Worship the River God? I'll Make the River Run with Blood!

Fang Yu lived a very structured life at Wuzhuang Temple. During the day, he diligently studied the bamboo slips given to him by Mingyue, and the obscure ancient seal script gradually took shape in his eyes. At night, he sat cross-legged under the outer wall where Ginseng Fruit Tree grew, practicing breathing exercises and letting the spiritual energy cleanse his Meridians. Occasionally, Qingfeng would take him to the back mountain to pick some spiritual fruits, or to the mountain stream to catch a few silver-scaled fish for a treat. Three months passed, Fang Yu's skin, nourished by the mountain's spiritual energy, became as smooth and lustrous as jade, and the Golden Flames in his eyes had also subsided considerably. His face, which had been emaciated from hunger in the Lion Camel Country, was gradually becoming indistinguishable from Fang Yu in other worlds. One morning, as he was lost in thought while studying the bamboo slips, Qingfeng suddenly lifted the curtain of the side room. "Let's go down the mountain to buy some supplies." Qingfeng flicked his wide sleeves. "The temple's incense and candles are almost gone." Fang Yu closed the bamboo scroll and joked, "Even immortals do business with mortals?" Qingfeng straightened his crooked Daoist hat and shrugged. "I've cultivated for a thousand years, but I feel like I'm just a person who lives a longer life. I'm not some kind of immortal." As he spoke, he pulled out a few copper coins from his sleeve. "Here, I need to take these." Fang Yu was taken aback, then chuckled. As he followed Qingfeng through the mountain gate, he suddenly looked back at the misty Longevity Mountain. The Wuzhuang Temple on the mountaintop looked like a jade sculpture in the morning light, only a stone's throw away from the bustling world below, yet it seemed like two different worlds. The Stone steps leading down the mountain were slippery. Qingfeng walked ahead, chattering about his observations at the market. "Wang Po's tofu pudding on East Street is the most tender, and Zhang the blacksmith's hoes in West Market can last ten years." He suddenly turned around, "By the way, when we pass the Earth God Temple later, don't stare at it." "Why?" Qingfeng pouted, "That old man is a real tattletale. He told me about the time I stole some fruit wine." He suddenly fell silent, because sure enough, a faded Earth God Temple stood at the corner of the mountain path. As Fang Yu walked past, he caught a glimpse of the clay statue of the Earth God inside. Round face, smiling eyes, a perfect picture of a kind old man. But he knew that these so-called gods were mostly like the Earth God of Lion Camel Ridge who was forced to sign Blood Pact —just pawns on the chessboard of Heaven's Way. The market town at the foot of the mountain was more lively than he had imagined. Qingfeng skillfully navigated through the hawkers, bought a few feet of blue cloth at the cloth shop, and then bought two jin of incense at the general store. Fang Yu followed behind him, watching the steam rising from the street vendors blur the faces of passersby, and for a moment felt a strange sense of familiarity. "Candied hawthorns~!" a vendor's cry pierced the noise. Suddenly, Qingfeng tugged at Fang Yu's sleeve. "Look!" In the middle of the street, a ragged old woman was prostrating herself in prayer. Before her stood a fat man in silk robes, a jade pendant from the River God's Mansion hanging from his waist. The old woman's forehead was bleeding from the kowtowing, and she murmured, "Please, River God, have mercy." The fat man, however, kicked away the broken bowl she was holding, shards of porcelain splashing onto Fang Yu's boots. "On the fifth of each month, they collect young boys and girls, euphemistically called 'River God's Auspiciousness.' The boys and girls serve the River God, and after ten years, they are released and given fifty years of extra lifespan." Qingfeng lowered his voice. "Actually, it's a Carp Spirit, eating children." Fang Yu stared at the fat man's departing figure, his eyes narrowing slightly: "You...aren't you going to do anything?" "How can we?" Qingfeng took out money and bought a skewer of candied hawthorns. "That Carp Spirit is a distant relative of the Dragon King of the South Sea. This pool is too deep." He bit through the sugar shell and mumbled, "Besides, we are earth immortals, we only care about our own cultivation. Heaven..." He suddenly whispered, "The heavens don't care, how are we supposed to care!" "Slurp slurp~" Qingfeng licked the candied hawthorns. The honey-like juice from the candied hawthorns dripped down the bamboo skewer onto the bluestone slab, attracting a few ants. Fang Yu suddenly remembered the Vulture fighting for food by the stale water bucket in the Lion Camel Country. When they returned to the mountain, the sun was setting. Qingfeng, carrying a bundle full of incense and candles, suddenly said, "Actually, every time Master travels, he secretly enlightens a few destined people." He kicked aside a pebble on the road, "For example, that woodcutter three hundred years ago is now the founder of a sword sect." Fang Yu watched his shadow stretch long on the mountain path. He thought, in the eyes of mortals, those who can ride the clouds are naturally immortals, those who can turn stones into gold are naturally immortals, those who can slay demons with a single sword are naturally immortals. But who says that immortals must be compassionate to all beings? The night wind rustled through the treetops, bringing with it the wails of a distant village. Presumably, it was another family holding a funeral for the "river god's wedding." Fang Yu touched the candy Qingfeng had secretly slipped to him in his sleeve, and suddenly felt a bitter taste on his tongue. Heavenly Gods and Buddhas, they all hide in their palaces, blowing their immortal winds, who has the patience to see the suffering of the human world? In the dead of night, the oil lamp in the side room had long been extinguished. Fang Yu lay on his back on the hard bed, staring at the spider spinning its web in the crack of the beam. The scenes from the daytime market lingered in his mind: the old woman's bruised forehead, the river god's jade pendant at the fat man's waist, the sound of candied hawthorns sticking to the bluestone slabs. Each image was like a red-hot iron skewer, pricking his temples and making them throb. "We're collecting boys and girls on the fifth of every month," Qingfeng's words exploded in his ears, and Fang Yu gripped the blankets tightly! The pain of the rough cloth digging into his fingers couldn't suppress the surging anger in his chest. He rolled out of bed, his bare feet stepping on the cold floor tiles, the chill shooting from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Outside the window, the shadow of the Ginseng Fruit Tree was cast on the window paper, its branches swaying like ghostly claws. The rules of Wuzhuang Temple were not to interfere in human affairs. Fang Yu panted heavily, veins bulging on his forehead. He remembered the baby's hand soaking in the swill bucket of the Lion Camel Country, the pregnant woman marked with her due date in the physician's room of the Biqu Country, and the glint in Qingfeng's eyes when he said the pool was too deep, "To hell with the rules!" Fang Yu threw his Daoist robe onto the bed! The moment the door opened, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and leaped out of the mountain gate! The mountain path rushed past beneath his feet. Fang Yu waded barefoot across the stream; the icy water barely reached his ankles, but it couldn't extinguish the fire in his heart. "I must make it!" Just as the first gong sounded, Fang Yu saw the Kakkō. He crouched behind a withered tree and saw villagers holding torches gathered in the threshing ground. In the center of the crowd was a bamboo sedan chair wrapped in red silk, inside which sat a boy and a girl, about five or six years old. One of the boy's tiger-head shoes was missing, and the silver bells on the girl's braids jingled softly with her sobs. "The auspicious hour has arrived—!" With a hoarse shout, eight strong men lifted the bamboo sedan chair. Fang Yu's fingernails dug deep into the tree bark; he felt utterly powerless against these ignorant people! Sacrificing children could bring good weather and a bountiful harvest? Anyone with a brain would know how damn bizarre this was! The fishy smell mingled with the stench of rotting flesh wafting from the river, and the dark shadow underwater was longer than ten fishing boats combined! Such a colossal creature startled the old man standing on the riverbank! "The River God has appeared!" the hunchbacked old man suddenly screamed, kneeling down. The villagers quickly followed suit, as if afraid that if they were too slow, they would be swept away by the River God. Fang Yu passed by the villagers, who remained kneeling with their eyes tightly shut. Knowing someone was passing by, they mistook it for the River God, their bodies trembling even more violently. Rumor had it that a daring villager had once looked up at the River God. That villager was immediately dragged into the river and never seen again. The older folks said he was sent to serve the River God, but who could say for sure? Perhaps he was already dead. Therefore, no one dared to look up. Standing there were only a boy and a girl, and a black-haired boy with Golden Light eyes and clenched back teeth! The thing in the river poked its truck-sized head out, and before Fang Yu could make a move, it actually spoke! "Looking at the river god, do you know your crime?" Fang Yu looked at the huge fish monster on the riverbank, a smirk on his lips, and pointed at its two long whiskers as he gritted his teeth and replied! "I know my ass!"