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

Chapter 40 A Storm is Brewing, A Celestial Shadow Appears in the Moon Palace

The reason the local earth god concealed his identity as a highly skilled practitioner was not because he was afraid of the mountain god temple, but to lull the other party into a false sense of security.

This tactic is also known as "pretending to be weak to catch a tiger." Once a treacherous person comes to retaliate against the mountain god temple, they will inevitably misjudge the situation, allowing the well-prepared local deity to launch a surprise attack.

This means that the local earth god had long been prepared for the mountain god temple to retaliate, but the other side had not taken any action, which is why the two villages seemed so peaceful.

The appearance of the walking corpses not only shattered the tranquility of the east and west villages, but also likely allowed the mountain god temple to glimpse the true nature of the earth god temple...

The appearance of the strange snake today gives a sense of impending doom.

Su Ji may seem to have been drawn into this conflict, but in reality, it is already closely related to him.

He is a daytime spirit soldier from the east and west villages, with the duty of protecting the people;

He is Zhang Xiaolian's guide and has an obligation to protect her;
He admired the character of the local deity and still had the chivalrous heart to help those in need, not to mention that he was now involved in the situation.

Yan Tianchou only had one sentence: "Respond to all changes with constancy!"

However, Su Ji couldn't really do nothing.

Just then, the snake demon appeared not far from the village, and it was not impossible for it to attack the villagers. Su Ji, being an official, immediately went to find the local earth god.

Ever since the Earth God was enlightened by Su Ji's words, he had planned to sort out his own mysteries, but after the walking corpses were eliminated, he disappeared without a trace.

Su Ji didn't need to search everywhere; the local earth god was nowhere to be found, but the earth god temple was still there.

However, when Su Ji focused his attention on the Earth God Temple, he discovered that someone had already arrived there.

"Lord Earth God, now that the walking corpses have been eradicated and Chen Dianshi is in charge of the Wu family's affairs, may I leave now?"

The person standing in front of the local temple was none other than the Buddhist monk Zhu Nanshan.

Compared to before, Zhu Nanshan now has less of a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) air and more of a composure that comes from broadening one's horizons.

It could be due to the death and injury of a friend from the martial arts world, or it could be due to the ritual performed to invite the Thunder God. Such a change in Zhu Nanshan is quite normal.

"Snapped--"

The two divination blocks landed flat on the ground, which is called "laughing divination blocks," meaning that the deity is smiling but not answering, or that the questioner has not explained clearly enough.

Zhu Nanshan had made himself clear enough, so he assumed that the reason the deity smiled but did not answer was because there was still a follow-up to the Wu family walking corpse case. He then bowed and took his leave.

Su Ji found this scene amusing.

The local earth god didn't manifest any power just now, which must be because he was in seclusion cultivating and therefore didn't care about Zhu Nanshan's fate.

Therefore, the result of Zhu Nanshan's divination was merely an answer given by luck.

Su Ji didn't want to disturb the Earth God's plans, so he briefly explained the snake demon to the Earth God's spirit soldier, knowing that the Earth God would know about it as soon as he came out of seclusion.

"Farewell, Earth Spirit Soldiers!"

"Day-roaming spirit soldier, take care!"

Su Ji did not go to the high altitude to absorb the pure Yin energy of the earth last night, so today he only patrolled at low altitude, which can be regarded as the basic skill of Yin-Yang balance.

However, there's nothing wrong with that. Improving one's cultivation at high altitudes is one form of practice, and comprehending the changes in Yang energy at low altitudes is another.

Evening arrived quickly. After absorbing the spiritual energy of Twilight, Su Ji went home after get off work.

Since Zhang became a Night Wanderer, Su Ji could only see her once a day during shift changes. So he told her the truth about the strange snake and instructed her to focus her patrols on the direction of the White Rock Mountains.

After nodding seriously, Zhang looked towards home: "Today I dug out some old papers from the bottom of my trunk, cut them out, and strung them together with thread. After Xiaolian spent a day writing and drawing, the recipes that the Day-Traveling Spirit Soldiers wanted are finally finished."

Since the golden toad came to the courtyard, the lives of Zhang's mother and daughter have undergone many changes.

Zhang Xiaolian also earns money by washing clothes for others. Now she helps her mother, Zhang, with housework every day, and spends the rest of her time trying to replicate the mysteries of her dreams in reality.

Needless to say, Zhang's story began with the golden toad spitting out money, and she also had a share when Su Ji was digging up "dirty money"... From then on, she received divine power every month.

The days of mending and patching were gone forever. Besides doing some weaving work, Zhang spent her days spending quality time with her daughter.

"The recipe is finished!" It's called a recipe, but it's actually only one-third of the original.

It's not that Su Ji is being secretive; some ingredients are simply unavailable, and some don't even exist. Even if you write it down, you can't make it.

Su Ji then gave a slight bow: "Then thank you very much for the Night Wanderer Spirit Soldiers!"

The paper at the bottom of the box must have been left by Zhang Xiaolian's father or grandfather. Su Ji would not overlook Zhang's sentiment.

Zhang just smiled and said, "Ever since the day-roaming spirit soldier came to our house, our lives have gradually improved. The golden toad has brought us wealth and good fortune, so what we have done is nothing."

More importantly, Zhang Xiaolian transformed from a stubborn and withdrawn girl into a kind young woman who cares for her family and helps others, and even embarked on a promising path to enlightenment...

After bidding farewell to Zhang, Su Ji did not intend to leave immediately after obtaining the recipe. Instead, he planned to cultivate for a while and check on the progress of the Golden Toad clone.

Unexpectedly, upon entering the courtyard, they found Zhang Xiaolian sitting cross-legged on the bed, practicing her cultivation.

In order to absorb the pure Yin energy of the earth, he and the local earth god need to reach high places to cultivate.

Bathed in the light of the moon, Zhang Xiaolian seemed to have an extra filtering system. The yin energy of the earth could pass through the light of the moon, but impurities were rejected. Her cultivation speed increased by more than twenty times that of an ordinary person.

"Truly worthy of being someone who can manipulate the Taiyin Heavenly Light!" Even the Earth God, a member of the Xuanmen sect, dares not rashly come into contact with the Taiyin Heavenly Light, otherwise there is a risk of his consciousness being frozen.

Zhang Xiaolian not only has real dreams protecting her, but also mysterious blessings left over from her past life, making her cultivation speed something others can't learn.

Moreover, Su Ji has other things to do in the evening, so he can only spend half of his time improving his cultivation. If he delays like he did last night and today, his cultivation will probably be overtaken by Zhang Xiaolian soon.

Su Ji even had another guess: "Perhaps Zhang Xiaolian has already condensed her Heavenly Soul Spirit, but she just doesn't know it..."

After many years of wasted time, Zhang Xiaolian finally embarked on the path of cultivation under Su Ji's guidance, which can be considered a predestined encounter.

After a moment of reflection, Su Ji flew into the sky to cultivate. Although he was not accompanied by his cultivation partner, the Earth God, he did not find it boring.

In the early hours of the morning, Su Ji finally finished his cultivation for the night and went to the river to check on the details of the golden toad's clone.

Just as predicted by the Heavenly Calculation, after twelve hours of "silent and gentle influence," the gilded bronze bull's head, buried for thousands of years, disappeared. Apart from a patch of patina scattered on the ground, only a golden toad remained in the original spot.

It's called a golden toad, but only its eyes are truly golden; the rest of its body is copper-colored.

The original gilded bronze bull head appeared to be only slightly larger than a human head, but in reality, it also had a pair of enormous horns, which brought it to weigh 98 jin (44 catties).

As a result, the red copper toad clone was quite imposing.

It was a full 1.3 feet long, and its back was not covered with small, mottled dots, but rather with metallic protrusions like horns.

This ferocious golden toad clone seems to have been born for battle; it's clearly not to be trifled with.

Su Ji was thrilled and said, "It looks only the size of a cat or dog, but it is actually a metal-cast golden toad. Its physical body can fight against a great corpse general, and its spiritual techniques can rival those of a Dongxuan mage."

As Su Ji's voice fell, the golden toad clone opened its mouth wide.

Then it was seen that the golden toad clone was holding a copper coin the size of a mother coin in its mouth. It was just waiting for the flawless, mid-grade spiritual artifact copper coin to be successfully fused with it, so that it could become its complete form.

So Su Ji took away the magical artifact, the Golden Toad, leaving only the toad clone lying in the soil, and soon returned to the Zhang family courtyard.

The way the magical toad returned to the real dream was quite simple: it separated its spiritual patterns and golden energy, transforming them into an intangible form.

This process could not afford any mistakes, otherwise it might damage the magical artifact, the Golden Toad. However, Su Ji, possessing the Heavenly Manipulation Plan, completed the task in just over a hundred breaths.

Zhang Xiaolian had been waiting in the real dream world for a long time. When the concrete golden toad gradually appeared, she knew that the ancient golden toad was about to arrive.

Su Ji opened his eyes and noticed that Zhang Xiaolian had an ethereal quality about her, which puzzled him.

Soon, Yan Tianchou found the reason: "Today is the sixteenth of February. In addition to the small dot that Linlang City transformed into behind the Bright Moon Palace, there is now another small dot. In the distance, one can vaguely see the ethereal figure of a fairy."

"In the first case, Zhang Xiaolian made a mistake in her cultivation and entrusted her thoughts to the Moon Palace;

"In the second scenario, the bright moon reflects Zhang Xiaolian's past life, just as you can benefit from the golden toad in the Toad Palace, Zhang Xiaolian can also benefit from the fairy shadow in the Toad Palace."

"Of course, it's not impossible for both situations to occur simultaneously..."

Before Su Ji could ask, Zhang Xiaolian said excitedly, "When I was cultivating tonight, I suddenly felt a strange sensation in the dark. When I looked up at the Moon Palace, I discovered a strange yet familiar fairy figure."

"This celestial image of the toad palace is very likely a reflection of my past life. Perhaps my past life and the ancient golden toad both came from the Taiyin Toad Palace!"

The Toad Palace and the Golden Toad were brought to life by Su Ji's fabricated history, but the celestial image of the Toad Palace appeared naturally, which made Su Ji cautious.

Although the Heavenly Soul is docile and lacks independent consciousness, Su Ji did not know what changes the Heavenly Soul would undergo after transcending the tribulation and becoming an immortal.

It's better to be safe than sorry. The Fairy Shadow in the Moon Palace might be a fragment of Zhang Xiaolian's celestial soul from her previous life. If it has some consciousness, things will become complicated.

The ancient golden toad that Su Ji fabricated might be exposed, but that doesn't matter. Su Ji can still cultivate even without the ancient golden toad, although he will experience more hardships.

If Zhang Xiaolian is influenced by the Moon Palace Fairy Shadow, then there might be a problem.

Zhang Xiaolian is a little girl from Dongsang Village, the daughter of the Zhang family... If Zhang Xiaolian is only guided by the fairy shadow, that's fine, but if she is controlled by the will within the fairy shadow, is Zhang Xiaolian still herself?

Su Ji certainly still hoped that Zhang Xiaolian would continue to be herself, not to better control Zhang Xiaolian, but because she didn't want Zhang Xiaolian to gradually lose herself.

Throughout the entire process, although Su Ji fabricated some lies, he had no malicious intent.

Even though he and Yan Tianchou fabricated history together, he still made a grand vow to compensate Zhang Xiaolian in the future.

Later, he deduced that Zhang Xiaolian's capricious behavior would not deplete her potential, but rather consume the divine power she had accumulated in her previous life. However, he did not lower his standards to recklessly exploit Zhang Xiaolian, but continued to advance according to the plan he had made before his grand ambition.

He learned his self-contained system from Zhang Xiaolian; the window permissions didn't affect Zhang Xiaolian; and fusing the magical copper coin was just a natural progression...

However, Su Ji still wouldn't make a decision for Zhang Xiaolian, only offering a well-intentioned reminder.

"The Immortal Shadow of the Toad Palace is most likely a remnant of your past life. It's even possible that you are truly my descendant from the Toad Palace!"

Su Ji smiled and continued the conversation, then his expression turned serious.

"However, you must also be clear about one thing: the immortal image may contain your past life experiences, and may also retain a trace of your consciousness."

"This consciousness could be benevolent or malevolent; it might hold good wishes for you, or it might contain an obsession that could influence you..."

“I think you’d better not make contact with the Immortal Shadow rashly. After I’ve established a connection with the Golden Toad in the Toad Palace, I’ll go and test the waters for you first.”

Typo, "行尸" has now been changed to "走尸".

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(End of this chapter)