"Young Master Song, please sit!"
Song Chengan looked up.
Before him stood a woman in a pale ruqun dress, her beauty ethereal, as though she were not of this mortal world.
It was not beauty taken to its utmost extreme, but rather a holiness that stirred the heart.
"This junior, Song Chengan, pays respects to the River God Mother of the Tong Sheng River!"
Song Chengan did not take a seat.
Instead, he bowed with utmost respect.
How could he still fail to realize that the deity he had summoned was no minor god, but the River God Mother of the Tong Sheng River?
No wonder a simple Summoning God Technique had let him walk on water as if on level ground, like a heavenly god descending to earth.
"Oh? How did you know I am the River God Mother of the Tong Sheng River?"
"This water manor has no name."
"Perhaps I am some Monster."
"Your Ladyship possesses peerless beauty. How could any ordinary fiend possess such grace?"
"And you have a compassionate heart, helping this junior eliminate that demon."
"So beautiful, so compassionate, and so divinely powerful—surely you can only be the River God Mother of the Tong Sheng River from the tales."
"You certainly know how to make people happy with your words."
At his words, the woman immediately smiled faintly.
"Let's eat while we talk." River God Mother pointed to the food on the table.
On that table—
A small pot steamed with heat.
"Come, this is how we eat in my hometown."
As River God Mother spoke, she took out a bowl and chopsticks and handed them to Song Chengan.
"Dip it in chili and eat it."
As she spoke, she picked up some peppers from the side and mixed them together.
Song Chengan followed her example.
It tasted very good.
"Good, isn't it?"
"Not bad!"
Song Chengan was drenched in sweat.
He had not expected it to be this spicy.
River God Mother took the handkerchief handed over by a maid beside her and wiped her mouth.
"I was passing through here and saw you slaying demons. I found it interesting, so I lent you a hand."
"By the rules, for a deity of my rank to help you, you must do me a favor."
"That is only proper. Please speak, Your Ladyship."
For ordinary ghosts, gods, spirits, and monsters, offering a Three Animal Sacrifice in return was enough. But a deity of such vast powers as the one before him naturally could not be judged by ordinary standards.
This felt like a losing bargain.
Song Chengan felt he had suffered a loss. He had invited such a mighty deity to possess him, only to kill a Monster at the Dao Seed Realm.
"A seal."
"I do not need you to obtain it. You merely need to inquire after some information."
"What seal would that be?"
River God Mother extended a hand, and a phantom Ancient Seal immediately condensed above it.
"This seal ultimately fell into your Chen Kingdom, and then vanished without a trace."
"Someone has concealed the workings of heaven."
"Alright."
"Once I learn anything, I will inform Your Ladyship at once!"
"Mhm." River God Mother nodded. "I accepted your Three Animal Sacrifice, so by rights, we should already be even."
"Yet asking you to seek out the Ancient Seal like this is somewhat bullying a junior."
"How about this? I will teach you a spell as compensation."
When River God Mother finished speaking, she extended her hand, and a scroll appeared in it.
She handed the scroll to Song Chengan.
"With this technique, so long as you devote yourself to studying it, you will be able to go anywhere beneath all waters in the world."
"Many thanks, Your Ladyship!"
Song Chengan hurriedly offered his thanks.
Song Chengan opened his eyes.
He was lying beneath a tree, a scroll held in his hand.
"The River God Mother of the Tong Sheng River?"
Song Chengan clicked his tongue.
She was one of the foremost deities in the Chen Kingdom.
Such a great deity had actually helped him kill that little Monster?
What a stroke of fate... Song Chengan did not even know what to say. He had summoned a god and brought forth the River God Mother of the Chen Kingdom's greatest river.
That Ancient Seal?
He would have to put some thought into it.
If he could find it, he would undoubtedly gain some connection with River God Mother.
If he ever provoked an enemy he could not defeat, he could just hide in the Tong Sheng River.
Song Chengan opened the scroll.
Water Repelling Art!
"Once cultivated to the utmost, one can walk through water as if on level ground?"
With a thought from Song Chengan, a lake immediately condensed within the Void Heaven Mirror.
Above the lake, a phantom figure emerged.
The moment the figure appeared, it formed hand seals and stepped into the lake.
A bubble immediately appeared around the figure, sealing all the lake water outside.
Again and again, the figure performed the Water Repelling Art.
"Let's see how the Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi cultivation is progressing."
Song Chengan looked over.
He saw that the Phantom Body cultivating Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi had already become white-haired and ancient.
"Why has it still not finished cultivating?"
"Is my talent really this poor?"
"It is about to die of old age, yet the Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi still has not broken through to the second realm?"
"It is a problem with the Phantom Body."
Song Chengan shook his head.
He withdrew from the Void Heaven Mirror.
"Immortal Master!"
After leaving the Void Heaven Mirror, Song Chengan headed toward Lingqiu City.
Yet halfway there, he encountered someone he had never expected.
That monk.
"This lowly one, Yu Changfu, greets the Immortal Master!"
Song Chengan looked at Yu Changfu and smiled. "The moment I saw you, I knew you were not a monk of Xuanqing Temple."
"Those monks of Xuanqing Temple are all fair-skinned and tender. How could they be dark and skinny like you?"
"The Immortal Master sees clearly!"
"This lowly one is from Gushan Ridge and made his living by hunting."
"Yet later, I was plotted against. My hunter's license was bought from me for a pittance, and my household lost its livelihood. I could only wander the streets as a peddler, selling small trinkets to barely make ends meet."
"But then my daughter came down with a strange illness and needed silver to save her life."
"With no other choice, I saw that those who came to Zhao Family Village to slay demons could receive quite a bit of silver even if they failed. So I let crooked thoughts take root in my heart."
Song Chengan nodded.
"But you seem to have some skills."
"You actually found that Monster's lair and escaped from his hands."
Yu Changfu took a book from his robes.
"To be honest with you, Immortal Master." A trace of pride appeared on his face.
"My great-grandfather was once a Monster Hunter."
"Once, when he returned home, he left behind this journal."
"Two Paper Cranes that could track monsters, as well as a talisman for preserving one's life."
"I used up the talisman and one of the Paper Cranes. Only this one remains now."
He opened the book.
A folded Paper Crane was tucked between its pages.
"This was what found that Monster?"
Song Chengan was somewhat astonished.
"That is right. It was this very thing."
"This is a Paper Crane my great-grandfather made through special means. So long as a Monster has appeared somewhere, it can track down where that Monster is."
Song Chengan's expression turned solemn with respect.
"I never expected your honored ancestor to have been a Monster Hunter."
Naturally, Song Chengan knew of Monster Hunters.
It was a special profession rarely seen in the present day.
In ancient times—
Demons and monsters ran rampant beneath heaven, and the common people suffered beyond endurance. Those cultivators with compassionate hearts could not bear to watch the people of the world endure such misery, so they voluntarily descended from the mountains.
They walked the mortal world, slaying demons and vanquishing monsters.
Whenever someone sought their aid, they would certainly act.
They asked not for gold or silver, only a single copper coin.
Later, that copper coin came to be called a Monster Hunting Coin.
Later still—
Whenever people saw a cultivator on the road wearing a string of copper coins, they knew that person was a Monster Hunter.
They were a group of virtuous people who abandoned their pure cultivation in the mountains for the sake of the people, willingly entering the mortal world.
But after many years—
Monster Hunters had already declined.
Cultivators nowadays—
Either cultivated quietly in the mountains—
Or demanded great sums of money before they were willing to act.
In their eyes, such matters were nothing but a waste of time.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Song Chengan stared blankly as Yu Changfu tucked the Paper Crane back into the book and handed it to him.
"Immortal Master, you are a compassionate man."
"Even after learning that I was an impostor, you did not expose me on the spot. You even saved my life."
"I have never seen a Monster Hunter, but my great-grandfather told me stories of those Monster Hunters countless times."
"For many years, whenever I recalled the expression on my great-grandfather's face as he spoke of Monster Hunters, it was always filled with reverence."
"My great-grandfather always said he wanted to become a great Monster Hunter like those in the stories."
"So do I."
"But unfortunately, I have no talent for cultivation and could not cultivate alongside my great-grandfather."
"This book is not some spellbook or secret manual. It merely contains some of my great-grandfather's casual notes."
"There is no use in keeping it, and this Paper Crane nearly cost me my life while tracking that Monster."
"Perhaps things like these would be of greatest use in the Immortal Master's hands."
Song Chengan said, "I only take money to do a job."
"But even after learning I was a fraud, the Immortal Master still kept kindness in his heart."
"When you saw that I was injured, you saved me at once without the slightest hesitation."
"Zhao Family Village sent you away, yet when you heard something had changed, you still returned immediately."
At this point, his gaze became incomparably earnest. "I have never traveled far. I have not even been to Lingqiu City."
"Nor have I ever seen a Monster Hunter."
"But I think that if Monster Hunters truly exist in this world, they must be people like you, Immortal Master."
Song Chengan hesitated for a moment before finally accepting it with both hands.
"This book contains some knowledge about refining magic artifacts. It will be very useful to me."
"I will consider it borrowed for now."
"If you ever need anything, you may come find me on Gourd Street in Lingqiu City."
"My name is Song Chengan."
As Song Chengan spoke, he removed the bamboo hat from his head.
"So the Immortal Master is about the same age as me."
Song Chengan smiled. "Let me give you some silver. Old Village Chief Zhao gave me quite a lot."
"No need!"
The dark-faced man cupped his fists toward Song Chengan, then turned and left without hesitation.
"The Old Village Chief gave me ten taels of silver. It's enough to treat my daughter's illness."
"And I even killed a Monster with the Immortal Master. That's a matter of great merit. My daughter will definitely be safe and sound."
Song Chengan watched his retreating back.
Until he vanished from sight.
"Song Chengan, did you go visit your relatives again?"
When Song Chengan returned home, the little brat next door was peeing by the entrance. The moment he saw him return, he asked.
"No. Brother Dan, where's your sister?"
Song Chengan said.
Brother Dan had an older sister. Song Chengan recalled that he had not seen her for quite some time.
"She's inside. My mother won't let my sister play with you. She says you're terribly bad."
"Oh, and you stink. Song Chengan, you stink worse than the fish my dad catches."
"Brother Dan... don't talk nonsense..." Aunt Zhou, her face full of embarrassment, yanked Brother Dan over.
"Children just talk nonsense."
With that, she dragged Brother Dan back inside.
Before long, Brother Dan's crying rang out next door.
It was accompanied by his stubborn protests: "You're the one who said it!"
"The Boss is going out this month, so he asked me to find out whether you could come to the village in the next few days to teach everyone."
Song Chengan raised his head.
At some point, a Black Cat had crouched atop the courtyard wall.
"This is what the Boss asked me to bring you."
It had a rabbit clenched in its mouth.
"The Boss also said that he's saved up quite a bit of silver lately. Once you go, he'll give it all to you."
Song Chengan drew a deep breath.
"Alright, I'll go to the village tomorrow afternoon."
"I also happen to have some things I want to ask the Boss about."
"Why tomorrow afternoon?" the Black Cat asked doubtfully. "If we set off now, we'll reach the village by nightfall."
Song Chengan smiled. "I'm going to visit my sister tomorrow."
"Oh."
"Then I'll come find you again tomorrow," the Black Cat said.
"Alright."
"Then come early. If you come late, I'll have gone to see my sister, and you won't be able to find me."
Song Chengan reminded it.
The Black Cat said nothing.
It leaped over the courtyard wall and vanished.
Song Chengan shook his head.
He sniffed himself.
He didn't stink.
Was it the Demon Core?
Or perhaps he simply couldn't smell it himself.
Song Chengan changed his clothes, then heated a bucket of bathwater for himself.
Killing Monsters really brought in money.
I need to raise my cultivation quickly.
Kill Monsters for money, then buy pills, magical artifacts, and secret manuals.
Those who had experienced death were always especially obsessed with immortality.
Before you continue