The moment the words fell, a column of water exploded from the depths of the flood.
The water column shot into the sky, shattering into countless splashes that scattered in every direction.
Immediately afterward, the outline of a colossal savage beast emerged from the flood—human-faced, jackal-bodied, with wings on its back and a serpentine gait.
This was the Transforming Serpent.
Every beat of its wings raised fresh towering waves.
Every sweep of its serpent tail drove the flood forward by a great stretch.
By now, the flood behind it had already swallowed an unknown number of hills, plains, and tribes.
Livestock and living people alike struggled a few times in the water before vanishing completely.
The "Stream" tribe also lay directly in the flood's path.
And Stream Earl was the Lesser God that this tribe had worshipped for countless generations.
At that moment, the stone statue cracked with a crack, and amid a surge of blue light, a figure sprang out, spear in hand and waves beneath its feet.
He was Stream Earl, the Lesser God.
Xu Changqing, Zhang Daoxuan, and the others watched, assuming he would save the people.
Yet to their utter disbelief, Stream Earl did not even spare the mortals who worshipped him a glance. Facing the boundless flood about to surge over them, he directly fled with the stream under his control.
"What?"
"He ran?"
"He abandoned all his believers?"
Xu Changqing and the others stood dumbfounded at the sight.
Suddenly, the Dao Ancestor's voice sounded from behind them. "He is merely a Lesser God. In ordinary times, he can maintain favorable winds and timely rains.
But when he encounters a savage beast like this, running is his only option."
The range covered by a Lesser God's divine power generally did not exceed a hundred li