Translator: GodBrandy Editor: Kurisu
The last time, Song Shuhang put in a lot of effort to turn the tide, finally saving the world of the golden lotus of the scholarly faction.
Although a large part of the world of the golden lotus was consumed in the process, as long as it existed, the disciples of the scholarly faction would be able to make it recover by hunting more demons of the Netherworld Realm and feeding them to the Virtuous Golden Lotus.
Anyway, at this time, the scholarly faction had already moved several batches of disciples from their several ‘paradisiacal lands’ scattered all over the world to the ‘world of the golden lotus’.
The world of the golden lotus had been created not too long ago, and the scholarly faction told their disciples to head over there to help with the building of the new world. Amidst the things they had to do were: transplant spirit plants, engrave formations, move their important constructions, transport spirit stones, and many other things.
It was much more complicated than ordinary people moving in.
Along with these disciples moving to the world of the golden lotus, the small ‘paradisiacal lands’ they lived in before had now been emptied.
At this time, the higher-ups of the various academies belonging to the scholarly faction had already gotten the news that Song Shuhang was looking for a ‘haven of peace’. As such, they immediately made up their mind and decided to choose a few suitable immortal caves from unused ones and gift them to Song Shuhang.
The size of these unoccupied ‘paradisiacal lands’ was somewhat small, but their number was very high. Only within China, they had something like twenty-three immortal caves.
However, in a dozen or so of these ‘paradisiacal lands’, the quantity of spiritual qi had slowly decreased during the past hundred years. If one wanted to use them, they would have to contact those sects that sold spiritual qi and pay them to keep the immortal cave functioning. These immortal caves where the spiritual qi was gradually exhausted weren’t suitable gifts for little friend Shuhang, since they would only be a burden for him.
In the end, True Monarch Eternal Fire personally came to Wenzhou City in order to choose the immortal cave to gift to Song Shuhang.
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“Shuhang, there is another guest?” Mama Song asked out of curiosity. Today, Shuhang’s friends were coming over in waves, and whenever one was gone, another would come over, just like an endless cycle.
Song Shuhang replied, “Yes, Elder Brother Heng Huo dropped in for a visit.”
True Monarch Eternal Fire wore a smile on his face and took out a business card, giving it to Mama Song. “You must be little friend Song Shuhang’s mother, right? I’m Director Heng Huo from China’s Scholarly Education Enterprise.”
Mama Song blinked her eyes and took the business card. Judging from his demeanor, this Mister Heng Huo was far from being an ordinary person. At what time did Song Shuhang get to know such an ‘elder brother’?
Just as if he had guessed what Mama Song was thinking, True Monarch Eternal Fire faintly smiled and said, “Actually, it’s like this… a few days ago, our China’s Scholarly Education Enterprise went through a crisis that almost made it go bankrupt. Luckily, Shuhang bravely stepped forward and helped us big time, allowing us to safely get through that crisis. The reason I came to visit this time was precisely to thank him.”
“…” Mama Song.
At this time, Mama Song suddenly discovered that she suffered from facial paralysis… because she had no idea what expression to use when facing this Mister Heng Huo. Her Shuhang had unexpectedly turned the tide and helped a conglomerate to avoid going bankrupt?
Was this even within Shuhang’s capabilities?
“As such, we have prepared a gift for little friend Shuhang.” After saying this much, True Monarch Eternal Fire took out a tablet and opened China’s map.
On the map were drawn several small red circles scattered throughout all China. There were eleven of these circles in total.
“These small red circles scattered throughout all China represent the unoccupied private villas and house properties under our ‘China’s Scholarly Education Enterprise’. We are planning to gift all these unoccupied private villas and house properties to little friend Shuhang,” True Monarch Eternal Fire explained.
Mama Song was speechless. She really wished to make this Mister Heng Huo return to his senses. Just what the hell was the deal with gifting her son eleven private villas and properties out of nowhere!
Song Shuhang was likewise speechless. When True Monarch Eternal Fire talked about unoccupied ‘haven of peace’, he thought that he was talking about three or four immortal caves at most, surely not eleven!
“True— Elder Brother Heng Huo, this thank-you gift is a little too much. I’ll only choose one among them, and that’s it,” Song Shuhang replied.
He just wanted to get ahold of a ‘haven of peace’ where his family members could live in the future. He had no intention of becoming a landlord!
“Shuhang, don’t be so impatient to refuse. Actually, aside from the one in Wenzhou City, the other ten places are something I chose with great care, and there are profound mysteries hidden within,” True Monarch Eternal Fire said with a smile at this time. “Anyway, let’s get in first. I’ll slowly explain everything to you. Shuhang, where is your room?”
Song Shuhang pointed toward his room, and said, “That’s my room.”
True Monarch Eternal Fire put away the tablet, and said, “Alright. Let’s go to your room. I’ll explain everything to you there.”
After saying this much, True Monarch Eternal Fire took the lead and headed toward Song Shuhang’s room.
At this time, Mama Song quietly pulled over Song Shuhang, and said, “Shuhang, in a while, try to make that Mister Heng Huo calm down. No matter how I look at it, randomly gifting eleven houses is a little too much! Tell him that he mustn’t act on impulse!”
“Mom, don’t worry. I know what to do,” Song Shuhang said.
In the front, True Monarch Eternal Fire was speechless.
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In Song Shuhang’s room.
True Monarch Eternal Fire immediately released several runes and created a barrier.
After seeing Senior Eternal Fire’s actions, Song Shuhang’s expression also became serious. It seemed that what Senior Eternal Fire was going to tell him next was very important. The reason he created that barrier was to prevent others from overhearing this confidential information.
“Little friend Shuhang, do you know about the ancient Heavenly City?” True Monarch Eternal Fire asked.
Song Shuhang nodded. At the same time, he was somewhat moved. Was it possible that those ten private villas that True Monarch Eternal Fire wanted to gift him were related to the ancient Heavenly City?
“If you know about it, I won’t have to explain too much. As little friend Shuhang should know, the ancient Heavenly City was suddenly destroyed, and it was definitely related to the Netherworld Realm and ‘that person’. The calamity that befell our scholarly faction was also related to the Netherworld Realm. As such, when the ancient Heavenly City was destroyed, our scholarly faction entered into action and collected some of the fragments of the ancient Heavenly City in hope of obtaining some useful clues,” True Monarch Eternal Fire said in a grave tone.
“Did the scholarly faction get anything useful out of it?” Song Shuhang asked.
True Monarch Eternal Fire shook his head. “We didn’t obtain many benefits. When the ancient Heavenly City was destroyed, we were definitely caught by surprise… After the Heavenly City fell, the pieces of the city we collected were both small and big. As for the big ones, we are still researching them. On the other hand, those that were either too small or incomplete don’t hold too much research value. For this reason, we decided to secretly move them all over the world, transforming them into these small paradisiacal lands and allowing the disciples to use them as a residence or practicing place.”
“In other words, amidst these eleven ‘paradisiacal lands’ that Senior Eternal Fire picked up, aside from the one in Wenzhou City, the other ten are actually fragments of the ancient Heavenly City?” Song Shuhang opened his eyes wide.
“Exactly.” True Monarch Eternal Fire smiled and nodded. “Little friend, I thought that you would be rather interested in them.”
True Monarch Eternal Fire knew that the cultivation technique Song Shuhang practiced was the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯. According to the information they gained on the ancient Heavenly City through their research, the scholarly faction knew that this cultivation technique was something passed down in the ancient Heavenly City.
Song Shuhang silently nodded. That was true… he was very curious about the ancient Heavenly City.
“In that case, the matter is settled. In a few days, I’ll give little friend Shuhang full control over those ten fragments of the Heavenly City and that other immortal cave in Wenzhou City,” True Monarch Eternal Fire said with a smile.
Everything was settled!
Actually, no matter how small a fragment of the ancient Heavenly City was, it still held some research value.
By gifting him these valuable fragments of the ancient Heavenly City, the scholarly faction planned to silently repay Song Shuhang for the favor he did them.
The favor that the scholarly faction ended up owing this time was simply too big. As such, they could only slowly repay it bit by bit.
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After the matter related to those eleven paradisiacal lands was settled, Song Shuhang thought about another matter.
As such, he took out that spider puppet from his size-reducing purse and gave it to True Monarch Eternal Fire. At the same time, he also briefly told Senior Eternal Fire the story behind the spider puppet.
“Such being the case, can Senior Eternal Fire help me take a look at this spider puppet and tell me of its abilities?” Song Shuhang asked.
True Monarch Eternal Fire took the spider puppet in his hands and started fiddling with it.
Although Shuhang had no idea how True Monarch did it, the latter disassembled the spider puppet into thousands of seemingly very complex parts.
True Monarch Eternal Fire poked these parts, and explained, “The main body of this spider puppet consists in an ordinary small-sized scouting-type puppet. Through a secret technique, it can scout and overhear things from a very long distance. This type of small puppet is usually used when exploring dangerous forbidden zones or the ruins ancient cultivators left behind. However, this spider puppet was modified, and is hiding a poisonous stinger within. Although the poison on this stinger isn’t deadly, it’s very troublesome to get rid of. Beyond that, the spider puppet also had an explosive formation engraved above. Had it decided to detonate, it wouldn’t have been a problem to blow up your whole house.”
The thought alone was enough to scare Song Shuhang. Even if Daoist Priest Cloudy Mist had cut off the various legs of the spider puppet, if the master of that thing had decided to make it detonate in a fit of anger, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Song Shuhang asked, “Senior Eternal Fire, is it possible to get any clue about its master after examining this spider puppet?”
True Monarch Eternal Fire faintly smiled, and said, “Hehe, although the opposite party was very careful and left next to no traces behind, they were still unable to deceive my eyes.”
While speaking, True Monarch Eternal Fire took out a dozen or so special parts from the spider puppet. “Do you see the structure and technique used to manufacture these parts? On the surface, it seems as though it is the technique of a small sect called ‘Wondrous Machinery League’, but if you look into it carefully… you’ll discover that it’s clearly the technique of the Limitless Demon Sect!”
Song Shuhang stared at those dozen or so parts for a while… and couldn’t really see anything.
He was unable to tell the difference between a small screw and another small screw. Only someone like True Monarch Eternal Fire, who was a grandmaster when it came to puppets, could immediately tell the difference between them.
“As expected… it was the doing of the Limitless Demon Sect,” Song Shuhang muttered to himself. Needless to say, if the Limitless Demon Sect was involved, it was definitely related to that bastard Young Master Hai.
But right at this time, True Monarch Eternal Fire said, “Right. Little friend Shuhang, do you want to seize this opportunity to retaliate against the master of this spider puppet?”
Song Shuhang’s eyes immediately lit up. “How can I retaliate against him?”
“We can use this spider puppet as a carrier. I’ll first arrange a small formation, and as long as we are careful enough, we can instantly capture the location of the master of this spider puppet, and then discover his whereabouts through the connection between him and this spider puppet, finally retaliating against him when he least expects it,” True Monarch Eternal Fire explained.
It sounded like a great war between hackers. Hacker A decided to infect the computer of a noob with a virus. The noob had no idea how to deal with the situation and decided to ask for help from his elder brother, Hacker B. Hacker B’s skills were obviously a notch higher than Hacker A’s. Not only was he able to eliminate the virus, but he was also able to counterattack against Hacker A through the Trojan horse he had left behind.
Song Shuhang was the noob, Young Master Hai the pitiful Hacker A, and True Monarch Eternal Fire the super cool Hacker B.
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Limitless Demon Sect, on the 69th Peak, the Mahoraga Peak.
Zheng Neng, Demon Monarch Anzhi, and Young Master Hai were currently in deep meditation, trying to break through to the Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperor Realm.
Their objective wasn’t to become ordinary Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperors. They each wanted to condense a Golden Core with at least seven dragon patterns! After all, only a Spiritual Emperor with a Golden Core with seven or more dragon patterns would have a say in the huge Limitless Demon Sect.
At this time, the three of them were following the plan that Young Master Hai had devised, orderly and slowly increasing their strength and condensing their Golden Core.
A golden, red, and black—three-colored—mist was hovering above the heads of the trio.
But right at this time, Young Master Hai’s face suddenly twitched.
An extremely painful expression appeared on his face.
Just now, he felt that someone launched a mental attack against him through the connection between his main body and a puppet.
The strength of the opposite party was incredible, and it was, at the very least, someone at the peak of the Sixth Stage True Monarch Realm. Although he used his mental energy to attack him from a very distant place, it still made him feel as though his head was going to explode.
However, even more importantly, he was now in secluded meditation… and this attack almost caused his internal energy to go berserk.
But to avoid disturbing the nearby Zheng Neng and Demon Monarch Anzhi, Young Master Hai could only clench his teeth and resist the pain. He clenched his teeth so hard that his gums started bleeding.
Let’s take a look which puppet caused all this… Young Master Hai thought to himself.
Although he was in secluded meditation, he still had a lot of plans to implement. Therefore, he had left several puppets in the outside world that would take care of things in his stead.
Young Master Hai checked and discovered that the puppet that caused all this was the one in Stressed by a Mountain of Books’ house.
It was again that guy!
Young Master Hai clenched his teeth. Whenever he was facing Song Shuhang, he would feel as if everything was falling apart. Whether it was intelligence, skills, strategy, strength, or experience… Stressed by a Mountain of Books was absolutely no match for him.
However, the opposite party was disgustingly lucky, and all the plans that he had come up with to deal with Stressed by a Mountain of Books had failed for the most diverse reasons.
In addition, it definitely wasn’t due to his miscalculations!
Who told him to play against a cheater while having no cheats of his own?
While he was in deep thought, a rune suddenly flashed before Young Master Hai’s eyes.
In the next moment, the rune shattered and disappeared.
Young Master Hai immediately became alert.
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In the meantime, in Song Shuhang’s house.
Song Shuhang raised his arm and looked at it. Earlier, there was a tattoo on his arm, which was the place where the ❮Writing of the Sage❯ had sealed that curse that caused him to have nightmares. But now, that tattoo had suddenly disappeared…
What was happening?
