Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 291 The Ghost King's Tide

The Ghost Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, is one of the most important festivals under the Sanguan Mengwei system.

Besides the Great Zhao Dynasty, other vassal states within the same cultural sphere, such as Buyeo, Yingzhou, Yizhou, and the various countries of the South Seas, also had this custom.

It, along with the Shangyuan Festival and the Xiayuan Festival, are collectively known as the Three Yuan Festivals.

The "Three Elements" are Heaven, Earth, and Water. These three are called "Officials," and each of the Three Officials represents a certain aspect of the Heavenly Way in this world, just like the five senses of a person, and they are in charge of a part of the rules governing the operation of the Heavenly Way.

The Heavenly Official Ziwei Emperor bestows blessings upon us. He is born on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, known as the Shangyuan Festival, or the Lantern Festival. He is in charge of the sky and the operation of the celestial palace.

The Earthly Official Qingxu Emperor, who grants pardons sins, is born on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, known as the Zhongyuan Festival, also called the Ghost Festival or the Ullambana Festival. He is in charge of the earth and all things in the mountains and rivers.

The Water Official Cave Yin Emperor, who relieves calamities, is born on the fifteenth day of the tenth month, known as the Lower Yuan Festival or the Lower Yuan Birthday. He is in charge of rivers, lakes, and seas and dredges waterways.

During the Three Primordial Festivals, the Three Officials of Taoism descend to the mortal realm to patrol. These phenomena are respectively called: the Heavenly Official bestows blessings, the Earthly Official pardons sins, and the Water Official relieves calamities.
Wang Cheng and Yan Yunxiao stood atop Zhenhaiwei City at the mouth of the Jiulong River, looking out at the vast ocean. Before them, turbid waves surged into the sky, and the setting sun was like blood.

In the depths of the ocean, a dark, oppressive energy surged forth, carrying with it sea breezes and tides, transforming into a sticky, thick ink that spilled across the earth.

You can also clearly see a strange, eerie aura of bluish-black in the waves, like the tangled, disorganized hair of a drowned person. If you look at it for too long, you will be entangled around the neck and dragged into the deep sea.

Wang Cheng planted a flagpole on the city wall with the character "昭" written on it, which fluttered in the strong wind.

It is said that a nation is a replica of the universe and the workings of the heavens.

When the nation is strong and the divine energy of Emperor Shi Huang is abundant, the Three Officials' Daoist Qi and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms will also operate in an orderly manner, and all kinds of strange events, ghosts, and evil spirits can be controlled.

As dynasties decline and social order crumbles, the once-meticulous system becomes riddled with flaws, and the deaths of ordinary people only exacerbate this process.

After the final battle for supremacy, it was common for the population to be reduced by 70% or 80%, leaving only desolate landscapes where not a rooster crowed for miles and bones lay exposed in the wilderness—a truly horrific sight.

Sister Axiao, now I truly understand why a nation on the verge of collapse is bound to be plagued by monstrous evils.

The Dragon Girl listened quietly to Wang Cheng's experiences during his promotion to Commander of Zhenhai Guard. His position had changed, and so had his perspective.
“Recently, the evil spirits in Xiangzhou Prefecture have become increasingly rampant. Every case is reported to our Zhenhai Guard. I never realized before that the situation had deteriorated to this extent.”

The Blood Corpse Case in Red Leaf Town: An evil spirit infiltrated the town, changing its appearance every night and leaving behind a blood corpse whose identity is difficult to discern.

It will even live in the victim's place, so that the victim is unaware that they are actually dead.
The case of the missing monks of Baiyun Temple: the entire temple was undamaged, but all the monks had vanished without a trace.

It is said that a woodcutter overheard that the monks in the temple had obtained a secret Taoist book called "The Wordless True Scripture," and that anything they wrote on it could become Buddhist teachings.

That evening, a beam of light was seen shooting into the sky from the temple. Afterwards, the scripture disappeared without a trace, and there has been no news about it since.
There was also the Chang Le Fang gambling den, the largest gambling den in Xiangzhou Prefecture, where a gambling case involving dice led to a death.

A square-shaped evil spirit with 21 eyes randomly sneaks into different private rooms to gamble with people on dice. It is fair and just, and no one is cheated. Gamblers who win will have their lifespan extended, while those who lose will lose their lives.

The gambling den owner was quite a character; instead of reporting it, he gathered a group of wealthy old men to open a unique gambling project, and they actually won quite a bit. Some even lived longer, and their age spots faded.

If it weren't for a son who had borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates from the same gambling den and was waiting to divide the inheritance to cover his debts, reporting his father, the authorities would still be unaware of this.
Those "night scouts" responsible for monitoring coastal prefectures and hunting down evil spirits are extremely busy, and they have asked us to send troops to support them several times this month.

The current superficial peace is only maintained through patching up by loyal and brave individuals; who knows when things might turn sour?

Wang Cheng suddenly paused as he spoke, looked up at the distant horizon where the sky meets the sea, and raised his hand to sound an alarm:
"When the Ghost King tide arrived, I knew this Ghost Festival wouldn't be peaceful."

clang!clang!clang!
Upon hearing the alarm bell, the Zhenhaiwei officers and soldiers, who had been on high alert, immediately moved into the coastal defense gun positions set up on both sides of the Jiulong River.

They all stared wide-eyed, intently at the water.

As loopholes appear in the Mountain and Sea Curse, the power of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms that governs China weakens. On special festivals or inauspicious days, there is a high probability of encountering different evil spirits and come-to-be-resurrected folk customs.

The most typical example is the evil spirit called "Nian Beast," which randomly spawns across the country every Lunar New Year!
Whether it was the warning from the two old fathers on the Great Wall of Curses, or the endless stream of evil spirits in the inland areas, Wang Cheng was fully prepared for war.

Just as they had initially predicted, before they could ambush the Five-Colored Rat Demon at midnight, other evil spirits had already come knocking on their door.

Wow.
A group of "dead bodies" walking upright underwater drove the astronomical tide of the vast ocean, forming the magnificent Dragon Leap and Ghost King Tide!
A cold wind swept in, carrying moisture and a nauseating, fishy, ​​and putrid stench.

In fact, it wasn't just the Jiulong River, the second largest river system in Minzhou, but all the river systems facing the vast ocean, such as the Minjiang River, the Qiantang River, and the Tianqian River, experienced a similar situation.

Clang, clang, clang. The piercing sound of the alarm bell echoed along the coast of Dazhao.

Especially the Qiantang River.

The estuary is funnel-shaped. When the tide rushes in, the river surface narrows rapidly from hundreds of kilometers to a few kilometers, causing the water to accumulate and form a large tide.

It was only thanks to the fish-scale stone embankment, known as the "Great Wall of the Sea," that it was able to hold off the enemy.

Since the Han Dynasty, seawall engineering has existed, with Hua Xin building a large seawall for defense. During the Five Dynasties period, King Qian of Wuyue built a seawall to protect the sea, creating a bamboo cage stone embankment. In this dynasty, Huang Guangsheng created a large fish-scale stone embankment with five vertical and five horizontal sections, which was widely adopted by major rivers.

The Jiulong River estuary also features layers of fish-scale stone embankments, and underwater sections of the river are covered with dense fish-scale dams to prevent evil spirits from flowing back into the inland waters along with the seawater.

On the shore, many people carried the statue of the deity "Xuantian Shangdi" in a procession to suppress the evil spirits and demons associated with the flood and reduce the impact of the disaster.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the combined deity [Hokushin Myōkenten] that the Japanese placed on Wang Cheng's head is actually derived from this Xuantian Shangdi in Taoism!
The air gradually filled with the rich scent of incense, and the runes and seal characters engraved on the stone slabs, iron clamps, and iron ingots in the fish-scale stone embankment and fish-scale dam at the estuary lit up one after another. The force of the tide immediately slowed down.

Many of the rapidly approaching corpses collapsed, their bodies forced to surface.

As soon as you step onto these coastal defense projects, you will be repelled by a faint golden light. Some of them are even set ablaze by the yin energy they possess, which bursts into flames underwater.

The water could not extinguish it; its mournful screams once again illuminated the dim river surface under the twilight.

"Fire! Open fire!"

boom! boom! boom! boom!
Wang Cheng suddenly waved his hand, and dozens of large-caliber coastal defense guns opened fire at the same time. The orange-red flames formed a fiery cloud, and countless grapeshot shells were scattered like a storm.

Those dead bodies exposed above the water were immediately beaten to a pulp.

Even the more powerful Soul Callers, Sea Yakshas, ​​Yama's Lamp, and Mud Bodhisattvas couldn't make a ripple in front of this "iron wall".

Waves of crimson bullets rained down, knocking the various evil spirits in the Ghost King's tide off the crest of the wave.

The Mountain and Sea Curse has only just begun to show loopholes, and the Water Ranks of Ghosts and Gods can still keep things in order for the time being. Most of the truly powerful evil spirits have already been killed by them in the East Sea.

In the end, not many are able to be swept into the inland river along with the astronomical tides.

As long as the officers and soldiers of the Twenty-Four Guards are prepared in advance and stick to their posts, they will not be able to breach the coastal defenses.

The whole thing lasted for several hours, with more than a dozen waves of ghosts, before the evil spirits gradually thinned out.

Zhenhaiwei had been through many battles during this period, and everyone had been through the ravages of war. No one regarded this small scene as a great victory.

On the contrary, some astute veterans were deeply worried:
"Brothers, as long as the folk legends that these evil spirits are anchored to still exist, and as long as we living people still exist, the evil spirits will never be eradicated."

Moreover, the longer the cultural heritage is passed down, the more numerous and powerful these evil spirits will become.

I wonder if the imperial court will succumb to the pressure and issue another decree similar to the burning of books and burying of scholars, severing the cultural lineage of the land and crippling itself.

Those with extensive connections can respond:
"You know what, when I was chatting with some Western merchants in Yuegang, they told me that there aren't even wheels on the New World across the Cangming Ocean, and people still use stone tools to get by."

Could it be that they've been able to persist for so long precisely because they deliberately emasculated their civilization?

Wang Cheng's eyes flickered when he heard their conversation.

With a wave of his hand, a large group of Tanka people, carrying fishing nets, retrieved all the corpses or remains of the evil spirits.

Instead of burning them as before, they were sealed with talismans and stored away.

In fact, the same thing was done to that snake tail that had eaten the elixir and immortal dregs, which was equivalent to half of the immortal dregs. After being struck by lightning, it still left behind huge remains, which are still lying in his money-grubbing eyes.

Wang Cheng felt that his soldiers' concerns might not be unsolvable:
"The Yin and Yang polarities of the [Yin-Yang Thunder and Fire Pivot] require evil spirits and scum of the immortals respectively to simulate 'dual cultivation of body and mind' in order to function, drawing on various energies from the ebb and flow of the natural tides and transforming them into usable energy."

Destroying the scum and evil spirits directly would be too wasteful and wouldn't solve the problem at its root.

If we can make good use of it and experiment with ways to miniaturize and simplify the Thunderfire Cardinal, it would be equivalent to skipping the steam age and completing the Thunderfire revolution!

Equipping all of the factories and warships of the East Sea Kingdom with simplified versions of the Thunderfire Cardinal would be astonishing, even if it only had half the power of the original Heavenly Craft Treasure Ship.

The most crucial issue is that these materials are not scarce in the world; they are inexhaustible and can fully support large-scale industrialization.

The next step was to continuously experiment and develop standardized water-milling techniques for cathodes and anodes.

This is the true way to adapt to local conditions!

Wang Cheng's two bodies, Yin and Yang, have both passed the precarious stage and have established a very solid foundation.

If it weren't for the Damocles' sword of the East Frankish Empire hanging over his head, his most important task would be to diligently hone his "internal strength."

Unfortunately, some of the remnants of the Kiritan pirates disappeared after escaping, and the half-crippled Amakusa Shiro also went missing, his fate unknown.

Given the background of the Holy Cross Church, Wang Cheng dared not ignore its existence and become complacent.

He had a premonition that the Eastern Frankish Empire, far away in the Western Continent and beyond his reach, would not let go of the free henchman, Chechidan, when it sent troops to attack him.

Carlo chose to conceal the truth and organize his own fleet to take all the credit. Now that the intelligence has been exposed, the Frankish Empire will definitely mobilize its military forces in the South Pacific to strike a fatal blow!
Currently, one of the most important tasks for Sun Tianba, the grandson of the Shan Hai Hui president, also known as the "General of the Shipyard" and the "Needle and Pen Craftsman," is to liaise with the intelligence department of the Borneo headquarters to detect the movements of the Frankish colonists in the South China Sea.

Wang Cheng glanced at the blood moon that was gradually rising in the sky:
"Sister Axiao, it's time to get to work."

"Everything's ready. Let's go."

As he spoke, he and Yunxiao transformed into blue and white dragons and charged into the mountains.

(End of this chapter)