I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 157 - 131: Fish Woman

Hearing Qiao Ying’s words, Xu San reached for the signal smoke hidden in his sleeve.

He Buning had instructed that if things got too dire for them to handle, they should release the signal smoke, and he would bring Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu to deal with the situation.

In such circumstances, Xu San no longer hid the truth from the others.

"Captain He is currently outside the village; why don’t we invite him in to find a solution?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Ze and the others looked hesitant. Wan Biao, being straightforward, asked, "Does this mean we failed the assessment, and that we can’t become Night Travelers?"

This was the crux of the matter, something both Qin Ze and Zhao Qi were concerned about.

"Brother Xu San, let’s wait a bit. I want to give it another try," Qin Ze said. Wan Biao nodded vigorously, while Zhao Qi was drenched in sweat; he felt he might not make it out alive, and since death seemed inevitable, he might as well fight for a chance rather than letting others look down on him.

They all turned to look at Sang Que, who directly asked Qiao Ying,

"When did the mist around the village start to appear? Why was there no problem for decades before, but in the past six months, things changed?"

Qiao Ying, pulling at Zhang Yuanzhong, said to him, "The mist in the village appeared just days before I returned. I’m not exactly sure what transpired here."

Zhang Yuanzhong looked confused, glancing at Qiao Ying and then at Sang Que, wanting to speak but closing his mouth when Qiao Ying glared at him.

Qiao Ying glanced at the shen kan in the corner of the main house of the small courtyard, and continued, "Actually, it was only after coming back this time that I learned, on the surface, our village worships the ’Qingjiang Envoy’, but in reality, we’ve always worshipped the ’Fish Woman’."

This was the first time Qin Ze and the others had heard this term. Sang Que glanced at where Qiao Ying was looking and said to Qin Ze beside her, "Please break open that divine statue and have a look, but be careful."

Qin Ze nodded, obliging Sang Que without hesitation.

He walked quickly, taking out the Stone Turtle God Statue from the shen kan. Intending to smash it with a stone, he reconsidered and instead used the Ten Victory Stone Dagger on it.

The moment the tip of the dagger touched the Stone Turtle, its shell shattered, revealing a small, glass-like statue within, with threads of dark green and black imbedded. Qin Ze was so shocked at first glance that he threw the statue, which landed in front of everyone.

The statue, the size of a fist, had half resembling a fish and half a human, not like a merfolk with a human upper body and fish lower body, but rather a left-side fish, right-side human form—extremely bizarre.

Sang Que looked at it briefly and turned away; the Fish Woman’s image matched what Yao Zhen had told her.

Qiao Ying continued to Zhang Yuanzhong, "We are all the children of the Fish Woman. No matter how many generations breed, the blood of the Fish Woman runs through us. When I was having children, I dreamt of being summoned by the Fish Woman to return and offer my child to her. Originally, after giving birth to Dalang, I would be under the Fish Woman’s influence, killing my husband and bringing the child back to the village."

Hearing this, Zhang Yuanzhong shivered involuntarily, trying to pull his sleeve from Qiao Ying’s grasp. Seeing her sharp glare, he immediately retracted his neck.

"Fortunately, Yuanzhong had me worship Suoweng. Many fishermen from Bailong County and neighboring villages worship Suoweng, whose incense is abundant, temporarily suppressing the Fish Woman’s influence, allowing me to give birth to Erniang smoothly. But just a few days before I returned to the village, I frequently dreamt of the village and the lake."

"I discovered fish scales growing on my body. Terrified, I plucked them all off, but it was no use. I still heard a voice telling me to bring Dalang and Erniang back. Closing my eyes, I saw the lake and the Fish Woman. I also saw Yuanzhong with a knife, cursing me as a monster, wanting to kill me."

Zhang Yuanzhong suddenly understood, "No wonder you were always angry with me then, refusing to let me come home, even though I had cleaned the yard and watered the garden, and you still told me to leave."

Zhang Yuanzhong felt extremely wronged, only venting his grievances behind her back, too afraid to utter a word in front of Qiao Ying.

Qiao Ying ignored him, "I knew if I didn’t return, there would be great calamity. I had a big fight with Yuanzhong and left on my own. The day I returned, there was mist outside the village, but it was fine once I entered."

"Then I felt hazy all the time, mind blank about the daytime, suddenly finding myself standing by the lake, clueless about what I was doing. I tried leaving, but couldn’t make it out of the mist surrounding the village; no matter how I walked, I returned to the village."

"I don’t remember many things, but I recall the previous Day Travel lord, Mr. Yan Jiu, suddenly going mad after entering the village, killing everyone here. I remember him chopping off my head, yet in the blink of an eye, I was back by the lake. Since then, three other Day Travel lords visited, all killing in the village."

Qiao Ying trembled uncontrollably, eyes filled with terror as Zhang Yuanzhong quickly held her hand from behind, afraid to speak up, perpetually timid.

"There was blood everywhere, everyone screaming, pleading, flames all around. I still remember how it felt when the knife struck me, but again, in a blink, I was standing intact by the lake, and the village returned to normal. After that, the village chief led us to capture and drown any outsiders entering, preventing another massacre."

Finally grasping part of the events’ cause and effect, Sang Que pondered and asked, "For those previous decades, when children were born and elders died in your village, was that also due to the Fish Woman?"

Perhaps her faith had changed, and no longer loyal to the Fish Woman, Qiao Ying struggled but ultimately decided to reveal the truth.

"Yes, it was a reincarnation ritual, leaving the aging body to find new life in the child’s body. Only those who sacrificed their child and were most devout to the Fish Woman could receive this opportunity."

"After reincarnation, do they retain the previous memories?"

"Children don’t appear much different, but may have some scattered memories of the elders—though not many. After undergoing the reincarnation ritual, children’s behavior and preferences change to resemble past elders, making the villagers deeply believe in the ritual."

"What is the lakebed like?" Sang Que asked again.

Qiao Ying shook her head, "I don’t know. I have no memory of the lakebed, nor does anyone else."

Sang Que sensed Qiao Ying’s clarity and intelligence, so directly asked, "What do you think caused your village to suddenly become like this?"

Qiao Ying frowned, "Actually, I’ve been inquiring about this during my time. Our village held a lake-sacrificing temple fair on February 2nd this year, Dragon Rising Day. I returned on February 11th, when the mist was already present." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Zhang Yuanzhong quickly added, "On February 18th, I went to find you, saw the mist, returned to Bailong County, and reported to the Day Traveling Master at the county on February 19th."

Xu San then said, "I investigated the temple fair, suspecting the Ghost Opera Troupe initially. But the opera troupe at the temple fair was the Liu Family Opera Troupe from Bailong County, all of whom I checked and found no problems."

Qiao Ying nodded, "There’s no issue with the opera troupe. I suspect the problem lies with the visiting Bell Doctor."

The term Bell Doctor made Sang Que’s heart skip a beat, "What kind of Bell Doctor?"

"Just an ordinary Bell Doctor, a man who diagnosed and prescribed medicine for many villagers without charging any fees. This was his third visit, each six months apart, and each time when leaving, he requested to visit the lake’s center, having someone fetch water and mud from there for his medicine. The first two times he didn’t enter the water himself, but on February 2nd at noon, he ’accidentally’ fell in and took quite a while to be rescued."

In a flash of insight, Sang Que’s mind latched onto something. Kou Yushan, while at the Purple Cloud Mountain Bandit Village, had heard the bandits mention that their Second Master Qu was a Bell Doctor.

The bandits also started raising zombies last year. Yan Daozi’s book "Corpse Nourishing Secret Technique" explicitly stated that under normal conditions, cultivating a White-haired Zombie takes a year, but Second Master Qu from the bandit village managed in only a month.

The medical profession is often accompanied by bizarre medical experiments.

Sang Que’s instinct told her that the transformation of Pinghu Village was the work of Second Master Qu!

The situation was basically clear; the crux of the problem lay at the lakebed, and Sang Que shared everything she knew with the others.

Qin Ze, looking strange, pulled a fresh blade of grass from somewhere and chewed it, murmuring quietly, "So it was you who destroyed the bandit lair."

Sang Que couldn’t be bothered to explain, "The grass is from the village, eat it if you like."

Qin Ze’s body stiffened, quickly spitting out the grass. His face turned pale, cold sweat forming on his forehead. Breaking into a sweat made him even more anxious.

Sang Que said, "Neither my sister nor I are adept at diving into the lake, but I can use the Evil Mist to protect us until dawn. It seems that after sunrise, the villagers will return to the lake. The rest is up to you."

Xu San looked at Qin Ze, Wan Biao, and Zhao Qi, holding up the signal smoke to indicate he could notify He Buning at any time.

Qin Ze, agitated, scratched his head; having been provoked by Sang Que, his competitive spirit flared up. He too didn’t want to be underestimated.

"Damn it, fortune favors the bold. We corpse recovery men fear neither ghosts nor gods; we live to take risks. Tomorrow at noon, into the lake we go!"