Chapter 139: A Thousand Wonders (Part 1)
As night deepened, the alley named Flowing Clouds and Running Water outside the main gate of Autumn Reed Inn echoed with the pleasant patter of hoofbeats. Madam Liu stood alone at the entrance, two tiger-shaped gold ornaments hanging from her waist.
A carriage stopped at the gate, and a middle-aged man in a scholar's blue robe stepped out. He exuded an unspoken authority, with a faint hint of a scholarly general's bearing, but his expression showed exhaustion. Upon seeing the beautiful woman, he smiled. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. Let's go inside and talk."
The woman turned indifferently to lead the way.
The man glanced at the tiger talismans at her waist and frowned. "Is such tension necessary?"
The woman sneered, "This is just a small inn of mine, not comparable to your lordship's official residence as prefect. Just a couple of days ago, someone tore down my sign screen, and I had to swallow my anger. Now the culprit has brought a whole crowd of disciples and grand-disciples to stay here, and I still have to hold my nose and serve these immortal masters with a smile. All thanks to your lordship's excellent governance..."
The man's voice grew slightly stern. "Enough, Jia Hui. I know you're upset, but I'm not much better off. I've been busy with the water god temple ceremony since dawn, and my throat is parched. The reason I'm resting here instead of going straight back to the prefect's residence is to get a moment of peace, not to listen to your complaints."
The beautiful woman looked at him with reproach, but she knew when to yield. She quickly set aside her petty emotions and changed the subject. "You've been working on this ceremony for a full six months, and you've arranged everything grandly. The old provincial governor is unwell and couldn't come, but his trusted aide, the adjutant, did show up. With those famous literati, eminent monks, and recluses from across the court, you've more than saved face. And as for substance, the private support from our prefecture alone would be enough to fund offerings to two river gods elsewhere, wouldn't it?"
The man nodded. "That's true."
The woman asked softly, "So has our Hanshi River Water God finally looked upon you favorably? Agreed to help you contend for the position of provincial governor?"
The man clasped his hands behind his back and walked into a quiet courtyard as if familiar with the path. He shook his head with a sigh. "That rogue cultivator appeared at just the wrong time. One move affects the whole situation. When he wanted to avenge the wrongfully killed commoners, he came to your Autumn Reed Inn and found that cultivator from the Lingyun Sect. A big battle ensued, heavily injuring the Lingyun Sect cultivator and even destroying your inn's screen wall. If it had only gone that far, I could have controlled the situation. For instance, as the prefect of this commandery, I could report to the court and pin the blame on that rogue cultivator, exonerating the Lingyun Sect cultivator who started the trouble, thus appeasing the Lingyun Sect, which is deeply rooted in our Huangting Kingdom. But at the same time, I would secretly let the rogue cultivator escape. At least within the prefecture, the pursuit and encirclement would be just a show—loose on the outside but tight within—to buy him time to flee far away. As a rogue cultivator, roaming the world shouldn't be difficult."
At this point, the man showed a hint of regret. "But it happened just before the Hanshi River sacrificial ceremony, under everyone's watch. Who doesn't know that when this river god first became a deity, he relied on the help of a Lingyun Sect patriarch to establish himself? The Lingyun Sect has carefully maintained this bond for over two hundred years, never troubling the water god for anything. Instead, they've visited once a year with heavy gifts, never missing a single time except for one mountain gate catastrophe. So do you think the water god will favor in this storm that has shaken the entire prefectural city?"
The woman watched the prefect pacing back and forth without sitting down and handed him a cup of hot tea. She teased, "My dear Prefect, can you please sit down? If you keep pacing like this, I'll get dizzy and see stars."
The blue-robed man sat down and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "I found out where that rogue cultivator was hiding three days ago. I thought I could stall day by day, at least until after the ceremony, and maybe save his life. Jia Hui, do you know what the Hanshi River Water God said to me when he manifested his golden form in the temple today?"
The woman shook her head. Of course, she couldn't guess the thoughts of an orthodox deity.
As the head of Autumn Reed Inn, the woman's own sect wasn't much inferior to the Lingyun Sect, but every large mountain sect had its fixed territory. In the three prefectures of northern Huangting Kingdom, the Lingyun Sect was the leader among over a dozen cultivation sects.
But whether it was the woman's sect or the Lingyun Sect cultivators who could swagger through northern Huangting Kingdom, both were extremely respectful toward a river god personally enshrined by the emperor and king. After all, the Huangting Kingdom was not a great dynasty like the Dali Song or the Dasui Gao. Since its founding, the Huangting Hong clan had been one of Dasui's twelve vassals. The number of orthodox mountain and river gods they could enshrine was limited.
To put it bluntly, even if Dasui loosened restrictions and allowed the Huangting Kingdom's Hong clan to freely enshrine and command mountain and river deities, the Huangting Kingdom lacked the foundation. First, its territory was limited. Second, most of the spiritually rich mountain and river blessed lands were controlled by those "feudal" mountain immortals.
Thus, a river god who controlled a region's water transport was a crucial figure that even a prefect or provincial governor had to flatter and win over.
The man set down his teacup and rubbed his temples. "The water god told me face-to-face: 'Before the prefect found out where that rogue cultivator was hiding, I had already discovered it. Although the prefect was reluctant to enforce the law impartially, since I am the Hanshi River Water God, I must abide by the rule of not easily interfering in secular officialdom. Moreover, the prefect has been diligent in governing this area over the years. If the next prefect turns out to be a corrupt official who creates troubles for others to clean up, it would hinder my quiet cultivation. Therefore, I won't report this to the court.'"
The woman's face turned pale. "So the water god means he won't help you move up?"
The man smiled bitterly. "That's still based on the premise that I capture that person tonight."
The woman felt regret. "I shouldn't have vented my anger at you just now."
She then said indignantly, "This Hanshi River Water God has had a good reputation for centuries, but when it comes to his own interests, isn't he still biased? That rogue cultivator only injured a third-generation disciple of the Lingyun Sect, yet that disciple coveted a woman's beauty in the City God Temple, killed a couple outside the city, then pursued and killed the child who escaped, slaughtering the entire household of over thirty people. Such a heinous act happened to be witnessed by that rogue cultivator. Before avenging that family, he was smart enough to spread the news widely, even posting notices at your official residence. After that, he came to Autumn Reed Inn to fight the murderer. The water god's eyes and ears are all over the prefectural city—how could he not know any of this?"
The man, less aggrieved than the woman, just sighed softly. "There is heavenly principle, national law, and human sentiment. Cultivators pursue the great heavenly Dao. What do national law and human sentiment matter to them? Even against this Hanshi River Water God, national law isn't completely useless. But in my hands as a fourth-rank official, it's useless. In the old provincial governor's hands, it has some use. Only in the emperor's hands does it have real effect."
The woman muttered softly, "What if your prefectural position were in the Dali Dynasty?"
The man's eyes sharpened, and he slapped the armrest heavily. "Liu Jia Hui! Stop that nonsense! No matter how strong the Dali Kingdom is, it comes from barbarian origins. If the Dali Song clan truly unifies the north, it will be the day the orthodox literary lineage of northern Baoping Continent is severed!"
The woman huffed, "If you're so principled, why don't you just defy the water god's will and protect that rogue cultivator to the end? I don't believe this water god, even if he claims to have far-reaching powers, can truly cover the sky in northern Huangting Kingdom. If it comes to it, I'll bring out my sect's power and have it out with the Lingyun Sect, this local bully!"
The man pointed at her and laughed angrily. "At your age, you're still so childish. Do you think the Dali emperor got to where he is today by having everything go smoothly? For us, even a single prefecture is like this. Imagine how vast the Dali Dynasty's territory is, and how they weigh pros and cons. As a ruler, the scheming and forbearance are beyond our imagination."
The woman fell silent.
The man took a sip of tea, leaned back in his chair, showing total fatigue. He tugged at his collar and muttered to himself, "I am a Confucian scholar, so in cultivating myself and managing my family, I try to abide by the rules as much as possible. But I am also a Huangting Kingdom official, responsible for a million commoners in my jurisdiction who need food, clothing, and peaceful days. So I cannot always act solely on benevolence and morality. Because I need to bow and beg from immortal forces for treasures to defend against droughts and floods. I need to visit and send gifts to those arrogant mountain and river gods, begging them to intercept more luck for my prefecture. Whether poor commoners or wealthy clans, when they are wronged and bullied by immortal masters, I can only patch things up, robbing Peter to pay Paul, trying to appease everyone."
The man closed his eyes. "If I weren't so scheming, I would have resigned or lost my official hat long ago. And then that rogue cultivator, when he posted his first notice, would have been captured by some prefect who actively informed the water god, along with soldiers and cultivators. If not, tonight, after the rogue cultivator dies, he won't even have a tombstone. Of course, when a person is dead, what difference does it make whether there's a tombstone, someone toasting him, or someone remembering his good deeds?"
The prefect stood up and walked to the window, his voice low. "In the second year of Huangting Kingdom's Jialu era, ten years ago, the three prefectures including Hezhou shook continuously at night during the Zi hour. Hezhou was the worst—huts, city walls, and temples collapsed, killing over sixty thousand people. In the following month, tremors occurred every half month or several days until the New Year. The Hanshi River and all major rivers in the north surged, drowning nearly a hundred people just in my prefecture. In the fourth year of Jialu, a mountain moved in the southern Maozhou. In the eighth year of Jialu, on Mid-Autumn Night, a sudden fire broke out on Hengzhou's waterways, where countless boats were moored. The fire spread to over a thousand vessels, burning over ten thousand people to ashes."
The man's face was grim, his lips trembling slightly. "Were these natural disasters truly natural? The common people don't know the truth, but I do."
He turned to the woman. "I even know that before that rogue cultivator is captured and dies, he will curse me as a lackey of the Lingyun Sect and the Hanshi River Water God, hating me more than them."
The woman seemed to want to speak but stopped.
The man's expression gradually calmed. "I can already be sure that after this rogue cultivator dies, rumors will spread quickly in the prefectural city, spread by those powerful clans, saying that to please the Lingyun Sect, I worked hard to find the cultivator's hiding place and then besieged and killed him."
The woman sighed. "That's probably true."
The man smiled. "I'm not saying this for you to hear. I'm saying it for myself..."
From the old well in the Autumn Reed Inn's courtyard, white mist rose and drifted away. The water level inside was actually very low, the walls covered with dark green moss. Suddenly, the water level surged loudly and rapidly, rising to the rim of the well. Then a tall man in armor, holding a short halberd, stepped out. He had long whiskers on both cheeks but otherwise looked normal.
The man looked around. He didn't even bother with the youth sitting in meditation under the pavilion. He rose into the air and instantly landed in the courtyard where the prefect was staying, saying loudly, "Prefect Wei, I've personally cut off that rogue cultivator's head. There were many outsiders watching. That bastard didn't know his place—he cursed you bitterly before he died, saying all sorts of ugly things. He even spilled all your shady secrets and tried to slander my lord. I was so angry I couldn't stand it. I wanted to give him a quick death, but for your sake, I stabbed him a few times before cutting off his head. This matter is settled. I'll report back to my lord. Don't worry—I won't let his dying nonsense ruin the good relationship between you and my lord."
This subordinate of the Hanshi River Water God finished speaking and left without hesitation.
The woman stood dumbfounded at the courtyard entrance.
Given that rogue cultivator's style and character, according to what the man had said, cursing him as a lackey before death was normal. But for him to openly and endlessly expose the prefect's shortcomings in front of the Lingyun Sect and the prefecture's various powers was very strange. Because the man had had private contact with the cultivator before—both understood each other's intentions. If it was strange for the prefect to betray the cultivator as an official, then the cultivator's unnecessary dying words were also abnormal.
"What I thought before still underestimated him."
The prefect, standing by the window, had many years of experience in officialdom. He understood the implications faster than the woman. He said softly, "There is chivalry even among the lowly."
(Chapter End)