When Li Ling first heard that the Demonic Path cultivators intended to flood the Royal City, he was utterly shocked.
But once he calmed down and thought it through, he realized that the current situation was actually quite delicate.
The Demonic Path's control over the Great Lin River God still far surpassed his own. He did not even know how they brought about rainfall and manipulated floods, let alone how to stop them.
At least in the realm of dreams, however, his advantage was clear.
Lin Rouniang and that Foundation Establishment cultivator were no match for him within dreams. They no longer dared use Nightmare Suppression.
If they still wanted to channel prayer power and bewitch people's hearts under these circumstances, they would likely have to erect a ritual altar or conduct large-scale sacrifices of illicit worship.
But he was watching them within the divine kingdom domain, and the Unusual Events Bureau was not sitting idle either. It was pursuing them throughout the waking world, ready to annihilate them with its full strength the moment they were discovered.
If the Demonic Path truly wanted to accomplish everything in one stroke and successfully raise the curtain on an age of chaos, it would have to take an enormous risk!
Their secrecy was what made them so troublesome. If they stepped out into the open, they could never defeat the authorities and the Unusual Events Bureau.
The sects backing them were far away on another continent, while the backers of the Mystic Xin Kingdom's authorities and Unusual Events Bureau were right here in their homeland!
Thus, this was both a danger and an opportunity.
An opportunity to thwart their plot, perhaps even wipe them out.
"The immediate priority is to drag them out. I need to find out whether they're hiding among the refugees or somewhere else."
Li Ling closed his eyes and pretended to doze. Using False Day Wandering through the divine kingdom domain, he instantly shifted to the southern gate of the lower city.
The moment he arrived, he could not help frowning.
What entered his senses was a damp, filthy refugee slum. Through the incense haze of the divine kingdom domain, he saw mud everywhere. Even with the stench of rotting corpses born of accumulated karma masking his senses, he could still smell the complexity mingled within it.
It was a jumble of odors produced by countless things mixed together.
Some people relieved themselves wherever they stood, some shared their quarters with cattle and horses, some had developed sores from prolonged illness, some had one foot in the grave, some were burning and burying bodies, some were slaughtering fish and beasts, some were rummaging through rubbish, and some were picking at their feet and letting trapped odors waft out...
Here lay the true dust of the mortal world, humanity in all its forms.
Days of ceaseless rain had depleted the clouds overhead, and the downpour near the Royal City had weakened considerably. Still, a dense drizzle as fine as ox hair fell from the sky, scattering in the breeze into a hazy mist. Every so often, drops of blood fell, setting off fresh disturbances.
The air was damp, and germs proliferated. Many of the elderly and weak had already fallen ill, lying beneath crude shelters with barely a breath left, like dry bones in a tomb.
In an age with few doctors and little medicine, the sick could generally only rely on their bodies to endure. Ordinary wind and rain would not have sickened these refugees, who were accustomed to hard labor, but days of fleeing over mountains and across rivers had already drained their strength and severely weakened their resistance.
The authorities had sent people to help build shacks here and opened the city gates so the refugees could rest beneath the eaves along the streets, but even that was of little use.
Li Ling saw ragged villagers packed tightly along the streets. They, too, were listless, sitting silently as though their souls had departed.
Soldiers and workers organized by the local gentry were carrying out the bodies of dead refugees to burn and bury them. Their families wept and mourned, making for a bleak and heartrending scene.
Out of sight, stores of grain and medicinal herbs were rapidly dwindling. Sooner or later, massive shortages would arise.
Wealthy merchants and powerful local families were watching the situation, preparing for the warfare and famine to come. Ordinary people had begun selling their sons and daughters, and human markets had sprung up of their own accord.
Li Ling made a circuit of the area and found business booming.
In times like these, good-looking children with sturdy bodies could still fetch their parents several taels of silver or a substantial amount of food. Those with slightly poorer looks and root bone could barely secure enough to keep themselves fed.
Those worse off still were rejected outright. People would not take them even for free.
One little girl's parents begged desperately, even kneeling before a steward who had come to purchase servants for a wealthy household. All they received was a single icy word: "Scram."
They appealed to another household's steward. He hurriedly helped them up and sighed. "Please don't, good brother, good sister. Even if you keep kneeling, there's nothing I can do."
The girl's father pleaded, "Good sir, please have mercy and take our daughter. We don't want money or grain. Just give her a way to survive. Can you?"
The steward shook his head. "Every extra person means another mouth to feed. Even our landlord's household has no grain to spare. How could we afford to keep someone who can't work? Try your luck elsewhere."
He told them to try their luck elsewhere, but how could it be that easy? There were only so many wealthy households capable of feeding people. If they entrusted her to the wrong person and she was abandoned, death would be her only fate.
Worse still, she might be slaughtered for meat before they knew it.
The girl's parents could only lead their daughter away in tears and try to think of another solution.
Beyond that, the vast displaced population brought countless complicated problems. Most commonly, people who foresaw the food shortage were using their physical strength to extort others wherever they went.
Some villages had banded together to protect themselves from outsiders, but certain local gentry and bullies had begun finding ways to seize the villagers' property.
Order could still be maintained around the Royal City for the moment, because the common people feared the authorities and dared not cause trouble. But it was easy to imagine how, if the disaster continued, the once-honest, timid villagers would turn vicious, their purity and kindness swept away.
Li Ling could even smell all manner of foul odors representing malice rising from some people's hearts.
Even without the influence of karmic tribulations, the odors he sensed now would probably still have stunk to high heaven.
The world had fallen into disorder, and rites and music had crumbled. There truly would be no pleasant scents to smell.
Amid despair and grief, some people's spirits became more active than ever. The incense and fire prayer power they gathered gave off threads of golden light in the air, passing between the waking world and the divine kingdom domain as though tangible.
The rich smell of incense, candles, and spirit money filled heaven and earth. For the first time, it even overpowered the faint stench of decay that had plagued Li Ling ever since karma had entangled him.
It was the last remaining kindness in people's hearts. They were yearning for salvation from the gods, carving out a patch of pure land with incense and fire prayer power.
Li Ling tried refining some and found it purer and sweeter than ever before, its quality far surpassing what was normally produced.
It was still early, but the refugees had little food with them. Thus, even during the day, they would not waste their strength lightly, and quite a few had already fallen asleep.
Li Ling looked around, sighed inwardly, and slipped into several people's dreams to begin stirring them into action.
The Dream Path Divine Ability was closely tied to the mind, making this easy for him. He even began experimenting with Divided Spirit Manifestation, creating multiple dreams simultaneously.
"Those who bear ill omens have brought disaster. Drag them out..."
Within ordinary people's dreams, Li Ling borrowed the Great Lin River God's name to urge the refugees to search for suspicious people.
This was called a tooth for a tooth. The Demonic Path often incited the populace to conduct illicit worship. Now Li Ling would let them taste what it was like to be persecuted.
He had seen those Demonic Path cultivators, as well as the Maritime Arrest Warrants in the Unusual Events Bureau, and projected their images into the dreams one by one.
In particular, he still held Lin Rouniang's dream spirit body. A bead of blood transformed into her likeness, vivid and lifelike.
Anyone who saw such a clear spiritual form within a dream would remember it deeply. If they happened to have encountered her in reality, they would certainly recognize her.
"Someone actually brought this disaster upon us!"
"Those ill-omened people! This is all their fault!"
"Find them and sacrifice them to Grandfather River God!"
The people's dream spirits responded fiercely.
The effect seemed quite good. Even within the dreams, Li Ling could sense their anger and determination.
Soon, quite a few people woke with a start. Comparing what they had seen in their dreams, they were astonished.
"Grandfather River God has manifested again!"
"Everyone, look around! See if any ill-omened people are nearby!"
Before long, a startled cry came from a street corner.
"This man looks like one of them!"
"Oh no, he's trying to run! Catch him!"
A Demonic Path lackey hiding among the refugees was utterly stunned. He had never imagined that he would inexplicably be exposed after taking a brief nap.
Their great undertaking took priority. He did not fight back and merely fled headlong, only for a streak of Sword Qi to suddenly cleave down from above.
"Aah!"
The Demonic Path lackey fell to the ground, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Both his legs had been slashed.
He was merely a lackey who had not even reached early-stage Qi Refining. There was no way he could defend against such invisible, traceless Sword Qi.
The furious crowd tried to rush forward and beat him to death, but an invisible mental force pushed them back.
Seeing this, the refugees fell to their knees. "Grandfather River God, please calm your anger!"
Soon, the authorities arrived after receiving word, cordoned off the crowd, and captured the lackey alive.
Zuo Zhongliang of the Unusual Events Bureau, who had been conducting investigations throughout the area, happened to be nearby. He hurried over as well and took custody of the prisoner with a grave expression.
After ordering his subordinates to take the man away for interrogation, Zuo Zhongliang frowned inwardly and murmured, "That method... It must have been that mysterious figure!"
The youth A Xin said, "Commander, you mean..."
Zuo Zhongliang said, "Lianhe County, Jiu Mouth Town, Black Snake Ridge... This person has fished in troubled waters more than once or twice. The way he strikes is exactly the same."
But he soon rose again and told the others, "For now, we don't know whether this person is friend or foe, and we have more important matters to handle. Leave him alone for the time being."
A junior officer of the Unusual Events Bureau came over and whispered in Zuo Zhongliang's ear. "Hundred-Household Commander Zuo, we've cleared things up. Some refugees dreamed of the Great Lin River God just now. He personally issued an oracle ordering them to capture a group of people."
Zuo Zhongliang said, "Playing at gods and ghosts... Who did he tell them to capture?"
The junior officer said, "They seem... They seem to be the Demonic Path cultivators on our Demon-Slaying Orders!"
Zuo Zhongliang's expression shifted slightly. "Really?"
Another junior officer said, "We're looking for these people too. Why not take this opportunity to spread the word?"
Zuo Zhongliang seemed tempted, but still waved his hand and refused. "Demonic Path cultivators may have methods of altering their appearance. Once they disguise themselves, portraits become useless. We would only waste the people's strength and might even cause deaths and injuries."
"We can't send these unarmed refugees to fight Demonic Path cultivators, can we?"
"That's true..."
Zuo Zhongliang thought for a moment, then added, "But we can summon the local gentry, wealthy landowners, and neighborhood wardens and have them keep watch discreetly. Also, notify the City Patrol Guards to assign more men and monitor the crowds during the porridge distributions..."
Kindhearted people and the city's wealthiest residents were currently distributing porridge. Although the Demonic Path cultivators were hiding among the refugees, some of their habits and attitudes were entirely different.
They would not eat anything they could find out of hunger as the refugees did, nor could they swallow their pride and accept such thin, watery gruel.
The Unusual Events Bureau personnel were experienced as well, and they all smiled when they heard this.
"Exactly. The city's great benefactors have all begun distributing porridge. The refugees say Imperial Son-in-Law Li's household serves the most substantial porridge-you can stand chopsticks upright in it. Goodman Zhou's is the thinnest; you have to drink it like water. Chief Bai Da's has the most ingredients. Besides sand and chaff, you can occasionally find a little meat..."
"What meat?"
"Cabbage worms and flies, of course."
As they discussed it, looks of disgust crossed their faces.
Refugees would not care about such things when they were starving. Only Demonic Path lackeys who secretly had full bellies and warm clothes would mind. They certainly would not be able to stomach it.
Disciples of the Corpse Immortal Sect and the Ghost Soul Sect were even less likely to eat such food.
Cultivators were proud and aloof before mortals. Those who entered the world to cultivate and temper their hearts amid mortal dust might willingly eat such pig swill, but what ordinary cultivator would accept that humiliation?
Those with sufficient cultivation could abstain from food, or even dine on wind and drink dew. There was no need for them to invite suffering upon themselves.
Screening people this way would effectively narrow the search to those from wealthy backgrounds, who likewise would not eat such things.
But even when fleeing disaster, wealthy families traveled as entire households. Their relationships were easy to establish, and their overall numbers were far smaller.
Early the next morning, inside an unremarkable house on the eastern outskirts of the city, the wealthy merchant Master Huang, dressed in brocade, confronted several people whose looks and bearing were markedly different from those of the refugees. His face was twisted with fury.
"Well, well! So you're the real culprits!"
"Master Huang, has there been some misunderstanding? We are the River God's envoys..."
"Shut up! Grandfather River God has already appeared in my dream and told me you're ill-omened people! Men, seize them!"
"You Huang bastard, you've got some nerve!"
These people, whose looks and bearing differed so greatly from the refugees, were clearly no ordinary folk. Seeing Master Huang dare turn against them, they struck back in shock and fury.
In the blink of an eye, the household servants who charged forward were slain. Master Huang screamed as his arm was brutally broken and he was slammed to the ground.
"Villains! You really are villains!" Master Huang cried. "Grandfather River God, save me!"
"What madness has gotten into you? How dare you doubt us?" a burly man demanded viciously.
Just then, a late-stage Qi Refining leader suddenly stepped forward. Gang Wind flashed in his hand, and he slit Master Huang's throat.
"No need to ask. Someone must have borrowed the River God's name to brand us blasphemers."
The burly man's expression froze. "Senior Brother Zhao, what's going on?"
The leader did not answer him, but an absurd feeling suddenly rose in his heart.
All along, they had been the ones borrowing the River God's name to play at gods and ghosts. Who would have thought that one day it would come back to bite them?
"Granny Wu said a mysterious expert had set his sights on us and told us to act cautiously. This person doesn't play by the usual rules. Could he be that mysterious expert?"
Suddenly, an inexplicable chill arose. The leader looked down and saw that Master Huang, who had just died, had actually stood up again.
His hair hung loose, and his entire body was drenched in blood. A stiff, icy voice emerged from his mouth. "Blasphemers, die..."
The leader: "..."
The Demonic Path cultivators: "..."
The lackeys: "..."