Chapter 7: What god did they worship at the inn, and what deity did they pray to? ...
The carriage weaved through the woods, its wheels leaving two deep tracks in the snow, which were soon mostly covered by fresh snow.
The old horse puffed out white steam from its nostrils, and its mane was covered with a thick layer of frost. The coachman sitting behind it tucked his hands behind his back, the whip tucked under his arm, and yawned lazily.
The carriage moved slowly forward. He looked up at the darkening sky and couldn't help but mutter, "I clearly unloaded the goods in the last town, so why is the journey still so slow..."
That's really strange.
As night was approaching, he calculated the distance ahead, pulled his hand out of his sleeve, and cracked the whip: "Giddy up!"
The old horse let out a long neigh and galloped forward, shaking off the thick frost on its body, which fell to the ground.
The straw in the carriage was covered with bottles and jars that made a clattering sound. A small teapot in the corner rolled a few times, hit the wooden board, and came to a stop.
Shen Cangyu, who was hiding in the teapot, almost vomited when he was shaken like that.
What kind of carriage is this? It's so shaky! Even the boats she took when she went out to sea back then weren't this shaky!
During the journey, she almost vomited into the teapot several times, but she endured it with her strong willpower to avoid sharing a room with vomit.
The carriage wound its way through the village before finally entering. The driver stopped the carriage in the courtyard, untied the ropes, and led the horses into the stable, where they were settled and given food.
As he passed by the carriage carrying a lantern, out of habit, he lifted the cloth covering it and carefully checked the cargo boxes again.
The orange light from the lamp fell into the box, reflecting a bright flash.
"Huh?"
He crawled into the carriage, parted the straw, and picked up a small piece of silver.
He looked at the loose silver in his hand, completely bewildered.
When did you leave it behind?
Meanwhile, Shen Cangyu, who had slipped out of the courtyard by feeling along the wall, wandered around and finally found an inn that still had its sign hanging up.
As she stepped into the inn, the wooden planks beneath her feet creaked. The candlelight flickered around her, and the first thing she saw was a statue of a deity placed in the center of the inn's lobby.
The statue is one meter tall, gilded and gleaming, with incense burning continuously beneath it, like clouds and mist swirling around it.
Shen Cangyu's gaze swept over the kind and benevolent face on the statue and landed on its luxurious and elaborate clothing.
She had never seen this god.
The laws of this world are all-encompassing, and the deities and immortals behind different laws are also different. Although she was not qualified to inherit the laws, she had received the protection of many gods and immortals.
In Kunlun, besides the Kunlun Immortal Lord, the most famous deity is the Heavenly Fragrance Lady in the Incense Hall.
The Goddess Tianxiang is all-knowing and all-seeing; by consulting her, one can glimpse the secrets of heaven.
Before each trip, Shen Cangyu would ask an inner disciple she knew to burn three sticks of incense at the incense hall on her behalf. The Heavenly Incense Goddess would then tell her whether the trip would be auspicious or inauspicious based on how the incense burned, and remind her of precautions.
Although she did not inherit the Taoist teachings, she held all the gods in high esteem.
Although the disciples of Kunlun are called "immortals," they are ultimately still human beings, troubled by the seven emotions and six desires, and unable to resolve the impurities in their hearts. Only the immortals behind the Daoist teachings are true immortals, capable of looking upon all beings with equal eyes.
But she didn't recognize the deity before her. Although it was adorned with jewels, the aura emanating from it made her sense something was amiss.
It's strange, but I don't know where to begin.
"Food or a hotel?"
A voice suddenly rang out from beside her. Shen Cangyu turned her head and saw a waiter standing next to her, dressed in coarse brown clothes, with dark circles under his eyes, staring at her.
When did he arrive? She didn't even notice!
Shen Cangyu's heart sank, but he replied calmly, "I'll stay at the inn, room C."
"Two taels of silver." The waiter held out his hand to her.
When Shen Cangyu placed the silver into his palm, her fingertips touched his skin.
The waiter's hands were exceptionally cold, radiating a chill. Even though she was the one who had just braved the wind and snow to walk in from outside, the waiter's hands were even colder than hers.
The waiter slipped into the front desk, rummaged through the cabinet, and pulled out a key, placing it on the table.
Shen Cangyu took the key and said, "I also need a bowl of noodles and a bucket of hot water."
"Fifty coins."
Shen Cangyu tapped his fingers on the table: "Make it cheaper."
The waiter turned and left after hearing her words. Shen Cangyu licked his canine tooth with the tip of his tongue and slammed the copper coin on the table.
Hearing the sound of the copper coins, the waiter seemed to come back to his senses, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face: "Alright, go back to your room and wait, we'll prepare it and send it up to you in a bit."
Shen Cangyu took the key and walked up the stairs, but the scent of incense lingered in her nose.
What kind of deity is the person in this shop worshipping?
She always felt that something was amiss.
Upon entering the room, she frowned and looked at the incense burner burning on the table.
The incense burner was filled with various spices, the fragrance so strong it was almost pungent.
Shen Cangyu picked up the teapot on the table and poured the cold water into the incense burner.
With a hiss, a plume of white smoke rose from the incense burner, and the fire was extinguished.
Shen Cangyu opened the window, and a cool breeze blew into the room, dispersing the rich fragrance. Only then did she begin to carefully examine the room, looking for anything amiss.
She searched the room inside and out, even turning over the bedding, but didn't find anything strange.
The strangest things in the whole inn were the statue downstairs and the eerie waiter.
Just as she was thinking of the waiter, someone knocked on the door knocker.
He pushed open the door and saw a waiter standing at the door holding a bowl of noodles, with two other waiters beside him, each carrying a bucket full of hot water.
"Your soup noodles still have hot water, let me bring it in for you now," the waiter said.
Shen Cangyu moved aside and stood by the door frame, looking at them sideways. Her gaze fell on one of the waiters who was carrying a bucket of water.
To make it easier to carry the buckets of water, he rolled up his sleeves halfway, and it was precisely because he rolled up those sleeves that she could see several fresh scratches on his left arm.
The flesh around the scratches was still red and swollen, and the scratches hadn't scabbed over yet, still oozing blood. She looked up and, sure enough, there were a few bloodstains on his cuff as well.
The waiter had just put down the bucket when he rolled up his sleeves and looked back at Shen Cangyu, only to find that Shen Cangyu wasn't looking at them, but instead had her back to him and was looking up at the paintings on the wall.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sir, we've put your things down for you. We'll be taking our leave now."
After everyone had left, Shen Cangyu locked the door. She sat down at the table and gently sniffed the surface of the bowl.
She was a supplier for Kunlun, and she had seen all sorts of rare flowers, exotic trees, and miraculous medicines. With just a light sniff, she could clearly smell the sleeping potion in this plain-looking mask.
To mask the smell of the sleeping potion, the waiter added some dried fish pieces to the soup, hoping to use the fishy smell as a cover-up.
It's unknown how many people they've fooled using these methods.
Shen Cangyu didn't touch the bowl of noodles, but turned and walked to the bucket of hot water. Luckily, they hadn't tampered with the hot water.
Shen Cangyu took off her clothes, jumped into the hot water and quickly took a bath, washing away all the blood and filth.
To save money, she didn't buy a horse and traveled by hitching rides on carriages at post stations. Of course, she couldn't go against her conscience; every time she got off the carriage, she would secretly leave a small piece of silver as her fare.
Finally, upon arriving in this small town, she couldn't take it anymore. She felt that if she didn't take a bath soon, she would get lice.
The place where she settled down was called "Nanke Mountain," a place she had visited in her previous life.
In her previous life, a hunter from next door said he'd heard the news and was coming to Nanke Mountain to do business and make a fortune. So she came along.
However, instead of making a fortune at Nanke Mountain, she cultivated immortality.
In her past life, she met the disciples of Kunlun here, picked immortal herbs for them, and was fortunate enough to enter Kunlun.
After Shen Cangyu climbed out of the bucket and changed into new clothes, the room was steamed by the water vapor, and the original rich fragrance seemed to have faded away as if it had been washed away.
She smelled tung oil on the bed and cabinets, as well as a faint fishy smell.
The fishy smell wasn't the fishy smell of noodles, but a rusty, foul odor.
Shen Cangyu followed the fishy smell and opened the window.
Sure enough, the fishy smell was coming in from outside the window.
She climbed out the window and carefully walked along the short section of eaves outside, eventually finding the source of the bloody smell. She poked a small hole in the window paper and looked inside. The room was pitch black, but on the bed lay a dark mass.
She tore a hole in the window paper, unfastened the latch on the window, opened the window, and jumped inside.
As soon as she entered the room, she smelled a strong stench of blood. Even with incense burning in the room, it couldn't mask the stench of blood.
She took out a tinderbox from her pocket, lit it, and shone it towards the bed to see what was on it.
That was a person, or more accurately, a corpse.
The man lying on the bed was dead. His eyes were wide open and his face was contorted, clearly indicating that he had just been in a fight, but he was no match for his opponent and was stabbed in the heart with a dagger.
The person who shot him hadn't had time to deal with the body, so they could only leave it on the bed and wrap it in a blanket.
But his blood had already soaked through the blankets and flowed all over the bed.
Shen Cangyu walked over, lifted the blanket, and looked at the person's hand.
Sure enough, there were several patches of grime hidden under his fingernails, matching the scratch marks on the arm of the waiter she had seen before.
If nothing unexpected happens, it was those waiters who killed this person.
Sure enough, she knew there was something fishy about these people!
They're so audacious, daring to kill and rob. I wonder how long they've been doing this, and yet no one has reported them...
Don't the people in their shop still keep statues of gods?
Do the gods not care about the evil deeds they commit?
Just then, the room door was suddenly opened from the outside.
Shen Cangyu extinguished the tinderbox and rolled over under the bed.
"Strange, I think I just saw a light here." Someone walked into the room and went to the window.
"When did this window open?" The man stopped in front of the window and suddenly fell silent.
Shen Cangyu knew she was in trouble and silently recited "the sun and moon in the pot" in her mind.
The next moment, the waiter shone a lantern under the bed.
"What's wrong?" the waiter outside asked.
"Someone has come in." Seeing that there was no one under the bed, the waiter began rummaging through the wardrobe.
The window paper had been torn open from the outside. Clearly, someone had just entered the room through the window. But now the room is empty. Could it be…?
He leaned out to look, turning his head to gaze at the open windows in the distance.
Could it be... there?
A note from the author:
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