Chapter 226: Inviting a God to Possess One’s Body
Construction of the Heavenly Court had begun, and the residents of Blue Sea were busier than ever.
Ever since Cheng Qisheng had taken down the Green Lizard civilization, she had established private chat channels with the surrounding Safe Cities. She would casually chat with the other City Lords from time to time.
Quite a few City Lords complained that, because Fallen Heaven Star could not be monitored and was overrun with demons and monsters, while the so-called “gods” had believers fawning over them, the intelligence they received suggested that many residents had begun to slack off and simply give up on making an effort.
There wasn’t much they could do about it. It was simply human nature. Most residents of the apocalyptic Safe Cities had been living under constant mental strain. Now, at long last, they had found an environment where they could just hide away and have the locals provide them with good food and drink. Those who could resist the temptation to enjoy themselves were bound to be in the minority.
Even Meow Meow had been rather frustrated by this. Compared to human civilization, the catfolk civilization was even lazier.
The catfolk residents, in particular, had taken exceptionally well to the idea of having others provide for them.
In their eyes, if they could get eight points’ worth of rewards for putting in eight points’ worth of effort, there was simply no need to work any harder.
As for all that talk about long-term plans, how they needed to find ways to improve their strength now so that they could accomplish this or that in the future—most ordinary people could certainly say all the right things when they weren’t actually facing such choices.
But when a real temptation was placed right in front of them, that was an entirely different matter.
Meow Meow grumbled: [Fortunately, I asked a few other City Lords about it, and their residents are pretty much the same. It’s not just our Safe City that’s like this. That makes me feel a lot better, meow~]
Judging by the way she spoke, she seemed to have simply assumed that Blue Sea’s residents were no different.
But that was absolutely not the case.
Anyone looking at Blue Sea’s residents would surely think they were so busy they were practically running themselves ragged every single day. They genuinely didn’t even have time to sit down and eat a proper meal.
Nobody was forcing them to work this hard. Yet every single one of them was pushing themselves to the limit.
By now, ninety percent of Blue Sea’s residents had stopped consuming offerings altogether. Instead, they simply took a deep breath of the fragrant incense, and that alone was enough to keep them full for the entire day.
But the Blue Sea residents themselves were actually quite happy about it.
To be precise, they were practically ecstatic.
Quite a few of them regarded Fallen Heaven Star as an ideal place to improve their abilities.
After all, divine power wasn’t something they could obtain solely through faith. They could also cultivate it themselves. Every day, they used their divine power to transport building materials and construct the Heavenly Court. Wasn’t that essentially training their own divine power?
And the thing was, any divine power they gained now would translate into an increase in their supernatural abilities once they left Fallen Heaven Star.
Back when they were in Blue Sea, they had been using their physical bodies, so they had to keep an eye on how long they trained. Once they reached the limit of what their bodies could handle, they had to stop to avoid injuring themselves.
Even if their bodies could take it, maintaining such a heightened state of mental excitement for too long could still lead to sleep problems.
But now things were different. Everyone was a god! Nobody needed to sleep anymore!
In what other world could they find such an excellent training ground, where they didn’t need to eat, didn’t need to sleep, and didn’t have to worry about damaging their bodies by training too much?
And when they considered that the Heavenly Court they were building would eventually return to Blue Sea with them, that only made them even more enthusiastic.
These days, Cheng Qisheng had no choice but to bless them once every morning and once every evening, for fear that they would get so carried away with their work that they would ignore any signs of exhaustion.
Hearing Meow Meow complain like this, of course Cheng Qisheng wasn’t foolish enough to blurt out, “Hahahaha, my residents aren’t like that at all!”
Instead, she smoothly changed the subject and used Meow Meow’s remarks as a segue into something more important.
“You should still send some people down to remind your residents to be careful. My residents have discovered that the situation on Fallen Heaven Star is very complicated. Besides the demons and monsters, there’s another faction going around killing the planet’s native creatures.”
Cheng Qisheng then told Meow Meow everything about the existence of the Heavenly Demon.
Meow Meow was so shocked that she practically bristled like a cybernetic cat:
[What?! This planet is already in such a state, and they’re still fighting amongst themselves, meow?!]
Cheng Qisheng thought to herself that Meow Meow clearly hadn’t been to Moon Silk Star.
Still, it was hard to say which of the two planets was in a worse state. The main purpose of the [Company] on Moon Silk Star was to lure Safe Cities there. As for how it treated the local residents, its attitude was essentially: They can live or die. Either way is fine.
But the Heavenly Demon faction on Fallen Heaven Star was different. They really did kill anyone they came across.
[Blue Sea Safe City: If there was no Heavenly Demon faction around, I could understand the residents wanting to take a little vacation. But with the Heavenly Demon faction lurking like tigers waiting to pounce, I’m worried that large numbers of residents will be killed before they even have a chance to defend themselves.]
Inside Meow Meow Safe City, Meow Meow was already bristling with fury.
[Thank you, Blue Sea! I understand, meow! I’ll immediately arrange for some catfolk to go down and spread the news to the residents!]
Cheng Qisheng: [No need to thank me. Go take care of things. I’ll pass this information along to the other City Lords too. =v=]
If this had been another world, she would have certainly charged some nuclear crystals for this information. But Fallen Heaven Star was different.
Blue Sea suspected that the strength of the Heavenly Demon faction was directly related to how many lives they had killed.
For example, after the Black Tortoise was killed, its body had been taken over and controlled by the Heavenly Demon faction. The same was true of the dozen or so dragons that had died. Their bodies had likewise become a source of power for the Heavenly Demon faction.
Apart from the Black Tortoise, which had lived for tens of thousands of years and still retained some abilities even after death, the souls of all the other controlled demon beasts had vanished without a trace. Most likely, they had all been taken away.
Cheng Qisheng certainly didn’t believe the Heavenly Demon had collected the souls of these powerful demon beasts just to use them as decorations.
The most likely explanation was that these souls were being used like power banks. It was much like how Cheng Qisheng could use the rules to allow the gods of the Blue Sea pantheon to use their cultivation as currency.
Under these circumstances, she could only do her best to prevent the Heavenly Demon faction from taking any more lives.
She immediately spread the information to all the other City Lords. This, however, left those who had personally witnessed her bringing out some mysterious weapons and blasting an entire Safe City off the map feeling rather conflicted.
Blue Sea had seemed so terrifying before… Who would have thought that she was actually quite approachable? She had obtained valuable intelligence and shared it with everyone for free.
Still, even if she seemed easygoing, none of them dared to speak carelessly. Whether they believed her or not, all the City Lords repeatedly expressed their gratitude. Some even went straight to showering her with gifts.
By now, Aether had become increasingly skilled at conversation, and its robotic mannerisms were gradually disappearing. For this kind of meaningless back-and-forth, full of empty pleasantries and mutual flattery, Cheng Qisheng simply left the handling to Aether.
Instead, she followed the perspectives of her believers and considered the situation. Going around to find individual divine officials would be far too troublesome. It would be much easier to find a higher-ranking divine official locally and have that person recruit others themselves.
As for the matter of rainfall, there was no need to worry about it for the time being.
The several dozen dragons she had subdued in the Myriad Stars Sea had already taken up their posts. Every day, they flew back and forth above Fallen Heaven Star, traveling around to bring rain according to the Heavenly Court’s Weather Schedule.
Cheng Qisheng could now control the prayers for rain as well. Rather than blocking them outright, she had essentially used her mental power to create an inbox.
From then on, any messages praying to the heavens would go directly into this inbox.
As the acting Heavenly Dao, Cheng Qisheng only needed to open it and check the messages once a day.
Once the Heavenly Court was completed, she planned to set up a piece of jade locally. All these prayer messages would be displayed on it. Then she could appoint a divine official to assess the requests, determine the circumstances, and arrange for the dragon clan to go out and do their work accordingly.
If Fallen Heaven Star weren’t a place where she had to take things one step at a time, Cheng Qisheng would have loved to get the Old Eighths to develop computers so that the Heavenly Court could go completely paperless.
Forget it. Everyone was already busy enough as it was. She’d better not give the Old Eighths any more work.
Right now, all Cheng Qisheng wanted was to nip the Heavenly Demon faction in the bud, so they wouldn’t interfere with her plans to reshape the Heavenly Dao and claim the world-rule reward for the mission.
She glanced over the Old Eighths, who were all hard at work on the Black Tortoise’s back, then sent divine revelations to some of her believers who were unable to move from their current locations.
“Find out which kingdom in this world is currently in the most chaos.”
Her believers themselves might be unable to move, but their own believers could still travel around and gather information, couldn’t they?
…
Ming Moyu and the other Fenglu Mountain cultivators emerged from the dense fog.
Just a moment ago, beyond the fog had stood the imposing Netherworld Youdu Prefecture. But in the next instant, beneath the heavy night sky, the fog dispersed—and all that remained behind them was an empty stretch of land.
The thirteen cultivators let out a collective breath, their expressions still somewhat dazed.
But they were young, after all. Before long, the group had already begun chattering excitedly among themselves in the middle of the night.
“That place really did disappear?”
“Quick, quick! Pinch me! Did we really go to the world of the dead? There were cities, soldiers, and even proper names there! The Ghost King even invited us to a banquet, and we got to meet the Third-Generation Patriarch!”
Ming Moyu, however, was seeing stars. Her expression was vacant, and, for once, she didn’t join in the discussion. Another junior brother and a junior sister were in much the same state as her.
The youngest junior brother was startled. Thinking they might have lost their souls, he hurriedly shook their arms.
“Eldest Senior Sister! Seventh Senior Brother! Ninth Senior Sister! What’s wrong with you?”
Ming Moyu was perfectly conscious, though. She merely waved a hand.
“It’s nothing. We’re just… a little exhausted.”
The youngest junior brother was confused. “Exhausted?”
Another junior sister ventured, “Could it be that the Patriarch summoned you and taught you martial techniques?”
Fenglu Mountain had a thousand years of history. Naturally, it had experienced wars along the way. It was entirely possible that some of its martial arts techniques had been lost over the centuries.
Now that they had finally encountered their Patriarch in the underworld, and the three disciples he had specifically summoned were widely regarded within the sect as the cleverest of their generation, perhaps he had called them over to pass down some lost martial arts techniques for them to bring back to the world of the living.
The more the junior sister thought about it, the more excited she became.
“Eldest Senior Sister! Eldest Senior Sister, I want to learn them too! Once you’ve had a good rest, could you teach me?”
Ming Moyu’s eyes remained vacant as she slowly shook her head.
“The Patriarch didn’t teach us any martial techniques.”
Another junior brother grew even more curious.
“Then why did the Patriarch summon you three? We waited in the rear hall for two whole days before you finally came back.”
After all, that place had been the realm of the dead. Even though their hosts had treated them to plenty of good food and drink, with the three most dependable members of their group missing, the cultivators hadn’t been able to sleep soundly for the past two days.
Seventh Senior Brother let out a long, deep sigh. In just two days, he felt as though he had aged by two whole years.
“Our Patriarch currently holds an official position in Youdu Office. Things have been rather chaotic there today, and the Patriarch has been having trouble keeping up with everything. The matters are important, and he couldn’t just find someone at random to help him. As luck would have it, we happened to be in Youdu Prefecture, and he knew that the three of us were also accustomed to handling the sect’s administrative affairs. So he called us over to lend a hand.”
The youngest junior brother still hadn’t realized there was anything wrong with handling administrative work. In fact, he looked rather envious.
“The Patriarch must really think highly of you, Senior Sisters and Senior Brother!”
“Senior Brother, did you get to visit the place where the Patriarch works? I heard Lord Ghost King say that the Patriarch has become a high-ranking official and even has an entire palace of his own! What is it like? Does it look really magnificent?”
Ming Moyu picked up the conversation.
“…That palace is enormous. Really enormous. It’s even bigger than Fenglu Mountain.”
“Wow!!!”
The young cultivators immediately grew excited.
Then their Eldest Senior Sister added another sentence.
“The administrative documents the Patriarch has to deal with fill the entire palace. They’re piled all the way up to the roof beams.”
The other cultivators: “…..”
Seventh Senior Brother gave a rather stiff nod.
“There really are… a lot of documents.”
They had been piled up like mountains. At first, the three of them had actually been quite excited when the Patriarch asked them to help calculate the good deeds accumulated by mortals after their deaths.
After all, this sounded like something only an exceptionally powerful deity would be qualified to do. They were mere mortals, yet they had been allowed to participate. Could it be that the Patriarch considered the three of them the most reliable among the seventh-generation disciples and intended to groom them for greater responsibilities?
But after working for two hours, the three of them finally understood that when the Patriarch said things were “too chaotic and busy, so I had to call you here to help,” he hadn’t been speaking out of politeness. He had meant every word.
If the other junior brothers and sisters hadn’t been so unfamiliar with administrative work—and if bringing them in only to make mistakes wouldn’t have created even more trouble—the Patriarch would probably have summoned every single one of his descendants to help.
“Over these past two days, we’ve processed the good deeds of at least a hundred people. A hundred people… Every single entry had to be calculated with absolute precision. After just two days, I’ve practically polished the beads of my abacus from handling them so much. If you make even one mistake, you have to start all over again…”
Among the Fenglu Mountain disciples, Seventh Senior Brother was actually one of those who preferred books and writing to swords and blades.
Originally, he had always been quite open-minded about such things. Going down the mountain to exterminate evil spirits was doing his part, and handling the sect’s mundane affairs back at the mountain was also doing his part. When he grew older, he could simply find himself an administrative position within the sect.
But after spending two days and two nights working nonstop in the Office of Merits and Transgressions, Seventh Senior Brother discovered that perhaps he didn’t actually enjoy mundane administrative work all that much.
He never wanted to see another written character for the rest of his life. From now on, he was going to stay with swords and blades forever.
Thinking about it, he couldn’t help feeling a deep sense of shared suffering, along with a lingering sense of dread.
“If those ghost officials hadn’t advised us that living people shouldn’t remain in the underworld for too long, I’m afraid we’d still be stuck in the Patriarch’s Office of Merits and Transgressions right now.”
Ninth Junior Sister nodded in agreement. She was so exhausted that she couldn’t even bring herself to say a complete sentence.
She felt exactly the same way. Rather than making her do this sort of work, she’d much rather go one-on-one with evil ghosts and fight them to the death.
She kept it brief.
“I want to fight evil ghosts. Right now.”
Ming Moyu wiped her face as well.
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“Let’s go. First, we’ll head down the mountain and send a message back to the sect. Then we’ll see if there are any demons or evil spirits nearby that need dealing with.”
Ming Moyu led her junior brothers and sisters down the mountain, her mind swirling with countless thoughts.
Actually, the Patriarch hadn’t simply made them work. As the eldest among the seventh-generation cultivators, she had also been taught something else by him.
It just wasn’t a martial technique, nor was it a cultivation method. The name of this particular technique was rather unusual, too. It was called…
‘Inviting a God to Possess One’s Body?’
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