Water elemental became a god, ultimately becoming the master of heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers

Chapter 203 Next up is Chen Shunan, right?
The color of fish belly is white in the east.

As usual, Mo Long A Tai handed over the anchovy he had just caught to the fish market owner.

"Grandma, I heard you haven't been feeling well lately. I know Dr. Li from Jindu Pharmacy, the Golden Needle Doctor. Would you like to go see him?" The fish market owner looked at Grandma Molong with a hint of worry.

Now, Ah Tai is a hot commodity in all the fish markets, a veritable money tree. The fish market owners don't want to see anything happen to Ah Tai who is touching dragons.

Grandma wasn't very old, not yet thirty. She had two older brothers who were still unmarried, and two younger sisters who were also unmarried.

He was the third oldest.

His original name was Atai; he didn't have a formal name.

He later "made it big" with his godlike fishing skills, catching fish every time he caught one. After that, he added the words "Molong" (meaning "touching dragon") before his name.

He said he accidentally touched a wet dragon and thus gained such a miraculous power.

Others did not believe it at first.

But every time he went fishing or cast his net, he managed to catch a precious fish.

So I believed it.

His family was not well-off. His father was just a third-rate martial artist who struggled for half his life but only managed to find a roof over his head in the county. He was also left with many injuries and had to rely on medicine to get through each day.

A few years ago, the whole family pooled their resources, contributing money and effort. The two older brothers even used their savings to help their grandmother secure a job as a maid.

Fortunately, things have gotten better now.

The old woman took the money from the fishmonger, then subconsciously rubbed the outside of her thigh with the back of her hand, and said...

"I just caught a slight cold, and I'm almost fully recovered."

"That's good." The fish market owner breathed a sigh of relief, then added, "If you really feel unwell, don't avoid seeking medical help."

Atai smiled, turned and left. After hesitating for a moment, he rented a fast horse at a horse rental shop. After returning to Wuqing County, he bought some rice and lean meat before going home.

His father saw his grandmother and sighed.
“The weather is getting colder, and your mother and sisters can’t sell the flower tents they made. We’ll have to rely on you to supplement the family income during this period.”

As he spoke, his father coughed twice, picked up a bowl of Chinese medicine that had been boiled down to almost nothing, and drank it all in one gulp.

Finally, he licked the rim of the bowl with his tongue, making sure every inch was clean before it was considered finished.

Making a flower curtain is a traditional craft in the city, which can be made by tying reeds or bamboo, or hemp rope, into a curtain-like shape. It is useful for families that grow flowers or raise pigeons.

This year, however, the weather was cruel; it was already bitterly cold in November, and the streets were covered in icicles.

Naturally, they couldn't keep flowers or pigeons alive.

Then these decorative curtains won't be needed.

Beside him, his mother and two younger sisters sat around a dilapidated eight-immortal table, threading needles and mending clothes, their heads drooping.

His mother whispered, "Don't worry, Grandma, the three of us will find something to do. These clothes belong to the monks at the temple. We can earn a string of copper coins if we sew them well!"

At this point, his mother raised her head and looked at his great-grandfather with her eyes, which were almost blinded by the smoke from the oil lamp.

"By the way, your second brother wrote back saying that the tuition and medicine fees for the martial arts school next year are due... 10 taels of silver, do you have that?"

With the help of the whole family, Ah Tai entered the water-dwelling trade.

His elder brother then went with traveling merchants to sell goods, and rarely returned home, though he would send money home every few months.

His second brother has decent talent for martial arts. If he puts in the effort and has enough resources, he could also become a second-rate martial artist. He is currently studying at a martial arts school.

Taking time off work to learn martial arts naturally requires a significant amount of money.

But now, it's time for Ah Tai to give back to her family.

He had no complaints.

His other siblings and parents are also working hard to share the burden.

"Yes, yes, yes, I've caught a treasure fish every day these past few days, and they're all here."

Grandma took out a handful of loose silver and placed it on the table.

Then, subconsciously, I scratched the outside of my thigh with the back of my hand.

His father sighed and said, "I will give the money to the martial arts school. You can rest assured and do your job, Grandma."

Seeing the relieved expressions on her parents' faces, Grandma couldn't help but smile too.

He's now a dragon-touching master!
As usual, he went to Banno Tsuto, carrying his fishing rod to fish everywhere, and occasionally exchanged ideas with Xiao Changping and others about his understanding of the language of beasts.

Of course, he rarely interrupted; it was mostly Xiao Changping and the others who did the talking.

He was still somewhat reluctant to face Chen Shunan and always avoided him in advance.

The shopkeeper's imposing presence reminded him of when he was studying in a private school, facing his teacher directly.

However, he started scratching his outer thigh more and more frequently.

"What?! My brother was kidnapped by bandits and taken to the mountains. They want a hundred taels of silver to ransom him?!"

When she got home and heard the news, Ah Tai was stunned.

His father's eyes were bloodshot, and he held a blood-stained letter and a finger in his hand.

The calluses on my fingers are very heavy, and the lines on them are worn down.

Ah Tai recognized at a glance that the owner of the finger was his eldest brother.

"I will raise the money."

Atai said in a deep voice.

The atmosphere inside the room was gloomy and heavy with worry; the whole family lowered their heads.

His father suddenly said,

"No, we can't put all the blame on you, Grandma. Here's what we'll do: Grandma, you try to raise the money first, and I'll go find some brothers I know in the underworld to see if we can pull some strings and get him out!"

With that, his father rushed out of the house. As usual, his grandmother hurried off to go fishing in Banno Tsuto.

"You are Molong Atai?"

But unlike usual.

He had just arrived north of Banno Tsutowa, at the frozen section of the San'in Canal, when a calm voice suddenly rang in his ears.

He put down the chisel that had broken through the ice, turned around in confusion, and saw a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in Taoist robes, holding a whisk as she approached.

His eyes were icy cold, as if he did not eat the five grains of earth.

Sensing the otherworldly aura emanating from this woman, Mo Long A Tai replied somewhat timidly.
"What brings this Daoist nun here?"

"Are you the Dragon-Touching Maiden?" the nun asked again.

"That's right."

As soon as he finished speaking, the woman in front of Molong Atai just grinned. Her eyes and brows were full of indescribable charm, but she gave Molong Atai a sense of oppression like a sea of ​​blood and a mountain of corpses. It was as if he was wrapped in soil, suffocating in darkness, which instantly occupied his entire mind.

"Then you haven't made a mistake. Let me see, is it you...?"

With a gentle sweep of her whisk, Tianxuan Saintess felt as if something had left his body.

"So it turns out to be the Meishan Water Control Method, which uses human flesh as bait to lure fish to eat, returning fish to water. It's just a minor, unorthodox technique... If you have the appearance of a short life, then you're not one of them."

Tianxuan Saintess was somewhat disappointed. She slowly walked past him without glancing at him again.

In the Meishan region, witchcraft and sorcery have a long history, and Nuo operas are numerous. Various sorcerers and witches hide in the wilderness and villages, inciting villagers, forming gangs and bandit groups of varying sizes.

Even after being suppressed by the Holy Dynasty for a long time, and even with the Emperor himself leading troops, it was not completely annihilated.

The storyteller even incorporated his experiences into the "Battle to Suppress the Meishan Wizard, the Nine Great Martial Achievements of the Emperor," placing it alongside the Battle to Suppress the Evil Sword of Shushan.

Among them, Meishan magic is the most famous, and Meishan water control magic is one of the essences of Meishan magic.

The Secret of the General Water Method, the Mantra of Praying to the True Ones, the Harmony Water, the Five Thunder Water, the Five Wrathful Water, the Snow Mountain Water, the Pain-Relieving Water, the Mysterious Retribution Water, the Childbirth-Inducing Water, the Nine Dragons Bone-Melting Water, the Returning Fish Water...

The various water features encompass a wide range of methods.

Guiyushui is one of them.

Created specifically for fishing and hunting, if one suffers from lack of fish or has a poor catch in the freezing cold, one can cut off a small piece of flesh from one's own body, cast a secret spell, and throw it into the river. In no time, large fish and precious fish will be caught in the net and hooked.

However, this method is a heretical and unorthodox approach, which will shorten one's life, harm one's wealth, ruin one's fortune, and is extremely difficult to sustain. Moreover, it may even lead to one's death.

Snowflakes, carried by the cold wind, blanketed the wasteland in white.

Wow…

Suddenly, ice shards splashed up from the ice cave, and a large fish, half the length of a person, leaped out of the water. Its plump, silvery scales shimmered in the sparse sunlight, and its mouth opened and closed.

Fish have been served again.

"Then next..." Tianxuan Saintess pondered for a moment, then said softly.

"It must be Chen Shunan."

After saying that, her figure seemed to melt into the wind and snow, disappearing in an instant, leaving only a shallow footprint on the ice, which was quickly covered by the new snow.

Molong Atai fell backward onto the frozen river, his eyes gradually losing their luster.

A dark purple bloodstain had seeped through the blue cotton trousers.

If you cut open his cotton-padded trousers, you would find that large chunks of flesh were missing from his left and right thighs, with pieces missing here and there, and in some places you could even see the bare bones.

Out of the corner of Mo Long A Tai's eye, the large fish was still struggling, shimmering like a silver ingot.

Like the big fish, he opened his mouth wide and gasped for air, as if trying to snatch as much fresh air as possible from the outside world and force it into his throat, bringing with it the remaining nutrients in his body and making his heart pound.

But soon he shut up.

The big fish stopped breathing.

Because he died.

……

Snow blankets the desolate plains, the wind cuts like a knife, and the flying snowflakes blend the world into a chaotic white expanse.

A dark figure with shackles around its neck ran wildly across the wasteland, moving so fast that it left only a barely visible trail in the snow.

After a while.

Hong Wuye appeared in front of Atai's body.

He silently sensed the lingering aura in the air, looked at the corpses at his feet that were almost frozen into ice sculptures, his brows furrowed, and his face was so somber it could drip water.

"Too late!"

He hesitated for a moment, then with a twist of his strength, he broke free of the shackles and hung them around his waist.

Only then did he pick up the big fish, carry the carcass, and head towards the ferry crossing.

As he walked through the depths of the dense forest, his eyes caught sight of an inconspicuous pine tree out of the corner of his eye.

The pine trees were covered in silver, and the ice shells on their branches gleamed coldly.

There is an inconspicuous special mark on the tree trunk, which looks like a teacup.

The lid was lifted and placed to the right of the teacup. Stones were used as tea leaves inside the bowl and nailed to the tree trunk.

The densely packed pattern seems to have a deeper meaning.

This is a special internal communication within the Khmer Council, called a 'nailed bulletin board'.

If the message is written on a piece of wood and carried downstream, it is called a 'water telegraph'; if it is carried by pigeons, it is called a 'flying telegraph'.

Was it a message relayed by Lao Xiao and Bai Manlou?
Hong Wuye's expression remained unchanged; he merely glanced at the poster and memorized it, then translated its general meaning.
"Is there something important to discuss, and an old friend is visiting?"

(End of this chapter)