Chapter 195: Heavenly Merit

Zheng Fa reached out, took the silver booklet floating in the void before him, and found a red frame on its cover; inside the frame was blank, as if waiting for him to write something.

He tried to open the pages, but the booklet seemed stuck together; no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't budge.

He tried pouring his divine sense into it, but the thing gave no reaction.

"Zheng Shidi, you must use your divine sense to write your name on the cover; only then will this God-Sealing Booklet recognize you as its master."

Yan Wushuang's reminder came from behind.

Zheng Fa followed his words, wrote his own name with his divine sense, and indeed, his sea of consciousness seemed to establish some vague connection with the booklet.

His heart stirred, and this God-Sealing Booklet, which had just been uncooperative, obediently opened itself according to his will.

The first page inside depicted a map, very rough, in a style where one couldn't quite make out east, west, south, or north.

It really tested one's imagination.

On the second page were two characters: Heavenly Merit, followed by a zero.

Starting from the third page, the content changed somewhat.

The third page stated that on a certain day at a certain time and place, there should be several bolts of heavenly thunder, how large the thunder should be, even down to how many inches or feet in length.

The fourth page stated how much rain should fall at a certain place the day after tomorrow, with every millimeter and hair's breadth clearly specified.

Roughly ten pages were filled with similar instructions.

Further on, Zheng Fa could understand even less.

"The front is a calendar; the back contains spells—well, unfinished spells." Yan Wushuang and others walked over to Zheng Fa and explained; his face was somewhat bitter: "This is the reason I said the Heavenly Stele Realm makes us scratch our heads."

Zheng Fa looked at these people, feeling their attitude toward him had changed somewhat.

Yan Wushuang didn't show it, but the two beside him, Chu Tianque and the other, including the cultivators who entered later, seemed to look at him differently.

Seeing his expression seemed somewhat puzzled.

Yan Wushuang smiled: "Zheng Shidi, your initial enfeoffment of five thousand li of fiefdom truly surprised us greatly."

Zheng Fa looked at the silver booklet in his hand and felt a sudden realization.

"Are all of you...?"

"In this Heavenly Stele Realm, among those with an initial enfeoffment of five thousand li of fiefdom, I only know myself." Yan Wushuang said with a smile: "Of course, I do not know everyone who entered the Heavenly Stele, but... judging by my position at the top of the Heavenly Merit List, even if others started with a silver booklet, there wouldn't be many."

"Silver booklet..." Zheng Fa clasped his hands toward Yan Wushuang and asked: "I wonder, what exactly are fiefdoms and Heavenly Merit?"

"This matter, Zheng Shidi, you will know sooner or later." Yan Wushuang sighed: "This is something we gradually figured out in recent days."

"When we first entered the Heavenly Stele Realm, we were also completely confused; later we understood—that this deity is actually like an official in a mortal dynasty; this fiefdom is our jurisdiction, and our duty is to govern our own fiefdom."

Zheng Fa nodded; he could understand this.

"This isn't too bad; among us, there are those who have served as officials in the mortal world for experience." Yan Wushuang said softly: "The trouble is that in this realm, besides thunder techniques, one cannot use spells, spirit talismans, or even magical treasures."

"Yes, I discovered this point as soon as I entered this world."

"Because of this, the Heavenly Merit becomes troublesome." Zheng Fa listened as Yan Wushuang continued: "We still haven't figured out exactly how Heavenly Merit is measured."

"But from what we see now, using those spells to punish evil and promote good, administering laws and punishments, can earn Heavenly Merit."

"According to this calendar, controlling heavenly thunder, managing clouds and rain, and even promoting agriculture and sericulture also earn Heavenly Merit."

"Of course, the reproduction of the common people can also earn Heavenly Merit."

"And Heavenly Merit can upgrade the area of one's fiefdom, and also be exchanged for spirit materials in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion."

"This... is all about governing the people?" Zheng Fa understood a bit upon hearing this: "Sounds not too difficult?"

Yan Wushuang gave a bitter smile: "We thought it wasn't difficult at first, but... Zheng Shidi, go see your fiefdom and you'll know why we say it's hard."

"Hmm?"

"Zheng Shidi, we have a guess... to accomplish all these things in the calendar, thunder techniques must reach the level of communicating with the divine."

"Communicating with the divine?"

"That is... thunder technique attainment that no one in the entire Xuanwei can achieve; no one can perfect those spells that seem utterly impossible."

Seeing he still didn't seem to understand, Yan Wushuang pointed at the God-Sealing Booklet and said:

"Zheng Shidi, if you flip further ahead, you'll know; the thunder techniques in this God-Sealing Booklet are actually divided into three major categories."

"Three major categories?"

"The first category is the most common: heavenly tribulation thunder." Yan Wushuang explained: "This is used to punish evil and promote good; most of us rely on this thunder technique to accumulate Heavenly Merit, but actually, how to control the power of the tribulation thunder, we haven't figured out."

"The second category is much harder, called Cloud and Rain Thunder."

"Cloud and Rain Thunder?"

"It is using heavenly thunder to control clouds and rain..." Yan Wushuang's face also showed some helplessness: "This is the harmonizing of clouds and rain mentioned during the God-Sealing; this is a bit harder than tribulation thunder. Look at the calendar inside; even rainfall must be precise down to the millimeter and hair's breadth. Not to mention the relationship between thunder techniques and clouds and rain, just this degree cannot be mastered..."

Zheng Fa was stunned upon hearing this—wasn't this using electromagnetism to achieve and control rainfall?

Seeing his expression, Yan Wushuang seemed to think he had already realized the difficulty, and complained again: "This is already hard enough, but the hardest is the third category—using thunder techniques to promote the growth of grass and trees."

"This... is it related?" Zheng Fa also couldn't understand upon hearing this.

"This matter... we also spent a lot of effort later." Yan Wushuang explained: "Later, we still heard in the Xuanwei Realm that spirit plant cultivation actually relies heavily on thunder; many sects skilled in cultivating spirit plants believe that heavenly thunder contains the vitality of life..."

"Vitality of life?"

"Yes, for example, the spring thunder during the Jingzhe season can promote the growth of spirit plants." Yan Wushuang explained: "But asking us to use thunder techniques to simulate this spring thunder, we have absolutely no clue—the spells on this God-Sealing Booklet don't seem very useful."

"..."

Zheng Fa suddenly remembered the problem of modern spirit plant cultivation—Teacher Tian said a certain environment was lacking; if what Yan Wushuang said was true.

Then this environment seems related to a certain kind of heavenly thunder?

The evidence for this conjecture was somewhat weak; Zheng Fa found it hard to determine its truth in his heart.

But Yan Wushuang spoke with conviction, so Zheng Fa couldn't help but feel a bit more interest in this Heavenly Stele.

"Although we cannot accomplish these things, accumulating some Heavenly Merit in daily life to exchange for some spirit materials suitable for our cultivation in the Hundred Treasures Hall is not difficult." Yan Wushuang continued: "This Heavenly Stele Realm has no danger, so we come once every month."

"Does this Heaven Merit only allow the exchange of spiritual materials?"

Zheng Fa asked.

"Of course not. We accumulate Heaven Merit for two purposes: first, to expand our fiefdom; second, to exchange for certain Thunder Arts. The few types of Thunder Arts in this Book of Deification are the most basic; there are others stored in the Hundred Treasures Hall that we must exchange for using Heaven Merit."

"Therefore, Zheng Shidi, the fact that we started with a five-thousand-li fiefdom is what makes others so envious," Yan Wushuang smiled. "More fiefdom means more people, and accumulating Heaven Merit becomes faster."

After speaking a few words with Zheng Fa, Yan Wushuang also seemed busy accumulating Heaven Merit and took his leave.

Following Yan Wushuang's explanation, Zheng Fa channeled his spiritual energy into the Book of Deification.

After absorbing his spiritual energy, the Book of Deification suddenly slammed into his forehead. Zheng Fa's entire body turned illusory, while his divine sense traveled with the Book of Deification to a realm between heaven and earth.

Before he could even observe the surroundings, Zheng Fa's gaze was captured by the scene in the sky.

He seemed to see the Lei Chi inverted in the sky, with strands of heavenly thunder roaming the world between heaven and earth in a tyrannical and unbridled manner.

The sky was dim and gloomy, as if there would never be a day when it cleared up.

With such weather, rain was inevitable; the torrential rain before his eyes seemed to have no end.

The land beneath his feet was less like soil and more like a swamp, entirely composed of mud and water resembling paste.

Was this his five-thousand-li fiefdom?

Looking at the watery land, Zheng Fa formed some thoughts: if there were truly mortal people in this world, their lives would probably not be very good.

His soul wandered over the fiefdom for several days, estimating as he walked; the area of this fiefdom was truly vast.

According to modern measurements, this region covered nearly one million square kilometers—an area that, in modern times, would at least constitute a medium-sized nation.

But... there were no people.

In such a vast place, there were only a dozen or so human settlements, with a combined population of less than five hundred thousand...

This was understandable—from his observations over these few days, ninety-nine point nine percent of the land in this region was unsuitable for human survival, let alone for cultivating crops.

On this day, his soul arrived at a Gaoshan. Looking up the mountain, he saw a city built upon a small hill. Through the Book of Deification, Zheng Fa also learned that the population here was roughly seventy or eighty thousand, making it one of the largest cities in his own fiefdom.

This small city had no city gates; it could be said to be merely a settlement area.

The structure of the houses was very peculiar. The houses were very small, as if most of them were buried in the ground, with only the roofs being thick and sloped, seemingly to guard against lightning and facilitate drainage.

Most people in the small city wore hemp clothes made from aquatic vine wood. They were thin in build, with pale faces that had never seen sunlight, their expressions difficult to describe as either numb or resilient.

These hemp clothes were probably quite precious as well.

Most men went shirtless, revealing their ribcages with protruding, emaciated bones.

As for the women, they merely had a small covering over their chests. To be honest, most of the women could not be called beautiful—

they were even thinner than the men, and many showed no visible gender characteristics at all.

At the very back of the small city, leaning against the cliff, stood a house with the highest and widest roof. Though described as high and wide, it was actually only one and a half zhang in height and three or four zhang in width.

This was a temple. The colors on the statue of the deity inside had long since peeled away, and its facial features were even more blurred.

There were not many people in the temple, but they came and went without cease.

They knelt on the ground praying and worshipping, yet their faces held little piety, carrying a sense of mere routine or even treating a dying horse as if it could still be cured.

Zheng Fa's soul flew into that statue.

He immediately felt a chirping and chattering in his ears, all the inner thoughts of these worshippers.

Probably due to the Book of Deification, he could understand the language of this world.

"Lord Lei Shen has not manifested his power in many years..."

"I hope I can catch a few more fish today..."

"May it rain a little less..."

"My son was struck by lightning. He was a good child. Lord Lei Shen, have mercy..."

Various thoughts flashed past his ears, making him feel exceptionally noisy.

What made the deity's heart chill even more was that they only prayed but offered no sacrifices.

It seemed that regarding their own Lord Lei Shen, they truly lacked a certain degree of trust.

To be honest, with such an attitude, it is difficult for a deity to accomplish anything...

But Zheng Fa had heard Yan Wushuang say that this was their main method of accumulating Heaven Merit: listening to the inner thoughts of believers and judging good and evil.

Then, strike down a few evil-doers.

It only required controlling the intensity of the tribulation lightning. According to the rules of the Book of Deification, different evil acts required different levels of tribulation lightning for punishment.

Of course, Yan Wushuang and the others could not be so precise; it was purely a blind cat hitting a dead mouse. As long as enough people were struck, there would inevitably be moments of perfect appropriateness.

This was also the reason Zheng Fa chose this city: with more people, accumulating Heaven Merit became easier.

Thinking this way, he also began to understand why cultivators with smaller fiefdoms looked at him with such envy.

As for controlling clouds and rain, balancing yin and yang, or promoting agriculture and sericulture.

Sorry, impossible!

It was finally night.

No one came to this place to worship.

Only a young girl remained. She closed the temple door and swept the floor.

She then took out a blackened piece of hemp cloth and wiped the base of the offering table and the statue.

Zheng Fa looked at this young girl but could not determine her age.

Judging by her face, she seemed to be seventeen or eighteen.

Judging by her figure, she seemed to be thirteen or fourteen—she was simply excessively thin and small.

Was this his temple keeper?

Isn't he a bit too young?

After finishing her cleaning, the girl put away the hemp cloth, bowed devoutly toward Zheng Fa, and murmured to herself:

"Lord Lei Shen, I'm about to eat your offerings! If you disagree, show your divine power!"

Zheng Fa paused for a moment.

Then he heard the girl say again: "You agree? Thank you, Lord Lei Shen!"

Zheng Fa watched as the girl happily took several unknown fruits from the offering table and stuffed them into her mouth—these items were also offered by believers, and seemingly not today's offerings, as no one had presented fruits today.

Instead, the girl had secretly stored them herself.

"Lord Lei Shen," the girl muttered while gobbling down the food, "if you don't show your divine power soon, no one will bring fruits anymore, and I'll starve to death..."

"..."

"If I starve to death, there won't be a single person left in this city willing to clean for you!"

As the girl spoke, her tone actually carried a hint of 'Lord Lei Shen, you figure it out.'

"Hmm..."

With a thought from Zheng Fa, a majestic voice suddenly rang out within the temple.

The girl jumped in fright, looking toward the statue where Zheng Fa resided.

She seemed to recall her slightly disrespectful words from earlier, and her face filled with considerable fear.

After staying stunned for a while, the girl didn't stop her mouth but quickly chewed those wild fruits.

Although she didn't speak aloud, Zheng Fa still heard her thoughts:

"Better to die full!"

Seemingly seeing that Zheng Fa was not angry, the girl cautiously approached the statue, lifted her head, and whispered softly: "Lord Lei Shen, are you still there?"

"..."

Zheng Fa made no further sound, and the girl's expression grew very puzzled; in the end, she simply assumed she had experienced a hallucination.

After staying inside the Heavenly Stele World for a month, Zheng Fa suddenly felt a force push him, and when he regained his senses, his entire self was outside the Heavenly Stele.

He walked outward.

Shijie Zhang and Shijie Yuan were both waiting for him at the original spot.

Seeing him emerge, Shijie Zhang's face revealed a faint smile.

"Junior Brother, how was it inside?"

Zheng Fa recounted his experiences and observations; Shijie Zhang slowly furrowed her brows, seemingly pondering the implications: "So this is about using Thunder Arts to pursue the Great Dao?"

Hearing Shijie Zhang's words, Zheng Fa turned to look at the Heavenly Stele—so this thing's purpose was actually this?

"Shijie, I do have an idea..." Zheng Fa brought up another matter instead.

"Oh?"

"This Heavenly Stele, if controlled by others, would be one thing, but if it could be controlled by our Jiushan Sect..." Zheng Fa said softly, "the spiritual energy inside is abundant, and the rules are special..."

"You mean..." Shijie Zhang's eyes lit up.

"I was thinking that if a great calamity truly arrives in the future and spiritual energy declines, this place might serve as a retreat for our Jiushan Sect." Bright light flashed in Zheng Fa's eyes; he didn't know if others harbored such thoughts, but the more Zheng Fa understood this Heavenly Stele World, the more he felt that compared to those spiritual materials, this world itself was the greatest treasure.

The population is small, and the spiritual energy is not poor either.

Most importantly, although other spells cannot be used, cultivation is not hindered.