madnovel Chapter 30 The Calculations Behind a Small Test
Chapter 30 The Calculations Behind a Small Test
Li Ergou's shouts broke the morning's tranquility, quickly waking several nearby households.
The first to run over were Uncle Zhang from next door and his son, followed by several women who had gotten up early to gather firewood. Soon, seven or eight villagers gathered in front of the temple, all peering into it with surprise and fear on their faces.
"My God! What's going on?"
"Temple Keeper Wang? Temple Keeper Wang! Wake up!"
Uncle Zhang, being a bit bolder, stepped across the threshold and, upon seeing Wang Laoshuan's miserable state and the mess on the ground, turned pale with horror.
Wang Laoshuan showed no reaction, only his body twitched unconsciously, and he mumbled "Dragon God, spare my life" again.
"The Flood Dragon God?!"
"He's begging the Dragon God for mercy?!"
Among the villagers watching, a woman cried out in alarm, her face turning deathly pale.
All eyes immediately focused again on the limp Wang Laoshuan, then involuntarily drifted to the obviously crooked earth god statue and the suspicious dark water stain on the ground. Suddenly, they remembered the terrifying rumors about the "demon dragon of Shixi Village" that Wang Laoshuan had been spreading these past few days. The bizarre scene before them and a chilling conjecture slithered into everyone's minds like a venomous snake.
"Could it be that Wang Miaozhu was planning something on the other side of the river last night? And then... and then he was..."
Li Ergou's voice trembled as he pointed to the water stains on the ground and the crooked statue. He didn't dare finish his sentence, but his meaning was crystal clear.
"Look at this ground, it's wet! And it smells!"
"Does it smell like the fishy smell of the river? And the smell I had by the river that day?"
Yang Qianchui sniffed and spoke in a low voice.
"The statue of the Earth God is all crooked!"
"This has never happened before! Even the local earth god can't suppress it?"
Lu Cheng pointed tremblingly at the statue, his wrinkled face filled with awe and fear.
Everyone fell silent; the atmosphere in front of the temple was as heavy as lead.
Fear, like a cold tide, spread through everyone's heart.
The words of Wang Laoshuan about marking the blood offerings were still ringing in his ears, but now, this temple keeper, who had so confidently identified the demon, was collapsing in the most miserable and bizarre way in front of the statue he was worshipping, crying out, "Dragon God, spare my life!"
The unexplained tilting of the earth god statue and the mysterious appearance and disappearance of watermarks inside the temple all exude an extraordinary sense of eeriness.
More and more people gathered in front of the land temple, forming layers upon layers, making it impossible to move.
If the dragon god was truly as evil and insidious as Wang Laoshuan described, why did it only punish the temple keeper who spread the rumors, while allowing Liu Laosi's wife, who was marked by the dragon god, to gradually recover?
If even the local earth god cannot suppress it, or even protect himself from the crooked statue, then just how powerful is this dragon god?
How much of what Wang Laoshuan said was true, and how much was out of selfish jealousy over the loss of his family's incense offerings?
Different gazes met in the crowd. Some were simply fearful, some were deeply wary, and some had long been dissatisfied with Wang Laoshuan's charlatan ways. At this moment, they were secretly pleased, but most of them harbored deeper doubts and anxieties that they dared not voice.
No one dared to approach and examine Wang Laoshuan closely, nor did anyone dare to touch the crooked statue, as if it were imbued with an unseen and terrifying power.
In the end, only Uncle Zhang, gritting his teeth, found a broken door panel and, together with Li Ergou, carried the completely unconscious and feverish Wang Laoshuan out of the temple and took him home.
The crooked statue of the local earth god and the mess inside the temple remained there intact, serving as a silent warning etched into the hearts of all the villagers of Shanghe Village who witnessed the scene.
Shixi Village.
The morning mist is beginning to dissipate.
Lin Shi stood with his hands behind his back on the stone steps in front of the Jiao Shen Temple. The morning breeze, carrying the moist scent of the pool, ruffled the hem of his clothes.
The surface of Bibo Pool is as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the gradually brightening sky and the outline of the distant green mountains, creating a scene of tranquility and peace.
"A dying struggle only invites ridicule."
Lin Shi gave a cold laugh.
The Jiao God statue successfully replaced the stone toad statue, and the Jiao Dragon clones directly received the power of faith, greatly increasing in both quantity and quality, and significantly enhancing their own perception capabilities.
Last night's faint and disgusting energy fluctuations that attempted to pollute the dragon god statue were like a grain of sand thrown into a deep pool. Although insignificant, their filthy nature allowed us to immediately detect and clearly pinpoint their source to the temple keeper in the Shanghe Village Earth God Temple, who was jumping around and spreading poisonous words during the day.
The resistance was expected, and its clumsy methods and narrow-mindedness were evident.
Why not just kill them?
Regardless, the temple keeper, Wang, used the legitimate name of the Earth God...
Annihilation by lightning is too violent and easily gives others a handle to use against it, which does not meet the current need to create a deity with "protection, majesty, and reason".
Ideally, the countermeasure should be precise, cautionary, yet subtly disguised as "natural" or "coincidental," demonstrating power and presence while maintaining a detached stance.
Lin Shi made a decision in an instant, and with a thought, it was transmitted to the bottom of the pool through an invisible connection.
The dragon clone sensed that foul attempt, as insidious as a mosquito bite, but its cold, vertical pupils remained completely unmoved, showing only pure indifference. Without using its true power, it merely stirred its mind, its increasingly refined control over the water elemental energy allowing it to remotely perceive and gently probe the shallow water vein beneath the Shanghe Village Earth God Temple. Subtly guided, the shallow groundwater seeped out through the pores of the bricks, causing water to seep into the temple's floor tiles.
The Earth God statue is slightly tilted?
An old, dilapidated clay idol with a damp and rotten wooden base naturally shifted and settled when the ground suddenly became damp and the weight distribution became extremely uneven.
All of this was magnified and distorted in the eyes of Wang Laoshuan, who had a guilty conscience and a deep belief in the power of ghosts and gods. It became a terrifying miracle of the Jiao God casting spells remotely, punishing people precisely, and being irresistible.
Fear is the best punishment, and also the most effective form of silencing.
"After this scare, the temple keeper should be able to keep his tongue in check for a while."
As Lin Shi watched the rising sun, its golden light bathed the ancestral hall, making the dragon god statue appear even more majestic and awe-inspiring.
One major source of the rumors was temporarily extinguished by fear, and with the continued and visible improvement in Liu Laosi's wife's condition, two pebbles were thrown into the turbid and turbulent water. Although they could not immediately clarify the water, they might allow some of the disturbed reflections to gradually reveal their true outlines.
Lin Shi was very clear that this was the first time a silent and invisible supernatural confrontation had crossed space, and the outcome was the complete collapse and illness of the Earth God Temple's representative.
Although it did not directly win over new believers, it effectively weakened the enemy's most active mouthpiece. More importantly, it demonstrated to all potential adversaries and onlookers its deep, silent yet unshakable foundation, as well as its awe-inspiring majesty revealed through restraint.
The morning breeze was exceptionally refreshing, dispelling the last vestiges of the night's darkness.
Lin Shi's mind was clear as a mirror; beneath this brief calm, the conflict had not disappeared.
What will Lü Liang, the village head, do after losing Wang Laoshuan, the temple keeper, for "spreading rumors and misleading the public"?
How will the villagers of Shanghe Village view Wang Miaozhu's strange and sudden serious illness?
The next conflict will definitely be more intense!
Expanding one's credibility is not a smooth and easy process!