"The lake water will not destroy the desert, it only nourishes," Yang Qinglan held the Fairy's Ruyi and tapped it lightly towards the lake.
In a burst of clear light, the lake water flowed backward like rain, drop by drop it ascended into the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared without a trace, as the yellow sandlike dry powder reemerged on the surface of the Earth.
"But it almost drowned us!" Qing Shui jumped up, crouching like a leopard, with the giant sword resting on her shoulder.
With just a slight twist of her body, she could sweep the giant sword out, and her strength was enough to cut a person clad in armor in two at the waist.
Yang Qinglan looked at her sharp, arrow-like eyes and said calmly, "So you wish to be drowned, along with your family, friends, and tribe?"
Qing Shui clenched the hilt of her giant sword.
Yang Qinglan, unconcerned by her attitude, continued evenly, "You now have a chance to decide the role of the lake water: whether it becomes your drinking water or appears beneath your feet as your graveyard."
The sound of the wind was torn asunder, a whip made of yellow sand lashed towards Yang Qinglan, fast as lightning.
With a snap, the whip suddenly dropped to the ground, and starting from the head, the woman holding the whip turned into a pile of black ash.
The temperature, many times higher than that of the desert, caused the air to swirl, scattering the ash in the shape of a person.
The blue light slowly faded, revealing Li Changzhou's still-bright eyes, the edges dim, resembling the twilight effect of the sun's limb.
Chilled to the bone in this desert, the sand people who were coughing violently, howling, and praying because they had drunk too much water fell silent, their expressions filled with fear as they looked at Li Changzhou.
"I have been merciful enough, saving you from the bandits, and I merely threw you into the lake as a warning. I even allowed her to die without pain," he said.
Li Changzhou's eyes dimmed, showing his clear, pitch-black eyes.
"Tell me," he directed his gaze at Qing Shui, "what is 'Wind and Light Blessing'?"
He hadn't intended to kill, but the other party had struck first, and at Yang Qinglan at that, so they couldn't blame him now.
Sweat streamed down Qing Shui's forehead, absorbed by her skin, the giant sword on her shoulder heavier than it had ever been.
She put down the giant sword, which lay helplessly stranded in the sandy ground.
"I can tell you everything you want to know, but you must promise me one thing, guarantee our safety and livelihood," she said.
"I like such a fair trade," Li Changzhou smiled.
Qing Shui flipped him the middle finger, "What do you want to know?"
"First," Li Changzhou glanced at her middle finger, "what does this gesture mean?"
"It's the way our tribe expresses peace," Qing Shui retracted her middle finger, then sprung it up again like a spring, repeating the action twice in one sentence.
"I see," Li Changzhou nodded.
Turquoise Pool snickered softly.
"Mm-hmm-hoo~" Li Qianxia tried to contain her laughter, resulting in such a sound.
"What are you guys laughing at?" Li Changzhou asked.
"Nothing, just... remembered something happy," Li Qianxia painfully looked up.
Li Changzhou looked at Qing Shui, who energetically flashed her middle finger at him... and faintly, he heard Yang Qinglan's laughter. No, it must have been an illusion.
"Alright, put it away, I get what you mean," Li Changzhou surely understood that the girl standing before him with the giant sword was cursing him.
If it's a humanoid creature, some things can be accurately understood even without speaking the same language, as proven on Earth.
But he wasn't a bad person; if the woman just now hadn't swung the whip and attacked directly, he wouldn't have killed her even if she had just cursed at him openly.
"Let's talk about 'Wind and Light Blessing,' what does it mean?" he asked.
'The King of Wind and Light, our God, this world is his body transformed, and we are his people," she said.
"Sounds like the legend of Pangu," Li Qianxia murmured.
But Li Changzhou thought of something else.
In the 'Divine Body' introduction, there was a line – 'Low strength, Divine Body destruction less than one-half, can be fully restored; after death, the body turns into Spiritual Mountain, nurturing living beings.'
After death, the body turns into Spiritual Mountain, nurturing living beings...
He had once read in a book: Every myth, every legend may contain some grains of truth.
The myth of Pangu, the legend of the King of Wind and Light, might be real, with only some parts exaggerated... or perhaps minimized.
"It's not a legend, it's real!" Qing Shui glared at Li Qianxia, "Every subject of the Four Seasons Star, no matter how remote, worships Wind and Light!"
"How can you prove it's real?" Li Changzhou asked.
"It just is!" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
He wanted to know what "miracles" the King of Wind and Light performed so he could imitate them and make most of the people on this planet submit. But it was clear he had asked the wrong person.
"Where do these weapons come from?" Turquoise Pool suddenly asked.
Qing Shui didn't answer.
"Don't worry," Li Qianxia had just been snubbed but was still kind, "we're not going to steal your weapon."
"She's probably not worried about her weapon being taken," Turquoise Pool started to smile, "Tell me, where do the weapons come from, will you?"
"...Desert Waterfall."
"...Some... were taken from others, some... inherited... all coming from... Desert Waterfall."
"What is Desert Waterfall? Where is it?"
"Desert Waterfall... the treasure store of the gods... wanders around the desert..." Qing Shui stared blankly at Turquoise Pool, her eyes full of confusion, "I want you to drink my pee."
Turquoise Pool raised her hand, and Li Changzhou quickly held her back:
"Don't do it, it was your hypnosis, and this is also their custom for expressing love—I'm guessing. The key is, if you kill her, others may not cooperate with us, knowing as much as she does."