Chapter 806: Heavenly River Dragon King
“The Herder Celestial Venerable is actually this aloof and cold.”
The Heavenly Emperor’s obscure divine consciousness fluctuations transmitted over, ethereal and faint: “How many years has it been since I bestowed the title of Celestial Venerable upon you? The Herder Celestial Venerable actually endured until now to open my decree. Your forbearance is admirable. You have already met Yan Qiling, haven’t you? She reported your affairs to me. I was truly astonished, but also greatly gratified. The Herder Celestial Venerable is indeed a figure I have my eye on. Your appearance has allowed me to understand many things.”
“Hmph!”
That black pig panicked, immediately bolting at full speed, plunging headlong into the mountains, burrowing and crashing through the dense forest.
“Hmph?”
The Heavenly Emperor’s divine consciousness was somewhat surprised, and he laughed: “The Herder Celestial Venerable only has this one word to say to me? Your avenging the Imperial Celestial Venerable has made me quite appreciative of you. I enfeoffed you as the Herder Celestial Venerable because your divine abilities surpassed the Dragon Han Era, pioneering new paths. Even today, the Herder Celestial Venerable is still worthy of the title, your divine abilities not lacking in ingenious ideas. I have been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to purge the treacherous ministers and rebellious officials. The Heavenly Yin Empress was resurrected by the Herder Celestial Venerable, was she not? The Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign sought you out, also to have you resurrect her, correct?”
The black wild boar ran and crashed about, its snout and tusks ramming everything, yet it could not shake off that strange voice in its mind.
Soon after, this pig demon found its own lair, hiding with many piglets and sows inside the den, only to hear that voice again: “…You cannot escape me. I need you to perform the grand resurrection ritual for me. I died in the Primordial Capital, my three souls scattered throughout the Primordial Capital. Performing the grand resurrection ritual for me is no trouble for you.”
“Hmph, hmph, hmph, hmph…”
“Herder Celestial Venerable, you are asking for trouble! You probably don’t yet know what fear is. I can show you true terror!”
…
“Feeling the terror now? Do you still dare to put on that aloof demeanor now?”
“Hmph, hmph…”
“Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit! Cooperate with me, and I will grant you the highest rank among ministers, endless wealth and honor, and make you the one and only Celestial Venerable! Yet you are so arrogant and conceited. I will make you regret this beyond measure!”
“Hmph…”
…
Qin Mu sat on the Dragon Qilin’s head, continuing to explain to the various Human Sovereigns how to sense the power of the Heavenly River. The Qikang Human Sovereign and the Yishan Human Sovereign were listless and dispirited, drinking medicine while listening to the lecture.
The other Human Sovereigns had already made the decision, betraying the two without any psychological burden, having the First Ancestor destroy their Divine Bridge Divine Treasuries.
The First Ancestor’s methods were much gentler than the Battle Tutor Heavenly Master’s, but even so, their injuries were severe. After all, they did not have a physique as robust as Qin Mu’s. With their Divine Bridge Divine Treasuries destroyed, their vitality was greatly damaged.
Fortunately, Qin Mu was right there, ready to treat their injuries at any time.
Although the Dragon Qilin was extremely fast, traveling to the Surging River would still take several months. Qin Mu looked ahead at a majestic mountain. This mountain’s pillar spanned three thousand li in circumference, extremely vast. The mountain pillar pierced straight into the sea of clouds, with the cloud sea at its mid-slope, and the thunder layer also at its mid-slope.
This single mountain actually had four distinct seasons—there was white snow, there was blazing sun. Hanging rivers cascaded down the mountain, and lakes and seas, like blue sapphires, adorned its peaks.
Looking further up, one could faintly see that this majestic mountain had already pierced through the sky of the Yan Kang Nation, propping the heavens up high.
The sky of Yan Kang was a false sky, merely a formation diagram. The sky was a hundred thousand li high and three hundred zhang thick. The sun, moon, and stars were all formations within this diagram.
This mountain was too tall, to the point of pushing up the sky, causing the sun, moon, and stars to become distorted and strange when they moved here.
Especially when the sun moved here, the sky curtain warped, and the sun itself was pulled into a wrinkled, crumpled shape.
Seeing the wrinkled sun in the sky, Qin Mu frowned deeply and withdrew his gaze, sighing inwardly: “If you’re going to fake it, at least make it look convincing. Those deities maintaining the false celestial phenomena in the Sky Diagram have completely lost their dedication. In the past, they would at least try their best to maintain the movement of the sun and moon. Now, they’ve just given up entirely.”
Looking at the great mountains and rivers that had suddenly appeared in the Yan Kang Nation, his heart was filled with a myriad of emotions.
He had once been very familiar with the geography of Yan Kang, but now it was completely alien.
The Yan Kang of today had been shattered into countless scattered pieces, dispersed among these magnificent mountains and rivers.
Besides this, he also saw many ancient ruins, filled with an aura of danger, as if some terrifying demon or monster was hidden there.
And between these mountains and rivers, there were also cave dwellings, and on the mountains there were even resplendent, tiered palaces. Some places even had large-scale architectural complexes.
When they passed by some great swamps and rivers, they encountered extremely powerful demigods emerging from who knows where, their aura overwhelming, distorting the sky and presenting magnificent visions. Some controlled great floods, others controlled great fires, but they did not attack, only watching them from afar.
The First Ancestor Human Sovereign had also come with them this time. Whenever this situation occurred, a celestial palace would appear behind him, and his primordial spirit would stand on the city wall of the Jade Capital.
Whenever this happened, those demigods would quietly disappear.
Half a month later, Qin Mu and the others arrived at Bazhou City.
The Yan Kang Nation’s economy had developed, and Bazhou City had been expanded several times, becoming extremely vast. However, after seeing the grandeur of the Primordial Capital, Qin Mu felt that Bazhou City was too small. Placed in the Yan Kang of today, it was like a drop in the ocean, insignificant.
In the city, two deities stood atop a high bell tower, one on the left and one on the right, their divine light shining ten thousand zhang, watching in all directions to guard against demigod invasions.
Qin Mu looked up. One of the deities was the Duke Protector Wei, so he called out to him.
The Duke Protector Wei remained standing on the bell tower, but his primordial spirit flew down to receive the group, lowering his voice and asking: “Headmaster, have you come from the capital? How is the capital faring now?”
“The capital is still alright.”
Qin Mu asked in surprise: “Does the Duke Protector Wei not know the news from the capital? Didn’t the National Teacher create several dozen teleportation portals?”
The Duke Protector Wei sighed and said: “These teleportation formations consume a massive amount of medicinal stones every time they are activated. Who would be willing to use them unless it’s a critical moment? Trade between the cities has essentially been cut off. Sending someone to the capital, even for divine ability practitioners, takes one or two years just to exchange a single message. Deities cannot leave, so news from the capital is very hard to get here. In the past year or two, divine ability practitioners have been busy searching for scattered civilians, protecting them and migrating them to Bazhou. Many have died, and we haven’t been able to spare anyone to go to the capital to gather information.”
Qin Mu frowned, looking at the city’s residents. Their clothes were tattered, and everyone’s face bore a look of malnutrition.
“We have opened up many fertile fields outside the city. If we can just get through this period, when the grain comes in, we won’t starve too many people.”
The Duke Protector Wei said: “However, these past few days, demigods have been appearing, leaving messages demanding we pay tribute.”
Qin Mu frowned: “Pay tribute? Pay tribute to whom?”
“Pay tribute to the demigods.”
The Duke Protector Wei said: “Otherwise, they will bring disaster and calamity upon us. There are several powerful demigods nearby who have established divine kingdoms on the mountains, demanding we surrender and pay tribute, becoming their subjects.”
Qin Mu said: “Currently, the Emperor has neither the energy nor enough manpower. He is too far away to do anything. Duke Protector Wei, you might temporarily surrender and pay tribute until the Emperor’s power extends here…”
“The tribute is young boys and girls.” The Duke Protector Wei suddenly said.
Qin Mu fell silent.
After a moment, he took out a small box and taught the Duke Protector Wei how to use it, saying: “This is a Divine Blade for Slaying Gods from the Chi Ming Era. Duke Protector, use this divine blade’s power to get through this period. This divine blade must taste blood every time it is drawn from its sheath. Use it with extreme caution.”
They left Bazhou City.
Qin Mu looked back at Bazhou in the night and sighed.
He only had one Divine Blade for Slaying Gods, but there were countless cities in the Yan Kang Nation. He could lend the divine blade to protect Bazhou, but he couldn’t protect the other cities.
“How can Yan Kang resolve its current crisis?” He pondered deeply but found no answer.
The benevolent and righteous people of the Yan Kang Nation were all worried about the current situation, but they had no solution. Now, the Earth Mother hadn’t even exerted her full strength. Just these demigods scattered across the world had already plunged Yan Kang into its greatest crisis.
A few days later, they arrived at the Heavenly Saint Academy. Many towns had been built near the academy, and the academy’s disciples had gathered residents from various places and migrated them here.
The academy itself was doing alright. The Medicine Master had poisoned a demigod to death and was studying the demigod’s physical structure with the scholars.
That demigod was very powerful, its residual might lingering even after death, its corpse piled up like a mountain.
“Maha! Maha! Maha!” A group of flood dragons called out nearby, shaking their heads and wagging their tails, waiting to eat the meat.
“It’s poisonous!” The scholars chased them away.
“Mu’er, you don’t need to worry about the safety of the Heavenly Saint Academy. The demigods nearby have basically been eliminated, and those that haven’t been eliminated have moved away.”
The Medicine Master wiped the blood from his hands and said to the group: “We have planted many medicinal fields, so we don’t lack medicinal herbs. The teleportation formation can also be activated to connect with the capital. The teleportation formation can link with other academies for mutual support, so there’s no need to worry. Do you want to use the teleportation formation to go to the Surging River?”
“No need. Better to save the medicinal stones.”
Qin Mu took his leave and continued on his way with the various Human Sovereigns.
After another six or seven days, they arrived at the Surging River Academy in Lizhou Prefecture, paying respects to Yuanyuan Chuyu and Su Yunqing. Only then did Qin Mu come to the bank of the Surging River. Looking out, the river was over a thousand li wide, with divine mountains standing like a forest on both banks. It was truly magnificent!
“This isn’t even the widest part of the Surging River. The widest point is about five thousand li.”
Yuanyuan Chuyu, who had now cultivated to the Celestial Palace stage, said to Qin Mu: “There are many demigods in the river, various dragon palaces and dragon mansions, countless treasures. Not long ago, the Dragon Tamer Lord was even injured. He said he was being suppressed by a demigod and came to me for help. It was Sacrificial Wine Su who treated his injuries.”
Qin Mu was stunned and said: “The Dragon Tamer Lord’s days haven’t been easy either… That mountain on the opposite bank, is that Hundred Year Mountain?”
He pointed to the opposite bank. A majestic mountain, though a thousand li away, was still clearly visible, extraordinarily magnificent.
“No.”
Yuanyuan Chuyu said: “Hundred Year Mountain is next to Deer County, just a small hill. You can’t see it from here. That mountain beside it suddenly appeared. There are many demigods on it. Bai Xi was guarding Deer County and even fought a battle with them.”
Qin Mu scratched his head and said: “I’ve wronged Bai Xi. In a few days, I’ll conquer that majestic mountain, rename it Hundred Year Mountain, and make him the mountain god of that mountain.”
Just then, the river surface surged with turbulent waves, and huge waves rose to the sky. The Dragon Tamer Lord’s enormous dragon head broke through the water. Seeing Qin Mu, he choked up and said: “Headmaster Qin, you’ve finally come! I don’t want to be this Dragon King anymore. Can we amend the Earth Lord’s Covenant?”
Qin Mu laughed and said: “Alright. How about changing it to you becoming the Heavenly River Dragon King?”