Chapter 1 The Beginning

Huai River—

Turtle Mountain.

At the base of this mountain, there lies a deep expanse of water beyond the reach of mortals. To the naked eye or observational instruments, only the broad, flat earth is visible. But beyond this ancient illusion lie dilapidated palaces and immense chains.

These mountain-like chains plunged deep into the earth, locking down a figure.

The figure remained motionless at the bottom of the water.

Its body was covered in mud and overgrown with algae.

It had maintained this posture for thousands of years.

It was still asleep, dreaming of a bygone era, a time when Gonggong lived. Back then, it was the master of the Huai River. It unleashed vast floods, connecting the lower reaches of the Huai River with the Yangtze. Its consciousness soared high above, sweeping across the land.

From south of Tongbai Mountain to the vast Yunmeng Marsh, and even to the source of the Xiang River.

The vast land, the endless waters, all were its subjects.

Wood spirits, water spirits, mountain demons, and stone monsters all knelt in submission.

Suddenly,

it sensed a strange ripple.

It opened its eyes, and two cold golden lights appeared in the dark depths of the water.

...

Wei Yuan stared stiffly at the giant ape before him.

Wuzhiqi, Lord of the Huai River.

He had been a menace in the Huai River long before Yu the Great controlled the floods.

In ancient times, when mythical beasts roamed the lands, he possessed greater mythical characteristics than the water gods enfeoffed by emperors in later generations. Putting everything else aside, as a god, responding to sacrifices was an instinctive divine power, like breathing.

When ancient shamans made sacrifices, the most crucial thing wasn't the sacrificial dance or the offerings themselves, but the ability to directly point to the corresponding god. The Wuzhiqi in his dream might not have been a high-priority target in ancient times.

But in this era, it was very likely the only one.

Therefore, Wuzhiqi, who had been suppressed for five thousand years, responded as a matter of course.

Having once defeated Tong Lu and Wu Muyou, sent by Yu the Great, he was only defeated when the heavenly god Geng Chen intervened. The ancient lord of the Huai River lowered his head, coldly staring at Wei Yuan. He didn't recognize this weak human, but instinctively felt a sense of displeasure. However, he suppressed it and said:

"Human?"

Wei Yuan stiffly lowered his head, rubbed his face, and subtly changed the face of the potter in his dream.

He appeared to be unable to answer due to his fear of Wuzhiqi's power.

Wuzhiqi shook his body, his golden eyes fixed on Wei Yuan:

"I never imagined that it would be humans, this weak race, who would awaken me again. But perhaps this is the so-called karma. Yu imprisoned me beneath the water. Now, someone as weak as you can awaken me. It seems he has driven out all the other races. Now, Shenzhou probably only belongs to the humans."

Wei Yuan didn't know how to respond to this ancient water god.

Wuzhiqi sat down casually, his huge body shrinking to the size of a mortal, and said:

"Tell me, mortal."

"What is this era like? Was Yu right, or was he wrong? I am curious."

Wei Yuan looked at the ape in surprise, chose his words carefully, and said:

"You... you don't plan on having me help you break the seal?"

Wuzhiqi looked at him indifferently, and then said:

"You are too weak."

Wei Yuan: "............"

Wuzhiqi sneered: "Waiting for you to break the seal is no better than waiting for Yu's seal to lose its effect naturally. And don't worry, I won't attack you. My era is over. Yu, Geng Chen, and the Queen Mother of the West are the ones I want to take revenge on. A mere mortal, I wouldn't bother venting my anger on you."

"If I did something like that, Yu would laugh at me even in death."

"The dignified Lord of the Huai River, stooping to such base acts."

"Even if I break free, there are no enemies, no old friends. I only want to return to my Huai River. You don't need to worry. Come, tell me the story of the Huai River, and what did that Yu ultimately achieve?"

Wei Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, maintained his composure, and sat cross-legged in front of Wuzhiqi.

Then, according to what he knew, he began to recount the approximate timeline, starting with Yu the Great controlling the floods, then Shang Tang overthrowing Xia, followed by King Wu of Zhou overthrowing Shang, then the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the collapse of rites and music, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and the unification by the Great Qin. Wuzhiqi was surprisingly quiet, only occasionally making comments.

For example, when King Yu died, his son Qi established the Xia Dynasty.

"That must have been the idea of the nine-tailed fox, Nujiao. She couldn't have tolerated the Nine Provinces, for which her husband died, falling into the hands of other tribal leaders."

For example, when King Zhou was obsessed with Su Daji and neglected state affairs.

Wuzhiqi scoffed.

"The Nine-tailed Fox Clan are not demons, nor do they have the divine power to possess people. Each generation of their clan is in charge of Tushan and Qingqiu. They don't have the nature to torture mortals for pleasure. The leader of Tushan in my era was Shun's jailer and valued rules the most. This is false."

After that, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, when Qin Shi Huang destroyed the six kingdoms, Wuzhiqi finally said something. Only then did he have the appearance of Yu the Great sweeping across Shenzhou, ordering the Nine Provinces to jointly cast the King's Ding. It was just a pity that King Yu died early, and this Qin Shi Huang died even earlier.

Wuzhiqi had been suppressed under the sea for thousands of years.

This time, he finally had someone to communicate with. Perhaps because of this reason, he remained restrained, without rage or anger. But when Wei Yuan recounted the approximate history of the Tang Dynasty, Wuzhiqi frowned slightly.

In the dream, huge iron chains appeared in the air.

These chains bound Wuzhiqi.

Wuzhiqi said calmly:

"Let's stop here."

"This is why I said that you cannot help me break the seal. These chains were made by Yu using materials given by the Queen Mother of the West, gathering thousands of artisans from that era, and barely completing it with the help of the heavenly gods. Carved on them are the names of those artisans."

"This is a joint effort of the heavenly gods and humans. How can a mere mortal like you unravel it?"

"The conversation today was quite pleasant. I..."

Wei Yuan still wanted to lean closer when he heard the name Queen Mother of the West.

But when he heard that the names were carved on it, he sensed something was wrong and subconsciously retreated.

But it was too late.

On the chains that firmly bound the Lord of the Huai River, Wuzhiqi, there were many ancient runes. Even in the dream, they locked down Wuzhiqi's true spirit. Undoubtedly, they could affect the soul. And now, one of the runes glowed slightly.

Tushan Tribe Script - Yuan.

Wei Yuan: "............"

Wuzhiqi: "............"

The two of them stared at each other in awkward silence.

The white-faced, blue-skinned Lord of the Huai River slowly widened his eyes, recalling the most hated battle in the past. Yu the Great and the strongest god generals under the Queen Mother of the West joined forces. He stretched out his hand to take out the weapon representing the water vein of the Huai River. Those mortals and the descendants of the giant gods threw stones to stop him.

Among the stones that rained down, the giant stones were easily blocked.

So he didn't pay attention to a pottery jar.

That thing fell directly into his eye. The pottery jar shattered, and inside was a stone knife made by Nujiao.

When he roared in anger back then, Yu seemed to have shouted something.

What did he shout...

Wuzhiqi slowly stood up, his body becoming huge, the chains clattering loudly. He widened his eyes, his mouth revealing fangs, his fists slowly clenching. The dream-transformed water system was vast and majestic, entwined around the ape who seemed to be as tall as nine mountains. The sound of the rushing water was like wind and thunder.

He remembered.

What Yu said at that time was—"Yuan, get out of the way."

"So you are that thing called Yuan!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Five thousand years, five thousand years, and you dare to come back?!"

The giant ape suddenly burst into laughter. Because of the gigantification, small scars could be seen in his right eye pupil. Wei Yuan's scalp tingled. He pinched his feathers hard but couldn't wake up. He had no choice but to say, "Water Lord, you've mistaken me for someone else."

Wuzhiqi's laughter suddenly stopped, his golden eyes filled with madness and brutality, and also with an unspeakable joy, staring at Wei Yuan.

The weapon that he couldn't pull out back then was completed in the dream.

He extracted the entire Huai River water system and transformed it into a giant water staff.

"Mistaken?!"

He said:

"If it's a mistake, then let it be a mistake!"

Then he smashed down on Wei Yuan fiercely.

Wei Yuan frantically dodged in the dream, but how could he dodge? Just as he was about to be completely submerged, he suddenly felt a pain in his palm. He opened his eyes, and suddenly, the entire dream disappeared in an instant. Wei Yuan lay on the sofa, gasping violently, his whole body covered in cold sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

The black cat curiously looked at Wei Yuan.

There were several teeth marks on his palm. Obviously, Lei had just bitten him to wake him up.

Lei said, "What did you dream about?"

Wei Yuan gasped and remained silent for a long time, then said:

"...Nothing, I just remembered an old enemy from a long time ago."

Lei suddenly understood, and then licked its paws, comforting him, "I know you humans, as long as you live in this world, you will definitely make enemies. It's normal, don't worry about it."

The voice paused, and then asked curiously, "But the grudge you mentioned, is it big?"

Wei Yuan smiled bitterly, not answering. It seemed he could still hear Wuzhiqi's voice in his ear:

"When this seat breaks free."

"Let's exchange blows, that's fair!"

ps: I'm having a terrible writer's block, lying down like a corpse...

Thanks to the 30,000 starting coins from the reader who likes to read Little Eriyi, thank you~