At Eastern Wilderness, Divine Firmament Sacred Ground…
Pieces of paper with scrawny handwriting were strewn all over the place.
Fang Chang donned a red-gold armor, and there was a weasel hair writing brush in his hand.
Against the length of the brush, a small wooden stick was tied horizontally to it. At the same time, there were two other brushes tied at both ends of the stick.
Correct, this was a secret trick Fang Chang had mastered after years of being punished to copy the sect’s rules—the Pen-Skive Three Pens Technique!
Should one use such a secret technique to copy the sect’s rules, it would be equivalent to writing out three times of the sect’s rules in one go. This would greatly save one lots of effort.
Even so, using this method to copy out the sect’s rules for 5,000 times was still tormenting because… there were simply too many rules at the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground!
“Second Junior Brother, I really cannot do this anymore!”
Fang Chang sprawled out on the floor, wearing an expression like he was about to die.
Zhang Yunting urged weakly, “Senior Brother, don’t stop. Continue, this is not enough yet!”
Fang Chang shook his head resolutely. He felt like he would suffer a Qi Deviation if he continued.
Really, copying out the sect’s rules is even more challenging than fighting with a Nascent Soul Supremacy! One can go crazy over it!
…Wait, come to think of it, even though Master punished me to copy the sect’s rules, he didn’t mention when I should finish the task!
A spark of inspiration flashed past Fang Chang’s mind, and he thought he had found the blindspot for this punishment. He couldn’t help but start to get excited—that’s right, so long as one finished copying, who cared whether it was done in three days, three years, or even 30 years!?
In fact, the longer this period of copying got, the lesser the number of words he had to write each day!
Moreover, if I am able to attain the Golden Core Ninth Refinement Stage during this period of time, perhaps Master will be so happy that he will write off the rest of the punishment!
Ah, then isn’t it so not worth it for me to slog out my hands here?
Fang Chang slapped his thighs and exclaimed, “Junior Brother, let’s go back to seclusion and start cultivating again! I will continue copying the sect’s rules once I attain the Golden Core Ninth Refinement Stage!
“I now feel at my prime! I have never experienced such powers before! I believe I can break through that final obstacle this time!”
Looking at the excited Fang Chang, Zhang Yunting’s forehead creased up.
He felt things were not going to be as smooth as what Fang Chang said.
Back at Fog City…
Shopkeeper Song and the rest returned after obtaining their fortuitous opportunities and saw that Liu Taiyi had been doing extra ‘favors’ for Shen Tian all this while.
How could they swallow this!? As such, they scurried about and started their marketing of the Favored Ones group.
And upon their diligent marketing efforts, more people joined the joyous family of becoming Master Celestial’s followers.
Naturally, half of all the Fog Herbs and Sexual Spirit Chrysanthemums that all these people got went into Shen Tian’s pocket.
Of course, Shen Tian did not take these items for free. He would give them the number of Lightning Explosion Talismans that were approximately equivalent to the items he got from them.
In any case, the cost of manufacturing these Lightning Explosion Talismans was really low for him—he could just make one talisman for about three or five Spirit Stones.
Besides, he felt that the Fog Plain would undergo some drastic change. These Lightning Explosion Talismans might save someone’s life in the nick of time. If they managed to do that, this could also be another way of promoting the Yin-Yang Lightning Talisman.
But even if Shen Tian did not care much about giving away those Lightning Explosion Talismans, it didn’t mean the rest would think the same.
In their eyes, this action truly exhibited to them how noble Master Celestial was.
Not only did he point out their fortuitous opportunities, but he also gave them such precious Lightning Explosion Talismans.
These Lightning Explosion Talismans were considered supreme-grade spirit talismans in the market, and any normal person would have to spend a ton to get even one of them.
To be honest, if one really went by the market price, the number of Lightning Explosion Talismans Shen Tian gave to them already exceeded the value of what they contributed to him by loads.
All at once, Shen Tian’s popularity in Fog Town reached an ultimate high.
Meanwhile, everyone became all the more curious about Master Celestial’s appearance, especially the lady cultivators.
Naturally, there would always be haters.
As Shen Tian pointed out the fortuitous opportunities for the fated people, the ones that did not get their chance with him were, of course, not that happy, especially those people who got rejected outrightly by Shen Tian for being ‘not fated with him’. They were even more displeased after one day of exploring the Fog Plain by themselves and realizing that they indeed did not have any fortuitous opportunities.
Those people were green-eyed with envy from seeing others getting so much under Shen Tian’s guidance. In addition, those people even got the supreme-grade Lightning Explosion Talismans!
That sense of unfairness eventually drove them to think maliciously of Shen Tian. Seeing that he enjoyed protection from the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground’s disciples, they did not dare to cause trouble for him outrightly. Nonetheless, that did not mean they could not spread spiteful comments behind his back!
“What kind of ‘Master Celestial’ is this dude? Didn’t he say that he would not seek reimbursement for his services? Then why is he accepting gifts now?”
“Yes! And he’s actually requesting half of what those fated people got, or else he will not point out their fortuitous opportunities to them. That’s absolutely crap!”
“And he’s saying now that there will be a drastic change to the Fog Plain, how can that be? There has been no drastic change to the Fog Plain for thousands of years!”
“I honestly think that this whole ‘Master Celestial’ nonsense is fake. Most probably, his real intentions are to drive us away so that he can enjoy all the fortuitous opportunities by himself!”
…
Meanwhile, those who benefited due to Shen Tian would defend him vehemently.
“Hellooo! When did Master Celestial request for payments of half of what we got before he pointed out our fortuitous opportunities? You are the ones talking nonsense!”
“It’s out of our own initiative that we pay him half of what we got, get that clear! In fact, Master Celestial had always rejected our offerings!”
“Yes, that’s it! And Master Celestial even gave us so many Lightning Explosion Talisman in return!”
“Master Celestial was using his skills in divinity to remind us to be careful. This is a great favor from him! How dare you filthy mortals make false accusations about him!?”
“Master Celestial is so hardworking and kind. Yet you ungrateful people still malign him! Did dogs eat your consciences!?”
…
All at once, Shen Tian’s name became the most popular term at both the Fog Town and Fog City.
At the same time, Shen Tian’s own providence improved tremendously with his systematic method of freeloading others’ fortuitous opportunities.
The halo above his head was just a lush green shade previously. But after a day of pointing out fortuitous opportunities for others, it was turning dark green in color.
Shen Tian greatly enjoyed the sensation of feeling lighter and more comfortable as his providence improved. It was indeed wonderful carrying a green halo above his head!
As the sun began setting in, the Fog Plain’s spirit fog started to gather around the Fog Town’s outer edges.
But no one was worried about it.
This was because, for the thousands of years that had passed, there had never been once when the spirit fog would reach the main city’s exterior vicinity during the Fog Tide Period.
Long before Fog Town was built, various cultivators had already calculated the ‘absolute safe distance’ for them to stay at, without being harmed by the spirit fog.
And the truth was, it was absolutely safe to stay within those calculated distances. The spirit fog stopped advancing just a few kilometers before Fog Town.
The dense, white fog was like a protective layer that covered the entire Fog Plain.
Even advanced cultivators were unable to see what was happening within the Fog Plain through the thick fog.
When looking at the tumbling fog, which stopped advancing toward them, Shen Tian still had a sense of foreboding that some calamity would happen soon.
After his day of ‘business’, he brought Zhang Yunxi and the rest back to Fog City. However, many other cultivators, who wanted to save on the city’s entrance fees, continued staying at Fog Town.
They thought it was too pricey to enter the city every day, and they would rather stay in the small town outside of the city.
As for what ‘change’ that Master Celestial had warned about, only the most devoted fated people believed it.
Most of them still trusted their own experiences more than Shen Tian’s words.
Yet these people failed to realize that sometimes, that supposed ‘experience’ would result in their deaths!
…
That night was the second night of the Fog Tide Period.
More people had their fill of fortuitous opportunities at the Fog Plain during this Fog Tide Period. As such, there were even more cultivators that chose to come and stay at Fog City and Fog Town this time round.
The full moon shone cold beams down on earth in the night sky, while tiny stars, which dotted the sky, flickered.
It was a quiet night.
Nobody realized that the spirit fog, which had stopped advancing, started to tumble fiercely again.
All this happened in dead silence, but its speed was even faster than previously.
In the blink of an eye, it had engulfed the whole Fog Town!
After which, it went on like waves of a tsunami and started to advance toward Fog City!
