After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 40.2

Li Feng ultimately still left with Wei Qiuning.

This matter had nothing to do with marriage alliances between two surnames. The Wei clan acted as if they knew nothing of it, and Li Feng no longer pursued the matter of the Three Lives Drunk.

How he had been poisoned was now also clear. When Li Feng had previously traveled between the Li estate and the Wei clan, though he had also passed through the poison mountain where Mutou resided, the weather was still cold then, the toxic qi not abundant, and he hadn’t lingered in the mountains. Even if he had been poisoned at that time, he would have quickly resolved it afterward.

But this time, rushing in his journey, he had missed the rest stop ahead and had paused for a moment in the poison mountain midway, finding some fruit to fill his stomach. By this time the weather had warmed, and moreover he had forcibly taken human form while his body was weak, so he was invaded by the mountain’s poison. Though the poison lay hidden without manifesting, it had been constantly eroding his strength. Only when catalyzed by the potency of the Three Lives Drunk did it suddenly erupt.

They walked to the main gate and suddenly stopped.

Wei Yu was standing under the shade of a tree to the side, his gaze carrying hidden sorrow.

“Elder brother,” Qiuning called.

Once they parted today, who knew if they would see each other again. She had previously been closest to Wei Yu. When she encountered questions while reading and Father had no leisure, she would always pester Elder Brother to answer them. Wei Yu had never mocked her like others about what use reading these books had, nor had he ever been impatient.

“Fifth sister, is the path we paved for you really so unbearable?”

“Elder brother.” Qiuning’s lips opened and closed several times. She seemed to want to say much, but in the end only shook her head slightly. “That wasn’t a path—that was a kite string.”

……

From the mountain forest to the Wei clan, the journey there had been urgent. From the Wei clan back to the mountain forest, the return journey was unhurried.

Majestic Langyue City, with people coming and going like ants. Mortals with short lives and weak strength relied on mutual support and accumulated generations of effort to establish achievements far beyond their individual capabilities.

Just like tiny ants constructing astonishingly city-like nests extending underground.

But must humans also live like ants?

The Wei clan with their profound heritage and elegant, upright character—how many ant-like people were they built upon?

The return journey was long, no need to rush anymore. They passed through several towns and cities, saw different local customs, traveling from a majestic and prosperous great city back to a peaceful and gentle small town.

……

Recently Shuigu Town had been increasingly peaceful, with everything steadily returning to stability.

Normally speaking, there was nothing more that required Chi Zhenzi’s help here, and he should naturally have left Shuigu Town. However, Chi Zhenzi still lingered.

He and the Earth God were both troubled by the same matter—previously the Dream-Eating Tapir had nearly harmed most of the people in Shuigu Town. If not for a suddenly appearing deity intervening, Shuigu Town now would probably be no better off than Taiwu County. Yet now seven days had passed since that day, and they still didn’t know that deity’s name or place of residence.

The Earth God’s concerns were somewhat lighter—he mainly wanted to thank this deity. Beyond that, it was out of duty. With such a great god dwelling in seclusion around his jurisdiction, he needed to have some understanding.

But Chi Zhenzi was different. He had pursued the Dream-Eating Tapir here. His objective for this trip was ideally to capture the Dream-Eating Tapir alive so he could extract clues about those behind it from the creature’s mouth. If that wasn’t possible, he at least needed to slay this demon beneath his sword to complete his mission.

But now, the Dream-Eating Tapir had fallen into the hands of this suddenly appearing deity, its life or death unknown. How could his mission for this trip be considered complete?

Chi Zhenzi therefore remained in Shuigu Town and wouldn’t leave. The Earth God understood his difficulty. These past days, besides Shuigu Town’s affairs, he had been doing his utmost to search for this deity.

This deity’s aura was distinctive and rare—as long as it appeared, the Earth God would certainly recognize it. However, gods were equally outstanding at concealing their auras. Previously when this deity had come and gone from Shuigu Town multiple times, the Earth God had never once detected it. Even if this deity came to Shuigu Town again now, as long as he was determined not to be discovered, the Earth God had no other recourse.

Several days after saving people, this deity still hadn’t appeared, suggesting he didn’t want to deal with them and wouldn’t voluntarily appear afterward either. The longer time dragged on, the more hope dwindled.

Chi Zhenzi grew anxious in his heart and went to pester the only one who knew a clue—the Huai River Divine Lord.

The Huai River Divine Lord was thoroughly annoyed by this old Daoist. Chi Zhenzi did nothing else, just sat by Shuigu Well all day chanting scriptures, day and night without rest. He chanted in a way that made one drowsy. Just when someone was about to fall asleep, he would start practicing Dao resonance and thunder sounds!

Yu Jian had no heart to pluck strings and very unscrupulously hid in the Earth God temple, leaving the Huai River Divine Lord alone to face this troublesome old Daoist.

The Huai River Divine Lord did want to threaten the Earth God to drive Chi Zhenzi away, but after the Earth God was troubled several times, he learned his lesson and stopped coming here anymore.

Today, however, Chi Zhenzi suddenly stopped. He no longer chanted scriptures but instead lightly tapped the well’s edge in contemplative silence.

“What? Finally going to scram back home?” Huai River Divine Lord said ungraciously.

“Does the divine lord truly not know how to find that deity?” Chi Zhenzi wasn’t annoyed but instead asked peacefully.

“Do you have a repetition complex?” Huai River Divine Lord asked in return.

Chi Zhenzi actually revealed some amusement and asked, “The divine lord has been trapped in this well for so long—don’t you want to come out and get some air?”

“What? You have a method?”

Chi Zhenzi nodded. “I have an art called True-Preserving Avatar Technique. Unlike other avatar techniques, this art can preserve true intent within the created avatar. If one finds materials containing spiritual essence different from one’s own path, one can condense true intent to thereby disguise one’s soul fluctuations, making it difficult to see through. When cultivated to great accomplishment, it’s even indistinguishable from the original body.”

A snort of laughter came from within the well. “The Shuigu Earth God has treated you quite well—and you would betray him like this?”

Shuigu was responsible for guarding him. If he quietly escaped and was later discovered, Shuigu would inevitably face punishment for dereliction of duty.

Chi Zhenzi smiled gently. “Didn’t Fellow Daoist Shuigu previously harbor similar thoughts of betraying me?”

The Huai River Divine Lord laughed once and said, “Fine, hand over the method.”

Chi Zhenzi didn’t hesitate and condensed the cultivation method into spiritual light, casting it into the well.

After a moment, the Huai River Divine Lord reviewed the method and spoke. “That deity has a divine messenger who previously came here with the young lady from the Yun Family Medicine Shop.”

Chi Zhenzi couldn’t help but give a light snort. The Yun Family Medicine Shop—the clue had been right under his nose all along. He shook his head slightly, thanked the Huai River Divine Lord, then left without any lingering attachment.

With Chi Zhenzi gone, Yu Jian also returned.

“How did you manage to send Chi Zhenzi away?” Yu Jian asked curiously.

Meng Huai then repeated what had been said.

“…The Earth God once tried to betray him?” Yu Jian didn’t understand.

Meng Huai laughed once. “Shuigu has an indecisive and cautious temperament. Back then he probably conceived the idea of just driving that Dream-Eating Tapir out of town to be done with it, and this old Daoist detected it.”

Yu Jian was shocked for a long moment. He had always thought the Shuigu Earth God and Chi Zhenzi got along harmoniously.

“…I really couldn’t tell.”

Meng Huai chuckled softly. “These fellows have all lived who knows how many years. With your simple mind, how could you see through them?”

Yu Jian fell silent. When he had been human, he had at least served as an official in Sui territory for several years, yet now received an evaluation of having a simple mind.

He lowered his voice again and asked, “The avatar technique Chi Zhenzi mentioned—can it really let you leave?”

Meng Huai struck out a spray of water and said lazily, “How could it be that easy? Shuigu ultimately didn’t truly betray that old Daoist, so he didn’t intend to truly betray Shuigu either. Though that avatar method can disguise soul aura, this well’s seal contains the Great Celestial Venerable’s power. Moreover, even if these problems were truly resolved, what could emerge would only be an avatar after all.”

But even if only an avatar could emerge, it was still better than now.

Yu Jian was frowning in thought when Meng Huai added, “His method isn’t entirely useless either. As long as the well’s seal can be dealt with a little, I could get an avatar out.”

The well’s seal contained the Great Celestial Venerable’s power—ordinary people couldn’t resolve it, but they happened to know one such being.

The only question was how to move that deity.