragon carp nodded repeatedly, its barbels trembling. As a heaven-blessed auspicious spirit, its perception of calamity and fortune far surpassed that of ordinary people.
"I already know," Chen Zhou said, patting its head with a calm tone.
"With how desperate they are to find the Golden Buddha, it would be harder for things not to go wrong. Thank you for the warning."
Only then did the dragon carp calm down. It nudged Chen Zhou's palm before diving back into the water.
Chen Zhou looked toward the east thoughtfully before pushing open the doors of the Gathering Fortune Pavilion.
Inside, the scent of wine filled the air.
Wu Gou was sitting cross-legged on a futon by the window, clutching the wine jar that never left his side. He had clearly been waiting for some time.
"I knew you'd be coming," Wu Gou said, setting down the jar. He looked at the bloody curtain of rain sliding off the tortoise shell outside, a trace of maturity that didn't match his youthful face appearing on his features.
Chen Zhou didn't waste any time. "This red rain—was it the Golden Buddha's doing?"
"Most likely," Wu Gou shrugged. "There is always some commotion before a Golden Buddha descends. It is, after all, a freak of nature birthed by heaven and earth. However..."
He paused, his brow furrowing slightly. "I didn't expect the commotion to be this large."
"A thousand years ago in Tianchi Province, it wasn't nearly this eerie."
"At most, the death qi and spiritual qi in the world became more dense before its arrival. It wasn't like this, where a literal bloody soup is falling from the sky."
"I wonder if even the Golden Buddha has sensed something," Wu Gou lamented before looking at Chen Zhou.
"Are we getting ready to move? The omen is here. Though there's still time before the actual descent, deploying early isn't bad. It fits your 'think ten steps ahead' personality."
Chen Zhou nodded. "Now that you understand, let's go."
Wu Gou froze, pointing at himself. "I'm going too?"
Chen Zhou looked at him as if it were obvious. "Why else? Did you think I ran all this way just to talk nonsense with a drunkard?"
"I—" Wu Gou started to refuse, but Chen Zhou had already raised three fingers.
"You, from the Aspect of All Beings," Chen Zhou said, pointing at Wu Gou.
Then he pointed at the sleeping pink nightmare in his arms. "It, from Sukhavati."
Finally, Chen Zhou pointed his thumb at himself. "And this seat, from the Bone Temple!"
A playful smile tugged at the corner of Chen Zhou's mouth.
"When the three of us get together, we are the proper Buddhist lineage."
"For a grand Buddhist gathering like the descent of the Golden Buddha, how could you be absent when we're going to support it and give it a proper consecration?"
Wu Gou opened his mouth, his expression turning strange. Somehow, it actually made sense to him. In the end, he could only offer a bitter smile.
"Fine. You're the boss, you call the shots."
"But let's get this straight: this poor monk is currently just a weak child who can't even lift a chicken. Don't look for me for any fighting; I'm only responsible for eating, drinking, and watching the show."
Ignoring his complaints, Chen Zhou grabbed Wu Gou by the back of his collar like a chick and strode out of the Gathering Fortune Pavilion.
"A weak child? Guess whether I believe that."
Before departing, Chen Zhou made some simple arrangements.
He didn't take everyone with him.
The City of the Wrongfully Dead still needed people to guard it. Hong Ling was indispensable for overall coordination, and Shitou was responsible for public security.
Thus, he summoned the Plague Rat and Poison-Wing.
"You two brothers, head to the Eastern Region first to scout it out."
Chen Zhou commanded, "Those seafood from the Eastern Region could send spies to my Northern Region; it would be rude not to return the favor."
"You're fast, and your methods are underhanded. You're the perfect ones to get the lay of the land for me."
"Remember, don't make too much of a commotion. Mainly look at the distribution of forces and see if this red rain has any special variations in the Eastern Region."
The Plague Rat and Poison-Wing accepted the order and set off first.
As for the Western Desert...
Chen Zhou stood on the city wall, gazing toward the west.
Unlike the Eastern Region—where the sea demons rarely communicated with the outside world but Shanhe Pass would still open occasionally—the Western Desert had always been sealed.
At least since Chen Zhou had transmigrated, he had never heard any news about the Western Desert. It was like a dead spot on the map.
Even Su Xue, a demon king of the Southern Region who had lived for a thousand years, knew very little about it.
She had stated that since she gained sentience, she had never seen the Yellow Spring Crossing of the Western Desert open.
Nor had she ever seen a human or demon emerge from there.
"There is a stele at the Yellow Spring Crossing. I saw it from a distance in my early years when I traveled with Jade Toad," Su Xue had recalled.
"Only one sentence was written on it: 'The living enter not, the dead exit not.'"
It was as if the Western Desert were a true land of the dead.
But the descent of the Golden Buddha was a major event affecting the entire Gloomlight Province; even a closed-off race would find it hard to resist the temptation.
If some old monster hidden in the Western Desert suddenly stormed out, it would be a problem.
He had to take precautions.
"Let Piao go for a trip," Chen Zhou decided.
Piao had consumed the seventh-stage flesh of the realm earthworm and devoured nearly all the death qi in the Northern Region. With Su Xue's help, she had successfully digested it all.
Furthermore, her True Explanation of Myriad Devouring had temporarily replicated and stored the realm earthworm's regeneration ability.
Even if there was some great horror in the Western Desert, as long as she left one flying locust clone outside, she could recover and regenerate by eating more, even if all her other parts were annihilated.
As for Jian Huaishuang and Su Xue, both had gained insights after returning from the Northern Region and were currently in seclusion attempting a breakthrough. Chen Zhou chose not to disturb them.
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