Chapter 167: Birds and Beasts, Return to Your Places Quickly

"The demons making trouble in the country is one thing. The biggest hidden danger is in the north."

When these words came out, Mo Zhe Niansheng and Wu Shaoyi's expressions tightened, almost in unison: "Demon Kingdom!"

The one bordering Great Yuan in the north is the Demon Kingdom.

He Lingchuan's original body liked to listen to storytelling, and perhaps didn't know much about major national events, but he had heard many strange tales, many of which mentioned the northern Demon Kingdom.

A country established by humans is called a Human Kingdom, and a country established by monsters is naturally a Demon Kingdom.

Humans and demons have been entangled since ancient times; humans exterminate demons, demons eat humans, repeating in a cycle. Humans establish a country and can gather the strength of all directions to resist demons, especially after learning how to use Yuan power, individual demons are even less of a match for humans.

So the demon race also gathered together, establishing their own country just like humans.

There are many Demon Kingdoms in this world, and there is one in the north of Great Yuan, which is also almost the strongest one in the world, named "Beijia Kingdom." But Yuan people only call it the Northern Demon Kingdom.

The lifespan of great demons is generally very long, so the national fortune of Demon Kingdoms is often far superior to that of Human Kingdoms.

The Northern Demon Kingdom has existed for six hundred years and has stood until now, while the land under He Lingchuan's feet has changed hands many times.

But there are exceptions to everything, especially the appearance of Imperial Flow Fluid, which often breaks the rules.

"Every time Imperial Flow Fluid appears, the Demon Kingdom will have violent turmoil, inevitably affecting the surroundings." He Chunhua frowned, "The crocodile demon of County Magistrate Lake entered the Yuan territory because of the change of the Demon Kingdom, making trouble in our country. The situation in the Demon Kingdom has changed not long ago, and suddenly it encountered Imperial Flow Fluid again; I'm afraid it's chaos upon chaos inside."

Just as they were talking, someone came to report: "Master, a letter has been sent from Kuzhu County."

He Chunhua took the letter and read it twice: "Go and reply, saying we will definitely assist from the sidelines tomorrow morning."

After the messenger left, He Yue asked: "Assist from the sidelines? Do you want to perform magic or set up an altar?"

"Imperial Flow Fluid appears, demons are restless, Kuzhu County is going to post a demon-suppressing notice tomorrow morning." He Chunhua said seriously, "As a royal official, I should assist."

Madam Ying walked over and said: "I just heard that a village fifteen li away was attacked this morning, and a bird demon entered the house and stole a child."

He Lingchuan interjected: "In the afternoon, someone in Shuanghe Town was also attacked by a mongoose, losing two toes."

"This is still near Woling Pass where people are dense; remote places don't even need to be mentioned." Mo Zhejingxuan sighed, "The descent of Imperial Flow Fluid is not all good."

"So Kuzhu County wants to draft a good text, drive away evil demons, first warn the new demons not to be rampant, and warn them with reason. If they don't listen, the next step is to use force." He Chunhua stood up, "Sleep early tonight, set off before the rooster crows."

The next morning, the Support Army arrived at Fengling Ferry on time.

The commoners had been waiting here early, preparing to watch. The Kuzhu County Magistrate led the gentry to greet them and exchanged pleasantries with He Chunhua.

And then, the third quarter of the hour of Chen (8-9 AM) arrived.

The Kuzhu County Magistrate ordered people to take five fat pigs, fifteen roosters, and nine baskets of live fish, placed them by the water, and stood on a large rock at the ferry, unfolding a document and reading it aloud.

Individually, his voice wasn't loud, and it was a bit hoarse. But from the moment he opened his mouth, the Altar of Soil and Grain Order at his waist emitted a bright light.

Today was a cloudless, sunny day, with the bright sun hanging high. He Lingchuan saw a group of faint green energy gathering above Fengling Ferry.

Looking closely, this green energy came from the commoners and township soldiers of Kuzhu County below, and also from the Support Army led by He Chunhua.

The Yang energy was strong.

The Kuzhu County Magistrate suddenly gave a high shout of "Duo," and the sound wave exploded in all directions, actually causing the forest trees to tremble, and the Hongchuan river surface was also turbulent, as if there were whirlpools and rapids of all sizes underneath.

What exactly he chanted, He Lingchuan didn't pay much attention to remembering, only knowing that they were all flowery four-six parallel prose, neatly matched and rhythmic, the only problem being that he didn't know if the birds and beasts that had become demons could understand.

It seemed that the requirements for cultural level were not low.

Not to mention the demons, even he didn't understand some of the sentences very clearly.

Anyway, He Lingchuan translated it himself: Kuzhu County warned the new demons nearby not to run wild on the villagers' land, especially not to eat people, so that demons and humans could live in peace. Especially the mountain gods and water spirits, the responsibility of restraining birds and beasts must be further implemented, whoever's territory it is, whoever is responsible, whoever slacks off will be dismissed, and there will be no offerings and vital energy.

The more he chanted, the thicker the green energy above Fengling Ferry became.

When the Kuzhu County Magistrate finally finished the last few words, he lit the document and threw it toward the river ahead.

The green energy in the sky suddenly sank and swept across the document with a "whoosh."

The document also turned into sparks all over the sky in an instant.

When the two met, the green energy caught fire, reflecting half the sky red.

He Lingchuan finally saw that this was a huge green kite phantom, twenty zhang long, with a wingspan of thirty zhang, which turned into a burning fire kite after being quenched by fire, and let out a long cry that shocked people's hearts, sweeping across the mountains, forests, and rivers.

Everything it passed burned, forests, soil, stones, water, none could be spared.

The crowd stood in a world of flames in the blink of an eye.

Hundreds of beasts fled in the mountains and forests, flocks of birds flew into the sky, and fish jumped out of the water, all in panic.

However, the fire kite circled once and flew into the clouds and disappeared, the fire at Fengling Ferry went out instantly, and not even a wisp of green smoke rose.

He Lingchuan looked closely, and the small tree that was on fire two zhang away was intact from branches to leaves.

The Kuzhu County Magistrate shouted: "Birds and beasts, return to your places quickly!"

Repeating this three times, with the blessing of the Altar of Soil and Grain Order, the sound shook the wilderness.

Miraculously, the beasts seemed to understand, turned around, and slowly returned to their original positions.

Only two large bears stepped out, opened their bloody mouths, and roared at the surroundings.

The commoners around saw this and hurriedly retreated two steps.

This thing was also too terrifying.

But the two giant bears didn't attack people, just nodded to the magistrate, and each carried away a fat pig.

They stood nearly two zhang tall, their bodies oily and smooth, not something that could be described as sturdy. Even a four-hundred-jin fat pig was grabbed by them easily and comfortably.

He Yue said in a low voice: "Generally speaking, the first ones to come out and carry away the offerings are the local mountain gods. This shows that they have accepted the notice of the Kuzhu County Magistrate." Behind them, they had to do their duties well.

With the mountain gods as an example, the demons in the forest came forward to take things; a pack of wolves worked together to move away a pig, several weasels grabbed chickens, and what He Lingchuan didn't understand most was a large group of mountain goats stepping out, eating more than a dozen fish and two chickens in front of everyone...

"Wait, do mountain goats also eat meat, or do goat demons eat everything?"

Wu Shaoyi said in a low voice: "Not strange, some Westerners told me that in their customs, mountain goats are false appearances turned into by evil ghosts."

The birds in the sky also descended and took the fish in the baskets. It was a large group, with wings bringing wind.

Ordinary birds didn't dare to be so close to people.

Only there was no movement in the water.

He Chunhua stepped forward and asked: "The water spirit didn't come?"

"The water spirit of this section of the Hongchuan River might have fallen in the Battle of Woling Pass a while ago." The Kuzhu County Magistrate sighed, "The water spirit's memorial tablet has been broken, the position is empty, and we need a new water spirit."

After saying that, he ordered the soldiers to move the remaining live livestock to the Wuxin Pool not far away.

That was also a lagoon, far from the main shipping lane.

He Lingchuan followed, seeing the soldiers walk onto the trestle bridge and push the live livestock into the water, leaving only one fat pig.

The originally calm pool water suddenly boiled.

From time to time, huge fins and mouths turned out of the water, and before the bystanders could see the body clearly, they went down again.

Whirlpools appeared in the pool.

Now He Lingchuan understood that this was water monsters fighting underneath.

Sometimes what came out were bubbles, sometimes what came out was blood!

Dark red or dark green blood.

He asked He Yue: "The original water spirit here, wasn't it bitten to death by our old acquaintance?"

He Yue smiled bitterly: "Eight out of ten, that's it." The giant crocodile participated in the Battle of Woling Pass at the invitation of Hong Xiangqian; although it was a semi-aquatic monster, its home field must be in the water.

The water spirit originally of the Hongchuan River was officially enfeoffed, opposing the insurgent army, and the crocodile demon naturally couldn't tolerate it.

This guy was so fierce, it killed at least two water spirits.

It was driven out of the Northern Demon Kingdom itself. Thinking of this, He Lingchuan felt a sense of yearning, wondering if the great monsters he heard about in storytelling really existed in the Northern Demon Kingdom.

He Chunhua also turned his head and joined their discussion in a low voice: "The mountain god originally of Kuzhu County was not that pair of black bears."

"The original mountain god was also killed?" He Lingchuan was stunned, "Being a mountain god or water spirit here is truly a high-risk profession."

"No, didn't die, it was a colorful tiger."

He Yue wondered: "Then why didn't it come out today?" Not appropriate, right, such an important day today.

Mountain gods and water spirits have to help local officials maintain stability, and at the same time show their dominance over the territory, so that they can deter new demons and prevent them from causing trouble.

The Kuzhu County Magistrate used the Altar of Soil and Grain Order and consumed a lot of vital energy to make such a big scene with the fire kite, also aimed at knocking the new demons who didn't know the height of the sky and the depth of the earth, letting them know the power of humans, and not daring to eat humans again.

This was not only for the official authorities and for humans, but also for his own rule to proceed smoothly later, so mountain gods and water spirits generally cooperate actively.

"It is said that it resigned and left, heading to the Northern Demon Kingdom."

He Lingchuan wondered: "Why?"

"Then you have to go ask it yourself." He Chunhua smiled, "But if I say, a hidden dragon will not stay in the abyss forever."

While everyone was talking, the waves of Wuxin Pool gradually calmed down. Many patterns appeared on the water surface, sometimes high fins, looking like many water tribes had left.

At this time, a large black fish swam near the shore, its head the size of a basket facing the magistrate, motionless.

He Lingchuan saw many scars on its body.

The Kuzhu County Magistrate asked it: "Are the other water tribes convinced?"

The large black fish nodded up and down.

"Are you willing to take over the position of water spirit and keep the boats on Fengling Ferry safe?"

The large black fish nodded again.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 168 =====