I Am Your Natural Enemy

"I've been around here for so long. Sometimes when I go to a village to perform a ritual, I still have to figure out who exactly they're worshipping—it's not worth forcing it."

Wen Yan let out a sigh and put away his phone.

"I really hadn't expected that the situation with the water system would be this complicated. Even a little river, at different periods, could have different Water Gods worshipped."

"And on top of that, you're all saying, the one being worshipped in legends and the one actually in control might not even be the same entity."

"Honestly, why is the water system so damn complicated."

"I genuinely used to think a big river only had one River God or Water Monarch in charge."

"Never thought—like even the Huai River, it's not just one Water God, and the West River? That's just a headache-inducing mess, right?"

"Yeah..." Wen Yan nodded, thought for a moment, and asked, "So, did Fuyu Mountain ever offend this area's water system, or did they, and just got replaced a long time ago?"

"..."

Zhang Laoxi was startled—he realized Wen Yan had somehow spotted a blind spot in a strange place.

He stammered, utterly at a loss about how to answer that question.

The more he thought, the more he felt Wen Yan's question made a lot of sense.

"Good thing I'm not the one doing the ritual this time."

The two of them hurried on to Duanzhou, arriving at the area where the Water Ghost Domain was in broad daylight, coming to the pond in question.

There were already quite a few people there.

Cai Qidong had even come in person to oversee.

The Taoist performing the ritual was a local from Nanwu County, also one of Scorching Sun Department's hired experts—well versed in both local customs and the water system.

If not for the fact that Cai Qidong himself was here and Qin Kun from Binhai County too, this Taoist probably wouldn't have wanted to take on this ritual at all.

Water ghosts are always the ones that give them the biggest headaches.

Anywhere else, if you piss off a spirit, so be it—just don't go near that spot again. It's not like the things in the water have the guts to come onto land and kill me.

But Nanwu County is covered in waterways. If you plan to never go near the great rivers, that's pretty much impossible.

Wen Yan brought Zhang Laoxi along, blending into the crowd—just watching.

At noon, the Taoist laid out the Dharma Altar and began the ritual. With his Magic Sword, he raised the talismans—scripture written on them—intoning indistinctly as the talismans burned to ashes and dropped into the water.

An incense stick, curling smoke rising, floated down with the ashes onto the surface of the water.

The smoke drifted back and forth over the water, sometimes gathering, sometimes dispersing.

"Which stage are we at now?" Wen Yan whispered to Zhang Laoxi.

"You can think of it as starting out politely—say some good words, offer the three sacrifices, light incense. That's showing a lot of respect already. But it seems like, in this water system, there's no response at all."

They waited more than ten minutes; the pond was still dead calm.

Zhang Laoxi's brow furrowed as he murmured quietly.

"At first I thought maybe there wasn't anything in this part of the water system, but now, something seems off."

"What's wrong?"

"They've followed all the procedures. The talismans even have Minister Cai's signature—it's already given them plenty of face."

If there was no Water God, there should've been some kind of reaction from the water by now."

"Either Wang Xueqi should have appeared, or there should've been some omen wherever Wang Xueqi's bones are."

"One way or another, we should be able to find her and move on to the next step."

"But now it just looks like the other party is completely ignoring us—couldn't care less—and clutching Wang Xueqi's bones, refusing to let go."

"This guy has some nerve—seriously, not giving a single ounce of respect."

"Totally ignoring us, won't even bother with a reply."

Zhang Laoxi lowered his voice for Wen Yan, but it was still loud enough for the people nearby to overhear.

Another ten-plus minutes went by, and Cai Qidong's face was dark as water. He raised his hand to look at his watch.

"The engineering equipment is still here, right? Go get it, haul it upstream."

"Bring those high-powered pumps we didn't use last time—get a dozen or so over here, too."

A half hour later, the Taoist who'd been doing the ritual came to Cai Qidong's side to whisper a few words. Cai Qidong's face turned black.

"If they want to play hardball, so will we. Pump the water."

With Cai Qidong's order, the excavators and dump trucks upstream immediately got moving.

In just half an hour, Wen Yan saw the trickling stream above the pond steadily shrink, and finally, it stopped altogether.

Thick hoses got plunged right into the pond. With a few industrial pumps cranking, the water level dropped fast enough to see with the naked eye.

Meanwhile, Scorching Sun Department folks drove over a small riverside temple—just a handful of square meters, foundation and all dug up and brought over.

At the pond, wood was stacked up, and the little temple was hoisted onto it. Gasoline was ready.

Just waiting for Cai Qidong to give the word, and they'd torch the place.

After all, Wang Xueqi had done the Scorching Sun Department a huge favor last time. Not a single person lost their way in that Dark Waters City—not one drowned."

Plus, Wang Xueqi's kind-hearted, and Scorching Sun Department was already planning to wipe out that Water Ghost Domain."

And Gan Tang had personally spoken to him about it."

With all these factors, there was no way today's action could be stopped. If something tried, Cai Qidong would absolutely burn it down."

The Taoist kept burning talismans and dropping them in the water, talking nice and talking tough, but still got no reaction. Wang Xueqi's bones still didn't show up."

Just as Cai Qidong was about to light the fire himself, a ringtone went off."

Wen Yan looked around awkwardly and pulled out his phone."

"Sorry, sorry..."

Seeing the caller ID, Wen Yan's expression changed and he quickly answered."

"Hello, Grandma, yes, it's me, Wen Yan. You're... ah? Oh, please, go ahead, I'm listening."

Wen Yan's face shifted as he listened. He quickly waved at Minister Cai."

Cai Qidong paused from lighting the fire and came over. After a few moments, Wen Yan handed him the phone; but all they heard on the line was the "beep beep" tone."

"What's this...?"

Cai Qidong was puzzled.

Wen Yan looked a bit embarrassed, lowering his voice:

"That was Old Lady Fox calling me—she said the Water God in question was formerly a demon, and just called for help at her place."

"Hm?" Cai Qidong frowned. "Then why isn't he giving us any face? Why not just let the girl go?"

"Uh, he can't..." Wen Yan leaned closer to Cai Qidong, voice dropping and growing more uncomfortable. "Because this river isn't his turf. Minister, you've got the wrong guy. Dug up the wrong temple."

"..."