Zhongshan Shenzhu Chi

The torrential rains of the Awakening of Insects continued, but amidst the furious raindrops, one could faintly hear hoarse human voices.

"I am from the new village at the foot of the mountain, and today I have come up the mountain to offer sacrifices to the mountain god!"

"Clang!"

Led by the old village chief, followed by six able-bodied men from the same village, they carried offerings for the snake god and climbed the mountain steps one by one.

Five breaths to strike the gong, ten breaths to shout, and so on.

"Humans and spirits go their separate ways; the gods of Zhongshan are above—"

The rainstorm on the mountain was much heavier than that at the foot of the mountain.

The old man's hoarse voice could hardly penetrate the rain curtain that had almost formed a waterfall.

The raincoats and straw hats worn by the six men behind him couldn't withstand the heavy rain either, and they were all bent askew by the water.

The chill of early spring hit them, seeped into their bodies, and made their lips turn blue.

"My goodness, Mountain God, I was wrong."

"I shouldn't have doubted your existence. Please, sir, cease your supernatural powers!"

Yang Fa was the weakest of the six, and his straw hat had a hole in it, which he had been too lazy to mend, and now he was suffering.

The rain poured down, pouring straight onto him, the icy cold making him shiver all over, and his shoulders ached from supporting the offering table.

"Mountain God, forgive me, Mountain God, protect me..." Yang Er, who was in front of him, kept chanting this since they started climbing the mountain.

This person actually planned to secretly take the offerings meant for the mountain god to Xia'an City to sell for money at the Wen family's old shop, Wenshu Shanhai Pavilion. Fortunately, the village chief discovered it.

Otherwise, the suffering I would have endured today would certainly have been far greater than this.

As Yang Fa was thinking, the gong, which was supposed to strike once every five breaths, suddenly stopped. He quickly looked up.

Suddenly, the rain was parted by an extremely imposing black shadow, which blocked their path to deliver the tribute.

Raindrops fell on it, sizzling as they evaporated into water vapor.

The old village chief stood in front of them, taking full advantage of the shadowy figure's menacing presence.

"People from the new village at the foot of the mountain go up the mountain to offer sacrifices to the mountain god."

With a resounding gong, the old village chief, his voice already hoarse, cried out, "I humbly beg the immortals to make way!"

"People from the new village?" A powerful, dark figure asked, his voice like rolling thunder.

It moved slowly forward until its magnificent body, dark but covered with brilliant golden fur, appeared before everyone.

"Gold...Tongbei Golden Ape King——!"

The six men carrying the offerings, stared at by the Golden Ape King's scarlet eyes, instantly felt their legs go weak and cried out in agony:

"village head……"

"Don't panic! We're going up the mountain to worship the gods!"

The old village chief was originally a squad leader in Xia'an City, but retired due to internal injuries. Although he was somewhat flustered at this moment, his actions were without the slightest hesitation.

He immediately put down the gong and wooden hammer that he thought was a weapon, faced the Golden Ape King and slowly retreated, first helping the young men to place the wooden table on which the offerings were placed steadily.

Then, the old village chief raised his hands high and respectfully said, "Golden Ape King, my group of seven are villagers from Xincun Village at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain. We have come up the mountain today only to worship the mountain god."

Upon hearing this, the Golden Ape King exhaled two streams of white steam from his nostrils.

It walked past the young men who were almost terrified and stopped in front of the wooden table to examine them.

Those things were all carved from iron and stone, and there were also many books that it couldn't understand.

There was only one book among the offerings, which it instinctively found somewhat strange.

"Is this all the offerings you have?" the Golden Ape King asked in a deep voice.

Seeing that the notoriously irritable golden ape showed no signs of anger, the old village chief quickly tried to explain and exonerate the new village: "When people in the city heard that we were going to worship the mountain god, all the old shops closed their doors."

"We have no choice but to hunt down the creatures of Zhongshan to offer as sacrifices to the Zhongshan Mountain God, since we cannot buy the rare and precious objects that the Snake God likes."

"So I could only make some small things at home and then find some books that the mountain god liked to offer as tribute."

"Huh? What did you say?"

Upon hearing this, the Golden Ape King's already swollen forearm suddenly swelled up even more, and the inside of his arm even showed a reddish tinge, as if it had been burned.

Thunder roared from its throat, making everyone's ears ring: "People of Xincun, which town are you from? Where in Yongning Prefecture are you located?"

"This..." The old village chief didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"explain!"

The Golden Ape King slammed his ridiculously large fist directly into the soil.

It lowered its head, its scarlet eyes, brimming with a frenzied fighting spirit, staring directly at the hesitant, silent old village chief: "Which town is it? Where in Yongning Prefecture is it located?"

"This—" Under the glare of the Golden Ape King, the old village chief stammered, "I...I also..."

"What? The murderous aura is so strong, do you want to attack the city?"

Suddenly, a question came from the dense forest.

The power of this sound was no less than the muffled thunder uttered by the Golden Ape King.

"Another one!" the old village chief thought to himself, groaning inwardly.

A single golden ape king was enough to force Xia Ancheng to take the matter seriously.

Now another one has arrived, no weaker than the Golden Ape King, and even subtly suppressing its existence.

"Candle—" The Golden Ape King looked up at the sound, staring intently at the massive, dark serpent that was slithering out of the dense forest: "The Serpent God summons you..."

"Village Chief of Xincun?" Huai Nian ignored him and stood between the humans and the golden ape.

At this time of year, they still manage to make offerings to their mother, even braving such heavy rain to climb the mountain.

The behavior of these humans is somewhat believable.

Now we should reveal our identities directly to put their minds at ease.

Thinking of this, Huai Nian turned around and said directly, "The Mother Goddess likes the offerings very much. You can stop here and go back."

"you!"

Upon hearing this, the seven people from the new village were astonished, their hearts pounding like waves crashing on the shore. They had barely uttered a single word before they were about to speak.

The old village chief took the lead and kowtowed three times on the bluestone steps. The others, as if waking from a dream, followed suit, their foreheads bearing red marks and bloodstains.

After that, the seven people turned around and quickly went down the mountain.

"Zhu, Zhongshan, used his body to nourish countless living beings in Yongningzhou, without distinguishing between humans, demons, and ghosts."

After the humans descended the mountain, the Golden Ape King said to Huai Nian in a deep voice, "The humans in that city down the mountain have forgotten the existence of the gods. They no longer believe that they are part of nature."

"So what do you want to do now?" Huai Nian met the Golden Ape King's gaze, but instead of confronting him, she asked in a soft voice.

"Hmm?" The giant snake's unusual behavior made the Golden Ape King frown.

In the past, they would have stared at each other for a long time, and it might even have escalated into a fight.

Now, this snake...

"The way you looked just now, were you planning to incite a beast tide and attack the city?" Huai Nian followed up, "Leaving aside how many innocent people are in that city... you wanted to go down the mountain on your own, were you trying to defy the Serpent God's orders?"

"I—" The Golden Ape King was speechless.

"There must be a reason why humans don't worship the mountain god," Huai Nian said repeatedly. "It's possible that there are ulterior motives among them, who are trying to harm the mother goddess."

"They may be trying to anger the Mother Goddess and us by stopping the sacrifices, so that we will do something wrong and thus succeed in their conspiracy."

"you--"

The giant serpent's string of words left the Golden Ape King speechless, unable to find any reason to refute them.

But it was unwilling to admit that the cowardly giant snake before it was the offspring of the Zhongshan God.

Now we can't fight, and we can't win an argument.

The Golden Ape King simply turned around, facing Huai Nian with his rear end, refusing to listen.

"Since you don't want to harm innocent people, just stay in the mountains and wait for me to find out the reason." After talking about conspiracy theories for a long time, Huai Nian finally came to a conclusion.

"Suit yourself, but don't keep me waiting too long!" the Golden Ape King exhaled through his nose.

Then, it straightened up, braved the heavy rain, and walked into the dense forest.