<h4>Chapter 69: Divine Rank</h4>


    <strong>Chapter 69: Divine Rank</strong>


    Xu Disheng was holding the Parting Water Pearl as he walked at the front.


    After the serpent monster retreated, the surrounding waters once again became crystal clear. It was now possible to see the heart of theke far off in the depths, where there was a massive, ruined Divine Pce.


    Once they approached, it was possible to faintly see that there were four words carved into the board above the entrance to the main hall of the Divine Pce. On those characters, there was an inextinguishable divine light shining through, illuminating the surrounding waters.


    Yuan Qi had been following closely behind Xu Disheng. When they finally arrived at the entrance to the hall of the Divine Pce, he looked up and examined the board that was emitting a prating divine light. He furrowed his brows and said, “What are these words? I actually don’t know any of them!”


    Xi Jingshan was walking behind the rest of the disciples. When he saw that everyone had stopped to look at the board, he walked up and stood at Xu Disheng’s side. He smiled and said, “That is divinenguage. It’s the formalnguage used by beings like mountain and river deities. Although I also can’t read divinenguage, I’ve often heard people mention it. ording to my analysis, these four words most likely say ‘Jade Water Divine Pce’.”


    Xu Disheng turned and nced at him, a hint of praise in his eyes. When Xu Disheng came to this ce and saw the board, the words ‘Jade Water Divine Pce’ automatically appeared in his mind for some reason, which was exactly what Xi Jingshan had figured out on his own.


    Although the Jade Water Lake Deity had scores of monster troops and none of them were of a good nature, it was still the Jade Water Lake Deity. Even the smallest divinities had a divine rank recognized by thews of heaven and earth, which was what allowed this pce hall to be a Divine Pce.


    That serpent monster hated the Lake Deity to the core. When he was talking to Xu Disheng and the others earlier, it referred to the divine pce as the ‘Jade Water Monster Pce’. After all, the serpent monster, along with the two fish monsters, had been appointed as monster generals by the Lake Deity. Unless they received the Lake Deity’s permission, they would forever be bound to these waters, unable to leave.


    Unless a new Lake Deity was born, or the already dead Lake Deity somehow came back to life, the three monster generals naturally wouldn’t be able to leave the waters without an edict from a deity.


    The deeper they went in, the more they could perceive the ruined state of the pce hall.


    From the dpidated coral jade masonry and the intricate lines engraved upon the pirs, it was possible to vaguely understand the burgeoning glory of the Jade Water Divine Pce back in the day.


    30,000 years ago…


    Torrential rain poured down, battering ruthlessly against the surfaces of the wide canyon. The water level in the creek that ran through the canyon was rising rapidly and gradually began to overflow and submerge the surrounding trees and shrubbery.


    It was possible to fleetingly spot small hares and squirrels ripe with spiritual energy jumping from one submerged tree to the next in an attempt to evade the ruin caused by the torrential downpour.


    Above the stormy ck clouds, far off in the horizon, there was a woman robed in white. She was riding a white winged horse as she rushed towards the heights of the heavens with a look of anxiety upon her face.


    In the woman’s hand, there was an exquisite ceramic zedntern with a myriad of sparkling, translucent snowkes slowly revolving around it.


    The princess of her house was to be married off today to Divine Lord Gou Chen of the House of the Celestial Sovereign, and all of the princess’s maids had already prepared congrattory gifts. But she had gone alone to the Guixue Area in the far south of the Human Realm to prepare this exquisite Liuli Crystal Snowke Lantern for the princess. She had only managed to return today, and she wasn’t sure if she would make it in time.


    The princess was a wonderful person. She was noble and graced in elegance by the beauty of heaven and earth, and her features were truly immacte. Even though she was just a maid of the house, the princess had never once raised her voice to scold her, and she treated the maids by her side just like her own sisters.


    Thinking of the princess’s warm demeanor, the corners of the white-clothed woman’s mouth curled into a smile. With this smile, the bitter exhaustion that she had to endure in the past few years while going harvesting in the snow that had umted in the Guixue Area for thousands of years seemed to lighten significantly. All this time, she had been holding the Snowke zed Ceramic Cup tightly in her hand, and she didn’t even dare to put it into her Storage Magic Treasure to avoid harming its spirituality.


    But as she was hurrying along her way, she didn’t notice that the Snowke zed Ceramic Cup cautiously nestled in her palm shook ever so slightly, causing some snowkes to spill out of thentern and drift down to the earth below.


    The cluster of snowkes flurried and swayed along with the wind. In the midst of the devastating downpour, it lightly fluttered down, showing no signs of melting whatsoever.


    It graduallynded in the center of the creek and settled into the water without a sound.


    Just as many grains of sand had to umte to form a tower, this wasn’t a matter that simply urred overnight.


    Another several thousand years passed by, and under the vicissitudes of time, the canyon transformed. Several short mountain peaks remained, and the creek had already be a massiveke.


    As the ages passed, the snowkes were unmoved for time immemorial. They stayed quietly at the bottom of theke for several thousand years, rife with spiritual energy. It glowed with a white divine light, and from time to time, it would twitch and vibrate.


    There was originally a naturally formed small spirit vein at the bottom of theke. The snowkes that had been there for many ages had absorbed more than half of the spirit vein’s spiritual energy, and it had be a miniature spirit vein that was already close to being dried up.


    The body of water above the spirit vein was also rich in spiritual energy. If one drank a mouthful of thatkewater, it would be enough to support several months of cultivation.


    Nourished by the spirit vein, this body of water had gradually formed aplete but ignorant consciousness. At the beginning, it didn’t have any thoughts of its own and only subconsciously tried to protect the living beings in this sacred body of water.


    After an unknown period of time passed, the consciousness of theke had matured and was on the verge of turning into a water monster!


    At that very moment, the snowkes that had been undisturbed for eons suddenly floated up, and in a sh, it sent a wave of frigid qi through the body of water,pletely swallowing that ignorant consciousness formed from theke.


    A bone-chilling white light blossomed above the snowkes, and after a few moments, it transformed into a human form. When the white light receded, a naked white-haired youth appeared from the light, slowly opening his eyes.


    The youth had long white hair, and his skin was like sculpted ice, but his eyes were empty and confused.


    The youth gradually discovered that the entire body of water around him seemed to be one with him, and he could even freely control the size and direction of the water currents as he wished.


    Due to the nourishment of the spirit vein, quite a few lesser demons were born in the waters of theke. But since not enough time had passed since theke was formed, the lesser demons were all very weak.


    Since the white-haired youth could control the water of theke, he quickly became familiar with the lesser monsters. If any of the monsters didn’t listen to him or didn’t y with him, he would create a water prison and trap the lesser monsters to mess with them. Seeing them stuck in the awkward situation, he wouldugh at them alongside the lesser monsters that he was close with.


    The white-haired youth was innocent and guileless, and was truly kindhearted to the core. Even though he was naughty at times, he was very honest and sincere with all of the monsters. Of the two lesser monsters that he was closest with, there was a small water snake with a very high spiritual awareness. The water snake would be coiled around his wrist every day as they swam about and yed together.


    There was also a tortoise monster who was like a very close, good-natured elder to him, and would tell him about all kinds of interesting, novel things.


    Finally, a day came where the white-haired youth felt that something was about to happen. A golden light illuminated the entire body of water, and the countless monsters in theke, powerful or strong, all heard the cold, indifferent voice.


    “Spirit that took form in theke. Edified as the Lake Deity, thou shalt enlighten thy beings.”


    The voice was cold and detached as if it had been preordained in advance. It seemed to contain the truths of heaven and earth within, and could not be disobeyed.


    Following the voice, a golden beam of light descended, illuminating the nk, dazed face of the white-haired youth. The youth had difficulty opening his eyes, and he peered through squinted eyes to look at the magical golden light that descended in front of him.


    An imperial seal emitting a dignified aura was formed from the golden light. It floated above the youth’s head, casting a brilliant light in the surrounding water.


    A scene that countless beings would find unfathomable urred before their eyes.


    Underneath the brilliant light at the center of the water, a phantom image of a pce slowly appeared. It gradually condensed into reality, bing a majestic, towering Divine Pce!


    <i>Transforming illusion into reality!</i>


    Even if the Heavenly Courts in the three heavens on high hadn’t ever cared about these small, insignificant mountain and river deities, they were still on the Heavenly Court’s official divine ranking. Despite being mere ants of the lowest rank, the disy they put on for them still had to have the grandeur and show of extravagance befitting a divinity.


    … …


    In the corner of one of the three heavens of the vast, boundless Heavenly Court, in the House of the Earth God, there was an elder who was wrapped in a loose gown withrge sleeves, and was holding a divine tome. From time to time, brilliant light would fly out of it andnd among the pile of tomes and scrolls that were stacked up like a mountain behind him.


    The elder muttered, “There were recently 86 mountain deities and 132 river deities born in the Dong Territory of the Human Realm. Why is there such a high consumption of materials recorded in their domains? Those two Divine Excellencies took out so much of the storehouse stock a few days ago. How am I going to find a way to make up for the ount deficit…?”


    The elder shook his head while flipping through the book, stopping exactly on the page for Jade Water Lake.


    Words slowly appeared on the book in his hands. “The spirit that formed from Jade Water Lake in the Shan Mountain of the Dong Territory was self-promoted to the divine rank of ake deity. Of the materials consumed in the domain, there was one divine seal, 20,000 pounds of divine jade, 200,000 green spirit stones… All divine materials were consumed for construction by the method to transform illusion to reality, as recorded.”


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