Chapter 135
Ching! Ching!
The cymbals rang loudly around the high altar, and the sound of the Buddhist service, starting with the monks' recitation of the scriptures, began to echo.
The Buddhist service of the Water God Festival, composed of about ten monks from the Qinglong Temple, was spreading its solemn sound to every corner, breaking through the bustle of the village.
And at the venue of the Fish Dragon Festival, where the competition was in progress closest to the Buddhist service, the sound of the Buddhist service's music and the recitation of the scriptures were naturally heard.
"Hmm..."
Jiang Ziya, feeling the energy of the Six Arts and Three Strategies fluctuating with the sound of the Buddhist scriptures, calmly controlled his internal energy.
Seeing that the reaction was stronger than when he had first heard their Buddhist scriptures, it was clear that the energy flowing from the Buddhist service had become even stronger.
There was no particular problem now.
But the Buddhist service would surely continue until the end of the Water God Festival.
Therefore, if Jiang Ziya's divine art continued to react and the energy of the Buddhist service became stronger, a problem could arise later.
"You don't have to glare at me like that."
Moreover, Xi Xichang, who was next to him, was glaring at the Buddhist service venue as if she were about to eat it.
Although she was not taking any action due to Jiang Ziya's restraint, her expression strongly suggested that she thought she should strike first before the Buddhist service showed any suspicious movements.
"It must be there, right?"
Xi Xichang's question contained an implicit meaning.
The Five Great Myō-ō statues they had found on the outskirts of the village.
If Jiang Ziya's prediction was correct, each Myō-ō would be in charge of the four directions and would form a formation, and the Fudō Myō-ō statue, which could be called its core, would surely be hidden in the center of the village.
"Although it can't be said to be the exact center in terms of location, if they have hidden the Gangsamse Myō-ō statue, which protects the east with the west river, that place could be the center of the formation."
Heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers.
If the heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers were tied together in one formation, the most ideal formation could be displayed, and its power would surely be doubled.
Was a Water God Festival that was being prepared with such effort really for the peace of the village?
Although Jiang Ziya also felt like grabbing one of those monks and asking him directly, if they were people who had proceeded with their work so secretly, there was a possibility that they would change their attitude at the question.
"Then if we investigate that place... can we find out their plan?"
If it was the place of Fudō Myō-ō, which could be called the center of the formation, it would not be so difficult to grasp the nature and the intention of this formation.
"It's difficult now."
"I'm not a fool, so I have no intention of looking into it now."
"Could it be that it was really spread for the Water God Festival? Surely the monks wouldn't have the intention of harming people."
"If you're really saying that in earnest, you're really underestimating the martial world."
"Me?"
"The meaning of the righteous path is noble, but it is people who carry out that ideal."
"Aren't those people monks?"
"Scholar Jiang, you shouldn't confuse a dharma monk with a martial monk. If they have left the secular world, they should just leave it completely. Why would they learn the skill of harming people by learning martial arts?"
A deep-rooted distrust was embedded in Xi Xichang's words.
It was also the result of the hatred for the righteous path that had accumulated as she had led the Qingcheng Sect at a young age, after the Qingcheng Sect, which had been one of the pillars of the Sichuan righteous path, had been shattered by the hands of the righteous path people in the Ten Thousand Sword Master incident.
"That's a very harsh evaluation."
"Is it? ...Well, not everyone is like that..."
Xi Xichang obediently acknowledged Jiang Ziya's words.
To say that Jiang Ziya was naive, perhaps she was too impure.
"But if our judgment is wrong and a great disaster befalls this village... can Scholar Jiang and I leave this place with a light heart?"
Jiang Ziya could not answer Xi Xichang's question.
It was true that Jiang Ziya also thought that the Buddhist service at the altar was suspicious.
"There is a saying that a great embankment collapses from an ant's hole. Since a great embankment collapses from an ant's hole, isn't it right to check even if we are being rude?"
Thump! Thump!
The sound of the drum announcing the main round of the Fish Dragon Festival began to echo.
Jiang Ziya looked at Xi Xichang and the high altar in the distance alternately.
As she had said, perhaps he had been too naive about the gravity of the matter.
If they were to spread a formation with a sinister heart, people like Jiang Ziya and Xi Xichang would be safe, but the innocent villagers could suffer a great misfortune.
"For now, I have to go to the main round. The altar... let's investigate it when the sun sets."
"Alright."
In front of them, about thirty fishermen who had advanced to the main round were busily receiving plaques from the administrators.
Jiang Ziya unfolded the Tonglin that was on his back and shouldered it.
"Are you confident?"
Xi Xichang asked, looking at Jiang Ziya and the gathered fishermen.
Jiang Ziya, with an innocent face, looked around and tilted his head and asked back.
"Me?"
"Never mind."
At Jiang Ziya's small joke, Xi Xichang let out a small laugh.
Thanks to that, the cold atmosphere between the two seemed to have subsided a little.
Jiang Ziya, leaving a nod to Xi Xichang, turned his feet and received his plaque.
Looking around, there were about twenty people who looked like martial artists, including the Fishing Fortune Master.
There were about ten people who looked like ordinary fishermen.
Flutter!
As the judges who were in charge of the judging in the center of the venue pulled the rope of the flagpole, a slogan with the words 'the more, the better' was revealed.
Unlike the preliminary round, where the first to catch a fish on a narrow log was the winner, this time, catching many fish was what determined the victory or defeat of the competition.
Since the fish caught in this main round would be provided to the poor people of the village for free to give them a chance to nourish themselves, he could understand why there were so many beggars among the spectators.
"The intention is good..."
Jiang Ziya, taking a large fish trap, moved to find his place.
Contrary to his worries, the martial artist who had a grudge against him on the day of the preliminary round and his group were not visible.
The participants began to choose a place they liked in the wide area of the Fish Dragon Festival venue and to take their places.
Some of them took a ferry boat and went along the mouth of the river, and Jiang Ziya also showed his plaque and rented a ferry boat.
Clatter!
Jiang Ziya, who had gotten on a boat that was large enough for one person to barely ride, carefully held the oars.
Clatter! Clatter!
Since he had never ridden such a boat or moved it himself, his operation was clumsy.
Although it was precarious as the boat was shaking greatly as if something was caught on it, Jiang Ziya pushed the oars strongly and moved the boat to the middle of the river.
"This is not an easy thing either."
Jiang Ziya, who had driven the boat over the gentle current, threw the fish trap into the river and leisurely took out Tonglin.
The ten people who had caught the most fish within the time limit would advance to the finals, so catching a large amount of fish at a fast speed was the key.
Jiang Ziya, who was fishing in the river on a boat for the first time, thought that this also had its own charm.
Splash!
A fish the size of a hand jumped up, biting the line of Tonglin.
The fish, which had been caught on the fishing line of Tonglin, which had no hook in the first place, was looking at Jiang Ziya, rolling its eyes as if it were dumbfounded.
"Don't look at me so pitifully. Don't you make my heart weak?"
Jiang Ziya sent the small fish back to the river.
Although it was an advantageous situation to catch many fish regardless of their size, if he were to catch all such small fish, where was the guarantee that the river, no matter how wide, would not run out of its seeds?
Jiang Ziya carefully concentrated his energy on his wrist and blew the energy of the Six Arts and Three Strategies into Tonglin.
Tonglin, which had received Jiang Ziya's energy, gave off a faint blue light.
As he moved his wrist, the silkworm thread at the end of Tonglin began to move against the current as if it were alive.
He had done it to the point of being tired of catching fish with the silkworm thread since he had learned the Heavenly Demon Hand in the past.
The fish in the Hermit's Valley had hard shells and mouths, so he had to blow qi into the silkworm thread and to pierce their palates in one go to catch them.
However, if he were to do that to the fish of an ordinary river, it was clear that a hundred out of a hundred would have their heads blown off, so he needed to be more careful in operating his qi.
Clatter!
"Ah, it's cold!"
Jiang Ziya, who had been concentrating on the hand holding Tonglin for a long time, was startled by the cold sensation he felt on his buttocks and raised his body, which had been leaning at an angle.
Water had begun to collect in a corner of the ferry boat and had flowed up to Jiang Ziya's buttocks.
"What is this..."
Looking closely, small bubbles were rising from the place where the water had collected, and the amount of water was increasing very slowly.
It was clear that a crack had formed at the bottom of the ferry boat and that water was leaking from there.
"This is..."
Since he had moved the ferry boat along the current, he was already quite far from the competition venue, and it might take a lot of time to go back and to rent a boat or to find a place.
"Could it be..."
It was also strange that the ferry boat, which had been floating completely on the river, had started to leak water after Jiang Ziya had gotten on it.
Jiang Ziya recalled that the boat had been shaking before he had started.
Although he had thought that the boat had gotten caught somewhere because he was clumsy at operating it, now that he thought about it, there was something fishy about it.
Since there was one ferry boat assigned to each plaque, if they had intended to tamper with his boat, it would have been quite possible.
Bubble...
From the place where the air bubbles had been rising, as if the crack was getting bigger, water began to gush out.
Jiang Ziya, for now, put aside his suspicion and hurriedly tried to block the crack with his hand, but it was a futile effort.
"For a coincidence, it's absurd..."
Recalling the conversation he had had with Xi Xichang before he had started, about whether an embankment would collapse from an ant's hole, the situation he was in now seemed to be quite similar to that, and a hollow laugh came out of him.
However, the situation was getting more and more serious.
Jiang Ziya, for now, hurriedly took out a large piece of paper from his bosom and displayed the eight trigrams technique with the energy of the Six Arts and Three Strategies, writing the character 'Kan', which meant water, 'Qian', the word of the sky that symbolized firmness, and 'Xun', the wind that had the power of 'Ru', which meant to enter.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
The water that had been seeping into the boat began to flow out of the boat as soon as Jiang Ziya attached the paper with the three characters Kan, Qian, and Xun written on it to the boat.
Since the crack in the boat had also stopped, he could catch his breath for now.
"Phew..."
It was a good thing that he had carried a brush, ink, and paper with him as a habit, otherwise he would have been disgraced by going back to the competition venue in a submerged boat.
If, as Jiang Ziya suspected, this was the work of the martial artists who had a grudge against him, he could by no means just let it go.
Although it was malicious to try to ruin the competition, if by any chance Jiang Ziya had no way to block the hole in the boat or was unable to swim, wasn't it a matter of falling into the water and losing his life?
Although he had blocked the leak in the boat with a technique for now, it did not seem that it would last for a very long time.
This was because it was difficult for Jiang Ziya's technique to exert its full power due to the power of the formation that was spread around the village.
"There's no other way... should I do something while I go back?"
Jiang Ziya suddenly had a good idea.
In any case, wasn't the purpose of the main round to catch many fish?
Jiang Ziya calmly organized his thoughts, retrieved the large fish trap he had put in the river, wrote a word of the eight trigrams on a piece of paper from his bosom, and then carefully wrapped it around Tonglin.
(End of Chapter)