Chapter 31 - The All-Answering Temple
While Fan Shaohuang remained in secluded cultivation, a peculiar sort of trouble found its way to the gates of Guantian Court. A wealthy squire from a distant township, having exhausted every mundane avenue in his quest for a male heir, had arrived in a state of desperate agitation. Despite possessing twelve wives and concubines, his household was filled only with daughters. Now past the age of fifty, his yearning for a son had become an obsession. He had spent a fortune on pilgrimages to every temple and shrine within a hundred miles, yet his prayers remained unanswered.
Word had eventually reached him that Guantian Court was a place where every prayer was granted. He arrived with his entire entourage of wives, burning mountains of incense and donating a staggering amount of silver to the temple’s coffers. However, the matter of conceiving a son was not something that could be summoned by mere gold; it was a complex interplay of fate, lineage, and karma.
During Fan Shaohuang’s seclusion, the Art of Celestial Hearing had been suspended. To manage the influx of devotees, Qiao’er had surreptitiously tucked a crab spirit beneath the altar, commanding it to relay the prayers of the faithful. Her instructions were simple: fulfill any request that did not violate morality or harm others. Most tasks were manageable, but the divine orchestration of a male birth was far beyond her current capabilities.
When the squire’s youngest concubine gave birth to yet another daughter, the man’s desperation curdled into rage. He publicly denounced the temple, threatening to bring a mob to raze Guantian Court to the ground for its perceived deception. While Qiao’er did not fear his threats, she knew such a scandal would tarnish the temple’s burgeoning reputation.
She gathered the young Taoists to deliberate, but they were equally stumped. Progeny was a matter of physiognomy, destiny, and the accumulated merit of both parents; it was not a spell one could cast overnight.
In the midst of their frantic discussion, the nine-headed bird, Gui Che, poked one of its heads through the window. "What is so difficult about this?" it chirped, radiating an uncharacteristic confidence.
The room fell silent as all eyes turned toward the mythical creature. Though it was often a nuisance, it was still a divine bird of old, and its words carried a certain weight. Sensing the spotlight, Gui Che grew excited. "The next time he comes, tell him to leave his wives and concubines here for a few days. Then, have Daoist Fan Shaohuang calculate an auspicious date and time. Under the cover of night, the Daoist can slip into their chambers... With his transcendent powers, surely after sleeping with a dozen women, he could produce at least one son?"
A heavy, suffocating silence followed. It took several moments for Qiao’er to regain her composure and physically restrain the young Taoists, who were already hoisting chairs and benches to beat the bird to death.
"Gui Che," Qiao’er sighed, rubbing her temples. "The fact that you have lived this long with only one head missing is truly the greatest unsolved mystery of the ages."
Before she could say more, Fan Shaohuang’s voice resonated through a spiritual transmission: "Tell him to leave his wives at the temple. I shall find a way."
The gathered disciples nearly collapsed in shock.
After much coaxing, the squire grumpily agreed to leave his wives at Guantian Court, though he warned that if no son were forthcoming, he would expose the temple as a den of charlatans. As night fell and the green-eyed zombie, Hou, arrived to take Qiao’er on their nightly demon hunt, she paced nervously outside the guest quarters. She looked toward Fan Shaohuang’s meditation chamber several times, her mouth hanging open as if to speak, but the words failed her. Fan Shaohuang, for his part, seemed entirely unbothered, oblivious to the scandalous implications Qiao’er was imagining. It was perhaps for the best; had he known what Gui Che suggested, the bird’s remaining nine heads would likely have been forfeit.
Miraculously, no scandal ensued. Following the precise hours dictated by Fan Shaohuang, the squire eventually welcomed three sons into his household. Overjoyed, he proclaimed Guantian Court a holy site. He organized a grand festival to return his thanks, and the fame of "Perfected Gongxi" spread like wildfire across the province. From that day forward, however, Fan Shaohuang noticed that even his most loyal disciples looked at him with a gaze that was... complicated.
Meanwhile, the nightly hunts grew more perilous. Gui Che had detected a demon with profound cultivation, its lair wreathed in a thick, suffocating turbid miasma. Hou, unwilling to take risks, instructed Qiao’er to stay back and provide support while he tested the creature’s strength.
He had not expected an ambush. Most demons were solitary creatures, but the recent systematic culling by Guantian Court had sparked a collective panic. Several powerful entities, having cultivated for centuries, had decided to unite against their common enemy. When Hou entered the cavern, he found himself staring down seven or eight high-level demons in their true forms, their tails twitching with predatory intent.
Being a zombie, Hou lacked a soul and relied on the Indestructible Vajra Body. While he excelled in physical combat, he was at a disadvantage against the combined sorcery of so many ancient demons. His tactical response was instantaneous: if you can win, fight; if you cannot, run.
In a blur of motion, he snatched Qiao’er from Gui Che’s back and bolted. The bird was left stunned and solitary as the pack of demons roared past it in pursuit of the zombie. Later that day, a traveling Daoist encountered a nine-headed bird the size of a fat goose, weeping and beating its chest by the roadside. When the curious traveler asked what was wrong, the bird wailed in grief, "My partner left me and ran away!" The traveler nearly fainted from the absurdity, and thus, another local legend was born.
Hou did not return directly to the temple. He led the demons in circles, utilizing the low-energy consumption of his physical form to outlast them. Since he left no spiritual trail, the demons had to track him by physical signs—which was impossible since he was flying.
Eventually, Hou tracked the scent of the other hunting parties. He found the Hao family priest and the Red-Eyed Zombie cornered by a "Skin-Peeler Beast"—a creature born without skin that obsessed over stealing the hides of others. The battle was fierce, as the priest was struggling to protect his "ancestor," the Red-Eyed Zombie, who had recklessly charged into a trap.
Hou leaped into the fray, joining forces with the wounded priest. Qiao’er quickly moved to the perimeter, chanting incantations to manifest a complex restrictive seal. The priest was astonished; the girl’s cultivation was advancing at an impossible rate. The formation she laid down was so sturdy that he felt even he could not break it from the inside.
With their combined strength, they beat the demons back into their original forms and sealed them within the Soul-Refining jars. The priest, wiping blood from his brow, mused that he really ought to get a zombie servant of his own—they were remarkably efficient.
As they sat in the mountain hollow to recover, Hou solemnly traced characters onto the priest’s palm. The priest looked up at Qiao’er. "Gongxi, he’s asking if you’ve forgotten something."
Qiao’er looked around, confused. "What?"
Hou wrote again. The priest’s expression turned grim. "He says... please undo the formation and let us out!"
Qiao’er’s face went pale. "Oh... that. I... I only just learned how to cast the formation. I haven't learned how to take it down yet..."
Inside the shimmering barrier, the man and the two zombies collapsed in despair.
***
