I am a living immortal.

Chapter 561: Handed over to the Demon Slayer Division

Xuan Mo raised his head and blinked. "It's the breath of a water spirit. I don't like this smell very much. It carries a strong sense of malice."

Wei Ming suddenly realized something when he heard this. He knew every detail of the incident and had hoped to find some clues, but these people had nothing in common. But just now, he seemed to remember something.

If you insist, these people do have something in common—they all worshipped the water god. The Chengde River doesn't have an officially recognized water god, as it forms the border between two countries, undemarcated and a historical relic. Therefore, there's no water god. Furthermore, unlike many other large rivers, the Chengde River is calm near the shore, and fishermen don't venture deep into the water.

Of course, while there's no officially recognized water deity, there are still water deity temples. These small temples are either built by locals themselves or run by locals, and the water deities they enshrine vary wildly, with almost every village having a different deity. This explains why there's no official deity. After all, no one wants the water deity they've worshipped for so many years to suddenly change.

Faith is incredibly important to fishermen. Lately, due to the refugee crisis, a body is occasionally fished out. While the Chengde River flows, no amount of bodies could fill it. Even a hundred million, let alone tens of millions, would be nothing more than a drop in the water in this vast river hundreds of miles wide. While this is one aspect, many still find it difficult to overcome this hurdle. The thought of these fish being pulled from a river where tens of millions of people have died raises the question of whether they've ingested anything unclean.

This caused fish prices to plummet, and the fishermen protested to no avail. Then they came up with a plan: to ask the water god for a blessing. Various towns joined forces and brought hundreds of statues of the deity to bless the Chengde River. Many people went to worship, after all, most people living in the outer cities survived by sheer luck, so it seemed reasonable to fulfill their wish.

Almost everyone was there; some to worship, some to watch, and still others to see if they could help. So, whatever the reason, this blessing event was incredibly lively. Wei Ming didn't say anything at the time. While dealing with these matters, he also considered the River God's blessing event, but there was nothing he could do. After all, almost half the people had been there, and there was no way to investigate.

Now that I think about it, this might really be inextricably linked to that blessing.

Wei Ming turned to ask the Demon Slayer: "When did that blessing happen?"

The demon-slaying officer immediately replied, "It's the eighth day of the sixth lunar month."

On the eighth day of June, Wei Ming thought about it and found that such a situation had never occurred before the eighth day of June. It happened after the blessing.

"Faith." The people from the Demon Slaying Division immediately realized it.

Su Mu didn't nod or shake her head. The Demon Slayers seemed to have found their way. Two of them left immediately after informing Wei Ming, appearing quite motivated. After being pointed out, they realized the Demon Slayers could have completed the task this time; they simply hadn't grasped the situation. Su Mu wouldn't rush to do it.

Finally finding some direction, Wei Ming breathed a sigh of relief and was grateful to Su Mu. Su Mu could have easily accomplished such a trivial task, but he continued to guide the Demon Slayers' thinking step by step.

"Let's hand over the affairs here to the Demon Slayer Division for now," Wei Ming said. "I'll let you go and treat you to a welcoming banquet."

Su Mu laughed and nodded, and he was not polite either.

"This matter is not that simple." Su Mu still reminded him, "To be able to develop a cult in this place where all kinds of people are mixed together, it takes some real skills. Moreover, cults are things that will spring up again if they are not eradicated."

Wei Ming understood. He wasn't completely leaving the Demon Slayer Division to this matter, otherwise he wouldn't have asked Su Mu to come. Although Wei Ming was a mortal, he was sometimes even more sensitive than a cultivator. Because of the war in the neighboring country, refugees constantly converged in this area, and the various forces of energy, both good and bad, were bound to explode at some point.

Wei Ming had seen this clearly the moment he inherited this mess. Like a wound, even if it heals with time, it leaves ugly scars. And those who have lost their homes need a place to rest. Various sects have been rooted here for a long time. His job is to control the direction, to ease rather than block. He watched the various sects develop with a cold eye, considering and calculating which ones will survive and which ones won't. He had a clear idea in his mind.

Honestly, he wasn't surprised by this. This kind of environment was incredibly conducive to the growth of sects. And some of these sects, as Su Mu had said, were quite capable and had considerable ambitions. He hadn't asked Su Mu to come and solve this matter. He knew he couldn't handle everything, as this matter was of such importance. He needed someone he could trust to oversee it and help him if any omissions occurred.

The number of people here will only increase in the future. This is a distorted and chaotic zone, and he needs to find a balance within it. What he is doing now is a major task - using this place as a transit point and filter, channeling talents one by one to the Yan Dynasty. The remaining people here will be the key to expanding the territory. He must maintain order. If chaos breaks out here, the scattered refugees will be a shock to the Yan Dynasty. How can we put it? This task is truly a thankless task.

Of course, it would be best if Su Mu wasn't needed. That way, it could be considered an invitation. Speaking of which, it had been two and a half years, nearly three years, since the incident in Jizhou, and they hadn't seen each other in all those years. And that brat Wei Qi hadn't even come back to see him after joining the Fuling Sect.

Wei Ming led the others out of the outer city. The outer city now resembled a vast maze, constantly expanding, with more and more people arriving. Fortunately, there was no shortage of wasteland here. Initially, they offered work in exchange for relief. After more than a year of reclamation, while they still couldn't achieve self-sufficiency, they had greatly reduced the burden. While this area was a bit chaotic, otherwise, there wasn't much trouble.

After many twists and turns, he walked out of the outer city.

"How many people live here now?" Su Mu asked.

Wei Ming shook his head and said, "I don't know the exact number, and it's impossible to count. Probably 300,000 to 400,000 people, no more, no less. Some also fled into the mountains."

“That’s a lot more people than there are in the city.”

"Yes, but most of these people are ordinary people. This is the limit of the outer city. If there are more, it will easily cause chaos."

"Eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating, all while still having to deal with epidemic prevention, it must have taken a lot of effort."