My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 788 - 492: Ineffective

"It shouldn't be efficacious."

The voice, neither loud nor soft, echoed in the temple, prompting several people to turn their eyes sharply in the direction of the wild Daoist who had spoken and glare at him fiercely.

Li Chenghang was startled and hurriedly pulled Chen Yi aside, lowering his voice and speaking quickly:

"Even if it's not efficacious now, Daoist, don't speak words as shocking as death."

After speaking, Li Chenghang clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and bowed respectfully three times:

"Great God, forgive us, Great God, forgive us. May the new year be auspicious, may the new year be auspicious."

Chen Yi's expression remained placid and unconcerned as his gaze swept over the five statues on the altar. Amid the billowing incense smoke, the two figures on the left wore blue robes and held branches in their hands; the two on the right carried incense burners; the central statue featured a child with dense hair from which a single horn poked out, standing atop a tarnished ingot and frozen in a perpetual grin. The rising ashes from the incense cast a ghostly pall over their faces...

Five Wild Gods.

For those who roam the Jianghu, no matter where they hail from, there's an unwritten rule: one must bow to a mountain upon seeing it, and bow to a temple upon encountering it. Not because people are inherently devout, but for fear of offending the deities. Inefficacious gods are easier to ignore—they won't trouble you. But efficacious ones? They are rarely orthodox...

Such gods may or may not grant blessings, but they are certain to bring calamity. A slight disrespect could anger the deity, resulting in misfortunes: minor ones such as losing money or falling ill, or grave ones like household destruction or unexplained deaths, turning you into a wandering ghost with no idea how you perished. Among such gods, there are benevolent ones who respond to every prayer despite their weak mana, but these are few and far between. Instead, malevolent ones abound in the realm of wild gods.

The Five Wild Gods enshrined on this altar belong to the latter category—prolific in bringing calamity, scarce in granting blessings.

This is precisely why Chen Yi said it shouldn't be efficacious, and even more radically, these gods shouldn't even be worshipped here.

As Li Chenghang led Chen Yi back to the rear hall, a sudden voice whispered beside his ear:

"Brother Li, I wasn't speaking merely to shock earlier. This thing truly cannot be efficacious."

Li Chenghang turned his head in surprise and asked suspiciously:

"What do you mean, Daoist?"

"Have you ever heard of the Five Wild Gods?" Seeing Li Chenghang shake his head, Chen Yi continued, "The Five Wild Gods often disguise themselves as Five Manifest Gods, leading the common folk to confuse the two. But make no mistake—the Five Wild Gods are not the Five Manifest Gods. The latter are orthodox deities; the former are wild gods, mostly formed from the spirits of five malevolent brothers who harbored deep resentment and committed heinous acts in their lifetimes. Without such wickedness, they could not have transformed into the Five Wild Gods..."

"In other words, these are wild gods—all the more, evil gods."

The explanation was delivered with such specialist precision that Li Chenghang's face paled slightly. It was hard for him to believe it; ever since his father's time, this town deity had responded to both blessings and misfortunes alike, worshipped by tens of thousands over five decades. Could it truly be, as the Daoist said, an evil god? Yet, recalling Chen Yi's abilities from the previous night, Li Chenghang found himself caught between belief and doubt.

"Though I've never seen such gods while traveling, over all these years, the town deity has never harmed us..."

Chen Yi interrupted, "Wild gods come in both good and evil varieties. The most benevolent among them might be Pangu, but good gods are rare; wicked gods are the majority—like defeated generals or the Chaos Mountain God. The Five Wild Gods belong to the latter category, akin to those who raise ghost children. Looking at your town's abandoned City God temple, I suspect... the City God's mana has long diminished and can no longer exert its domain here."

"I'll spare you the technical details—you might not fully understand anyway. In short, these are not deities to take lightly. Worse than the spirit mediums who manifest as celestial steeds. Where is your temple attendant? Take me to see her."

Li Chenghang widened his eyes and, after a brief pause, said, "The temple attendant is Duan Guanshi."

"Duan Guanshi..." Upon hearing the name, Chen Yi immediately recalled Duan Siyuan from last night's poetry gathering and quickly asked, "...Her husband's surname is Duan—is he not connected to Duan Siyuan...?"

"Exactly. She is Duan Siyuan's mother."

"Take me to her right away."

...

Duan Guanshi, though the temple attendant, did not reside in the temple, nor did she live nearby. According to Li Chenghang, over the past year or two, Duan Guanshi had moved to the family's old estate due to discord with her daughter-in-law.

Coincidentally, the deity's inefficacy began about a year ago.

Chen Yi pondered silently. Such malevolent wild gods shouldn't be efficacious and indeed cannot be efficacious. Logically, inefficacy ought to be a favorable development—yet the peculiar twist is that it used to be efficacious, and now it's not. This reversal did not bode well.

Listening more closely to Li Chenghang's account as they journeyed, Chen Yi's curiosity grew: this small town had benefited much from the blessings of the town deity, further compounding the oddity.

The town was small enough to walk across in just fifteen minutes, its verdant outskirts blending seamlessly into a surrounding canvas of lush greenery.

Before their eyes stood a courtyard overgrown with weeds, surrounded by cold, shabby shelters. Broken tiles hung precariously on the eaves, the ground was thick with dust, and an unsettling stillness permeated the air.

Moss and wild grass crawled along the bases of the walls.

Amid the dense shadows of dark green, hands and feet seemed to emerge...

Chen Yi focused his gaze—a hand bearing a protective ring, feet atop a golden ingot, and a sword snapped in half. Nestled among the weeds lay a pile of statues.

Stepping closer, he pushed open the slightly ajar door, only to hear the "creak, creak" of hinges.

Inside, a mound of faded statues resembled a small mountain; their limbs tumbled down from the top.

Here, the scene exuded an inexplicable, mysterious eeriness that sent shivers through Li Chenghang—his fingers trembling.

Chen Yi frowned and scanned the surroundings but found no trace of Duan Guanshi. Turning back to the heap of statues filling the room, he couldn't make sense of what the temple attendant was up to.

Among the statues were celestial beings and Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats, Zhong Kui and Shen Tu... almost every type imaginable.

Chen Yi turned to glance at Li Chenghang, who caught his meaning, hesitated briefly, and summoned his courage to call out: "Grandmother Guan? Are you here?"

The vacant house remained silent.

Chen Yi performed a quick calculation with his fingers; the courtyard gave no indication of human activity.

As he casually turned his head, he noticed Yin Tingxue's ear twitch slightly.

"What did you hear?" Chen Yi asked.

Yin Tingxue furrowed her brow and, after some hesitation, replied, "I hear a goat bleating..."

"A goat bleating?"

Chen Yi's intrigue deepened, and he promptly stepped outside to circle the backyard.

When he returned, he brought with him a goat.

"Baa, baa..."

The goat, uneasy at the sight of strangers, wriggled several times and bleated incessantly.

"Why is she raising goats here?" Chen Yi inquired of Li Chenghang.

A chill swept through Li Chenghang as he stood in the courtyard, his heart pained by the biting cold wind. Recalling Chen Yi's talk of the Five Wild Gods, his voice trembled as he replied, "I don't know—perhaps it's to ward off evil spirits..."

Chen Yi examined the goat's mouth for its age: middle incisors present, accompanied by pairs of canine teeth, suggesting approximately three years old. He remarked, "Black goats are used for warding off evil—not white ones like this."

Li Chenghang remained bewildered. He'd never given much thought to the nuances of the town deity; now he only wished to leave quickly.

Whether it was a trick of the light or something more, the goat seemed to glance his way on multiple occasions.

A sinister wind swept through the courtyard, making Li Chenghang shiver uncontrollably.

Suddenly,

A frantic voice called out from outside.

"Chenghang, Chenghang!"

Li Chenghang turned to see a scholar waving frantically and rushing toward him.

"Something's happened—something terrible! We've been looking for you everywhere! Quickly, come with us to the government office—hurry!"

"What's going on?"

"Duan Wenqu, Duan Wenqu—he... he killed his mother and got arrested by the officials!"