Chapter 239.1: Celestial Blessing
“So there really are mortals who managed to sneak in?”
The Heavenly Court, like Youdu, was territory under Cheng Qisheng’s control. Combined with the enhancement provided by the transformation field on Fallen Heaven Star, she could see every corner of the Heavenly Court whenever she wanted.
Naturally, Cheng Qisheng had also spotted those dozen or so mortals. They didn’t have even the slightest trace of divine power on them, making them stand out like a handful of red beans mixed into a pile of green ones.
The identity checks for this Heavenly Court banquet hadn’t been particularly strict to begin with. After all, the purpose was to promote the Heavenly Court. What difference did it make who showed up? Wouldn’t their presence serve as publicity either way?
As for the possibility that some demons might sneak in…
This was Blue Sea’s home base! What difference would it make if a few demons managed to sneak in? It would be like mice wandering into a party thrown by cats!
Cheng Qisheng could clearly see the shock, bewilderment, and panic on those mortals’ faces, along with the excitement lurking beneath all those emotions.
She was quite pleased with how much detail she could make out.
At present, even the imperial capital of Yun, along with several prefectural cities in its vicinity that had been most deeply influenced by imperial authority, were within Cheng Qisheng’s field of vision. And everything looked just as detailed there.
Honestly, this felt wonderful. It was even smoother and more fluid than when she’d watched Dark Star in the past. Back then, because of the difference in the flow of time, watching Dark Star had felt like flipping through a PowerPoint presentation.
This expansion of her “field of view” not only thoroughly satisfied Cheng Qisheng’s desire for control, but also allowed her to gather far more information.
For example, right now, she could learn from the demons who thought they’d concealed themselves perfectly within Yun that the Heavenly Demon wanted to obtain the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe.
It seemed that the Heavenly Demon now firmly believed that this Heaven-Opening Divine Axe could change the entire world.
To get its hands on the divine axe, the Heavenly Demon had even recalled a considerable number of demons from numerous dynasties, sending them to lie low in Yun. Their mission was to keep track of that “Chosen One” and use him to obtain the divine axe.
Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!
After learning this, Cheng Qisheng laughed for at least a full minute.
But once she’d finished laughing, she had to admit that it was actually quite reasonable for the Heavenly Demon to believe such a thing.
After all, how could the local demons possibly imagine that an apparently complete and fully functioning divine hierarchy would solemnly fabricate an artifact that didn’t even exist?
And these deities weren’t making up the story to deceive demons, either. They were making it up to deceive mortals.
—It was so absurd that nobody would ever think of something like this in the first place.
It was a good thing the Heavenly Demon had believed it.
As long as it wanted to obtain the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, it would never be able to achieve its goal. Because when the time came for the world to truly be split open and remade, the one who would accomplish it would be Cheng Qisheng, who had gained the faith of most of the mortals on Fallen Heaven Star.
However, the fact that the Heavenly Demon had been distracted by this matter and dispatched a large number of its subordinates to lie low in Yun was actually a good thing for her.
Ever since the Emperor of Yun Kingdom had “pledged allegiance” to Blue Sea, and Cheng Qisheng had accepted a divine kingdom covering an area equivalent to that of an entire Yun Kingdom, all the other countries on Fallen Heaven Star had become, in her eyes, nothing more than parcels of land measuring tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand square kilometers apiece.
Blue Sea had already claimed Yun’s divine kingdom.
As for the divine kingdoms of the other countries, Blue Sea had already laid out its forks and was waiting to dig in.
Patience. Patience…
Cheng Qisheng made herself calm down.
Once Blue Sea residents gained local believers, their divine kingdoms would gradually expand. That was a win-win.
Local deities already possessed divine kingdoms of their own. After joining the Blue Sea Heavenly Court, they would contribute to the Heavenly Court’s territorial expansion. That was a second win-win.
And with the emperor’s promise, an entire nation would worship the Heavenly Court, giving rise to a divine kingdom whose territory was equivalent to that of the nation itself. That was a third win-win.
The net had already been cast. Now was the time to start reeling in the catch. Cheng Qisheng didn’t mind putting in a little more effort to make sure everything went smoothly.
She sent a divine oracle to the Blue Sea residents stationed at the Southern Heavenly Gate, who were responsible for checking the identities of arriving guests.
“Let those dozen or so mortals through. Turn a blind eye.”
Cheng Qisheng lounged sideways on the sofa, watching the lively scene unfolding within the Blue Sea Great Luo Heavenly Court like the mastermind behind the scenes.
—Let the fame of the Blue Sea Great Luo Heavenly Court spread even farther and wider!
She could hardly wait for the day when the entirety of Yun Kingdom would fall within her field of vision.
——
“Are we really going up there?”
A young scholar, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, looked rather timid. He spoke in a low voice while cautiously observing the deities passing by, wearing an expression that suggested he wanted nothing more than to immediately enshrine them on an altar and worship them.
“This is a place where the gods reside…”
The handful of mortals had identified one another by the fact that they were all making retching motions. Indeed, a few deities passing by had noticed them standing there looking thoroughly uncomfortable and retching, and had cast them puzzled glances.
But perhaps the deities simply didn’t like meddling in other people’s business. None of them had come over to ask any questions, which was something of a relief to the mortals.
At the moment, they were discussing what to do next.
“Exactly! This is a place where the gods reside!!”
A middle-aged man, around forty-something, was the complete opposite of the young scholar. His face was alight with excitement.
“How incredibly fortunate we are! We’ve managed to enter the realm of the gods, and even get to witness them holding a banquet! If we don’t go inside and have a look, we’ll regret it for the rest of our lives!”
The more he spoke, the more excited he became.
“When I return, I’ll make sure to record everything I’ve witnessed today, in every last detail. These are all things I’ve seen with my own eyes! I guarantee it’ll be a story that draws a full house!”
The scholar picked up on something in his words.
“May I ask what your profession is, sir?”
The middle-aged man cupped his hands in greeting.
“I make my living with my mouth. I’m a storyteller, currently based at the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant in Luoming Prefecture. Speaking of which, what a curious turn of events! Yesterday, while collecting tips, I happened to find an invitation among a pile of copper coins. It had gold leaf on it, so I kept it, thinking I might exchange it for some money.
“Would you believe what happened? Just now, that invitation suddenly burst into golden light, and whoosh! It sucked me straight up into the sky! Good heavens! Along the way, I watched the prefectural city shrink until it was no bigger than a game board, and the people below looked like ants. I tell you, I’ve truly broadened my horizons today!”
Scholar Su: “…”
He could certainly tell this man was a storyteller.
He introduced himself in turn.
“My name is Su Guang. I’m from Guangling and study at Chayuan Academy. I saw an old man selling invitations. The writing on one of them was quite beautiful, so I paid two taels of silver for it.”
A sword-bearing woman of roughly the same age as the scholar saw that the other two had introduced themselves and spoke up as well.
“Meng Xiang. I’m from Diche Prefecture, and I’m a caravan escort. This invitation appeared in the middle of the road. I went over to take a look, and the next thing I knew, I was being sucked inside.”
Her tone was cool and detached, but her expression was hardly calm. Who could remain composed after being sent skyward while escorting a caravan, only to stumble upon a banquet hosted by the gods?
The only person present whose heart rate seemed relatively normal was an elderly woman dressed in luxurious clothes.
The main reason for her composure was that, in her old age, she had developed white-eye disease—cataracts.
In other words, she was blind.
The old woman couldn’t see the celestial palaces or the deities flying back and forth through the sky. She hadn’t even realized that the little wood spirit that had been reminding her to “keep your footing and hold on tight” throughout the journey was actually only the size of her thumb.
As a result, she had remained perfectly calm the entire time.
However, after listening to the other three discuss the situation, she had understood where they were and what they were facing.
She immediately introduced herself as well.
“My name is Shen Shurong. I live in Qingyue Prefecture. Today, I went to a temple to worship the Peach Deity. My maid was helping me through a peachwood grove when this invitation suddenly fell out of a tree and struck me. The next thing I knew, I was here.”
After introducing herself, she also expressed her opinion.
“An immortal encounter is not something one can easily come by. I’m already old, and I’ve lived a full life. I truly don’t wish to let such a wonderful opportunity pass me by.”
The caravan escort, Meng Xiang, also did her best to suppress her excitement, speaking as calmly as she could.
“We escorts travel far and wide for a living. Sometimes, we even encounter demons along the way. There’s really nothing for me to be afraid of.”
The storyteller immediately became excited again.
“Would you look at that! The four of us actually come from four different places! The methods of the gods truly are beyond mortal comprehension! I’ll have to write this down, too!”
Scholar Su: “…”
There were four of them now.
One was a storyteller who simply wanted to see as much as possible and gather material for his storytelling career.
Another was an elderly woman who felt that she had already lived a good life and wouldn’t mind if death came, either.
One was already accustomed to working in a high-risk profession, so she had nothing to fear no matter what she was asked to do.
Which meant that, among everyone present, was he the only one who was both timid and afraid of dying?
The scholar was a coward. Although he didn’t dare impersonate a deity and enter this divine banquet under false pretenses, he was even less willing to separate from his “own people” and approach a deity alone to “explain the situation.”
All he could do was follow hesitantly behind the other three, simultaneously terrified and ashamed of his own cowardice.
Fortunately, the scholar soon found a way to contribute to their little group of four: helping the blind elderly woman walk.
The four tentatively stepped onto the cloud stairway.
Thankfully, although the stairway looked as if it were made of drifting clouds, it felt just like solid ground beneath their feet. At least they didn’t have to worry about falling off and plummeting to their deaths.
The Blue Sea soldiers stationed at the Southern Heavenly Gate had been waiting for these mortals for quite some time.
The moment they saw the four approaching, they immediately adopted stern expressions, keeping their eyes fixed straight ahead. In any case, they didn’t so much as glance at the newcomers.
When the four realized that nobody was going to check their identities, they all breathed a sigh of relief and hurried through the Southern Heavenly Gate.
Initially, they had worried that they might not be able to find their way around.
But once inside, they quickly discovered that the cluster of celestial palaces was actually divided into separate sections.
At present, the Southern Heavenly Gate led to only one path.
Between the celestial palaces were enormous heavenly chasms, deep enough to turn a person into a splattered mess of flesh if they fell in.
The scholar held his breath and glanced down. His heart immediately began pounding even harder.
However, he soon noticed something peculiar. The celestial palaces around them that weren’t connected to their current path weren’t completely stationary. Instead, they slowly drifted from side to side.
Suddenly, the scholar understood. He whispered his guess to the others:
“It seems these celestial palaces can separate and join together whenever necessary. Perhaps the other palaces have been moved apart today specifically to make room for the banquet.”
The storyteller’s eyes lit up. He immediately gave everything another thorough look.
Another one! This would make yet another excellent dramatic climax in his storytelling!
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