After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 29

Shuigu Town, Yun Family Medicine Shop.

The Yun family’s Medicine Divine Lady, Wangyue, was currently concealed within her own divine statue. She didn’t normally reside in the medicine shop, after all there was only a small shrine here, but in the Yun family estate, she had an entire divine hall, which was far more comfortable than this place.

However, starting several days ago, the number of sick people in Shuigu Town had suddenly increased.

At first, the Yun Family Medicine Shop hadn’t noticed anything amiss. They ran a medicine shop and, though they had a resident physician, medical treatment wasn’t their main business.

If townspeople had minor ailments like headaches, fevers, or injuries from falls, they could come directly to the medicine shop, have the resident physician take a look, and grab some medicine. But for difficult or urgent cases, they would still go to the Jiang family’s Medical Hall nearby, where generations had practiced medicine.

The Yun Family Medicine Shop cooperated with the Jiang Medical Hall. If patients mistakenly thought their illness was minor, the Yun Family Medicine Shop would refer them to the Jiang Medical Hall. The medicinal materials in the Jiang Medical Hall were also mostly purchased from the Yun Family Medicine Shop.

Last night, people from the Jiang Medical Hall suddenly came seeking help, saying someone in town had developed an urgent illness, but the medical hall was short one medicinal ingredient.

When the Yun family delivered the medicine, they were also somewhat curious—the medicinal material the Jiang family lacked wasn’t particularly rare, and was a commonly stocked item in their medical hall. How could they be out of it?

When both sides compared notes, they finally learned that starting several days ago, both establishments had received a large number of patients with similar conditions—all caused by excessive mental exhaustion. The Jiang Medical Hall’s medicine reserves weren’t abundant to begin with, which was why they’d been bought out.

This matter was strange. The Jiang family had already burned incense and reported this to the ghost cultivator medical god they worshipped. Because the patients the Yun family had received all had non-severe symptoms, they originally hadn’t noticed the problem. Only after talking with the Jiang family did they realize something was wrong, so after returning they also burned incense overnight as offerings, informing the Medicine Divine Lady of this matter.

The Jiang family’s divine spirit had already reported this upward. After Wangyue learned of the matter, she took up residence in the medicine shop, preparing to see what was suspicious about these similar cases.

However, apart from the sudden loss of large amounts of mental energy in a short period, Wangyue couldn’t detect any problems from them. The Yun family’s resident physician and old shopkeeper had been directed by her to ask this and that, questioning until his mouth was dry, yet still couldn’t find any problems in these patients’ life trajectories.

Yun Ling, out of curiosity, had also stayed in the medicine shop all day today. She poured tea for the old shopkeeper and asked curiously, “Have you figured anything out?”

The old shopkeeper, finally getting a chance to rest for a bit, sipped his tea and said slowly, “I know medicine dealing, not diagnosing patients. What could someone at my level figure out? You’d be better off asking the Medicine Divine Lady.”

The Medicine Divine Lady hadn’t figured anything out either and was currently sulking.

Yun Ling sighed, which made the old shopkeeper beside her laugh. He asked with a smile, “Why is Miss Yun Ling worried?”

“Without knowing the cause, there’s no way to prevent it. This illness came on so fiercely—what if everyone gets sick?”

“Not everyone will fall ill,” Wangyue’s voice sounded faintly in her ear. “Though I can’t find the cause, I can protect you all.”

“It won’t happen,” the old shopkeeper’s words also sounded at the same time. “We have divine protection.”

Yes, they had divine protection. Though this world had evil demons and ghosts that harmed people, it also had deities who rescued and protected all living beings.

But deities weren’t omnipotent either. If something happened that even the deities couldn’t handle, what would ordinary people like them do?

Would the deity behind Ding Qin have a solution? According to what the Medicine Divine Lady said, that deity seemed extremely powerful, but Ding Qin hadn’t come to Shuigu Town in over half a month.

Just as Yun Ling was thinking this and that, she suddenly heard Wangyue’s voice. “The Earth God Daren’s guardian deity has come seeking me. I’m leaving for a moment.”

When the Earth God’s guardian deity came seeking her, Wangyue had assumed it was a response to the Jiang family ghost god’s report, coming about the abnormal patient situation these past two days. However, when the guardian deity arrived, he didn’t mention the patients, but first asked a strange question.

“Are you skilled in dream-related divine arts?”

Wangyue nodded blankly. The guardian deity didn’t explain, but urged her to come to the Earth God’s temple.

Wangyue had no choice but to briefly inform Yun Ling before leaving with the guardian deity.

But if it wasn’t about the abnormal patients, what could it be for?

……

Speaking of this matter, it was actually related to that gray-robed old Daoist who had come to town.

The gray-robed old Daoist’s Dao name was Chi Zhenzi, and he came from Diancang Mountain. Twenty days ago, Chi Zhenzi had pursued an evil demon all the way from Taiwu County in northwestern Lu Kingdom to Shuigu Town.

Chi Zhenzi was a cultivator of open and understanding disposition, his entire aura peaceful and tranquil. Yet even he felt slight ripples in his state of mind, giving rise to anxiety.

Chi Zhenzi couldn’t help but feel anxious—he had pursued the evil demon from Taiwu County all the way to Shuigu Town, already crossing more than half of Lu Kingdom. Shuigu Town was at the border of Lu Kingdom, near the Daqing Mountain range. The Daqing Mountain range stretched for thousands of miles, containing countless secret realms and numerous reclusive cultivators difficult to track. If this evil demon escaped into the Daqing Mountain range, it would be extremely difficult to find again.

For this reason, right after arriving in Shuigu Town, Chi Zhenzi had visited the local Earth God to seek help.

“That demon was originally a Dream-Eating Tapir, born with innate dream divine powers. It enjoys consuming the dreams of living beings and was originally harmless. But somehow this one obtained some evil cultivation method and cultivated a body full of malevolent qi, able to devour the vital essence and spirit of living beings within dreams.”

“If it completely devours one’s vital essence and spirit, they will die in their sleep. In Taiwu County in northwestern Lu Kingdom, it devoured half the county’s people. Now white funeral banners fill the entire county, and every household wails unceasingly.” When Chi Zhenzi spoke to this point, he couldn’t help but sigh.

The Earth God exclaimed in shock, “It devoured half a county’s people?! Is this demon truly so terrifying? What about Taiwu County’s deities?”

Chi Zhenzi shook his head. “Though this demon is powerful, it didn’t accomplish this alone. There are shadows of other dark hands behind it. It used conspiratorial methods and secretly made many arrangements before it could harm half the county’s people.”

“This demon excels at concealment. With the assistance of those behind it, it hid its malevolent qi and disguised itself as a divine path demon cultivator to infiltrate Taiwu County. Therefore, Taiwu County’s deities weren’t initially on guard, and by the time the incident occurred it was already too late. Now the deities there are atoning for their failure by investigating those behind it.”

The Earth God breathed a slight sigh of relief. Aside from a few deities, most deities were most powerful within their own jurisdiction, or in places where their incense and faith were concentrated. Deities could borrow the heavenly and earthly power within their jurisdiction along with incense and faith to exert power many times beyond their own cultivation level. As an Earth God of a region, he was especially clear about this difference.

If this evil demon had defeated Taiwu County’s Earth God and then forcibly devoured half the county’s people, it would be far too terrifying.

Chi Zhenzi continued, “This demon was wounded by Taiwu County’s Earth God and has been pursued by me all along, so it’s in urgent need of recuperation. But its nature is cunning and cautious—it often hides in the gaps between dreams, making it impossible for me to locate. However, I have a method that can detect its location when it crosses between dreams or forcibly devours large amounts of vital essence. Therefore, all along the way it hasn’t dared to take lives, only stealing small amounts of mental energy from dreams.”

“Thanks to fellow Daoist’s hard work along the way, countless lives have been saved,” the Earth God praised and thanked him.

But Chi Zhenzi furrowed his brows and shook his head. “I’m not skilled in dream-related techniques, so I haven’t been able to capture this demon all along. Now we’re approaching the Daqing Mountain range. I fear this demon will go on a killing spree here, forcibly seizing the vital essence and spirits of living beings to heal its injuries, gambling everything on a desperate escape into the Daqing Mountain range.”

The Earth God’s heart jolted, and he asked, “Does fellow Daoist have a method to prevent this disaster?”

Chi Zhenzi helplessly shook his head. “I’m not skilled in dream techniques.”

It was also unfortunate—throughout their chase with him pursuing and it fleeing, they had passed through countless towns and cities, yet hadn’t encountered a single deity skilled in dream divine arts.

Even someone of such composed disposition as Chi Zhenzi couldn’t help but sigh at how inauspicious this journey had been.

Chi Zhenzi calmed his state of mind and said, “For now, the only option is to capture this demon as soon as possible. I wonder, within your divine jurisdiction, are there any deities proficient in dream-related techniques?”

The Earth God frowned in thought. Everyone knew some dream-related techniques, but most were basic, shallow arts like entering dreams or sending dream messages—far from being considered proficient. This was because such techniques didn’t have much use, and knowing some basics was sufficient. Believers also rarely had needs or wishes in this area.

After thinking to no avail, the Earth God had no choice but to summon several guardian deities under his command and have them spread the message to other deities in town. If any were skilled in dream techniques, they must be invited to come.

“There’s one more thing I ask of your divine assistance. This demon’s killing karma is deep. If it enters the Daqing Mountain range, it will be extremely difficult to pursue. Please help me monitor Shuigu Town—we absolutely must not let it escape,” Chi Zhenzi said.

The Earth God nodded solemnly. “This place is within my jurisdiction. Naturally I cannot shirk this duty.”

“Excellent,” Chi Zhenzi thanked him.

Before long, one of the Earth God’s guardian deities returned with a divine path demon cultivator.

The Earth God had an impression of her—this was one worshipped for generations by the Yun Family Medicine Shop, the largest in town.

“You’re skilled in dream divine arts?” the Earth God asked.

“I…” This was Wangyue’s first time meeting the Earth God, and she couldn’t help but feel nervous.

“Don’t be modest. This matter is grave. Just speak truthfully,” the Earth God said.

Wangyue took a breath before saying, “I once temporarily filled in for a while in a sacrificial position with dreams as the divine duty, so I am indeed somewhat more familiar with dream-related techniques than others, but that was many years ago.”

Chi Zhenzi pondered for a moment, then said, “I wish to test fellow Daoist’s capabilities.”

Wangyue looked at the Earth God, nodded in agreement, sat cross-legged, and closed her eyes to enter dreams at the same time as Chi Zhenzi.

A moment later, Chi Zhenzi opened his eyes and shook his head in disappointment. “It falls somewhat short.”

Though Wangyue’s attainment in dream techniques was stronger than others, she fell far short compared to the Dream-Eating Tapir. Forcing her to assist would only harm her.

The Earth God couldn’t help but feel disappointed as well. Seeing that Wangyue seemed to want to say something but hesitated, he asked, “Do you have something to report?”

Wangyue then brought up the problem of the abnormal patients these past few days.

The Earth God understood. “Is this the matter reported by the Jiang family’s ghost god? This is actually the same matter I summoned you for.”

He examined Wangyue for a moment, roughly explained about the Dream-Eating Tapir, then said, “Though you cannot help capture the demon, you are skilled in dream divine arts. Do you have a way to set up formations or make protective talismans so the town’s residents can avoid being disturbed in their dreams?”

Wangyue thought for a moment and nodded. “I’m skilled at preparing medicinal sachets that can protect dreams. But if that Dream-Eating Tapir gets serious, I’m afraid they won’t be able to stop it.”

Chi Zhenzi nodded. “Being able to hinder it somewhat is good.”

He then said to the Earth God, “This matter will trouble your divine self to be more attentive. That demon is cruel and cunning. If we let it escape, it will be a great menace.”

“As it should be,” the Earth God nodded.

After they all left, the Earth God summoned his guardian deities. After pondering for a moment, he said, “When you’re monitoring, if that demon is about to escape from Shuigu Town, let it go.”