The prehistoric infrastructure maniac

Chapter 160 Taking Charge of the Investiture of the Gods
After Jieyin handed the Investiture of the Gods to Zhenyuanzi, Hongjun said, "Zhenyuanzi is in charge of the Earth Immortal lineage. He uses the Earth Book to enfeoff mountain gods, land gods, and water gods, forming his own lineage. Therefore, there is no need for him to sign the Investiture of the Gods."

As he spoke, Hongjun waved his hand, and the Investiture of the Gods appeared before Shi Mo.

"Teacher, my incarnation is already the Lord of the Heavens, and my two sons and one disciple are also Heavenly Emperors. Another disciple is in charge of the Underworld. Do I still need to sign the Investiture of the Gods?" Shi Mo's words left the other saints speechless with rather interesting expressions.

Hongjun's next words left them stunned and petrified: "The person destined to preside over the Investiture of the Gods has already become your disciple, so you will naturally be in charge of the Investiture of the Gods."

“Teacher, the chosen one is clearly Shen Gongbao, who is under my tutelage. How could he be under the tutelage of Junior Brother Shi Mo?” Yuanshi Tianzun couldn’t help but ask first.

“Shen Gongbao is indeed a key figure who can influence the Investiture of the Gods, but he is not the one who can hold the destiny of the Investiture of the Gods,” Hongjun said.

Yuanshi Tianzun was somewhat unable to accept it, while Tongtian, Jieyin, Nuwa, and Laozi all looked at Shi Mo with some surprise.

Once he realized what was happening, Shi Mo calmly reached out and took the Investiture of the Gods from in front of him. After glancing at it casually, he simply flipped his hand and put it away.

"This is the God-Slaying Whip, three feet six and a half inches long, with twenty-one sections, each section bearing four innate divine runes, totaling eighty-four runes. It strikes gods but not immortals, and is a divine object used to control all the gods in the heavens! I now bestow it upon you," Hongjun said, flipping his hand to take out the God-Slaying Whip and presenting it to Shi Mo.

Sensing the profound and powerful aura emanating from the God-Slaying Whip, which was in no way inferior to a top-grade innate spiritual treasure, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable couldn't help but twitch his lips slightly. Tongtian and Jieyin also looked somewhat unnatural.

"Thank you, teacher!" Shi Mo accepted the God-Slaying Whip with both hands, his expression slightly more serious.

With a glance at the innate divine runes on the God-Slaying Whip, Shi Mo immediately understood the secret behind its ability to specifically restrain all the gods of the heavens.

The innate divine patterns on this God-Slaying Whip are the external manifestation of the mysteries of the universe's celestial movement, in harmony with the celestial power. In addition, the God-Slaying Whip itself is the same as the aura of the Investiture of the Gods, as if they are of the same origin. The gods of the universe who were conferred by the Investiture of the Gods are naturally under the control of the God-Slaying Whip.

Those who are listed on the Investiture of the Gods seem to have been equipped with GPS, so how could they withstand the power of the God-Slaying Whip?
"Congratulations, Junior Brother Shi Mo!" After leaving Zixiao Palace, Yuanshi Tianzun said with a smile, "With Junior Brother in charge of the Investiture of the Gods, my Yuxu Sect will definitely give our full support!"

Seeing Yuanshi Tianzun's smiling face, Shi Mo inwardly cursed his hypocrisy, but outwardly smiled and said, "Then I'll thank you in advance, Senior Brother."

"Junior brother! Your sect is in charge of the Investiture of the Gods, so you must show some mercy to my Biyou disciples!" Tongtian Jiaozhu said with a smile.

Seeing his obviously sarcastic smile, Shi Mo immediately said with a wry smile, "Senior brother, you've signed so many disciples on the Investiture of the Gods list. Even if I wanted to give you face and show mercy, the God-Slaying Whip is inhuman!"

Upon hearing Shi Mo's words, the Tongtian Sect Leader couldn't help but twitch his lips slightly, and then looked at Zhen Yuanzi, who was stroking his beard and smiling beside him: "Brother Zhen Yuan, you are quite fortunate to be unaffected by this Investiture of the Gods calamity."

"Hehe. I can't compare to the carefree life of Goddess Nuwa and Brother Jieyin of the West," Zhen Yuanzi shook his head and smiled.

Nuwa smiled faintly at Shi Mo: "Junior Brother Shi Mo, I will need your guidance to properly teach the spirit pearls in my palace."

Upon hearing Nuwa's words, Yuanshi Tianzun, whose expression shifted slightly, hesitated before finally saying nothing more.

"Senior Sister's trust puts a bit of pressure on me," Shi Mo said with a helpless smile, raising an eyebrow. Looking at the entire Investiture of the Gods, there was probably no one more difficult to train than that little killing god-like spirit pearl.

After the saints had all departed, seeing Shi Mo frowning and remaining silent, Zhen Yuanzi couldn't help but laugh and ask, "What's wrong? Are you having a headache over the Investiture of the Gods?"

"I'm just thinking about who should take Lingzhuzi as his disciple. After all, he will be the vanguard in the war against King Zhou, and he has a great responsibility in the Investiture of the Gods," Shi Mo shook his head slightly.

“Your disciples are all highly skilled and accomplished. Apart from Yao Ji, it seems that any one of them could teach Ling Zhu Zi, right?” Zhen Yuanzi couldn’t help but say.

Shi Mo replied, "A high level of cultivation does not mean one can teach disciples well."

“This spirit pearl is destined to be audacious and troublesome. If the teacher is too powerful, it may rely on the sect to become even more lawless, eventually causing a situation that is difficult to manage,” Shi Mo said again.

Zhen Yuanzi listened thoughtfully: "That's true! It seems that none of your disciples who have already become quasi-sages are suitable to teach him, nor are they convenient for him to interfere in the Investiture of the Gods. If Liu Er were to teach him, he would probably cause chaos. As Pan Wang said..."

“No way! Don’t let him become a little poisoner,” Shi Molian shook his head. “Forget it, let’s trouble Yun Zhongzi instead! After thinking it over, I really don’t have any reliable disciples.”

Upon hearing this, Zhen Yuanzi was speechless: "I don't have a single quasi-saint among my disciples yet!"

“That’s because you’re unwilling to take on more disciples. Look at the Jie Sect, they teach without discrimination, and the Western Sect is even more diverse. If they take on more disciples, through the process of natural selection, they’ll eventually find some promising talents,” Shi Mo said. “You haven’t taken on many disciples either!” Zhen Yuanzi couldn’t help but say, but Shi Mo’s next words left him speechless again: “But I have excellent judgment!”

After chatting idly along the way, Shi Mo and Zhen Yuanzi returned to the primordial starry sky. In an instant, they passed through the thirty-three heavens and then went back to their respective mountains to cultivate in seclusion.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, several years have passed in the human world.

After the death of Emperor Yi of the Yin Shang Dynasty, his third son, Yin Shouchu, ascended the throne. The court had the old prime minister Shang Rong in civil affairs, and the old grandmaster Wen Zhong, a disciple of the Golden Spirit Mother of the Jie Sect, as well as the national Martial King Huang Feihu to protect the emperor. The civil affairs were sufficient to secure the country, and the military affairs were sufficient to stabilize the country.

In order to appease the various tribes of Dongyi, King Zhou had already arranged with Emperor Yi to marry Jiang, the daughter of Jiang Wenhuan, the Marquis of Dongbo, and made her his queen after ascending the throne.

Afterwards, King Zhou made Huang, the younger sister of King Wu Cheng Huang Feihu, the Noble Consort of the Western Palace. Through marriage, he appeased the feudal lords and won over the court officials and generals. For a time, the Shang Dynasty enjoyed peace and prosperity, with the people living in harmony, the weather favorable, and the surrounding barbarians submitting.

In the spring of the seventh year of King Zhou's reign, Yuan Futong of Beihai led seventy-two vassal lords in a rebellion. Wen Taishi, the veteran firefighter, was ordered to leave Chaoge to lead an expedition to the north to quell the rebellion.

What kind of place is Beihai? It's a bitterly cold land where demons gather, and the people are known for their fierce and untamed nature.

On the surface, Yuan Futong is a regional lord of the human race, but in reality, he has a mysterious origin and remarkable abilities, and he is able to gather many powerful demons to serve him.

The fact that more than a third of the two hundred vassal lords under the command of Marquis Chonghou Hu of the North joined him in rebelling against the Yin Shang dynasty, yet Chonghou Hu dared not send troops to quell the rebellion and instead sought help from Chaoge, prompting the court to send Grand Tutor Wen to lead the expedition, demonstrates just how difficult Yuan Futong was to deal with.

Even the seemingly invincible Grand Tutor Wen spent many years fighting a bitter battle against Yuan Futong in Beihai.
It should be noted that Wen Zhong was a disciple of the Golden Spirit Mother of the Jie Sect, and could be considered a direct descendant of the third generation of the Jie Sect. He was quite popular within the Jie Sect.

It's impossible that Wen Zhong didn't seek help from the Jie Sect after his failed campaign against the North Sea.

Even so, with the intervention of the Jie Sect members, the Battle of the North Sea still lasted for many years, which shows that Yuan Futong must have had a powerful force supporting him.

The demon race, whose hearts were already scattered, clearly lacked the foundation, and the only one capable of fighting against the Jie Sect for several years was the Western Sect.

The four generals of the Demon Clan were recruited by Grand Tutor Wen during his arduous campaign against the North Sea. They later became generals of the Yin Shang Dynasty, so there's no need to elaborate on their origins.

On another note, not long after Grand Tutor Wen set out on his campaign, on the birthday of the goddess Nuwa, the old prime minister Shang Rong petitioned King Zhou to offer incense at Nuwa's palace to bless the Shang Dynasty with peace and prosperity throughout the year, a long reign, favorable weather, and the elimination of disasters.

However, after King Zhou saw the jade statue of Nuwa in Nuwa's palace, he felt a sense of blasphemy and even wrote a poem on the mural.

Upon reading the poem, the old Prime Minister Shang Rong was immediately horrified: "Your Majesty, this is unacceptable! Nuwa is the Holy Mother of Humanity, who created humans from clay and mended the sky with stones; her merits are renowned throughout the ages. Your Majesty's writing of this poem is a great disrespect to the Sage!"

As Shang Rong spoke, she ordered someone to wash away the poem.
"Disrespectful? I wrote a poem praising the Goddess Nuwa. What is disrespectful about that?" King Zhou said unconcernedly. "Moreover, although the Goddess Nuwa is a deity, she also had a union with the Earth Sovereign Fuxi, who gave birth to Shaodian, and thus Shennong and the Yellow Emperor came into being."

The assembled civil and military officials were dumbfounded and speechless. But then King Zhou arrogantly declared, "I am the supreme emperor, how could I not be worthy of the goddess Nuwa?"

This isn't just arrogance and self-confidence; it's suicidal! Even a clay figure has some temper! Let alone the goddess Nuwa, who holds a position of great esteem throughout the entire primordial world.

King Zhou spoke recklessly, which even the goddess Nuwa, who was meditating in the Nuwa Palace outside the Thirty-Three Heavens, sensed and was also enraged.

Nuwa calculated that King Zhou's imperial destiny was not yet exhausted, so even she could not directly take action or arrange for someone to kill him, otherwise it would damage her own merits and fortune.

Therefore, after the goddess Nuwa descended upon Nuwa Palace in her incarnation, she directly unleashed the Demon-Summoning Banner, summoning all the demons to gather. In the end, she selected the three demons from Xuanyuan Tomb and instructed them to bewitch King Zhou and, in accordance with the will of Heaven, ruin the Shang Dynasty.

The great calamity of the Investiture of the Gods has begun, and the Shang Dynasty, which has been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years, is slowly entering its countdown. The secrets of heaven are in chaos, and the various vassal tribes of the human race are also gradually becoming disordered.
The first war was caused by King Zhou listening to slander and instigating him to forcibly take Su Daji, the daughter of Marquis Su Hu of Ji Province, into the palace. This aroused Su Hu's rebellious mentality, and he wrote a poem against the Shang Dynasty, which prompted King Zhou to send Marquis Chong Houhu of the North to fight against him.

The old prime minister Shang Rong and King Wu Cheng Huang Feihu wanted to dissuade him, but King Zhou was stubborn and Su Hu was too inflexible, leaving no room for maneuver.

Shang Rong knew that Chong Houhu was cruel and bloodthirsty. This time, regardless of the outcome of the campaign against Jizhou, there would inevitably be many innocent deaths and injuries.

Therefore, he recommended Ji Chang, the Marquis of Xibo, who was known for his benevolence and virtue, to accompany him and assume the responsibility of supervising the army, so that he could persuade Chong Houhu to commit fewer atrocities at critical moments.

However, to everyone's surprise, at the very beginning of the war, Marquis Chonghou Hu of the North suffered a crushing defeat in his first battle in Ji Province against Su Quanzhong, the son of Su Hu.
(End of this chapter)