Unsheathed

A short woman dressed in beautiful garb suddenly materialized on the bank of Burial River and started to slowly walk forward.

Following the rapid rise of her cultivation base, the water goddess of Burial River was now increasingly adept at manipulating the flow of the river from the two banks. This was similar to how generals could conquer the land underfoot when they set off on expeditions on horseback.

Burial River was a large river that cut across more than half of the Great Quan Empire from the east to the west, yet the water goddess had still struggled to contain the troublemaking river demon that was yet to reach the Golden Core Tier. This was the case even with her multitude of refined weapons, and part of the reason was that she could barely manage to control the might of Burial River.

If she recklessly accepted the promotion of her Green Roving Residence to Green Roving Palace, yet the imperial court of the Great Quan Empire was unwilling to offer a portion of the nation’s fortune and have a cultivator from the Ministry of Astronomy place it inside the water god temple, what would she do then?

This was one of the main reasons the water goddess hadn’t accepted the proposal to have her residence promoted to a palace. Once she swapped the old plaque out for one that read Green Roving Palace, it was suffice to say that individuals from all over the empire would become jealous and covet her position. That being the case, there might come a day when both of the plaques were ripped down and used as firewood.

The water goddess was a naturally bold and short-tempered person, and there was no need to deny any of this. However, her ability to rule over Burial River for several hundred years and grab all of the fated opportunities with both hands proved that she was definitely no foolish person.

She squatted down and scooped up a handful of water from the river. The water in her hands rippled under the soft glow of the moonlight, and it also appeared to contain far more spiritual energy compared to the past.

Before hurrying over to the relay station, much of the incense essence that had overflowed from the water god temple had flowed into a certain hall in the temple. Initially silver-white in color, the wisps of incense essence had surprisingly become pale gold as they had flowed toward that gold-gilded clay statue in the main hall.

The term “gold statue” was commonly thrown around, but this didn’t refer to the fact that craftsmen gilded the clay statues of deities in gold. Rather, this term was synonymous with godly body, and it pertained to the foundation of a deity’s Divine Dao. This was a manifestation of the Great Dao, and those wisps of pale gold and concentrated incense essence that slowly seeped into the gold statue on the divine altar were referred to as “gold decoration” in the Divine Dao.

Gold decorations would only appear under two circumstances. The first circumstance was if a cultivator from the Ministry of Astronomy acted upon an imperial edict from the emperor and used an imperial calligraphy brush dipped in gold ink to illustrate the gold statue of a deity. However, this would usually result in just a few wisps of pale gold incense essence being offered to the deity.

The second circumstance involved a Confucian sage “guiding” the gold statue. However, it was important to note that these Confucian sages needed to at least be a mountain master of one of the seventy-two Confucian academies.

Apart from mysteriously enjoying this huge fated opportunity, the water fortune of Green Roving Residence also rose significantly, with auspicious clouds hovering over the residence like an extravagant roof.

Right now, Green Roving Residence could almost be regarded as a blessed land for cultivation.

This kind of phenomenon was known as receiving official recognition!

Green Roving Residence had genuinely received official recognition from the heaven and earth of Majestic World!

No matter how naive the water goddess was, she could still tell that this unexpected yet profound fated opportunity was no inferior to what she had gained from Chen Ping’an’s explanation of sequential order the other night.

The water goddess had joked about offering her body as thanks in the relay station, but in reality, she had simply said this because she genuinely had no idea how she could thank Chen Ping’an.

Indeed, the jade slip that she had given him was already the most valuable treasure of Green Roving Residence.

Back in ancient times, Burial River had been one of three main rivers in Parasol Leaf Continent that had flowed into the sea. Afterward, many changes and transformations had taken place, with altered flow paths, siltation, blockages, and all kinds of other factors causing Burial River to become smaller and smaller. In the end, only a small section of the river managed to survive, and that was Burial River of today.

Green Roving Residence was also built on the ruins of a “river dragon palace,” and the jade slip that the water goddess had given Chen Ping’an was a paramount treasure that she had found in the severely damaged dragon palace. The jade slip had kept its luster even after tens of thousands of years, and it was the physical condensation of that river’s water essence.

In fact, the river’s water essence was a figurative representation of this region’s fortune, and it was an old dragon king who had refined the water essence into a jade slip. It was easy to imagine that back in the ancient days when the dragon palace still existed, this jade slip was most likely a precious treasure that the dragon king loved to play around with.

The water goddess had warned Chen Ping’an to immediately destroy the jade slip after memorizing the immortal mantra, but that was just her teasing him.

Chen Ping’an would only have the ability to destroy the jade slip after he became an immortal at the Upper Five Tiers.

However, if Chen Ping’an refined this jade slip into a bonded item and mastered the immortal mantra that could allow one to become an immortal in a single step, then she was sure that he would have a great chance to advance to the Upper Five Tiers as long as he put in enough time and effort.

The water goddess strode into Burial River and walked across its surface, appearing much like a divine lady from the fantasy novels.

The only blemish was the fact that the river demon had definitely formed an alliance with some mountain god nearby, allowing it to sneak ashore and hide behind the fortune of some mountain. It had vanished without a trace.

The water goddess leaned back and fell onto Burial River, where she continued to lay on the surface of the water just like that. She flowed downstream along with the current of the river.

Meanwhile, the water ghosts who had died by drowning formed an impressive procession as they followed the water goddess from the bottom of the river, swimming to the water god temple in the distance.

However, the water goddess suddenly covered her face with her hands as if she were too embarrassed to face other people. “How could a young maiden like me utter such embarrassing words!”

However, she quickly recovered her fighting spirit in no time, sitting up and exclaiming in delight, “Make haste and instruct someone to travel to Mirage City to hire some craftsmen. I’m going to reconstruct my statue! People rely on elegant robes, just as deities rely on golden garb! If the curves of the statue need to be more exaggerated around the chest, then so be it! The legs can also be a little longer!”

Some water ghosts who had regained intelligence were quite surprised when they heard the water goddess’ instructions. This was truly a very eye-opening experience. There was actually such an… interesting side to the water goddess.

————

There were many hilarious encounters as the Yao Clan’s convoy traveled north.

A martial arts cultivator with little renown in the cultivation world traveled over to meet them after hearing of their reputation. He carried a spear made from eight precious materials, and he claimed that he wanted to witness the might of the Yao Clan’s spear techniques that were considered formidable in the border regions.

This martial arts cultivator called all of his friends and companions over, and a dozen or so people quickly rushed over on horseback, stopping neatly on the official road. The martial artist sat on his horse and brandished his spear for a while. His techniques weren’t necessarily bad, and it was clear that he had developed some skills after wandering around as a second or third-rate martial artist for more than ten years.

However, his skills and techniques were only useful for sparring with other similarly mediocre martial artists in the cultivation world, and they were naturally no match for the spear techniques of the Yao Clan. They weren’t on the same level. Thus, victory and defeat were decided in an instant.

Yao Zhen was sitting in his carriage and reading a military text at the time, and he couldn’t help but find this situation very comedic. However, he didn’t stoop to the same level as those mediocre martial artists from the cultivation world who had gone insane trying to become famous. Yao Jinzhi issued a command, and the mounted troops of the Yao Clan silently grabbed their crossbows, terrifying the mediocre martial artists and causing them to immediately flee from the official road.

After the convoy of the Yao Clan traveled far into the distance, the group of mediocre martial artists cursed in anger, grumbling about how the mounted troops of the Yao Clan were all show and no substance. They didn’t live up to their reputation, and they didn’t even have the courage to step forward and spar with them.

In the end, the mediocre martial artists were arrested by the government of the provincial city, and this unfortunate group of friends and companions were forced to enjoy a meal in prison.

Afterward, a vagrant cultivator at the Lower Five Tiers attempted to become a guest elder who accompanied the convoy of the Yao Clan. This cultivator was quite young, and he was only in his early twenties. He didn’t dare to cause a ruckus, and he roughly explained his identity and background to the Yao Clan. At the same time, he didn’t forget to boast about his powerful immortal techniques.

After saying all this, the vagrant cultivator squatted beside the relay station that Yao Zhen and the others were staying in and started to nibble on some dry biscuits and drink some low-quality wine, waiting for the Yao Clan to give a reply. In the end, Yao Zhen instructed someone to bring him one hundred taels of silver. The vagrant cultivator flushed red with shame, yet he still accepted the silver before taking his leave.

As they drew closer and closer to Mirage City, news that Yao Zhen was going to be appointed to the position of head minister of war also started to spread like wildfire, rapidly traveling through the entire imperial court.

Sometime later, another dejected and dispirited Militarian cultivator blocked their path. This cultivator was sturdily built and in his youthful prime, and he promised that he would immediately piss off if someone from the Yao Clan managed to defeat him. Shao Yuanran unleashed a single strike, and the sturdy Militarian cultivator indeed pissed off as he had promised.

What truly piqued the curiosity of the Yao Clan’s convoy were two interesting matters pertaining to a mountain god entering the water and a water god entering the mountains.

Of course, the mountain god and the water god were nowhere near as powerful and high-ranking as the water goddess of Burial River, but rather nothing more than the lowest-ranking gods in the local region. The mountain god ruled an area of fifty kilometers in radius, while the so-called water god was actually a river guardian who looked after a river that measured one hundred kilometers in length.

The mountains neighbored the river, yet the relationship between the mountain lord and the river guardian was quite cold, with the occasional conflict popping up now and then. However, the conflicts had always been quite minor, and they would often just cuss each other near the border of the mountains and the river.

Yet, everything changed recently, and this was because a generous worshiper had changed their location of worship, going from the mountain god temple to the water god temple instead. This pertained to an annual offering of more than one hundred thousand taels of silver. Thus, the low-ranking mountain god had instructed a mountain lord to pay a secret visit to the generous worshiper, hoping to convince them to return to the mountain god temple.

Unexpectedly, however, the river guardian had caught the mountain lord in the act, and he had gone as far as to pummel the mountain lord as punishment. Consumed by anger, the mountain god had directly breached his neighbor’s territory and jumped into the river, brandishing two large axes and triggering huge and tumultuous waves through more than ten kilometers of the river. This had utterly terrified the nearby residents.

How could the river guardian possibly accept such humiliation? Thus, the river guardian had wielded his power and sent river water rushing up the mountains, violently surging toward the mountain god temple.

The convoy of the Yao Clan was coincidentally traveling near the river at this time, so the two guest elders from the imperial court and the Qi refiners accompanying the Yao Clan guarded Yao Zhen and his three grandchildren as they made their way over to watch the conflict.

Chen Ping’an also accompanied them, and only Pei Qian and Zhu Lian chose to go with him.

And thus, they witnessed the river guardian unleashing violence toward the mountain god temple.

The two sides battled for a long while, and the mountain god eventually managed to push the river guardian back thanks to his geographical advantage. However, the river guardian unleashed his murky river water again, becoming increasingly bold and courageous as he fought.

They exchanged blow after blow, drawing upon their myriad of mystical abilities to attack each other. The mountains were once beautiful, yet they were now completely destroyed after being flooded by the murky river water. Countless towering trees were snapped and fallen.

Outside the battlefield, there were mountain lords and mountain spirits standing on the mountains and crustacean soldiers and water ghosts swimming near the banks of the river. They waved flags and screamed in support of their superiors, and they were yelling so loudly that it appeared even more tiring than actually fighting in the battle.

Not only that, but the two sides also competed with each other, with the crustacean soldiers and water ghosts setting up a large red drum to bang in support of the river guardian. The thunderous sound of the drum reverberated through the area. Upon seeing this, the mountain lords and mountain spirits hurriedly retrieved a gigantic flag that measured dozens of meters in height, forcefully waving it around and causing it to loudly flutter in the air.

Shao Yuanran stood beside Yao Jinzhi and explained the background of this conflict between the mountain god and the river guardian. He spoke with eloquence, and the young girl, Yao Lingzhi, was extremely interested in the story. However, it was anyone’s guess as to what Big Sister Yao Jinzhi was thinking under her veiled hat.

Pei Qian hurriedly collected the fish that were flopping around on the bank of the river. This was far easier than fishing by herself.

In the end, this joke of a conflict was brought to an end by the livid city god of the nearby provincial city. He flew over on the wind, and he severely reprimanded the two deities as he hovered in mid-air.