Mortal Mayflies

The water thrown up by the waves rained down from the sky, soaking the clothes of every Poison God Altar disciple.

The chill of late winter and early spring seeped into them, and everyone was trembling.

No one knew whether it was from the cold or from fear.

The distraught Poison God Altar Master watched the river, severed by a single sword strike, slowly flow back together. He watched the Mountain God Altar Master in his evil god mask and the Mountain God spill their blood into the river, and his whole being seemed to have gone mad.

When he came back to his senses, he realized that the youth in white had somehow already appeared before him.

The Poison God Altar Master stared blankly at Kongchenzi, as if he were looking at a mountain, a cloud, or the sky—anything but a person.

Only an existence like a mountain, like a cloud, like the sky, could feel so unreachable, so impossible to belong in this mortal world.

"Where is the leader of the Five Gods Cult?"

As the Poison God Altar Master looked into the white-clad youth's eyes, he saw the exact same gaze the Five Gods Cult's leader had given him when they first met.

"Isn't sacrificing people too great a price? Over the years, the imperial court has treated us as thorns in its eye, while the common people's resentment has boiled over. Could we find another sacrifice instead?" Back when he had first become Altar Master, he had knelt on the ground in fearful unease.

The cult leader had worn theatrical costume. With a wave of her hand, all manner of characters onstage began dancing along with her.

"Is there anything in this world more plentiful than people?"

"People are like grass. What does it matter how many die?"

"At the end of the previous dynasty, Marquis Huang raised his army. A hundred thousand armored soldiers slaughtered River Prefecture. The corpses floating on the river were so numerous that the fish could not finish eating them in a month; nine out of ten households in River Prefecture stood empty."

"Yet a few decades later, River Prefecture was still that same prosperous River Prefecture, brilliant as smoke."

"They are like weeds—impossible to kill clean, impossible to cut away!"

He had never forgotten the eyes behind that mask, nor those words cold enough to pierce the bone. "The value of the Five Gods Cult lies precisely in this. If you lot no longer even have value to be used, then like those weeds, you might as well be fed to the Five Gods."

In an operatic voice, she sang a single line that revealed her indifference toward all living beings: "Mortal mayflies, born at dawn to dream of death."

Staring fixedly into Kongchenzi's eyes, the Poison God Altar Master retreated again and again in terror. At last, he tumbled into the mud, screaming as he scrambled backward.

He drew the blade from his waist and pointed it at Kongchenzi, looking both miserable and ridiculous.

"Don't put on that sanctimonious face before me. You're the same as her. You're all the same."

"Do people like you really care about morality and justice? What in this world could possibly restrain you?"

"She saw us as pigs and dogs, saw the people of this world as mere grass and mustard."

"And you are playing at a farce of toying with the mortal world, pretending to be a chivalrous hero."

"You stand high above us. You have never regarded mortals like us as people at all."

The Poison God Altar Master roared and screamed. When he finally finished, however, it was as though all strength had left his body. He lay on the ground, laughing like an old dog with tears streaking his face, gasping so hard he could barely breathe.

His hair hung loose, and he was covered in filth. Not a trace remained of the imposing Altar Master of the Poison God Altar in River Prefecture. He was nothing more than a madman.

Kongchenzi watched him quietly without moving, as though waiting for him to give his final answer.

Only after a long while did the Poison God Altar Master calm down. Whether he had truly fallen into despair or was simply exhausted, no one could tell.

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"We were used up long ago. We are nothing but worthless trash. We built the Five Gods Cult for her, and after all these years, everything she wanted done has long since been accomplished. We are merely abandoned shells left behind to bear the blame."

"You will never find her. She would never make an enemy of someone like you for ants like us."

The Poison God Altar Master looked at Kongchenzi. "Aren't you an immortal? Calculate with your fingers, then!"

"Hahahaha! Hahahaha! You will never find her."

In the next instant, the Poison God Altar Master moved. Or perhaps he knew that the man before him would not spare him. Seizing his blade, he slashed it across his own throat.

In the end, the Poison God Altar Master's choice still proved that he was a man of the martial world.

With a wet hiss, blood sprayed forth.

He endured the agonizing pain, unwilling to make a sound, as though preserving the last shred of his dignity.

But he could not resist the weakness flooding through his body.

At last, he dropped to his knees before the youth in white and collapsed to the ground.

His body swayed as he looked at Kongchenzi, blood smeared across his face and body. Then he split his lips in a grin.

"I am a..."

"Ant!"

Before he died, he seemed to hear that drawn-out operatic voice once more, along with a figure dancing like colored clouds.

"Mortal mayflies, born at dawn to dream of death."

The Poison God Altar Master closed his eyes and rolled down from the ferry dock.

The river surged onward. With one sweep of the waves, he drifted away with the current.

The youth in white turned and walked along the riverbank.

Behind him, the Poison God Altar disciples who had come to participate in the ambush turned to ash and vanished one after another.

In the end, not a single person remained on the entire dock.

At that moment, a streak of azure light emerged. The Azure Dragon Guardian, in the form of a child, sat atop the Azure Dragon Sword with a look of righteous hatred for evil.

"This man deserved to die. He committed every evil imaginable. Who knew how many people he fed to monsters like the Poison God? Letting him die so easily was too good for him."

"It isn't over yet!" The youth in white walked alone toward the main road.

That road and its distant end led to Yuande Square.

The upheaval caused throughout Jiangting Commandery by the deaths of the Poison God and the Mountain God had only just begun.

The Five Gods Cult, which had entrenched itself in River Prefecture for generations, began collapsing from this very night onward.

When a mountain collapsed, the falling stones crushed more than just the Poison God Altar and the Mountain God Altar—indeed, more than just the Five Gods Cult.

Ever since the Poison God appeared upon the river, crowds had begun gathering from the pleasure quarters along both banks.

Both shores were packed solid with people. Even though the wind and waves had long since calmed, even though the immortals had already vanished, no one dispersed.

All kinds of people also rushed over to investigate and gather information. Some cheered with joy upon learning of the deaths of the Poison God and the Mountain God, while others had faces black as ash.

What power in all of River Prefecture did not have threads upon threads of connection to the Five Gods Cult?

Whether officials, merchants, or all manner of underground forces, none could escape the Five Gods Cult's reach.

They hastily carried the news of the Poison God and Mountain God's deaths back with them. At the same time, they spread the explosive news that Gongzhou Sword Immortal Kongchenzi had come to River Prefecture.

When the Poison God's Golden Toad died, an official clad in court robes also hurried away. He swiftly took a carriage to Prince Jian's Estate in Yuande Square.

Prince Jian's Estate occupied fully half of Yuande Square. Within stood layered pavilions and towers, gardens and artificial hills, with more than a thousand servants.

Tonight, cups were raised without pause, and the singing and dancing never ceased.

The hall was filled with River Prefecture's civil officials, and even military officers. Every one of them had been drawn in and bought over by Prince Jian's Estate.

It was clear that all of River Prefecture had already completely fallen into Prince Jian's hands. From top to bottom, it was gradually being brought under his control, becoming the Prince's Estate's people.

Seated high in the main hall was a handsome and imposing man dressed in casual robes. He possessed the bearing of a coiled dragon and crouching tiger. This was Prince Jian, Chen Sui.

At that moment, someone who looked like a eunuch stepped forward and whispered something into his ear. Prince Jian immediately rose and went into the rear chambers.

The official who had hurried there immediately fell to his knees.

"Your Highness! The Poison God is dead."

"Tonight, the Poison God Altar and Mountain God Altar's plan to ambush Gongzhou Sword Immortal Kongchenzi failed. It seems the other side had been prepared all along."

Prince Jian had relied on the Five Gods Cult to seize control of all of River Prefecture so quickly after being granted this fief. How could he possibly not pay close attention now?

The official also looked deeply frightened, having been badly shaken by the sight of the Poison God's Golden Toad being burned alive upon the river.

"This subordinate watched the Poison God burn alive. The entire river became a sea of fire."

"I reckon that by the time I returned, the Poison God Altar Master and the Mountain God Altar were likely done for as well."