Su City God's Favorability Toward You: 20

The following day, the fourth of the sixth month. Early morning, the sky just beginning to pale. "Well, well, tsk-tsk-tsk... Junior Brother, look at you..." The moment Shi Shaojian stepped into the tent and saw the two dark circles under Liu Xiu's eyes, he broke into a sly, leering grin, winking and nudging. Seeing Liu Xiu ignore him, Shi Shaojian's expression turned stern. "Junior Brother, don't you know a romance between the living and a ghost is wrong?" Liu Xiu frowned. "Senior Brother, I spent the entire night in the tent studying matters related to cultivation. What sort of nonsense is running through that head of yours?" "You... you were in the tent the whole night?" "Of course!" Liu Xiu nodded. Seeing that Shi Shaojian still doubted him, he put on his shoes, stepped out of the tent, and asked, "Has Master left for Maoshan yet?" "Master... he's already gone..." Shi Shaojian followed him outside, eyeing Liu Xiu with suspicion, though Liu Xiu didn't look like he was lying. Then Shi Shaojian glanced back at the tent, looking puzzled and feeling that something didn't add up, before leading the way toward the wooden hut. Learning that his master had already departed for Maoshan, Liu Xiu quietly changed direction. Deciding against washing up by the creek, he headed toward the wooden hut instead. He had no hidden motives—he had simply had a sudden change of mind! Yet before he could take more than a few paces, Liu Xiu was forced to halt, turning resignedly toward Miss Su, who had appeared beneath the shade of a nearby tree. "Aren't you tired of this? I told you last night: come talk about marrying me once you've been promoted to a Yama King... Oh, you're here to deliver something? You should've said so earlier! Honestly, you nearly made me misunderstand you..." "...What did you bring? Let's get one thing straight: if it's cheap junk, I won't forgive you for being so forward last night..." Liu Xiu's words prompted a loud cracking of knuckles in the distance. It didn't come from Shi Shaojian, however, but from Su City God, who was lurking a hundred meters away in the shadows, his face livid and his fists clenched tight. "You... go kill him!" Su City God ground his teeth, barking furiously at the Martial Warden Clerk beside him. The Martial Warden Clerk blinked in disbelief, pointing a finger at his own chest. "Huh? Me?!" "Yes, hurry up!" "Milord, if you want Old Niu dead, just say the word. Why beat around the bush? Don't forget, Old Niu has served three generations of your Su family..." "..." *Wait, why does a martial clerk have more brains than the civil clerk?!* Su City God froze for a moment, then gave a dark, frigid snort. "Who was the forward one last night, anyway?" "???" *Isn't asking me this a bit inappropriate?* The Martial Warden Clerk stared blankly. He hadn't been peeping, so how was he supposed to know? Just then, an older woman's voice chimed in from the side. "Well... to report to Milord, last night it truly was the young miss who took the initiative!" Granny Xi manifested, spared a glance for the Martial Warden Clerk who had already begun digging in his ears, and leaned in close to Su City God's ear with an awkward look, whispering softly. In her two-hundred-odd years of existence, from living human to wandering spirit, she had seen her fair share of heartbreakers like Chen Shimei. But a man who outdid Chen Shimei himself like Liu Xiu was a first for her. Truth be told, when she had first peeped the day before, she thought her young mistress had gone utterly blind. But then she considered: if she herself had met Liu Xiu two centuries earlier... Well, she figured she would have gone blind too. It couldn't be helped—love made fools of everyone! Granted, Liu Xiu was more of a rogue than Chen Shimei ever was, but when had love ever cared about lasting forever? It was all about the fleeting passion of the moment! Besides, what if Liu Xiu was merely pretending to be a heartbreaker? Granny Xi suspected that was precisely what her young mistress believed. Su City God's weathered face darkened further. He waved a hand to dismiss Granny Xi, then turned his gaze back to the Martial Warden Clerk, only to see the man hissing as he dug into his bleeding ear canals. "Hiss... bad news, terrible news! How did Old Niu suddenly go deaf? It's over, completely over, Old Niu can't hear a single thing..." "Get lost!" *You're a ghost, for heaven's sake!* *Where on earth are you getting blood from?!* Exasperated, Su City God kicked the feigning clerk flying, then waved over the Civil Warden Clerk. Before he could speak, the civil clerk fumed indignantly: "Milord, that brat dares treat the young miss like this! Should I go teach him a lesson to vent your anger?" "..." *Starting tomorrow, you two are swapping jobs!* *And another thing: he's my prospective son-in-law!* *Does a prospective son-in-law of Su City God look like someone you have the right to beat?* Su City God fell silent for a breath, glaring at the witless civil clerk before him. Swallowing his fury, he looked toward his daughter in the distance, who was treating Liu Xiu better than she had ever treated her own father. Taking a deep breath, he asked the civil clerk, "How are the arrangements for her return to life coming along?" Originally, he had planned for his daughter to inherit his post as City God, fulfilling his dream of a two-generation dynasty in the office. Now, however, it seemed she had to return to the mortal realm and bear a few children; otherwise, what if that little scoundrel refused to take responsibility and ran off? As for telling the outside world that Liu Xiu had defiled his daughter and refused to acknowledge it—what a joke! Who would ever believe such a claim? Besides, he wanted to marry off his daughter, not marry her to an enemy! His current plan was to pull some strings to restore her to life, let her take over the City God post afterward, and finally have her work hard to pop out eight or ten children surnamed Liu. He refused to believe he couldn't keep that little beast tied down that way! "Well... that lord said that without her original body, it's hard to manage. In my humble opinion, why not just kill the brat and let him come down to keep the young miss company?" "We... don't have a personal grudge, do we?" "Huh?" "'Huh' your mother! Both of you, go swap official robes right now! You wear his, he wears yours! Old Niu, you're the Civil Warden Clerk from now on! You go down and speak with that lord in his place!" Su City God spoke to the former Martial Warden Clerk, now the Civil Warden Clerk. The newly minted civil clerk beamed. "Rest assured, Milord! This humble servant will handle everything splendidly..." "Mm. Off with you!" Su City God gave a slight nod with a smile, but his expression instantly turned stormy as he looked toward the little pest who was standing beneath an umbrella, talking ill of him to his daughter. *Just you wait, you little brat!* *You won't be living carefree for long!* Gritting his teeth, Su City God vanished into thin air. A hundred meters away, Liu Xiu was naturally aware that the old fellow had been spying on them, but he couldn't be bothered to care. Taking the items from Miss Su, he spoke: "All right, you should hurry back. Sigh, it's not that I'm tired of you. You know how deeply I love you, but you also know that my master and his peers always believe in killing a mistake rather than letting one slip. You saved my life, that's true, but the living and the dead tread different paths. Ah, you've misunderstood me again! I didn't mean it like that. What I'm saying is, even if you don't look out for me, you have to look out for yourself..." "...I'm not afraid of gossip, of people saying I fell for a female ghost. But what about you? If other cultivators see us together, what will they think? They'll surely assume you were the vixen seducing me—even if that happens to be the truth... Cough, cough. Even if they only scold you, my heart will ache! If they hit you, if they hurt you, if you were to die by some misfortune, how could I go on living..." Liu Xiu didn't finish, because Miss Su was already weeping profusely, covering his mouth with her hand. After comforting Miss Su a bit more, Liu Xiu finally watched her depart. In his mind, he issued a command to his narration cheat: *"Check Su City God's favorability!"* *[Ding! Su City God's favorability toward you: 20.]* *Huh? It's not negative?!* Surprised, Liu Xiu silently commanded it to check Miss Su's favorability toward him. The narration cheat's voice rang out once more: *[Ding! Miss Su's favorability toward you: 100.]* "...Mm, very good. Excellent taste!" Liu Xiu blinked, rather pleased with himself. Looking toward Madam Liu Su, who was glancing back every three steps beneath the shade of the trees, he smiled and waved. The narration cheat's voice chimed again: *[Ding! Madam Liu Su's favorability toward you: 100.]* Ignoring how the narration cheat had casually altered her form of address, Liu Xiu watched Miss Su disappear. Rubbing his chin, he felt the favorability system was somewhat inaccurate. By all logic, her favorability should have overflowed the maximum limit! *It seems I still need to keep refining the database of this Immortal Dao favorability system...* Liu Xiu pondered. The method of refinement was simple enough: find a crowded place, use the technique from the Seven Emotions Undisturbed Emptiness and Stillness True Incantation for sensing others' seven emotions and six desires, and construct a database with sufficient data points. Although he didn't know any arts for gathering space-time energy, he knew how to collect the qi signatures of enemies. Combining the two would directly establish the favorability system's database, thereby improving its accuracy. Lost in thought, Liu Xiu walked toward the wooden hut to wash up. Once finished, he headed to the morgue, brought out his ritual basin, and used Thousand-Li Voice Transmission to contact Perfected Tianning remotely. It couldn't be helped: his master was far too honest. An honest man just like himself! What if Daoist Tianhei at the Main Altar took his *Celestial Worthy Expounds the Primordial Magnetism Jade Pivot Precious Scripture* and gave no rewards in return? Before long, as Liu Xiu cast the Thousand-Li Voice Transmission through the ritual basin, a water screen rose into the air, its shimmering light and shadow revealing an elegant silhouette. In the image, Perfected Tianning was sitting cross-legged in a room backed by a black-and-white Taiji diagram. "Eh? Grandmaster, how did you become younger?" "Heh-heh..." *Where are your eyes looking?!* Perfected Tianning gave a cold chuckle, yet the corners of her mouth curved slightly upward. Seeing how sweet his mouth was, she decided not to hold his wandering gaze against him. As always, his attitude left her thoroughly satisfied. It made her feel young and charming once more! Not like a certain scoundrel—blind, deaf, and entirely devoid of taste, a heartless wretch. "Grandmaster, are you at the Main Altar?" "Hmm? You have a favor to ask of me? Kneel down and let Grandmaster see first..." Perfected Tianning stretched languidly, rising with a slight tremble. Before she had even stood up completely, she fell silent at the sight of Liu Xiu genuinely preparing to drop to his knees. Waving her hand across the distance to lift him, she asked, "Speak. What favor do you need...?" "It's like this..." Liu Xiu began recounting the matter of *The Celestial Worthy Expounds the Primordial Magnetism Jade Pivot Precious Scripture*, while watching how Perfected Tianning offered incense and paid respects to the Patriarch. "So the Celestial Worthy imparted the doctrine in a dream. No wonder this new thunder art possesses such might. But you're just handing it over to the sect like that?" Perfected Tianning's delicate brows arched. Looking at Liu Xiu with curiosity, she added, "Strange. Why does my intuition suddenly tell me that you're the one whom the Celestial Worthy actually imparted the art to?" "Yes, it was me!" Liu Xiu admitted it without hesitation. Perfected Tianning paused, then let out a scoffing laugh. She had no hidden meaning—she simply didn't believe him. "How difficult is this technique to cultivate?" Thinking of her unruly disciple, Perfected Tianning inquired curiously. She didn't voice any worries about teaching the disciple only to starve the master, because she knew Shi Jian's character well. "My master said that cultivating this art not only requires fluency in barbarian English, but also demands a talent for thunder arts far beyond that of ordinary mortals!" Liu Xiu said. He felt Shi Jian had never feared anyone deciphering the great divine ability of primordial magnetism from the scripture. Moreover, he believed that if the recipient of the divine transmission hadn't been himself, Shi Jian would have likely circulated the art long ago. "..." Perfected Tianning reflexively tried to think of any cultivator who, in Shi Jian's eyes, could be described as possessing a talent for thunder arts far beyond ordinary mortals. Fine then. Her unruly disciple certainly couldn't learn it! And neither could she! After a moment's consideration, Perfected Tianning agreed to go check on the matter. After all, her Senior Brother Tianming's misdeeds were far too numerous to count. That was a creature who even cheated his own disciples until both men and ghosts abhorred him, to say nothing of the fact that Shi Jian was Eldest Senior Brother's disciple. Recalling past entanglements between Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother, Perfected Tianning frowned faintly, then nodded. "I agree!" "Thank you, Grandmaster!" Liu Xiu offered his heartfelt gratitude. Just as he was thinking this grandmaster was quite reliable after all, she abruptly terminated the Thousand-Li Voice Transmission. The water screen collapsed, but instead of settling back into the ritual basin, the enchanted water splashed straight toward him. Liu Xiu dodged quickly, but the water curved to follow him. Unable to avoid it, Liu Xiu wiped his face expressionlessly with a towel, muttering internally, *Just you wait. Sooner or later, I'll splash you back!* After wiping the damp spots from his Daoist robe, Liu Xiu was about to put away the ritual basin when the enchanted water inside rose once again. *Eh? Why is there an extra person?* Liu Xiu felt a third presence in addition to Bai Min'er and Caiyi. Seeing another woman appearing in the midair water screen, he feigned bewilderment. "Oh? Who might this pretty lady be?" "Hello there! My name is A-Yan..." Far away at the Weibo Sect, A-Yan's eyes lit up upon seeing that Liu Xiu didn't look like a ghost in the slightest. She then shot a contemptuous glare at Eldest Senior Sister Bai Min'er and Junior Sister Caiyi. She had known all along that her two sect sisters were lying to her! What did they mean, 'he looks like a ghost'? This was clearly a very handsome man! Reflecting on it, she understood: those two wenches simply wanted to keep him all to themselves! Fortunately, she was clever enough not to fall for their lies. *Hmph, as if you two could fool me!* A-Yan gave Bai Min'er and Caiyi a sidelong glance, then enthusiastically struck up a conversation with Liu Xiu. Bai Min'er and Caiyi stared in surprise at Liu Xiu, who looked nothing like a ghost, and voiced their questions. "Brother Xiu, did you finish cultivating your immortal aspect?" "Ah-Xiu, why do you look human now?" One after another came the two questions. From the wording alone, Liu Xiu knew the latter came from the ever-innocent Caiyi. However, as everyone knew, Liu Xiu was a magnanimous man who never held grudges. He simply smiled and said, "Caiyi, come a little closer..." *Three Immortal Aspects—open!* In an instant, green light flared in Liu Xiu's eyes, his pupils turned square, and his complexion shifted to a deathly, ghastly pale green. Caiyi screamed and stumbled backward in terror. Only then did he turn to Bai Min'er with a smile. "Min'er guessed right. My immortal aspect is indeed complete!" "..." × 3 *You're awful!* *...But so handsome!* Aside from the frightened Caiyi, who bit her lip and glared at Liu Xiu, both Bai Min'er and A-Yan had the exact same thought. As Lu Xun once said, good looks could solve many problems, and being an eloquent speaker could solve many problems too. Blessed with both, Liu Xiu dismissed the supernatural traits of his immortal aspect and began chatting with the three women. There was no awkward searching for topics, only an endless stream of conversation and the women's joyful laughter. As Liu Xiu gave an impassioned account of his battle against the imperial-clan jiangshi, the women's moods rose and fell with his tale. *So small...* Looking at their heaving chests, Liu Xiu muttered internally, his thoughts reflexively drifting to Tian... that female ghost, Madam Liu, before he resumed speaking. Yet when the three women heard how the female ghost, Miss Su, had braved the sun to save Liu Xiu, they all let out a collective, knowing sigh. "How wonderful..." "Indeed, indeed..." "Miss Su must be extraordinarily beautiful, then?" "My heart is devoted purely to the Dao!" Liu Xiu spoke the honest truth. Hearing this, Bai Min'er's eyes brightened, and she mentally tagged Miss Su as not pretty before changing the subject. "You should be breaking through soon, shouldn't you?" "Yes, I can break through today..." Liu Xiu answered. His spiritual power had reached a hundred strands, meaning he could formally step into the realm of Refining Essence into Qi. However, he felt he was still missing something. He planned to divine it in a moment, supply what was lacking, and only then make his breakthrough. "Eh? How did you finish your Hundred-Day Foundation Building in just forty-nine days? Not bad, not bad at all! You're much better than my Eldest Senior Sister and Second Senior Sister..." Caiyi counted on her fingers as she spoke, only to let out a miserable yelp of pain when the other two pinched her. To Liu Xiu's great disappointment, a catfight failed to break out. He chatted with the three women for a while longer before ending the call. "So, what exactly am I missing?" Liu Xiu stroked his chin with his right hand, pondering. Before his left hand could perform a divination via the Lesser Liuren Palm-Divination Method, the voice of the narration cheat rang out: *[Jie-jie-jie! You suddenly realize that what you lack is not heavenly treasures, but an indestructible foundation for the Great Dao! Benevolence surges from the depths of your heart, and the light of compassion gleams in your eyes. On the spot, you formulate a grand plan to deliver all living beings: you resolve to lay down the Myriad Spirits Blood Corpse Great Formation, slaughtering the one hundred and eight surrounding towns and using the Myriad Spirits Blood Corpse Great Art to extract the essence, blood, and souls of myriad living creatures...]* *[...Fusing them into one, you will forge the world's most foul and turbid Blood Origin Crimson Qi. With this qi, you can establish a supreme Dao foundation! Once your supreme Dao foundation is set, blood-path divine abilities will manifest immediately. From then on, you may conquer the great Daoist sects under heaven at will, plunder every stroke of fortune and opportunity in the world, crush all who stand in your way, and ultimately ascend to the pinnacle of myriad Daos, reigning supreme over the cultivation realms of all the heavens!]* "Blood Origin Crimson Qi? Why haven't I heard of that before?" Ignoring most of the dramatic phrasing, Liu Xiu focused on the words 'Blood Origin Crimson Qi' and sank his consciousness into his mind with a quiet hum of curiosity. There, after more than two days of deduction, the Heaven-Burial Earth-Destruction Great Demonic Art had finally completed its transformation, gradually turning into a demonic corpse-driving art. And this corpse-driving art happened to be called none other than the Myriad Spirits Blood Corpse Great Art! "Oh, another future deduction. But a corpse-driving art can refine people too... Right, fine, another descent into the demonic path..." Liu Xiu browsed through it. Just as he was about to have the demonic art continue deducing other techniques, the demonic art vanished with a crisp snap. "I haven't even fallen into the demonic path yet..." Liu Xiu muttered under his breath, feeling that the demonic art was rather unreliable. As he skimmed the Myriad Spirits Blood Corpse Great Art derived from the Heaven-Burial Earth-Destruction Great Demonic Art, he used the Lesser Liuren Palm-Divination Method to calculate what he was truly lacking. While breaking through to Refining Essence into Qi had no real bottlenecks, Liu Xiu felt it would be better to address what was missing before taking that step. As for the reason—call it intuition! "Hmm? Another letter from home... Wait, that's not right. All my uncles' households combined only add up to a few dozen people, nowhere near the minimum requirement for the Myriad Spirits Blood Corpse Great Art... Oh, I see..." Liu Xiu chuckled as he looked at the result of his divination. Stepping out of the morgue, he caught the attention of Jiale, who was about to call Master Yixiu for breakfast. "Junior Brother, why do you seem so happy?" Jiale asked, puzzled. "I'm grieving. My intuition just warned me that my second uncle is destined to spit blood until he suffers a stroke, spending the rest of his life paralyzed!" "???" *Are you sure you're grieving?!* *You're grinning from ear to ear! And that's your second uncle!* Jiale stared with wide eyes at Liu Xiu's undisguised smile, feeling an inexplicable chill. "I... I'll go call the Master to eat!" "Mm." Liu Xiu strolled toward the wooden hut's parlor with a smile, ready to eat breakfast and await the arrival of the news that would make him 'heartbroken.'