Chapter Ninety-Two: The Demon God of the River Emerges

"Ah, this..."
Xu Boqing stared blankly at the shattered statue of the River God within the shrine, then glanced at Old Liu beside him, whose eyes were wide in shock, reddened with disbelief.
At that moment, he desperately wanted to declare that this had nothing to do with him...
But recalling how, back at the Five Venoms Sect, he'd merely tried to touch the portrait of the "Immortal Imparting Wisdom," only for it to burn; now, having come to pay his respects, the statue had broken...
It seemed—perhaps—it really was his fault.
Old Liu shuffled backward, finally regaining his wits, his face twisted in terror as he demanded, "You... what manner of fiend are you?"
"I..."
Xu Boqing meant to explain, but under the scrutiny of the Celestial Eye, he sharply noticed a faint, sinister aura drifting from the broken statue, attaching itself to Old Liu...
"I have the protection of the River God! I fear no petty evil like you!"
Old Liu shouted angrily, his face contorted, his eyes bloodshot as though veins were bursting.
Without another word, he snatched the broom leaning in the corner and, as if possessed, swung it at Xu Boqing!
His entire demeanor was fierce, brimming with malice, devoid of any trace of his former frailty.
Xu Boqing's expression changed, his own aura rising sharply in response.
As the broom bore down on him, he stepped forward instead of retreating, swept aside the broom with his left hand, and with his right formed a sword-finger, pressing directly upon Old Liu's crown.
"Evil spirits and heretics, how dare you run rampant!"
His words were soft but thunderous, like spring thunder bursting from his tongue.
Old Liu froze in place, his clothes fluttering despite the still air, and the sinister aura clinging to him shattered inch by inch at the sound, vanishing into nothing.
With the dispersal of the evil aura, the ferocity drained from Old Liu's face, the bloodshot in his eyes faded visibly, and it seemed he regained his senses.
He looked around in bewilderment, then at the broom in his hand, before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the ground.
"..."
Xu Boqing frowned, crouching beside him. Seeing that Old Liu's breath, though weak, posed no threat to his life, he lifted his eyelids for a closer look, his brows knitting tighter.
He then rose and gazed toward the direction of the Qianling River.
Earlier, at the Five Venoms Sect, he'd seen a strange aura—akin to "worldly energy"—lingering around the Immortal's portrait, which had sparked suspicion.
Now, after witnessing the shrine's statue and hearing the tale of the River God, his suspicions were all but confirmed.

That strange aura must be what the storybooks call "wish power," or perhaps "merit."
He'd thought the River God was a true deity, and paying respects would be harmless, but when the statue broke, the aura that poured forth was tinged with evil!
Once attached to Old Liu, it became even more violent.
This was not the way a righteous deity protected his followers; it was more akin to the demonic aura he'd seen on Zhu Sisi!
Xu Boqing frowned, sensing something amiss. Leaving the house, he summoned his lightness skill, vanishing swiftly into the night along the banks of the Qianling River.
But he did not go far; instead, he landed on a branch outside the village.
He held his breath and focused, activating the Celestial Eye...
Meanwhile...
Somewhere on the surface of the Qianling River, ripples suddenly formed. A streak of light shot from beneath the water, rising into the air as a gust of demonic wind that merged with the darkness, blowing who knows where.
Soon, the leaves of the trees behind Old Liu's house trembled, and the demonic wind landed in the courtyard, transforming into a hunchbacked, bald-headed old man in a green robe, leaning on a staff.
His appearance was not merely similar to the River God statue in the shrine—it was identical!
The old man's face was shadowed, his eyes set wide apart, and paired with his hunchback and baldness, he looked nothing like a righteous river deity. Rather, he resembled an upright toad.
He entered the main hall, ignoring the unconscious Old Liu, his brows furrowed as he stared at the shattered statue.
Approaching the shrine, he examined it closely.
He tapped it with a finger, and the broken pieces trembled, magically reassembling.
Just as he relaxed his brow, the restored statue cracked with a loud snap.
"Hmm??"
The old man uttered a baffled exclamation.
Centuries ago, he had been nothing more than an ordinary toad by the riverbank, but luck was on his side...
When the Dragon King stirred the waters, river and lake were overturned, and dragon aura spilled forth—fortune and calamity intertwined. He had, by chance, absorbed a thread of dragon aura, gaining intelligence and a demonic form. Later, he stumbled upon a water god's decree that had been swept up from the riverbed.
The decree was ancient, already broken and drained of divine power, but for a newly enlightened demon, it was a treasure beyond measure.
He cultivated diligently with the broken decree, and though never recognized, he managed after years of effort to fuse with it.
He was not the only creature in the Qianling River to gain fortune—other aquatic beings became monsters and spirits too...
Living in the same river, contact with other demons was inevitable, and his possession of the decree could not be kept secret. Word spread among those with ambition...

There was only one water god decree, but many who coveted it.
Conflict was inevitable. Though his luck and cultivation were considerable, the number of demons seeking the treasure was overwhelming...
Eventually, he was forced to recall the half-true, incomplete "divine path" cultivation method he'd gleaned while fusing with the decree.
The method was flawed, but he had no other choice...
So, half-guessing, he switched to cultivating the divine path, using dreams to impersonate the River God, prompting people to build shrines and worship him, thereby absorbing their wish power.
Unexpectedly, it worked. Though there were side effects, the wish power greatly boosted his cultivation!
With newfound strength, he devised a plan, feigning an invitation to the river's demons for a "treasure appraisal banquet," supposedly to share fortune...
In truth, he poisoned them and, with the decree's residual divine power, wiped out the attending demons in one fell swoop...
With no rivals left, he considered returning to the demon's path, but couldn't bear to give up the wish power. So, he simply continued the deception, assuming the role of River God for Qianling River.
Yet he knew his demonic nature remained, and his self-created divine path was not orthodox. Thus, he always stayed cautious, only operating within Jiangling Prefecture and neighboring regions...
As his cultivation deepened, the flaws in his divine path grew more pronounced, and the conflict between his demonic and divine natures intensified.
Those he was meant to protect, he would protect; but when his demonic urges to devour humans rose, he would not resist them...
Covered by divine nature and careful in his actions, even his cannibalism was carried out in secret, using dreams and river rituals, so he managed to hold the River God's post for hundreds of years without major incidents.
But today, while feasting on the children offered to him in the river, he suddenly shuddered, experiencing an unprecedented sensation!
The wish power surging through him exploded like oil poured onto fire, and though it lasted only a short while, the nourishing effect on his cultivation was immense—greater than all the children he'd ever consumed!
Even his divine nature grew more stable...
Yet behind this surge of wish power lurked a terror and karmic consequence so great that his heart trembled with fear...
Was it fortune?
Or disaster?
He could not tell...
So he followed the demonic wind to trace the source of the wish power, only to discover upon arrival that, in all his centuries of experience, he had never encountered a situation quite like this...