Chapter Ninety-Three: Treacherous Wretch! Evil Villain!

On a branch outside the village, Xu Boqing held his breath the moment he sensed that baleful wind sweeping in. When the hunchbacked old man with the pockmarked head and walking cane finally took shape before him, his pupils narrowed at once.

Another shapeshifted great demon.

And one whose cultivation surpassed Bamboo Sisi’s by a wide margin.

Under the gaze of the Heavenly Eye, clouds and mist veiled the space behind the old man, where the faint outline of a massive golden toad gradually emerged.

The toad’s demonic aura was vast and overwhelming, and around it coiled a strange, undefined presence like the breath of the mortal world. Stranger still, that presence always seemed to hover above the demonic aura, making the whole thing appear indistinct and unreal.

Xu Boqing’s brow furrowed. Counting carefully, this was already the third demon cultivator he had encountered.

And each one had been more formidable than the last.

The first had been the timid snake demon he had met in the graveyard of abandoned tombs. The second was the spider spirit, Bamboo Sisi, in Hongyang City. The third was the old man before him now, transformed from a toad spirit.

Of them, the snake demon had the weakest cultivation, having practiced for more than a hundred years without yet taking human form. Bamboo Sisi had cultivated for over three hundred years and had long since transformed.

But if one judged by cultivation and sheer oppressive force, even the two of them together might not match the toad spirit before him.

Could it be that I am somehow fated to cross paths with demons?

His gaze sharpened, and through that strange aura he finally made out the golden toad’s true form hidden within the bent old man.

Then, just as he was looking more closely, he paused.

Within the toad’s body, there seemed to be something else as well, something shaped faintly like a tiger tally.

For some reason, the instant he saw it, his brows locked tight, and an indescribable sense of wrongness rose in his heart.

It was like topping mapo tofu with strawberries, or stuffing buns with chopped pineapple and grapes, as though something that should never have been joined had been forcibly fused together. The more he looked, the more off it felt.

What on earth was that tiger-tally thing?

The toad spirit was extraordinary in power, and it was also wrapped in hostile resentment and the chill of vengeful ghosts. It did not seem like someone easy to deal with at all, so how had it become the river god of this stretch of the Qianling River?

Demon... tally... river god...

Was there some inevitable connection between the three?

He pondered with a deep frown, then focused his attention again on that tiger-tally-shaped object.

This time he saw more clearly. The object seemed damaged, its whole form shrouded in a faint, wavering mist of water vapor. On its surface there appeared to be several blurred characters, and the only one he could clearly make out was a character meaning an imperial decree.

A decree?

The thought flashed through Xu Boqing’s mind, and at once he felt a dark, unseen strand of causality forming between himself and that tiger-tally object.

His breath caught.

Something was very wrong.

When he finally came to himself, he ran.

Inside Old Liu Gen’s home, the hunchbacked elder suddenly felt his spirit shake. The river-god decree within his body seemed to lose all control, as though it wanted to tear free and fly off in some direction.

His expression changed.

In all the hundreds of years he had cultivated, in all the hundreds of years he had served as river god, this was the first time he had ever encountered such a thing.

I am the river god.

You are my... decree!

With gritted teeth, he forced the restless river-god decree back into submission. Then, as if remembering something, he followed the direction in which it had wanted to go.

At once, he saw a human figure flash over the treetops and vanish into the distance.

The knuckles gripping his cane had turned white, and a layer of bloodshot fury seemed to creep into his eyes.

Staring after the retreating figure on the treetop, he muttered almost madly, “I nurtured you with my own essence and blood for nearly five hundred years. Nearly five hundred years!”

“You can refuse to acknowledge me. Fine!”

“But now... now... you actually want to follow some flesh-and-blood mortal away?”

“Hm?”

“Right in front of me, you want to go with someone else?”

“You are mine!”

The last words burst from his puffed cheeks in a low roar. Before the final syllable had even faded, his body transformed into a blast of demonic wind and swept toward the fleeing figure.

“Little thief! I want you dead!”

Xu Boqing heard the roar behind him and felt the demonic wind howling ever closer.

He glanced back and saw the toad spirit chasing like a madman, his face twisted with such murderous hatred that he looked ready to tear out Xu Boqing’s flesh and drink his blood. Xu Boqing could not help but grit his teeth in frustration.

He had only sneaked a few glances. Who the hell knew that looking would mean taking responsibility?

Who could have guessed?

It was even more thrilling than admiring fine jade beside Emperor Yonghe and Consort Liu.

Seeing that the old demon’s hatred had grown fierce and his speed was astonishing, Xu Boqing’s eyes flickered. He used all his strength to launch himself forward with lightness skill.

The hunchbacked old man saw that a mortal body could run so fast, and his eyes reddened with rage. He formed hand seals and gave a sharp exhale. Moisture gathered around him, condensing into countless green water needles that rained down like a storm toward the path ahead.

Xu Boqing also sensed the moisture gathering around him, and when he heard the sharp hiss of air behind him, he suddenly turned and thrust out two sword fingers.

The true qi within his body seemed to solidify into something tangible, raising a translucent barrier of force around him. As his sword fingers swept forward, a beam of qi, hard as steel and bright as a spearpoint, tore through the downpour of water needles and shot straight at the toad spirit.

The old toad spirit had never imagined that a mortal would dare turn and fight. When he saw that nearly solid beam of qi, he was likewise startled and hurriedly raised his cane to block.

The beam of qi struck the cane.

For an instant, even time seemed to stall.

Then there came a clear, ringing clash of metal against stone.

The old man’s body jolted. The demonic wind around him seemed to be blasted apart a little by the burst of force.

His face was full of shock and suspicion. He had truly not expected an ordinary mortal to possess such fierce and overbearing qi. Even his earlier frenzy of rage regained a measure of reason.

He had just been about to probe the thief’s origins when he saw that the man, after sending out only one finger, had seized the moment of his distraction and run even farther away.

“Shameless little thief!”

“Pockmarked toad, I’ll be taking my leave first.”

The old hunchback’s cheek twitched violently at that, and the killing intent in his eyes seemed to condense into something almost tangible.

For how many years had it been?

Ever since he entered the divine path, no one had ever seen through his origins. Even he had nearly forgotten the title “pockmarked toad.”

And now...

A flesh-and-blood mortal had called it out.

He drew a long breath. The demonic aura on his body shattered the concealment of faith-power, and with resentment pouring from him like floodwater, he mounted the demonic wind and gave chase again.

“Little thief, let me see where you think you’re running!”

Xu Boqing glanced back and saw the sky behind him filled with demonic miasma, blazing like a bank of crimson clouds. At once he understood that the toad spirit had dropped all pretense and meant to settle things quickly.

When he saw a building emerge slowly ahead by the riverbank, a cold smile touched his lips.

Qi surged violently around him. He turned once more and took up the stance of sword fingers.

The toad spirit, racing after him, abruptly braced himself defensively.

Yet Xu Boqing suddenly withdrew his hand, pivoted, and ran toward the building instead, with no intention of striking at all.

“Just a joke.”

“Despicable wretch! I will surely capture you and flay your skin and eat your flesh!”

Seeing this, the toad spirit knew he had been tricked. Embarrassed and enraged, he pursued even more fiercely, swearing that once he caught the man, he would strip him to the bone and make him suffer every torment imaginable to vent the hatred in his heart.

When Xu Boqing saw the magnificently built structure ahead bearing the plaque reading River God Shrine, his eyes moved slightly and he vaulted inside.

Because a river sacrifice had just been held recently, the shrine was still filled with offerings of slaughtered pigs and sheep, dried fruits, fine wine, and the like, and no one was allowed to remain there after nightfall.

He leapt into the River God Shrine, and when he saw the enormous River God statue standing in the center of the main hall, he smiled in a way that was hard to read. Then, unhurriedly, he reached out and took three sticks of high incense.

Had the little thief panicked and run without looking where he was going?

The pockmarked toad spirit landed at the entrance to the main hall on a swirl of demonic wind and said with open mockery, “Why don’t you take a good look at whose statue stands in the center?”

“I know...”