After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 21

“Congratulations, fellow daoist.” Li Chi said with a smile.

Hou Li bowed gratefully. “I thank the High God for your guidance.”

Hou Li no longer knew how to express his gratitude. Since High God Li Chi had arrived at this place, he had first rescued him from the brink of dispersal, then helped him achieve spiritual completeness so he no longer needed to rely on human vital energy, and now had guided him to understand himself and no longer be confined to his original form.

Three great kindnesses, each equivalent to giving him a new life—how could he ever repay them?

Li Chi merely smiled and waved his sleeve, seeming not to care at all.

Chattering and squeaking sounds came from the mountain forest. Several large monkeys emerged from the woods, each with a large gourd tied to its back with grass vines. The gourds were plugged with wooden stoppers, with slight gaps around the gourd mouths where drops of wine seeped out, releasing a mellow and sweet wine fragrance.

When the large monkeys saw Li Chi, they untied the gourds and presented them to him, bowed twice, then turned and disappeared into the mountain forest.

Seeing this, Hou Li sighed inwardly. Even the wild monkey tribe knew to repay the High God’s kindness in teaching with spirit wine—could he really have nothing to offer?

But everything he possessed, the High God did not need; everything he could do, the High God could do himself. Currently, the only thing that could interest the High God was the Li family’s book collection.

But divine beings were spiritually wise and penetrating—those books that ordinary mortals might not finish reading even if they spent their entire lives, for the High God would only take about a month’s effort.

Once the books were all read, what else would he have to repay the High God with…

Several days passed. Jin Yan still had not returned, but through the karmic thread, Li Chi could know that nothing had happened to him. During these days, Old Monkey came daily with the other monkeys to cultivate and present spirit wine, and Ding Qin had also gone down the mountain several times.

Using divine arts, Ding Qin had solved quite a few troubles for the people of Liquan Village. Although most were trivial matters, she gradually became familiar with the villagers.

However, there were no suitable opportunities in Liquan Village for Li Chi to collect Seven Emotion Triggers.

Seven Emotion Triggers condensed on karmic threads and had harsh conditions for their formation. In places with many people, the probability of finding them might be greater.

The injury Li Chi bore was strange. No matter what methods he tried, he could not make the wound heal. Only after collecting Seven Emotion Triggers did this injury show signs of mending.

He should go to a place with more people to take a look.

It so happened that in recent days, the people of Liquan Village were preparing to form a group to go to Shuigu Town together. Ding Qin had already arranged with them to go along.

She had picked quite a bit of medicinal herbs from the mountains in advance, planning to exchange them for money in Shuigu Town. On one hand, the things she had previously obtained from Liquan Village were incomplete; on the other hand, Ding Qin wanted to repair the entire Li Manor, and while Zheng Liang’s family was willing to make offerings, the full repair would cost a great deal and couldn’t all be borne by others.

Ding Qin told Li Chi what she was thinking.

“Go if you wish.” Li Chi said.

He slightly raised his hand, and three wooden talismans flew out from his sleeve.

When he had retrieved Tongdou last time, Li Chi had come into contact with the wooden talismans that Great King Yishan had bestowed on the villagers of Liquan Village. He had memorized the talisman inscriptions. After studying them, he made some adjustments and created wooden talismans using leftover materials from carving the qin from the old pine.

Two of the wooden talismans could sense malicious intent, burn demons and ghosts, and form protection. The other wooden talisman contained a strand of Li Chi’s sword qi.

Though the power the wooden talismans could bear was limited, they were still much stronger than Ding Qin herself.

“If you encounter trouble, you can borrow my power through the divine seal.” Li Chi instructed.

Ding Qin happily agreed and went down the mountain with light, bouncing steps, carrying her things to find the Liquan Village group.

Li Chi watched her joyful, bouncing gait and slowly shook his head with a smile. After all, she was still a child who always loved liveliness.

Li Chi raised his hand. His long sleeve swept across, and when it fell, his entire appearance had changed.

His flowing wide robes transformed into ordinary long garments, his noble countenance’s radiance was concealed, and even the clear, pure spiritual qi around his body was restrained without the slightest leak.

Anyone who saw Li Chi now would only think he was a scholar with clear, bright eyes.

Li Chi also planned to go to Shuigu Town. He still did not understand this world very well, and now was an opportunity to learn about it. The matter of Seven Emotion Triggers was of great importance and required him to make the trip personally to determine how to proceed with the next step. Moreover, Ding Qin was still young, and although she had a resilient nature, neither of them understood Shuigu Town. For the first time, it was better to watch over her.

However, Li Chi did not plan to go in his own identity.

First was for caution’s sake, and second… if he went in his true appearance, not only would Ding Qin and the people of Liquan Village be unable to relax, but even in Shuigu Town, he would attract too much attention.

Li Chi finished changing his appearance. With one step, he vanished from where he stood.

He traveled on the wind, arriving much earlier than the Liquan Village group.

Outside Shuigu Town was a circle of high, broad walls. Soldiers guarded the top of the walls, and guards were also stationed by the city gate, checking the items carried by those entering the town.

Li Chi looked up to observe the qi. Unlike Liquan Village, the qi above Shuigu Town was mixed and chaotic, containing both the auras of deities and the auras of demons and ghosts. Without examining closely, just a rough scan revealed no fewer than ten different auras.

Jin Yan had previously said that large towns had many gods and incense was hard to come by—this was indeed no empty claim.

Just this small Shuigu Town had so many deities. Under heaven, who knew how many cultivated the divine path?

He only didn’t know whether all these deities possessed that seal from the Divine Court?

If so, what kind of colossal entity must the Divine Court be! Without the Divine Court’s seal, he would need to hide himself deeply.

Li Chi concealed his aura well and entered the city disguised as an ordinary person.

It was still early, so not many people were entering the city, but Shuigu Town already had a lively atmosphere.

The shops facing the street had already opened their doors. Various breakfast stalls lined the roads, and peddlers carried their loads, hawking their wares as they walked the streets and alleys.

There was a small vendor who had rushed into the city early and hadn’t eaten yet. A small child sat on his cart, smelling the aroma of buns from the roadside and drooling while biting his finger.

The vendor took out a few copper coins to buy a meat bun and handed it to the child, while he himself pulled out a flatbread from his bosom to gnaw on. The child pulled at his sleeve to offer him the bun, so he took a bite of nearly half the edge of the bun, revealing the full filling inside before pushing it back to the child.

A scene of ordinary human life.

Li Chi slowly strolled about, touring the entire town.

During this circuit, Li Chi saw two temples and seven shrines. Additionally, there were door god images pasted on doors and deity statues that households and shops worshipped themselves. In the temples, besides the main deities, there were also guardian gods.

Different deities had different functions and different auras. Kitchen gods, wealth gods, medicine gods, earth gods… Among them, some were true deities who had already embarked on the divine path, while others were merely monsters with some special abilities in these areas. For example, the Medicine Goddess statue Li Chi saw in a medicine shop had the aura of a rabbit demon skilled in medicine circling around it.

In old tree hollows, beneath caves, inside ancient wells, and above roof beams, there were often hidden demon auras as well.

In this small Shuigu Town, how many deities and human spirits, demons, and ghosts cultivating the divine path were there—far more than just a dozen?

Among these divine path cultivators in Shuigu Town, the two temples were most important. One temple enshrined the lord of the Divine Court called the “Great Celestial Venerable,” and also housed other famous deities from the Divine Court. The other enshrined the local earth god, which also gathered many demons and ghosts as guardian gods to be worshipped within.

If compared to human official positions, the Great Celestial Venerable was like the ruler of a nation, while the earth god was the local county magistrate. Though the Great Celestial Venerable was supreme, it was the earth god who directly managed this area.

Yet as Li Chi made this circuit, he discovered that the large and small divine path cultivators in this town were not subordinate to the earth god.

Different divine path cultivators each cultivated independently. Except for the guardian gods who clearly relied on the earth god, there seemed to be no hierarchical management relationships among the rest, nor any clear system of division of labor.

It was like the medicine shops and medical halls in this town—the Medicine Goddess worshipped at the Yun family medicine shop was a rabbit demon, while the one worshipped at the Zhou family medical hall was a ghost god formed by a deceased famous physician.

Li Chi pondered thoughtfully. If this was the case, he might also be able to transform into a divine path cultivator and insert himself into Shuigu Town.

However, before that, he still needed to probe the situation in Shuigu Town to avoid arousing suspicion in unclear circumstances.

Li Chi turned into a teahouse. Inside, quite a few people were drinking tea and chatting. The first floor had a wooden platform for performers.

When Li Chi entered, a singing performance had just ended on the stage. After collecting tips, a storyteller came up to replace them.

A waiter came forward. “What would the guest like?”

Li Chi ordered a pot of tea with a plate of pastries and chose a seat on the second floor.

Downstairs, the storyteller struck his wooden block and leisurely recited an opening poem:

“I recall last spring, when by the river we did meet. Today I return to visit, but see no kindred spirit. Only a well remains, causing me such sorrow and grief!”

“Everyone knows that in Shuigu Town there is a well called Shuigu Well. Its water is sweet and refreshing, warm in winter and cool in summer, but occasionally roaring sounds come from within. Legend has it that a flood dragon is trapped and locked inside.”

“In the past, this roaring from the well occurred only once every month or even several years, but in recent days, the roaring has become more frequent. Now it happens almost daily. Do you all know the reason?”

Li Chi couldn’t help but become interested. When he had toured Shuigu Town earlier, most of the auras he saw could be identified, except for the aura in Shuigu Well, which was hazy and unclear.

He wanted to hear whether this storyteller truly knew what was happening, or if he was just making up a story.