Chapter 132 Goddess of Grains (1/2)

Even though Daoist Sanguang had practiced martial arts and still had some breathing techniques that he picked up from a young age, but he could not defend himself as he was starving. His entire body ached while he suffered from the cold and hunger. He even felt that he had nowhere to go in this vast word.

The moon rose over the tip of the tree branch. The north wind blew, the ground was chilled. Daoist Sanguang, who was initially unconscious, regained consciousness. There was no one on the street at this hour because it was getting dark and everyone had returned home.

Daoist Sanguang was in a haze. He remembered about the daoist temple, that was his home. He stumbled back.

Yuguan had mountains on its three sides with one side facing a river. The daoist temple was around the river area. The river was also called Yushui..

Since the beginning of time, the Yushui River had seven bypasses and eight curves. The daoist temple was erected on an escarpment that had been alluviated on the sandbars. It was independent of the world around it, it was indifferent and distant. There were hundreds of acres of fertile farmland laying in the far flood lands. It was also Daoist Sanguang’s ancestral property.

The sky did not have many stars and the moon was dim. The light from the daoist temple was as small as a pea.

Daoist Sanguang saw the light and a warm feeling welled up in him. He did not know where this strength came from and he forced himself to enter the daoist temple quickly. There was a statue being enshrined and worshiped in the main hall of the daoist temple. Its entire body was bronze black but it was also lifelike. It was a gentle looking woman holding a strand of paddy grain.

Daoist Sanguang recalled that there was no statue being enshrined before, only with the memorial tablet of the daoist master being erected. Could this statue be one of the new deity being worshiped after Master Shuo had bought this temple?

Looking at the hand holding the strand of paddy grain, it was probably mainly for a plentiful harvest of the five grains, good weather, for the people to have abundance and live in peace.

The paddy grain was not real, it was man made, made from the similar material as the statue. Underneath the statue were steam buns as offerings. Daoist Sanguang saw this and his hunger was getting rampant.

The fragrance of the steam buns was enticing, as though it was still steaming under the lights. Daoist Sanguang was about to reach out and grab for it. Half way through, his hand fell as he thought to himself, ”Qi Sanguang, even when you are a prodigal and an old gambler, you have never stolen or snatch anything, why would you throw away your last bit of good conscience for a bite of food?”

But a voice replied inside him, ”This food is an offering for the deity. If the deity is benevolent, the deity would not mind you stealing the steam buns.”

With that thought, the scale inside him tipped to another side.

The two thoughts flipped here and there and finally Daoist Sanguang could not stand the hunger and cold anymore. He reached out and put the steam buns into his mouth. Once he had finished eating, guilt began to fill him. He kowtowed to the statue and repended, ”I do not know who you are, lady. I will repay you in the future for eating your offerings today.”

Suddenly, a voice slowly answered, ”Will you?”

The voice was low and had an unexplainable lingering charm to it. After Daoist Sanguang heard it, he felt the sleepiness welled up and he gladly went to slumber. He dreamed that he had become a middle aged man who came from a wealthy background. For generations, his family had been running a daoist temple. Later, he had a son and he loved the son dearly. As the son grew, he became more disobedient and had even gotten addicted to gambling. It angered him to no end. Until one day, he was too old to even move around and there was no one to discipline and contain that unfilial son of him. The son hanged out at gambling houses and refused to return home. He and his wife were getting older. The unfilial son hardly spared them a glance except when he returned home for money. Afterwards, both of them consecutively passed away from illnesses. He became a ghost and followed side by side of his unfilial son. The son became even fearless until the point that he pawned out his ancestral properties.

As the years went by, the unfilial son racked up a huge amount of debt and was kicked out of the gambling houses. He then saw a wealthy and influential family published a notice for employment of someone to capture demons. When the son went to the place, he only knew that this family had been the one to purchase his family’s daoist temple. When the son thought of continuing with his gambling habit after getting the reward money for hunting demons, he finally had the last straw. An unnamed force formed in him, allowing his son to see him and his fists hammered down on the son’s body, causing the son to cry out in pain non-stop. The son ran away and when he passed by the gambling house, he still was not content and wanted to try his luck. He got walloped again by the thugs of the gambling house and got thrown out. Finally, the son met his demise on the streets when he succumbed to the cold and hunger.

Qi Sanguang realized that the son was him at the moment the son passed away.

He had reaped what he had sowed.

Suddenly woken from his dream, he opened his eyes and noticed the cool moonlight illuminating his lonely self. The north wind blew past. He was on the streets by himself, his stomach growling out of hunger, his entire body ached. So he had a dream within a dream.