The night deepened, and the melodious sound of hooves echoed in Xingyun Liushui Alley outside the main entrance of Autumn Reed Inn. Madam Liu stood alone outside the door, two tiger-tally-shaped golden ornaments hanging from her waist.

A carriage stopped in front of the inn, and a middle-aged man in a scholar’s blue robe stepped down. He exuded an aura of authority without anger, faintly revealing the bearing of a Confucian general. However, the man looked weary at this moment. Upon seeing the beautiful woman, he smiled and said, “I’ve kept you waiting. Let’s go inside and talk.”

The woman turned around to lead the way, her expression neither warm nor cold.

The man glanced at the tiger tallies on her waist and frowned, “Is there a need to be so tense?”

The woman coldly laughed, “My place is just a small inn, nothing like your grand magistrate’s residence, sir. Just a few days ago, someone tore down my signboard and screen wall. I had to swallow my anger and say nothing. Now, the culprit has brought a large group of his disciples and grandsons to stay here, and I still have to obediently hold my nose and serve these Immortal Masters. All of this is thanks to your Excellency’s masterful governance…”

The man slightly raised his voice, “Alright, Jia Hui, I know you’re upset, but I’m not doing any better right now. I’ve been busy since dawn preparing for the Water God Temple’s sacrificial ceremony, and my throat is burning. The reason I’m resting here for a moment, instead of returning directly to the magistrate’s residence, is to find a moment of peace, not to listen to your complaints and nagging.”

The beautiful woman’s eyes were filled with resentment, but she was ultimately mindful of the bigger picture and knew how to restrain herself. She quickly composed her petty, womanly emotions and changed the subject, “You’ve been working on this ceremony for a full six months. It has all the pomp and circumstance one could ask for. Although the old Prefect is unwell and unable to attend in person, his trusted aide, the Vice Prefect, has graced us with his presence. Add to that the renowned literati, famous monks, and hermits who have come to support the event, and it’s quite a spectacle. And as for the substance, there’s even more substance. The private contributions from our Jun (郡, prefecture) are enough to供奉 (gongfeng, venerate/offer sacrifices to) two River Gods elsewhere, wouldn’t you say?”

The man nodded, “That’s the way it is.”

The woman asked softly, “So, did our Cold Food River Water God finally look upon you with favor this time? Did he promise to lend a hand and help you contend for the Prefect’s position?”

The man walked into a quiet courtyard, familiar with the place. He clasped his hands behind his back, shook his head, and sighed, “That Loose Cultivator appeared at the worst possible time, causing a chain reaction. He wanted to avenge the unjustly deceased commoners, so he came to your Autumn Reed Inn and found that cultivator from the Lingyun Sect. A great battle ensued, leaving the Lingyun Sect cultivator seriously injured and even damaging your inn’s screen wall. Actually, if the matter had only gone that far, I could have controlled the situation. As the chief official of a Jun, I could report to the court, place the blame on that Loose Cultivator, and absolve the Lingyun Sect cultivator, thereby appeasing the Lingyun Sect, which is deeply rooted in our Huangting Kingdom. But at the same time, I would secretly let that Loose Cultivator go, at least within the borders of this Jun, the pursuit and encirclement would only be for show, a mere superficial effort to buy time so that he could escape far away. Since he is a Loose Cultivator, wandering the world shouldn’t be difficult.”

Speaking to this point, the man revealed a trace of regret, “But it happened right before the Cold Food River sacrificial ceremony. Not only was it under the eyes of the public, but everyone knows that this River God, in the early days of his divinity, relied on the assistance of an ancestral master from the Lingyun Sect to gain a foothold. The Lingyun Sect has carefully maintained this bond of gratitude for over two hundred years, never bothering the Water God with any matter. On the contrary, for more than two hundred years, they have visited with heavy gifts once a year, never missing a visit except for one time when they faced a mountain gate calamity. So, who do you think the Water God will favor in this turmoil that has shaken the Jun city?”

The woman watched the magistrate pacing in circles, unwilling to sit down. She handed him a cup of hot tea and jokingly said, “My magistrate, can you please sit down and talk? If you keep pacing like that, I’ll get dizzy.”

The blue-robed man sat down and said with a self-deprecating smile, “I learned of the Loose Cultivator’s hiding place three days ago. I had hoped to delay it as long as possible, hoping to spare a life if possible. Jia Hui, do you know what the Cold Food River Water God said to me today when he manifested his 金身本尊 (jin shen ben zun, golden body true form) at the Water God Temple?”

The woman shook her head. She certainly couldn’t guess the thoughts of a true deity.

As the person in charge of the Autumn Reed Inn, the woman’s own sect was not much inferior to the Lingyun Sect. However, each of the larger mountain sects had its own fixed territory. In the three northern states of Huangting Kingdom, the Lingyun Sect was the leader of a dozen or so large and small cultivation sects.

But whether it was the woman’s sect of origin or the Lingyun Sect cultivators, who could walk sideways both on and off the mountains in the northern lands of Huangting Kingdom, they were extremely respectful of the River God who was personally granted the title by the Emperor.

After all, Huangting Kingdom was not a large dynasty like the Dali Song Clan or the Dasui Gao Clan. Since its founding, the Huangting Hong Clan had been one of the twelve vassal states of Dasui. There were only a few mountains, rivers, and 正神 (zheng shen, orthodox deity) that could be granted titles.

To put it bluntly, even if Dasui lifted the restrictions and allowed the Hong Clan of Huangting Kingdom to extensively confer and order mountain and river deities, Huangting Kingdom would not have the foundation for it. First, the territory was limited, and second, the “藩鎮割據 (fan zhen ge ju, separatist warlord)” mountain Immortal families controlled most of the spiritually outstanding mountain and river blessed lands.

Therefore, the River God who controlled the water transport of a region was an important figure whom the magistrate, and even the Prefect, needed to do their best to woo.

The man put down his teacup and gently rubbed his temples, “The Water God told me directly, ‘I found out where that Loose Cultivator was hiding the day before your Excellency knew. Although you are unwilling to enforce the law impartially, since I am the Cold Food River Water God, I must abide by the rule of not easily interfering in secular officialdom. Moreover, you have governed this place diligently and meritoriously in recent years. If the next magistrate is a incompetent one who causes many problems that others need to clean up, it will hinder my peaceful cultivation. Therefore, I will not report you to the court.'”

The woman’s face turned pale, “The Water God’s implication is that he will not help you take another step upwards?”

The man smiled wryly, “This is still based on the premise that I will arrest and bring that person to justice tonight.”

The woman was somewhat regretful, “I shouldn’t have vented my anger on you just now.”
She then said indignantly, “The Hanshi River Water God has had a good reputation for hundreds of years. When it really comes to matters involving their own interests, don’t they still favor relatives over reason? That rogue cultivator only injured a third-generation disciple of the Lingyun Sect, yet he dared to become lustful upon seeing beauty in the City God Temple, coveting her looks. First, he murdered a couple outside the city, and then, after learning that a child had escaped, he chased after him all night, slaughtering the entire Zhuang family of more than thirty people. Such a heinous act was accidentally discovered by that rogue cultivator, who, before avenging the family, cleverly chose to spread the news widely, even posting notices at the entrance of your yamen. After doing all this, the rogue cultivator found the Qiulu Inn and fought fiercely with the murderer. The Water God has eyes and ears all over the county city, how could he not know anything about it?”

The man, however, was not as aggrieved and indignant as the woman, but sighed softly, “Heavenly principles, national laws, human relationships… Cultivators pursue the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. What do national laws and human relationships matter when placed before a Qi Refinement cultivator? Taking a step back, national law is not entirely useless against this Hanshi River Water God, but it’s useless in the hands of a fourth-rank official like me. It has some use in the hands of the old prefect, and only when it reaches His Majesty the Emperor does it have some real effect.”

The woman muttered softly, “What if your position as a county governor was in the Great Li Dynasty?”

The man’s eyes flashed, and he heavily slapped the armrest of his chair. “Liu JiaHui, don’t talk nonsense! No matter how strong the Great Li kingdom is, they are of barbarian origin. If the Great Li Song clan were to unify the north, it would surely be the day the civilized lineage of the northern Treasure Bottle Continent is severed!”

The woman said angrily, “If you are truly so unyielding, why don’t you simply defy the Water God’s will and protect that rogue cultivator to the end? I don’t believe that this Water God, despite claiming to have eyes and ears everywhere, can truly block out the sun in the northern Huangting Kingdom. If it really comes to it, I can just bring out the power of my sect and simply have a showdown with this local tyrant, the Lingyun Sect!”

The man pointed at the woman and laughed in exasperation, “How old are you, and you’re still so naive and ridiculous. Do you think the Great Li Emperor was able to achieve his current power by smoothly sailing all the way? Even our one county is like this, imagine how the vast territory of the Great Li Dynasty would weigh the pros and cons? As the ruler of a country, the filth and forbearance involved are absolutely beyond your and my imagination.”

The woman fell silent.

The man took a sip of tea, leaned back in his chair, looking exhausted, and tugged at his collar, muttering to himself, “I am a disciple of Confucianism, so I will inevitably try to abide by the rules as much as possible in cultivating myself and managing my family. But I am still an official of the Huangting Kingdom, with a million people in my jurisdiction who need help to live a peaceful life with enough food and clothing, so I will not act as an official and live my life solely based on benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Because I need to bow and scrape and beg the immortal families for people and magic treasures to resist various droughts and floods, and I need to visit and give gifts, praying that those mountain and river gods, who hold their heads so high, will leave as much Qi Luck as possible in my county. Whether it’s the commoners or the wealthy clans, if they suffer losses or are bullied by immortals, I can only patch things up, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and try to appease them.”

The man closed his eyes, “If I wasn’t so calculating and groveling, I would have resigned or lost my official hat long ago. If that were the case, that rogue cultivator would have been captured by some county governor who proactively informed the Water God, along with soldiers and cultivators, when he posted the first notice. If that wasn’t the case, after the rogue cultivator dies tonight, he wouldn’t even have a tombstone. Of course, once a person is dead, what difference does it make whether they have a tombstone, whether anyone offers wine, or whether anyone remembers the good deeds they did in life?”

The county governor stood up, came to the window, and said in a low voice, “In the second year of Jialu in the Huangting Kingdom, ten years ago, Hezhou and the three surrounding states shook incessantly at midnight, with Hezhou being the most severely affected. Straw houses, city walls, and ancestral temples all collapsed, and more than 60,000 people died. After that, it shook every month, every half month, or every few days until the end of the year. The Hanshi River and all the large rivers and waters in the north were turbulent. In my county alone, nearly a hundred people drowned. In the fourth year of Jialu, there was another phenomenon of moving mountains in Maozhou in the south. In the eighth year of Jialu, the water network in Hengzhou in the southwest was crisscrossed, with countless boats docked. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a sudden fire broke out, with the fire spreading over a thousand boats, and the bones and remains of more than ten thousand people were turned to ashes.”

The man’s face was pale and his lips moved slightly, “Are these natural disasters truly natural disasters? The common people don’t know the truth, but I know it.”

The man turned his head and looked at the woman, “I even know that before that rogue cultivator is arrested and killed, he will definitely scold me for being a lackey of the Lingyun Sect and the Hanshi River Water God, hating me even more than he hates them.”

The woman hesitated to speak.

The man’s face gradually became calm, “I can already be sure that after this rogue cultivator dies, there will soon be rumors deliberately spread by those wealthy families in the county city, saying that in order to please the Lingyun Sect, I painstakingly found the rogue cultivator’s hiding place and besieged and killed him.”

The woman sighed, “That’s most likely the case.”

The man smiled, “I’m saying these things not for you to hear, but for myself to hear…”

In the old well of the Qiulu Inn, although white mist was constantly rising and spreading around, the water level was actually very low, and the inner walls were covered with dark green moss. Suddenly, the water level rose rapidly with a crash, and the water level was level with the wellhead. Then, a tall man wearing armor and holding a short halberd stepped out. The man had a wisp of long beard on each of his cheeks, but otherwise, he was no different from ordinary people.

The man looked around. As for the young man who was sitting in the gazebo and breathing in and out spiritual essence, he didn’t even pay attention to him. He rose into the air and instantly landed in the courtyard where the county governor was staying. He said loudly, “Governor Wei, I have personally cut off the head of that rogue cultivator. There were also many onlookers at the time, but that bastard didn’t know what was good for him. He cursed Governor Wei harshly before he died, saying some very unpleasant things. He revealed all of Governor Wei’s dark secrets, and even dared to smear my lord. I was so angry that I originally wanted to give him a quick death, but because I was fighting for Governor Wei, I first poked a few holes in him before cutting off his head. Now that this matter is over, I will report the situation to my lord when I return. Don’t worry, I will never let that guy’s nonsense before his death damage the friendship between you and my lord.”

This direct subordinate of the Hanshi River Water God left immediately after saying this, without any hesitation.

The woman stood blankly at the gate of the courtyard.
Judging by that rogue cultivator’s style of conduct, his integrity and temperament, and according to what the man inside said, it would be normal for him to curse the man as a “running dog” before dying. However, to incessantly and repeatedly expose his shortcomings in front of the Lingyun Sect and many forces in the prefecture is quite unreasonable. This is because the man had previously had private contact with him, and both sides understood each other’s intentions. If it is strange that the man, as the Prefect, would betray cultivators, then the rogue cultivator’s superfluous deathbed words are also quite abnormal.

“I was thinking before, and I still underestimated him.”

Standing at the window, the Prefect, who had cultivated in the public sector for many years, understood the nuances of the situation faster than the woman. He said softly, “There is *xia qi* (俠氣) below the mountain.”

(End of this chapter)