Chen Shi jumped onto the wooden cart and pulled her onto it, Black Pot returned the compass to Chen Shi.
"Black Pot, you also come up onto the cart," Chen Shi said.
Black Pot climbed onto the cart, sat in the back, and Chen Shi controlled the compass, heading towards the southern part of the city.
Before they could leave the city, they saw a sea of people ahead, blocking the road. Standing on the cart, Chen Shi looked forward and saw that it was a dozen or so beggars, missing arms and legs, blocking the way. These beggars, men, and women, young and old, were begging along the streets, refusing to move if they weren’t given money.
The pedestrians on the street couldn’t pass, trapped here.
"It’s the Tianlao Society’s people."
Red Mountain Lady strained to look and said, "The Tianlao Society doesn’t engage in production, they claim to live by the heavens, but in reality, they live by begging. They’ve blocked this street, and they won’t leave anytime soon; let’s take a detour."
Chen Shi detoured, but the next two streets were also blocked by the Tianlao Society’s people, so they had to detour to the eastern city gate.
The Tianlao Society’s main altar was not far from the eastern city gate, occupying more than ten acres of a large estate. From afar, Chen Shi could see the Tianlao Society’s enormously huge head standing among the buildings, occasionally rotating to look in all directions, its mouth slightly moving, as if muttering something.
They were undertaking major construction in the main altar of the Tianlao Society, seemingly constructing a temple, but on a scale much larger than an ordinary temple, presumably as a place to worship the Heavenly Elder. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel-com
Suddenly, the Heavenly Elder saw Chen Shi, its gaze sinister, revealing a malevolent expression.
Chen Shi felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly left.
"The Tianlao Society has been very prosperous lately, the number of followers keeps increasing, and their incense offerings are getting stronger. I’m afraid it won’t be long before they catch up to me."
Red Mountain Lady was somewhat worried and said, "As of now, I can suppress her, but if a day comes when I can’t, I’m afraid our Red Mountain Hall will suffer."
Chen Shi inquired, "Lady, does the Tianlao Society survive only by begging?"
Red Mountain Lady shook her head and said, "Begging is just one part of their industry. The Tianlao Society makes a living by breeding livestock, and I’ve heard from the little town that they are also involved in the business of harvesting and cutting life."
Chen Shi didn’t understand and drove the wooden cart out of the city, heading south, directly towards Smoke Mist Ridge.
Henggong Mountain is a massive mountain range that stretches for six or seven thousand miles from southwest to northeast. Strictly speaking, Qianyang Mountain is part of the Henggong Mountain range, being one of its more majestic branches.
They traveled all the way to Smoke Mist Ridge, but the surroundings became desolate, the ground devoid of any vegetation, let alone crops.
Looking as far as the eye could see, for over ten miles around, the landscape consisted of the earth that had melted and solidified again, forming a surface as smooth as a mirror.
Chen Shi jumped down from the wooden cart and walked on the mirror-like ground, underneath which lay bones resembling dragons, sprawling and stretching for miles.
He looked ahead, Smoke Mist Ridge abruptly rose out of the smooth, mirror-like ground.
It was as if this place had experienced a terrible war that had melted the ground and sealed many ancient things beneath!
Red Mountain Lady had brought him to Smoke Mist Ridge, but he saw that Smoke Mist Ridge had split open in the middle, the other side of the mountain was the sea, and he could smell the salty sea breeze.
Red Mountain Lady pointed at the Great Rift Valley and said, "This is where I came into being. I heard from the little town that a great earthquake once split this mountain, and then I emerged from underground, climbing up as flesh and blood, turned into an Evil Spirit, and many people died."
Chen Shi looked into the rift valley and saw a dilapidated temple on the cliff walls below, built against the cliffs, a temple suspended in midair!
Chen Shi left Black Pot and the wooden cart on Smoke Mist Ridge and, with Red Mountain Lady, searched for a path to the bottom of the valley. They climbed the rocks from the valley floor to reach the suspended temple.
Chen Shi deciphered the writing on the collapsed temple’s lintel, studied for a while, and pieced together a few broken fragments of the lintel before he could make out the name of the temple.