After the Male Lead Abandoned Me, I Created a New God

[Groveling arc, but the heroine won't take him back]

Every ten years, the gods of the Nine Temples must undergo a test from Heaven. In the end, one god is chosen and granted a divine rank.

Whenever an old god falls and a new one rises, the Divine Palace searches far and wide for men and women with spiritual gifts. They train them to become qualified divine attendants, then assign them to the Nine Gods once their blessings awaken, so they can serve as companions and advisors.

Yue Yao met Yu Nan when she was starving and close to death.

The six-year-old dragon god was handsome and taciturn, with followers across the continent. His spiritual power was so immense that he could easily defeat other gods one or two years older than himself.

Yet this lofty god saved her, protected her, and, when they were alone, promised that she would become his divine consort.

Everyone knew that only a god's divine attendant could become a divine consort.

Only a divine consort could marry a god and stay by his side.

The day the blessings awakened was also the eve of Yu Nan's wedding.

On her first day at the Divine Palace, Yue Yao was recognized as bearing the phoenix mark and destined to be the divine consort.

But when the divine attendant array was activated, someone else proved to bear the phoenix mark. Yue Yao's blessing shone dimly, leaving her the weakest and least gifted among all the attendants present.

Yue Yao had never cared about divine attendant blessings. From beginning to end, she cared about only one person.

Ignoring the strange looks around her, she fell to the ground and clutched the young Yu Nan's robe.

But the godlike boy wouldn't even spare her a glance. "What promise? I have no recollection of one."

Yue Yao was given ten lashes for her disrespect and missed the other gods' attendant-selection ceremonies. The others mocked and ostracized her.

On the day she was driven from the palace, dark clouds gathered and thunder roared. She saw Yu Nan once more.

Amid the devout blessings of countless followers, the boy took the hand of the divine consort bearing the phoenix mark. Their long-awaited wedding lasted three days and three nights.

-

For nearly a hundred years, Long Xian had held the divine rank.

Yu Nan, hailed as the next Dragon God from the day he was born, was expected to care for all living things and protect the world alongside the divine consort bearing the phoenix mark.

But at some point, he began to dream of frantically trading the lives of everyone in the world for one person to turn back and look at him.

Another decade passed. A false god from the barren lands ascended to divine rank and brought life-giving rain to the territory under his care.

Yu Nan, stripped of his divine rank, defied those who tried to stop him and attended the new god's ceremony.

The new god, radiant and serene, sat in a place of honor and fed a peeled grape to the woman seated among the divine attendants. With a teasing smile, he asked if it was sweet.

Yu Nan saw the girl from his dreams frown. He grabbed the new god by the collar and fed him the sour grape mouth to mouth.

Long Xian had gone mad.

*Blurb written on October 27, 2022

Theme: Never give yourself up for someone who isn't worth it.