I will teach you how to cultivate immortality

Chapter 161 The Once-in-a-Millennium Flood (33)

Guifang Kingdom, Yayi City.

"You failed..."

Looking at the chaotic crowd, the old priest let out a long, melancholy sigh.

Sitting on the rubble of the demolished ancestral temple, Chongming... or rather Xuanhui, remained silent, disheartened.

"I've actually read the book you got too."

"The prosperous world of 'human and divine co-governance' described above is indeed something to aspire to."

"But you forgot the most important point: the Ghost Fang Kingdom is not the Great Xia Kingdom, and the Ghost Fang Kingdom does not have a 'king' who can make the gods yield..."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Hui immediately turned to look at the old priest, his eyes filled with uncontrollable rage.

"No, it's not that I failed, it's that they went mad!"

"If everything goes according to plan, the five gods will check and balance each other, and we will gain more say."

"Even if we can't achieve a prosperous world where 'humans and gods co-rule' in the end, at most I'll be the only scapegoat."

"But the Gui Rong clan went mad, and the Tun Chao clan went mad too..."

"As for Hijikata? He was a mad god!"

"So I had Youzhong release Qingfu, hoping that the Qingmu clan could find the legendary 'deceitful man'."

"Then, by borrowing the power of the Hijikata clan, we will restore the balance of power among the five gods."

The old priest sighed again, realizing he had long anticipated Xuan Hui's naiveté.

"Youzhong? That's just a Blood Demon..."

"If I'm not mistaken, even that Blood Demon is actually an envoy of the Ghost Rong Clan, isn't he?"

Faced with the old priest's question, Xuan Hui was taken aback at first, and then immediately denied it.

"No, although Youzhong is an envoy of the Guirong clan, he hates the Five Gods even more!"

"As long as I can take revenge on the Five Gods, Youzhong is the best 'sword' in my hand!"

"Ultimately, the reason things have turned out this way is because they've all gone mad!"

Seeing that Xuan Hui still hadn't grasped the truth, the old priest finally said in a low voice with a sense of helplessness.

"Boy, even I can see so many inconsistencies in your disguise of 'Chongming,' do you think the other priests won't notice?"

"No, priests are the cream of the crop, those who have fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood..."

“You can think we are cruel, or you can think we are blindly loyal, but you must never think of us as fools.”

After a slight pause, the old priest continued, looking at Xuan Hui's slightly surprised gaze.

"Governing a country is never a matter for one person alone."

"The smooth implementation of each of your policies and the timely response to each of your orders are actually thanks to the help of us priests."

"Just like I said before, you're not the only one who's read that book, and you're not the only one who realizes that the current Ghost Kingdom is abnormal."

“Even the Five Gods...they know perfectly well what’s going on beneath the surface of the Ghost Kingdom.”

"They just don't care."

"The five supreme gods treated this as a game, and incidentally, they were also selecting more obedient 'leaders'."

"You think you've seen the future, but in reality, it's just history repeating itself countless times."

The old priest's words completely baffled Xuan Hui.

"I...am I just repeating history?"

Feeling that his worldview had been shaken, Xuan Hui's expression successfully made the old priest laugh.

"Don't underestimate yourself. You have already made history."

“Throughout the thousand-year history of the Ghost Fang Kingdom, you are the first mortal to have driven a god to this point and to start using underhanded tactics.”

"The silence of the Houtian clan is a fact, the personal involvement of the Guirong clan is a fact, the rampage of the Tunchao clan is a fact, and even the final disappearance of the Qingmu clan is a fact..." The old priest never denied Xuanhui's actions, and even felt proud of them.

But he also knew that this was the result of a combination of favorable timing, location, and human factors, a miracle that was almost impossible to replicate.

"But I still failed!"

After a brief silence, Xuan Hui finally admitted his defeat.

"Everything started when Tide-Swallowing went berserk; I lost control of the situation from the very beginning..."

"why?"

Why is the flood season so long this year?

"Why are the weather phenomena so unusual this year? It's almost winter and there are still storms?"

"Why hasn't the water level in the upper reaches of the valley receded yet? In fact, it seems to be getting worse?"

"Isn't Tunchao the god responsible for maintaining the mountains and rivers? Why is He affected by this unusual celestial phenomenon this year?"

Looking up at the gradually darkening sky, Xuan Hui's face was filled with confusion and bewilderment.

If the weather and water levels had been normal this year, neither Xuanhui nor Guifang Kingdom would have ended up in this situation.

"Looks like the Blood Demon didn't tell you this!"

As if he had expected it, the old priest slowly walked to Xuan Hui's side.

Then, just like when they were children, he gently stroked the other person's head and said...

"It was a massive flood, a once-in-a-millennium flood."

"Before becoming one of the Five Gods, Tunchao was the water god of the sea..."

"Of course, you can also call Him the God of the Sea."

"As a former sea god, Tide Swallower was most sensitive to any unusual activity in the water veins."

"In inland regions like ours, the only thing that can make Him go berserk is a once-in-a-millennium flood."

"Perhaps the Gui Rong clan has realized this as well, which is why they are no longer willing to play this childish game with us..."

Xuan Hui never expected that his failure would come from such an unexpected factor.

What Xuan Hui didn't expect was that You Zhong actually knew about the impending "Great Flood" in advance.

"What kind of flood was it that even so many water gods along the way couldn't dredge it?"

Upon hearing Xuan Hui utter such naive words again, the old priest merely lowered his head with a half-smile and asked in return.

Why did those water gods need to dredge the floodwaters?

Is it possible that this once-in-a-millennium flood was caused by the collective actions of those water gods?

Xuan Hui stared in astonishment, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"You mean... this is an apocalyptic flood unleashed by the water gods?"

The old priest shrugged slightly, gazing at the gloomy sky, and answered noncommittally.

"Then I don't know, after all, how can mortals presume to know the thoughts of gods?"

"All I know is that Tun Chao is just one of those water gods, and he is destined to use the great flood to cleanse the current Gui Fang Kingdom."

"The Gui Rong clan's current actions are perhaps just like ours; they are simply trying to protect themselves."

"Of course, I am only making inferences based on the current situation, and it may not necessarily be the whole 'truth'."

"Just like the book you got..."

"You must learn to distinguish and filter out the truly effective content, rather than accepting it all."

Monthly ticket/recommendation ticket

(End of this chapter)