Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 927 - 783: Response (Extra - , please subscribe)

Chapter 927: Chapter 783: Response (Extra Chapter, please subscribe)

The Heavenly Emperor, respected by the myriad minor worlds and the sovereign of the thirty-three heavens!

Fang Xi had no doubt that he could replace the will of the heavens with his own heart and the Heavenly Decrees with the Heavenly and Earthly Laws!

In this way, even a True Immortal descending from the Higher Realm might not be his match.

After all, True Immortals or whatever, the cultivators, Monster Clan, and Demonic Beasts of the Earth Immortal Realm had once joined forces to eradicate them.

And the Mighty Heavenly Court should far surpass the combined forces of the cultivators, Monster Clan, and Demonic Beasts.

Whether it’s the depth of their resources or the strength of their high-ranking cultivators, both are equally so!

"Still, I must be cautious and not act recklessly... Even in a minor world, this applies, after all, denizens of the Medium Thousand Worlds can descend at will..."

"Come to think of it, if a fight between Integration cultivators primarily hinges on their Divine Skills and magic spells, then a fight between Mahayana Monks has already involved the Power of Heavenly and Earthly Laws..."

"If I could obtain some high-level secrets of the God Path and apply them to the Immortal Path, once I am a Mahayana, perhaps with the Power of my Personal principles, I could overpower other Mahayana Monks!"

Fang Xi’s eyes suddenly lit up.

At that moment, his Divine Consciousness also caught Gan Yu stumbling all the way back to Bai Gan Village, faster than a galloping horse.

Back home, Gan Yu was restless, and even his old mother noticed something was amiss: "Yu..."

"Mother..."

Gan Yu’s eyes reddened, nearly shedding tears, but he forcibly held them back, "I’m fine, just got sand in my eyes, I haven’t visited Mr. Fang yet today..."

He dared not linger at home and quickly went out to wander.

Unaware, he found himself outside Mr. Fang’s courtyard.

Staring at the Peach Blossom Tree, he couldn’t help but become lost in thought.

"Ah Yu, come join me for a game."

Fang Xi was setting up a board game, and there was a gourd with a yellow skin beside it.

He tipped the gourd over, and immediately, the scent of sweet wine wafted out.

"Yes, Master!"

Gan Yu calmed himself and sat down opposite Fang Xi, studying the board game.

Fang Xi explained a few rules of Go. Being incredibly intelligent, Gan Yu memorized them in just one go.

The two thus began to play the game under the Peach Blossom Tree.

Half an hour later, Gan Yu, looking at his big dragon that was just slaughtered, conceded defeat: "Master, your skill in chess is superb, I am far inferior..."

"Your skill at chess has improved rapidly, just that your mind is troubled, leading to chaotic plays," Fang Xi shook his head, picking up the pieces one by one, "Scholars should possess tranquility in the face of significant events. Drink a cup of wine and then think carefully about how you should proceed..."

Looking at Mr. Fang, who would remain unfazed even if Mount Tai crumbled before him, Gan Yu took a deep breath and drank down the wine.

The fiery sensation traveled down his throat into his belly, and a bitter flavor spread in his mouth.

It seemed to lift his spirits, and so he told his strange dream and today’s events before giving a deep bow to the ground: "Please, teach me, Master..."

"In my travels far and wide, I well know the talk of ghosts and spirits is not mere fantasy, and it seems you truly have offended the Well Dragon King," Fang Xi said slowly.

"What should I do?" Gan Yu asked anxiously.

"I do not know."

"Ah..." Gan Yu’s face was immediately filled with despair.

But Fang Xi continued, "Where venomous snakes roam, within seven steps, there must be an antidote... You have caused this trouble, so why come to me? You should ask the one you ought to ask, no, the god you should ask!"

"The god I should ask..."

Gan Yu’s eyes brightened: "Master, could it be that you are referring to... the Earth God?"

"Correct, the Earth God is indeed the god of fortune and virtue, responsible for protecting the land. Being a villager of Bai Gan Village, you naturally fall under his jurisdiction. Why not prepare a generous offering, offering sacrifices abundantly? Even if the Earth God cannot solve this issue, he may still give you a hint or two..." Fang Xi smiled.

"Thank you, Master, I’ll prepare right away..."

Gan Yu’s eyes brightened, and he immediately gave his respects before leaving.

After leaving Mr. Fang’s yard, he slapped his forehead, "Generous offerings... Where would my family find extra money to buy the offerings for a sacrifice..."

The worry-filled Gan Yu had just returned home when he saw his old mother killing a chicken, which startled him: "Mother, you..."

This hen was a treasure of the Gan family, relied on for its eggs to exchange for sundries.

Why had his old mother decided to kill it, wasn’t this killing the goose that laid the golden eggs?

What would they do in the future?

"My son, your mother is not blind, you must have encountered something big today... Take this chicken and sell it, it should fetch some silver to deal with the emergency..." Gan’s mother instructed.

"Mother..."

Tears welled up in Gan Yu’s eyes...

...

Late at night.

Having just offered sacrifices to the Earth God, Gan Yu was in deep sleep.

Suddenly, he heard a knocking at the door.

He could not help but get up and go outside, only to see a wealthy old man standing there.

With a youthful face and white hair, a forehead like a longevity peach, leaning on a peach wood cane, his body still carried the scent of roast chicken, "Young man... I have come here especially to thank you for the roasted chicken you sent."

"Are you... the Earth God?"

Gan Yu suddenly had a flash of realization and immediately prostrated himself in worship, "Earth God, save me!"

"Alas... this matter involves me, so you should hear me out," said the Earth God.

The Earth God, with a kind smile, slowly began: "I was originally neighbors with the Well Dragon King. I sensed spiritual rain recently and thought it was a ’Dragon King of the Four Seas’ coming down, so I wrote a report to the City God... Little did I expect that the City God would send deities like the Day and Night Roaming Spirits, the Ears of the Government to investigate and discovered no flood dragon passing through. Therefore, they concluded that it must have been the Well Dragon King causing rain without reason, violating the Heavenly Articles of Taoist Law, and should undergo the Punishment of the Lightning Whip, and was demoted to a loach. Only when he returns to the well and repents will he be able to redeem his sin and restore his divine position..."

"Ah..."

Gan Yu felt as though he was listening to something out of a Heavenly Book, but he finally understood why he was able to eat the loach so easily.

"Although the Well Dragon King’s temple was in decline, it could still hold on, but this time you consumed its body and truly ruined its Taoist Cultivation—that becomes a deadly enmity... it could lead to the end of its Divine Veins," continued the Earth God with a serious expression.

"Even though strictly speaking, you are merely the Human Tribulation for the Well Dragon King and did not violate Taoist Law, as long as a strand of the Well Dragon King’s Divine Soul remains and it has some allies, targeting you would indeed be very dangerous."

"Please, Earth God, save me!" Gan Yu bowed again.

"Alas... as the guardian deity of Bai Gan Village, it is my duty to protect. Indeed, I should save you, but I can only protect your mother..."

The Earth God said, "As for you, I have thought of a method—it’s to take the Imperial Examination... Not only to take the exam, but you must rank highly in this autumn’s Exam for Adolescents... Becoming a Taoist Child and receiving the ’talisman’. In this way, as half an official, being under the watch of the County City God, the Well Dragon King would not dare to take revenge against you... Remember, remember, you must rank highly and receive the talisman!"

With a gentle push from the Earth God, Gan Yu exclaimed "Ah," and then he woke up to find himself lying in bed. He murmured softly, "Was it a dream?"

The next moment, he sniffed his nose and suddenly smelled a scent of roasted chicken.

Looking again, a chicken leg bone was in his hand. He shivered and sincerely thanked in the direction of the Earth God’s temple, "Thank you, Earth God, I remember!"

...

"Nightmare Skills?"

Under the Peach Blossom Tree, Fang Xi sat cross-legged, fingers forming a Magic Spell.

It was Gan Yu’s own dream, something extremely private, yet it appeared vividly before his eyes.

—Since he was planning to let Gan Yu test the waters, he must have intervened with him long ago.

To the Earth God, in terms of divine power, wasn’t much different from a low-level Qi Refining cultivator, making it impossible to detect the change.

"The solution offered by that little deity is similar to one of the several options I had considered..."

"To become a Taoist Child upon passing the exam, you would indeed receive a ’talisman’, not a true Taoist ’Taoist Charm’, but a ’Taoist Child’s Charm’, which doesn’t count as a true official status. However, it still means registering your name with the City God. Once you die, there will surely be an investigation!"

"The Well Dragon King, though called a Dragon King, is actually an exaggeration. He’s on the same rank as the Earth God, an insignificant deity... Now that his Divine Veins are cut off, he’s slightly better than a masterless wandering spirit. How dare he plot against a Taoist Child, not fearing the three-foot Taoist Law? Would he risk complete annihilation?"

When strength is far inferior to the enemy, joining a powerful faction for protection is a clever strategy of leveraging power.

Of course, the countermeasures prepared by Fang Xi were far more than these.

One of them, naturally, was to take his mother and flee thousands of miles away to avoid calamity—a delaying tactic, but it posed some difficulties.

Another strategy was to simply learn Taoist spells and kill the Well Dragon King, eliminating the problem at its source, once and for all.

If Gan Yu were to choose these two strategies, Fang Xi wouldn’t mind teaching him some Qi Refining techniques and quick spells for a trial run.

"This world indeed has spiritual energy... but it is suppressed by Taoist Law, difficult to harness..."

"However, the Earth God does have this ’casting authority’, although it’s the lowest level, it seems... it has some flavor of Western fantasy magical network spell positions..."

"To self-cultivate and self-realize without outside help... Theoretically possible, but in reality, completely impossible."

"Even if one succeeds in cultivation, they would still face oppression from the divine path, how tragic would that be?"

"It’s good to cultivate within a formal sect, to cultivate in this world one might truly have to mix into the Taoist Court..."

Fang Xi thought about some of the information previously revealed by the Earth God and mused, "Originally, the stringent net of divine monitoring was frightening... but the City God’s handling seems to have loopholes to exploit. After all, even in previous lives, big corporations suffer from big company syndrome, and this Taoist Court is far bigger than any corporation. How could it not have flaws?"

With the divine monitoring net presumably watching over everything, Fang Xi even suspected that if he caused any trouble, he might be reported to the Heavenly Court straight away.

Then ten thousand heavenly soldiers might descend upon him, and he might successfully receive the same treatment as the Monkey King...

Perhaps he could even gain a title of Great Sage among the Monster Clan...

But now it seemed there were loopholes to exploit.

The City God’s perfunctory style of doing things emitted a scent of decay to Fang Xi.

"Maybe, I could also operate a divine position, infiltrate into the Taoist Court, and rise step by step?"

"However, the belief and wish power of the divine path is like poison. The natives are not afraid, after all, they just want to die quickly, shed their physical bodies, and truly become deities!"

"But I am different, I still want to walk the Immortal Path..."

"Could it be... to make another incarnation through Sacrificial Refining, or split off a strand of the Divine Soul to try walking the God Path?"

Fang Xi stroked his chin, falling into deep contemplation.