Yefutidaolu

Chapter 4: Mud Dragon Praying for Rain
Seeing the crowd coming in aggressively, it seemed that they were ready to fight Gao Jian and Bai Ping.

Last night, the mountain god and the temple keeper were killed. They had never seen such a scene before and were so scared that they ran away.

But now, the villagers all know that they have no way to survive.

The court refused to give rain, and the mountain god disappeared.

Although all the villagers were still alive, they were actually dead. They either starved to death or died of thirst in their hometown, or left their homes and went to other places to work as slaves or tenant farmers, and finally died of exhaustion.

Especially the young man who was leading the group, his name was Wang Si.

Since last year, it has stopped raining since the low mountain villages were unable to pay taxes even if people were starving to death.

More and more people fell ill, and the old, weak and disabled died one after another. Some people left the low mountain village and went to find the masters of other villages, begging them to take them in as slaves, as long as they could make a living.

The people who stayed in Murakami were all in a trance, lying sickly in bed all day long.

The granaries of every household were almost empty, and the villagers began to search the village for mice, grass roots and leaves to fill their stomachs.

Later, many people were short of breath, had fever, and were shaking all over.

Without water and food, people will become swollen. Small areas on the arms or feet will swell up and then quickly expand until they are painful. At this time, the swollen areas will crack and ooze out a slightly pink liquid, which will then turn into yellow, foul-smelling pus, attracting swarms of flies.

The villagers could only draw a few buckets of water from the well in the village and cook a bowl of soup with the insects, mice and vegetables they could find.

And after a year without rain, the well finally dried up.

At this time, the temple keeper came and saw the pitiful plight of the villagers. He knelt down, danced, and prayed to the mountain god - day and night, without sleep, and only took a few sips of water.

Finally, on the evening of the third day, a heavy rain like a flood fell, and the low mountain village was saved. As a result, the whole village believed in the mountain god.

The mountain god asked for blood food, so they gave him blood food.

If the mountain god wants to offer sacrifices, they will provide them.

Because the mountain god will bring them good weather and good harvests.

As for the dead?

If it hadn't rained, more people would have died.

But now, the mountain god and the temple keeper are gone because of the two people in front of him.

Wang Si stood up and stood in front of everyone. He ran away in fear last night, but now... he didn't know where to escape.

Since the other party came to seek revenge, he would be the first one.

Seeing the villagers like this, Bai Ping raised his only remaining hand and said, "Everyone, everyone, I am not here to seek revenge, but to help you pray for rain!"

Wang Si was furious and pointed at Bai Ping, saying, "Bullshit! You Taoists are trying to cheat us again! Last year, several Taoists and monks came and said they could help us pray for rain. They cheated us out of our gold and silver, our food and drink, and even our young wives into sleeping with you. They even cheated away the few remaining cows in the village!"

"In the end, only the temple keeper and the mountain god can be trusted!"

Bai Ping was speechless.

Gao Jian watched from the side and could imagine it.

Since this place has been removed from the rainy list by the imperial court, it will definitely try every possible means, and this is when the scammers take action.

If Bai Ping had come last year, they might have welcomed him with joy.

But now, they have been cheated of everything, and in the end, the mountain god gave them rain in exchange for blood food, and Bai Ping killed the mountain god...

Bai Ping waved his hands quickly, bent down quickly, and begged, "I am not a liar, and I won't take your money! I beg you to let me have a try!"

However, when he bent down, the man named Wang Si shouted: "Fuck you, you stinky Taoist priest!"

Then, he actually took the hatchet and chopped at the back of Bai Ping's head!
Even if Bai Ping had some magic skills, he would definitely not survive if he was hit by this blow.

however--

With a clang, Gao Jian pulled out his knife, knocked the hatchet away, and then kicked Wang Si over!

Seeing this, the villagers behind him immediately came up with their farm tools!
"Young man, why bother--" Bai Ping wanted to say something.

"Shut up!" Gao Jian shouted, causing Bai Ping to shut his mouth in embarrassment.

Then, Gao Jian, holding the rusty knife in his backhand, used the back of the knife to fight the enemy and rushed directly into the crowd!

Completely inheriting the spirit of the self-sacrificing sword technique, Gao Jian is now like a veteran who has been immersed in the sword technique for ten years. Beating these villagers is simply an exaggeration.

His self-sacrificing sword technique was brutal and ruthless, emphasizing the exchange of injuries for lives, but in reality, these villagers had no chance of hurting him. Even with the back of the sword, he could still knock them away before they could make a move.

The swords clash and the sunlight is cold.

Sobbing breath, shouting wind.

In just a few minutes, dozens of villagers were lying on the ground wailing, and Gao Jian was not even breathing hard.

But he didn't stop, but pointed at the villagers and said!

"You are rude and unrighteous, you fear power but not morality, you are like beasts! Let me ask you, you keep saying that this Taoist priest is a liar, what did he lie to you about?!"

"He came to your village yesterday, and you tricked him into giving him drugs and tying him up, intending to sacrifice him to the evil spirits!"

"He lost an arm because of this, but you forgot about the past and wanted to help you pray for rain. Instead of being grateful, you wanted to kill him!"

"Who is the liar? Who wants to kill me?!"

"You treat liars and evil spirits with respect and give them whatever they ask for, but you treat good people with contempt and even want to take their lives. No wonder it doesn't rain! It deserves not to rain for rotten people like you!"

"If it weren't for Bai Ping, I wouldn't care whether you live or die. I would just let you die of thirst and hunger!"

After saying this, he walked over to Wang Si who had fallen to the ground and said loudly: "I will also cut off one of your arms today, so that you will remember that there was a Taoist priest with a broken arm who risked his life to save your village!"

He stopped talking and swung his knife. Although the rusty knife was not sharp, it was strong enough to cut off Wang Si's arm.

Wang Si let out a wail.

Bai Ping, who was standing next to him, saw all this and had no choice but to close his eyes and not look.

After doing all this, Gao Jian took a breath and vented all his anger.

He glanced at his long sword.

The rust on the long sword retreated half a bit, but Gao Jian didn't want to pay attention to it now.

He just turned around and said to Bai Ping: "Master, it's up to you now. It's up to you to do what you want."

"Young man... Hey, can you help me set up the altar?" Bai Ping sighed and said.

"No problem, no problem." Gao Jian smiled, rolled up his sleeves and went to help.

After all, it’s Bai Ping.

Gao Jian was helping with some chores, but saw Bai Ping marking out seventy-two steps around him.

He used stones and mud, and also a table from a villager, to build a square altar, two feet high and thirteen feet wide. Twenty steps outside the altar were marked with a mud line.

There are paintings of a turtle and a snake on the altar, surrounded by ten stars of the celestial turtle, and water waves below. The turtle and the snake look to the left, spitting out black air like threads.

These were all drawn by Bai Ping with one hand, and quite quickly.

But he took out a five-thunder token from his bag, then dug a handful of soil from the east, poured a bowl of clean water into it, and mixed it into mud.

He kneaded the mud into the shape of a dragon, sprinkled water on the dragon with branches, chanted a few incantations that Gao Jian couldn't understand, stepped on the Gangdou, made a thunder seal with his only remaining hand, took a breath of the vitality from the east, spit it into his hand, and then began to draw talismans.

The talisman was drawn without ink. Instead, a branch was hit on the mud dragon. The mud dragon suddenly opened its mouth, spit out mud and water, and its body became drier.

He dipped it in mud and water, used it to draw a talisman, and then slapped it on the mud dragon. He held the Five Thunder Order in his hand and chanted, "Mud dragon, mud dragon, raise clouds and spit out mist, and if it rains heavily, I will make you go back!"

The mud dragon actually came to life! It became more than three feet long, then soared into the sky!

Suddenly, a strong wind blew up, sand and stones flew, and there was thunder in the sky. In just a moment, it started to rain heavily!

The rain was heavy and the villagers stood up from the ground, hugged each other, and listened to the crackling sound of rain on the roof.

There were thunder and lightning, with deafening rumbling sounds. In the intervals, one could hear the howling of foxes and wolves and the croaking of frogs in the forest.

Rain is like ointment, moistening the dry grass and saving the drought-stricken seedlings.

Drop by drop, green strips, jade tips.

It's like thousands of pearls falling in a jade plate, decorating the green mountains with fine threads.

The red apricot blossoms wet the railings, the green lotus flowers flutter, and the green bean flowers rustle in the wind.

Gao Jian was stunned when he saw that it was really raining.

It's really amazing.

On Bai Ping's side, the Taoist priest was so tired that he took a long breath, but he did not delay. He just turned around and said, "Solved, solved, brother, let's go. This mud dragon is enough for the autumn harvest."

"Okay." Gao Jian put the knife back and left with Bai Ping.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from behind.

"Wang Si was blind and almost killed his benefactors by mistake. Here, I pay for my life to the two benefactors!"

Just as he finished speaking, the hatchet cut his throat, and he knelt forward, his forehead touching the ground, and blood gushed out.

Bai Ping sighed again:
"Ugh."

Gao Jian didn't look back either.

Before this, these villagers had killed countless "living creatures".

It's pitiful, but also hateful.

I just hope that after today, they won't think about things like living meat anymore.

---------

It rained heavily for a whole day and finally stopped.

The blue sky and the moist ground are filled with the fragrance of wild flowers and fruits.

Gao Jian and Bai Ping finally saw some people.

To be precise, it is a county town.

In other words, we have entered the civilized area.

Gao Jian was very excited about this. After trekking in the rain in the wilderness for so long, he finally arrived in the city.

He quickened his pace while chatting with Bai Ping: "So, Taoist priest, what is the principle behind your prayer for rain?"

Bai Ping smiled and said, "The principle is not difficult. As the saying goes, when the heaven and earth accumulate negative energy, it will rain when it is warm. Dragons control the wind and clouds and bestow their virtues. Their might combines with wind and thunder, and their grace becomes rain and dew, which makes all plants flourish. I use the breathing method to take the energy of the Azure Dragon in the East, and warm the clay dragon to give birth to its spirit. I also use talismans to control it so that it cannot return to the sky. The way to lift the restriction is to make it rain. So when the rain comes, the dragon returns. This is my method of praying for rain. However, the method of controlling the Azure Dragon's energy comes from the Five Thunder Method, and I cannot teach it to you, little brother."

"That's true. I can't learn it even if you teach me." Gao Jian smiled.

Bai Ping said, "That's hard to say. Young man, you have extraordinary comprehension, and you can learn the self-sacrificing sword technique in no time. When we get to the mountain gate, I will introduce you to me and you can become my junior brother. How about that?"

"Do you want to become a monk?" Gao Jian asked.

He saw that Bai Ping only ate vegetarian food, saying that he wanted to keep his breath clear, and it looked like he was going to become a monk.

"Of course." Bai Ping nodded.

There is nothing wrong with becoming a monk. It allows you to be free and at peace with yourself.

"Forget it." Gao Jian shook his head.

He was very interested in spiritual practice, but he felt that becoming a monk was not an option.

It’s not that he was greedy for pleasure, but he felt that becoming a monk would be unfair to his stomach and his second brother.

However, Gao Jian felt that if he continued to follow Bai Ping's style, the knife on his chest would probably never be sharpened.

Last time in that village, he cursed the villagers and cut off Wang Si's arm to vent his anger. It seemed that he had more pride in his heart, so the rusty knife became less rusty and its edge became sharper.

And only Gao Jian himself knew that it was because of the state of "no ripples in the lake of heart" brought about by holding the long sword that he was able to fully reflect all the charm of the Taoist songs.

Bai Ping didn't know and just thought that Gao Jian had amazing insight.

But Gao Jian understood that he was able to completely learn the self-sacrificing sword technique after listening to the Taoist song just once, all thanks to this sword.

Whether it is suppressing the evil spirit or achieving the perfect reflection of the heart lake, it is all achieved with the help of this knife.

However, if this knife is used in this way, it seems that it will gradually rust. Without this knife, Gao Jian’s understanding is unlikely to support his practice.

The only way to sharpen this knife is to use "willpower".

The arrogance in your heart can sharpen this knife.

If he became a monk, Gao Jian felt that he could say goodbye to this knife.

After repeated consideration, although he wanted to practice the method, he still felt that this knife might be more important to him.

In addition to these thoughts, there seemed to be a voice in his heart telling him not to give up the knife...

Gao Jian couldn't explain it clearly. Perhaps... the voice of his sixth sense was the main reason, and everything he thought about before and after were just excuses he made for himself.

But it doesn’t matter anymore. When you hear new Taoist songs in the future, you will know whether your decision is right or not.

During the time Gao Jian and Bai Ping spent together, he also learned a lot of common sense through chatting with them.

For example, Taoist songs are not something that ordinary people can sing.

Just like a painter or calligrapher trying to bring out the spirit of a painting or calligraphy, these things can only be achieved through hard practice.

The fact that Bai Ping can sing his debut song actually proves that he is very good.

But the Taoist songs he could sing now either belonged to the mountain sect or were not suitable for Gao Jian, so Gao Jian had only the self-sacrificing swordsmanship as his skill for the time being.

But Gao Jian is already quite satisfied.

It is equivalent to having practiced swordsmanship for ten years, what else is not enough?
While the two were chatting, they had already arrived at the gate of the county town.

Outside the gate was a bustling crowd of people, with countless people coming and going. There were also many carriages and coolies carrying loads and heading towards the city. On the carriages and on their shoulders were all kinds of spices, miscellaneous items, vegetables, fruits and the like.

The road was paved with stone slabs and was two hundred steps wide. There were some self-built sheds around it, providing everything from tea and food, barrel hooping, tailoring, incense and candle making, paper funeral objects, and stone and wood mounting.

At the end of the road is a gate with a plaque hanging on it with four big characters "Ningtai County" inscribed on it.

There is a hidden charm in the words.

(End of this chapter)