Chapter 44
Chapter 44
It was already afternoon when Li Que and the others returned to the village.
Gao Shen had awakened inside the old wooden house. When Li Que found him, however, the man seemed to have lost his mind. He trembled uncontrollably, his thoughts disordered.
He could not even speak coherently.
Li Que was unable to communicate with him at all.
“Did I knock him stupid?”
Li Que shook his head. With no better option, he untied Gao Shen and prepared to take him back to the village office.
But the old village chief and the others had vanished from the office. All the teachers were inexplicably unconscious as well. Li Que, Qin Shiyu, and the others struggled for ages before managing to wake them.
“What happened…? I only remember eating a lot of food before I passed out.”
“My stomach hurts!”
“Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!”
After waking, none of the teachers remembered what had happened. At the same time, all of them came down with diarrhea and began fighting over the restroom. Some could not hold it any longer, abandoned all shame, and jumped into the vegetable plot beside the building to relieve themselves.
“This is food poisoning!”
Li Que’s expression grew complicated.
After they had been scrambling around for some time, a horn sounded outside. The coach had arrived, and Xu Changjiang, Shi Xuan, and the others stepped down from it.
“Teacher Li, what happened to everyone?” Xu Changjiang asked as he approached.
“They probably ate something bad.”
Li Que briefly explained the situation, then continued, “By the way, Director Xu, Gao Shen tried to assault Ms. Qin last night, so I knocked him unconscious…”
He hurriedly recounted the entire incident.
“I was acting to help someone in danger!”
Gao Shen looked as if Li Que had knocked him senseless. This could become extremely troublesome later.
“Don’t worry, Teacher Li. Leave everything to us!”
Xu Changjiang remained perfectly calm. He knew Li Que well enough to understand that the man did not wish to reveal his identity as an anomaly wielder.
The teachers were soon herded onto the coach. Every one of them was desperate to escape the place as quickly as possible.
The vehicle drove out of the village. They did not see another villager along the road, but Li Que paid it no mind. He chatted with Lin Xiaoyu instead, trying to ease her sadness at leaving home.
…
In an off-road vehicle behind the coach, Xu Changjiang drove while Shi Xuan sat solemnly in the back seat.
“Miss Qin, what exactly is the Black Mist Calamity?”
They had heard rumors about it before, but without evidence, they had dismissed them as nonsense.
After seeing the black mist with his own eyes, however, Shi Xuan realized that some immense crisis might truly be approaching.
It would be far too dangerous for an official organization to remain ignorant of such information.
That was why he could not wait to speak with Qin Shiyu.
She shook her head.
“Director Shi, the truth is that we don’t know much more about the Black Mist Calamity than you do.”
“But one thing is certain… The world became what it is today because of the black mist.”
“The things within it are even more terrifying than anomalies. When the black mist appears again, it may truly bring the end of the world. Even anomaly wielders will not survive.”
Shi Xuan asked, “You said before that you were cultivating Frost into a Water God to fight the Black Mist Calamity?”
Qin Shiyu nodded. “The Hall Master obtained an object. According to the information recorded on it, if enough gods combine their power, we may at least survive.”
Shi Xuan pondered this. “Judging by what we’ve seen, could that also be what Teacher Li is trying to accomplish?”
Qin Shiyu looked at him in surprise.
What did Shi Xuan mean? Did even the authorities not understand Li Que’s intentions?
She had assumed that he cooperated closely with them.
Now it appeared their relationship was not nearly as close as she had imagined.
At the very least, the authorities had no control over Li Que’s actions!
“Perhaps… But the gods he cultivates this way cannot wield true divine authority.”
She shook her head and sighed. “There are distinctions even among gods. The five Water Gods of Five Dragons Mountain, for example, were only wild deities.”
“That was why all five died when the black mist descended, even after exhausting their strength.”
Shi Xuan frowned. “Wild deities?”
Qin Shiyu nodded. “Even if nothing had happened to Frost and she had obtained the Water God’s Authority of Five Dragons Mountain, she still would not have been strong enough to oppose the black mist.”
“Our plan had one final step: divine investiture.”
Her expression grew complicated. “Only an anomaly that possesses divine authority and undergoes divine investiture can obtain greater power-power that might allow it to resist the black mist…”
“And within the Hall of Anomalies, only one item in the Hall Master’s possession can grant divine investiture to wild deities.”
“Teacher Li is indeed powerful. Even I cannot see through him. But if the black mist truly descends, I fear that everything he is doing now still won’t be enough to stop it.”
In her eyes, Lin Xiaoyu had merely become a wild deity like the five flood dragons.
Helping her reach this point had not been easy for Li Que.
But this was as far as he could take her.
After all, divine investiture involved powers on an entirely different level. Even the Hall Master of the Hall of Anomalies had to rely upon a mysterious anomalous entity to perform it.
“So if an opportunity arises, I’ll try to persuade Teacher Li to cooperate with the Hall of Anomalies. Only then can Lin Xiaoyu receive true divine investiture and avoid wasting her potential.”
Qin Shiyu looked toward Shi Xuan.
Divine investiture and related matters were among the Hall of Anomalies’ most closely guarded secrets.
She had only revealed them to Shi Xuan because the journey to Five Dragons Mountain had shown her Li Que’s true power and given her the idea of cooperating with him.
Shi Xuan remained silent. From the front seat, Xu Changjiang suddenly spoke.
“It’s about to rain heavily.”
The moment he finished, lightning flashed across the sky. In an instant, dark clouds covered the entire Five Dragons Mountain region and torrential rain came pouring down.
Rain hammered wildly against the windows. Shi Xuan and Qin Shiyu both started and looked behind them.
Thick mist was slowly rising throughout Five Dragons Mountain. Five Dragons Village rapidly disappeared from view until nothing could be seen.
Within the mist, only a faint scarlet radiance remained, as though a flying dragon were swimming through it.
The scarlet dragon soared across the heavens, then transformed into a golden sun disk suspended above Five Dragons Mountain, dazzling and resplendent!
“What is that?!” Shi Xuan exclaimed. “Five Dragons Mountain has been sealed again… Is this because of Lin Xiaoyu’s Water God’s Authority?”
Qin Shiyu stared at the sun disk above the mountain, disbelief and shock filling her beautiful eyes.
“No… An ordinary wild deity can only seal off a region with anomaly mist and frighten other anomalies away.”
“But that sun disk… is a divine proclamation!”
She murmured, “Only a god who has received divine investiture can display something like that-would dare display it. Could Lin Xiaoyu have received divine investiture?!”
The thought frightened even her.
How was that possible?
The Hall Master had personally said that divine investiture was a barrier no wild deity could cross. Without crossing it, they would remain anomalies forever.
And anomalies were bound by restrictions. None would dare reveal itself so openly. This was a fearless proclamation to the entire world!
Divine investiture was incomparably difficult. Even though the Hall of Anomalies possessed an anomalous entity capable of bypassing the restrictions, using it demanded an enormous price!
“Could Li Que possess a similar anomalous entity?”
She looked toward the coach ahead. Her beautiful eyes grew ever more shocked, doubtful, and conflicted.
“Teacher Li truly is unfathomable,” Shi Xuan said with a soft sigh. “From this moment on, we must do everything we can to help him find other sources of divine authority!”
His gaze was resolute.
Now that they knew about the Black Mist Calamity and Li Que had already begun laying his plans, they naturally had to commit all their strength as well!
…
On the coach ahead, Lin Xiaoyu suddenly spoke.
“Sir, I remember you saying in class that Mingjiang City and several cities downstream have suffered drought for years.”
“Now that this rain has filled the river, will the drought ease?”
Li Que smiled. “That’s right.”
“This rain came at the perfect time. I only hope the wind and rain remain favorable every year.”
Lin Xiaoyu replied earnestly, “If Sir says the wind and rain will be favorable every year, then they definitely will be.”
Li Que chuckled. “I’m not the Water God. That depends on the Water God’s mood.”
“Sir, I’ll work hard!” Lin Xiaoyu said.
…
Inside Five Dragons Mountain, Auntie Miao drove the goats down the mountain and into the village.
She looked over the former Five Dragons Village, then up at the sun disk in the sky. Her eyes brimmed with relief and emotion.
She moved into the village’s old wooden house. As promised, she would guard Five Dragons Mountain for Lin Xiaoyu until the girl returned.
At the village entrance, the Village Guardian danced and sang.
“It’s raining! Time to plant the paddies! We’ll have a bumper harvest next year!”
His voice echoed endlessly through the empty village.
…
Meanwhile, outside Mingjiang No. 7 Special School in Mingjiang City…
“Eldest Master, that’s the public restroom. We investigated it and found the presence of a Water God inside. A powerful anomaly should be guarding it too!”
Sun Cheng and Liu Ying stood at a distance with a group of people, pointing toward the public restroom.
At their head was a middle-aged man in an immaculate suit. He looked more like a corporate titan and showed no trace of an anomalous aura.
He was Zuo Yuanshan, the head of Zuo Group.
“Hmm… By my calculations, Yuanfeng and the others should have succeeded by now,” Zuo Yuanshan said calmly. “Prepare to move.”
The Zuo family had split into two teams. Zuo Yuanfeng was responsible for retrieving the dragon bones from Five Dragons Mountain, while Zuo Yuanshan’s group had to seize this divinity-nurturing ground!
…