The Jialing River's waves surge and flow, stretching for 9,300 miles. Originating from the Kunlun Mountains in the west, it flows east into the great ocean. Along its course, it passes through countless famous mountains and rivers, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and swallowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

  Three hundred years ago, a Jiaolong obtained the imperial seal of the Jinghe Dragon King and unified the waters of the Jinghe River. Since then, every ten years it would appear at the first watch, and every hundred years it would be enshrined as a god, enjoying the incense offerings from the 9,300-mile-long river basin, with profound magical powers that were immeasurable.

  In the 9,300-mile-long watershed of the Jing River, there is a river section called Xiuchun Bay. The water flows gently, and both banks have towns with dense populations, making it quite prosperous. This section of the river has a bend where the rapid current slows down, forming a slope that serves as both a riverbank and the last barrier for the towns below. On this riverbank stands a temple dedicated to the River God, which appears clean but lacks incense offerings. The statue on the altar is gone. Seated at the moment is a person wearing coarse linen clothes, with black hair hanging down to his shoulders, eyes like cold stars, and a face as sharp as a knife cut. To his right lies a wooden staff, its body dark and mysterious, engraved with "Jing River Xiuchun Bay River God". Across his knees rests an unsheathed precious sword, its blade shining brightly like water, with a subtle glow flowing around it, exuding a faint aura of killing intent.

  His originally handsome face was now gloomy, with a hint of murderous intent in his eyes as he gazed out at the heavy rain outside the River God Temple.

  The heavy rain has been pouring down for three days and nights, causing the river to swell. The surface of the river is shrouded in dark clouds, with lightning flashing and thunder booming. The torrential rain pours down relentlessly, with strong winds howling on the river's surface, waves crashing against each other, and mist rising from the water. Amidst the rain, a small boat-sized carp can be seen struggling in the river, occasionally breaking through the surface to reveal its golden scales glinting on its forehead.

  It is the carp spirit in the river, and this heavy rain was not summoned by it. It just so happened that after Chen Jing became the river god, the sky poured down a torrential rain, and the carp spirit took advantage of the situation to stir up trouble. The carp spirit has been in this river for over a hundred years, and its aura is almost merged with the Xiuchun Bay. Through its magical powers, it can influence the rain to fall even harder and longer, with the goal of driving Chen Jing out of the River God Temple.

  Chen Jingde had just taken the position of river god for three days. Three days ago, when he first took the position of river god, the fish spirit immediately cast a spell to inform people within thirty miles on both banks: "Demolish the temple and rebuild it, and carve an image of the carp god."

  It's not just about driving Chen Jing away, but also becoming the river god of Xiu Chun Wan.

  It's just Chen Jing, where else can he go? After obtaining the River God's Edict, he is the River God of Xiu Chun Wan. In the edict, there is a chapter called "Tian Di Zhu Xun" which clearly states: "Heaven and Earth have order, yin and yang are intertwined, all creatures in heaven have their place, all heavenly gods have their ranks, each with their own duties..."

  Only now did he realize that all the immortals and gods in the world had ranks, and were subject to the heavenly court. The local demons were also under the jurisdiction of the local gods, but now the order of this world was somewhat chaotic, even the heavenly court had not appeared for a long time.

  The only ban between heaven and earth is still there, banning the gods with the token of command, unable to leave their divine domain at will.

  In the river, the carp spirit is surrounded by countless fish and shrimp, as if a king is on patrol. Some have half-opened spiritual intelligence, some have only obtained a thread of opportunity, all surrounding the carp spirit, they make ear-piercing noises in the water, stirring up waves and surging forward, as if showing off their power to Chen Jing in the River God Temple.

  Chen Jing was enraged, grabbed the sword beside him and threw it into the sky. The sword turned into a stream of light that pierced through the air and stabbed into the river. The fish and shrimp in the river had a natural sensitivity to danger and immediately dove into the water when they saw the sword light coming from the River God Temple. Meanwhile, the carp spirit was already prepared, spitting out bubbles with its mouth open, twisting its body and stirring up huge waves that rolled up into the sky to drown the sword.

  The sword danced agilely in the air, unpredictable and elusive. The carp tried to block it but was cut several times on its scales. After feeling pain, it quickly dove back into the water. The rain in the sky suddenly lessened, and the sword flew back to the River God Temple, leaving a silver trail in the air.

  Chen Jing stretched out his hand and the sword fell into his grasp. With one hand holding the hilt and the other stroking the blade with spiritual energy, he washed away the demonic aura that had stained the sword with his spiritual energy.

  These days, Chen Jing has fought with the carp spirit in the river more than once. Except for that time when Chen Jing stabbed it in the eye and got a small advantage, every other time it would dive into the water as soon as there was danger, and Chen Jing couldn't do anything about it.

  "It can't go on like this, if it goes on like this, before long the river water will overflow the River God Temple, collapse the river embankment, and the towns on both banks will be submerged, the faith will certainly collapse, people's resentment will come together, and the gods will disperse and the souls will perish."

  These were things he naturally knew after becoming the River God. Only those who gained the faith of all living beings could be called gods, and if a god provoked human resentment, they would also lose their divine position.

  If he wasn't the river god before, people's will wouldn't have any effect on him. But now that he is the river god, his divine soul has merged with the imperial seal, and many of the seal's spells are naturally available to him, but at the same time, they are also restricted by the seal.

  The cultivator relies on his own cultivation, and Chen Jing has had the River God's edict symbol since he obtained it. In addition to some magical techniques in his mind, there is also a "Jinghe Sacrifice to the God of Oath". The effect of this refined spiritual oath is not a practice method for absorbing the original energy of heaven and earth, but rather makes oneself harmonize with the spiritual pulse of this section of the river, thereby enabling the activation of the spiritual power of the Quingshunwan River. In addition, the Jinghe Sacrifice to the God of Oath can also transform faith and willpower into one's own magical powers, which is the way of cultivation for those who receive the heavenly court's edict symbol.

  But since he became the River God, he hasn't felt a shred of faith. In his divine soul, there is now an illusory shadow, which is exactly the miniature of the Xiu Chun Wan river segment. It's neither real nor fake, and that river segment doesn't have a single drop of water, with dry riverbeds, vaguely seeming to be on the verge of dispersing.

  The riverbed is the imperial edict, and the water in the river represents the power of the law. Now, not only is there not a single thread, but the riverbed is also cracked open.

  Chen Jing stood on the bluestone platform in the middle of the River God Temple, his eyes fixed intently on the wind and rain outside the temple. He was thinking about what method he could use to increase his magical powers so that he could kill the carp spirit in the river. Unconsciously, he recalled the old River God's words that whoever obtained the position of River God would be able to subdue the fish demon. A surge of anger rose up in his heart, and he regretted being softhearted when he entered the River God Temple.

  He became the river god of this embroidered spring, and naturally had many spells to heal the creatures in the river. However, all of these required spiritual power as a backing, and when he first obtained the position of river god, without faith, he could not mobilize the spiritual power of the river domain, so he did not have spiritual power, and his current spiritual power was only what he had possessed after practicing swordsmanship on Mount Qianluo for three years.

  A somewhat anxious Chen Jing stood up, walked to the front of the River God Temple, and looked at the hazy river surface in the rain, thinking: "Give me a few years, I will definitely make this land prosperous and peaceful, with no worries about faith or magical powers."

  Suddenly, a faint ripple emerged in his mind, and he concentrated, listening carefully. In an instant, a vague noise appeared in his ears, like walking on the street, with countless people talking, making a loud noise, but unable to hear clearly.

  Chen Jing knew that this was because everyone's faith in themselves was too weak, so they couldn't hear it clearly. If it weren't for the fact that everyone was now discussing him, even this noisy sound would be inaudible.

  With a moderate amount of magical power, he finally managed to make out some words from the noisy voices. One cautious voice carefully said: "Why don't we go to the River God Temple and worship the new River God? Maybe..."

  Before he could finish, a rough voice interrupted him: "What's the point of worshipping? The River God Temple is almost flooded, what's the use of worshipping now? I think it's better to go and worship the fish spirit in the river tomorrow, at least our village won't be submerged."

  Another voice said: "Old Yan, if you hadn't used your hands to pull him out of the river, things wouldn't be like this now."

  "Yes, you shouldn't have saved him at that time."

  "It's too late to say these things now. If they were saved, then they would have been saved. They shouldn't have been placed in the River God Temple in the first place, or else they wouldn't have become the River God."

  "It's fine if he became the river god, but who knew that this river god couldn't even control the fish spirits in the river? If he can't control them, then so be it. It would have been better to leave early and avoid today's trouble. But since they already left, why did they come back?"

  Chen Jing's heart suddenly felt a sharp pain, and with a "wa" sound, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His face instantly turned pale. In his heart, he thought in shock: "The resentment of man has reached the gods, my spirit will disperse."

  At this time, wanting everyone to worship again is obviously not possible. Only sincere worship can gain the power of faith. If tomorrow everyone really worships the carp spirit in the river as a river god, then it will disperse and lose its divinity, and the position of the god will be taken by the carp spirit.

  He slowly got up, with one hand holding the sword and the other holding the river stick, came to the door edge and looked at the water level rising continuously. The sword was tightly grasped in his hand, if it weren't for being in the water, he wouldn't be a match for that carp spirit at all, he would have already taken out his sword and entered the river.

  "Just barely escaped from death at Qianluo Mountain, could it be that I'll die like this again?"

  He didn't want to be the river god, but was suddenly passed down the position of river god. Unwilling in his heart, he originally had a single-minded pursuit of the Longevity Fruit, dedicating himself to offering sacrifices to the sword, yet never thought that within just a few short years, he would narrowly escape death multiple times. And now, having only been rescued from the river for a few days, he is once again facing a life-or-death situation.

  "Is this really the three calamities and nine tribulations that cultivators have to face?"

  Chen Jing had such an idea flashing through his mind, and was startled awake by the gurgling sound of water in his ears. He saw that the water in the river was actually flowing backwards, with more than three feet thick turbid river water surging towards the River God.

  On the river surface covered with dark clouds, the carp spirit appeared again, blowing out bubbles to urge the waves up the mountain slope. In the more than three feet thick river water flowing upstream towards the Mountain God Temple, fish, shrimp, crabs and various aquatic creatures rushed forward with the waves, just like a battlefield attacking the city, each one wanting to be the first to climb to the top of the city wall and achieve the first merit.

  In an instant, the front of the River God Temple had accumulated a foot-thick layer of water. Several large red carp were leisurely spitting out bubbles in front of the temple, while dozens of large black shrimp stood neatly in rows, waving a pair of large pincers in their hands, showing off their might.

  Chen Jing was furious in his heart, raised his sword and wanted to kill out of the River God Temple, first slaughter these few fish and shrimp that didn't know life or death.