The Dragon Queen opens the river mouth

At the entrance to Li Family Village.

After large numbers of wealthy families' convoys were plundered and the Daoists of Returning Dragon Abbey were killed, the rioting refugees gradually quieted down, and order returned.

Many refugees lined up again to ask for porridge at the relief stalls.

The wealthy families who had been robbed of all their silver also watched furtively from the fringes.

Some powerful convoys had avoided the trouble well enough earlier to escape heavy casualties.

The Canal Gang, for instance.

Mai Wenshan stood outside the crowd with over a hundred Canal Gang brothers, broadsword in hand, watching their surroundings warily.

Mai Qiuyun stood behind the Canal Gang's ranks, looking dazed.

Mai Wenshan glanced at his daughter without saying anything, then turned back to stare nervously at the altar, terrified that the Xie Household's ceremony would succeed.

Carrying his saber and lantern, Xie An arrived outside the altar at the village entrance.

More than three hundred tenant farmers of Li Family Village were still gathered around the altar, seemingly murmuring something.

Their words were not human speech.

With every sentence, the Copper Coins on the Sacrificial Platform hummed. Through them, Xie Yu heard the tenant farmers' words.

Is my sister using the Copper Coins and Ritual Altar to speak indirectly with the dead tenant farmers?

Truth-Listening can hear ghost speech... I wonder if I can hear them directly.

Truth-Listening, activate!

In an instant, more than three hundred voices he had never heard before poured into his ears, clamoring like a pot of boiling water.

These tenant farmers were telling Xie Yu of the injustices they had suffered.

Xie An held his breath and slowly picked out a few of the clearest voices.

An old woman spoke through her sobs:

"Please see the truth, Daoist. I was seventy-three, with