After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 24

“The rest of the story is quite dull,” the storyteller said, shaking his head. Seeing that Li Chi showed no signs of being convinced, he turned to sit cross-legged beside the well opening, placed his qin upon his knees, and said, “Very well, since the guest is curious, I shall tell it.”

“After the Huai River Divine Lord was imprisoned, Yu Jian searched everywhere for him to no avail. Finally, with guidance from other deities, he found the Shuigu Well.”

“However, separated by the deep well, though Yu Jian had found this place, he could never meet with the Huai River Divine Lord.”

“Day after day, year after year, Yu Jian eventually grew old and died.”

“Due to his reputation as a skilled qin player during his lifetime, he received worship from later qin masters. Thus, he did not enter reincarnation and became a ghost god.”

“Yu Jian’s name was most renowned in the Sui region. Limited by incense offerings, he could not leave the Sui region for long—only once every one hundred and twenty years could he come to visit the Huai River Divine Lord.”

“The well is dull and tedious. The Divine Lord often sleeps deeply at the bottom, only staying frequently awake every one hundred and twenty years, waiting for Yu Jian’s arrival.”

“I’d rather you didn’t come,” a voice drifted eerily from within the well. “Thirty thousand years is but a long dream to me, but you constantly disturb my good sleep.”

“You can sleep as you please,” Yu Jian replied leisurely. “Why must you wake to acknowledge me?”

The Dragon Lord in the well let out a snort, accompanied by surging water. “If I don’t stay awake, how will I know you’re idly revealing my secrets to others?”

Yu Jian’s slender, jointed fingers plucked the qin strings. The water sounds below instantly ceased.

The qin music rose, and with it, wind was born.

Bamboo leaves struck against each other, spring shoots broke through soil, riverside reeds swayed, willow catkins brushed tenderly against faces.

Great fish swam upstream, bamboo poles struck water, lotus-picking maidens’ songs echoed faintly, long-legged waterbirds gracefully landed on sandbars.

Flying snow like goose feathers, the world vast and boundless, a fisherman in straw cape and bamboo hat, old apes crying long in the mountains.

……

The qin music gradually faded, but the wind did not cease, still flowing like a great river surging forward.

Listening to the landscapes Yu Jian had witnessed over these one hundred and twenty years, the Dragon Lord let out a long sigh. “Why must you persist so stubbornly?”

“Persist?” Yu Jian silenced the lingering notes.

After a moment of silence in the well, a voice said, “This matter had nothing to do with you from the start. No matter what you do, it won’t change the judgment. Moreover, the Great Celestial Venerable is not here—your story is at most told to the guards.”

“Nothing to do with me…” Yu Jian slowly raised his eyelids. “The one who devised the strategy and gave the orders was General Luo Can of Sui. The ones who dug channels and built dams were the Sui army’s soldiers. The ones who trapped the people of Yong City within the city were General Lu and his troops. The one not permitted to interfere with mortal destinies was you, this Huai River Divine Lord. If this matter brought judgment upon you, how can it not bring judgment upon me, the Sui minister who recommended Luo Can?”

“Don’t be unreasonable,” came the voice from the well. “With this effort, you’d be better off cultivating properly, lest when I emerge, I only hear news that your cultivation has dissipated and you’ve reentered reincarnation.”

“Since you know me, why must you persuade me?” Yu Jian’s hand pressed the qin strings. “Better to listen to the qin.”

The qin sound rang clear and resonant.

The wind will never cease, just as the great river eternally surges forward.

The moment the wind ceases is the moment of dissipation; the day the river stops is the day it becomes stagnant water.

So why persuade at all?

Better to listen to the qin.

Wave after wave of water sounds rose from below the well, long whistles undulating.

Li Chi half-closed his eyes, elbows propped on his knees, and around him gradually rippled a clear and pure aura.

The qin evoked emotions, creating mental realms—it actually brought him some insight. His long-troubled heart relaxed. However, this thread of inspiration was too faint; he couldn’t immediately achieve enlightenment, only vaguely felt it was related to karmic threads.

When the piece ended, the long whistles from the well also stopped.

“That High God sitting to the side,” called the voice from the well. “Since you’ve heard the story, could you do me a favor?”

“Please speak,” Li Chi raised his eyes.

“Thirty thousand years is too long; mortals have short lives and forgetful memories. Those who cultivate through mortal faith will also dissipate when that faith fades. If the High God can keep him from entering reincarnation for twenty-seven thousand six hundred years, he may take whatever he wishes from my Huai River Lord’s manor storehouse.”

“Meng Huai…” Yu Jian frowned and interjected.

A claw of wandering dragon energy from above the well pressed down. Yu Jian’s ghost god body was weak and was actually suppressed, unable to speak for a moment, his remaining words unspoken.

“This matter is tedious and prolonged. I cannot do it,” Li Chi shook his head.

“Why not?” asked the voice from the well. “Yu Jian’s aptitude is acceptable. The High God need only teach him proper methods and occasionally guide him to help him escape his predicament. Could it be the High God looks down upon my Huai River Lord’s manor storehouse accumulated over ten thousand years?”

“Why doesn’t the Divine Lord personally teach the proper methods?” Li Chi asked in return.

“If I could…” the well gave a cold laugh, “he can only come once every one hundred and twenty years, staying at most three days. The worry of incense offering collapse is imminent, yet he busies himself daily with matters that may never come to pass. If I could but leave this well, I’d pin him down in my cave dwelling to cultivate for eight hundred or a thousand years. Only when his foundation is stable would I release him. Better than being unable to defeat even some petty demons, pointlessly losing face for me!”

“Though I cannot fulfill what the Divine Lord asks, I can help the Divine Lord achieve his wish,” Li Chi smiled.

The well fell silent for a moment. “Can you help me leave this well?”

Li Chi glanced at the bagua at the well’s mouth. The seal hidden within the well had nowhere to hide from his sight. Breaking it seemed not particularly difficult.

Yet he shook his head with a smile. “Though I can break the seal, if the Divine Lord leaves like this, it should count as prison escape, shouldn’t it? Aren’t you afraid of the trouble that would follow?”

A splash of water waves came from below. “How do you propose to help me?”

“I can make Fellow Daoist Yu Jian stay in this place for a long time without worry of his cultivation dissipating. The Divine Lord can personally guide his cultivation without relying on others’ hands.”

The wandering dragon energy above the well had already released its claw. Yu Jian could now speak again but didn’t object further. His eyes turned toward Li Chi with a hint of hope.

“Please speak, High God. If it can be done, I will naturally offer generous gifts,” came the voice from below the well.

“Generous gifts are unnecessary,” Li Chi laughed lightly. “Today, having the fortune to hear this qin music counts as repayment enough.”

His fingers lightly moved, and the karmic threads connecting Yu Jian to incense faith suddenly changed.

Yu Jian’s ghost god form trembled. He felt the incense offerings that had been drifting and faint due to distance suddenly condensed beside him, helping his weak divine body solidify once more.

From now on, he would no longer be limited by incense offerings and unable to meet.

Li Chi then touched the spiritual essence around them, establishing a small spirit pool beside the well that would benefit ghost god cultivation.

After Yu Jian closed his eyes to organize himself for a moment, he opened them and bowed to Li Chi. “High God’s great kindness! If there is any way to repay it, I hope you will not refuse.”

Li Chi made an acknowledging sound. “If Fellow Daoist is willing, write a qin score for me. When I occasionally come to hear the qin in the future, I hope Fellow Daoist will not refuse.”

“Naturally so!” Yu Jian said. His fingers brushed the qin strings but produced no sound. Threads of qin music were woven into silk-like musical notation, finally forming a thin, pale silk cloth. The qin score appeared and disappeared upon it at will, and plucking the hidden patterns could also transmit qin music.

“This contains all the qin pieces I have played with this qin over a thousand years,” Yu Jian presented the thin silk. “Though it cannot harmonize with heaven and earth, it can still be listened to.”

Li Chi smiled as he accepted it, his gaze sweeping over the karmic threads connecting them.

Finding a kindred spirit was joy, reuniting after long separation was joy, resolving difficulties was joy—with just a bit more opportunity, he might be able to harvest another Seven Emotion Trigger.

Li Chi bid them farewell, no longer disturbing this pair of long-separated kindred spirits in their reunion.

He could sense the Huai River Divine Lord’s power. Even imprisoned in the well, the faint aura emanating from the well’s mouth could already manifest in the form of a wandering dragon and even suppress Yu Jian.

While listening to the qin, because he had gained some insight, he had leaked a bit of his aura, allowing the Huai River Divine Lord to recognize him as a deity.

If the Huai River Divine Lord were not imprisoned in the well, with his current severely injured body, Li Chi truly wouldn’t want to deal with him. But now, with one imprisoned and one severely injured, they were fairly matched.

However, for a deity as powerful as the Huai River Divine Lord to be imprisoned in a well by the Divine Court, there was truly no other recourse.

Li Chi tested him by offering to break the seal, but the Huai River Divine Lord didn’t respond, clearly lacking confidence in dealing with the Divine Court’s investigation should he leave the well.

The Divine Court, the Divine Court…

He needed to find a way to understand what exactly this system was, and also that Divine Court seal.

If deities without the Divine Court seal were also normal, he needn’t worry about it anymore. But if every deity had one… that would truly be troublesome.

The Huai River Divine Lord was ancient and powerful, surely knowing many things. Befriending him might allow him to fill in much of the information he himself lacked.

However, this was also something that needed to be done slowly. Though imprisoned in the well, the Huai River Divine Lord had sharp eyes. If he detected something amiss, that would be bad.

As for the Huai River Lord’s manor storehouse, Li Chi was naturally curious. Who knew how many rare treasures it contained—perhaps there were items that could resolve his current predicament.

But with his current limited abilities, excessive greed would surely invite disaster.

While Li Chi was carefully considering the Huai River Divine Lord, the Divine Lord in the well was also discussing Li Chi with Yu Jian.

“How did you encounter him?” Meng Huai asked Yu Jian.

Yu Jian recounted the teahouse and subsequent events.

After listening, Meng Huai sighed. “Your foolish method actually attracted a true god.”

“What? Does this High God have an extraordinary origin?” Yu Jian asked.

“I don’t know his origin,” Meng Huai said. “His aura is extraordinarily pure, rare in this world. The means by which he channeled incense offerings for you—I can’t discern even half a clue. This alone is exceptionally remarkable.”

“Moreover, the seal in this well contains the Great Celestial Venerable’s power. He claims he can break it—I don’t know if that’s true or false. But observing his subsequent methods in establishing the spirit pool for you, I know his words are at least seventy percent genuine.”

After pondering for a long while, Yu Jian suddenly said, “Such a deity should also hold an extraordinary position in the Divine Court. If we asked him to help, could he reduce some of your sentence?”

A long laugh came from the well. “He doesn’t even care for my manor storehouse—what else do you have that could move him?”

Yu Jian fell silent.

“I originally wondered if he had some ulterior motive,” the well continued. “But you’re merely a small ghost god newly born not long ago, and I’m imprisoned here with nothing to scheme for. Thinking it over, only my storehouse accumulated over tens of thousands of years would be worth coveting. Yet when I tested him with this, he showed no interest whatsoever.”

“Such a deity might simply be wandering the mortal world. Hearing your qin music, he was momentarily moved and thus acted to fulfill a karmic connection.”

Yu Jian smiled bitterly. “Only this one skill with the qin is worth anyone’s notice.”

“Your qin artistry has nearly reached the Dao—why must you feel dejected?”

Yu Jian silently stroked the qin’s surface.

The voice from the well continued, “Sooner or later you’ll understand—your future is limitless.”

“Is that truly so?” Yu Jian said softly.

The well replied faintly, “I was born a Dragon Lord. By the time I take a nap, mortals have already gone through generations. If it weren’t so, why would I befriend and know you?”

Yu Jian smiled, his fingers brushing the qin strings.

The qin music rose.

Wind passed through the bamboo forest.

Bamboo branches swayed in the wind, trees sprouted new buds. Below the trees, the soup-noodle stall lifted its pot lid, releasing a cloud of white steam. Pedestrians came and went with laughter and conversation—Shuigu Town had become lively.

Spring vitality surged, joy arose naturally.

Wind rose and clouds gathered. Li Chi rode the wind in the void, floating ethereally until he was above Liquan Village.

Water vapor hung low in the air. Li Chi looked down.

Fields were neat and orderly, paths crisscrossed, farmers like ants.

Seeds had been sown and couldn’t lack water, but this year rainfall was not abundant. They had to work harder, carrying water daily for irrigation.

Water from ladles fell on newly sprouted seedlings, and the farmers’ thoughts condensed and rose.

May the seedlings grow strong, may heaven send rain soon—please don’t let this be a drought year…

Rice stalks green and new shoots growing, spring breeze soft and heavy with the weight of rain. Between heaven and earth, the harmonious yang energy of spring was being born.

Li Chi raised his eyes and suddenly descended into the Li Manor in the mountains, sitting cross-legged on the great blue stone.

The Big Dipper pointed east, spring entered the world, and vitality burst forth.

Li Chi’s spirit harmonized with heaven and earth, generating the warm and harmonious yang energy. As his energy rubbed against the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, heaven and earth suddenly rumbled. Thunder filled with vitality flashed, and spring rain poured down.

Li Chi opened his eyes, a smile on his lips.

The Awakening of Insects had arrived.