People like to follow their natural schedule. Even in this environment, Ji Yuan finally slept for a while. But after the bloody lesson at the Niu Kui Mountain Temple, Ji Yuan would never sleep soundly again.

“Coo, coo-coo, coo!”

Ji Yuan awoke with at the crowing of the first rooster in the village sounded. It should be around the time of the first half of the fifth watch – that was to say, equivalent to around three o’clock in the morning in his previous life.

People of this era always had a strange mentality. Even those who were afraid of the dark would subconsciously feel more at ease when they heard the crowing of a rooster. Even Ji Yuan was not immune to this effect.

This thinking was not unfounded. During his few chats with the Ning’an County City God, Ji Yuan learned a lot of useful basic knowledge.

Few ghosts were unafraid of the sun. Even monsters, before they became powerful enough to use some small tricks, could not stand it, so they also hated the daytime.

At this moment, Ji Yuan, who heard the rooster crowing, felt a lot more relaxed. Seeing that the old man in the room was still soundly asleep, Ji Yuan also planned to go back to sleep.

The sky was still dark outside. In a small house in the northeast corner of Shanghegou Village, someone yawned and got up from the bed. He was a merchant who was staying in the village overnight.

“Haaah… hoooh…”

Glancing at the other people who were still sleeping soundly beside him, the man who had gotten up put on a coat and staggered out of the room.

The crowing of roosters could be heard from time to time, but when he left the room no one could be seen out in the yard, so he supposed it was still early.

“The toilet… The toilet…¹ There!”

After walking quite a distance, he finally saw the outhouse beside the village wall.

The rectangular building with a small sloped roof was very different from the surrounding houses. It was easy to identify what it was. When one walked into the outhouse, the smell would immediately hit, and one would suddenly feel much more awake.

When he opened the thatched door to one of the stalls, the stench suddenly rose to the sky.

“Ugh… the outhouses in this village are too dirty!”

If it was a small one, the person would just resolve it outside without any worries, but this was a large dump, so there was no choice but to go in.

As a result, when he took the first step, he felt that he had stepped on something soft.

“Damn it! I’m so unlucky!”²

After a burst of cursing, the man squatted down inside, hurriedly finished his business, tore off two handfuls of the thatch that made up the toilet, and used them as toilet paper to wipe himself. Then he jumped out of the latrine and ran away as if escaping.

“Ugh, ugh, this is disgusting!!!”

As he walked, he basically dragged one foot here and there, and it felt like his hands were not very clean either.

In the end, he couldn’t stand it anymore. It was still a long way to get back to the small courtyard where he slept. He didn’t know if there was any water in the water tank there. He looked at the small river outside, hesitated for a moment, and then walked towards it.

The gate of the fence by the river was just loosely fastened with a wooden pin. The merchant shook his hand, took out the pin, opened the door a crack, and squeezed out.

“Woof woof woof… Woof woof woof…”

A dog barking sounded behind him, and the man subconsciously turned around to look. The dog’s eyes were glowing green, making him subconsciously tremble.

“Woof woof woof…”

“Woof woof woof…”

“Woof woof woof… Woof woof woof…”

Originally, there was only one dog, but within a few moments several of them had gathered and were barking at him.

“Damn you bunch of bastards!!! What are you yelling about!!! If you dare to bite me, I will slaughter you and stew your dog meat!!!”

He pretended to be fierce and yelled at the group of dogs, then quickly squatted down and pretended to pick up a stone. Sure enough, several dogs reflexively jumped backwards a few steps.

“It’s good that you know that I’m formidable!”

On the other side, the intense barking of the dogs immediately woke Ji Yuan up once more. This time, the barking continued. Many families living close to the riverbank were also awakened.

Ji Yuan waited for a while, but the dogs’ barking did not subside. Instead, it seemed to be getting louder. He tossed and turned in bed and could not stay there any longer.

“Huh… I’ll go out and take a look!”

Ji Yuan got up from the bed, put on his clothes, and glanced at the old man who was still sleeping soundly. He walked to the table, pulled out a flame stick, and blew on it, and the sparks became stronger.

He placed it on the wick of the oil lamp on the table and blew on it once more. A flame ignited in the lamp.

After covering the flame stick, he glanced at the sleeping old man again. Ji Yuan stretched out his hand and waved his sleeve, and flame on the oil lamp was tucked away into his sleeve.³

‘I just want to see if it’s a human or a ghost! ’

After calming himself down, Ji Yuan slowly pulled out the latch, gently opened the wooden door, and walked out, slowly closing the door behind him.

Looking to the east, there was already a line of light in the distant sky.

“Humph!”

With a strong stomp of his foot, Ji Yuan flew up in an instant and landed on the roof of a nearby bungalow. Then he lightly stepped, performed a stealth illusion, and rushed towards the direction of the barking dogs in the northeast part of the village, his robe and long hair dragging behind him.

. . .

On the riverbank, the merchant first washed his hands, then took off his shoes, grabbed a handful of weeds on the bank, soaked them in water, and then began to scrub the soles and sides of the shoes.

“Crash…”

There was the sound of water in the distance, and the man looked up in shock. A little farther away on the river surface, there was a circle of ripples that was fading away.

‘Maybe it’s a fish building a nest…’⁴

Although he thought so, the visitor also quickened his pace and hastily scrubbed the soles of his shoes.

“Crash…”

There was another splash of water, but this time it came from the riverbank a little further away.

“Oh, it smells so bad… disgusting!”

A soft voice with a hint of anger sounded from the side.

The young businessman who was washing his shoes stretched his head to take a look, and in the dim light he saw a scene of pale skin by the bank.⁵

“Oh!!! What are you looking at? Don’t look!”

“Uh oh oh!! Don’t blame me, girl! I didn’t know you were taking a shower here…”

The merchant said this, but his heart was filled with joy.

“I thought no one would come out, so when you came over I had to hide in a corner of the riverbank and wait for you to leave. Who knew you… you!”

The merchant looked at the shoes in his hands, and then looked at the direction of the flowing water. He felt embarrassed and hurriedly hid the shoes behind him.

“This, uh… I…”

“What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and leave. I need to get up. The water is so dirty!”

“Oh oh oh, I’ll look away right now, right now!”

The merchant took a deep breath, but his heart beat faster because of avoidance. The startling glimpse he had just seen made him feel restless.

The sound of splashing water made the merchant subconsciously imagine the boundless spring scenery in his heart.⁶

“Woof woof woof… Woof woof woof…”

“Woof woof woof… Woof woof woof…”

“Woof woof woof… whiiine… Woof woof woof…”

The barking of the dogs at the entrance to the village suddenly became more and more violent. Many yellow and black dogs gathered at the fence, attracting the merchant’s attention towards the group in the distance.

“Ah…”

“Splash…”

“What’s wrong, girl?”

The merchant turned around nervously and excitedly, and ran two steps forward, but stopped again. He did not see the woman come ashore, nor did he see the expected scenery.

“Hiss…I was about to get ashore, when I was startled by the dogs and fell down… My feet, my feet are weak… “

There was a pause, as if the woman hiding in the water near the shore were gritting her teeth and struggling with her thoughts.

“Sir, you, can you come and help me?”

“Is it appropriate?”

The merchant said so, but he ran quickly to the shore and looked down. A delicate, snow-white figure huddled in the water, revealing half of her body.

The woman stretched out one slender hand and put the other hand across her chest, turned her face away, and whispered in a tiny⁷ voice.

“Sir, please help me up…”

The sight made the merchant’s blood rush with excitement.⁸ He gulped and tried to pull her up with both hands…

“Plop… splash…”

The merchant was pulled into the water. However, he still had a surprised look on his face, sticking very close to the woman in the river.

. . .

Ji Yuan walked quickly along the roofs of the village, looking for the direction where the dog barking was the most frequent. Along the way, he could see families by the river who had been woken up by the barking and had come out wearing clothes to see what was going on.

When he flew to the roof of the outermost house, he smelled a foul odor. Looking in that direction, Ji Yuan’s eyes immediately widened in spite of the pain.

A little further away, on the riverbank, a large snake was faintly looming in the water, but it was clearly visible in Ji Yuan’s eyes.

There was an illusion of a woman near the snake’s head. A young man with soaked clothes was slowly being ensnared by the coils of the snake. He gazed at the snake’s head obsessively, moving slowly, bit by bit, towards the wide-open mouth.

At this moment, countless thoughts and struggles flashed through Ji Yuan’s mind. The spiritual energy in his body was boiling and restless, and after only a couple seconds it turned into a thunderous roar.

“Evil creature! How dare you use such tricks to cheat a sacrifice!”

1. Lit: “Thatched hut,” also translated as “outhouse” – you’ll see them all interchangeably. ↩︎
2. Lit: something along the lines of “I’ve had blood mold for eight lifetimes” ↩︎
3. T/n: not entirely clear in the text, but I’m pretty sure this man just stole the actual candleflame and tucked it into his sleeve, which is cool as HECK ↩︎
4. T/n: Yes, fish build nests!!! I am ECSTATIC to have learned this ↩︎
5. MTL was adamant the translation was “white flowers” or “shining white.” 白花花的一幕 (bái huā huā de yī mù) is apparently an idiomatic expression often used in Chinese literature to describe fair, uncovered skin. ↩︎
6. Another reference to how naked skin is referred to in terms of flowers. So essentially the “spring scenery” = a bunch of flowers = a pretty naked lady. Also funny because “spring season” is also used as a euphemism for the time when all animals mate & multiply. ↩︎
7. Lit: “mosquito-like” ↩︎
8. A different translation had “veins were throbbing,” “blood was boiling,” etc. Very fun, lots of innuendos. ↩︎

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read