Chapter 22
Great Immortal Kongchenzi had just straightened his Daoist robe and struck the pose of an immortal riding a dragon across the river. If future generations remembered it, it would surely become another scene preserved in history.
But then, a thunderous cry erupted from the riverbank.
"River God Lord has manifested!"
"River God Lord has manifested!"
"..."
The donkey behind him could not help snorting with laughter, nearly letting out his distinctive bray, but Great Immortal Kongchen shot him a glare, and he swallowed it back down at once.
Yet when General Donkey saw the scene on the shore, he could not restrain himself again. His words dripped with sourness.
"Hee-haw, what grand airs this River God has. Three animal sacrifices and three offerings, boys and girls."
"Look at us up in the mountains—dignified Daoist Venerables, yet not even a single stick of incense is offered to us. Tsk, tsk. Sure enough, in this world, evil gods live the easy life."
When Gao Xian saw the three children on the altar, the shamaness playing tricks, and the passionate villagers shouting along the entire shore, his expression immediately darkened.
The crafty donkey was skilled at reading expressions. Taking the chance, he began flattering Great Immortal Kongchen to make up for his earlier mistake.
He immediately sighed in a grave, earnest tone. "Demons are not frightening. People are far more hateful than demons."
Then he changed his tune and looked at Great Immortal Kongchen with a fawning grin. "Instead of worshipping Great Immortal Kongchen, who is brimming with righteous energy and possesses the immortal bearing of a Daoist sage, they worship this man-eating demonic serpent."
Gao Xian tucked both hands into his sleeves and sat calmly atop the giant serpent's head.
But the donkey immediately knew that this was the sign Great Immortal Kongchen was about to make his move.
It seemed that Great Immortal Kongchen had slain demons last night, and today he was going to eradicate evil.
The donkey sighed. Great Immortal Kongchen truly worked hard—if he was not on the road to... er... slaying demons, then he was on the way to eliminating evil.
It was all because there were too many demons in the world. Perhaps when the Great Immortal had calculated with his fingers last time that demons would emerge, he had not been bluffing after all.
"River God Lord has manifested! This year, the villages for miles around have once again brought three animal sacrifices and three offerings."
"Please enjoy them, River God Lord! Bless the villages for miles around with favorable winds and rains, and calm waters and peaceful waves this year!"
The shamaness shouted loudly, waving her exaggerated and bizarre robes as she prostrated herself on the ground, watching the river with the corner of her eye.
The people from the villages for miles around did the same. Everyone lowered their heads in worship. No one dared look directly at the River God who roamed the great river, afraid of bringing retribution upon themselves.
Ordinarily, at this moment, the River God would stir up a massive whirlpool in the river.
As long as they tossed the offerings into the river, they would enter the River God's mouth. River God Lord would then depart, and this year's River God Festival would be complete. The River God would not bring disaster to the rivers around the villages for miles, nor would such tragedies as the bursting of the great riverbanks occur here.
In everyone's eyes, the favorable winds and rains and calm waters of recent years had all come because of the River God. As for the tragedies of previous years, they were retribution brought about by someone disrespecting the River God. This was what generations of shamanesses had always preached, and it was the foundation that allowed them to control so many people in the villages for miles around.
But this time, the River God did not stir up any whirlpools or towering waves. Instead, he came straight toward the riverbank.
As the distance closed, several burly men in black beside the shamaness vaguely saw someone standing atop the giant serpent's head.
"What's going on? There's someone on the river?" A startled cry made many people raise their heads.
"There's someone!" More villagers cried out.
"There's someone on the River God's head."
The shamaness saw it from afar as well. She was at a complete loss and had no idea what was happening. Seeing the crowd descend into chaos, she could only hurriedly explain, "River God Lord has taken form. This is River God Lord's true body."
The shamaness was astonished as well. Could it be that generations of feeding the River God with secret techniques had truly turned him into an immortal?
Ecstasy immediately filled the shamaness's heart. If the River God had become an immortal, could he not take her along and make her an immortal too?
In her mind, an existence like the River God was simply not something humans could resist. This was also the deeply rooted belief of the villages for miles around and generations of shamanesses.
The shamaness kowtowed again and shouted the chant for worshipping the River God. "Ho wei!"
Everyone along the riverbank joined in.
Yet when they raised their heads again, they saw the giant serpent streak through the air and crash directly onto the high platform.
Bang!
Before the shamaness's horrified and helpless eyes, she was crushed to pieces, reduced to a puddle of flesh.
This time, the shamaness had truly ascended into immortality.
All the worshipful prayers, shouted chants, and rolling drumbeats stopped.
The villagers from the surrounding countryside could now see clearly that the person sitting atop the River God's head was a Daoist dressed in a Bagua robe.
At that moment, the Daoist seated cross-legged atop the serpent's head swept his gaze over those below, his voice descending from the high platform.
"Your River God has arrived."
"Why are you not—"
"Quickly kneeling and kowtowing?"
The Daoist's eyes were cold and clear, chilling everyone below to the bone.
"The shamaness is dead! The shamaness is dead!" Only then did everyone come back to their senses. Everyone on the altar scattered like birds and beasts, scrambling down from the platform.
"The River God! The River God is dead too!" The Azure Dragon Sword embedded in the giant serpent's corpse gleamed with a cold light in everyone's eyes.
Looking at the giant serpent dozens of meters long, stretched across the platform so that its head and tail could not be seen at once, let alone the villagers from miles around, even the shamaness's men in black were scared out of their wits.
Seeing the Daoist sitting atop the River God's head, riding a silver serpent down from the sky and crushing the shamaness to death, everyone wailed and fled without a trace.
It was as though, at that moment, the River Demon was not the demon—the Daoist was.
Only the people of Linjiang Village remained. Their three children were still on the offering table, yet every one of them trembled in fear, unable to tell whether this Daoist was good or evil.
Kongchenzi descended from the sky with the three children in hand, landing before the people of Linjiang Village.
To the people of Linjiang Village, it was as if they had truly seen an immortal from heaven descend before them. They hurriedly knelt down. In their eyes, since even the River God had died at this Daoist's hands, even if he was not an immortal, he was someone comparable to one.
The Daoist patted the three children on their backs. Three pills immediately flew from their mouths, and the children, whose minds had been muddled, woke up and ran crying toward their parents.
"Father!"
"Mother!"
Several families wept together. Seeing their lost children returned to them, they all burst into tears.
Li Lao'er held his youngest child and led an older boy and girl as he rushed before the Daoist, falling to his knees and repeatedly kowtowing.
"Thank you, Immortal Master, for saving our lives."
"Thank you, Immortal Master, for saving our lives."
"Eldest! Second! Hurry and kowtow with me."
The older girl was more sensible, while the two younger boys were still bewildered. They merely followed their father in thanking the Daoist.
The others followed suit. Gao Xian raised a hand and lifted everyone up.
"This humble Daoist is Kongchenzi. Passing over the river, I saw this vile beast and destroyed it in passing."
"This thing was merely a demon. Do not worship it again in the future."
He waved his hand lightly, as though he had merely done some trivial thing. River God or demon, all could be destroyed with a flick of his fingers.
That composure instead made the people of Linjiang Village submit to him even more. This was a true immortal.
When they looked back at the giant serpent lying along the riverbank, the River God they had once devoutly believed in and worshipped for generations was nothing more than a lump of rotten flesh.
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