Chapter 25

There was also an exquisite blue-and-white porcelain bowl on the little offering table, but there was nothing in front of it. It looked like nothing more than a simple little table.

He Qinglan looked at the little table for a while, then gently placed the Water Source Spirit Pearl—shattered, recondensed by him, and covered in cracks—into the small bowl. It rang out with a crisp ding.

Then the River God posted his daily update.

Clear Ripple River: [#Black Carp photo##Little altar photo#, protect living beings, cherish rivers, start with me. Repost this Little Black Fish and River God altar, and the River God will decide whether to bless you.]

Shui Wuyuan V: [...eye-roll.jpg.]

[Hahahaha, come see the Immortal Pretty Boy's second Weibo post! I have never seen such a fresh, refined, and unpretentious repost-to-make-a-wish post!]

[Boss Water's expression represents mine. Immortal Pretty Boy, did you type something wrong?! Who would worship a deity that only blesses people depending on the circumstances?!]

[Protecting the environment starts with me. Reposted, but forget about River God blessings. Laughing through tears.]

The River God looked at those comments with complete calm. Deities who answered every prayer simply did not exist—they were a falsehood. Blessing people depending on the circumstances was, at the very least, real and effective.

It merely required these humans to gamble a little on their luck and... meet a few of the River God's modest requirements.

After posting his daily Weibo update, the River God was in a good mood. He looked at the night outside the window, sensed the Corrupting Power gathering once more around Xia Youyu, and raised his brows.

Xia Youyu had basically remained by his side all day and had not gone anywhere with excessive corruption, yet the Corrupting Miasma on him had gathered rapidly again.

That meant the way Xia Youyu had become tainted by Corrupting Miasma differed from Qi Xiaoyuan's. Compared to Qi Xiaoyuan, Xia Youyu's condition was more like... a curse.

He Qinglan reached out and tapped the exquisite little glass fish tank, the corners of his lips curving faintly.

A curse was a double-edged sword. If the target could not be successfully cursed, all the damage would rebound upon the caster twofold.

So, they probably would not need to actively seek those people out. At the latest, by the day after tomorrow, those people would come knocking on their own.

By then, they should be able to see both the curse and the strange bird.

Having figured that out, He Qinglan prepared to close his eyes and rest. It had to be said that everything in this crystal cottage pleased the River God.

Automatic air purification

System

, elegant and beautiful design, and the overall pale-blue color scheme were all pleasing to the eye. Though the River God had no worldly desires, meeting basic living requirements was merely a necessity, not a desire.

The second before he closed his eyes, He Qinglan seemed to sense something and glanced at his phone again.

He saw that many people had followed him. Among them, aside from Shui Wuyuan, none deserved the River God's attention. Yet one name caught his eye—

Wushan Guardian.

There was no shortage of people with "mountain" in their names, but Wushan, combined with the word "guardian," made He Qinglan unable to stop himself from thinking further.

Back then, there had been a lofty mountain not far from his Qinglan River.

That mountain stood between heaven and earth, its trees forming a forest. The "deity" it nurtured and condensed had named himself Wu.

Because of their geographical proximity, Wu and he had gotten along very well. Aside from him, Wu had been closest to Forest and Thick Earth. They were another pair of close friends besides Wind-Fire River.

He Qinglan's thoughts stirred as he looked at Wushan Guardian. Opening the private messages, he saw a soul-searching question from Wushan Guardian—

Wushan Guardian: Are you the River God?! I'm the Wushan Mountain God!!! Let's exchange a code phrase: cultivate, play, beat up Wuyuan?!

Clear Ripple River: ...

This really was a Mountain God.

And he had never cultivated, played, and beaten up Wuyuan.

Author's note: Wushan Mountain God: Cultivate, play, beat up Wuyuan?

Wind-Fire Thunder God: Cultivate, play, beat up Wuyuan.

He Qinglan: ...I really only beat up Wuyuan once.

Shui Wuyuan: Pah!! I was the one chasing all of you down and beating you up, okay!!!

A single code phrase from Wushan Guardian allowed the River God to confirm that the being on the other end of the internet was truly Wu, the Mountain God.

After all, too much time had passed between ancient times and the present. Unless one had truly lived through that era, no being could possibly speak of everyone's... yes, daily life back then.

The River God could not help recalling those days, trying to determine whether everyone had really "cultivated, played, and beaten up Wuyuan." The more he thought about it, the more he felt that description was somewhat exaggerated.

Because Shui Wuyuan had been born a thousand years later, he was the youngest among all the deities. Everyone had been fairly considerate of him.

Though they did not often include him in their activities, it was hardly to the point where they would beat up Wuyuan for no reason. From He Qinglan's perspective, most of the first batch of ancient gods had been rather easy to get along with. Those with cruel, violent, and sinister temperaments had quickly met with mishaps or fallen into demonic cultivation and died.

Moreover, a large part of the reason Shui Wuyuan got beaten up was his own fault. His personality was not excessively extreme, but he was domineering. He insisted on proving that he was the strongest and eldest deity, so every time, he went looking for a beating himself.

Within the first hundred years after Shui Wuyuan's birth, he had already sought out every deity he could find and fought each of them once.

Wind, fire, forest, mountain, snow, sand, sea, thunder... he even wanted to fight powerful living beings or intelligent demon spirits born in other regions. He could absolutely be called a battle-crazed god.

At first, everyone indulged him because he was young. They merely exchanged a few moves with him, at most fighting to a draw. But later...

Mm, who had been the first to lose patience and beat Shui Wuyuan up with their full strength?

As the River God thought this, the corner of his mouth suddenly twitched.

At that moment, Wushan Guardian began rapidly typing another greeting.

Wushan Guardian: [Clear Ripple, why aren't you replying? I just checked—the river in Bicheng is called Qinglan River. Isn't that your true-name river? Or do you not believe the code phrase I gave you?]