piratefiction Chapter 45 Wild Taoist Priest
Chapter 45 Wild Taoist Priest
Mass grave
It is more than 100 miles away from Qinghe.
Ancient trees reach for the sky, their branches twisted like dying arms, their canopies filtering the sunlight into pale green patches.
On the ground, half-broken tombstones or rotten coffins are visible among the weeds, the soil has an ominous dark red hue all year round, and the air is filled with an unyielding, damp, and putrid stench.
Even during the day, a chilling wind blows here, and a faint wailing sound can be heard, whether it is the wind or something else.
There was no sign of life.
Deep inside, in an ancient stone chamber that had been unearthed at some unknown time and was now half-hidden again by weeds and vines, a faint green glow emanated from it, clashing with the deathly silence around it. The mottled moss and seeping water stains on the inner walls of the stone chamber cast eerie shadows.
"waste!"
"I bestowed upon you the 'Yin Sha Guide' to help you conceal yourself and heal your wounds, so that you could find some nourishing food, not so that you could crawl back like a stray dog and bring back such flimsy, unsubstantiated information!"
Yin Zhizi spoke, his voice hoarse and dry, like a dull saw pulling back and forth on rotten wood.
He was wearing a gray-black Taoist robe whose original color was no longer discernible and was covered with unidentified stains. There were even several holes in the hem of the robe, revealing an equally dirty undergarment underneath.
He was so thin that he looked like nothing more than a layer of withered skin clinging to his skeleton. His eyes, though deep in their sockets, were terrifyingly bright. Under the eerie green firelight, his pupils faintly shimmered with vertical lines like those of a reptile, gleaming with greed, coldness, numbness, and cruelty.
Yin Zhizi's withered fingers were forming a peculiar hand seal. A wisp of smoke, thinner than a hair and as thick and viscous as dark blood, slowly emanated from his fingertips, like a living venomous snake, and snaked into the mouth and nostrils of a large toad in front of him, which was suppressed by several pieces of yellow paper covered with twisted blood-red runes.
This toad was the size of a millstone, its entire body a dark green, as if it were terminally ill. Most of the swollen pustules on its back had dried up and ruptured, leaving unsightly scars and constantly oozing a foul-smelling, yellowish mucus. It was on the verge of death, with only a pair of turbid, bulging eyes fixed on Yin Zhizi, filled with overwhelming resentment, the fear of impending death, and a trace of desperate madness. It was the male toad spirit who had narrowly escaped that day, hating the dragon to the bone, and dragging its broken body around seeking an opportunity for revenge.
"explain!"
"What exactly happened?"
Yin Zhizi's fingertip twitched, and a burst of gray-black smoke shot out. The toad demon immediately convulsed and made painful gurgling sounds.
The toad spirit's throat sac throbbed violently, unable to utter clear syllables. It could only use its remaining divine sense, mixed with intense resentment and fear, to intermittently convey everything it knew.
From the sudden rise of the dragon god belief in Shixi Village, to the terrifying power of the dragon god that appeared by the river and killed its companion, to the purification of the polluted water source in Shanghe Village, and even the recent strange phenomenon of the two villages jointly worshipping and merging their beliefs, everything can be explained.
The toad spirit didn't understand what incense and faith power were, but it instinctively knew that the place, the existence, possessed a power that it couldn't comprehend but longed to destroy, and at the same time, it attracted more and more humans to gather and worship.
The toad demon knew that in its current state, revenge was hopeless. The only way to vent its hatred was to summon an even more terrifying being.
Yin Zhizi's initial impatience quickly faded, replaced by an increasingly intense astonishment and a burning greed that was almost igniting within him.
"Cleansing with pure water? Revealing true form? Dragon's roar shaking the soul?"
"How could the trust and resources of two villages be integrated across geographical boundaries?"
Yin Zhizi murmured in a low voice, each word making his breathing heavier, and an abnormal flush even appeared on his gaunt face.
"It's not as simple as mountain spirits or wild monsters usurping a divine position! This is a 'wild god' with a solid foundation, who has received divine favor and is currently forming the nascent form of divinity!"
"Haha! Heaven is helping me! It is newly born and its mind is not yet stable, yet its incense is already so blazing and pure! This is simply a thousand-year-old medicine delivered to my lips! If I can seize the foundation of its faith, extract its divine essence, and refine it into my Yin Gathering and Soul Slaughtering Banner, I can save at least thirty years of hard work, and perhaps even glimpse a trace of the secrets of orthodox divinity!"
Yin Zhizi abruptly withdrew the gray-black smoke, and the toad demon, as if its last breath had been drained, collapsed completely. Only the deep-seated resentment in its eyes remained, like a poisoned needle, showing no sign of dissipation.
"snort!"
"I'll spare your pus and blood for now, considering the great gift you brought."
"lead the way!"
This Taoist priest will go and meet this dragon god to see how much he is worth and whether he is qualified to be the main soul of my banner!
Yin Zhizi licked his dry, cracked lips, revealing his uneven, yellowed teeth, and his eyes gleamed with a bright green light.
The night was like thick ink, soaking the world in.
The crescent moon was swallowed by thick, leaden clouds, and the stars were hidden. Only the sound of the clear river flowed stubbornly in the silence, making the night seem even deeper.
Shixi Village.
Side hall of the Jiaoshen Temple.
Lin Shi frowned.
Since the successful joint worship of the two villages, the spiritual power has been integrated across villages, and both its quality and quantity have increased dramatically, leading to a more subtle level of spiritual awareness. Not long ago, a subtle sense of unease, like a drop of ink falling into a clear pool, immediately alerted me even before it had spread.
The ever-flowing, gentle, and warm current of faith energy, which was originally as constant as a spring, underwent an extremely subtle change at a certain moment during the transition between Yin and Yang at midnight.
It's not that the will itself has weakened or deteriorated, but rather that some invisible channel that carries and transmits the will is blocked by something extremely faint yet real and cold.
This is not normal!
It wasn't a direct attack, but it was full of malice. I'm absolutely certain it was some kind of cautious spying and probing, an attempt to perceive everything here without alerting them, especially the core node where the power of trust converges.
"It's finally here."
Lin Shi was not surprised at all.
The escape of that male toad demon remained a thorn in my side.
The demon's revenge will come sooner or later. However, this probing sensation—cold, sticky, and subtly probing—is unlike the demon's blatant and overbearing aura.
Could it be something else entirely?
With a thought, Lin Shi instantly sank to the bottom of the pool, reaching his clone to inform it that there were external evils coveting the area, coming from the northwest, and that they were sinister and treacherous.
Deep in the pool.
It was dark and without light.
The dragon suddenly opened its cold, golden vertical pupils. Deep within its pupils, a chilling rage and a territorial ferocity were gathering. It immediately sensed the malicious mental energy seeping in from the northwest, like invisible tentacles, carrying a greedy sucking intent and filthy, insidious qualities. It was trying to quietly infiltrate from the edge of the area where the earth's energy was mixed and life was scarce. Its target was very clear, pointing directly at the two shrines, especially the statues of gods.
This is a crucial hub for the convergence and transformation of trust and power.
The dragon's response was direct and domineering.
After the joint worship of the two villages, the power of faith increased dramatically. The ancient chains binding the dragon visibly loosened further. Originally confined to the deepest part of the pool, it can now meander and swim over a larger area. Consequently, the power it can mobilize and the range of its dragon might have also increased.
The dragon did not reveal its true form to cause any celestial phenomena, nor did it unleash a furious roar. Instead, it channeled its newfound power and the proud dragon might derived from its bloodline, along with the connections to the water veins and the network of spiritual energy, to cover the two villages, especially the area around the ancestral hall, with greater intensity and force.
Its aura is pure and righteous, vast and boundless, and has a natural repulsive and purifying effect on those filthy and evil forces.
Lin Shi took a deep breath, concentrated his mind, and sensed that with the blessing of the clone dragon, the perception was constantly amplified and extended, carefully capturing every trace and characteristic of the malicious spying.
Where did this evil thing come from?
not simple!
Lin Shi couldn't see the specific form, but he could feel that the cold, sinister intent was like an experienced venomous snake. It didn't just attack relentlessly, but kept probing the weak points, looking for gaps in the network of faith that could be penetrated, such as the edges of the homes of those newly converted believers whose minds were not yet pure and stable, or corners in the village where the yin energy was a bit heavy.
This time, the one who came back wasn't a reckless fool!
Could it be that a fierce battle is about to take place?