My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

"And the pill I took just now is my Maoshan secret medicine, called Leopard Embryo Yijing Pills, a poison that can rupture your intestines and stomach."

"But you can rest assured. Although this medicine is poisonous, it is a chronic poison. If you can take the antidote regularly, your life will be safe. I advise you not to play any tricks!"

When the snake demon heard that it was indeed poison, he immediately sent a voice message with a tearful voice to beg, "Masters, please spare my life. I really have never harmed anyone. I will go far away into the mountains and never come out again. Please spare me this time!"

"Why are you so anxious? I'm just worried that you won't lead us to find the lotus and will disappear without a trace after entering the river, so I resorted to this desperate measure."

"But you can rest assured. When we find the purple lotus, not only will we give you the antidote, but we will also notify the surrounding villages and ask them to build a river god temple for you. I will then ensure that you will have food and drink and that there will be constant incense offerings!"

Since the snake demon had come to this point, there was nothing that could be done to save the situation. Fortunately, he no longer begged for mercy, but just lowered his head listlessly.

Uncle Jiu saw that Jiang Li was lying again, so he pulled Jiang Li aside and said, "Why are you lying again? I have told you so many times that I, a Taoist priest from Maoshan, cannot lie!"

Jiang Li was stunned, "When did I lie? Wasn't I lying to the demon?

Uncle Jiu was choked by these words and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Master, don't worry. I'm just worried that it will run away after entering the water, so I resorted to this desperate measure. This is also for the sake of finding the Seven-Star Purple Lotus. Please bear with me, Master."

Uncle Jiu sighed when he heard this, but finally agreed.

After persuading Uncle Jiu, Jiang Li asked the black snake to spit out what it had eaten. Although the snake demon was reluctant, it had no choice but to do so in the end.

After spitting out the food containing anesthetics, it pitifully sent a message to Jiang Li, "Mr. County Governor, I am hungry. Can you give me something to eat?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Li asked Asan to ask the villagers if anyone had some livestock or meat so that they could buy some for emergency use. However, after asking, he found out that the villagers' food had almost been robbed, so how could they have meat or livestock?

In the end he could only report truthfully. Jiang Li frowned when he heard it, but then he looked at the shriveled belly of the big black snake.

Finally, he took out a few grenades from his storage bag and gave them to Ah San. "Find a villager to lead the way and blow up some fish. It's a good opportunity for us to try out the taste of the fish in the Qingshui River!"

Upon hearing this, Asan took the grenade, called a villager and a few soldiers, and left.

Jiang Li came to the other villagers and explained to them what happened today.

"My fellow villagers, I am the new county magistrate of Qinghe County. I heard that there seemed to be a demon in Qingshui Village, so I brought people here to get rid of it. Now the snake demon has been subdued, so you don't have to worry about it anymore!"

The villagers immediately broke into a commotion upon hearing this. This was not entirely because of Jiang Li's identity, but mainly because they were surprised that he said the Black Water Dragon King was a monster.

You know, they in Qingshui Village have been worshipping the Black Water Dragon King for thirty or forty years. If someone suddenly said today that the Dragon King is a monster, they would never accept it.

So they started to argue, and the village elder even asked, "Mr. County Governor, you may not know that we in Qingshui River have been worshipping the Black Water Dragon King for thirty-seven years."

"Lord Dragon King has protected this village for decades. How could it be a monster? Please don't make a mistake or you will wrongly accuse the great God!"

Seeing that they didn't believe him, Jiang Li immediately held out his hand and invited Uncle Jiu to come out. "Look everyone, this is my master, the Maoshan master, Taoist Lin Jiu. You should have seen him cast a spell before. You should believe what he said, right?"

Uncle Jiu saw this and said loudly, "Listen to me, fellow villagers. This big black snake is indeed not a river god. A legitimate river god needs to be recognized by heaven and earth, or be canonized by the dynasty. It has neither of these two things now."

"If you sincerely want to worship it, why not wait for some time, set up an altar and pray to God to show it as the river god, then it will have the power to repay the believers, what do you think?"

Everyone was still a little hesitant after hearing this, but Jiang Li said, "You are all followers of the Black Water Dragon King. You don't want it to be without a deity and fail to achieve its goal, right?"

"But we have just caused a war, and we really have no money or food to offer as tribute to God!" the village elder complained with a bitter face.

"That's fine. I'll send people to visit several nearby villages and talk to them. If it turns out that it really doesn't harm anyone, I'll pay for the sacrifices and even build a river temple for it."

"Everyone, go away now. My men will come back from fishing soon. Let's eat this fish and then we'll leave. Just go home and wait for news!"

After hearing what Jiang Li said, the villagers slowly dispersed, and at this time, an explosion was heard in the distance, which was very timely.

Then came the second, third, and fourth sounds. Twenty minutes later, each of them came back carrying a bunch of fish of different sizes.

In Asan's hands, there were two wild ducks. They looked intact. It seemed that they were killed by the grenade when they were frightened and dived to escape.

Jiang Li looked at the strings of fish, picked out two slightly larger ones, and threw the rest onto the altar. "These fish weigh about 50 to 60 kilograms. You can eat them first. When we find the purple lotus, I'll go back to town and buy you some pigs and sheep so you can have enough to eat."

Then he put the wild duck and the fish into the storage bag, and watched it eat the fish.

The snake demon looked at the small amount of fish and thought it was not enough to fill its teeth. However, it was so hungry that it did not care and swallowed the whole thing in two or three gulps.

He spit out his tongue with a feeling of unfulfilled desire, "Hey, Mr. County Magistrate, you see the pigs and sheep are already dead, why don't you let me eat them so they won't be wasted!"

"Eat if you want!"

"But let me be frank first. I poisoned them in order to catch you. I will not be responsible if anything bad happens to you after eating them!"

"What, they were poisoned?" The snake demon widened his eyes in disbelief.

Jiang Li ignored him and said disdainfully, "Why do you think they are alive but motionless?"

Then he called Ah San and asked them to carry the pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks outside the village and bury them. Then he followed the snake demon, who kept looking back every few steps, and walked upstream along the river.

After walking for two hours, they finally arrived at the source of the river, which turned out to be a spring with clear water flowing out.

The area nearby was full of traces of being crushed by the snake demon, but in a small stream where the spring water flowed, there grew seven lotus roots that were completely purple-red and had stems only about one meter long.

As soon as Uncle Jiu saw the purple lotus root, he immediately shouted excitedly, "It is indeed the Seven-Star Purple Lotus. I never thought that I, Lin Jiu, would be able to see a real elixir in my lifetime. It is really worth my life!"