ATEG Chapter 67.1

I don’t know how High God Li Chi is doing now…

Ding Qin stood by the Jiuqu River, her thoughts drifting for a moment.

The great calamity continued its relentless cycle. She had left the Li Manor some time ago. The situation outside was far less peaceful and comfortable than in the mountains, but she couldn’t hope to remain forever under the High God’s protection. Even though Li Chi seemed so powerful, she had always remembered that the High God was injured, remembered that day when, beneath the divine radiance, she had seen that expanse of empty shadow. She also wanted to be able to do something for the High God…

Thinking of this, Ding Qin unconsciously touched her forehead. The divine seal on her forehead remained hidden, but she could always feel the warm, gentle divine power within it, like a gaze falling upon her…

When a deity is in distress, the divine seal will surely sense it. Her divine seal showed no abnormalities, and the mountain was peaceful, so everything must be fine. She too must work hard.

Ding Qin took a deep breath and looked toward the water channel by the Jiuqu River.

This channel had just been re-excavated and repaired. Clean pebbles and gravel were laid along the sides and bottom to prevent the water from contacting the soil below that had been soaked with bitter rain. There was currently no water in the channel, and the section connecting to the Jiuqu River was blocked by a layer of earth.

The tall, elegant red-crowned crane standing beside Ding Qin lowered its head and asked, “Can you do it? Don’t force yourself. You can try several times; take it slowly.”

Ding Qin nodded, suppressing the nervousness in her heart.

The water in the Jiuqu River had also been contaminated. Only after purifying the river water could it be drawn into the channel for use.

During this time, Lu Kingdom had developed methods to filter out the salty bitterness from the water. They only needed to find a way to purify the malevolent qi from the water before it could be used.

But this was Ding Qin’s first time actually setting up a water purification array. In fact, she had only recently begun formally arranging arrays.

When Li Feng had taught her array formation previously, she had practiced and experimented on array disks, which were at most table-sized.

More than a month ago, when Ding Qin attempted to set up a protective array against turbid demons for Ding Family Village, that was her first real practical application.

The spiritual essence between heaven and earth had become increasingly chaotic, making all techniques exponentially more difficult to execute, not to mention setting up an array that could cover the entire Ding Family Village. At that time, Ding Qin had been extremely nervous. If not for High God Li Chi activating her divine seal before she returned, she probably wouldn’t have been able to succeed on her own.

When Bai Hong returned and saw the array, it was delighted beyond measure. “You know how to do this? Excellent! Help me set up arrays in other places as well.”

Seeing Ding Qin nod in agreement, Bai Hong gripped her with its long beak and tossed her onto its back, then spread its wings and took flight.

Ding Qin was startled. “Why such a hurry?” 

Bai Hong complained, “If we don’t resolve this quickly, I’ll be worked to death by those crazed turbid demons running amok everywhere! Once this matter is finished, I’m never doing this job again.”

Ding Qin couldn’t help but ask, “Weren’t you one who attained divinity as an earth deity?”

If it was an earth deity of a particular place, there would be no way it could abandon that place and just quit.

Bai Hong gave a helpless, annoyed cry. “I’m not the earth deity here. I attained divinity through the Way of Wind. I was traveling through here over a thousand years ago, and the situation here was terrible at the time. I felt sympathy and stayed to watch over the place, while also accumulating some merit.”

“What was the situation here over a thousand years ago?” Ding Qin asked curiously.

“Don’t you people still worship that Ghost King?” Bai Hong said. “Even earlier than that, there was no earth deity in this area. There was a river demon of unknown origin in the Jiuqu River who demanded live sacrifices every year. Later, the Ghost King appeared and slew the river demon, and this area finally became peaceful.”

Ding Qin also knew this story. All the villages near the Jiuqu River in their area, besides worshipping the deities protecting them, also worshipped a Ghost King.

Though the Ghost King possessed abundant incense offerings, she had never manifested miracles among the people, so everyone was uncertain whether this Ghost King truly existed. Although the custom of worshipping the Ghost King had been passed down, how devout the worshippers were varied greatly. After all, a distant and unknowable Ghost King could never compare to the divine path cultivators who protected them day and night.

However, even if the Ghost King truly existed, she might not care much about their incense offerings. The Ghost King had never brought disaster due to people’s insincere worship.

Previously, Ding Qin hadn’t taken the Ghost King’s existence seriously either, but during that incident when Yun Ling was troubled by the ghost hound, she had personally witnessed that Ghost King’s imposing wedding robe manifestation.

“That river demon was a turbid demon that devoured essence and blood, cultivated powerful divine abilities, and ordinary deities were no match for it. When it wreaked havoc in the Jiuqu River, naturally there were no protectors in the area—even if there had been any before, they were all devoured by that river demon. Even though the Ghost King later emerged and slew the river demon, though the Ghost King’s consciousness was clear, her body of yin malevolence was not suitable for protecting the living creatures of a region.” Bai Hong continued.

“At that time, I was comprehending the Way of Wind, traveling everywhere. I passed through here and felt sympathy, so I stayed. But who would have thought that over a thousand years would pass, and this place still hasn’t produced a single divine path cultivator with the aspiration to become an earth deity? Because of this damned job, I’ve wasted quite a bit of time.”

As person and deity talked, they arrived at their destination before they knew it. Bai Hong folded its wings and landed near another village, asking Ding Qin to help set up an array.

Ding Qin had been helping set up arrays for over a month, but those had all been protective arrays. The malevolent qi purification array wasn’t difficult, but making one that could withstand the impact of Jiuqu River water entering the channel while also thoroughly purifying the incoming water volume was no easy task.

Malevolent qi was formless, substanceless, and odorless. Ordinary people without cultivation couldn’t perceive it. This water channel would supply water for several nearby villages. People trusted her, trusted the Crane God, believing that after she processed it, the water in the channel would be free of malevolent qi. If the array had any flaws, this water would become poison harming people.

The channel head had been dug into a circular pool with the array foundation buried beneath. Now only the final step remained—connecting with heaven and earth, drawing in spiritual essence, and activating the array.

Ding Qin concentrated fully. In her spirit vision, the spiritual essence leaping between heaven and earth appeared clearly, one by one. She condensed divine power at her fingertips, reached out, and with movements that seemed slow but were actually swift, touched and guided points in the air. Spiritual essence like ink, divine power like a brush—a stream of clear spiritual essence spiraled into a seal and descended into the array.

Spiritual resonance rippled. The array was complete.

Ding Qin breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s try it. It should be ready.”

Bai Hong nodded. Its long legs clawed through the air, shattering the earth layer blocking between the Jiuqu River and the water channel. River water rushed down, drawn by the array’s power, swirling in the circular pool.

The array was impacted by the malevolent qi in the water. The hidden power was instantly activated, causing the surrounding spiritual essence to surge. The water flow in the pool churned restlessly.

Ding Qin stared fixedly at the array’s operation. After a moment, the array’s power gradually stabilized. The river water swirling in the circular pool also gradually calmed and began flowing down the slope into the channel beyond.

The river water stirred up the gravel in the channel, making it somewhat turbid, but the malevolent qi in the water had completely disappeared. With the sound of rushing water, the river water gradually meandered along the channel, and after filling the waterway, it became steady. The stirred-up sediment also began to gradually settle.

Until now, the array continued operating stably. 

“Looks like there’s no problem,” Ding Qin murmured.

“Thank you for your hard work,” Bai Hong said. “I’ll watch over it from now on.”

The river water in the channel was still salty and bitter. When nearby villagers drew water for use, they would filter out the salt and bitterness. This was also required by Lu Kingdom’s newly promulgated laws—the malevolent qi in the water must be removed before performing the filtration operation.

While the malevolent qi still remained, this salty, bitter taste served as a reminder to living creatures without cultivation. As long as this taste was present, they wouldn’t inadvertently drink water heavily laden with malevolent qi.

This water channel wasn’t large, barely enough to supply the nearby villages. Although for now it wasn’t enough to irrigate fields, compared to those places not near water sources, this was already quite fortunate.

As time passed, the seasons gradually moved toward the hottest part of the year. This year’s weather was exceptionally, abnormally hot. There had been no rainfall, and in some places the earth had even begun to crack.

Outside Zhangning City, the once prosperous scene had vanished, replaced by crudely constructed thatched huts. Refugees sheltered in the shacks and under tree shade, hiding from the vicious sun, their eyes gazing hopefully toward the tightly closed city gates.

“Grandfather, it’s almost time for the porridge distribution, isn’t it?” A seven or eight-year-old boy looked on hopefully.

“Wait a bit longer.” The old man stroked the boy’s head with his veined hand. “Run quickly when the time comes.”

The boy clutched his broken bowl tightly, nodded, then looked at the refugees gathered around them and asked fearfully, “There are so many of us. Will we eat all the grain until there’s none left?”

“No, we won’t.” The old man comforted him. “This is the capital. The capital has the royal palace, which has more grain than anywhere in the world. The palace has the king, and the king is the most benevolent—he won’t abandon us.”

The capital had always been the most prosperous, safest place. The capital could always provide them a way to survive.

“But,” the boy looked timidly at the soldiers guarding the city wall, “why won’t the capital let us in?”

…..

Inside the royal palace, Lu Hong was overwhelmed with work. He had kept several ministers behind after court sessions for consecutive days for small councils, and afterward had even kept them in the palace, eating and living in the hall together while handling affairs each day.

Another day of small council. Lu Hong wearily pressed and rubbed his temples. Even with such daily busyness, what they could accomplish was truly too limited.

Lu Kingdom needed not only methods to purify contaminated water sources but also new rainfall. Contaminated fields needed cleansing, rampaging turbid demons needed resolution, withered yellowing plants, sickening and dying animals…

These were all matters beyond mortal power to resolve. Though Lu Kingdom employed cultivators, their abilities were equally limited, and they also needed to accumulate resources to survive the coming calamities.

The same was true for deities. Incense and sacrifices were not a panacea for divine beings. Refining incense and extracting wish-power required time. Though Lu Kingdom continued making sacrifices, the deities were also dealing with demons and ghosts driven mad by malevolent qi. Now that contaminated water sources had purification methods and could temporarily maintain a basic water supply, the matter of rain seemed less urgent…

But the actual situation was far more complex. Even the most harmless common people, when they became refugees lacking food and clothing, would become dangerous. With ill-intentioned people stirring things up, there was a gradual tendency toward rebellion. The three days of bitter rain had been reframed as a sign that the King of Lu lacked virtue and heaven was bringing disaster. With the drought’s occurrence, the rumors were growing increasingly severe.

The momentum of rebel forces had to be suppressed immediately, but military campaigns required provisions, and with the drought, Lu Kingdom now lacked provisions most of all.

If it didn’t rain soon, they would likely see military conflict.

More and more refugees gathered outside Zhangning City. Lu Hong couldn’t ignore them, but he had no way to keep feeding this group with porridge indefinitely.

There was some arable land outside the city, but without rain, the land could only lie fallow. The refugees couldn’t be settled outside the city, but he also couldn’t let people into the capital—that would certainly cause chaos. Moreover, in other places, under the guidance of those with ulterior motives, there were already signs of refugees gathering and attempting rebellion. Who knew if troublemakers had infiltrated these refugees?

But there were too many refugees. Gathered outside the city, they would cause trouble sooner or later. If someone incited them, the consequences would be even more serious. Zhangning City had limited grain. Though they could still distribute porridge now, in another period of time that might not be possible…

Lu Hong had been so anxious these past days that sores had formed at the corners of his mouth. Every day’s court session devolved into arguments over this matter. Someone had proposed driving the refugees away while their numbers were still manageable, which was immediately opposed.

“How is that any different from murder?!” A minister with half-white hair fiercely rebuked. “These refugees were originally law-abiding people. They came here because they hoped in our great Lu, because they trusted the king! You propose this—have you not seen the miserable state of those who have fallen along the road?! Many refugees have already collapsed on the journey. Those who managed to reach here can go no further. You would expel them—where would you have them seek survival? Would you have these subjects who place such trust in us die?!”

But the minister making the proposal had his own reasons. His tense face showed even deeper wrinkles as he said heavily, “Do you have any solution? If we don’t steel our hearts now, when disaster strikes, won’t even more people die, having wasted our already scarce grain for nothing?! You only see those who have fallen by the roadside now, but if we don’t make a decision, when military conflict arises in the future, all of Lu Kingdom will be filled with such misery. Don’t you understand the principle of sacrificing the few to save the many?”

“We haven’t reached that point yet. Turn over the contaminated surface soil, and as long as there’s rain, much of the wasteland can be cultivated again. You’re eager to drive people away now—what are you trying to do?!”

“Where is the rain?!”

The great calamity had made it so there would be no more rain this year. Lu Kingdom had kept making sacrifices, but until now, no rain had fallen. Though the deities who controlled rain also accepted mortal incense, they didn’t depend on it. What the Divine Court was thinking, mortals had no way of knowing. Even with anxious hopes, the nation’s operations couldn’t wait, nor could they rely on speculation and expectations of the Divine Court to formulate plans.

As the argument continued, the minister who had made the proposal lifted his robes and knelt, resolutely and painfully saying, “If the king cannot bear to make the decision, this minister is willing to take on this responsibility.”

Lu Hong’s lips trembled but he said nothing.

“By the time the refugees outside the city riot, it will all be too late, Your Majesty!”

…..