Xu Ying had long since adopted a carefree attitude toward worship. Kowtowing to the green-robed deity counted as an offering in his book; incense, candles, and fruit were out of the question. He barely had enough to feed himself, let alone make offerings to a god. The other two villagers singled out by the deity, however, wore expressions of utter despair.
Jiang Lu was a man in his forties who looked closer to eighty, his face a map of deep wrinkles, his body stooped and trembling. "Divine Lord," he quavered, "this old man cannot even afford a meal. Last night I gnawed on tree bark for dinner, and the tax collectors came again demanding miscellaneous levies. I have nothing left to offer you."
The green-robed deity fixed him with a cold stare. "You pay tribute to the tax collectors but not to me? Do you consider me beneath those petty officials?"
Jiang Lu dared not respond. The deity's eyes rolled craftily. "Don't you have a daughter? Offer her to me. I shall become your son-in-law and ensure your prosperity for the rest of your days."
Jiang Lu's legs gave way beneath him. He knelt and said, "Divine Lord, when the tax collector came last night to demand payment, this old man could not pay. The collector took my daughter away, saying it would settle my debts."
The green-robed deity snorted. His fist, the size of a wine jar, came crashing down. "Didn't you have two daughters? Trying to hide one from me?" Jiang Lu was hurled across the hall, slamming into the far wall. His shattered ribs pierced through his chest, the white tips of bone jutting through torn flesh as blood bubbled from his mouth.
The villagers huddled and trembled, too terrified to protest or even speak. Xu Ying clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened but forced himself to pretend he had seen nothing. The deity radiated an overwhelming divine majesty that crushed any thought of resistance in ordinary mortals. Even Xu Ying, who had practiced the Primordial Unity Guiding Art since childhood, could only shiver before the green-robed god. His foster father and grandfather had drilled one lesson into him since childhood: common folk do not oppose officials or gods. Snake catchers risked their lives catching venomous serpents to survive. Picking fights with officials or deities was simply suicide.
Jiang Lu tried to rise but could not. The green-robed deity bellowed, "Where is your other daughter? Hand her over! Today, I shall take her as my bride. Do not test my patience!"
At that moment, Master Jiang, the wealthiest landlord of the village, stepped forward with an ingratiating smile. "Divine Lord, this humble servant knew of your interest in Jiang Lu's daughter and purchased her myself. I intended to present her to you today. Someone, bring the bride!"
The deity's heart swelled with delight. "Master Jiang, you understand how things should be done." He turned his glare upon the remaining villagers. "Those of you who brought no offerings, do you still expect my protection? Henceforth, your fields shall receive only three fingers of rain each year. Those who didn't even bring incense—not a single drop of water. You deserve to die of thirst, every last one of you! And you!"
He jabbed a finger at Jiang Lu. "I had intended to make you my father-in-law and grant you some benefits. But now your daughter is Master Jiang's tribute to me—she has nothing to do with you. You came empty-handed. Your fields shall receive no rain at all this year."
Jiang Lu sat numbly against the wall, his face drained of all color, his body wasting away before their eyes. No rain meant no harvest. Without a harvest, how could he survive? Despair consumed him utterly.
The green-robed deity roared with laughter, pulling the bride close. "Why wait for an auspicious day? Today is as good as any! The wedding chamber awaits!"
Master Jiang hurriedly added, "This very moment is the most fortunate hour!"
Xu Ying turned away in silence, following the others toward the exit. He had heard of gods taking brides before. Every village and town kept its own deity, and when times grew hard, desperate families offered their daughters in marriage to the spirits. The River Earl of the Xiao River, it was said, had taken more than a hundred wives, all tributes from the villages along his waters.
Jiang Lu rose on unsteady legs. Xu Ying moved toward him, intending to help. Their relationship had always been cordial; Xu Ying remembered clearly how, as a child newly rescued from the fire, Jiang Lu had given him a steamed bun. His grandfather had told him to call the man Uncle.
"Uncle, let me help you home," Xu Ying said.
Jiang Lu rushed toward the wall.
The sound was wet and final. Blood splashed across Xu Ying's face, warm and thick. A few drops landed in his eyes, turning his vision red and blurry. Through the crimson haze, he watched the old man's skull connect with the white wall, painting it with a sudden spray of color—like a winter plum tree blossoming in the snow.
Xu Ying's ears rang. His mind went blank.
"Uncle..."
He reached out, but all he saw was Jiang Lu's shattered head pressed against the wall, his body sliding slowly downward, tracing the thick trunk of that plum tree in blood. The old man's corpse came to rest on its knees before the wall, as if still kneeling in supplication.
Pandemonium erupted in the hall. Villagers fled in all directions, screaming. The green-robed deity, still clutching the bride who wept near senseless, said casually, "Master Jiang, have the body cleaned up and the wall repainted. Don't spoil my mood."
Master Jiang hurried to comply. He pushed Xu Ying roughly and barked, "Ah-Ying, get this corpse out of here! The Divine Lord needs the hall for his wedding!"
Xu Ying's mind buzzed. His body shook. His fists clenched so tight that his nails drew blood from his palms.
"Move!" Master Jiang shouted. "Are you going to defy the Divine Lord—"
Xu Ying's fist connected with Master Jiang's face. The landlord's features collapsed inward, his skull caving, and the back of his head burst open. His body swayed once and crumpled to the ground.
"Murder! Ah-Ying has killed someone!" The Jiang family servants fled in panic.
Xu Ying still trembled, his mind a blank void. He did not know why he had punched Master Jiang's head into pulp, did not understand the rage that had overcome all restraint. "I killed a man. I killed someone... I didn't want to..."
His hands shook. The blood on his face had not yet dried. He raised his head slowly, trembling, and realized that Master Jiang was not the one he had wanted to kill. His gaze settled on the green-robed deity. The god—he was the one Xu Ying truly wanted to destroy.
"But I don't know why my hand wouldn't listen," Xu Ying growled, panting like a wounded beast, addressing the corpse at his feet. "You were too loud. Stop talking. Stop pushing me... I told you to stop pushing me! Fine—I'll kill him right now!"
Master Jiang's head had already exploded, and the dead could not speak. Yet Xu Ying's mind still rang with chaotic noise, urging him forward, demanding that he kill the deity standing before him.
The green-robed deity's pupils contracted as he stared at Xu Ying. Something had vanished from the boy's eyes—the familiar, comfortable fear that every mortal should feel when gazing upon a god. That fear had been the natural order of things, the terror of an insect before a giant. Now it was gone. In its place blazed something far more dangerous: the will to commit deicide. Raw, undisguised murderous intent.
More terrifying still, the deity realized that he was afraid of that gaze.
"Insolence!" he roared, hurling aside the bride. His jar-sized fist came crashing down. "What kind of look is that?"
Xu Ying crossed both forearms before him to block. The impact felt like being struck by a bull weighing several thousand pounds. He flew backward, crashing through the hall's wall and tumbling into the street outside. The green-robed deity strode through the broken wall, sneering. "Mortals can only accept the fate the gods assign them. There is no room for resistance. Xu Ying, I see the profane thoughts in your eyes. I shall purify your sins!"
Xu Ying landed on his feet, skidding backward more than ten feet before stabilizing. He shook his hands loose and looked up, his expression strange. "You're not as strong as I thought."
"What?"
Fury consumed the deity. He swept out a massive leg, thick as a pillar, the wind howling around it. "A mere mortal dares question divine might? You shall be cast into the Hell of Tongue-Rending!"
His voice boomed with authority, as if this single kick could send Xu Ying straight to damnation. Xu Ying exploded into motion, channeling every ounce of his blood and qi into a single punch. The diagrams from the Elephant-Force Ox-Demon Fist scripture flooded his mind unbidden—the circulation pathways, the qi meridians—and he followed them without conscious thought. His blood and qi surged at a frenzied pace, vibrating through his organs, muscles, and sinews. A clarion elephant cry burst from his chest, deafening.
His right arm swelled grotesquely, his fist expanding, the force of his punch tearing the air with a sharp whistle. Elephant-Force Ox-Demon Fist, First Form: Horn-Power Splits the Mountain. His fist punched clean through the deity's right leg.
At the same moment, a series of explosive cracks rippled through Xu Ying's body—the sound of his blood and qi breaching barriers within. Seven years of cultivation, seven years of solitary practice of the Primordial Unity Guiding Art without any martial foundation, had stored an immense reservoir of power. Now, for the first time, he had an outlet. Seven years of sharpening a blade, untested until this very moment.
Back at Xu Ying's house, the snake demon had finally reconnected all its dislocated bones and was slithering toward the village outskirts when it heard a strange series of explosive pops. It turned to look and froze. "He's breaking through the second, third, fourth level of the Elephant-Force Ox-Demon Fist—all in a single instant! Is that boy human or demon? How can he advance so fast?"
Before the thought had even finished forming, an elephant's trumpet rang out from Xu Ying's chest, deep and resonant, rattling every window frame across all sixty-seven households of Jiangji Village. The water in basins, vats, ditches, and ponds rippled with concentric waves. Then came the breakthrough to the fifth level. The snake demon could see blood-colored mist seeping from Xu Ying's pores, coalescing behind him into a spectral form—a translucent figure with an elephant's head atop a human body, a full foot and a half taller than the boy himself. This was the Elephant God Manifestation, the hallmark of the fifth level.
The art had seven levels in total: the first unified blood and qi throughout the body; the second doubled the flow; the third extended force beyond the body; the fourth granted the strength of a divine elephant; the fifth manifested the Elephant God projection; the sixth condensed the blood-mist body; and the seventh forged the Elephant King Divine Physique. Any demon who reached the seventh level could claim the title of Demon King and be appointed a mountain god or river lord. The fifth level already qualified one as a Great Demon. Yet Xu Ying was unmistakably human.
Xu Ying moved without thought, executing the second form: White Elephant Swings Its Trunk. He pivoted, his right leg cutting through the air like a whip. The phantom elephant-headed god behind him matched the motion, its leg overlapping his own. The strike cracked against the deity's waist, bending him nearly double. The green-robed god stumbled backward, ripped a section of wall from the ground, and raised it high to crush Xu Ying like a fly. The boy punched straight through the wall, sending bricks flying into the god's face. One hand shielding his eyes, the deity threw a desperate punch, but Xu Ying met it squarely. The god's arm snapped.
Fear overtook the deity as their eyes met once more. He was terrified—the terror of a mortal before a god—except the roles had reversed. Xu Ying had become the arbiter of life and death. The deity flailed, dodging desperately, unable to escape. He saw Xu Ying's fist growing larger and larger in his vision and screamed, "I am a deity appointed by the City God! My name is recorded in both the Yin Court and the Imperial Court! If you kill me, you violate the laws of Heaven—"
The word "Heaven" never fully left his lips. Xu Ying's fist drove through his face and out the back of his skull. The green-robed deity stood frozen for a heartbeat, then toppled forward. His divine essence dispersed. Where a god had been, now there was only a shattered wooden statue.
Not far away, the snake demon stared with its mouth gaping wide and let out a piercing scream.