Chapter 15: Seeking a Scholar! Driving the Wolf to Devour the Tiger
Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Seeking a Scholar! Driving the Wolf to Devour the Tiger
Zhu Ge was stunned by his own idea.
But a moment later, he thought...
’It could work!’
’Houses are just houses. They can be rebuilt if they’re destroyed.’
’Besides, so many people here have had their souls stolen. If I burn them all, it would be a form of cremation.’
’As for their souls?’
’With their physical forms gone, their souls are useless on their own.’
’I might as well help them reincarnate sooner.’
However, before burning the entire village, he needed a plan.
’I won’t just burn the village. I have to destroy the Wedding God’s bridal chamber too!’
Right now, there were two gods, and they were keeping each other in check. Zhu Ge was afraid of upsetting that balance.
’So, if I’m going to destroy something, I’ll destroy it all at once!’
"Destroy the bridal chamber, destroy the village..."
Once the idea took root, Zhu Ge immediately thought of finding Yu the Scholar.
’I can’t alert the enemy yet. It’s best to go and ask him at noon, when the sun is at its strongest.’
’Under such strong sunlight, Yu the Scholar might just wake up on his own.’
So, after returning home at noon, Zhu Ge turned back around and went to find Yu the Scholar.
...
The spring day was warm and pleasant.
Yu the Scholar was at the bridal chamber, cheerfully pasting white paper cuttings onto the walls.
The bridal chamber was already starting to take shape.
Although he couldn’t see inside the room, the exterior was already covered in white paper cuttings and hung with white lanterns.
Only the "Double Happiness" character above the door was red.
Zhu Ge knew the Wedding God couldn’t cause trouble during the day, so he approached openly.
But as soon as he arrived, everyone around him immediately stopped their laughter and cheerful chatter, turning in unison to stare at him.
These dozen or so people must be the ones controlled by the Wedding God.
Zhu Ge swept his gaze over them, confirming the general situation with the two gods of Jianshan Village.
The Wedding God controlled eighteen people, while the other hundred or so were controlled by the other god.
"Yu the Scholar, I have something important to discuss! Come out and meet me!"
Zhu Ge stood still outside the house and shouted toward Yu the Scholar, who was not far off.
Yu the Scholar was originally expressionless, but upon hearing Zhu Ge’s words, his body trembled violently, and the character for ’Scholar’ gradually appeared over his heart.
His expression immediately grew solemn.
"What’s so important?" Yu the Scholar strode over in a few large steps, while the others remained motionless.
These dozen or so people had shed a layer of skin under the scorching sun of the past two days. Their skin, a mottled mess of red, white, and black, looked hideous.
Zhu Ge paid them no mind, though. This was no time to be concerned about their skin.
He pulled Yu the Scholar aside and told him his idea.
"B-Burn it down?" Yu the Scholar was dumbfounded. "Have you had your soul stolen or something?"
"I’m serious," Zhu Ge said, his face grave.
"Serious..." Seeing that Zhu Ge didn’t seem to be faking it, Yu the Scholar lowered his head and began to contemplate the feasibility of the idea.
"You mean, burn down the Wedding God’s bridal chamber?" Yu the Scholar frowned. "A shrine destroyed, a god cannot exist... but how do you deal with the other god?"
"That’s why the entire village must be burned to the ground," Zhu Ge said grimly. "The other god seems to be the Tiger God, but I’ve never been able to find its shrine..."
Zhu Ge recounted his earlier encounter with the young girl, Hua Xiaomei.
This made Yu the Scholar’s expression change.
"That god is definitely not the Tiger God!"
He replied to Zhu Ge in a low voice, "When a beast ascends to godhood, its shrine is always its own physical body. But a Mountain Monarch is enormous. If it were in the village, we would have definitely found it."
"Furthermore, this god is still weak. Its strange abilities merely stem from its innate traits, which are different from the Chong Ghosts of a Tiger God."
"Also, the realms of these two gods must still be bound to their shrines. Otherwise, we’d have been doomed long ago."
"Right now, Jianshan Village having two gods is, in a way, a good thing. They are holding each other in check, giving us a chance to find a way to break free."
"If you intend to destroy their shrines, you must destroy them both at the same time. Otherwise, one will become dominant, or they’ll both go into a frenzy. Either way, we will certainly die!"
"Not the Tiger God?" Zhu Ge raised an eyebrow slightly.
He was about to say something more, but he saw the ’Scholar’ character on Yu the Scholar’s chest begin to flicker. He decided to suppress his doubts for now and said instead:
"One more question. The Wedding God’s shrine... is it her physical body? If so, why did I run into her in the fields earlier?"
"That wasn’t her..."
A look of confusion also appeared on Yu the Scholar’s face. He turned to glance at the bridal chamber behind him. "The real her should be inside this bridal chamber. It’s impossible that she would risk going out. Perhaps it was an illusion created by the other god."
"Another question..." Zhu Ge hesitated. "When you just said ’we will certainly die,’ what did you mean? Are you saying there are still living people in the village? Or were you just referring to you and me?"
Just now, Yu the Scholar had said that if the shrines weren’t destroyed simultaneously, the two gods would go mad, and "we" would certainly die.
’Are there other people still alive?’
"What I meant was..." Before Yu the Scholar could finish, the ’Scholar’ character on his chest flickered violently a few times and then faded away.
Then, Yu the Scholar’s mournful expression changed, replaced by a festive smile. "Oh? The groom is here? You..."
Before he could finish, his expression became just like the others around them, staring blankly at Zhu Ge as he said, "What I mean is, the people here at the bridal chamber are all still alive."
But as he said this, the ’Scholar’ character did not flicker on Yu the Scholar’s chest.
Zhu Ge’s pupils contracted. A cold sweat broke out all over his body as a sense of horror washed over him.
He didn’t make a single extra move, immediately turning and leaving as fast as he could.
...
’Was that last sentence from Yu the Scholar, or the Wedding God?’
’The problem is, if the Wedding God steals souls, it shouldn’t be able to control people. Or is my memory wrong? Or is there something wrong with Yu the Scholar?’
’What does it all mean...’
Zhu Ge was fraught with worry as he walked.
Regardless of whether it was Yu the Scholar or the Wedding God who said that last sentence, why would they claim the people at the bridal chamber weren’t actually dead?
He had clearly seen with the transcendent method of his Kunpeng trait that everyone in the village had had their souls stolen.
’Could they have been... stored away?’
Food can be stored.
In a sense, gods are just a special kind of life form.
It’s just that most life forms have the instinct to eat when hungry and rest when full. Only a few have the habit of hoarding.
And gods belong to the majority.
Especially those in the First Realm, the kind with little Spiritual Wisdom, who only know how to feed instinctively—that is, to steal souls.
’The Wedding God steals souls, but it can also store them?’
’Or perhaps the Wedding God was afraid I’d burn these people to death, so it said that to make me hesitate?’
In truth, Zhu Ge had no hesitation at all.
His own survival came first, before anything else.
It wouldn’t matter if everyone else died, as long as he survived.
It wasn’t that he was an extremely selfish person; he would save others if he had the chance.
But that was predicated on "having the chance."
’When you prosper, you help the world. When you’re in dire straits, you look after yourself.’
Right now, he was at the end of his rope, like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river—he could barely save himself. How could he have the mind to consider saving anyone else?
The key point, however, was if the Wedding God could preserve these people, could they become a source of help for him?
Could even the Wedding God itself become an ally?
’There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests!’
’With enough at stake, even an enemy can become a friend!’
Right now, there was only one and a half living people in the entire village: he was the one, and Yu the Scholar was the half.
Their strength was insufficient to deal with two gods.
But what if one of the gods was on their side?
’If I play my cards right, could I turn the Wedding God into an asset?’
’Use the wolf to devour the tiger!’