In Feiwu City, Great Venerable Shenlei was stamping his feet in anxiety, wishing he could track down Qi Yuan this instant and bundle him off to the North Sea God Eye.
Standing to the side, Venerable Huanghun looked on with an emotional sigh. "Origin Celestial Venerable has always marched to his own drum. Nothing he does would surprise me."
At the Hundred Flowers Gathering, Venerable Huanghun had already witnessed Qi Yuan's uniqueness. That very uniqueness—the courage to strike at evil gods, the boldness to be the first in the world to act—filled Venerable Huanghun with boundless admiration.
Venerable Huolian also wore a look of curiosity. "I, too, wish to meet this extraordinary man."
Just what kind of sacred figure was this Qi Yuan, who could visualize twenty-one Legendary and eight Mythological arts? Such a legendary Ancient God was likely fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with the paramount figure of the Mortal Heart Realm, the Holy Mother of Inedia.
Venerable Huolian had also been formed from an ancient heroic spirit. In her past life, she had never seen the Holy Mother of Inedia in person, but she had heard countless tales of her deeds. Toward the Holy Mother of Inedia, Venerable Huolian felt the deepest reverence. In a sense, she was half a member of the Holy Mother of Inedia Cult.
"Oh? Old Shenlei, you're back?" Right at that moment, a voice called out from the sky.
The streaks of light ground to a halt, and two figures landed before the assembled crowd.
Everyone turned to look. Their eyes locked onto Qi Yuan, filled with both astonishment and awe.
Was this the peerless prodigy?
"You brat, you actually knew to come back?" Great Venerable Shenlei glared at Qi Yuan, snapping angrily, "Hurry up, pack your things, and head to the North Sea God Eye!"
"The North Sea God Eye? What would I go there for?" Qi Yuan was somewhat bewildered. "Old Shenlei, stop hollering and making a fuss. If you've got something to say, just spit it out!"
"What else? To run for your life! Just look at the mess you've made!" Great Venerable Shenlei was so furious his hair seemed to stand on end. "You sent your subordinates to slaughter the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries! Sure, it felt exhilarating in the moment, but what about the aftermath?"
Great Venerable Shenlei pointed toward Venerable Huanghun and the others. "These people broke away from the Ancient God Alliance and rushed all the way to Qingshui Village to reinforce you, risking their very lives!"
Only then did Qi Yuan look toward Venerable Huanghun and the newcomers. Qi Qi leaned in close, introducing each of them in his ear.
Listening to Qi Qi's words, Qi Yuan's gaze softened.
Leaving the Ancient God Alliance and crossing tens of thousands of li to come aid Qingshui Village—Qi Yuan would remember kindness like that. When it came to friends, Qi Yuan was never stingy.
"Do you want to become my subjects?" he asked Venerable Huanghun and the others.
The moment those words left his mouth, the Ancient Gods from the alliance were stunned.
They had come to reinforce Qingshui Village fully prepared to die. Yet Origin Celestial Venerable was asking them to become his subjects? They were utterly perplexed.
Great Venerable Shenlei glared fiercely at Qi Yuan. "You're still fussing over your damn subjects at a time like this! Get to the North Sea God Eye right now, or when the evil god encampments march on us, you'll die right here!"
The other Ancient Gods felt the same. The pressing priority was to leave this place and flee to the North Sea God Eye.
Upon hearing this, Qi Yuan shook his head. "The people from the evil god encampments won't be coming."
"What?" Great Venerable Shenlei frowned in confusion.
"Just a moment ago, Zhu Zhuangshi and I took a casual stroll around and blew up four nearby evil god encampments."
Qi Yuan spoke nonchalantly as he produced a bottle of fish-blasting thunderbombs.
"These firecrackers are really high quality—you can even dial in the blast radius. A pity there were only eight large ones, and I've already used four. In the future, I'll only be able to blow up small fry," Qi Yuan sighed with regret.
"Taiyin Lightning Orbs!" Great Venerable Shenlei's eyes went wide.
As someone who wielded lightning arts, Great Venerable Shenlei recognized the items before him better than anyone. This cluster of beads was actually all Taiyin Lightning Orbs! What was more, from four fist-sized ones among them, even Great Venerable Shenlei sensed a mortal threat.
The remaining Ancient Gods also stared at the Taiyin Lightning Orbs in Qi Yuan's hand with trembling hearts. The divine spiritual power in their divine apertures surged instinctively, cloaking their bodies in defensive barriers.
"I used four big ones like that to level four evil god encampments." Qi Yuan stowed the Taiyin Lightning Orbs away. "So, for the time being, I doubt any evil god encampments will be showing up. Everyone can just relax and enjoy the feast."
Qi Yuan's voice was languid.
Since wiping out the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries would draw a siege from the evil god encampments, avoiding that outcome was simple: wipe out the encampments in advance. Without evil god encampments around, wouldn't Qingshui Village be safe and sound?
Great Venerable Shenlei fell silent.
The Ancient Gods from the alliance were rendered speechless as well. Qi Yuan was perpetually shattering their common sense.
Great Venerable Shenlei took a deep breath and muttered under his breath, "If anyone calls this old man a reckless brute in the future, I'll fight them to the death!"
A reckless brute? Was he even worthy of the title? Origin Celestial Venerable was the true definition of reckless! Compared to Origin Celestial Venerable, he was practically a cowardly turtle hiding in its shell.
"So why go to the North Sea God Eye?" Qi Yuan looked back at everyone, renewing his invitation. "Do you want to become my subjects? I'll hand out some little benefits to you."
Venerable Huanghun felt helpless. Qi Yuan was truly obsessed with turning people into his subjects; the very first time they met, he had heard Qi Yuan extend the exact same invitation.
Venerable Huolian looked surprised, remaining silent. The other Ancient Gods were equally at a loss, unsure what Qi Yuan meant by this.
Meanwhile, the Ancient Gods who had followed Qi Yuan out of the Ancestral Land looked at him eagerly. "My Lord, do we get little benefits too?"
Ancient God Wangsong looked at them and couldn't resist snapping, "My Lord already gave you Divine Domain Celestial Liquid, what more could you want?"
At this moment, Ancient God Wangsong's spine was soft as mush, his mind entirely devoted to Qi Yuan's interests.
Hearing this, Venerable Huanghun and the others were astonished.
The benefit was Divine Domain Celestial Liquid? Divine Domain Celestial Liquid could condense a rudimentary Divine Domain. To Venerables, it was an unparalleled treasure.
The breathing of many Ancient Gods grew ragged.
"We came here prepared to die anyway. Becoming subjects is fine by me—getting Divine Domain Celestial Liquid on top of that is hardly a loss," Venerable Huanghun chuckled.
Under any other circumstances, if someone tried to entice him with Divine Domain Celestial Liquid, he certainly wouldn't agree to submit as a subject. But right now, everyone was like grasshoppers tied to the same string, sharing life and death. There was no need to bicker over such formalities. They were all going to die eventually anyway. Besides, Origin Celestial Venerable's bold actions had already won their deep respect.
"Then I shall take Origin Celestial Venerable as my lord!" Venerable Huolian said gently.
The other Ancient Gods chimed in one after another. Though a few hesitated, they too agreed to take Origin Celestial Venerable as their master. In the Mortal Heart Realm, acknowledging a master—even verbally—held true power.
Great Venerable Shenlei glared at Qi Yuan and snorted coldly. "This old man doesn't care for your Divine Domain Celestial Liquid, so I won't be your subject."
He was a Great Venerable; he wouldn't bow his head for mere Divine Domain Celestial Liquid.
Hearing this, Qi Yuan looked somewhat disappointed. "What a pity. I had originally prepared a great gift for you, Old Shenlei. But since you don't want to be my subject, that gift... well, I'll have to reconsider."
"What great gift? As if this old man would care!" Great Venerable Shenlei scoffed dismissively. But glancing at Qi Yuan, he quickly added, "Forget it. You've begged this old man three or four times to become a villager of Qingshui Village. Since you've humbled yourself so, and out of the goodness of my heart, I'll reluctantly agree to become your subject. Don't go thinking this old man has his eye on your bullshit great gift!"
Great Venerable Shenlei looked thoroughly tsundere. In the end, he still chose to become Qi Yuan's subject.
"Today brings joy after joy," Qi Yuan said with excitement.
Among the villagers of Qingshui Village, there were quite a few Venerables, but only one Great Venerable: Great Venerable Qionghua. And Great Venerable Qionghua was still asleep in the North Sea God Eye. Now, he had gained Great Venerable Shenlei.
"Stop celebrating! Keep laughing and your joy will turn to sorrow!" Even after becoming Qi Yuan's subject, Great Venerable Shenlei didn't mince words. "You brat really are ruthless, wiping out four evil god encampments in one breath. In this divine war, even if the New Gods wanted to drag things out, they won't delay any longer!"
In the Mortal Heart Realm, the power of the New Gods far exceeded that of the Ancient Gods. If a conflict on the scale of the Hongtang Great War broke out between them, all the Ancient Gods would have been wiped out long ago. The reason so many Ancient Gods still survived was simply that the New Gods had been passive and hadn't launched a full-scale purge.
The reason for this was quite simple: within the Heavenly Pillar, a Yang God lay dormant, devouring the Heavenly Dao of the Mortal Heart Realm. This caused flaws in the realm's Heavenly Dao. The concrete manifestation was that Divine Infant cultivators, and even True Gods, felt hunger.
As the Yang God continuously consumed the realm's Heavenly Dao, before long, the Heavenly Dao would be completely devoured. At that point, the life and death of every Ancient God in the Mortal Heart Realm would hang on a single thought from that Yang God. Thus, many New Gods couldn't be bothered to risk life and limb hunting Ancient Gods. After all, they only needed to wait a few decades or a century until the Yang God finished devouring the Heavenly Dao, and all the Ancient Gods would perish anyway.
However, Qi Yuan had first slaughtered a hundred gods across Feng and Lin Countries, and then flattened four evil god encampments. While evil gods elsewhere in the Northern Lands' fallen territories probably wouldn't care about the fate of these encampments and might even treat it as tea-time gossip, the Northern Lands spanned five provinces in total. Even if the other four provinces stood by with folded arms, the evil god army lord of Qingheng Province certainly wouldn't sit still. The commanders of those four encampments were all his capable lieutenants. With them wiped out by Qi Yuan, he would stop at nothing to strike at Qi Yuan and reclaim his dignity.
"In less than ten days to half a month, the grand generals under the army lord of Qingheng Province will definitely arrive. Deal with that however you like! By then, this old man estimates there will be at least ten Great Venerables! Even fleeing to the North Sea God Eye won't do any good." Great Venerable Shenlei was already resigned to the worst.
Hearing this, Qi Yuan broke into a smile. "The game setting is that beating the small fry summons the old bosses? My setting is: beat the small fry, then beat the old bosses too!"
How could he let enemies come at him wave after wave? His style was to strike first—catch the enemy off guard and wipe them out directly.
"This old man will just wait to watch your performance!" Great Venerable Shenlei rolled his eyes at Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan was brimming with grand ambition. "I've already found a bug in the game. Soon, I'll sweep across the Mortal Heart Realm!"
In the past, there had been many restrictions on creating powerhouses. Now, there were virtually none left; he only needed to mass-produce them. In this game, all it took was spamming troops and rolling over everything. It was even simpler than the Liufeng Realm. Of course, the only issue was that formidable Yang God adversary.
"The Great Venerables of Qingheng Province are just small fry, mere EXP packs for me—no need to worry. Come, come, come! Since you've all become my subjects, let's take a census first so I can hand out your benefits. Qi Qi, over here." Qi Yuan's thoughts jumped rapidly; just a moment ago he was discussing the crisis in Qingheng Province, and now he was calling Qi Qi over.
"Godfather!" Qi Qi appeared with a helpless expression; she was right in the middle of being busy.
"How are the basic information registration forms coming along?" Qi Yuan asked.
Before leaving Feiwu City with Zhu Zhuangshi to go blast fish, Qi Yuan had given careful thought to how to expand his power. A crucial part of that was finding suitable paths of growth for the subjects loyal to him, especially the Venerables.
What Qi Yuan currently lacked was high-end combat power. Take Zhu Zhuangshi, for example: even after obtaining a Mythological visualization art, receiving ample resources, and boosting his strength, the gap between him and Great Venerable Qionghua, who had obtained the Legendary Hundred Flowers Fairy God Visualization Art, was still vast. Of course, in terms of sheer potential, Marshal Tianpeng's was higher.
A Venerable's path was already fixed. Unlike ordinary subjects, they couldn't just cultivate any God Visualization Art; only if the art's path aligned with the True God's existing path could it be utilized—just like Great Venerable Qionghua and the Hundred Flowers Fairy. Therefore, Qi Yuan's idea was to have his True God subjects write down their cultivation directions and their desired divine offices. That way, he could match each of them with an appropriate God Visualization Art, elevating their immediate combat strength much faster.
"The forms are right here!" With a wave of Qi Qi's hand, a stack of distinctly modern-looking sheets of paper appeared, filled with rows of text.
Qi Yuan scanned them, lightly grabbed the stack, and pushed outward.
Instantly, a form appeared in the hands of every Ancient God.
"Fill out the forms. I'm off to the feast. Hand them in together once I'm done eating. Oh, and fill them out carefully—no making things up!" Having finished speaking, Qi Yuan took his leave of the Ancient Gods and trotted off to enjoy the banquet.
The Ancient Gods left behind looked at one another in utter bewilderment.
Great Venerable Shenlei also clutched a form, glancing down at it. "What in the world is this? Could this brat be plotting to embezzle the Divine Domain Celestial Liquid he promised?"
Venerable Huanghun also stared at the form, baffled.
"Age? Name? Personality? Skills mastered? Cultivation methods practiced? Desired divine office?"
The items listed on the form were so bizarre that Venerable Huanghun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
If Venerable Huanghun had ever lived on Blue Star, he would have realized that the contents of this form bore an uncanny resemblance to a job interview résumé.
"Venerable Huanghun, what does Origin Celestial Venerable mean by this?" Venerable Huolian asked.
The other Ancient Gods were equally at a loss. What was the point of filling this out?
"I don't know." Venerable Huanghun shook his head. A sudden thought struck him, and a terrifying suspicion flared in his mind, only to be snuffed out an instant later. Impossible.
"Could Lord Origin be planning to custom-tailor God Visualization Arts for each of us?" Ancient God Wangsong said in a trembling voice.
The other Ancient Gods turned to look at Ancient God Wangsong. In truth, the same guess had crossed their minds, but it seemed far too outrageous.
"My Lord indeed knows of many Ancient Gods we have never seen. But how could he possibly tailor one for every single person? My guess is that after we fill them out, he will select one or two suitable candidates for visualization," the younger twin sister analyzed.
Her words resonated with most of the people present. Put that way, it sounded far more plausible.
Hearing this, Ancient God Wangsong immediately whipped around to glare at a certain Ancient God. "Li Xiao, are you planning to take the Path of the Physical Body?"
Li Xiao was bewildered. "I practice Wood arts! The physical path was just something I mentioned offhand!"
"No way, you have to take the Path of the Physical Body! You can't walk the Wood path with me!" Ancient God Wangsong panicked.
After all, along any single path, there might only be one powerful Ancient God. Only a visualization art of Great Venerable caliber would be of immense use to the Venerables present. Therefore, if their paths overlapped, it was very likely one of them wouldn't receive a visualization art bestowed by Qi Yuan.
Li Xiao cast a contemptuous look at Ancient God Wangsong. "Nothing is even set in stone yet, and you're already in such a frenzy? Sigh, why did this old man have to be neighbors with you? What an embarrassment."
As Ancient God Wangsong and Li Xiao began bickering, the atmosphere lightened, dispelling much of the earlier oppression.
Chapter 215