txolops Chapter 022 Golden Silk
Chapter 022 Golden Silk
"General Iron Anchor above, please bless my Chen family's merchant ships with safe passage."
In Chenjiazhuang, on the east bank of the Tongtian River, within a large mansion, Chen Lingshuang specially set aside a small room as a shrine. Daily offerings of fruits and pastries were made, and three sticks of incense were burned morning and evening.
The plume of smoke rose straight through the rooftops, then merged with a dozen other plumes of smoke in the village, slowly drifting towards the Tongtian River.
In the waters near the east bank, Li Yue floated quietly, his tail swaying gently. With each opening and closing of his mouth, he swallowed all the aromas.
Whoosh!
A moment later, the sandalwood incense burned out, and no more fragrance wafted by. Li Yue stretched and wagged his tail vigorously.
Just like the temple in the dream, he could obtain the fragrance when someone offered incense.
When the Mengzhonglang Temple was destroyed, its incense offerings ceased.
Until recently, East Coast businessmen began to enshrine the memorial tablet of General Iron Anchor in their homes, which restored the tradition of offering incense.
After consuming it, one's cultivation level does not improve, but one feels refreshed and invigorated, and even finds it delicious and irresistible.
"Three strands..."
Upon internal observation, three golden threads were seen swirling around the soul.
These three golden threads were formed from the fragrance that Li Yue had ingested.
The soul is the foundation of consciousness. Even if the physical body is destroyed, the soul can still be reincarnated. But if the soul is scattered, then it completely disappears from this world.
Compared to the physical body, the soul is far more important, and we dare not be careless in the slightest.
When Li Yue first saw the golden thread, he was really startled, but after examining it, he found that it seemed to have no effect on him.
Moreover, regardless of whether he voluntarily ingests it, as long as someone offers incense to him, the fragrance will waft over and enter his body.
Since he couldn't control it, Li Yue simply stopped thinking about it.
Moreover, he had a vague feeling that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Even gods enjoy the offerings of incense from mortals; if it were detrimental to them, why would they establish such a rule?
Even gods worshipped in illicit ways are still gods; how can they not accept incense offerings?
"snort."
With a soft hum, it floated to the surface of the water, absorbing and exhaling the essence of the sun to cultivate.
The water ghost still herds fish for the fishermen every night, increasing his experience level while obtaining blood food such as pigs and sheep. In addition, with the recent offerings from merchants, Li Yue's cultivation speed has recovered to the level before the Mengzhonglang Temple was destroyed.
Even so, he dared not slack off in the slightest.
"A ship is in distress."
After absorbing the essence of the sun, it was past 1 PM and the sun was setting. Just as Li Yue was about to take a short rest, he suddenly heard cries for help coming from the water in the distance.
Where the divine office is located, it senses the influence of the surrounding area.
When a boat was in distress, Li Yue immediately swam over.
It was still near the Wuliwang waters on the east bank, more than 500 li away. By the time Li Yue arrived, it was more than an hour later, at dusk.
"Um?"
Looking at a small boat, no more than seven or eight meters long, in the distance, and several fish-like water monsters swimming around it, Li Yue suddenly stopped.
It was another gathering team under the command of the Black Snake King.
They feed on humans, and this is the fourth ship they've attacked in this period. Li Yue rescued three of them, fulfilling his divine duties and subduing the demons in the water, gaining several hundred experience points in the process.
Regardless of how many people the sampling team sampled, they certainly generated a lot of "achievements" for Li Yue.
Today is the same situation again, but something seems off.
More than an hour ago, this ship was attacked by the Cai people. How come it is still safe and sound?
The ship wasn't big, and there weren't many people on board. How could it possibly stop these fish-spirited water monsters?
Logically speaking, the small boat should have been capsized by the mining team long ago.
Li Yue frowned secretly; there seemed to be something wrong here.
Instead of rushing forward, it hid among the underwater plants and quietly observed.
Li Yue soon discovered that the fish-like monsters were swimming around the small boat. Although they looked fierce, they were not actually doing anything, but were just trying to intimidate the people on the boat.
Another hour or so passed, and night had fallen over the Tongtian River. The people on the boat had been shouting for two or three hours straight, and their voices were hoarse. They were also exhausted and leaned against the side of the boat, swaying from side to side.
"That is..."
Just as Li Yue was starting to lose patience, five figures suddenly appeared from another place.
A water snake seven or eight feet long—no, look closely, there are no scales reflecting light on its body; it must be a yellow eel.
The other four all had human bodies and fish heads, clearly indicating they were all monsters in the transformation stage!
Whoosh!
The next moment, a wave suddenly surged up, and the small boat was overturned by several monsters.
"Help!"
"General Anchor, save me! Save me!"
The people on the boat fell into the water instantly and couldn't help but shout loudly again.
But before he could shout a few words, he was dragged into the depths of the water by the monster, and after struggling for a while, he drowned and fainted.
Regardless of whether they lived or died, several fish spirits used their mouths to carry these people eastward.
These poor people died without ever seeing General Iron Anchor appear to save them.
Li Yue hid not far away, his gaze cold and aloof.
Immoral worship brings no blessings.
Driven by greed and insatiable desire for profit, those who indulge in licentious worship will ultimately reap the bitter fruits of their actions.
These people, believing they were protected by General Iron Anchor, acted without restraint, freely traversing the Tongtian River where monsters lurked.
Little did they know that General Iron Anchor's rule was "nine out of ten calls would be answered".
He was saved nine times and gained millions, but this one time he failed to be saved, and he was doomed!
"Are they coming for me?"
Ignoring the greedy people, Li Yue pondered as he watched the departing spirits.
This looks exactly like bait, and he's the target.
Yes, during this time he has rescued ships and subdued demons in the Jing River, killing many monsters in the Wuli King's hunting party. How could they remain indifferent?
Clearly, they had figured out the pattern, so they specifically attacked ships, trying to lure Li Yue into a trap.
"fortunately."
Having figured all this out, Li Yue secretly rejoiced that he was fortunate to be far away this time and arrived a little late, which allowed him to see through the clues.
If he had arrived earlier and rushed to rescue the people, he would have inevitably fallen into an ambush.
"This is troublesome."
While feeling relieved, Li Yue also sighed inwardly.
To avoid being ambushed, he could not freely rescue any more ships in distress.
General Iron Anchor's upgrade was just starting to show promise, so wouldn't it have to slow down again?
He had to find a way. As he returned to the Water Palace, Li Yue opened the Book of Erotic Sacrifices.
"Strategist, why didn't that carp spirit come?"
"Could it be that the strategist's prediction is wrong?"
"The strategist is incredibly resourceful; how could he possibly make a mistake? It must be the carp spirit's own fault."
"Yes, yes, maybe that carp spirit is laying eggs."
On the way back to Gelang Reef, four fish spirits in their transformation stage spoke in a sarcastic tone, looking at the eel spirit with disdain.
It's just a mere eel in the Qi Awakening stage, yet it dares to order them around.
The eel spirit ignored the ridicule from the four fish spirits, remaining silent with a gloomy face.
After a long while, he suddenly let out a soft hum.
"That monster must have arrived, but it hasn't shown itself! We're afraid we've taken too long, and the little demons' acting wasn't convincing enough, so it saw through our act."
"What did you say?"
"Tch, your own plan failed, so you blame the little demon for not acting convincingly enough."
"Exactly, they're not actors in a theatrical troupe, how realistic can they be?"
"What do you know!"
The eel spirit shouted, its eyes flashing with ferocity, followed by a cold snort.
"If one plan fails, I'll try another. Next time, I'll make sure he falls into my trap!"