I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 656 Incense Offering (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

The night was as dark as ink, and large raindrops pounded on the muddy ground, splashing up murky water.

Every household had its doors and windows tightly shut. Although there were a few yellow talismans pasted on the lintels, the cinnabar characters had long since blurred and smudged under the continuous rain, and the ink flowed like blood and tears, rendering them useless.

"Is the water demon they're talking about me?"

Just as Hua Gu opened her mouth to ask a question, a shrill wail suddenly tore through the rain curtain and came from the depths of the village.

"My son——"

This was followed by the loud crash of the wooden door being smashed open, and the woman's desperate screams.

Jiang Yi's eyes narrowed, and her divine sense pierced through the heavy rain curtain.

In a narrow dirt alley in the village, a grayish-white stream of water, like a giant, living python, sped along the ground, ignoring any obstacles in the terrain.

It moved incredibly fast, carrying mud and gravel, and smashed open the door of a house. The water surged and entangled the boy hiding behind the door.

The boy's terrified scream was swallowed up by the water.

"Bold monster!"

Hua Gu, mimicking Jiang Yi's past actions, roared angrily, her spiritual energy surging as she prepared to intercept him.

"I come."

Jiang Yi spoke calmly, her body swaying slightly, before leaping onto the roof of a slightly taller thatched hut next to her.

Hua Gu immediately followed with a light step, landing steadily behind Jiang Yi. Seeing Jiang Yi take out the Fusheng Qin and sit down cross-legged, Hua Gu quickly took out a thick oil-paper umbrella and opened it, letting the rain pelt down like a waterfall, steadily protecting Jiang Yi and the Qin in front of her knees.

Jiang Yi sat cross-legged, her eyelids slightly lowered, her fingertips twitching slightly, and an invisible aura quietly spread out.

A clear and melodious zither rang out suddenly, instantly piercing the clamor of the wind and rain. Countless tiny water droplets, vibrating under the zither's sound, transformed into small water swords containing sharp edges.

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
Thousands of rain-like swords, following the direction of the zither's melody, swiftly shot into the body of the grayish-white stream of water.

The grayish-white water was pinned to the spot, then suddenly expanded and twisted, its shape constantly changing. Sometimes it coiled like a giant python, and sometimes it thrashed like a vicious dragon, trying to force out the water sword that had invaded its body.

Jiang Yi's zither music flowed continuously, like a surging river. With each note, a new rain sword was generated. It felt as if thousands of red-hot steel needles were piercing and stirring inside the water demon's body, causing it unbearable pain and completely igniting its ferocity.

Wow!
The water demon abandoned its escape attempt and instead began frantically absorbing the rainwater from the surrounding world.

The rain falling over the village seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, turning into water tornadoes that frantically converged on it. Its size expanded at a visible speed, instantly transforming from a water python into a giant water monster occupying half of the alley.

It swung its giant claws, formed from flowing water, and slammed them down on the rooftop. Wherever it passed, the air froze and the rain turned to frost.

boom!
The giant water claw collided with the invisible aura surrounding Jiang Yi, causing the giant claw to explode, but Jiang Yi remained completely unmoved.

The villagers inside the house heard the music outside suddenly become rapid and forceful, with the sounds of metal clashing incessantly, interspersed with the muffled thuds of rushing water and the groans of the house walls being violently scraped.

Although they could not see the specific battle, they could feel an unprecedentedly fierce confrontation from the resounding zither music filled with killing intent, as if thousands of troops were fighting overhead.

On the rooftop, Hua Gu held the umbrella with unwavering steadiness, her sharp gaze sweeping over the churning water vapor and demonic mist around her, protecting Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi's expression was calm, and her ten fingers danced like butterflies on the strings.

This water demon was quite powerful, and the rain amplified its strength.

Faced with the water monster's violent counterattack, which borrowed the power of heaven and earth, Jiang Yi's zither music sometimes resembled crashing waves, stirring up thousands of water swords that disintegrated the giant claws that the water monster brought down.

At times, the sound waves flowed like a mountain stream, winding and meandering, transforming into invisible threads that bound and restricted the water monster's massive body, disrupting its demonic power. Gradually, a sense of weakness began to creep into the raging roars.

The water demon's enormous body was riddled with holes under the relentless and precise attacks, its demonic energy dissipated, and it could no longer maintain its terrifying form.

It tried to disappear into the rain again, only to find that the rain had already formed an impenetrable barrier, completely surrounding it.

The water demon's 'gaze' suddenly turned to the girl standing behind Jiang Yi with an umbrella, and only then did it realize that she was a water demon more powerful than itself, and that the two of them were teasing it?
The sound of the zither suddenly rose to a high pitch, like jade shattering in Kunlun Mountains, or a phoenix crying out!
A mournful shriek echoed through the rainy night. The water demon's body exploded, turning into a torrent of murky sewage that splashed down, leaving no trace of its demonic aura.

All that remained was a grayish-blue demon core the size of a walnut, and the boy who had just been swallowed by the water demon.

Jiang Yi pointed his fingers and shot out a burst of energy. The unconscious boy coughed up a mouthful of dirty water and slowly woke up.

Jiang Yi then absorbed the water demon's core into his hand, looked at it, and handed it to Hua Gu.

She began cultivating with Xuanling Qi, and Hua Gu and the others naturally followed her. The demon cores of the monsters here were better than those outside, and could help Hua Gu improve her cultivation.

After the water demons dispersed, the torrential rain visibly lessened and thinned out, and within a few breaths, it completely stopped.

The thick, dark clouds were torn open by an invisible force, and the clear, bright moonlight poured down like a silver waterfall, illuminating the two figures sitting and standing on the rooftop.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of earth after the rain, and a faint, fishy smell of dissipated demonic energy.

The deathly silence in the village lasted for a moment.

The first door was carefully pushed open a crack, then the second, the third...

The villagers, still shaken, peeked out. When they saw the muddy mess in the alley, and then looked up at the woman in plain clothes bathed in moonlight, with a zither across her knees and her companion holding an umbrella behind her, they were instantly overwhelmed by the joy of surviving the ordeal and an indescribable awe.

It's unclear who was the first to react, but they knelt down in the mud with a thud and kowtowed heavily towards the roof.

"Thank you so much, Immortal Master, for saving my life!"

"Thank you, Immortal Master, for ridding us of the water demon!"

The surviving villagers, young and old, poured out of their homes and knelt on the cold, wet ground, their tearful cries of gratitude echoing throughout the village.

"My son! Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you so much, Immortal Master, for saving my son's life! Thank you so much, Immortal Master!"

The woman, tears streaming down her face, hugged her son whom she had lost and found again, and repeatedly kowtowed to Jiang Yi, expressing her gratitude incoherently.

Jiang Yi looked down at the kneeling villagers below, her eyes gleaming. She truly 'saw' wisps of golden aura emanating from these villagers and converging towards her.

The incense, thread by thread, quietly seeped into the depths of her soul, serving as nourishment for strengthening her virtuous self.

It's just a little too little; she still needs to continue doing good deeds and accumulating merit.

"It was nothing, no need for that." Jiang Yi spoke calmly, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of every villager. "The demon has been eliminated, you can rest assured."

Hua Gu folded up her oil-paper umbrella and went down from the roof with Jiang Yi to help the old man, who looked like the village chief, up from the ground.

The old man said tremblingly, "Immortal, your kindness is beyond repayment! Our village is poor, and we only have... only a few black stones and some homemade wine. We beg you, Immortal, not to despise us and allow us to prepare a small amount of wine to express our gratitude!"

"No need for the black stone, just allow the two of us to stay overnight."

"Alright, alright, this way please, Immortal Master..."

(End of this chapter)