In ancient times, they secretly became gods in the deep mountains.

Chapter 102 The plants withered again
To others, Li Xiuhe's explanation was nothing but ravings.

No one can guarantee that she is telling the truth.

Li Xiuhe returned home disappointed.

"This is a good sign. If the rain returns to normal as you say, we can drink the river water, eat wild vegetables from the mountains, and maybe even hunt again like before. Don't worry, they don't believe you. Go out and show your face in town tomorrow, and they'll believe you eventually."

Grandma Li comforted her granddaughter.

She clutched the grass that Li Xiuhe had pulled out earlier, inhaling its fragrance, and her mind wandered into endless daydreams.

Inside the Divine Palace, Gu Yuexi turned the dragon's corpse into dust and scattered it in the medicinal field, harvesting spiritual herbs several times in a short period of time.

Down the mountain, the people endured three days of relentless torrential rain.

To their astonishment, they found that after the heavy rain, the ground was covered with green grass, and even the dead trees sprouted new buds. Most importantly, the people who ran into the rain to wait for death did not grow scales or turn into blood overnight.

Everyone was utterly shocked.

"How is this going?"

"The town came back to life overnight, and the people who had been rained on did not grow scales and turn into blood. Am I dreaming?"

"What the Li family girl said is true. The rainwater isn't poisonous anymore. She survived after being caught in the rain, so can we drink the water now?"

"Has God finally opened his eyes?"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Everyone was so excited that tears welled up in their eyes.

For more than three years, they haven't eaten normal food.

Seeing the green grass on the ground, everyone hesitated, fearing something might go wrong. The bolder ones had already dug out the edible wild vegetables and ate them.

They discovered that the people who ate the wild vegetables were perfectly fine!

So they all started digging for wild vegetables.

"Great! We can finally eat something edible, and with the rain returning to normal, we don't have to go and trade with the Toad Fairy anymore!"

Trading with the Toad God meant sacrificing family members or even one's own flesh and blood. Nobody wants to die without a complete corpse. Before, it was out of necessity, but now that the rains have returned to normal, they can be self-sufficient and no longer need to trade with the Toad God.

The people cheered with joy, but the Toad Immortal of Toad Ridge was furious and cursed: "A bunch of ungrateful mortals! They have forgotten the kindness I showed them. I saved the people of Xiahe Town. If I hadn't made a deal with them, the people of the town would have all died long ago!"

"Now that the rain has returned to normal, they feel at ease forgetting my great kindness." Previously, people came to trade every day, but after waiting for several days, he didn't see anyone come to Toad Ridge.

When Baihu inquired, he discovered that life was reviving and those ordinary people had completely forgotten his existence.

The Toad Immortal was furious.

He was furious!
It seems that the common people are no longer trading with him.

It is truly distressing that the people no longer offer blood sacrifices.

"No way!" Toad Immortal snorted coldly. "You think you can get rid of me so easily?"

"Go! Sprinkle this bottle of poison on the plants growing in the town. This is a medicine that I extracted from the previous poisonous rain. Sprinkling it on the plants will cause them to wither. If humans get in contact with it, they will develop the same strange disease as before, growing scales and turning into blood."

"Then they'll start exchanging with us again."

The white tiger chuckled, "Your Majesty is brilliant! I will go and spread the poison in the air of Xiahe Town right away."

After three days and three nights of torrential rain, life returned, and the people were able to eat wild vegetables and drink clean water. Everyone showed their relief at surviving the disaster.

"I told you, the goddess saves us from suffering, it must be her who saved our Xiahe Town, but unfortunately they didn't believe me before."

Grandma Li's face was no longer so pale: "This rainwater is truly a gift from the gods. After drinking it, I feel full of energy and several years younger."

"My previous cold has healed."

"My legs don't hurt anymore, my head doesn't throb anymore, and I feel much more energetic!" she kept saying.

Li Xiuhe suggested, "Shouldn't we go and pay our respects to the Goddess? Not only should we express our gratitude for her great kindness, but we should also offer sacrifices to the deity so that she may bless us in the future."

Grandma Li frowned: "We can't make that decision."

“We can go find the garrison commander!” Li Xiuhe said.

"But given our status, we can't see the garrison commander. Even if we did, how could we convince him of the existence of the Goddess?"

Li Xiuhe asked worriedly, "What if we neglect Her Majesty and she stops bestowing blessings upon Xiahe Town?"

A prophecy!
Life was revived, and everyone was happy for a few days. But one morning, they suddenly discovered that the plants in the town had withered and the previous problem had reappeared: some people had grown scales on their bodies!
Everyone was dumbfounded.

"There's a problem! The rainwater is still problematic! Before, people who drank the rainwater would grow scales and turn into blood within a day and a night. This time, the time it takes for scales to grow and blood to turn into blood has changed, so the rainwater is still poisonous."

"Waaaaah, we've all been tricked!"

Everyone was disheartened.

God is playing a trick on them!
They thought that once the rains returned to normal and life revived, they could have water and wild vegetables and wouldn't have to worry about food or water. But what happened?

They've been tricked by fate!

Like a group of monkeys, they were played around by the heavens.

"How could this be?"

Li Xiuhe stared in disbelief at the changes in the town.

Overnight, life returned to normal, and the rain returned to normal.

Overnight, everything withered, and it seemed that the rainwater was still poisonous; they had been played with by the heavens!
"No!"

She screamed in anguish, unable to accept this change: "The Empress is all-powerful and saves us from suffering. How could she possibly play tricks on us? This can't be real!"

Suddenly she realized.

"Yes! We didn't worship the goddess or thank her for her great kindness, so she got angry and withdrew her blessing."

"We need to go and worship the Goddess, begging for her forgiveness. Only then can we continue to drink water and eat wild vegetables!"

Grandma Li is already able to get out of bed and walk around.

She was utterly shocked.

A few days ago, she drank rainwater and became physically strong and energetic. She was even glad that she looked several years younger.

What's the result now?
Why are all the plants withering?
Are they dreaming?
"What are we going to do? I heard that people in town are starting to grow scales all over their bodies again. They're probably going to turn into blood tonight," she sobbed and cried.

"It's over!"

"We're going back to the old days, eating dirt and not even having water to drink."

"Xiuhe! What should we do?"

“Grandma, I’m going to find the town magistrate. We’ll gather the people to worship the goddess. She must be angry because we’ve received her help without any thanks. As long as we sincerely beg for forgiveness, she will surely send down her divine power again.”

Grandma Li asked eagerly, "Is that so?"

Regardless of whether it was true or not, Li Xiuhe went to the only scholar in town and asked him to help introduce her to the town magistrate.

The garrison commander was puzzled.

The town had just recovered its vitality a few days ago, but today it's withered again, and the strange disease that causes scales to grow all over the body has reappeared.

Until his friend brought him a woman.

She opened her mouth and said:
"Lord Garrison Commander, the town's recent resurgence of life is a blessing bestowed by the Goddess of the Land..."