The desert stretched endlessly under brilliant golden light refracted from each shimmering grain of sand, dazzling the eyes and searing the soles of one’s feet. Waves of unbearable heat rolled through the dunes, making it almost impossible for ordinary people to walk even a short way before collapsing from exhaustion. The scorching temperatures felt as if the world were trapped in a raging furnace.
At that moment, emotions burned just as fiercely within the Rain Clan members as this desert’s heat. Rejoicement filled their hearts – they had finally found it – the legendary “Primordial Water of Yee”. Just a short distance away, about a mile, there laid in splendid view a divine pool, measuring merely a foot square and modest in appearance amidst the immense desert. Yet it was utterly striking because even a pool this small held within a colossal, mighty energy as if an entire sea swirled ceaselessly beneath its crystalline surface. Its sanctified water shimmered, unleashing iridescent light and radiant vapors so ethereal they could be called spiritual jewels – each droplet invaluable, its divine radiance undeniable to even the untrained eye. Ordinary men might not know this sacred body for what it truly is – “Primordial Water” – but they’d certainly realize it held inestimable value by mere appearance alone.
“We’ve struck it! At last our Rain Clan may flourish beyond imagination! With this single, precious well of waters, our clan shall ascend in honor again—recapturing the glories lost to our once-great name, long remembered only in dusty scrolls,” declared Yu Wencheng in a frenzy. His mustache quivered; a mixture of disbelief and hope etched on the faces of each clansman gathered behind him watching in breath-holding awe and rapt attention, as they imagined that tiny pond fulfilling great destinies for them all.
Indeed, one solitary orb placed in worldly hands could shift balance in a nation’s conflicts alone; such a divine water pool’s immeasurable worth could hardly be captured in price or weight. As murmurs of prayers filled their trembling voices rising into the burning silence, the desert around was far from serene.
Yu Kun offered a reminder: “We must be cautious—the ‘Primordial Liquid’ is sentient now. Let us not hastily damage its sanctified Glyphs. Proceed instead slowly and calmly to invoke the sacred kinship our Rain Clan has inherited naturally with water, winning over its trust and cooperation rather than wrest from it brute force.”
After all, while just one sacred liquid, these pools nearly bordered upon awakening full consciousness, evolving complex Glyphs and Laws that empowered movement and dominion in heavens beyond comprehension, vanishing with mere effort. Without recognition, brute capture would prove futile.
Following his wisdom, incantations filled the desert skies and water energy responded vibrantly throughout, glimmering dim blue around like breaths awakening ancient spells. Yet just when hope glimmered, a sudden roar shattered all hopes, dark winds rising like phantom terrors. A massive black tiger emerged from the swirling tempest, whipping towering sand castles up, twisting reality into a surreal whirlpool reaching for the sky.
“What beast is that in a desert?” gasps echoed amongst awed expressions across all eyes.
“It is not real! But an apparitional form born from the protective Glyphs – partly a phantom illusion; do not be deluded!” Yu Wencheng reassured, then calmed the chaos by invoking his own mystical powers.
Calm, blue wave-like ripples expanded outward from him, parting the air to reveal true forms beneath as illusions cracked. Moments later – BOOM! One fierce bellow shook ground, the black tiger imploded, reduced to simple particles and vanishing with a gust.
Silence fell.
Only… silence?
No.
Snap. Snap.
Sands vibrated with a sound like joints locking back together. From beneath golden dunes skeletal remains erupted upward—wholly white and animated—without fleshy appendages but adorned with ominous Glyph light upon their skulls emitting chilling vibratory energies.
“A great warrior once felled by the unforgiving sands. To think even his bones remain bound here! This Primordial Water surely awakened true soul now.”
The glow flickered anew from bones shifting again, splitting another sand hill to pour out more skeletons. Thirty of them in total, cloaked now with living Glyph fire!
“A horde of great lost souls!” A whisper rippled across clans, yet among shock shone desire—an entire treasure of bones, countless wealth in their own right.
“We mustn’t provoke this sacred site too much—it’d scatter this rare substance before we claim dominion,” Yu Wencheng warned the group. He turned toward the elder: “The Primordial Liquid indeed shows tendencies to take shape—almost like an incarnate spirit—reviving the fallen’s remnants as guardians to the realm. Truely extraordinary power for such a still-young entity!”
Thankfully, all contingencies bore preparation from their meticulous foresight.
From supplies arose strange and wondrous tools. A relic chalice emerged among rituals, releasing heavy, yellowed mist from within, swirling outward darkened auras from liquid pouring forth. A trio of elders stood together, unleashing spells that summoned spectral shapes: spectral ghouls, serpentine dragons, humanoid forms. Their art conjures life into the realm again through ritualistic alchemy with “Yellow Spring” waters steeped and potent with energy, painstaking brewed alongside broken remnants of old Glyph-infused bones – never perfect ones – but rather the shattered remains of lesser-grade relics from ancient battlefields combined with otherworldly fluids drawn from burial rivers under tombs.
Though such brews commanded a heavy sacrificial toll even for clans well-accustomed to such things, it now proved its might. In the glow came the bones’ downfall. As spectral constructs emerged, their opposing forces—saints and beasts alike—faltered under darkened waves until finally bones fell broken, shattered apart like brittle twigs beneath relentless assault.
“It truly works miracles!” cheers erupted from the awestruck group.
“This Yellow Spring Water, crafted with such care for venturing beneath hells—never would I envision its purpose fulfilled out amongst sand. Let’s keep contentment in our hearts; with a prize claimed here soon enough, let us hide ourselves within these endless sands until the time arises once more, the passage revealing the exit of ‘the Rend Path’,“ advised Yu Wencheng. The others silently observed from cautious minds – knowing that this miraculous pool not simply alive by natural cause—it might command death’s soldiers, and still other mysteries remain unfurried yet unknown.
Meanwhile whispers slithered through the sands — faintly spoken in echoing pulses across air:
“Whence disturbance breaks slumbers of the long-stirred…? Who dares stir me from dreams?” A vague consciousness stirred, bewildered.
A sign indeed – this sacred well might fully awaken someday. Yet for now it still merely bore fragile consciousness, distant from divine ascension yet potentially dangerous should provoked.
“We bear the bloodline claim from ‘Yúshén’, God of Rivers… No threat harbors here. See past illusion – embrace kindred souls!” Their voice rang out to the consciousness gently, hoping the words would soothe.
And yet as tension began dissipating…
Cracks appeared from deep roots in the land, revealing emerald light that surged toward heavens. Before eyes widen, a great luminous vine burst upward—slender in size but shaped like dragon, glowing greenish in iridescence, undulating in vibrant Glyphs. Sharp cutting leaves shot like whirling blades from its writhing mass.
“To have a guardian spirit in place! No surprise after all,” murmured one among the group. Where great treasures lie, there often reside beasts guarding—though they had anticipated some fearsome aerial beast or sand-hiding terror, not such an anomaly.
“Finally—we face the last guardian!” Clenched fists arose across clans. The elders readied spells; anticipation surged.
“I shall subdue the green vine myself!”
“Carefully though, do not harm its living essence! For too violent attack could stir wrathful wrath from our precious Primordial waters to scatter itself anew from this place!” Yu Zhong Hou advised.
Assured of the warning, Yu Ku took charge—drawing forth a mysterious hide-bound skin imbued with Glyphs, casting forth waves of golden splendor. Soon forming a pouch – a ‘Bāgua Bag’ replica.
“How peculiar the tool be!” whispered Xiǎo Bùdiǎn from distance atop the sands, astonished from afar.
“Powerful it maybe — not yet reaching the legends told of true divine bags of yore,” Silver-Robed Youth named the Xiao Tian said. “Those true artifacts were wrought from primeval hide fused into a single piece – powerful enough to swallow realms entire. None dared to oppose them!”
The younger’s imagination soared – could divine entities indeed ever truly know limits beyond comprehension?
“Focus! The divine satchels stand among the mightiest ever crafted by the ancients. Do you truly believe gods themselves fell easy to mortal arms without fierce resistance from titanic beasts capable of gods’ blood themselves?”
Before thoughts could expand, clash erupted between these beings in the skies. Though a reproduction, Yu Kun’s satchel poured boundless glyphs against the luminous vines as they wove a terrifying battlefield together—uproots the land entire, transfiguring it in jade-draping draconian shapes flying with swordlike light, yet still falling back inside.
“Captured! The vine! The vine is secured!” Cheering echoed amongst the group.
Their cheers proved premature though—suddenly tearing forth the beast burst out amidst tearing of material fabric as the satchel shattered violently in a storm of energy. Vines swept aside all defenses, and Yu Kun erupted in sprays of blood, bones crumbled like fragile crystal within as the guardian emerged victorious despite great efforts.
A powerful force! None doubted defeat had arrived upon the moment’s realization – no ordinary clan stood could match the vine.
“Perhaps, time to unveil final safeguards prepared for ultimate danger! It is bitter to do so – such precious heir artifacts of true depth within the Clan’s treasury, built with centuries’ effort…” sigh resounded through Yu Wencheng’s breath.
“Sacrifice if needed – though rarely utilized. Their power meant not destruction but deterrence of divine guardians, spiritual creatures. Let none falter at the thought.”
From afar eyes widened once anew – observing as the clan gathered for another strange preparation. “The clan set up their ancestral altar now; what purpose will this bear?” pondered a giant crimson bird nearby.
Down they knelt, placing an altar black like soot no taller than a boy’s chest beside a parchment. Yu Zhong He chanted incantations joined by others before it. Flames rose – golden radiance surged as characters shimmered mid-air—etched with holy clarity like constellations etching sky above.
“Divine edicts! Sacred Wording sealed in heavens themselves!” murmured the youth.
From nowhere the whisper of ancient chanting arose—a song long thought past echoing their soul’s very structure reverently bowing their bodies in worship instinctively.
“What…?” the Primordial Voice cried in puzzlement while vines trembled submissively kneeling before waters.
“These laws passed in legacy from the God Rain himself,” boomed Yu Wen Cheng solemnly amidst glowing sanctified artifacts – ink wells once used, brush holders – though none weapons or glyph bearing relics now still held weight.
Yet the divine pond accepted such proof – drawn near by the shared sacred essence of waters in these vessels’ gentle aura.
“Return with us, from such shallow corners, return to the Rainlands to prosper further – perhaps you might ascend truly as the god you may one day become!”
Moved by ancient echoes stirred, the pond’s voice had transformed from uncertainty to calm trust, no doubt a young consciousness still, easily influenced, yet potent.
“Is that it? Are… is it over so soon?” Wide eyes watched with confusion by little figure afar, Xiǎo Bùdiǎn.
“A tragedy, yet it happened quick — swift and surprising!” Lament Xiao Tiān from afar.
Yet a glimmer sparked within the tiny one, his heart aflame with plans:
“You hesitate, big brother – yet danger matters little beside great treasure! Perhaps… let it be me!”
With utmost solemn reverence, the Rain Clan approached – preparing a jade caldron to enshrine this rare blessing. As one unit their voices joined:
“This mission changes everything our clan ever stood for! Our descendants to come shall etch this moment in grand halls of legend – Rain shall once again shine brightly beneath sunlit banners!”
“We waited ages! Now victory is here…” eyes welled with pride.
Floating mid-space the sacred orb coalesced inside its container—every fragment collected—safe passage sealed finally. A sigh collectively escaped their lungs.
“No more time remains, assist me!”
“Do it!” Little Rascal urged silently. The great boy launched himself toward that sacred vessel.
A whirring hum answered — from Xiao Tian’s hand arose a powerful object – a shimmering azure shield carved across deeply carved signs, radiating glyphs beyond human comprehension.
A single stomp launched his body from Earth with unimaginable might, launching himself like some meteor, hurtling towards the relic vessel in a meteoric crash course across skies.
At that moment of collision, the artifact itself was thrown forcefully – a backlash so violent, tossing the silver youth himself like feather before explosion – flung back half a dozen miles with violent force, leaving behind shattered fragments. His expression mirrored complete unbelief.
“A few leagues from a single push?” Eyes widened — truly formidable foot that had such untamed power.
Likewise stunned were the gathered tribes—laughter frozen upon each visage. For in that divine container now – what had happened was unfathomable – a divine treasure was violated, the water disturbed beyond reverence, because a boy had literally dived headlong into the basin. Arms thrashed as greedy gobbles ensued, gulping vast amounts of liquid directly into his belly.
Speechless.
Silence. Only silence remained – disbelief holding all motionless in their tracks.
“Impossible… a dream, this has to be an illusion!” came one faint reply lost beneath collective confusion.
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