Chapter 139: The Calamity-Bearing Human King
Chapter 139: The Calamity-Bearing Human King
Hearing these words, Li Si looked up in shock and met Zhao Qingxie’s extremely calm eyes. Though tired, they remained bright. Her fairy-like face—one could only say no wonder everyone wanted to become an immortal.
They stared at each other for a full nine seconds. Li Si braced himself and kept his ‘shocked’ expression. Yeah, I’m terrified, not mesmerized by beauty.
Just look at my pure little eyes if you don’t believe me.
Zhao Qingxie remained consistently calm and undisturbed, as if she had seen through all of Li Si’s tricks.
“Um, Master, can’t we do something in Kaoshan City? I mean building a stronger City Protection Array. If the defense line collapses, what will happen to the Mortal Realm?” Li Si finally felt embarrassed under her gaze.
“Nothing much, at first. Some places in the Mortal Realm will gradually become illusory. Those Evil Spirits, Evil Immortals, Ghost Kings, and demons can then establish earthly evil domains and earthly ghost kingdoms in the Mortal Realm. After that, the entire Mortal Realm will be shrouded in Mist. Finally, the Mortal Realm will completely turn into the Illusory Realm. The Fortune of Heaven and Earth will scatter, be plundered, and devoured. So the City Protection Array can only hold for a while.”
“Living beings will either choose to kill themselves and become ghosts or evil creatures, or fall into demonhood. Then they will gradually forget everything in the illusory Mist. If a new Mortal Realm appears in the future, they will become the Evil Spirits invading this Mortal Realm, just like today.”
“So, the Evil Entities and Evil Spirits we hunt today are actually beings from the previous, or earlier, Mortal Realms? What lies at the end of the Illusory Mist?” This time, Li Si was truly ‘shocked’.
“No one knows where the end of the Illusory Mist is, but countless Mortal Realms have been devoured. We will be no exception. There are only two ways to transcend: one is to ascend to the Land of Infinite Vastness, the other is to ascend to the Land of Infinitesimal.”
“Of course, if there were some kind of supreme treasure, like the Five-Tone Ruins, before it was destroyed, it could still withstand the Illusory Mist. It was probably created by the masters of our previous Mortal Realm in the Land of Infinite Vastness. Unfortunately, it ultimately fell short. We all suspect that all these calamities might have started because of this.”
“This involves conflicts at a higher level.”
“Then, roughly how much longer can the Illusory Realm hold on?” Li Si asked seriously. Of course, he didn’t want to sit and wait for death, nor did he want to escape alone. Even if he had to flee, he would take the Fairy Leader with him.
Zhao Qingxie shook her head. “The situation is critical. No one can say for sure how much longer it can last. Even the Herb Gatherer is at a loss. So now, everyone is trying to make arrangements for what comes after. In the future… I probably won’t return. You—you’re good, thank you.”
Zhao Qingxie smiled carefreely and went online.
Li Si stood frozen on the spot for a long time. Then he stood up, walked forward, and placed his right hand on Zhao Qingxie’s crown. At that moment, he recalled a line of poetry: The immortal touched my crown, tying my hair to receive eternal life.
He smiled silently and injected 100 portions of Azure Fortune into Zhao Qingxie.
A short while later, Li Si quietly left.
—
Kaoshan City was very lively. Nearly fifteen thousand people had migrated here, and the whole city seemed to be celebrating. Perhaps there were still coordinates of the Big Fly hidden among them, but it no longer mattered.
Li Si strolled through the streets, smacking his lips. So sweet.
“Holy crap, it’s you, kid! Where have you been all these days?”
A streak of light descended from the sky. It was Ji Chang. This guy was now so well-off that he could casually use flying magical tools. He was full of vitality, as if he had found a second youth.
“I went to distant places to hunt some good stuff.” Li Si smiled slightly and took out a large pile of bamboo shoot Remnant Exuviae. These were trophies from earlier battles. Consuming them could grant righteous energy, making one immune to all evils for a certain time, which was very beneficial for Cultivators.
Ji Chang clearly knew his stuff and immediately exclaimed in surprise, “Li Si, are you sure you hunted these yourself and didn’t just find them? I bet you need at least Nascent Soul Realm cultivation to kill these things.”
“I am in the Nascent Soul Realm now,” Li Si replied honestly.
Ji Chang was speechless for a long moment, then cursed, unceremoniously snatched all the bamboo shoot Remnant Exuviae, and made a quick escape.
Xu Shen was in seclusion, and Jiang Ying was also in seclusion. The former was striving hard to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, while the latter was rushing to reach the Golden Core Realm.
The reason for their rapid progress was mainly because Li Si had been showering them with Divine Grace Baptism too frequently lately.
Currently, the affairs of Kaoshan City were managed by Ji Chang, Cheng Tianhao, and Xu Sen. As for Wang Wu, Zhang San, and Song Qiao, they were also in seclusion and were expected to reach the Golden Core Realm after emerging.
This migration from two northern towns also brought four Foundation Building Cultivators and two little-known minor sects.
These fifteen thousand people were settled in a vast area west of Kaoshan City. This area was newly planned, with new city walls, new streets, and new courtyard houses. With the help of various Dao Techniques for construction, the progress was very fast, and there was no shortage of materials. After all, the empty city to the north and Blackstone Town to the south had piles of various materials. Sending fleets via the Blackwater River made it all too easy.
It had to be said, this Blackwater River was a great help.
“I remember the Yunhua Law Seal now has four subsidiary seals.”
Standing on the newly built, fifty-meter-high city wall, he could see the mountain where the Floating Cloud Sect was located to the east, the prosperous Kaoshan City below, and the Blackwater River to the west. Everyone’s faces were filled with smiles and hopes for the future. Li Si’s originally heavy heart relaxed somewhat for some reason.
He summoned the Yunhua Law Seal and held it in his hand. Others would only see an ordinary seal. Now, after continuous upgrades, it contained four subsidiary seals: the Mountain God Seal, the Water God Seal, the City God Seal, and a blank Edict Bestowal Seal.
Its nature was similar to that of a vassal. Li Si could bestow titles within his own Pure Land. The boost in strength wasn’t significant, so he hadn’t paid much attention to it before.
But now, seeing this Blackwater River, Li Si decided to appoint a Blackwater River God. After all, it was very important.
The candidate was ready-made: Cheng Tianhao. Although he had been utterly despicable in the past, he was still a talent. Now he was in charge of Kaoshan City’s fleets, and all transportation, including the management of the port area, was orderly.
As Li Si willed it, a Blackwater River God Seal automatically emerged within the Yunhua Law Seal, but it wasn’t a Land Deed Seal. Even if the Big Fly possessed Cheng Tianhao, it would be useless.
Li Si infused the River God Seal with 500 portions of White Fortune to suppress the Blackwater River.
The next moment, Cheng Tianhao, who had been directing people to move supplies on the dock, suddenly froze. Then, a cyan light pillar descended from the sky, accompanied by the illusion of the Blackwater River roaring.
After all this vanished into Cheng Tianhao’s body, his cultivation level actually broke through immediately, jumping from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, and he naturally possessed four Water God Divine Abilities.
Moreover, if he was near the Blackwater River, he could mobilize the river’s power to crush enemies beyond his level. That is to say, he could even defeat enemies at the Divine Transformation Realm.
This was something Li Si had never expected. Why did he feel like he had missed out on something good?
However, he soon discovered a drawback: the Water God was strong, but he had to be paid a salary every year.
Especially when using those four powerful water-based Divine Abilities, Li Si actually had to pay for it out of his own pocket.
This was no different from those Divine Arts.
Li Si roughly calculated that he would give Cheng Tianhao an allowance for using the four major water abilities one hundred times per year. This way, including his salary, it would cost about 1000 portions of Gray Fortune per year.
Fortunately, it was still affordable.
Next, Li Si bestowed the Mountain God Seal upon Ji Chang, allowing his cultivation to advance one level and gain four Divine Abilities, giving him control over the mountains within five hundred miles.
As for Jiang Ying and Xu Shen, they could wait. Since they were cultivating, if they could break through their current realms, bestowing the seals later would have a better effect.
He didn’t know what impact this would have on the overall situation. Li Si could only do his best.
In a flash, he vanished from his spot. The next second, he appeared in a small city with only twenty thousand people left, named Luhua City. It was five hundred miles from Kaoshan City, located downstream on the Blackwater River.
Li Si revealed the Yunhua Law Seal, stripped the Evil God Idol in the city, harvested Faith Power, obtained the Land Deed Seal of this place, issued a Divine Decree, and then performed ten waves of full Divine Grace Baptism in one go, successfully establishing a small branch.
Without stopping, Li Si appeared in another small town.
In one morning, he established twelve small branches and also obtained twelve Land Deed Seals, effectively covering an area of three thousand miles around.
For this, Li Si exhausted his entire tip wallet. That was a full eight million portions of Gray Fate Fuel. Finally, he had to transfer 1.5 million portions of Black Fate Fuel from his spending money wallet and ten thousand portions of White Fate Firewood from his private savings wallet to barely make it work.
Fortunately, the effect of such a massive effort was immediate.
First, it unified the hearts and minds of a full five hundred thousand people, bringing warmth to these five hundred thousand humans and pulling them back from the brink of death.
Second, through this frenzied shower of Divine Grace Baptism and subduing various local powers, although he didn’t establish a kingdom, in fact, he had essentially founded one. At the very least, he had raised the banner of human revival.
The Fortune of the Human Race wouldn’t care whether you called yourself a king or a prime minister. As long as the people supported you and were united, Fortune would come naturally.
Li Si could argue that he was weak and pitiful, but the once again upgraded Yunhua Law Seal deeply betrayed him.
Lines of black and white messages also betrayed him.
“Because you are recited, believed in, and faithfully followed by over five hundred thousand people, you were forcibly granted the glory of Human King.”
“Because the Demon Tribe and the Strange Tribe have abandoned this world, with no Demon King or Strange King to compete with you, and other false Human Kings among humans being unqualified to contend, you were forcibly granted the glory of Calamity-Bearing Human King. The great calamity will either begin because of you or end because of you. How to choose lies within your heart.”
“Due to your identity as the Calamity-Bearing Human King, you were forcibly granted the friendship of Demon Lord Muan.”
“Due to your identity as the Calamity-Bearing Human King, you were forcibly granted the friendship of the Evil God Devil Mushroom.”
“Due to your identity as the Calamity-Bearing Human King, you were forcibly granted the friendship of Peach Blossom Ancestor.”
“Due to your identity as the Calamity-Bearing Human King, you were forcibly granted the friendship of the Lord of the Mist.”
“Due to your identity as the Calamity-Bearing Human King, you were forcibly granted the friendship of the Headless Ghost King.”
—
Looking at these messages appearing one after another, Li Si’s expression was unexpectedly calm.
“This should be able to share some of your burden. No need to thank me.”