Chapter 318: Revered as a God

"Jiang Shen of the Chijiang..."

Li Rui's mouth twitched.

His little flood dragon brother's ambition was truly grand.

Just like human officials.

Although they were all county magistrates of a city, the gap between one county magistrate and another could be quite large; a county magistrate of Qinghe could be comparable to a prefect, and the Governor of the Capital was even more incredible.

This River/Sea God was the same.

Qinghe was only a branch of the Chijiang; the true Chijiang was a great river that traversed the east and west of the Yu Kingdom, ranking in the top five among the rivers of the Yu Kingdom.

The Jiang Shen of the Chijiang could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a Second-Rank Minister of the Six Ministries.

It was a top-tier existence in the Yu Kingdom.

It was said that the current Jiang Shen of the Chijiang was an old turtle that had lived for eight hundred years, with unfathomable strength, at least Second-Rank.

Even the Little White Flood Dragon's father was no match for it.

Looking at it this way, wasn't the Little White Flood Dragon's ambition grand?

Only Fifth-Rank, and it was already looking forward to becoming a Second-Rank Jiang Shen.

It had much more ambition than Li Rui; anyway, Li Rui, a tiny Commandant, never dared to think about sitting as a Minister of the Six Ministries.

Looking at it this way, wasn't the Little White Flood Dragon's ambition grand?

The Little White Flood Dragon looked at Li Rui with some surprise:

"Big Brother, are you injured?"

Li Rui: "Why does Xiao Bai ask?"

"Why has the True Dragon Qi on your body disappeared?"

Li Rui finally realized and felt joy in his heart.

The Little White Flood Dragon carried the blood of the Ying Dragon and had also undergone a transformation, so its perception of dragon qi was far beyond other demon beasts. If even the Little White Flood Dragon couldn't see it, then other demon beasts would be even less likely to see it.

"Stable."

Li Rui then explained: "I practiced a method to conceal the True Dragon Qi."

The Little White Flood Dragon realized and immediately understood why Li Rui would do this.

After experiencing the Great Flood Dragon incident, the Little White Flood Dragon deeply agreed.

The True Dragon Qi was too precious; once discovered by demon beasts, they would certainly fight for it like crazy.

If it provoked a great demon to covet it, it might not necessarily have such good luck again.

Its Ying Dragon blood had already been concealed by Yuan Dingting's action. This time, coming to Qinghe was intended to remind Li Rui of this matter, but he hadn't expected him to be prepared already.

"Big Brother is still the steady one."

Just as Li Rui and the Little White Flood Dragon were talking.

Lines of small characters appeared on the panel.

【Congratulations to the host for completing the intermediate plot of the "Making a Name for Oneself" achievement — Revered as a God.】

【People fear gods, therefore they revere gods. Since ancient times, emperors have all called themselves the Son of Heaven, which is to make people revere them as they revere gods. This is the highest realm of making a name for oneself. Congratulations on manifesting in front of people, making the people of Qinghe treat you as a god. Please continue to work hard.】

【Task "Revered as a God" completed, reward settlement in progress...】

【Task rating: A.】

【Obtained 40 achievement points!】

【Name: Li Rui】

【Age: 15】

【Talent: Martial Bone, Superb Comprehension, Wisdom Eye, Great Dream Wandering Immortal, Demon-Suppressing Victory】

【Technique: Long Chun Gong, Dragon Wandering Nine Heavens Map, Dragon-Elephant True Origin Strength】

【Item: Ascension Book】

【Achievement: 70/100】

Li Rui looked at the small characters on the panel, his eyebrows lifted high.

It was truly a case of "planting willows unintentionally, and the willows grew into shade."

The Little White Flood Dragon's unintentional act had actually allowed him to complete the "Making a Name for Oneself" task.

Clearly.

After this incident, there would certainly be many old charlatans in Qinghe who would treat him as an immortal; perhaps building temples and statues was even possible.

"This matter must be prevented!"

Li Rui pondered in his heart.

Unless he died, once such things as building temples were discovered by the imperial court, it was a serious crime.

As far as he knew.

The only one in the Yu Kingdom who had temples built for him seemed to be the Taizu Emperor; besides that, there were only figures who had enjoyed incense for thousands of years in this world, like Buddhas, Daoist Ancestors, and Sages, who were already like myths.

There were no others.

Even the number one in the world, Gao Tianxia, was the same.

Li Rui was pondering how to eliminate the risk when the Little White Flood Dragon spoke again: "Marquis Yuan told me to patrol the river, saying it would be useful soon; it seems a woman from the Wu Kingdom is coming, very annoying."

Upon hearing this, Li Rui understood.

The Little White Flood Dragon was talking about the marriage alliance.

A few days ago, he had also heard rumors.

The Yu Kingdom's diplomatic mission had already gone to the Yu Kingdom's imperial palace, and the marriage had been finalized.

Following that was a series of cumbersome procedures.

Mostly sacrifices, prayers, etiquette, etc.

Completing the whole set would still take quite a few days.

Finally, of course, it was sending that Third Princess of the Wu Kingdom to the imperial palace in the capital to complete the final grand ceremony.

The Third Princess of the Wu Kingdom was taking the water route, starting from Qinghe, directly to the Grand Canal, and following the canal north to the capital.

That was why Yuan Dingting had told the Little White Flood Dragon to patrol the river.

It was to prevent any mountain spirits or water monsters from hiding in the Qinghe; even if there were many guards on the ship, wouldn't it appear that the Yu Kingdom's etiquette was inadequate if twists and turns occurred?

The Wu Kingdom was not a small country.

The Third Princess was of noble status, so naturally, etiquette could not be lacking.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be the Wu Kingdom's imperial family losing face, but the Yu Kingdom's Dragon Court.

The imperial family valued face the most; others might think it was making a mountain out of a molehill, but in fact, it was not. An imperial dynasty could continue for a thousand years because these things were indispensable and concerned dignity. If an imperial family lost its dignity, it wouldn't be far from the collapse of rites and music and the destruction of the dynasty.

Li Rui: "Xiao Bai, have you discovered any abnormalities?"

He was responsible for the escort of the Qinghe section, and now that he had the Little White Flood Dragon to scout the road, he could naturally save a lot of trouble.

The Little White Flood Dragon thought slightly:

"There are no abnormalities; the Qinghe originally didn't have any powerful characters, at most I just happened to run into a gang of water bandits, and I casually killed their leader, and that's all."

Li Rui nodded slightly after hearing this.

The Little White Flood Dragon's words were also within his expectations.

During these days, he had already dispatched two battalions of the Anning Guard to clear the area along the Qinghe.

The Yu Kingdom had been peaceful for a long time.

Qinghe might have had great demons in the very distant past, but they had all been killed under the rule of the Yu Kingdom.

【Note: This line appears to be a garbled anti-piracy placeholder.】

At least Li Rui had lived in Qinghe City for decades and had never heard of great demons stirring up trouble.

As for that gang of water bandits...

He had already told the County Government about this matter.

According to the response from the Platoon Leader of the C-Battalion, they should be a group of refugees who fled from the Wu Kingdom to the mountains and marshes of Qinghe. Usually, they mostly just robbed passing merchant caravans, but they had always been restrained and had never provoked anyone they shouldn't have.

The Anning Guard was only responsible for Jianghu sects and demon chaos.

Water bandits happened not to fall under the jurisdiction of the Anning Guard, and Li Rui was sensitive to the division of duties, so even if it was a matter of casually eliminating them, he still told the County Government first, letting County Magistrate Jia take people to clear them out; if they couldn't beat them, then they would come to the Anning Guard for reinforcements.

This order could not be messed up.

If Li Rui directly sent people to kill that gang of water bandits, County Magistrate Jia wouldn't appreciate it and might even develop a grudge, feeling that the Anning Guard was powerful and had taken over the County Government's business; others seeing this would definitely lose face.

But if he informed County Magistrate Jia first, not only would Li Rui save some effort, but if County Magistrate Jia came to ask for help, he could also earn a favor for free.

Therefore, Li Rui had always upheld the official philosophy of "if it doesn't concern me, I'll stay out of it."

Otherwise, he wouldn't even know when he had made enemies.

Li Rui: "Xiao Bai, this matter happens to be under my management as well. If you have any news while walking the river, remember to tell me."

Hearing that walking the river was also helpful to Li Rui.

The Little White Flood Dragon's motivation became even stronger.

In its mind, Li Rui was a good Big Brother worth entrusting its life to.

Not to mention helping it transform, just the fact that he was willing to help it while knowing it would anger a Second-Rank Great Flood Dragon was a life-and-death friendship, so it must be handled well.

The Little White Flood Dragon: "Big Brother, rest assured, this matter is on me."

Eight hundred miles of Qinghe.

Passing through seventeen counties, because the source was in a valley twenty miles outside Qinghe City, it got the name of Qinghe City.

It was also quite famous in Yunzhou.

In a small mountain depression along the Qinghe, some thatched sheds were built sparsely.

The area in the middle of the sheds gathered quite a few people.

These people surrounded a corpse, their expressions full of grief.

"Second Leader, the Great Leader is dead, what should we do next?"

A young man in rags said to a sturdy middle-aged man.

This was the gang of water bandits that had caused trouble around the Qinghe today.

The corpse in the middle was their Great Leader.

Just yesterday, he was slapped to death by a great flood dragon that suddenly appeared in the Qinghe.

The water bandit stronghold had lost its Great Leader just like that.

The Second Leader's expression was gloomy.

These people were all those who couldn't survive in the Wu Kingdom and fled to the Yu Kingdom. The Great Leader had decent Wu Gong and led everyone to eat from small merchant caravans, barely surviving. Now that the Great Leader was dead and the backbone was gone, this stronghold was afraid it would scatter.

The Second Leader looked at the crowd with sorrowful expressions and hardened his heart:

"The Great Leader is dead, but I am still here. I won't let you go hungry. We have even broken through the Ten Thousand Mountains, can we not survive here?"

The crowd heard this.

Their expressions were all stirred. Although the Second Leader's prestige was overshadowed by the Great Leader on weekdays, at this moment, he was undoubtedly the head of this stronghold.

With the Second Leader standing out, the stronghold wouldn't scatter.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

If the stronghold scattered, where would they go?

They had all come out of the Ten Thousand Mountains together; staying together, at least they wouldn't die easily.

"Second Leader, we will listen to you."

A young man spoke first.

With the first one stepping out, the subsequent matters went much more smoothly.

One by one, they flushed red and supported the Second Leader to become the Great Leader.

Seeing that everyone supported him, the haze in the Second Leader's chest dissipated by more than half, and a sense of heroism suddenly arose:

"Let's bury the Great Leader first, and then take everyone to find food."

As for revenge, he didn't dare to mention a word.

It was already a blessing that the flood dragon didn't come to settle scores with them; how would they dare to touch the bad luck of that flood dragon?

Just when everyone's emotions were excited to the extreme.

The shouting stopped abruptly.

Everyone's expression turned into horror.

They saw a strange middle-aged man with a hooked nose appear abruptly in the stronghold, and then slap the Second Leader, who had just become the Great Leader, to death.

The hooked-nosed middle-aged man didn't even look at these people in the stronghold.

Instead, he looked outside the crowd:

"Old Ancestor, this water bandit stronghold is just right."

They saw.

An old man in a blood robe walked step by step into the center of the crowd.

At that moment.

Countless blood-colored ghosts surged out from the old man's body.

In a moment.

There was not a single living person left in the water bandit stronghold.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 319 =====