People in Conferred Gods: Rising from humble beginnings, I am the God of Wealth

The underworld, the Ghost Palace of Fengdu.

Yang Xuan sat on the throne, hidden in the black mist, his fist pressing against his cheek, his eyes gleaming.

"Hmm...we could strengthen Buddhism a bit more, and the Heavenly Court should also evolve into the Thirty-Three Heavens."

The illusory image of the river of fate appeared in Yang Xuan's eyes, predicting future events.

Compared to my memories of my previous life, the current prehistoric world is vastly different.

The Jie Sect was not weakened and remained one of the most powerful forces in the prehistoric world.

The Heavenly Court is no longer a place where the Xuanmen (Taoist sect) has absolute power. Once a Xuanmen disciple enters the Heavenly Court, he must act in accordance with the Heavenly Laws and become a righteous god of the Heavenly Court, no different from other immortals and gods.

The Underworld governs the cycle of reincarnation in the primordial world and wields immense influence there. It is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court and is a top-tier power corresponding to the Heavenly Court.

Unlike in the past, Buddhism no longer flourished from its inception. Instead, it is subject to numerous restrictions from the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, making it much more difficult to cultivate faith and incense offerings.

After the primordial world evolved into the Three Realms, the earth's veins remained undamaged. Not only did they show no signs of spiritual energy loss, but they were even more abundant. It didn't look like the world was heading towards the end of the Dharma era at all.

In other words, even if fate has a finite limit, the great calamity of the Journey to the West will still occur, and the crisis of the Dharma-ending Age may still arise.
However, Yang Xuan's memories of the original timeline are no longer as useful as before, allowing him to anticipate the enemy's moves.

However, given Yang Xuan's current cultivation level and status, as long as he determines some important future milestones in advance, he can also anticipate the enemy's moves, take the lead, and seize the initiative.

For example, he knew that the final form of the Heavenly Court was not the thirty-three heavens, but the thirty-six heavens.

These newly added three heavens are Taiqing Heaven, Yuqing Heaven, and Shangqing Heaven, which were created after the Three Pure Ones took over the Heavenly Court.

After the Three Pure Ones took over the Heavenly Court, the relationship between the Heavenly Court and the Xuanmen became closer, and the influence of both sides was further enhanced, which could put more pressure on Buddhism.

As long as Buddhism continues to follow the path of incense and faith, it will be an irreconcilable enemy of Yang Xuan, and he doesn't mind giving Buddhism more things to do.

As for the Heavenly Court, the Underworld, and the Mystic Sect, they were natural allies in the flourishing of the divine path.
In particular, Houtu, through the fortunes of the Jie Sect, the Chan Sect, and the demon race, enabled Fairy Yunhua to give birth to Yang Jian and two others who possessed the bloodline of Yang Xuan's incense offerings and golden body. The divine path, the Jie Sect, the Chan Sect, and the demon race were all in a relationship of shared prosperity.

Enhancing the influence of the Xuanmen sect would not affect the development of the Shendao sect and could even restrain the development of the Buddhist sect, so Yang Xuan was naturally eager to do so.

In addition to this, Yang Xuan had another purpose: if he could witness the creation of the world by the sage, it would be of great help to him.

Even when refining his natal spiritual treasure, Yang Xuan had already thought that if he could integrate the Measuring Ruler and the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl into it in the future...
He could then replace the Taoist Ran Deng, complete the feat of creating the world, gain immeasurable merit, and advance his cultivation to a higher level.

The Taoist Ran Deng relied on this act of creating heaven and earth to become a quasi-saint in one fell swoop and firmly sit in the position of the past Buddha in Buddhism.

Yang Xuan is now a Quasi-Saint with one corpse. If he can complete the feat of creating the world, he may be able to sever another corpse!
Yang Xuan also knew that in order to prevent Buddhism from flourishing in the East, and in order to strengthen the influence of humanity and solidify the human race's position as the protagonist of the world,

The sage of the Xuanmen sect will usher in a great era of intellectual ferment across the Nine Provinces, during which many powerful figures will participate and spread their doctrines.

And this is also Yang Xuan's opportunity!

If the divine path can be greatly promoted through this opportunity, his incense offerings and golden statues can be further enhanced, and the fortune of the divine path will increase even more.

In the future, he will sever the benevolent corpse, and the incense and golden body can serve as the vessel for the spirit, thus completely occupying the position of the master of the divine path.

Furthermore, the period of intellectual ferment also presents an excellent opportunity to spread business principles.

The path of commerce is crucial to Yang Xuan's spiritual journey. If he can make the path of commerce shine brightly during this period, and with the help of the divine, Yang Xuan's path to enlightenment will be much easier in the future.

After deducing for hundreds of years, Yang Xuan's lips curled into a faint smile, as he had an idea for what was to come.

Now that Buddhism has been established, according to the timeline, it shouldn't be long before the era of a hundred schools of thought contend begins, which will also be the transitional period of the Journey to the West tribulation.

In the normal timeline, Buddhism would have been one of the biggest winners, laying the foundation for Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism to become the leading schools of thought.

If Buddhism were allowed to shine brightly during the period of intellectual ferment, and coupled with its methods of salvation, its popularity in the primordial world would undoubtedly rise dramatically, threatening the status of the divine path.

To prevent this from happening, Yang Xuan decided to find something for Buddhism to do, which would also enhance the influence of the divine path.

Nowadays, the influence of the divine path is mainly reflected in the immortals and gods of Heaven and the Underworld. As long as the influence of Heaven and the Underworld is increased, the influence of the divine path will naturally increase as well.

Therefore, Yang Xuan's current idea is to help the Heavenly Court sort out the ancient starry sky, let the Three Pure Ones take over the Heavenly Court, and open the Three Heavens again.

Of course, before opening up the three heavens, we need to borrow a spiritual treasure to prevent others from taking advantage of us.

As for how to borrow it, Yang Xuan had some ideas. There was no need to rush; he would just let things take their course.

Subsequently, Yang Xuan summoned a group of high-ranking officials from the underworld, including Xuan Niu, Bi Xiao, and Ming He.

"There are too few capable people..."

Yang Xuan looked at the crowd below and sighed.

Although recruiting a large number of ghosts and spirits has initially filled the void in the underworld, providing sufficient manpower for capturing souls and spirits.

However, the higher-ups in the underworld are far inferior to those in the heavenly court. The current number of people is insufficient to uphold the dignity of the underworld.

"If we could rescue the ancestral witches like Dijiang and Zhujiuyin..."

Yang Xuan's eyes flickered, and he had some ideas in mind, but he didn't think about them in depth. He was not yet good enough.

After giving instructions on some points to note and developments, Yang Xuan took a step out, leaving the Netherworld and arriving outside the South Gate of Heaven. With another step, he arrived outside the Lingxiao Palace.

After becoming a Quasi-Saint and using the Sun Star to contain the evil corpse, Yang Xuan was able to mobilize more of the Sun Star's authority.

Even though the Heavenly Court and the Underworld are far apart, it's only a matter of a few steps. This is something that no other Quasi-Saint, except for December, can do.

This is also the advantage of using stars to sever corpses; one can borrow the authority of stars, mobilize the power of heaven and earth, and accomplish more.

Perhaps in terms of magical combat, there isn't a huge difference between using stars to sever a corpse and using a spiritual treasure to sever a corpse, and the spiritual treasure might even be stronger.

However, in terms of authority, using stars, famous mountains and rivers to slay corpses grants more power, which is beyond doubt.

Of course, Star-shaped Corpse Slayer is inferior to Spiritual Treasure Corpse Slayer in combat, and this does not include top-ranking stars such as the Sun Star and the Moon Star.

Yang Xuan entered the Lingxiao Palace and bowed to Haotian and the Queen Mother above.

"This humble deity greets Your Majesty and Your Majesty!"

"Fellow Daoist, what are you saying?" Haotian smiled and shook his head. "We are both First-Rank Great Emperors, so how can there be a distinction between us?"

Although Yang Xuan has been living in the underworld for years, his evil corpse has been guarding the Heavenly Court.
Furthermore, with capable ministers and generals like Shen Gongbao, Jiang Ziya, and the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden, the affairs of Heaven were not neglected.

Haotian and the Queen Mother continued to act as if they were indifferent, having nothing else to do besides tending to the ancient starry sky, so naturally they had no complaints. "Your Majesty," Yang Xuan said, not losing his manners despite his elevated divine status, still treating Haotian with utmost respect—after all, excessive politeness is never a bad thing!

"According to my observations over the years, after the primordial world evolved into the Three Realms, its fundamental nature strengthened, and the ancient starry sky, damaged by the Lich War, partially repaired itself."

Furthermore, with numerous celestial beings and abundant manpower in the Heavenly Court, I have devised a restoration plan for the ancient starry sky, which may accelerate the restoration process. I humbly request Your Majesty and Empress to review it.

As he spoke, Yang Xuan took out a jade book, used his magic to lift it up, and presented it to Haotian.

In fact, while Yang Xuan's physical body was in the underworld, his evil corpse was already preparing for this matter. It not only formulated a preliminary plan but also selected three starry skies as pilot sites.

After years of experimentation, based on the experimental results, the initial plan was adjusted, and the final plan was determined, which was the plan presented to Haotian and the Queen Mother.

This solution may not be perfect, but it will definitely be faster than the current repair speed.

Moreover, this plan will not affect the normal operation of the Heavenly Court. As long as the righteous gods of the Heavenly Court work a little harder, they can successfully implement this plan.

Haotian and the Queen Mother have been researching the ancient starry sky for years and have some understanding of its affairs. Naturally, they saw the pilot area arranged by Yang Xuan.

Although they had been somewhat complacent, they were still quasi-saints and their vision remained sharp. They could see that, while both were sorting through the ancient starry sky, the pilot areas were working much faster than the two of them.

If these regions could be expanded, the speed at which the ancient starry sky could be explored would definitely be much faster than it is now.

They had long guessed that Yang Xuan did this in order to participate in sorting out the ancient starry sky.

Having studied the ancient starry sky for so many years, the two of them knew how difficult this matter was. According to their plan, it would be considered relatively fast if it took two or three eons to finalize the solution.

Unexpectedly, Yang Xuan acted so quickly; only about 100,000 years had passed before he finalized the plan.

Haotian and the Queen Mother had unconditional trust in Yang Xuan, and although the time took longer than they expected, they were still full of anticipation for the plan.

As it turned out, they were right. When they saw the contents of the jade book, a smile immediately appeared on their faces.

The restructuring plan in this jade book is not a particularly sophisticated method; simply put, it's about personnel reassignment, something that Haotian and the Queen Mother could easily come up with.

But to reach Yang Xuan's level, not everything is possible.

There are two important prerequisites for developing such a comprehensive plan.

First, one needs to have a sufficient understanding of the ancient starry sky.

Secondly, one needs to have a thorough understanding of the affairs of the Heavenly Court and all the celestial beings and gods there.

Both are indispensable; otherwise, either the plan will not be able to cover the ancient starry sky, or it will not be able to fully utilize the abilities of the celestial gods.

To give a simple example, if both are repairing a water planet, it will definitely be easier for a deity skilled in the Dao of Water to repair it than for a deity skilled in the Dao of Fire.

Haotian was pleasantly surprised by this plan because it clearly stated which gods and immortals were responsible for which stars.

And that's not all there is to the plan.

Putting the right people in the right jobs can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

If these suitable people are given a geographical advantage, then this efficiency can certainly be improved even further.

The simplest and most effective way to achieve this is through pardon.

By bestowing the title of Star Lord upon the person responsible for repairing the stars, thus making them the master of the stars, one can mobilize the power of the stars and gain a home-field advantage.

The problem is that there are far too many stars in the ancient starry sky that need to be repaired, and the number of people required is certainly not small.

Most of the immortals and gods did not make enough contributions to become star lords. If so many star lords were granted special privileges just to repair the ancient starry sky, wouldn't the Heavenly Court be in chaos?

Moreover, repairing a star is often not something that a single deity can accomplish; it requires the cooperation of multiple deities.

To avoid this outcome, Yang Xuan adopted the intern system of the underworld and established the positions of intern star deities.

Each star has three to ten positions for trainee star lords. Trainee star lords do not have actual ranks, but they can exercise some of the authority of star lords.

As long as it's on the corresponding star, it's considered home ground, further increasing the speed of star repair.

If one performs well enough during the period of star restoration, there is a chance to be promoted to a full-fledged star lord, and the best-performing trainee star lord has a better chance of becoming a real star lord.

Even if your performance isn't outstanding, you'll still receive a reward as long as you participate in repairing the stars.

Moreover, as long as one continues to serve as an intern star lord, one will not only receive an extra salary, but will also undergo an audit every thousand years.

If the requirements are met, one can be promoted to a full-fledged Star Lord. The first trainee Star Lord to be promoted becomes a true Star Lord, while the remaining trainee Star Lords become Deputy Star Lords after being promoted.

Even a minor star lord can receive a significant salary increase.

You should know that the Heavenly Court's salary is in Heavenly Coins, which are used to release Heavenly Merit.

It's easy to imagine that if this plan were made public, it would definitely cause a huge uproar.

Furthermore, which stars should be repaired first? Then, based on these stars, a grand array should be set up to mobilize the stellar essence and assist the damaged starry sky in self-repair.
This is also a feasible solution.

However, to achieve this, a deeper understanding of the ancient starry sky is needed, along with corresponding formations.
Yang Xuan only had some ideas, but the specific plan had not been finalized and he needed December's help.

Even so, the contents of this plan were enough to excite Haotian and the Queen Mother, as it could greatly accelerate the restoration of the ancient starry sky.

Their paths to enlightenment are completely intertwined with the Heavenly Court; the more prosperous the Heavenly Court becomes, the more benefits they receive.

When the Heavenly Court achieved autonomous operation, their cultivation level soared, and soon after, they even severed their evil corpses and became Quasi-Saints with two corpses.

If they can repair the ancient starry sky, their cultivation will definitely improve.

Although this upgrade won't allow them to sever another corpse, it will greatly advance their cultivation, bringing them close to veteran quasi-saints like Kunpeng and Zhen Yuanzi.

Haotian and the Queen Mother merely glanced at it, and after confirming the contents of the plan, they nodded:
"Fellow Daoist, your method is wonderful. Please feel free to use it. If there is anything you need us to do, just give the order!"

"The little god obeys!"

Yang Xuan bowed, not surprised by the actions of these two lazybones; how to implement it was up to him.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Court now has many capable officials, so Yang Xuan doesn't need to do everything himself. (End of Chapter)