Chapter 229: Chapter 192: Variables
"The legend of Qihuai Lady originated in the Late Sui."
On the way to the ancestral hall, Yu Shusheng quickly said, "At that time, Hedong Road first encountered military disasters, then drought disasters, and famines troubled all places. Some places even saw the human tragedy of people resorting to cannibalism. Just as the famine was about to reach its peak, Bingzhou and the surrounding areas were struck by a torrential downpour that also brought down a large number of fish."
Guan Anyan asked, "A rain of fish from the sky?"
"Yep." Yu Shusheng nodded. "The phenomenon of fish raining from the sky has been known since ancient times. However, it wasn’t until the time of Yu Chu that the Academic Palace, through tracking and observation, confirmed the cause. It was determined to be a natural phenomenon called Dragon Water Absorption. This process involved sucking fish-laden lake or seawater into the air and transporting it tens, dozens, or even hundreds of miles away, thereby creating the fish rain phenomenon. In the Late Sui, there was no reasonable explanation for this. The rain of fish led the starving common people of Bingzhou to believe it was a divine manifestation. They cooked and ate the fish, drying and storing any surplus. The drought was also significantly alleviated by the torrential rain. Ultimately, the common people survived the famine and erected a rudimentary Qihuai Niangniang Temple outside the city. After the unrest subsided somewhat, various families contributed funds and labor to renovate the temple."
"It’s quite strange, isn’t it?" After listening to Yu Shusheng’s description, Li Ang asked, "There were no records or legends about Qihuai Lady before. Logically, if the common people of Bingzhou were to worship at a temple, they should have gone to the Dragon King Temple. Why create a deity out of thin air? How did they know that it was a woman who brought the fish?"
"Uh..." Yu Shusheng paused upon hearing this and said, "I read these details in the county annals, which also did not explain the reasons."
"That painting..." Yu Yong immediately thought of the painting Li Ang had previously taken out, which resembled the Divine Statue in the Qihuai Niangniang Temple. "Could it be that Qi Shui Village is related to the Qihuai Niangniang Temple?"
"If I’m not mistaken, there is indeed a connection between the two." He strode forward to the ancestral hall’s entrance.
Since the Qi Shui villagers had all gone to participate in the festival, the ancestral hall, which had been eerie the previous night, was now quiet and deserted. Li Ang placed the Bitter Realm Lotus into the Ink Silk Clone’s body, stepping in each direction—east, south, west, north—and observed the rate at which the lotus petals fell. The Bitter Realm Lotus could predict the life and death, fortune and misfortune of its possessor; the more dangerous the direction, the faster the petals would fall. Last night, due to the ancestral hall being full of Evil Ghosts, the Bitter Realm Lotus could not make predictions because danger was everywhere. But now, with the villagers gone, the Bitter Realm Lotus had regained its ability to predict accurately.
BOOM! Li Ang punched open the floor of a room behind the ancestral hall, revealing a hidden passage beneath the stone flooring. He led the way into the passage.
The passage was quite spacious, with uneven flooring, and water droplets occasionally fell from the ceiling. Every few meters along the walls, there were braziers with ceramic covers. Remnants of unburnt wood in those braziers indicated that someone had used them recently. Yu Shusheng and the others sensed a dangerous aura, silently raised their alertness, pulled out their weapons, and Ji Xingwang held several talismans in his hand, ready to act at any moment.
DRIP. DRIP.
The clear sound of dripping water echoed in the tunnel, and the path ahead gradually twisted and sloped. After an unknown duration, the tunnel finally reached an end that resembled a makeshift Forging Workshop. On the floor was a large pile of ceramic jars containing chunks of coal. Adjacent to the coal, there was a furnace that looked like a forge, though its entrance was wider. In the back, a stone door stood upright, featuring a handle that suggested it could be opened.
"This furnace was used not long ago," Yu Shusheng frowned slightly, speaking softly. "Strange, why would a furnace be underground? For iron smelting? That doesn’t seem right either. There’s coal but no iron ore; it doesn’t look like a forging furnace."
Yu Yong remained silent, using Telekinesis to pick up something from the corner. It was a pile of wooden stretchers and some strips of fabric. The wooden stretchers were covered in stains, and the fabric strips were mottled green and yellow, looking exceptionally filthy. His expression shifted subtly as his Telekinesis reached into the furnace, digging out a pile of unburned odds and ends: a Jade Pendant worn on the person, blackened gold and silver jewelry, a black lacquered Jade Bracelet, metal wires, wooden pieces...
"...This furnace is not used for smelting iron ore or casting iron tools," Guan Anyan looked stunned at the furnace, her face pale as she said. "It’s used for burning bodies."
"More precisely, it’s used for burning the clothes and jewelry on the bodies," Li Ang corrected. He turned to face the stone door, calmly saying, "It’s about time. Isn’t it time for you to appear?"
The tunnel was silent. Yu Shusheng and the others sensed something, gazing at the stone door while holding their breath.
"...This really isn’t interesting," Li Ang shook his head. "Wouldn’t you say so, the perpetrator who attacked Yu Yuan, killed Liao Kaifeng and Yan Yan, and the holder of the True Soul Fragrance—Wang Linian?"
BOOM— The stone door slowly opened, revealing a middle-aged man standing behind it. It was the leader of this group, the Cloud Patrol Realm cultivator from the Taiyuan Wang Family, Wang Linian. He stood as before, Longsword in hand, expressionless as he looked at Li Ang and the others.
"How could..." Yu Shusheng was dumbstruck. Wang Linian was unharmed and had arrived here even before them. Furthermore, according to Li Ang, had he also killed Yu Yuan, Liao Kaifeng, Yan Yan, and the others? Weren’t they supposed to be searching for Chu Haoman together?
"Why?!" Yu Yong clenched his teeth and shouted, "It was your Wang Family who invited us here! Why then did you attack us amidst the mutations? Even if your Wang Family had some shameful secrets hidden here, you could have come forward and used the True Soul Fragrance to make us leave before we discovered them..."
"The True Soul Fragrance is gone," Wang Linian looked at Yu Yong, slowly beginning to speak in a voice as hoarse and rough as gravel. "Besides, you don’t need to pretend anymore. Your so-called brother Yu Yuan was just a Puppet. Remnants of his body are in your hands. If I’m not wrong, you must have the heritage of a Nanzhou Ancient Sect—the Shadow Play Sect."
Yu Yong’s face changed drastically, the Mind Threads in his hands trembling as well.
Wang Linian then turned his head to look at Yu Shusheng and said indifferently, "And you, you must possess some form of Mutated Object that can turn calamity into luck. Neither I, Liao Kaifeng, nor Yan Yan could kill you."
"..." Yu Shusheng pursed his lips, remaining silent, implicitly confirming Wang Linian’s words.
"As for you..." Wang Linian looked at Li Ang, and after a long silence, he said, "My biggest mistake was letting you join the team. If not for you, who was brought in at the last minute to make up the numbers, none of this would have been so complicated."
"I’ll take that as a compliment then." Li Ang smiled faintly, turning to look at Ji Xingwang and the others. He clapped his hands and said, "Alright, there’s still some time before the Evil Ghosts from Qi Shui Village chase us down. Let me explain what exactly happened in Qi Shui Village."