Chapter 353: The Land of San Francisco, America

Xu Jia said he would lead him on a tour of the San Francisco Dharma Realm, but in truth, he was merely guiding his spiritual consciousness and Dharma nature to first walk through an illusion, using the illusion as a medium to enter the Dharma Realm.

The physical bodies of mortals are heavy and turbid, making it difficult to enter the Dharma Realm, and his cultivation was also insufficient, making it hard for his soul to leave his body; otherwise, he would easily become lost in the Dharma Realm, much like those "Yin-walkers" who fail their journey, leaving their souls lingering in the Dharma Realm to become living dead.

A wisp of consciousness and Dharma nature traveling about is like dreaming; death in a dream is not true death, though it still carries an intense sense of terror.

Guo Zhanghai is a representative of Eastern Great Daoism and, to a certain extent, the face of the Eastern Great abroad; he also carries the meaning of an "ambassador." Although Xu Jia is in the God Immortal Realm and has descended upon both worlds, he is unwilling to fall out with him. If, by chance, the Eastern Great were to use political means and strongly condemn him, demanding that America return the Golden Body of the Daoist Ancestor and insisting on welcoming Xu Jia back, then the foundation America has spent years building would be gone.

His own dried-corpse physical body might even end up in some museum, suppressed by experts to prevent Xu Jia from descending and "corpse-jumping."

Xu Jia originally came from the Eastern Great and is very clear about the "yang schemes" the Eastern Great likes to use—grand and upright, leaving one with no choice. That he maintains a glorious and great image in the other world is a result of this influence.

It is just that he has been playing a bit too wildly here in America, yet he cannot be completely arrogant.

Guo Zhanghai's Dharma nature was transported by the illusion, with Xu Jia's Dharma nature following alongside, appearing like a supporting character.

Just as Guo Zhanghai was dazed and feeling a sense of haziness, he found himself in a space. This space was antique, just like a Daoist temple from a thousand years ago, with the scent of Jiangzhen Incense clearly perceptible and various antiques and treasures placed casually. It was not only clean and tidy but also quite tasteful, as if it had caused one to travel through time and space.

He looked around in a daze and ended up seeing a Golden Body enshrined in the center of the room, identical to the one enshrined in Tongtian Temple.

A ball of light flew out from within that Golden Body, resembling a sun, making him unable to open his eyes. The ball of light manifested into a young man, though he remained filled with scorching heat, presenting a golden glow, with a Light Appearance behind his head.

He exclaimed in disbelief: "Yang Spirit!"

This thought-form of Xu Jia nodded: "It is indeed a Yang Spirit, one of the achievements of the God Immortal Realm. It has already reached the standard for ascending to the Form Realm to become a low-level Immortal, but this poor Daoist has his heart set on the Heavenly Immortal realm and does not wish for the Yang Spirit to ascend."

This was a deliberate "humble-brag" about his own cultivation achievements, the purpose being to attract fellow practitioners from the Eastern Great delegation. Xu Jia currently does not know how deep the waters of the Eastern Great are, but he also wants to attract like-minded people for some exchange.

Guo Zhanghai was dazzled and mesmerized, thinking to himself: "The Pure Yang True Person did not deceive me; there truly is such a realm. I only thought that being able to cultivate Zhou-Heaven Qi sensation, drawing some talismans, praying to the stars, and divining Feng Shui—occasionally encountering some ghosts or evil spirits—was already very miraculous. It is hard to see Longevity; although Human Immortal cultivation can grant a hundred years, modern centenarians are no longer as rare as they were in ancient times..."

Xu Jia did not care what he was thinking and led him to push open a door: "Inside this door is my Tongtian Temple Daochang. Although it is not a Blessed Land, it was constructed according to the standards of a Blessed Land, so it has thirty-six palaces and seventy-two halls, enshrining various sacred beings. Look at those Dharma-nature spiritual lights and the auspicious clouds condensing in the void; that is the result of the consecrated spirits taking up residence in my Tongtian Temple."

Guo Zhanghai looked and saw that there were indeed strange phenomena in the void, with various spirits sitting above, including the Taiyi Heavenly Venerate, Xi Wangmu, Dong Wanggong, Ziwei Dadi... he even saw Qitian Dasheng Sun Wukong.

It was just that they were not very lively, only receiving Incense Fire and responding occasionally.

This was because Xu Jia had taken the wrong path initially, cultivating the Inner Landscape gods but hooking and inviting external gods, then having those external gods station themselves in the Inner Landscape to serve as Body Gods, establishing temples for them. As a result, it instead became a "Yujie Fashan" for these many sacred beings, and Xu Jia completely lost control over his own Inner Landscape; instead, these statues obtained Xu Jia's Body Gods and sat upon the Altar.

In short, although they have some connection to Xu Jia, they are more like "descended bodies" of the gods and Buddhas of the heavens.

Fortunately, after Xu Jia lived another life and re-cultivated his Inner Landscape, he did not do such foolish things again.

"This..."

"You need not fear; this is also the foundation of our Tongtian Temple. Only with the protection of the gods can we gain a foothold in America." Therefore, the Dharma Realm within the Daochang is safe; it is a Pure Land. Disciples can even send out their Yin Spirits at will to cultivate in the Dharma Realm, which can gather more Dharma Realm spirituality; their cultivation speed is often over a hundred times faster. Without the shackles of the physical body, the circulation of spiritual light is naturally a hundred or a thousand times faster. However, once you leave this Daochang, it is the San Francisco Dharma Realm, which is very unsafe."

Just as Xu Jia finished speaking, the Yin Masters who originally followed the Altar in the Daochang, the Golden Blade Great General decreed by Xu Jia, his Dao soldiers, and the Primordial Spirits of the disciples who had attained the status of Ghost Immortal also appeared within.

They chose places to cultivate within this Dharma Realm Daoist Temple. For example, those cultivating the Nezha method would go to the Santanhaihui Dadian to cultivate. Especially when internally observing the Spirit General, the efficiency is particularly high. Small methods like the Nezha method are even more responsive and effective, requiring no extra effort, and occasionally they can even attract treasures manifested from the spiritual light of sacred beings. For example, the statue of Taiyin Star Lord, every Gengshen day, will summon the spiritual moon of the Dharma Realm, bringing down moon-dew nectar; although it is not Imperial Dew, it can still nourish their Primordial Spirits.

Another example is the Qitian Dasheng Palace, which will randomly refresh Dharma Realm fruits, such as bananas and Flat Peaches, which can only be consumed by souls.

These are all formed by the spiritual thoughts gathered from the perceptions of all living beings toward the gods. There are also some Daoists who offer tributes, which causes the tributes to obtain Dharma nature, manifesting all sorts of things in the Dharma Realm and nurturing them into treasures.

Although they are not Heavenly Spirit Earth Treasures, they still count as small surprises; this is the benefit of a Daochang.

If one truly condenses a Dharma Realm Blessed Land, forming a small world of its own, it will condense true Heavenly Spirit Earth Treasure specialties; this is also the reason why Cave Heaven Blessed Lands are favored by Immortals.

Xu Jia picked a few things at random and let him eat them to help him strengthen this wisp of Dharma-nature soul.

After eating these Dharma Realm spiritual fruits, Guo Zhanghai felt himself becoming increasingly clear and ethereal.

While visiting the Tongtian Temple, he asked Xu Jia questions from time to time. Xu Jia was patient, taking him around for a circle until they reached the gate of the Tongtian Temple Dharma Realm.

"Pushing open this door leads to the San Francisco Dharma Realm. However, it does not matter; the few streets nearby, basically any that are slightly powerful or prone to causing trouble, have been cleared out. There are also Chang soldiers patrolling the borders. In every street, there is an Immortal Hall established by a Ghost Immortal, and we have even invited a street Earth Deity. Guess who this Earth Deity is?"

Guo Zhanghai was a bit bewildered: "Who is it?"

"The landlord of this land during the American enclosure movement. When America was first founded, they carried out a massive enclosure movement to attract immigrants and develop wasteland. However, the landlord of this land died long ago, and his descendants did not continue to inherit it. To this day, San Francisco has become one of the most important cities. My disciples who run antique shops received this government decree and legal document from that time, but they do not have the ability to decree an Earth Deity, even if it is just an entry-level one. This was decreed by this poor Daoist."

As Guo Zhanghai followed Xu Jia out of the Tongtian Temple, he felt that everything he saw was gray and gloomy. Looking further, those high-rise buildings and various houses were all filled with an atmosphere of desolation and decay, just like relics from hundreds of years ago, yet they were not eroded by vegetation, only covered in dust, hidden from the sun.

Inside those houses, from the windows, doorways, or ventilation ducts, there were malicious gazes.

However, it was only gazes. In a nearby street, under an old telephone booth, there was a small temple glowing with red light, only the architectural style had changed from a Chinese Earth Temple to a miniature version of a church style.

After all, it was decreed by Xu Jia using the authority of the Heavenly Master of Lingbao, with the help of the legal documents from that year; it had to conform to American national conditions and could not be too abrupt.

Xu Jia stomped his feet, and a red-necked white-skinned old man crawled out from the Earth Temple, holding an old-fashioned shotgun in his hand, but his face was full of flattery. He smiled and said: "Dharma Lord, you have come. I recently hunted a few Mind Flayers and have already taken their hearts to make a jar of Mind Flayer blood wine; it is very delicious."

"What kind of delicacies do Americans have? Mind Flayers are so dirty," Xu Jia said with disdain, but then asked: "Have you started condensing the Life Registry and Death Registry now?"

That Earth Deity said: "America has no concept of household registration, and it is very difficult to compile statistics. Moreover, it is very magical now; many children only know their mother and not their father. If a party is held and everyone gets drunk, it is even harder to know who is who. Some families are male-male, some are female-female, and some are multi-person; this little god finds it hard to compile statistics."

Xu Jia was speechless for a moment. If the American Dharma Realm is to establish an Underworld, Xu Jia can only start by registering from the Earth Deity, seeing the big picture from the small. If even the Earth Deity has difficulty carrying out work, then the operating logic of the Eastern Great side cannot be maintained in America at all.

Xu Jia said slightly: "Fine, fine. Don't you Americans have driver's licenses? Then start by compiling those. If that really doesn't work, birth certificates will do. If there is no way, then find a way; you must solve the problem. Don't think that just because you are a farm owner, I will give you preferential treatment. You are just an intern. If you don't do it, there are plenty of people waiting to do it. I have a large group of people here waiting to move up."

Xu Jia was very strict with him and also used some PUA tactics. The red-neck wanted to argue but did not dare. He had previously been sinking in the Dharma Realm, and if Xu Jia had not taken that legal document to summon him out, he would still be in a daze.

Being able to be a street Earth Deity now is indeed a stroke of great luck.

(End of chapter)