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

Chapter 56 The Mysterious Puzzle: Know When to Stop

Although Su Ji and the land seemed to have not seen each other for a long time, only a little over thirty hours had actually passed.

The night before last, Su Ji had also worked with the local earth god to exterminate the walking corpses of the Wu family, with Zhu Nanshan and Lei Bu Lingjun as the main figures at the time.

Not long ago, the Earth God single-handedly broke out of the Earth God Temple's territory and captured the mastermind behind it all, the Monkey King, demonstrating his personal power to the fullest.

Even though Su Ji did a lot in this battle, he was still not completely satisfied, and it was far less satisfying than seeing things from the perspective of the local deity.

After a long silence, Yan Tianchou could only offer a word of comfort: "To acquire the combat power of the Earth God, there is still a long way to go..."

It would have been better if Yan Tianchou hadn't spoken, but his words made Su Ji think of the most perplexing and mysterious truth that Yan Tianchou couldn't understand.

Immediately, Su Ji's expression shifted.

"Spiritual arts rely primarily on spiritual artifacts, and what they need most is the power of heaven and earth. Even if one's cultivation level is insufficient, one can still accumulate energy over a long period of time."

"Ordinary spells rely primarily on cultivation level, using that trace of magical power as a medium to manipulate the power of heaven and earth. If one wishes to cast a mid-grade spell with the cultivation level of the Lesser Heavenly Cycle, one can only rely on spiritual artifacts to enhance the quality of magical power..."

"Mystic arts are based on realms. As long as the system is self-contained, mystic energy will naturally arise. As long as it is mysterious and natural, mystic arts will spontaneously generate..."

"Doesn't that mean I don't need to wait until my cultivation level reaches the Grand Heavenly Circuit? If my profound understanding is sufficient, I can generate a mid-grade profound technique right now!"

The realm of mystery is extremely profound, and if it were anyone else, they wouldn't dare to make such a boast, but Su Ji had his own confidence.

Although the principles of heaven and earth contained in the "Sun and Moon Heavenly Light Vacuum Method" are incomplete, they are enough to form the core principles of a mid-grade mystical art. The only thing needed is to comprehend more mysteries in order to reach the point where a mid-grade mystical art can be formed independently.

Just as Su Ji was feeling excited, Yan Tianchou couldn't help but remind him: "Mid-grade profound arts have the power of high-grade spells, and the mysteries they require cannot be comprehended in a short time. They require years of accumulation."

"The abyss at the bottom of Qili Lake seems to contain a mysterious place with a yin aspect. At least we have a good start. As long as we are willing, we can also find treasures or mysterious places that contain yang aspects..."

"Even without waiting until next month to advance to the Xuanmen Mage level, we can cooperate with the clam spirit to explore the abyss at the bottom of the lake simply by using Zhou Wu as a connection."

There are people in the world who can rise to the top in one step. There is an example right before our eyes, namely Zhang Xiaolian, who was a deity in her previous life.

If Zhang Xiaolian were to disregard everything and come into contact with or even merge with the celestial being in the real dream, she would inevitably inherit many of her past life's legacy. Mid-grade mystical arts would be commonplace for her, and she might even be able to attain the profound realm of high-level cultivation in one fell swoop.

However, everything comes with a hidden price tag. If you don't want to waste time and try to quickly improve your cultivation, you may have to pay an unpredictable price.

The celestial shadow is most likely Zhang Xiaolian's celestial soul from her previous life. Just as the most important thing for ghost cultivators is cultivation level, the most important thing for esoteric cultivators is memory.

It should be understood that the mysterious vessel is memory.

If the immortal image contains many memories of Zhang Xiaolian's past life, slowly refining it might prevent future problems. However, if it is fused in a short period of time, it might even cause Zhang Xiaolian to lose herself.

Su Ji naturally understood that it was not possible to obtain enough profound knowledge overnight. Comprehending profound knowledge was like "puzzle" and required collecting fragments of profound knowledge little by little from multiple places.

Of course, there are also more extreme cases where one can obtain most or even all of the mysterious fragments in one place. Such great fortune and opportunity may not occur once in many years.

Even a single stroke of luck could bring one's cultivation level close to that of an immortal, but such a thing might be a rare occurrence, perhaps only once every few thousand years.

Su Ji had no illusions and was well aware of the risks involved. He had already prepared to accumulate the mysterious fragments step by step.

Moreover, he has recently made some progress and should see some results in the next few days...

The thought arose and fell in an instant, and Su Ji only spent a few breaths talking to Yan Tianchou. After waiting for another three or four breaths, the Earth God flew over.

After catching up with the patrolling spirit soldiers, the Earth God looked on with a grateful expression: "Golden Toad, we owe you so much this morning!"

If it weren't for Su Ji, the local earth god would have intervened before the vengeful ghost Zhou Wu arrived at the Wu family's residence.

After all, not only are most of the Wu family members innocent, but even the guilty members of the Wu family should not be harmed because of the supernatural event.

Su Ji had no intention of taking credit, and after his self-reflection, he focused even more on his future cultivation.

Therefore, Su Ji casually remarked, "Protecting the people of this place is the duty of my day-roaming spirit soldier. Saving the vengeful ghost Zhou Wu was simply to please myself, and secretly influencing the pig demon was merely a helpless act..."

Su Ji did not do this to retaliate against the Wu family for using the pig demon, but rather because he could not resist the power of the pig demon and thus chose the Wu family ancestral hall as a convenient option.

If the pig demon disagrees with the crow spirit's suggestion, Su Ji can't do anything about it; with his current abilities, this is all he can do.

The local earth god was taken aback at first, then praised without reservation: "So it turns out that the pig demon's attack on the Wu family ancestral hall was your scheme, Golden Toad. This is not just killing two birds with one stone, but killing three! It was by following the pig demon that I found the mastermind behind it all..."

This achieved two goals at once: first, it appeased the resentment of the vengeful ghost Zhou Wu, and second, it protected the people's property...

It should be noted that the land of the Wu family ancestral hall was seized through evil means, and it is unknown how much "dirty money" was used; it is a part that can be sacrificed.

If it weren't for the fact that the Earth God shouldn't interfere too much with reality, he really would have encouraged the people to demolish the Wu family ancestral hall. Now that the pig demon has caused such a commotion, the Earth God is actually quite relieved.

For a moment, Su Ji couldn't help but have a few thoughts.

The Earth God strives to transcend the mundane, yet he is also public-spirited and daring... This may seem contradictory, but it is actually quite normal. Whether it's the Black Tiger Demon, the Pig Demon Gang, or the Monkey Demon King, they are all involved in worldly affairs but are all extraordinary beings who cultivate immortality. Even when the Earth God appeared in Zhou Lan's dream, it was to deal with the Wu family's walking corpses.

Even so, the local earth god was still not detached from worldly affairs, let alone Su Ji, who wanted to implement his plan to become the god of wealth...

Both of them gained a lot of information during their conversation.

The local deity believed that the golden toad was a reincarnation of a cultivator and knew that the golden toad was about to embark on the path of the God of Wealth. Therefore, he did not mention any merit or reward, but instead talked about the impact of the magical battle.

"Now that I have captured the Monkey King, the White Rock Mountains have no choice but to accept defeat."

"Perhaps the mountain demons and ghosts still have some minor tricks up their sleeves, but they certainly won't cause too much trouble."

"Moreover, if anything happens to the Earth God Temple in the future, all eyes will first fall on the White Rock Mountains..."

"Even if the current Heavenly Emperor were not the Yellow Emperor, the supreme leader of the Earth God Temple, the White Rock Mountains would not dare to attack the temple."

"Not to mention whether the mountain demons and ghosts can break through the earth god temple and the underworld, even the Heavenly Court has the Heavenly Dao treasure [Tongming Baojian] to monitor heaven and earth. Normally no one can look at it, but once something happens, it has the power to call it to collect evidence."

"Of course, there are also situations where dark clouds cover the sky and earth, but the Earth God Temple has another life-saving ability, which is to enter the underworld. Once you arrive in the underworld, the Earth God of the underworld will take action..."

"This matter also involves the daytime spirit general of the mountain god temple, but the Monkey King certainly wouldn't dare to implicate the mountain god temple. It's highly likely that it took the blame on its own."

Su Ji suddenly realized that although the Earth God Temple was the smallest unit of deity, it was also the most important component of the pantheon and should be valued.

Moreover, the great power of heaven and earth mentioned by the local deity also piqued Su Ji's interest.

Yan Tianchou further suggested, "Only by gathering enough information can we develop better in this world. Take this opportunity to quickly discuss the general trend of the world!"

In this battle of wits, the Heavenly Strategy didn't actually play a significant role, partly because Su Ji needed to make decisions instantly on certain matters, and partly due to a lack of information.

The crow spirit provided information about the snake demon's attack, the night-roaming spirit soldier Zhang provided information about the pig demon's attack... and even the information about the abyss at the bottom of the lake provided by Zhou Wu, each one of them was of utmost importance.

Since the matter of the abyss at the bottom of the lake could be asked later, and could be learned from the arriving clam spirit, Su Ji prioritized discussing the general trend of the world.

However, since Su Ji still held the title of a reincarnated cultivator, he couldn't ask directly. He simply sighed, "The world's affairs are ever-changing; I wonder what stage it's reached now..."

Even reincarnation takes time, so it's normal for Su Ji to lack information from this period.

Without a second thought, the Earth God began to speak eloquently: "The current Heavenly Emperor has been on the throne for 352 years. Although demons occasionally appear in the world, they are difficult to cause any real trouble. The most powerful demon in the last ten years was only at the level of a divine weapon."

"That evil spirit came from Lunzhou, west of Yuzhou. He had so many demon kings and ghost kings that you couldn't count them on one hand. After hiding and developing for many years, he even captured seven counties in one night, causing turmoil in most of Lunzhou."

"However, such evil spirits are nothing in front of the gods. It was only to avoid affecting more living beings that they made arrangements for more than half a month."

"In the end, the demons were wiped out by the Golden Flame General under the White Emperor's command. The real battle only lasted half an hour..."

The strongest deity Su Ji has seen so far is the Day Wandering Spirit General. It is comparable to the level of a demon general and has the ability to severely injure a great ghost general with one blow. Even ordinary ghost kings are no match for the Day Wandering Spirit General.

The gods must be even more powerful. If it weren't for protecting more living beings, the demons at the level of divine weapons probably wouldn't even have a chance to struggle.

As for the demon king's attack on the county town, Su Ji could also imagine it.

Take the pig demon leader we saw this morning, for example. He had only cultivated his bloodline and spirit to the level of a Great Demon General, yet he was able to withstand attacks from ordinary people with his powerful physique.

Previously, the people of both villages feared the walking corpses of the Wu family, and this was the same concern they had.

Yan Tianchou then proceeded to deduce: "Compared to the pig demon leader and the Wu family's walking corpses, the demon king's bloodline and spirit are much stronger. Not to mention ordinary people, he can probably ignore even the attacks of ordinary martial artists."

"Perhaps only a warrior who has cultivated a spiritual soul can inflict some damage on it, but that's all; perhaps a warrior would have to sacrifice his life to inflict even a minor injury on the Demon King..."

As a result, Su Ji also thought of many things.

In the Lunzhou demon incident, even though the military strength of a county town seemed considerable, the demon king was still able to unleash a beast tide, which explains why seven counties in Lunzhou fell in such a short time...

As the local deity spoke, he couldn't help but sigh: "To be honest, the reason I chose to reveal my identity as a high-level cultivator of the Dongxuan realm today is because of the Tiger King of the Baiyan Mountains."

"This tiger king not only cultivates bloodline spirit, but also has the support of the mountain lord, and has achieved great success in the path of cultivation."

"Now, the Tiger King has lived for more than two hundred years. Even the black tiger demons that we have killed may only be the Tiger King's descendants. No one knows how powerful the Tiger King is now!"

"Moreover, even if the Tiger King doesn't take action personally, it can still mobilize a beast tide with a secret command. Even if countless people are killed or injured, the Tiger King can find an excuse to escape."

"Rather than letting things escalate to this point, it's better to stop while we're ahead..."

There is a chasm between the realm of Yin and Yang and reality. The local earth god has to protect the people of this land, so he has no confidence to face a true demon king.

I'm a few minutes late, sorry.

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(End of this chapter)