Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 123 Seedless Rice
"Envoy Wusheng, please proceed with confidence!"

The giant lark hovered in mid-air, its wings flapping. Below it, four more larks simultaneously took flight from the four tents scattered around, joining the giant lark in issuing a warning to the surrounding area.

Wusheng nodded slowly, his hands forming a mudra. Suddenly, a divine tablet rose up behind the altar, inscribed with the words: "The Supreme Goddess Wusheng!"

Wusheng's eyes were solemn as three blood-red sheets of paper flew out of the paper box beside him. Li Wushou's eyes narrowed; he had seen these papers in the White Paper Taoist Temple—the very "Hundred Longevity Paper" used to mark a person's lifespan of a hundred years!
Three pieces of blood-stained paper flew behind them, each curling inwards and transforming into three sticks of blood-stained incense, which landed precisely in front of the shrine of the Eternal Mother.

The blood incense ignited without fire, rising into a misty haze. The divine throne trembled slightly, and ripples spread through the void. Li Wushou, who was in the distance, felt a tightness in his heart. He knew that it was the gaze of the Eternal Mother that was being cast upon him.

"The merciful Mother has pity on all people; many are starving in the mortal world. Let us plant grain to save lives!"

"What good rice can a heretical sect like the Wusheng Sect produce?" Li Wushou muttered to himself. "But only rice grown by a cult like the Wusheng Sect could help Zhu Sihai obtain the incense offerings and prayers of the Five Directions City, right?"

Li Wushou continued to look with a solemn expression!
The Unborn Envoy on the altar changed his hand seals again, and suddenly uttered a soft shout: "Invite the Spiritual Field!"

Suddenly, the altar behind him emitted a buzzing sound, and sheets of blood-longevity paper flew out of the paper box on the altar. These sheets of paper were snow-white, and it was clear that the lifespan of the people on them was less than a hundred years.

As these precious papers flew out, they were arranged in groups of four, like a grid.

Suddenly, the divine tablet of the Eternal Mother erupted with a suction force, and the blood incense beneath it burst into flames, with large swirling mists surrounding the tablet.

"Pfft~!"

With a soft sound, mist settled on the "田" (field) character formed by piecing together blood-stained longevity paper. The paper slowly descended, growing larger as it fell, until it formed acres of farmland upon landing!

The farmland is divided into two rows, each row has three groups of "田" (field) characters, and each group is further divided into twelve plots!
Wusheng retracted his left hand to his chest and extended his right hand forward, his hand seals shifting. A paper frame slowly floated up beside him and then flew to the sky above the row of spiritual fields on his right.

"Has the cooperation progressed to this point?"

Li Wushou murmured to himself, realizing that the paper basket was the very talisman seed that the Paper Goddess had sent to the Wusheng Pawnshop in the East City when he last visited the White Paper Taoist Temple! Li Wushou hadn't known what this so-called talisman seed was for before, but now it seemed to be for growing rice.
Li Wushou's mind raced, but Wusheng Envoy didn't hesitate and called out again in a low voice:
"Raise seedlings!"

The paper frame, suspended in mid-air, slowly tilted and poured out grains of pure white rice, evenly scattering them across the twelve spiritual fields in a row on the right. After scattering the rice seeds, the paper frame steadily flew back to the altar.

"Soak the seeds!"

Wusheng formed a hand seal, and the divine throne behind him hummed once more. Suddenly, a large amount of blood energy rose from the spiritual field on the right, filling the entire field in the blink of an eye and forming twelve square blood pools!
The talisman seed was immersed in it, greedily sucking up the blood essence!
The Unborn Envoy stared intently at the spirit field for a long time, then turned to the two tall, white-robed men on either side and ordered, "Replenish some of your blood essence!"

"promise!"

The two burly men, who had just finished a big meal, returned to the altar. One of them carried a large stone mortar, and the other carried a wooden box.

Lifting the wooden box, a series of hissing and crying for help suddenly came from inside. Li Wushou was quite familiar with that sound; he had heard it when he cast the golden statue of the City God. It was the cry for help from the "mouth" of the flesh and blood spirit official.

The white-robed giant ignored everything else, seized the opportunity, reached into the wooden box, grabbed a handful of flesh and blood spirits, and threw them into the stone mortar!
Another burly man, holding a stone pestle, had been waiting for a long time. He brought it down hard, crushing the flesh and blood spirit officials to dust.

"Crunch~ Crunch~ Hiss~"

The sound was so loud it made one's teeth ache. After a moment, the big man threw the stone pestle aside, took a handful of blood and flesh spirit officials that had been pounded into bloody foam from the stone mortar, and threw them evenly into the spirit field!

The blood energy within the spirit field became even more abundant, and the talisman seed within it absorbed it with great relish.

In fact, not to mention them, even Li Wushou, who was watching from afar, was very hungry and unconsciously swallowed a few times.

But Li Wushou quickly lost interest, because he saw the burly man, after throwing away the flesh and blood spirits from the stone mortar, pick up the remaining four corpses on the ground, put them back into the mortar, and start pounding them again.

It wasn't that Li Wushou didn't like to eat it, but the old beggar wouldn't allow it, and Chen Gou'er and the other two had given it up for a long time.

"Promote germination!"

The Unborn Envoy on the altar spoke again, and the blood pool in the row of spiritual fields on the right gradually dried up. Even the pure white spiritual fields turned gray and desolate, but the talisman seeds sprouted tender buds, showing a vibrant sense of life.

Until the spirit field completely withered and turned to ashes, these tender shoots had grown into clusters of seedlings!

At the same time, the white-robed giant was holding a stone pestle and pounding the flesh and blood, while another giant would occasionally take out flesh and blood spirits from a wooden box and throw them into the stone mortar, crushing them together with the corpses.

"earth!"

At a shout from the altar, the white-robed giant closed the wooden box, and then the two of them together lifted the stone mortar, pouring the blood and flesh slurry into the spiritual fields on the left. Exactly twelve fields were now evenly covered with the slurry. The Envoy of No Life nodded in satisfaction, then ordered, "Plant the rice seedlings!"

The two burly men in white robes bowed in agreement, turned around and placed the large stone mortar aside. Then they went to the row of spirit fields on the right, took out the clusters of seedlings, and began to plant them.

The two planted the seedlings at an extremely fast pace, as if they had done it countless times before. In a short while, the twelve spiritual fields on the left were filled with seedlings!
The seedlings received new nourishment and grew even more vigorously, constantly absorbing nutrients and showing promising growth!

Even Zhu Sihai, who was on high alert, couldn't help but smile. If it weren't for the Spirit Field Method of the Wusheng Sect, he would have had to go through even more twists and turns to fulfill his long-cherished wish.

Originally, this step could have been accomplished by the Wusheng Sect alone, but Zhu Sihai didn't trust either side, so he asked the Paper Goddess to use the blood and longevity paper collected from the people of the Five Directions City to refine a batch of talisman seeds for him.

Now it seems there was no error!

"Compost!"

Seeing that the blood in the spirit field was decreasing, Wusheng caused the blood fragrance behind him to burst into flames again. Large swaths of mist, under the control of his hand seals, fell into the spirit field. The already thriving seedlings grew even stronger.

A glint suddenly flashed in Li Wushou's eyes as he observed. Under his gaze, the process just now had mostly used the nutrients in the flesh and blood, but at this moment it seemed to be starting to use the power of "life force".

After the seedlings reach their peak vitality, "Shouyuan" directly begins to accelerate growth, pushing them into the next stage, where the seedlings begin to head, and as a result!

As a large amount of flesh and blood slurry was consumed, the grains began to plump up, and the heavy ears of grain bent the rice stalks, hanging down in the spirit field!
If this scene hadn't occurred before, but instead appeared in the villagers' fields, it would have filled them with joy. But now, it only chills their hearts.

Will eating this kind of rice make a person feel better?
Li Wushou intently observed each grain of rice. On the outside, it looked no different from the fine rice in the Jia family's granary, but inside, it was filled with a large amount of incense smoke that constantly condensed and filled the grains.

Once the outer husk turns golden yellow, the rice, inside and out, is exactly the same as the fine rice in the Jia family's granary.

Even from Li Wushou's perspective, it was difficult to discern the truth from the falsehood.

These strange gods' methods are truly not to be underestimated. If Li Wushou and the other gods hadn't been so sure from the beginning that there was nothing wrong with the other party, who would have cared about this issue?

"Harvest!"

Seeing the wheat ears turn completely golden, Wusheng gave another order, as planting rice in this way was also extremely taxing on her mind! As her voice fell, the blood incense behind her burned out at the same time, and the divine seat of Wusheng Old Mother slowly descended.

Li Wushou felt a relief between his brows, and his mind relaxed. The gaze of the Eternal Mother should have been withdrawn.

The burly man in white robes below the altar opened rice sacks one by one by the spirit field, then stood by the field wielding a paper sickle.

Each cut causes large stalks of rice to fall from the stalks. As they fly into the air, another man in white robes blows sharply, and the husks are peeled away, revealing glistening grains of rice that fall precisely into rice sacks.

In no time, the rice sacks were filled and piled up beside the spirit field.

The row of spiritual fields on the left, just like the row on the right, gradually withered and eventually turned to ashes.

The lark, hovering in mid-air, let out a long sigh of relief and thanked the Unborn Envoy on the altar, saying, "Thank you for your help, Unborn Envoy. You've worked hard!"

The Unborn Envoy, having put away her divine position, resumed her charming smile. Upon hearing Zhu Sihai's thanks, she covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

"Hehe~ Lord Zhu, you're too kind. The Wusheng Sect only hopes that after you become the City God, you'll remember your previous promise!"

"Rest assured, Wusheng, I have already discussed this matter with Quezi. Quezi will select two cities in her fiefdom for the Wusheng Sect to spread its teachings. As long as the Wusheng Sect does not turn the two cities into wastelands within a hundred years, it will be fine!"

Speaking of this, Zhu Sihai was somewhat emotional. In fact, if he hadn't been so ruthless before, it would have been easy for Quezi, with her status, to find a city in Fengling Dao for him to enter the Divine Path. But unfortunately, he wasn't liked by Quezi; she didn't want him to enter Fengling Dao, finding him repulsive.

Zhu Sihai had no choice but to select the Five Directions City, which he was most familiar with.

But Zhu Sihai never regretted it. He always knew the cruelty of the Sealing Spirit Path, yet he still didn't hesitate to kill his wife, sever his daughter's hopes, and force her into the Sealing Spirit Path. Because he knew that a daughter who attained the Sealing Spirit Path would surely grant him immortality.

Even if his daughter hates him, he doesn't care!

Having children around you brings joy, but what can compare to longevity and immortality?
As it turned out, he won his gamble. Quezi did hate him, but she was determined to sever her worldly ties and didn't completely ignore him; otherwise, he would probably have died of old age long ago.

With only three days left, he will become the City God!
From now on, we're even!
Immortality is all I want!

(End of this chapter)