Chapter 550 (1): It's a Pity the Sky Doesn't Rain Money

Chen Ping'an had already stayed at Paddling Island for close to ten days, asking Li Yuan to help him complete two tasks during this time. Apart from the gold edict ceremony for the birthday of the Water Official Great Emperor, Chen Ping'an had also asked Li Yuan to help him deliver a letter to Downtrodden Mountain.

Chen Ping'an was unable to guess this person's identity. He had the appearance of a young man, yet he looked utterly exhausted and lacking in spirit, seemingly as if he had reached a barrier in cultivation. Chen Ping'an had observed this lack of spirit and this type of gradual decay of the soul in old cultivators who were resigned to the fact that they would never attain the Great Dao. Moreover, Li Yuan would never enter the island of his own accord unless he noticed changes in the protection formation of Paddling Island.

There was one thing that caused Chen Ping'an to feel increasingly confused. Just what had Li Liu's cultivation looked like in the Northern Complete Reed Continent over the past few years? However, he was unable to find a single record or mention in the many newspapers from the mountains.

Chen Ping'an ceaselessly refined the spiritual energy of the mountains and waters while he stayed at Paddling Island, stabilizing and expanding two critical acupoints of his water palace. He would occasionally focus his mind to perform internal observations and patrols as well, watching that burst of sword qi ferociously attacking the barrier like an army of heavy cavalry charging at an enemy formation. There were also First and Fifteenth sharpening their tips on the Dragon Slaying Platforms, sending sparks flying into the surroundings, similar to the dazzling scene of Master Ruan forging swords at the small town.

The Dragon Palace Small World was like spring all year round, neither being frigidly cold in winter, nor being scorching hot in summer. It rained very often, sometimes just a light drizzle, but sometimes a heavy downpour. Chen Ping'an discovered that whenever it rained, some cultivators on the nearby islands — most of them earth immortals — would either bathe in the rain and open up the small world of their bodies to voraciously absorb the spiritual energy of the mist and raindrops, or they would retrieve immortal treasures such as jade vessels or inkstone water holders to catch the rainwater, not allowing a single drop to land on their islands.

When Chen Ping'an had spare time, he started to read the collection of stories where the final fate of everyone was inescapable death. Their journeys were all different, with their personalities also being wide-ranging and varied. Similarly, their deaths were also unique and bizarre, with their killers coming from all kinds of weird and wonderful backgrounds.

The flow of time had stopped while atop the mountain peak of the immortal ruins back then, and this book had fallen to the ground following the death of that great demon, first falling into Daoist Master Sun's hands before being passed on to Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an found an oil-paper umbrella with a bamboo handle at Paddling Island, and every time it rained, he would go outside for a walk as long as he wasn't cultivating, regardless of whether it was day or night. He would hold the umbrella and walk by himself, circling the perimeter of Paddling Island, which was approximately fifteen kilometers in distance.

Of the three jade tablets, Chen Ping'an had already removed Li Liu's hornless dragon jade tablet with the characters "Three Feet Sweet Rain" and placed it inside his minimization treasure.

Li Yuan's jade tablet, "Mountains Green Rain Like Mist," which was used to control the formation of the island, was still hanging by his waist, as was the Water Dragon Sect's mandarin wood tablet, "Rest." As Chen Ping'an walked through the rain, the two tablets would create a faint striking sound when he occasionally took slightly bigger steps.

As it rained today, Chen Ping'an once again carried the umbrella and strolled around the island. Looking at the time, it wouldn't be long before he received a response letter from Zhu Lian.

Chen Ping'an stood still and looked at the area between White Armor Island and Gray Beard Island in the distance. An extravagant horse-drawn carriage suddenly dashed out from the lake, with the carriage as large as a pagoda and its curved eaves decorated with bells. As the magnificent snow-white horses sprinted across the lake, the jingling bells played a melody that was seemingly from the raining heavens. Behind the carriage was a small group of maidservants dressed in brocade robes, as well as a large number of officials in red and other subjects and horses, with these people also walking atop the lake.

There was no carriage driver commanding the magnificent horses, and there was instead only Water Official Li Yuan and a slender and beautiful woman. Her hair was like a white jade flower bud, and she was wearing an exquisitely woven short-sleeve robe. Above the robe was a layer of gauze that fluttered like mist.

Li Yuan had changed into a round-collar yellow robe, with a white jade belt around his waist and official etiquette boots on his feet.

When this entourage appeared, Chen Ping'an noticed a strange phenomenon at White Armor Island and Gray Beard Island, with the surrounding mist permeating onto the shores and enveloping the islands, leaving only their silhouettes visible. However, Chen Ping'an couldn't say for sure whether this was caused by the cultivators on the islands activating the island protection formations or whether it was someone from the entourage using a water technique to block the gazes of the cultivators on the islands.

The carriage raced toward Chen Ping'an's general direction, not directly entering Paddling Island and instead stopping on the water five hundred meters away. Only Li Yuan and the slender woman stepped off the carriage and walked toward the island.

The woman seemingly deactivated an illusion technique, revealing her initially fuzzy appearance. She had a pair of golden eyes, and it was clear that she was a local deity.

Li Yuan and the beautiful woman arrived before Chen Ping'an, and Li Yuan introduced with a smile, "This is the esteemed water goddess of the Southern Fragrance Water Palace, and she's responsible for the wind and rain of the Dragon Palace Small World. Young Master Chen can refer to her as Lady Shen."

Even though it was raining quite heavily, Chen Ping'an still chose to immediately put his oil-paper umbrella away, politely greeting Lady Shen.

Lady Shen curtsied in respect and greeted, "The Southern Fragrance Water Palace's Shen Lin pays her respects to Young Master Chen."

After standing up straight, she gently flicked her sleeve and halted the rain at Paddling Island.

Chen Ping'an was accustomed to looking at other people's eyes when he spoke, so he accidentally caught sight of Lady Shen's true appearance. Her face was the color of green glaze, and not only that, but her "porcelain face" was also filled with a dense web of criss-crossing fractures. Looking closely, this was quite a terrifying sight. Chen Ping'an came to a slight understanding, and he didn't try to pretend that he hadn't seen anything. He placed the oil-paper umbrella under his armpit and cupped his fists in apology to the water goddess whose godly body was on the verge of shattering.

Shen Lin was seemingly a little astonished as she smiled and said, "There's no need to apologize, Young Master Chen. If this minor god's appearance has frightened Young Master and ruined the atmosphere, then I'm the one who should be apologizing for my great crime."

Li Yuan laughed heartily, seemingly finding this remark quite amusing.

However, Chen Ping'an didn't laugh, so Li Yuan could only huff and stop laughing as well, having made a fool of himself. If those people standing at the forefront of the Water Dragon Sect's ancestral hall many years ago were still alive, they would have already broken into loud laughter along with him.

Holding the oil-paper umbrella in one hand, Chen Ping'an turned to his side and gestured with his other hand.

Shen Lin glanced at Li Yuan, and the latter hurriedly signaled with his eyes. Only then did she walk side by side with Young Master Chen. Li Yuan wrapped his hands behind his head and slowly walked behind the two of them.

The Southern Fragrance Water Palace enjoyed the highest standing among all of the water god residences in the Dragon Palace Small World. As for the mountain gods, they naturally had the lowest standing in this small world, appearing like minor deities who were imprisoned by vast bodies of water on all sides. Some heroic spirits who were waiting to be appointed to positions by the Imperial Lu Clan of the Great Origin Empire, or the spirits of some renowned minor nations, would all feel petrified when they heard that they might be tossed into the Dragon Palace Small World to become deities there. In fact, they might even feel like dying a second time.

This was due to more than just selfishness, being afraid that there would be too many restrictions in the small world, and also the fact that mountain gods would receive far less incense offerings than water gods. More importantly, after they left their hometowns and entered the small world to become deities, how could they possibly nurture the mountain and water fortunes of their home nations? Thus, being appointed to become a deity of a small world was viewed as a form of demotion and banishment by all heroic spirits. They would rather become city gods of small county cities rather than mountain gods of small worlds.

Shen Lin had referred to herself as an old deity of the Southern Fragrance Water Palace, something that was worth ruminating on. This was because the Dragon Palace Small World had more than one thousand islands in an area of four thousand kilometers in radius, with the abundance of water fortune in this small world being unrivaled in the continent. There were thirty-two water gods, lake lords, and river guardians in total, and there were additionally mountain gods, city lords, scholarly temples, and martial sage temples in the twelve large islands, as well as the main city. In fact, these deities numbered even more than the water deities.

Li Yuan looked at the "lady" walking in front of him, sighing in grief in his mind as he did so.

They were both suffering the same miserable fate.

However, what the Water Dragon Sect could do was only limited, largely relying on the annual gold edict ceremony to increase incense offerings and repair the Southern Fragrance Water Palace, similar to how buildings were repaired in the mortal world. This was ultimately less direct and effective than how Li Yuan, the water official, absorbed incense offerings to refine their essence.

At the end of the day, this was where small worlds were inferior to blessed lands. Small worlds were only suitable for cultivators who wanted to cultivate in peace, able to provide a tranquil environment that strongly promoted peace and aloofness. On the other hand, blessed lands were vast and populated, making them beneficial for accumulating the incense offerings of countless people. They were the natural temples of gods and deities.

Chen Ping'an enjoyed a pleasant conversation with Lady Shen.

However, it was a shame that, unlike the two immortal forces, the Spring Dew Garden and the Rainbow Sparrow Residence, the Dragon Palace Small World didn't have any books that introduced the local traditions and customs of the region.

In reality, this was the first time that Chen Ping'an had heard of the Southern Fragrance Water Palace.

However, deities who enjoyed the title of "Water Majesty" often possessed impressive backgrounds.

At Bamboo Scroll Lake, Liu Chongrun was the island master of Bejeweled Hairpin Island, which was located near Cyan Gorge Island. As the princess of a fallen nation, her home nation had once had a fabled water palace, thus drawing the coveting gazes of a sword cultivator from the Luminous Vermilion Empire. Of course, that Nascent Tier sword cultivator from the royal family of the empire had yearned to obtain both wealth and the beautiful princess.

Chen Ping'an had witnessed the mystical power of precious alchemical pills from water palaces before, and these were valuable treasures that even earth immortals would salivate over. According to Liu Chongrun's explanation, casually tossing out one of the most valuable water elixirs of the water palace could easily trigger tumult at Bamboo Scroll Lake, with everyone rushing over to fight for its ownership.

Before Chen Ping'an left Downtrodden Mountain, Liu Chongrun had yet to finalize her relocation plans with Zhu Lian. In reality, Chen Ping'an didn't understand why Liu Chongrun insisted on splitting the female cultivators of Bejeweled Hairpin Island into two groups. Apart from the ancestral hall being kept at Bamboo Scroll Lake, the majority of direct disciples would be relocated to the Dragon Spring Prefecture to cultivate.

Bamboo Scroll Lake had adopted new rules and regulations now, and there was also Jiang Shangzhen's True Realm Sect to oversee the region, making it completely different from before, when lawlessness had reigned over the islands. To put things bluntly, the True Realm Sect genuinely wouldn't have any interest in taking Liu Chongrun's measly amount of treasures.

Moreover, she would still be at the behest of other people even after relocating to the Dragon Spring Prefecture. Chen Ping'an wouldn't give Bejeweled Hairpin Island any discount at all, not a single immortal coin. Bejeweled Hairpin Island was moving many people, and Liu Chongrun was also spending a huge sum of money to facilitate this relocation. Chen Ping'an truly couldn't understand why Liu Chongrun was willing to go ahead with this transaction.

This was similar to how Chen Ping'an didn't understand the relationship between Li Liu and Li Yuan, nor did he understand the link between Shen Lin and Li Yuan. Thus, he was simply making polite small talk as he walked beside the water goddess of the Southern Fragrance Water Palace.

Chen Ping'an had already grown accustomed to making polite small talk during his time at Bamboo Scroll Lake's Cyan Gorge Island, so he was extremely practiced and flawless as he conversed with Lady Shen, speaking in a polite manner but not sounding distant or cold. For example, he modestly asked Shen Lin about the history of the Immortal Ascension Tablets on Paddling Island, and she explained everything she knew. Along with Water Official Li Yuan, she was one of the two most experienced ancient deities of the Dragon Palace Small World, so she naturally knew everything about the people and matters of her jurisdiction.

Li Yuan listened to the casual and friendly conversation between the two people walking in front of him. This was only their first encounter.

He found this fairly amusing.

At the same time, however, he also felt slightly melancholy.

Countless years had passed, and that lofty ruler of the martial world had finally decided to visit the Dragon Palace Small World of the Plenty River Summer Residence again. Yet, what was the outcome? She hadn't bothered to visit the Southern Fragrance Water Palace, not even taking the effort to reprimand Water Goddess Shen Lin, who should have at least been commended for her hard work, even if she wasn't commended for her merit.

In fact, Li Yuan could say with certainty that if it weren't for Mr. Chen's visit, that ruler of the martial world wouldn't have even spared an extra glance for him, the water official of the Plenty River who had guarded this summer residence for countless years.

She was truly cold-hearted.

Li Yuan always felt like he and Shen Lin could be regarded as relatively high-ranking deities, lofty enough to brush aside all mortal feelings and relationships. Compared to that unreachably paramount primordial goddess, however, they truly appeared like those extremely emotional and obsessed mortals.