Chapter 571: Chivalrous Spirit

Chen Shi opened the ledger and saw that it recorded millions of wandering souls who, before their deaths, had prayed to the Empress of Earth, begging to take revenge on an immortal named Yin Fenglou, cursing him to fall into the cycle of reincarnation and never ascend.

The ledger detailed the full story. In the Spirit Altar Realm, there was a place called Fengyu Kingdom. One year, a great flood struck, and the imperial court ordered Yin Fenglou to bring disaster relief funds and the precious treasure Plow Heaven Comb to the lower reaches to aid the victims and dredge the waterways.

At that time, Yin Fenglou was already a great cultivator at the Tribulation Crossing stage. Because he lacked sufficient confidence to cross the tribulation, he had never dared to trigger the heavenly tribulation. But upon obtaining the imperial treasure Plow Heaven Comb, he conceived a scheme.

He deliberately triggered the heavenly tribulation and used the power of the Plow Heaven Comb to withstand it, finally succeeding in crossing the tribulation. However, that precious treasure, the Plow Heaven Comb, was also destroyed in the tribulation.

Knowing he had committed a grave error, Yin Fenglou did not dare to head to the disaster zone. Instead, he fled with the relief silver.

After he escaped, the downstream levees broke, causing millions of common people to be swallowed by the flood, becoming food for the fish and shrimp in the water. Countless families were torn apart, and Fengyu Kingdom's national fortune came to an end. The nation was destroyed and fell to foreign enemies.

But Yin Fenglou survived past the Ascension stage and actually achieved Dao Unification and ascended, going to the Earth Immortal Realm.

Before countless souls entered reincarnation, their intense obsessions formed this ledger, determined to make Yin Fenglou pay the price.

"Godmother, why are you giving this ledger to me?" Chen Shi asked, puzzled.

The Empress of Earth smiled. "Of course, so that you can settle this account."

Chen Shi inquired, "What are we stealing this time?"

"The life of Yin Fenglou."

The Empress of Earth said, "I am an earth deity. I cannot casually take the life of an immortal who is not under my jurisdiction. But you are different. You are also an immortal. You can eliminate him and avenge the people of Fengyu Kingdom."

Chen Shi said, "When we settled accounts before, we only stole those immortals' earthly treasures and spiritual roots. We never killed anyone."

The Empress of Earth nodded gently. "But this time, I want to ask Your Majesty to kill."

Chen Shi tucked the ledger into his bosom and said, "I accept. When I ascend to the Earth Immortal Realm, if I find Yin Fenglou, I will make a move to kill him."

The Empress of Earth looked at him with a smile and suddenly said, "Your Majesty, do you know which aspect of you I admire the most?"

Chen Shi looked at her with confusion.

The Empress of Earth smiled. "You have chivalrous spirit."

"Chivalrous spirit?"

"Indeed. Most gods and immortals do not have chivalrous spirit, including the lofty immortals. They pursue the ethereal nature of the Dao, are adept at calculating gains and losses, and manipulate human hearts to control the mortal world. They make themselves less human. Deities are even more so. Trapped by the divine path, they can only fulfill people's prayers and cannot intervene in many injustices."

The Empress of Earth said seriously, "But Your Majesty is different. When Your Majesty was young and saw the Zhao family kill people in Huangyang Village, you charged forward in a rage. No matter how strong the opponent or how great their power, you would fight to eliminate them. Because your own Divine Embryo was severed, you empathize with others who are bullied by the strong. Therefore, you were determined to eliminate the Thirteen Great Clans and remove the cancer for the world. Because the Celestial Venerable indulged the primordial insect to wreak havoc, Your Majesty also fought to destroy it. Your Majesty, your actions do not resemble an immortal. They resemble a chivalrous hero."

Chen Shi asked, "What is a chivalrous hero?"

Her Ladyship said, "One who uses force to defy prohibitions, who does not conform to conventional justice, whose words are always trusted, whose actions always bear fruit, whose promises are always sincere, who does not cherish his own body, who rushes to aid those in distress, who stands with the living and the dead alike - this is called a chivalrous hero."

Chen Shi laughed heartily and shook his head. "Godmother, I do not have chivalrous spirit. You do. Your Ladyship, as the Earth Mother, receives incense offerings from the world and from ghost gods alike. Your power is immense. Even if you ignored the prayers of common people and wandering souls, it would not harm you in the slightest. Yet Your Ladyship records their prayers, turns them into ledgers, and exhausts every effort to seek justice for them, to right their wrongs, and to make the evildoers pay the price. This is true chivalrous spirit!"

Her Ladyship burst out laughing. "Your Majesty, these are things you have done, not I. Your Majesty would rather offend True Immortals and Gold Immortals for these wandering souls, yet you do not claim the credit. Is that not chivalrous spirit?"

Chen Shi laughed. "Godmother, both of us mother and son have chivalrous spirit! Black Pot also has chivalrous spirit! Let us not argue about this."

The Empress of Earth said, "I have noticed that these past days, you seem to be struggling more and more against the radiant light of ascension. You are about to ascend, are you not?"

Chen Shi nodded with a worried expression. "These days I have been suppressing the radiant light's call to take me away, but the pull grows stronger and stronger. There are signs that it might tear me apart. I worry that if I keep resisting the radiant light, I will be ripped in two by its power. But after I ascend, the Western Ox New Continent will have no True King. I fear chaos will break out again."

The Empress of Earth said, "You are worried that new Thirteen Great Clans will emerge?"

Chen Shi's expression turned grave. "Human nature is selfish. It is inevitable. Even with the current True King's court, people like Zhuge Jian and Yu Tiancheng have fighting spirit, but in the face of power and influence, it is hard to guarantee they will not one day become corrupt."

The Empress of Earth laughed. "Even the Black Bird Celestial Court decayed. Even the earlier Celestial Emperor's Celestial Court was the same. On the Divine Continent, dynasties rise and fall. Did those gods and men not foresee that the courts and celestial courts they established would one day rot?"

Chen Shi sought her guidance. "What did they do about it?"

The Empress of Earth smiled. "If they could have done anything about it, they would not have been overthrown. Your Majesty cannot do it either. Power and wealth will always gradually converge toward a small minority. The situation you have created will also eventually decay. Even if you do not ascend, you cannot change this process."

Chen Shi murmured, "Laozi said, 'The Way of Heaven diminishes the excess to supplement the insufficient. The way of man diminishes the insufficient to augment the excess.' Therefore, the great way of the human world is that the strong grow stronger and the poor grow poorer. But we should practice both the heavenly way and the human way together. While promoting the human way in the mortal world, we must also promote the heavenly way - diminishing the excess to supplement the insufficient, diminishing the strong to supplement the weak."

He perked up and smiled. "Godmother, perhaps this is the solution."

He was filled with excitement and hurried out. "I will go find Magistrate Hu to discuss this matter and see if we can draft some regulations!"

The Empress of Earth smiled. "Hurry along. Magistrate Hu has come looking for you over a hundred times!"

The Empress of Earth watched him leave, then turned her gaze to Black Pot.

Black Pot was cultivating the Great Wilderness Ming Dao Collection among the Ten Thousand Mountains. It stood upright, practicing this technique of the Celestial Venerable to its absolute limit. Its sinewy frame was imposing, moving like lightning, wielding various Dao techniques with perfect ease, like a battle maniac.

Over these past two years and more, this big black dog had consumed immortal pills at every meal. Its fur had become jet black and glossy, with powerful bones and muscles rippling beneath the surface, displaying explosive strength. Although it was a Huo Dog, it had actually developed both immortal and demonic aura, while also possessing ghost monster abilities. It was truly extraordinarily magnificent.

"This dog is already more powerful than most Celestial Immortals!"

Her Ladyship marveled.

She had witnessed it these past days. Black Pot was even more diligent than Chen Shi. Chen Shi did not cultivate all the time and would slack off whenever possible, but Black Pot would go train whenever it had free time, using the Eight Thunder Methods to temper its body and the Great Wilderness Ming Dao Collection to hone its Dao techniques. Its progress was astonishing.

"I wonder when it will surpass that other dog?" The Empress of Earth thought to herself.

She withdrew her gaze and went to check on Wu Qi's condition.

Over these past two years and more, Wu Qi's bones had mostly recovered. Inside the furnace, on the surface of the white bones, thin membranous tissue and blood vessels were beginning to slowly grow.

"Using dew from pills to reshape his body - even a Tai Yi Golden Immortal would not enjoy such lavish treatment. When you revive, not to mention anything else, this body alone will rival that of a Tai Yi Golden Immortal."

The Empress of Earth praised repeatedly and laughed. "Wu Qi, Wu Qi, His Majesty has invested too much blood and treasure to save you. How will you repay him?"

But she also knew that Chen Shi had done all this to rescue Wu Qi, not for Wu Qi's repayment, but to repay Wu Qi for his bloody battle against the Celestial Venerable.

Wu Qi's battle against the Celestial Venerable was the act of a righteous man. Chen Shi admired his actions, and therefore he would do everything in his power to revive him.

Chen Shi returned to the mortal world and arrived at the Xinxiang Imperial Capital. Looking at the capital before him, he felt somewhat unfamiliar.

He had not returned in these past two years, and the capital had become exceptionally prosperous. Following the specifications of the Celestial Court token, the Works Department had constructed a massive gate that led to the minor heaven. This gate was built over the Dejiang River, and a continuous stream of ships was sailing in from the river and passing through the gate.

And on the other side of the gate was not the Dejiang River, but the minor heaven.

Chen Shi looked through the gate into the minor heaven and saw that many gates had already been established within it. On the other side of those gates were the provincial capitals of each province.

Through the minor heaven, merchant caravans traveled between provinces, conducting trade and exchanging goods.

The minor heaven had been re-refined and was now much larger and more stable than before. Even with the trade of all fifty provinces passing through it, there would be no crowding.

"The court has money now, it seems..."

Chen Shi arrived at the Wenyuan Pavilion and saw Hu Feifei collapsed on her desk, sleeping soundly, buried beneath a mountain of memorials before her.

Chen Shi did not wake her. He sat down and quietly began reading through the memorials.

A long time passed before Hu Feifei finally woke up. Seeing Chen Shi, she was startled and quickly greeted the True King.

Chen Shi smiled. "Sister Feifei, there is no need to be so formal between us. Please, sit down first. I was reading the memorials you have reviewed. This year, the Ministry of Rites will open the grace examination and restart the imperial examinations. The subjects tested are far more numerous than in previous years. Besides the traditional cultivation techniques, spells, and swordsmanship, there are also crafts, forging, architecture, animal husbandry, ritual refining, and other examination subjects. What is the reason for this?"

Hu Feifei said, "The imperial examinations are not for selecting martial strength, but for selecting officials to govern the human world. Therefore, divided according to the Six Ministries, we need the Military Department for combat, the Ministry of Rites for education and worship of ghosts and gods, the Ministry of Revenue for managing finances and prospering merchants, and the Works Department for forging magic treasures, firearms, and building palaces. All these are talents needed by the court and the people. Since that is the case, we must test for them."

Chen Shi nodded gently and spoke with her about the insights he had gained at the Empress of Earth's place. The two discussed until late into the night in the Wenyuan Pavilion, deliberating on many regulations, which Hu Feifei recorded one by one.

When the two walked out of the Wenyuan Pavilion, the night outside was already deep, and the moonlight was cool like water.

Chen Shi escorted her to rest. Hu Feifei looked at the bright moon in the sky and suddenly burst out laughing.

Chen Shi smiled. "What is Sister Feifei laughing at?"

Hu Feifei laughed. "I am laughing at when we first met. We slept in Master Fu's private academy, and you slept right beside me. You looked at me, and I looked at you. The moonlight outside was just perfect, yet we did nothing. I am ashamed to be a fox spirit, having failed my ancestors."

Chen Shi laughed heartily. When his laughter subsided, he said, "Sister Feifei, I am going to leave. I will ascend to the Earth Immortal Realm."

Hu Feifei's body trembled slightly. "Will you come back?"

"I will come back. I will definitely come back."

Hu Feifei watched his retreating figure. She quietly reached out her hand toward him, but just as it was about to touch his, she hesitated and withdrew it.

"Feifei, Feifei, you really have failed your ancestors." She secretly reproached herself.