ATEG Chapter 78

“So foolish and clumsy, you probably won’t live much longer either. What a waste of my good wine.”

Several thousand years ago, the Dragon Lord reclined upon the waves, drunkenly turning the small turtle in his palm with hazy eyes.

The little turtle had retracted its head and limbs completely into its shell, looking utterly terrified. Just moments ago, he had been swimming by the river when a large bird suddenly swooped down, seized him, and flew up into the sky. He was still young, and though very frightened, he only knew to retract his head, tail, and four legs into his shell.

The Dragon Lord, drinking wine while reclining on the waves, happened to witness this scene. He raised his hand and splashed out half a cup of leftover wine, wrapping it around the large bird’s wings. Startled, the bird loosened its talons, and the turtle fell, carried by the waves into the Dragon Lord’s palm.

The fragrant wine liquid slid off the bird’s wings without wetting a single feather. Only then did the large bird flap its wings and fly up again, crying out in alarm as it rapidly fled into the distance.

The little turtle remained curled in his shell. The Dragon Lord idly spun the turtle shell. “What use is just hiding inside? Why don’t you stick your head out and bite its claws! Are you waiting for that bird to carry you up high and drop you, so you’ll smash into pieces on the rocks and it can eat your flesh?”

The little turtle understood and was badly frightened. Knowing the Dragon Lord had saved him, he timidly poked his head out, a pair of bright black eyes looking at the Dragon Lord.

“Oh my, one who’s even gained spiritual awareness.” The Dragon Lord started, tapped his finger on the little turtle’s head, bestowed upon him a cultivation method, then casually tossed him back into the river.

The little turtle splashed into the river surface. Before entering the water, he faintly heard the Dragon Lord’s words. “So foolish and clumsy, who knows how long he can live…”

……

“…Three thousand five hundred and thirty-one years.” The old turtle leaned against the protective formation, murmuring, “Not so short after all…”

Three thousand five hundred and thirty-one years—from a little turtle no bigger than a palm, he had grown large enough to shelter the entire Huai River Lord’s Mansion within his shell. He was still as foolish and clumsy as when he was a small turtle, only knowing how to curl up in his shell, never stretching out his head to bite at people.

Actually, it wasn’t that he couldn’t, but if he diverted his strength to do so, the magical power on his shell would be reduced, and it wouldn’t be as sturdy. Because what he wanted wasn’t to escape with his life, but to protect.

The old turtle sat cross-legged, hands crossed and tucked in his sleeves, spine hunched and head bowed low, like an ascetic enduring hardship. A few drops of dark blood drifted and dispersed in the water.

The cracks on his turtle shell grew more and more numerous, yet the protective formation grew more and more solid.

A blade light full of fierce power attacked toward the place where the turtle shell’s cracks were most numerous and dense—this was probably the final strike.

He slowly closed his eyes…

Clang!

There was no pain. The old turtle slowly opened his eyes.

A giant crab claw blocked the blade light before him—it was… a giant crab’s pincer.

“Let me see who dares to run wild at the Divine Lord’s mansion!” bellowed the blue-armored giant crab with full vigor.

The river water rippled, and water creatures emerged from the river one by one. A giant crocodile with vicious fangs and teeth swung its iron tail, tearing a gap in the cultivators’ formation. A water snake with cold vertical pupils coiled up around the cultivators’ perimeter, its massive body stirring up whirlpools. Scale-armored large fish swallowed waves and spat torrents… Besides these great demons who cultivated the ancient demonic path, there were also demon cultivators who wore robes and armor and had transformed into human form, their blood qi fierce and violent, stirring the waves to rush even more urgently and fiercely.

“Old Turtle, you cultivate alone by yourself, but the Divine Lord once had ten thousand water soldiers under his command!” The great blue crab sheltered the old turtle beneath its belly, wielding its claws with fierce courage. “Who’s going to fight you one-on-one!”

Fierce and violent killing intent spread throughout the river domain.

“Divine Lord, Divine Lord… the Huai River Divine Lord…”

This was the Huai River, this was the most important waterway of this great continent!

One hundred and twenty thousand years ago, when Tianzhu Mountain collapsed, heaven and earth fell into great chaos, and the divine path first appeared. The unclaimed mountain and water spiritual veins throughout heaven and earth were all contested by countless cultivators who wished to cultivate the divine path. Back then, the Dragon Lord rose from controlling only a section of the Huai River’s flow to becoming the Divine Lord of the entire Huai River vein—he fought for it section by section!

The illustrious reputation of the Huai River Divine Lord was established precisely during that period. Now the years had buried the legends, and cultivators without deep foundations no longer knew of past events, but as the Huai River soldiers passed down from generation to generation, how could they lose the legends of the past?

“Devour these fellows who dare to offend the Divine Lord!” The giant crocodile was the first to pounce ferociously.

The long snake suddenly contracted its body. The whirlpool and waves carried tremendous force, squeezing inward. The cultivators who came here were unwilling to be trapped. Having been violently interrupted twice just as they were about to succeed made them furious as well. “The Huai River Divine Lord has been imprisoned for over two thousand years—they’re just a bunch of defeated remnants! What is there to fear?!”

Weapons and armor clashed everywhere, roars and shouts never ceased, and the river water became almost pale red.

The old turtle was protected in the innermost area, pressed close to the protective formation outside the Huai River Lord’s Mansion. He no longer needed to fight. He watched these old subordinates of the Huai River Divine Lord who had not dispersed even after two thousand years, and felt blood surging in his chest.

But it was precisely this feeling that suddenly made the old turtle sense something was wrong.

“No, no! Something’s wrong! Everyone stop!” he shouted loudly. The malevolent qi here was too heavy—everyone’s consciousness had been affected. Not only that, there were other things influencing consciousness in this water domain. Wisps of invisible, formless flames burned in the river—they were poison fires of wrathful anger!

“There’s something wrong here! Someone has set a trap with poison fires of wrathful anger! We can’t keep fighting!” The old turtle wanted to stop them, but just as he took two steps, a wave knocked him back.

Some people heard his call and also sensed something was wrong, but there was no way to stop anymore. Everyone was attacking. Some cultivators had completely lost their consciousness, their eyes turning completely red. On a battlefield like this, one could only be dragged into the whirlpool of endless combat until falling, or becoming the last one standing.

If this continued, everyone would die. The Huai River Divine Lord’s mansion had actually been used as bait to set a trap! Cultivators in the battlefield fell one after another—among them were cultivators who coveted the Huai River Lord’s Mansion, but also the Divine Lord’s old subordinates!

Rage rose in the old turtle’s chest. That rage seemed about to burn away his consciousness, just as it burned away the consciousness of the cultivators trapped in the battlefield’s bloody vortex.

You want me to be angry?

The old turtle closed his eyes. The mottled phantom of his turtle shell gradually appeared. The cracks on it were already so numerous that it could hardly withstand one more impact.

You’re skilled at killing with anger?

The turtle shell—an ancient sound instrument, capable of communicating with the divine. The heart’s master is called spirit. Thorough penetration and understanding is called clarity. The turtle shell sound instrument can also enable divine clarity.

The old turtle stroked the turtle shell. Besides the cracks, there were also natural patterns on it. That was his path over these three thousand-plus years. With a turtle shell of three thousand five hundred and thirty-one years, exhausting the dao resonance of his lifetime’s cultivation, sounding the final cracking ring of this life, he should be able to shake away all confusion and enable divine clarity.

Then be angry—with my wrathful sound, I’ll shatter all illusions!

The Huai River Lord’s Mansion shone with divine light, blood color pervaded the river water, mad shouts and killing sounds rang from the riverbed. The old turtle raised his arms, his hunched body suddenly straightened, his gaze peaceful yet vast as he brought his fists down like drumbeats!

“Weng——”

A qin string suddenly rang out.

Cloud-stone shattered, jade wall broke, iron horses charged forth, waves raged in fury.

The Huai River suddenly raised alarming billows, wild waves beat the shore, roaring like an angry dragon. This sound shook everyone’s heart empty, as if suddenly breaking through the dense cocoon and silk threads that had been winding around and pulling at them. Their bodies finally gained the will to control themselves. The illusion-like turbidity before their eyes dispersed, and even the raging fury burning in their hearts was extinguished. Due to this suddenly descending emptiness, everyone involuntarily stopped and looked up, following the ringing sound.

The mottled turtle shell floated in the air. Though covered with cracks, it had not shattered. A silk string held the old turtle’s wrist—he hadn’t been able to strike down.

That clear-minded, anger-dispersing hum had come from that silk string. And the other end of the silk string was wound around the fingertips of a white-robed, wide-sleeved deity.

The deity’s gaze fell downward, and the blood color in the river scattered like shadow beneath the sun.

The old turtle was the first to recover from that qin sound. He looked up at the deity who had saved his life—his qi was pure and clear, limpid and vast. A single qin note broke through illusions, eyes like light hanging from the heavens.

The old turtle bowed.

Just now, that qin sound—for others it entered their ears and shook their hearts, but that qin string was wrapped around his wrist. When he used anger to generate resolve, used resolve to gather his lifetime’s dao resonance, and sounded the clarity-communicating divine sound to break illusions and save people, that qin sound resonated through his internal organs and heart-mind, almost causing him to vibrate along with it.

That qin sound didn’t extinguish wrathful anger with peaceful notes, but rather used a more vast, more magnificent wrathful sound to scatter the poison fire in the river. Just as when the vast sun descends, firefly light becomes invisible.

Yet in this qin sound, the old turtle heard another kind of path.

The Ghost King’s wrathful gaze—deterring demons and severing all injustice—comes from great compassionate vows.

The deity’s fingertip lightly tapped, the silk string retracted into his palm. Wide sleeves flowed with wind, robe hem brushed waves. Ink-black eyes looked at the bowing old turtle. “No need to thank me. It was your state of mind that happened to accord with this string’s path.”

When the old turtle was about to release his ultimate sound, his wrathful heart happened to somewhat accord with the qin sound. The qin sound’s resonance broke through his cultivation barrier. But hearing this, the old turtle bowed again before rising. “High God, you also have a life-saving grace toward me. May I ask, High God… are you a friend of the Huai River Divine Lord?”

“Friend…” Li Chi’s lips curved. “I suppose so.”

He looked at those water soldiers and said, “If I were you, I would leave this place.”

The giant crab wasn’t very pleased. “Since you’re the Divine Lord’s friend, why…” He was a demon cultivator of the ancient path and loved battle most. Having already gotten excited during the fierce combat just now, he hadn’t heard the old turtle’s shout and only thought this suddenly appearing deity had interrupted the battle.

The old turtle gave his head a thump. The giant crab’s words caught. “What are you… when did you get on top of my head?”

The old turtle felt helpless and transmitted his voice to him. The Crab General was a battle general under the Divine Lord—fierce, brave, and loyal, just a bit simple-minded.

Among the cultivators coveting the Huai River Lord’s Mansion, there were also those who couldn’t figure out the situation. They asked warily, “Did you also come for the Huai River Lord’s Mansion?”

Li Chi couldn’t be bothered to look at them and looked toward that brilliantly glowing mansion. “I have no interest in saving people, but I also don’t want to let you have your way, so why not…”

Before he finished speaking, they saw the mansion’s brilliance suddenly retract, and the entire mansion abruptly disappeared.

Li Chi made a grasping motion downward with his palm. A colorful-patterned giant clam as large as a house was opening its shell to flee but was frozen in place.

“What are you running for? I was just thinking about whether to let them enter first.” Li Chi flipped his palm, and the colorful-patterned giant clam flew up involuntarily, shrinking smaller and smaller until it fell into his palm, having shrunk to the size of a tea bowl.

“A shen!” Someone among the cultivators below had already recognized that colorful-patterned giant clam.

Shen—a heaven-born strange beast, shaped like a giant clam with five-colored patterns, capable of inhaling and exhaling phantom qi to form the appearance of towers, pavilions, and citadels. This Huai River Lord’s Mansion they had fought over for so long was actually an illusion created by this shen demon!

They looked again at the deity standing on the waves, their hearts couldn’t help but chill. This suddenly appearing white-robed deity had just said “whether to let them enter first.” If they had entered the Huai River Lord’s Mansion illusioned by the shen, wouldn’t they have entered the shen’s belly?

The shen demon had illusioned the Huai River Lord’s Mansion, yet not a single one of these many cultivators had seen through it. Even the water Mansion’s protective formation was utterly real. The Huai River Lord’s Mansion was fake—all their fighting and the prices they paid were completely wasted. Alert cultivators, though unwilling, understood that being able to escape with their lives from this now was already fortunate. The suddenly appearing white-robed deity’s cultivation was unfathomably deep, and from his conduct it was clear he had no goodwill toward them. If they stayed longer, who knew what other changes might occur… These cultivators quietly retreated to the edges and suddenly fled as beams of flowing light.

Seeing that Li Chi didn’t stop them, seemingly too lazy to bother, more cultivators left this place.

The great blue crab looked at them imposingly, very much wanting to stop a few, but mindful that Li Chi hadn’t blocked them, he could only suppress his anger. A pair of eyes floated on the waves, glaring at those beams of flowing light as if preparing to remember each one clearly.

“Aren’t you going back? Concealing your identities and leaving your posts without permission—aren’t you afraid of being discovered and having your domains stripped away?” Li Chi said.

Before the Huai River Divine Lord was punished, he had entrusted different river sections and tributaries to different subordinates to manage. Now, two thousand years later, some old subordinates had already perished and the river sections they controlled had also fallen into others’ hands, just as Jiuqu River later fell into the hands of that river demon who loved living sacrifices. Some were too far away and couldn’t make it here in time. Others were unwilling to come, either having other concerns or having already become estranged. The water creature great demons now gathered here were all the old subordinates most loyal to the Huai River Divine Lord.

“We’ll naturally return, but not now.” The giant crocodile transformed into an iron-armored fierce general and said in a deep voice, “Could you allow us to examine the shen demon in your hand?”

That shen demon’s illusion of the Huai River Lord’s Mansion was almost identical to the real Huai River Lord’s Mansion. Otherwise it wouldn’t have fooled even them, these old subordinates of the Divine Lord. Without truly having seen the Huai River Lord’s Mansion and its protective formation, it would be absolutely impossible to create such an illusion.

Li Chi casually tossed the shen demon over.

The shen demon’s cultivation had already been sealed. It fell into the giant crocodile’s palm.

“So it really is you.” Coldness deepened in the giant crocodile’s yellow-green eyes as he asked, “You were once also a Guardian Deity under the Divine Lord. You suddenly disappeared over a thousand years ago, and we searched for you for a long time. Now that we meet again, why would you do such things?”

The shen demon opened and closed wearily. “Just kill me.”

Frost filled the giant crocodile’s eyes. “Do you think I won’t kill you out of consideration for old bonds?”

“Of course you will.” The shen demon said, “But I cannot tell you anything.”

The giant crocodile sneered coldly. Just as he was about to say something, Li Chi’s voice drifted over leisurely. “No need to ask. He’s already been refined into a gu—he can’t say anything.”

“You…” The giant crocodile looked at the shen demon in shock, eyes wide. The shen demon’s cultivation wasn’t weak—what kind of person could capture him and forcibly refine him into a gu?

“Who did this?!”

The shen demon didn’t answer. This was precisely something he couldn’t speak of.

The giant crocodile also realized this. He was silent for a moment, then asked again, “Today’s matter… was it your willing choice?”

The shen demon laughed coldly, his laughter desolate and containing sorrow. “For me now, what difference does willing or unwilling make? When did you become so weak? If I was forced against my will, would you let me go? Can you let me go? I’ll tell you frankly—I truly didn’t want to kill you all, but this opportunity to set up this trap using the Huai River Lord’s Mansion was something I painstakingly fought for!”

The giant crocodile looked at the surrounding water creatures. He was the one among them with the deepest cultivation and longest seniority. Every one of them knew the shen demon. Before the Divine Lord was punished, they had been comrades fighting together. After the Divine Lord was punished, they had supported each other together in the Huai River.

Now, these comrades he had brought here were all injured, and some had already… could never rise again. Killing intent steamed from the giant crocodile’s body, yet his yellow-green vertical pupils grew increasingly dark. He looked up at Li Chi. Though the shen demon was connected to them, it wasn’t they who had captured it.

“Do with him as you will.” Li Chi said flatly.

He already knew this shen demon’s origins. Shen demons, like Dream-Eating Tapirs, both belonged to the category of dream illusions. He bore the aura of the Xuanqing Sect. That Dream-Eating Tapir that caused trouble in Shuigu Town was not the first gu the Xuanqing Sect had attempted to refine.

The giant crocodile lowered his eyes to look at the shen demon in his palm. No emotion could be seen in his yellow-green eyes. “I’ll give you a quick end.”

“Thank you.” The shen demon said, his voice seeming both unwilling yet also relieved. “You all… beware of Liang.”

“Understood.” The giant crocodile’s palm closed tight.

Scales and shell collided, making a grating sound like a sigh, yet also like a lament. Some fragments fell from between his fingers. Washed by the river water, they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The giant crocodile didn’t speak. Only after the last fragment was also carried away by the river water did he lift his head and bow solemnly to Li Chi. “This matter is concluded. We should return.”

Having said this, he turned very decisively and left. He could guess that Li Chi perhaps knew what person had refined the shen demon into a gu, but he also clearly understood that this kind of thing wasn’t something he could get an answer to by demanding it, nor was he necessarily suitable to know the answer right now.

The shen demon’s cultivation had originally been slightly inferior to his, yet now he could already control poison fires of wrathful anger and trap everyone in them without anyone noticing. The person who could do such things was not someone he could oppose right now.

What he should most do now was properly guard the river section the Divine Lord had entrusted to him.

The water creatures left one by one. The great blue crab dragged his feet until last. After thanking Li Chi for the life-saving grace, he didn’t leave immediately but stared straight at Li Chi with dark eyes.

“If you want to ask something, just ask.” Li Chi’s lips curved.

The great blue crab immediately released a bubble as if he’d been holding it in for a long time and asked, “Since you’re the Divine Lord’s friend, why did you let those people who covet the Divine Lord’s Mansion leave?”

“That…” Li Chi looked up at the void with a half-smile. “They’ve already fallen deep into tribulation. What they’ve done today, they will receive karmic retribution in the future.”

Because they had already fallen into the eyes of the deity who governs cause and effect.

The great blue crab suddenly seemed comfortable and moved his claws: “I’m the Crab General of Zhao Lake. If you ever come there someday, I’ll host you!”

He looked at the old turtle again. The old turtle wasn’t an old subordinate of the Huai River Divine Lord. He had merely been casually saved by Meng Huai many years ago and granted a cultivation method—unlike them, he had no stable place to go.

“You’re too severely injured to cultivate alone anymore. Why not come to my Zhao Lake?” the great blue crab asked.

“No rush.” It was Li Chi who spoke. “He has a strand of karma on him. If it can be fulfilled, there will be great benefit. Let him follow me for a while.”

The great blue crab looked at the old turtle. Seeing the old turtle had no intention of refusing, he said, “Very well. If you need help in the future, you can also come find me. I’m leaving first.” Having said this, he sank into the river and traveled sideways until he disappeared from view.

On this vast river surface, in the blink of an eye only Li Chi and the old turtle remained.

“High God,” the old turtle bowed again, “there’s still a small demon in the river waiting for me. I’d like to go tell him first.”

“That loach demon holding a small otter?” Li Chi swept his sleeve, and the river water suddenly raised waves, carrying him and the old turtle out of sight.

…..

At a section of the Huai River closer to the upper reaches, on a riverbank, the loach child hugged a small otter, saying worriedly, “Don’t cry, where’s your home?”

The small otter cried shrilly without stopping, its small paws pushing away the loach child’s hands, desperately trying to get from the tree trunk back into the water.

“Don’t go, don’t go, it’s not safe there!” The loach child blocked it.

The small otter bit down on his arm. Protected by demon power, the loach child didn’t feel pain and let it bite, sighing. “I know your mother is there, and Turtle Grandpa is there too. I also want to go, but it’s not safe there. Even if we go, we’d be useless. Stay here obediently, wait a bit. Maybe they’ll come back safely…”

Who knows if the small otter understood. While struggling with all its might, it wailed, desperately wanting to return to the river.

The loach child gripped it tightly. The small otter had been brought back by Turtle Grandpa, but he knew—since Turtle Grandpa had only brought back the small otter, its mother was probably in grave danger. After giving the small otter to him, Turtle Grandpa had gone back again. The small otter’s mother couldn’t return, but Turtle Grandpa had lived so long and was so capable—he should be able to come back safely, right…

The loach child stroked the small otter’s back. Amid its wails, he repeated in a daze, “Wait a bit more, wait a bit more…”

The small otter gradually cried itself to exhaustion and fell asleep in the loach child’s arms.

The loach child said softly, “If… if they can’t come back, you’ll stay with me. I’ll take care of you from now on.”

…..

The river water seemed to tremble. The loach child looked back alertly.

“Turtle Grandpa!”

The expression on the loach child’s face suddenly changed to joy as he rushed over directly, “That’s wonderful! You’re all right!”

The old turtle chuckled. “Turtle Grandpa has lived a very long time, and can live even longer.”