Chapter 326: Moon Goddess

Oh, this fish has roe in its belly. Roast it over a fire, and it'll be deliciously crispy!

He expressed his disgust through his actions. Dong Rui was furious, but helpless. After the meal, he found some grass leaves and wove himself a mask, finally covering the lower half of his face.

Just as the two finished eating, Matron Zhu arrived.

He Lingchuan held up the leftover fish and asked her, "Do you want to try my cooking?"

Matron Zhu refused. It liked to suck on jelly and could eat raw meat, but hated any cooked food. "Follow me once you're done eating; I'll find a place for your experiment."

Dong Rui pointed to the dilapidated house behind the long beach. "Isn't this place suitable?"

"If there's another flood, this place will be submerged," Matron Zhu said. "You've already been underwater for a bit; that city was originally above the water level."

The two could only follow her, and Dong Rui couldn't help but ask, "Where exactly are we?"

"This is the Demonic Lair Swamp, a no man's land on the border between Beijia and Fu Nations, but it doesn't belong to either country."

The two exchanged glances, and He Lingchuan let out a sound of surprise. "Isn't that to the east of Beijia?"

He had slept for hundreds of miles?! The Han River water had actually carried him all the way here.

He Lingchuan tentatively asked, "Weren't you originally living in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest? How did you end up moving thousands of miles away to the Demonic Lair Swamp?"

Matron Zhu snorted. "Back then, when Baling Nation and Panlong City were at war, they brought the fighting to my territory. I couldn't stand it, so I intervened and killed Panlong City's general. Afterward, Panlong City kept bothering me; I truly couldn't bear the constant harassment, so I had no choice but to move."

Upon hearing this, He Lingchuan suddenly realized something.

That's right. In reality, Matron Zhu had killed General Nan Ke of Panlong City and would certainly not be tolerated by General Hong. Once Panlong City won the Battle of Weicheng, they would turn their attention to her. Matron Zhu's forced relocation was also reasonable, and perhaps she suffered some unmentioned losses along the way, as she didn't elaborate on it. This was completely different from the sequence of events in the dream. In the dream from the Great Square Pot, because He Lingchuan timely destroyed its underground nest farm, Matron Zhu rushed back to her lair, allowing General Nan Ke to escape. Consequently, Panlong City didn't form a deep grudge against her, and afterward, General Hong merely showed her some 'muscle,' and their previous agreement was restored. Matron Zhu didn't need to move.

From now on, would the dream and real history diverge more and more?

"I lived in Beijia Nation for a while, but found it uninteresting, so I went straight down the Han River and finally settled here." An ancient demon like her, after so many years, actually found the modern demon nations' way of life unfamiliar.

He Lingchuan then asked about the origin of the underwater city, "Did the residents leave because the water level rose?"

"It's not that simple," Matron Zhu slowly recounted. "This was originally the territory of the Gana tribe. They lived in seclusion, and at their peak, they supposedly numbered over a hundred thousand people. Many strong individuals emerged, and even miracles occurred. It's said they also guarded a treasure bestowed by a deity. Later, demonic creatures descended from the sky and killed them all. Decades later, the swamp's water level rose and submerged their former homes."

She was leading the two away from the abandoned town, but as they passed the tallest building, He Lingchuan looked through the open doorway and saw the statue inside.

The statue was carved from a single block of granite, standing over three zhang tall. Finding such a large, perfectly shaped boulder in a swamp was difficult, and transporting it was even harder. There were no trees blocking the front of the building, and a ray of sunlight shone through, illuminating the statue.

It turned out that the building located at the highest point of the entire city was a temple. He Lingchuan let out a long 'oh,' stumbled a step, and walked inside.

The interior of this exotic-style temple was spacious. After more than a hundred years of wind and water erosion, although overgrown with moss, most of the white stone floor tiles were still flat and intact. Stepping on them produced clear, resonant sounds, like chimes, and echoes reverberated throughout. The offering table had long since rotted away, but only a small area of ground in front of the statue was depressed, evidently from years of devout worshippers kowtowing. He Lingchuan stood there, gazing up at the statue.

This was a goddess, with kind eyebrows and eyes, a compassionate expression, and her gaze slightly lowered, looking towards her worshippers. In her hand, she held a precious pot, a flood dragon soared beside her, and beneath her feet, she trod upon evil spirits.

Although covered in vines, its former majesty was diminished.

He Lingchuan stared intently, his eyes filled with shock.

Matron Zhu and Dong Rui also entered. "What's wrong?"

"Is this the deity worshipped by the Gana tribe?"

"That's right, they worshipped the Moon Goddess," Matron Zhu slowly said. "This is the Moon Goddess the Gana had devoutly worshipped for generations, but unfortunately, she couldn't protect them from the demonic creatures that hunted them."

Moon Goddess? He Lingchuan was momentarily confused. This was clearly Mitian!

The celestial deity worshipped by all of Panlong City, Lady Mitian.

Having entered and exited the dream so many times, he had naturally been to the Mitian Temple. The Mitian deity worshipped there had a slightly different appearance and demeanor than this one, but he would absolutely not mistake it. Moreover, he had just seen this face in his dream earlier.

General Hong!

Although General Hong's face was cold and indifferent, this goddess statue displayed a compassionate expression, yet their facial features were at least seventy percent similar, especially those distinctive tea-colored phoenix eyes.

Separated by thousands of miles, Panlong City's guardian deity actually once had worshippers deep within the Demonic Lair Swamp, and even went by a different name.

He could only ask Matron Zhu, "How much do you know about this Moon Goddess?"

"How would I know?" Matron Zhu tapped the ground. "This place was already deserted when I arrived."

Dong Rui also asked, curious, "Then how do you know the Gana tribe was exterminated by demonic creatures?"

"Strictly speaking, they weren't completely exterminated. Some of their descendants escaped and settled on the edge of the Demonic Lair Swamp." Matron Zhu's claw stroked her plump belly. "Before I eat my prey, I always like to chat with them and hear some interesting stories."

Again, life in the swamp was too boring; it was a great demon that loved listening to stories.

He Lingchuan, Dong Rui: "..."

They definitely needed to escape as soon as possible.

He Lingchuan's heart stirred. "Then, do you know what year the Gana tribe was exterminated?"

Matron Zhu stood still, calculating mentally. After a long moment, she said, "Hmm, if the Gana's descendants didn't misremember, it should be one hundred seventy-four, no... one hundred seventy-two years ago today."

One hundred seventy-two years ago from now? Wasn't that the 17th year of the Panlong Calendar?

That was about one or two years after the Red Peak Mine Incident.

While Panlong City, protected by Mitian, flourished, the Gana people who worshipped her were almost exterminated. Given how close in time these events were, what was the connection between them?

"Have you ever seen the Mitian statue worshipped in Panlong City back then?"

"Of course not," Matron Zhu was displeased. "Do you think I could just walk into Panlong City like this? Why, is there a connection between the two?"

"They're too similar." He Lingchuan answered casually, but to his surprise, Matron Zhu responded even more casually: "What's strange about that? Many deities have more than one image and more than one title in the human world."

So that's how it is?

The two men and one spider left the Gana tribe ruins and entered the dense jungle.

After traveling several more miles, the terrain gradually rose, forcing the two to climb halfway up a mountain. Ahead, a large section of ground had collapsed, revealing an irregular sinkhole, about ten zhang in diameter at its widest point, and very deep. The rock walls were covered with calamus and small trees.

Matron Zhu pointed to the sinkhole and said, "Here we are."

He Lingchuan looked around, seeing shadowy figures of spiders swaying in the woods, and immediately knew Matron Zhu didn't trust them at all. In the territory of the cave spiders, even eels had to obediently pay tribute to them. The two of them would find it impossible to escape unless they grew wings.

At this moment, even He Lingchuan couldn't help but think of the advantages of Dong Rui's strange bird.

Dong Rui was also looking up at the sky, wondering if he felt the same way.

Just then, Matron Zhu raised her front claw and suddenly pushed them into the sinkhole—

Its movement was extremely fast, and coming from behind, even He Lingchuan couldn't dodge it. With a 'plop', Dong Rui fell into the water, while He Lingchuan flipped in mid-air and leaped onto a small tree at the edge of the cliff.

The water in the sinkhole was very clear, but bottomless. Dong Rui was splashing in the water. Matron Zhu's figure stood at the edge of the sinkhole. "My children will lead you to the laboratory; everything you need is there, just tell them if you require anything. Although the terrain down here is complex, there's only one exit. I advise you not to try any tricks, otherwise, you'll watch yourselves be drained dry, little by little!"

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui exchanged glances, both shivering.

Indeed, there was a passage by the water, leading deep into the mountain's interior. The entrance was guarded by over a dozen spiders. As Dong Rui waded through the water, He Lingchuan also leaped to the cave entrance, keeping himself dry.

As the two walked in, two small spiders led the way.

Dong Rui spat out the water from his mouth. "Sure enough, it doesn't trust us. Hey, do you still have that red potion you stole from me?"

He asked twice, but He Lingchuan didn't reply, only looking left and right.

The sinkhole wasn't isolated; it connected to a karst cave, and after a short walk, there would be forks. However, the small spiders seemed very familiar with the place, leading the way without hesitation.

"Hey, you..." Dong Rui muttered, "It's just an ordinary cave, what's there to see?"

The crevices in the rock walls were filled with soft grass and fungi, and the sound of water could often be heard flowing downwards, all eventually converging into the sinkhole.

He Lingchuan suddenly spoke, "Something's strange here."

They had been thrown into the sinkhole by a spider demon. Dong Rui retorted testily, "What isn't strange?"

The cave received no daylight. Fortunately, the cave spiders had transplanted bioluminescent spores here, acting as streetlights, so the passage was quite bright.

"Feel this stone wall."

Dong Rui reached out and felt the cave wall. It wasn't very hard, as if covered by a thin, soft skin, and its color leaned towards a slight reddish-brown. Was there moss growing on the wall? He looked closely; there wasn't. Instead, there were traces everywhere on the rock where vines had once grown.

"Strange, is there such a type of stone?"

He Lingchuan, meanwhile, was busy concealing his shock and had no time to respond.

The leading small spiders made a few turns and led the two to a stone chamber. "We're here."

Several spider demons guarded the place, so it retreated.