Chapter 16

Having said that, Shui Wuyuan went so far as to spin around on the spot, displaying his surging water power before the River God, whose Spiritual Power was nearly exhausted.

"Surprised? Didn't see that coming?"

All the streamers and viewers waiting for Boss Water to start roasting someone: "?!"

He Qinglan, with cold Spiritual Power slapped right into his face: "..."

The River God inhaled, exhaled, inhaled again, then exhaled once more. In the end, the stark contrast provoked him so badly that he failed to hold back his temper.

He flung an empty plastic bottle clenched in his gloved hand straight at this childish Rain God who was asking for trouble, letting out a lofty, icy snort at the same time.

"Have you forgotten how much it hurt when I pinned you down and beat you back then?"

The already shocked streamers and viewers, once again: "?!!!"

Boss Water stopped spinning after hearing that. The smug, triumphant look on his face finally turned cold again.

"Back then was back then. Now is now."

"You were so much older than me. You bullied the young with your age back then, and you were proud of it?"

"Besides, after all these years, you only ever beat me once."

Seeing that he had stepped on Shui Wuyuan's sore spot, He Qinglan smiled, his face almost excessively handsome.

"I only fought you once in total."

"After all, you were far too weak back then. I truly... had no time to bother with you."

Shui Wuyuan's face darkened.

The birth of gods in this world was not fixed. All things possessed spirits, which gathered into "gods."

Rivers, lakes, seas, famous mountains, great rivers, secluded valleys, forests, red sands, and ice and snow could all gather into "gods." These "divine spirits," born from nature and condensed from Spiritual Power, were the most ancient gods in this world.

There had been no Pangu splitting open the heavens, no Nuwa creating humanity, nor any true Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors bestowing godhood. Those were "deities" created by humans through faith and belief, but long before humanity, "divine spirits" had already existed in this world.

Before humans became the dominant life-form in this world, there were already gods of mountains and forests, gods of scorching fire, gods of the earth, wind gods, and gods of rivers and seas.

Because nature was mighty while living creatures were weak, these gods of nature were born first.

Still, the gathering of godhood depended on both opportunity and the timing of heaven and earth.

Not every lofty mountain had a mountain god, and not every river had a River God.

Over millions of years, seas turned into mulberry fields and mulberry fields into seas. Not only all living things in the world, but even gods had to adapt to heaven and earth. Gods unable to change and adapt would eventually fall and vanish.

Yet in the beginning, many gods still appeared.

But for some reason, although Rain Gods were among the natural gods most likely to arise, the Rain God appeared a thousand years later than those earliest gods.

Thus, while the River God was already wandering the world with the Fire God, Wind God, Mountain God, Sea God, and the others, the Rain God was still... a half-grown boy.

Then the half-grown Rain God believed that he was the master of all water sources beneath heaven. How could the River God of some mere river be more like a water god than he was? So, without a care for anything else, he poured a torrential rain over the Qinglan River and drew out the River God for a fight.

That was the lifelong! Dark history! that the Rain God never wished to mention for the rest of his life!

He had been beaten so badly by the River God of a single river that he could not get back up for a long time. When his own rain pinned him to the ground, he looked up at that god walking the waves against the wind, clear-blue hair drifting like ripples of water. That backward glance and light smile in midair stayed with him for three thousand years.

Afterward, the Rain God decided that he would cultivate diligently, gather Spiritual Power, and find that damned arrogant River God to wash away his shame. But that fellow who loved running around everywhere was always nowhere to be found. Whenever he finally appeared, his cultivation had soared again. In the end, he could even take on the Fire God and Wind God together alone.

The Rain God could only bury himself in bitter cultivation once more.

Three thousand years later, when the Rain God finally broke through another bottleneck and mastered absolute Sourcewater Power, he rushed excitedly to challenge the Qinglan River God again, only to discover in astonishment that the arrogant, spoiled fellow had already sunk to the bottom of Origin Lake and begun shutting himself away.

The newly born Mountain God told him that those earliest gods had already lost all interest and no longer wanted to stir up trouble, so they had all gone off to shut themselves away!!!

The Rain God, abandoned by everyone once again: "..."

In his fury, he directly brought down torrential rain upon the world for dozens of days in a row, nearly wiping out humanity, which had just entered the age of agriculture.

But he could not force his way into those gods' places of origin. He could only grind his teeth and spend several thousand more years in the world in defiance. You're all sleeping, huh? I refuse to sleep!

And humanity finally became the dominant life-form in this world during those millennia.

Yet humanity's development over those thousands of years changed this world far too much. The clear, flourishing spiritual energy dwindled day by day. Plants and animals able to receive the blessings of heaven and earth became fewer and fewer. Even many of those gods who had once fallen asleep were never able to awaken again because of it.

During those two wars that had nearly swept across the entire world and almost severed the world's "spiritual energy source," Shui Wuyuan had "sensed" the fall of several ancient gods.

He did not feel much sorrow or joy. Birth and fall were both natural.

Only once in a while, once in the rarest while, a clear-blue figure would still flash through the deepest depths of Shui Wuyuan's memories—far too proud, and also... painfully beautiful.

At least, he had not sensed his fall.

Last night, he had caught a fleeting glimpse of him.

And now, that man stood before him.

Even though his Spiritual Power was completely gone, his origin nearly dried up, and he looked poor and pitiful, he had still stood before him.

Proud and beautiful, just as he had been back then.

Thus, everyone saw Boss Water, whose face had darkened because of being called small and having his dark history of getting beaten brought up, keep darkening—then smile at the Immortal Pretty Boy again.

"Then do you want to find out whether I'm still weak, whether I'm still small?"

Everyone: "!!!!"

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!]

After the chat had remained blank for so long, the barrage finally went mad.

Author's note:

River God, Fire God, Wind God, Mountain God: Someone was too small, so we didn't let him play with us.