Chapter 4: The Seven Stars Nine Palaces Formation

  Finding river water only means that Li Wenjun has temporarily escaped the threat of death. Whether this is a place to stay for a long time still needs to be observed.

  After observing for a while, Li Wenjun furrowed his brow. He found that there were obvious water marks on both banks of the river, and through these water marks, it could be seen that the water level here was also constantly decreasing. Compared to the most prosperous time, the water level here had dropped by more than one zhang. When he took a bath just now, he also found that the river water was not deep. He stood in it, and the water barely overflowed his chest.

  If the drought continues, it won't be long before the river water here dries up too.

  It seems that this place is not a place to stay for long, Li Wenjun prepares to find a village, sell the wolf skin, exchange some water and food, and then continue to escape.

  Li Wenjun climbed onto the elm tree on the river embankment, stood at the top of the tree, and looked for the location of the village. Soon, he found that in front of him, about a few li away, there was a road extending from the river embankment, and walking forward along this road for a distance, there was a town.

  Li Wenjun's spirit was involuntarily shaken, he climbed down from the tree, found a shaded place, and fell asleep, he wanted to recover his physical strength.

  When he woke up, the sun was already setting. In about an hour or so, it would be dark. He urinated and his stomach shrunk again. He lit a fire, roasted two pieces of wolf meat, and filled his stomach with river water. He went to the bush over there and rolled up the dried clothes and wolf skin together again.

  He shouldered his luggage and strode forward with renewed energy towards the village he had spotted.

  Along the small path on the river embankment, after walking for about half a time, Li Wenjun quickly approached the intersection of the road that leads directly to the village and town. At this point, he found that at the intersection of the road and the river embankment, there was a not-so-small drying field.

  This is where villagers thresh and dry grain.

  There are many stacks of wheat around the drying field, and there are not a few children on the stacks of wheat, pointing to the middle of the drying field, laughing and chatting.

  There were also many people in the sun-drenched valley.

  The focus of the drying field is an old Taoist.

  The Taoist priest, clad in a yellow robe with the eight trigrams pattern, looked like an immortal with his elegant demeanor. He wore a purple gold crown on his head and had a long white beard hanging from his chin. With his hands holding a horsetail whisk, he sat cross-legged at one corner of the sun-drenched threshing ground, eyes closed in meditation.

  In front of the old Dao, several people knelt down, led by a middle-aged man wearing an official uniform. He held a tray in his hands, on which were arranged dozens of silver ingots the size of walnuts, totaling nearly three hundred taels.

  "Please, great immortal, have mercy and save the lives of the 1,573 people in our Junbao Town." The middle-aged man begged.

  The others who were kneeling with the middle-aged man also followed suit and begged the old Taoist, "Please, Immortal, have mercy."

  The old man initially refused to open his eyes, and it wasn't until the middle-aged man and others had begged him for half a day that he finally opened them. In the instant he opened his eyes, it seemed as if lightning was bursting out of his pupils.

  "You ignorant people, you are really too much. I have been cultivating immortality since ancient times, with compassion and benevolence in my heart, loving all living things, taking saving the world as my own responsibility, roaming the four seas, beheading demons and monsters, rescuing people from water and fire."

  Half a month ago, I was still thousands of miles away, and suddenly heard that you were suffering from a severe drought here. Without saying goodbye to my hard work, I endured the hardships of traveling by boat and carriage, and rushed to your place. When I saw that your rivers were about to dry up and your wells were about to run out of water, I wanted to use my magic to save you. But who would have thought that you would mistake me for a swindler?

  A middle-aged man knelt down in front of the Taoist priest and said, "Immortal Master, we are not unaware that you are a divine being with unparalleled magical powers and abilities. You are a god among gods, while we are just some muddled and confused ordinary people. Please, sir, do not bother to take us into account."

  The old man grunted.

  The middle-aged man continued to plead: "Immortal, this year the heavens are not favoring us, and the neighboring county has had no rain for over half a year. Our village has also been without rain for several months, and the water level in our wells is constantly dropping. You can see it for yourself, if it doesn't rain soon, even the river will dry up. If this continues, the villagers will have to flee their homes. As the head of this village, I have mobilized all the elderly and fellow villagers in our military fortress town, and we have collected 300 taels of silver as a tribute to you. Please, Immortal, have mercy on us and display your divine powers to save us."

  The old man hummed again, "Ignorant and foolish! Until now, you still haven't woken up to the truth. It doesn't rain here, not because heaven is being stingy, but because of the evil spirits' mischief."

  "Monster?" The middle-aged man couldn't help but shiver, and he forced himself to say, "Immortal, you must be joking? Our Junbao Town has been settled on the banks of the Qu River for over 300 years since the first household moved in. We have always been blessed by the river god of the Qu River, and every year is a good harvest. I've never heard of any monster in the Qu River."

  "Haven't you heard that humans become more cunning with age? And what about demons? In this vast river, there are countless fish, shrimp, turtles and crabs. If one or two of them became spirits, what's so strange about that?" The old Taoist had a profound expression.

  But the old way of speaking, not to mention that Li Chang didn't believe it, even the other people who followed Li Chang to ask the old way didn't believe it. They all lived here since birth, and had never heard of any monsters in the river. Just because the old way touched his upper lip with his lower lip, he wanted them to believe, which was simply going to overturn their ancestors' accumulated experience, and it was impossible.

  "You narrow-minded fools, would I still deceive you? What do you have that is worth deceiving?" The old Taoist sneered coldly.

  "No, no, Xian Chang is a divine being among humans, how could he use such despicable means. It's just that we..." Li Chang stopped mid-sentence, not daring to directly call Lao Dao a swindler.

  Li Chang would bring several prominent villagers to kneel down and offer silver to Lao Dao, simply because his own son had told him that Lao Dao knew the Taoist arts; otherwise he wouldn't have called Lao Dao "Immortal Master".

  The old man opened his hand, muttering to himself, and with a "whoosh" sound, a small flame suddenly burst forth from the center of his palm.

  The flame was small, orange-red in color, and regardless of its size or shape, it looked just like the light from a candle after it had been lit, floating about half an inch away from Lao Dao's palm.

  Li Wenjun stood outside the sun-drenched valley, watching the commotion with his mouth agape. Was this a divine technique? Could it be that this Taoist priest was a deity?

  It wasn't just Li Wenjun who was surprised, even the village elder and the villagers who had some mental preparation were all stunned by Lao Dao's move. They were just some ordinary people who hadn't seen much of the world, when had they ever seen anything like this?

  The old man shook his hand, and the flame in his palm shot out like an arrow off a bowstring, crossing the empty space and landing on a small tree beside the drying field. In an instant, the small tree turned into a big fireball.

  The branches burned with a crackling sound, making some dazed middle-aged men and others suddenly wake up.

  Middle-aged men and others looked at Lao Dao with eyes of worship and fear.

  The old man snorted, "With such a profound technique in my grasp, would I still deceive you? Is there something in your household that can help take my technique to the next level?"

  The middle-aged man hastily shook his head, "Immortal Master, please forgive us, it was we who misunderstood your good intentions. Please, Immortal Master, cast your spell, slay the demon and evil spirits, and save us."

  "Beheading demons and eliminating evil? So you're saying that you believe what I said, and acknowledge that there are indeed monsters in the river?" The old Taoist asked with a cold expression.

  If before the old man set fire to that small tree, the middle-aged man still had some doubts, now those doubts have basically dissipated.

  Before, the middle-aged Han man had suspected that Lao Dao was playing a trick, but from such a distance, to ignite a lush small tree, there must be some mechanism, and some flammable substances like vegetable oil must be poured on the tree to achieve this effect. However, he was so close to Lao Dao that he couldn't see any mechanism on his body, nor did he smell any scent of vegetable oil.

  That's enough to show that Lao Dao is not playing tricks, but has real skills, and is a legendary living immortal.

  "Immortal, it may be just as you said that there were no monsters in the river originally, but with the severe drought all over the world, monsters from other places escaped to our place along the gradually drying up river water. Please, immortal, display your divine power and get rid of this monster." The middle-aged man knelt down in front of the old Taoist, speaking sincerely and fearfully.

  "You're lucky to have some insight. If I hadn't arrived in time, you would have soon realized the severity of the situation and within half a month, this place would be just like everywhere else - rivers dried up and wells exhausted." The old Taoist had an air of sorrowful sympathy, "Now, only I can save you, but I won't save those who are determined to die. If you refuse to cooperate with me, then even if it were a true immortal, they wouldn't be able to save you either."

  The middle-aged man hastily said: "Xian Chang, you said we should cooperate with you in what way?"

  The old man said, "I see that the river demon's magic is very powerful here. If I were to fight it, the outcome would be uncertain, and if I'm not careful, not only will I fail to save you, but I might also provoke the river demon, hastening the drying up of this river."

  The old Taoist himself admitted that his magical powers were not enough, but instead made the middle-aged Hanzi and others stunned. They were both angry and anxious, thinking to themselves: "You clearly know that your skills are not enough, why did you come over shouting about beheading demons and getting rid of evil? Do you think those three hundred taels of silver are easy to come by?"

  The old man didn't wait for the middle-aged Han Chinese to interrogate him, and continued on his own: "If you want to break this deadlock, one battle will decide the fate of the world, subdue the river demon, and turn the??? upside down. It's not that there's no way, I just need someone to cooperate with me. Here, I have a Seven Stars Nine Palaces Formation, which requires 63 boys and girls, among them, 31 boys and 31 girls are needed, and another person with vigorous blood is required. They will work together with me to perform the ritual, as long as nothing unexpected happens, we will definitely succeed, and dispel the evil fortune for you all."