Volume Five: The River Breathes of Bygone Lives, Chapter 128

Jin Li had learned the whereabouts of the local deity from the earth immortal. She gazed at the thick, withered tree before her; it was devoid of leaves, its branches brittle and yellowed. It seemed the deity of this realm was not faring well.

Observing her surroundings, she performed a hand seal to summon the deity. A blue celestial glow rippled across the ground, and the sudden manifestation of divine power startled the earth immortal in the distance.

Watching the flash of divine light from afar, the earth immortal thought, "It seems the Lady Sovereign has arrived." The horizon was beginning to pale as dawn approached, and he worried whether the Lady Sovereign might encounter danger.

Jin Li closed her eyes to steady her breath. She had exhausted most of her cultivation, and the mere act of performing the summoning spell had left her utterly drained.

After a short while, a voice drifted toward her: "This humble immortal pays respects to the Lady Sovereign. May the Lady Sovereign be well."

Jin Li did not speak, only slowly opening her eyes. The voice was incredibly weak, as if the speaker had been drained of all his cultivation.

She lowered her gaze to look at the figure kneeling on the ground. She had no recollection of this person. He appeared aged, his hair snow-white, his hands covered in liver spots, and his skin lacking any youthful vitality. He was clearly suffering from a potent poison.

He kept his head bowed, and Jin Li could sense his extreme nervousness.

Yet, the earth immortal had told her that the deity here had only recently taken office. A newly appointed deity should have been no more than eight or nine hundred years old; there was no reason for him to have withered into such a decrepit, white-haired state.

"Look up," she commanded.

The man appeared overwhelmed by the attention. His body stiffened, and he slowly raised his face, though his eyes dared not look directly at her.

The grace of the Lady Sovereign was not something a minor deity like him was worthy of beholding.

Jin Li was shocked. His cultivation level was abysmally low; if it continued to leak away at this rate, he would surely perish in this place.

"What wounded you? How could it leave you in such a state?"

He raised his hands tremblingly, his posture filled with profound respect. "Returning to the Lady Sovereign, this humble immortal does not know what it was. It possessed a strange appearance, ever-shifting, with a human face. Its movements were erratic."

Jin Li fell silent. There were very few demonic entities known to possess human faces. Could it be that something had truly escaped from an ancient seal?

"I understand."

She looked at the deity, then raised her hand, fingers pressed together. A blue celestial radiance flowed toward the white-haired deity. He gasped in surprise, then watched with utter astonishment as his hands became supple and smooth, and the hair falling over his shoulders turned black once more.

The Goddess’s power was warm, like bathing in a spring breeze.

His celestial strength was restored, enough to sustain his longevity. When he turned to offer his grateful thanks, however, there was no one left to answer him.

He raised his eyes, but the figure was gone. Only the lonely silhouettes of trees remained in the twilight. Yet, where the Goddess had stood, the withered branches were sprouting delicate green buds.

The long-dead tree had begun to bloom.

Life was slowly reawakening.

So, this was the renowned Lady Sovereign. He had been blessed by her—a glory that would last a lifetime. He bowed deeply and solemnly toward the distance.

"What are you doing?"

A voice spoke unexpectedly from behind him. Startled, he turned to see the hem of a moon-white dress and the ribbons trailing from a sash.

The young girl before him was draped in the twilight, looking at him with a hint of confusion. Though she wore a veil of shark-silk, the radiant divine mark on her forehead revealed her identity. Was she truly the Lady Sovereign?

The Lady Sovereign was just a young girl?

He could not help but feel a surge of shock.

Jin Li, seeing the astonishment in his eyes, gave a subtle squeeze to the face-changing bead hidden in her sleeve. Watching the deity’s naive reaction, she realized he was truly nothing more than a minor official.

A headache began to throb. *How troublesome,* she thought. *What is to be done now?*