Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 202 The Five-Tong Toad Wife
After Fang Shu left the mountain gate.

He hesitated, and the thought of going to Guling Town to visit his family resurfaced.

But in the end, I suppressed that idea.

Even if the two immortal sects go to war, towns like Guling are rarely involved. Or rather, they are deliberately preserved, with only those with overly close ties to the immortal sects being eliminated.

This is because the market, where mortals and immortals mingle, is like crops to the immortal sects. Once they conquer it, all the immortal seeds produced in the market in the future will belong to the winner.

Moreover, the assistance that such markets provide to the Immortal Sect is even greater than that of the sect's errand boys.

Rather than slaughtering the markets, it's better to leave them intact. Occasionally, disciples would disregard the war and plunder the markets at will, and they would be hypocritically punished by various immortal sects in order to stabilize the people's hearts and prevent the markets from collapsing.

Therefore, Fang Shu's decision not to return to the market this time is a prudent move.

If he returns, his whereabouts will be exposed, which will implicate the Dugu Pavilion and even the entire Guling Town.

The thought dissipated.

Fang Shu traveled through Mount Lu, riding a paper horse that moved swiftly. In just a few days, he left the Jiujiang region and headed straight for the mortal world.

However, Fang Shu's destination this time was not to infiltrate the mortal world.

The mortal world is filthy and devoid of spiritual energy; he had long since lost all attachment to it.

He had already decided where to go before descending the mountain—Fudang Mountain.

This mountain is the second largest place for seeking immortality in Qiongguo, after Lushan. It is said that although the mountain is occupied by demons, there are also many wild cultivators in the mountain, and occasionally disciples of the five sects of Lushan come and go.

For example, the Jin family and other major branches within the Five Organs Temple would open branches in Fudang Mountain to facilitate the sale of goods from the temple in Fudang Mountain.

Therefore, although the area of ​​Fudang Mountain is not as prosperous as the five sects of Lushan, it is bustling with business and has a large number of demons and people coming and going, far surpassing the temples and streets of various immortal sects.

Fang Shu's plan was to settle down in this chaotic place, cultivate in peace, and also to find out about the situation inside the Five Internal Organs Temple.

Besides, he has acquaintances in Fudang Mountain!

However, although the destination was this mountain, and Fudang Mountain and Lushan Mountain range were not too far apart.

However, for safety's sake, Fang Shu gave up the idea of ​​crossing the Lushan mountain range to avoid encountering other disciples of immortal sects in the mountains and causing unnecessary trouble.

Not many days later.

Fang Shu rode the paper horse and completely left the Lushan area. The spiritual energy around him was now barely perceptible and extremely faint.

So he changed his clothes, put away his magic, and became a mortal, walking in the mortal world and taking a detour towards Mount Fudang.

Along the way, they took turns riding in donkey carts, horse-drawn carriages, large boats, and small boats.

The scenes he witnessed were varied and diverse. He also encountered many shady shops and boats that tried to chop him up and make him into meat sauce, or asked him in the middle of the river whether he wanted to eat "knife-cut noodles" or "wonton".

Faced with such behavior, Fang Shu could only smile wryly and send the other party to their death.

A month later.

His attire was different from when he first came down the mountain. He was no longer a complete mortal, but was wearing a worn-out Taoist robe, dressed like a seeker of immortality who had endured wind and rain.

For some reason, the environment of this mortal world seemed far more polluted than when he was seeking immortality. Along the way, he was robbed ten times, averaging once every three days.

Things only calmed down a bit after he was made to change into a Taoist robe, and it became a once-every-seven-days occurrence.

This day.

Fang Shu walked and arrived near a river called Luomi River.

This is a small river flowing down from Mount Lu. The current is quite slow, so there are many boats coming and going. Once you get here, you can take a boat for the rest of the journey. By changing boats along the way, you can reach the territory of Fudang Mountain.

However, upon arriving at this place, Fang Shu's brows furrowed slightly.

There was not a single oar on the river, and all the ferry crossings on both banks had been destroyed.

These are all secondary issues. What's even more astonishing is that the river water here is blackish-red, and you can smell a bloody stench from a great distance.

As Fang Shu approached, he discovered that the banks of the river presented a scene ravaged by the flood, with only a few scattered figures and something rummaging through the broken boats and houses on the shore.

He entered a house and saw a man inside who was beaming with joy, as if he had found some treasure, shouting, "Found it! I found it!"

The man, dressed in a long robe and with disheveled hair, was not a farmer, but more like a clerk or a businessman.

The voice attracted the attention of people nearby, who looked up, but no one came over.

Just when Fang Shu thought the other person was searching for valuables or looting, the other person instead brought out a limp, half-grown corpse. The corpse's face was swollen and purplish-black, and the silver collar around its neck was tightly constricted, making it seem as if the flesh would burst at any moment.

Fang Shu looked at the man whose face clearly showed signs of hysteria, made a hand seal, and a ray of spiritual light flew into the man's mind.

The man, who had been laughing and crying with an excited expression, suddenly sat down on the ground. He stared blankly at the half-corpse in his hands, and finally, unable to hold back any longer, he burst into a loud cry:

"Baby, baby, why did you leave your father all alone?"

The voice was shrill and hoarse like an old demon's, but judging from its condition, it was much better than before; it was finally able to cry out.

The few survivors nearby heard the commotion and slowly began to gather around. Their gazes kept falling on Fang Shu, this outsider who clearly hadn't suffered any harm.

A burly man with a scar on his face walked by, sighed, glanced at the wailing man, then looked at Fang Shu, and was about to leave.

Fang Shu observed for a moment, then suddenly called out to the other person, "May I ask, brother, this isn't the summer flood season, so why is there such a sudden flood? And why is the river water so strange?"

Upon hearing this, the scarred, burly man said in a low voice:

"This is a divine calamity, not a natural disaster. It's just that our place didn't listen to the old temple keeper's advice and didn't send the divine maiden to the Five Gods upstream in time, thus angering the Five Gods."

These words made Fang Shu raise his eyebrows even more, and he said in surprise, "The Five Gods?"

In this Qiong Kingdom, there are even gods and ghosts who dare to call themselves "Wutong," truly unafraid of offending the Five Internal Organs Temple, thus provoking the disciples who came down the mountain to directly destroy the mountain and demolish the temple.

Fang Shu asked a few more questions and learned from the other party that the Five Gods were indeed not human immortals, but a huge toad spirit.

He was lewd and could marry three new wives in a single day, each of whom was of a different age. If he was not satisfied for even one day, he would cause the river to slosh, resulting in many deaths and injuries among the people on the boats.

Most recently, the local women scattered and hid, and after seven days they could not satisfy the demands of the Five Gods, the gods sent down a great flood that submerged both banks of the river, destroying countless houses and livestock.

Fang Shu inquired more carefully about the toad spirit's appearance and how it looked when it released water, and his expression relaxed slightly.

The burly man with the scar sighed, "The head of the gang has already sent people to various places to bring over prostitutes. According to usual practice, once the deity is satisfied, the disaster should be averted..."

However, it is unknown why the immortals on Mount Lu have not yet sent any immortals down the mountain to subdue the demon.

This burly man was clearly a knowledgeable person, not a fool, and his words made Fang Shu narrow his eyes slightly.

Although he had been away from the mountains for a long time, the area he had traveled was still within the realm of his internal organs.

The ordinary troubles in the mortal world are not a concern for the immortal sects of Mount Lu. Only those who use their magical powers to harm people and falsely claim the title of "Five Paths" will provoke the immortal sects to issue missions to their disciples to go down the mountain to deal with them.

Fang Shu then inquired further and discovered that the "Five Tong Toad Spirits" of this place had been well-behaved before, only daring to call themselves river gods. It was only half a year ago that they gained power, changed their names, and initially only demanded cattle and sheep, but later they became bolder.

It wasn't until recently, over a month ago, that this fellow started taking three wives a day, to the point of damaging the riverbank.

Upon hearing these words, I finally felt a sigh of relief.

He had assumed that with the war between the two immortal sects, even a small town like Guling would be largely unaffected, and the area down the mountain should be even less affected. Now it seemed, however, that the impact on these mortals was indeed considerable.

"Or rather, ordinary people are too weak, and even a little trouble can ruin their families and businesses."

As Fang Shu pondered, he gained a deeper understanding of cultivation.

He then bid farewell to the scarred, burly man, and without glancing at the devastated scene on both banks, he walked upstream against the black, foul-smelling river, leaving the burly man staring in disbelief.

Fang Shu is a native of Qiong Kingdom and a disciple of the Five Organs Temple. He should naturally confront such a charlatan who deceives the world and steals fame.

In particular, it is quite strange that a mere Qi Refining monster could actually manipulate the river water and cause a flood disaster. We must investigate!
soon.

Fang Shu arrived near the so-called Wutong Temple. This place was originally a mountain valley, shady and cold, with a pond in the middle, only knee-deep. In previous years, it was a good place for the local dignitaries to escape the summer heat. Even when it was not summer, dignitaries would occasionally come to play.

However, more than half a year ago, the noble ladies and even the handsome men who came to this place began to suffer from hysteria and behaved in a filthy manner.

Some people even developed swollen bellies, their reputations ruined, and after giving birth to toads, the place became known as Toad Valley.

Quack, quack, quack!
When Fang Shu arrived at this place, the mountain valley was indeed full of toads, some moving and some still, some as small as beans and some as large as millstones.

As soon as he appeared, tens of thousands of toads turned around, their wooden eyes staring at him without moving.

And in the distance.

There were no temples or anything like that below the mountain valley. Amidst the ruins, there was only a giant toad, as big as a house, with yellow and red skin and breathing like a cow, quietly nestled there.

Beside it lay piles of white bones, haunted by vengeful spirits, which had already brewed and solidified into a malevolent aura, howling and terrifying with their grievances!

　Last night's. One more chapter is still owed!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)