Chapter 79: Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Book of Raising Humans

The cliffs of ten thousand clouds still loomed perilously high, the water and wind hazy and dim.

In this world of water and sky, seemingly unchanged for ten thousand ages.

Chen Yu shu slightly lifted his eyes.

On the opposite shore sat a breathtakingly beautiful woman, her eyebrows finely painted like delicate brushstrokes, her face radiant and exquisite; she wore a magnificent crimson-purple robe embroidered with a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix, gazing at him with a half-smile, her radiance like moonlight, her grace like a celestial spirit, making one dare not look up.

“It’s merely pinpointing the exact location of another offspring—trivial matters.”

Chen Yu shu spoke:

“Apprentice Zhuang Si, didn’t your father warn you to keep your distance from me? You’ve been coming here frequently these past days—I couldn’t very well turn you away—but this will surely upset Apprentice Xu.”

A faint, inexplicable smile touched his lips:

“Apprentice Xu has complained to me several times already. Look…”

“It seems that between me and Apprentice Xu, Brother prefers the gentle, tender disposition.”

Zhuang Si smiled brightly, gently tucking a few strands of falling black hair behind her ear, blinking her eyes with a soft, pleading gaze, sighing mournfully:

“I offered my heart to the bright moon, yet the moon shines only on the ditch—how pitiful that my earnest devotion should be cast aside like a worn-out shoe?”

“Gentle and tender? Indeed, after enduring so many storms and trials, who would wish to be tossed again in the raging waves?”

Chen Yu shu also sighed:

“Apprentice Xu has always been exceedingly kind to me. In this vast Primordial Demon Sect, she alone truly cares for me—such a lovely person, how could one not cherish her?”

“She even fetched you a kundu fish from the Western Sea!”

At that moment, from the depths of the ten-thousand-zhang abyss, a cold, thunderous voice suddenly boomed.

Ba She Yue You emerged from the deepest layers of water and clouds, his serpent head towering like a mountain peak.

He stretched his body slightly, and with a mere flick of his tail, he shattered the sea into wave after wave after wave of explosions—as if the heavens cracked and the earth split!

“Didn’t you eat it?”

Chen Yu shu shook his head.

“The flavor was wonderfully tender and sweet—I couldn’t get enough!”

Yue You chuckled: “Yu shu, if you smile at that Xu apprentice again, get her to send you more! If you could feast on such divine delicacies daily, it’d be worth all the beatings I’ve taken since I followed you! This heavenly life is far better than back in Dou Shu Sect—I wouldn’t trade it for a realm lordship!”

Chen Yu shu raised an eyebrow, too lazy to respond to this brute, while Zhuang Si giggled softly.

“If Apprentice Zhuang has nothing else, you’d best leave soon.”

“Does Brother really dislike seeing me?”

“Why ask a question you already know the answer to, Zhuang Si?”

Chen Yu shu gazed at her silently for a long moment, then sighed:

“You are the most favored and most outstanding offspring of Xuanming Wuxian Daojun. You know I cannot strike you—so why waste your time here? Don’t forget, I was the one who passed the ‘Book of Raising Humans’ to you. If you intend to scheme against me, to plant a jade seed in my heart, you’re playing a truly foolish hand—and you’ll earn my contempt.”

“Is that so?”

Zhuang Si widened her eyes like a curious child, cradling her snow-white cheeks in both hands, a clear look of disappointment crossing her exquisite face:

“I thought Brother hadn’t noticed? What a pity—I was hoping to plant a jade seed in your heart and turn you into my puppet…”

“What a pity.”

She repeated it again, murmuring softly: “If I turned the famed Chen Yu shu into a puppet, would the demonic sect’s ten-thousand-year momentum fall upon me? Hey, Brother, what do you think?”

“Apprentice Zhuang is truly mischievous. Had I met you three hundred years ago, when I was still in Dou Shu Sect…”

Chen Yu shu’s tone remained calm and gentle, yet a hint of disappointment flickered in his eyes.

“If you had met me earlier, what would Brother have done?”

“Naturally, I would have erased your fundamental spirit, extinguished your seven emotions and six desires—as I always have—and forged you into a puppet with no thoughts, no will, solely for my use, to aid my ascent to immortality. But alas, alas…”

“I’ve heard Brother has turned many puppets from the Twelve Great Clans; the Eight Sects and Six Schools have some too, but I don’t know how many—how many altogether?”

“Not many, not many—fewer than a hundred.”

“The ‘Book of Raising Humans’ truly is Kongkong Dao Ren’s masterpiece—how wondrous.”

Zhuang Si covered her lips and laughed lightly.

“Useful, isn’t it?”

Chen Yu shu lifted his teacup: “When Daojun first brought me to the Primordial Demon Sect, to show my sincerity, I immediately offered the ‘Book of Raising Humans.’ Apprentice Zhuang has had this scripture for centuries—how many puppets have you forged?”

“Not many, not many—only a thousand or so.”

At this point,

the two exchanged a smile, as if they were old friends who had known each other for years.

“Still, I heard Brother once escaped from Xu Huang Tian to Xu Du Tian entirely thanks to Kongkong Dao Ren’s inheritance. He was the seventh disciple of the Ancestor of Tribulation Immortals—since you received His legacy, you’re also His disciple. Did Kongkong Dao Ren leave you nothing but the ‘Book of Raising Humans’?”

“Isn’t the ‘Book of Raising Humans’ enough? Apprentice Zhuang is truly insatiable.”

Chen Yu shu dismissed it:

“If you wish to study the teachings left by Kongkong Dao Ren and the current Ancestor of Tribulation Immortals, you shouldn’t come to me—you should seek out Dou Shu Sect. Their collection of Kongkong Dao Ren’s scriptures far exceeds what I possess. Asking me is like asking a blind man for directions.”

Zhuang Si glanced at him with a smile, her lips curling slightly, and ceased pressing further.

“Still, Brother says you’ve just pinpointed another offspring—Chen Hang?”

The two exchanged a few more cold, indifferent words.

Before taking leave,

Zhuang Si suddenly asked: “If Brother no longer needs him, could you give him to me?”

“It seems Apprentice Zhuang still hasn’t given up…”

“Still, Chen Hang’s talent is truly mediocre, and his benefit to me is only temporary. After using him, giving him to you is no problem—trivial matter.”

He paused briefly in thought.

Then nodded:

“Alright, I grant you permission.”

Zhuang Si smiled sweetly, thanked him, and waved her hand to open the barrier of the cavernous realm, then took her leave.

A few breaths after she departed,

from the abyss beneath this water-bound Rongcheng Duming Realm, Yue You’s voice rang out once more.

“Yu shu, did you just harbor murderous intent?”

Yue You’s voice rumbled, tinged with concern:

“Boy, hold your temper! This demoness is Xuanming Wuxian Daojun’s most favored descendant. We’re still living under someone else’s roof—if you kill her, you’ll offend every sect of the Xuan Sect and the Demon Sects, and Xu Du Tian will become uninhabitable…”

“What nonsense.”

Chen Yu shu gave a bitter laugh: “Daojun Xuanming Wuxian has shown me great kindness—how could I ever strike Apprentice Zhuang? That would be unfilial!”

On the sea’s surface, the ten-thousand-zhang serpent rolled its eyes in silence.

Then a streak of heavenly demonic light shot upward, landing before the lakeside pavilion, transforming into a handsome man clad in gray, his features eerie and sinister.

“You—”

“Wait.”

Yue You was about to speak when Chen Yu shu interrupted him.

He calmly withdrew from his sleeve pouch a “Banner of Ten Thousand Divine Veneration,” and pointed his finger.

A towering deity with a hundred heads and a thousand eyes, wearing a star-crowned headdress, stepping on crimson shoes, draped in crimson flame robes, holding a cosmic golden mirror, leapt forth from the banner. He bowed thrice to Chen Yu shu with reverence, then opened all thousand eyes, gazing into the void—and vanished instantly.

“Enough. The Daojuns of the Primordial Demon Sect are all beyond the cosmos, plotting the great matter of Fa Sheng Tian. Only a few Candle Dragon corpse-puppets remain to guard the mountain gates—those beasts cannot pierce my concealment.”

Seeing the hundred-headed, thousand-eyed deity obey the command, Chen Yu shu tucked away the “Banner of Ten Thousand Divine Veneration,” and said coolly:

“Friend, speak.”

“Your father’s treasure is truly useful—no wonder it’s a divine weapon of Xu Huang Tian’s Divine King! Lucky for you your mother secretly gave it to you—it’s saved you countless troubles.”

Yue You gazed at the “Banner of Ten Thousand Divine Veneration” with intense envy, smacked his lips, then grew serious:

“Yu shu, you don’t really intend to kill Zhuang Si, do you?”

“I’ve only partially subjugated this ‘Banner of Ten Thousand Divine Veneration’—I’m far from completing it. What’s it worth? As for Zhuang Si…”

Chen Yu shu’s eyes suddenly grew colder:

“This demoness keeps coming to me, relying on my inability to kill her, using the ‘Book of Raising Humans’ in every word and gesture, trying to plant a jade seed in my heart. How presumptuous—has she forgotten this scripture was originally offered by me to the Primordial Demon Sect?”

The handsome, godlike man still wore his usual gentle smile, but Yue You, catching the coldness in his gaze, felt his heart tremble violently!

“But you can’t harbor murderous intent toward her! Yu shu, are you mad?!”

Yue You’s face twisted in distress, hastily pleading in soft tones:

“As I just said—if you kill Zhuang Si, Xu Du Tian will be truly uninhabitable! Don’t forget, your father still watches from Xu Huang Tian! You’ve always been good at patience—endure it, endure it! You’ll eventually unite with the Dao. Once you become a Daojun, what’s Zhuang Si to you?”

Although Chen Yu shu’s rise had already aligned with the momentum of the Six Demon Sects, and even the Eight Xuan Sects could not easily destroy him,

if he himself created obstacles for himself, seeking his own troubles, others could do nothing.

If he truly killed Zhuang Si, even if he escaped Xu Du Tian and succeeded in uniting with the Dao, his future days would not be easy.

For Chen Yu shu’s biological father, the Crimson Flame Tao Rong Wan Fu Divine King, had unified the vast heavens, seas, and lands of Xu Huang Tian—he was a titan among the divine path!

Even if Chen Yu shu became a Daojun, he could never rival Him…

Only by advancing beyond union with the Dao, by absorbing the Immortal Vocation into his body, could he even hope to challenge Him.

On this side, Yue You continued his desperate pleading, while Chen Yu shu merely lifted his head slightly and glanced at him.

“Friend, what are you afraid of? Who said I intend to kill her?”

“You—”

“Though this woman seeks to turn me into a puppet and covets Kongkong Dao Ren’s inheritance in my hands, she is still the offspring of Xuanming Wuxian Daojun—why should I kill her?”

Chen Yu shu chuckled: “At most, I’ll give her a lesson. Do you think I’m some bloodthirsty monster in your eyes?”

Yue You glared at him like he was a fool, baring his teeth.

“You didn’t plan to kill her? If not, why make me go through all this trouble?”

He said: “Then why bring out the ‘Banner of Ten Thousand Divine Venerables in Reverence’ as a cover? Isn’t it just to get me to comfort you?”

“Bringing out this banner as a cover means I have something important to discuss with you.”

Chen Yushu’s gaze grew unusually solemn as he said:

“Chen Hang, there’s something odd about this child!”

“Chen Hang?”

Yue You looked utterly baffled.

“I placed within each of my offspring a qi-cultivation scripture capable of achieving Tai Shi Yuan Zhen, along with four protective Dou Lu talismans. Just now, one of Chen Hang’s Dou Lu talismans activated, allowing me to pinpoint his exact location.”

“And what of it?”

“But Zhu Si, that demoness, came to me asking for this child—even though she pretended it was an offhand request, how could she hide it from my Zhong Tian Dou Shu? There’s surely something amiss.”

Chen Yushu tapped his fingers lightly against the table and said:

“Though I don’t know what divine mystery Chen Hang possesses that made Zhu Si specifically ask for him, my belongings—even if destroyed—must be destroyed by my own hand!”

He turned to Yue You and spoke: “Xu Du Tian is vast. If your spiritual body flies southward, it will take too long—first go to Lin Jiao Island.”

“Lin Jiao Palace?”

“Among the twenty-four demonic cultivation clans of the Southern Sea, Yuan Ju of the Ape Clan was exiled from the Southern Sea after failing to seize the throne. He was banished to Lin Jiao Island. Yuan Ju possesses a magic treasure called the ‘Dimensional Shuttle.’ Your current spiritual body isn’t far from Lin Jiao Island.”

Chen Yushu said: “Go to Yuan Ju and ask him for the ‘Dimensional Shuttle.’ With this artifact, you’ll reach the Floating Jade Lake in the Southern Region within two or three days at most.”

Yue You was startled, but he obeyed.

“But will that monkey lend you the magic treasure? The demonic cultivation clans of the Southern Sea are all fierce, unruly, and tightly allied—they may not honor your request.”

He couldn’t help asking again.

“The twenty-four demonic cultivation clans of the Southern Sea owe me a great debt. It’s not just about borrowing a magic treasure—even if I demanded they fight for me, they still couldn’t repay it.”

Chen Yushu sighed:

“Though my Zhong Tian Dou Shu cannot discern what divine mystery Chen Hang harbors, Zhu Si’s patron is the Xuan Ming Wu Xian Dao Jun… That old man, like the Tai Wen Miao Cheng Dao Jun of the Chi Ming Sect, is one of the two greatest diviners in Xu Du Tian. Zhu Si asking for Chen Hang may well be his doing.”

“Sounds like there’ll be complications.”

Yue You shook his head: “What if something goes wrong on the way, and I can’t bring Chen Hang back?”

Chen Yushu’s expression remained indifferent:

“Then kill him outright. If he can’t serve me, he’s useless!”

Yue You shrugged, signaling he understood.

Thus.

In the sea tens of millions of li away, a massive, swift-flying serpent suddenly halted, dispersing the misty clouds swirling around its body, its golden vertical pupils flashing.

Moments later, it sharply reversed its course, transforming into a vast stream of qi-light, hurtling toward the northwestern seas.

After Yue You left,

several hours passed before a deep blue wave surged upward, parting layers of seawater to form a young man with a pale, beardless face and a golden staff.

He sniffed lightly, tapped his golden staff against the sea surface, and his face lit up with joy.

“True Person, I’ve found him!”

The young man bowed deeply: “He was here, and not long ago.”

The empty sky and sea held nothing but boundless waves—no trace of a soul.

Only when a faint thunderclap echoed from nowhere did the young man dare raise his head and straighten his trembling body.

“Gods fighting, demons suffer, demons suffer! I was just out to collect a bride, and now I’ve stumbled into this mess!”

Wiping sweat from his brow, the young man tapped his golden staff, splitting a path through the sea, and leapt in urgently:

“I can’t stay here a moment longer—I must return to the Snake Clan’s homeland in the Southern Sea! Besides, the Dragon Palace in the Eastern Sea demands an exorbitant bride price—this marriage? I’d rather not wed at all!”

…

…

Southern Region.

Floating Jade Lake.

Thousands of heads surged together; colorful pavilions and tents stood densely amid the clouds, intricately arranged, with winding stairways and elegant details everywhere.

Inside one pavilion, Chen Hang and Wei Lingjiang stood side by side, gazing at the deep azure rift in the heavens.

“Is this Huai Wu Cave?”

He spoke.

Two-in-one