Chapter 251
Chapter 251
The River God of the Chuan River, the enormous black fish as big as a building, was terrifyingly powerful!
It had even dared to scheme against a weakened flood dragon.
Granted, that flood dragon was only a python demon that had just completed its river journey and transformed. It was also gravely wounded, at death’s door, and extremely weak.
Even so, the River God had to be formidable indeed to possess that kind of nerve!
There was no need to consider whether it possessed any sinister magical arts. Its body alone, more than twenty meters long and comparable to a whale in the ocean, was already monstrous enough to humans.
And someone actually wanted to take it on?
That was sheer madness!
Master saw the shock on my face and gave a cold laugh.
“For profit, some people are capable of any audacious, appalling act of madness. Ambushing a River God that controls a stretch of water a hundred-odd kilometers long is hardly anything extraordinary.”
Although we simply called that giant black fish the River God of the Chuan River, it was obviously not the god of the entire river. It only ruled the section flowing through Fubei County and one or two neighboring prefecture-level cities.
In great rivers, so-called River Gods were a dime a dozen!
Each one occupied a particular stretch of water and lorded it over the surrounding region.
Of course, now that the world had entered the age of modern technology… if the authorities truly decided to spare no expense and send mechanized forces to exterminate one, a single high-yield, long-range guided missile could take care of it with ease.
That was why these intelligent behemoths clearly no longer dared to cause trouble the way they had in ancient times.
Of course, legends also spoke of true River Gods that governed an entire river from beginning to end!
Beings like that probably could not be dealt with using ordinary modern weapons.
But those were only legends. Master said that even she had never actually seen one…
Master continued.
“If this had happened somewhere else, I might not be so worried that someone had gone to all that trouble to refine a River-Warding Token into a single-purpose ritual implement aimed specifically at a River God. But when I consider the living corpse incident at Xiaowan Village a year or two ago, and what Bai Su told you about people having already attacked the River God… then connect all that to this River-Warding Token, I fear their purpose in dealing with the River God isn’t so simple…”
She looked at the black iron token in her hand and frowned slightly. A trace of gravity crossed her beautiful, delicate face.
After a moment of bewilderment, realization dawned on me!
I almost blurted it out.
“It’s because of… that strange black plant at the bottom of the river near Xiaowan Village! The thing that made Bai Su’s cultivation soar after she accidentally swallowed just a few broken leaves.”
“The River God coveted it, and the sunken dead surrounded it. If that mysterious black plant appears again, it will definitely draw the River God back to seize it. And if a group of rogue cultivators is also hiding in the shadows, plotting and waiting for the black plant to mature, they could end up in a direct confrontation with the River God!”
“In that case… a single-purpose ritual implement made specifically to counter the River God would be indispensable. Even if it couldn’t kill the River God, merely holding it back would be an enormous help to those people.”
As I spoke, a thread in my mind grew clearer and clearer, linking many separate events together!
That mysterious black plant beneath the river at Xiaowan Village was probably the starting point for many of the things I had experienced over the past two years.
Whether I considered Master’s refusal to discuss it, the experiences of Bai Su’s master, or Bai Su’s own condition, the thing had to be an extraordinarily rare treasure that defied the natural order.
Something that extraordinary had probably drawn the attention of interested parties long ago…
In recent years, quite a few rogue cultivators must have been quietly lurking around Lianghe Town or within Fubei County, all because of that black plant!
During the long wait and all their preparations, those rogue cultivators probably had not sat idle. They had stirred up plenty of wicked trouble around Lianghe Town.
Besides the group that had killed Bai Su’s master and already attacked the River God once, there were others…
For instance, the rogue cultivator connected to the three hanging corpses of the Killer Demon Tree, the same one who had helped Zeng Qingfeng and caused Zhou Min’s death!
Or the heretical monk who, at Xia Family Hamlet, had deliberately tempted Xia Dong into using a Face-Down Burial to create that sinister corpse-ghost, and later rescued the first rogue cultivator!
Or the unknown rogue cultivator who had used the natural cavern and underground river beneath the abandoned grave behind Lianghe District Middle School to create such a massive operation!
Most likely, all of them were lying low in the shadows, waiting for that black plant to appear again.
Everything revolved around it.
As soon as the mysterious black plant reappeared and word got out, those rogue cultivators would rush toward it one after another, no matter how many fell!
And I had a faint intuition…
Those rogue cultivators actually knew far less about the black plant than Master did!
They did not know that the plant had not yet matured.
That was why it would disappear from time to time, only to emerge again for a while.
Judging by what Master had said, the timing was about right… Perhaps within half a year, the black plant would truly mature!
When that happened, countless eyes, both in the open and in the dark, would turn toward it.
I poured out all my deductions and the clues I had pieced together in one breath. A pleased expression appeared on Master’s face, and she reached out to gently rub my head.
“My disciple really is a clever one.”
I grinned foolishly.
Master’s praise always made me extremely happy. If she rubbed my head too, I was happier still.
“Master, can you tell me what that black plant actually is? Also, not long after I started junior high, you said it would mature in a little over two years. By my calculation, it should be almost time. Do you know exactly when it’ll happen?”
Master fell silent for a while.
At last, she sighed and spoke.
“The truth is… even I can’t say exactly what that thing is. In my present condition, I can’t divine it either. And I don’t want to get involved. Little Wu, you’d better stay out of it too! Just wait on the sidelines until the matter is over. Then the condition of Xiao Sheng, the living corpse from Xiaowan Village, will naturally be lifted. Do you understand?”
Her beautiful eyes rested on me, clear and pure, yet carrying a trace of worry.
Oh!
I could only suppress my curiosity and nod obediently.
“All right, Master. I understand. Don’t worry; I won’t get involved.”
If she had not warned me, I really would have wanted to investigate it for myself.
It was dangerous, but something adventurous deep in my bones seemed to urge me to give it a try!
Still, since I had already promised Master, I would behave and listen to her.
Wait!
I suddenly caught something. I looked at her with concern.
“Master… just now, you said ‘in my present condition.’ Does that mean you’re not doing very well right now? Are you injured?”
Master froze.
She probably had not expected me to notice so much from one careless remark.
She smiled gently and rubbed my head again.
“Children shouldn’t concern themselves so much with grown-ups’ affairs!”
“I’m not a child anymore! I’m already half a head taller than you.”
A sudden irritation rose inside me.
Master had always treated me like a child, but I felt that I was slowly growing up!
Part of me seemed to crave her affection, while another part hated that she kept treating me like a little boy…
“All right, all right. Ah-Zhong isn’t a child anymore.”
She said it to placate me.
Then she seemed to hesitate, but in the end she told me anyway.
“I am indeed injured, but it didn’t happen recently… I suffered an extremely serious injury more than ten years ago.”
What?
Master had been gravely wounded more than a decade ago!
Shock surged through me, followed by an ache in my heart for her.
She continued…
“In 1986, I was still in Shen City and was about to face a great life tribulation in my cultivation. Then someone ambushed me. I fought desperately to break through the encirclement and fled west, eventually reaching the Yu City area. I concealed my identity and wandered from place to place for a long time. Finally, I came to Wujia Village and became a raving madwoman.”