Now I basically get it—King Guilong is sly as a fox. He probably intercepted all the other competitors ahead of time, so the four that made it here are all his own people. No matter which of them gets the benefit, it's like the meat's rotting in his own pot.

But clearly, King Guilong overestimates his subordinates' intelligence a bit...

Wen Yan doesn't really care about the local Water God's IQ, not even their spiritual intelligence level. As long as they're willing to guard the post honestly and are diligent in their work, that's enough.

If the other party is like Jiang Yanyan—innately kind and willing to stick it out—he actually doesn't mind at all, and really would set up a temple for them.

The first one he rules out is this flashy but not totally stupid Water Ghost.

Thinking about it, Wen Yan looks over at the Turtle Demon. This guy got sent out to handle stuff, so he's probably in the know about more than the others.

"King Dragon's not just got a handful of you under his command, right? The rest of the ghosts and monsters don't want to be Water God?"

The Water Ghost on the side just tries to speak, but gets cut off by Wen Yan.

"I'm not asking you. Best keep your mouth shut."

Then he keeps looking at the Turtle Demon, grinning.

"Go ahead and speak up, honesty's best. But it's also fine if you want to hide stuff—as long as I never find out."

The Turtle Demon hesitates, doesn't answer right away, but throws out a question instead.

"What you said earlier—was it for real?"

Wen Yan gives his hand a shake and pulls out the files Cai Heizi gave him.

"Take a good look, all stamped and signed—just waiting for someone to write their name up top.

As for whether you all think it's real or not, that's even less of a concern.

Jiang Yanyan is my brother. His rewards and official recognition docs, I handled the application myself.

To be blunt, for everyone else, before you make any achievements, it's kinda hard to get officially recognized.

But setting up a temple by the river isn't really a big deal.

Any other doubts?

If not, I'll go call Jiang Yanyan over and we can all grab a meal?"

"No, no, that's not needed—I totally believe you. I just can't believe this kind of opportunity could fall to the likes of us." The Turtle Demon shakes his head hard—even if he lost his mind, he wouldn't be dumb enough to call in a real River God to verify this.

How is he supposed to survive in West River after that?

Didn't you see Wen Yan didn't ask them to call the Dragon King over to check their credentials?

"All right then, if there're no more questions, keep going. Why is it just you all? The Dragon God let you guys come, but surely he's got more than just you under his wing, right?"

"That's not the case." The Turtle Demon shakes his head, eyes glued to the file Wen Yan just put away, suddenly speaking way more sincerely: "My Dragon King says, the lot of us are mild-mannered—either herbivores or eat small fish and shrimp—definitely harmless to people, so he let us come. There are others, but they're all hot-tempered and pugnacious. The Dragon King said, let them come and they'll just get beaten to death by the Scorching Sun Department."

Wen Yan looks left and right, can't help but nod in agreement.

"Your Dragon King's got a sharp eye."

A grass carp, mostly vegetarian, regular on the dinner table.

A harmless, non-venomous water snake—looks just like the ones you see in the market. Hard to tell which species, but anyway, they all look almost the same.

The Turtle Demon's probably Grade Two, long-lived. Even an ordinary turtle can live a hundred years.

But that flashy Water Ghost really doesn't fit in with these three.

"This guy—how does he look like anything close to mild-mannered?"

The Water Ghost wants to open his mouth, but Wen Yan shoots him a glare and he shuts right up.

The Turtle Demon thinks the Water Ghost is stereotyped and is dragging the rest of them down, so he hurriedly explains.

"He wouldn't dare hurt anyone. A few months back, a little girl fell in the river—couldn't even swim. He could've gotten his way just by blending in and moving on.

But he showed up, grabbed her, took one look, and basically lost the power of speech. Ended up sending her right back to shore instead.

His mom figured he never married or had a girlfriend, drowned in the river and died—naked, too.

She mailed him that outfit—he doesn't even dare not to wear it.

Last time the Goddess was ascending, all the other Water Ghosts went to block her—he was the only one who chickened out.

He scraped a bit of benefit from her, then unhesitatingly switched to the Goddess's camp. After that, he couldn't even hurt anyone so he could move on himself.

The Dragon King thinks he's such a wimp, hanging out right under his nose every day—it's a real eyesore."

The Turtle Demon sells out his teammate fast and dirty, rattling off so much stuff that sweat's practically pouring off the Water Ghost's head.

The Water Ghost lets most of it slide, but just can't hold back on the clothes thing—even if Wen Yan won't let him speak, he just can't help himself.

"What do you mean, I don't dare not to wear it? That's my mom's way of caring! Of course it wouldn't look good naked, so I wore it, what's wrong with that!"

Wen Yan can't help cracking up and chimes in.

"Exactly! What's wrong with him wearing some clothes? Looks pretty festive, doesn't it?"

Just now, he thought the Water Ghost's outfit was some kind of wedding attire—turns out, it's just for modesty.

So timid, yet a Water Ghost that's managed to keep his spiritual intelligence—Wen Yan's never seen anything like it before.

"All right then, I'm not bothered how you all kept the others out. I'm just looking at results."

When Jiang Yanyan got his temple, that was after years of racking up achievements."

If I had to just pick among you all like this, I wouldn't be happy about it, and I bet you all wouldn't buy it either. Why should other people get it just because?"

How about this—let's make it five years... Actually, nah, too long. Let's make it three years: whoever does best over the next three years, that spot goes to them."

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