San Shier raised both hands, palms out, wearing the expression of a man falsely accused of stealing someone else's steamed buns.
"General Cheng," he said earnestly, voice trembling just the right amount, "how could I possibly deceive you? I swear on my ancestors—there is no city here."
Across from him stood Cheng Xu, Deputy Commander of the provincial garrison. His beard bristled like an angry hedgehog stuffed into armor, every hair screaming I've killed people before breakfast.
He jabbed a finger straight at the towering structure behind San Shier and roared, spittle flying:
"No city?! Open your dog eyes! That thing behind you is a blasted city wall big enough to block heaven! You dare fart nonsense at me? Believe it or not, I'll cut you down right now!"
San Shier's knees nearly folded.
He'd dealt with scholars, farmers, even rice smugglers with hidden knives. But a military officer whose saber was already halfway out of its sheath?
That was a different class of nightmare.
But every word he was saying came directly from Dao Xuan Tianzun's instructions. Disobedience was not an option.
So San Shier clenched his teeth, forced himself forward, and put on a look of sincere confusion, like a man gently suggesting his superior might be hallucinating.
"General Cheng… did you perhaps oversleep? Maybe bumped your head? There truly isn't any city wall here."
"FUCK!"
Steel flashed.
Cheng Xu's saber came out with a sharp shing, cold and murderous.
At that exact moment, Li Daoxuan—watching from above through the glass—let out a tired sigh.
Enough.
He slid his phone into the miniature world, carefully positioning it behind the officers and soldiers. Then he hit play.
"WaaaAAaaahhh… heeheehee… HAaaHahaha… toot—ohhehehehe…"
A woman's laughter spilled out.
Not a normal laugh.
It was thick. Wet. Warped. The kind of sound that crawled into your ears and refused to leave.
The effect was instantaneous.
Cheng Xu's saber slipped from his fingers and clattered into the sand.
He spun around so violently his helmet nearly flew off. His soldiers turned with him, eyes wide, hands shaking on bowstrings and spear shafts.
Behind them, a gust of wind kicked up yellow dust, swirling into a dense curtain.
Nothing stood there.
No woman.
No ghost.
No human being.
"W–what was that just now?"
"Who laughed?!"
"By my dead grandmother… that didn't sound human…"
Li Daoxuan calmly retrieved the phone back into the clouds.
While every eye was turned away, he struck.
One hand plunged down, clean and precise—lifting the entire Lego-built city wall straight out of the diorama. The bucket-sized water reservoir followed, vanishing into heaven as if swallowed by invisible jaws.
From Gaojia Village's perspective, divine forces were ripping reality itself upward.
Several villagers nearly fainted on the spot.
Dust settled.
Li Daoxuan brushed imaginary sand off his fingers and leaned back.
Round two.
After a long, tense search behind them, the officers and soldiers found nothing. Unease crept in, thick and suffocating. Finally, they turned back toward San Shier—
—and froze.
Their mouths fell open.
Their eyes bulged.
For a full ten seconds, no one spoke.
Then Cheng Xu croaked, voice cracking:
"Wh… where… WHERE IS THE CITY WALL?! It—it was right here! Two zhang high! Don't tell me none of you saw it! You ALL saw it!"
San Shier finally understood Dao Xuan Tianzun's plan.
Confidence bloomed inside him like a poisonous flower.
He hid it beneath a puzzled frown and scratched his head.
"General Cheng… what city wall? There has never been one. Never."
He gestured vaguely at the empty land.
"This place is called Flat Earth As Always."
Cheng Xu nearly tore his beard out.
"I swear on my ancestors' graves! There WAS a wall! A giant wall! And after that cursed woman laughed—it vanished! VANISHED!"
His voice broke.
His men looked just as shattered. They had seen the wall. And now it wasn't there.
Which meant only three possibilities:
One—they were insane.
Two—the world was insane.
Three—something supernatural was happening, and none of them were paid enough to deal with it.
San Shier leaned forward, smiling gently, like an old mountain demon coaxing a lost traveler deeper into the woods.
"General… perhaps you're under too much pressure chasing Wang Er's bandits. Why not come into Gaojia Village? Rest for the night. Refresh your spirit."
He licked his lips slowly.
"Tomorrow, you may continue the pursuit."
Cheng Xu's face drained of all color.
His gaze drifted past San Shier—to the villagers kneeling in the dust, worshipping something unseen… to the piles of strange materials scattered about… to the place where a ghostly woman had laughed loud enough to shake his armor.
In that moment, a terrible truth crystallized in his mind:
This village was haunted.
Cursed.
A place where ghosts cooked porridge and demons built city walls.
If he entered, he would die.
Immediately.
He shuddered.
"What a damned evil place… I—I think I just saw my great-grandmother waving at me. I'm NOT going in. No. No no no NO—"
He turned and ran.
Three steps later, he skidded back, grabbed his saber, sheathed it, turned again, and ran.
Then he remembered his horse.
Ran back. Mounted. Spurred it forward.
He made three frantic loops before finding the right direction and thundered off across the wasteland, screaming:
"I'M GOING TO FIND WANG ER! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE HERE! GRANDMA, STOP CALLING ME—I'M NOT READY TO JOIN YOU—!"
The deputy inspector and a hundred soldiers stared after him, stunned.
Then San Shier leaned forward, smile sharp as a fox's fangs.
"Well?" he asked softly. "Aren't you going to follow your general?"
He tilted his head.
"Or… would you prefer to stay as guests of Gaojia Village? Hehe… hehehe…"
"NOOOOOOO!"
They broke.
Soldiers scattered in every direction—tripping, colliding, dropping helmets and boots. Within moments, the entire troop vanished in a cloud of dust.
San Shier planted his hands on his hips and burst into laughter.
"Hah! Your surname's Cheng—didn't you look down on me before? Surprised now, aren't you? HAHAHAHAHA!"
From above, Li Daoxuan called down calmly:
"They're gone. Yiye, tell the villagers to step back. I'm lowering the wall."
Gao Yiye relayed the order at once. People scrambled back, trembling with awe.
Moments later, the massive city wall descended from the heavens like a divine artifact returning to the mortal world—settling perfectly into place.
Even Blacksmith Li's cylindrical house drifted down afterward, floating gently back where it belonged.
Old villagers. New villagers.
All stood frozen, mouths hanging open.
Today, they had witnessed the true power of Dao Xuan Tianzun.
And none of them would ever forget it.