After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 15

The broken karmic threads on Qing Fu’s body flickered and were about to dissipate. Li Chi looked at them and once again had that feeling of being able to pluck them away.

Li Chi raised his hand, and a thread fine as gossamer fell into his palm.

This thread was sorrow.

The bone-deep pain of losing a child could only be sustained through continuous searching in madness to keep oneself moving forward.

Li Chi removed his hand from covering Qing Fu’s eyes. Her empty sockets had regained sight, but these eyes only shed tears without any spirit.

He had pointed Qing Fu toward a path to becoming a deity, but her will had already scattered.

Li Chi silently let her go. She would no longer harm children by taking them, but she also… wouldn’t survive much longer.

Beside them, Tongdou’s mother pulled Tongdou down to kowtow in gratitude. Li Chi calmed the confused Tongdou’s spirit and sent them back to the village entrance.

He declined their proposal for worship. Liquan Village was the territory of Great King Yishan, and Li Chi didn’t want to have conflicts with this great demon.

However, after this incident, Ding Qin’s task of trading for supplies in the village became much easier.

Zheng Liang’s family, having found Tongdou, enthusiastically sought out various vegetable seeds for Ding Qin. They also brought out a new set of bedding and many clothes that were only half-worn, having been worn just once during New Year celebrations. They firmly refused to accept the medicinal herbs Ding Qin had prepared for exchange.

Liquan Village was just a remote small village, and these things weren’t easy for Zheng Liang’s family to part with either. Ding Qin still wanted to insist, but Li Chi pressed her shoulder and accepted the Zheng family’s offering, disappearing from sight amid their bows of gratitude.

When the Zheng family returned to their house, they found the medicinal herbs that had been in Ding Qin’s basket neatly arranged on their table.

“We’ve encountered a benevolent immortal!” Zheng Liang sighed.

“These medicinal herbs should also be worth quite a bit, right?” Zheng Liang’s eldest son, Zheng Dao, examined the herbs. There was some reluctance and attachment in his eyes, but he still said, “Should we find a way to return them?”

“Since the immortal left them, it means he wants us to keep them. What would it look like to keep going back and forth trying to return them?” said Zhou Xing, Zheng Liang’s daughter-in-law.

“But the immortal saved little sister, and we shouldn’t take such advantage…” Zheng Dao said.

Zhou Xing held Tongdou and pondered for a moment before saying to her eldest son Zheng Dao, “Tomorrow you go to the medicine shop in Shuigu Town and exchange all these herbs for money, then buy bricks and tiles. We’ll go into the mountains to build a house for the immortal. The village worships Great King Yishan, so it wouldn’t be proper to worship the immortal publicly, but we can privately set up a memorial tablet and burn incense for him.”

Zheng Liang nodded. “That’s what we’ll do!”

…..

On the way back, Ding Qin seemed rather melancholy.

“What’s wrong?” Li Chi asked.

“I feel Qing Fu is somewhat pitiful…” Ding Qin said quietly. “When Qing Fu was alive, she spent most of her life searching for her already-dead daughter. After death, she became a demon-ghost due to this obsession, continuing to search. But once she finally regained clarity, she immediately faced dissipation due to losing her obsession.”

“The Green cash bug spirit insects are also pitiful. They did nothing wrong, but because of their deep mother-child bond, they were exploited by people, killed and made into Green cash bug coins.”

“Then you didn’t want the High God to save Tongdou?” Jin Yan teased her.

“Of course not!” Ding Qin glared at him.

“Don’t be sad. Letting her continue in such madness would be the real torment. Early release is better,” Jin Yan said, flapping his wings and landing on Ding Qin’s shoulder.

Ding Qin was still somewhat downcast. “At first I thought she was like river demons that enjoy eating children…”

“River demon?” Jin Yan tilted his head to look at her. “You have river demons there too?”

Ding Qin shook her head. “It’s a story from long ago. Ding Family Village is near the Jiuqu River. Besides worshipping their respective protective deities, all the villages along the river also worship a Ghost King. Legend says that long ago, there was a river demon causing trouble in the Jiuqu River. It called itself the River God and demanded annual worship from the people along the banks – they had to offer a pair of young boys and girls as sacrifices and choose a young woman to marry it, or else it would unleash floods.”

“Later, a Ghost King emerged and slew the river demon, ending these human sacrifices. The villages along the banks were grateful and spontaneously worshipped the Ghost King, continuing to this day.”

“With so many villages along the Jiuqu River, their protective deities could all tolerate a Ghost King sharing their incense offerings – this Ghost King must be quite formidable,” Jin Yan marveled, then asked, “I recall there’s a famous Ghost King in the Daqing Mountain range. Is it the same one you mentioned?”

Ding Qin shook her head. “I’m not sure either, it’s just a story I heard.” She paused, then added, “I don’t like this story.”

“Don’t be afraid!” Jin Yan said boldly. “Even without the Ghost King, our little Ding Qin follows the High God, so you’ll definitely never be married off to some worthless river demon. Even if you get married and have children in the future, no one would dare snatch away your babies!”

“Jin Yan!” Ding Qin was driven to exasperation by his teasing.

Li Chi watched them banter with a smile. After a moment, he put away his smile and asked Ding Qin, “What do you think would be the right thing to do?”

Ding Qin pondered hard but couldn’t find an answer. She could only say, “I don’t know either. I just feel it shouldn’t end like this.”

“Qing Fu suffered so much, but received no compensation. The river demon died in the end, but its death couldn’t compensate for all those people who were sacrificed before. It’s unfair.”

“Yes,” Li Chi said. It was unfair.

He didn’t speak again, seeming to have drifted off in thought.

The “sorrow” thread he had plucked from Qing Fu’s karmic line had been put away by him, and it had once again healed part of his injuries.

This time, something unknown was triggered, and he gained new understanding. But this understanding was different from every previous realization.

It wasn’t clear, only vaguely bringing Li Chi a certain feeling. Broken karmic threads, fairness… Ding Qin’s words made him seem about to grasp something, but with no memory, that spark of insight was as dim as a spark of fire under heavy fog, soon to be extinguished by the excessive moisture.

Li Chi felt that this world had something wrong with it, as if something very important was missing.

What was missing…

Jin Yan and Ding Qin noticed Li Chi’s absent-mindedness and both fell silent.

Only after returning to the Li Manor did Li Chi come back to himself. He smiled at Jin Yan and Ding Qin. “Go about your business. I’ll rest for a while.”

With that, he returned to his room and lay down on the couch.

Concern appeared in Ding Qin’s eyes.

The High God Li Chi was injured, his divine power depleted. Had the confrontation with Qing Fu made things worse for him?

“What’s wrong?” Jin Yan looked at her strangely.

“I’m somewhat worried,” Ding Qin said.

“You’re worried about High God Li Chi?” Jin Yan said in surprise. “The High God is very powerful!”

Ding Qin wanted to speak but stopped, shaking her head without saying anything. The matter of the High God’s injuries shouldn’t spread.

The Manor Spirit Hou Li materialized. He glanced at Jin Yan. “That group of bird demon friends of yours are gathering nearby again.”

Jin Yan perked up, cackling with laughter: “I’ll go meet them right away!”

With that, he flapped his wings and flew away.

Ding Qin looked at Hou Li, worried that her slip of the tongue might reveal something, and her expression became somewhat tense. “Mister Hou Li?”

But Hou Li said nothing. He knew what Ding Qin was worried about. After all, he had personally watched High God Li Chi appear at the altar, watched him go from unstable aura to stable again.

The matter of High God Li Chi’s injuries was no secret to him. But recently he had confirmed that High God Li Chi’s injuries were probably much more severe than he had initially thought.

If the injuries weren’t serious, a powerful deity like High God Li Chi would naturally have better blessed lands and paradises. Such places would be more conducive to recovery, and the High God should have returned long ago. Only severe injuries with slow recovery, or other more serious troubles, would cause such a powerful deity to remain long-term in such a remote place.

But the High God was gentle and kind, and had shown him great favor. Hou Li was also willing to hide for him, using his own damaged dwelling as the High God’s residence.

“Practice well,” Hou Li said, turning to leave.

“Mister Hou Li,” Ding Qin called him back. She always felt he knew something but didn’t dare be certain. After hesitating, she asked, “Mister Hou Li, is believers’ incense very important to deities?”

Hou Li looked at her, a slight smile appearing on his face. “Yes. Divine office and incense are the foundation of a deity’s existence. Except for some special deities, almost all deities cannot do without incense.”

“Most believers’ faith is scattered and difficult to utilize, but incense can condense it into divine fire. Divine fire can be transformed into a deity’s divine power, and besides that, has many other wonderful uses.”

“I understand,” Ding Qin’s expression became resolute.

The High God said he had no believers – she would be his first believer! Her own strength was too weak and small, so she would spread faith to make others worship the High God too! Remote small villages like Liquan Village easily attracted the attention of great demons or deities protecting the area, so she would go to towns with many worshipped deities to hide!

This way, she could help the High God recover quickly, right?

Ding Qin secretly made up her mind to discuss this with the High God when Li Chi woke up tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Li Chi had just lain down on the couch when he lost consciousness.

Clouds and mist arose naturally, surrounding his form in layers, rising and surging slowly with his breathing rhythm.

Below his left eye, purple-gold hidden scales slowly emerged, patterns flowing across them as if about to undergo some change.

From dusk to nightfall, Li Chi never woke.

That patch of purple-gold hidden scales became increasingly clear and brilliant, the runes upon them flowing with light about to emerge.

At midnight, when all spirits slept.

The deity lying on the couch suddenly opened his eyes. His pitch-black pupils swallowed light like voids, reflecting no image at all. The upturned corners of his eyes faintly reddened. This face that Li Chi used with pure and noble bearing instantly became indescribably wicked and wildly arrogant!

He raised his hand to stroke the hidden scales below his left eye, the corner of his mouth curving in a light laugh as his form disappeared.

…..

In the black night, the mountain forest was deep and secret.

Qing Fu wandered through the mountain forest like a wandering soul.

Her lifelong madness had been exposed, her lifelong obsession was merely vanity. She no longer had any reason to exist, nor any direction to move forward.

Qing Fu just wandered like this, waiting for the day of dissipation.

A figure appeared in her path at some unknown time.

“Is it you?” Qing Fu’s scattered consciousness regathered. She looked at the person ahead dressed in cold clothes white as frost. “No, that’s not right. Who are you?”

The person before her was very similar to the deity who had awakened her during the day, but their temperaments were vastly different.

The deity from daytime had an aura of pure spiritual energy, but on this deity before her, it had all transformed into coldness.

He held a smile at the corner of his mouth, but his gaze was cold and sharp, as if mocking something, making Qing Fu’s heart shiver.

Those pitch-black eyes that on the daytime deity had been like clear pools, on him were like bottomless abysses.

Qing Fu had nothing much left to fear, but looking at these eyes, she couldn’t help but feel dread.

“You… what do you want to do?” she asked again.

“Heh,” the suddenly appeared deity laughed lightly, those abyss-like eyes looking down at her. “Are you willing to dissipate like this?”

Those pitch-black pupils simultaneously reflected two figures – a grieving woman and a pair of blue-black spirit insects.

“Who harmed you to this state? Who drove you to madness and wandering?”

The deity lowered his eyes, his feet touching the ground. The cold night wind brushed past cold sleeves, the trajectory seeming to herald some fate.

The woman-shaped demon-ghost trembled without speaking.

“Worldly people are often silent…” the deity breathed coldly, his deep eyes growing more mocking. “Who killed your children?”

Insect cries suddenly rang out, blood color seeping into blue-black wings.

Her child… her child!

She was already dead, had searched in mad pain for over a hundred years, yet the man who killed her child lived a peaceful life and entered reincarnation, while the cultivator who refined her and her child still practiced freely in the world!

“Do you want revenge?” The deity’s jade-white face seemed covered with frost, making his pair of ink pupils appear to connect to the nine underworlds.

“I beg the god to teach me!” The woman’s voice overlapped with insect cries, her clear eyes stained with bloody resentment.

The deity curved his mouth, the purple-gold scales below his left eye becoming more seductive. “Offer your grievance and hatred to me as sacrifice.”

“I humbly accept!” Qing Fu prostrated herself.

The deity raised his hand, condensing a brush between his pale fingers. The brush tip was black mixed with white, the brush body jade-white like bone. The brush tip entered the heart, dipped in blue-black ghost blood, extending two bloody karmic threads.

Qing Fu looked toward where the karmic threads extended – one led to the husband who killed her child, the other to the cultivator who made Green cash bug coins!

With resentment born, it became new obsession. Qing Fu’s body solidified again.

She looked at the deity clothed in coldness with deep ink pupils, and bowed deeply again. “May I ask the High God’s name?”

“My name is…” The deity’s mouth curved in an indifferent and wildly arrogant smile. His palm swept over his frost-white robes, instantly transforming them to pitch black.

“Da Xuan!”