The arrival was none other than the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord. Sensing that something had gone wrong with the Purple Heaven Vine, he rushed over at top speed while commanding his divine sword to slay the treasure-thieving scoundrel.
He never expected that the thief would use his own hand to open the Immortal Gourd, releasing the Calamity Immortal Fire accumulated over three rounds of Opening the Calamity, nearly destroying his immortal Dao realm.
During the previous three rounds of Opening the Calamity, the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord had relied on the Purple Heaven Vine to survive, with the calamity's fate being absorbed by the vine. After the Purple Heaven Vine absorbed the calamity's fate, it couldn't refine it either, so once it bloomed and bore fruit, it could only store it in this gourd.
This Calamity Immortal Fire was extraordinary; it could ruin an immortal's foundational Dao path. Even the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord couldn't extinguish the immortal fire, only suppress its momentum.
"With the Calamity Immortal Fire released, burning down Purple Heaven, it's also answering to the calamity's number. I can simply open another realm, but restoring Purple Heaven to its former glory will likely require countless effort."
Just as the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord thought this, suddenly there was a loud bang, and something exploded within the immortal fire below. Countless ghost souls flew out from the immortal fire, scattering in all directions.
These living souls numbered in the millions, and combined with the ant-people, rat-people, and bee-people that had been burned to death, there were tens of millions of living souls. As soon as they fled Purple Heaven, they entered the cycle of reincarnation between heaven and earth, being guided to the underworld officials of various regions.
"My Reincarnation Jade Plate!"
The Purple Heaven Immortal Lord grunted, his heart aching terribly. "The reincarnation divine artifact I painstakingly begged for from Spirit Mountain has been burned to destruction!"
With the Reincarnation Jade Plate intact, rebuilding another Purple Heaven would have been no trouble.
With the Reincarnation Jade Plate destroyed, even if he rebuilt another Purple Heaven, he would lose the means to sustain his livelihood—he could no longer control so many living souls, have them work for him, plant immortal herbs, harvest immortal honey, or refine immortal pills.
The reason he had attained such a high status and been enfeoffed as an Immortal Lord wasn't due to his cultivation, but because Purple Heaven produced various immortal herbs in abundance. The Purple Heaven Immortal Lord was also skilled at pill refinement, using immortal pills to build good relations with others. Many immortals had requests for him, so even with only a Gold Immortal's cultivation, he was enfeoffed as an Immortal Lord.
Having lost the Purple Heaven Vine and the Immortal Gourd, and with the Reincarnation Jade Plate burned to destruction, his foundation was also gone.
"The Opening of the Calamity is coming; there's still a way now!"
His gaze flickered, and he thought to himself, "I have no choice but to fully attach myself to other powerful beings to survive the Opening of the Calamity. Though it means lowering myself, at least I'll stay alive... Damn it all, who the hell set me up?"
In the Palace of Generous Virtue, the Empress of Earth held the Purple Heaven Gourd in her palm and opened the gourd's mouthpiece, saying with a smile, "Your Majesty, please take a look."
This gourd had originally been enormous, but in her hand, it appeared only about a foot tall.
Chen Shi approached and peered into the gourd, seeing that inside were gleaming golden and yellow objects—the gourd's seeds.
However, though the gourd was large, there weren't many seeds, only three.
"So few?"
Chen Shi was somewhat surprised. Such a huge gourd, yet it only contained three seeds inside.
"The Purple Heaven Vine rarely blooms and bears fruit. If there were many gourd seeds, they would have been planted all over the Earth Immortal Realm long ago. It was only because the Purple Heaven Vine knew its end was near that it bloomed and bore fruit. For it, having three seeds in the gourd was already many."
The Empress of Earth poured one gourd seed into his palm, smiling. "It produced three seeds, hoping that at least one Purple Heaven Vine would survive. If one more could survive out of the other two, that would be a bonus."
The seed of the Purple Heaven Immortal Gourd fell into his hand, heavy and weighty, but within it was vast vitality. Just by holding it in his palm, Chen Shi could feel his own skin and hair quietly growing.
The Empress of Earth instructed, "The Talisman Script imprint on this treasure is most wondrous—it's a spiritual seed condensed by absorbing calamity's fate and immortal qi. Bury it together with Wu Qi in the soil, not exposing even a bit, then water it with some spring water from the Dao Spring. Wait a few days, and Wu Qi can be revived. Oh, and set up a trellis nearby to make it convenient for the vine to climb."
"Climb a trellis?"
Chen Shi was somewhat puzzled. It was vine-type crops that needed trellises to climb, like the watermelons Old Lady Wuzhu had planted, which required ridges for the watermelon vines to grow, or the beans Grandma Yuzhu had planted, which needed trellises to support them so they could climb and grow better.
Planting Wu Qi also required climbing a trellis?
Chen Shi imagined the sight of Wu Qi emerging from the soil and growing in a winding manner, and couldn't help but shudder.
The Empress of Earth took out another gourd seed and handed the gourd back to him, saying, "I'll keep one seed. Keep the remaining seed; it might be useful in the future. This Purple Heaven Vine is extremely precious, yet the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord used it to support his Dao realm—truly a waste of heavenly treasures."
Chen Shi sought advice: "Godmother, how should one use the Purple Heaven Vine without wasting heavenly treasures?"
The Empress of Earth laughed. "The Purple Heaven Vine is a rare spiritual seed, adept at seeking out the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, gathering it and refining it into Grand Purity Qi. The Purple Heaven Immortal Lord planted it in his own Dao realm to support it, so where would it go to seek spiritual energy? Even if it could refine a bit of Grand Purity Qi, it would be meager and insufficient for any great use."
Chen Shi's heart stirred slightly. He thought back to what he had seen in the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord's Dao realm—when the sun revolved around the Purple Heaven Vine, it absorbed wisps of purple qi from the vine. Could that purple qi be Grand Purity Qi?
He asked the Empress of Earth, who laughed. "It's that kind of purple qi. 'Purple qi comes from the east' has always been a description used for the Grand Purity Sage. The Purple Heaven Immortal Lord was afraid that if he revealed the Purple Heaven Vine, someone would take it, so he planted it in his Dao realm, but that also restricted the Purple Heaven Vine. The Grand Purity Purple Qi he collected was very limited and insufficient to help him break through his realm. Otherwise, he would have long since cultivated to the Tai Yi Golden Immortal level."
Chen Shi felt somewhat uneasy. "Godmother, I took his gourd, and his Purple Heaven Dao realm was burned down. Is what we did too much?"
The Empress of Earth sneered. "Too much? The Purple Heaven Immortal Lord, relying on the fact that he had become an immortal, had jumped out of reincarnation and wasn't under my jurisdiction, so he went around searching for living souls, turning people into ant-people, beast-people, and bee-people, enslaving them. He even borrowed the Reincarnation Jade Plate from Spirit Mountain to control these living souls, trapping them in birth, death, and rebirth, generation after generation, working for him. Not killing him and only taking the Purple Heaven Immortal Gourd is already letting him off easy!"
Chen Shi asked, "What about those ant-people and beast-people..."
The Empress of Earth said, "Now that the Purple Heaven Dao realm has been burned down, they will also die. Their souls will flee Purple Heaven and fall into the reincarnation of different worlds. In the future, they may be reborn anew, no longer needing to be enslaved by the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord."
Chen Shi thought for a moment. "Godmother is a good person."
The Empress of Earth laughed involuntarily. "How am I a good person? The reason I had you steal the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord's gourd is that the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord interfered with reincarnation, encroaching on my interests. He happens to be an Immortal Lord, not within reincarnation, so I can't do anything to him, and needed to use your hand. Once he loses the Immortal Gourd, he won't be able to survive the Opening of the Calamity and will surely die in it. I act for myself in everything—how could I be a good person?"
Chen Shi smiled. "Godmother does everything for herself, yet the results are all good deeds."
The Empress of Earth laughed. "Less flattery. You stole the Immortal Gourd, but the Purple Heaven Immortal Lord isn't dead yet. You might still cross paths with him in the future. Taking this karma upon yourself can't be a good thing, can it?"
Chen Shi's face showed worry, and he sighed.
The Empress of Earth was quite pleased. "I'm full of evil deeds now too! Go out and worry elsewhere; I'm a bit tired."
Chen Shi walked out of the Palace of Generous Virtue and was met by Daoist Willow outside the palace, looking over with a fawning expression. Chen Shi lowered his head, clutched the Purple Heaven Gourd tighter, and intended to walk past him.
Daoist Willow coughed, his fawning expression growing even stronger. In a thin, soft voice, he said, "Your Majesty, about that little Daoist's three willow leaves... Your Majesty, you see..."
He rubbed his hands together, looking quite embarrassed about asking for his magic treasure back.
Chen Shi stopped walking. "Ah, those three willow leaves... hmm, that's a bit of a problem. I believe, Fellow Daoist, that your magic treasure still has room for improvement. You need to reach new levels, attain new realms, adopt new measures, and achieve new development. Therefore, you should use new methods, set new requirements, achieve new breakthroughs, and reach new heights. Do you understand this reasoning, Fellow Daoist?"
Daoist Willow looked completely bewildered as he watched Chen Shi walk down the hill. Suddenly, he snapped back to reality. "What about my Celestial Immortal Three Ultimates Formation?"
Chen Shi hurried back to the Imperial City and finally let out a breath. "Daoist Willow's three willow leaves are indeed a problem. I managed to keep my life, but his willow leaves were destroyed, so I need to compensate him. But how to compensate..."
He couldn't think of a solution for a moment, so he decided to set it aside for now. After all, planting Wu Qi was more urgent.
He wandered through a few palaces, looking for a secluded corner to plant Wu Qi and the gourd seed. After searching for a while, he found an empty spot in the imperial garden. The palace was newly built, and the imperial garden only had some trees and flowers planted, with plenty of open space still available. No fine trees had been selected yet.
Chen Shi chose a several-hundred-year-old crape myrtle tree, its crown had been trimmed and hadn't yet sprouted new growth.
He dug a pit under the tree, then carried Wu Qi, pot and all, over.
The white-haired, white-dressed Can'er came running over, dragging her ponytails behind her. "Brother, hungry!"
Chen Shi set down the pot and looked at the mulberry leaf around her neck. She had already eaten it all.
"Her appetite seems to have grown quite a bit recently."
Chen Shi was surprised and fastened another hibiscus leaf around her neck.
Can'er crouched beside him, eating her mulberry leaf as she watched Chen Shi fish Wu Qi's bones out of the pot. He planted Wu Qi together with that gleaming golden gourd seed under the crape myrtle tree, then covered it with soil.
Chen Shi poured the Dao spring water from the pot over it, let out a breath, and muttered to himself, "In a few days, the gourd vine will grow and can climb up the crape myrtle tree."
He imagined the possibility of Wu Qi crawling out of the soil and growing up the tree like a vine, and couldn't help but shiver.
"That definitely won't happen! Can'er, let's go."
Chen Shi called out, and Can'er quickly followed him, hopping along, her two ponytails swinging back and forth.
Chen Shi noticed that in this short time, she had already eaten nearly half of that hibiscus leaf!
"At this rate, the hibiscus leaves will probably be finished in a few days at most." He couldn't help but worry.
"Ever since the Empress made me spin silk, my appetite has grown a lot. The Empress said I'm growing!" Can'er said with complete confidence.
Chen Shi crouched down to look at her. The girl only reached his waist; he didn't see where she had grown.
"The Empress said I'm going to undergo a metamorphosis, so I need to eat more," Can'er said.
"Metamorphosis?"
Chen Shi was slightly puzzled, not quite understanding what that meant. But having a big appetite wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"But it's also a bad thing. When the hibiscus leaves here run out, how will I get more?"
He thought of that hibiscus tree from before. Only by going back there could he gather enough hibiscus leaves for Can'er's metamorphosis.
"But without the willow-leaf boat, how can I cross the Dark Sea? And in the darkness, it's also hard to distinguish the path."
Chen Shi hesitated. This matter would still require troubling the Empress of Earth.
"But there's no rush for now; the hibiscus leaves are still enough for a few more days. I wonder how the battle is going?"
As the True King, he had been busy running back and forth with the Empress of Earth these days and hadn't been paying attention to the war. Fortunately, his skeletal body was on the front lines. Chen Shi's consciousness connected with the skeletal body, and in just a short moment, he was fully informed about the war situation over this period.
After the Li, Yang, Xu, Zhang, Xia, and other great clans had been destroyed, the Gu, Ma, Gao, Jiang, Fei, Zhai, and other clans had also been gradually wiped out, but the pace was much slower than before.
This was because the underworld forces of these clans had counterattacked. This power was truly formidable—countless underworld soldiers and ghost gods everywhere. Yang Bi had no choice but to adopt a steady, stable battle formation, reducing casualties while using superior forces to encircle and destroy the enemy's weak points, gradually wearing them down.
But by now, among the Thirteen Great Clans, only the Cui Family remained.
The Cui Family had gathered remnants from the other clans, with experts as plentiful as clouds, but the Cui Family's destruction was only a matter of time.
At this moment, Yang Bi was deploying troops, forming a pincer movement around the Cui Family in both the Yin and Yang realms.
He had adopted a tactic of besieging on three sides and leaving one gap, leaving a weak point in the northwest corner to make it convenient for the Cui Family's experts to break out.
But after fighting until now, not a single ghost god or clan member from the Cui Family had fled. This family's character was extremely fierce and stubborn, giving Yang Bi quite a headache. He feared it would be hard to eliminate the Cui Family without making some sacrifices.
Chen Shi's skeletal body came to the minor heaven and found Yang Bi, saying, "The reason the Cui Family doesn't flee is that they know even if they escape, there's nowhere to go. They will inevitably be hunted down and killed by us. So they resist stubbornly, fighting to the death. Just give them a glimmer of hope of escape, and they will run."
Yang Bi asked, "Where does this hope come from?"
Chen Shi's skeletal body said, "My uncle Chen Wu once disguised himself as a Celestial Way Walker of Despair Slope. We can have him take the Emperor Father, Du Yiran, Granny Sha, and the others, disguise themselves as Celestial Way Walkers, and claim to have been sent by the Celestial Venerable to mediate between the two sides. Zhuang Wujiu often walks among mortals, and many people know him, recognizing him as someone from Despair Slope. We can have Chen Wu impersonate Zhuang Wujiu."
Upon hearing this, Yang Bi laughed. "In eliminating this last great clan, why not have Your Majesty personally take the field? Your Majesty's role in single-handedly toppling the Thirteen Great Clans would be the greatest achievement."
Skeleton Chen Shi shook his head. "You were the one who defeated the other eleven great clans, and you will be the one to defeat the Cui Family as well. I won't take your credit."
Yang Bi lowered his head. "Your servant fears that one's merits may overshadow one's lord."
Chen Shi laughed. "If you can't trust me, my dear minister, I can grant you an iron deed and a gold medal of immunity from death."
Yang Bi couldn't help but laugh. "I've read many history books, and anyone who ever received an iron deed or a gold medal of immunity died miserably in the end!"
Chen Shi also couldn't help laughing. "Brother Yang, in name we are lord and minister, but that is only for the sake of the common people. In reality, we are fellow Daoists, seekers of the Dao. Once this world is pacified, the Celestial Venerable eliminated, and the proper order established, I intend to follow the example of the ancient sages and abdicate the throne of the True King, devoting myself entirely to seeking the Dao and pursuing Ascension."
Yang Bi was deeply moved by these words. "Indeed. I was originally a seeker of the Dao, but was unfortunately drawn into this muddy stream. Once the world is at peace, I'll hang up my seal and depart. If such a day of peace truly comes, I too will resign my post and hand back my seal."
The two smiled at each other.
Yang Bi laughed. "At that time, as a fellow Daoist, I humbly request that Your Majesty grant me the honor of one more match, to determine who is superior."
Chen Shi laughed heartily. "I'll naturally be the superior one!"
Yang Bi smiled. "Not necessarily. By the way, what has Your Majesty been doing in the Imperial City these days? If you're free, you could personally lead the expedition."
He was still worried about one's merits overshadowing one's lord and tried to pass off the credit for pacifying the Thirteen Great Clans.
"Stealing, taking, burning, killing, and planting a person." Chen Shi sighed.
Yang Bi was puzzled.
Chen Shi withdrew his consciousness, leaving a single thought in the skeletal body. Hu Feifei hurried over and asked him to review official memorials.
He had been running around overseas these days, busier than he could handle, and had accumulated many memorials. Most were submitted from various regions, congratulating the True King on his ascension. Some reported on local demonic transformations, floods, and grain shortages.
Chen Shi reviewed them, with Hu Feifei explaining the general meaning of each memorial beside him, while Chen Shi made decisions. The two worked from morning until night, and from night until morning, finally finishing reviewing the mountain of memorials.
Chen Shi stretched lazily and was about to go rest when suddenly Can'er came running over in a panic, calling from a distance, "Brother! Brother! A person! A person! The person has grown!"
Chen Shi was momentarily stunned, then snapped back to reality. "Wu Qi! Wu Qi has grown!"
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