Inner Demons

Chapter 118: Lord Dongting

In fact, this was also an unusual, yet common occurrence.

In this world, mortals had many taboos. For example, not talking about ghosts and gods at night, and not randomly worshipping any humanoid object.

Because once you talk about them and worship them, over time, willpower is generated. When the willpower is strong enough, it might attract "yin spirits"—that is, "attracting evil."

"Yin spirits" are not gods, but a general term for non-human things with some magical or Spiritual Power. They could be wandering wild ghosts in the mortal world, or newly sentient sprites. You never know if you'll attract a good or bad one, so it's ultimately a troublesome matter.

A place like the Three Rivers' Mouth Dragon King Temple, with its flourishing incense, was naturally a good place for yin spirits. Young Master Nine was dead, and the spiritual energy on the clay statues in the temple had dissipated. Mortals couldn't feel it, and they still came to worship, but yin spirits could know—this place was now without a master.

But even so…

Random cats and dogs wouldn't dare to just possess the statues and occupy the divine position—because this place used to belong to the Dragon's Son, the Wei River Dragon King.

—They didn't know if it was just because the Dragon's Son was dissatisfied with the offerings and had withdrawn his Spiritual Power.

Or perhaps, even if the Dragon's Son was gone, there would be equally powerful demons and sprites coming to compete for this treasured land. Anyone who wasn't out of their mind wouldn't be so eager to come here and make themselves a public target.

However…It had been occupied.

Li Yunxin, dressed in a moon-white scholar's robe, stood in front of the temple for a while holding a folding fan with a handle of tear-streaked bamboo. He shook his head slightly and laughed to himself.

Having become a divine beast, he could be considered a kinsman of demons, so he was very sensitive to certain auras.

For example, he knew that the Spiritual Power on the statue in the temple right now should belong to a water creature. Its cultivation was not high, but not low either. Measured by the standards of cultivators—peak Illusory Realm. This thing had not deliberately hidden its power, seeming to be smugly showing off.

He was now at the peak of the Manifestation Realm—the original Young Master Nine was certainly stronger than this, but he had, after all, just "assumed" the position of the Dragon's Son. The yang energy of three hundred thousand people from Weicheng and thirty-seven portions of incense willpower had formed his magical body, which was just barely enough.

He was now a large wooden bucket, capable of holding a lot of water, a lot of incense willpower, and he would no longer suffer from the pain and life-threatening danger as before—but there wasn't much water inside.

He needed offerings, faith, willpower. But he would have to lie low for a while… until he found someone to take the blame.

He hadn't expected a pillow to be delivered just when he needed it.

So Li Yunxin didn't go inside, deciding to wait a little longer.

Waiting for something else, to verify his guess.

It was now past noon, the best time to enjoy the scenery of the thousand-li Dongting. Further on by boat, one would only see the vast expanse of water. Though truly magnificent, it would become boring after a while. Further back, there were only the mountains on both sides of the Wei River, which were never as good as this place—

At the confluence of the three rivers, the current was slow. Looking forward, one could see the vast Dongting Lake, with the beautiful and upright Junshan and Weishan on both sides. It was both majestic and graceful, truly a beautiful sight.

Therefore, the few scholars sitting in the wooden pavilion were in high spirits, and their voices gradually grew louder.

Li Yunxin waited patiently for a while. When he saw someone pouring wine and almost spilling it outside the cup, he opened his folding fan with a snap and, while fanning himself lightly, walked over.

Who in this world doesn't love a good face? He was born with a pleasing appearance, and he spoke with just the right touch. So, with just a bow and a few witty remarks, these four scholars, deep in their cups, took him for an interesting scholar and invited him to sit with them.

They were four poor scholars who had brought their own cups, and they had no etiquette or rules. They took another small cup from the bamboo basket by the table, filled it for Li Yunxin, and then began to compose some nonsensical poems.

Li Yunxin had no interest in "making a name for himself in the literary world," so he could only be responsible for clapping and cheering. When the four had exhausted the ink in their bellies and the conversation gradually cooled down, he then asked if there were any strange tales or anecdotes nearby.

Encountering such a topic during a lull in conversation was, of course, a great joy—bragging after drinking was the greatest hobby of men, bar none.

So the four of them told the same story—a matter that had spread throughout Egret Isle this very month.

Over a hundred families lived on Egret Isle, but it was not a village, but a town called Egret Town.

Because many tourists came and went, the town, which had only one long street, mostly ran teahouses, inns, and restaurants. In the west of the town lived a scholar named Du, with the given name Zishe, aged twenty. He also had a younger sister named Ziteng.

Originally, his family was well-off; his father was the town's coppersmith. But because an ancestor had been a scholar, his eldest son was not made to inherit the craft, but was instead sent to study.

This Du Zishe was intelligent, but had an idle disposition. After becoming a Tongsheng at fifteen, he lost his ambition and spent his days mingling with the town's idlers, considering himself a romantic scholar. He remained unmarried at nineteen, when both his parents fell ill. After a year, they had exhausted the family's money and passed away suddenly, leaving only him and his sister.

Du was lazy, but his sister Du Ziteng was diligent. She went to Weicheng to be a cook for a wealthy merchant, managing to get by and occasionally sending money to her brother.

With the family's decline, Du Zishe developed a desire to study and planned to study hard for a scholarly honor. So he sold the family house and moved to a small courtyard in the west of the town, where he shut himself in every day, only reading.

Thus it went until last month, when a strange thing happened.

Du Zishe's savings had to cover the expenses of ink and paper, and he also had to save up for the travel and connections needed for next year's exam, so he was very frugal. He usually ate two meals a day, and only three on holidays, mostly coarse grains like millet cakes and grain rice.

It was said that during the winter, Du Zishe saw someone selling salted fish on the street. Unable to resist his craving, he painfully bought one and hung it on a beam in his house. After hanging it up, he didn't eat it. At every meal, he would take the salted fish down and place it on a plate. He would take a bite of his coarse grain cake, then lick the salted fish, using the salty, fishy taste to accompany his meal.

In this way, he "ate" this salted fish for half a year, and it remained completely intact.

But last month, the salted fish disappeared. Du was heartbroken, but he couldn't figure it out—how did the salted fish disappear?

The doors and windows were closed when he slept, there were no cats in the house, and no rats. Yet when he woke up, the rope was still there, but the salted fish on the beam was gone.

After sighing with regret, he went back to his reading and writing as usual, and fell asleep at night.

But that night, as he was half-asleep and about to fall into a deep slumber, he vaguely heard someone calling him from under the bed: "...Du Sheng, Du Sheng!"

He thought he was dreaming, so he ignored it.

But the next night, he heard the same call again. He became fully awake and listened carefully. He heard the voice gradually become clearer, coming from right under the bed—"Du Sheng, Du Sheng, I died such a tragic death!"

Du Zishe's sleepiness vanished. He leaped from the bed, ran to the wall, drew his sword, and lifted the bed curtain to look underneath—but there was nothing there. The next day, he spent some money to ask the Temple Keeper of the Three Rivers' Mouth Dragon King Temple to come to his house to perform an exorcism. The Taoist priest came, sprinkled some water, performed a ritual with a peach wood sword, said some vague words, and left.

That night, Du Zishe finally didn't hear the voice and fell asleep without realizing it.

But he had a dream.

He dreamed of a middle-aged scholar who called himself Lord Dongting. He said that the salted fish was actually his daughter, whose original form was a small carp. Because she had offended the Dragon's Son, she was beaten back to her original form and thrown into Dongting Lake to fend for herself. Later, she was caught by a fisherman and made into a salted fish, which was bought by Du Zishe.

The small carp, being a spirit, had died a tragic death, and her body could not be buried. Thus, a cloud of resentment gathered, causing her soul to remain attached to the salted fish. As Du Zishe licked her every day for his meals, giving her his human energy, she gradually recovered her magical power.

Yesterday, she had informed Lord Dongting of her whereabouts in a dream, and today her father had come to find her.

Lord Dongting told Du that he could dig under his bed. If he found a salted fish, he should soak it in clean water for three days, and then on a certain night, hold the salted fish and go to the shore of Dongting Lake, and turn it over three times for her.

After having this dream, Du woke up and dug under his bed. He indeed found a salted fish—the very one that had been hanging from the beam.

So he did as he was told. Three days later, he held the salted fish and went to the lake shore, turned it over three times…

The salted fish turned into a large, red-scaled carp and leaped into the water! It nodded at him three times before disappearing into the water.

That night, Lord Dongting came to him in a dream again, saying that Du had done him a great favor, and in three days, there would be a great reward—

Which was today.

When Du told people about this, they just thought he was joking or had gone mad. Du wasn't angry, and just said they could come to his house tonight to see for themselves, so they would know he wasn't lying.

When Li Yunxin heard this, he blinked.

This was interesting.

Because the name Lord Dongting…

Didn't sound like some random cat or dog.

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