Heaven and Earth Are Impartial, Treating All Things as Straw Dogs

Fang Zelin pondered for a while as he looked at the white elk before him.

The others beside him were also watching the situation nervously.

Although they did not quite understand what this man and demon were talking about, they felt as though they had heard something extraordinary.

Humans were the foremost spirits of all things? They had never heard anything like that before!

After a long while, under everyone's gazes, Fang Zelin sighed and said,

"Heaven and earth are impartial, treating all things as straw dogs."

Heaven and earth were impartial, treating all things as straw dogs?

The elk froze at his words.

"Sir, do you mean that heaven and earth regard us merely as lifeless offerings, and have never shown any benevolence?"

The elk asked its question, while the players beside them felt goosebumps rise all over their bodies.

Heaven and earth were impartial, treating all things as straw dogs. What sort of realm would one have to reach to utter such words?

"Not so."

Seeing that the elk had understood it this way, Fang Zelin shook his head.

Why had the water ghost misunderstood his words before, and now this elk was doing the same?

"Please enlighten me, sir!"

The elk shivered at his words. This Dao teaching was far too difficult to comprehend; only Fang Zelin before it could teach it!

At this thought, the elk adopted an exceedingly humble demeanor, even bending its forelegs toward the ground in a gesture of kneeling before Fang Zelin.

Something stirred in its heart, and it felt that today it might hear a supreme Dao teaching.

"Heaven and earth regard all things equally, treating none especially well and none especially poorly, allowing everything to develop naturally. All things develop according to their own laws. All things wither and flourish, heaven and earth turn, and no one can disrupt this."

"This is the Dao's ultimate choice: non-action, also known as Dao Emulates Own Inherent Spontaneity."

Whatever else might be said, Fang Zelin still remembered parts of the Dao De Jing very clearly.

Explaining their meaning now came easily to him.

The elk froze upon hearing this. So that was it. Heaven was not targeting the Demon Race; heaven treated everyone equally!

And Fang Zelin's final words, Dao Emulates Own Inherent Spontaneity, instantly stirred something akin to an indescribable realization in its heart.

Seeing that the deer demon remained silent, Fang Zelin did not dare make any other move, feeling somewhat apprehensive.

These were words from the Dao De Jing. Surely they could hoodwink this fellow at least a little?

After a long time, the elk finally came to its senses. Having heard two passages of Dao scripture from Fang Zelin, it felt they surpassed its own centuries and millennia of arduous cultivation!

Its heart filled with joy, the elk wanted to seek more Dao teachings.

But when it raised its head and saw Fang Zelin looking at it, it immediately came to its senses.

Being able to obtain these Dao teachings was surely already its greatest fortuitous opportunity. If it grew insatiably greedy now, it might provoke the other party's disgust.

At this thought, the elk immediately regained its clarity, feeling that Fang Zelin's gaze upon it was filled with profound meaning.

"Thank you for teaching me, sir. Please wait a moment. This humble demon will be right back!"

With that, the elk turned and raced away, giving Fang Zelin no time to react, as though afraid he would refuse.

Fang Zelin could not help opening his mouth at the sight. He only wanted to leave this place now, yet this fellow insisted that he wait here.

The elk did not keep Fang Zelin waiting long. Mere moments later, it came galloping out of the valley on all fours.

And now, the elk held something in its mouth.

Before Fang Zelin could take a closer look, the elk had already reached him.

The elk was very tall, reaching roughly past Fang Zelin's chest. It came up to him and offered him what it held in its mouth.

Fang Zelin looked closely and saw several seedlings.

Fang Zelin instinctively reached out to take them. Seeing this, the elk breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately said, "Sir, these are several stalks of spirit rice from the valley."

"Having received your guidance today, sir, this humble demon has nothing else to its name. I can only offer these stalks of spirit rice as a small token of gratitude. Please do not take offense, sir."

With that, it knelt toward Fang Zelin again before turning and hurrying away.

It had originally stayed here to guard these stalks of spirit rice.

Now that it had given these stalks of spirit rice to Fang Zelin, there was no reason to remain here.

Besides, people already knew of its existence. It would not be safe to stay here any longer, so it could only move somewhere else.

Fang Zelin watched the elk disappear into the distance and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With that, today's business could be considered settled.

And this spirit rice...

Fang Zelin lowered his head to look at the spirit rice in his hands, a gleam of pleasant surprise appearing in his eyes.

First there had been Zhang Weichu, who had given him a book on Qi Refining after being hoodwinked a little.

Now there was this deer demon, which had given him these stalks of spirit rice after he hoodwinked it a little. This really was a good thing.

Didn't that mean I could become a charlatan from now on, going around hoodwinking people for benefits?

Fang Zelin considered it, then hurriedly shook his head.

Better not. If anything went wrong, it would be no laughing matter.

Now I have a cultivation method and spirit rice. That's already enough. I mustn't be greedy.

Cultivating immortality comes first now.

Having settled on that, Fang Zelin did not dare linger here either. It would be bad if the deer demon came back looking for him.

He spoke to the others beside him, then hurried down the mountain with them.

Upon reaching Anzi County, Fang Zelin had no intention of returning to the inn. Instead, he returned the treasured sword directly to Senior Brother Pang.

Having just obtained spirit rice, he planned to find somewhere to plant it. After all, he did not know how long these seedlings could survive without water.

There was no need to return to the inn either. Fang Zelin had few taels of silver left to begin with, so he carried all his possessions on him.

After bidding farewell to the three senior brothers, Fang Zelin bought a few things and walked along the Yongding River for a while, soon returning to the place where he had previously left the river.

Looking at the isolated mountain on the opposite bank, Fang Zelin glanced around and found a piece of wood. He tossed it onto the water, then stepped onto it.

Circulating his Qi Force, Fang Zelin returned to the foot of the isolated mountain with ease this time.

Fang Zelin truly could not think of anywhere else. After all, he had only recently entered this world.

He could not use the fertile fields elsewhere; they belonged to people.

After thinking it over, this place was the best. It was surrounded by water on all sides, and he had also seen spring water in the mountain earlier.

Fang Zelin felt that planting the seedlings here would be somewhat safer.

Surrounded by water on all sides, with the river flowing rather swiftly here, it should be impossible for ordinary people to reach this place.

Revisiting familiar ground, Fang Zelin looked at Yingping Peak before him, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.

Then he got to work.

He had to plant the seedlings first. Taking the hoe he had bought, Fang Zelin carefully began breaking ground.

He remembered how he had laughed at those players for farming even after entering the game. He had never expected retribution to come upon him so quickly.

He did not know how the other players felt when farming, but Fang Zelin was exceedingly excited as he worked now.

He did not have much spirit rice. Fang Zelin counted carefully and found there were a little over ten seedlings.

After finishing reclaiming the plot, Fang Zelin immediately planted them in the field one by one.

Fortunately, he had practiced martial arts for a while and gained a little strength. Otherwise, even reclaiming this small patch of land would have left him utterly exhausted.

After finishing all this, Fang Zelin lowered his head to look. He wanted to take a good look at how this spirit rice differed from other seedlings.