"Don't throw me down..."
"Aunties, please don't throw me away... I don't want to get married..."
The crying girl struggled hard against the strong woman who was holding her. Another woman nearby threw the millstone in her hand onto the bridge. The iron chain was stretched straight, and the girl was pulled out of the strong woman's arms. She sank down with her festive red dress dragging on her, and she fell heavily on the bridge.
"I've let you marry Qi Shuishen. You've earned so much luck in your past lives. Why are you crying?!"
One of the women took out a comb and combed the girl's hair which had just been messed up by her struggle. On the big rock on the river bank over there, Zhao Daxian slightly opened one eye and glanced at the girl crossing the bridge, then quickly closed it again, shaking his head and muttering to himself.
'Mami Mahong... God of heaven, Bodhisattva of earth... Please show your power quickly... Please act quickly...'
The villagers below didn't understand the incantation, but the more they understood, the more powerful it seemed to them. They looked expectantly at the immortal on the rock, who was making hand gestures and chanting incantations. Some people wanted to speak, but their relatives covered their mouths and suppressed them.
"Don't disturb me, the Immortal is doing this, you must be sincere!"
At a certain moment, the gurgling sound of bubbles on the water surface became more and more rapid and louder. The Taoist standing on the big rock uttered the word "Law and Order", kept pinching his fingers, pointed into the water, and spoke towards the ferry bridge.
"Send the River God's Bride into the Water—"
"don't want!"
"Great Immortal, please don't... I don't want to die!"
Several strong women heard the Taoist's order and pushed the crying girl to the ferry bridge. The man following behind them picked up the millstone and was about to throw it into Qihe. He turned his eyes away from the girl and swept across the river. Suddenly, he saw the churning bubbles and frightened him so much that he froze.
Immediately, he turned around and howled at the top of his lungs: "Oh, the Qihe God has appeared!!"
This shout stunned the Taoist. Before he could react, the villagers who were kneeling behind him stood up excitedly, stood on tiptoe, stretched their necks and looked into the river.
Two burly Taoist children standing on the river bank raised their torches and looked into the river. The dark river surface was filled with the sound of boiling water that became increasingly turbulent. A huge bag of water rose up in the area of the swaying flames.
The girl on the bridge also saw it and cried even harder.
Crash-
Under the moonlight, the raised water bag hung a curtain of water downwards, and the river water above receded, gradually revealing turtle patterns that looked like a square table. The Taoist standing on the shore was so scared that his face turned pale and his legs began to go weak. However, the villagers behind him were very excited.
"The great immortal is indeed a great immortal, he is really capable. This big turtle must be the Qishui God!"
"Hush, keep your voice down. Calling the turtle a big one is against the rules. Keep your voice down!"
“… Stop talking now, be careful not to let Qi Shuishen hear you.”
The two burly Taoist boys also looked unhappy. They knew what they were doing and looked at the rock.
"Zhao Daxian" stared at the gradually exposed turtle back with a dull expression, and heard the words from the villagers behind him, and swallowed his saliva.
Actually, he was not a Taoist priest. In his early years, he was lazy and ate a lot, so he found a Taoist temple to become a monk. However, he was driven out because of his bad temper. He recruited two or three ruffians and lived by cheating and deceiving people. If you say he had some skills, he learned some alchemy in the Taoist temple.
"How the hell would I attract this thing... I must have offended someone. I have to find a way to escape and go to the mountains to ask Qinglin Daxian to help me."
The Taoist priest looked at the huge turtle back and took a step back in panic. He quickly recovered his composure and turned to face the villagers with a solemn and majestic expression, and flicked his whisk.
"Don't panic, this is the Qishui God appearing, but there is still one thing that the River God has not done yet. Wait for me to ride the auspicious cloud back to the cave to get it. It will only take half an hour. You just wait here."
As soon as he finished speaking, he winked at the nervous Taoist children on both sides. One of the latter quietly took out a round ball wrapped in parchment from his arms, and while the kneeling villagers were not paying attention, he threw it heavily to the ground. With a bang, a cloud of smoke exploded, and the villagers heard the noise and looked up.
Zhao Daxian and the two burly immortal children who had been standing there had disappeared. Suddenly, there was complete silence, and everyone looked in shock at the empty space and the huge turtle back that had emerged from the water.
"Master Zhao's magic is really profound..."
"The Qishui God is also there, motionless. He must be waiting for the immortal to come back and complete the marriage."
"Who says it's not true? Our village will have a good future in the future!"
…
Amid the sounds of people whispering, Lu Liangsheng, who was standing on a solitary tree in the field, saw clearly that the so-called immortal did not use any magic to disappear in an instant, but simply escaped quietly in the smoke.
"Huh, escape?"
A few years ago, we encountered giant crabs on the Qinglan River that used fish to lure boatmen. These charlatans are even more disgusting. They fool the villagers, not only defrauding them of their money and sex, but now they are even drowning people in the river.
Lu Liangsheng narrowed his eyes, and his figure disappeared from the tree cage in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already on the muddy road more than ten feet away. He took a step of four or five feet at a time and chased after the Taoist priest and the two Taoist children who had escaped.
…
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The night wind blew through the forest, and the lush branches and leaves created ripples in the cold moonlight.
Under the swaying branches, rustling footsteps came quickly. Taoist Zhao's eyelids twitched wildly. He always felt as if he was being stared at. He looked back from time to time. The moonlight cast through the gaps between the trees was gloomy. The forest was filled with fog, and he could vaguely feel the shadow of a person in the fog.
"Is there anyone behind you?"
At the side, two hooligans disguised as Taoist children who were also running looked back in the direction the Taoist was looking, and saw a figure flash by in the thin mist. They were so scared that their hair stood up and they screamed.
“Ahh—” “There’s a ghost!!”
The shrill scream startled the birds in the forest, which began to scream in panic. Taoist Zhao, who was running in the front, was terrified beyond words. His legs almost left a shadow, but his step hit a tree root that protruded from the ground with a bang.
The next moment, he fell to the ground with a bang. The two Taoist children who were running wildly beside him stopped immediately and reached out to pull him. The Taoist was dragged backwards, staring at the figure that was getting closer and closer, and suddenly screamed.
"Great Immortal Qinglin, help me, or you will have no more elixirs to eat in the future!!"
Hysterical screams echoed through the woods. Amid the sound of bird wings flapping, the surrounding branches suddenly shook wildly. A fishy wind blew through the woods. Lu Liangsheng, who was chasing from behind, stopped and frowned slightly.
"There really is a demon hiding... Hmm? Why does this demonic aura seem... familiar?"
In front, the three people who were running and dragging also stopped at this time. They were not panicked by the movement in front of them. The Taoist got up from the ground and heard the sound of heavy objects pressing down on the ground in the depths of the forest, causing layers of dead leaves to move. On his thin face, he twirled the tip of his chin beard and looked at the figure appearing in the moonlight, then he laughed.
"As I expected, someone is causing trouble. Haha, I just gave you some leeway. I ran here to avoid hurting the villagers over there."
Behind him, the sound of heavy objects swimming became clearer and clearer. In the silver light of the moon shining through the gaps between the trees, a huge green shadow slid past and circled behind the Taoist priest. Its dense scales slowly unfolded with the movement, and its long body stood up.
hiss~~~
When the snake sounded, the Taoist priest was actually a little scared. He took a deep breath and pointed his finger at the other side: "Great Immortal, this is the man. Eat him quickly!"
The long body slid slowly, and as thick as a tree trunk, it passed by the three people and quickly rushed towards the figure. However, the snake shadow that was moving past suddenly stopped, and stood still with its upper body upright.
"What... is going on?"
"Could it be that the immortal is not hungry?"
The Taoist priest and his two Taoist children stared at that place without blinking, feeling uneasy at the moment when the man's voice was heard from the opposite side.
"So you came here to practice."
Lu Liangsheng stood there, looking at the big snake in front of him, stretching its body and sticking its head out. He reached out and stroked her mouth and nose, revealing a smile.
"Xiaoqing, how are you?"
Over there, the faces of the three people suddenly turned pale and sweat rolled down their foreheads.