Tang Ning was overwhelmed by great fear and despair.
No one could hear his hysterical cries for help. A strange power wrapped around him like a cocoon. He couldn't even cry. He was forgotten by the world.
No, how could this happen? Someone please save me!
In this dead silence that could drive a person crazy, Tang Ning suddenly heard a sound.
That is the sound of flowing water.
Everything he saw before him changed like the tide. A river appeared in front of Tang Ning. His perspective was strange, as if a god was looking down on all living things. The turbulent river became very narrow in his eyes, like silk blown by the wind.
The wooden bridge over the river was blown down by the strong wind and most of it collapsed, with the middle section broken.
What's this
Tang Ning was extremely confused, but he still couldn't make any sound or play the music. However, his perspective could be moved anywhere, just like zooming in on the screen when watching a drama. All he could see now was this strange scene.
After a while, five people came from the other side of the river.
They wore ancient clothes, some held umbrellas, some pushed wooden wheelchairs, some carried thick bags, and some carried knives. They all looked like servants.
Sitting in the wheelchair was a young man with his eyes covered with black silk. The rain was so heavy that Tang Ning could not see the young man clearly. He thought that this group of people had come at an unfortunate time as they happened to encounter the Broken Bridge and the storm.
The servant who was pushing the wheelchair bent over and spoke to the young master, who nodded.
Tangning guessed that the group was going to stop and rest, but something unexpected happened.
The servant pushed the young man in the wheelchair to the broken bridge!
The blind, lame young man fell from the broken bridge. The wind and rain were so strong that the black silk covering his eyes was blown away. Before Tang Ning could see the young man's appearance clearly, he sank into the water.
The young man kept struggling and no one came to save him.
He was drowned.
The river water was very cold. Tang Ning had almost drowned once. He knew how desperate a person would be at that moment, but he could only see that he was unable to save the person.
Tangning felt a little sad.
After the storm was over, it was already the second thing.
Villagers appeared on the other side of the river and found the body.
The clothes the young master wore were of good material, and the things he carried on his body were also good. They happily took off his clothes and saw his weak legs.
The muscles are atrophied and look very weak.
Someone is laughing at the young master's legs.
Tang Ning saw water dripping from the swollen face, which looked like tears.
Finally, a mute old woman couldn't bear it anymore, so she dug a hole and buried the young man's body.
After the young master died, an unknown amount of time passed before Tang Ning saw a golden soul suddenly emerge from the mound of earth. This was the first time Tang Ning saw a golden soul, and it seemed to be surrounded by a circle of holy light. Although he couldn't see what it looked like, Tang Ning inexplicably felt that it should be a very beautiful being.
The golden light of the soul was particularly obvious at night. It spread its light quietly. When someone passed by, it would politely stop the person and ask softly, "Excuse me, do you know who buried this passerby?"
His voice is also very pleasant and gentle.
The person being questioned screamed wildly and ran away while shouting "ghost!"
He squatted quietly, and the light seemed to dim a little.
Tang Ning wanted Him to speak, but he knew that He couldn't hear him, so he said to himself, "I know that the person who buried you was the dumb grandmother. She lived on the far left side of the village."
Tangning asked again, "What's your name? Do you want to build a tombstone for yourself so that you are no longer anonymous?"
He couldn't hear what Tang Ning said.
He stayed there lonely.
Second, the villager who was asked for directions called a group of people, among whom there was an old man who seemed knowledgeable. The old man asked many questions and said that some people's fate is extremely expensive, and because it is too expensive, the human body cannot bear it, and there will always be serious problems.
When he dies, if his soul is golden, it means he can protect others.
He came to repay a favor, apparently wanting to repay the person who buried him.
This is such a waste, such an existence is hard to come by, they should turn him into a god who protects everyone.
Some people say, but we already have God.
This village worships a kind of black fish as a god. They believe that the black fish god can bless the village with a good fishing harvest.
The old man smiled mysteriously.
They dug up the young master's grave and carried out the frail corpse. They placed the corpse on the altar and put fish eyes into the empty eye sockets of the corpse. They cut off the corpse's legs and sewed the tails of black fish one by one on top to make a huge fish tail.
They called the monster on the altar the new god.
Tang Ning saw a golden soul next to the corpse on the altar. The soul seemed to have been transformed by an invisible force. Its legs turned into a fish tail. It groaned in pain. It was trapped in a strange body.
He became a river god.
But it was that river that drowned Him.
The old man's method was indeed effective. They now had a powerful god, and the village soon became wealthy. They made statues and built temples for the river god. People coming and going in and out of the temple knelt before the statues and made wishes.
An old, dumb old woman also knelt before the statue.
The mute old woman could not speak, but He could hear the inner voice of a person who made a sincere wish.
He heard the mother-in-law say, May the river god bless my descendants.
One of the divination blocks on the cup was flat and the other was convex, and the river god agreed.
The village became more and more powerful, from a poor fishing village into a prosperous town. They built a bigger and better temple, and everyone scrambled for the position of priest. The position of priest had to be chosen by the river god, and the river god chose the old woman's son.
After his son died, the river god asked his grandson to be the priest.
The old woman's family became the most powerful family in the village.
The river god favored their family.
Tang Ning sat on the shrine, his perspective overlapped with the river god. He saw the old woman's grandson die, and then he saw the old woman's great-grandson appear.
He could no longer remember what the old woman looked like, nor how grateful her son was when he was chosen as a priest. He also could not remember how cautious the old woman's grandson was at first, fearing that he would anger the river god.
The river god was always kind to this family.
So tolerant that they deserve to enjoy it all.
They used their position as priests to gain a lot of things, and sometimes Tang Ning felt that they looked no different from those people who would strip the young master's clothes in the beginning.
The river god still lets the old woman's descendants serve as priests.
The power of devout faith gathered on the river god, it was so heavy that it made Tang Ning, a bystander, breathless.
What is placed on the statue is not only beautiful things, but also a lot of greed, desires, hatred, and all kinds of complicated things are floating up like dust.
The statue of the river god grew taller and taller, and Tang Ning's perspective also became higher and higher. In this strange space and time, he could hardly tell the passage of time. Everything seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye, decades or hundreds of years. Time seemed to pass both very quickly and very slowly.
He saw an endless stream of people coming in and out of the temple, and those people's wishes became bigger and bigger, as if they had turned into human-shaped monsters with their mouths open, or like fish in the water with their mouths open waiting for food.
The river god could not grant a wish that big.
Some people say they want to live forever.
The river god wanted to bring his corpse back to life so that it would never grow old.
Another person wanted so much money that he would never be able to spend it all in his lifetime, so the river god let him die in one second, so that he would never be able to spend all the money in his lifetime.
The river god turned evil.
Everyone says so.
This river god priest had just taken office. He was very young and kind. He knelt in front of the statue and wished that the river god would not do evil again.
The river god did not grant his wish.
The priest was worried.
The priests saw that the statue had grown sharp claws on its hands, which was a change that had never happened before. They gathered together privately to discuss the matter. Some said that the claws might be the source of the river god's evil power, so they should cut off the hands of the statue and replace them with harmless hands, and then the river god might stop killing people.
So they cut off the hands of all the statues.
Sculptures in the wishing pool, sculptures in the temple, sculptures worshipped in every household, sculptures made of clay, sculptures made of wood, sculptures made of jade
Does sculpture hurt
If it doesn't hurt, why does red blood seep out from the cut place
The strange blood made everyone scream.
Tang Ning saw the ink paint on the eyes of the statue spread, turning the original eyes black. He sat high above the shrine. This time, no one made a wish, but He broke the hands of those who chopped the statue.
Those people felt great pain, they rolled on the ground in pain, crying and begging for mercy desperately—
It hurts so much!
It hurts so much!!!
There are exceptions for priests.
He also cut off the hands of the idol, but he was safe.
The priest stood in the town where wailing was everywhere. He looked around blankly. All kinds of strange things were still happening in the town. Many dead people came back to life. The half-dead monsters became new devout believers of the river god. They knelt in front of the temple, blocking the way for others to enter the temple. Except for the priest, no one dared to enter the temple.
The young priest looked much more haggard. He had not slept for many days. He knelt in front of the tall statue and asked God why he did this.
He asked so sadly.
Tang Ning sat in the position of the statue. In fact, this question had occurred to him countless times. When he saw the servants pushing the young master into the river, when he saw the villagers digging the grave, when he saw the group of people surrounding the altar,
People, why do you do this
He looked at the statue shrouded in smoke. The statue showed no emotion or joy, and did not respond to its believers.
The temple that was once crowded with people finally became quiet. Tang Ning's vision became broader. He could see what was happening inside the temple as well as what was happening outside.
There was a book written by Wu Feng in front of the river god statue in the temple. Tang Ning took a look and found that it was a book with subtle but elegant strokes.
Erotic picture.
Tang Ning remembered this book. It seemed to have been left by a brat with a head full of yellow garbage. Although every priest of the river god was selected from the descendants of the old woman, there was more than one child of the right age.
Sometimes several children would stay in the river temple, and one child was bold enough to bring this kind of book in and out of the river temple.
Finally, the child was chosen as the new priest.
At first, Tang Ning was a little confused as to why the River God chose that boy, since he was clearly not the best in any aspect.
Really
Tang Ning looked towards the statue, half of which was submerged in darkness and half illuminated by candlelight. It seemed to imply that the god, who was supposed to have no desires or requests, was also covered in dust in the boundless sea of suffering in the world of mortals.
The red paint on the lips looked like blood, spreading out from the corners of the lips, as if there was a hint of smile.
In this long memory of the River God, it was the first time that Tang Ning saw the River God smile.
Being desireless does not necessarily mean happiness.
When He indulged His desires and poured out unbridled evil, He finally gained the long-lost pleasure.
Tang Ning stared at Him blankly, watching Him walk away from the shrine, His dark fish tail moving on the ground like a snake. He was wearing a golden robe full of ancient charm, and left the temple like a monster that had escaped from a cage. Outside the temple, black clouds gathered in the sky, and every household hung lanterns. There were lights on, and it was a strange corpse being burned.
He looked at the scene outside the temple with a calm gaze, as if nothing could shake his heart.
Two passing male ants intertwined their bodies around his tail.
—A slender hand stretched out from the wide sleeves, and a paintbrush and a painting scroll appeared out of thin air. He sketched an anthropomorphic pornographic picture of ants!
Ant:"?"
Tangning: “?”
After finishing a stroke, he put down the wolf-hair brush, as if he suddenly felt bored.
Tang Ning looked at Him stupidly.
He probably couldn't see Tang Ning, but he seemed to have sensed something, raised his head, and looked in Tang Ning's direction.
The hair was slightly curled and hung on the forehead. In the dim golden light, Tang Ning vaguely caught a glimpse of a pair of ice-cold eyes.
As their eyes met, Tang Ning's heart suddenly tightened. He suddenly felt that this look was like many people, like Shao Mingxuan, Gong Yun, Qi Yun, and Mo Yunchu.
He shouldn't feel this way.
He is Himself, and what He most resembles is Himself.
After all, no one else can draw pornographic pictures of ants.
He turned back and painted quietly by himself. Tang Ning wanted to get closer to this existence again. He knew that the other party probably couldn't hear his voice, but he still wanted to speak. What should he say
“You’re great at drawing.”
"Are you lonely when you're alone?"
“Me too.”
“It’s so lonely sitting in the temple and becoming a statue.”
""
Tang Ning muttered to himself. He moved closer to Him and saw that He was concentrating on painting. This time He was painting very seriously. He was painting a person in a red wedding dress. The style of the wedding dress was very familiar to Tang Ning. It was very similar to the one he wore in the previous copy.
It must be a coincidence. After all, it is not impossible that the styles of wedding dresses are the same.
He painted everything else very well, except for the face of the person in the painting. The colors of the whole painting were extremely rich and bright, so rich that it seemed as if it was painted with His hard work. It was a pity that the face was empty, which made people feel a little sorry.
"Why aren't you painting anymore?" Tangning asked curiously, "Are you out of inspiration?"
Tang Ning knew that he couldn't make any sound. He was used to asking himself these questions in his mind.
He guessed: "Do you want to fall in love?"
He added: "When you are in love, you can be happy sometimes, but you have to meet the right person. I think you will definitely meet a very good person. Then you can happily fall in love and forget all the unhappiness."
"You are such a homebody, and your social circle is so small that it's hard to meet a good partner. Let me tell you, in a few hundred years, when technology is advanced, you can stay at home in the temple and play with your phone. You are such a good painter, you will definitely become a big shot on the Internet, and there will definitely be a lot of people who like you by then."
He put away the scroll while Tang Ning was mumbling, and returned to the temple.
The world outside the temple has become a mess. The people in the towns are in a panic and unable to sleep or eat. They go to ask the priests to solve the problem. They don't want this god anymore. They are afraid, disgusted and even hate this god.
Finally, someone came up with a solution.
Build a bridge to suppress the river god.
They wanted to build a very strong bridge so that they could suppress the river god forever at the bottom of the river and he would never be able to rise again.
Tang Ning knew their plan and he anxiously told the river god. He couldn't make any sound and the sculpture couldn't respond to him. They stayed in this narrow space. No one had come to clean the temple for a long time. Spider webs climbed up the corners and the incense and candles burned to the bottom. There was no one outside the temple and the monsters who were kneeling were dragged out and burned.
The river god did not leave the temple. He seemed indifferent to the changes around him. What he did most often was painting. He always painted a person without a face. He lived with that person.
The bridge is broken.
It was windy and rainy.
He, still a human, sat in a wheelchair, and the faceless man pushed Him away from the broken bridge.
He drew his legs and eyes healed, and he opened his eyes to look at that person. They walked across many bridges together, and when it rained, they walked together holding an umbrella.
He drew them bowing to the ground, drinking wine from the same cup, and sleeping on the same bed.
Tang Ning said to him, "Stop painting. You are wasting your time on playing with things. Run away as soon as possible."
He could hear nothing.
The townspeople found a very capable master and began to build the bridge. However, various accidents always happened during the construction of the bridge. Either the bridge suddenly collapsed halfway through, or the bridge builders fell into the river and drowned.
The bridge will never be built properly this way.
The master came up with another idea—
Hit the living pile.
Young boys and girls are needed to drive the stakes, and ordinary boys and girls cannot be used to suppress the river god. Finally, they all agreed that only the brothers and sisters of the priests can suppress the river god.
The river god will not harm the priest's family.
This is something that everyone can see.
Then use the priest's brothers and sisters to suppress the river god. If the river god wants to break the seal, he will kill the brothers and sisters first.
Everyone is gambling.
They were betting on the extent to which the river god would give in to the priest's family.
Tang Ning had already seen the end of everything. If he had a body at this moment, he would have cried.
The temple of the river god was destroyed by the priest himself, and the statue of the river god was also smashed to pieces by the priest with a hammer. The statue was very tall, and the moment it was pushed from the table, it first broke into two pieces at the waist, but the other parts were extremely hard. After all, everyone spent so much effort to make it, and it would take a lot of effort for the priest alone to destroy it.
No one dared to come up to help. Everything was done by the priests, and no one else dared to play.
They watched it all.
They won the bet.
As expected, the river god never harmed that family from beginning to end.
He was quietly looking at the priest's grandfather. He remembered that not long ago, the other party was still a snotty-nosed child who would dare to eat his offerings when hungry. He quietly watched the child sitting on the cushion and eating his cakes.
He looked at the priest who had fainted from crying.
He remembered that this wrinkled-faced old man was very handsome when he was young. It was because of his good looks that he was able to marry into the priest's family at the best age, wearing a red wedding dress and putting on rouge. In this town, the first person to be worshipped when getting married is not the earth god, but the river god.
They made a wish to the river god, asking him to bless them to live together forever.
He agreed.
He looked at the priest's parents again. The two middle-aged men kept kowtowing to Him, begging Him to spare the town. The middle-aged man had also begged Him before when his wife was having difficulty giving birth, begging Him to protect the mother and child.
He agreed.
He looked at the priest again. The young man who had smashed his statue into pieces was kneeling on the ground in despair, as if he had suffered a great setback. Young man, you have had such a smooth journey all the way, but suddenly encountering such a thing would really make you devastated.
Finally, He looked at the two children, very cute children, who knew nothing and only knew how to cry. He had seen how these two children looked when they were just born. The children were not good-looking at all when they were born, just like monkeys. They were held in the arms of their parents. Their parents made a wish and said, "River God, please bless these two children with a safe life."
He agreed.
One year ago, he promised the dumb old woman that he would protect her descendants and bring them peace.
But the old man did not mention what he would do if those descendants wanted to let their children die.
He was a little tired.
At the moment of being completely suppressed, He said to the young priest—
"I don't want to protect you anymore."
The young man who smashed His statue caused Him such pain that every inch of His soul was torn apart, reminding Him of the time when He was lying on the altar, with His legs chopped off and His bloated fish tail sewn on with black fish strips.
The young man who threw the broken pieces of the statue into the river reminded him of the past when he was sitting in a wheelchair, unable to see anything, being pushed into the abyss in the dark, and drowned in the cold and turbulent river.
"I will curse you for eternity."
The bridge was built, the river god was suppressed, the magnificent temple was demolished, and the scrolls on the altar were dug out. The painting was of unknown origin, and no one could guess that it was painted by the river god. They thought it was an ominous sign, so they burned it.
Completely wiped out, reduced to ashes.