117: Chapter 117 The Arrangements of the River God

The Yangtze River waterway spans over six thousand kilometers. According to unearthed artifacts from various dynasties and the vast sea of historical records, people on this land have thrived along the banks of the Yangtze for thousands of years.

From that ancient era when humans and deities coexisted until today, this golden waterway has not changed much.

Besides the Yangtze, within the borders of the Xia Kingdom, there is another even more treacherous Long River—the Mother River of the northern people.

These two rivers nurtured the entire civilization of the Xia Kingdom for thousands of years, carrying the very bloodline and memories of the entire nation.

All things are born from water, and civilization is no exception.

The moment Li Xiuyuan closed the map of the thousand-mile river journey, he spread out all of his Spiritual Sense, extending it downstream along the narrow stream within the glacier.

Long before arriving, Li Xiuyuan had already mentioned this to Gu Xiao.

Gu Xiao immediately reported it to his superiors. The moment the Jiantian Bureau received the news, they convened an emergency meeting with the top leadership.

In truth, the initial plan from above was to hope that Li Xiuyuan would not undergo the dragon transformation so early, wishing he could research Lord River God further to find more weaknesses.

However, in order to avoid any complications, Li Xiuyuan chose to undergo the dragon transformation ahead of schedule.

Regarding this, the higher-ups ultimately compromised.

Residents along both banks of the Yangtze were evacuated immediately.

Since it was temporarily impossible to determine what kind of collision would occur between Li Xiuyuan's dragon transformation and Lord River God, the Xia Kingdom adopted the most conservative approach: evacuating everyone.

From the day Li Xiuyuan set off, the Xia Kingdom had already begun taking action. It was clearly impossible to evacuate so many people in a short time, so it could only be done in batches.

"The people have all been evacuated. You can act at any time, and we will do our best to cooperate with you."

Gu Xiao's voice transmission sounded in his ear.

He was also at the foot of the snow-capped mountain.

Although Gu Xiao had not been clinging to Li Xiuyuan's back as he had in the past throughout this journey, he had been following closely behind him the entire time.

The interior of the Xia Kingdom attached great importance to this matter and dispatched a significant amount of military force. However, because the Yangtze waterway is quite unique and there are many cities along the banks, some of the more powerful missiles could not be used.

"Mm."

Li Xiuyuan only gave a faint response.

Immediately after, he closed his eyes.

His Spiritual Sense extended downstream along the narrow stream.

Wherever his Spiritual Sense passed, the direction and changes of the current, as well as every movement in the water, were clearly reflected in his mind.

At the same time, a vast and terrifying Spiritual Sense suddenly surged within the Yangtze waterway.

This Spiritual Sense collided head-on with Li Xiuyuan's Spiritual Sense in the Yangtze.

Li Xiuyuan was all too familiar with the Spiritual Sense of Lord River God.

It was just that this time, that Spiritual Sense was much weaker than before.

Now, after being baptized by several Ancient Grotto-Heavens, Li Xiuyuan's strength was no longer what it used to be; he could already contend with Lord River God head-on.

"In such a rush?"

That familiar voice sounded within his Spiritual Sense.

Li Xiuyuan replied, "If I don't take advantage of your illness to end you, wouldn't I be giving you time to recover?"

"You've been silent for so many days; you surely haven't been idle, have you?"

Lord River God chuckled, "Back when the Ancient Heavenly Court collapsed, countless deities who fought bloody battles with me perished. Whether they were Demon Kings or Great Sages, none could survive that long era of spiritual energy depletion. Do you know what this represents?"

Li Xiuyuan said, "It represents that you are good at surviving."

"Hahahaha!" Lord River God laughed loudly.

"Yes, yes, yes, it indeed represents that I am very good at surviving, because they did not have my foresight. Back then, I accidentally obtained an opportunity that allowed my vision to pierce through the long river of time, seeing what it would look like thousands of years later."

"And it was precisely because of that opportunity that I made an unexpected decision: to abandon my original physical shell, merge with this waterway, and be reborn thousands of years later."

"However, no one can say for sure about future events; there are many variables. Take you, for example—I have thought of many ways, but I have not been able to eliminate you, this variable."

Lord River God revealed something that surprised even Li Xiuyuan.

He had died on purpose.

Because he knew that almost no living creature could survive that long winter of spiritual energy depletion.

Thus, he resolutely abandoned his physical body and merged with the Yangtze, solely to seek a chance at rebirth.

"So how do you intend to resurrect now?" Li Xiuyuan asked.

While conversing with Lord River God, Li Xiuyuan did not stop; he had already arrived at the first undercurrent in the Yangtze waterway.

Lord River God said, "Many aquatic creatures can transform into flood dragons once they grow to a certain point. But wanting to go a step further is as difficult as ascending to heaven. Yet, in that prosperous Golden Age of the past, flood dragons were, if not as numerous as cow hairs, at least present in every deep pool."

"And among them, in a deep pool in Wuyi Mountain, there was a bright green flood dragon. It was originally just a long-lived turtle. After being enlightened by me, it found the opportunity to transform into a dragon and had been sleeping in hibernation at the bottom of that deep pool."

"This sleep lasted for thousands of years. By the time it opened its eyes, the era of spiritual energy depletion had passed. The moment it opened its eyes, its body, which belonged to a flood dragon, would uncontrollably absorb the spiritual energy here, forcing it to undergo the dragon transformation."

"But its own strength was limited. As soon as it left the deep pool, it was struck by a bolt of heavenly lightning and perished completely."

"It is the vessel I cultivated and arranged."

At this moment, Lord River God finally revealed the entire plan he had laid out for many years.

That bolt of heavenly lightning did not appear out of thin air; it was a Thunder Punishment Formation activated by the organization known as the Guiliu Society at the cost of two hundred lives.

Everything was proceeding according to Lord River God's layout plan, and not many accidents had occurred.

If there was one major accident, it was that after Lord River God was toyed with by Li Xiuyuan and had his dragon origin stolen, he was blinded by rage. He took the initiative to appear, intending to vent his anger, but he did not expect that Li Xiuyuan would be able to come up with the method of using the Power of Incense Vows to strengthen himself.

This was the only variable that had not been foreseen and had the deepest impact on Lord River God; otherwise, he would not have remained silent in the Yangtze for so long.

Upon learning this, Li Xiuyuan felt surprised.

This entity, who led countless aquatic creatures to conquer the world thousands of years ago, was actually able to see such a distant future through the long river of time.

However, he also heard another layer of meaning in Lord River God's words.

Although Lord River God saw a fragment of the future, the future is uncertain, and there are many variables in between.

He could only try his best to make all the arrangements to turn the future he saw into reality.

Can this even be considered seeing the future?

"That fallen flood dragon now only has a skeleton left; even so, it can become your vessel?"

Li Xiuyuan passed through the previous few undercurrents and successfully arrived at the first dragon transformation point.

The spiritual energy within his body climbed steadily, and a certain extremely strong resonance came from deep within his bloodline.

"What I want is that skeleton. On the contrary, its physical body is a burden to me."

"Little flood dragon, perhaps you have never seen what it means to bring the dead back to life and regrow flesh and bones. This time, I will let you see the world."