Due to water shortage, many tender leaves on the southern slope of the steep slope have dried out, and some small trees have even died from the sun.

The dense forest, usually filled with the sounds of various animals, is now eerily quiet.

As Zhang Fan walked along, he noticed that the number of birds he encountered was less than half of what he had seen before.

Animals have a sharper sense of intuition; it seems they all sensed danger and moved away.

A tree, snapped in half, came into view; the wolf king had broken it.

Zhang Fan hadn't seen the wolf king's family for a long time and wondered how they were doing.

Zhang Fan walked to the upper reaches of the Shiyan Fish River and filled two buckets with water.

After a few days away, the riverbed had dried up by half.

Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat.

The river's water comes from an underground source, and the water level is now half of what it was a few days ago.

If this continues, won't the water in the underground rivers decrease? If the drought continues for a few more days, the underground rivers may even disappear.

We need to find a water source as soon as possible. It seems I'll have to go to Li Jingjing's place tonight to get the beads.

Zhang Fan filled two buckets with water. Although he was carrying heavy loads on his shoulders, he walked with incredible speed and agility.

Not long after, Zhang Fan returned home via a side road. Just as he added water to the tank, he heard Li Chunyan's voice.

"Zhang Fan, where are you?"

Zhang Fan put down the bucket and went outside: "Sister-in-law, I'm here."

Li Chunyan ran over and pulled Zhang Fan down the mountain, saying, "The sorceress has arrived; you need to get there quickly."

"A fortune teller?"

Li Chunyan was afraid that Zhang Fan would be frightened, so she quickly explained, "It was a shaman invited by the village chief. She said she could help you reach the third level. The shaman specifically asked you to be there, saying she wanted to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Zhang Fan didn't know any fortune teller.

The villagers of Zhangjiapo all arrived under the old locust tree.

Upon seeing Zhang Fan, the crowd parted to make way for him. Li Chunyan pulled him to Zhang Youde's side and whispered to Zhang Fan, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

A wrinkled old woman sat cross-legged next to Zhang Youde, her eyes closed, seemingly meditating, though her posture was not quite right.

Her white hair was tied up at the back of her head with a chicken tail feather stuck in it. There were three red mud marks on each cheek. The cloak she wore was made of colorful fabric pieced together.

Zhang Fan had never seen her before, but he always felt that she looked very familiar.

Zhang Youde walked over to Zhang Fan and whispered to comfort him, "Don't be afraid later. If you get tired, just sit on the ground."

Zhang Fan gave a silly smile and nodded slightly: "Understood, Third Master."

Zhang Youde said to the sorceress, "Sorceress Li, we can begin."

The sorceress suddenly opened her eyes, and Zhang Fan then saw that her two eyes were of different sizes, giving an unnatural impression.

She slowly rose, muttering incantations, and scattered grains and cereals into the sky in all directions.

Then, holding up an ancient golden bell, she circled around Zhang Fan in a strange posture, the bell jingling with her movements.

When she was on the third lap, Li Shenpo suddenly rolled her eyes and started convulsing as if she had been electrocuted.

The villagers watching held their breath and watched all of this in silence.

The convulsions stopped, and Granny Li slowly spoke: "Who disturbed me?"

His voice was deep and hoarse.

"The villagers of Zhangjiapo beseech the Mountain God!" came the sharp, resounding reply. "The mountains have suffered an unprovoked disaster; we implore the Mountain God to save us!"

"Hmph, you audacious mortals, greedy and hypocritical, you deserve the calamity that befalls you." The voice was filled with boundless anger.

A male and a female voice appeared on Li Shenpo's person. Just then, the sun set, and the light became dim, making the atmosphere particularly eerie.

Some timid children were so frightened that they cried and were comforted by adults who held them in their arms.

Zhang Fan's gaze fell on Granny Li, but he couldn't see any fluctuations of spiritual energy.

"This is truly heaven's help!" Li the fortune teller muttered to herself.

When she said this, her lips barely moved, and her voice was so soft that no one could hear her.

Aside from Zhang Fan, whose hearing was already exceptional, and whose attention was now entirely focused on the sorceress, he heard every word clearly.

Turns out he was a fraud.

Next, Li Shenpo plays two roles in a dialogue. The mountain god is angry, and she keeps trying to persuade him with kind words, saying all sorts of nice things, and finally manages to temporarily suppress the mountain god's anger.

The mountain god felt that the villagers were too hypocritical, only knowing how to bully the weak, and constantly beat and scolded Zhang Fan, who had the intelligence of a three-year-old child.

"You must apologize to Zhang Fan!" Granny Li said fiercely, her eyes filled with malice.

As darkness fell, the villagers carried torches, their warm yellow light swaying in the wind. The shadows on the sorceress's face swayed with the light, making her appear particularly eerie and terrifying.

Everyone rushed to apologize to Zhang Fan.

"Zhang Fan, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have scolded you. The cabbage seedlings in my house were fried by my child. After the truth was found out, I never apologized to you."

"Zhang Fan, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed at you."

"Zhang Fan, I'm sorry..."

All those who had bullied Zhang Fan performed this act with utmost sincerity in their devotion to him.

Most of them were trivial matters. Although these people had bullied Zhang Fan, Zhang Fan had also done bad things.

For example, when someone is squatting in the toilet, you might throw a brick into the latrine, steal broad beans from someone's vegetable garden to roast in a bamboo tube, or use a bucket to make a trap to catch small fish from someone's pond.

Most of the time, these people were relatively friendly to him. During his period of mental illness, when he passed by the pond, they would shout at him, as if afraid he would fall into the water.

Such examples are too numerous to mention.

What exactly is the sorceress trying to achieve by fabricating the story of the mountain god? Could it just be to help him vent his anger?

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