Start practicing from Mr. Fox

Chapter 145 Admonishing the River God

"Please enlighten me, sir."

Ji Minglongjun asked respectfully, and Chen Jicai uttered four words.

"The dam of the suspended river has burst."

"what for?"

Ji Ming didn't understand, and the four foxes shook their heads in agreement.

"Fine, I'll explain everything to you then."

Chen Ji spoke slowly.

Although he did not know the plans of the West River God, he knew the reason why the North River disappeared in another world.

The two are not that different, so it is acceptable to use them as a reference.

So he used his finger as a pen to draw lines on the ground to demonstrate.

"The West River's occupation of the river, and even the use of the River's calligraphy to hide silt, is not to directly encroach on the North River, but to leave silt in the river."

"If the North River cannot be discovered, the West River will be able to encroach on the water system."

"If they discover it, they will only think about solving the problem of encroaching on the water system, and they probably won't care about this silt."

"indeed so."

Ji Ming nodded.

He hadn't paid any attention to the mud and sand, thinking it was something that could be found anywhere and didn't need to be bothered with.

"This is the method of the River God of Xidu."

Chen Ji slowly drew a stroke of mud and sand on the bottom of the river.

“If this silt is not cleaned up for a long time, it will be mixed with silt brought from other places by the West River and piled up together, and the level of the North River will rise.”

"really."

"The people along the river only know that the water level of the North River has risen and the dam has been raised, but they don't know that it is the West River that is causing the problem."

"If one day the river level of the North River becomes higher than the houses in the villages and towns above ground, and the West River bursts its banks, how will the Dragon King calculate this?"

Ji Minglongjun had been somewhat dismissive at first, but his expression changed instantly upon hearing that the Suspended River had breached its banks.

"Sir, you are indeed insightful! Such insight is something most people could never see."

Ji Ming thanked him, and the four foxes looked at each other blankly, completely unable to understand how Chen Ji had seen through this crisis.

Chen Ji shook his head and remained silent.

He only deduced this possibility from the current state of another world.

If it were him, he probably wouldn't be able to see anything either, after all, this is the change of mountains and rivers after thousands of years, and the struggle between mountain gods and river gods, far from ordinary changes in mountains and rivers.

"May I ask, sir, if we really don't deal with this silt, what would be the worst-case scenario if the Beidu River were to breach its banks?"

The four foxes couldn't figure it out, so they simply asked Chen Ji.

Chen Ji thought about it.

Tap lightly a few times at the junction of the West River and the North River.

"Are these the sections where the dikes will breach?"

"Yes, but it's not just that."

Chen Ji shook his head and spoke again.

"The dikes began to break at these points, and then the area at the estuary became a vast expanse of water. From then on, the North River was removed from the list of rivers, and only the Three Rivers remained in the world."

"hiss!"

The four foxes gasped, looking at Ji Ming, unsure what to say.

"Sir, do you have any other way to save Beidu?"

Ji Minglongjun, with a solemn expression, respectfully bowed and asked.

"Yes, but Dragon Lord will need to be quite busy these days."

"Sir, you are joking. If it can restore Beidu, I would be willing to work day and night, let alone be busy."

"Then please have the Dragon Lord lead people to inspect the river channel and measure the silt at the bottom of the river. If there is too much, deal with it immediately, whether it is to dig out fertile fields or build dikes, in short, it must not be left in the river."

"This is not difficult."

Ji Minglongjun nodded in agreement.

"Secondly, we should ask the aquatic creatures in the river to regularly inspect the river and the places where water falls, and report it immediately if there is anything wrong with the river water."

"This aquatic creature should be able to sense it."

"can."

Ji Ming thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"The aquatic creatures naturally possess the art of water identification. When we return, we must have them diligently practice it and not try to fool them."

"Then?"

Ji Ming asked again.

Chen Ji shook his head.

"Take care of the first two things first before thinking about the third. Xidu's probing won't be a one-time thing. There should be other moves in the coming days, so be careful."

"Understood, thank you, sir!"

After a pause, Ji Ming seemed to remember something else.

"Sir, is there a problem with the water from the Xidu River that we just collected?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"The river water should be fine, and it's not like it's stored in the North Canal. We'll talk about it after you've studied it."

"Alright."

Ji Minglongjun nodded in agreement.

He then inquired about the matter of the incense offerings at Chen Jihe Temple.

"Isn't the Dragon Lord an expert in this matter? Why do you need to ask me?"

Ji Ming shook his head helplessly.

"Although Father is the righteous god of the Northern River, he does not accept incense offerings on a regular basis. He only regulates the rain according to the notes in the River Book."

"The few temples that remain were built during the time when the previous administration found temple keeper. Now, so many years later, they are sparsely populated and are only kept alive by power."

“I didn’t originally want to become the god of the Hutuo River, but now that the Beidu River is in decline, I can no longer consider my own affairs, so I want to switch to the position of a god of incense offerings.”

"This is indeed very difficult."

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment before he realized why Ji Minglongjun was asking him so earnestly.

They must have believed they were qualified to be appointed as the Mountain God, which is why they came to ask me for advice.

Chen Ji sighed.

"You flatter me, Dragon Lord. However, I have only arranged for the Mountain God to try to cultivate incense offerings, and he has not yet succeeded. I dare not speak presumptuously about incense offerings."

"It's alright, it's just a matter of exchanging ideas."

Now that things had come to this point, it wouldn't be appropriate for Chen Ji to remain silent any longer. So he recounted what he had said to the mountain god on Sendai Mountain back then, except that the mountain had been replaced by a river, and chopping wood had been replaced by fishing.

After he finished speaking, Ji Minglongjun's eyes lit up, clearly indicating that he had already figured out what to do next.

"I understand now. Thank you for your guidance, sir. I will go back and begin preparing for these matters."

Ji Minglongjun laughed with satisfaction.

Just as he was about to leave, Chen Ji called him back.

"Lord Dragon, please wait. I need to trouble you with something else."

Chen Ji looked towards the village.

The river water had receded, but the roads were almost entirely muddy, and no household could leave their homes.

Ji Ming immediately understood.

"Sir, do you want me to remove the excess mud and water from this village? No problem, I'll do it right away..."

"No."

Chen Ji interrupted Ji Ming with a smile.

“This muddy water will dry completely in the sun for a few days. That’s not what I wanted to say. I wanted to ask the Dragon King to change the course of the river so that it would bypass the village. That way, even if there is flooding again, it won’t be like this.”

"understood."

Ji Minglongjun bowed respectfully, then took out the River Book and began chanting incantations.

Before long, the reflection of the river appeared before him. With a flick of his wrist, it changed into a new shape, just enough to bypass the village without disturbing the surrounding area.

"Excellent, thank you, Dragon Lord."

Chen Ji bowed in thanks, then bowed again to see Ji Ming off before returning to the village with the four foxes.

As soon as they returned to the village, they saw the people who had come to invite them earlier looking around, their eyes filled with astonishment and disbelief.

Upon seeing Chen Ji, he immediately stepped forward and anxiously inquired.

"Master, did you see anything just now?"

"What's the noise?"

"The river...the river is gone! Was it really the work of a demon? Were you really going to catch a demon just now?"

The speaker's voice was trembling as he looked at Chen Ji and pointed to the river road in the village.

"And even the original riverbed is gone, it seems to have all gone outside the village. The Taoist priest really has the power to move mountains and fill seas!"

Chen Ji glanced at it, then smiled and waved his hand.

"The river flowing into the village was indeed caused by demons. I have already found someone to deal with this problem, so there is no need to worry in the future." As he spoke, the water seeping into the ground completely disappeared and returned to the ground.

Then the entire riverbed slowly disappeared, and a moment later it reappeared outside the village.

"This...how is this done?"

The villagers were so excited that they didn't know what to say, and could only keep thanking Chen Ji.

Chen Ji shook his head and looked into the distance.

"You don't need to thank me for this. It was all done by the river god of the Hutuo River. This place is also in the Hutuo River basin, and he usually takes care of the weather here. If you want to thank the river god, you can build a temple and statue in the village, and then offer incense and sacrifices during festivals."

As soon as he finished speaking, several villagers changed their expressions and bowed to Chen Ji.

"Taoist Master, is it really necessary to erect this temple and statue?"

"Ok?"

Chen Ji was also somewhat surprised to hear this.

This was the first time I'd ever heard of people living by the water being unwilling to build a river god temple, so I asked what the problem was with building one.

"eat human."

A voice emerged from the crowd.

Chen Ji glanced to the side and saw that the speaker was a young villager, so he asked him what he meant.

"I...hey!"

The young man sighed and looked at Chen Ji.

"Taoist priest, don't you know that river god sacrifices involve eating people?"

"I don't know, tell me more about it."

The speaker looked to his left and right, and seeing that no one in the village was going to speak, he gritted his teeth and began to speak.

"Please don't be offended, Taoist priest. My sister married into a village upstream, where there is a river god temple. Although the river god there can bless the village with good weather and abundant harvests, a woman must go to worship the river god every year... If there is no young woman, a pair of young boys and girls can be used instead."

"Those who went to worship the river god never came back. The villagers said they were all relatives of the river god, but they all said in private that those people were dead."

"Is this true? Why wasn't it reported to the City God for handling?"

Chen Ji's eyes turned cold as he questioned them.

"Can the City God handle this matter?"

The villagers were puzzled, so Chen Ji explained it to them.

“The righteous gods are not worshipped except for the three sacrificial animals and fruits. They are not allowed to offer blood sacrifices, especially human sacrifices. Even monsters that eat humans will become blood demons and be punished by heaven, let alone righteous gods.”

"If there really is such a river god, we should just go to the City God Temple and file a complaint."

The speaker bowed deeply.

"I'm relieved to hear the Taoist priest's words. I thought that since the river god is a righteous deity, it would be right for people to go and serve him, but the village simply couldn't handle the sacrifices..."

"I will go to the City God Temple tomorrow to file a complaint against the River God."

After speaking, he looked at Chen Ji and knelt down to pay his respects.

"If I don't return from this trip, I'll have to trouble you to tell my family."

"Wait a moment, are there any paper and pens in the village right now?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment, then called out to him and asked the villagers next to him.

"Yes, yes."

With no river to stop them, they quickly waded through the mud to go home, retrieved their writing brush and ink, and brought it over.

"Thank you for your help, sir."

Chen Ji accepted the thank you note, picked up a piece of paper, and then took out his Underworld Day Wanderer's Seal and placed it on it.

The magical power manifested, leaving behind a mark that only cultivators could see.

Then they called the young man who had spoken to come forward and left their mark on him.

“Write your complaint on this paper and hand it over. If there are any problems, I will know. But if you lie to me, this complaint will also sense it, and the consequences will only be worse.”

"I dare not, I will definitely tell the truth."

The speaker shuddered and bowed his head in agreement.

Chen Ji then looked at the villagers.

"The river issue has been resolved, and there's no need to worry about road and bridge construction."

"These four people beside me are cultivators from Mount Sendai who are preparing for the Fox Studies exam. They are most skilled at building roads and bridges. They will be staying in the village for the next few days to work on roads and bridges. You don't need to be afraid when you see them."

"Yes! I will heed your words, Daoist Master."

Upon hearing this, the villagers lowered their heads and strained to look at Chen Ji, but they couldn't make out the fox shapes of the four people beside them, so they whispered among themselves.

"Even the foxes of Mount Sendai can cultivate; it seems the mountain god is indeed powerful!"

"It can even build roads and bridges; this fox is better than the books describe."

"I wish I could see with my own eyes how they build roads."

"You can watch it."

Chen Ji did not refuse upon hearing this.

Anyway, we've already seen the road construction on the mountain, so seeing it again now won't be a problem. There's just one thing that needs to be explained.

"You see, when Fellow Daoist Fox is repairing the road, he also needs to keep an eye on his son and dog at home, so as not to startle each other."

"nature!"

The villagers called out repeatedly.

Soon, with nothing else to do, all the villagers dispersed, leaving only the village head and the clan elders behind to express their gratitude respectfully.

After exchanging pleasantries, they invited Chen Ji and the others to a house to rest.

Although the exterior looks a bit old, the interior furnishings are surprisingly new.

The village head bowed and apologized.

"Taoist priest, fox spirit, we were just hoping you could solve the river problem, but we didn't expect you'd also have to build a road. Now we're afraid you'll have to stay in the village."

"It's alright. As long as there's a place to rest, it's fine for those who are cultivating."

Chen Ji replied with a smile.

"That won't work."

The village chief waved his hand repeatedly.

"Everyone in the village knows that the Taoist priest and the fox spirit have come to help us repair bridges and roads. If we don't treat them well, I'll really be the one to talk behind their backs."

"The house may be a bit old, but everything has been replaced with new things, including food... ten chickens a day. I wonder if that suits the palates of you and the fox spirits?"

"chicken?"

The four foxes couldn't help but swallow hard, but all of them turned to look at Chen Ji.

"it is good."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

“If there’s nothing else, Muramasa can go about his business. We’ll take a walk around the neighborhood and see where we can get some stones.”

"There are mountains five miles east of the village, and there are old quarries there where you can quarry stone, but it's a bit far, and..."

"what?"

"Rumor has it that the area is haunted."

"It doesn't matter."

Chen Ji shook his head.

Five miles was nothing to him and the fox, and besides, the village road didn't need to be paved with thick bluestone like the one on the mountain; a thinner one would be enough.

As for ghosts.

This is a good opportunity for the four foxes to practice.

"Then I won't disturb the Taoist priest and the fox spirits' rest any longer. I'll have someone bring them food later."

"it is good."

Muramasa withdrew from the house and closed the door.

The fox's ears twitched slightly, and after a while, it made sure the villagers had left before looking at Chen Ji and asking him a question.

"Sir, you didn't take the ten taels of silver from Sister Sun before, so why did you agree to give the village ten chickens every day today?"

"This is different."

Chen Ji smiled and explained what he had said to Yan Chixia earlier before getting to the present.

"The village hired us to repair the road and exorcise the demon, which is a matter that requires payment. Ten chickens a day is already a bargain for them, so why not accept it?"

"If it weren't for training you, they wouldn't even be able to find anyone to repair roads and build bridges with this money. They're the ones who actually benefited the most."

"Wouldn't that be a loss?"

Bai Ba clicked his tongue, looking worried.

Chen Ji smiled and shook his head.

"You always want to take advantage of every good deal. Let's rest first, and later we'll go check out the ghosts at that quarry."

"Huh? We're going to catch ghosts right now?"

The four foxes opened their eyes wide and let out a collective sigh.

Chen Ji pretended not to hear and continued his meditation.

The four foxes had no choice but to begin their cultivation as well, waiting to go out and check the situation that night.

(End of this chapter)