Chapter 71: Great God Ba Snake

Even though there were only the two of them left in the wine cellar, Guan Zhong was very careful.

He leaned close to Xiao Yu and whispered in her ear: "Earlier, the old master entrusted me with a dream, saying that the ancestor had divined that he would suffer a disaster and specially dispatched General Guan Tianyang of the Speed Reporting Division to Feixian Ferry to guard the old master's soul.

Now, the Black Grabbing Wuchang and Bai Wuchang who came to hook the old master's soul have been taken by General Tianyang to drink flower wine.

We can just take this opportunity to send the old master's remains to Yingxiang Prefecture and let the ancestor perform the ghost and god technique of defying heaven and changing fate to save the old master."

Xiao Yu was dumbfounded, "Li Zhongshu, I don't quite understand; who is General Guan Tianyang of the Speed Reporting Division? Can Black and Bai Wuchang drink flower wine?"

Guan Zhong knew that Miss Yu had just "left the barbarians" and didn't know much common sense about the outside world, so he explained in detail and quickly: "Miss should know that my Guan family ancestor is the Guan Chenghuang of Yingxiang Prefecture, right?

The Guan Chenghuang is in charge of the underworld affairs of the entire prefecture; of course, it's impossible to be a loner.

Take the Speed Reporting Division; it is one of the six divisions that assist the Guan Chenghuang in handling affairs, specifically responsible for good and evil retribution, and the retribution is extremely fast... perhaps the speed is also extremely fast, able to rush over from ten thousand miles away the moment the old master died?

I don't know much about the abilities of the Speed Reporting ghosts and gods.

But I know the Guan family is a great family passed down for a hundred years.

Except for the ancestor, many outstanding members of the Guan family entered the Guan Chenghuang Temple after death.

Obviously, even if they are underworld ghosts and gods, it is more reassuring to use one's own people."

"As for drinking flower wine... cough cough, Miss doesn't need to know too much; just treat it as them eating and drinking."

"Are Black and Bai Wuchang not ghosts and gods of the underworld? Do they dare to violate the laws of the underworld? Does the underworld have relevant laws?" Xiao Yu didn't understand.

Guan Zhong pondered: "I don't understand the laws of the underworld either, but the ancestor is the Guan Chenghuang and must know more about the ins and outs than we do.

Since he arranged it this way, there must be his reasons.

We just need to follow the ancestor's arrangement and send the old master's remains back to Yingxiang Prefecture in time."

"Foster father entrusted you with a dream... no, when did you have the dream?"

Guan Zhong said: "I was hiding in the wine vat, suffocating, my head dizzy, and I saw the old master float up from the water and tell me the ancestor's arrangement.

I woke up immediately and hurriedly pulled the jar containing the old master's remains to the top of the wooden shelf to avoid being soaked by the sewage."

The wooden shelf in the wine cellar was not placed separately, but built by chiseling holes in the stone wall and driving iron wood into them according to the terrain.

So the wooden shelf didn't float up after the flood entered the wine cellar, but the wine vat did.

Guan Zhong was worried that the wine vat would tilt, so he dragged the two vats to the top of the wooden shelf.

"What exactly did foster father say?" Xiao Yu asked again.

"Find the Red Smoke Colt, tie his remains to the saddle, and we don't need to worry about the rest."

At the end, Guan Zhong added in a low voice, "You know this, I know this; don't let a third person know."

"I understand."

Xiao Yu and Guan Zhong agreed, and then called Song Changqing and Wei Wu in.

The two knights carried the wine vat containing Huchen's remains out of the wine cellar, carefully smashed the vat, and then placed Huchen's body horizontally on the Red Smoke Colt's saddle.

"Woo woo~~"

The Red Smoke Colt licked Huchen's dead, white, and icy face with its hot tongue, touched his head lightly with its nose, and even rolled a few hot tears from its burning, lava-like eyes.

"As expected of a divine horse, so spiritual." Xiao Yu touched the horse's head, turned to Song Changqing and said: "Li Zhongshu and I are going to send foster father's remains home; what about you?"

Song Changqing and Wei Wu both looked conflicted.

Before the Eight Immortals Shoot the Sun, they, like the former Huchen, had thoughts of clinging to Marquis Lieyang and having a good future in Great Qin.

But the Eight Immortals Shoot the Sun didn't shoot "Lieyang," but used the cold and cruel reality to extinguish the desire for fame and fortune of many black-armored knights.

Going to Great Qin not only meant a good future but also stronger enemies and crueler wars; how many times could they persist? Was it worth it?

"We are still knights under Marquis Lieyang's Fire Crow Army." Song Changqing sighed.

——Fate was not decided by themselves.

Xiao Yu said: "Send us across Feixian Ferry first; it can be considered fulfilling your comradeship with foster father."

"It's already dark; let's go tomorrow." Wei Wu said.

Xiao Yu sighed: "The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll be at ease."

Wei Wu lowered his head and said nothing.

Xiao Yu led the horse, Guan Zhong supported Huchen's remains on the saddle, and Song Changqing and Wei Wu followed behind.

The group walked silently out of the Yunlai Inn area, and just as they approached Feixian Ferry, the soldiers laying wooden planks on the iron chain bridge suddenly stood up, pointed below, and exclaimed, "Ah, look, everyone, there is something swimming in the Hualong River!"

"Black and blurry, what's swimming?"

"Too deep, can't see clearly."

"Really, I'm not lying; you guys throw the torches down."

"Eh, there really is a giant object in the river, wow, so big, so long!"

In fact, it wasn't too late at this moment; it should have been afternoon, approaching dusk.

But the Nine-Nine Fire Wheel Thunder of Lei Yuanzi and the great flood of Monk Miao had changed the celestial phenomena.

Even now, the sky was still covered with dark clouds, and there was a drizzling rain falling.

The soldiers of the Fire Crow Army were sitting on the shore resting, and the soldiers at Hualong Pass on the opposite bank were pulling a group of civilians to lay wooden planks on the remaining iron chains, their heads staring at the bottom, so sharp-eyed people saw a giant object swimming in the Hualong River.

As torches were thrown down one by one, everyone saw it.

Because the giant object was too huge and too long.

Xiao Yu had good eyesight; she squeezed to the shore and looked down, and was also startled.

The Hualong River at the location of Feixian Ferry was the narrowest, less than two hundred steps wide, and the giant object in the water occupied almost half of the river surface, sixty or seventy meters wide, seven or eight hundred meters long within the line of sight, and further away couldn't be seen clearly, perhaps even longer.

"It's a giant monster, a monster king!" Xiao Yu's heart was thumping.

"Shh, don't shout, don't throw things around." She lowered her voice and shouted hard.

Uh, it was very contradictory; she was worried that the snake monster below would notice her, but also hoped that everyone would hear her reminder.

"Shut up, don't throw torches anymore!"

Someone had the same idea as her, and that was Marquis Lieyang.

He stood on the opposite side of the iron chain bridge, his expression unclear, his voice very cold, holding a painted halberd in his hand, and a solemn aura emanated from his body.

Marquis Lieyang had more prestige than Xiao Yu, and his voice was far louder than hers.

The soldiers and civilians on the bridge and on both banks of the bridge all quieted down.

But the giant object in the Hualong River below seemed to have heard the shouting on the bridge as well.

It stopped and no longer swam forward.

"Clatter clatter~~~"

Even from a height of nearly a thousand meters from the river surface, the soldiers and civilians on both banks heard the intense sound of water splashing.

Even those who were close were splashed with river water on their faces.

Xiao Yu's clothes were soaked in a large patch.

Just by turning around and raising her head, the waves splashed a thousand meters high.

"Ah, it's coming up, it's raising its head to look at us, heavens, it's, it's a black dragon!"

Black scales with dark red, two golden vertical pupils like tower lamps, only half of its skull exposed, just like a small island floating on the water.

"Not a black dragon, it's a Ba Snake! It's Great God Ba Snake!" Local soldiers and civilians shouted excitedly.

While shouting, they knelt on both knees and kept kowtowing to the giant snake below.

"Great God Ba Snake has manifested!"

"Great God Ba Snake, bless me, bless my wife to give birth to a big fat boy next year."

"Great God Ba Snake, please protect the people on both banks and don't let us suffer from the disaster of war again!"

"Great God Ba Snake, my Wu family throws livestock into the Hualong River every year to sacrifice to you; you must protect my Wu Lao San to get rid of impotence early!"

Except for the unified title, Great God Ba Snake, other shouts were varied, and they prayed for everything.

There were also many people who didn't pray for anything, just shouted "Great God Ba Snake" excitedly.

Seeing their reaction, Xiao Yu felt relieved instead.

Since there were so many believers, this snake monster shouldn't commit crimes in public.

"Clatter clatter~~~" The Ba Snake ignored the soldiers and civilians; its huge snake pupils only glanced in the direction of Marquis Lieyang, then slowly sank to the bottom of the water and continued to swim forward.

"Great God Ba Snake has left~~~" There was a little regret in the shouting, but more relief.

"Clatter clatter~~~" Suddenly, Great God Ba Snake made another emergency brake, stopped abruptly at the bottom of the river, but didn't raise its head, instead sinking deeper.

Standing on the cliff, one couldn't even see the black shadow left by the Ba Snake's head on the water surface.

"Boom rumble!"

Great God Ba Snake seemed to have dug something out from the bottom of the river; it suddenly raised its head, bringing up a large amount of mud and sand, making the river water abnormally turbid.

"Eh..." Xiao Yu frowned slightly, vaguely feeling a strange connection, as if something closely related to her was being held in Great God Ba Snake's mouth.

"Ah, it's my Shadow God Map!"

A flash of inspiration, she finally remembered the thing that brought her a strange connection.

Whenever Huchen opened the box, she would have a strange connection to the Shadow God Map that carried a fragment of her soul.

It was exactly the same as the connection at this moment.

Thinking again that the great flood had washed everything near Feixian Ferry into the Hualong River...

But what did the snake monster want with her Shadow God Map?

"Respectfully send off Great God Ba Snake!" The local soldiers and civilians knelt and shouted again.

"Li Zhongshu, ask you something; where did foster father put my Shadow God Map?" Xiao Yu said with a solemn expression.

"It should be in the inn, in the old master's guest room, now..."

Guan Zhong stretched his head and glanced at the Hualong River, sighing: "Now it must have been washed into the river. However, the Human Emperor is dead..."

He didn't continue what he said later.

Until now, they didn't understand the reason why Marquis Lieyang angrily killed Huchen.

Gao Xianjue went to the inn to take the Shadow God Map, also silently, without alarming anyone.

Now Xiao Yu still thought the Shadow God Map was washed into the Hualong River from the inn.

In fact, the Shadow God Map had long entered Marquis Lieyang's commander's tent.

It was just that during the Eight Immortals Shoot the Sun, Marquis Lieyang couldn't take care of everything.

Besides the Shadow God Map, he himself had also lost many valuable items.

"Hey, Li Erdan, do you still remember me?"

Xiao Yu found an acquaintance among the soldiers and civilians laying wooden planks.

Hualong Pass guard Li Erdan.

A few days ago, when Xiao Yu first arrived at Feixian Ferry, she had gone to Hualong Pass on the opposite bank for a stroll and asked Li Erdan about some news of "Squire Qin."

"Ah, it's Miss Yu; I was worried about you before! It's really great to see you're okay!" Li Erdan shouted excitedly.

"I have good luck."

Seeing the sincere joy on his face, Xiao Yu was a little moved, and asked again: "Are you familiar with that Great God Ba Snake just now?"

Li Erdan put down the wooden plank in his hand, scratched the back of his head, and hesitated: "When I was a child, I heard the story of Great God Ba Snake from the elders in the village; there is even a Great God Ba Snake Temple by the Hualong River outside Ze County!

Legend has it that a long, long time ago, the monarch took thousands and thousands of subjects, crossed ten thousand miles, and migrated from the Shu land of the Central Plains to the current Western Shu, bringing many seeds and livestock from his hometown.

Among them was a Ba Snake.

The monarch kept the Ba Snake in the palace throughout his life, and before he passed away, he put the Ba Snake into the Heilonghe.

The Heilonghe, the Hualong River, and Feixian Ferry are all related to Great God Ba Snake."

As he spoke, he began to sing in a strange ancient Shu accent: "There is a black snake in the Heilonghe, the black snake turns into a dragon and enters the great river. Once it ascends to Feixian Ferry, it enters the Heavenly Palace to become an immortal king."

The content was easy to understand, the singing was long and winding, and it sounded desolate.

With Li Erdan's voice, Xiao Yu seemed to see an old man in his twilight years, gently patting the giant snake's head by the river, humming the final blessing in his mouth.

"People living near the Hualong River seem to know how to sing these four lines of ballads." Li Erdan said.

"Not just near the Hualong River, all the children in the Shu Kingdom can sing it, and have heard the story of Great God Ba Snake." Guan Zhong said.

Xiao Yu didn't quite understand yet; when she entered the Shu Kingdom, she would realize: the Hualong River and the Heilonghe were almost the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of the Shu Kingdom.

The Hualong River and the Heilonghe nurtured seventy percent of the people of the Shu Kingdom.

"But what does Great God Ba Snake want with my Shadow God Map?"

Xiao Yu pulled Guan Zhong to the side and quietly told him her guess.

"Yue Tanxi, what's so strange about this? The Shadow God Map is a treasure! Not to mention that the young lady is beautiful enough to topple cities, even ordinary flowers, birds, fish, and insects, if painted by the Zhang Huasheng of the Central Plains, are rare treasures!

Think about it, how many Painting Saints are there in the Central Plains, and how many authentic works have they left behind?

Great God Ba Snake saw a treasure fall into the river and picked it up to take back to its cave to collect; there's no problem at all."

Guan Zhong looked indifferent.

"Yue Tanxi, I hope so."

Xiao Yu had a premonition in the dark.

Sooner or later, she would meet Great God Ba Snake again because of that Shadow God Map, and even have some entanglements. ===== CHAPTER 72 =====