Lord of Fortune and Virtue, the Tragic Massacre of Lijia Village!

Near dusk.

Fan Wu held a sheepskin scroll in his hands. It depicted a crude map of Great Zhou Southern Commandery.

There were not many markings on the map.

Only the names of various counties and cities, along with simple routes.

He had relied on this thing to find his way, walking from Prison Dragon County all the way to Baihe County, then onward to where he was briefly resting.

"Heading east for roughly another day should bring me to Yinghe Prefecture."

Fan Wu carefully put away the sheepskin scroll. Once he reached Yinghe Prefecture, he would only need to continue north for a while...

Then he would arrive at the commandery seat of Southern Commandery and find his adoptive elder sister.

Fan Wu slowly stood up.

He patted the dust from his trousers.

Just as he was about to continue on his way, he heard a burst of gongs and drums. He could even hear a remarkably penetrating sound, as if it came from an instrument resembling a suona horn.

Fan Wu walked in that direction.

It was not that he enjoyed watching the commotion. That direction simply happened to be the only road leading to Yinghe Prefecture.

After all, his map depicted only one route.

Fan Wu could only follow it.

After walking for some distance,

Fan Wu saw a village ahead. It appeared to be fairly large. Rows of densely packed houses and stretches of cultivated farmland entered his field of vision.

He also saw people.

A great many people.

These people were probably the local mountain villagers.

Fan Wu could clearly smell the scent of burning incense and candles permeating the air.

Amid the sound of gongs and drums...

He could also faintly hear someone reciting prayers and scriptures.

Was this...

a sacrifice?

Several hundred people had gathered at the village entrance ahead. Most were ordinary villagers, men and women, old and young alike.

What they had in common was the faint worry and confusion written across their faces.

A six-foot-tall statue of a deity had been placed upon an incense altar.

The villagers all directed their gazes toward the statue.

Their eyes held varying degrees of anticipation and hope, as though they were seeking the deity's protection.

Before the statue lay not only an assortment of slaughtered and cooked cattle, sheep, chickens, and ducks, but also many fruits and sweet pastries.

A massive censer, as large as a cauldron, was filled with countless incense sticks and candles.

Every one of them burned slowly.

Pale smoke curled upward,

drifting with the wind.

An extremely old man, so frail that he trembled as he walked, held a pottery bowl in his left hand and a willow branch in his right.

He stepped in an unfamiliar, peculiar rhythm. Dipping the willow branch into the water in the pottery bowl, he sprinkled the water in all directions.

At the same time, he repeatedly chanted in a strange cadence, "Please, Lord of Fortune and Virtue, bestow your blessings..."

"Please, Lord of Fortune and Virtue, bestow your blessings..."

"Please, Lord of Fortune and Virtue..."

After sprinkling all the water from the pottery bowl, the old man carefully placed both the willow branch and the bowl on the incense altar.

Then he took up a large handful of incense sticks and candles and lit them all.

Enduring the billowing, eye-stinging, nose-choking smoke, the old man tremulously faced east, south, west, and north, bowing respectfully once in each direction.

However.

The next moment!

A strange wind sprang up from nowhere. The old man suddenly lost his footing and fell hard onto his backside.

The large handful of incense sticks and candles he held scattered all over the ground, and most of them went out.

"Village Chief!"

"Village Chief, are you all right?"

The surrounding villagers were startled by the sight and hurried forward to help him up.

The old man suddenly waved his hand,

signaling that he did not need their help.

His wrinkled, age-spotted face was filled with sorrow and sighs.

He sat on the ground and hesitated for quite some time before finally saying in full view of everyone, "That wind just now did not blow for no reason. I was asking Lord of Fortune and Virtue for protection."

"Yet, by some strange coincidence, a gust of wind knocked me down at that very moment. This can only mean... Lord of Fortune and Virtue cannot help us."

"Or perhaps... Lord of Fortune and Virtue believes our hearts are not devout enough. We cannot stay here any longer. In a few days, we should move away from this place..."

"Sigh..."

As the old man spoke, he let out sigh after sigh. The wrinkles on his face deepened, as though he had aged several years in an instant.

His back stooped even further.

"Village Chief, didn't those people from that... that bureau of the imperial court say they would deal with this?" someone among the villagers said in a low voice. "Perhaps we can wait for them to resolve the matter. Then we won't have to move, will we?"

"Exactly!" someone else chimed in. "We're all impoverished mountain villagers. There aren't even many grains left at home, and we barely have a few copper coins. Where could we possibly move?"

"But... everyone knows about the strange incident that happened in the neighboring Lijia Village a few months ago. And recently, our Nie Village seems to have shown signs of being affected as well! Someone in the village falls gravely ill every few days. Who can withstand that?"

"That Imperial Astronomy Bureau hasn't come here for quite some time. They probably don't have a damn solution!"

"Sigh, we'd better listen to the old Village Chief... We can't stay in this village. The entire neighboring Lijia Village died!"

"..."

The villagers' sighing, lamenting discussion grew somewhat noisy.

The deity statue they worshiped was presumably the immortal god the old man had called "Lord of Fortune and Virtue."

Fan Wu led an old green ox toward Nie Village ahead, unhurried and calm.

The iron-shod hooves of the old green ox struck the ground with a clear clatter.

A few sharp-eared villagers of Nie Village turned back in puzzlement.

In an instant,

they froze!

In the eyes of these generally sallow and emaciated villagers, Fan Wu's burly build was undoubtedly like a moving pagoda.

They were all utterly stunned!

The imposing aura he had accumulated by exterminating countless strange beings in just a few days nearly stopped the breath of the villagers who turned to look at him.

"Village... Village Chief, an outsider is here!" One of them swallowed nervously and cried out.

At once, person after person turned around.

One astonished gaze after another landed on Fan Wu.

Then...

a great wave of sharp gasps swept through the crowd.

The sounds of gongs, drums, and the suona abruptly halted as well.

The entire scene fell silent in an instant.

It was so quiet that even the breathing of those nearby could be faintly heard.

The old Village Chief of Nie Village also managed to stand up with difficulty.

He pushed through the crowd and looked toward the village outskirts.

He saw Fan Wu.

"Hiss!" Although the old Village Chief had lived for seventy or eighty years and had seen much in his time, this was the first time he had ever seen someone with such a towering physique.

Compared with the other villagers, however, the old Village Chief remained far more composed.

Perhaps it was because he knew he did not have many years left to live.

Under such circumstances...

there was no need to fear anything.

"Daoist priest..."

The old Village Chief spoke with considerable courtesy and kindly warned him, "Nie Village has not received outsiders for the past few months. The village has been... somewhat unsettled lately."

"Please, Daoist priest, take another road."

"..."