SWNOVELXO Ch. 4
Chapter 4: The Prefect
“A spell technique!?”
“Are you sure it’s a spell technique?” Sixth Uncle’s face froze.
“Yeah, a spell technique. But… I don’t know how to explain it, I think I’ve learned part of it too?” Li Qi rubbed his head.
Besides the mysterious progress bar now appearing in his mind, he had gained another kind of memory.
No, it wasn’t exactly a memory, there were no images or words, more like a sudden… insight?
“You learned it too? Can you teach it to the gang?” Sixth Uncle’s gloom suddenly brightened with hope.
“I don’t know… I can’t use it yet, and I can’t describe it well. It feels like an emotion or sensation, no words. Give me some time,” Li Qi said, unsure how to explain.
“It should be a divine will inheritance. It’s normal you can’t explain it clearly,” Sixth Uncle nodded, approving Li Qi’s guess.
“You knew about this?” Li Qi was surprised.
“Who do you think founded the Wave-Breaking Gang? Who brought the Wave-Breaking Force here first?” Sixth Uncle smiled.
Then he comforted Li Qi: “Don’t worry. Getting the divine will inheritance alone is a big win. But one thing puzzles me, how did the Strong-Force Gang get connected with a high-level expert?”
Li Qi explained, “I overheard, they said a master divined that the Strong-Force Gang could help get one of those ‘Outer Dao Objects.’ So he hired them to search, and they actually found something. That master rewarded them with a spell technique. I happened to see it and got affected somehow. Sixth Uncle, what exactly is this divine will inheritance?”
After confirming Li Qi had it, Sixth Uncle relaxed fully. He glanced around, made sure no one was eavesdropping, then continued:
“I don’t know exactly what divine will inheritance is either. But it’s like tossing a whole book into your mind. As long as you train regularly, you learn the technique inside. I was lucky once and learned Wave-Breaking Force that way, thus the gang was born.
“You’ll teach us, right?” Sixth Uncle asked nervously.
Though he trusted Li Qi, a spell technique was no small matter.
“Don’t worry. Once I learn it, I won’t hide it from the gang,” Li Qi promised quickly.
After all, the Wave-Breaking Gang had taught him their force technique. Sixth Uncle saved him once, he wasn’t ungrateful and wouldn’t hoard a spell.
Plus, teaching the gang would only strengthen them, possibly opening new opportunities. Sharing benefits both sides, no need for secrets.
“Good. You don’t need to go to the river-opening anymore. We’ll cover you, and you won’t miss your reward. Go rest and study the divine will in your head, see if you can grasp the technique.” Sixth Uncle waved him off.
But Li Qi shook his head.
“No. I can’t go back yet.”
“Even with my face covered, the Strong-Force Gang definitely saw me. They won’t let it go.”
“They’ll chase us. If they find anyone missing from the river-opening, they’ll know something’s wrong, just like we did.”
They had gone looking because the Strong-Force Gang didn’t show up to open the river. The Strong-Force Gang wasn’t stupid either, they’d definitely notice something was wrong.
“So, we must open the river as usual. When you guys rescued me earlier, say I suddenly fainted from a cold fever. Everyone must stick to that story. Sixth Uncle, you must personally remind them - no one left today. I fainted from a heat illness.”
“Right, right, I panicked. We’ll do just that! You rest now, I’ll tell them,” Sixth Uncle nodded, then hurried out to the gang.
Li Qi sat back down.
He kept at his river hauling all day, working harder than ever.
At dusk, the ice on the Li River crushed and flowed freely, river opening was complete.
Yet Li Qi showed no emotion.
After a full day of thought, he realized…
What remained in his mind was probably all that was left of his game console.
The so-called “Outer Dao Object” was just this progress bar.
It was a guess, maybe wrong but after pondering all day, it seemed true.
Perhaps it was a residual game progress bar, his game console’s last trace.
Damn. If the game console still worked, would he have a system now? Not just this almost useless progress bar?
But complaining was pointless, he had to accept reality.
As for the strange insight in his mind, he finally understood what it was.
How?
Because whenever he focused on it, the progress bar popped up again:
“Learning: Bull Strength Art, Progress: 1%”
So the insight had a name, Bull Strength Art?
With the suffix “art”, it did seem to be a spell or magical technique.
Starting at 0%, he tried immersing himself in it, moving his body in rhythm with the feeling inside. Gradually, he began grasping the method.
He spent the whole day practicing with it while hauling, and finally reached 1%.
“River opening’s done. Haulers, come here! The Prefect will personally reward you!” a clerk shouted at the exhausted men by the river.
Though drenched in sweat and dead tired, the haulers all scrambled to their feet.
After a day of hard work and fierce competition for river-opening rights, wasn’t it all for today’s reward?
The entire Li River, thousands of li long, was still mostly iced over; only this section was broken.
River opening was just a ceremony, a prayer for the ice to thaw quickly.
Usually, within seven or eight days after, the whole river would be navigable.
Li Qi abandoned his wandering thoughts and hurried over to join the crowd.
He wasn’t in a rush; delaying was fine.
After all, the Li Prefecture garrison and the Prefect were here, and that young man he saw earlier probably wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
Though deep down he knew it might not help. If the other side wanted trouble, no one could protect him.
Still, any delay was better than none.
Thousands had gathered along the riverbank, stretching two or three li.
River opening wasn’t just for haulers, it included sailors, boatmen, weavers, and dozens of groups to make the ceremony complete.
After the ritual, the Prefect would parade along the river, bestowing rewards to everyone who took part.
Li Qi watched the river opening progress bar climb to 97%.
Once the rewards were handed out, it would hit 100%.
“The Prefect has arrived! Salute!” a clerk shouted loudly.
At his command, everyone by the river instantly dropped to their knees. Within a three-li stretch along the Li River, the tens of thousands of people lining the way fell to the ground in unison like a field of wheat swept by the wind. Whoosh, all prostrating at once!
A single prefectural Prefect wielded such awe-inspiring authority.
Drums beat. Carriages rolled. Ceremonial guards marched. Flags fluttered.
Leading the procession was a line of black-armored warriors, each towering and muscular, with cold, indifferent gazes, as if looking at pigs and dogs rather than people. They paid the laborers no mind, simply holding their long halberds aloft as they led the way in silence.
Having taken part twice, Li Qi naturally knew who they were.
This was the military defense force of Li Prefecture.
Each one was like a walking colossus. Li Qi had once witnessed the commander slash the Li River itself, stopping the water’s flow for several seconds.
Behind the black-armored warriors came an ornate carriage frame.
The carriage was luxurious, engraved with landscapes, mountains and rivers, layers of crimson clouds, sheer cliffs standing opposite one another, misty light veiling the scene, stone hues almost seeming to fly. Behind the countless peaks and valleys stood a pair of opposing towers, with layered ridges winding around them, and a great river flowing through it all.
If one looked closely, they would notice that the carvings on the carriage formed a geomantic map of Li Prefecture.
Seated atop this ornate carriage was the Prefect. Driving it was a tall man, extraordinarily handsome, who slowly guided the carriage along the Li Prefecture riverbank.
At each stop along the way, he would recite a ritual invocation, upon which clerks would step forward and present rewards.
Eventually, the procession reached the group of towmen where Li Qi stood.
From atop the carriage, a voice rang out, full of vigor:
“In the Qinghua Palace¹ dwells the Spirit of the Li Prefecture, commanding forty-two divisions and ninety million followers, governing all matters along the Li Prefecture’s ten thousand li and myriad spirits. You haulers belong to one division, guiding boats and pulling ships, alleviating natural disasters and aiding the underworld. Today’s river-opening ceremony dissolves calamities and sins; you shall be rewarded!”
As the chant ended, three clerks brought forward nine fat pigs, nine nets of fresh fish, two handfuls of copper coins, and two blocks of freshly retrieved river ice, placing them before the kneeling Water-Horse Gang leader and Sixth Uncle.
The pigs weighed roughly one to two thousand catties each, with black bristles and sharp tusks, their coarse hair seemingly impervious to blades or spears, now tightly bound and unable to move.
The fish were nearly half a meter long, some sporting fierce teeth, clearly vicious predators.
The two gangs split the spoils, the lead Wave-Breaking Gang took five pigs and five nets of fish.
Both gangs accepted the rewards but didn’t leave.
They had to wait for all the rewards to be distributed before departing together.
“What’s going on…?” Li Qi, hoping for a quiet moment, noticed a progress bar rising on the Prefect’s carriage: “Ceremony Strengthening: 90%.”
This progress bar moved quickly, finishing just as the haulers were fully rewarded.
Li Qi kept watching.
He saw that each time someone was rewarded and a different sacrificial chant recited, the ceremony strengthening progress bar appeared again.
All rewards given, the Prefect’s carriage left silently without a word or revealing himself.
Suddenly, Li Qi recalled the young scholar’s words: “The Way of Humanity: gathering the will of the masses, wielding the fate of nations.”
Was this sacrificial ceremony a form of “human way” ritual?
Li Qi guessed as much.
Then he looked at the Li River.
To his shock, another progress bar appeared over the river:
“River Opening Ceremony: 99%.”
“Not finished yet? What’s going on?” Li Qi realized.
Usually, once all rewards were handed out, the river opening ceremony ended and everyone dispersed.
He had never noticed before, but now the progress bar reminded him the ceremony was still incomplete.
At that moment, a hauler called Li Qi over.
“Brother Li, let’s go! We still have to find the butcher to kill pigs tonight!”
“These five fat pigs and big fish will feed us for a whole year!”
The haulers were excited, some preparing to take fish home, others carrying the pigs to the butcher.
In this world, butchering pigs was a skilled task. Even wielding knives, haulers couldn’t cut through these pigs’ thick hides. They had to find professional butchers, who used powerful techniques targeting vital spots on pigs and sheep, only they could slaughter and butcher these fat hogs.
Thus, butchers formed their own small group.
Almost everyone here belonged to some small clan centered around a specific technique.
“Go on ahead, I’m not coming,” Li Qi suddenly said.
“Huh? Not coming? Then where are you going? They’ll be clearing people by the river soon,” a hauler asked, puzzled.
Just then, Sixth Uncle came out and gave him a kick.
“Why so many questions! I’ve arranged something for Little Li. You blockheads, stop bothering him! Come on, the wives at home are waiting for the meat to cook!”
With that, the others stopped asking and eagerly focused on the pigs and fish.
These treats were a rare luxury!
They could catch fish, but usually only small ones. These giant fish were powerful, one slap could knock someone underwater. Such delicacies weren’t common for haulers.
So they clustered around Sixth Uncle and the meat, happy and loud as they left.
Sixth Uncle didn’t ask what Li Qi planned to do.
After all, Li Qi was still carrying out a task right now, it was probably related to this matter.
This was also the benefit of being part of a small group.
Here, once someone left the group, they were nothing. So rules and trust were especially important. After Li Qi made his promise, Sixth Uncle had not hesitated to give him equal trust in return.
Watching them leave, Li Qi prepared to go out.
He had no choice, like the other hauler said, if he didn’t leave, he’d be forced out.
After river opening, no one was allowed to stay.
It was precisely this rule, combined with the progress bar that had stayed stubbornly at 99%, that made Li Qi suspicious.
Human way cultivation method… could it be a way of strengthening oneself through ritual?
The river-opening ritual hadn’t yet concluded, yet the Prefect had already started driving people away.
This gave rise to a crazy idea in Li Qi’s mind.
Could he perhaps siphon off a bit of power from the river-opening ritual?!
After all, he had participated in the very first stage of the ritual, he was a part of it.
And now, having secretly learned the Strong-Force Gang’s spell, by this world’s standards, he was someone who had to be killed without mercy!
Besides, he didn’t want to be a hauler forever!
The newly awakened cheat ability, along with the spell now in his mind, made Li Qi start to entertain the idea of taking a gamble!
(Chapter End)
¹ Qinghua Palace (青华宫) refers to a mythological palace often invoked in Daoist or ceremonial traditions. In this context, it represents the divine bureaucracy believed to govern natural forces like rivers.