With Lord Yang's death, his incense dissolved. The arrows pinning Yuan Qi faded to nothing.
Su Yan inspected the snake yao's wounds and frowned. Yuan Qi had taken internal damage last night, plus fresh arrow and sword wounds. Without treatment, he wouldn't last.
"I'm finished," Yuan Qi said cheerfully. "When I die, dry my body for tax exemption. Oh wait—you can't pay taxes without walking into a trap! Hahaha—cough cough!"
Su Yan smiled. "You won't die. I'm a snake catcher. I catch snakes, and I heal them. Huangtiangpu Town is ahead. I'll get medicine. You'll dance again."
"You're walking into their arms," Yuan Qi wheezed. "Huangtiangpu's god must match Lord Yang. You're in no better shape than me. We're enemies, snake catcher and snake. If you leave me, I won't blame you."
Su Yan shook his head. "Huangtiangpu has no god right now. The previous one was promoted away. But you're right—I should leave you."
He walked toward the village.
"Wait!" Yuan Qi yelped. "I can be saved! Try, at least!"
"I'm hungry," Su Yan called back. "Stay still."
Su Yan found the table where the giant had eaten. Villagers hid everywhere except one girl, maybe ten, clutching a half-eaten chicken leg.
He placed a silver fragment on the table. "Payment for the god's meal."
He devoured the remaining half chicken. The girl offered her own chicken leg. Su Yan wanted it badly, but refused. He gave her another silver fragment.
"Watch my brother. Give him water. Don't get close—he's poisonous."
The girl nodded, licking bone-shreds like a kitten.
Su Yan reached Huangtiangpu in no time. The town blazed with celebration—drums, suona horns, roasted pigs, flower sedan chairs, a brass band marching down the main street.
A massive flower cart rolled past, pulled by a yellow ox draped in red silk. Atop the cart sat a lotus-shaped shrine housing a stone statue with six arms, bronze ribbons, and two faces—front and back.
"Their old god left. Are they welcoming a new one?" Su Yan wondered.
He pushed through the crowd, grabbing meat wherever he could. Ever since meeting the bell on Mount Jian, hunger gnawed at him constantly.
He found the medicine shop. The owner and clerk stood outside watching the parade. Inside, only Su Yan.
"I need herbs," he said, laying out his last silver pieces. He had saved that money for a wife.
The clerk's eyes widened at the list. "Medicine for an elephant?"
Su Yan needed enough for himself and an eight-hundred-jin snake yao.
While the clerk gathered herbs, Su Yan followed the cart to the temple. Curiosity pulled him forward. Village god-coronations were simple affairs—moral elders, clay statues, daily offerings. But town coronations involved the Underworld's bureaucracy, Imperial decrees, solemn ceremony.
He had never seen one.
At the temple, an Earth God popped from the ground, unfurled a green scroll, and read in a shrill voice: "By decree of the Underworld, Huang Sanduo of Huangtiangpu, benefactor and builder of virtue, is hereby appointed God of Huangtiangpu!"
Thunder rolled. Rain fell. Dragon shadows coiled in the clouds. Rain Master spirits stood above, controlling the downpour. Then, as quickly as it began, the spectacle ended. The gods vanished.
Su Yan asked a bystander: "This Huang Sanduo must have been a great man?"
The crowd spat on the ground.
An elderly man in purple silk laughed. "Huang the Benefactor? Oh yes—fields aplenty, treasure aplenty, concubines aplenty. He ran brothels. He seized land. Every kindness came with a price."
The crowd scattered in terror.
"Then why is he a god?" Su Yan asked.
The old man smiled. "He bought the City God. Xue Lingfu used his money to secure a post in the Underworld. Simple commerce."
Su Yan gasped. "The Underworld is corrupt?"
"If it weren't, would common folk suffer so? Dead, yet still ruled by the same thieves."
A booming voice cut through the silence. "Huang bribed the City God, yes. But what of the mortal government? Didn't they take his silver too?"
The crowd parted. A giant strode forward—twice a man's height, clad in red dragon robes and black-gold boots, a black-red official's cap upon his head. Where he walked, people stumbled aside as if pushed by invisible hands.
Su Yan's heart seized. "The City God's idol!"
It was Xue Lingfu, City God of Lingling, five hundred years of worship.
Xue Lingfu stopped before Su Yan and the old man. "Huang paid the magistrates too. When his brothel girls hung themselves, silver bought verdicts of innocence. When farmers drowned in his ponds, the government wiped it clean. If your officials may do this, why not my Underworld?"
Su Yan stepped back from the old man. "He's an official?"
The elderly man laughed, utterly unafraid. "I took Huang's gifts, yes. My son is Magistrate Zhou Yang. What of it? Can the Emperor control my Zhou family? Can the Underworld?"
Su Yan retreated further. "Zhou Yihang. Magistrate Zhou's father."
Ordinary nuo masters like Ding and Wei he could handle. But the Zhou family?
Xue Lingfu's face darkened. The Zhou clan was a power beyond Imperial reach.
"The criminal Su Yan killed Village Chief Jiang. I will take him," Zhou Yihang declared calmly.
Su Yan's limbs went heavy. Invisible force clamped his body. He couldn't move, couldn't circulate qi.
Xue Lingfu laughed like thunder. "Imperial power fades, but divine power does not! Even your Zhou ancestor would show respect before the Underworld! Su Yan broke heavenly law. He faces Underworld judgment!"
Another force locked onto Su Yan. Two titans—City God and Zhou elder—each could crush him with a thought.
"Two old fools," a voice yawned in Su Yan's skull. "Not strong, but arrogant."
Su Yan brightened. "Senior, can you kill them?"
"No. I'm too wounded."
Zhou Yihang and Xue Lingfu heard only Su Yan's lips murmur "two old fools." They turned, eyes murderous.
Su Yan blinked innocently. "I didn't mean you two..."
* * *