Yet having things go against one's wishes was the true norm of the world.
For a time after this, Han Yi indeed had smooth sailing in Zhu Village.
Free from worry over food and clothing, in his daily leisure he used the Feather of the Profound Bird in his dantian to absorb the stray heavenly fortune drifting between Heaven and Earth.
Whenever Zhu Village came under attack from monsters of other settlements, he secretly invoked the authority of heavenly fortune, calling forth wind, rain, and driving sand and stones to help them crush several waves of external foes.
Consequently, Han Yi's status in Zhu Village rose higher and higher.
Not only did the monsters of Zhu Village specially construct a tall stone building to serve as his residence, they even assigned ten burly, powerful guards to protect him closely.
They went so far as to offer up Zhu Village's most sacred "maiden" to him.
Looking at her cat head on a human body, a shudder of revulsion ran through Han Yi, and he decisively yet tactfully declined.
Just when Han Yi thought he would be playing the role of the "Divine Child" in Zhu Village for a long time to come, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
One night, he suddenly woke with a start for no apparent reason.
All around was dead silence, yet Han Yi felt an alarming sense of dread that set his heart pounding.
Silently getting up to inspect his surroundings, he was horrified to discover that the ten personal guards who were supposed to protect his safety day and night had suddenly vanished without a trace, at some point unbeknownst to him.
Han Yi knew something was amiss. Without even taking the time to pack his belongings, he prepared to flee the residence.
Only then did he realize that while he was sound asleep, nearly a hundred masked, black-clad soldiers had completely surrounded his quarters.
By the faint, flickering firelight in the hall, Han Yi could vaguely make out that the degree of beast transformation in these soldiers was considerably higher than that of the villagers in Zhu.
Though they still possessed human bodies, their limbs were thick and sturdy, and their hands had turned into something akin to demonic beast paws.
This group was clearly coming for him.
Sensing grave danger, Han Yi steeled his heart and mobilized all the heavenly fortune he had absorbed over these days.
And so, just as the soldiers were searching for Han Yi's tracks, a streak of light suddenly ignited across the sky, illuminating the night in an instant.
A colossal fireball was hurtling straight down toward Zhu Village.
The black-clad soldiers present were struck dumb by the sight.
The sleeping villagers of Zhu were also awakened one after another, looking up at the apocalyptic scene overhead at a total loss for what to do.
The moment Han Yi sensed that all the heavenly fortune accumulated over these past days had been exhausted, he hid himself in a corner sheltered by massive, sturdy stones.
Han Yi had originally thought the meteor he summoned with all his might would surely crush every one of these black-clad soldiers to death.
Who could have expected that, in the face of this mortal threat, a figure among the soldiers suddenly let out an earth-shattering roar?
His body ballooned several times over in an instant; with a stamp of both feet, he vaulted into the air.
He was actually charging straight toward the plummeting meteor in the sky.
Boom!
Amidst a violent explosion, that figure crashed back to the ground even faster than he had soared up.
Drenched in blood, his body was mangled beyond recognition.
Yet the meteor Han Yi had summoned had ultimately had its downward trajectory shifted ever so slightly.
Instead, it plunged toward the center of Zhu Village, where the buildings were clustered the thickest.
Boom!
The earth trembled.
In the blink of an eye, Zhu Village was virtually reduced to ruins. Cries and wails resounded without end.
Although the hundred-odd black-clad soldiers had dodged a direct hit from the meteor, they could not escape the aftermath of the impact and suffered heavy casualties as well.
Having prepared in advance and possessing a wisp of residual heavenly fortune protecting his body, Han Yi escaped largely unscathed.
Knowing he could not stay here for long, he took advantage of the darkness and chaos to slip out of Zhu Village alone.
After fleeing more than ten li away, just when he thought he was finally safe, he suddenly detected the rushing sound of wind coming from behind and dodged in a panic.
Yet he was still half a beat too slow and failed to evade completely.
As though carved by an invisible blade of wind, a massive gash was slashed across his back.
Enduring the searing pain, Han Yi looked back to find his assailant.
To his surprise, the one who had struck him turned out to be an acquaintance!
The High Priest of Zhu Village, Si!
Feigning fury, Han Yi demanded to know why he was attacking him.
In truth, he was rapidly absorbing heavenly fortune in secret, trying to carve out a sliver of hope for survival.
Perhaps thinking that Han Yi was at the end of his rope and doomed without escape, Si was in no rush to strike. Instead, with a face full of venomous resentment, he recounted the reasons why he had orchestrated this attack.
It turned out that ever since Han Yi began repeatedly manifesting "miracles," High Priest Si—who had once held a revered status and commanded the villagers' respect—had gradually been put out of a job.
It was simple enough to understand.
The primary duty of a priest was to communicate with the gods on behalf of the villagers, reporting the villagers' prayers to the deity while proclaiming the divine oracles he heard to the populace.
But with Han Yi—who repeatedly produced miracles and was virtually seen as the god's divine avatar—around, why would the villagers go the long way around to seek out him, a mere mouthpiece?
Once he lost the exclusive right to interpret the deity's will, all of the honor and reverence Si had once enjoyed were supplanted by Han Yi.
Watching Han Yi move into the grand residence, watching the villagers kneel in terror and veneration whenever Han Yi went out...
Jealousy festered like a venomous serpent in Si's heart.
Even though Han Yi had demonstrated godlike power, Si still conceived the desire to "slay a god."
Yet clearly, no one else in Zhu Village besides himself would ever support such an act.
Thus, he turned his sights toward Kang Village, more than ten li away.
Kang Village was far stronger and more prosperous than Zhu Village. The degree of beast transformation among its villagers was noticeably a tier higher.
Yet there had never been any major conflicts between the two. The wilderness was boundless and vast, with resources virtually inexhaustible.
Even if minor disputes occasionally arose between Kang and Zhu, they were usually resolved amicably through negotiation.
However, Si's covert visit changed everything.
Si revealed to the chief of Kang Village the news that a "god had descended into the world" in Zhu Village.
Moreover, he warned that with the deity's backing, the chief of Zhu Village had grown overly ambitious, intending to use the divine power to sweep through all four directions and become a supreme "Emperor" unifying the entire wilderness.
Such a process would inevitably be steeped in bloody slaughter.
Claiming he could not bear to watch so many living beings perish, Si had come secretly to ask the people of Kang Village to eliminate Han Yi, the culprit swindling everyone in the name of a god.
After this persuasion, Kang Village's chief also felt that leaving Zhu Village in control of a "descended god" was far too dangerous.
And so, after over a dozen days of planning, with Si serving as an inside operative, Kang chose the right moment and led around a hundred of his village's elites to quietly surround Han Yi's residence.
Though Si had previously warned him of the descended god's formidable abilities to call wind and summon rain, Kang had been exceedingly confident.
This elite troop under his command had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
If they did not even fear cold steel, what was mere wind and rain?
That was, until the meteor fell from the heavens and utterly shattered Kang's worldview.
Chapter 553