Chapter 1745: Stove God

The matter of an entire Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie had been reversed!

Through the wondrous inheritance of immortal arts, the Great Sun Sword Child burned his essence blood, deeply embedding it into the world's rules, forcibly altering the flow of all matter, and returning once more to the instant before.

"A dangerous world…"

Jiang Ding's face went deathly pale.

On his skin, a dim light flickered in and out of sight — this was the presence of the Tian Zhong De Fa membrane, which concealed the karma of his own existence and any disturbance to the rules; otherwise, the moment he appeared in this Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie he would be sensed by the supreme deities of the Dao Court and they would descend upon him instantly.

Such beings were extraordinarily sensitive to any karma that touched their own safety.

After resting for a long while, the magic power in his dantian gradually recovered.

This was recovered by Jiang Ding drawing on the spirit-stone crystals he carried on him; he did not dare to touch even a trace of the ambient spiritual energy.

Behind him, a slowly rotating five-colored chaos vortex flickered in and out of sight, constantly radiating brilliance outward and emanating a vast aura; were it not likewise concealed by a layer of Tian Zhong De Fa barrier, who knew how many terrifying celestial phenomena it would trigger, and even distant Da Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie would sense the anomaly.

For all these matters, the Ancient God world cluster had contingency plans — he simply had to follow them.

Jiang Ding exhaled slowly, took out formation devices one by one and set them up on the spot; these were mostly refined from Tian Zhong De Fa spirit materials produced by the immortal sects' solar system, best suited to the Tian Zhong De Fa concealment grand formation, and ideal for sealing the planar passage.

After busying himself for a long while, layer upon layer of quasi-ninth-rank formation patterns appeared around the four sides of the planar passage, sealing it layer by layer; the planar passage, tens of thousands of kilometers wide, kept shrinking, shrinking, until it finally became a speck of dust, hidden deep within layer upon layer of space.

Even a Supreme Being, unless forewarned and scanning repeatedly, would notice nothing even while passing by.

With these matters done, Jiang Ding's figure slowly vanished.

Though Miao Hua Gao Jie was fine, it was too close to the planar passage — he would not stir up any trouble here. In fact, he would not truly strike, raise banners, play at being some mountain stronghold king, or sweep up turmoil across the land; such things had no meaning.

Lying low, gathering intelligence, growing, waiting for the right moment — that was what he ought to do.

Jiang Ding left Miao Hua Gao Jie far behind and began to drift about in all directions, silently traversing the cosmic starry sky, concealing himself with the Tian Zhong De Fa membrane, unseen by anyone, communicating with no one, observing everything like a ghost.

He sorted through karma, comprehended the unique rules of this starry sky where the Da Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie existed, observed the various deities, examined social customs and culture, sources of power, modes of production, and so on, then periodically transmitted the information back to the Ancient God world cluster, silently savoring the solitude and happiness of this moment.

And so, a ghost drifted through this stretch of starry sky for over a thousand years.

Finally, on this day, amid layer upon layer of karma, he discovered an opportunity — an opportunity to gather intelligence more easily.

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"Divine Child…"

Jiang Ding murmured.

At this moment, he seemed to see, several thousand years hence, the hazy figure of a Divine Child.

He was so clear, so beautiful, so utterly deserving of death — bearing thick sin upon him, and in need of a kind, upright cultivator to cleanse him, to purify this beautiful stretch of starry sky.

Several thousand years later.

No — six thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine years later, fate would encounter this being.

How would they meet?

Naturally, they would begin to meet from here.

Jiang Ding's gaze pierced through the barrier of a Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie below named Fa Lian Gao Jie, pierced through layer upon layer of clouds and mist, and finally settled on a mountain village, on a youth whose clothes were covered in patches.

"Humanity's fortune…"

"The suppressed fortune of humanity will produce a wave upon him — a fleeting wave."

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

Humanity, since it existed and had not been utterly exterminated, would inevitably counterattack; from the long stretch of time and the nearly endless numbers, a miracle would be born — this was inevitable.

In this stretch of cosmic starry sky ruled by deities, such things must have already happened countless times.

This poverty-stricken youth in patched clothes was one such instance; in the future he might possibly stir up some commotion, and only then be suppressed, humanity slaughtered once more, the sparks of resistance extinguished again.

Such things had occurred countless times in the past, and would occur countless times in the future.

As long as humanity — the cornerstone of the human way — existed, such things were bound to happen; since deities coveted the rich incense power of humanity as their faithful worshippers, they had to face this drawback.

This poor youth, in the future, would, by every reasonable expectation, encounter a Divine Child.

"Tai Qing,"

"This is the most efficient method of gathering intelligence."

Jiang Ding chuckled softly: "Some mortals, some weak Mao Shen — what could they possibly know? The intelligence they hold is not of great value."

"Divine Children, the human incarnations of the gods — those are the truly precious ones…"

As for the life-preserving trump cards the Supreme Beings of the Divine Dao gave to the Divine Children?

They were merely Supreme-level life-preserving measures — who didn't have those?

The Great Sun Heaven Palace would suppress and seal everything.

Of course, this required special terrain, a special battlefield, special formations — and that was precisely what these six thousand-plus years were for.

Besides the Divine Child, Jiang Ding also needed a stable, inconspicuous, remote world cluster where he could calmly conduct various immortal Dao experiments, and then transmit the data back to the Ancient God Domain.

Perhaps he could seize the body of a Heavenly Being–rank deity?

That would be extremely troublesome.

Killing a Heavenly Being–rank deity was easy, but to fully control—

seize the body, without alerting anything outside — that was extremely difficult; it required the right time, the right place, and the right people. One could not crudely grab one and refine it — that would not do.

"There are so many things to do…"

Jiang Ding sighed.

The blue-clothed figure gradually faded, then appeared deep within the soul of a youth in the world, slowly lying low and concealing itself.

He needed a period of time to comprehend the rules of this Da Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie's starry sky and fully recover to his peak state.

That would be the time to begin weaving karma.

……

Lean Mountain Village.

In a dilapidated wooden hut, a swarthy youth of plain appearance slowly awoke, looking around with a hint of bewilderment.

His name was Tu Ying San Yi. His clothes were ragged and full of patches, his skin was dark, his build small and thin, his body malnourished. Though he was in his twenties, he already bore the look of someone worn beyond his years. His hands were covered in calluses — clearly the mark of many years of farm labor, worn down by toil and hardship.

Just now, nothing special had happened. He had simply been too exhausted, lay down inside the house to rest a while, then fell asleep. For a moment he couldn't pull himself back, and nearly died.

This was the consequence of the Human Dao's fortune being severely suppressed — many people with the makings of heroes often died from all manner of coincidences.

Of course, not dying wouldn't seem strange either.

Because there were simply too many mortals in the world. The suppression of the Human Dao's fortune only drastically reduced one possibility; it did not forbid it entirely — that would run contrary to the laws of nature.

"Oh no!"

Tu Ying San Yi had only just woken, the sharp pain in his body had not yet eased, when his expression suddenly turned urgent and a look of fear crossed his face.

He scrambled up, fetched a bundle of incense candles and paper money from his late parents' room, and also took out a large handful of rice.

Then he hurried to the cooking stove, knelt devoutly before a soot-blackened deity statue by the stove, set up an incense altar, lit the incense, then set the yellow paper alight. Gripping a large handful of husked white rice — something precious beyond measure to a villager — he scattered it into the flames, his prayers never ceasing.

"... Steward of Fate of the Eastern Kitchen, whose grace spreads far and wide; guardian of the home, keeper of the hearth, who watches over the world of men. Today with a reverent heart I offer pearl-white rice, incense and paper money, humbly welcoming the honored god's arrival..."

Tu Ying San Yi prayed devoutly, kowtowing again and again, not daring to stop.

A long while passed.

The fire suddenly flared up.

From the flames emerged a deity with a human head and a horse's body, his expression fierce. He chewed in great mouthfuls the precious white rice — and especially the pure power of incense within it, which was what truly mattered to a Kitchen God.

— For a poor man, his devotion and faith lie wherever his livelihood lies.

Seeing that after his long kowtowing the Kitchen God of Reliance Mountain Village had finally appeared, the great stone in Tu Ying San Yi's heart dropped, and his fear eased considerably.

If the Kitchen God was unwilling

to consume the incense, then from that day forth neither his home nor even the wilds would ever be able to kindle a fire for cooking!

"Mortal!"

"You... are not devout!"

The horse-headed, human-bodied deity chewed down the white rice in a few bites, revealed displeasure, and roared: "Over this past month your offerings have been dwindling day by day — this is blasphemy against a god!"

"Lowly ant, you are blaspheming a god!"

"Honored god, you misunderstand!"

"This one dares not! Dares not!"

Tu Ying San Yi's face went deathly pale: "My father and mother passed away several months ago. The savings in the house are no longer much, and I can't farm as much land. Truly I cannot offer as much incense as I did when my parents were alive."

"I beg the honored god to forgive the offense!"

He kowtowed again and again.

Yet he did not win the forgiveness of the Kitchen God of Reliance Mountain Village.

"Hmph!"

"Offerings are the measure of your devotion. This god sees only that your devotion has lessened!"

The horse-headed, human-bodied Kitchen God gave a cold snort: "If tomorrow's offering is not restored, you ant should know the consequences!"

The paper money and incense before the deity statue gradually burned out. He drew in a deep breath, inhaled the last wisp of incense through his nose, then dissolved into a curl of green smoke and vanished.