Chapter 469: The River God Sweeping Across the World

“Bear Tribe uncle, run quickly! The demon tribe is coming!” Several deer clan girls dashed out of the dungeon in a panic. Seeing Li Er calmly watering a broken tree, their hearts filled with anxiety.

Li Er chuckled twice, “The World Tree will protect us.”

The deer clan girls tried to drag Li Er away but found him as heavy as an iron block, unable to move no matter how hard they pulled. They had no choice but to give up on him and return to the city to prepare for the Black Tide defense.

A few kilometers away, a dark mass of demons surged toward the city. Slimes, goblins, skeleton monsters, two-headed wolves—all were low-level demon tribes without any rationality.

The rational demons had no need to leave the dungeon to attack the three races. The old Demon King had ordered them to fight inside the dungeon and against the three races but never to launch outside raids.

Beastfolk soldiers stood ready along the city walls. The guild gathered adventurers to resist the Black Tide. Several deer clan girls nervously gripped their weapons, various magics fully charged and ready.

From past experience, at least one-third of the adventurers who joined the battle died in the Black Tide.

“I wonder how uncle is doing.”

“We couldn’t even drag him away. Uncle’s gone mad, still obsessed with his sapling!”

Despite their words, they were still worried about Bear Tribe uncle’s safety, gazing toward Li Er’s position on the city wall.

“When the Black Tide comes, uncle might be the first one to—”

They fell silent, understanding what their companion meant.

“Look, what’s that!”

They shouted out as a towering beam of light erupted from Li Er’s location, revealing a towering emerald giant tree reaching into the sky.

No one could even see the top of the tree.

The World Tree.

Everyone’s hearts flashed with this thought. Recently, they all treated Li Er’s story about watering the tree as a joke. But seeing the true form of this giant tree, they recalled the “World Tree” Li Er had spoken of.

The World Tree had nine thick branches, each hanging a glowing orb at its tip. The orbs were mysterious, seeming to contain entire worlds within them.

As the World Tree’s leaves swayed, one of the orbs generated a tiny vortex rolling between the leaves, eventually turning into a hurricane sweeping everything in its path.

The other orbs also displayed their power—light, darkness, fire, water, metal… various elemental forces intertwined, charging toward the demon tide.

The dreaded Black Tide, which had struck fear into all, looked laughably fragile in the face of the World Tree’s magnificent power, like a sheet of paper pierced and torn.

The Black Tide was annihilated, and the world returned to peace.

If not for the World Tree still standing there, the beastfolk would have thought the Black Tide was just a collective hallucination.

“River God… Chaos… The original tree… Could it be that uncle’s words were all true?” The miracle appeared before their eyes; even the deer clan girls who disbelieved had no choice but to believe.

Seeing the deer clan girls look at him with worshipful expressions, Li Er, who had manifested the World Tree Dharma Body, fell into deep doubt.

Back then, the Human Sovereign told him that if he followed the Human Sovereign’s approach, he would surely gain the beast tribe’s admiration and might even be worshiped.

Now that persona was established, and the World Tree had appeared—but he still couldn’t leave.

He was the World Tree. To reveal himself, he would have to dissolve the World Tree Dharma Body, which would expose him.

“Could it be that the Human Sovereign tricked me?” After becoming the World Tree, Li Er couldn’t even move.

The World Tree sprouting legs and running around? That’s ridiculous.

…

As the River God’s greatest miracle, the appearance of the World Tree made everyone aware of the River God’s existence.

No faction would ignore a power that could wipe out the Black Tide completely.

The human race, beastfolk, and elves—all three races had more believers in the River God. Some even voluntarily built churches by the river, praying for the River God’s blessing.

Compared to the seven deities, the River God was clearly more reliable.

Believing in the seven deities meant relying on luck for what profession or skills one would get. But if you believed in the River God, you could learn something called cultivation.

Although cultivation progressed slowly, it offered high freedom. Achievements depended on talent, not luck.

Moreover, cultivation could prolong life.

In the Ayla World, even fifth-level adventurers only lived to about one hundred years old.

Cultivation was different: one hundred thirty years was the baseline, with no upper limit. Who wouldn’t want to cultivate?

Only a few could become adventurers. Most were ordinary people laboring in the fields. They had no adventurer talent and couldn’t enter dungeons.

Absorbing Qi into the body didn’t require talent. Following the River God’s guidance, reaching the Qi Refining Stage was not difficult.

Many ordinary people chose cultivation.

Cultivation also required a calm mindset. Those who were restless and impatient were not suited for it.

This calmed some adventurers eager to make a name for themselves in dungeons.

Adventurers who fought in dungeons carried water bottles filled with river water during battles.

Drinking river water could clear the mind, restore strength, and heal injuries. It was many times better than magic potions that had cooldowns.

Before the River God appeared, people relied on priests’ healing skills to treat diseases.

Priests’ healing was not charity—they charged high fees, and few could afford it. For example, the black cat girl’s mother wouldn’t have ended up on the brink of death if she had been able to afford a priest’s treatment early on.

After the River God appeared, people chose to use river water to heal.

The church hated the River God with gritted teeth but was powerless because they knew the River God might truly be the deity of the Primordial River, appearing before the Light God as the rumors said.

Even some inside the church secretly founded a River God faction.

After all, the church worshipped “gods,” not just the seven deities. As long as it was a god, the church could believe in it.

Previously, the church hadn’t realized the doctrinal problem, assuming “god” always referred to the seven deities and didn’t emphasize otherwise.

Now they realized the loophole. When a new god appeared, the church’s stance became very awkward.

The red-robed archbishop repeatedly prayed to the seven deities, hoping for divine revelation.

Unfortunately, it was useless. The seven deities remained in a coma.

…

“What method did you use to cure the illness with river water?” The Wishful Gourd was surprised, finding Jiang Li’s method truly miraculous.

If there were a Great Perfection Sect or Jiang Li Sect, it would definitely offer three incense sticks in respect.

“It’s the Taiyi All-Disease Water Method. I learned it by chance in the Dao Sect’s Scripture Pavilion.”

“With such great power, why don’t you help the cultivators in the Nine Provinces achieve their wishes?”

Jiang Li gently shook his head. “Wishes must be realized by oneself. If I help them fulfill their wishes, they’ll develop a habit of expecting results without effort. That would ruin them.”

“What I want to do is lower the difficulty of cultivation, giving everyone as equal a chance as possible. For example, I encourage the Spirit Herb Sect to develop simpler elixir formulas to reduce prices, so ordinary cultivators can afford medicine and avoid situations where injured people have no money for treatment.”

“Also, I wrote cultivation manuals, hoping to use more accessible language to let children know how to cultivate.”

“There are many such things. What I give the cultivators of the Nine Provinces is opportunity, not results.”

“This time, the River God is a temporary role. Once the seven gods are found, this River God identity will come to an end.”