Sacrificing to the River God?

A sacrifice, and paying money? When he heard about coughing up money, Liang Qu's brow furrowed instinctively. In the old days, fishermen used primitive tools. Whenever a storm hit, their personal safety on the water faced immense danger. Thus, they came to revere the mythical maritime deities as protectors of life and bringers of abundant harvests. The ceremonies were held frequently, roughly twice a year—once in winter or spring, and once on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. The winter and spring ceremonies had no fixed date; they were usually held for reasons just like last night's event. But as for paying money... Liang Qu finally understood. The "river god" Uncle Li spoke of was simply the great demon from the previous night. To ordinary folk, however, there was no difference—both were mighty beings far beyond human strength to resist. He was reluctant, but there was no helping it. Not paying for a river god sacrifice was something not even someone like Scabby-Head Zhang would dare do. "Uncle Li, about how much will it cost?" Li Dakang thought it over. "I haven't heard of any deaths this time. If a household has an able-bodied adult male, it'll probably be around a hundred wen. That's usually the figure in past years. Only the Double Sixth ceremony is more grand, so they ask for more." Liang Qu breathed a sigh of relief. He still had three taels left from the silver Master Yang had given him, which was more than enough. Even so, he still had to take his boat out. There were "many" boats tied up on shore, but certainly not all of them. Along the wharf, plenty of people were desperate to make a living and didn't care about getting swallowed by some supposed river god. Facing Li Dakang's kind intentions, Liang Qu offered an apology. "Ai, you child, why won't you listen? What's the harm in waiting a couple of days?" "Uncle Li, I bet you don't even know—Brother Shui went out fishing right through that downpour last night, and didn't he make it back safe and sound? I bet he even saw what that great demon looked like!" Lin Songbao called out as he swaggered over, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Songbao! What nonsense are you spouting? It's the river god! The river god!" Several fishermen panicked and lunged forward to clap a hand over Lin Songbao's mouth, but he darted aside, and they missed him completely. "Isn't it the same thing? Last year you saw that giant flat fish, taller and bigger than a multi-deck tower ship, and you called it a river god too! And the year before that, that water tiger fish—a single tooth was bigger than a grown man, too wide to wrap your arms around! Every year there's a new one, and in all my life I've never seen the same one twice. I'm thinking, how could one river have so many river gods? If they were all river gods, wouldn't they end up fighting? Aren't they just great demons?" Li Dakang beat his chest and stamped his feet. "Not an ounce of reverence! Not an ounce of reverence!" Standing nearby, Chen Cheng caught on and hurried to ask, "Ah Shui, you went out fishing last night?" "I did." Liang Qu made no attempt to hide it. It wasn't a big deal anyway; plenty of people must have seen the great demon, or the rumors wouldn't have spread everywhere by now. "I was actually pretty close last night. When that 'river god' crashed into the water, the waves were massive. If I hadn't kept a firm grip, the boat would've flipped. I hurried right back after that and didn't catch a single fish." Li Dakang shuddered with lingering fear. "Too close! Far too close! Thank heavens you were far off. Had you been any closer, wouldn't you have been eaten?" Lin Songbao burst out laughing. "Why exaggerate so much? How big is a person compared to a great demon? Eating a human is like swallowing a grain of rice—opening a mouth that wide sounds exhausting to me." Li Dakang found that deeply unpleasant to hear. "You brat, what kind of talk is that?" Lin Songbao picked at his ear, pretending not to hear, and stepped up beside Liang Qu. "Brother Shui, I've been waiting for you forever! If I hadn't seen your sampan moored at the wharf, I'd have gone straight to your house looking for you." Brother Shui? Liang Qu was rather taken aback. Lin Songbao had never addressed him like that before. Even the other day when he bought fish and offered to round up the price in the future, he had still called him Ah Shui. After all, Lin Songbao was older than him. "So you've been waiting for me? Is something up?" "Heh, I came to ask if you've got time recently. My dad wants to treat you to dinner. How about it? He said you can pick the time and the place." "Did you hear some rumors?" "I don't know anything." Lin Songbao scratched his head. "My dad didn't tell me. He said I've got a big mouth and can't keep a secret, so he wouldn't tell me anything you haven't mentioned yourself. But he did say you've made a big name for yourself in Pingyang Town, and told me to call you Brother Shui when we meet." Liang Qu was thoughtful. Yixing and Pingyang Town were close, but still separated by more than ten li. What happened that night had stayed within a tight circle; only the martial hall's apprentices knew about it, and since most lived at the hall, it would take time for word to spread. Lin Di, supervisor of the fishing yard, clearly had channels of his own. Lin Songbao pressed, "Well? Yes or no? Give me an answer so I can report back to my dad." "Tomorrow evening, then. Any place is fine. Just let me know once it's set." Liang Qu didn't refuse. He missed his family's black-awning boat; perhaps this would be an opportunity. The sampan was too small and lacked a roof; whenever it rained, the hull filled with water. It couldn't compare to a black-awning boat in any way. "Great!" "I'm heading out on the water now." "I'll come find you tomorrow morning." "Mm." The surface of the river was calm, reflecting the glow of stars and moon. The oars churned the lake, splashing softly. Thud, thud, thud. The oars slapped against the water, the dull thumps echoing far across the ripples. Ripples broke across the surface, and Cannot Move emerged, its scales gleaming with a cold, hard cyan luster that mirrored the shimmering moonlight. After a single day apart, Cannot Move had grown noticeably larger, stretching to an astonishing length of nearly three meters. Swimming alongside the boat, it was enough to strike terror into any Jianghuai fisherman. No ordinary person would ever believe it was a Taihua alligator. Right now, however, Cannot Move floated placidly on the water, bearing a small crab monster on its head that was clicking its pair of pincers. The crab monster blew bubbles. Its jade-white shell had hardened considerably, taking on a faint tint of cyan, and the clicking of its pincers sounded increasingly metallic. It had grown substantially as well—originally the size of a fist, it was now a good bit larger than a fist. After witnessing the true great demon the previous night, Liang Qu knew that the crab monster was merely at the bottom of the spirit creature food chain. Its young had to grow rapidly, especially with an ample supply of nutrition, or surviving in the cutthroat competition of the deep waters would be impossible. Perhaps that adult crab monster had ventured into the shallows precisely to lay and hatch its young in a safer place. At its current growth rate, Fist would be ready to pull its weight in less than two months, rather than just being a head ornament for Cannot Move. It was rather amusing: thanks to Cannot Move's scales, Fist's legs could easily anchor itself, making the two almost inseparable. Fat Catfish, on the other hand, had a back that was far too slick for anything to stay perched on it. Splash. Speak of the devil. Fat Catfish surfaced, water streaming down its slick cyan back into the lake. It tilted its head up and spat a jet of water at Fist, knocking it straight into the water. Seeing its trick succeed, Ah Fei rolled over, exposing its white belly as if "clutching its stomach in laughter," its long barbels quivering non-stop. Having tumbled into the current, Fist swam like a crayfish, curling its abdomen and rocketing forward with a whoosh to Ah Fei's mouth, clamping a pincer right onto one of its barbels. Ah Fei's catfish barbels were fleshy; it instantly thrashed about in pain. Already massive, it had surpassed the three-meter mark, reaching three point three meters. Beneath its thick skin lay bands of sturdy muscle; its explosive power made it a beast no fish in the water dared cross. As it thrashed its body now, it looked like a water dragon, an impressive spectacle sending sheets of spray flying toward the boat. Only Cannot Move remained unmoved beside them, like an old monk deep in meditation. Seeing the two beasts getting increasingly out of hand and water sloshing into the boat, Liang Qu immediately snapped at them to stop, and they broke off their squabble. "Ah Fei, help me catch fish. Try to catch more of the valuable ones—carp, yellow croaker, that kind, got it?" Ah Fei waved its long barbels in acknowledgment. Growing larger had brought higher intelligence to both beasts. Now they could not only identify treasure fish with "unusual" traits, but also recognize expensive fish species. As Master Yang's personal disciple, going out for a haul of three hundred wen wouldn't be excessive, right?