Summary

Summary

Heaven and Earth in a Pot?

A Daoist art from ancient Chinese mythology.

Or, it could be called a divine ability! Legend had it that during the Eastern Han dynasty, a man named Fei Changfang lived in Runan. He had once served as a petty official overseeing the marketplace. An old man who sold medicine there would often hang a pot beside his shop.

Whenever the market closed, the old man would leap into the pot. None of the merchants or townspeople had ever seen this—until one day, Fei Changfang spotted him from upstairs.

Finding it most strange, Fei Changfang went to pay his respects to the old man, respectfully offering him fine wine and dried meat. The old man understood why he had come and told him to return the next day.

The following day, Fei Changfang visited the old man again. The latter simply took him along as he leaped into the pot. Though its opening looked tiny, once they jumped inside, they found a vast world within—

The world inside the pot was magnificent, with tables laden with delicacies and fine wine. After three rounds of drinks, the two emerged together.

Afterward, Fei Changfang bowed to the old man as his master and followed him to study the Dao...

And in the film An Eternal Combat, Hermit Caolu's hideout was a Grotto-Heaven.

At that moment, looking at the complete cultivation method in his hands and the detailed annotations beside it, Fang Xiu fell silent.

If it was only for convenient lodging...

Wood Release could do that easily!

Wood Release: Four-Pillar House: Instantly creates a complex wooden residence. Very convenient.

Wood Release: Wood-Pillar House Technique: An upgraded version of Four-Pillar House. It consumes more Chakra but can instantly create several complex wooden residences.

But Heaven and Earth in a Pot clearly involved the realm of space and time. It was one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations!

At this stage, apart from the Tsukuyomi Space he had forcibly created by overwhelming everything with his ocular power, only two of Fang Xiu's ninjutsu truly touched on this domain—

First, summoning ninja tools: the user stored a large number of ninja tools in a scroll using Space-Time Ninjutsu, then summoned them when needed.

Second, Summoning Beasts: a Space-Time Ninjutsu that allowed the user to summon a contracted beast at any time and place.

Examples included the "Monkey King: Enma" summoned by Sarutobi Hiruzen; the eight ninken summoned by Kakashi Hatake; the series of Mount Myōboku toads summoned by Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze, and Uzumaki Naruto; and the blue snake Aoda and Ninja Hawk Garuda summoned by Sasuke Uchiha.

In fact, as a member of the Uchiha Clan and a closet cat lover, Fang Xiu should have inherited a Ninja Cat named Shiromaru, who specialized in delivering messages.

The cat head carved into the Earth Style Wall earlier had been his!

Unfortunately, after the summons from the Main God Space, their connection had been completely severed. During his earlier training, Fang Xiu had tried many times, but he couldn't even locate the Ninja Cat's coordinates, let alone get a response...

"Ugh, I'll just practice it a little first and use it as a Storage Ring. It's more convenient than a ninja tool scroll, and it can even hold living creatures."

"There's no helping it. Time is too tight, especially in the Main God Space. There's simply too much to study."

It hadn't been long since the start, yet Fang Xiu had already killed the final boss, taken control of the battlefield, and collected plenty of "coins." He felt utterly drained, sinking into a state of detached serenity as he began a simple review of the battle in his mind:

Victory had been inevitable!

Susanoo had appeared only briefly to deliver the final blow. He had barely tested it in actual combat, while the ocular technique hidden in his right eye, "Amenotokotachi," had remained unused throughout.

Still, the victory had hinged on quite a few strokes of luck.

First, Hermit Caolu had generously demonstrated his techniques, letting Fang Xiu copy his work on the spot and successfully enter Pseudo-Sage Mode under Earth Release, giving him a better chance of winning.

Second, the cornered Fusang Ghost King had stubbornly used Genjutsu in a desperate attempt to turn the tables. By sheer coincidence, Fang Xiu had found another weakness, causing the Ghost King to suffer a mental breakdown in the Tsukuyomi World and face betrayal by various spirits.

Otherwise, the creature might have unleashed a burst of strength before dying, giving him a little more trouble! All in all, Fang Xiu's impartial estimate was that he had used at least sixty percent of his strength.

The Rasengan he had learned by spending a huge number of reward points, along with the incorporation of the relevant Chakra nature, had made its debut as the Great Crimson Jade Rasengan, shattering the Ghost King's knockoff version of the Heaven and Earth Technique at once.

The makeshift Sage Body he had achieved with Hashirama Cells had sustained Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands, allowing him to face the Ghost King head-on and beat him to pieces.

The Mangekyō's terrifying ocular power had then overwhelmed his enemy on a mental level, clinching the victory.

"I used to have no idea where to start with Sage Mode. Now that I've kicked the door open, I have to study it in depth and master it completely. I need to achieve Susanoo-Clad Kurama as soon as possible."

In Fang Xiu's eyes, Senjutsu was a very high priority, especially with the Main God tightening its benefits and the team's growth period about to disappear.

"Besides, I can't seem to give up the shortcut of pouring massive resources into exchanging for Indra's power and Asura's power."

As his thoughts wandered, Fang Xiu couldn't help reflecting that having a bloodline of his own really did have its advantages. It saved him a great deal of early investment and gave him a clear path to follow and choose from, without any side effects.

Then he gathered his thoughts.

The Main God had set two conditions for returning after the main mission. Killing Fusang Ghost King came second; first, he had to survive for seven days. So... having finished the big job on the very first night, Fang Xiu needed to find something to do.

Pick off mosquitoes? Build up small gains into something significant.

Hong Kong Island wasn't very large, and with Fang Xiu's makeshift Sage Body, he had limitless energy to burn. The Chakra he had spent in the battle just now had already recovered considerably as he breathed.

"Let's go confirm something."

With Pseudo-Sage Mode still active and a rock pattern on his forehead, Fang Xiu immediately merged with the earth and vanished from every faction's sight.

That included the Shazhou Team members.

After all, he had fulfilled his responsibility as their captain, and the overpowered factor had been removed from the equation.

Did Reincarnators who never had to shoulder pressure and had everything go smoothly really exist? Fang Xiu was looking forward to seeing the official members who could unlock the Gene Lock, and he didn't want to challenge the Main God's rules and limits.

Next, he'd be busy studying ghosts—

Negative-energy entities were special conglomerations formed from Yin Release mixed with resentment and despair.

It just so happened that Sharingan evolved through Yin Release. Perhaps he could get a free boost in the Hong Kong Ghost World.

Even if it didn't work, the small kill rewards would at least offer some compensation...

Next, Fang Xiu entered a high-efficiency exploration mode, unleashing his full mental strength. He seemed every bit the bane of evil, ready to restore peace and order to Hong Kong Island.

As a result, he saw far too many familiar faces. Several times, he even ran into people who looked just like one another.

Dragon Granny, who ran a funeral goods shop and also helped people communicate with the dead.

Uncle Feng, the Magic Cop investigating the Nine Chrysanthemum Lineage, whose quarry Fang Xiu had gotten to first.

The many scenes that were both familiar and strange gave him a sense of novelty. Yet as time went by, Fang Xiu grew less and less inclined to get involved.