After leaving the City God Temple, Wu Ming wandered around and looked at the sights. Before long, the day had nearly passed.
Just as Wu Ming was thinking of finding an inn to rest and trying his luck in the South District the next day, a woman came toward him. She grabbed his arm with delight. "Nameless, little brother! Your big sister's been searching high and low for you!"
"So it's Sister Shan Lan..."
Wu Ming smiled wryly and pulled himself free. They were in the middle of the street, after all; this was truly shocking behavior. He was also somewhat wary.
It seemed Shan Lan had noticed his caution, but she only grinned, unbothered. "Little brother, you've done quite a thing! You posted your name on the notice so early that the rest of us had to put in a lot more effort before we finally completed the task..."
"The rest of you?"
Wu Ming asked, sounding puzzled.
"Your big sister Shan Lan, swordsman Ling Guhong, and that scholar... damn Tu Yanghao! I'd better not see him again in the Main God Hall!!!"
At the mention of Tu Yanghao, Shan Lan gritted her teeth. She had clearly suffered some bitter loss. "The few of us have split off from the others now. Why don't you join us, little brother?"
"I'm used to being on my own!"
Wu Ming's thoughts stirred. He knew that temporary groups like this had no rapport or trust to speak of. It was only natural for them to fall apart along the way.
"Still... it's worth paying them a visit and exchanging some information about the task!"
Shan Lan was delighted. She led Wu Ming to an inn.
In a courtyard rented out behind the inn, Wu Ming saw Ling Guhong practicing his sword, and a scholar holding a scroll, lost in thought.
"Hee-hee... Look who I brought back!"
Shan Lan gave the two men a triumphant, teasing glance.
"It's you!" The scholar stood up, surprise in his eyes. Wu Ming's performance had clearly left a deep impression on him. He hurriedly greeted him. "Greetings, brother. I'm Lin Qizhi!"
"Ling Guhong." The cold-faced swordsman was a man of few words.
"I'm Nameless. It's a pleasure to meet you both!"
After Wu Ming returned their greetings, the four of them sat around a stone table.
"Why did you split up with Tu Yanghao?"
Wu Ming cut straight to the point.
"Don't get me started on that bastard..." Shan Lan was still fuming. "We all fought our way out together, and there were so many of us that, though we weren't afraid of the fierce ghosts, we drew a ghost general! That coward Tu Yanghao left us as bait and ran off on his own!"
"That hypocrite, honeyed words hiding a dagger! He's gotten people killed time and again. I'm ashamed to have stood with him!"
Scholar Lin Qizhi spoke up as well, anger written across his brow.
"...Fortunately, Ling and I both had a couple of tricks up our sleeves, and with Young Master Lin's divine ability, we finally broke through the encirclement... But we got separated from the others. We also lost a little time in Black Water Town before we made it to the county seat..."
Shan Lan smoothed her hair and spoke casually, but Wu Ming knew that the time they had lost was certainly not as trivial as she made it sound.
Still, they weren't on the same team yet, so it was only natural for her to put it that way.
"Now... all of us have a grudge against Tu Yanghao. He's narrow-minded and will surely strike first. We'd better prepare in advance! Nameless, little brother... you..."
Shan Lan hesitated.
Wu Ming smiled. "I'm used to doing as I please, but when it comes to dealing with Tu Yanghao, we can join forces. Besides, we can exchange plenty of information about the Main God Hall and this task..."
He himself was a Main God Apostle, and many of the Main God Hall's rules had changed for him.
He didn't say more just then. Instead, he listened as Shan Lan summarized the Main God Hall's exchange rules and explained various things to watch out for.
She was clearly experienced. Not only Lin Qizhi, but even Ling Guhong listened in silence, taking her words to heart.
"Lastly... there's the Main God Hall itself!"
As Shan Lan spoke, a bitter smile appeared on her face. "To build such an incredible Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land and send us into it, its creator must be an unimaginable mighty being. According to the information released by the Blood Oath Alliance, this great being may well be the ancient lord of the Netherworld, who controls the six paths of reincarnation! After all... our situation is very much like being cast into the cycle of reincarnation..."
"Is there any way to leave?"
Lin Qizhi suddenly asked.
"No!"
Ling Guhong's voice was as cold as ice. "Unless you die... you'll never leave the Main God Hall!"
Wu Ming rolled his eyes.
He did know another way: become the master of the Main God Hall, and naturally transcend the cycle of reincarnation. But that was his great secret, and of course he couldn't tell them.
So he said, "I've only experienced one instance mission, so I don't know much about the Main God Hall. But I do have some information about this task..."
He returned the favor, sharing his theories about the Land God and the City God.
"Impossible!"
Shan Lan's face went pale. She cried out in alarm, "The City God of a county has to be at least a seventh-rank deity, holding an official divine post and bearing a red investiture! His divine might is like a vast ocean. If even a being like that can't accomplish this, how could we possibly get involved? No... He shouldn't have been drawn into this in the first place. It's only a 'Flood'-rank task!"
After saying this, she glanced around uneasily.
The courtyard had been provided by the inn and was quite quiet, but the City God governed the county. This was still his jurisdiction, and they didn't even dare say too much.
"I'm not saying the deity is powerless. I'm saying he has his hands tied!"
Wu Ming said, "We still have seven days. Why don't we split up and look for information tomorrow, then meet here in the evening?"
"Agreed!"
The other three looked troubled. Clearly, the involvement of a deity of this rank had put them under great pressure.
"Sir! After the target ate lunch at the Li Family Tavern, he went to the City God Temple in the afternoon and spent the night at the Ji Family Inn..."
At that moment, a room in the county office was still brightly lit.
Wu Hong sat behind an oil lamp. His shadow flickered with the light, lending him a rather sinister air.
"Mm... I understand. Go tell Old Ji. He's been around long enough to know what to do... Tomorrow, keep watching them. Don't let them out of your sight for even a moment. Understood?"
Wu Hong's voice was steady, and carried an air of authority.
"Understood!"
The two constables answered deferentially and withdrew, quietly closing the door behind them.
"The City God Temple?!"
Wu Hong stared at the flickering lamp, his gaze deepening. "I never expected... this fellow would spot the clues as soon as he arrived!"
He had met several groups of strange and unusual people that day, but he had to admit that Wu Ming had left the deepest impression.
"But... what does it matter if he's figured it out?"
Wu Hong gave a cold smile. "Even a seventh-rank deity doesn't dare take charge of this personally. You're just a lowly scholar. You may have some ability, but in the end, you're still just making a wedding dress for someone else. You might even get caught up in this and lose both life and soul."
"Still, it's strange that all these people came from Black Mountain..."
Wu Hong blew out the oil lamp and slowly walked out. In the darkness, a quiet sigh drifted through the air. "Black Mountain Lord..."
The next day.
Wu Ming made a point of going to the south of the city. He wandered around at random, wasting the whole day and finding nothing.
"Something's not right... That temple priest was clearly possessed by someone who'd borrowed his body, trying to lure me here. So why has nothing happened all day?"
He frowned and, before he knew it, had come to a waterway.
Several ramshackle thatched huts stood along the riverbank, crude and dilapidated. Few places in even the South District were this poor.
A few covered boats dotted the waterway, clearly the livelihood of the people who lived here.
"A Yun? A Yun, what's wrong? Wake up, quick!"
A woman's anguished sob rang out.
Wu Ming's thoughts stirred, and he pushed through the gathering crowd.
The people had already gathered. In their midst, an impoverished fisherwoman held a little girl who looked only seven or eight, weeping without pause.
"What happened?"
"It's Madam Xu... Sigh... That family's had a rough time. When Liulang was still around, they were doing all right. But after he left, even their daughter fell ill..."
"Come to think of it... Xu Liulang was no ordinary man. I heard he could communicate with the river god. Every night, he'd catch several times more fish than an ordinary fisherman!"
"I thought he was on good terms with the Land God?"
"Sigh... What a pity. A few months ago, he went to Black Water Town and vanished without a trace. He died, leaving the mother and daughter all alone. And now the girl's in this state too. Sigh, that's fate for you..."
The rest of it didn't matter, but the words "Black Water Town" and "Land God" rang like thunder in Wu Ming's mind.
"So this is it..."
Wu Ming pushed through the crowd and stepped forward. "I know a little medicine! Ma'am, why don't you let me take a look?"
"Waaah... A doctor? A doctor? Please save A Yun..."
The fisherwoman clung to Wu Ming's sleeve as if he were her last lifeline, refusing to let go.
"Hmm?"
Wu Ming bent down, lifted the little girl's eyelids, and felt her pulse. Her breath was faint, her forehead darkened, and he immediately understood: "This isn't an illness. She's been afflicted by an evil spirit!"
He was even more certain now that the City God had directed him here to find this family.
He couldn't help grumbling inwardly. Why all these twists and turns? Is this some sort of riddle?
But he understood, too. Though magic had emerged and gods and ghosts were visible, deities still had to abide by certain rules.
Hints like these, along with vague and ambiguous answers, helped lessen the karmic ties.
Otherwise, if they got entangled in too much karma and dragged themselves down, only to end up saying that divine powers couldn't overcome karmic retribution, then they'd be in real trouble.
Unlike the Yin Gods, Wu Ming was a man of the mortal world and had far fewer scruples.
He said at once, "I can save her. Where do you live?"
"Over there!"
The fisherwoman was almost beside herself with joy. She brought Wu Ming to a dilapidated thatched shack. A few rain capes and other odds and ends hung on the walls, and a wave of fishy stench washed over him, making him frown.
He laid the girl on the bed. A layer of dark blue-black qi veiled her face, her brows tightly knit as though she were enduring terrible pain. Her body was cold; she was clearly on the verge of death.
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