Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 197: Good Guy

“Young Master, Young Master! The fellow at the back looks like he might not make it,” said Lihua after she looked back and noticed that the young man’s face was unnaturally pale as he lay in the woman’s arms. His wound had turned blackish in color, and the bloodstains on his clothing were terrifying.

“Ah. Give him this pill, then. As long as he’s just barely staying alive – it’s no use if he actually gets well.”

Gu Suihan threw a pill to Lihua, then went back to reading.

Gururu…

Gu Suihan looked up again to see a red-faced Taohua clutching her stomach. She was so embarrassed that even her ears were pinkish.

“I forgot you two were merely ordinary humans.” He chuckled, then spread his spiritual sense far and wide. It rattled several wild rabbits and chickens to death and brought them back to the carriage. He waved a hand and said, “The things are out there. Help yourselves.”

“Yes, Young Master!” Taohua bowed, then ran out of the carriage like a frightened little sparrow.

“Sir, thank you for the pill.” A short while later, the young man hobbled over with the woman’s help and bowed in front of the carriage.

“It’s no problem.” Gu Suihan’s voice was like icy spring water, cold and terribly distant.

Taohua’s gentle voice called out, “Young Master, come and have some too.”

“Alright then.” Gu Suihan finally put his book down reluctantly after some time.

They sat around the fire together. Gu Suihan did not say anything, and everyone else just looked at each other without speaking. The atmosphere became really awkward.

“Show yourself!” There was a glint in Gu Suihan’s eyes as he suddenly cast a spell, and it landed on the rocks about 50 meters away.

“OOF!” Flames appeared, and broken rocks rolled everywhere as the giant rock measuring a few meters in height disintegrated. There was a loud yelp, then an old goblin-like person who was only a few feet tall came stumbling out on his walking stick.

“You’re a rather bold one, aren’t you?” Gu Suihan snorted as his lips curled into a frosty smile.

“Sir, please forgive me! I am the Mountain god of this place, and I had a duty to fulfill! I hope you understand,” said the goblin humbly with a respectful bow.

“Mountain god?” Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow and said thoughtfully, “River god, soil god, kitchen god, door god, city god… You’re under the jurisdiction of the city god of Fengyang Commandery?”

“That is correct,” said the goblin with a sad laugh. He put a palm against his other fist politely and said, “I didn’t have a choice. After all…”

“I understand. Actually, as long as they’ve got brains, I wouldn’t smite them for no reason,” said Gu Suihan nonchalantly with a wave of his hand. “Earlier on, you just hid, and I didn’t bother you for it. Why are you here this time?”

He didn’t think this mountain god was following him around to fulfill some mission or because he was being dutiful. If Gu Suihan and those Dao Origin disciples hadn’t suddenly appeared at that time, this fellow would probably have done a good deed and deliberately made sure everyone knew he did it.

Gods, at the end of the day, were really the same as ghosts.

It was just that the living worshiped the former, so they were able to attain godship and took a position of a revered being. At the same time, the latter was a spirit that refused to go through reincarnation because they were obsessed with something from before their death.

At the heart of the matter, they were the same sort of thing.

It wasn’t like how those crappy legends described them. All that talk about how gods watched over the world, blessed the people, and brought happiness to all living things was all just boastful talk.

If not for the fact that these sentient but lowly human beings were able to feed them with their faith and strengthen their godly powers, they wouldn’t care about these stupid humans.

The mountain god stroked his gray beard and said very sincerely, “There is a temple not too far from here. Its name is…”

Gu Suihan’s lips twitched as he had a bad feeling about this. “Lanruo Temple? There’s a tree spirit named the Black Mountain Old Demon? And he has a subordinate female ghost named Xiaoqian¹?”

“Er…”

The mountain god paused in confusion, then went on, “That temple is called the Temple of the Rain God, but eventually, nobody came to worship this god anymore, and the temple is now in ruins. Later on, a supernatural creature took over the temple, and it has been using the name of the rain god to harm living creatures. After that…”

“You want me to go slay a demon?” Gu Suihan looked amused as he stared at the mountain god, then pointed at himself. “Do I look like a good guy to you?”

The mountain god’s face instantly froze at these words.

The handsome, feminine young man in front of him was in a long expensive robe and large black cloak over it. The pattern on it was strange and was weaved all over the cloak, making Gu Suihan’s indifferent expression look exceptionally fair. A barely visible iciness kept floating around him and the entire forest around them was silent. Not a single living thing dared to make any noise.

“Well, that…” The mountain god was fearful as he looked at Gu Suihan, but when he thought about the big matter he wanted out of the young man, he shut his eyes, gritted his teeth and endured the iciness as he said in a trembling voice, “Sir, it only takes me one look to know that you help others as commonly as one finds water and fire! You are a merciful good man who takes pity on all living creatures! If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have saved that young man and the woman with him.”

“A good man?” Taohua and Lihua couldn’t help but laugh secretly to themselves. They were trying so hard to hold it in that they had to hold onto each other. They had witnessed how their young master had turned those Dao Origin Sect disciples into limbless creatures and sucked their souls out before they could even open their mouths.

Despite having done that, he was now being described as a “good man”. Either the heavens were blind, or this mountain god had really thick skin.

“Well, if that demonic beast didn’t have some ancient creature’s bloodline, we wouldn’t be so defenseless against it either,” mumbled the mountain god with a long sigh after he saw that Gu Suihan remained completely unmoved. He turned to leave with heavy footsteps.

“Stop right there.” Gu Suihan pulled the mountain god back in an instant and stared at him with a burning gaze in his eyes. “You said that demonic beast has an ancient creature’s blood in it? What sort of ancient creature?”

The Demonic Race had a very complex hierarchy of creatures and only nine types were right at the top. They were tigers, tortoises, snakes, rocs, bears, macaques, luans, bulls and elephants.

That’s right – the Demonic Race didn’t include dragons. The dragons we know now weren’t some incredibly formidable creature in ancient times. Even the Eight Legions that were described as a heavenly dragon had to rely on those buddhist monks to keep going. Rocs actually ate dragons. Why did ordinary people think dragons were fucking awesome? It was just a case of broken telephone.

Just like what happened when the Buddhists first came to spread their beliefs. Their scriptures said that the Land of Bliss would be full of gold, silver, jade, lapis lazuli and even a lake of meritorious acts with eight treasures in it. But what’s the use of all that?

You were supposed to have reached a point where everything is nothing. You were supposed to have no emotions, no desires, no greed, no complaints, no obsessions, no hatred. That’s how you became a bodhisattva. So, why would you need all that gold, silver and jade? And did you think you’d get a chance to use that meritorious act lake? There’d be countless buddhas and arhats lined up in front of you. It’d never get to you.

On the contrary, these nine bloodlines of the Demonic Race are incredibly formidable demons. For example, there was the Elephant Swallowing Great Snake, the Wind Footed White Tiger, the Golden Winged Giant Roc and more. These incredible creatures truly existed.

“It’s got tiger blood in it. The bloodline of a Wind Footed White Tiger from ancient times…” replied the mountain god in a trembling voice. He had been shocked by Gu Suihan’s sudden reaction.

“That wasn’t too difficult. I hope you did inherit something from your ancestors.” Gu Suihan pursed his lips and terrifying fiendish qi spread across his face.

“All of you, wait here. I’ll be right back.” Gu Suihan’s storage ring flickered and dozens of talismans flew out, sticking themselves onto the carriage like raindrops. The glowing runes on them gave off an eerie blood red color in the night.

He raised an arm and everything around them fell silent. A tremendous amount of fiendish qi suddenly exploded from inside the carriage and the sound of metal clanging resounded loudly. There was a bright flash and a strange sword suddenly landed in front of Gu Suihan.

When the mountain god had a closer look at the sword and recalled the way Gu Suihan had made it happen, he sucked in a mouthful of air and shuddered.

“Let’s go.” Gu Suihan hooked the sword to his belt, then pointed at Taohua and the rest. His qi was like a rope that gathered all of them and threw them into the carriage before they even knew what was going on. He turned back to stare at the mountain god with a darkened but somewhat crazed look in his eyes.

“Alright.” The mountain god immediately made a hand seal and he quickly started sliding across the ground, as though it was made from water.

“I hope you won’t disappoint me.” Gu Suihan took a deep breath, then walked like he was flying. He was like an apparition as he silently floated into the air and followed behind the mountain god.

While he was gone, the pale faced young man inside the carriage asked Lihua curiously, “Miss, do you know what level of cultivation your young master it at?”

“No idea. He has never mentioned it before.”

Lihua was a lively and chatty girl, but she wasn’t stupid. She immediately began to look at the young man warily instead.

“Miss, please do not misunderstand, I’m only asking because I’m curious. I’m just curious!” the young man quickly explained himself when he instantly realized that the two maids had become wary of him.

“Don’t ask what you’re not supposed to ask. It could very well turn into your downfall,” Taohua warned him as she stared indifferently at him.

“Yes, yes.” The young man clasped his hands together apologetically and bowed his head. His messy hair cascaded down and covered his flickering, uncertain gaze.

1. This is based on a 1987 movie A Chinese Ghost Story that’s also based on one story in a collection of stories, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio published in 1766. The story features Xiaoqian, a female ghost who lives in an umbrella and falls in love with a living human, while the movie added the Black Mountain Old Demon as an antagonist of sorts. Here is the tls fav song from the movie starring both the Black Mountain Old Demon and Xiaoqian. ️