The days when he couldn't show off flew by.
Ten thousand years later!
In the Buzhou Mountain region.
Amid the boundless mountains.
A God and Demon radiating the pressure of a Golden Immortal rode a dazzling, undying Immortal Light, streaking across the sky above the mountains.
His face was full of fear and ill fortune.
As though something ominous were pursuing him, he fled with all his might.
"Fellow Daoist, Please Stay!"
"Fellow Daoist, we're fated to meet... Why must you avoid me?"
A voice came from behind.
"God of Misfortune Gu Xi... I'm fated to meet you, my ass!"
"Stay away from me!"
The fleeing God and Demon's mouth twitched, and his face went pale.
He cursed in terror, then burned his vital blood. Turning into a streak of crimson light, he accelerated more than tenfold and vanished above the mountains in an instant.
A moment later, a figure appeared above the boundless mountains.
It was Gu Xi.
"Ah... People aren't what they used to be. Someone as honest and simple as me, yet all the Gods and Demons around Buzhou Mountain avoid me. Am I... really that frightening?"
Looking "melancholy," Gu Xi heaved a sigh over how people had changed.
Ever since he had used himself and his Magic Treasures as bait ten thousand years ago, luring nine Golden Immortals to their deaths by Heavenly Punishment, his name as the "God of Misfortune" had spread throughout the Buzhou Mountain region.
After that, the Gods and Demons there had regarded him like a venomous snake or scorpion and avoided him at all costs.
His "business" had become harder and harder to conduct.
He had then tried tricks involving "treasure maps," "sting operations," and "deliberate provocations," luring several more Golden Immortals to their deaths and gaining another three Acquired Spiritual Treasures.
After that, his name as the "God of Misfortune" had resounded throughout the Buzhou Mountain region.
Now, among the beings there that had awakened intelligence, not one had failed to hear of Gu Xi, the "God of Misfortune."
Even many Primordial Great Sages and God and Demon Dao Lords living in seclusion around Buzhou Mountain had heard plenty about Gu Xi.
Of course, to beings at their level, Gu Xi was unusual, but he posed no threat.
They merely paid him a little attention.
They would not attack him unprovoked, lest they draw Heavenly Punishment.
But they were hardly afraid of him.
After all, Gu Xi was only a Heavenly Immortal.
The Primordial Great Sages and God and Demon Dao Lords could take Gu Xi in stride, but the other beings in the Buzhou Mountain region could not.
Gu Xi had become a scourge that cleared the streets: wherever he appeared, the surrounding Gods and Demons swiftly disappeared.
"Those who know me say my heart is troubled; those who don't ask what I seek... Why is someone as honest and simple as me always misunderstood?"
"I just enjoy making friends and offering a 'thunderous feast' to celebrate."
"Do they really need to avoid me like this?"
"Life is lonely, and a kindred spirit is hard to find..."
Gu Xi sighed at length, looking like a man no one understood.
"Pfft!"
A soft laugh suddenly came from the nearby void.
"Hm? Which fellow Daoist is there?"
Gu Xi instantly looked toward the sound.
A flicker of delight rose in his heart.
To think someone would still approach him of their own accord, even now.
"Business" had come straight to his door.
A solemn, sacred Goddess stepped out of the void.
Immense, surging Immortal Light of Creation surrounded her.
Behind her, an enormous Divine Demon Manifestation with a human head and serpent's body flickered in and out of sight. It gave off fluctuations of the Law of Creation that would make even God and Demon Dao Lords shudder.
At once, the power of creation within hundreds of thousands of miles grew incomparably dense.
The laws of this stretch of heaven and earth seemed to become dominated by the Law of Creation in an instant.
Nourished by that vast power of creation, countless flowers, grasses, and trees burst from the soil across the mountains and swiftly grew tall.
Many Fierce Beasts that had yet to develop intelligence awakened it at that moment.
The newly awakened Fierce Beasts knelt and worshipped the Goddess, thanking her for the gift of creation.
"Nuwa!"
Gu Xi's pupils contracted slightly the moment he saw the Goddess. He had recognized her.
Or rather, ninety-nine percent of the beings in Hong Huang would have recognized her at first sight.
Her identity and Divine Demon Manifestation were far too distinctive.
Nuwa was one of Dao Ancestor Hongjun's six disciples and one of the most powerful Quasi-Saint Heavenly Venerates in Hong Huang. Who had not heard of her?
One of Nuwa's defining marks was her human-headed, serpent-bodied Divine Demon Manifestation.
Only three people in all of Hong Huang possessed such a manifestation.
One was Fuxi. Another was Nuwa.
The third was Ancestral Witch Houtu.
Fuxi and Nuwa, however, had human upper bodies just like a human's, with only two arms.
Houtu's upper body was different: seven arms grew from her back, and she had two in front of her chest, with Teng Snakes gripped in her hands.
Their identities were therefore easy to distinguish by their Divine Demon Manifestations.
Besides, the three wielded entirely different powers of law.
The one before Gu Xi was clearly Nuwa.
Nuwa actually came to find me.
Gu Xi felt both excited and nervous.
He carried a colossal debt of one hundred billion Merit.
Not a moment passed without him thinking of ways to gain Merit and pay it off.
Intervening in Nuwa Creates Humans and seizing the chance to gain a vast amount of Merit had been his plan all along.
Yet in nearly ten thousand years, he had never worked out how to approach Nuwa and guide her toward creating humans.
After all, he was only a Heavenly Immortal, while Nuwa was one of Hong Huang's Quasi-Sage titans. Their strength existed on entirely different planes. If Nuwa did not wish to see him, no method he could devise would get him an audience.
And deep down, he had reservations about approaching Nuwa himself.
True, his hundred-billion-Merit debt had made the Heavenly Dao his shield.
But he did not truly believe the Heavenly Dao's protection made him invincible.
A Quasi-Sage titan like Nuwa surely had countless ways to deal with a mere Heavenly Immortal like him.
She could, for example, refrain from killing him and simply draw a circle on the ground to make a prison, trapping him there for hundreds of millions of years. That alone would be more than he could bear.
Whether the Heavenly Dao would protect him when his life was not in danger... Gu Xi could not be sure.
So he did not dare gamble.
For the past ten thousand years, he had been searching for a way to approach Nuwa and guide her toward creating humans while ensuring his own absolute safety.
Unfortunately, he had never found a good one.
And now Nuwa had come to him herself.
It was utterly unexpected.
I'm just a little Heavenly Immortal... Why would Nuwa seek me out for no reason?
Could it be... because I'm too handsome?
Gu Xi's thoughts ran wild, and he could not help feeling nervous.
Nuwa studied Gu Xi intently. Scene after scene of what she had witnessed over the years surfaced in her mind.
This unusual Heavenly Immortal had filled her with curiosity.
For ten thousand years, she had watched Gu Xi in secret.
She had seen him repeatedly lay schemes that seemed bent on getting himself killed, provoking Golden Immortal Gods and Demons again and again, then using Heavenly Punishment to kill those who took the bait.
The Heavenly Dao's "favor" toward Gu Xi had astonished her.
At last, she was certain: Gu Xi, the "God of Misfortune," was the Heavenly Dao's Illegitimate Child.
How else could he receive such favor from the Heavenly Dao?
Ever since the Third Sermon at Zixiao Palace had ended, she had searched for an opportunity to become a Saint, but she had found no clue.
Since Gu Xi, the "God of Misfortune," was the Heavenly Dao's Illegitimate Child and so close to the Heavenly Dao... perhaps she could obtain a hint from the Heavenly Dao through him.
And so she had revealed herself.
Before you continue