Now, Chen Qing's son, Chen Guanbao, had been rescued.
The villagers were overjoyed to see him.
Those families who had previously offered up their own children as sacrifices were especially excited.
If Chen Qing's child had been rescued, didn't that mean their children could be rescued too?
Chen Qing said, "Everyone, come over here. The Great King says he has something to tell you."
At these words, the villagers scrambled to approach. The families who had previously sacrificed their own children jostled especially hard to get to the front. Some villagers even stepped one foot into the water in the depths of winter.
But once they drew near, the villagers discovered that "Great King Pingyou" was gravely wounded.
Blood flowed constantly from the nine holes in his legs. Against the white shell of the White Softshell Turtle beneath him, the scarlet blood was particularly conspicuous.
Tiger Vanguard spoke weakly:
"Why... why did you use a fire as a pretext to lure me ashore and invite monks here to destroy me?"
Hearing this, the villagers hurriedly knelt and kowtowed.
"We've been wronged! It wasn't us! We didn't invite those four monks. They came on their own! We weren't the ones who set the fire either..."
Tiger Vanguard said, "Say no more. Take all these offerings back! I am gravely wounded now and have lost all my magical power. It will take five hundred years of recuperation for my wounds to heal. You need not make any more sacrifices."
The villagers were shocked, but before they could speak, the White Softshell Turtle had already sunk back into the water with Tiger Vanguard on its back.
The villagers knelt on the bank and called out for a long time, all to no avail.
For those families who had previously sacrificed their children to