Ren Family Town City God

Three days later.

Ren Family Town, South Mountain.

"Ding! Under the Ten Thousandfold Amplification of your Grade 9 Mortal Spirit Root, the cultivation progress of the Mountain-Overturning Curse has reached 100%!"

"Ding! Under the Ten Thousandfold Amplification of your Grade 9 Mortal Spirit Root, the cultivation progress of the Earth-Shaking Curse has reached 100%!"

"Ding! Under the Ten Thousandfold Amplification of your Grade 9 Mortal Spirit Root, the cultivation progress of the Star-Plucking Steps has reached 100%!"

"Haa~" Hearing the system prompts, Fei Luo, dressed in black, stood atop the mountain peak and exhaled a breath of stale air.

His fingers felt slightly numb, yet his heart could not help but surge with excitement.

For the past three days, Fei Luo had practiced his incantations by the book while spending his nights training in the Star-Plucking Steps under the celestial bodies. He had not taken a single day off, dedicating all seventy-two hours to diligent, grueling practice.

Heaven rewards the diligent. Even with the system, Fei Luo understood that cultivation was like rowing a boat against the current; if one did not advance, one would inevitably retreat.

If the system could automate cultivation, wouldn't his own additional efforts make it even more effective?

Drawing from his previous experience with the Void-Breaking Sword Technique, Fei Luo had realized that this combination was the optimal path.

Swish, swish, swish!

Fei Luo formed hand seals with one hand, his speed reaching a dazzling, dizzying blur.

"Mountain-Overturning Curse!"

As he pointed a finger, a boulder weighing over a hundred pounds in front of him levitated automatically and flew a hundred meters away.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The boulder collided with several other large rocks in succession, only coming to a halt when its momentum was spent.

"My magic power is still meager, so I can only manipulate boulders. Once my power is deep and my realm is profound, moving mountains and filling seas will not be impossible," Fei Luo whispered as he watched the scene.

Whoosh~

A mountain breeze blew, sending leaves dancing through the air, and Fei Luo's gaze sharpened.

"Earth-Shaking Curse!"

Boom!

A fissure over ten meters long tore open across the mountain peak; the earth trembled, and countless clods of soil erupted into the air.

"Goodness, if this were mastered, a single thought could shift the stars and change the world across hundreds or thousands of miles, like an earthquake. If used against enemies, it would be a formidable area-of-effect skill."

Fei Luo smiled, and his figure suddenly became illusory and ghost-like.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Fei Luo moved like a phantom, his body as light as a swallow, his feet barely touching the ground. Every time he appeared, he left a lingering afterimage behind.

"If the Star-Plucking Steps are combined with the Void-Breaking Sword Technique, I will be able to advance to attack and retreat to defend—a perfect union of spear and shield."

A moment later, Fei Luo's figure solidified. The commotion had startled a small squirrel gnawing on pine nuts in a distant tree, causing it to drop its snack and flee in a panic.

"However," Fei Luo frowned, his voice filled with confusion, "now that my techniques are mastered, why am I still unable to break through to the Solid Core Realm?"

Fei Luo looked up at the scorching sun in the sky, a peculiar expression in his clear eyes.

Logically, his strength had reached the bottleneck; it was time to break through.

"Young friend."

Just then, a faint voice echoed from behind him.

"Who?" Fei Luo was startled. His magic power surged instantly, and blue light welled in his eyes as he spun around.

In broad daylight, how could someone approach him without his sensing them?

If this were a demon or a ghost, wouldn't he be at a massive disadvantage?

Upon seeing the figure, Fei Luo was filled with astonishment.

"Young friend, do not be alarmed." A kind-faced old man stood there, stroking his beard and watching Fei Luo with a smile.

He wore an ancient yellow robe embroidered with mountains and rivers, and his eyes seemed filled with the weight of history, piercing and soul-stirring.

Most importantly, in Fei Luo's perception, this old man was not human.

He felt more like a spiritual entity—a ghost—yet he was not quite a ghost, and a faint, lingering fragrance emanated from him.

"It's sandalwood." Fei Luo remained on high alert, wondering to himself what this scent signified.

"Who are you? Are you man or ghost?" Fei Luo asked, eyeing the old man in the yellow robe with vigilance.

"Excellent, excellent. Truly worthy of being a hero of my Ren Family Town. It has been hundreds of years since I have seen a talent as outstanding as you, young friend." The old man stroked his beard and laughed, looking at Fei Luo with repeated praise.

Suddenly, the old man nodded slightly at Fei Luo. "I am the City God of Ren Family Town. I hope you will forgive me for startling you."

Hearing this, Fei Luo raised an eyebrow. "City God?"

In an instant, Fei Luo recalled the dilapidated City God Temple on the east side of town, and he was struck with shock.

Looking at the old man's appearance and attire, he really did bear a seventy-percent resemblance to the statue in that temple.

The statue had been eroded by the passage of time, and in these chaotic days, the incense offerings were sparse, leaving it in a state of disrepair.

"Indeed. This old man was appointed as the City God of Ren County by Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, in the eighth year of Hongwu. However, for hundreds of years, my incense has been thin and my magic power meager. Furthermore, with the arrival of the Age of Dharma Decline, I have surely made a fool of myself before you, young friend."

The old man spoke with a smile, a smile that made one feel at ease, devoid of even a hint of malevolence.

"You..." Fei Luo looked at the old man before him, already eighty percent convinced.

The eighth year of Hongwu was indeed a reign title of the Ming Emperor.

Moreover, the position of City God only truly existed from the Ming Dynasty onward.

Throughout the dynasties, to manifest the divine right of kings and the Emperor's role as the agent of Heaven in governing the world, rulers would appoint a host of deities.

Yet, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang did not appoint great gods; he only appointed City Gods, tasking them with managing the local feng shui and protecting the local populace.

These records existed within the Maoshan classics, and they naturally surfaced in Fei Luo's mind.

But...

Why did this old man only possess the aura of the Foundation Establishment Peak Stage?

He hadn't even reached the False Core Realm?

Were City Gods really this weak?

Seeming to perceive the doubt in Fei Luo's eyes, a flash of spiritual light appeared in the old man's hand, manifesting two small stools.

The old man gestured for Fei Luo to take a seat.

"Young friend, you may not know this, but although we are Yang Spirits, we reside in the Age of Dharma Decline. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is thin, and we can only absorb incense and merit to cultivate a Merit Golden Body, but..."

The old man's expression turned bitter.

Hearing the old man's explanation, Fei Luo immediately understood the twists and turns of his plight.

During the Ming Dynasty, the world was gripped by the Little Ice Age. In the mid-to-late period, the imperial court collapsed, natural disasters were constant, and with the addition of plagues and years of war, the lives of the people were miserable beyond words.

The Qing Dynasty entered the pass and ended the chaotic times.

Yet, the lives of the people remained dire.

As time flowed on to the Republic era, the world fell into even greater chaos, with warlords carving up the land and demons rising everywhere.

Over these hundreds of years, Ren County had developed into Ren Family Town, but this City God had never received much incense.

Even his City God Temple had been caught in the crossfire of war several times; his statue had been shattered and was only repaired by the people of Ren Family Town after several decades.

Without incense, without merit, this wretched City God could only manage to round up minor ghosts.

But in this current era, the strength of ghosts and monsters seemed to have surged, and he dared not speak out despite his anger.

"So that's how it is. To think that even a City God like you was bullied by that Dong Xiaoyu." After listening to the old man's account, Fei Luo could not help but chuckle.

"Sigh," the old man sighed silently. "It is thanks to your righteousness, young hero, that you slew the Ghost King Dong Xiaoyu; otherwise..."