"And then?"
Feng Ling gave him an indifferent glance. He had already guessed what Xu Banxian would say.
"Everyone, I have uncovered the truth. A Water Ghost lives in the ancient well, and it is the culprit behind everyone's affliction!"
Hmph! Fool...
Feng Ling watched the Bull-Nosed Daoist turn to announce this to the villagers and scoffed inwardly. What a fool, looking only at surface phenomena and never at the truth beneath!
"So! This Wager—this humble daoist has won! Now, in front of everyone here, it's time to restate the rules to a certain someone!"
Xu Banxian ignored everyone's reactions and went straight to pressuring Feng Ling.
"Oh no! The Old Bodhisattva actually lost..."
"Damn it! If Xu Banxian hadn't gone in first, how could he have had any chance of winning!"
"This time, will the Old Bodhisattva really have to call him... Dad!?"
As the crowd exchanged noisy remarks, Xu Banxian took great delight in it and shot Feng Ling a provocative glance.
Seeing Feng Ling's expressionless face, Xu Banxian assumed fear had stunned him, and his smile grew more sinister.
"Everyone, quiet! Although this great immortal has won, this great immortal won't go so far as to follow the rules to the letter!"
Xu Banxian's sudden statement left the crowd stunned, but a hint of delight soon appeared on their faces.
Something so abnormal must hide a scheme! Feng Ling sneered inwardly. Would this fellow really be kind enough to give up such a perfect chance to humiliate him?
Sure enough,
The next moment, the Bull-Nosed Daoist delivered a sanctimonious line that made everyone curse his hypocrisy under their breath.
"So! This merciful great immortal has decided to grant him a two-day grace period! Tomorrow, come to the ancient well and call me 'Dad'! The day after, get out of Ancient Well Village!"
Xu Banxian's scheme was vicious. On the surface, it made him look magnanimous and generous; in truth, he meant to humiliate Feng Ling severely.
Consider this: if you lost a wager and had to call someone "Dad" in public humiliation, then watched him pretend to be generous by letting you stay one more day in the place of your shame—would you stay?
"We'll talk about it tomorrow. This old fool is tired and needs to rest!"
Feng Ling's heart grew colder. He did not care who won or lost the Wager, but he would not tolerate repeated provocations.
"Hmph! In such a hurry to leave—are you planning to flee in the middle of the night?" Xu Banxian gloated inwardly, certain Feng Ling would panic and flee as he had imagined.
And so, without a shred of mercy, he exposed this in front of everyone, refusing to leave the slightest room, unwilling to grant even the last bit of dignity!
He'd gone too far with this!
"Fine! This old fool will now swear an Oath before the entire village of Ancient Well Village,
if the loser doesn't come tomorrow to call him 'Dad,' then he's a bastard, a son of the public!"
A fierce glint entered Feng Ling's eyes. Thoroughly enraged, he accepted the challenge before everyone.
"Very good! This humble daoist will be waiting right here early tomorrow morning, Zhang Dan! Let's go...!" Seeing that Feng Ling had sworn such a fierce oath, Xu Banxian left with those parting words, arrogantly calling his disciples to leave with him.
Feng Ling scoffed inwardly again. "Hmph! Tomorrow, the loser will call the other 'Dad' before everyone—but that person won't necessarily be me!"
One's heart is hidden behind one's face, so Feng Ling naturally wasn't worried. But the villagers, unaware of Feng Ling's true thoughts, quietly fretted on his behalf.
Things had reached this point because they had asked the Old Bodhisattva to investigate that broken well. Otherwise, how could so much trouble have arisen?
Unable to help themselves, the crowd all felt deeply guilty, one after another showing dejected expressions.
"Everyone, don't worry about this old fool. Everything will be clear tomorrow!" Feng Ling smiled kindly. He was deeply touched by the villagers of Ancient Well Village.
Ah! Even ten thousand taels of gold couldn't compare to forging a bond of goodwill!
Feng Ling was moved by the villagers' simple, guileless warmth, free of scheming and deceit.
For a moment, he even felt a touch of reluctance to leave this warm, welcoming little village of Ancient Well Village—but he... would still have to leave in the end!
Perhaps before he left,
he ought to leave something behind!
"You have the heart of a bodhisattva, and we... ah, it's all our fault for dragging you into this, old sir!"
The crowd assumed the Withered Old Man meant to comfort them, which made them even more sorrowful and guilt-ridden.
Feng Ling shook his head with a wry, helpless smile—his attempt at reassurance had only made things worse!
"Old Wang! It's past the hour of the rat. Stay at the li couple's place tonight and return tomorrow. The matter of the ancient well is settled. Tomorrow night, I'll look into Liang Zhu's matter!"
Feng Ling instructed the worried Old Wang, and the little old man breathed a sigh of relief.
"Could it be that the Old Bodhisattva really won't be leaving tonight?" Hearing this, the crowd quietly speculated.
They wanted to ask, then held back—thinking it over, they decided such a question was best left unspoken!
And so, the crowd dispersed, and Feng Ling returned to the thatched hut outside the village. The Water Ghost incident of Ancient Well Village had, for now, come to a close.
What awaited tomorrow
would be a clash with the ugliness of human nature!
"Cock-a-doodle-doo..."
As the rooster crowed, the light of dawn broke, and a new day arrived.
Early that morning, villagers returning from the fields with their farming tools passed the ancient well and found a large crowd gathered there. At the center sat the Bull-Nosed Daoist and his two companions.
Here so early? Feng Ling paused. He had thought he arrived early enough, but the confident Xu Banxian and his group had arrived before him.
"Look, quick, the Old Bodhisattva is here!" A stir went through the villagers.
As they anticipated the appearance of that aged figure, every one of them wore an expression of worry.
"Thieving Daoist, since you dared to come, accept your loss and call him Dad!" Hearing the commotion, Xu Banxian and his two companions rose arrogantly to their feet.
The move angered many onlookers, and a few villagers came up with an idea.
"Old fraudulent daoist, what did you say to call him?"
"Dad."
"Ah! My good boy..."
"..."
"You bastards!" Realizing he'd fallen into a trap, Xu Banxian's old face flushed red as he roared in fury.
To his dismay, the surrounding villagers laughed even more wildly, leaving all three seething with humiliation and rage.
The disciple who had guarded the Daoist Temple's gate the day before had never experienced anything like this, so he turned away.
"Your dad is right here, don't go calling out at random!"
The white-haired elder swept a light glance over the Bull-Nosed Daoist.
"Thieving Daoist! We agreed that the loser would call the other party... Are you going to break your word in front of everyone?" This time, Xu Banxian avoided the word itself and demanded an answer from Feng Ling.
"That's right, I did say that!"
"Then hurry up and say it! Say it, say it, why aren't you saying it..."
Seeing the other party admit it, Xu Banxian let out a string of sharp, forceful demands, feeling utterly triumphant.
The atmosphere grew faintly tense, and the villagers couldn't help silently praying in their hearts for Feng Ling, praying that this scene would not truly come to pass!
But Xu Banxian's fierce, commanding shouts made it clear that no one could avoid it.
It was plain to see—if he didn't thoroughly humiliate the other party, he would never let the matter rest!
"Ah! Something's wrong, make way, quickly make way..." Just then, two panicked villagers came pushing through the crowd, carrying a fellow villager whose lips had turned black and whose whole body trembled violently, rushing toward where Feng Ling stood.
"What happened?" Feng Ling stepped forward at once to ask. In truth, he already had a good idea in his heart, but he still had to ask out of courtesy first.
"Old Liu drank water from the well today and ended up like this! Before we brought him here, his eyes had rolled back and he was foaming at the mouth. It scared us half to death!"
"Impossible! That Water Ghost was already eliminated! This can't be—absolutely not!"
Xu Banxian cried out in shock. Only now did he realize that Feng Ling's attitude this whole time had been far too indifferent—no matter how composed someone's temperament, faced with something like this, surely there should have been at least some trace of anger?