Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

"What is it?" Chu Mingkong swallowed hard. Had something bad happened?

"Make me pregnant, complete the moon worship ceremony, and the 'Moon River Goddess' played by the Imperial Advisor faction will be exposed. The ceremony can only be completed on me."

"No problem... Uh?!" Chu Mingkong froze, a series of question marks hanging on his forehead, looking at the Goddess of the Moon River with some fear and confusion.

"Although the Moon Worship Cult and the Imperial Preceptor faction have found someone to impersonate me, they are still recognized as orthodox within the Moonlit Empire, and I have tacitly approved of all of this. Since you have taken the White Tiger power of the Moon Worship path, you must take responsibility for completing all the steps of the Moon Worship ritual before you can gain recognition."

"Is this the rule?" Chu Mingkong recalled his master's wife's favorite saying.

"Yes, the rules. If the person standing before you were my true self, all the unnecessary rituals could be skipped. But the one standing before you now is merely a remnant of consciousness within the Lunar Eclipse God Kingdom."

The Moon River Goddess explained simply, and her attitude gave Chu Mingkong the feeling that she would only explain this one last time, and if he still didn't understand, she wouldn't bother with his confusion anymore.

Chu Mingkong had grasped the general idea, but there were still many details he didn't understand. For example, did he need to wait ten months for pregnancy? The emperor only had six months, and considering his patience, Chu Mingkong would probably have to confront him directly in just one or two months.

If he were to ascend here to the Moon River Goddess's ten-month pregnancy, everything outside would be irreversibly ruined!

Then there's the question of whether the child will actually be born. She just said that it's only a remnant of consciousness now. Can a new life be conceived normally in this divine world?

And there's something very important... Chu Mingkong remembered that in the history he learned from Yun Nongyu, the Moon River Goddess strangled her own child.

"And then you'll strangle the child?"

If he were to deceive the emperor in order to gain the power of the Moon Goddess and have a night with the Moon River Goddess, then Chu Mingkong would consider it a lucky blessing. However, if the little life conceived after this encounter were to be killed, it would be as if Chu Mingkong were to use his own child's life to exchange for the opportunity to lure out the scoundrel emperor.

The shameful anticipation and longing in his heart gradually cooled down, and he looked solemnly at the Goddess of the Moon River.

The Moon River Goddess remained as calm as still water, as if nothing in the world could stir her emotions anymore. She said calmly:

“I never strangled my child. I just exiled this little life into time. I left an important ability to my child. If you complete the ritual, this can also be considered your flesh and blood.”

"..."

To his embarrassment, Chu Mingkong couldn't understand it again.

What kind of nonsense is this? You had a child thousands of years ago, and now I'm just having a ceremony with you to make him/her my flesh and blood?!

"So you want to come? From what I've seen of your experience, you and the 'Moon River Goddess' worshipped by the Moon Worship Sect may have a better experience. You and she can both enjoy and be happy about this. But for me, it's just a ritual, a ritual to make up for the 'cause' of the incomplete 'effect'."

"The one I know and admire is the Moon River Goddess who experienced the founding of the kingdom and the conquests, and is also the Moon Empress, not that obviously fake 'goddess' from before. Although I have something to ask for here, I also want to see the real Moon River Goddess. Can you tell me about you, Moon River Goddess? The records from later generations are quite incomplete."

Chapter 249 The Goddess of the Moon River is a Little Dry

"Understand me? Those are just useless memories of the past." The Moon River Goddess said, "In short, I gained power by chance, grew stronger, defeated all the enemies I encountered along the way, and finally founded my own kingdom. I left everything else to the Grand Preceptor faction who followed me. That's all."

Chu Mingkong had already heard this simple summary from Rong'er once, but it didn't quell his curiosity. However, thinking about it from another perspective, it made sense. There were many things that one could ponder and reflect upon alone, yet could only share a sentence or two with others.

"Among the illusions that occasionally appear in those altar ruins, there is a little girl surrounded by some skeleton monsters. Is that you, the Moon River Goddess?"

"it's me."

Her concise answer led Chu Mingkong to believe that she didn't want to waste a single word with him. Fortunately, the Moon River Goddess elaborated a little, continuing:

“In the era I was born, although mothers were respected, the children born did not receive the same treatment. When a tribe lost power and fell, the children would be abandoned, especially those with exceptional talent. This was because people at that time generally believed that the children of the defeated tribes would harbor hatred and leave hidden dangers. However, the children born to the mothers and women they protected were of their own tribe and bore their mark.”

There were many factors involved. For example, the tribes at that time did not want the number of shamans to grow, so they abandoned children in the tribe who were found to have magical talents, so that these children would not be abducted by shamans in the future, abandon their totem beliefs, and be used to fight against them with witchcraft.

I was such a child. My tribe had just fallen from power and was in defeat. I happened to be discovered to have a talent for witchcraft, so I was abandoned by my family and tribe relatives in a mountain altar haunted by ghosts.

Chu Mingkong thought to himself, "As expected." When he was disturbed by the Moon God, he had guessed that this might be the past of the Moon River Goddess.

It's truly ironic that a little girl abandoned because of tradition eventually grew into an empress who unified various tribes and ethnic groups by force, becoming the renowned Empress Yueqi in the long river of history.

Was it because of her childhood experiences that she had no good feelings towards the people of the Moonlit Empire, so she abandoned them after the founding of the country?

"If I may ask, how did you escape from those monsters, Goddess of the Moon River?"

"The visitor from the moon, I obtained the power called the price. Although I relied on the talent bestowed by heaven during the later stages of founding the country and conquering, it is undeniable that without that unexpected power during those days of abandonment, I might have died on that night of abandonment."

"So later, Goddess of the Moon River, you stopped caring about the Moonlit Empire and abandoned it, harboring hatred for the people of this land?"

The woman, whose brows once held a heroic air but now carried an aura of melancholy, smiled faintly and gently shook her head:

"When you grow up, will you still feel hatred for the kittens and puppies that bit you when you were a child? I only see some eternal melodies called 'chaos' and 'degeneration,' and this factor is like the inheritance of blood, engraved in the heart of everyone in this land."

I once thought that the people here had been fighting for too long and had forgotten what peace and tranquility felt like. I tried to create a unified dynasty to give them stability, but I saw my companions fall into depravity one by one. My former comrades-in-arms began to scheme against each other, all wanting to become a new local tribal king under my protection. They said they hated the tribal leaders who preyed on the common people, but in reality, they only hated those who preyed on the common people, not themselves.

I have no intention of judging the right or wrong of those old friends. I only know that it's all in vain, that everything is predetermined, and that the people here have been on a chaotic path since birth.

Chu Mingkong didn't really like this kind of fatalism. It was like saying that a thief's child was destined to be a thief. But the important thing is to have self-awareness. Some people think that just because they've heard an old man on the street talking so confidently, they can compare to those who actually created something brilliant.

The Moon River Goddess must have had such thoughts because of her personal experiences during those years. Chu Mingkong couldn't comment on it, just as the Moon River Goddess wouldn't comment on the downfall of her old friends.

Chu Mingkong then asked, "Later, I heard that the Imperial Preceptor's faction persuaded Goddess Yuehe to conceive and keep the child. The records I know say that you agreed, but after giving birth, you strangled the child to death. What is the real story?"

"The truth is... I never considered myself their god, nor did I feel that my descendants needed to experience this world. Especially after I discovered the price of that power and some truths about this world, I became even more convinced of this. Despite countless attempts by the Imperial Advisor faction to persuade me, I refused their advice to leave behind descendants."

If a person cannot bring shelter and blessings to their descendants, but only burdens and suffering, my advice is not to leave offspring. Let the suffering remain in your own generation. In my view, the debt of giving birth is the biggest joke and lie in this world, beautifying all suffering and deceiving everyone to perpetuate the pain.

Chu Mingkong guessed that the Imperial Preceptor's faction was so eager to have the Goddess leave behind an heir that they actually wanted to use the Goddess's name to continue their rule. Although the Goddess Yuehe was hidden behind the scenes, in reality, if anything happened, they still had to listen to her.

Furthermore, the Imperial Advisor faction is also afraid that the Moon River Goddess will reclaim their "goddess representation rights," preventing their people from continuing to play the role of the Moon River Goddess and choosing someone else instead. If there were a descendant of the goddess, and that descendant was born to their own false goddess, would the people of the Moonlit Empire rather accept a new person as emperor, or would they rather accept the descendant of the Moon River Goddess as emperor? The answer is self-evident.

However, the Imperial Preceptor faction dared not allow their fake goddess to become pregnant so easily, as that would be tantamount to defiling the true goddess's innocence. Therefore, they had to persuade the true goddess to leave behind a bloodline. In any case, the Moon River Goddess had no intention of interfering in the affairs of the empire, and if she had descendants, she would live in seclusion with them.

But if the goddess herself has already conceived, then the faction of the Imperial Advisor would not be considered spreading rumors and defaming the goddess's innocence if they allowed their own fake goddess to become pregnant.

It's all a scheme!

Even knowing these schemes, the Goddess of the Moon River still agreed, silently watching the Imperial Preceptor faction revel in their triumph, for she no longer cared about the future of the Moonlit Empire.

However, upon reflection, the rituals performed by the Moon Worship Cult were actually a way for their divine son to have a physical relationship with the "fake goddess" promoted by the Imperial Preceptor faction.

Over the years, every time this ceremony is performed, a Moon Goddess will cause trouble for her own dark-skinned roast chicken ancestor. Although she bears the name of the Moon River Goddess, she has nothing to do with the real person and is just a figurehead.

"Then why did the Moon River Goddess agree to stay in the end?" Chu Mingkong squatted down and stroked the black tide, which contained an aura similar to extreme yin power.

"As I said before, the power I gained in my childhood came at a price. This price will be borne by my descendants, turning them into puppets, puppets of the being that granted me that power, like the one in your consciousness. At least yours was benevolent... You call it a system, hmm, an unfamiliar word. Is it a new word that was born in later generations?"

Chu Mingkong was startled. Apart from the sacred aura of the Moon River Goddess, his first impression of her was that of a mysterious and spirited, yet weary, older sister. Now that she had directly pointed out the system in his consciousness, Chu Mingkong finally felt the oppressive feeling brought by her goddess title.

Standing in her divine kingdom, before her, no secret can be hidden!

Perhaps because of the special nature of the divine realm, an unfamiliar pressure emanated from his body, aimed directly at the Goddess of the Moon River, but she casually waved it away.

The Moon River Goddess showed no anger at being offended; her tone remained weary and uninteresting. She looked at Chu Mingkong, but her gaze was fixed on the one he held in his mind:

“You don’t need to look at me like that. In my divine kingdom, even if I am just a remnant of consciousness here now, you, a woman from another land, can do nothing to me. Even if I ride your son and play with him later, you can only watch.”

Chu Mingkong: "..."

Indeed, she was quite domineering. No wonder the Imperial Preceptor faction, which used the name of the Moon River Goddess, acted so arrogantly that they became the legitimate goddess in the eyes of the empire's people. But in the end, none of them dared to disobey the Moon River Goddess herself!

Normally, if it were just angry words or a warning, one would at least offer an explanation to Chu Mingkong himself, but the Moon River Goddess had no intention of explaining and went straight back to the previous topic:

"One of the powers I have acquired is the ability to predict changes in the world; you can think of it as witchcraft or divination in Taoism."

Initially, I hesitated to accept the Imperial Preceptor's faction's pleas because I couldn't see any future worth my bloodline experiencing, at least not one where they would come knocking to demand repayment. I deduced for a long time, and finally saw a glimmer of possibility in the extreme Yin power emanating from the Abyss.

After speaking, she used her divine power to gently press Chu Mingkong to the ground. The aura of that divine power was supreme in this divine kingdom, and it carried a deep black color in the moonlight, just like the interplay of light and shadow in a lunar eclipse.

As a goddess, her attire lacked elaborate patterns and gold and silver embellishments; all her holiness and majesty emanated from herself. Her clothing consisted of a simple, understated white shirt and a black robe, a very ordinary style—a common, strapless, midriff-baring long dress in the Crescent Moon Kingdom, one that Chu Mingkong had seen many times on Feng Ying.

Her entire body was quite conservative and dignified, and the exposed navel area beautifully showcased the strength and beauty of women. Her fair skin had clearly defined abdominal muscles without a trace of excess fat.

As her clothes dissipated into moonlight one by one, her exquisite body, unseen for thousands of years, was revealed before him. Even though Chu Mingkong had seen countless beautiful women, he was still awestruck and breathless by the beauty of that goddess's body.

The first Empress Yueqi, who conquered the chaos of war among kings, possessed not only the strength and sturdiness honed through hardship, but also naturally smooth and lustrous skin and bones.

The sound of the ocean waves rose and fell, while the bright sky above, like a lamp, illuminated the plump, firm, and snow-white skin.

The Moon River Goddess grasped the hilt of the sword that Chu Mingkong had never bowed to since meeting that "fake goddess," and found it exceptionally comfortable to hold. Although the heat was scorching her palm, its weight was comparable to the hilt of the heavy sword she used back then.

"So you saw a certain possibility and agreed? That possibility that was deduced is me?" Chu Mingkong tried to find some topics to talk about, but his eyes and mind were gradually occupied by the supreme jade body of the Moon River Goddess.

He could still vaguely feel the traces of the System Mother stepping on his feet in anger on his face, but unfortunately, the Moon River Goddess's presence was too strong.

“I don’t know. My deduction might be related to the power of extreme Yin. This is already the limit, because the power of extreme Yin can annihilate the perception of aura. Even at my level, it is still impossible to detect. It may be related to you, or it may not be related to you. However, considering all factors, you are quite suitable as the ‘cause’.”

"So, Goddess Yuehe, after you decided to get pregnant, what exactly did you do? I mean, what was the process..." Chu Mingkong, lying flat on the black tide, looked up at Empress Yueqi on his body.

The Moon River Goddess was puzzled by his words and softly repeated:

“The process? Oh, you mean conception? Normally, the birth of offspring requires two intertwined causes to produce an effect, but I can release the effect in advance and place it in time. Later, I can make up for the cause and there will be no problem.”

Conception was merely a matter of a single thought for me, though it was still subject to some restrictions.

Chu Mingkong was confused, but could this be interpreted as... having a child first, hiding it in time, transcending worldly cause and effect, and then making up for the reproduction process later, thus completing the cause and effect process?

This inexplicable thing is a bit beyond his comprehension. So, can the child born directly look like his father?

“Like me.” The Moon River Goddess, seeing through his inner thoughts, then inquired about the matter below: “Why… is it a little difficult to get in?”

Chu Mingkong remained silent. Relationships between men and women sometimes need a lubricant to ensure smooth progress. Normally, once the emotions have built up, things can naturally flow smoothly.

When Chu Mingkong was intimate with his girls, he didn't need much foreplay. Once the girls understood what he meant, their bodies would reflexively become slippery and moist, just waiting for him to reach their stomachs.

The Moon River Goddess was purely focused on official business, completing the causal chain. Her own emotions were somewhat gloomy and lacked emotional fluctuation, naturally leading to...

It's dry.

"I can solve this problem, but it's not convenient to go into details. Goddess Moon River, would you mind if I made some adjustments for you? Otherwise, forcing your way in and out might make you uncomfortable." Chu Mingkong, being the professional he was, directly offered his services!

"Okay, tell me how you want it done?" The Moon River Goddess didn't hesitate much and gave her permission immediately, treating matters between men and women as something that involved hierarchy.

At this moment, the system mother spoke up:

[Wait a moment, circulate the true essence and brand her.]

"She's holding a grudge," Chu Mingkong thought, not daring to think too much about it. The system might be able to prevent the Moon River Goddess from sensing his words, but if Chu Mingkong thought too deeply about it, he would still be exposed.

He returned to the dry matter at hand and cleared his throat:

"Goddess of the Moon River, I would like to take some water from you first, so that I will no longer have this dryness."

Chapter 250 Straight women should speak less if they can't say anything

Chu Mingkong gazed at the flat, smooth White Tiger Plain, seemingly so close yet so far, and thought to himself, "This is what Empress Yueqi, who wields the power of the White Tiger, should be like. What was that dark-skinned fake goddess I met at the beginning compared to her..."

This is not to say that only white tigers are supreme; lush grass also has its own unique charm and beauty. However, a field of weeds that are left untended and grow wildly really does spoil the beauty.