A thunderous roar like tearing mountains and shattering earth reached the base of the hill. The waters of the Nai River had already engulfed the foothills, surging ever higher, spreading up the slopes and eroding everything in their path!
Xu Ying and the snake demon, Yuan Qi, scrambled back into the ruined temple one after the other. A bone-chilling cold abruptly swept over them. Dazed and sluggish, the serpent nearly slipped into hibernation from the frost.
"Yuan Qi, circulate your qi and blood! Don't freeze to death!" Xu Ying warned loudly.
They mobilized their qi and blood to warm themselves, yet the frigid chill seemed to bore straight into the marrow of their bones, difficult to dispel even with circulating vitality.
Shivering, Xu Ying drove his Great Sun body tempering, and his body finally felt a sliver of warmth.
He clapped his hands together forcefully before his chest, then rubbed them across each other. A spark burst from his palms, reigniting the dead campfire.
Man and snake drew near the flames, only to see the campfire turn a sickly green. From the emerald blaze, the spectral faces of old men surfaced every few moments, their eyes rolled back in silent shrieks of agony—an unsettling sight to behold.
"No wonder this temple fell into ruin! The feng shui here is dreadful!" Yuan Qi trembled with fright.
At the foot of the hill, a yellow-robed man led five bizarre figures, racing up the slopes as fleet as wind.
"True Yang qi and blood, inviolable by yin and evil!"
Chanting incantations under his breath as he sprinted, the yellow-robed man suddenly erupted with concentrated True Yang essence from within, repelling the yin and evil aura brought by the Nai River.
His True Yang qi and blood was exceptionally robust and domineering, radiating unbearable heat like a massive furnace, yet it carried a heavy demonic air.
Under the influence of his demon qi, the five odd figures beside him could no longer maintain human form. One by one, they involuntarily revealed their true appearances, transforming into massive beasts!
This yellow-robed man was none other than the mountain god of this rocky hill, named Huang Siping. He usually resided in the mountain shrine and was revered as the Stone Mountain God. The five beasts under him were demons tasked with guarding his shrine—nothing more than wild foxes, river deer, stray dogs, and mountain cats that had attained spirit.
They guarded the rocky hill and, under orders from the City God, had been searching everywhere for Xu Ying's whereabouts. Around midnight, they had planned to return to the shrine, only to be drawn here by the resounding elephant roar unleashed when Yuan Qi broke through.
They had barely begun their ascent when the Nai River came surging after them, severing their retreat and leaving them no choice but to run for their lives toward the peak!
Huang Siping urged his monsters faster, but the Nai River rose at a terrifying speed, soon engulfing a fox demon.
The moment the fox demon fell into the water, its fur and flesh dissolved in an instant. Nothing remained but a dried skeleton swept away by the churning waves.
The demons felt their scalps tingle with terror as they sprinted desperately. Under the moonlight, shadows flickered not far off. Huang Siping glanced over, startled. "The straw-headed deities from Deng Family Store, Wu Family Ridge, and Old Wharf! They came too!"
The deities of villages and towns were straw-headed deities—virtuous mortals whose souls were deified upon death and housed inside statues. Huang Siping, by contrast, was a great demon who had cultivated the martial path to its seventh tier and received an official title as mountain god. He had essentially attained godhood with a living flesh-and-blood body.
Though both absorbed the incense of common folk and enjoyed sacrificial offerings, they were fundamentally different.
The straw-headed deities fled in panic, yet one after another was swallowed by the rolling surges of the Nai River. Their statues shattered into pieces, and their souls were dragged into the depths, vanishing without a trace.
The remaining four demons beside Huang Siping met the same fate, consumed one by one by the river.
Just as Huang Siping reached the ruined temple, he spotted another figure rushing toward it from the opposite side—a man dressed in black-and-red official robes.
The two came face-to-face, each startled, and instantly fell into defensive postures.
"So it is Warden Wei." The yellow fur on Huang Siping's face twitched slightly.
The official in black and red was the very man who had rescued Ding Quan: Wei Chu, one of Lingling County's eight prison wardens. During the day, he had led two fellow wardens in pursuit of Xu Ying and saved Ding Quan, yet they had failed to find their quarry.
He, too, had been drawn by the elephant roar from Yuan Qi's breakthrough. But right after he climbed the hill, the Nai River unexpectedly shifted its course, and the surging waters swallowed his two colleagues!
The loss of two Nuo masters in rapid succession had thoroughly shaken Wei Chu.
"So it is the Stone Mountain God," Wei Chu said, his eyes twitching with a hollow smile.
The City God and County Magistrate Zhou Yang had never seen eye to eye. Both sought mastery over Lingling and had engaged in open and covert struggles for years. As a result, the county officials and the various deities under the City God stood at odds.
Xu Ying's deicide case had only heightened tensions, leading both factions to issue kill-on-sight orders against each other!
Wei Chu feared no mere straw-headed deity, but Huang Siping was a demon king granted godhood. His formidable strength made him a dangerous rival.
Huang Siping carried a zhang-long, hundred-fold refined steel horse-cleaving sabre strapped across his back. Drawing the blade to bolster his courage, he said, "The Nai River has shifted course, bringing disaster upon us all. Warden Wei, if we fight, both of us will perish. If we join hands to weather this storm, there may still be a way out. What do you say?"
Wei Chu frowned and glanced behind Huang Siping. The Nai River was still rising, poised to swallow the ground beneath their feet. The only high ground left on this rocky hill was the ruined temple before them.
If they clashed now, either of them could slip into the water and meet a gruesome end.
Wei Chu nodded. "With catastrophe at hand, we must indeed help each other. Let us put past grievances aside."
The two stepped into the temple, only to find a youth and a giant serpent warming themselves beside a campfire. The flames flickered an eerie green, continually spitting forth wailing apparitions.
"Criminal Xu Ying, do you recognize this official?" Wei Chu demanded haughtily, assuming an imposing air of authority.
Xu Ying hurriedly clamped down on the silver hidden in his sleeve, his guard up. "Lord Wei, I have no money for you."
He had seen officials extort money before. Lowly commoners had to put on flattering smiles and present the coin with both hands. The officials would look away, putting on airs of dignity, while their hands quietly pocketed the silver, tossing out some perfunctory remark like 'do not do this next time.'
Xu Ying had never owned any money before. Now that he had finally gotten his hands on a few pieces of broken silver, he intended to save them as betrothal gifts to marry a wife after fleeing to another region. He had no intention of handing them over.
"Insolent knave! What is that tucked in your sleeve?" Wei Chu sneered. "I have cultivated the Fiery Golden Eyes; one glance is all it takes to know whether you carry silver! But this official cannot accept your bribes. The crime you committed is far too grave for me to pardon. The county magistrate has ordered your death."
Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief, visibly brightening. "As long as your lordship wants my life and not my money, that's fine. If you want my life, I can just beat you to death. But if you wanted money, I truly would hate to part with it."
Wei Chu snorted and glanced at Huang Siping. "Does the Stone Mountain God want his life or his money?"
"I want both!" Huang Siping said indifferently. "Lord City God ordered his death, and serving him, I naturally cannot demand a bribe. But after I kill him, I will search his corpse for coin. I don't work for free!"
Wei Chu narrowed his eyes and quietly slipped a hand into his sleeve, chuckling. "The rebel Xu Ying murdered Squire Jiang. That is a matter for the court of the living."
The yellow fur on Huang Siping's face bristled, his grip tightening around the refined horse-cleaving sabre. "The Jiang Family Deity was appointed by the Nether Court. Xu Ying's act of deicide transgressed the laws of the underworld."
Wei Chu gave a hollow laugh, pulling his hand from his sleeve. "The Nai River is passing through. United, we survive; divided, we fall. Stone Mountain God, let us each take a step back and settle this dispute after the Nai River passes. How about it?"
Huang Siping nodded in silence.
Wei Chu sat down beside the campfire, casting a sidelong glance at Xu Ying. "As a snake catcher, you possess decent skill. Why stoop to becoming a bandit?"
Xu Ying stared into the campfire at the ghostly faces screaming amid the flames, his mouth twitching slightly. "The divine lords and official lords gave me no way to live. A lowly commoner like me has no choice but to kill both and carve out a path of his own."
Huang Siping sat opposite Wei Chu, rare amusement creasing his face. "Xu, you great philanthropist, you were born with a knack for getting your head cut off."
Wei Chu laughed. "That is untamed demonic nature. Xu Ying, your feral instincts cannot be reined in. Even if you hadn't committed a crime today, you would have sooner or later. Look at the Stone Mountain God—he was tamed remarkably well."
Huang Siping remarked flatly, "Warden Wei, you are a dog for the Zhou clan, and I am a dog for the Nether Court. We are birds of a feather. Why call the kettle black?"
Wei Chu smiled, unbothered.
Xu Ying stood and peered outside the temple. The roaring waters continued to climb, already lapping at the dilapidated temple's threshold. The surge was beginning to slow, but before long, it would still submerge the ruins.
He scanned their surroundings. Aside from this temple, there was no higher ground to escape the Nai River.
"Do you two lords know why the Nai River diverted its course?" Xu Ying turned and asked.
Huang Siping and Wei Chu sat before the haunted campfire, warming themselves, their faces washed in an eerie green glow.
Wei Chu's smile turned somewhat grim. "Ancient legend says that a river called the Nai flows through the underworld, carrying the souls of the dead. Its currents follow their own laws through the nether realm and do not easily veer off course. Only one thing can make the Nai River divert."
"What is that?" Xu Ying inquired.
Wei Chu's eyes glinted emerald in the firelight. He beamed. "Massive death in the realm of the living."
Xu Ying frowned in confusion. "Why would massive death cause the Nai River to divert?"
Wei Chu offered no answer.
Huang Siping spoke up. "The Nai River is the great channel that guides departed souls. Originally, its tributaries reached into every corner of the mortal realm. The daily tally of deaths was fixed, and the tributaries ferried them along in due order. But if catastrophic casualties occur—far exceeding the normal tally—the tributaries cannot cope. The main trunk of the Nai River diverts its course to accommodate the swell!"
He paused, then added, "In other words, a massive loss of life has occurred in the direction the Nai River is flowing."
Xu Ying looked toward the flow of the floodwaters. They were rushing westward.
*What in the world is happening west of Lingling? Why has the underworld's Nai River spilled into the mortal realm?*
Xu Ying pressed further, "Is there not supposed to be order between yin and yang? The underworld belongs to the dead, and the mortal world to the living, each governed by its own laws. Why has the Nai River invaded the living realm?"
"A fine question!" Wei Chu praised, though he did not answer, for he did not know either.
Huang Siping also lapsed into silence.
Yuan Qi could hold his tongue no longer and chimed in, "The nether realm's invasion of the mortal world began a very long time ago. Diversions of the Nai River have happened before. Eight hundred years ago, the Nai River shifted course once, and the underworld invaded the realm of the living. Later, in the fourteenth year of Tianbao, it diverted again."
Wei Chu and Huang Siping turned to look at him in unison, their eyes filled with suspicion.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao, the Prince of Dongping rebelled, resulting in catastrophic slaughter; such bloodshed could indeed have prompted the river's diversion. But as for what had occurred eight hundred years ago, even an ancient demon like Huang Siping knew nothing of it.
How could a minor snake demon know so much?
"My family owns many books, and I love to read," Yuan Qi said with refined poise. "Three generations of my family have shared a passion for study, amassing countless volumes over three hundred years. My family comes from a scholarly tradition, a household of letters..."
Wei Chu cut him short. "What damn use is reading books? Can it make you an official?"
Feeling aggrieved, Yuan Qi fell silent.
The floodwaters finally breached the temple's entrance. Xu Ying and the others sprang to their feet, each leaping onto the temple roof.
Yet they all knew that if the water kept rising, the temple would inevitably be swallowed, and the Nai River would dissolve their flesh and blood!
Wei Chu's gaze flickered as he stole glances at Xu Ying, Huang Siping, and Yuan Qi. *The Nai River devours flesh and blood, but it seems unable to melt bone. If the waters rise any higher, my only choice is to kill them and use their skeletons as stepping stones!*
Suddenly, he caught Huang Siping's shifty gaze scanning him in turn. His heart turned cold. *The Stone Mountain God is thinking the exact same thing!*
The water surged higher, gradually flooding the Mahavira Hall. From the rear courtyard, floodwaters were also encroaching, creeping toward the stone well beneath the bell in the pavilion.
Just as Wei Chu prepared to strike and use their corpses as footholds, a dazzling radiance erupted from within the ruined temple, soaring straight into the sky and nearly blinding them all!
The brilliant divine light shot into midair and burst apart with a resounding crash!
*Clang—!*
A deafening chime reverberated across the mountain. The exploded light coalesced into an immense bell-shaped aura, descending like an overturned bell around the ruined temple. As the reverberations rippled outward, they forced back the encroaching floodwaters of the Nai River!
Perched atop the roof, Xu Ying and the others looked around in sheer shock. The great bell encircling the temple had taken on tangible form—a thick barrier of light!
Peculiar patterns flickered across its surface, appearing, vanishing, and reforming into intricate designs.
Beyond this radiant bell, the Nai River surged with terrifying fury, rising ever higher. Battered by the torrents, ferocious wraiths slammed violently against the barrier, only to be shattered by the bell's resonance and dissolved into wisps of green smoke!
Xu Ying and the others felt the surrounding air turn warm again, shedding the bone-chilling frost from before.
"It's the bell in the pavilion in the rear courtyard!"
Realizing what had happened, Xu Ying looked back. Brilliant light streamed from beneath the rust-caked surface of the bronze bell hanging inside the pavilion.
The group leapt down from the roof and approached the pavilion. Wei Chu murmured in bewilderment, "To think such an extraordinary treasure was hidden within a dilapidated temple... But why was a treasure like this left hanging here, unclaimed?"
Suddenly, the rocky hill beneath their feet began to shudder violently, the ground shaking as if the earth were overturning!
Xu Ying, Wei Chu, and Huang Siping quickly grabbed hold of the pavilion's pillars to steady themselves, their faces clouded with suspicion and dread.
The bronze bell hanging in the pavilion blazed even brighter, its dazzling light piercing down into the dark well. As the pitch-black depths were illuminated, Xu Ying caught sight of massive, iron-black scales shifting below!
It was the body of an enormous, colossal creature!
He leaned over the rim to look closer.
Abruptly, the iron scales ceased moving and parted to either side.
Down in the pitch-black well, a slit-pupiled blue eye filled the entire bottom, staring eerily up at him.
In an instant, countless whispering voices flooded Xu Ying's mind, bombarding his consciousness with tens of thousands of frantic thoughts.
Chapter 7