parentshiftbook Chapter 27 The Vicious Rumors of the Temple Keeper
Chapter 27 The Vicious Rumors of the Temple Keeper
"What the temple keeper said was entirely reasonable and thought-provoking!"
"The evil spirits have infiltrated our Shanghe Village! This must not be tolerated! We must immediately inform the entire village, expose the demon's conspiracy, awaken our ignorant neighbors, and fight against the evil!"
Lü Liang slammed his hand on the table, making the teacup jump.
"village head."
"With your support, I will definitely get this done!"
Wang Miaozhu Chongsheng nodded.
With the tacit approval and covert encouragement of village chief Lü Liang, Wang Miaozhu felt as if he had received a command. He was no longer content with merely rambling on to a few worshippers in front of the earth god temple, but began to take the initiative to frequently reach out to worshippers.
Wang Miaozhu visited the homes of several of the most traditional and orthodox elders in the village. After a long sigh, he said with great concern, "Shixi Village was originally a poor and remote place, but people's hearts have become corrupted, and they even worship demons! Now the power of demons is growing, and they have even extended their claws over here! The Liu family is a bloody example! If we are not vigilant, I'm afraid that everyone in Shanghe Village, young and old, will become food for that demon god's cultivation."
Wang, the temple keeper, deliberately encountered several women washing clothes by the well, women who loved to gossip. He lowered his voice mysteriously and said things like, "Do you know why Liu Laosi's wife suddenly seems better? She's being kept alive by a demon! She looks energetic, but her insides have been eaten away! That demon is extremely vicious, always targeting the weak and kind-hearted. First, it bestows favors, then it takes lives! Your child is young and has weak yang energy, so stay away from the Liu family, lest you get implicated!"
The temple keeper, Wang, even feigned goodwill, reminding several villagers with chronically ill family members that seeking treatment haphazardly was the worst thing to do! He warned them not to believe in any so-called "divine water" or strange dreams, as these were all tricks used by evil spirits to bewitch people! He advised them to properly worship the local earth god, who, though not powerful, provided righteous protection and kept evil spirits at bay!
Malicious rumors, fueled by orthodox authority and terrifying imaginations of the unknown, spread like a plague among certain groups in Shanghe Village under the deliberate influence of Wang Miaozhu. Each disseminator subconsciously embellished the story, making the tale of blood offerings increasingly concrete and horrifying.
Liu Laosi soon found himself under strange gazes.
When people go to fetch water, the casual conversation around the well instantly falls silent, replaced by scrutinizing, suspicious, and fearful gazes.
I went to the general store at the village entrance to buy half a pound of coarse salt on credit. The shopkeeper made excuses and avoided my gaze. In the end, he wrapped it in straw paper and threw it on the counter from a distance, as if the salt would bring bad luck if it touched his hands.
Even the young men who would normally call him Fourth Brother and occasionally go up the mountain to chop firewood with him would avoid him on the road, walking past with their heads down.
sunset.
Liu Laosi had just left home carrying a bucket, intending to fetch water from the stream.
Lu Liang's obese body blocked the low gate of the courtyard. His triangular eyes scanned his face and the inside of the house several times before he spoke with a forced smile.
"Fourth brother, it's good news that your wife is doing well. However, one must know the difference between good and bad. Some benefits come from shady dealings, and they may be like honey laced with poison."
"We, the people of Shanghe Village, must stay true to our ways and not let external evils cloud our judgment, lest we harm ourselves and others!"
Liu Laosi's face turned ashen. These words were like an ice-cold knife stabbing into his heart, cold and painful. His lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word. He could only lower his head even further, as if he had really done something heinous that implicated the whole village.
Lu Liang glared at Liu Laosi, then turned and slowly left.
The faint hope and confidence that Liu Laosi had just felt because his wife's condition had improved were crushed by the overwhelming malice and rejection. He sat in the increasingly empty and cold house, beside his still-weak wife, filled with anxiety and fear. The immense sense of isolation and the invisible pressure were almost suffocating him.
but.
It wasn't that no one in the village had other ideas.
"Marking blood food?"
"Hmph, if that dragon god wanted to eat people that day by the river, why did it only scare us away?"
"The people of Shixi Village are even closer, so why haven't they been eaten? How long has Liu Laosi's wife been sick? If it really is a demon, it should have acted long ago, what are they waiting for?"
Lu Cheng, an old hunter at the west end of the village, squatted on his doorstep, puffing on his pipe, and spoke softly to his son Lu Jing, who had gathered around him.
"The temple keeper's rhetoric sounds eerie."
"Although we don't understand the affairs of gods and monsters, we saw the water celery in Shixi Village after the Dragon God appeared that day. It grew so vigorously overnight. Could that be caused by demonic energy? It must have some real ability."
In the blacksmith's shop, amidst the flying sparks, the burly blacksmith Yang Qianchui spoke in a low voice to his apprentice Jin Bailian.
but.
These differing voices, doubts, and even secret curiosity, dared not surface openly under the terrifying pressure deliberately created by village chief Lü Liang and Wang Miaozhu, but quietly surged and converged beneath the surface.
The hearts of the people in Shanghe Village were marked by a clear and dangerous rift due to the sudden appearance of the dragon god and the misfortune that befell Liu Laosi's family.
Beneath the calm surface, undercurrents surged.
In front of the Jiaoshen Temple in Shixi Village.
The afternoon sun shone brightly, casting a solemn and majestic glow upon the newly built ancestral hall.
Lin Shi stood in front of the shrine, his gaze seemingly fixed on the increasingly solid and subtly shimmering dragon god statue behind the incense table. But his mind was already like an unfolding spider web, keenly sensing every wisp of faith fluctuation connected to the statue, especially the new faith power "flame" from the other side, which was under immense pressure.
Through Liu Laosi's strong yet anxious, fearful, and helpless bond of faith, he already knew everything, including what happened to the village chief Lü Liang and Wang Miaozhu.
Among the people of Shanghe Village, there was cold rejection and malicious speculation, but they were not a monolithic group; some had slight wavering and doubts.
Lin Shi spread his senses out cautiously, reaching across the Qinghe River to the old, sparsely incense-filled, and somewhat dilapidated earth god temple. He detected a completely different kind of incense energy, which was fluctuating violently, radiating undisguised vigilance, intense hostility, and a hint of fear and anger at having his fundamental interests touched.
"The local earth god temple did indeed jump out."
Lin Shi sneered.
The five temple priests were of little power and low status, but they were deeply rooted in the local area. Under the guise of orthodoxy, they incited xenophobia and used the power of village chief Lü Liang to sow the seeds of fear.
This kind of soft knife, based on identification and fear, is sometimes more difficult to deal with than evil spirits.
"Marking blood food?"
Lin Shi pondered it carefully.
This is a meticulously fabricated malicious rumor.
It is not clever in itself, but it is extremely vicious.
It twists favor into scheming, turns awe into fear, and precisely exploits the natural human wariness of the incomprehensible and the collective instinct to reject the different.
If the rumors are allowed to take root and spread, not only will Liu Laosi's family be smeared and even suffer misfortune, but more importantly, the path for the spread of the Jiaoshen belief to Shanghe Village will be completely blocked, and it may even trigger a new round of more intense hostile conflict between the two villages.
"We cannot forcefully dismantle it, as that would only confirm its reputation as 'evil'; nor can we ignore it, as that would be tantamount to admitting it."
Lin Shi calmly analyzed the situation.
Lü Liang and Wang Miaozhu occupied the moral high ground of the local orthodoxy, seized the secular power of the village chief, and incited the irrational fear of the masses.
The solution lies in undermining its foundation, in providing more direct and irrefutable facts of miracles, and in redirecting the source of fear away from the dragon god.
Besides Liu Laosi, how many other people doubt the village chief and temple keeper's claims?
What is their attitude towards the power of the Jiao God?
Is it pure fear, or is it mixed with a hint of awe or curiosity?
These are things we must clearly understand; they are the undercurrents within Shanghe Village. These people may become the new breakthrough point.
At the same time, it is necessary to give Liu Laosi's family clearer and more direct signs of divine protection, to solidify this first and currently only bridgehead of faith, and to show all onlookers that believing in the Jiao God is not a path to destruction, but rather a path to protection and survival.
"The manifestation of divine grace should be made more tangible and more connected with purification and protection, so that the rumors about blood offerings will be dispelled."
Lin Shi's gaze swept over the majestic outline of the dragon god statue, then settled on the shimmering blue pool outside the shrine, bathed in sunlight.
Rumors start the storm, and the waves surge in people's hearts.
The poisonous fog had already spread, obscuring part of the view.
But the gentle breeze or the thunder are already quietly accumulating power in the depths of the pool and in the darkness of people's hearts.
The moment the fog dissipates may determine the future direction and pattern of faith in Shanghe Village.