Chapter 46: The Demon Who Dared Impersonate the Dragon King

Shen Shi remained silent, still observing the source of the demonic aura. Yet, his eyes, attuned to sensing qi, could not pierce the surface of the water to see what lay beneath; after all, these were not eyes of true vision. To see through the river and discern the demon below was no simple matter.

Moreover...

“Ah…” The faux scholar, Cao Jinhua, shrieked in fright once more and, forgetting all propriety between man and woman, clung to Shen Shi, burrowing into his embrace.

Her maid, too, cared nothing for appearances, and had unconsciously hidden herself behind Shen Shi.

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen,” Shen Shi withdrew his gaze from the water’s surface, offering words of comfort. He frowned slightly, but showed little fear.

“Shen Shi, aren’t you going to apologize and appease the river’s spirits? If the boat capsizes, we’ll all be in peril,” the Qian brothers, perhaps out of habit from bullying the former Shen Shi, immediately tried to push the blame onto him at the first sign of trouble.

“That’s right. While the wise avoid speaking of ghosts and gods, we must still maintain reverence toward them. Shen, you should apologize to the spirits in the river,” another scholar urged, echoing the brothers.

It’s easy to dismiss talk of supernatural things—until calamity befalls oneself. To hold fast to such skepticism in the face of true danger is rare, and perhaps, on this boat, no one truly could.

Shen Shi was about to speak when, all at once, the pleasure boat began to move on its own, though no one was rowing.

“The boat… it’s moving!” cried the boatman, most familiar with its ways.

At the stern, water churned and frothed as if the wooden vessel had sprouted an engine; the entire boat sped across the river at a pace no human hand could match.

All eyes widened in disbelief. A boat with neither oars nor sail, gliding of its own accord—what sorcery was this? Such an event shattered their understanding of the world.

Shen Shi, however, smiled. “My friends, it seems the demon in the river is quite reasonable—so obliging as to let us pass and see us safely away.”

A self-propelled boat—what was there to be surprised about? In later times, machines would replace labor in countless ways; he had seen too much to be fazed now.

As for the demon in the river…

He had already encountered a wolf demon on the mountain, and a fox demon he had chanced upon. He had been astonished enough by those. Even the reincarnation of a celestial star lord and the transformation of fate into immortality he had witnessed. What was there to fear from a water demon?

But the others were not Shen Shi. They did not possess his breadth of experience. The events of this day alone were enough to shake their faith in all matters supernatural.

Even Bao Feiqiu, ever unlucky, sensed the strangeness of the situation. Such things were his specialty, yet this time, it was a demon, not a ghost, and the rules were different—the demon had no reason to fear him.

“Brother, is there really a demon beneath us?” Kong Xueli, being a friend, dared to ask directly what others would not.

Shen Shi replied, “Yes. That’s what I perceive.”

“What? You saw it?” Kong Xueli exclaimed.

“No, not as you think. I saw its aura. You know, I’m a practitioner of the Dao.”

With that, Shen Shi revealed his true identity.

Since he had awakened his intelligence, he had sensed that, though the Great Song was an era of declining magic, there remained a sliver of hope for those who sought the immortal path. The sudden appearance of so many cultivators in the Song was proof enough.

Indeed, since he began to spread word of cultivation, he felt his fortune accumulating, making advancement far easier. It seemed that fate itself provided this era’s cultivators a glimmer of hope, easing their path.

“So, it’s true… Cultivation really exists?” Kong Xueli’s fascination was immediate—already a devotee of tales of immortals, he became a true believer on the spot.

Cao Jinhua, pressed close in Shen Shi’s arms, did not fully grasp their conversation, but she was now certain this was no ordinary scholar—one who could see demonic auras could not be common. Who would have thought there were so many cultivators in Jinhua?

She did not yet realize that Shen Shi was the very alchemist she sought, the one who crafted chamber pots. She believed she had merely chanced upon a second cultivator upon her arrival.

The pleasure boat drifted on, unmanned. At first, everyone was astounded—such a vessel was unheard of in this age. Yet, no matter how bizarre, with time, even the strangest occurrences lose their power to shock. After all, aside from moving itself, the boat did nothing more, and human adaptability is boundless.

But as they neared the river’s center, approaching the opposite shore, the boat began to slow, eventually coming to a gradual halt.

“What’s going on? The boat was fine before—why has it stopped now?” All aboard noticed the change.

They looked about curiously, hoping to find a cause. Yet no one dared approach the water’s edge, especially after someone had already fallen in and with talk of demons below; no one wished to risk another plunge.

“Look, everyone! There’s an enormous blue carp in the river!” someone suddenly cried, spotting a strange sight—a great fish moving in the waters.

Shen Shi followed the call, eyes narrowing in focus, and was instantly stunned.

There was demonic qi!

Beneath the water, it was no carp at all—in Shen Shi’s eyes, it was clearly a fox. Its tail stretched long, limbs paddling, a fox swimming beneath the surface.

The fox demon revealed itself, and before Shen Shi’s eyes, words appeared: “Azure Hills Water Fox, aligned to water in the five elements. Skilled in yin and yang, master of transformation, lives on land and thrives in water.”

What a marvel. Demons and spirits truly defied all reason.

“What a giant fish!” the scholars exclaimed.

“Incredible! I never imagined a fish could grow so large. It must be centuries old!”

To these scholars, ignorant of the supernatural, it was but a fish. They could not see the water fox’s true form—their mortal eyes could not pierce the veil.

Shen Shi saw the truth, but did not speak it. Even he found the sight of a fox beneath the river difficult to accept; how could these scholars handle such a revelation?

“It’s the Dragon King come forth!” the boatman cried with fervent devotion, falling to his knees at the prow and kowtowing to the distant fish.

The Dragon King?

What had become of this world? Could demons now impersonate the Dragon King? Was there truly a demon advisor at the Song court, masquerading as the Buddha himself?

The water fox, still in the guise of a giant carp, revealed its form and swam downstream. As it was about to vanish from sight, it deliberately flicked its enormous tail, slapping the river’s surface with force.

A thunderous crash followed.

Instantly, a massive wave, over thirty feet high and like a collapsing tower, surged toward the pleasure boat…