Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 145 - 142: Chen Family Village, Worshipping the Dragon King (Third Update)

Chapter 145: Chapter 142: Chen Family Village, Worshipping the Dragon King (Third Update)

The village at the foot of the mountain, Chen Family Village, though seemingly not small, was clearly not very affluent.

The most imposing building wasn’t the houses of the village head or the elders, but instead, it was a Dragon King Temple built right beside the Luoshui River.

No one knew how much money or labor the villagers had spent on it.

Although the Dragon King Temple only had two courtyards, it was adorned with green tiles and carved beams, decorated throughout with flowers and plants, and exquisitely built.

At this moment.

It wasn’t only the two children who were sobbing that hadn’t slept in the middle of the night in the village.

All over a thousand villagers were awake.

All of them were kneeling neat and orderly on both sides of the entrance to that temple, as far as the eye could see, a sea of human heads in the darkness.

More strangely, in the middle of the night, no one had lit a lamp, nor was anyone speaking, nor did any family bring out any children under the age of fifteen.

Aside from the cries of the two cleanly washed children in brand new floral clothes under the sole oil lamp in the temple.

The entire village was so deathly silent it was frightening.

The village head and an old woman acting as the temple priest kept turning to look back at the roaring Luoshui behind them, occasionally murmuring to each other in low voices:

"Divine Woman, why hasn’t the Dragon Lord come yet?"

"What’s the rush? By midnight, the Dragon King will naturally come.

In thirty years, when has the Lord ever been late?"

"Isn’t this me worrying? If the rain in the sky doesn’t stop, the corn we’ve grown in the village won’t need to wait for harvest – it’ll all rot right in the ground!"

Just like what Old Hu, a close follower of Nie Renxiong who had already passed away, once said (Chapter 114).

"Thirty years ago during the previous emperor’s reign, we ’Dragon Qi Prohibitions’ retreated to the township level, fifteen years ago when Emperor Jianming ascended the throne, we further retreated to the county level.

Last year, even at the state mansion level, occasionally our Imperial Dragon Guards, the paperhangers, needed to do some patching."

The collapse of the "Dragon Qi Prohibition" in the remote villages was yesterday, but its rapid decline had already started decades ago.

As the "Dragon Qi Prohibition" continued to shrink, small villages near the wilderness like Chen Family Village were the first to suffer.

It’s like in the dry season, many people build their houses on the fertile riverbed, cultivating farmland for crops.

When the rainy season comes and the water level rises again, the river will be the first to destroy these houses and farmland.

The same logic applied to the retreating "Dragon Qi Prohibition."

But for those who had been living on this "riverbed" for more than two hundred years, it was indeed difficult to make the decision to relocate their entire families.

Perhaps onlookers could criticize from a safe distance, asking why these people value money over life?

But how could the owners of these houses and lands easily part with the family property accumulated over generations?

Even if they left this place for the county or prefecture city, where else would they have a roof over their heads or a couple of acres to provide a meal?

This was a matter of survival, a real problem.

Even if the "Dragon Qi Prohibition" was thin, unless it reached a point where it was absolutely unlivable, hardly anyone would abandon their homes and leave their native land.

Simply because the ability of the lower class to resist risk was extremely weak!

Therefore.

To survive in this Divine Deceit World, since they could no longer rely on the Court, they always needed to find someone or something reliable... or a demon!

For some, if they could completely understand the "Precept Taboo," then even those weird entities’ thighs couldn’t necessarily be beyond embrace.

Rustling...

Suddenly, behind the villagers, there was a sound of swelling waves.

Then came a terrifyingly pungent stench assailing the nostrils with the wind.

Following that, a wet slapping of footsteps approached, step by step, from the direction of the riverbank.

But at this time, all the villagers bowed deeply, not daring to raise their heads to look at the exalted "Dragon King."

They were playing the frightened turtle, but the two children placed inside the temple could see this so-called "Dragon King" very clearly.

This was no Dragon King; it was a grossly swollen catfish spirit with barely a human shape!

A catfish head with several wriggling tentacles on each side of the mouth, a half-human, half-fish corpulent body, dragging a long tail.

The black and yellow mucus on its body emitted an extreme stench, even leaving a clear yellow trail on the ground.

"Ahh ahh ahh..."

"Wah wah wah..."

The two children, a boy and a girl, barely seven or eight years old, suddenly burst into tears.

But the act of villagers offering children to demons was clearly not for the first time.

The shoemaking was rotated among the villagers’ families.

Their parents had also been taken into custody by the other villagers long ago, to prevent any trouble during the ritual sacrifice.

So, no one would come to their rescue.

Seeing them crying vigorously, the catfish spirit impersonating the "Dragon King" burst into laughter and said with a thick voice:

"This year’s two have strong bodies; eating them must be quite satisfying."

Extending a thick, short hand, it grabbed the boy among them.

Just about to feast, it seemed to suddenly remember something, and turned its head to address the villagers:

"In previous years, my lord, I only ate a pair of ’Holy Infant Pills’ once a year.

But times have changed. I’ve received news that the [Dragon Gate] above the Turbid River is about to open, and I must gather enough strength to leap over the [Dragon Gate] and transform into a True Dragon!"

Upon hearing this.

Under the lead of the village chief, the villagers immediately started flattering like a tide:

"Congratulations to the Dragon Lord!"

"Joyous felicitations to the Dragon Lord!"

"May the Dragon King’s life be everlasting! Please protect us, the humble folk, and grant us favorable winds and abundant rain!"

The legend of the three layers of [Dragon Gate]—upper, middle, and lower, above the Turbid River, had long been deeply ingrained in people’s hearts.

From doddering elders to children of three, everyone along the river was well-acquainted with it.

And just downstream of Chen Family Village and not too far from the border of Heluo, was the location of the first [Dragon Gate].

Flanked by towering mountains on both sides, the Turbid River roared through the narrow gap of less than 40 meters in width, its yellow waves rolling and cascading for miles, also known as [Yu Gate].

"A place on the river called [Dragon Gate]. The waters are perilous and impassable, neither fish nor turtles can ascend. Oceanic fish gather in thousands at Dragon Gate, unable to proceed, yet if they do, they become dragons!"

It is said that creatures like fish, turtles, and flood snakes, at the appointed time, could leap over the [Dragon Gate], have their tails scorched by heavenly fire, and transform from the mundane into dragons.

So goes the saying: "With a scorched tail, the divine dragon ascends straight to the azure clouds"!

Although this "Dragon Lord" had, for the past thirty years, demanded two children each year in exchange for blessing Chen Family Village with favorable weather for the crops,

it was still much more beneficial than the court that only knew how to levy taxes!

If it could successfully become a dragon, wouldn’t the benefit to the village be even greater?

As long as it was beneficial to them, who cared whether it was a demon that ate children?

Just as the Emperor had naturally forsaken them, they too naturally forsook some of their "kind."

However, before the villagers could celebrate for long, they heard the "Dragon King" change the tone of his speech and continue:

"Therefore, the usual pair of Holy Infant Pills once a year will no longer suffice.

From today onwards, every ten days, you must present me with a pair of boy and girl children!"

"A pair every ten days?!"

The villagers were immediately shocked and appalled. There weren’t that many children in the village to satisfy its appetite; it clearly intended to wipe out their lineages!

"No, my lord, there aren’t enough children born in the whole of Chen Family Village in a year.

At this rate, it won’t be long before our entire Chen Family Village is completely devoured..."

Gulp!

The "Dragon Lord" suddenly opened its vast maw and swallowed the villager who had shouted the loudest straight into its belly.

The rest instantly fell silent, as if chilled by a cold cicada, too scared to speak again.

"Disaster! This is disaster!

This demon can no longer be relied upon!"

Those villagers with a bit more wit had completely understood that for the past thirty years the reason it only ate a pair of children each year wasn’t due to any willingness to trade fairly.

It had simply been fattening up the whole Chen Family Village before the slaughter!

Even after it had consumed the so-called "Holy Infant Pills," those with slightly lesser taste might as well be its next snack.

A demon is a demon; they were wrong to think they could rely on it for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest of the Five Grains from the start!

"Hmph!"

The "Dragon Lord," who had already learned of the current state of the world through secret channels, didn’t deign to waste any more words with these "pigs" it had reared.

’In the past, this king treated you kindly because I couldn’t yet provoke the Great Yan Dynasty.

Now that your pillar of support is about to fall, the [Dragon Gate] is opening soon, why should this king care about the feelings of mere food?’

Then, it was about to stuff the plump and potent "Holy Infant Pill" in its hand into its gaping bloody maw.

However, just as its mouth was opening.

Shick—!

A burst of searing white sword light flashed before the "Dragon Lord"’s eyes.

The object in its hand suddenly felt light.

The plump child, along with half of its arm, had quietly slipped away.

"Ah!"

There was a brief delay before it felt an excruciating pain suddenly surge through its entire being.

"Who’s there?!"

No sooner had the words left its mouth than a series of heavy footsteps sounded from outside the Dragon King Temple.

The temperature around them sharply decreased.

The only lantern in the temple also turned a ghostly blue.

Startled, the "Dragon Lord" turned around, its fishy eyes contracting rapidly as a low mournful groan struggled from the depths of its throat:

"Yin... Yin Soldiers Crossing?!"

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