After receiving the help of the Qi family army soul and the Water Ghost, the originally life-threatening encounter was safely resolved.

The two souls did not stay here for long. After ensuring the safety of Zhang Tao and the other disciples of the Tian Shi Sect, they left. The people on the boat were still in shock and couldn't recover for a while. Zhang Tao stared at the simple message on his phone, his heart in turmoil.

"Junior brother, what's wrong?"

"Are you injured?"

A Taoist priest saw Zhang Tao motionless and became slightly worried.

Zhang Tao took a deep breath and shook his head reluctantly, saying, "I'm fine, thanks for your concern, senior brother."

The Taoist priest saw that he seemed unwilling to say more and didn't ask further. He just thought about what he had just witnessed and couldn't help but sigh, "It was a close call. If it weren't for the two guardian gods who came to our aid, we would have perished in the Huai River. I wonder which senior's methods they were."

"Those two guardian gods almost had the aura of the legendary Yin generals."

"Old Liu, are you alright?"

The senior Taoist turned his head and saw the boatman still lying on the ground, pale and lifeless. He helped him up and comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, things are temporarily safe now. Don't be afraid."

The boatman, who was already of old age, had a difficult expression on his face. He glanced at the gradually calming water surface and his face grew even paler. However, the Taoists on the boat were all injured and did not notice this subtle change in expression. Zhang Tao glanced at his phone and looked at his senior brother, saying:

"Senior brother, is there a way to control Yin gods in modern times?"

The Taoist thought for a moment and said, "Yes, but in this day and age, it requires a very high level of cultivation."

"Generally speaking, you have to perform a ritual and spend a couple of hours to summon a Yin god and make it obey your commands. It's quite troublesome."

Zhang Tao remained silent and said, "What if it's less than ten minutes?"

The Taoist was surprised and then smiled, "How is that possible?"

He thought his junior brother was confused and casually replied, "In that case, the person performing the spell would have to have such a high level of cultivation that they only need to use a talisman to make the Yin soldiers and gods obey their commands. Ha, where can you find such a person? If there really is someone like that, they would be at the level of the legendary names and official positions left in the Heavenly Court according to the legends."

"You mean immortals."

"Immortals..."

Zhang Tao stared at the short time on his phone and couldn't say anything.

................

Because of this encounter, several Taoists from the Tian Shi Sect were injured, and the boatman who was sailing was also scared and pale. Everyone no longer had the intention to continue traveling on the Huai River. They hurriedly turned back. In addition, the boatman was afraid, so it took them several hours to return to the village.

He lived in a village along the Huai River.

The residents relied on the water for their livelihood and occasionally ferried tourists across the river. The village was remote and only recently had electricity and internet access.

After returning, they found that there was another person in the village, a young man with an ordinary appearance. He said he was planning to travel along the Huai River and came here to rent a boat. They had already made arrangements, but when the boatman went to the village chief's house and talked for a while, he changed his mind.

He said that they couldn't go out on the boat for at least a few days, so they would have to wait and see.

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

The young tourist was easygoing and agreed directly. After discussing with the disciples of the Tian Shi Sect, since they had already notified the Tian Shi Sect on Longhu Mountain, the matter would naturally be handled by their senior uncles. However, the villagers had encountered the Water Ghost along with them earlier, and they didn't know if there would be any lingering danger. So they decided to stay in the village for a few days.

Zhang Tao was still lost in thought because of the short message on his phone. When he went out, he ran into the tourist who had supposedly arrived in the village before them. He greeted him politely and said, "I don't know how to address you..."

The young man looked at him and replied, "My surname is Wu."

Zhang Tao was surprised. This surname was relatively uncommon, but he didn't think much of it and nodded.

The man who called himself Wu stood at the entrance of the village and looked into the distance. He reported the incident involving the Qi family army soul and the Water Ghost to Wei Yuan, who had arrived from Quan City. With the human visual ability relying on reflected light and the influence of the water curtain on light, he easily changed how others saw him.

He didn't appear directly but landed on the shore from another place, arriving at the village before Zhang Tao and the others.

The boatman had seen the Water Ghost being defeated by the bearers of the sedan chair earlier, and he was even more afraid. He must have known something.

But only seven pairs of sedan chair bearers were not enough to satisfy Wei Yuan's goal. He was also worried that Wu Zhiqi's power would appear and scare away the hidden entity behind him. So he had to resort to this plan. Wei Yuan stared at the scenery in the distance for a while, instructing the Water Ghost and the Qi family army soul to remain hidden in this village.

He himself wandered around like an ordinary tourist.

After the sedan chair-bearing Water Ghost was defeated, the Huai River, at least this section of it, calmed down for a while. But it became even more turbulent and surging, as if there was something hidden beneath the water system that was extremely angry. Sometimes, the surging waves were almost as high as small mountains, as if they were about to engulf the villages on both sides of the river.

Zhang Tao and the disciples of the Tian Shi Sect went to take a look, and their faces were grim.

Obviously, there was some kind of entity causing trouble.

They just didn't know how large an area of the water it had stirred up and how strong its power was.

But no matter what, this kind of situation could already be called a water god or earth spirit. It was not a problem that could be solved by small Taoist priests like them. That night, the people in the village went to worship the river god. Zhang Tao wanted to dissuade them but didn't know how to speak up.

Just as he was about to approach, those villagers glared at them with extreme resentment. One woman even cursed fiercely, "What are you doing here? If it weren't for you causing trouble for the river god, how could the river god be so angry and disrespectful to the divine beings!"

When it came to cursing, the Taoist priests were no match for her.

One by one, they retreated in a sorry state.

The woman who was extremely fierce when cursing others was extremely devout during the prayer ceremony for the River God.

But obviously, the River God they mentioned did not appreciate it.

On the first day, they poured large amounts of white glutinous rice and high-alcohol white liquor into the river. The part of the riverbank where it was poured emitted an unmistakable strong aroma of alcohol, but the river became even more turbulent.

On the second day, before they even woke up, the Taoist priests heard the sounds of animals. When they rushed out to take a look, they saw that the local residents had somehow obtained live cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens, and had gathered all five sacrificial animals by the river, where they were killed on the spot for the ritual.

This was almost the scale of sacrificing to the heavens and gods in ancient times.

Fresh blood flowed into the river, and the Huai River surged even more, but it still showed no signs of calming down.

That night, several Taoist priests discussed how to stop the river and drive away the evil spirits in the river. Meanwhile, in another place, in the village chief's house, every household had someone present, each one silent. The village chief looked around and hoarsely said, "You all know the situation."

"Now those outsiders have harmed the messengers of Lord Huai Du. Now Lord Huai Du is angry. The rituals that used to be effective in previous years are now useless. Once Lord Huai Du rises, we won't be able to escape."

A young man asked, "Then can't we run away?"

The village chief sneered, "Run away?"

"Do you not know the fate of those who ran away a few years ago?"

Everyone fell silent. In previous years, they had indeed heard of people running away. It was said that they went to the big cities and lived well, even having children. But after only one or two years, when the villagers set up fishing nets in the Huai River, they found the corpses of an entire family in the nets, which frightened the fishermen.

Since then, no one in the village had any thoughts of leaving.

In addition, in the past, when there were floods, they could deal with them by using glutinous rice and strong liquor. Occasionally, people would die in the river, but they relied on the river to make a living, and people died every year. They always felt that it would not happen to them. But who knew that now, not only was glutinous rice and strong liquor useless, even the sacrificial animals were useless.

The shadow of death loomed over everyone.

After a long silence, the village chief looked at everyone and said, "There is only one way."

He said, "A living sacrifice."

The expressions of everyone changed. The last living sacrifice was decades ago. Some of them were still young at that time and had no impression of it, while others were not even born yet. They only regarded it as an ignorant and lost tradition. But when the usually gentle and kind village chief uttered these two words, they realized that this tradition had never been lost.

A woman spoke up, "Since you said that, village chief, why don't you offer someone from your own family? I remember your grandson is only six years old, which happens to be suitable."

The village chief's expression changed, and he angrily said, "What did you say!"

The woman was startled and forced herself to say, "What's wrong? You're the village chief, shouldn't you lead by example? Besides, your grandson is the right age."

The village chief said, "Hmph, isn't your grandson the same age? The Liu family has five children, sacrifice two of them to ensure everyone's safety, isn't that perfect?!"

"Village chief, why are you dragging me into your argument?"

"What's wrong, you..."

The crowd instantly started arguing, shouting and cursing at each other, exposing each other's weaknesses. They were in a heated argument.

Suddenly, a deep voice said, "...Let's draw lots."

"No one can escape."

Everyone's voices paused, and they fell silent.

They looked at each other and once again fell into the same mindset they had when they decided to stay in this village—someone would be unlucky, but most people would be safe, and they always believed that they would be safe. So they found some white paper, tore it into strips, and drew lots.

A man's legs went weak, and he sat down on the ground.

He drew his daughter.

.................

To prevent disciples from the Celestial Masters' Mansion from getting involved, the villagers planned to secretly carry out the most important living sacrifice. They covered their faces with bags, leaving only their eyes exposed, and held torches as they went to the woman's house. The man who had been extremely devout to the River God was not there; he had already been knocked unconscious.

In the moment when his daughter was chosen, he went crazy and tried to push these people away, wanting to protect his daughter. But he was struck heavily on the back of his head and completely lost consciousness.

In the dark night, the crowd smashed open the door and knocked out the woman inside.

She didn't even see who had attacked her.

All she saw were faceless figures, without fear or shame, their shadows flickering under the torchlight, like demons lurking in the dark night.

It seemed that after putting on the masks, they no longer had to worry about retaliation or have any psychological burden.

But at this moment, there was a commotion, and the crowd turned around and saw a young tourist dressed in simple clothes. He looked at them, looked at the tearful little girl, and said, "What are you doing?!"

No one answered. The people with black bags covering their faces stood motionless.

They picked up torches and shovels, completely changing their appearance, and slowly approached the newcomer.

The young tourist paused and said, "Let go of the child."

"No matter what, the child is innocent."

"If there's something to be done, let me do it in her place."

The crowd hesitated for a moment and subconsciously looked at the shortest figure among them. It was the village chief. He silently looked at the young man who had spoken, looked at his healthy and young body, and thought that if one living sacrifice was not enough, there could be a second one. So he slowly nodded.

Someone tied the young man's hands and took him away along with the little girl.

This young man would be the sacrifice for the Lord of the Huai River.Such a healthy, young sacrifice.

Presumably, Lord Shui will be satisfied.

PS: Buffering chapter~

It's so hard to smoothly transition into the part I want to write_(:з」∠)_

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