Becoming an immortal and ancestor begins with the golden toad spitting out money.

Chapter 132 The Strange Spiritual Realm, The Pseudo-Ascensioner

After the City God's Spirit Realm closed, the young cultivator Cai Yi returned to Cai Family Village with two ghost generals as his guards. He even used the story of the blind old Taoist priest as a topic of conversation, boasting about it to his brothers in the clan.

"A fortune teller? He's just a blind old Taoist priest!"

This was a phrase Cai Yi often used, but he was soon called over by his grandfather.

Cai Yi's grandfather was named Cai Huo, one of the elders of the Yin-Yang realm in Caijia Village. He not only reached the level of a Ghost King, but also had a great deal of influence.

Cai Yi was so young, yet he was able to have two ghost generals protecting him because of his grandfather, Cai Huo.

Not long after, Cai Yi left his grandfather's room with a look of surprise and doubt. It wasn't that his grandfather, Cai Huo, had said anything, but rather that Cai Yi sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.

"Could it be... that something terrible really happened a few days ago?"

Cai Yi's worries were short-lived; he was soon invited out for food and drinks by his friends, and after a few drinks, he forgot everything.

"Drink today, for tomorrow we die! Let's have another one!"

"Cultivation is so tedious. If we don't enjoy ourselves now, we won't have the chance after we ascend to immortality!"

"..."

Amidst the clinking of glasses, it seemed like they had been drinking for a long time; otherwise, how could it be already daylight outside?
"The mine is flooded! The black gold mine is flooded!"

"Quickly, put out the fire! Quickly, put out the fire!"

"..."

After a series of cries filled with shock and fear, Cai Yi finally woke up. His heart skipped a beat. Among the six people who had come to drink, two were responsible for guarding the Wujin Mine.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped--"

Cai Yi slapped the two clansmen guarding the black gold mine twice, trying to wake them up, but it was like hitting two dead pigs; they didn't react at all.

Then, Cai Yi suddenly remembered the serious expression on his grandfather Cai Huo's face when he asked him questions earlier that day, and a hint of panic appeared on his face.

"Could it be that disaster is finally upon us?"

……

After Su Ji guessed that something had happened at the Cai family's black gold mine, he did not go straight to the Cai family to see what was going on. Instead, he went to Qili Lake with the local earth god.

Along the way, the local earth god said with a serious expression, "The spirit general who travels to the City God Temple has been missing for two days and one night, and the fire at the Cai family's black gold mine is very likely related to him!"

Wujin mine is a coal mine. At most, there will be collapse accidents, and most fires will just be spontaneous combustion.

Su Ji thought of another aspect: "According to the current progress of the water vein exploration, they may have already found that the fire at the Wujin Mine near the Cai family may also be due to the Earth Yang Serpent Lord."

The Cai family's black gold mine certainly didn't catch fire at this crucial moment for no reason. Whether it was the disappearance of the spirit general who was on a daytime tour of the City God Temple, or the strange force that the assassin belonged to... either could be the trigger.

Not long after, Su Ji and the local earth god arrived at Qili Lake with their doubts.

Night had fallen, and the demons and ghosts of Qili Lake also saw the soaring red light in the northeast. Unfortunately, it was too far from Caijia Village, and the Water God was unable to help.

From a great distance, Su Ji spotted the Earthly Yang Serpent Lord in the square in front of the Guardian Spirit General's residence, and immediately realized he had guessed wrong.

The Earth Yang Serpent Lord is of the Earth Yang attribute, so it is not concerned with water or fire. This time, it came to Qili Lake to deal with any sudden events in the water veins.

Now, the Cai family's black gold mine has run into trouble, but it has nothing to do with the Earthly Yang Serpent Lord, who is still sitting calmly in Qili Lake.

Su Ji and the local earth god wanted to understand the situation, but the people here knew nothing about it either.

Fortunately, the City God arrived shortly afterward.

The stream between Dongsang Village and Xisang Village flows directly to Qili Lake, and the two villages are about seven or eight miles apart.
The City God Temple and the Seven Mile Lake Water Palace are five or six miles apart. The reason why the City God Spirit Official is so slow is because his strength has not reached the level of Ghost King and High Cultivator. Naturally, his speed is far slower than that of Zhang Gong, the Land God, a high-level cultivator in the Cave Profound Realm.

The City God Spirit Officer, like the Earth God Spirit Officer of the Earth Temple, is in charge of everything and does everything, so he has much less time for cultivation. Although he holds a high position and great power, he is just the City God's "secretary".

Now, the City God's spirit official has arrived at Qili Lake, bringing with him the City God's order.

"The fire at the black gold mine in Caijia Village was caused by the local deity of Yemo Village, in order to rescue the Day Wandering Spirit General who was trapped in the strange spiritual realm outside Caijia Village."

"Right now, the Day Wandering Spirit is still being hunted down by a group of villains. I request that the Earthly Serpent Lord accompany me to provide support..."

Upon hearing this, the Earth Serpent King's eyes lit up. Its mission this time was to find the City God Temple Day-Roaming Spirit General who had disappeared in the water veins, but it hadn't expected to end up here.

Su Ji and the local earth god exchanged a glance, both looking somewhat incredulous.

They originally thought that the landowner of Yemo Village was highly suspicious, either not a member of the supernatural forces or cooperating with them.

Now that we see it, the local spirit official of Yemo Village is not only not a member of any strange force, but has also become the vanguard in rescuing the Day Wandering Spirit General, which inevitably raises many questions.

Judging from what the City God Spirit Official said, Caijia Village, which possesses a strange spiritual realm, should be closely related to the strange force that the assassins belong to. There will inevitably be a big battle in Caijia Village later, and Su Ji does not want to be caught in the crossfire just by watching the show.

So the Earth God returned to the Earth Temple to protect the safety of the Yin and Yang realms of Dongsang and Xisang villages, while Su Ji went to Jinfeng County alone.

Yan Tianchou then began to analyze, "The blind fortune teller's prediction should be correct. Perhaps it was our intervention that caused some changes, resulting in the omens being delayed by a few days..."

Su Ji and Yan Tianchou's intervention involved asking the local earth god to go to the City God Temple, but they found nothing and may have alerted the enemy.

Su Ji was immediately alarmed: "Could it be that my being intercepted and killed by the strange forces was a disaster brought about by disrupting the heavenly secrets?"

Su Ji became increasingly alarmed as he thought about it. If he hadn't been well-prepared and the Bull-Headed Demon King hadn't been frightened by the sunlight, even if he had managed to retreat that night, he would probably have paid a price.

After all, the [Shadow Escape] technique is still a low-grade mystical art, with a limited range. It's possible that before even reaching its target area, it will be disrupted by the opponent's magical abilities...

Yan Tianchou, however, said from another perspective: "Judging from the current situation, the disaster is only at the Wujin Mine in Caijia Village. The conditions here do not support mining at night, so it should not have affected many people."

"The so-called great calamity was also discovered in time by the City God Temple. Perhaps it was because of our intervention that the calamity was swift and intense, reducing some of the casualties that occurred during its development..."

Just as Bai Yuanling said about the Lunzhou demon incident, it was precisely because the demons slowly infiltrated and developed that seven counties fell overnight.

In this incident, the City God Temple took notice because Su Ji was intercepted and killed, and the disappearance of the Day Wandering Spirit General led to speculation about the Earth-level Secret Realm. More and more cultivators paid attention to and participated in this matter.

As a result, even the supernatural forces were probably caught off guard and ultimately exposed to the world in this way.

Su Ji suddenly understood: "It was because we exposed the local deity of Ye Mo Village that the City God, while monitoring the local deity, learned the cause of the fire at the Wujin Mine, as well as the Day-Wandering Spirit General who escaped from the strange spiritual realm of Caijia Village..."

Logically speaking, the Spirit Realm does not allow high-level cultivators and ghost kings to enter. However, if the consciousness of the Spirit Realm malfunctions or has transformed into a small blessed land, then it becomes possible for ghost kings and high-level cultivators to enter.

As expected, when Su Ji arrived at the City God Temple, he was invited into the City God Hall to watch the events unfolding in Caijia Village through the City God's Divine Mirror with the City God.

The City God sighed, "I almost mistook the local earth god of Ye Mo Village for a villain. I never expected that this person would not only realize that the Cai family's strangeness was related to the Day Wandering Spirit General, but also choose to ignite the black gold mine to help the Day Wandering Spirit General escape from the strange spirit realm..."

The local deity of Yemo Village is now known as Lord Cai. More than a decade ago, he was like the two ghost generals guarding the young cultivator Cai Yi, working as a collateral branch to protect the descendants of the clan elders.

In the eyes of the City God, the landowner of Yemo Village first became independent, and then so righteously betrayed his own family, making him a remarkable figure.

Su Ji did not make a judgment easily, but carefully looked at the image projected by the City God's Mirror.

It turned out that the fire was not at the black gold mine, but at a pile of black gold stones collected not far from the mine. Behind the towering flames was a strange, writhing spirit realm.

The eerie spirit realm is half in the sky and half connected to the ground, like a worm with countless legs that is retracting all its legs.

"As expected, a portion of the eerie spirit realm has transformed into a small blessed land, and now that this has happened, it's actually reverting to its former state as a spirit realm..."

If it is a small blessed land, it means that it is integrated with the terrain, and the will of the spiritual realm can hardly interfere too much, and cannot prevent the Ghost King and high cultivators from intruding.

If the Spirit Realm were to revert to its complete form, the eerie Spirit Realm would be without any flaws, not only preventing the Ghost King and high-ranking cultivators from entering, but also allowing them to escape.

The City God sighed, "I don't know what methods the strange forces used to intercept and take away most of the water veins and spiritual realms under Qili Lake, ultimately creating such a large spiritual realm."

"If the land deity of Yemo Village hadn't ignited the pile of black gold stones, I wouldn't have been able to see the true nature of this strange spiritual realm with the help of the City God's Divine Mirror..."

The title "君" (jun) is not exclusive to the emperor. Some people are called "君子" (junzi), and some members of the imperial family are granted the title of "县君" (xianjun).

As a spirit ruler, the City God's jurisdiction is narrowly defined as Jinfeng County, but broadly defined as the entire Jinfeng County. He doesn't usually use the City God's Divine Mirror to look around all the time.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, the land temple in Caijia Village may have been corrupted long ago, which is due to the lax supervision of the state and local government, and has little to do with the city god temple...

Now that the incident has happened so suddenly, the Mountain God Temple in Baiyan Mountain Range may not necessarily take action, the Qili Lake Water Palace is too weak, and the local shrines are too far away, so the City God Temple is the only option.

Before long, the figure of the Earthly Yang Serpent Lord appeared in the City God's Divine Mirror. Its target was not the strange spiritual realm, but the Day-roaming Spirit General of the City God Temple, which was under siege not far away.

Even after leaving the Great Sun Spirit Realm, the Earth Yang Serpent Lord's strength remains top-tier.

However, the five or six ghost kings who were besieging the Day Wandering Spirit General in the distance were not alarmed at all, seemingly not taking the Earth Yang Serpent Lord seriously.

Just as Su Ji was wondering, the strange, writhing limbs of the spirit realm suddenly began to break off. Some of them fell onto the five or six ghost kings, while others condensed towards a certain place.

Instantly, the auras of the five or six ghost kings surged, transforming from ordinary to forcibly elevated to a respectable level. The already injured Day Wandering Spirit General dared not continue the fight and retreated towards the City God Temple deities who had come to its aid.

At the same time, the tendrils below the eerie spiritual realm intertwined and transformed into a gigantic human figure two or three zhang tall.

"A manifestation of spiritual consciousness?" The City God's expression changed slightly.

The Spirit Realm is formed by the merging of a high-level cultivator's cultivation realm with the world after his death. When dealing with the Ghost King and the high-level cultivator who forcefully break in, it can display unparalleled power near the Spirit Realm's membrane.

Within the Spirit Realm, the Spirit Realm Consciousness can only act using mental power. When encountering problems that cannot be solved, it will use mental power to combine with things within the Spirit Realm to create clones.

Now, at the moment when the eerie spiritual realm is cut off from the terrain, the gods of the City God Temple have arrived. In order to transform into a complete spiritual realm as soon as possible, they have abandoned part of the spiritual realm's membrane.

These foot-like membranes became the embodiment of the spiritual consciousness, making this enormous human figure extremely powerful.

The City God was not worried about the Earthly Serpent Lord, nor about the besieged Day Wandering Spirit General. Rather, after the manifestation of the Spirit Realm consciousness appeared, there was not enough power to prevent the strange Spirit Realm from breaking free from the terrain's limitations.

Su Ji couldn't help but sigh.

Now, the Earth Serpent King is blocked, the Day Wandering Spirit and a group of gods are fighting fiercely against the five Ghost Kings whose strength has greatly increased, and the Earth God of Yemo Village is blocked by the sixth Ghost King. For the time being, there is really no way to deal with it.

Judging from the current situation, unless the Earthly Serpent King fights desperately to stop the eerie spirit realm, it will inevitably take to the air and escape.

Su Ji also knew that the Earthly Yang Serpent Lord was just a guardian spirit of the City God Temple, and he wanted to become an immortal together with the Great Sun Immortal Realm in the future. How could he possibly risk his life for this matter?

"Hey!"

The local deity sighed as well, then made a decision: "Now, only I can take action!"

The City God is the spirit deity of the City God Temple, and he cannot easily leave Jinfeng County, so it is impossible for him to personally go to Caijia Village.

Fortunately, the City God still possesses the divine treasure, the City God's Divine Mirror. The only cost of using it remotely is that it consumes a large amount of resources.

Then the City God took a step forward, and his figure suddenly grew to a height of sixteen feet, his cloak fluttering as he arrived above the City God Temple.

Immediately, the City God's Divine Mirror flew out of the City God Temple and arrived at a height of thirty-three zhang above the temple. A vast world also appeared behind the City God's head.

"Jinfeng County, Wusheng Hometown!"

Su Ji was startled. This vast world was the microcosm of the Wusheng Homeland he had seen behind the Bright Moon Spirit Realm, and he understood the source of the Earth God's confidence.

Over the years, countless offerings and prayers have been made in Wusheng's hometown. Even if there are business people like paper-cutting shops, the City God Temple will still take a heavy tax.

As a result, the incense and prayers accumulated in the City God Temple are countless. Even if a portion of it is converted into divine power by the true gods of the pantheon, there will definitely be some left over.

As expected, as the City God used the City God Spirit Lord [Talisman] to control Wusheng Hometown, a huge amount of incense and prayer power rushed into the City God's Divine Mirror.

The next instant, a bright beam of light shot out from the City God's Mirror, as if a true god had opened his divine eye and released his divine power, and fell towards the outside of Caijia Village in the northeast.

"Such methods have probably reached the level of immortals and gods!"

While Su Ji was amazed, he also became curious about the fall of the seven counties in Lunzhou. If there was such a powerful City God, how could the city led by the Bloodline Demon King have been so easily occupied by the county?

Yan Tianchou then gave his analysis: "Yuzhou is the place of worship of the Central Yellow Emperor, so it is normal for it to have the City God's Divine Mirror. However, Lunzhou belongs to the place of worship of the Western White Emperor lineage. Even if there is a City God Temple there, it may not have such a precious treasure as the City God's Divine Mirror."

"Moreover, above the seven bloodline demon kings are demons at the level of immortals and gods. Even with the City God's Divine Mirror, it's possible that these demons could find a way to deal with them..."

Su Ji nodded in approval, then looked at the City God's Divine Mirror.

As the City God's Mirror light flew further and further away, the area it covered gradually increased from a diameter of three feet, until it reached more than twenty feet above the eerie spiritual realm.

"Certainly!"

Because of the great distance, it was difficult to concentrate the power of the City God's Divine Mirror. The purpose of the City God's spell this time was to freeze the strange spiritual realm and then find a way to deal with it.

The most direct way is to ask the Jade State God to send gods to help, and there is even a chance to see the divine soldiers take action.

However, this move also has a major drawback: most of the credit is taken by the local community, while the City God Temple, after working so hard for so long, only gets some scraps.

Secondly, we need to invite many cultivators in Jinfeng County to come up with a solution. Not only can we invite the demons and ghosts from Qili Lake Water Palace, but we can also invite the mechanical sorcerers from Qianbian Town.

Finally, they could only seek help from the mountain god temple in the Baiyan Mountains, which was relatively close to Caijia Village, but this was a last resort...

Su Ji, who possessed the ability to deduce the Heavenly Strategies, had deduced many possibilities. Seeing the City God's thoughtful expression, he asked him a question.

"Lord City God, how much incense and prayer power is consumed every hour to stabilize this eerie spiritual realm?"

Previously, the City God had said that if he were to mobilize the City God's Divine Mirror to monitor the land of Ye Mo Village, it would require the consumption of tens of thousands of strands of divine power over seven days.

Now that the City God is using the power of incense offerings to activate the City God's Divine Mirror, Su Ji has some ideas.

Upon hearing this, the City God's expression shifted slightly, and he said, "Now that the strange spiritual realm has been stabilized, it will likely require approximately 720,000 strands of incense and prayer power every hour..."

Su Ji's eyes lit up immediately.

Not long ago, Su Ji bought 360,000 strands of incense offerings from Grand Secretary Deng, consuming 10,000 strands of divine power.

However, this is the price after the City God Temple collects taxes. According to the original price, it only consumes five thousand strands of divine power per hour.

Just then, the ghost kings, seeing that the eerie spirit realm had been fixed by the divine light, panicked. They lost all desire to fight and retreated towards the eerie spirit realm.

With the help of the strange spirit realm clone, even the Earth Yang Serpent King only left one Ghost King behind, while the other five Ghost Kings actually entered the strange spirit realm.

Immediately, the expressions of many of the gods present turned grim, as if the rule prohibiting the Ghost King and high-ranking cultivators from entering this eerie spiritual realm had vanished.

The City God and Su Ji, who were more than ten miles away, had a sudden thought and came up with another answer.

These so-called ghost kings are not ghost kings at all, but pseudo-ghost kings empowered by the strange spiritual realm consciousness. They are merely at the level of ghost generals and are naturally not rejected by the rules of the spiritual realm.

However, another problem arose at this time. The pseudo-ghost king who intercepted Su Ji last time was slightly weaker, so why was he able to surpass the average level this time?
Su Ji was completely baffled.

The City God's expression shifted slightly, as if he had thought of something.

"Strictly speaking, the Spirit Realm is off-limits to Ghost Kings and high-ranking cultivators, unless it is transformed into a minor blessed land..."

"However, in ancient times, some people regarded the Spirit Realm as a blessed land or even a celestial realm. When they broke through to the Ghost King level, they chose to ascend to the Spirit Realm by merging with the consciousness of the Spirit Realm."

"In this way, the so-called ascended beings not only coexist with the Spirit Realm, but can also manifest avatars using the power of the Spirit Realm..."

"Judging from the current situation, the eerie spirit realm may have already become the ascension ground for a group of people!"

"When far from the eerie spirit realm, the ghost general can be empowered by the spirit realm clone to become a slightly weaker pseudo-ghost king. Near the eerie spirit realm, they can obtain average or even decent combat power. That eerie spirit realm clone, which can be described as having top-notch combat power, should be the result of the combined efforts of multiple pseudo-ascended beings..."

Upon hearing this, Su Ji suddenly realized something.

"No wonder the local deity of Yemo Village turned against the Cai family, even to the point of sacrificing family ties for the greater good. It turns out that the Cai family was pursuing a false ascension, while the local deity of Yemo Village, Lord Cai, sought the path of corpse liberation to achieve the true spirit of a ghost immortal..."

Cai Gong, the local deity of Ye Mo Village, had no intention of ascending to immortality. Perhaps after discovering this secret, he could have remained a bystander out of consideration for his relatives.

Now that Riyou Lingjiang has discovered the truth, it seems the secret is about to be exposed and could even lead to a major disaster. If the local deity of Yemo Village doesn't intervene, not only will he not gain any benefits, but he might also be implicated by the Cai family...

Su Ji immediately made a decision and bluntly said, "Since the complete spiritual realm forbids ghost kings and high-level cultivators from entering, why don't we break through the membrane of the strange spiritual realm and directly charge into it?"

If the spiritual realm is incomplete, it will inevitably be suppressed by the will of heaven and earth. The will of the spiritual realm is no match for the will of heaven and earth... This is why the Little Blessed Land lost its ability to prevent high-level cultivators like the Ghost King from entering.

The City God naturally understood this principle, but still said with some helplessness:

"Even with the combined efforts of high-level cultivators, they can only open a small opening in the membrane of the spirit realm. It's possible that the opening will close shortly after the Ghost King and the high-level cultivators enter, at which point all the Ghost Kings and high-level cultivators could become sitting ducks..."

Just now, when the eerie spirit realm severed the foot tendrils, the amniotic membrane quickly plugged the gap, giving the City God Temple deities no chance to obstruct it.

Su Ji smiled confidently: "Yang Jun of the Great Sun Spirit Realm once encountered a problem, which was that the sunlight in the weather would erode the membrane of the spirit realm. Even the Great Sun Spirit Realm is like this, let alone ordinary spirit realms!"
"The weather can hardly reach the ground because of the obstruction of the earth's energy. If the earth's energy above the strange spiritual realm is cleared by the power of many gods, it will be possible to guide the weather."

"As long as the weather, which contains sunlight, falls, it will definitely slow down the healing speed of the strange spirit realm's membrane!"

Su Ji also considered the difficulty of moving the weather. The Ghost King and Gao Xiu's spiritual power can move the weather, but ordinary cultivators cannot. This is perfect for opening up a path for weather passage.

The City God still looked troubled: "If the pseudo-ascended beings in the strange spiritual realm close their amniotic sacs at all costs, the cultivators who enter will still face dire consequences."

"I'm afraid even I would find it difficult to persuade a cultivator to risk entering the strange spiritual realm..."

Su Ji had anticipated the City God's concerns, so he simply pulled out his trump card: "After the Ghost King and Gao Xiu enter the strange spiritual realm, they will inevitably have to fight against the enemies within, so it will indeed be difficult for them to work together to penetrate the membrane of the strange spiritual realm."

"But I have a Blazing Crystal Embryo that can contain the sunlight. As long as I hold the Blazing Crystal Embryo, I can cut open the membrane of the strange spiritual realm. In this way, cultivators who enter it will no longer have any worries!"

Collecting sunlight takes time, but Su Ji knew that the Yang Lord of the Great Sun Spirit Realm not only possessed sunlight, but also had the ability to quickly collect it by expending spiritual energy.

"The Blazing Crystal Embryo, could it be the treasure that scared away the Bull-Headed Demon King?" The City God's mind immediately began to race.

It's not worth it to invite the gods and even the divine soldiers of Yuzhou Prefecture. If possible, the City God would prefer that the gods of Jinfeng County take away more benefits.

(End of this chapter)