Pre-Qin Mythology: Starting with the River God

Nothing happened that night. The only thing was that the four terracotta figures were people moving things around in the water palace. When Quan Ming woke up comfortably on the bed, Quan's daughter had already prepared warm water for him to wash up. Quan's mother had also prepared breakfast and had Quan's son bring it over on a wooden tray. As for Quan's father, he took a bamboo slip and read out the list of names to Quan Ming one by one.

The palace layout consists of a sleeping quarters on the left and a hall on the right.

After washing up in the left bedroom, Quan Ming wore a grayish-purple wide-sleeved embroidered cloud robe over a gray straight-hemmed robe with dark patterns. He tied his hair up with a green jade and gold belt, wore a Pixiu jade pendant at his waist, and a bird-shaped jade bracelet on his wrist...

With a contented expression, he knelt on a seat in the right hall.

Beneath her was a soft cushion embroidered with orchids, behind her was a bronze screen inlaid with red jade, and in front of her was a rosewood table with a fretwork pattern. On the table were honey rice cakes, also known as honey cakes, made from the finest wild rice and honey imported from the State of Chu, as well as millet syrup and red date porridge. The red dates were bought from merchants from the Central Plains. There was also cured meat made with the finest sea salt from the East China Sea, a rich soup of slow-cooked turtle from Yunmeng Marsh, and sorghum wine brewed from sugarcane... all delicacies of the State of Chu!

"good."

Quan Ming glanced admiringly at Granny Quan, who was waiting at the lower end of the hall.

"It seems you've studied cooking; these ingredients have been handled perfectly..." After praising Granny Quan, Quan Ming then said to Old Man Quan, "Thank you for your trouble. At your age, you still had to travel all the way to Yingdu in Chu to buy ingredients for me. The downstream Zhi River and the main river are the territory of Zhi Xian and Xiang Jun. Was the journey smooth?"

The old man, holding the bamboo slips, cupped his hands in greeting: "I travel by water, so the immortal Zhi Xian wouldn't dare to act recklessly."

Quan Ming nodded, not disappointed.

He simply said, "You are my inner court officials, and you shouldn't be doing these time-consuming and menial tasks. But it's alright, the spirits in the Quanshui River will probably come to the Water Palace soon, and you can relax a bit..."

As they were talking, some noises came from outside the Water Mansion. Quan Ming looked up and saw a group of humanoid monsters lingering outside the Water Mansion. Some of the monsters with bad tempers even started arguing.

Quan Ming frowned, and with a wave of his hand, the group of people who didn't even look at him were pushed away by the waves.

Then a voice came through: "Come in, all of you..."

……

In a short while, dozens of water spirits, under Quan Nan's arrangement, passed through the blue stone gate of the Water Palace and stood on the blue stone imperial path in front of the palace under the gaze of the tiger-headed Lu Wu and the nine-tailed ferocious fox statues. These spirits were all male and female in human form, but they did not understand the true nature of humans and had some characteristics of water beasts. Although their behavior imitated human etiquette, it was mostly incongruous, and their eyes were mostly looking at the Water Palace...

Quan Ming ate breakfast.

Leaving the sleeping quarters, passing through the rear courtyard, and sitting down on the main seat in the main hall, I looked up and saw a stone statue of Quan Ming in the hall, which looked like it had been rushed to completion today.

"This is?"

Quan Ming frowned and asked.

Quan Weng's face paled: "When I went to Yingdu, I heard that the gods and immortals of Chu liked to make their own statues and scatter them in various places for people to worship. I took it upon myself to have a stonemason make one... I thought you would like it, so I put it in the hall."

"No, no, no... That's vulgar, take it away!"

Quan Ming waved his hand helplessly: "Let's put it in the back courtyard first, and deal with the matters in various places later."

"promise."

Quan Weng quickly used his Taoist energy to lift the stone statue out of the hall.

Quan Ming then summoned the group of spirits.

Then, one after another, bizarre humanoid monsters came into Quan Ming's view—

A slender young woman carrying a tortoise shell on her back... she looked utterly proud.

A fawning young man clad in colorful shell armor... smiled lewdly at him.

A clever young boy covered in fish scales and red fins... looked around.

A pair of aloof men and women holding lotus flowers... the woman is stronger than the man.

A shadowy woman constantly spitting out ink dots... self-produced and self-consumed.

A plump, dark-skinned woman, accompanied by two small catfish with childlike faces... with her family in tow.

...all sorts of strange humanoid monsters.

Quan Ming raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the forms of these 'people'. He saw through the true forms of these monsters in just one glance. As Quan Ming looked at them, the monsters' expressions varied. Some were frightened and dared not look at him. Some looked disdainful because Quan Ming was only at the first level of the Dao Heaven Realm. And some... did the Branch Immortal think he was a fool and send a monster with the power of the Branch Water Divine Realm?

"May the Immortal Quan be well!"

It wasn't until the clever carp boy bowed and called out "Immortal Quan" that the other spirits reacted, one after another calling out "Quan Ming" and bowing in obeisance... The silly-smiling clam spirit bowed all the way to the bottom, emitting multicolored demonic light in front of Quan Ming, trying to attract his attention.

"Gurgle..." A large, round, multicolored pearl rolled out from under him, and he quickly picked it up.

"I heard of the name of the Immortal Quan years ago and admired him greatly. Unfortunately, my strength as a demon is too low and I fear the fate of the nation, so I have been unable to meet him. Now that the Immortal Quan has returned to his position, it is truly... truly... a blessing from heaven. I couldn't help but give birth to a superior river pearl, hoping that the Immortal Quan will take pity on me..."

Having said that, the clam spirit looked at Quan Ming with a fawning expression: "This pearl, when ground into powder, has the effect of beautifying the skin and whitening it. If mixed with river mud and applied to the stone statues of immortals and gods, the statues can absorb the incense smoke from worship and gradually turn into jade..."

Stone statue?

Jade-like!

Quan Ming narrowed his eyes slightly. Had this little clam spirit seen his stone statue and inquired about his fondness for jade?

...That's very thoughtful.

Moreover, he possessed thirty-two strands of water-based Daoist energy, making his strength quite respectable among this group of spirits.

"Not bad, he could be a close attendant."

On one side, the powerful man held a wooden box containing jade tablets. The powerful woman took one out and wrote the name of the clam spirit on it: Feng Hua!

He then bestowed the token upon the other party, saying, "With this, you may enter and exit the Water Palace."

Feng Hua was overjoyed and quickly offered his thanks.

Quan Ming waved his hand and looked at the group of bewildered monsters.

The expressions on the faces of these spirits seemed to say, "Why do we still need to give Quan Ming a treasure after entering the Water Palace?"

While he hesitated, another spirit took action. It was the clever little carp spirit who forcefully plucked a blood-stained red scale from his heart and gritted his teeth, saying, "Immortal Quan... please take me in."

hiss……

Discussions arose among the spirits.

Quan Ming frowned and looked at Feng Hua.

Feng Hua understood immediately and came to Quan Ming's side, saying, "This little carp spirit is from the Yangtze River. I heard that its entire clan was eaten clean by a long-horned water snake, and now it's fleeing for its life."

Oh?

Quan Ming looked at the boy, who had only two wisps of Daoist energy and whose body was covered in fish scales and fins, and raised his hand to take the red scales.

Ordinary fish scales.

It only carries a wisp of watery Daoist charm, so you can use this fish scale to perform some minor spells.

"Mrs. Quan, you can take this child to the kitchen to do some chores."

"promise!"

Their names were recorded, and the jade tablet from the Water Palace was left behind.

Seeing this, the other spirits all wanted to offer gifts, but some were proud and reserved and prepared to leave. Quan Ming raised his hand at the right time and used his authority over the water to stop them. He kept only seven people and did not intend to hire the rest.

So, he gave each person a share of the will of Chu and pushed all those he didn't want out of the Water Palace.

The group of spirits hurriedly swallowed the will of Chu, then looked at the gate of the Water Mansion. Their expressions varied, but none of them dared to offend it, except for... the spies sent by the Branch Immortal.

Before it could cause any trouble in the hall, it suddenly changed its posture while in a daze.

"What kind of immortal power is this?!"

"Clearly a destitute slave of a fallen kingdom, yet he demands gifts before even being allowed entry. How laughable!" The spirit, clutching the will of Chu, though a hint of reluctance flashed in its eyes, still crushed it. Then, amidst the horrified gazes of the other spirits, it spat at the bluestone gate!

Having bluffed, the spirit thought it had completed the branch fairy's task and was preparing to leave when...

"Bang!"

The surrounding water surged in, and he was terrified. He was about to use the talisman that the Immortal had given him, but instead of helping him, the talisman pierced his heart. In an instant, he was crushed into a bloody mess, and the talisman emitted a black light. The monsters that had not yet left went mad when they saw the blood and black light. Their eyes turned red and they swarmed forward, tearing the monsters that still had a breath of life to pieces.

If this tragic scene had occurred inside the palace, and these spirits had spread the word, who knows what it would have become by tomorrow? His reputation as a water spirit would have been ruined, and no one would dare to come to the water spirit's palace to make a living.

Quan Ming was cautious and had long ago noticed something strange about the water spirit's power. He kept a watchful eye on it to prevent it from causing trouble!

...At this moment, the shattered will of Chu re-condensed in the blood and flew leisurely back to the Water Palace.

……

Small Theater——

Inside the Zhishui Water Palace, Zhixian, lurking in the shadows, sensed the unusual movement of the protective talisman. However, upon discovering that Quan Ming hadn't fallen for the trap and had instead killed the monster outside the palace, he angrily cursed, "Useless trash... why didn't you confront him in the hall!"

"what!"

"How hateful, how hateful, that brat Quan Ming!"

Amidst the angry curses, a Yin Corpse, imbued with eighty-one restrictions, appeared beside Zhi Xian, its entire body ferocious, with sharp teeth and claws!

The power of the Yin Corpse has increased!

"Fortunately, I had a backup plan and have already located the Water Palace... When he holds his grand banquet, that will be the day he dies and his soul dissipates... Hmph, you, my fellow countrymen, will fight him, and I will personally destroy his Water Palace... After it's all over, given my clan's status in the Chu Kingdom, would the King of Chu really make an enemy of me for the sake of a Water Immortal who has died and whose soul dissipates?"

"The power and water belong to this immortal!"