Chapter 300 The Sacrifice of the Water God

Ah, people of later generations, have you ever heard of the highest form of ritual when people of the past sacrificed to the Water God?

If you do not know, I shall tell you.

You must choose an auspicious day.

Which day should it be?

Ideally, it should be the Water God's legendary birthday.

Then, near a bend in the river, a nine-layered platform of white earth is built to hold the most precious offerings, the *xi sheng* (sacrifices). For the Water God, the highest offering that people of the tribal and ancient eras could offer was only one thing.

A child born in the correct month and year.

Their body is wiped with fragrant herbs.

They are dressed in elaborate and grand clothes.

Amidst the chanting of a mysterious song, they stand on the high platform.

"You will become the pride of the entire family."

"Go and serve the gods."

"After you depart, we will establish a shrine for you, and your parents will be well taken care of."

"Everyone knows this story; you are voluntarily sacrificing yourself to control the floods… How kind."

The waves surge, and the elders and people kneel piously and respectfully, hoping that they can resolve the disasters of their hometown.

Children dressed in finery are treated like saints.

But their wrists and ankles are bound with hemp rope, even tied to stones.

Why would saints and prides be treated this way?

Because even those who speak such words know.

Everyone wants to live.

……………

The past, it seems a scene from the past flashes by.

A figure holding an umbrella calmly looks at the city before them. The originally wide and flat streets are now full of stopped cars. These creations of modern technology can no longer fulfill their duties. The person with the umbrella calmly moves forward, stirring up waves and wind, and the water level of the rivers flowing through the city begins to surge.

……………

In the East Sea.

Wei Yuan watches the talisman slowly dissipate.

Gonggong's superficial consciousness transforms into a tall man.

Wei Yuan's height is not low, but Gonggong is much taller than him, at least over two meters, yet he gives off a slender and handsome feeling, as if this height is just right. Gonggong moves his wrists, a faint smile on his face.

Wei Yuan lowers his eyes, looking at Yuanjue and Bai Niangzi, telling them to wait here.

"Don't worry, we'll be right back."

"It shouldn't take too long."

"You stay here."

Yuanjue worried, "Museum Head Wei, you…"

Wei Yuan coughed a few times, calmly saying, "I'll accompany Gonggong to take a look at the human world."

The Water God Gonggong laughed, "Those words do have some spirit."

"Strange, strange, if you had this personality back then, I shouldn't have no impression at all."

Wei Yuan simply replied, "People change."

"Everything one experiences changes them."

Gonggong remained noncommittal, moving his wrists, his five fingers slightly clenching, and a thousand winds surged. Wei Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly. In just a moment, he had already left the depths of the East Sea where he had been.

What Yuanjue and Bai Niangzi saw was even more shocking.

Because it wasn't high-speed movement.

Rather, it was directly swapping the 'water' of this place with that of another place, including everything in the water.

This action was effortless.

If described in Buddhist terms, perhaps only 'this shore and the other shore are one and the same' could barely describe it.

Even with a monk's composure, witnessing such a seamless method still took a long time to recover from, before sighing and murmuring:

"Amitabha…"

"Is this the Water God?"

"Even the so-called divine powers of the Buddhas in the legends compiled by the Pure Land sect are probably inferior."

……………………

When breaking through the surface of the water, Wei Yuan had already seen the city and the mountain and sea rifts in the sky. Even though he had killed Taowu, these rifts had not naturally healed. This was normal, just like if someone broke down a door, even if you managed to defeat the robber, the door wouldn't repair itself just because the robber was defeated.

And because of this, the Divine Land had a subtle trend of separating from other countries.

Gonggong looked at the modern skyscrapers, the steel jungles, and seemed somewhat surprised, saying, "...Are these the modern human tribes?"

"Not tribes, cities."

"Cities… Hah, not bad. In the era when I was asleep, your houses were still very low and ordinary. At least most people lived in places that were low and simple, and many even lived in caves. In just a few thousand years, you've actually developed to this point. Very good."

Gonggong's tone was full of admiration.

Then, his tone changed, "It makes me want to bring the Divine Land back under divine rule even more."

Wei Yuan said, "A divinely ruled Divine Land…"

Gonggong raised an eyebrow, "Heh… still don't agree, do you?"

Wei Yuan looked at the modern city shrouded in misty rain, thought for a moment, and replied, "If it were divinely ruled, five thousand years later, perhaps we would still be living in stone houses, at most, just better-looking stone houses, and would never have developed to this extent."

"But even the most beautiful cave is still a cave."

Gonggong said, "No longer having gods, even abandoning gods."

"Is that why you've developed to this point in just five thousand years?"

Wei Yuan thought for a moment and simply replied, "Five thousand years is a very long time."

Gonggong calmly said, "Is it?"

He looked at the misty rain in the distance:

"To a god, five thousand years is just a slightly longer dream."

The two, a human and a god, almost immediately discovered the most fundamental difference in their ways of thinking. After a moment of silence, Wei Yuan changed the subject and asked, "You said that the god in Jiangnan Province is a traitor?"

"Correct."

"Then who is he?"

Gonggong did not answer, but simply said, "You'll know when the time comes."

"Is that so?"

After pondering without success, Wei Yuan asked, "Then what will you do to him?"

Gonggong laughed, looked at Wei Yuan, and asked in return:

"How do you humans treat traitors?"

The topic was cut off again. The being, suspected to be a Water God, captured the spirituality of the Yellow Turban Warrior left behind by Wei Yuan. The Yellow Turban Warrior was formed based on the true spirit imprint in the sky. Once the Water God erased these true spirits, it would be equivalent to truly killing the Yellow Turban Warrior.

But because of this, Wei Yuan was able to grasp the Water God's current location and rushed straight there.

At this moment, the entire Jiangnan Province was shrouded in endless misty rain. The rain could hardly be described as raindrops anymore, but rather as countless pale needles, densely falling and piercing into Jiangnan Province. The rivers, which were already rising due to the autumn rains, were now wantonly writhing like venomous dragons.

Wei Yuan felt a daze, feeling that he had seen this scene somewhere before.

"The flood waters engulf Jinshan?"

He recalled what Yuanjue and Bai Niangzi had said about his previous life.

In the distance, he saw a figure holding an umbrella in the water.

And the true spirit of the Yellow Turban Warrior was gathered under that umbrella.

Wei Yuan did not hesitate, slightly exhaling a breath of inner energy, suppressing the pain brought about by the cancerous transformation of his body. He summoned the Iron Eagle Sword in his palm. The Iron Eagle Sword trembled and hummed. The Water God sensed the baleful aura, stopped moving, and the surrounding water flowed and roared.

Wei Yuan slashed out with his sword, and the other party raised his hand to block it with the umbrella.

The huge roar was almost like thunder.

The surrounding rain and rivers seemed to have their own spirituality, turning into chains and weapons to instantly attack Wei Yuan.

Obviously, Wei Yuan's appearance could not be concealed from the other party.

Wei Yuan glanced at the surrounding rain, the rain connecting into extremely fine lines.

Perhaps when he stepped into this huge rain curtain covering Jiangnan, his presence had already been detected… With a slight thought, he shook his hand and released his sword, the sword energy sweeping across like thunder, and the rain curtain suddenly paused. A tear appeared on the sleeve of the umbrella-wielding person, and he took half a step back.

With one move, Wei Yuan judged that the other party was not as good as him in close combat.

But the power of the gods does not lie in this.

With several consecutive strong attacks, he had already gained the upper hand.

Just as Wei Yuan was about to continue attacking to secure the victory, he suddenly heard faint shouts.

Behind him was a bridge, and under the bridge was the extremely turbulent river.

There were vehicles trapped on the bridge.

Wei Yuan glanced at it and saw the conspicuous color of school buses, and not just one, densely crowded on the newly built bridge. The bridge surface at this time showed a pale color, accompanied by the roaring river under the bridge, almost like some kind of ritual.

There were still children on the school buses.

Once they were washed into the river under the bridge, at this height and river depth, there would be almost no chance of survival.

'Do you know what the best sacrifice is for a Water God?'

Faintly, it seemed as if a voice was whispering.

Almost without hesitation, the sword in Wei Yuan's palm, which was originally driven by the power of thunder, now transformed into a nimble sword style, taking advantage of the situation to force the umbrella-wielding person back, and then appeared on the bridge. Almost at the same time, the already extremely turbulent river erupted madly.

The waves crashed up, almost shattering the entire bridge.

At least from the perspective of onlookers at this moment, the sword-wielding youth was too small under this huge river wave.

Wei Yuan felt a daze.

Floods, waves, and crying children.

Had he experienced this scene before?

In an instant, a series of blurry images flashed before his eyes. It was the city of the Song Dynasty, the willows and swallows of Jiangnan, and then it was the river that swallowed everything familiar, and the unwavering action of blocking the river with his sword…

Will he die?

Is he afraid of death?

The last thoughts and ideas naturally emerged in his mind.

How could he be afraid of death?

A true man dies, so be it. He has no regrets in his heart towards anyone or himself. A Jiangnan rogue dying in Jiangnan is already fortunate. What is there to regret or regret?

That's what he originally thought…

But thinking of her crying face if she saw his corpse.

He suddenly felt a little guilty.

And what instantly appeared in his mind was the figure of a girl in red.

Very blurry, almost instantly disappearing.

But Wei Yuan's heart ached slightly.

Along with a feeling of loneliness, it made his sword falter for a moment. And in that instant, the entire wave had already crashed down, the water rushing like thunder, crashing down with immense force, just like the reenactment of that year's event, the rogue blocking the river with his sword, dying from exhaustion. The umbrella-wielding Water God lowered his eyes, his expression calm, and turned to leave. But after only a few steps, he suddenly heard a faint sound.

The sound grew louder and louder, intensifying.

It was the sound of a sword.

And…

The sound of wind!

The umbrella-wielding Water God's pupils constricted slightly.

The howling wind, as if from the highest heavens. He turned his head abruptly, and a scene almost identical to the one in the "Flood Waters Engulf Jinshan" greeted him, but in the modern world, it ushered in a completely different ending – a sword light swept across, the waves were forcibly cut apart, and then a clear wind flowed, spreading violently. The rain, in an instant, seemed to lose its gravity, merely stagnating in the air, almost able to clearly see the sky reflected in each raindrop.

Then,

Wei Yuan clenched his left hand into a fist.

The storm spread violently with him as the core.

The rain was instantly swept away by the wind, colliding with the rain curtain, erupting into large patches of white spray.

The umbrella-wielding Water God was forced back a step by the aura, frowning slightly.

The strength of this swordsman before him exceeded his expectations.

Not intending to get entangled, he decisively raised his hand to control the water. According to the plan, the entire Jiangnan Province's water system would erupt in an instant. The surging water in the Yangtze River and the torrential rain from the sky would completely engulf Jiangnan Province. His eyes held a calm and composed expression, confident of victory.

The power of time is something that no cultivator can stop.

Mere courage of a common man.

How can it compare to my thousand-year plan?

A full thousand years, in these thousand years, how many attempts, how many layouts, all the loopholes and possibilities have been anticipated, and all the possibilities have been prepared, all the solutions have been made, just for today.

And now that the momentum is complete, who can stop it?

The umbrella-wielding Water God, referred to as a traitor by Gonggong, said to himself, slightly raising the umbrella in his palm, looking forward.

Wanting to see his opponent clearly.

And then he saw the youth in black and red clothes slowly sheathing his sword.

And then he saw behind him, the tall and handsome man, seeing the corners of his mouth curl up, revealing a smile.

The umbrella-wielding person's thoughts froze.

Water God Gonggong.

ps: Buffer chapter, third update…

Three thousand eight hundred words

Finished, the routine has directly returned to the underworld time again, go to bed early, go to bed early, I hope to readjust the routine, lying dead... See if I can stabilize the routine during this period of time, otherwise my body can't bear it, sigh...