Chapter 1677: Outing, Praying for Rain, Wutong God
After seeing off the town mayor Liu Quan, Su Mingzhe simply closed the temple door in order to avoid being disturbed again, and took his woman into the mountains for an outing.

Ruyan wanted to pack up her belongings with Ping'er, but was stopped by Su Mingzhe:

"I have everything here, let's just go!"

The maid Ping'er was lively and cunning. After walking a few steps out of the temple gate, she couldn't help but ask:
"Sir, did you really not go to pray for rain because you looked at the almanac?"

"You're the only smart girl!"

Su Mingzhe rolled his eyes at the girl, let go of her little hand, and began to concentrate on walking forward while holding Ruyan.

Seeing this, Liu Ruyan smiled faintly and asked:
"My dear, have you discovered anything?"

"It's nothing."

Su Mingzhe knew that Liu Ruyan was very smart and could not hide ordinary things from her, so he simply told her the reason:
"If it's just a simple prayer for rain, with my ability, there will be no problem at all! But the problem is that the water vapor within a hundred miles is controlled by someone. If I want to draw water for rain, I have to draw water from the Yangtze River. It will cause too much noise and the loss will outweigh the gain..."

"Husband, what you mean is... someone is controlling the water vapor?"

Liu Ruyan was immediately shocked:
"Who wants to control water vapor? Isn't he afraid of delaying the farming season, harming innocent people, and being punished by God?"

"I don't know the origins of those monsters either, but when I checked the water conditions yesterday, I found that the people who controlled the water vapor not only had monster auras, but also Buddha's shadows!"

After Su Mingzhe finished speaking, he sighed and said no more.

After hearing the word "Fo Yin", Liu Ruyan and her servant did not dare to speak.

Although the old emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty likes Taoism, Buddhism and Taoism are still evenly matched in various provinces and cities.

The reason why Taoism, with the support of the old emperor, could only share the world with Buddhism was because Taoism's power was very dispersed, and although Buddhism also had several sects, they were relatively united.

Sometimes, when two sects compete for incense, all Buddhist sects will gather together to support them.

This results in the Buddhist forces often crushing the Taoist forces at the local level.

However, Su Mingzhe considered himself to be "still a shallow cultivator" and did not want to get involved in the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism, so he was unwilling to show up for the rain-praying ceremony led by the county magistrate today.

Liu Ruyan came from a family of officials. She had heard from her father about the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism, so she could understand the man's behavior.

……

Town mayor Liu Quan was driven out of the temple by Su Mingzhe. After pondering for a moment, he could only stomp his feet and walk towards the county town.

An hour later.

Shuizhu County, the rain-praying platform.

When Liu Quan saw the county magistrate in front of the rain-praying platform, he repeated Su Mingzhe's words in a slightly more tactful tone.

"Is everything wrong today?"

Shuizhu County Magistrate Zhao Yi, who is thirty-five this year, was a Jinshi last year and came to Shuizhu County to take office at the beginning of this year. After hearing Su Mingzhe's reasons, he pulled out several hairs from his right hand that was stroking his beard, causing him to frown in pain.

"Master Su, do you have anything else to say?"

"Gone."

Liu Quan just kept asking Su Mingzhe for 'leave' and didn't dare to say anything nonsense.

"I see."

When Zhao Yi heard that the strongest magician in the county could not be present, he was immediately upset, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Now, the old emperor worships Taoism, and he, a newly appointed county magistrate, does not dare to cause trouble to a great wizard over such a trivial matter.

After all, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi when he was in his thirties.

When I was young, the courage and determination to speak up for the people was exhausted after failing the imperial examinations several times.

What's more, Su Mingzhe also used the "Almanac" as an excuse.

You should know that the "Almanac" was promulgated by the Imperial Academy of the imperial court.

It's written in the almanac that today is not a good day for anything.

As a Taoist priest, Su Mingzhe did things according to the Yellow Calendar and there was nothing wrong with that.

……

Although it has not rained in Shuizhu County for more than a month, the water veins in the deep mountains are still flowing.

The mountain spring water flows like the sound of clear bells.

Liu Ruyan took the spring water handed to her by the maid and took a sip. It was cool and sweet.

Su Mingzhe also took a sip and said excitedly:
"Madam, the spring water here is clear. How about we go swimming here tonight?" "No."

Although Liu Ruyan is well-behaved and docile, she also has her own opinions.

Like the man said about night swimming, you know what it means as soon as you hear it.

If another man came in when they were making love, she would not be able to survive.

"Uncle, I'll go swimming with you at night!"

The maid Ping'er didn't care about that.

She was born in a poor family and when she was a child she often followed her father and brothers to the river to catch fish and shrimp.

Now that she can regain the joy of her childhood, she is naturally fearless.

Liu Ruyan glanced at her maid and said no more.

Until noon.

Su Mingzhe took out kitchen items such as pots, pans, and spoons from the storage talisman.

Liu Ruyan and Ping'er started to make lunch.

After lunch, the smoke from the cooking stove was extinguished.

Su Mingzhe hugged the two girls and came to rest under the shade of a tree.

Just as Su Mingzhe pushed Liu Ruyan down and was about to have fun, a gentle cool breeze blew. Liu Ruyan felt a chill and quickly closed her loosened collar.

Su Mingzhe looked up to see where the cool breeze came from, and saw that a few ghost spirits were fighting with a demon who controlled water vapor a hundred miles away.

These cool breezes were brought by those ghost spirits.

Unfortunately, those monsters had been prepared for this, and they attacked without intending to, so the ghosts didn't hold out for long before they began to retreat.

……

"Husband, it looks like it's going to rain today, how about we go back?"

Since the beginning of summer, Liu Ruyan liked to wear a green robe to cover her slender body. When the cool breeze blew, she actually felt a little chilly.

"Don't be afraid, the wind will stop soon and it won't rain!"

Su Mingzhe no longer cared about the battle between the ghost spirits and the monsters, and began to concentrate on torturing Emperor Ruyan.

Emperor Ruyan had a graceful, sweet face. Her long, tied-up hair and the love threads on her temples could not hide her stunning beauty. Her thin willow-shaped eyebrows were slightly wrinkled at this moment, showing three parts of resistance, three parts of stubbornness, and four parts of fear.

"Miss, don't be afraid, we have an umbrella with us."

Ping'er next to her sometimes persuaded the man to be gentle to her lady, and sometimes helped the man to remove the restraints on her lady.

It didn't take a while.

The cool breeze really stopped.

Seeing that the man's judgment was correct, Liu Ruyan sighed imperceptibly in her heart, and then began to respond to the man shyly.

……

Shuizhu County, rain-praying platform.

County Magistrate Zhao Yi saw that the cool breeze had only been blowing for less than a quarter of an hour before it stopped, and he immediately said in panic:

"Master, why did the wind stop?"

"Your Excellency, there are monsters causing trouble in these places!"

Taoist Master Qingxu, who was born in Baiyun Temple in the provincial capital and now lives in Nanshan Temple in Shuizhu County, called back the ghosts he had sent out to carry water vapor to all directions. Naturally, he learned the cause of the local drought and guessed that Buddhism was behind it.

However, since both Buddhism and Taoism were not clean, he couldn't curse Buddhism, so he could only say "it was the devil's mischief" to brush the matter off.

"A demon is causing trouble?"

Zhao Yi felt uneasy when he heard this:
"This county has been peaceful for a long time. Where did this monster come from?"

Seeing the county magistrate asking questions, Qingxu could only continue to deceive:
"I just used my magical eyes to observe, and that monster seems to be a five-powered god that came from the south!"

Wutongshen is an evil god often worshipped by people in the south of the Yangtze River. He is essentially a mountain spirit or a water monster.

When Zhao Yi heard that it was the Wutong God who was causing trouble, he felt even worse.