Chapter 498 - A Godless World (2/2)

However, as the school of Novels had originally declined to the point where they almost lost Cloudwisp island, possessing no disciples and unable to support any instructors, the library had fallen under the obligations of the school of Confucianism. Now that the school of Novels was prospering again, it returned to the hands of the school of Novels.

Sun Fubai had reached a crucial moment for his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, so he dropped his matters in the Cloudwisp association and returned to the library to cultivate himself. Under his management, a complete structure had already been set up in the Cloudwisp association, so there was no need for him to personally tend to everything.

Books filled the bookshelves. The smell of wood and books was refreshing. However, the vast building was mostly empty, without many people inside.

The chaos brought by war had yet to be pacified. The people who were in the mood to read books and the books regarding cultivation were all on higher floors. Most of the books downstairs were classics, or on history, philosophy, and literature, which were very difficult for cultivators to take note of.

“You’re talking about school leader Ru, right? She’s right over there. She came a long time ago. So she’s been waiting for you!”

“Yeah. I’ll go and take a look.”

Li Qingshan had already sensed her aura. Navigating his way through the mountainous bookcases and piles of books, he finally found her in a corner.

There were many books piled on the table, but she was not holding a single one. She crossed her legs high up on the table, smiling brightly while leaning on her hands.

There were two floor-to-ceiling windows. The sunlight was wonderful, dyeing her black hair golden.

“What are you doing here?” Li Qingshan sat down in front of her, casually picking up a book and flipping through it before tossing it back onto the table.

“To tell you the second story.”

“What story?”

“A story about gods.”

Ru Xin removed her legs from the table. With a wave of her hand, the curtains were drawn with a rattle, blocking out the sunlight. A shadow enveloped her face. She crossed her arms and placed them on the table, leaning forward and stifling her voice. “Did you know that the nine provinces originally had many gods? These gods obviously couldn’t be compared to the gods and buddhas in heaven. At most, they were only some minor gods, and the places they governed were not large either, such as a mountain or a river.”

“Most of them were mountain or water daemons. Perhaps they might not have been particularly powerful in the cultivation world, but in the eyes of regular people, they already possessed powers to summon clouds and rain at whim. They seemed all-powerful. And, as long as they remained in their territory, their strength would be greatly enhanced. They would possess quite the power.”

“What about now? Why aren’t there any more left?” Li Qingshan seemed to understand something, but he failed to grasp the main point of all this.

“After the founding emperor established the nine provinces, not a single god existed in the world.”

“And then?”

“And then there’s no and then. I’m done with my story.” Ru Xin waved her hand again, and the dazzling sunlight flooded in.

“Is this your story?” Li Qingshan stared at her with widened eyes.

“It’s not like you’ve paid anything, so why should I make it so long? If you want to know, read it for yourself!” Ru Xin patted the pile of books, filling the air with dust that drifted about in the sunlight.

She stood up, about to leave.

“Hold on.” Li Qingshan stopped Ru Xin, but he had no idea where he should start with his questions. Just a certain thought of his became clearer and clearer. He glanced past the tall pile of books. She must have spent quite the effort digging up these damned books from the musty selection here!

“If you have something to say, just spit it out.”

“If you had said ‘make it quick’ instead of that, it would be a little more pleasant to my ears.” Li Qingshan’s gaze swept past her perky bottom viciously. He was very tempted to deal a vicious slap there.

Immediately, he forgot about keeping her around for the rest of his life as a confidant. He only thought about how pressing her down over his legs and viciously spanking her would be the greatest enjoyment when she ran her mouth blindly.

“Will I receive spiritual stones if you feel pleasant?” Ru Xin found that rather inappropriate as soon as she mentioned it.

Sure enough, Li Qingshan sniggered. “That’ll depend on how you make me feel pleasant.”

Ru Xin turned around and left without saying anything more.

Li Qingshan suddenly remembered something. “Do you know what Qian Rongzhi is doing by Chu Tian’s side?”

“In the Mist province, interfering with a person’s hunt is even more severe of an offence than stealing their wife!” Ru Xin waved her hand without even looking back, passing through the corridor of floor-to-ceiling windows. She flickered in and out of the sunlight, disappearing at the end of the corridor.

“Hunting? She’s thinking the same thing as I am. It’s a pity that I have too many prey, or I wouldn’t mind having a hand in it.”

Li Qingshan murmured to himself before picking up the book he had tossed on the table again. He carefully studied the cover. The title of the book had already become blurred, and the words were in an extremely simple style. He only managed to make out two words, “on Gods”.

Unless they were left untouched in hundred treasures pouches, items like books could never withstand the passage of time no matter how proper the protection they received was.

For once, Li Qingshan settled down and began reading. Only then would he live up to the pain-staking efforts she had gone to in finding these books from the vast selection here.

Under the reflected sunlight, time passed bit by bit.

Just like what Ru Xin had said, gods did exist in the very beginning. They were primarily divided into mountain gods and water gods. Bodies of earth and bodies of water could be refined like spiritual and arcane artifacts, but unlike imprinting them with soul sense, the process involved drawing out a sliver of soul sense and condensing it into a god seal.

The founding emperor conquering the world was not as simple as defeating everyone in the world and then establishing the eight kings and ten Daemon Kings. Otherwise, the Great Xia empire would have immediately collapsed the moment he left, returning to the age of chaos.

Instead, he undertook a series of procedures to prevent this. The most important procedure was forging the great cauldrons of the nine provinces. The materials that went into forging these cauldrons were the god seals collected from throughout the world.

The nine cauldrons suppressed the nine provinces. From then onwards, even if daemons claimed mountains and bodies of rivers again, they would not be able to refine them.