Chapter Thirty-Nine: Four-Dog, Master of Divination

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Guo Xin’s mind was in turmoil, unable to grasp what had just happened, when Xu Wenshan called over a servant and told him to accompany Guo Xin home to collect his grain. Still in a daze, Guo Xin returned to his house, measured his remaining grain without really understanding why, and watched in confusion as the Xu family emptied his stores. Even as he sat at home, he still couldn’t make sense of the contract he’d just signed with Xu Wenshan.

He called his cleverest fourth son over and asked, “Fourth Dog, did I make a profit or a loss in this deal today?”

The fourth son calculated in his head and replied, “In terms of money and goods, it’s a profit. Our fields yielded five dou of grain per mu last year, and if the harvest remains steady, the interest he’s asking for amounts to two strings of cash. That means we borrowed twenty strings but only have to pay back two in interest—a substantial gain. And he bought our surplus grain at a price above the market rate, so we profit there too.”

The Guo family had fifty-six dou of millet left, which they sold to the Xu family at forty-two wen per dou. The payment, of course, was recorded in Xu Wenshan’s “purchase ledger,” and now the Guo family’s account showed twenty-two strings and three hundred fifty-two wen.

Guo Xin thought about it and admitted it made sense, but then asked, “But our surplus grain is gone, and I haven’t seen a single coin of that money?”

The fourth son replied, “But for the next five years, the Xu family will provide all of our grain and meat. Isn’t that a good deal?”

Guo Xin finally understood. That night, as he lay in bed, a thought struck him: “Xu Wenshan bought my grain at forty-two wen per dou, but I can buy his grain at forty wen per dou. That’s a net gain of one hundred twelve wen. On top of that, the Xu family lent me twenty strings—enough to buy ten mu of land, which yields fifty dou a year, or two strings’ worth. And they ask for only a small interest. So we’re making a tidy profit… But where has all the money gone?”

As he pondered this, his thoughts drifted into a mysterious realm.

…

After settling the Guo family, the Xu family’s loyal retainers all looked at Xu Wenshan with newfound respect. When he sent them off, some of them even gave him a deep bow.

These men were Xu Changshui’s sworn followers, not Xu Wenshan’s; if Xu Changshui were to pass away, they would commit suicide. Loyalty wasn’t the reason—they simply had nowhere else to go.

These “deathsworn” had long lost the will and ability to work, having been well cared for in the Xu household. If they had any inclination to labor, they wouldn’t have ended up as retainers in the first place.

To Xu Changshui, they were mere talking tools, not even allowed to sire children. In Xu Wenshan’s eyes, these retainers, products of a warped system, were nothing to be proud of, let alone worth inheriting as subordinates.

With the “purchase ledger” strategy, Xu Wenshan had temporarily bound the Guo family’s interests to his own grain and oil business, ensuring they wouldn’t cause trouble in the short term. When the Guo family eventually realized they’d been outmaneuvered, they’d surely regret it and cause a stir again, but by then he would have already returned.

It was time to set out.

But his current destination wasn’t the county seat—it was the water source.

Finding the water source was the last thing Xu Wenshan needed to accomplish before leaving Luhe Ravine, and it was of utmost importance.

Luhe Ravine was surrounded by mountains, and searching for a water source among them was no easy task. But now, as a demon cultivator, Xu Wenshan’s speed had greatly increased. He and Lu Ze leapt from treetop to treetop, scaled cliffs and crags, and all the while he sketched a mental map of the surrounding landforms.

The terrain sloped from high in the southwest to low in the northeast; if an irrigation canal were to be built, the water should be drawn from the southwest.

The first day’s search yielded nothing. On the second day, they encountered a high mountain, and at its foot, Xu Wenshan discovered large outcrops of basalt.

As a typical liberal arts student, basalt—a textbook rock—was familiar to him. While not particularly precious, its presence indicated the mountain was a volcano.

Like the granite Lu Ze used for his stone armor, basalt was an igneous rock; the difference was, granite was intrusive, basalt extrusive. Basalt formed from lava cooling after a volcanic eruption.

The surface bore no trace of recent eruptions, having weathered over years, so it was impossible to estimate when the last eruption occurred. Xu Wenshan decided to climb the mountain with Lu Ze.

The mountain was even taller than they expected. They climbed from morning till afternoon and still saw no summit.

As they ascended, the temperature dropped noticeably—by at least five or six degrees, Xu Wenshan estimated, meaning they’d climbed nearly a thousand meters.

After crossing a cliff, they finally reached the top. The summit was dense with coniferous forests and low grasses. Upon seeing these plants, Xu Wenshan cried out in excitement and ran ahead.

Lu Ze, puzzled, followed after him. Cresting a small rise, they stood atop the mountain and the view exploded into their sight, dominating the world. Lu Ze was so awestruck that he forgot to breathe, simply staring wide-eyed.

Atop this sky-high mountain was a lake.

The water was a deep, pure blue, reflecting the clouds above. The surface was utterly calm, like a mirror—so perfect it seemed as if an immortal had shattered a piece of sky and set it here.

Xu Wenshan, unable to contain his excitement, dashed down the slope. Lu Ze took a moment to recover from the wonder, then carefully followed. When he reached the shore, Xu Wenshan had already stripped and leapt into the lake.

Since arriving in Luhe Ravine, he hadn’t had a proper bath and had nearly forgotten the sensation of cool water cleansing his skin.

Xu Wenshan plunged his face into the lake, then looked up at the clear sky, uncertain if the moisture on his face was water or tears.

This lake was the second gift he’d received since coming to this other world, after Lu Ze.

For various reasons, the lake’s drainage into the earth had been blocked, forming this vast karst lake within the volcanic crater—a miracle of coincidence. Xu Wenshan had just dived beneath the surface: the lake was bottomless, covering at least three hundred square kilometers. By his estimate, it held over two hundred million cubic meters of water.

Most importantly, it was fresh water. If he could channel this lake, he could easily support ten more Luhe Ravines. That was the source of his excitement.

“Come on in, it feels great!” Xu Wenshan called to Lu Ze on the shore.

Lu Ze blushed, shaking her head with embarrassment.

Only then did Xu Wenshan realize he’d stripped naked in front of a young girl—hardly proper conduct.

He thought to himself that, having shared a bed and forged a life-and-death bond, they ought to be comfortable around each other. Yet Lu Ze seemed far more distant than she’d been two years ago—she no longer called him “husband,” nor referred to herself in the old, intimate way, always keeping her distance.

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Perhaps, he thought, it was his actions back then that had driven a wedge between them.

But Lu Ze’s next words made him realize he’d misunderstood.

“I… I can’t swim,” she said, her face reddening further.

It made sense. For a little demon from the mountains, not knowing how to swim was perfectly normal.

Xu Wenshan reassured her, “Don’t worry, it’s easy to learn. When I was little, my father just threw me into a pond, and I figured it out myself.”

But Lu Ze shook her head again and even shrank back a couple of steps in fear.

That’s when Xu Wenshan remembered—she was shaped from clay, and like a clay idol crossing a river, she was bound to fear water.

Still, since she had already cultivated a Dao body, she shouldn’t be afraid of dissolving anymore. Maybe it was just her nature—she was still scared. Poor thing.

Looking at the slight, frail Lu Ze, Xu Wenshan was suddenly overwhelmed by a fatherly urge. He scooped her up and tossed her into the water.

Startled by the sudden plunge, Lu Ze reacted unusually—after a couple of frantic splashes, she sank straight to the bottom.

Xu Wenshan, still on the shore, waited for her to pop up. He’d thrown her into the shallows, where even standing she could keep her face above water. He hadn’t expected her to sink.

Alarmed, he dived in and pulled her out.

…

A campfire flickered in the cave, with clothes drying on a rack. Xu Wenshan kept watch over the sleeping Lu Ze.

No one would believe that a demon at the Yin Refining stage—with power equivalent to a human Foundation Establishment cultivator—could faint just from falling into water.

“There’s demonic energy,” Lu Ze said suddenly upon waking.

Xu Wenshan said nothing, straightening up and looking around. “I don’t see anything.”

“It’s about mid-stage Yin Refining, earth element,” Lu Ze replied.

Xu Wenshan nodded. He himself was only at the initial Body Tempering stage; if a Yin Refining demon deliberately concealed its aura, he wouldn’t sense it.

“It’s deep in this cave. Shall we check it out?” Lu Ze asked.

Xu Wenshan nodded. He needed to strengthen his own forces; forming contracts with more demons would be beneficial. If the foe proved formidable, they could always escape.

Lu Ze dressed, and Xu Wenshan respectfully turned away. Once she was ready, they walked deeper into the cave together.

The cave was pitch black, the ground slick and steeply sloping downward. Fortunately, his demon cultivation had enhanced his night vision; otherwise, he would have stumbled badly.

After a while, Lu Ze stopped. “This cave is strange.”

“What’s wrong?” Xu Wenshan asked.

“There’s a constant faint demonic energy in here.”

The cave was atop a mountain; Xu Wenshan hadn’t thought much of it at first, but now he realized it was odd to find a cave here.

He reached out to touch the cave wall, only to feel something soft and slippery—several threadlike things squirmed beneath his palm.

A jolt of pain shot through his hand. Xu Wenshan looked at his palm and saw that the liquid he’d touched was eating away at his skin.

Only then did he realize the cave walls were riddled with tiny holes, from which countless earthworms poked and writhed in the air.

Suddenly, the narrow, winding cave—with its mucus-secreting walls—struck him as resembling an intestine.

Xu Wenshan grabbed Lu Ze. “Wait.”

Lu Ze noticed his distress. “What’s wrong?”

“Be careful not to touch the walls.”

They paused, focusing their senses. The scene became clearer: the stone walls were honeycombed with holes, each one home to earthworms wriggling in and out, some half-exposed and flailing grotesquely.

These earthworms were low-level attendant spirits belonging to a greater demon. Many demons could breed such creatures to fight on their behalf; clearly, their host was one of them.

The corrosive liquid on Xu Wenshan’s palm was burning through his flesh, making it ache fiercely. The affected skin was ulcerating, the muscle turning white as if scalded by acid.

As a demon cultivator, he could heal quickly with demonic power, but so long as the venom remained, the wound would not close.

Just one touch had proved so troublesome—this demon was formidable indeed, and clearly hostile.

Xu Wenshan instructed Lu Ze, “Try using Flying Sand to cut these earthworms.”

Lu Ze nodded, forming razor-sharp shards of stone and sending them slicing through the earthworms like a blade. The first few were cut easily, but by the seventeenth or eighteenth, the stone blades dropped uselessly to the ground, their edges eaten away by the corrosive slime.

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The severed earthworm pieces writhed on the floor, quickly regrowing into whole worms and disappearing into the earth.

Xu Wenshan nodded—this method could hurt the worms, but it was too laborious.

The real trouble was the venom on his hand—how to remove it? If he wiped it on his body, the poison would spread; if he tried scraping it off with sand, it would only enlarge the wound and let the venom into his bloodstream.

Suddenly, he had an idea. He still carried several pieces of diamond.

Diamond is a stable crystalline structure of four carbon atoms, impervious even to aqua regia. Dissolving it is extremely difficult, requiring extraordinary conditions.

Xu Wenshan had already refined the diamonds with demon arts and stored them within his body. He invoked Stone Skin, causing diamond particles to “grow” out from the wound, quickly forming a transparent diamond glove over his palm. The venom was squeezed out, drop by drop, onto the ground.

Only when every trace of poison had been expelled did Xu Wenshan breathe a sigh of relief. He broke off a piece of diamond, about the size of a finger, and gave it to Lu Ze. “Refine this and use it with Flying Sand.”

Ordinary stone would be corroded by the worms’ mucus, but not diamond.

Lu Ze did as instructed, forming razor-sharp diamond blades. With these, Flying Sand became far more effective, slicing through the worms with ease. The two advanced, exterminating worms as they went.

It seemed their slaughter had finally angered the master of these attendant spirits—the cave began to tremble. Xu Wenshan and Lu Ze clung to each other to keep their balance.

With a thunderous crash, a colossal beast charged from the cave’s depths like a train, ramming Xu Wenshan. He braced both hands against its head, feet leaving the ground, while Lu Ze clung to him. Together, they were blasted out of the cave.

Only outside did Xu Wenshan see what it was—a giant earth-dragon.

An earth-dragon is an earthworm demon. Such creatures are only mid-tier Yellow grade, even weaker than the wine-worm. The Prophecies recorded that earth-dragons were not aggressive, lacking both offensive power and defense, often prey for other demons. Their only advantages were longevity and fecundity.

Who would have thought this mid-tier Yellow earth-dragon would grow so massive?

Its head alone was the size of two cottages, and who knew how much remained in the cave.

Dealing with such a huge demon would not be easy.

“You… killed… children… you… die!” the earth-dragon bellowed, forcing out broken human words, but its fury was clear enough.

“Kill!”

The earth-dragon surged from the cave, its massive head lashing the ground like a whip. With a deafening crash, half the mountain shook.

But the beast was blind and clumsy. Xu Wenshan and Lu Ze easily dodged its earth-shattering blow.

Wherever its body sprawled, the vegetation withered under the venomous mucus.

A mid-stage Yin Refining demon could not be taken lightly. Had Xu Wenshan recklessly punched it, he’d have been corroded himself.

Xu Wenshan unleashed his “Diamond Star Fist,” condensing diamonds around his fists. He dashed forward and struck the beast’s head. The impacted area shattered like rock, and the earth-dragon howled in agony. Xu Wenshan had deliberately pulled his punch; otherwise, his whole arm might have pierced straight through.

Lu Ze, meanwhile, used Flying Sand to drive a diamond blade clean through the dragon’s flesh.

Though the earth-dragon was tough, it could not withstand their relentless assault and soon collapsed with a crash.

Xu Wenshan kicked it. “Yield?”

“…Children…” the dragon rumbled.

“Oh, come on, you’re earthworms! Your children will grow back in no time.”

…

Under Xu Wenshan’s threats and promises, the earth-dragon submitted and became his second contracted servant.

Simple-minded and massive, the earth-dragon was not suited to follow him around, so Xu Wenshan left it to tend the cave, making it a potential refuge if he ever needed to flee.

But he assigned it a task: digging irrigation channels.

With its enormous size and tunneling prowess, the earth-dragon was perfect for excavating the canal to bring water from the crater lake to Luhe Ravine.

Over the next two days, Xu Wenshan led the earth-dragon over the mountains, charting a route from the volcano lake to Luhe Ravine, instructing it to cut through hills or tunnel as necessary to join the two. The earth-dragon assured him it could handle the job, though it would take months. Xu Wenshan told it there was no rush—just to work steadily.

With everything settled, his last piece of business in Luhe Ravine was complete, and he resolved to depart.