Pre-Qin Mythology: Starting with the River God

Quan Ming rode in a bamboo-covered wooden boat, led by a fish-shaped tomb guardian beast, cutting through the surrounding black mist and golden light, and diving into the branching water.

At this moment, Zhixian Water Mansion has become a ruin.

Or rather, a realm of corpses!

Within the Corpse Domain, the remaining fortune of the Quan Kingdom intertwined with the corpse energy of the Quan people, forming impenetrable walls.

Not to mention ordinary fish and aquatic creatures, even spirits and monsters would be unable to approach this place, because the slightest touch would tear them into countless bloody mists. Under such circumstances, Chu's shipping ships and the Chu people who diverted water for irrigation would never dare to come into contact with it.

But these walls do not stop Quan Ming.

They were even jubilant because of Quan Ming's arrival!

Amidst the jubilation, the black corpse energy combined with the power and fortune of the kingdom transformed into ferocious figures, raising long spears and forming ranks to meet the enemy, like an army.

Why should Quan Ming suppress this?

Everything here is done according to Quan Ming's will!

buzzing...

In the center of the ruins of Zhixian Water Mansion, the headless corpse that had pierced through Zhixian and completely killed him, making him unable to revive, was now trembling because of Quanming's arrival, as if it wanted to merge with Quanming once again.

However, Quan Ming, who was sitting in the bamboo-covered wooden boat, stopped the other party.

Be good.

"From now on, you will serve as my general and command the corpses of the powerful... Your current skeletal appearance is rather unsightly."

This headless corpse is the remains of Quan Ming before his death.

It was this skeleton's sneak attack that completely killed Zhi Xian and firmly established Zhi Xian's guilt, leaving Qu Xia speechless.

His skeleton had no will of its own, only obedience to orders, and soon fell silent.

As for that divine corpse of the branch immortal...

With his enemy dead, Quan Ming breathed a sigh of relief, but he still said coldly, "It's one thing for you to covet the position of Water Immortal, but you actually dared to bribe the Earth Lord of Youdu with the soul of Quan Ren, attempting to have him devour my soul and prevent me from ascending to Water Immortal. And then you used Quan Ren's corpse to refine a Yin Corpse... Truly, your crimes are unforgivable!"

boom!

Quan Ming raised his hand, mobilizing the surrounding black energy and golden light to completely erase Zhi Xian's traces!

Thus, even if the supreme god Taiyi of the Chu Kingdom's Dao Heaven were to personally arrive, Zhi Xian would have no chance of being resurrected!

"I will settle here once the King of Chu issues his decree."

After all, Chu was the territory of the King of Chu. As a deity in Chu, he would still give the King of Chu face. He couldn't just occupy Zhishui without order, as that would only give the Chu officials an excuse to cause trouble.

Quan Mingyu sailed away in a small bamboo-awning boat, leaving only his own corpse behind to guard the place.

It was already dark when we left.

The water reflected the starlight and the moon, and he went upstream, returning to the Quan River.

"The Immortal of Power!"

"The Immortal of Power!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to his water palace, he saw Dou Lian leading Chu soldiers to wait for his return.

Upon seeing Quan Ming, Dou Lian hurriedly called out twice and stepped forward.

However, remembering the rule that humans should not approach gods and gods should not approach humans, he quickly stopped and bowed on the shore, saying, "Immortal Quan, please come with me to Quan County as soon as possible so that I can appease the people of Quan."

After saying this, he secretly glanced at Quan Ming to make sure Quan Ming was unharmed before continuing, "We, the Chu soldiers in Quan County, all witnessed that today's events were caused by that immortal. You were merely acting in self-defense to protect the people of Quan, and it was not your fault... Rest assured, I, Dou Lian, can guarantee with my life that I will report today's events to His Majesty in detail so that His Majesty can judge this matter fairly!"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Quan Ming glanced at Dou Lian again.

He wondered whether it was Dou Bo's idea or Dou Lian's own decision, but in any case, having more proof would make it easier for the King of Chu to grant him the Zhishui water area, which was not a bad thing.

"Thank you very much, young general Dou Lian."

"Let's go... Settling Quanren was something I promised the King of Chu. Quanren's return to Chu is a good thing for him. We must not let that despicable fellow Zhixian cause any further estrangement."

"Yes, Quan Xian is right!" Dou Lian was overjoyed when he saw Quan Ming agree.

"Set off!"

"promise!"

He immediately led his troops to follow Quan Ming, who was traveling by water, back to Quan County.

……

……

Time passed quickly, but calming the people's emotions was not so easy. Even with Quan Ming present, it took Dou Lian and Qu Xia's county magistrate, Qu Wan, an entire night to stabilize the people. The lingering hostility was completely dispelled when Dou Bo personally brought the King of Chu's decree the next morning, merging the Quan River and the Zhi River into one, collectively called the Quan River, and appointing Quan Ming as the ruler of this waterway.

Of course, this is also what Quan Ming wants.

Only after the king issued the decree did he formally step forward to guide the powerful people back to Chu, making them feel the king's trust in him. This trust also gave rise to some thoughts among the powerful people.

Perhaps the King of Chu genuinely wanted to accept the powerful figure.

This idea is like a seed, waiting for Quan Ming to nurture it until it grows into a towering tree and takes root in his heart!

Chu Di’s will +2026!

Because of this seed, the Daotian of Chu bestowed a reward upon Quan Ming, who gained some insights and made a great leap forward in his understanding of the Daotian's assessment!

—The powerful returned to Chu, without complaint or regret—

No resentment: It requires the powerful to let go of hatred and begin to live as ordinary people of Chu.

No regrets: The Chu state leadership needs to treat those in power not as prisoners of war or slaves.

No regrets, but it requires mutual effort.

……

"Whoosh..."

The water flows gently, and the blue waves ripple.

Under the sun, Quan Ming returned to his water palace in a bamboo-awning wooden boat. At the same time, he looked at his 9,412 Chu land wills and pondered how to maximize the effectiveness of this accumulation.

"The matter of Quanren returning to Chu has made progress on Quanren's side, so the current problem lies with the Chu people, especially the Chu nobles."

"Um……"

"There's no need to make them do it willingly, since in their eyes, the Chu people in their own country have no status."

"So, all we need to do is force them to acknowledge those in power!"

Quan Ming thought of the Zhou emperor's meeting in Shenguo to prepare for a multi-state attack on Chu. At this moment, the King of Chu had already gone to the front line, probably training his troops... Clearly, this war was extremely important.

Quan State, as a newly conquered territory of Chu, was surrounded by Chu on three sides, but bordered the vassal states of Zhou to the north.

For example, the states of Yong and Luo.

Among them, Yong State was relatively better off. Due to the presence of the Shennong Mountains, its capital was located in the north of Shennong, with only a small number of troops stationed in the south, and not many Yong people lived there.

In reality, Yong's biggest target should have been the Ba Kingdom in the western Sichuan region.

Their attention was focused there.

But Romania is different.

The Kingdom of Luo did not have the vast territory of the Kingdom of Yong. Their capital was located north of Jingmen, the gateway to the Kingdom of Chu. Like the Kingdom of Quan, it was a vassal state that relied on the Jing Mountains. The Kingdom of Luo was also a territory that the Kingdom of Chu had to conquer in its northward expansion.

After all... according to later generations, that place is the Xiangyang City of later generations.

With Xiangyang protected, the south of the Yangtze River will be safe!

This is a natural battlefield, so logically speaking, if the Zhou emperor decides to fight against the Chu state, he will definitely send the Luo state as the vanguard!

Meanwhile, the battlefield was located within the territory of the Kingdom of Luo.

Furthermore, regarding Quan Ming's scheme... upstream of Quan Shui is Luo Shui, which is his target and also Quan Ming's bargaining chip to participate in the war as a Chu immortal god and confront the Luo Kingdom immortal god!

Because war in this world is not just about the swords and spears of ordinary people, but also about the turbulent waves of gods from all over the world.

The army is fighting on the ground!

The gods will also open up battlefields at the borders of the realms of different countries!

When a nation's deity wins, the nation's fortune will also invade other nations, adding fuel to the fire and helping the nation's soldiers. Sometimes, the power of the gods can even determine the success or failure of a crucial battle!

"It seems that the key to completing the Dao Tian mission lies in this battle."

"The area north of Quanshui is an excellent point of entry. If we can get the Quan people to guard this place, how could the King of Chu and the nobles of Chu not take them seriously, given their military power?"

"As for how to dispel the King of Chu's suspicions, he ordered the guards to defend the northern part of the Quan River..."

Even in the midst of war, some opportunity is still needed.

"...Let me think about it carefully."

……

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