vstars Chapter 38 Tangfang
Chapter 38 Tangfang
Tangfang was a coastal market town in Qiantang County. Fishermen and boatmen from the surrounding area mostly lived here, making it a densely populated area with about a thousand households.
According to the old folks in Qiantang, this place was originally a swamp where large saltwater crocodiles that preyed on humans once lived.
After Emperor Gaozu completely pacified Nanyue, the area around the Yangtze River was no longer plagued by war. For nearly a century afterward, saltwater crocodiles were hunted relentlessly, almost to the point of extinction. Fishermen, in twos and threes, gradually built houses and settled here to make it easier to go out to sea. Over the years, the area gradually developed into the scale of Tangfang today.
The now-extinct saltwater crocodile, by nature fond of digging burrows, still has a complex network of caves beneath the pond, which later became wells for residents to obtain fresh water.
As for the neighborhood leaders, they were originally respected and appointed by each neighborhood, but now they have all become leaders of local thugs and ruffians.
The owner of Tangfang was such a local strongman. Back then, relying on his family's divination skills, he predicted the location of fish catches every day, leading the fishermen around him who made their living from the sea to a peaceful and prosperous life. Gradually, he gained power and, after some struggle, finally secured his position as the owner of Tangfang.
Today, after bathing and burning incense, the owner of the pond sat in meditation, intending to predict the location of tomorrow's catch. But at that moment, a servant came to report that the clam manager had been killed.
Manager Toad was a toad monster under his command who was extremely skilled in combat. There were few people in the city who could defeat him in combat, let alone kill him.
Shocked, he immediately took out the tortoise shell behind him and began to perform divination.
The tortoise shell in his hand was passed down from his ancestors. It was covered with the Later Heaven Bagua patterns, which were naturally formed according to the directions. It was quite strange.
The pond owner lifted the tortoise shell and shook it with a special technique. The copper coins inside the shell jingled. Then he tossed the coins into the air, letting them land on the ground, and then checked their orientation and whether they were heads or tails.
The pond owner watched as the golden copper coins, tinged with green rust, fell to the ground. He reached out and swiped them around, and a mist the size of a plate rose from the ground, slowly revealing a phantom figure that gradually solidified.
It was a man wearing a straw hat.
But before he could see the man's face clearly, the man's straw hat suddenly emitted a blinding white light, making it impossible for him to open his eyes.
The tortoise shell in his hand began to heat up and tremble. The pond owner closed his eyes tightly and gripped the tortoise shell tightly, fearing that he would break it.
As the white light faded, the pond owner's eyes welled up with tears, and he barely managed to open them.
All the copper coins on the ground were broken and shattered.
The pond owner hurriedly got up, clutching the tortoise shell, and frantically locked the door. Then he lifted the mat on the ground, opened the wooden planks, and revealed a dark and cold passageway.
The passageway was very deep and cold wind was blowing. The pond owner, holding a tortoise shell and an oil lamp, moved down step by step, supporting himself against the water-stained stone wall.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the pond owner, even though he was panting heavily, dared not stop for a single step, until he reached the end of the passageway, where he found a dark pool of water.
The pond owner raised the oil lamp and shook it three times rhythmically on the water's surface.
The pool's emerald green water, seemingly bottomless, gradually began to bubble, as if a giant creature were turning over at the bottom.
More and more bubbles appeared, and gradually a huge head emerged from the water.
Its mouth is serrated, and its shape resembles that of a crocodile.
Judging from its appearance, it is a saltwater crocodile, a species that has been extinct.
The pond owner was not afraid at all, and with a light leap, he landed on the back of the crocodile.
The saltwater crocodile wasn't annoyed; it let the pond owner ride on its back and obediently led him into the deeper waters.
As they swam further and further away, fireflies began to flash all around, illuminating a corner of the place.
Beneath the gleaming, bluish-gray stone dome lies an underground dark lake, astonishingly wide.
The surface of the dark lake was still and its depths were unfathomable. There was an oppressive silence, as if it were waiting for someone to make a sound, and then the monster in the shadows would seize the opportunity to devour them.
The pond owner lay on the back of the saltwater crocodile, his fingers gripping the gaps in the crocodile's carapace tightly, looking at the unknown darkness around him, and swallowing his saliva repeatedly.
After a long and agonizing wait, a reef suddenly appeared ahead, with a dilapidated fishing boat riddled with holes in it.
The saltwater crocodile stopped. The pond owner climbed onto the dilapidated boat, looked around at the man-eating darkness, and shouted:
"Ancestor, your unworthy descendant has come to request an audience."
The sound drifted away, leaving no echo.
Suddenly, the calm underground lake surged with waves, startling the fireflies around it and even causing the saltwater crocodiles that had just swum over to lower their heads and scurry into the cracks in the rocks in fright.
Giant waves surged on the lake, and a colossal creature emerged from the water. Its dark golden vertical pupils, glowing from beneath the surface, were larger than the fishing boat beneath the pond owner's feet, and its exposed bluish-gray scales were etched with the marks of time.
The enormous object slowly rose, causing the water level of the seemingly endless underground lake to drop slightly.
The pond owner raised his oil lamp and could barely make out what was in front of him. It was a man-eating saltwater crocodile, whose age was unknown. Even with only a corner of its head showing above the water, it was as big as a small mountain, its size immeasurable.
The owner of the pond trembled all over and lay on the boat, not daring to raise his head.
"Ancestor, when this unworthy descendant was deducing the identity of the murderer who killed Manager Clam today, he unexpectedly caused the tortoise shell to vibrate, and caught a trace of the old ancestor's aura on that person."
The enormous creature did not open its mouth, but a deep, ancient voice emanated from the underground lake.
"Bring her back and help me seize her bloodline. The day I ascend to the dragon throne will be the day you achieve immortality."
The owner of the pond trembled all over, knelt on the deck of the wrecked boat, and said in a trembling voice, "Ancestor, that Taoist priest is very powerful. He even killed the toad manager. This unworthy descendant has no useful demons by his side."
The words were spoken, but there was no response.
Seeing no sound, the pond owner cautiously looked up and peeked, only to see two gaping maws with fangs right in front of him. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and fainted.
……
at the same time.
Song Quyou finished his porridge and vegetables, then looked at the young lady Jing who was resting her chin on her hand and asked, "Miss, did you pay for the groceries today with your accumulated pure energy?"
The girl nodded and said, "That old fox was asking for a high price when he sold vegetables. I saw that his lifespan was coming to an end, so I gave him the pure energy that had accumulated at the bottom of the well for a year."
"Those dishes are nothing compared to even a fraction of the energy you've accumulated."
The girl nodded again and said, "Those energies are useless to me. Since it wanted to sell vegetables at a high price, I just went along with it."
"Besides, it's dirty and so greedy. Let's see if it can catch the fish. If it can't, perhaps it can save me from a calamity in the future."
Her voice was as gentle as spring rain, but her words caused Song Quyou's pupils to dilate suddenly as he stared at the girl in front of him in shock.
The girl from the well got up and cleared away the bowls and chopsticks, saying as she walked away, "Those whose virtue does not match their position will surely suffer calamity. In essence, it is a manifestation of being harmed by the Way of Heaven and being devoured by it."
I bought its vegetables at a high price; it received the purest essence of that year. Whether it deserves it or not depends on its fate.
"Hibari and I ate your food these past two days, are we going to shield you from trouble too?"
"I cook for you, but that can't be compared to this; it's something I do voluntarily..."
"Voluntary what?"
Suddenly, the girl stopped talking. Before she could finish speaking, she ran out and disappeared into the night.