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

Chapter 41 Flawless Vision, Win-Win Transactions

"Immortal Shadow is a mixed bag?"

Although Zhang Xiaolian was somewhat bewildered, she realized the seriousness of the matter.

In everyone's perception, the self is unique, not only as the basis of individual existence but also as the master of the body.

Even if you don't lose yourself, once another consciousness enters your mind, whose opinion should you listen to?

Zhang Xiaolian couldn't help but recall a scene from her memory.

Two years ago, before the spring plowing season, a heavy rain fell. People were praising the timely rain when the village madman suddenly burst into the rain.

No one knew what the madman was thinking, no one knew what he would do next... A heavy rain brought life to the earth, but also took the madman's life.

Zhang Xiaolian felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of the madman's unrestrained laughter, and she felt a sense of fear at the thought of that figure running wildly in the rain...

Fortunately, the fairy shadow is still in the distant Moon Palace. As long as she doesn't overthink things as the ancient golden toad said, the fairy shadow won't affect her for a while.

The promise from the ancient golden toad gave Zhang Xiaolian even more confidence, and she nodded hastily, saying:

"With the ancient golden toad acting as an intermediary, I feel very reassured... I'll leave this matter to the ancient golden toad senior!"

Zhang Xiaolian had always regarded the ancient golden toad as a profound and unfathomable senior.

She had previously hesitated to call out to them, but now that she knew they might both come from the Toad Palace, and that the ancient golden toad had taken such good care of her, she finally had the courage to address them that way.

"Senior?" Su Ji couldn't help but smile inwardly.

There was a saying in my past life: "In the cultivation world, there are only three titles: ant, fellow Daoist, and senior."

When he first transmigrated, he was just a tadpole at the level of an "ant," and he only survived thanks to the Heavenly Mandate and luck.

The fact that he was a reincarnated cultivator who had awakened his innate wisdom was only the opportunity for him to join the Earth God Temple. The real opportunity for him to become a fellow Daoist of the Earth God came when Tan Xuan taught the Earth God the "Sun and Moon Void Method".

Similarly, if it were merely a matter of fabricating history, he would at most be someone who shared Zhang Xiaolian's worries and helped her. Only now, having shown the demeanor of someone who can stand on his own, has he become a reliable senior.

Su Ji was mentally in his twenties, so it wasn't impossible for him to become Zhang Xiaolian's senior, and he simply acquiesced.

Afterwards, Su Ji naturally did not forget the main task. The task of fusing the spiritual artifact copper coins looked tedious, but it contained Su Ji's expectation of success.

He was busy half the night last night and had already fused thirty-six low-grade flawless spiritual artifact copper coins, as well as seven flawed failed products.

Each fusion requires two, totaling one hundred and forty-one low-grade but high-quality spiritual artifact copper coins, leaving fifty-five remaining...

He didn't need to teach Zhang Xiaolian the recipes tonight, so he had plenty of time and decided to complete his goal in one go.

Zhang Xiaolian had long regarded the fusion and upgrading of spirit weapon copper coins as an after-school activity. Now, seeing one mid-grade slightly inferior spirit weapon copper coin after another successfully completed, she was even more looking forward to the final mid-grade flawless spirit weapon copper coin.

An hour and a half later, fourteen medium-grade, slightly inferior quality spiritual copper coins appeared in front of the ancient golden toad. The four failed products barely reached the medium grade, but lost the possibility of further fusion.

At this moment, Yan Tianchou pointed out: "Zhang Xiaolian rested during the latter half of the initial fusion last night, and the success rate was still higher than the second round of fusion today. Even if Zhang Xiaolian keeps an eye on things, the success rate will probably decrease."

If a comparison must be made, Zhang Xiaolian is like a lucky charm that increases the success rate, but the difficulty of subsequent fusions increases, which inevitably leads to a decrease in the success rate.

Su Ji, however, was not worried at all. He even said confidently, "The more confident I am, the higher my chances of success will be. There is no possibility of failure tonight. I will definitely be able to fuse a mid-grade flawless spiritual artifact copper coin!"

An inexplicable confidence emanated from Su Ji, which soon infected Zhang Xiaolian: "Senior is indeed worthy of being the ancient golden toad under the command of the Soul Spirit Emperor. Even after falling to the mortal world, he still possesses extraordinary abilities."

Whether it was the tangible copper coin becoming a spiritual artifact in reality, or the fusion of spiritual artifact and copper coin, these were things Zhang Xiaolian had never imagined.

Zhang Xiaolian asked with anticipation, "How many times will it succeed this time?"

Clearly, Zhang Xiaolian regarded the fusion of the magical copper coin as the most entertaining "trick".

In Yan Tianchou's view, Zhang Xiaolian was deeply attracted to this matter, just like someone who, when scrolling through videos, once they come across videos such as knife forging competitions, living alone in the wilderness, or dating shows, will stop scrolling away.

With Zhang Xiaolian's expectations as a boost, the success rate of the third round of integration, although slightly lower, still met Su Ji's expectations.

Fourteen medium-grade, slightly inferior quality spirit weapon copper coins were used to obtain five medium-grade, average quality spirit weapon copper coins. Two of them had missing spirit patterns and were therefore considered failures, losing the possibility of further fusion.

At this point, Zhang Xiaolian couldn't help but feel nervous.

Each fusion requires two spirit weapon copper coins. Even if you have five, you can only use four to fuse in pairs. Even if both are successful, you will only get two spirit weapon copper coins of medium to excellent quality.

There can be no mistakes from now on, only by fusing the two together can a truly flawless mid-grade spiritual artifact copper coin be created. Is it really possible for the Ancient Golden Toad to succeed?
Thinking this, Zhang Xiaolian, though still looking expectant, couldn't help but feel a bit more worried.

Yan Tianchou immediately advised, "Zhang Xiaolian's confidence has dropped, which could very well affect the upcoming fourth round of fusion. We should immediately boost Zhang Xiaolian's confidence."

Originally, Yantianchou believed in everything based on data, but after its upgrade, it started to believe in metaphysics as well.

Su Ji couldn't help but smile: "Zhang Xiaolian's expectations can indeed increase the success rate, but only by a few percent. If you want to go further, you can only use up what Zhang Xiaolian left behind in her previous life."

"However, if we rely on others for everything, wouldn't our efforts be negated?"

"Besides, who knows, one day the celestial being from the Moon Palace might descend upon this place, and we'd probably be immediately mistaken for thieves..."

Su Ji's bottom line was very firm, but reality was very cruel. Not long after the fourth round of fusion began, some of the spirit patterns went wrong.

Zhang Xiaolian was taken aback. Only by succeeding twice could she possibly obtain the flawless spiritual artifact. Failing even once in the fourth round would mean total defeat.

Seeing the ancient golden toad stop, Zhang Xiaolian took a deep breath and tried to comfort the ancient golden toad senior: "Senior, we can always start over..."

The six or seven hundred copper coins on the ground are certainly enough; it just takes a little more time.

Su Ji, however, didn't seem to care, and looked very confident.

“Zhang E, a mistake in the spirit pattern does not mean failure. Haven’t you heard that there is always a way out?”

"Five medium-grade, ordinary quality spirit artifact copper coins, four of which are used for fusion in pairs, is the fifth one completely useless?"
"By simply taking the corresponding spirit rune from the fifth one, you can definitely salvage what you consider a failure!" With that, Su Ji, to Zhang Xiaolian's bewildered and surprised gaze, cut off a spirit rune from the fifth spirit coin, thus correcting the mistake in the fusion of the two.

Immediately, the first medium-grade, high-quality spiritual artifact copper coin was created.

For a moment, Zhang Xiaolian was even more excited than the ancient golden toad: "It actually succeeded!"

Yan Tianchou watched this scene in silence.

Next, Su Ji continued to fuse the last two copper coins. Perhaps because Zhang Xiaolian was confident, or perhaps because Su Ji had experience, this time he succeeded without making a single mistake.

Their gazes sharpened, all landing on the last two medium-grade, high-quality spirit artifact copper coins.

Zhang Xiaolian looked expectant, but Yan Tianchou truthfully reminded her:
"Although the fifth magical copper coin corrected the error caused by the fusion, making further fusion possible, the slight increase in the number of spiritual runes will reduce the success rate to about fifty percent..."

At best, patching can only achieve a tight fit, not a flawless one. It increases the possibility of fusion, but reduces the success rate of fusion.

Yan Tianchou's calculations were correct, but Su Ji was quite dismissive of them.

It wasn't that Su Ji thought he could fight back with a 50% chance, but rather that he still had a way to deal with it.

Then Su Ji raised his hand and waved it, and an invisible and intangible entity appeared in front of him, appearing particularly illusory in this dreamlike scene.

Zhang Xiaolian asked curiously, "I've never seen anything like this before, so why does it feel so familiar?"

Just as Zhang Xiaolian had thought, this item was brought by Su Ji from the outside world; it was none other than the divine power that the local earth god had recently bestowed upon him.

Divine power contains all the aspirations of living beings, and it is said that as long as there is enough divine power, all wishes can be fulfilled.

Su Ji bluntly said, "Zhang E, your past life must have left you with a lot of divine power, but they were afraid that you would subconsciously make wishes and consume that power, so they left you with this real dream..."

"In your dream, only you can make your dreams come true at will. Even if I descend into the body of the physical golden toad, I am merely a guest here."

"And when I have divine power, I will naturally be able to make wishes..."

"I offer one hundred and twenty strands of divine power as a sacrifice, wishing that the fusion of the fifth round of spiritual artifact copper coins will be successful!"

One hundred and twenty strands of divine power, equivalent to four months' salary for Su Ji, could also be exchanged for thirty taels of silver...

Zhang Xiaolian had no feeling for divine power, but she knew the value of silver.

Zhang Xiaolian used to wash clothes for a month, which only cost thirty-six copper coins. Thirty taels of silver was an astronomical sum, but the ancient golden toad used it all up as a wish-granting material.

Having seen so much wealth, Yan Tianchou was somewhat worried and asked, "Is it really possible to succeed with just 120 strands of divine power?"

Su Ji couldn't help but smile: "Without your precise fusion method and Zhang Xiaolian's mysterious and lucky blessing, let alone 120 strands of divine power, even 1200 strands of divine power would probably not be able to achieve 100% success."

"Now, the biggest mistake is just a tiny bit of extra spiritual runes. Can't one hundred and twenty strands of divine power solve this problem?"

When it comes to metaphysics, it becomes very difficult for Yantianchou to make accurate judgments.

Moreover, it seems that Su Ji only solved the problem of the slightest bit of spirit pattern, and the success rate is still not one hundred percent.

Before Su Ji could explain, Yan Tianchou suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"That's right, no matter how real this place is, it's still a dream after all. Making a wish with divine power in a dream will definitely have a better effect..."

The fusion of magical artifacts can only be completed in a real dream, so Su Ji's wish to a real dream is a perfect match for his profession.

Zhang Xiaolian is the master of the real dream. Even if her divine power was originally only one part, it is not impossible for it to become three parts.

The simplest example is giving gifts to get things done.

When the other party is a stranger, it may take a great deal of effort to succeed; if the other party is a very close friend or relative, it may only take a meal to resolve the issue.

At this moment, Su Ji spoke as if chanting: "I offer one hundred and twenty strands of divine power as a sacrifice, wishing that the spiritual artifact copper coin may be perfectly integrated!"

Zhang Xiaolian repeated expectantly, "May the spirit artifact copper coin fuse flawlessly..."

In an instant, the 120 strands of divine power vanished into the real dream, as if they had never existed.

Su Ji breathed a sigh of relief. This time, making a wish on a real dream was also a bold attempt for him... He was not afraid of "not having enough gifts", but he was afraid of "no one accepting the gifts".

As expected, as he fused the fifth round of spiritual artifact coins, a mysterious aura suddenly flashed by, and he actually succeeded on the first try.

As Yan Tianchou scanned the flawless, mid-grade spiritual artifact coin, he couldn't help but exclaim, "In the outside world, one hundred and twenty strands of divine power can only summon a thunderous strike from the Thunder Lord's avatar. Yet in this real dream world, it can actually summon the assistance of 'a world of its own'."

"Whether it's metaphysics or interpersonal skills, I still have room for improvement!"

The outside world is so vast that it might not even notice 120 strands of divine power.

The real dream, however, was merely a remnant of a deity, so it wasn't as aloof, not to mention that Zhang Xiaolian, the owner of the real dream, was there to "plead on its behalf."

It could even be said that the divine power was not used for making a wish at all, but rather for making a deal.

To ensure the successful fusion of the spiritual artifacts, Su Ji paid a sum of divine power to the Real Dream as a service fee, which was a win-win situation.

"That's wonderful!" Zhang Xiaolian was so happy to see the flawless spiritual artifact copper coin created that she almost jumped for joy.

In Yan Tianchou's view, Zhang Xiaolian finally got her wish, just like seeing the couple she had formed in her heart successfully hold hands, and also like living alone in the wilderness and outlasting the last competitor...

In the real dream, the bright moon still shines high, and the ancient golden toad in the Moon Palace and that celestial figure can be vaguely seen.

In reality, the bright moon was gradually obscured by dark clouds, and dark clouds rolled over the Baiyan Mountains. It seemed that it wouldn't be long before a spring rain fell on the two villages.

(End of this chapter)