Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 303 One of the Four Symbols is Missing
Heavenly Prison, take it!
Zhao Yifu returned to the small cubicle where he used to live and looked around. Surprisingly, after all these years, it was still exactly as it had been when he left.

In short, it's too rudimentary here, and usually no one would want to stay here.

Zhao Yifu thought for a moment, then released Yiyi into the room and found a place to sit down.

Then, the dream's avatar floated out and arrived at Baiyun Mountain to report that everything was alright.

The monkey and the agarwood are still waiting.

Agarwood seemed very agitated, pacing around in circles.

The monkey said, "Stop spinning around. Don't you know how capable my brother is? He'll definitely have everything arranged when he gets there."

Chenxiang said, "But eleven days have passed, eleven days already..."

Although he was very worried about what kind of torture his mother would suffer in the Heavenly Prison, he wisely didn't finish his sentence. Because if he did, it would give the impression that he was selfish, only caring about his own mother and disregarding the safety of others.

This is also an ability I've developed through constantly getting beaten up by Zhao Yifu during this period; I guess you could call it growth.

The monkey, eating the spiritual fruit handed to him by Ah Chou, said, "Don't worry, I already sent my spirit to the underworld to ask for you. My virtuous brother is on very good terms with the Emperor of Dongyue. He will surely be able to take over the reins of the Heavenly Prison in place of the Emperor of Dongyue."

No sooner had the monkey finished speaking than Zhao Yifu's avatar floated over.

The monkey laughed and said, "Look, here it comes!"

Upon seeing this, Chenxiang quickly stepped forward and bowed deeply, asking, "Brother, how is my mother?"

Zhao Yifu smiled and reassured him, "Don't worry, your mother hasn't come to the Heavenly Prison yet. I'm already inside the Heavenly Prison and she should be coming in soon."

Chenxiang was somewhat surprised to hear this, and asked, "I thought Mother was sent to the Heavenly Prison that very day..."

Zhao Yifu shook his head and said, "I asked for you. Because the Goddess of Mount Hua is a righteous deity of the Heavenly Court, she needs the Heavenly Emperor's judgment to be imprisoned."

"However, the Heavenly Emperor did not rush to pronounce the judgment, but instead kept watch over the Jade Pool for a period of time."

The monkey's eyes darted around and it knew what was going on. It chuckled and said, "In that case, it's just right for you to go to the Heavenly Prison, my worthy brother."

"By the way, my dear brother, what was the situation in prison that day? You were able to release this avatar, so you must have been unable to keep a close watch on him, right?"

Zhao Yifu laughed and said, "Brother Monkey, you're joking. Heavenly Prison is my territory now. If you ever get into trouble and get locked up, I'll make sure you have a good time."

The monkey waved his hands dejectedly and said, "There's no need for that. I, Old Sun, prefer to be free and unrestrained."

Chenxiang said somewhat bewilderedly, "Brother, I have split Mount Hua but failed to save Mother. What should we do now?"

Zhao Yifu said, "Just tell your teacher Youquan the truth about this matter, and let him figure out a way for you."

Chenxiang was startled by what he heard. He looked at the monkey, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Clearly, he has realized who is truly good to him.

At the same time, accepting the power of the Nether Spring also made Chenxiang feel guilty for betraying the monkey.

Knowing his feelings, Zhao Yifu comforted him, saying, "Aside from being a bit too controlling, Venerable Youquan is a good person."

"Anyway, my ability to improve my cultivation so quickly is inseparable from the Venerable's help."

"Of course, using the Venerable One's power is also dangerous. Just remember that you should never place all your hopes on the Venerable One, and you should always leave yourself a way out no matter what you do."

"Then when you are working for the Venerable One, you must not work too hard, because the Venerable One will not be sad if you die. But you must show your value. If you can't do anything, you will easily be abandoned."

Upon hearing this, Chenxiang gave a bitter laugh and said, "I know. I was already prepared to die at any moment."

The monkey, his eyes blazing with fury, roared, "What Nether Spring? Let it try out my Golden Cudgel!"

Zhao Yifu quickly comforted him, "Brother Monkey, don't worry. Children have to grow up eventually. You have to let him face society on his own."

"Actually, this principle has always been the same; isn't it the same everywhere you do things?"

"Any leader wants loyal and capable subordinates, and compared to others, Venerable Youquan's reward is quite good."

The monkey chuckled, seemingly trying to express a different understanding.

But Zhao Yifu said calmly, "Just like Brother Monkey back then, wasn't he also forced to take a journey to the West by a golden headband?"

The monkey was speechless for a moment, because it had realized how similar its golden headband was to the situation Chenxiang was facing now.

Helpless, he patted Chenxiang on the shoulder and said, "So be it. I was able to become a Buddha while wearing the golden headband back then, so you must have your own destiny now."

Chenxiang nodded seriously.

Zhao Yifu said, "Alright, now you can go and communicate with Venerable Youquan. Do you have any special requests?"

Chenxiang said, "No need, I just need a quiet room."

Zhao Yifu sighed, "The disciples that Youquan acknowledges are treated differently."

Of course, the degree to which these disciples are controlled by Youquan is certainly different.

About an incense stick's time later, Chenxiang came out with a heavy heart.

Zhao Yifu looked over and asked, "What's wrong? Did I give you a task?"

Chenxiang said with a grave expression, "Youquan's task for me is to first subdue His subordinates..."

Zhao Yifu nodded understandingly and said, "Then go ahead. With your current strength, you're more than capable of taking down those trash."

Chenxiang said with distress, "But if all my subordinates are trash, how am I supposed to conquer the Heavenly Prison? Besides, I still have to..."

He couldn't continue, because he himself couldn't even imagine what was going to happen next.

Zhao Yifu smiled upon hearing this and said, "Focus on the present matter first. You must trust Venerable Youquan's plan."

Chenxiang could only agree, saying, "Then I shall take my leave."

Zhao Yifu waved his hand, indicating that he could go ahead.

The monkey also left. He was actually quite confused about the dark spring he had recently come into contact with, and he wanted to find someone to answer his questions.

Even after they had all left, Zhao Yifu still didn't calm down.

Because Old Zhang came again.

Or perhaps Old Zhang has always been there; he just happened to show up now.

Sure enough, he said, "Alright, I know everything now, so I can finally let Chan'er go."

"Troublesome, we have to choose a new candidate for White Tiger God."

Zhao Yifu then realized that the White Tiger God was also dead...

He asked, "You said last time that the White Tiger Gods were all chosen from among the White Tiger bloodline?"

Old Zhang said, "Yes, but now there is a problem. The original White Tiger clan was already not good at reproducing, and now that guy has wiped them all out... There are no more pure-blooded White Tigers left."

Zhao Yifu blinked. It sounded like a very serious matter, but he felt it was none of his business... and even felt a little schadenfreude.

The White Tiger God had obviously had his primordial spirit devoured by the Blood Demon, and the first to suffer would definitely be his subordinate White Tiger Guards.

These are all white tigers with extremely high bloodline concentration. In the eyes of the Blood Demon, they are simply a delicacy. How could he possibly let go of this fat meat that is right in front of him?

After wiping out the White Tiger Guards, the Blood Demon entered the Heavenly Prison, intending to devour the prisoners one by one, from the easiest to the hardest, to restore his own strength. To be fair, given the Blood Demon's restored strength at that time, if Zhao Yifu hadn't already advanced to the Golden Immortal realm, if he hadn't received the powerful amplification from the City of Dreams, and if he hadn't had the infinite mana provided by the Primordial Chaos… well, okay, with his current resources, he might already be able to fight the Blood Demon at his peak.

Seeing that he didn't react, Old Zhang coughed and said, "There is a problem right now: the White Tiger is one of the four poles of the Heavenly Court. If the position of the god is vacant, it may be unstable."

Zhao Yifu asked, "This matter...I can make a decision about it?"

Old Zhang said, "No, only a pure-blooded white tiger can hold the position of White Tiger God. Otherwise, I would like to let your cat take over."

Zhao Yifu asked curiously, "Then why are you telling me this?"

Old Zhang said, "I'm telling you this so that you can know that the structure of the Heavenly Court has developed an irreparable flaw."

Zhao Yifu blinked and asked, "So what? It'll collapse in five hundred years anyway."

Seeing Old Zhang's knowing look, he suddenly realized and said, "Wait, could it be that the death of the White Tiger God means the great calamity five hundred years from now is coming sooner than expected?"

Old Zhang said, "The great calamity will come five hundred years later because, according to the situation at that time, the Heavenly Court will continue to suppress the rebellion for another five hundred years. Now, the Heavenly Court's structure is incomplete..."

Zhao Yifu understood, and then said with annoyance, "If that's the case, what's the point of us bringing Venerable Youquan in? If he comes in and overthrows the Heavenly Court, wouldn't that mean the great calamity will begin right away?"

Old Zhang said, "No, that's different."

"If Youquan can build a relatively complete Heavenly Court structure in the first place, it will only cause the Heavenly Court to lose some functions, and at most it will bring forward the great calamity."

"But then, when Youquan sat in that position, everything was different."

Zhao Yifu thought to himself, "Old Zhang is really heartless."

Zhao Yifu still felt uneasy, saying, "But what if Youquan doesn't come in?"

Old Zhang said calmly, "That's fate."

Just then, a figure flashed by, and Grand Master Xuandu arrived.

Zhao Yifu quickly replied, "Greetings, Grandmaster."

Xuandu nodded and said, "I know your question. In fact, the best-case scenario is to bring Venerable Youquan into the Three Realms and let him sit on the throne of the Supreme Being of the Three Realms. But even if Youquan doesn't come, that's not the worst-case scenario."

"So just go ahead and do it with confidence. You just need to work hard in the best direction we've set. Even if something goes wrong along the way, we won't blame you."

Zhao Yifu could only bow deeply to show that he understood.

Working under such circumstances, without pressure coming down from above, is indeed very comfortable.

Zhao Yifu thought about it and realized that it made sense; how could one shoulder everything alone?

He said, "Since that's the case, then I'll spend some time in quiet meditation in the Heavenly Prison. I can't put too much pressure on Venerable Youquan, or I'll scare him away."

Xuan Du and Lao Zhang both nodded.

Zhao Yifu's competence... really, it could drive his superiors crazy.

However, Old Zhang asked one more question: "How long will it take you to refine the Heavenly Prison?"

Zhao Yifu was taken aback, then he understood what Lao Zhang meant: this meant that he was really going to hand over Tianyu to him!

But thinking about it, it makes sense. This Heavenly Prison is already an outdated thing, and the Heavenly Laws it contains are the old order, so its role in the Heavenly Court is getting smaller and smaller.

Zhao Yifu said, "I don't know either, it might take three to five years."

That's his guess.

After all, he only refined half of it quickly; the remaining half would require a massive amount of magical power to refine. Even if he possessed primordial chaos, it was still uncertain.

Old Zhang nodded and said, "Alright, then hurry up. Once you've refined the Heavenly Prison, come up to the heavens and see if you can refine the Peach Orchard..."

Zhao Yifu was shocked. He said, "This can't be, can it?"

Old Zhang said, "Instead of watching it wither away, why don't you see if you can take it with you?"

He seemed quite open-minded.

It is obvious that when the Heavenly Court begins to fall, all the treasures within it will fall to the dust along with it.

Zhao Yifu originally thought that it was already too much to steal some food and drink from the Heavenly Court, but he didn't expect that Old Zhang was clearly asking him to steal something bigger!

He sighed, feeling a bit weary.

What else could I do?
He glanced back at the cats on Baiyun Mountain and thought that he should let them continue to live carefree lives there.

Indeed, all he needs is Yiyi by his side.

Zhao Yifu's avatar did not return to his original body, but remained on Baiyun Mountain to listen to the teachings of the two great masters.

There was no other way; he couldn't just become disconnected from the world because of the Heavenly Prison, could he?

As for his life in the Heavenly Prison, it was completely insignificant, and so time passed quietly.

Yang Chan was escorted to the outside of the Heavenly Prison. Zhao Yifu suddenly realized that he was now the only warden in the Heavenly Prison, and there was not even a prison envoy.

So Ah Chou 'returned to his old ways' and was summoned back to the Heavenly Prison to become its warden.

Ah Chou now fully understands Zhao Yifu's temperament. Even after returning to his role as the warden, he still maintains his cat-like form and is completely unwilling to reveal his human form... There's no way around it, revealing his human form would cause him to lose favor!
Yang Chan was assigned to the seventh level of the Heavenly Prison, which was the most lively place and could be considered Zhao Yifu's home turf... Most importantly, she could eat seafood nearby every day.

And so, the Holy Mother of the Three Kingdoms still endured unimaginable torment in this heavenly prison.

She has gained weight.

She is getting fatter every day.

Because the food was too good...

She now hopes her son will come to rescue her every day. Every year she is late, she gains ten pounds!

This Heavenly Prison is terrifying!

As for Zhao Yifu, he found a new source of enjoyment while refining the Heavenly Prison.

This pleasure comes from the mortal world.

More than seventy years have passed since his successful Northern Expedition, and the Great Xu has once again entered a state of decline.

Why did it weaken?

This time, it's because there are more and more evil spirits and ghosts in the world, which have greatly affected the lives of ordinary people.

If the court had maintained stability at this time, it could have suppressed these issues with humanitarian order... However, the problem was that the education popularization policy promoted by Zhao Yifu and Ying Cong had encountered a strong backlash from the scholar-official class. At this time, the court of Da Xu was full of contradictions and had reached a point where it completely disregarded personal interests.

It seems that the successful northern expedition did not prolong the dynasty's life by much longer...

It was against this backdrop that Zhao Yifu received incense offerings and prayers from the mortal world.

That's amazing. How could he not know what kind of reputation he has in the mortal world? Yet someone would actually pray to him... even if their heart wasn't very sincere.

Thinking that he had nothing better to do anyway, he decided to send an avatar down to the mortal realm to take a look, since it wouldn't cost him anything...

(End of this chapter)