In the Ancient Resentment Well, within the Red Leaf Valley where the Jiang Family resided, there was a colossal stone statue of Little Wild Grass being worshiped.
The massive stone statue emanated the aura of Little Wild Grass; it was clearly one of the keys to its resurrection.
As it happened, Li Muyang himself needed to visit the Ancient Resentment Well to awaken the slumbering Ancestor Spirit Garden. It aligned perfectly for him to take a trip to Red Leaf Valley to retrieve that enormous statue.
This way, Little Wild Grass could finally be brought back to life.
At the thought of Little Wild Grass finally being resurrected, a smile lit up Li Muyang’s face.
He sat atop the head of the Green Saber Mantis, carefully guarding the arranged pieces of shattered statues, waiting for the fragments to slowly absorb nature’s spiritual energy and repair themselves.
When all the stone statues were fully restored, Li Muyang cautiously placed them into the Qiankun Ring.
Spending another three days amidst the underground mists, Li Muyang, bored and restless, entered the God-Slaying Simulator to challenge the Extreme Night God, but unsurprisingly, he was repeatedly defeated.
The Divine Sword held by the Extreme Night God wielded unimaginable power—far more terrifying than the Startling Swan Immortal Sword.
Each time Li Muyang barely managed to suppress the Extreme Night God’s oppressive aura, the moment the god unleashed that Divine Sword, he would be effortlessly struck down as if carved apart like vegetables.
Suffering repeated defeats left him feeling somewhat disheartened.
“…With this bug-like Divine Sword in play, it feels like even if I ascend to the Heavenly Eternal Realm and team up with Mo Immortal’s remains, we still wouldn’t stand a chance against the Extreme Night God.”
The more Li Muyang challenged the god, the more he realized the Extreme Night God’s infuriatingly formidable nature, as well as the ferocity of that Divine Sword.
At the same time, he grew to respect the Thousand-Eyed Blood God, who had managed to withstand the Extreme Night God’s onslaught for so long without perishing.
No wonder they were the top fierce god of ancient times—so difficult to deal with, even in death.
Lost in thought, Li Muyang suddenly sensed an immense surge of spiritual energy sweeping towards him.
At the same time, his Divine Sense was no longer constrained and could flow freely, perceiving the surrounding world with remarkable clarity.
The directions of the heavens and earth, the aura of the Great Dao—all became vividly comprehensible within his awareness.
Li Muyang opened his eyes in haste, and indeed, he saw the misty underworld shrinking away beneath his feet.
The Green Saber Mantis was carrying him upwards.
This was an inky black underground chasm, with only a single starlike point of light at the top, the sole entrance.
Looking at the familiar scene ahead, a smile appeared on Li Muyang’s face.
“Finally, back to the Mortal World again.”
After an arduous, long journey, he had finally traversed the entirety of The Peaceful Realms and reached the Northern Border of the Tianyuan Continent, arriving at the Bottomless Pit!
Here, Li Muyang had ventured in and out many times before to hunt heart-eater worms in the mists below for the Buddha Mother.
But now, Li Muyang no longer needed to run errands for someone like the Buddha Mother.
He could now converse as equals with beings of her level.
Perched on the head of the Green Saber Mantis, he watched as it vibrated its wings and sped up its ascent, causing Li Muyang to chuckle softly.
Before long, the Green Saber Mantis soared out of the Bottomless Pit, carrying Li Muyang back to the wilderness of the Mortal World.
Crisp yet chilly sunlight spilled over the land, while waves of eerie, frigid winds howled.
Due to the Evil God’s pollution of the Mortal World, the seasons on the Tianyuan Continent had flipped and spiraled into chaos.
The Northern Border had already fallen into a scene of howling winds, heralding an unending, bitter winter—a prelude to a frigid world that had endured far too long in this early winter season.
Sitting atop the Green Saber Mantis, looking out over the desolate earth stretched before him, Li Muyang furrowed his brow.
“In a season like this, you can’t grow crops. If the Northern Land’s climate continues on like this, countless people will likely starve to death…”
Riding upon the Green Saber Mantis as it skimmed swiftly through the air, Li Muyang soon spotted a city in the distance.
That city rested in the mountainous wilderness. It was not prosperous, nor was there any notable water source nearby.
Yet, on an open plot of land outside the city, there stood a temple, thriving with devout incense offerings.
From afar, Li Muyang could see lines of mortals orderly forming rows in the bleak, icy winds, all waiting to enter the temple to make offerings of incense.
Intrigued, he descended from the Green Saber Mantis and landed discreetly within the temple grounds.
The mortals were oblivious to his presence, as a concealment enchantment masked him from sight.
Li Muyang saw plainly that this was a Dragon God Temple, and worshiped within its halls was none other than the Dragon God of the Jade Water River.
Every mortal waiting in line clutched a cloth pouch nervously as they awaited their turn.
Once they completed their incense offerings, these mortals expressed their boundless gratitude toward the Dragon God, departing with their cloth pouches filled to the brim with rice.
Walking amidst the congregation, Li Muyang entered the temple and observed that every mortal offering incense was bowing reverently before the Dragon God’s statue, lighting incense in prayer. Then, a wisp of sacred smoke—imbued with a trace of their vital essence—ascended toward the statue.
Afterwards, the offering mortal’s pouch would be filled with rice almost instantaneously.
“This… the Dragon Girl is using Incense Fire Vow Power to distribute rice to these mortals?”
Li Muyang’s eyes widened as sudden realization dawned upon him, finally understanding the source of the long queues outside.
At this scale, perhaps the entire Northern Land was now covered in Dragon God Temples.
In these frigid winds, with the Northern Land unfit for cultivation, the only grain the mortals could now obtain came from the benevolence of the Dragon God!
Li Muyang looked up at the statue of the Dragon Girl on the shrine table, whereupon he noticed a faint glimmer of light.
In the next instant, the statue’s eyes seemed to come alive with vitality.
“Li Muyang! What brings you here?”
The spectral form of Zhu Yue, the Dragon Girl, materialized beside Li Muyang.
She gazed at him in delight, a divine miracle emanating through the shrine’s sacred idol.
Luckily, the mortals nearby couldn’t perceive this sight; otherwise, the crowd might have erupted into outright frenzy.
Li Muyang scrutinized the Dragon Girl closely, frowning slightly.
Though Zhu Yue’s face bore joyous exuberance, there was no hiding her exhaustion and frailty. Her aura was dim, and her slender figure had grown visibly gaunt.
Li Muyang furrowed his brows and asked, “You’re distributing rice to these mortals every single day?”
Such an enormous effort—despite the mortals providing incense and sacrificing fragments of their life energy—would surely be unsustainable.
Clearly, Zhu Yue had been supplementing the rice distribution by depleting her own blood and life essence.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t appear so wan and haggard.
Upon hearing Li Muyang’s question, the Dragon Girl nonchalantly replied, “It’s nothing. Since I started extracting their life essence, all I need is to add a single drop of my own dragon blood to create a massive quantity of rice for thousands of people.”
“My expenditure now is much less than before.”
“The rebellions in the Northern Land have mostly been suppressed.”
“And with the chaos of earlier days resulting in countless deaths, my burden has eased significantly. At least for now, everything is stable, with no major incidents.”
Li Muyang felt a pang of sorrow at Zhu Yue’s emaciated state.
But Zhu Yue, for her part, seemed utterly unfazed, brushing everything off lightly.
She gazed happily at Li Muyang, her expression as innocent and kind as ever.
“You really traversed The Peaceful Realms to get here, didn’t you?”
“I finally get to see your true face. Hehe… I’m so happy.”
The Dragon Girl laughed cheerfully, her eyes narrowing into delighted crescents.