Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 967 - 823 Landlady

Chapter 967: Chapter 823 Landlady

Several days later.

"The longevity of those on the God Path is extremely vast, and the current Heavenly Emperor, in fact, is the founding ancestor of the Taoist Court..."

In the inn.

Fang Xi sat cross-legged, silently observing his fate with the Fortune Worm.

With a flip of his hand, ’Lord Qingtong’s Treasure’ appeared in his palm.

With the Incarnation of the God Path presiding over Hei Shan, he had brought these two items with him.

From the perspective of the fate and causality of fortune, the causal connections attached to the Seal of Lord Qingtong were converging and generating attraction...

"Almost time, it’s time..."

An epiphany emerged in Fang Xi’s heart.

Knock, knock!

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

A smile tugged at Fang Xi’s lips as he saw Gan Yu push the door and enter.

"This junior pays respect to the great sage..."

Gan Yu bowed respectfully and said, "This junior has submitted a letter of recommendation, but to wait for the Ministry of War’s assessment will take some time. Why not let this junior serve as a guide and introduce the esteemed deity to the sights of the capital city? In this period, I have visited my mentors and friends of the same year, and I have gained some understanding of the collapse of the former dynasty..."

"Oh? How fascinating."

Fang Xi’s smile grew wider, "Lead the way... I’ve heard the capital has 33 Scenes, now I’d like to take a good look."

"Apart from the Jade Forest and Snow Sea being out of season, the other sights are quite notable..."

Gan Yu immediately bowed and led the way.

...

"The 33 Scenes of the Capital City, renowned throughout the world... Take, for example, the top courtesans of the pleasure houses, whose beauty and literary talent are indeed remarkable."

Gan Yu led Fang Xi. The two, with staff in hand and straw sandals on feet, traveled lightly from one place to another.

After witnessing the bustling scene of the Metropolitan City God Temple, Gan Yu said leisurely.

"Haha, who would have thought that you, a young scholar, would have such insight into the capital’s sights," Fang Xi laughed heartily. "What next?"

"However, such well-known splendors, like the famous courtesans, although widely recognized and pleasing in appearance, ultimately lack the charm of the wild. They cannot compare to the less notorious but more enchanting allure of modest maidens..."

Gan Yu shook his head and mused, "Within this capital, there are a few lesser-known spots that are truly worth visiting..."

"Hmm, lead on... Even if it’s the Imperial Palace, this great sage goes wherever he wishes," Fang Xi said, hinting at something more.

Gan Yu kept his composure, guiding the way like a dutiful tour guide, "Great Sage might be intrigued to know that not far ahead lies a place of exceptional beauty, with quite a story to it."

He stretched out his hand, pointing towards the direction of the temple of the land.

Fang Xi felt a strong interest, though his face remained impassive, "But what’s so special about a mere temple of the land?"

"This temple is different. It has survived under the rule of the Taoist Court and the Metropolitan City God Temples, which naturally comes with a story... Great Sage has wandered the world and certainly seen many temples of the land, which only worship the Earth God. But have you ever seen one where both the Earth God and the Land Goddess are worshipped together?" Gan Yu said with a smile.

"That... I truly haven’t seen before."

Fang Xi reflected for a moment, somewhat hesitant.

"This temple is one of the few in the world that worships both the Earth God and the Land Goddess, and it’s closely related to the collapse of the former dynasty."

Gan Yu led Fang Xi to that dilapidated temple of the land they had seen the other day.

The temple was still devoid of worshippers, with its entrance covered in dry leaves, and only an old woman in patched clothes and with white hair was sweeping the ground in a desultory manner.

"Oh? Related to the collapse of the former dynasty? I would like to hear the details..."

Fang Xi and Gan Yu walked through the main gate of the temple of the land, Fang Xi showing a keen interest.

"Back then..."

The patchy shadows of the trees flickered over Gan Yu’s face, making his expression equally changeable: "The Heavenly Court governs the world, the God Path governs the people... According to rumors, there are countless worlds like ours, all under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court, which is the Heavenly Path itself, wielding the Heavenly Decrees... Even if a dynasty exhausts its military might or the common people rise in rebellion, they would only bestow the True Dragon’s spirit, but they wouldn’t limit it to just one person. Rather, they would let the whole world vie for the dragon spirit, and the final victor could establish a new dynasty."

"Therefore, no matter how corrupt or dire the previous dynasty was, it should not have collapsed overnight... The collapse of the previous dynasty, in fact... was accidental."

"Accidental?"

Fang Xi stepped into the main hall and saw the young Statue of the Earth Deity, clad in a yellow robe, looking quite handsome and vibrant, standing in the shrine.

In another shrine, there was just a remaining half of a skirt sculpture.

"Back then... the crown prince was assigned to clarify the divine beings throughout the world... beginning the investigation right from the capital. ’Clarification’ was actually the clearing away of obscure deities with few believers and waning power, as well as dismantling illicit sacrificial temples – a task meant to purify the roots... With this power, the crown prince was gradually consolidating the reins of the God Path, a sign of preparation to take over the throne..."

Gan Yu said with a smile, "As soon as the crown prince was commissioned, he was followed by hundreds of Deities, his word could decide the rise and fall of temples, promote or demote the Divine Rank of deities – his power was truly unmatched... At the end of the investigation, it brought them to this temple of the land."

"Back then, the temple of the land hardly had any incense offerings, dedicated to the Earth God and the Land Goddess... Yet both of these deities were absent. The crown prince became furious upon seeing this and immediately ordered the revocation of their enshrinement and the destruction of the temple..."

"Wait... Where did this Earth God and Land Goddess go? And when was this temple established?" Fang Xi asked with some confusion.

"Perhaps it was from the reign before the last, or maybe even earlier... Who knows?" Gan Yu smiled, "Deities live for eons, and after several dynastic changes, their original standings are hard to trace... Successive dynasties mostly recognized those deities based on their divine power, faith, incense offerings... one by one!"

Fang Xi understood that this was just like the rise and fall of mortal dynasties.

If a family or power faction from the previous dynasty had strength, they would usually be appeased and recognized, and their land deeds from the previous era might even be acknowledged.

This was a method to consolidate rule!

And the way to differentiate was to see if there was still power!

If the power was strong, it was still recognized; if not, it was a matter of life and death.

In reality, it was still all about buying over the powerful factions.

In the divine path, this practice was even more evident.

After all, the strength of divine power could be distinguished at a glance.

The temple of the land was almost the lowest rank among the earth deities, and both divine beings had vanished, so it was natural to level the place and free up the space.

This temple of the Earth God and Land Goddess could have slipped through the cracks, but with the crown prince overseeing the scrutiny of the God Path, there was no way.

"And then what happened?"

Fang Xi inquired, looking towards the shrine of the Land Goddess.

"That night... the crown prince had a dream in which an old woman came to plead with him, claiming to be the Land Goddess ’Lady Ming,’ begging the crown prince to spare the temple of the land."

Gan Yu’s voice seemed tinged with gravity, "But upon awakening, the crown prince flew into a rage... exclaiming, ’How dare this minor deity haunt my dreams?’ He promptly ordered the demolition of the temple... It’s said that when they were about to destroy the statue of the Earth God, the statue of the Land Goddess flew out on its own, taking the blow instead, and then the statue of the Land Goddess exploded into pieces, leaving only this base..."

"Immediately after, the dragons beneath the Capital City flipped over, and it was said that over a hundred thousand lives were lost... and the dragon’s vein of the former dynasty was struck by divine retribution, leading to the break in national fortune, paving the way for the Taoist Court to crown its own founder emperor..."

"A tremendously flourishing dynasty fell inconceivably fast, a rare sight indeed," Fang Xi sighed, "Lady Ming? I wonder which deity that might be."

Even the Metropolitan City God Temple couldn’t achieve such a massive feat.

And even if it did, there would still be divine retribution!

That Lady Ming was clearly a terrifying existence among the paths of the gods, with the so-called Land Goddess merely a disguise.

"Ming is synonymous with the underworld... The so-called Lady Ming is naturally ’Lady Ming Tu’!" Gan Yu said through gritted teeth.

"Lady Ming Tu? Could it be Lady Ming Tu, the governess of the underworld?"

Fang Xi thought of a possibility.

In this world, the concept of reincarnation exists, and it is said that ordinary people who die without being conferred by the court, not becoming a shade, have their souls sent to the underworld!

Indeed, not just in this world, but in all the soul realms under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court, it’s presumed that souls should go to the underworld!

Although Lady Ming Tu is still under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Emperor, she is also a significant divine feudal lord.

Waving her hand to wreak minor retribution upon a small world seemed trivial to her, akin to a mayfly shaking a tree!

"Lady Ming Tu?"

Fang Xi looked at the statue with only part of its skirt remaining, and fell silent, "Her tale... is indeed touching, yet there are some doubts. The prince of the former dynasty was no fool; in the God Path where power is supreme, he would have known of her terrifying divine power and high rank, how could he dare to proceed?"

While people can act irrationally when enraged, those who could rise to be the crown prince beneath the Heavenly Son would not be that foolish.

"Another point of doubt is that if the Land Goddess is Lady Ming Tu, then who is this Earth God?"

He looked at the statue of the young Earth God, whose image was mottled yet whose eyes were dark and deep as if another gaze was falling from the nine heavens above.

"Although Lady Ming Tu holds the noble title of Heavenly Monarch, even able to kill a heavenly son at a whim... it would be difficult for her to directly sever a dynasty’s fortunes. It would take a natural disaster and human calamity, causing chaos in the Mortal World for decades, to achieve that."

Gan Yu, however, sneered, "The only one who could instantly sever the dragon’s vein and heaven’s pillar of a realm is naturally ’Heaven’! The saying goes, ’When one offends heaven, there is no one to pray to.’ That’s exactly what happened!"

"I see..."

Fang Xi gazed at the young Earth God, lost in thought, "So the Heavenly Emperor of the Heavenly Court was initially just a local Earth God?"

The post of an Earth God is quite obscure, and in larger villages, one might rise to the ninth rank.

But in places like Bai Gan Village, where Gan Yu resided, there was no divine rank at all, no different from a clerk!

To climb from such a humbled status to the exalted position of the Heavenly Emperor was truly inspiring.

To Fang Xi, it seemed as though a mortal from the Mortal Realm had become a True Immortal of Origin Soul through cultivation!

"Indeed!"

Gan Yu spoke solemnly, "The prince from the former dynasty, in his ignorance, dared to desecrate the temples of the Heavenly Emperor and Lady Ming Tu, leading to the dynasty’s ruin overnight... The Taoist Court took this as a warning, but also buried this incident deeply, forbidding anyone to know."

"So, you’re not Gan Yu."

Fang Xi looked at ’Gan Yu,’ and smiled.

"Indeed!"

A surge of purple and green energy burst forth from ’Gan Yu,’ along with a sacrificial script to the emperor, "Your servant has managed the mountains and rivers to report to Heaven, that an Outside Evil God invites itself into our realm. I implore the Heavenly Emperor to discern and execute it!"