Chapter 118: Heaven and Earth Have Qi
Previously, the junction of Dragon Whisker Stream and Iron Rune River was a majestic waterfall with surging currents.
But now, Dragon Whisker Stream should be called Dragon Whisker River instead, and Iron Rune River had also been changed to Iron Rune Great River as well. (Note: actually "Iron Rune River" to "Iron Rune Great River" - both are "river" but different characters - in English, both are "river", so we might need to distinguish by size: stream vs river. The text says stream→river→great river, so stream, river, great river. So Dragon Whisker Stream became Dragon Whisker River (medium river), and Iron Rune River became Iron Rune Great River.)
In the night, a stunning woman holding a golden-tasseled longsword stood on the green stone cliff at the boundary between the stream and the river. The young woman had an excellent figure, her chest stretched high by her clothes, so much so that looking down she could not see her toes. As a result, that cluster of golden silk sword tassels rested right atop her chest.
She was the personal maidservant of that Lady. Though extremely beautiful, she had a vulgar village woman's name: Yang Hua.
The woman first hurled that heavy sword, originally named Talisman, a major sword from the Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent, forcefully into the river water.
She took a deep breath and began to undress, shedding garments one by one, casually throwing them into the splashing waters of the Iron Rune Great River.
Finally, she revealed a perfect, curvaceous, flawless white body, bathed in moonlight and mist, making her appear even more ethereal and immortal.
Then she took a step forward, her long and graceful body falling straight down.
She was to enter the water and become a god.
Having already obtained the imperial decree of the Great Li court, the woman Yang Hua was to become a true river god of this Iron Rune Great River tonight.
The counties of the Great Li dynasty were divided into large, medium, and small grades, and so were rivers. Streams below rivers were the lowest level of waterway spirits. Even if the court enfeoffed a deity to govern a section of waterway, they were only granted the title of River Old Woman, and could not overstep to be called a god. Above that, rivers were divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Dragon Whisker Stream had now been promoted two levels, from a stream to a medium-grade river. Rivers above rivers had no distinction of high or low; now Iron Rune River had leaped to become a great river.
However, these two connected waterways, Iron Rune Great River and Dragon Whisker River, would not have river god temples built yet, nor would golden-body statues of the deities be constructed.
Everything was kept simple.
The two newly promoted river gods were not familiar names in Dragon Spring County. Among them, the Iron Rune Great River god was called Yang Hua.
Compared to the much ado about little in the river god enfeoffment, the Great Li court enfeoffed three orthodox mountain gods in one go: Cloak Cloud Mountain, Incense Mountain, and Fallen Mountain.
The enfeoffment ceremony was grand and bustling. The Great Li Emperor's personal imperial decree, Saint Ruan Shi's help in declaring the altar, the reading of the content by the Vice Minister of Rites, the "burying gold and hiding jade" by the Imperial Astronomer, and the local magistrate, Dragon Spring County's Wu Yuan, unveiling the two clay golden-body statues—a whole series of tedious formalities, not a single detail missed.
The mountain gods of the Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent were divided into the Five Marchmounts' orthodox gods, ordinary mountain gods, and earth gods—three layers in total. Common people referred to the earth god as "Lord Earth," somewhat like an alternate official candidate.
Generally speaking, mountain peaks and ridges, even after hundreds or thousands of years, had a fixed size, so it was difficult for earth gods and mountain gods to be promoted on the spot. But it was not absolute. If a high-level cultivator who built a thatched hut for cultivation appeared in the territory and was ultimately valued by the court, becoming a National Teacher or Perfected Lord of transcendent status, then it was possible for even the chickens and dogs to ascend to heaven. After all, "a mountain need not be high; if an immortal dwells there, it becomes famous."
Among them, the mountain god of Fallen Mountain was particularly strange. It was only known that his surname was Song. Compared to the other two fully gilded clay statues, this mountain god statue had a specially crafted golden head, while the rest of the clothing and ornaments were painted, not coated with gold powder. It was said that this was a secret decree from the court.
In the turbid river water, the roaring waterfall crashed down above.
The tip of the woman's foot lightly stepped on the hilt of that rare Daoist talisman sword. The golden sword tassel, like vines, had somehow gently coiled around her ankle.
Having a treasure is a crime.
Her eyes tightly shut, her eyelashes trembled as tears slowly flowed from her eyes. At the bottom of the river, those tears naturally vanished in an instant.
Even though she was born with a constitution different from ordinary people, having been close to large rivers and waters since childhood, a wandering Daoist had once found her home, calculated her eight characters, and said she would easily attract all water-based yin and foul things, so it was best not to approach water sources alone, especially places where rootless water temporarily gathered. The girl surnamed Yang, named Hua, grew up and was soon spotted by a Great Li Imperial Astronomer, who brought her to the side of that Lady to cultivate superior water methods. Her cultivation realm advanced by leaps and bounds; three years of casual training could equal thirty years or even longer of hard work by others.
But what truly forced her onto this "road of no return" was another reason.
It must be known that becoming a river elder or river god was always regarded by orthodox Qi refiners as a "dead-end road," not at all a true path to longevity.
Consider a Longevity Bridge: knowing it collapses midway, preventing anyone from reaching the other side—what kind of Longevity Bridge is that then?
In her heart, she understood that this was "having a treasure is a crime."
Because she had gained the recognition of that capital's talisman sword, before the young sword cultivator of Wind Thunder Garden, Liu Baqiao, could act, she had successfully controlled the Talisman.
After obtaining this immense fortune, her cultivation soared. Just as she felt that the fifth realm was within reach, bad news came silently one after another. First, the Lady needed her to hand over the talisman sword, for Ruan Qiong, stationed at Li Pearl, to use twice in splitting the Dragon-Slaying Platform. Then, when the sword was returned to her hands, it was already in a state of near shattering. What could she do? One was a Lady who had recreated her life, the other was a military sage honored as a guest of Great Li. She had to grit her teeth and accept the result. But she never imagined that the Emperor would issue a decree, temporarily enfeoffing her as the water god of Iron Rune Great River.
In the river water, the woman standing on the sword hovered motionless, just like a deity standing in a shrine.
She cast aside all distractions, began to calm her mind and concentrate, formed hand seals, and remained still as a mountain.
First, strands of her black hair fell off one by one, dissipating into the river water and flowing away.
Then, the flesh and blood of her body began to dissolve bit by bit.
The intense pain came not only from her flesh but more from the wailing deep within her soul. Even though she had isolated her senses using a secret Great Li technique, her gradually blurring, bloody body still trembled uncontrollably.
Her form withered and her bones became exposed!
In the end, the woman turned into a true skeleton.
The water surface boiled, steam rising high.
That half-destroyed talisman sword remained motionless at the bottom of the river, but the terrifying white bones, still faintly recognizable as a woman's form, began to sway like water plants, fragile beyond measure, as if they might be swept away by the current at any moment.
At the critical moment, the golden sword tassel of that Daoist talisman sword "Talisman"—strands of golden threads—began to emit a golden yellow light. Not only did it bind the woman's ankle more tightly, but it also slowly climbed upward, eventually stopping at the white bone of her knee.
This stabilized the skeleton, helping her not to be rejected by the profound divine intent contained in the river water, preventing her from degenerating into the most despicable kind of water ghost or yin creature.
Condensing divinity, reshaping the golden body, the physical body achieved pseudo-sainthood.
Then, on top of the skull, the first strands of hair began to grow.
They were not the crow-blue hair of the previous Dragon Whisker Stream River Old Woman "old crone," but strands of pale golden hair. One by one, hairs appeared on the skeleton, growing denser, ultimately gathering into a head of golden hair several zhang long, incomparably splendid.
This was a "Rain Master" phenomenon rarely seen in a hundred years!
All water gods under heaven, regardless of size, were ultimately attached to the earth and flowed along with it. But the Rain Master, which had almost vanished in Bottle Continent, could be considered a heavenly deity. Although the rank of Rain Master was not much higher than that of a river god, the difference was like that between an ordinary Qi refiner and a sword cultivator of the same realm—the disparity in combat power was significant. It was somewhat similar to the rank of the old man carrying a lantern in the officialdom, a "Director of the Medical Bureau," whose weight far exceeded that of other Great Li officials of the same rank.
The Great Golden Immortal revered by Daoism, the Arhat's golden body in Buddhist protector teachings, the various clay golden bodies of deities in the world, and the so-called "golden branches and jade leaves" of mortal dynasties—all carried the word "gold."
Among these, the golden-body dharma appearance of deities was actually a vague reference. It did not mean that the deity's entire body was truly a golden body. The golden body of the Dragon Whisker Stream River Old Woman was merely a single point of golden light in her eyes. But this woman, with her head full of golden hair symbolizing the Rain Master's qualifications, was worlds apart.
The woman began to restore her appearance.
Flesh grew from the white bones.
Finally, when she opened her eyes, she was even more beautiful than before.