Chapter 120: Land Enclosure Movement

These wax insects flew out from a small hole, and there seemed to be a fluorescent glow inside the hole.

In the natural world, things that glow, aside from fluorite, are presumably nothing good.

"Such a thick stench of centipede!" Chang Yu cursed and swore, preparing to shift his body.

Xu Jia said, "It seems this is the air vent; if a fire were lit here, I fear it would explode."

Xu Jia made a mark here.

Using stones to block the air vent, the stones would be blown away, but if water were diverted here, the water would follow the air vent and enter inside.

One person and one snake searched from the high ground for a long time again, and found the centipede's tail; at the tail, they discovered an ant nest, rising high, with thousands upon thousands of ants crawling inside.

Seeing these ants, Xu Jia frowned instead; although Xu Jia is not a Buddhist and does not possess the compassion of "not daring to harm even a tiny ant," having such a large ant nest here, if it were washed away by a great flood, it would be equivalent to "destroying a kingdom."

Do not say that ants have no spirit; in ancient mythology, there is the story of "A Dream of Nanke," which is as famous as "A Dream of Yellow Millet." It tells the story of dreaming about traveling to the Ant Kingdom, the "Huai'an Kingdom."

The protagonist in it even married an ant princess, became a prince consort, and after the Old King died, inherited the throne and governed the country.

Within this lies a very rich "theory of Ten Thousand Things Have Spirits"; even if it is just a tiny ant, after countless lifetimes, who knows if it might be able to turn into a human? "Can you intimidate them into leaving this place?" Xu Jia asked Chang Yu.

"You want me to do this kind of thing? My eyesight is bad, I can't see what you're talking about? It's just a small mound of dirt, one sweep of my tail and it'll be gone!"

Fine, it is indeed not his area of expertise; ants are famous for fearing nothing, because they cannot perceive the existence of giant creatures at all.

Of course, the classic cultivation realms are also like this: below the self, all are ants; above the self, all are equal.

Humans are like this toward the kingdom of ants, how can one know if there won't be a kingdom of gods and demons in the future that is like this toward humans?

Xu Jia takes "valuing life" as his primary philosophy, and therefore "not being contemptuous or arrogant" is the priority; this is a matter of "ideological morality."

Of course, at any time, one must "make way for human life"; if a real choice must be made, the lives of these ants in the kingdom would be sacrificed for the common people of Yushan County.

Xu Jia had a righteous thought and suddenly remembered: "Right, I can find the Earth Deity; the Earth Deity can communicate with all spirits within the territory and order them to move; if that really doesn't work, I'll find Niu Congcong to follow up and communicate through spiritual connection, and compensate these ants with some food."

He immediately tore off a piece of his inner garment to use as cloth and wrote a "Notice to the Ant Kingdom of Wugong Ling to Move as Soon as Possible."

Standing it here counts as the first communication; as for whether they can understand it or not, that is none of Xu Jia's business. Waiting for the Earth Deity or Niu Congcong to come would be the second or third communication.

If three communications yield no results, then it is not Master Xu's problem.

Xu Jia made a mark.

Subsequently, there were several more nodes, and Xu Jia marked them one by one; it just so happens that so many nuns and young women died at Dizang An, and these nodes are all "feng shui treasures." Burying them here can just happen to boost the prosperity of their descendants.

After the marking was finished, Xu Jia stood on Chang Yu's head again; the scenery from this head was different: "Let's go back!" "Fine, fine, fine!" Chang Yu's dissatisfaction with Xu Jia had reached its peak; he really treats me like a mount! He wished that while Xu Jia was standing on top, he could suddenly open his mouth and swallow him into his belly like eating peanuts.

Of course, he was just thinking about it.

On the way back, they encountered the two Snake Matrons, Chang Yuying and Chang Yu'e, who hadn't kept up earlier; the two old ladies on their heads, Huang Pipo and Hu Jinhua, were also in high spirits at this time.

Hu Jinhua asked: "Master Xu, I heard from Huang Pipo, as well as Yu'e and Yuying, that you are enclosing land, and wherever you go becomes our territory. Is this true? Are we going to change our Daochang? The Fox Immortal Hall hasn't even been moved into for half a year yet!"

Xu Jia was stunned: "Why would you think that? Though you have stumbled upon the truth, we are not yet sufficient to establish a sect here. I have inquired; to establish a sect, one must become an Earth Immortal True Person. As of now, counting one by one, including Chang Yu, there is not a single Earth Immortal True Person realm. Chang Yu has passed the Zoujiao Tribulation and still needs to enter the Earth Vein to cultivate in seclusion. Moreover, even if he were to be counted, he is an Ancestor of Shanju Guan, which doesn't have much to do with us."

"Virtue not matching position will surely lead to disaster."

Xu Jia taught them: "You haven't even collected much Incense Fire from the common people of Qingtian Xiang; even if you obtained a large sum of wealth from Dizang An, how could you possibly hold onto it?"

Huang Pipo nodded: "Yes, when my husband was alive, our Yellow Immortal Temple was not considered down-and-out. After my husband was gone, our Yellow Immortal Temple couldn't hold on. Unlike here, I just want to manage my family's Tianliang Shan well."

"Then are we not occupying this place?"

"That's impossible, we must occupy it." Xu Jia said: "If no one occupies it, then it is implicitly ours. If someone comes, we will drive them away; this is another principle. One must be flexible in doing things, understand?"

Before Huang Pipo and Hu Jinhua could speak, Chang Yu said: "That is the principle. It is because I exist in Yushan that there are no other old monsters of many years!"

Xu Jia said: "That is because the previous old monster of many years was cured to death. If you don't walk the righteous path, you will have a similar end. Following me now is what saved your final fate."

Chang Yu was so angry he couldn't stand it, making a "hissing" sound.

The two Snake Matrons were immediately hit by a tail each, sending Huang Pipo and Hu Jinhua flying out.

Fortunately, they had already reached the vicinity of Shanju Guan; after the two old ladies turned back into their original forms, they were both agile beasts, and they flipped and landed on the ground, surprisingly with some elegance.

Arriving at Shanju Guan, Xu Jia stepped down. Xiaopangdun had already eaten his vegetarian meal in the temple. The Daoists in the mountains were curious about his method of planchette writing to invite Immortals, but Xiaopangdun had already sworn not to spread it indiscriminately. Aside from the Sha Erzhu that Xu Jia agreed to, his level was not enough to teach a second person.

However, among the Daoists of Shanju Guan, there was one who was skilled in "asking the rice." Often, common people who missed their relatives in Youming Difu—whether they were living well, whether they lacked food or clothing—would come to ask the rice, chat with their deceased relatives for a while, and then go back to burn paper.

Seeing Xu Jia, Xiaopangdun was surprised: "Brother Xu, you're back! They all said you were tricked into the mountains by the big snake and swallowed whole. If I hadn't still been able to contact the Fox Immortal and known that you were safe, I might have started smashing the basin."

Xu Jia laughed and scolded: "Go, go, go! Don't act like a filial son in front of me. I fear no one said that; it was you muttering to yourself. Seeing me ride the snake away without taking you along, you just felt uncomfortable!"

"That is a thousand times no, ten thousand times no!" Xiaopangdun expressed his loyalty: "Absolutely not, Brother Xu, you know me!"

(End of this chapter)