The young man from the river first expressed his gratitude to his predecessors, then said to Shou Qing and Hu Yu Yu, "That great demon has a deity as a backer, daring to confine the god. I guess, he might be the mount of some immortal or bodhisattva."
Shou Qing was greatly surprised: "The mount of a god or buddha? This..."
Shou Qing was greatly shaken, and he couldn't believe it: "It shouldn't be that bad, right?"
Jiang Liu'er said, "It's just a guess at the moment. The specific truth can only be verified by confronting that great demon face to face. Or we should first rescue the Land God, Mountain God, and River God... They might know something."
After saying that, the two humans and the fox went in search of clues along the riverbank of Xiu River.
After walking ten li, they found nothing.
After walking a few more miles, they saw a River God temple, where there was a statue of the River God.
The statue of the River God appeared to be normal.
Jiang Liu'er was about to ignore it, but suddenly a burst of enlightenment hit him. He stopped one of the waterway workers and asked, "Uncle, when was this temple built?"
The waterway worker replied, "A few years back, maybe ten or so years ago?"
"Was it twelve years ago?" Jiang Liu'er asked.
The waterway worker replied, "Twelve years... Oh, yes, that's right. It was twelve years ago. I remember being only in my teens at the time. At that time, the river flooded and swept away the old River God temple. The newly appointed governor summoned many laborers to rebuild the temple."
Jiang Liu'er asked again, "Was the statue of the deity different before from the one now?"
The waterway worker replied, "Yes, they are different. The old River God statue in the temple had a beard, while this one is very clean and white."
Jiang Liu'er insistent gave a few copper coins to the man: "Thank you very much, Uncle, for enlightening me."
"Hey, you little kid, don't be so polite!"
The waterway worker smiled broadly.
After the waterway worker left, Hu Yu Yu said, "My lord, if what he said is true, then there must have been something fishy about the flood twelve years ago. Moreover, twelve years ago happened to be when Liu the scoundrel took office as the prefectural governor."
Jiang Liu'er nodded, gazing intently at the white-skinned, beardless statue of the River God inside the temple.
He secretly recited a "Spiritual Way Opening" incantation, but there was nothing strange to see.
But there was no noticeable abnormality, which was the biggest anomaly.
This indicates that there is no deity in this temple! This statue is nothing but a clay mold!
The two humans and the fox continued along the river, but before they could leave Jiangzhou prefecture, they had not yet found the imprisoned land god.
They speculated that it might not be in Xiu River.
They searched another river, but still found no clues. They searched yet another river, and again found nothing.
They had to return to the capital first.
......
The next day.
Hu Yu Yu was dreamed, and when she woke up, she shook Jiang Liu'er awake and said, "My lord, I dreamt of a large stone. It claimed to be the mountain god of Jiangzhou, saying that it was careless and attacked by an evil demon, bound with an iron chain."
Hu Yu Yu said, "I am more alert than Shou Qing. I asked the mountain god where he was, and he said that - the exact location is unknown, but occasionally when he is mentally clear, he can hear human voices, possibly from somewhere people live."
"I also asked him what those people were saying? He told me again - it seems like they are in a ritual, praying to a deity, but I couldn't make out which deity they were praying to."
Jiang Liu'er suddenly understood: "They must have been separated and imprisoned!"
The two humans and the fox set out again.
They visited temples all over Jiangzhou.
Hu Yu Yu hung her head in disappointment: "This shouldn't be the case. Why haven't we found anything?"
The sky grew darker.
In vain.
They had to return to the capital.
In his dreams, Jiang Liu'er had a feeling, so he cleared his mind and dreamt of a man with a long beard. As soon as the man saw Jiang Liu'er, he was overjoyed and quickly bowed down: "The god has worked hard for three days, expending much energy, but has finally been able to dream to the deity!"
The man had a very long beard, which was extremely similar to the description of the River God given by the waterway worker a few days ago. He might very well be the River God of Jiangzhou.
In his dream, Jiang Liu'er helped the man up: "You are the River God of Xiu River, much older than I am. If you bow to me, I might not be able to accept it."
Jiang Liu'er got straight to the point: "Is there a monster that has imprisoned you?"
The River God replied with a wry smile: "Yes! That monster is incredibly powerful. Just one encounter with the creature left me disoriented and unable to pick up my weapons."
Jiang Liu'er asked, "What does the monster look like?"
The River God was about to speak, but his eyes filled with confusion: "I can't remember it."
"It might be that the monster cast a spell on you, making you forget his appearance," Jiang Liu'er sighed. It seemed that there was no way to glean the monster's secrets from this immortal in the mortal world.
The River God wasn't significantly stronger than Wang Wujiri.
Jiang Liu'er asked, "Where are you imprisoned?"
The River God urgency said, "I don't know where I'm imprisoned, but I can hear the chirping of birds and roaring of beasts. It might be an area that humans rarely visit, perhaps in the mountains and forests."
Jiang Liu'er was taken aback.
Jiang Liu'er pondered. The land god is trapped in the river, the mountain god is trapped in the temple, and the river god is trapped in a ravine—this couldn't be a mere coincidence; it's as if their positions have been swapped.
Suddenly.
The inn seemed to have commotion, startling Jiang Liu'er from his dreams.
Hu Yu Yu also woke up, murmuring in confusion, "It's the middle of the night; who is making such a ruckus outside? Don't they let the fox sleep?"
Hu Yu Yu's ears twitched.
The fox's ears were very sharp, and it could hear more of the sounds.
Hu Yu Yu was startled.
"My lord!" Hu Yu Yu immediately woke up and said, "There are officials outside! They seem to be looking for someone, going room by room. There are quite a few of them, I can hear at least ten or so."
Jiang Liu'er guessed, "Perhaps they are searching for a wanted criminal?"
Jiang Liu'er laughed and said, "It's none of our business, unfortunately we were woken up. Just now, I had a dream about the River God; he also gave me a dream message."
At this time.
The neighbor's room sounded an angry shout: "Found him! It's the accomplice of that scoundrel!"
A scream followed from Shou Qing: "What accomplice? I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Dare to argue? Quickly block the inn and don't let the evil criminal escape! Hurry, brothers, capture him and claim your reward!" The official shouted loudly.
Next, came the sounds of a scuffle, grunts, and cries.
Bang!
The door was smashed open, and Shou Qing, disheveled and disoriented, held three reward notices he had stolen in his hand. He spoke in a helpless tone: "Friend, we have been put on the wanted list! The officials say we committed murder on the streets, violating the laws of the Tang Dynasty and will be imprisoned."
"The official I entrusted to look after was panicked and was accidentally captured by the officials during the chaos. One of the officers we were with cut him a severe blow, and he is barely hanging on to life now."
Shou Qing was quite confused.
Shou Qing originally slept soundly, but suddenly a group of officials burst in and tried to arrest him. He had no choice but to resist, resulting in several injuries to the officials.
Jiang Liu'er looked at the three reward notices.
To his surprise, the notices had portraits of him, Shou Qing, and Hu Yu Yu; they also listed the three crimes attributed to them, which were exactly what Shou Qing had mentioned as "murdering in the street."
Jiang Liu'er's first reaction was - oh no, was it because the crime scene wasn't cleaned up well enough that the officials discovered it?
But it wasn't like that!
He had always been quite careful with each murder; he had never killed anyone in the street.
That's right! Just on the street, he had killed a few demons.
Wait a minute!
"Could it be that the murder of the dog demon was framed as my killing a human?" Jiang Liu'er was baffled and also felt the cunningness of human hearts.
He furrowed his brow: "This matter is definitely related to the detestable Liu. The way he has turned things upside down might be because the dog demon and Liu have a conspiracy."
At this moment, the sound of more officials' footsteps approached.
Shou Qing wanted to cry but couldn't: "What kind of thing is this? If my teacher finds out I'm wanted by the government, he will certainly scold me severely."
The two humans and the fox had to jump out of the window and onto the roof.
Quietly looking down, they saw that at least several dozen officials had surrounded the inn.
Taking advantage of the deeper night, they continued on their way.
They wanted to steer clear of trouble.
Treading on the rooftops of houses, as they slipped a mile away, Jiang Liu'er suddenly stopped and pulled Hu Yu Yu and Shou Qing to a halt.
"That's why he could instantly kill a dog demon with over two hundred years of cultivation! His senses are incredibly sharp!" Jiang Liu'er commented.
The shrimp demon emerged from the alley corner, its malicious aura comparable to that of the wolf demon Wang Wujiri.
"Such small creatures... Are those really the ones that the dog demon killed?"
The crab demon walked from behind, blocking the retreat of Jiang Liu'er and the others.
"Don't kill the mother fox, she's mine."
The clam demon also appeared.
...
...
