Chapter 57: Killing Intent Arises, Dragging the Earth Deity into the Water

"In fact, before the Perfected Person, there is another realm, which is the Daoist—that is, those of us who seek the Great Dao. But few can achieve this merit."

Xu Jia listened to this realm; it sounded quite archaic, all inherited from *Zhuangzi*, *Liezi*, and the *Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon*.

Compared to the various flashy cultivation realms of his past life, it seemed much more plain.

If Xu Jia were to write a novel, he would definitely write something like ten realms of Human Immortal, ten realms of Earth Immortal, ten realms of Heavenly Immortal...

At the very least, in his past life, the Human Immortal realm alone was divided into: Returning Essence to the Brain, Hundred Days Foundation Establishment, Fetal Breath Sensing Qi, Small Heavenly Circuit Circulation, Daya Charging the Pass, Great Heavenly Circuit Circulation, Heavenly Circuit Perfection, and Embracing the Elixir.

Only upon reaching Embracing the Elixir is the Inner Elixir Technique considered to have minor success.

Presumably, only the "Golden Core" realm after Embracing the Elixir can reach the "True Person" realm, such as "True Person Zhang Sanfeng" or "Pure Yang True Person Lv Dongbin"...

Perhaps an Immortal truly requires a realm like the "Four Great Heavenly Masters"? After Zhang Zhenji finished speaking roughly about these three realms, he did not wish to stay any longer. "If you have any further questions, Daoist friend, feel free to come to the City God Temple in the future to discuss them with me in detail. But for now, I cannot be delayed." Zhang Zhenji made a promise with a slight apology, then immediately took his leave.

Seeing the Daoist official chatting about such profound principles with Xu Jia, and influenced by their preconceived notions, the two Yamen Runners did not pursue the matter further, though they still had to go through the motions: "This matter must never be repeated. It is nothing this time since we are all acquaintances, but who knows about next time! Don't make things difficult for us."

They then left together...

Xu Jia knew this was a "Human Tribulation," but it had already been resolved; otherwise, if the charge of inciting Licentious Offering had been confirmed, he feared he would have faced a prison disaster.

Therefore, the more this was the case, the more the desire to kill the Evil Daoist rose in his heart.

Moreover, the Evil Daoist practiced the Ghost Method Evil Arts of the Longevity Sect, and Xu Jia had long since developed a desire to "eradicate the poison" of this Longevity Sect.

"In my past life, I established the American Sect, relying on the foundation built by my disciples to eliminate several Evil Sects in San Francisco. Now, if I want to stand firm here, I must use them as the target, take the initiative, and not let him come to trouble me again!"

Xu Jia made up his mind, and a great courage arose, a momentum of pressing forward surging out.

Hu Jinhua and the others saw that the Daoist had left and came down the mountain again: "Master Xu, was that Daoist ill-intentioned?"

"He was alright, just not very good at distinguishing right from wrong. His personality was too soft, and he was deceived into coming to subdue me, only to be turned around by me to go trouble that Evil Daoist instead."

Xu Jia shook his head, then remembered the Dharma Power borrowed from the Golden Body temple system in his past life, which required "Dharma Money" when the Fox Immortal Hall resolved others' wishes.

This time, two small iron coins only exchanged for a bit of Dharma Power, which was truly not enough. Therefore, he said to Hu Jinhua: "You have established the hall and now have five Out-of-Body Messengers, but the Hall Genealogy of immortals is sparse. According to the rules, the four beams and eight pillars must not be missing; you need to recruit some more errand-runners and messengers... Now that the nine ghost children have come under your hall, you should train them well, as they will have their uses."

"Now we must develop as quickly as possible. Since the government officials just came once, they surely won't bother us in the short term. Seize the opportunity to make the name of the Fox Immortal Hall known in the countryside."

"If you need to establish authority, you must not be soft-hearted! Collect Incense Fire as quickly as possible!"

Hu Jinhua nodded repeatedly, indicating she had noted it, and added: "The disciple has just this thought. I originally intended to recruit Lao Zhupo from Lan Shi Huo to work for Master Xu; now I shall use her to establish authority first." "The chicken demon at Qingfeng Pavilion occupies the land and repeatedly injures travelers, not letting them enter the pavilion to rest for a moment. If we can eliminate it, we will surely become famous!"

"Also, many foxes have left my fox cave and gone to the Cuichun Pavilion in the county. Their nature is not bad; they were all swindled by Hu Agui. If we can eliminate Hu Agui and lead them to turn over a new leaf... they can be brought into the hall to serve the Great Immortal together."

"Do not go to the county for now; just stay in the countryside. After all, my establishment of this hall is also a Licentious Offering. If I want to stand firm, I must first report to the local City God."

"It is fine to stay in the countryside now, as the people do not report and the officials do not investigate, but if we go to the county, it will be troublesome."

"I will wait until my father passes the imperial examination next spring, then I will have him go to the City God Temple to help you request a document. Only then can we openly and honestly find a place in the county to establish a hall."

Xu Jia was following the model of "steady and solid" territory expansion and accumulating original capital. Five shamans meant five villages; if it proved effective, people from other villages would also come to ask for help.

"As for the demons at Qingfeng Pavilion, we must wait until I eliminate the Evil Daoist before we act. Hu Agui is of the fox clan and an unfilial descendant from your cave; theoretically, it is your family matter, so you must personally discipline him to set an example of deterrence."

Hu Jinhua obeyed Xu Jia's words: "This disciple understands."

Xu Jia added: "As the saying goes, a county official is not as effective as the one in charge. Does this township have a local Earth Deity?"

Hu Jinhua thought for a moment; she was well-informed in the township and said: "It seems there is one at Qingtian Dam. It was built by the county official and local gentry after the dam was constructed over a hundred years ago, just to manage the thousand acres of fertile land around it after the dam was built, praying for a bumper harvest every year. It is an Earth Deity for the rich, not for the poor."

Xu Jia was thoughtful; it seemed the hearts of the people could be used.

Although the villagers revered the Earth Deity, they only wrote on a piece of red paper and pasted it low in the main hall, "Position of the Virtuous Deity Earth Deity," without specifying which Earth Deity it was. At most, during the New Year, there would be a "God Immortal New Year picture," and they would offer a stick of incense during festivals, similar to the Kitchen God or Door God, with a general status, not specifically building a temple.

Unless someone in the village took the initiative to build a temple, but building a temple required reporting to the imperial court and donating a sum of silver; only the gentry and the wealthy would do this. The common people were like a Mud Bodhisattva crossing a river, barely able to save themselves, so how could they care about the gods? That this Earth Deity had the attributes of the rich and did not protect the poor showed that the people had long been dissatisfied with it.

Thus he suggested: "When I find an opportunity, I will personally go to the Earth Temple to build a good relationship with him first."

Hu Jinhua did not understand why Xu Jia would do this and said: "That old Earth Deity cannot manage us here... why bother to curry favor with him?"

"A Ninth Rank Earth Deity is still an Earth Deity." Xu Jia pondered and said: "I will provide the funds to build an Earth Temple in this village and temporarily act in the name of the Earth Temple. You will preside over the Incense Fire of this temple, and in the future, you will split the profits fifty-fifty with him. How could he not take the bait? Once we have grown strong, we will hollow him out."

This was not the proper path and had the style of dragging others into the water, but with a crisis at hand, he could not care about that much.

Hu Jinhua's eyes widened; there was actually such a maneuver?

It is said that the wisdom of a fox is cunning, but how much can a beast change? It is far inferior to a human.

(End of chapter)