Chapter 215: New Followers

In Flying Dance City, Shenlei Venerable was nearly jumping with anxiety. He desperately wanted to find Qi Yuan and send him to the North Sea Divine Eye.

The Dusk Venerable stood nearby, his expression pensive. "The Origin Venerable has always been unconventional. Nothing he does surprises me anymore."

At the Hundred Flowers Festival, the Dusk Venerable had already witnessed Qi Yuan's unique approach. This distinctiveness, along with his willingness to challenge the evil gods and take the lead in battle, had earned the Dusk Venerable’s respect.

The Fire Lotus Venerable was equally curious. "I, too, would like to meet this extraordinary person."

Who was this Qi Yuan, who had managed to visualize twenty-one legendary beings and eight mythological figures? Such a legendary ancient god could arguably stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest in the Fanxin Realm, like the Foodless Mother.

The Fire Lotus Venerable, herself an ancient spirit, had never met the Foodless Mother, but she had heard of her deeds and deeply revered her. In a way, the Fire Lotus Venerable considered herself half a follower of the Foodless Sect.

"Hey, old man Shenlei, you're back?" Suddenly, a voice called out from the sky.

Two figures appeared before the gathered group. All eyes turned to Qi Yuan, their gazes filled with surprise and respect. This was the legendary prodigy?

"You brat, do you even realize how much trouble you've caused?" Shenlei Venerable scolded Qi Yuan angrily, "Get ready to head to the North Sea Divine Eye!"

"The North Sea Divine Eye? What for?" Qi Yuan looked puzzled. "Old man Shenlei, stop making such a fuss. Just tell me what's going on!"

"What do you think, you idiot? It's to escape, of course! Look at the mess you've made!" Shenlei Venerable was almost furious enough to explode. "You sent your men to wipe out the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries. Sure, it was satisfying, but what happens next?"

Shenlei Venerable pointed to the Twilight Venerable and the others. "These people have left the Ancient God Alliance to come to Qing Shui Village to support you, risking their lives in the process!"

Only then did Qi Yuan turn his attention to the Twilight Venerable and the others. Qi Qi, who was beside him, quietly introduced them.

After hearing Qi Qi’s introductions, Qi Yuan's expression softened. These ancient gods had left the safety of the Ancient God Alliance and journeyed all the way to Qing Shui Village—he couldn't help but feel grateful for their support. Qi Yuan had never been one to withhold his gratitude from his friends.

"Would you like to become my followers?" he asked the Dusk Venerable and the others.

His question left the ancient gods from the Ancient God Alliance momentarily stunned. They had come to Qing Shui Village ready to sacrifice themselves, and now the Origin Venerable was asking if they wanted to become his followers. It was puzzling.

Shenlei Venerable glared at Qi Yuan. "Why are you still obsessing over followers at a time like this? Get to the North Sea Divine Eye, or you'll be dead meat when the evil god camps come after you!"

The other ancient gods agreed. The priority now was to leave and head for the North Sea Divine Eye.

Qi Yuan, however, shook his head. "The evil god camps won't be coming."

"What?" Shenlei Venerable was confused.

"Just now, Zhu Zhuangshi and I took a little stroll and blew up four nearby evil god camps," Qi Yuan said casually, pulling out a bottle filled with what looked like firecrackers. "These firecrackers are pretty high quality, and they have a limited range. Unfortunately, there were only eight big ones, and I used four of them. From now on, I’ll only be able to blow up smaller targets," he lamented.

"Taiyin Thunder Pearls!" Shenlei Venerable’s eyes widened.

As a master of thunder techniques, Shenlei Venerable knew exactly what he was looking at. Those little beads were Taiyin Thunder Pearls. Even the fist-sized ones emitted an aura that made even Shenlei Venerable feel threatened.

The other ancient gods were equally shocked, their divine energy instinctively circulating to protect their bodies.

"I used four of the big ones to blow up four evil god camps," Qi Yuan said, putting the Taiyin Thunder Pearls away. "So, it's unlikely that any more evil god camps will be coming after us. Everyone can just relax and enjoy the feast."

Qi Yuan's tone was lazy and relaxed.

Since killing the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries would attract the attention of the evil god camps, the solution was simple: eliminate the camps before they could react. With no camps left, Qing Shui Village could rest easy.

Shenlei Venerable was speechless.

The ancient gods from the Ancient God Alliance were equally at a loss for words. Qi Yuan never ceased to break their expectations.

Shenlei Venerable took a deep breath, grumbling under his breath. "Whoever calls me reckless after this, I'll be having words with them!"

Reckless? Compared to Qi Yuan, he was nothing. Qi Yuan was the real deal when it came to boldness! Next to the Origin Venerable, Shenlei Venerable felt like a cautious coward.

"So why would we go to the North Sea Divine Eye?" Qi Yuan asked again, looking around at everyone as he extended his invitation.

"Do you want to become my followers? I have some small rewards for you."

The Dusk Venerable sighed. Qi Yuan really was persistent about making others his followers. The first time they met, Qi Yuan had made the same offer.

The Fire Lotus Venerable looked surprised but remained silent.

The other ancient gods were similarly puzzled, not understanding what Qi Yuan meant.

Those who had followed Qi Yuan out of the ancestral land, however, looked at him expectantly. "My lord, do we get small rewards too?"

The Ancient God of Wangsong looked at them and couldn’t help but say, "The lord already gave you divine domain elixir. What more do you want?"

The Dusk Venerable and the other ancient gods were shocked. The reward was divine domain elixir? The divine domain elixir could help condense the embryonic form of a divine domain—a priceless treasure for a Venerable. Their breaths grew heavy with anticipation.

"We came here ready to die, so becoming followers is no big deal. And with divine domain elixir on the table, it’s hardly a loss," the Dusk Venerable said with a cheerful smile.

In any other situation, he wouldn’t have agreed to become a follower, even with the lure of divine domain elixir. But now, their fates were intertwined, and there was no need to be so particular. Besides, they were likely all going to die anyway.

The Origin Venerable's actions had earned their admiration.

"Then I’ll pledge my loyalty to the Origin Venerable," the Fire Lotus Venerable said gently.

The other ancient gods followed suit. Some were hesitant, but ultimately, they agreed to pledge their loyalty to the Origin Venerable.

In the Fanxin Realm, such pledges, even if only verbal, carried weight.

Shenlei Venerable looked at Qi Yuan and snorted. "I’m not interested in your divine domain elixir, so I won’t be your follower."

As a Venerable, Shenlei Venerable wouldn’t lower himself just for divine domain elixir.

Qi Yuan seemed a bit disappointed. "What a shame. I had prepared a special gift for you, old man Shenlei, but since you don't want to be my follower, I’ll have to reconsider."

"What kind of gift would I care about?" Shenlei Venerable said dismissively, but then he looked at Qi Yuan again and said, "Fine. You've asked me three or four times to join Qing Shui Village. Since you’re being so persistent, and I’m feeling generous, I’ll reluctantly agree to become your follower. Don’t go thinking I’m doing this for your lousy gift!"

Shenlei Venerable seemed proud but eventually agreed to become Qi Yuan's follower.

"This is a day full of good news," Qi Yuan said, clearly pleased.

Qing Shui Village had many Venerables, but only one Venerable of the highest rank—Qiong Hua, who was in the North Sea Divine Eye. Now, they had gained another in Shenlei Venerable.

"Enough with the celebrations. If you keep smiling like that, you’ll jinx yourself!" Shenlei Venerable said, still irritated. "You’ve done a fine job blowing up four evil god camps, but now the real fight is coming. The new gods won’t be able to delay the inevitable any longer."

In the Fanxin Realm, the power of the new gods far surpassed that of the ancient gods. If a divine war on the scale of the Hongtang War were to break out, the ancient gods of the Fanxin Realm would have been wiped out long ago. The only reason so many ancient gods still remained was that the new gods had yet to purge them.

The reason for this was simple. A Yang God was lying dormant in the Heavenly Pillar, consuming the Fanxin Realm’s heavenly dao. This had caused a deficiency in the heavenly dao, which affected everyone in the realm. This manifested as hunger even in cultivators of the Nascent Soul and True God realms. With the Yang God devouring the heavenly dao, it wouldn’t be long before the Fanxin Realm’s heavenly dao was completely consumed. When that happened, the life and death of all ancient gods would be at the yang god’s mercy.

This was why the new gods weren’t eager to engage in battle with the ancient gods. They only had to wait a few decades or a century for the yang god to finish consuming the heavenly dao. All the ancient gods would die eventually.

But Qi Yuan had slaughtered the hundred evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries and then obliterated four evil god camps. The other regions in the northern fallen zone might ignore what happened here, dismissing it as a joke. However, the military leader of Qingheng Continent wouldn’t sit idly by.

The leaders of the four camps were among his most trusted generals. With them wiped out by Qi Yuan, he would be forced to act.

"It won’t be more than ten days before the generals of the Qingheng Continent army come for you. What then? I reckon at least ten Venerables will be coming. Even if you escape to the North Sea Divine Eye, it won’t do you any good," Shenlei Venerable said, resigned to whatever would happen.

Qi Yuan just smiled. "In games, when you beat the small enemies, the big ones come after you. In my game, I beat the small ones and then go after the big ones!"

He wasn’t going to sit around waiting for the enemy to attack. His style was to strike first!

"If you say so. I’ll be watching," Shenlei Venerable muttered.

Qi Yuan’s confidence surged. "I’ve found a glitch in the game. I’m about to steamroll the Fanxin Realm!"

Before, creating powerful beings had many limitations. Now, those limitations were nearly gone. It was all about mass production.

This game was simpler than Liufeng Realm—just pump out soldiers and steamroll everything.

Of course, there was still the issue of the powerful Yang God.

"The Venerables of Qingheng Continent are small fry. They’re just experience bags. Nothing to worry about. Now that you’ve all become my followers, let’s start by gathering some basic information so I can give you your rewards. Qi Qi, come here," Qi Yuan said, shifting topics quickly from the crisis to rewards.

Qi Qi appeared, exasperated. "Yes, Dad!"

"How’s the basic information form coming along?" Qi Yuan asked.

Before heading off with Zhu Zhuangshi to blow up the camps, Qi Yuan had carefully considered how to develop his forces. One crucial aspect was helping his followers, especially the Venerables, find a suitable path.

What Qi Yuan needed most now was high-level combat power.

For example, even with the myth-level divine visualization technique of the Celestial Marshal Tianpeng, Zhu Zhuangshi’s strength was still far behind that of the Venerable Qiong Hua, who had the legendary-level visualization of the Hundred Flowers Immortal.

Of course, in terms of potential, Tianpeng Marshal’s was higher.

The paths of the Venerables were set. Unlike regular followers, they couldn’t just pick and choose any divine visualization technique. Only those that aligned with their path as true gods would be useful.

It was like Qiong Hua Venerable and the Hundred Flowers Immortal.

Qi Yuan’s idea was to have his true god followers write down the paths they were pursuing and the divine roles they aspired to. Then he could match each of them with a suitable divine visualization technique, speeding up their progress.

"Here’s the form!" Qi Qi waved her hand, and a stack of papers with a distinctly modern feel appeared, filled with questions.

Qi Yuan glanced at the form, grabbed it, and then distributed it to everyone.

"Fill out the form. I’m going to eat. When I’m done, hand them in. And don’t just make stuff up!"

With that, Qi Yuan left the group and headed to the feast.

The ancient gods looked at each other, unsure of what to make of this.

Shenlei Venerable also held a form, frowning. "What’s all this? Is that brat going to pocket our divine domain elixir?"

The Dusk Venerable looked at the form, puzzled.

"Age? Name? Personality?

Skills?

Cultivation techniques?

Desired divine role?"

The form was full of odd questions, leaving the Twilight Venerable both amused and confused.

If the Dusk Venerable had lived on Blue Star, he would have realized that the form was eerily similar to a job application.

"Dusk Venerable, what is the Origin Venerable up to?" Fire Lotus Venerable asked.

The other ancient gods were equally puzzled.

What was the point of filling this out?

"No idea," the Dusk Venerable shook his head. But then a terrifying thought crossed his mind, which he quickly dismissed.

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"Could the lord be planning to create custom divine visualization techniques for us?" The Ancient God of Wangsong said, his voice trembling.

The other ancient gods turned to look at him.

The thought had crossed their minds as well, but it seemed too far-fetched.

"The lord knows many ancient gods we’ve never even heard of, but how could he create custom techniques for each of us? I think he’ll probably use these forms to select a few suitable candidates," the younger twin sister analyzed.

Her explanation seemed more reasonable, and most of the ancient gods agreed.

The Ancient God of Wangsong looked at one of the ancient gods, "Li Xiao, aren’t you planning to focus on the path of the body?"

Li Xiao looked confused. "I’m cultivating wood techniques. The path of the body is just something I mentioned casually!"

"Well, you can’t take the same path as me! I’m focusing on wood techniques!" The Ancient God of Wangsong was getting anxious.

After all, only one powerful ancient god might emerge on a given path. A Venerable-level divine visualization technique would be crucial for them. If they followed the same path, only one might receive Qi Yuan’s blessing.

Li Xiao glanced at the Ancient God of Wangsong with disdain. "Why are you getting worked up over something that hasn’t even happened yet? It’s embarrassing to have you as a neighbor."

The two began arguing, lightening the mood considerably.

The previously tense atmosphere became much more relaxed.