Chapter 50 Part 1

The Ear Whisperer God fell silent, pretending it hadn’t been the one speaking just moments ago.

It knew full well that no matter where it was, a piece of wood shouldn’t be opening its mouth to talk. So its carved wooden eyeballs spun wildly, frantically winking at Yinyu, hoping she could offer some explanation to bail it out.

Yinyu had no idea how to explain. She even felt like tossing it aside. She had thought this thing might be of some use, but here it was, the Ear Whisperer God not knowing this, not knowing that, and being terribly noisy besides—a nuisance.

Dark Snow Heaven was crawling with demonic evils, and the woman had already been on edge when offering to the deity. This scare made her reel backward, stumbling until she retreated behind the spirit table, clutching the statue for support, too frightened to speak.

The temple door was now sealed shut. Even if she really wanted to flee, it would be no easy task. This was bad.

“It’s nothing more than a wooden puppet stuffed with a sound-producing talisman,” Lian Sheng said calmly. She reached out and took the puppet, hooking its back collar with a single bent finger, treating the object with complete disdain.

“A sound-producing talisman?” The woman’s tense shoulders immediately dropped. She let out a long breath, laughing sheepishly. “Those spirit elixirs and divine talismans are rare sights in Dark Snow Heaven.”

Yinyu’s hands were suddenly empty. From the sound of it, Dark Snow Heaven truly was a remote backwater.

“In the place we came from, talismans are everywhere, and there are many exotic beasts. Now that we’ve arrived here, we see them much less.” Lian Sheng spoke indifferently.

She made it up on the fly, her expression not changing in the slightest—nothing like the Lotus Immortal of Little Enlightenment Ruins, who was supposedly bound by tedious red tape and unwilling to “comply.” She added, “I heard people say before that Dark Snow Heaven was bustling, full of swirling black snow. Now that I finally witness it, I realize those were all lies.”

The woman forced out a strained smile and slowly shuffled out from behind the deity statue, deeply embarrassed by her own provincialism.

Tucking her hands into her sleeves, she said, “After losing the gods’ protection, this freezing land sees fewer and fewer visitors. There have been cultivators who heard about the evil entities lurking here and wanted to capture demons and purge them. But soon after arriving, they all left.”

“Where did all the demonic evils come from?” Lian Sheng slapped the puppet on the mouth, silencing it once more, and handed it back to Yinyu.

“How would I know?” A look of frustration filled the woman’s eyes.

She raised a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, her voice hoarse. “A place without gods’ protection naturally breeds more demonic evils. Besides, there’s still an Altar of the Abandoned nearby. That thing is a massive lure for ghosts and evil.”

“Altar of the Abandoned?” Yinyu felt inexplicably that such a place shouldn’t exist in Dark Snow Heaven.

Even Lian Sheng’s expression shifted slightly. She stared at the woman. “When was this built, and who built it?”

“About twenty-some years ago. It’s been there as long as I can remember. I heard a group of cultivators built it.” The woman estimated the direction, made a few vague gestures, and said, “It’s over that way, west. A massive, imposing thing.”

Her brows knitted with worry, and she sighed. “Come to think of it, the terrible things that happen here are tied to it.”

In their previous world, a similar altar had once existed underground in Jade Gathering, used solely to feed unworshipped ghosts, preventing them from roaming and causing harm in search of sustenance.

It did somewhat reduce the resentment of those ghosts and evil, but instead drew in even more of them.

Later, when Jade Gathering was rebuilt into the Eight Treasures Pavilion, the altar was no longer needed. The underground area fell into disuse, and by the time Qi Yufei took over as Pavilion Master, it was completely transformed, becoming the Spirit Chamber.

By that logic, for a place like Dark Snow Heaven, already crawling with ghosts and evil, building an Altar of the Abandoned was like pouring oil on a fire.

“If you don’t explain clearly and we end up suffering for it, what then?” Yinyu spoke slowly.

The woman’s face paled dramatically. She spat out a curse and ground it under her foot, saying, “You can’t say things like that! The gods may no longer answer, but the ghosts have ears!”

The people of Dark Snow Heaven had truly been tormented by ghosts and evil, both hating and fearing those abominations.

“So what’s the deal with the Altar of the Abandoned?” Yinyu wouldn’t drop it easily. She looked pure and innocent enough, but her mind was sharper than the snow endlessly falling outside.

“Don’t ask, don’t ask.” The woman waved her hands. “If you two ever come across the altar, take the long way around. Do not go near it!”

She finished her worship, quickly packed her offerings back into the basket, and dared not look at the two young women. It was obvious these two were refined and esteemed. A single extra glance felt disrespectful.

As she spoke, she was suddenly seized with regret. She lightly slapped her own cheek, sighing in distress. “Had I known, I should never have told you where that altar is. Why can’t I ever hold my tongue!”

The one who truly couldn’t hold its tongue—the Ear Whisperer God—was still rolling its eyes furiously, its words all bottled up inside.

The woman added, “If there’s nothing else, you two need to leave this place immediately. If you have valuables on you, do not let them be seen, lest they be stolen!”

“Thank you. But today the snow is heavy, and the sky looks set to darken further. I’m afraid we can’t leave,” Yinyu said, unhurried and calm.

The woman grew instantly anxious. She pointed outside. “The snow here is this heavy all year round—it never stops. If you plan to stay the night, head into the city center. Go straight out the door, turn left after you see the little bridge, and walk a while until you reach the city. It’s more… lively there, and there are inns.”

“But from what I’ve seen, plenty of people rest in Daoist temples and shrines,” Yinyu said, holding the Ear Whisperer God face down, unwilling to look at its spinning eyes.

The woman sighed repeatedly, her movements packing the offerings slowing. “At night, this place is full of ghosts and monsters. By the looks of it, you two clearly aren’t the type to rough it, and a temple can’t keep out the cold. In the city, there’s a family named Kang. They know some methods for warding off evil, so the city always has fewer ghosts.”

“I see.” Yinyu’s brows curved, as if thick honeyed emotion filled her eyes.

Lian Sheng had more to say, but seeing how this person had become even more in her element after returning to Wisdom Water Red Mountain, her face showing not a trace of discomfort, Lian Sheng kept quiet, fiddling with the paper umbrella in her hand.

The woman was too embarrassed to look at that fair-skinned girl directly. She pulled up the hood of her cloak, covering half her face, and waved. “I really must go. If you’re not leaving just yet, remember to shut the door tight later. People in Dark Snow Heaven can’t stand seeing others praying to gods or Buddha.”

Stepping into the wind and snow, she looked back with a worried face and said, “Leave as soon as you can. Don’t stay in Dark Snow Heaven too long.”

“Thank you.” Yinyu turned to see the woman off.

Once the door was shut, Lian Sheng, uncharacteristically considerate, removed the Silencing Spell from the Ear Whisperer God’s mouth.

The Ear Whisperer God’s words immediately burst out like a flood. “You nearly suffocated me! What kind of place is this, anyway? It sounds completely different from the world before. And what is this ‘sound-producing talisman’ you mentioned? Is this place really so overrun with demonic evils that talismans and spells are everywhere too?”

Yinyu occasionally quite liked the Ear Whisperer God’s mouth—it said all the things she wanted to say herself.

The Ear Whisperer God clamored on, “I’ve never seen such a bizarre place. It’s straight out of those ancient chronicles of the strange. Coming here with you has really broadened my horizons!”

“Here, everyone wants to become an immortal, so so-called great immortal sects are everywhere.” Lian Sheng shot a glance beyond the eaves, staring at the faint, gloomy light leaking through the dense clouds. “If one’s aptitude is suitable, even ordinary people can step onto the path of cultivation. Talismans everywhere are nothing strange.”

“If everyone could become an immortal, the heavens would be packed!” the Ear Whisperer God rattled on. “They’d have to be as vast as the earth to hold all those countless immortals.”

“Not everyone can become an immortal.” Lian Sheng withdrew her gaze, shifting it sidelong to the deity statue in the hall, which was missing a finger. She said flatly, “There is a White Jade Capital in the sky, with Twelve Pavilions and Five Cities. Those who complete their cultivation are summoned to ascend. Though…”

“What?” Yinyu perked up.

Lian Sheng frowned. “A strand of my divine sense from before has gone missing. I dispatched another strand, but received no response from the Capital. Something must have happened in the heavens.”

“Knowing so much, could it be you’ve been up there? Were you an immortal?” The Ear Whisperer God relentlessly jabbered.

Lian Sheng did not answer.

“Boss Yu.” Yinyu jutted her chin toward the outside, exhaling a cloud of white mist. “Shouldn’t we find a place to stay first? After you get me settled, perhaps you could go up and check the heavens?”

She made ascending to heaven and descending to earth sound as simple as eating or drinking water.

Lian Sheng walked under the eaves and opened her umbrella. She waited for Yinyu to join her before stepping into the snow at her side.

Day was truly turning to night, the dense clouds obscuring the sky. The original light was already dim enough; now, even the road was hard to see clearly.

Because she had previously noticed something odd about the spirit bells hanging beneath the house eaves along the way, Yinyu paid extra attention as they headed into the city.

Almost every eave here had such bells. At a glance, they seemed to be plain, unremarkable decorations, but the bells were curiously engraved with the characters for “Nirvana.”

Turn back.

Turn back. Look back at me.

Yinyu stopped abruptly. She felt something tugging at her. She yanked Lian Sheng’s sleeve and turned her head, following the sound.