Seven Songs(Yin Deng Jue/Secret Of Leading The Light) - Chapter 30
Chapter 30: The Demon Hunter is Not a Taoist Priest (Part 4)
Just as Yu Sang lowered her head, Yan Qige had already set up the formation barrier.
He walked towards a section of the ruined wall, drew an incantation, and pulled out the Soul Guiding Lantern from behind him.
He then held the lantern up to his face, closed his eyes, and chanted a spell.
With a soft shout from him, an eight trigrams and five elements barrier emitting a purplish golden light appeared in the backyard centered on Yu Sang.
“Show yourself, quickly,” Yan Qige’s voice rang out with majestic authority.
The sound seemed to spread from all directions and then converge towards the center, shaking hearts.
Bang! With a cracking sound, a pile of earth bricks where weeds grew profusely suddenly burst open.
A grey figure leaped out of the fissure, heading straight for the mirror Yu Sang held high.
With a muffled thud, the grey shadow collided head on with the mirror surface and fell into the circle at Yu Sang’s feet.
Instantly, the eight trigrams formation glowed brightly, quickly shrinking towards the center, turning into an invisible net that trapped the grey shadow.
Seeing the creature caught, Yu Sang squatted down and lifted it by its ear.
She found it to be a very strange thing: a rat head, a fox body, and a rabbit tail. Its short tail was still stuck with the talisman she had deliberately dropped that day.
“What is this, a rat? Or a fox?” Yu Sang held the small creature up by its ear to examine it, realizing this was the little monster she had seen by the Hongzhu River that day.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t lift it up,” Yan Qige said with a cryptic, half smile.
“Why?” Yu Sang asked, puzzled.
The moment the words left her mouth, she suddenly felt something unusual happen to the ear in her hand.
The small animal abruptly transformed into a full grown person, and her hand was twisting that person’s ear.
“Ah!” Yu Sang shrieked, backing up in fright to hide behind Yan Qige.
Looking closely again, she saw it was an old man with white hair and beard.
“I… I changed back?” The old man looked down at himself, touched his arms, then his legs, patted his face, and then his head, appearing extremely happy.
“You have been secretly following us. What is your intention?” Yan Qige asked in a cold voice.
Hearing this question, the old man stopped his self congratulation and looked up at Yan Qige.
Seeing his icy expression, the old man showed a look of fear.
“You don’t need to be afraid. We won’t hurt you,” Yu Sang said.
“Really?” The old man seemed unconvinced and scrutinized Yu Sang up and down.
“We are here to capture demons,” Yu Sang explained.
The old man looked Yan Qige up and down, then seemed to realize something.
He nodded and said, “Oh, so you’re a Taoist.”
Hearing the word “Taoist,” Yu Sang’s heart skipped a beat.
Looking at Yan Qige’s expression, it had indeed turned as cold as ice.
“Um… who are you? Are you a demon?” Seeing Yan Qige’s expression, Yu Sang quickly jumped in to ask, afraid that he might kill the old man out of displeasure.
“I am the River God of the Hongzhu River. I am not a demon,” the old man protested.
“River God? Oh, you’re the one who demanded young girls be drowned as sacrifices,” Yu Sang pointed at the old man.
Hearing this, the old man quickly shook his head and waved his hands, saying, “That’s a wrongful accusation! I didn’t do it. I truly didn’t!”
“Then what happened?”
“It’s a cursed retribution, alas,” the old man sighed.
“What curse?” Yu Sang asked.
“That was about twenty years ago. At that time, there was a Hu family in Hongzhu Village. The Hu family’s son fell in love with the daughter of the wealthy landlord,Master Liu. Master Liu naturally refused to agree to the marriage and was determined to drive the Hu family’s son out of Hongzhu Village. He also promised his daughter to the son of a money exchange owner in Jiangnan. On the morning of Miss Liu’s wedding, the Hu family’s son somehow died. His body stood upright beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, as if he died waiting for Miss Liu’s sedan chair to pass the village entrance. Tsk tsk tsk… the sight was incredibly terrifying.”
“Get to the point. What happened next?” Yu Sang urged.
“Miss Liu wept constantly inside the sedan chair, wanting to get out and see, but the matchmaker said it was unlucky and insisted on keeping her inside and carrying her away. The sedan chair was then carried onto the decorated boat waiting to receive the bride, but shortly after the boat reached the river, a strong wind suddenly started. That grand decorated boat was tragically overturned by the wind.”
“How is this related to a cursed retribution?”
“That boat was big enough to hold thousands of people. For it to sink so suddenly was highly ominous. The elders all said it was bad luck. Sure enough, people who escaped the river that day said that ever since Miss Liu boarded the boat, she stood at the bow with her red veil on. When the wind was about to flip the boat, one person hid behind something and saw Miss Liu’s veil blown open. He saw that she was actually smiling, a particularly sinister, dead person’s smile. Then Miss Liu jumped into the river herself.
That night, the person who escaped went mad.
He constantly yelled that Miss Liu had come back for him last night and that she would return for revenge, and everyone would suffer retribution.
Naturally, people paid no mind to his ravings. But unexpectedly, on the seventh day after Miss Liu’s death, the normally calm Hongzhu River suddenly flooded. The majority of the villagers died in the flood disaster. Miss Liu had returned, now possessing supernatural powers. Those who survived had no choice but to obey her, or their lives would be in danger. As for me, the River God originally responsible for the water levels here, I was no match for her at all. She turned my physical body into a stone sculpture and placed it at the head of Hongzhu Village. I could no longer cast spells and could only hide all day long. Regarding following you, it’s because this place is truly dangerous. I wanted to give you a warning to leave quickly, but unfortunately, Miss Liu is too powerful, and I never dared to show myself.”
“In that case, is Ming Ran that Miss Liu? Why did she gain supernatural powers, and what is that thing she obeys?” Yu Sang frowned in doubt and looked at Yan Qige.
Yan Qige did not answer Yu Sang.
He just handed a yellow talisman to the old man and said, “Wear this on your person. Go gather the others who are still alive and tell them not to show their faces tonight.”
“Will this… be effective? Actually, before you came, a few passing Taoists also visited, but they were all killed by Miss Liu… You…”
Seeing Yan Qige’s eyes flash with a fierce look again, Yu Sang quickly reached out, took Yan Qige’s arm, and pushed him outwards, seemingly afraid he would strike the River God to pieces.
She hurriedly said, “It’s getting late. We should quickly go take another look inside Hongzhu Village.”
Outside Hongzhu Village, the old withered tree and the stone fox sculpture beneath it still stood there.
After hearing the story about Miss Liu, and knowing that the Hu family’s young man died here, Yu Sang reexamined the tree.
Walking halfway around the withered tree, she looked closely and discovered something unusual.
“There is something here,” Yu Sang pointed to a small hollow beneath the tree trunk, next to the stone fox sculpture.
She saw something inside that seemed to be shining.
