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

Chapter 43: After one wave, another wave arises

Su Ji lived in the Zhang family courtyard and told Zhang Xiaolian many things. Zhang Xiaolian did not talk nonsense and always upheld the dignity of the ancient golden toad.

This led Zhang to realize in the past few days that Su Ji's sudden change of story, claiming to be a divine toad, was because he envisioned one day becoming the toad messenger of the God of Wealth.

Behind the Golden Toad Messenger stands the God of Wealth, whose power is unfathomable. With the Earth God in seclusion, the Golden Toad Messenger is already the most important of the twelve spiritual soldiers.

So much so that when Zhang saw the vengeful ghost that Zhou the Madman had transformed into appear by the river, the first thing she thought of was the Golden Toad, the Spirit Soldier of the Day, and she did just that.

"The vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman?" The guardian spirits on both sides were startled.

Just as Zhang had predicted, when Right Spirit Soldier sensed that the spring rain was approaching, he came to Zhang's courtyard ahead of time to wait for his turn to take over.

Immediately afterwards, the Right Gate Divine Soldier became excited: "Zhou the Madman has only been dead for two years. Even if he has become a vengeful ghost, how much combat power does he have?"
"With the combined strength of Zuo Men Shen Ling Bing, we can even fight against the old ghost whose power is comparable to a mid-grade mastery spell... His coming here today is practically a gift of merit!"

The original power of the spirit weapon [talisman] is only at the level of demon soldiers and ghost soldiers, and it can only use low-level supernatural powers.

However, since spirit weapons are called divine favored weapons, they naturally possess some mystical qualities.

The Day-Wandering Spirit Weapon can mobilize the Yang energy of the earth, making it the most effective against Yin and evil among spirit weapons...

The door gods and spirit soldiers can mobilize the wishes that villagers have placed on peach charms, and can also summon the phantom images of the door gods. If the left and right door gods work together, they can even unleash techniques comparable to a mid-grade mastery spell.

On that day, the left and right gatekeepers joined forces to suppress the old ghost, who was empowered by the black tiger demon...

The left-hand spirit soldier, a middle-aged man, was rather composed: "Since the madman Zhou the Ghost dares to come, he must have his reasons. Let's test him first."

If they find that the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi is not strong enough, then they might as well take most of the credit for themselves. If they gain credit based on their strength, the local deity won't say anything.

If the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi is too strong, then try to delay as much as possible. Even if the local earth god has not come out of seclusion, the earth spirit soldiers can take over the earth spirit official's [talisman] to come to the rescue in case of emergency.

The Right Gate Divine Soldier leaped into the air, his expression nonchalant as he said, "The vengeful ghost is consumed by obsession. I'm afraid Zhou the Madman has already prepared for a one-way trip. The merit he has should rightfully fall upon the two of us!"

Now that the Earth God is in seclusion and the Earth Spirit Soldiers dare not arbitrarily mobilize the Earth Spirit Official's [talisman], this has given the Left and Right Door Gods a great opportunity.

Zhang brushed past the guardian spirits who rushed out from the left and right gates, but she was puzzled: "The spirit soldiers should have heard me when I spoke outside the courtyard, but they haven't appeared yet. Could it be that they went to Xiaolian's real dream again?"

There were still a quarter of an hour until dawn, so the day-roaming spirit soldiers were quite free.

However, when Zhang entered the room, she found that the wandering spirit soldiers had not gone to the real dream world, but were waiting leisurely by the window.

Zhang was about to repeat herself: "Day-roaming spirit soldier, vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman..."

Su Ji had already overheard the conversation at the courtyard gate, so he nodded and said, "I've already heard about the vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman..."

"However, at this time, not only are there left and right gate spirit soldiers to block us, but there are also local earth spirit soldiers in the village who can mobilize the local earth spirit official [talisman] at any time, so why should we be in a hurry?"

"At this time, the Night Wanderer should go to the Earth God Temple to inform the Earth God about this matter, and I will protect Zhang Xiaolian. As for the matter of the vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman, I will fulfill my duties as the Day Wanderer after dawn!"

At this point, the matter of the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi became even more serious. The spirit soldiers of the left and right gates went to stop him, which was not considered a violation of the order given by the local earth god to take turns guarding the Zhang family courtyard.

After all, things have to be prioritized. Even if the driving force of the left and right gate gods and spirit soldiers comes from merit, under the principle of doing things officially, no one can find fault with them.

However, at this moment, no one knew what other dangers might occur. The guardian spirits on the left and right doors had left, and the Earth God was in seclusion... Su Ji thus became the last line of defense protecting Zhang Xiaolian.

Moreover, Su Ji was off duty at the moment, and without the summons of the local earth god or earth spirit official, no one could sway his will.

"I see!"

Seeing that Su Ji's words were logical and reasonable, Zhang felt much more at ease and flew towards the local temple.

"Sigh—" Su Ji looked at the rain curtain that covered the sky and suddenly sighed.

Even without the divination of the Heavenly Calculation, he had guessed the general outline of the matter of the vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman, and couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.

The fact that Zhou Fengzi was driven mad and died in the rain is also very strange... The saying goes that every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor. If there really was a reason for it, then there is nothing wrong with Zhou Fengzi coming back to take revenge.

However, Zhou the Madman's revenge violated the rules of the local temple and could even harm innocent people.

For the local earth god temple, who is right and who is wrong is no longer important; what the earth god temple wants is order and stability.

The vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi and the local earth god temple have conflicting ideologies, and neither is willing to compromise, so a conflict is inevitable.

This matter involves the realms of the real and the mortal worlds, making secular laws very ambiguous, which caused Su Ji to feel conflicted.

From a personal perspective, the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi's act of revenge is in line with "private justice," and as long as it does not harm the innocent, it can be considered a cycle of cause and effect.

For the public good, Su Ji had to maintain order at the local temple and protect the people from being harmed by the vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman.

For this reason, when Su Ji saw the spirit soldiers on the left and right doors going to stop the evil ghost Zhou Fengzi, he decided to wait and see what would happen.

It wasn't that he was cold-blooded, but the situation wasn't critical at all... If he got involved now, what real benefit would he gain besides prematurely revealing his hand?
What merit is there in slaying the vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman?

He didn't really want it. In the end, Zhou Fengzi was most likely a pitiful person who was persecuted by the Wu family.

As Yan Tianchou said, before truly becoming strong, the best way to survive is to play it safe and develop.

Of course, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to act secretly if it came his way.

He even wondered if, given the chance, he could try to save Zhou Fengzi.

Moreover, before the situation became clear, no one knew whether the Baiyan Mountains had changed. With the Earth God Temple still having a backup plan, he followed Yan Tianchou's advice: "Respond to all changes with constancy."

The rain outside the window is still falling, and it looks like it won't stop anytime soon.

The speed of gods and ghosts far exceeds that of ordinary people. By the time the left and right gate spirit soldiers found the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi, only two or three breaths had passed.

At this moment, the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi had already arrived outside Zhou Lan's courtyard, heading towards the center of the village with a fierce aura, where a group of Wu family members lived...

Zhou Lan was the one who stumbled upon the walking corpses of the Wu family.

He once associated his dream with the golden beans, mistakenly believing that his father had died tragically in a battle between gods and ghosts, and cried several times. Later, he received a message from the local earth god in a dream, and only then did he finally feel at ease.

Seeing that the silkworm room hadn't leaked after the spring rain, Zhou Lan breathed a sigh of relief and then prepared to take a nap in the silkworm room for a while longer.

Just then, Zhou Lan's vision suddenly blurred. Despite the complete lack of light, he witnessed a strange scene in the rain.

In the rain, two ethereal figures clad in guardian armor flew left and right, relentlessly attacking a ghostly creature emanating black energy, appearing extremely brave and mighty.

However, the ghost was very strange. It seemed to be in a hurry to do something and ignored the attacks from the two gatekeepers' illusory spirits. It just kept rushing forward.

"Stop him quickly!"

After a low shout, the two illusory figures of the gatekeepers worked together to open a tall divine gate, intending to take in the rampaging ghosts in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, the door was blocked by the ghost before it could be closed.

Fortunately, this gave the two illusory figures of the door gods an opportunity. After exchanging a glance, the illusory figure of the door god on the right raised his hand first and attacked the ghost trapped in the door.

Then the illusory image of the gatekeeper on the left also made a move. The two combined their strength and actually forced the ghost to retreat. It seemed that they would take the ghost into the tall gate in the next instant.

Just as Zhou Lan breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly noticed that the ghost's figure was gradually solidifying. As it turned around and used both hands to brace against the tall divine gate, its face began to take shape.

"Fifth brother?" Zhou Lan was shocked.

Others may not know Zhou Fengzi, but he and Zhou Fengzi are cousins. Their grandfathers were brothers, and they were very good playmates when they were young.

Zhou Fengzi, whose real name is Zhou Wu, had a childhood dream of traveling the world with a sword, but for some reason, he suddenly went mad at the age of sixteen.

Twelve years later, Zhou Wu recklessly rushed into the rain, only to find out the next evening that he had drowned in the river.

Now, the ethereal figures of the two door gods on the peachwood charms are attacking Zhou Wu, and coupled with the suspicious circumstances surrounding Zhou Wu's death...

"Could it be that my fifth brother has returned as a vengeful ghost?" Zhou Lan was immediately startled.

However, when Zhou Lan looked outside again, all he saw was pitch blackness, with no sign of the door gods battling ghosts.

"Fifth Brother, it must be Fifth Brother who's back!" Zhou Lan was increasingly certain.

If it were only the first time, Zhou Lan could treat it as a nightmare. But last time, he dreamt of a battle between ghosts and gods, and even the local earth god appeared.

The Earth God once said that most people in the world are ordinary, but there are also some extraordinary people who may one day gain some strange abilities.

Clearly, after living for thirty years, Zhou Lan, either when the time was right or because of the shock of his father's death, gained the ability to see ghosts and gods in his dreams.

This is a strange ability, but it is not necessarily a good thing. Not to mention that dreaming of ghosts and gods will consume more of one's spirit, if one is caught in the crossfire of a battle between ghosts and gods, it may even damage one's celestial soul and human soul.

Zhou Lan's spirits were already somewhat low. He knew that watching the battle between ghosts and gods was pointless, so he simply knelt on the bed and prayed to the local earth god.

"If my fifth brother returns as a vengeful ghost, I beg the local earth god to capture him and spare his life..."

In Zhou Lan's mind, even if Zhou Wu turned into a ghost and could block the two door gods' phantoms, he could not possibly be a match for the local deity, the Earth God.

If the vengeful ghost Zhou Wu is captured before he harms anyone, even if you go to the eighteenth level of hell, you may still have a chance to be reincarnated. But if you are killed on the spot, your soul will truly be scattered!

However, Zhou Lan underestimated the strength of Zhou Wu, the vengeful ghost in the rain.

As the rainwater converged on the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi, he actually gained a form composed of rainwater. Although his speed was greatly reduced, his strength was significantly enhanced.

As a result, after the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi broke through the towering phantom of the divine gate, his imposing aura was almost on par with that of the Great Ghost General.

Both the left and right gatekeepers trembled, and then the left gatekeeper's spirit soldier exclaimed, "Zhou the Madman must have obtained an extraordinary water spirit item by chance, otherwise he could never have acquired such transformative power!"

Spiritual artifacts can be imbued with corresponding real-world weapons, and spiritual sandalwood can restore one's spirit and increase one's comprehension... Naturally, there are also spiritual objects that can be refined into a ghost's body to gain some incredible abilities.

The two guardian spirits felt it was a pity that such a spiritual object had been obtained by the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi; it was simply a waste of such a precious resource.

However, before the two could even express their feelings, Zhou the Madman launched a counterattack.

Only then did the two guardian spirits realize that Zhou Fengzi's strength had reached the level of a Great Ghost General, and his defensive power had greatly increased.

When their attacks landed on the vengeful ghost, at least 30% of the power was blocked by the rain-like form. To deal with the vengeful ghost Zhou Fengzi, they could only wait for reinforcements.

However, what the left and right door gods didn't know was that the local temple was too busy to send reinforcements.

However, not long after Zhang discovered the vengeful ghost Zhou the Madman, the crow spirit who followed Master Zhu Nanshan broke into the Earth God Temple and brought bad news.

"Taking advantage of the spring rain, strange snakes are heading towards Dongsang Village in droves... their target seems to be the Earth God Temple!"

Sorry I'm a few minutes late.
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(End of this chapter)