Chapter 372 359: Heaven-Sent Turmoil, Inevitable Calamity

It was one thing that the Human Race, as the crown of creation, was born with intelligence. But for some of their Celestial Prides to also possess comprehension so outstanding it was infuriating to other races...

'On what grounds?'

'Just because they're favored by the Celestial Dao?'

The Great Cyan God enjoyed it when Song Ciwan joined her in praising the Little Cyan God, but at this moment... she was still so, so mad. So mad!

Beside Song Ciwan, the Heaven and Earth Scale suddenly materialized, having collected a wisp of energy: [Divine Thought. The jealousy, confusion, and resentment of the Flying Spirit Level True God, the Mountain God of Cyan Bottle Mountain. Value: two taels and five maces. Exchangeable.]

Song Ciwan was speechless.

'What just happened?'

'I'm just sitting here, being a quiet audience. I haven't said a single word, so how did I manage to provoke the Great Cyan God's jealousy and resentment?'

'Granted, the weight of this jealousy and resentment was very light, barely amounting to just two taels and five maces.'

For a moment, Song Ciwan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

She even had to maintain her original expression, not allowing the slightest hint of her true feelings to show.

'All I can say is that in this world, it's not just the hearts of humans and demons that are hard to fathom. The hearts of Divine Spirits are just as inscrutable!'

A Flying Spirit Level True God, even as a True God, had not been completely deified. They still possessed the seven emotions and six desires, with their own likes and dislikes. Song Ciwan even felt that this Great Cyan God's temperament was more human than that of some "Humans."

Song Ciwan was lost in thought, but her face remained impassive.

The Great Cyan God was quick to compose herself. She brought up the Spiritual Energy Tide, then gestured toward the other people in the large garden.

"That Chuzhou Zhang Family has been very active in recent years. Spirit Realm Secret Realms have appeared several times in the Nine Provinces lately, and members of the Chuzhou Zhang Family have participated every time. After coming out, they've been promoting the benefits of the Golden Core everywhere. I heard that several of their clan's experts obtained White Jade Level Foundation Establishment Pills. Not only have they succeeded in their Foundation Establishment, but they've even gone on to refine a Golden Core!"

The Great Cyan God's tone was that of someone enjoying the drama.

As Song Ciwan listened, she was, on one hand, shocked that the Chuzhou Zhang Family was frequently succeeding in Refining Golden Cores, and on the other, she had further thoughts on the matter.

She pondered for a moment before quickly making a decision. She asked the Great Cyan God directly, "The Chuzhou Zhang Family... excuse me, Sister Cyan God, but our Great Zhou only has the Nine Provinces. Where do these places like Chuzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou come from?"

What Song Ciwan really wanted to ask was, 'These so-called Chuzhou Zhang Family, Bingzhou Li Family, Youzhou Liu Family... are they Human?'

But some questions could be asked directly, while others didn't need to be.

The Great Cyan God didn't seem surprised by Song Ciwan's question. A peculiar smile appeared on her face.

After a moment, the Great Cyan God leaned slightly toward Song Ciwan, lowered her voice, and said with an air of mystery, "The Human Dao Dynasty has only unified the Nine Provinces for a little over seven hundred years. Little Sister Song, you're young, and you're from the Nine Provinces. You've only ever known the Nine Provinces and never seen the outer provinces, so it's not surprising you don't know about these things."

Song Ciwan nodded, adopting the posture of an attentive listener. She fixed her eyes on the Great Cyan God, a thirsty craving for knowledge shining within them.

Who could resist such a pair of sincere, knowledge-seeking eyes?

The Great Cyan God, at least, could not.

Not only could she not resist, but at that moment, a strange sense of satisfaction bloomed in her heart. 'See? So what if you're a Celestial Pride of the Human Race? In the end, don't you still have to seek knowledge from a humble Mountain God like me?'

The Great Cyan God stopped being coy. The words tumbled out of her. "Little sister, there's something you don't know. The current Great Zhou, a mere seven hundred-odd years... heh... that's nothing. Go back further, to the last Spiritual Energy Tide. Now *that* was an era of vast, boundless territory."

She sighed with emotion. Hearing this, Song Ciwan couldn't help but feel a thrill, as if she were about to lift the mysterious veil of the Ancient Era.

Just how ancient was this Mountain God of Cyan Bottle Mountain? The current Great Zhou Dynasty had been founded over seven hundred years ago, yet in the Great Cyan God's mouth, it was "a mere seven hundred-odd years"!

'She knows about the last Spiritual Energy Tide?'

'If so, does she also know the secrets of the Golden Core? The collapse of the Jian Wood? The infinite, great terror that exists in the heavens above the heavens, in the world Beyond the Heavens?'

Song Ciwan played her part perfectly, letting out a soft cry of surprise. "The last Spiritual Energy Tide?"

Having found an audience who knew how to respond appropriately, the Great Cyan God let out a "Heh!" and said, "That's right! During the last Spiritual Energy Tide, there were forty-eight provinces under the heavens. But those forty-eight provinces didn't all belong to the Human Race. Most of the territory was a mix of Humans and Demons living together."

Song Ciwan asked in confusion, "But isn't it a mix of Humans and Demons now, too?"

The Great Cyan God immediately covered her mouth and laughed. "Little Sister Song, you're young. Are you mistaking the common sight of the Demon Race within Great Zhou's borders for the true coexistence of Humans and Demons? Hehe, how could you call this coexistence? True coexistence is when Humans rule one city and Demons rule another. How could it be like the Great Zhou now, where the Court's word is law and the Human Race is absolutely dominant?"

According to the Great Cyan God, even though mortals in the Mortal World were often harmed by Demon Fiends, and many Cultivators with high Cultivation eventually died on the path of subduing them, the Human Race still held absolute dominance within the Nine Provinces.

Such a suffering Mortal World, yet in the Great Cyan God's eyes, it could actually be considered a golden age for the Human Dao, the likes of which hadn't been seen in millennia!

This only went to show that a Divine Spirit's perspective on the world could never be the same as that of the Human Race.

Or perhaps, the Great Cyan God's belief that the current Great Zhou was an unprecedented golden age for the Human Dao was, in fact, the mainstream view in the world.

As for people like Song Ciwan, who often saw the hardships of the common folk, they were the minority.

Song Ciwan silently committed this to memory and asked, "Then, Sister Cyan God, why did the previous forty-eight provinces become the Nine Provinces of today?"

The Great Cyan God said, "The Spiritual Energy Tide comes once every eight thousand years. When the tide falls to its lowest point, like it was thirty or forty years ago, the demons are quiet, the fiends are quiet, and even mountain spirits like us are quiet. I'm not afraid of you laughing, little sister, but if it weren't for the Court's offerings in those years, your sister here would have grown so weak I'd have fallen asleep holed up in Cyan Bottle Mountain."

Song Ciwan asked, puzzled, "Weak?"

The Great Cyan God sighed. "Yes. Seven thousand years ago, after the last Spiritual Energy Tide swelled to its peak, it began to recede. It kept falling and falling until forty years ago, when it hit rock bottom. Little Sister Song, you were born late, so you have no idea how hard life was for us spirits back then."

She had once again mentioned "us spirits," a phrase Song Ciwan was able to understand.

As for Mountain Gods, although a large portion of them were local Great Demons who had been recruited by the Court and enfeoffed as Mountain Gods by the Emperor's decree, granting them a certain authority to protect the local area, these were often not true Mountain Gods.

A true Mountain God was a spirit born alongside the mountains and rivers, one that naturally possessed the authority to govern the local region.

Whether it was regulating the local feng shui or receiving the local Incense and Candlelight offerings, it was all within their power.

From a certain perspective, a true Mountain God was akin to the mountains and rivers gaining sentience, or perhaps more like the mountains and rivers having a child. In short: they were the direct, legitimate lineage.

They were on a completely different level from the wild god of Celestial Dragon Mountain that Song Ciwan had previously encountered.

Even if the Court didn't enfeoff them, they were still True Gods.

If the Court did enfeoff them, they would gain an additional blessing from the dynasty's fortune.

Of course, once such a Mountain God accepted the Court's enfeoffment, they would in turn reinforce and feed back into the Great Zhou's destiny. It was a win-win situation. The Court would basically never pass up the chance to enfeoff a True God, and no True God would refuse the Court's enfeoffment.

Without a doubt, the Great Cyan God before her was this kind of Mountain God.

That being the case, it was no wonder the Great Cyan God was always saying "Little sister, you're young."

After all, she was a mountain spirit, born from the mountain itself; one could only imagine how ancient she was. From her perspective, forget a twenty-something-year-old like Song Ciwan being a youngster—even the seven-hundred-year-old Great Zhou Court was just a youth!

Song Ciwan said, "So, you're saying the true rising of the Spiritual Energy Tide actually began forty years ago?"

The Great Cyan God said, "That's right. It's been rising for a full forty years, and only now has it started to gain some real momentum. But don't be impatient, little sister. Each rising tide of spiritual energy takes at least a thousand years to reach its peak. For the seven thousand years after that, it will slowly fall, and fall, and fall, until it reaches the bottom of the valley again."