Chapter 634
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Chapter 634: The Four Sacred Mountains of the World
"The Book of Rites: Royal Regulations" states that in ancient times, the emperor would offer sacrifices to the famous mountains and rivers of the world, namely the Five Sacred Mountains and the Four Sacred Rivers.
In "Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Yin", it is written, "To the east is the Jiang, to the north is the Ji, to the west is the He, to the south is the Huai. The Four Sacred Rivers have been dredged, and only then can the people thrive."
The Huaihe River was once one of the Four Sacred Rivers, irrigating the land of China and having its independent estuary.
Nowadays, the Huaishui River has become a tributary of the Yangtze River, its importance has declined, and everything done is based on others’ approval.
Why do they seek approval from others?
Because they fear floods caused by the overflowing of the Huaishui River.
In this world, there is mystery. People offer sacrifices to the water deities, praying for good weather, hoping rivers stay their course, not flooding the banks, ensuring abundant vegetation, praying for a bountiful harvest every year. These thoughts and hopes create a sense of anticipation, a collective desire.
Whether it’s honoring mountain deities or water deities, it’s all about adding an extra layer of protection to the unpredictable natural world, establishing more rules, hoping everything follows its proper course and laws, not spiraling out of control.
However, objective realities don’t change based on human desires. The world operates based on science and objective laws. The existence of mystery introduces a new set of rules, yet it cannot easily distort reality.
Flood-prone rivers will still overflow. Isn’t the Yellow River known for its yellow waters? Why does it sometimes flow clear?
The best solution is naturally to build dams, allowing sediment to settle and regularly releasing sediment.
In ancient times, there was an idiom "distinct as the Jing and Wei Rivers." The Wei River is a tributary of the Yellow River and carries sediment. When the Yellow River, with its sediment, merges with the Jing River, one side becomes murky with sediment while the other remains clear and green. Now, by constructing water facilities, we can prevent this clear distinction between the two rivers, ensuring both are equally clear. Whether they remain distinct or not is not through prayer, but through human effort and wisdom.
Long ago, the Ming Country didn’t have the construction ability like nowadays, which is limited by materials engineering.
When facing floods, the people on land must work to prevent disasters, while also needing the water deity to assist.
In the past, unusual occurrences in the water were attributed to the anger of the Dragon King, but even with the efforts of water deities and river gods, such disasters could not be completely prevented.
Just like how the Yellow River has a strong temper in the Four Rivers, its water deity’s role is to offer sacrifices to the heavens.
When the Yellow River floods, it must be controlled. To calm the people’s anger, the river deity of the Yellow River is sacrificed to the heavens.
Like when a server crashes, the official explanation might be that "technical staff were ordering takeout on the server."
Whether it’s true or not, or if he actually did it, what matters is that he was sacrificed as an offering to appease the people.
People’s anger is sharp, difficult for the water deity to handle.
As more local water deities in the rivers decrease, many responsibilities are handed over to the Dragon clan. This is because the dragons can manipulate the natural elements, alter moisture levels, and control rainfall, indirectly managing flood risks.
Lakes are used for regulating, and many dragon lords reside in lakes, such as Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, Lake Tai, Chao Lake, and so on.
Rivers like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are too big for dragon beings to interfere with, fearing that a flood may result in losing their heads.
The Huai River is the same, the dragon lord of the Huai River doesn’t have direct control over the Huai River system, but manages it on behalf, the real goddess of Huai River is Xue Hanlei’s mother, the union of the water god and dragon king is an extremely rare case, so Xue Hanlei inherited excellent talents.
Because the Yellow River merges with the Huai River to flow into the sea, a large amount of sediment is deposited at the mouth of the river, forcing the Huai River to flow from the Hongze system to the Yangtze River, and due to the fact that Hongze Lake is a suspended lake on land, a slight rise in water level will flood the northern part of Huizhou, which further intensifies the flood problems of the Huai River, becoming a very difficult long-standing issue, naturally, the accumulated grievances of the people over the years are hard to dispel.
Grievances are as toxic as poison.
People offer sacrifices to the land god, whether it’s the City God Temple, the Land God, mountain deities, water deities, they belong to the same category of fire and incense gods, the fire and incense gods absorb human wishes and strength, when the worship is flourishing, they become stronger themselves, many wild monsters in the mountains need to be officially recognized as mountain deities receiving worship before they can be accepted by the fire and incense, once they become land gods and receive the power of fire and incense, their divine path progresses rapidly, cultivation advances by leaps and bounds, but if they lose the fire and incense, their cultivation will continuously decline.
If wrongdoings provoke public grievances and hatred, it will directly harm the source.
The people are like water, capable of carrying a boat or sinking it.
There are benefits and drawbacks, misfortune and fortune are interdependent, in a cycle of cause and effect.
Hua, as the goddess of Huaishui, couldn’t leave her identity as a divine being. It seemed like she was born of the heavens and earth, making it even harder for her to go.
With the people’s discontent piling up, her life being in danger was only a matter of time.
She was very pitiful, and so were the people. In this matter, there was no right or wrong, no victory or defeat, only helplessness and pain.
Hua gently held Bai Wei’s hand, closely observing this young man. Despite being very old, she treated everyone like younger generations. She spoke slowly in a melancholy tone, using everyday words that, though slow, didn’t test one’s patience.
After a brief exchange of twenty or so sentences, she appeared very exhausted.
"Mother, please rest well," Xue Hanlei said softly.
"I want to look at you a little longer." Hua leaned on her daughter’s shoulder and gently said. I couldn’t be with you, I’m truly sorry for the hardships you’ve endured.
"No way," Xue Hanlei smiled and said. Do I look like someone who’s suffered? I’ve been living happily in Yingzhou for the past few years.
"That’s true," Bai Wei agreed. though she has caused quite a stir.
Huai didn’t care if it was true or false, she smiled lightly and said. You’re acting like a child.
Finally tired, her eyelids were slowly drooping.
Before falling asleep, her face looked peaceful, but she was still worrying about something, softly repeating words of apology.
After a while, Xue Hanlei got up from the bed and pulled Bai Wei out of the room, searching for a quiet place.
"My mother…"
"I can see, she’s very sick." Bai Wei interrupted. It must have been a long time.
"It started when my mother was pregnant with me, she gave birth to me while being ill. Having me worsened her condition." Xue Hanlei intertwined her fingers, "With my abilities, I could have lived freely in the world if I could leave Huaishui. But I can’t…"
"Because of your mother’s illness," Bai Wei said. It stems from popular discontent.
"The key to Huaishui’s siege lies in Hongze. Any slight disturbance there causes flooding in Huaishui, deepening public discontent. It’s a vicious cycle." Xue Hanlei bitterly smiled. My mother is a hostage in their hands, you’ve seen my father, he’s completely powerless. He can’t protect my mother, so it’s up to me, I have to make sacrifices. Whether I want it or not, I will marry into Hongze, pleading for their… mercy.
When she said these words, she was gritting her teeth in anger.
Bai Wei couldn’t imagine what emotions she had when she left Huaishui in the red carriage years ago, but it must have been much more difficult now to bring up the past again.
Bai Wei said. Your mother knows, and your father knows too.
"I insisted on going, my parents couldn’t stop me," Xue Hanlei paused. I can’t hide it from them either.
"So they feel guilty."
Bai Wei understood why Huai apologized, why Longjun behaved so humbly… It wasn’t humility, but self-blame, self-hatred for not being able to protect the family as parents, instead, receiving protection from their daughter, with Xue Hanlei sacrificing her happiness to feed the wolves.
"The most useless things in this world are guilt and regret." Xue Hanlei coldly smirked. I made a choice, I will never regret it, and I won’t look back. Imagining how things could have been is just self-comfort.
Bai Wei agreed. Regret is indeed the most useless thing in the world… You don’t want to regret, choosing to return to Huaishui, the real goal is to see your mother, because you’re afraid you won’t make it in time.
Xue Hanlei stared at her wrist, slowly clenched her hand, then slowly released it, feeling her weak and powerless body.
"I know that no matter where I run away to, it won’t make much of a difference… If I wanted to escape, I didn’t need to wait until now."
"If the Black Dragon from Hongze comes here looking for people, I still have to go back with them, not because I want to, but because I have no choice."
"If I run away, what will my mother do?"
"Being able to see my mother one last time has almost fulfilled my biggest wish, so this trip wouldn’t be in vain."
"I have always been very afraid, afraid that she might suddenly leave this world where I can’t see her. Being able to spend time with her again is already good enough."
Xue Hanlei smiled gently, and only at this moment, all her masks finally fell off, revealing her fragile and genuine emotions.
She was not someone who would easily open up her innermost feelings to others. Her life destined her to be someone who likes to hide and deceive.
She was strong enough to take on the responsibility of an arranged marriage willingly, treating herself as a tool; she was also cunning enough to repeatedly test boundaries and escape, fighting for a little bit of freedom without crossing the line.
Everyone has their own secrets. Bai Wei had known her for nearly half a year, and if not for some twist of fate, it would have been difficult to see Xue Hanlei’s true feelings. Although he always knew she had her reasons, he never expected her to carry such pure tragic elements.
She seemed like a fun and lively person on the outside, a wealthy woman, and a wife dealing with relationship issues while excelling in her career.
But deep down, she was a daughter willing to sacrifice herself for her loved ones.
She could have enjoyed freedom to travel the world, but she chose to give it up and became trapped like a prisoner.
It wasn’t for Huaishui, not for the people, nor for herself, but for her loved ones… That’s the real Xue Hanlei.
At this moment, Bai Wei could finally see through all the mysteries surrounding her.
He also finally noticed the exclamation mark hidden above her head for so long.
A pale golden color.
Almost like an epic tale.
["The rivers flow across the world, returning to the Huai River and into the sea"]
