But I'm a proper river god, you know! - Chapter 85

“It’s demonic energy!”

Everyone stared at the soaring black smoke, momentarily stunned into stillness, until one person snapped to awareness and shouted in alarm. “Alert! Demonic invasion!”

Awakened by that cry, the rest quickly came to their senses. They drew their magical weapons, their expressions wary as they scanned their surroundings, trying to spot any lurking, cunning demons.

A swordsman twirled his blade in the air, holding it horizontally before him. “Everyone, be careful. These demons excel at disguise. Do not get separated.”

“That demonic energy is coming from the back mountain. Quickly, inform the people from Tianji Sect,” said an elderly man with remarkable composure. His thin frame stood tall and straight like a pine or bamboo. “This demonic force is formidable. I ask you all to join me in subduing it.”

His words met with immediate agreement.

In no time, dozens of figures could be seen darting swiftly through the forest towards the back mountain.

Guan Su stood atop the wall surrounding Tianji Sect’s main hall, his hands clasped behind his back, rubbing a jade slip in his palm. Upon hearing his disciple’s report clearly, a strange expression crossed his usually placid face.

“You said those people have gone to the back mountain?” Guan Su paused briefly, his tone carrying a hint of ambiguous amusement.

He wiped the jade slip once more before tucking it back into his robes. With a sigh, he lifted his head to gaze at the sky tinted with crimson. “Well, that’s… rather unfortunate.”

Guan Su gave a slight wave. The disciple before him instantly had his eyes swallowed by darkness, becoming like a marionette awaiting Guan Su’s command.

“Go and prepare. Send word to everyone. Tianji Sect has been ambushed by demons. Casualties are heavy, many disciples… their fate is unknown. We request the assistance of all Sect Leaders.”

Guan Su waved the person away. Watching the disciple’s figure vanish in a flash, a suppressed smile appeared on Guan Su’s face.

No wonder everyone prays to the River God to have their wishes granted. The scene he had prayed for daily, the fantasy that had played out countless times in his mind—could it finally be coming true today?

Guan Su’s heart itched with unbearable anticipation. He turned and, transforming into a streak of white light, shot straight towards the back mountain.

——-

Meanwhile, Yuan Ji observed the black mist blotting out the sky, her eyes growing inscrutable. Her fingers, hanging at her sides, twitched twice. The faint white light that had followed Xiao Liu and Xiao Ba immediately responded.

There were demons… and also monsters.

“A large amount of demonic energy has appeared.” Yuan Ji glanced back at Qi Guan Shang, hesitating slightly. “Would you like to come with me to see?”

Qi Guan Shang didn’t answer immediately. He withdrew his hand, looking at Yuan Ji with concern. “Are you feeling better now? Does your head still hurt?” To him, no commotion was more important than her current state.

Yuan Ji shook her head. “Thank you. I’m much better now.” As she spoke, her brow suddenly furrowed as she looked towards the source of the black mist. “The demonic energy there is spreading outward.”

The thorns on her body retracted beneath her clothes. Upon contact with the faint demonic energy in the air, the slender tendrils involuntarily extended, trying to capture it.

Qi Guan Shang’s expression was now grave as well. The two exchanged a look and immediately rushed towards the back mountain.

Their pace wasn’t the fastest. By the time Yuan Ji arrived, she saw several upright cultivators at the forefront already erecting arrays to counter the surging demonic energy.

A’Tong was the first to clearly see the humanoid monster trapped within a transparent barrier. Covered in black energy and long hair, it was pounding against the barrier, trying to escape. A’Tong couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath.

“Yuan Ji, what kind of monster is that?”

Yuan Ji fixed her gaze for a moment and immediately concluded, “He’s been demonized.” It was the cultivator named Xiao Liu from before.

But how had the demonic corruption progressed so severely in just a few hours?

Yuan Ji took two steps forward, only to have a burly cultivator with a full beard block her path. He glanced down at her and said in a deep voice, “A young female cultivator like you should stay back. This is no place for you.”

Seeing the flash of reminiscence in his eyes, Yuan Ji knew his reminder came from a place of good intentions. She looked at him but didn’t say anything, only to hear a cold snort from beside her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yuan Ji saw a man leisurely waving a feathered fan, his handsome face carrying a trace of arrogance. “Indeed. Don’t let the demon or monster escape and then have us send people to rescue you, delaying the capture,” he said.

Bai Yuze curled his lips into a frivolous smile, his gaze greedily sweeping over Yuan Ji from head to toe. “Of course, if you’re afraid, for a beautiful female cultivator like you, I would naturally be willing to offer my protection.”

As he spoke, he opened his arms towards Yuan Ji, tilting his head in invitation. This caused the bearded male cultivator beside him to look displeased, yet he dared not say a word, only silently giving Yuan Ji a look, urging her to leave this troublesome spot.

With the frenzied demon-man under control, some people present began to relax. Turning and seeing Bai Yuze’s bold move, the disciples from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect who had witnessed Yuan Ji’s actions earlier immediately widened their eyes, their gazes towards him filling with pity.

Numerous stares solidified, like fingers pointing accusingly at Bai Yuze.

Annoyed, Bai Yuze withdrew his hand. His narrow eyes glared, and his peripheral vision caught sight of the lavishly dressed, veiled figure standing behind Yuan Ji. Understanding dawned on him. With a scornful glance, he said dismissively, “Oh, so you’ve got a pretty boy. What is he, exceptionally good-looking, or perhaps he’s…”

His words were abruptly cut off. A sense of panic struck Bai Yuze as he tried to make sound again, but it was futile. A sense of foreboding washed over him.

Yuan Ji swept an indifferent glance over him.

In the next instant, a white light flashed.

The luxurious feathered fan fell into the muddy ground. Bai Yuze was slammed with brute force into a nearby patch of muddy sludge, with only half a foot sticking out.

The Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples collectively shuddered and swallowed hard, silently mourning the fool’s fate for a moment.

However, as they exchanged glances, they caught sight of the crimson figure appearing beside Yuan Ji. He leaned down and carefully wiped away the mud that had splashed onto her fingertips.

Bai Yuze’s frivolous nature stemmed not only from his own arrogance and love of pleasure but also from his status. He was the only child of the Tai Xu Hall’s Sect Leader in a hundred years, and the next successor to the Hall.

Tai Xu Hall wasn’t the largest sect, but it was certainly among the top-tier ones.

Watching their Young Sect Master being tossed into a mud pit like garbage, several Tai Xu Hall members simultaneously drew their swords, pointing them at Yuan Ji. An imposing elder slowly stepped out from behind the disciples.

“Young lady, you have quite the nerve,” Elder Fu Sheng said, adopting an air of immortal grace as he lightly flicked the whisk in his hand. “Do you know who it is you’ve thrown?!”

“Trash,” Yuan Ji said leisurely. “Belongs in a trash heap.”

Instantly, a terrifying pressure descended like an invisible giant palm from the sky. Many cultivators couldn’t withstand the shockwave of the force, coughing up blood and quickly retreating several steps to avoid being caught up in it.

To Yuan Ji, however, this pressure was mere child’s play. She let out a soft laugh, raising an eyebrow at Elder Fu Sheng as if to say, “Is that all?”

A stifled anger burned in Elder Fu Sheng’s chest. He narrowed his eyes, glaring coldly at Yuan Ji, and released his pressure towards her again.

Yuan Ji remained composed, her expression unchanged.

A sense of foreboding struck Elder Fu Sheng. But if he backed down now, where would Tai Xu Hall’s face be? Gritting his teeth, he increased the pressure once more. Even as the spiritual energy in his veins began to stagnate and his footing grew unsteady, the woman before him didn’t budge an inch.

Who exactly was she?!

Clenching his jaw, a name suddenly flashed into Elder Fu Sheng’s mind.

Rumors said that in Wangchuan, the world’s only true deity had appeared.

That person’s name was—Yuan Ji.

No, it couldn’t be true. That was just the delusion of lowly mortals!

Elder Fu Sheng’s spirit was already shaken. Just then, he saw Yuan Ji slowly step forward. The hand that had brushed through her ink-black hair lifted gently.

“Now it’s my turn.”

In the next instant, an even more formidable and irresistible pressure crashed down like collapsing mountains.

Elder Fu Sheng spat out a mouthful of blood, crushed to the ground. With great difficulty, he squeezed out his question from his throat, “You… who are you?”

Yuan Ji cast a cold glance his way, her gaze sweeping over the silent crowd, each person now pricking up their ears to listen carefully.

“River God.”

“Yuan Ji.”

Instantly, everyone felt a sudden clarity in their minds, as if awakened. The words “River God” were now deeply engraved in their consciousness.

Complex emotions flickered across their faces. None had imagined that the legendary River God, whose power was said to be unfathomable, would look so young.

Before they could digest this astonishing news, in a spot unnoticed by the crowd, another black energy-wreathed figure shot out from the cave, flying straight towards the cultivators maintaining the arrays and launching a fierce strike.

Caught off guard, the cultivators were sent flying by a whip strike as scalding as magma, saturated with dense demonic energy. Their toes dragged on the ground, leaving deep gouges before they barely managed to steady themselves.

Cultivators of such profound cultivation had been defeated by a single blow. They lay scattered on the ground, their spiritual energy rapidly being devoured by the demonic energy seeping from their wounds, transforming into even more ferocious demonic power.

“Senior Brother!”
“Elder!”
“Sect Master!”

Numerous disciples rushed forward, wanting to help them up. But as soon as they took a step, the ghostly figure had already silently appeared behind them.

A whip lashed out. Spiritual energy dissipated.

The incident was too sudden. No one had expected another person to be in the cave, let alone that the whip in that person’s hand would be so powerful, clinging to them the moment it made contact with the demonic energy.

Panic surged in their hearts. But what terrified them more was that the unfamiliar demonic energy invaded their bodies with lightning speed. They lost control of their own forms.

“S-save me!”
“What’s happening? Everyone, work together to restrain that demonic creature!”

However, the response to this call was a group of stiff, uncontrolled puppets, moving like marionettes.

Guan Su, hidden from sight, concealed himself behind a tree no one noticed. He stared at the rapidly moving black shadow’s whip, his gaze fixing on the golden horn fragment at its tip.

Just one fragment is this powerful… if I could obtain the whole thing…

Guan Su’s eyes grew even more greedy. He glanced at Xiao Liu and Xiao Ba, who were now barely recognizable as human, and let out a cold snort.

Tianji Sect was completely under his control. How could their little actions escape his spies? But these two had proven somewhat useful after all.

If this River God was indeed the person from the mural in that secret realm, then the remaining fragments must be on her.

Guan Su concealed his presence once more, attaching himself to a nearby ancient tree, quietly watching Yuan Ji for that moment of weakness.

However, as soon as he held his breath and waited, he saw the veiled man following Yuan Ji walk directly towards his location. As if by chance, the man reached out a hand to lean against the tree.

Guan Su watched with mild curiosity: Hm?

The next moment, a strand of his soul consciousness was brutally torn apart.

Guan Su: ??

The connection to his avatar severed. In a hidden secret realm within Tianji Sect, Guan Su—dressed in ceremonial robes, sitting cross-legged in a spot bathed in sunlight—slowly opened his eyes. A golden glint flashed through his pupils.

“Chang Sheng, this person seems to be an acquaintance of yours,” an ancient voice roused the person meditating beside him. “Go and meet him.”

“As you wish.”

Meanwhile, aided by the horn fragment, Xiao Liu and Xiao Ba had obtained the power they had always dreamed of. With just a light flick of the whip, the mighty ones they had once needed to serve with utmost caution and respect were like dry branches in winter, snapping easily.

“Heh heh…”

The two laughed maniacally as they charged through the crowd. Wherever they went, demonic energy ran rampant, unstoppable. Under the gazes filled with despair and terror, they met a pair of eyes devoid of joy or sorrow.

Their hearts involuntarily tightened. The two unconsciously halted their steps, their faces full of wariness as they stared at the newcomer.

Yuan Ji slowly lifted her head, her thin lips parting slightly.

“You’ve played long enough.”

“Now, it’s time to return what belongs to me.”