Chapter 183: Three Feet Above One's Head, There Are Gods

Ning Qing had completely adapted to the environment she was in.

Not only had she adapted, she could even consciously deepen the extent of it—

Extreme darkness and extreme silence were meant to imitate "nothingness," but mortals could never truly create true nothingness; they could only try their best to imitate it. Ning Qing, however, could already consciously seal off her senses to the point where she could not perceive the surrounding things at all, so as to get closer to true nothingness...

Sealing off sight, smell, hearing, and touch;

Sealing off a Cultivator's perception of the environment and Spirit Power;

After being unable to perceive the surrounding environment at all, her whole person felt as if she were placed in a nascent universe.

Ning Qing was neither desperate nor flustered; instead, her heart was unprecedentedly tranquil, and she could more clearly sense the more fundamental rules and mechanisms of the world.

The star-filled sky;

Plane Will;

Plane Memory;

Predicted Timeline;

Plane Origin;

She even felt as if she had perceived those existences that had merged with the origin, seventeen in total.

……

The seventeen divine statues had solemn expressions.

Following the guidance of Vice Sect Master Du Heng, Chen Shu performed a grand salute to the Spirit Saint in the very center: "Spirit Sect disciple Chen Shu pays respects to the Spirit Saint."

Previously, he had performed a bow before the Spirit Sect Sect Master, but before gods, one needed to perform a kneeling kowtow—kneeling kowtows were not rampant in Yiguo; even in ancient times, there were few situations that required you to kneel. Most of the time, civil and military officials did not need to kneel when meeting the Emperor. However, when facing the gods, regardless of the country or civilization on this planet, it was basically the default to perform a kneeling kowtow.

Chen Shu still had no intention of being unconventional.

But the moment he lowered his head, his hair suddenly stood on end.

He only felt that the divine statue in front of him had suddenly come to life, and a gaze as if it were substantial was cast down from the statue, projecting directly onto him.

This gaze carried a natural, immense pressure, as if he were standing by the sea with a hundreds-of-meters-high, monstrous wave standing before him. It was as if he were standing in the boundless starry sky, with a burning, massive star filling his entire field of vision in front of him.

Chen Shu had experienced this situation before—

At the beginning of the year at Xinzheng Temple.

This was the second time.

When he took his oath before the Spirit Saint in the morning, this situation had not occurred.

"Rise."

Chen Shu followed the guidance and stood up silently.

"Worship the New Saint."

Chen Shu did as he had done before, only changing Spirit Saint to New Saint.

Everyone in the world was no stranger to this Saint; he was born a thousand years ago, and his radiance eclipsed everyone in the world at that time—it was he who raised the torch in the dark feudal world, and it was he who built high towers in the ruins of civilization. Without him, there would be no modern society in this fantasy world.

Chen Shu prepared himself mentally.

"?"

Why did nothing happen?

"Rise."

Chen Shu stood up again and pondered to himself—

So only the Spirit Saint would cast a gaze?

"Worship the Grand Ancestor."

Chen Shu continued to follow suit.

But this time, he felt the gaze again.

The Grand Ancestor's gaze seemed more aggressive than the Spirit Saint's.

Facing the Spirit Saint's gaze, that giant wave was stationary; facing the Grand Ancestor's gaze, that giant wave seemed to be crashing toward him. The ten-thousand-jun force of the giant wave was definitely not something human power could block, making one's heart tremble. Or perhaps it was like a star in deep space, but it had begun to move, slowly approaching the star.

Chen Shu frowned.

The Spirit Sect's regard for him exceeded his expectations; this seemed to prove that the Spirit Sect knew more about him than he had imagined.

"Rise."

"Worship the Martial Saint."

He continued until he had worshipped all seventeen divine statues.

Chen Shu discovered that only three divine statues did not cast their gaze upon him: the New Saint, the Buddha, and a god he had never heard of called the Reed God.

"Rites complete."

The Vice Sect Master whispered to Chen Shu: "Bow to the gods, and you can go out."

Chen Shu still followed suit.

A moment later.

At the entrance of the Divine Hall.

The Spirit Sect Sect Master had a calm expression and said to him peacefully: "From now on, you are a part of the Spirit Sect. When you walk outside, you represent the Spirit Sect. Remember not to do anything that violates moral and legal bottom lines. If you have any needs, you can contact the relevant deacons. We encourage disciples to be independent, but if you encounter trouble you cannot handle, you can still actively seek assistance from the sect. From now on, you are no longer alone."

"Understood."

"Focus on your studies, cultivate diligently, and when you have time, come to the sect to visit more often. We old folks just want to talk to young people more."

"I know."

"If you encounter problems in your cultivation, you can ask Du Heng."

"Thank you, Sect Master."

"I shall take my leave."

The Sect Master walked away slowly and left this place.

Chen Shu watched him leave.

This person was older than the current Emperor of Yiguo, so maintaining appropriate respect for him was very necessary.

Chen Shu quietly glanced at the two Personal Disciples of the Sect Master who were also Vice Sect Masters of the Spirit Sect and had not yet left; in fact, they were already over two hundred years old, and there were very few people in the entire Spirit Sect older than them, plus they held important positions, so calling them Elders would not be an exaggeration.

According to the sect's seniority, they were both of the generation of Chen Shu's ancestors.

These two, one man and one woman, both had very young appearances.

The eldest disciple was named Du Heng, whose face was a bit broad, while the younger disciple was named Zhu Huan, whose appearance was very noble; both were Eight-Tier Practitioners. If this were ancient times, perhaps one should add titles like "Superior" or "True Person" after their names.

After encouraging Chen Shu with a few words, Vice Sect Master Zhu Huan left.

Vice Sect Master Du Heng remained.

Vice Sect Master Du Heng's attitude was quite gentle; such an expression on an elderly person should be called kind: "After you receive your Nameplate and record your Spirit Power, you will officially be a Spirit Sect disciple. From now on, you may come and go as you please, and you can enter Phoenix Tower with your Nameplate, which is our Spirit Sect's library. Your Nameplate's permissions are the same as mine. I guess you will like that place quite a bit; many Outer Sect Disciples who join the Spirit Sect come for it."

"Understood."

"What Spirit Method are you cultivating?"

"The latest version of the General Spirit Method."

"That one is good," Vice Sect Master Du Heng said. "Continue cultivating that."

"Understood." Chen Shu knew that the person before him was one of the main compilers of the General Spirit Method, so did this count as blowing one's own horn?

"If there is anything you don't understand, you can ask me. You have Feixin, right?"

"……I do."

"Add me."

"Okay……"

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone.

These big shots really keep up with the times.

Big shot Feixin +1 again.

After Vice Sect Master Du finished adding him on Feixin, he put away his Mobile Phone: "Let's go, I will go with you to record your Spirit Power and collect your Nameplate, and I'll tell you some things along the way."

"Sorry to trouble the Sect Master."

"Either call me Vice Sect Master or call me Elder."

"Okay."

Chen Shu thought about it and felt that calling him Elder was strange; in his fixed mindset, Elders were generally of the same generation as the Sect Master or even higher, but in the various sects of reality, there were basically very few people older or of higher seniority than the Sect Master.

"Sorry to trouble the Vice Sect Master."

"It's no trouble, I'm old and bored," Vice Sect Master Du paused. "If you have any questions, you can also ask me."

"I do."

"Ask."

"Are those dozen or so deities real?"

"Of course."

"Why did I need to see them one by one when joining the sect?"

"Because the importance we place on you exceeds your imagination."

"I only joined the sect today."

"But we have not known you for only one day."

"Oh……"

Chen Shu blinked, and after a few seconds, he asked again: "Why did I feel a gaze when worshipping some deities, but I didn't have that feeling when worshipping others?"

"Maybe they didn't want to look at you."

"……"

Chen Shu was choked up for a moment before asking again: "Then where did they go?"

"To an unknown place."

Vice Sect Master Du Heng's eyes narrowed slightly before he said: "As for exactly where, perhaps only the deities and the Sect Master would know. You should work hard."

"Emmm……"

At this moment, they arrived in front of a great hall.

Chen Shu stopped asking more questions.

Collecting the Nameplate.

Recording Spirit Power.

Everything went exceptionally smoothly.

The Vice Sect Master said to Chen Shu again: "Every Inner Sect Disciple has a residence within the sect. I have secured a small courtyard for you. If you return to the sect in the future, you can live here; if you don't, it will be kept for you."

"Ah?"

Chen Shu was stunned; did they even provide housing?

"Let's go."

"Okay."

This small courtyard was on Yuding Mountain, located on the back side of the mountainside; it was very secluded and also had a rustic exterior with a modernized interior. Chen Shu even saw a Game Capsule in the study.

This made him feel very strange—

The first residence he owned in this world was actually obtained in this way?

And he had done almost nothing, which made him feel a bit unreal again.

Is this the treatment for a genius?

Do the other group members receive this kind of treatment?

For a moment, Chen Shu felt that his life before had truly been miserable.

That night.

Chen Shu lay on the bed, toying with his Nameplate.

This was a simple, antique wooden Nameplate, about two fingers wide and less than two fingers long, coming with a metal hanging ring; the Nameplate was made of an unknown wood, extremely hard yet lightweight, with Chen Shu's name written on one side and the emblem of the Spirit Sect printed on the other.

With it, one could enter and exit places that required identity verification and authorization.

The rank of this Nameplate was the highest, excluding the Sect Master.

This treatment was too outrageous.

Chen Shu pondered silently.

In an era where geniuses emerged in succession, before he joined, the Spirit Sect truly did not have a genius who could compare to Zhang Suannai, the Gate of All Wonders, and others. As the de facto number one sect in the world of the new era, it was somewhat lacking in prestige, so it was understandable that they placed extra importance on him.

But this was still too exaggerated.

After all, having just joined the sect, no matter how one looked at it, the relationship could not be considered close; it would be more reasonable to observe slowly over time and gradually increase the level of importance.

The only explanation was that there are gods three feet above one's head.

But if that were the case...

Chen Shu looked up at the ceiling—

A ceiling lamp with a classical design emitted a soft light.

"Emm..."

Better to go take a shower first.

Chen Shu walked into the bathroom.

After coming out of the shower, he felt refreshed and clear-headed, and the worries from just now were temporarily forgotten; he would think about them again next time when his mind was clear and he wasn't feeling lazy.

Chen Shu lay on the bed and started playing with Qingqing's Mobile Phone.

He looked at Qingqing's photo album.

This woman doesn't take selfies...

She really is a rare creature.

However, there were still some photos stored in her album; at a rough glance, most of them were ones he had sent to her.

Chen Shu saw the table of dishes he had made for her birthday, saw the dishes from his own birthday, saw the flowers she had photographed blooming in the garden, and further back were their photos together during the Blue Flower Festival, followed by the photos taken during their trip after the New Year.

Chen Shu saw a video of himself acting foolish.

"..."

He really wanted to delete it.

He watched half of this video, but couldn't bear to look any longer, so he skipped it and continued scrolling down, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile involuntarily.

He didn't know when he had fallen asleep.