Chapter 92: An Imposing Bearing (1/2)
No one had expected the Dusk River God to manifest and forcibly interrupt the Dusk River Sacrament! Likewise, no one doubted the girl’s true identity. Who else but the Dusk River God would be able to interrupt the ritual and calm the maddened river?
All of the Dusk cultivators bowed down, kowtowing and worshipping her. An endless supply of gratitude flowed into Xuanxi’s body, devout sentiments that propelled the vestiges of her strength back to the empyrean immortal level and beyond.
No one was more grateful to her than Dusk residents. It was she who’d suppressed the ancient Dusk Tomb and ended the calamity of evil. It was she who’d sealed the tomb with her own life.
Over the past thousand years, the frequency at which the spirits and specters rioted had been significantly lower. Therefore, it was no wonder that the cultivators would offer the river god their most fervent gratitude and belief as soon as she appeared.
“You bastards and idiots! The river god is dead! This is a water monster born out of the river!!” Lu Yuanhou frothed at the mouth to see the river god grow ever more powerful from the cultivators’ worship. Anyone who wrested his opportunity away was his worst enemy!
“Kill her!!” he roared again, but no one dared do anything. The immortals from the Feng and Lu Clans were no exception. A strange influence had risen from the Dusk cultivators and formed a weighty atmosphere, converging heavily on the immortals like a gargantuan mountain.
It didn’t result in physical damage, but it could destroy their spirits. Unity of will was invincible!
Xuanxi had protected the province for a thousand years. Her place in the locals’ hearts was even greater than that of the Nephrite celestial emperor. Her mere presence commanded and banded together the will of all living beings in Dusk Province, in return creating a power that guarded the river god.
She had been dead for a millenium, but that wasn’t such a long period of time for cultivators. Some of those who’d weathered the initial great unrest from the Dusk Tomb still lived. They passed down the river god’s deeds to those around them, praising her for her benevolence. Tales of her actions had thus traveled through generation upon generation.
More importantly, she was the deity they sacrificed to at the Dusk River Sacrament every century. Those of Dusk Province had never forgotten about her.
“How can this be?! How?!” Feng Li and Lu Yuanhou had completely lost their calm.
“Do you all want to rebel by worshipping a water monster?!” snapped Feng Li.
“Rebel?” a coolly mocking voice floated from the river as a young man in black emerged from behind Xuanxi.
“Qing Han! Why are you with that witch?!” Feng Li and Lu Yuanhou’s expression fell. Unlike Feng Li, Qing Han was the true envoy of the celestial emperor. Everything he did represented His Majesty.
“Witch?” Qing Han scoffed. “Are you calling the river god, the one who used her own body as a seal and kept the province protected for a thousand years, a witch? What schemes are the two of you cooking up?”
“Nonsense!” Feng Li’s thoughts had reordered themselves by now. He might be known as a skirt-chaser in Nephrite Capital, but he was craftier than Lu Yuanhou. “The river god died after sealing the ancient tomb a thousand years ago,” he denounced. “She couldn’t possibly have come back to life after all this time!”
Xuanxi silently scanned the crowd on the riverbank with clear eyes. The Dusk denizens hadn’t forgotten about her even after a millenium. They attended the ritual for her, rather than treating it as a perfunctory mission. That truly did move her.
“If the river god is dead, why would I be here?” Qing Han snorted. “The river god sealed the entrance to the ancient tomb with her own body, but no one witnessed her death, did they?”
He brandished the token given to him by the celestial emperor and boomed solemnly, “Receive your imperial decree, Xuanxi!”
Xuanxi curtsied gracefully.
“On behalf of His Majesty the Celestial Emperor, I do appoint thee the Dusk River God. Thou art to guard the river and protect all lives in Dusk Province. What say you?”
Everyone on the riverbank held their breaths and stared unblinkingly at the figures floating above the Dusk River.
“Xuanxi receives the decree,” Xuanxi responded quietly.
A commotion broke out from the crowd. The Nephrite court had invested the river god with a title! She must be the real deal!
Although it had been Qing Han who appointed her, the token in his hand indicated that he represented the will of the celestial emperor. There was no difference between his actions and the celestial emperor issuing the decree himself.
The heavenly court naturally had the authority to bestow titles onto divine spirits. Those who were officially recognized were true gods.