Chapter 16: The Daoist’s Ritual

The Blue-Robed Daoist began his ritual.

He unloaded a large pile of items from his horse, including a dog.

The Village Head, who had apparently been watching through the crack in the door, came out again. Three strong men armed with knives and clubs charged forward.

They wanted to help the Blue-Robed Daoist, but he stopped them.

He still held to his principle: without solid evidence, he would not actually attack the girl suspected of being a demon, nor would he believe she was a so-called immortal. He would not attack her immediately, nor would he let the villagers do so.

For now, both sides remained at peace.

A few more villagers arrived. Some came for courage in numbers, others to help. Some brought tables from their homes, others brought precious fruits.

Together, they assembled a ritual table and arranged the offerings.

The heavy snow and cold did not dampen their enthusiasm.

The Caravan Leader finally had a chance to speak with the Village Head and explain their purpose. The Blue-Robed Daoist had already explained once, now the Caravan Leader repeated it in person.

With the Blue-Robed Daoist and the Jinzhou Assistant Magistrate as guarantors, the Village Head set aside his intent to fight and even apologized to the girl.

As the ritual preparations proceeded and the girl made no move, the Village Head asked in confusion, “May I ask… what will you do, chivalrous one? Will you also perform a ritual?”

He used a different title, but it clearly felt unnatural.

The girl puffed out her chest and raised her axe.

The Village Head was momentarily speechless.

Realizing the Daoist seemed more reliable, he went to help the Daoist instead.

The girl stood aside, watching the human ritual. The well-traveled Caravan Leader began explaining: the Blue-Robed Daoist’s ritual was different from what he had usually seen.

The ritual followed a sequence: first civility, then force. This was the civility phase.

In Tianqiao Village’s usual offerings, the ‘god’ was hungry and waited to be fed at set times. That was the god’s initiative.

The current ritual was humanity’s initiative to seek communion: making the ‘god’ accept the offerings and hoping for help. Either to gain benefits from the ‘god’ or to drive away calamities.

This time, it was likely to dispel the disaster hanging over Tianqiao Village.

The girl watched calmly. She sensed no magical power, so she wondered how the Blue-Robed Daoist could perform a ritual without calling upon it. She assumed this might be a special technique of these extraordinary individuals.

She continued watching.

The Blue-Robed Daoist was still dancing with his sword, moving in patterns, nothing remarkable yet.

At a certain point, seeing no response from the heavens, he killed the dog, dipped his brush in blood, and wrote talismans with practiced skill. The symbols and characters on the yellow paper were perfectly standard.

As he finished the last stroke, the girl narrowed her eyes. At first she thought it was an illusion, but looking again, she noticed the talisman in his hand was somewhat different. It had a very, very faint trace of magical power.

The Blue-Robed Daoist burned the talisman with fire. As it turned to ash, a sudden anomaly occurred: thunder rolled in the sky, and lightning visibly split the heavens.

The Village Head was terrified, dropped to his knees, and shouted, “Thunder in snow, people eat iron!”

Several other villagers also panicked, crying out, “A portent, a bad portent!”

“We’re doomed.”

“Village Head, what do we do?”

“It’s all that damned Daoist’s fault! If not for you, the Sea God wouldn’t be angry.”

Some even blamed the Blue-Robed Daoist.

Seeing this, the Caravan Leader pushed aside the villagers who wanted to disrupt the ritual and quickly made up an excuse: “What do you know? That’s the heavens replying to us. Because of the Daoist’s ritual, heaven has told us that our enemy is very dangerous. It’s warning us to be careful.”

His lie was quite plausible, and the Daoist, still performing, nodded slightly in thanks.

The villagers stopped their interference and continued watching. Some fled into their houses to pack bags, while others just coming out of their homes stopped to watch the show.

The Daoist continued drawing talismans with the blood-dipped brush. The second talisman had even weaker magical power, almost imperceptible.

When he burned this one, there was no response.

But he did not give up. He kept drawing until the sixth talisman.

Suddenly, the girl gripped her axe tightly and turned to look at the pitch-black ocean. Earlier, she had been eager to see the sea, but it was night when they arrived. Now, gazing at that black, swallowing expanse, she felt deeply uncomfortable and even shuddered.

The Caravan Leader noticed her movement, hurried over, and asked, “What’s wrong, Immortal?”

The girl did not answer. She kept staring at the dark ocean, axe raised, already in an attacking stance.

The Daoist on the other side showed no reaction. He was still drawing talismans, hoping for heaven’s help.

But heaven gave no reply. No matter what he did, it was useless.

Perhaps sensing something, he grew desperate. He suddenly cut his finger with a knife and used his own blood to draw the yellow talisman.

The girl sensed a slightly denser magical power, maybe ten percent stronger than the first talisman, and looked back.

The Blue-Robed Daoist burned this talisman, then chanted some incantation, and swung his peachwood sword with great force.

Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood, as if suffering a backlash, and collapsed onto the table covered in offerings.

One villager instinctively stepped forward, then stopped. Others left, ran.

Everyone could see that something was very wrong.

Even the Caravan Leader was deeply uneasy. He gave the girl a meaningful look and pointed at the horses in the distance, signaling to flee.

Only the girl walked toward the Blue-Robed Daoist, trying to help him up. But she lacked the strength to lift a man of his size.

The girl could tell that the Blue-Robed Daoist was genuinely trying. But he was a mere mortal. Even if he risked his life, even if he used his life as a ritual offering, heaven would not help him.

From a distance came a chilling sound of water, something emerging.

What creature would come out of the sea at this late hour? And the sound was urgent, as if it had leaped out, not slowly waded ashore.

The Daoist heard it too.

The Village Head shouted, “There’s a monster!”

In an instant, the villagers scattered like birds and beasts. Only three people remained on the scene.

The Caravan Leader’s legs were trembling, but he left a word: “Immortal, I won’t cause trouble here.” He didn’t run far, just into a nearby house to wait, perhaps still hoping to help the girl.

Only the Blue-Robed Daoist and the girl were left.

He pulled himself together and stood up. In his left hand, he held the peachwood sword, with his little finger and ring finger pinching a pre-drawn yellow talisman. From his chest, he drew a short iron sword with his right hand.

“Lay benefactor, please lend me a hand!” The Blue-Robed Daoist’s tone was resolute.

With that, he walked forward alone, toward the source of the sound.

The Caravan Leader, understanding, grabbed a torch and threw it far away. The torch lit up the night sky, then fell to the ground without extinguishing, illuminating a small area by the shore.

A dark shadow flashed by, then retreated into the darkness.

It was afraid of light or fire!

The Blue-Robed Daoist, the girl, and the Caravan Leader all immediately realized this.

Following the Caravan Leader’s shout, the braver villagers lit torches and threw them into the open space outside the houses.

The illuminated area grew larger. The thing was forced to the beach. As if overcoming its fear, it suddenly leaped out and came into everyone’s view.

It was a strange black creature, like an ox, like a wild boar, very large.

“That’s a tapir, also called a dream-eater. It has already grown this large and become a demon!” The Blue-Robed Daoist immediately recognized the beast, which was bigger than an ox. “I ask you, did you kill the villagers of Tianqiao?”

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