Summit of the Old Gods

"Chang Ying, I'm begging you... "

"I've drawn three upper signs in a row, today something good is bound to happen, something huge!"

"Please, there are only the two of us Spiritual Sign believers here, why don't you try drawing a sign? Help me verify it..." The petite girl who had been tossed aside hurriedly ran back.

The girl squatted next to Chang Ying, pulling at the torn hem of Chang Ying's pants with her little hand, shaking it from side to side.

Chang Ying's face, expressionless, showed a hint of impatience.

She didn't want to be whipped again.

Nor did she want to be confined again.

Last December, when she first came to this realm, she was picked up by the people of Starry Valley.

Starry Valley, a force formed by the disciples of two sects, Star Official and Flower Lantern, treated her quite well and welcomed a Spiritual Sign believer to join.

All along, everyone got along harmoniously, and Chang Ying did not suffer too much from fate's ravages.

Hmm...she just felt a little homesick.

Just a little.

Back then, she often lay alone in the grass on the hilltop, resting her head on her arm, gazing at the stars, reminiscing about the human world.

Ironically, when she was in Human World Da Xia, as a Vast River, her heart was becoming more indifferent.

It seemed as if she didn't care much.

Upon arriving in this barren Different World, she instead started missing her parents, missing her life in the human world.

Missing her teammates who fought alongside her.

Tian Tian, Deng Yutang, Bai Manni... Jiang Ruyi, Lu Ran.

Faces flashed in her mind, filling the path of her growth journey.

Chang Ying even marked the stars in the night sky, these two were her parents, this one was Xiao Tiantian...

The brightest star she deemed as Lu Ran.

He was the most dazzling.

And the furthest from everyone.

Chang Ying still remembered the day the Valley Master of Starry Valley personally sought her out, warning her not to wander around, not to always be alone.

Very dangerous.

Dangerous?

The naive young girl didn't understand what danger meant.

Didn't know what kind of filthy world lay beneath this beautiful starry sky.

She even wanted to go out and see, despite everyone advising her and repeatedly warning her to dispel such thoughts.

Until the end of December one day, she drew a lowest sign.

Lowest sign?

During the day, she drew a regular middle sign, how did it turn into the lowest sign by night?

Would it be accurate?

Who knows.

Previously, when she was summoned by Divine·Spiritual Sign to worship, Chang Ying had also cast a divination for herself.

Back then, the sign she drew was an uppermost sign.

Uppermost sign!

Throughout her years as a Spiritual Sign believer, the times she drew an "uppermost sign" could be counted on one hand.

Chang Ying happily went for her pilgrimage, anticipating her moment of glory, only to experience an inexplicable teleportation.

She had no time to react before being thrown into Holy Spirit Mountain.

From the bustling Human World Da Xia to a barren land.

You tell me, this is an uppermost sign?

In any case, on that quiet night, when Chang Ying, alone under the stars, drew a "lowest sign", she still went to find the Valley Master of Starry Valley.

Starry Valley was in crisis!

Some proposed moving out overnight, others suggested increasing vigilance, guarding the valley, and seeking aid from the west Bee Elephant Valley.

It's important to know the Valley Master and the Lady Master were both Sea Realm Great Powers! To Chang Ying at that time, they were equivalent to gods.

The couple's worried expressions left Chang Ying astonished.

Previously, people kept telling her how dangerous Holy Spirit Mountain was and how brutal the world outside the valley was.

That night, on the faces of the two Sea Realm Great Powers, Chang Ying seemed to confirm the matter.

After recognizing it, when she was once again asked to draw a sign, the sign drawn was an under sign.

Eliminating one "under" word, didn't let the people of Starry Valley calm down much, the fact proved their worries were correct.

While the senior members of Starry Valley hesitated and discussed, a group of Dong Ting disciples somehow emerged and stormed into the valley.

Past midnight, the starry sky remained splendid and beautiful.

Under the stars, the valley was filled with screams, rivers of blood, and corpses everywhere.

Why were Dong Ting disciples so ruthless?

The earnest warnings from everyone in the valley still lingered in Chang Ying's ears.

Yes, no animosity was needed.

Conquer you, trample you... If I want to, I will.

After all, this wonderful Starry Valley gave Chang Ying a bit of an illusion.

Sadly, Chang Ying once pondered whether the people of Starry Valley didn't want her, a Spiritual Sign believer, to leave, so they fabricated lies.

Ridiculous!

That night, Chang Ying only felt utterly foolish.

She desperately wanted to do something, shaking the sign container in her hand, but drew a rotten sign.

Rotten sign!

Chang Ying had no other options, even the cooldown time was extended threefold.

The shabby rotten sign flew around her head like an annoying fly, turning around continuously, as if mocking her, taunting her.

Also reminding her to quickly pray to the Spiritual Sign lord and hurry through the skill cooldown time!

As the rotten sign fluttered beside Chang Ying, she watched helplessly as the Star Official disciples and Flower Lantern disciples perished horribly under the spears.

She broke down completely.

Cried heart-wrenchingly.

These people once gave her a home, a stable sanctuary.

Yet it was precisely this rotten sign that became her lifesaver.

Dong Ting disciples easily recognized the crying young girl was a Spiritual Sign disciple.

Chang Ying didn't die.

Thanks to the rotten sign, she was captured.

From then on, that girl who often lay on the hilltop grass, resting her head and watching stars, became a prisoner in a dark dungeon.

Three divinations per day, morning, noon, and evening, not allowing the slightest laxity.

Later, Chang Ying found out that these Dong Ting disciples came from the eastern part of Holy Spirit Mountain Continent.

Came as refugees.

This group of Dong Ting disciples once belonged to a sect—Thunder Mountain.

The two leading women were Sea Realm Great Powers, reportedly the Second and Fourth Ladies of the original Sect Master of Thunder Mountain.

Later on, the two ladies, who had seized power, openly and covertly fought, vying for authority and power.

The Starry Valley plunged into turmoil once again, and it wasn't until a month later that the two Ladies completely parted ways.

To be precise, it was a tragic victory for the Fourth Lady, while the Second Lady and her minions fled.

Chang Ying still remembered that day when she was released to clean up the battlefield with the other slaves, burying the corpses.

These bodies mostly belonged to the Dong Ting disciples, who once arrogantly stormed into Starry Valley, slaughtering its disciples.

Now, it was up to original Starry Valley disciple, Chang Ying, to bury them herself.

While burying them...

Chang Ying secretly spat into the soil pit.

Later, Starry Valley fell under the dark rule of the Fourth Lady, and even Chang Ying, who once secretly spat, lost the energy to do so.

She became compliant and gradually numb.

"Yingying? Chang Ying?"

The soft call repeatedly echoed, awakening the dazed Chang Ying.

She looked down again at the woman holding onto the hem of her pants with a face full of pleading.

Chang Ying didn't know the woman's last name; she only knew she was called Xiao Man.

Or maybe, that wasn't even her real name.

Unlike herself, Xiao Man was captured a month ago and brought into the Starry Valley; she hadn't been in Holy Spirit Mountain for long.

From those big eyes, Chang Ying could see the woman still possessed a glimmer of hope.

"Please, Yingying, just one divination, okay?" Xiao Man pleaded pitifully, "Even if only mine, help me verify it."

Xiao Man was very insistent.

This insistence stemmed from a deep desire for a change in circumstances and from unrealistic yearning within her heart.

Chang Ying picked up an axe and chopped at the tree branch, uttering a single word:

"Get lost."

"Yingying!" Xiao Man simply sat on the ground and wrapped her arms around Chang Ying's leg, "Just once, and I'll leave immediately!"

Chang Ying remained expressionless and didn't mind having a little hanger on her leg; it didn't interfere with her work.

But if this went on and others saw, there would eventually be punishment.

The incessant pleas from beside her leg began to irritate Chang Ying.

Xiao Man seemed to have taken Chang Ying as her only beacon and was determined to realize something through her.

"Clink-clatter~"

The clear, crisp sound of wooden sticks clashing.

Xiao Man's pleas ceased, and she quickly looked up to see the divining stick holder in Chang Ying's hand.

"After drawing your lot, get lost immediately."

"Mhm, mhm, I'll leave right away!" Xiao Man's little face was full of hope.

"Whoosh~"

A wooden stick flew out.

Xiao Man's eyes gradually widened, her small mouth slightly open, staring incredulously at that single wooden stick.

Chang Ying was also a bit dazed, blankly staring at the wooden stick suspended in front of her.

On it were two characters—Great Good Fortune.

Great Good Fortune lot!

Great Good Fortune lot?

"Wow!" Xiao Man shook Chang Ying's leg excitedly, her heart about to jump out of her chest.

This life of being enslaved every day, either beaten or scolded, how could she draw a Great Good Fortune lot?

That must be... huh?

Xiao Man's body stiffened, suddenly turning her head.

With a crisp "snap"!

A long whip lashed from behind, striking harshly on Chang Ying's back.

It didn't hurt.

Even though the whip was infused with Divine Power, it couldn't break through the Water Flow Armor of a Jiang Realm·Fourth Rank Great Power.

Nor did it feel humiliating.

At least, Chang Ying didn't feel insulted.

Over the past year, she had already lost her dignity.

"Get to work immediately!" The man's stern reprimand echoed, "The Valley Master will return in the next few days, and the hall must be built before then... oh?"

The man's speech abruptly stopped as he strode over.

He naturally saw the extremely rare wooden stick too.

"Great Good Fortune lot?" The man holding the whip's face changed.

How could such a lowly servant draw this kind of lot?

When Spiritual Fortune disciples draw lots, it's naturally from their own perspective, so when a servant·Spiritual Fortune disciple draws a lot, it must be interpreted in reverse.

For Chang Ying, it was Great Good Fortune, but for Starry Valley, perhaps...

"The Valley Master has arrived!"

"Valley Master Shen!" From afar, respectful greetings rang out.

The man with the whip immediately turned and hurried out.

"Ying... Yingying..." Xiao Man's face turned pale, and her once excited heart plummeted to the bottom.

Chang Ying lowered her head to look at the woman by her feet: "Stay away from me."

"Yingying..."

"Get lost." Chang Ying uttered a cold word, shaking her leg to finally kick Xiao Man away.

Blame Xiao Man?

No need.

The daily three lot draw was mandatory, and it had to be shown to the Dong Ting disciples.

It couldn't be avoided.

For Chang Ying, each lot draw felt like a destiny choice.

It was best to draw a bad lot, a middle lot would do as well.

That was the kind of lot she, as a despicable slave, was supposed to draw; over the past year, there hadn't been any exceptions.

Until today.

Suddenly, Chang Ying sensed a terrifying pressure coming from behind.

She turned to look, and saw the man with the whip leading a woman in a purple robe towards her.

Once the Fourth Lady, now the Valley Master Shen Xiaotang.

She was stunningly beautiful with a graceful figure, naturally a one-in-a-million beauty; otherwise, she wouldn't have caught the eye of the Sect Master of Jingxian Mountain, Lv Xiao.

But at this moment, her enchanting face was full of hostility.

As Shen Xiaotang approached step by step, her thin lips spat out a sentence:

"Did you draw the Great Good Fortune lot?"

...

Today's third update, asking for monthly vote support!