Even hybrid monsters have their day

What Geng Miaowan found strange was that after those people stopped, they crossed their arms in front of their chests and looked at the approaching people with a pious expression.

The women, their faces veiled in pure white gauze, carried flower baskets and scattered petals as they walked. They chanted, "Believe in my heavens, and the weather will be favorable; believe in my heavens, and you will attain immortality. The world will be at peace, people will be kind, the harvests will be plentiful, and the nation will be tranquil."

People on both sides of the street started chanting along, and so many people chanted the slogan together as if they were possessed. The scene looked very strange.

Two rows of women quickly walked past the inn's entrance, and after they left, the inn returned to normal. Geng Miaowan listened carefully to the sounds inside; most people were discussing the Yuntian Pavilion. At this time, the dishes she had ordered began to arrive.

She stopped the waiter who was serving the dishes and asked, "Waiter, I've heard everyone talking about Yuntian Pavilion choosing the Rain Sacrifice Fairy. What kind of place is Yuntian Pavilion, and what is the Rain Sacrifice Fairy?"

“Sir, you must not be from around here,” the waiter said, throwing the rag on the table over his shoulder and bowing as he saw Geng Miaowan nod in agreement. “Then you must not know, did you see those fairies who just walked by? They are from Yuntian Pavilion. Yuntian Pavilion is a great benefactor to the entire town.”

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

The waiter turned around and saw that the shopkeeper was busy calculating accounts, so he took a moment to chat with her. "This story goes back to fifteen years ago. That year, the town suffered a drought that was rare in a century. The sun blazed down for more than half a year, but not a single drop of rain fell. The rivers dried up, the fields cracked, and even crops couldn't be grown. People left or ran away, leaving behind only orphans, widows, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled. People died of thirst and hunger every day, and there were corpses everywhere."

"What then?"

"Later, one day a handsome young man came to the town, who called himself Zhang Tianshi and the head of Yuntian Pavilion. He said he had seen through the secrets of heaven and that as long as she chose a rain-offering fairy to offer to the gods, the rain god would surely send down rain. However, in order to show her sincerity to the gods, the rain-offering fairy must be pure."

The townspeople were suffering terribly from the severe drought. Upon hearing of a possible solution, they immediately gathered all the unmarried girls in town for him to choose from. After Zhang the Celestial Master selected a young and beautiful girl and left, he returned to town the next day and set up an altar in the open space at the town gate to perform a ritual. That very night, a torrential downpour began, and the townspeople believed it was a divine intervention.

From then on, Zhang Tianshi would come to our town every year to select a female rain-worshiping fairy to take away, and then return the next day to set up an altar and perform rituals for us. It was truly miraculous; since then, our town has never experienced a severe drought again. Every year the weather has been favorable, the crops have yielded bountiful harvests, and everything we planted has grown exceptionally well. Gradually, the people who had left returned, and now Shangxing Town has not only regained its vitality but is even more prosperous than before.

To express their gratitude to Zhang Tianshi, people specially built a Tianshi Temple in the south. It was very popular and believed to be very efficacious.

"Oh? Such a strange thing exists." Geng Miaowan listened, stunned. The story sounded both legendary and bizarre. "Do you know where those rain-worshipping fairies were taken? Have they ever returned?"

"I don't know about that. Master Zhang said that those people were willing to follow him in cultivation, but no one has ever seen any of them come back. Someone once asked Master Zhang about it out of doubt, but not long after, that person's house was burned down by heavenly fire for no reason. The people in town all said that the person was punished by heaven because he did not believe in Master Zhang and blasphemed the gods."

"Divine retribution?" Geng Miaowan was incredibly surprised. If it were before, she would never have believed that divine retribution existed in this world. Otherwise, why would so many bad people live well, while some good people died young, like herself in her previous life? But now, since she learned that there are six realms in the world, if there really are gods, then it's not necessarily true that there is no divine retribution.

But... would divine retribution be triggered by a single sentence from an ordinary person? That seems a bit far-fetched.

"Yes, after that incident, no one dared to question Zhang Tianshi anymore." The waiter spoke cautiously, as if afraid that Zhang Tianshi would hear him.

"Do you know where you can find Zhang Tianshi himself?"

"I really don't know about this one. That Master Zhang is like a dragon, appearing and disappearing without a trace. He only comes to our town once a year, and nobody knows where he comes from." At this moment, the shopkeeper behind the counter called out to the waiter, who quickly told her his farewell and left.

After the waiter left, Geng Miaowan ate her food while conversing with Xiaobai in her mind. What the waiter said sounded somewhat absurd to her, a 21st-century human, but she knew nothing about ancient society, and was completely ignorant of the concept of gods. She could only ask Xiaobai for clarification.

"What do you think about this? Is there a tradition of offering sacrifices to female deities to pray for rain?"

"This is the first time I've heard of the term 'Rain Sacrifice to the Goddess,' but in the human world, it's common to use living things to sacrifice to gods."

"Does this mean that people are included among these living things?" Geng Miaowan wondered.

Little White, munching on beef, said, "It's not like it's never happened before." It deeply felt that being able to communicate with consciousness was a wonderful thing, allowing it to eat and talk at the same time.

Geng Miaowan ate her food in silence for a while before concluding, "No matter what, I always feel that this Zhang Tianshi is a bit strange."

"Maybe." Xiaobai chewed the meat in his mouth with gusto.

"Do you have any substantial suggestions?" Geng Miaowan asked, dissatisfied with its casual response.

"Of course!" Little White shouted unwillingly.

"what?"

"The meat from the human realm tastes much better than that from the underworld."

Geng Miaowan was immediately annoyed and smacked it on the head as punishment, saying, "You can shut up now."

And Little White really cooperated by not saying anything more, focusing only on eating the beef in front of it.

After eating and drinking her fill, Geng Miaowan booked a room at the inn.

As soon as she entered the room, she began to cultivate on her own. During this time, she developed the habit of meditating and cultivating whenever she had free time, because she knew that her previous survival was entirely due to good luck. No one could guarantee that her good luck would continue indefinitely; only by mastering true strength could she protect herself, or at least avoid losing her life.

Now she can freely enter and exit the world of meditation. During the few days she stayed in town, she went out to gather information during the day and meditated in her room at night. She found that the effect of meditating for a night was many times better than that of sleeping for a night, and she felt particularly energetic.