Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

Chapter 161 The Mountain God is entangled in evil energy, and Master Liu's sword intent slays the god.
According to the authority of General Fubo of Yuan Datou, he can recruit a thousand Yin soldiers, which requires a lot of incense money.

Yuan Datou had his own ulterior motives in inviting Liu Qing along. He thought that if Liu Qing could bring Hong Gu along, it would bolster his courage and strength, preventing him from being bullied by the City God of Chang'an.
Liu Qing was well aware of this, but he wasn't averse to it; in fact, he wanted to visit the City God Temple himself.

On the way back from crossing the river, we passed the temple of Wei Xiaokuan, the river god of the previous dynasty. We originally planned to go inside, but when we wiped our mouths, we realized we didn't have any incense or silver, so we had to give up. We'll go when the payment for the next batch of salt arrives.

They hadn't gone far when they saw a divine light fly out from the Wei Xiaokuan Temple behind them. The light streaked across the river overhead at incredible speed, carrying with it a strong scent of incense.
"Huh, an eighth-rank incense god? He's leaving in such a hurry, could something have happened? Come on, Shui'er, let's follow him and see."

Since I had nothing else to do, I wasn't in a hurry to return to Da Wan Lake.

After the divine light left Wei Xiaokuan's temple, it traveled westward along the Jing River, with Liu Qing and Hong Gu riding Shui'er close behind.
After traveling approximately several hundred miles, the divine light ahead stopped.

The divine light landed and manifested its form. This incense god was dressed in brocade robes and had handsome features, but his eyes were slightly narrow and long, and his gaze was rather cold.

A jade belt hung from its waist, from which hung a divine plaque. Upon closer inspection, it read 'Imperial Conferment of the Eighth Rank as the Mountain God of Black Cloud Mountain'.

After revealing his form, the Brocade-Clad Mountain God strode toward Black Cloud Mountain on the north bank of the Jing River. His expression was cold and fierce, and his eyes were filled with malice, clearly showing that he was angry.

After he had gone some distance, Liu Qing, Hong Gu, and Shui'er emerged from the water. Liu Qing told Shui'er to go back first, while Liu Qing and Hong Gu followed him up the mountain.

With a thought, the demon sent the face-changing insect to transform the two of them into people with completely unfamiliar appearances and auras.

Following the mountain path upwards, I saw many trees covering the ground with a thick layer of fallen leaves from last year. The path was lined with jagged rocks and sheer cliffs, making it appear quite precipitous.

Before you've walked half an incense stick's time, you can see a mountain god temple halfway up the mountain. The temple must have been built a long time ago, because it looks very dilapidated from the outside.

However, under the power of the Yin Cave, Liu Qing saw clouds formed by incense smoke above the mountain god temple, suggesting that although the temple was dilapidated, its incense offerings were still very popular.

Even from several hundred meters away, a cacophony of voices could be heard coming from the mountain god temple—crying, cursing, sneering, and begging for mercy.

Liu Qing and Hong Gu exchanged a glance and guessed what was going on. It was probably because the mountain god was not at home and the temple had been occupied by bandits who were now abducting woodcutters and herbalists who had entered the mountains.

The Black Cloud Mountain God, standing outside his own temple, was filled with barely suppressed rage, confirming Liu Qing's guess.

The next instant, the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain waved his sleeve, and a stream of incense and divine power smashed open the temple door.

Liu Qing and Hong Gu were not underwater at the time, and were not far away, so they were able to sense the cultivation level of this Eighth-Rank Fragrant Volcano God by relying on their aura.
He was roughly at the late stage of the Divine Power Realm, while Hong Gu was only at the early stage. However, because she was at the Dao Integration Realm, she was not afraid of the Black Cloud Mountain God and therefore did not leave.

The temple gates were wide open, revealing the scene inside: hundreds of fierce-looking bandits wielding knives and guns.
The group was surrounded by several people. Among them were a woodcutter who had come into the mountains to gather firewood, a newlywed couple on a spring outing, and an elderly father and daughter who were gathering herbs.
At this moment, the man among the five had been beaten black and blue and was lying on the ground groaning and screaming. Perhaps they got tired of hearing his screams, so some of the bandits stepped forward and stabbed him to death with knives and spears.

Their female relatives, dressed in rags, huddled together like frightened fawns, trembling.

"Hehe, we've been celibate for a long time, but we never expected the mountain god to be so kind as to send us two beautiful young ladies?"

"Yes, thank you, Grandpa Mountain God, for knowing that I, Ma Zi, like this kind of thing."

"Haha, brothers, we should thank the Mountain God, but don't get so caught up in the thanks that we forget the important business. Come on, I'll start, and you can take turns. Be gentle, don't fucking kill him."

A gang of bandits, using the name of the mountain god, committed evil deeds, which angered the Black Cloud Mountain God, who was standing outside and watching everything.

Those who commit evil deeds under the guise of the Mountain God will ultimately implicate the Mountain God. Fortunately, the atmosphere of impending doom permeates the mortal realm, obscuring the Heavenly Court's vision; otherwise, this Mountain God of Black Cloud Mountain would at best be fined and have his offerings confiscated, and at worst be stripped of his divine position.
"Where did these scoundrels come from, daring to seize my temple and commit such an outrageous act? Today you've run into my hands, and I'll make you regret coming here!"

The sudden appearance of the Black Cloud Mountain God left the bandits inside the temple bewildered, then they burst into laughter, thinking the man had gone mad.
The bandit leader stepped forward and swung his blood-stained ring-pommel sword, piercing through the body of the Black Cloud Mountain God as if it were air, while the Black Cloud Mountain God remained completely unharmed.

The bandit leader was somewhat alarmed. Just then, one of the bandits quietly stepped forward, tugged at the bandit leader's sleeve, and pointed to the statues of gods inside the temple behind him.

The statue was made of clay and painted on the outside. At first glance, it bore a striking resemblance to the self-proclaimed mountain god.
The bandit leader was stunned, looking at the Black Cloud Mountain God in terror: "You, you are really the Mountain God Grandpa?"

Although the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain remained silent, the bandit leader and the other bandits believed him to be true.

Upon realizing that the legendary mountain god had manifested and witnessed them harming others, they were filled with immense fear.

The timid ones immediately dropped their weapons, knelt down, and begged for mercy, while the bolder ones huddled behind the bandit leader, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
With a wave of his hand, the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain sent a stream of incense-infused divine power into the ground. Instantly, several bamboo shoot-like earthen spikes emerged from the ground, piercing the soles of the bandits' feet. The bandits screamed in agony, weeping and begging for mercy.

A fierce glint flashed in the bandit leader's eyes, and he shouted, "Shut the hell up! I've heard that gods don't kill mortals, otherwise divine punishment will descend. We're not afraid of them!"

As he spoke, the bandit leader flicked the woodcutter's corpse with his toe and smashed it towards the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain. Then he grabbed the herbalist's granddaughter and the newlywed woman and held a knife to their necks.

Caught off guard, the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain saw the woodcutter's bloodied corpse hurtling towards him. He frowned and had no choice but to dodge.

After he regained his footing, he saw that the bandit leader had already taken the two women hostage, and he hesitated, not daring to step forward.
Seeing that his method was effective, the bandit leader burst into wild laughter: "Haha, you see, this mountain god isn't so scary after all!"

"When it attacked just now, it only dared to hurt us, but it didn't dare to kill us. Now that we have hostages, it's even more helpless!"

"Now you see, gods aren't scary, haha, they have divine punishment, but we don't!"

Upon hearing this, the other bandits' fear vanished, and they looked at the Black Cloud Mountain God with mocking expressions. "You're afraid of divine punishment and dare not kill, at most you'll cause harm," they thought. "But now we have hostages in our hands, and you're hesitant to act, so you don't even dare to harm anyone."
If that's the case, who's afraid of you?

The bandit leader grew increasingly arrogant. Right in front of the Black Cloud Mountain God, he ripped open the shirt of the herbalist's granddaughter in his arms.

Upon seeing this, the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain hurriedly closed his eyes and retreated repeatedly, his expression extremely aggrieved and ugly. The bandits, seeing this, confirmed it was indeed so.
Immediately, several men stepped forward and tore open the bride's clothes, intending to commit an evil deed right in front of the Black Cloud Mountain God.

The herbalist's granddaughter and the bride let out a shrill scream, crying and begging the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain to save their lives. Liu Qing and Hong Gu, who were hundreds of meters away, could no longer care about concealing their whereabouts and rushed over to rescue the two women.

Just then, the mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain suddenly opened its eyes, which looked as if they were bleeding. It roared, and the mountain shook and the earth trembled.

Countless earthen spikes, as thick as calves, emerged from the ground, impaling the bodies of several bandits who had violated the women, pinning them to mid-air.

Then, with another wave of his hand, countless stones of all sizes flew in from outside the temple, crashing down like meteorites and turning the other bandits into mincemeat.
In just two breaths, of the hundreds of bandits, only the bandit leader and a few others remained.

The bandit leader's eyes were filled with terror as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "You are a god! You cannot kill me! Aren't you afraid of divine punishment?"

The mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain glanced at the sky and said in a low voice, "I have only just realized that the mortal realm is shrouded in an aura of slaughter. The heavenly court's watchtowers, used to monitor the lower realms, are like blind and deaf men. The heavenly way is unclear, and the heavenly secrets are in chaos. The Mirror of the Three Realms probably can't see anything either."
"If that's the case, why should I fear any divine punishment from some bird god!"

Wisps of dark, malevolent energy rose from the body of the dead bandits, like vengeful spirits, coiling around the incense and divine power of the Black Cloud Mountain God.

When gods harm mortals, evil energy inevitably arises. The gods who report may be confused, and the Mirror of the Three Realms may not be able to detect it for a while, but there will always be a moment when the heavenly secrets become clear, and divine punishment will be brought down by following the evil energy.

The face of the Black Cloud Mountain God was stained with malevolent energy, leaving behind black lines that snaked like earthworms, impossible to remove.
It chuckled self-deprecatingly: "I have cultivated for hundreds of years and been a deity for two hundred years. In these Black Cloud Mountains, I have protected the creatures of the mountains and supported the woodcutters. I have worked diligently and never dared to do evil. Today, I have only killed a few notorious bandits, and I have already been labeled as a villain? Heh, heh—"

It pointed sharply at the sky: "Are you all idiots? I'm doing good, not evil, so why is there evil energy here!"

"He can't distinguish right from wrong, he can't tell black from white. I'm done with being this bird god, I'm done with worshipping the Heavenly Court. Screw you!"

The mountain god of Black Cloud Mountain cursed and laughed, two lines of bloody tears streaming from the corners of his eyes. His once clear and compassionate eyes had become chaotic and fierce.
Its incense-infused divine power, tainted with evil, trembled, its form twisting and shifting, instantly revealing its true form as a black fox, emitting a shrill fox cry towards the mountains.
Before long, tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, foxes, and lynxes emerged from the bushes, behind the trees, and from the cliffs and peaks.

The mountain god, the black fox, its eyes bloodshot, raised its forepaw and pointed. Countless wild beasts it had summoned pounced on the bandit leader and his companions.

In an instant, with the roar of a beast and the sounds of flesh being torn apart and bones being chewed, everything vanished without a trace.

Live bandits were bitten to death and swallowed, and even the corpses of dead bandits were not spared. The blood spilled on the ground was licked clean.

The malevolent aura on the incense-burning body of the mountain god, the black fox, was even more intense, almost like ink.

The two women, who had survived the ordeal, witnessed this horrific scene and cowered behind the clay statue, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
The mountain god, Black Fox, stepped forward, suppressing his inner rage, and said gently, "You two, get dressed and hurry down the mountain—"

Unexpectedly, the two women seemed terrified. Seeing the mountain god black fox approach, they thought it was going to eat them. They were so frightened that they soiled themselves and screamed for mercy.

The mountain god, Black Fox, looked at the statue stained with excrement and urine, a flash of savagery crossing his eyes, which he quickly suppressed. However, perhaps due to the statue's age and disrepair, it collapsed with a crash, propelled by the trembling of the two women.

The coating of gold powder mixed with various minerals peeled off piece by piece, revealing flesh made of yellow clay underneath. The yellow clay shattered, revealing bones made of straw and wheat stalks underneath.
The mountain god, Black Fox, was stunned. It stared at the statue it had inhabited for two hundred years, its face filled with disbelief: "I, a god, have diligently protected all living beings, yet I am only worthy of being a clay figure and straw?"

"Heh heh, ha ha ha, you've gone too far in bullying me!—"

"You" refers to the Heavenly Court, or the woodcutters and herbalists in the mountains under its protection, or perhaps both.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The savagery in the mountain god black fox's heart could no longer be suppressed, filling its eyes. It glared at the two women, let out a shriek, and pounced.

Hong Gu threw a punch, her divine power transforming into a golden fist that sent the mountain god, Black Fox, flying.

Liu Qing then shook the Yin Jade Spirit Banner, releasing the Jing River Old Dragon and the Dragon Granny, who pounced on the Mountain God Black Fox.

At the same time, the master and Qieman secretly unleashed their two fang swords, slaying one by one the many wild beasts that the mountain god, Black Fox, was manipulating and attacking them.

The mountain god, Black Fox, was affected by the evil energy, its mind completely corrupted and confused. Regardless of whether Red Maiden's rank surpassed its own, and regardless of how terrifying the Jing River Dragon and Dragon Granny summoned by Liu Qing were, it roared incessantly and fought them fiercely.
Spikes shot out from the ground, hurtling towards the two of them, while massive boulders were summoned and crashed down from above.
A shield formed from the power of incense and divine offerings blocked the remnant souls and dragon demons of the Jing River Old Dragon and the Dragon Granny. In their madness...
This Black Fox Mountain God, a mere eighth-rank deity at the late-stage Divine Power Realm, was actually overwhelming Hong Gu and Liu Qing in their fight.

At the same realm, the God of Incense is no match for the God of Authority; even if he is a realm higher, he still cannot defeat the God of Authority.

The reason is that the power of the God of Authority cultivates both body and soul, and the quality of the God of Authority's power far surpasses that of the power of the God of Incense Offering. However, today, in this madness, the Black Fox Mountain God...

She actually unleashed twelve times her full fighting power, and seeing her opponent becoming increasingly ferocious, Hong Gu let out a cold snort.
He opened his mouth and spat out a series of magical treasures, which he then launched at the Black Fox Mountain God.

However, before this, the sword intent of the token of the sect disciple, the old viper demon Chang Hao, who was originally hiding in Liu Qing's Yin spirit,
Suddenly it flew out, passing through the body of the Black Fox Mountain God. Instantly, the Black Fox Mountain God's body disintegrated, turning into specks of ashes.

(End of this chapter)