After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 26

Inside the Yun family shrine.

This was where the Yun family had worshipped the Medicine Divine Lady for generations. In a shrine of yellow pear wood stood a statue holding a basket with a smile—nearly identical to the one enshrined in the medicine shop.

Incense and candles burned on the offering table, which held pure water, fresh flowers, various melons and fruits, and a basket of medicinal herbs.

Though no one was present in the shrine, a snow-white rabbit lay on the offering table. Its fur was lustrous and pure with a hint of jade, and its eyes were translucent like bright red pomegranate seeds.

The rabbit’s long ears stood erect, listening intently to something.

After a moment, its ears drooped down as it murmured mournfully, “Doesn’t need incense offerings… To be such a powerful High God, how could I possibly gain his favor?”

The rabbit demon had been cultivating for nearly a thousand years. She was just one step away from achieving demon godhood and entering the divine path, yet had been unable to break through for so long. Until nineteen years ago, with guidance from a deity, she learned that her opportunity to become a demon god would come within the next few decades, connected to the child in the womb of this generation’s Lady Yun.

She had carefully watched over Yun Ling for eighteen years without encountering her opportunity, until a few days ago when she sensed an unprecedented clear and pure divine energy from the young girl who had befriended Yun Ling.

Through mysterious perception, the rabbit demon instantly knew that her chance to become a demon god lay with this deity she had never met.

Just traces of the god’s aura clinging to the divine messenger were so clear and pure—that deity must be a powerful righteous god.

But… if this deity was so powerful, how could she possibly win his favor?

She was a rabbit demon, naturally sensitive and shy by nature. Though she had enjoyed offerings at the Yun family for a long time, she had never shown herself to anyone, only sending messages through dreams. To ask her to figure out how to befriend a stranger—that would truly be too difficult for her.

And this deity didn’t even need incense offerings… Only those powerful gods whose divine positions derived from natural forces or celestial geography could do such a thing. She was just a small rabbit demon who hadn’t even achieved demon godhood yet. What could she possibly offer to move such a deity?

The rabbit demon pondered miserably for a long time but still couldn’t think of anything about herself that would be worth such a god’s attention. She could only twitch her nose, jump down from the offering table, and transform into a beautiful woman upon landing.

Her features were ninety percent similar to the goddess statue on the offering table. Without the slightest concern, she moved her own statue to the floor and produced a silk-wrapped wood carving from somewhere, placing it in her shrine.

This wood carving wasn’t painted, far less delicate and refined than the porcelain Medicine Divine Lady statue, but the rabbit demon treated this wooden statue with great care and utmost reverence.

The wood carving was also a statue of a goddess, with perfect and solemn features and a naturally harmonious posture.

After checking that the statue was properly positioned, the rabbit demon carefully folded the silk wrapping and placed it on the table.

She glanced around. This wasn’t the time when the Yun family came to make offerings, so generally no one would come.

After confirming she wouldn’t be seen, she knelt on the prayer cushion and began praying devoutly:

“Wangyue respectfully addresses the Heavenly Maiden Wuyou…”

The Heavenly Maiden Wuyou was also a powerful righteous god who had guided Wangyue toward her opportunity to achieve demon godhood.

But fate was difficult to discern. The Heavenly Maiden Wuyou’s guidance only told her where the opportunity would be, but finding it and seizing it specifically was up to Wangyue herself.

Wangyue had waited hundreds of years for this opportunity, and couldn’t help feeling anxious. Now that the opportunity had appeared, might her fate be somewhat clearer? Could she petition the Heavenly Maiden Wuyou for a bit more guidance?

Wangyue prayed devoutly.

Beseeching divine mercy…

So absorbed was Wangyue in her prayer that she didn’t notice when the shrine door had been opened behind her.

“Who are you!” someone behind her suddenly asked with vigilance.

Startled, Wangyue whipped around, her translucent red eyes wide.

“Medicine Divine Lady?!” Yun Ling stared in amazement.

This is terrible! She’s been seen!

As a deity receiving offerings, caught praying to another god—she’d lost all face, waaah!

Wangyue hastily raised her hands to cover her face: “I’m not! You’ve mistaken me!”

Only after speaking did she remember she knew magic. She quickly formed a hand seal and concealed her form.

But Yun Ling was bold. Seeing a living person vanish before her eyes in a flash, she felt no fear.

When she’d first spotted the stranger, she had indeed been alarmed and angry, but now… that woman looked exactly like the goddess statue—clearly the Medicine Divine Lady who had often sent her dreams since childhood!

Yun Ling approached and only then discovered that the shrine had been replaced with a wooden statue, and that the Medicine Divine Lady statue had been placed on the floor.

“Whose statue is this?” Yun Ling reached out to take down the wooden statue, but before her hand could touch it, the statue vanished with a whoosh.

Two seconds later, the neatly folded silk on the offering table also disappeared.

Yun Ling couldn’t help laughing. She placed the Medicine Divine Lady statue back in the shrine and carefully wiped away the dust with her handkerchief.

“Divine Lady, I asked Ding Qin, and she really is a divine messenger of a deity. However, she said the god she serves doesn’t need incense offerings.”

There was no response, but Yun Ling didn’t mind and continued talking to the air. “Divine Lady, is there something you need to do? Can I help in any way?”

Wangyue had already transformed back into a rabbit. When nervous, she instinctively returned to her original form and hid in the cavern behind the shrine.

Hearing Yun Ling’s inquiry, though Wangyue remained silent, she was considering it. If she became friends with Ding Qin, could she also make contact with that High God? But how should she befriend her… Wangyue looked at Yun Ling with some envy. This little girl she’d watched grow up was so much better at this than she was.

When Yun Ling chatted with others, she never seemed nervous at all. Hmm… perhaps she really could help?

As Wangyue was thinking, she heard Yun Ling ask, “Divine Lady, which deity were you just worshipping?”

Wangyue: ……

Ahhh! She saw it, she saw it! What to do, what to do?

The snow-white rabbit had already begun nervously scratching at the ground.

“Why are you hiding from me, Divine Lady…” Not receiving a response for so long, Yun Ling couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

“Cough…” A soft, delicate female voice sounded in the air. “If you… if you can befriend Ding Qin and help me contact the deity behind her, I’ll help you… what do you wish for?”

Yun Ling’s eyes lit up. “If I can do it, could Divine Lady please talk to my father and tell him not to keep me confined and prevent me from going out lately?”

Wangyue breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something when she heard Yun Ling ask, “Divine Lady, which deity were you just offering worship to? Do we need to add offerings for them in the shrine as well?”

Wangyue: …Why hasn’t this matter been dropped yet! Eep…

……

Meanwhile, Li Chi had also arrived in Shuigu Town, but not for the Yun family’s Medicine Divine Lady.

He came for Meng Huai, the Huai River Divine Lord trapped in the Shuigu Well, and Yu Jian, the ghost god who remained here.

Seven Emotion Triggers had condensed on the karmic threads. Besides healing the injuries of this body, the Seven Emotion Triggers could also stir the seven emotions and manipulate karma. Li Chi had plucked them and made them into qin strings.

The Seven Emotion Triggers moved emotions and karma through sound, their tones arising from the soul consciousness, unaffected by hearing.

But how complex were the emotions condensed on a single karmic thread? When Zhou Xing searched for Tong Dou, she possessed all three emotions of worry, fear, and love in intense measure, with subtle nuances that could be further divided.

If this karmic qin only plucked a single Seven Emotion Trigger at a time, wouldn’t that be too shallow?

Yu Jian’s qin artistry had nearly reached the realm of the Dao, making him perfect to help research the karmic qin. That was why Li Chi had requested the sheet music from him.

Yu Jian had achieved ghost godhood through offerings from later generations of qin masters and possessed some unique divine techniques in the art of the qin. The pale silk scroll recording the sheet music had given Li Chi many ideas, but since his karmic qin currently only had two strings, most of his ideas couldn’t be realized. This wasn’t something Yu Jian could resolve either.

Li Chi’s visit to the Shuigu Well this time was more for Meng Huai, the Huai River Divine Lord imprisoned within.

Given Meng Huai’s great age, he should know many old secrets—exactly what Li Chi needed.

When Li Chi arrived at the Shuigu Well, Yu Jian and Meng Huai were arguing.

Though with Li Chi’s help Yu Jian could remain here long-term, he hadn’t settled into peaceful cultivation as Meng Huai had hoped. Instead, he continued spending much time trying to free him.

“How can you treat cultivation so lightly? If you succeed in your cultivation and gain eternal life, how much time will you have to enjoy? Why must you fixate on these thirty thousand years of mine? Don’t you know you’re sacrificing the greater for the lesser? Moreover, I’ve told you countless times—thirty thousand years for me is merely a long sleep. Don’t measure my time by a mortal lifespan!” The dragon lord in the well was clearly angry.

But Yu Jian showed no fear. “You speak so glibly of the suffering of confinement, of thirty thousand years of imprisonment. Let me ask you—in all your years of life, how many periods of thirty thousand years have you lived through?”

Even though Meng Huai spoke lightly of it, Yu Jian was no fool. A mighty, rushing river forced to be confined in a tiny well—the spiritual energy naturally manifesting as a swimming dragon at the well’s mouth was restless day and night. How could he not see?

“You only see the days that have passed. Why not see the endless future?” Meng Huai said.

“I only know that past days can be observed, but future days are uncertain,” Yu Jian said calmly. “How long have you lived? To treat thirty thousand years of imprisonment so lightly?”

Meng Huai seemed so angered that he thrashed about in the well, long whistling sounds echoing from the Shuigu Well.

Just then Li Chi arrived. Trapped helplessly in the well, Meng Huai hoped Li Chi would persuade Yu Jian.

After hearing everything, Li Chi asked curiously, “Might I know the Divine Lord’s age? Have you witnessed the time before the Divine Court was established?”

The well fell silent for a moment before responding, “The Divine Court was established one hundred twenty thousand years ago. At that time, I was merely a small dragon born in the Huai River, six thousand-some years short of my thirtieth millennium.”

The Divine Court had been established for one hundred twenty thousand years. Li Chi silently noted this. The Huai River Divine Lord was truly ancient. Li Chi wanted to know more, but it wasn’t appropriate to ask too much.

“Before the Divine Court was established?” Yu Jian had never heard of this and asked considerately.

“Before one hundred twenty thousand years ago, there was no divine path of cultivation as it exists today,” Meng Huai said. “Back then, only naturally-born celestial gods existed as deities. Spirit gods that occasionally formed from the thoughts of living beings and ghost gods born from sacrifices weren’t considered divine beings, nor were there orthodox cultivation methods—they could only explore on their own.”

“Later, when the Divine Court was established and widely disseminated methods of divine cultivation, the current divine path came into being. Before the Divine Court was established, I hadn’t cultivated the divine path either. Only later did I commune with the Huai River and become the god of the Huai River.”

“Though the Huai River became the foundation of my cultivation, in the future it will inevitably become an obstacle to my cultivation as well. I have been the Huai River Divine Lord for one hundred twenty thousand years, during which the Huai River has changed course three hundred thirty-two times. Through vast changes and rolling time, what in this world cannot change? In the future, the Huai River too will eventually run dry. Even I am like this—you are only a ghost god who has cultivated for a short time. How dare you be so careless?”

Li Chi listened quietly. The Huai River Divine Lord had the Huai River as the foundation of his cultivation. What was the foundation of this body’s cultivation?

…Don’t you feel that something is missing from this heaven and earth…

The deity in his dream had said.

Li Chi lowered his eyes, concealing the turmoil within.

Just who was he?

Yu Jian beside him noticed nothing, his brow gradually furrowing as he asked Meng Huai, “If the divine path is such a dead end, why cultivate it at all?”

“It’s not like that,” Meng Huai answered. “I comprehended the Way of Water through the Huai River and have already used this to reforge the foundation of my cultivation. Even if the Huai River disappears in the future, at most I will only lose the power of the Huai River. My own comprehension of water will remain, and I can use it to perfect my path and continue my cultivation journey.”

“Like the Great Celestial Gods who were already deities before the Divine Court was established—in the northwest there is a Flame Lord, a naturally-born deity who attained the Dao through fire and commands all flames under heaven.”

“Deities from before the Divine Court was established…” Yu Jian said quietly. “What position would such deities hold within the Divine Court?”

“The Flame Lord doesn’t bear the Divine Court’s seal and doesn’t hold office within the Divine Court,” Meng Huai said. “On the divine path, one can also achieve dignified merit and natural freedom.”

Yu Jian smiled. “You needn’t try to entice me with this. I’m not treating cultivation lightly—I simply have things I value more than cultivation.”

Meng Huai fell silent, the water vapor in the well churning restlessly.

From the side, Li Chi said leisurely, “Divine Lord, don’t be hasty. What concerns Fellow Daoist Yu Jian is your confinement in the well. But since you, Divine Lord, are intent on the Way of Water and have already comprehended water’s dynamic force through the Huai River, why can’t you now use this small well to comprehend water’s static force?”

“Trials and hardships—aren’t they also opportunities?”

The restless water vapor in the well stilled.

“Meng Huai is enlightened! Thank you!” the Huai River Divine Lord said.

He had previously only thought Yu Jian couldn’t let go. Now he understood—what Yu Jian did, wasn’t it also because of his own behavior? He had been unable to calm his heart in the well for two thousand four hundred years, suffering from it. As his close friend, how could Yu Jian not see? How could he possibly persuade Yu Jian?

The great river surged forth; the well water ran deep and still.

Water’s force could be magnificent and vast, yet also gentle and subtle.

With this realization, the atmosphere in the Shuigu Well became entirely different.

Yu Jian played the qin while Li Chi closed his eyes.

As the Huai River Divine Lord gained enlightenment, he too made gains.

Losing his memory and having an unclear identity was ultimately troublesome. But much of what the Huai River Divine Lord had revealed, combined with last night’s dream, finally gave him a reliable guess about this body’s identity.

The deity in his dream had manipulated karma, intending to establish the Underworld as a suppression force. So powerful, and bearing no Divine Court seal—perhaps like that Flame Lord, he had already been a celestial god before the Divine Court was established.

But why would such a powerful deity fall to his current state? And did his friend in the dream, Taiyin… know?

His divine power had barely recovered to ten percent. Though his divine body had been stabilized by two Seven Emotion Triggers, it remained insubstantial. Whether the Underworld, Divine Court, Flame Lord, or Taiyin—all were too distant and too dangerous for him now.

His divine seal stirred gently, and Li Chi heard Ding Qin’s prayer in his heart.

The Yun family’s demon goddess… Li Chi recalled—was she the rabbit demon he’d sensed while wandering through Shuigu Town earlier? Why would she want to curry favor with him?

Li Chi pondered for a moment and decided not to respond.

No one showed favor to a stranger without reason. He needed to be cautious now. Better to wait until the rabbit demon’s purpose became clear.

Li Chi’s white-robed scholar incarnation slowly walked out of Shuigu Town.

People came and went at the city gate. An elderly Daoist priest with white hair and beard passed by him.

The old Daoist wore simple gray-black robes, plain and unpretentious, his spirit restrained, blending unremarkably into the crowd. Yet Li Chi sensed a peaceful and tranquil essence from him.

Such an essence… he had only felt this at the mouth of the Shuigu Well where the Huai River Divine Lord was imprisoned. Though somewhat inferior to Meng Huai, it still meant he had considerable comprehension of the Dao.

Li Chi instinctively examined the Daoist’s karmic threads. Compared to ordinary people, this Daoist had few solid karmic threads—most dispersed into thin, faint mist, naturally pure and tranquil. Among them, the nearest and most solid karmic thread extended into Shuigu Town.

Before he could observe more closely, the Daoist seemed to sense something and turned his head to look.

Li Chi nodded slightly to him, passing by without breaking stride, though his mind churned with thought.

Shuigu Town was located on the border of Lu Kingdom, in a remote area. Why would such a cultivator come here?