The Dried Well

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"That's a demon." Now that she could easily detect Yao Qi Liusu, Liusu couldn't wait to declare, "I sensed Yao Qi."

Qin Yi had always found the ability to sense Yao Qi to be quite amazing.

After a demon takes human form, it's no different from a human, and it doesn't have the stench of an animal. Both, like Ye Ling Chenghuang, are fragrant; one is pleasantly sweet, the other alluringly seductive—even their scents are different. How exactly is it possible to distinguish between Yao Qi and human forms...?

So I asked.

Liusu retorted irritably, "Who told you that you can distinguish them by smell? Demons and humans have different cultivation foundations, so the auras they generate are naturally different. This is something you distinguish by using Divine Sense, not your nose!"

"What kind of demon was that just now?"

"That's a kind of rat, good food."

"Food... ingredients?"

"Yes, it tastes good. After using it, it can also increase your Lightning Affinity. If it were Chenghuang, who loves to eat it, she might have stewed it. No wonder she doesn't dare to enter the Demon City..."

"Why do I feel like the thing you're talking about is called Pikachu?"

"What is that?"

As they were talking, the Daoist Priest Qinghe had already reached the well, surrounded by the crowd. Qin Yi stopped Liusu himself and squeezed over to peek inside.

The well was extremely deep, and most people couldn't see the bottom. However, with Qin Yi's current eyesight, he could easily see that the bottom was dry. Even in this heavy rain, there was no standing water at the bottom, and some moisture could be seen being gradually absorbed.

If the groundwater has dried up, it's not like even the stinking ditch is dry... This isn't a problem with the well, and "pipe cleaning professionals" are mostly irrelevant.

Qin Yi's expression turned somewhat solemn. He sensed something below... an extraordinary force influencing everything.

Was it that rat that did it?

What's the point of building a well?

At this moment, the head of the family also came out upon hearing the news. He cupped his hands and smiled at Daoist Priest Qinghe, saying, "I am truly sorry to have troubled you with these trivial matters at home, Daoist."

This must be Wang Yuanwai ... Qin Yi glanced at him; he was an elegant old man with a refined air, but his triangular eyes made his appearance less than ideal. Since Liusu didn't study divination or physiognomy, Qin Yi couldn't judge a book by its cover and looked away after a single glance.

Daoist Priest Qinghe and smiled, "Whether it's a blockage or some strange force, I only need to use magic to make the earth's water flow, and the blockage will clear itself and the strange force will dissipate. It's a trivial matter."

Wang Yuanwai was overjoyed and said, "Then I will trouble you, Daoist priest. I will certainly reward you to your satisfaction."

"For the sake of peace and tranquility in the village, why speak of reward?" Daoist Priest Qinghe said solemnly, "Please prepare the Law Artifact."

"What kind of ritual Law Artifact require?"

"Ebony Incense Table, Ten Thousand Coins Worth of Yellow Paper, Cinnabar Peach Wood, Three Hundred Sixty-Five Starry Lights set up in the courtyard..." Daoist Priest Qinghe kept listing more than a dozen items along the way.

Wang Yuanwai's face turned green.

Qin Yi chuckled.

The Technique Method Liusu taught him never required these mediums or strange "spiritual altars." A single Method Formula was all it took; only setting up an array required various corresponding items. Of course, it's understandable why others need mediums and magical Law Artifact; it's the same principle as humans using tools—if you can't do something yourself, you can use a tool.

It's unclear whether this is due to Daoist Priest Qinghe's own philosophy of cultivation, or whether modern cultivation differs from ancient cultivation, shifting from emphasizing self-cultivation to relying more on external forces.

We'd been fussing around in the yard for ages, and it was already dark. The heavy rain had stopped a bit, leaving only a light drizzle that felt nice on our faces.

The ritual site was ready, and lights were lit around it. Daoist Priest Qinghe held a wooden sword, stood on the Seven Stars, and chanted incantations.

"Swift!" A sword thrust out, piercing through the yellow paper fluttering in the air.

With a "boom," the yellow paper spontaneously combusted, releasing a faint aura of Spiritual Qi.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

"There's some skill involved," Liusu commented. "But it's too stupid. Form over substance. A simple water-drawing technique has been made more complicated than a life-extending technique. If cultivation in this day and age is all like this, it's truly disappointing."

As the words were spoken, a faint Spiritual Qi began to swirl within the well, and slowly, the groundwater could be seen overflowing upwards, like a whirlpool.

Daoist Priest Qinghe pointed to the well and made a hooking motion upwards.

Groundwater gushed out.

"We can get water out of our fingers!" The servants were overjoyed.

Qin Yi was amazed by this statement.

Daoist Priest Qinghe withdrew his finger with a smug look on his face. Just as he was about to finish his work by turning the wooden sword upside down, the water silently and slowly receded, disappearing completely before everyone's eyes.

Daoist Priest Qinghe was taken aback, and quickly drew his sword and swung it.

"Bang!" It seemed as if an electric current exploded in the well, and a final jet of water shot up, spraying his face.

But the well fell silent and dried up again.

"Pfft..." Liusu couldn't help but laugh, "Interesting, very interesting."

Qin Yi frowned.

A faint sense of desolation emanated from the bottom of the well, like being in a desert.

There is clearly groundwater here, the water veins haven't dried up, and it's even raining from the sky, so how can it feel like a desert?

What about the electric current?

The Daoist Priest Qinghe, looking disheveled, said sternly, "The Monstrous Fiends here are formidable. Wang Yuanwai, please prepare more Law Artifact. Tomorrow, I will fight them to the death!"

Qin Yi frowned and quietly withdrew.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The butler, with his sharp eyes, spotted Qin Yi trying to slip away and suddenly called out, "Young man, didn't you say you were here to unclog the well? Why don't you go down and give it a try?"

"Dredge my ass! Are you trying to kill yourself by recklessly going down the well?"

Meeting the gaze of Daoist Priest Qinghe, which seemed to regard him as a rival, Qin Yi dusted off his clothes and smiled, "Now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to tell the truth. How could I possibly know how to navigate a well? I've only come to meet Miss Wang Family because I've heard she's well-educated and reasonable."

"Really?" A series of thumping sounds echoed in the stairwell, and a moment later, a muscular man weighing over 300 pounds burst out, shoving Daoist Priest Qinghe far away. "Who wants to see me?"

Qin Yi had already fled in disarray.

Even if you sent Super Mario over, he couldn't clear the tank cannon!

"What bad luck." Qin Yi reluctantly closed his umbrella, letting the drizzle hit his face, and walked towards the only lively place in the town at night.

It was a small inn.

He paused for a moment as soon as he reached the entrance of the inn.

Inside, a fat man in a yellow shirt sat behind the counter, staring intently at the doorway.

The gaze wasn't directed at Qin Yi, but rather at what was behind him.

Qin Yi turned his head and saw that it was in the direction of the Wang Yuanwai mansion, where scattered lights could still be seen. From this angle, the rising smoke from the lights gathered lightly, and from a distance, it even looked like a human figure...

All the rainwater disappeared as it passed over the human figure.

"Shopkeeper?" Qin Yi suddenly called out, "Bring a pot of wine and two catties of cooked beef."

The fat man in yellow twitched his face, then put on a shrewd smile, "Please have a seat, sir. It will be alright."

Qin Yi casually found a corner to sit down, watching the Fat Shopkeeper serving wine, and asked with interest, "What were you looking at just now, shopkeeper?"

A customer spat out his drink, slapped the table, and laughed, "Who doesn't know that the innkeeper admires Miss Wang Family so much?"

The inn was filled with laughter, and the Fat Shopkeeper just chuckled.

Qin Yi's gaze became increasingly meaningful.

A monster that can take human form, and a strange well.

A seemingly failed spellcasting transformed into a wisp of smoke in human form.

He claimed he was lost in thought because he was admiring a tank, but whether others believed it or not, Qin Yi didn't believe it...