Chapter 486
The divine maiden statue in his home didn't possess even one ten-thousandth of the presence of the goddess now descending from the heavens above!
Wind and rain both parted around her. Yue Fuguang stopped her descent when she was still three to four hundred meters above the ground.
Her skirts drew together, and beneath her feet bloomed a great white lotus, glowing like a lantern made of lotus petals against the dim, overcast sky.
Behind her stood her divine manifestation—solemn, majestic, yet radiating compassion for all living beings.
The Divine Maiden lowered her gaze. The downpour softened from a roaring torrent into a fine, drizzling curtain of rain. Among the common folk who looked up at the deity, some, for reasons they could not explain, suddenly found tears streaming down their faces. A nameless emotion surged in their chests—something that made them choke up one moment and want to shout aloud the next.
Every eye below was fixed on Yue Fuguang. In that instant, her image became impossibly clear—not that her features had sharpened, but her very presence had become undeniable.
Every single person realized the same thing at the same moment: the being standing in the sky was not an illusion, not a symbol, but a living, breathing deity.
She stood there the way a mountain stands there. No words needed. No gestures needed. Simply existing in that space was enough to make every soul below comprehend their own insignificance.
Yue Fuguang waited until the emotions of the crowd had settled, then she spoke.
Her voice was not loud, but it rode the wind, reaching every ear with perfect clarity.
It was like moonlight falling on water—neither cold nor warm. Each word landed on the heart like a bead of dew: cool to the touch, yet leaving an inexplicably lingering aftertaste.
She said, "I am Yue Fuguang."
Five simple words, yet they inexplicably put countless hearts at ease.
"Your humble subject pays respects to the Divine Maiden!"
"Your student pays respects to the Divine Maiden!"
"Your subordinate pays respects to the Divine Maiden!"
"Your warrior pays respects to the Divine Maiden!"
"Your humble daughter pays respects to the Divine Maiden!"
A cascade of self-introductions rose up—chaotic, jumbled, yet strangely harmonious.
Yue Fuguang stood at the center of the sky, her eyelids lowered as she gazed down at the hundreds of thousands of upturned faces spread across the hundred li around her. Every eye reflected awe and reverence.
She spoke again.
This time, her voice carried even more weight and conviction: "The moon invades the Nine Ditches—floodwaters will engulf the land."
Eight plain words, delivered as calmly as if she were stating a fact utterly unrelated to herself.
No pressure. No intimidation. Not even a hint of emotion.
But everyone sensed something. It was not a warning, not a threat. On closer reflection, it seemed laced with a trace of goodwill and pity.
Still, the common folk had no idea what "the moon invades the Nine Ditches" meant. But "floodwaters will engulf the land"—that, they seemed to grasp. Did it mean rain? Wasn't it already raining?
Seeing the sea of bewildered faces below, Yue Fuguang had no choice but to continue speaking in the cryptic, oracle-like manner she had adopted: "The ditches overflow, a hundred rivers boil."
"A hundred rivers boil"—surely even they could understand that!
Zhang Ziyi edged closer to Liu Hui and whispered, "Brother Liu, do you understand what the Divine Maiden is saying?"
Liu Hui furrowed his brow. His grades at the academy had always been excellent, and he had read widely in miscellaneous texts, including some on celestial phenomena. Though he could not recall the exact meaning of "the moon invades the Nine Ditches," combined with the following twelve characters, it was not hard to deduce—it had to do with rain. And heavy rain, at that.
Otherwise, why would the Divine Maiden, after blessing them with rainfall, make a special appearance to deliver such a speech? He had a feeling she was issuing a warning to the people of Dayan.
It also meant that even before they had fully accepted their new identity, the Divine Maiden had already acknowledged them.
"The Divine Maiden seems to have already accepted us as people of Dayan."
Liu Hui's words were abrupt and vague, catching Zhang Ziyi completely off guard. The latter blinked his round, innocent eyes at him. "Huh?"
"Brother Liu means—the Divine Maiden is warning us? Fengcheng is going to see heavy rain, or even... flooding?"
A scholar standing in front of the two turned around and looked at Liu Hui. Like Liu Hui, he was a top student—if Liu Hui could figure it out, so could he.
Liu Hui glanced up at Yue Fuguang in the sky and spoke quietly. "Brother Xinzhi is right. That is exactly how I understand it too."
"Flooding?" Zhang Ziyi, the less academically inclined of the group, could not stop himself from raising his voice. "But we've been in a drought for eight months! How could there suddenly be flooding? Where would the water even come from?"
Yes—where would the water come from? Even the wind was dry. How could there possibly be that much rain?
Having his guess confirmed by his classmate Liu Hui, Fang Xinzhi's expression darkened. He could not help but repeat those words: "Floodwaters will engulf the land."
Yue Fuguang naturally heard their whispered discussion. Seeing that intelligent people had finally understood her meaning, she pressed on with further hints. "The moon veils the Celestial Abyss—water will pour without cease."
Understand now? The rain will be very, very heavy!
Her voice continued, still in that same flat, calm tone, but the urgency of the warning was unmistakable. "Star halos darken to blue-black—one month without pause." In ten days, the rain will fall, and it won't stop for a month or more!
[Host, can't you just tell them directly: in ten days, heavy rain, continuous for a month, the city will be flooded and houses destroyed? Look at all this cryptic gobbledygook—how many illiterate common folk below can actually understand you?]
«If I said it plainly, wouldn't that be a letdown for my divine image? Look at my homeland—all those prophetic sayings are vague, enigmatic, without head or tail. This manner of speaking is practically my family heirloom!»
The system nearly laughed in exasperation at her claiming her "family heirloom."
While Yue Fuguang was bickering with her system, the clever ones below were slowly piecing together her successive pronouncements about celestial omens. They were catching on—this was the Divine Maiden issuing them a warning!
"Divine Maiden, does this mean... Fengcheng... Fengcheng will face a flood in the future?" Liu Hui finally could not hold back. Boldly raising his voice, he asked the question outright and then solemnly bowed to her. "Please, Divine Maiden, clarify for us—your student Liu Hui, on behalf of the people of Fengcheng, will be forever grateful!"
Hearing the word "flood," every single resident of Fengcheng in the crowd turned pale. They stared in horror at Liu Hui, then looked back up at the all-powerful Divine Maiden in the sky.
Some quick thinkers immediately joined in bowing and pleading. "Please, Divine Maiden, clarify! This old man is forever grateful!"
"Please, Divine Maiden, clarify! This humble wife is forever grateful!"
Though their mouths begged for clarity, in their hearts they all secretly hoped to hear a denial from her lips.
A trace of pity flickered across Yue Fuguang's face. As she looked down at the crowd, she genuinely wore an expression of merciful compassion.
But inwardly, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Since someone asked, I can finally drop this cryptic act!
Her voice remained cold, utterly devoid of emotion. "In ten days, the entire lands of Nanyue and Nanzhao will receive heavy rain. The downpour will be continuous, lasting for over a month without stop."
"Good heavens!"
"Waaah—what sin have we committed? Heaven is simply not giving us a way to survive!"
"Old Heavenly Father, open your eyes and look upon us, we beg you!"
Yue Fuguang's single short sentence was met with a wave of weeping.
She didn't actually know whether these natural disasters were truly Heaven's doing, but the common folk clearly all believed Heaven was punishing them.
Amid the cries and sobs, her words continued. "The waters will crest the dikes. The flood will surge into the city!"