Chapter 69: Divine Rank |
Xu Disheng was holding the Parting Water Pearl as he walked at the front.
After the serpent demon retreated, the surrounding waters once again became crystal clear. It was now possible to see the heart of the lake far off in the depths, where there was a massive, ruined Divine Palace.
Once they approached, it was possible to faintly see that there were four words carved into the board above the entrance to the main hall of the Divine Palace. On those characters, there was an inextinguishable divine light shining through, illuminating the surrounding waters.
Yuan Qi had been following closely behind Xu Disheng. When they finally arrived at the entrance to the hall of the Divine Palace, he looked up and examined the board that was emitting a penetrating divine light. He furrowed his brows and said, “What are these words? I actually don’t know any of them!”
Xi Jingshan was walking behind the rest of the disciples. When he saw that everyone had stopped to look at the board, he walked up and stood at Xu Disheng’s side. He smiled and said, “That is divine language. It’s the formal language used by beings like mountain and river deities. Although I also can’t read divine language, I’ve often heard people mention it. According to my analysis, these four words most likely say ‘Jade Water Divine Palace’.”
Xu Disheng turned and glanced at him, a hint of praise in his eyes. When Xu Disheng came to this place and saw the board, the words ‘Jade Water Divine Palace’ automatically appeared in his mind for some reason, which was exactly what Xi Jingshan had figured out on his own.
Although the Jade Water Lake Deity had scores of demon troops and none of them were of a good nature, it was still the Jade Water Lake Deity. Even the smallest divinities had a divine rank recognized by the laws of heaven and earth, which was what allowed this palace hall to be a Divine Palace.
That serpent demon hated the Lake Deity to the core. When he was talking to Xu Disheng and the others earlier, it referred to the divine palace as the ‘Jade Water Demon Palace’. After all, the serpent demon, along with the two fish demons, had been appointed as demon generals by the Lake Deity. Without the Lake Deity’s permission, they would forever be bound to these waters, unable to leave.
Unless a new Lake Deity was born, or the already dead Lake Deity somehow came back to life, the three demon generals naturally wouldn’t be able to leave the waters without an edict from a deity.
From the dilapidated coral jade masonry and the intricate lines engraved upon the pillars, it was possible to vaguely understand the burgeoning glory of the Jade Water Divine Palace back in the day.
30,000 years ago…
Torrential rain poured down, battering ruthlessly against the surfaces of the wide canyon. The water level in the creek that ran through the canyon was rising rapidly and gradually began to overflow and submerge the surrounding trees and shrubbery.
It was possible to fleetingly spot small hares and squirrels ripe with spiritual energy jumping from one submerged tree to the next in an attempt to evade the ruin caused by the torrential downpour.
Above the stormy black clouds, far off in the horizon, there was a woman robed in white. She was riding a white winged horse as she rushed towards the heights of the heavens with a look of anxiety upon her face.
In the woman’s hand, there was an exquisite ceramic glazed lantern with a myriad of sparkling, translucent snowflakes slowly revolving around it.
The princess of her house was to be married off today to Divine General Gou Chen of the House of the Celestial Lord, and all of the princess’s maids had already prepared congratulatory gifts. But she had gone alone to the Guixue Area in the far south of the Human Realm to prepare this exquisite Liuli Crystal Snowflake Lantern for the princess. She had only managed to return today, and she wasn’t sure if she would make it in time.
The princess was a wonderful person. She was noble and graced in elegance by the beauty of heaven and earth, and her features were truly immaculate. Even though she was just a maid of the house, the princess had never once raised her voice to scold her, and she treated the maids by her side just like her own sisters.
Thinking of the princess’s warm demeanor, the corners of the white-clothed woman’s mouth curled into a smile. With this smile, the bitter exhaustion that she had to endure in the past few years while going harvesting in the snow that had accumulated in the Guixue Area for thousands of years seemed to lighten significantly. All this time, she had been holding the Snowflake Glazed Ceramic Cup tightly in her hand, and she didn’t even dare to put it into her Storage Magic Treasure to avoid harming its spirituality.
But as she was hurrying along her way, she didn’t notice that the Snowflake Glazed Ceramic Cup cautiously nestled in her palm shook ever so slightly, causing some snowflakes to spill out of the lantern and drift down to the earth below.
The cluster of snowflakes flurried and swayed along with the wind. In the midst of the devastating downpour, it lightly fluttered down, showing no signs of melting whatsoever.
It gradually landed in the center of the creek and settled into the water without a sound.
Just as many grains of sand had to accumulate to form a tower, this wasn’t a matter that simply occurred overnight.
Another several thousand years passed by, and under the vicissitudes of time, the canyon transformed. Several short mountain peaks remained, and the creek had already become a massive lake.
As the ages passed, the snowflakes were unmoved for time immemorial. They stayed quietly at the bottom of the lake for several thousand years, rife with spiritual energy. It glowed with a white divine light, and from time to time, it would twitch and vibrate.
There was originally a naturally formed small spirit vein at the bottom of the lake. The snowflakes that had been there for many ages had absorbed more than half of the spirit vein’s spiritual energy, and it had become a miniature spirit vein that was already close to being dried up.
The body of water above the spirit vein was also rich in spiritual energy. If one drank a mouthful of that lakewater, it would be enough to support several months of cultivation.
Nourished by the spirit vein, this body of water had gradually formed a complete but ignorant consciousness. At the beginning, it didn’t have any thoughts of its own and only subconsciously tried to protect the living beings in this sacred body of water.
After an unknown period of time passed, the consciousness of the lake had matured and was on the verge of turning into a water demon!
At that very moment, the snowflakes that had been undisturbed for eons suddenly floated up, and in a flash, it sent a wave of frigid qi through the body of water, completely swallowing that ignorant consciousness formed from the lake.
A bone-chilling white light blossomed above the snowflakes, and after a few moments, it transformed into a human form. When the white light receded, a naked white-haired youth appeared from the light, slowly opening his eyes.
The youth had long white hair, and his skin was like sculpted ice, but his eyes were empty and confused.
The youth gradually discovered that the entire body of water around him seemed to be one with him, and he could even freely control the size and direction of the water currents as he wished.
Due to the nourishment of the spirit vein, quite a few small demons were born in the waters of the lake. But since not enough time had passed since the lake was formed, the small demons were all very weak.
Since the white-haired youth could control the water of the lake, he quickly became familiar with the small demons. If any of the demons didn’t listen to him or didn’t play with him, he would create a water prison and trap the small demons to mess with them. Seeing them stuck in the awkward situation, he would laugh at them alongside the small demons that he was close with.
The white-haired youth was innocent and guileless, and was truly kindhearted to the core. Even though he was naughty at times, he was very honest and sincere with all of the demons. Of the two small demons that he was closest with, there was a small water snake with a very high spiritual awareness. The water snake would be coiled around his wrist every day as they swam about and played together.
There was also a tortoise demon who was like a very close, good-natured elder to him, and would tell him about all kinds of interesting, novel things.
Finally, a day came where the white-haired youth felt that something was about to happen. A golden light illuminated the entire body of water, and the countless demons in the lake, powerful or strong, all heard the cold, indifferent voice.
“Spirit that took form in the lake. Edified as the Lake Deity, thou shalt enlighten thy beings.”
The voice was cold and detached as if it had been preordained in advance. It seemed to contain the truths of heaven and earth within, and could not be disobeyed.
Following the voice, a golden beam of light descended, illuminating the blank, dazed face of the white-haired youth. The youth had difficulty opening his eyes, and he peered through squinted eyes to look at the magical golden light that descended in front of him.
An imperial seal emitting a dignified aura was formed from the golden light. It floated above the youth’s head, casting a brilliant light in the surrounding water.
A scene that countless beings would find unfathomable occurred before their eyes.
Underneath the brilliant light at the center of the water, a phantom image of a palace slowly appeared. It gradually condensed into reality, becoming a majestic, towering Divine Palace!
Transforming illusion into reality!
Even if the Heavenly Courts in the three heavens on high hadn’t ever cared about these small, insignificant mountain and river deities, they were still on the Heavenly Court’s official divine ranking. Despite being mere ants of the lowest rank, the display they put on for them still had to have the grandeur and show of extravagance befitting a divinity.
… …
In the corner of one of the three heavens of the vast, boundless Heavenly Court, in the House of the Earth God, there was an elder who was wrapped in a loose gown with large sleeves, and was holding a divine tome. From time to time, brilliant light would fly out of it and land among the pile of tomes and scrolls that were stacked up like a mountain behind him.
The elder muttered, “There were recently 86 mountain deities and 132 river deities born in the Dong Territory of the Human Realm. Why is there such a high consumption of materials recorded in their domains? Those two Divine Excellencies took out so much of the storehouse stock a few days ago. How am I going to find a way to make up for the account deficit…?”
The elder shook his head while flipping through the book, stopping exactly on the page for Jade Water Lake.
Words slowly appeared on the book in his hands. “The spirit that formed from Jade Water Lake in the Shan Mountain of the Dong Territory was self-promoted to the divine rank of a lake deity. Of the materials consumed in the domain, there was one divine seal, 20,000 pounds of divine jade, 200,000 green spirit stones… All divine materials were consumed for construction by the method to transform illusion to reality, as recorded.”
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