Chapter Thirty: The Pagoda of the Three Mountains

The Three Mountain Towers are the site of the Celestial Confinement Tower, the Demon Suppression Tower, and the Monster Refinement Tower, all essential strongholds of the Mystic Order. The Grand Firmament Palace spent a century seeking out dragon veins, selecting three sacred peaks, then hollowed out their cores over another hundred years, carving them into stone towers inscribed with myriad arcane prohibitions. Finally, a further century was spent arranging the towers in accordance with the triad of Heaven, Earth, and Man, subtly mirroring the mysteries of the cosmos.

Three hundred years passed, and the Three Mountain Towers stood completed. The fate of the Mystic Order was thus sealed, and the Grand Firmament Palace secured a legacy of enduring prosperity.

The three towers rose like mountains, majestic and imposing, piercing the heavens. Around them, eight signal towers formed a fortified mountain city, their surfaces engraved with a million talismanic seals, each brimming with supreme power. Whenever the time of slaughter descended, the Three Mountain Towers became a contested ground between immortals and demons. The eight signal towers, steeped in the blood of both sides, glowered with cold, sinister light despite being treasures of the immortal sects. The surrounding mountains were barren and jagged, desolate and bleak, guarded only by a handful of disciples from the Grand Firmament Palace.

Two youths emerged from the Three Mountain Towers, heading towards the Drowsy Mountain Platform three hundred miles away.

“I’ve never understood why our ancestor insisted on building the Celestial Confinement Tower. Wasn’t he afraid it might cause trouble someday?”

“The three towers were established to execute prisoners during the immortal-demon massacres, thereby dispelling some of the accumulated karmic burden and allowing our Mystic Order to continue. It’s a brilliant strategy.”

“I get the purpose of the Demon Suppression and Monster Refinement Towers. But the Celestial Confinement Tower? That’s for imprisoning our own. Aren’t the various sects afraid of sending their wayward disciples here? Aren’t they worried we’ll uncover their secrets?”

Both were disciples of the Grand Firmament Palace—one of the three sacred sites of the Mystic Order, direct inheritors of the True Way alongside the Supreme and the Prime Palaces.

Yet the Grand Firmament Palace’s approach diverged sharply from the Supreme and Prime Palaces.

The Supreme Palace produced only one successor per generation, but its lineage branched into three thousand schools. A single call from the successor could rally all sects established by their predecessors—Taiching Sect, Virtue Sect, and others would answer. The Prime and Grand Firmament Palaces, by contrast, were actual sects with broad discipleships, passing down the True Way. The Prime Palace was divided into three halls and five pavilions, its ranks hierarchical and orderly. The Grand Firmament Palace, in its role as warden of the Three Mountain Towers, maintained strict neutrality, its influence far overshadowed by the Prime Palace’s grandeur.

On ordinary days, unless they were apprehending criminal demons, Grand Firmament disciples rarely appeared in public. The Prime Palace, on the other hand, enjoyed the reputation as the foremost of the three. As for the Supreme Palace, no one could say for certain who its successor was in any generation. Some successors lived in such secrecy that a few even infiltrated the Demonic Sect as spies, only revealing themselves when pursued by the combined might of several demon sects.

“What’s there to fear? That we’ll study their cultivation methods?” scoffed the other youth. “Our Grand Firmament Palace is of such stature—why would we bother learning others’ arts? Just take the ‘Nine Heavens Thunder Sovereign Purification Technique’ we practice; in any other sect, it would be the ultimate core art.”

Sacred Palaces, Blessed Grottos, and Spirit Lands—these were the grades assigned by the Mystic Order to the various sects. Anything beneath a Spirit Land was unworthy of mention, incapable of producing even an earth immortal.

Indeed, having an earth immortal was enough to establish a Spirit Land.

“The other sects aren’t worried we’ll steal their techniques; after all, most of their teachings originated from our three palaces. It’s just like the endless blood sea forging the Demonic Sect—the myriad ways of the Mystic Order all stem from us. That’s why the Grand Firmament Palace stands above the rest, enforcing the law. Besides, no sect would send their truly taboo criminals here—they’d deal with them themselves.”

The Supreme Palace legislates on the basis of virtue, the Grand Firmament Palace judges with justice, and the Prime Palace oversees all phenomena. The three balance each other, channeling all internal strife of the Mystic Order outward, towards the Demonic Path.

It could be said that the current escalation of the immortal-demon conflict was inextricably linked to the machinations of the three palaces.

As the two youths chatted, a dense white mist crept in, unnoticed, as they continued towards the Drowsy Mountain Platform.

“If we recruit a few more itinerant cultivators, we might enjoy a few days of leisure ourselves. Maybe even break through to human immortal!”

In other sects, a human immortal would be considered a mainstay, but in the Grand Firmament Palace, it was merely the first step. They boasted at least a dozen earth immortals, and openly claimed five hundred human immortals.

The aggregate number of human immortals in the Supreme lineage’s Taiching Sect, Virtue Sect, and Wu Wei Sect barely matched the Grand Firmament’s.

Thus, “the Supreme remains aloof, dividing its power among many blessed grottos”—a unique strategy to prevent internal conflict.

The mist thickened, then two figures appeared outside its bounds.

Surveying the swirling fog, Ji Feichen remarked, “Your family truly is well-off. You managed to bring out something as rare as the All-Encompassing Arcane Altar.”

Tushan chanted a spell, drawing the mist into a dark jade altar in his palm. The two Grand Firmament disciples continued walking atop the altar, oblivious.

Watching their miniature counterparts, Tushan replied, “It’s all heirlooms.”

Heirlooms? Ji Feichen fell silent. Tushan indeed possessed many treasures: the fan he’d used at first, the illusion-formation altar before them, the concealing pills and fox phantom talismans, and even a spatial transposition talisman forged by a human immortal—all far beyond what a mere fox spirit should possess.

Clearly, Tushan’s background was extraordinary.

“With the demon clan now in decline, only a scattered few earth immortal demon kings remain in hiding. What sort of great demon sage could have raised such a wily fox spirit?”

Tushan urged, “Let’s go, quickly—we need to leave before the Grand Firmament disciples discover us.”

Having captured the two Grand Firmament disciples, they hid in a distant cave, Tushan masking their presence with a “Veiling Talisman” before producing the arcane altar once more. The altar now displayed a vision of the Drowsy Mountain Platform.

Within the illusion, the two young disciples unwittingly recruited itinerant cultivators—wandering mystics tasked with overseeing the periphery of the Three Mountain Towers, lessening the burden on the Grand Firmament Palace.

This, in fact, was related to Ji Feichen.

Days earlier, he had caused an uproar in Dongyang County, posing as a disciple of the Shadow Nether Sect, drawing the attention of the local patriarch. That patriarch, with ties to the Grand Court, spread word of the disturbance among his peers, and soon the entire Mystic Order was abuzz.

Suspicions ran rampant that the Shadow Nether Sect was plotting something major, perhaps even planning to topple the dynasty. Moreover, after a Mystic Order investigation at Tiger Departure Mountain ended in a trap sprung by Ji Feichen, the wise among the Order deduced that someone in the Shadow Nether Sect was striving to ascend to earth immortal.

Thus, the Mystic Order mobilized to hinder the sect’s agents. Even the Grand Firmament Palace dispatched many disciples to banish evil and defend the Way, leaving them shorthanded at the Three Mountain Towers and necessitating the recruitment of wandering mystics.

Such are the inexorable links of cause and effect. Had Ji Feichen not ensnared the Order’s immortals at Tiger Departure Mountain and profited at Dongyang, the spotlight would never have fallen on the Shadow Nether Sect.

Master Blackpool’s fate was tragic. His attempted ascension to earth immortal harmed no one, yet a horde arrived to thwart him, turning his personal cultivation into the first major immortal-demon clash since the last massacre. It had become a matter of honor for both sides.

And so Ji Feichen and Tushan arrived at the Three Mountain Towers with ease.

Originally, Ji Feichen planned to infiltrate as a wandering mystic, but Tushan vetoed the idea.

“Any wandering mystic entering the towers will be monitored closely—it would hamper our plans. If we pose as Grand Firmament disciples, things will be much simpler.”

Thus, the two Grand Firmament disciples fell into an illusion, their experiences playing out as real. Illusion and reality merged—this was the essence of the Tushan clan’s inheritance: to ensnare outsiders in worlds indistinguishable from reality.

Within the illusion, there was the Drowsy Mountain Platform and the Three Mountain Towers. The two youths led the recruited mystics back to the towers. Years passed within the vision, and all their meditations, meetings with masters, and exchanges with peers were laid bare to Ji Feichen and Tushan.

From the outside, however, the two disciples merely wandered in circles within the bounds of the formation. Every word, every movement, every technique they practiced was carefully observed and recorded by Ji Feichen and Tushan.

Pointing to the older youth, Ji Feichen said, “This one cultivates the Water Thunder Art—I can use that as a replacement.”

“I’ll take the other,” said Tushan.

“But he uses the Wood Thunder—” Ji Feichen started, then noticed green lightning dancing at Tushan’s fingertips, the sign of the Wood Thunder.

“As a Celestial Fox, master of illusions and seduction, if I couldn’t even imitate a simple thunder art, my cultivation would be wasted.”

The two continued to study every detail of their counterparts’ lives, analyzing their entire histories from birth to present. Only then did they set out to pose as Grand Firmament disciples, heading to the Drowsy Mountain Platform to recruit mystics.

Either one of these two could have wrought havoc alone; together, their plan was airtight, flawless in every detail.

Tushan said, “We’ve already infiltrated the Grand Firmament Palace—any five people will do for the trip to the towers.”

“No, not just anyone,” Ji Feichen disagreed. “We’ll choose five: three honest, simple types; one who seems simple but is actually cunning; and one whose behavior is outright bizarre. These mystics will buy us time, letting us come and go from the towers with impunity.”

“To draw suspicion onto them? Divert attention? That’s a clever plan.”

Having settled on their scheme, the two led five recruits toward the Three Mountain Towers.

Along the way, Ji Feichen silently calculated his time.

“I left because of the Black Moon Fox incident, but there’s no rush. My master could be in seclusion for months. Besides, I deliberately let it slip that Uncle Blackpool is about to ascend. With all the Shadow Nether disciples under pressure, no one’s watching me. I just need to find my counterpart in the Celestial Confinement Tower and escape. If things go wrong, I’ll send Tushan to his doom as a distraction.”

Tushan gazed at the looming towers, eyes glittering. “We’ve arrived at last. The clues to my clan’s sacred land are here!”

Ji Feichen’s goal was to find his counterpart in the Confinement Tower, while Tushan’s true aim was to claim the demon clan’s inheritance, the key to which was held by an immortal imprisoned within the tower.

“The Confinement Tower is dangerous—let Ji Feichen take the lead, and if need be, let him take the fall.”

One man and one demon, each hiding their own agenda, maintained smiling faces as they led their five recruits into the Three Mountain Towers.