He raised a hand, only to find his entire body aching terribly, as though countless burly men had beaten and kicked him in his sleep.
Enduring the pain, Cui Jiuyang moved the Turtle Chancellor aside. He had barely sat up when he woke the Ninth Lady.
"Mr. Cui, you're awake!" The Ninth Lady came over in delight. Her face looked haggard; clearly, she had not been resting well.
"Yes. How long was I asleep?" Cui Jiuyang draped his robe over himself, and the Ninth Lady helped him over to sit at the tea table.
The Ninth Lady poured him some water and handed it over. "Three days and three nights. After Mr. Xiang rescued us, Fifth Master Yang settled us in the association's hall. A physician examined you. He said you had exhausted yourself too severely and damaged your constitution. You need proper rest."
"Mr. Xiang?" Cui Jiuyang looked startled before remembering whom she meant. "You mean... Old Man Xiang?"
The Ninth Lady nodded and pointed toward the door. "Mr. Xiang has been staying here at the hall these past few days. He hasn't left."
That man outside, bustling about as though someone had lit his fuse, was Old Man Xiang?
"Didn't he go home to arrange the funeral for his mynah son?" Cui Jiuyang had already heard the story of Old Man Xiang and Mynah from the others.
Just then, the door stirred, and Old Man Xiang walked in.
He had exchanged his blue robe for a black one. In just a few short days, his graying hair had turned completely white...
His goatee had been shaved off, and his eyes shone brightly. Old Man Xiang looked vigorous and alert. Apart from the color of his hair, which betrayed his age, he looked much younger than before.
"Mr. Cui, you're awake." The old man entered, stopped, and saluted with his hands clasped. There was something indescribably... crisp and decisive about him!
Cui Jiuyang stared at him and returned the salute. "Mr. Xiang, my condolences."
Old Man Xiang smiled freely. "Ha, thank you for your concern."
He sat opposite Cui Jiuyang. "That day was a close call. How are you feeling now, Mr. Cui?"
Cui Jiuyang hurried to his feet and bowed deeply. "The Ninth Lady has told me everything. Thank you for saving my life, Mr. Xiang."
Old Man Xiang helped him up and had him sit comfortably. "Mr. Cui, when strange disturbances broke out on Lake Taibai that night, I performed a divination and determined that the Japanese were causing trouble. Fifth Master Yang later confirmed it. Lu Zhongqian of the Fuxiang Commercial Association had supplied the Japanese with explosives."
"The next day, a sinkhole opened up ten li west of Lake Taibai. My heavenly mandate sensitivity alerted me, and I immediately went to the rescue. It turned out to be you and the Ninth Lady climbing out of the pit."
"You're truly blessed with extraordinary luck, Mr. Cui. More good fortune surely awaits you."
Cui Jiuyang's heart stirred... Heavenly mandate sensitivity?
When had Old Man Xiang's divination reached such a level?
Could he have...
He suppressed his questions and asked about the Japanese. "I've already encountered those two Japanese. You're saying they have ties to the Fuxiang Commercial Association?"
By now, Old Man Xiang knew that his mynah son had died at the hands of Togo's Red-armored Beetle, so he paid particular attention to any news of the pair. "Ever since Fifth Master Yang mentioned the Japanese, I've performed divinations on those two three times a day."
"Their method of obscuring heaven's secrets seems to counter divinations a limited number of times, rather than rely on some miraculous treasure. After two days, their movements became as clear in my divinations as black ink on white paper."
"They're staying in the Fuxiang Commercial Association's hall... The woman appears to be injured. My divination shows a bloody calamity hanging over her, and it still hasn't passed."
Old Man Xiang then gave Cui Jiuyang a detailed account of the Fuxiang Commercial Association, along with the life history of its chairman, Master Lu. In short, he had gathered all the information.
Looking at the stack of papers half a palm thick, covered in tiny, meticulous handwriting, Cui Jiuyang understood that only vengeance could set someone ablaze like oil poured onto a fire.
Besides, to his senses, the shriveled old man before him felt like a blazing mass of furnace fire.
He had already deduced what price the old man had paid to attain a level of divination that granted heavenly mandate sensitivity.
He sighed inwardly at the depth of a parent's love.
Whether to repay the debt of his rescue or to destroy the Japanese plot, Cui Jiuyang resolved to help Old Man Xiang fulfill his wish.
Cui Jiuyang pondered for a moment. "Spirit Medium Wei and Mama Liu..."
Old Man Xiang smiled. "After you disappeared underwater, Spirit Medium Wei was scared out of her wits. She took her Gray Family Immortal and left on a long journey. She said that if your elders came looking, they would be difficult to deal with."
Cui Jiuyang laughed despite himself. No wonder Spirit Medium Wei had treated him with such respect...
Either she or that enormous rat above her knew his great-grandfather Cui Chengshou's name.
Considering how ruthless his great-grandfather had been in his youth, it was hardly surprising that Spirit Medium Wei had fled far away.
"What about Mama Liu?" Cui Jiuyang was quite fond of the auntie who could invite Toad Boy to possess her. She was a genuinely decent woman.
Old Man Xiang said, "Mama Liu is gravely ill at home and can't get out of bed. Besides... even if she could, she wouldn't be able to come here."
Cui Jiuyang was puzzled. "She wouldn't be able to come here?"
Old Man Xiang gave a bleak smile, then addressed the Ninth Lady beside them. "Sorry for the trouble, Ninth Lady, but could you open the door?"
The Ninth Lady rose and opened the double doors. The sound of wind and rain rushed inside!
A covered walkway lay directly outside, with the long street beyond it. Not a soul could be seen on this, the busiest street in Jining City, because rain was pouring down in torrents!
Old Man Xiang said, "Mr. Cui, the downpour over Jining City hasn't stopped for three days. Every day, twenty-one cun and seven fen of rain have fallen! In the low-lying areas west of the city, homes have already been flooded above their rooftops..."
Alarmed, Cui Jiuyang asked, "How could this happen..."
Before he finished his question, he already understood the reason.
The emergence of a Malevolent Flood Dragon was bound to bring unnatural phenomena.
That Malevolent Flood Dragon had suffered a setback in the Water God’s Tomb and was venting its fury on Jining City!
The rain over the Si River could pierce it like ten thousand arrows, but away from the Si River, it could whip up winds and waves instead.
At that moment, the Turtle Chancellor apparently woke to their voices and the sound of the storm. He stretched and sat up on the bed.
"You're awake, lad? Oh, already had a chat with the firewood old man?"
The Ninth Lady did not know why the Turtle Chancellor called Old Man Xiang the firewood old man. He had been calling him that for three days.
Cui Jiuyang, however, thought the nickname was damn fitting.
Seeing that the Turtle Chancellor was awake, he asked, "Your Excellency, that Malevolent Flood Dragon is stirring up a storm to flood Jining City. What should we do?"
The Turtle Chancellor nodded. "There's a way. We've just been waiting for you to wake up!"
Chapter 42: Waiting for Rain
Perfectly unruffled, the Turtle Chancellor sat on the table, leaning against the teapot. After swaying his head for a good while, he uttered a single word. "Wait!"
Cui Jiuyang and Old Man Xiang asked together, "Wait for what?"
The Turtle Chancellor said, "Wait for the rain to keep falling!"
He pointed at the dark sky outside and the downpour that formed a curtain of water between heaven and earth. "Wait for the dry Ancient Ji River Course to fill with water!
"Wait for the Jidu Shrine to reappear in this world!
"Wait for that loach to covet the Jidu Shrine's Water Palace Relic!
"Wait for those damned Japanese to go to the Jidu Shrine and presume to officiate over its rites!"
The Turtle Chancellor slapped an empty teacup over with one claw. "I'm going to catch every last one of those bastards in a single net!"
The Ninth Lady set the teacup upright and filled it with tea. "Your Excellency, how long must we wait?"
The Turtle Chancellor sighed. "I don't know. All I know is that with rain this heavy, the Ancient River Course is bound to fill. Once enough water accumulates, Jidu Shrine’s Water Spirit Condensation will allow it to manifest naturally. We... can only wait."
Everyone in the room fell silent and looked toward the door. Inside, there was not a sound. All they could hear was the torrential rain beating down on the long street outside.
Lu Zhongqian, Master Lu, had been feeling rather agitated over the past few days.
The downpour had lasted three days and nights, making work at the docks impossible. Yet Deputy Adjutant Chen in the provincial capital was pressing him to send twenty boatloads of grain to Jinan.
The telegram had also included a few words of inquiry about the two honored Japanese guests.
But Master Lu had no idea how to reply.
He could hardly say that the two honored Japanese guests now never left their room, and that entire basins of bloody water were being carried out every day, could he?
Outside the guest room on the top floor of the Fuxiang Commercial Association's hall, four maidservants waited by the door. They dared not enter, lest the honored guests inside lose their tempers.
Nor did they dare leave. If the guests called for them and they were absent, Master Lu would surely be furious.
Inside the room, the two Japanese lay on opposite sides of the bed. Since one was a man and the other a woman, a curtain separated the middle of the bed, allowing them to speak through it.
"How many days have we been lying here?" Abe lay on the bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. The pain from her chest and abdomen down kept her awake day and night. After several days without a wink of sleep, her sense of time had grown hazy.
A thick quilt covered her, rising into a high mound over her swollen belly.
Beneath the quilt, Abe's belly was distended, its skin stretched translucent. Something inside struggled from time to time.
Each time that thing struggled, Abe shuddered. Cold sweat streamed over her entire body, constantly soaking the bedding and pillow. Every few hours, the maidservants had to come in and replace them with a fresh set.
Sometimes, when blood flowed from Abe's lower body, they had to change the bedding even more frequently.
On the other side of the curtain, Togo also lay flat on the bed, his quilt pulled up to his neck to cover his entire body.
Hearing Abe's question, Togo blinked several times. It seemed to take him a long while to process it before he arrived at an answer. "Three days."
Only when he opened his mouth to speak could the blood throughout it be seen. He had been clenching his teeth constantly for three days, causing blood to seep between them.
Beneath his quilt, his body could not be seen. Instead... countless insects crawled all over him.
Beetles, centipedes, moths, maggots, flies, house centipedes... Insects both recognizable and unrecognizable bored holes into his body, then crawled in and out of them.
Every hour, the maidservants had to bring in fifteen jin of food for these rampaging insects to devour. Otherwise, they would continue consuming Togo's flesh and blood.
The agony of countless insects gnawing his bones had already driven Togo to the brink of losing his sanity.
In their battle with the giant softshell turtle, the two Japanese had killed it and obtained its demon core, but both had suffered grievous injuries and paid an enormous price.
However little Master Lu understood, the horrifying scenes before him made it clear that these two Japanese were no ordinary tourists or scholars.
They were Japanese mystics.
Their request for information on the Jidu Shrine had nothing to do with archaeology. They had another purpose entirely.
Now Lu Zhongqian stood at the window of the association's largest office, watching the rain pour down outside as countless thoughts rose and fell in his mind.
The chaos those thoughts created within him was far worse than the chaos in the flooded Jining City.
He did not know what to do. Perhaps certain things were destined to happen, beyond anything human effort could foresee.
As he thought it all over, Master Lu did something unprecedented and smoked a pipe of tobacco. Before this, he had quit smoking for twenty years.
The vast Jining City remained shrouded in rain. Within its two largest commercial associations, both sides waited to recover from their grievous injuries...
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