Chapter 244
Chapter 244
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 244
Chapter Title: Martial Saint
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I don't need to call myself an old woman anymore?
Granny Sha froze, an immense joy surging into her heart. For a moment, it made her nasal passages sour, tears uncontrollably welling up in her eyes.
She had just said she still had twenty-four years of lifespan left and didn't care about living one or two more years. But what if it was five hundred more years?
What if she could return to her youthful self?
Old woman, granny—these terms that once suited her perfectly were no longer applicable!
At this moment, she was in her sixties, but compared to her remaining five hundred-plus years of life, she was still in her youth!
Void Returning Realm, Great Vehicle Realm—realms that had once seemed unattainable—now felt not so distant. Even if it took ten years to reach Great Vehicle, she could spend a century breaking through. There was no need to rush!
She had always felt old, disinterested in everything, thinking elders should act their age.
But now she suddenly realized she wasn't old at all—she still had so much to do!
Right, she could even find a young companion to make that old fart Xiang Yunfei die of jealousy!
She paced excitedly back and forth. The clothes she wore in her youth—she could dig them out and wear them again. There was no need to dress so dowdily.
And from now on, when she performed shamanic rites, shaking the King Wen drum, who would dare call her a shaman hag or spirit mother?
She should be called a divine maiden!
She rushed into the house in high spirits, rummaging through boxes and cabinets until she finally found her old youthful clothes. Though they carried a faint musty smell, she eagerly put them on.
With a leap, she jumped into the courtyard and called out, "Little Ten, does granny look good? Right, no more calling me granny. Auntie... no, not auntie. Maybe I can even hook up with some old man... Call me sis!"
Granny Sha looked dead serious as she grabbed Chen Shi by the collar and lifted him up.
"From now on, in front of others—especially young men—remember to call me Sister Sha. Got it?"
Chen Shi nodded repeatedly.
Granny Sha set him down, still caught in her excitement, hard to calm for the moment.
Chen Shi observed her closely. Sure enough, Granny Sha in her youth was a great beauty—tall and slender, with fine poise, though her clothes were a bit dated.
"See, no matter how beautiful a woman is, she turns ugly when old."
He thought to himself, "So no need to pick a pretty wife.
Once Granny Sha had calmed down, he plucked another ginseng fruit and said, "Granny, take one more."
Granny Sha swallowed it as instructed. Chen Shi asked with concern, "Has your lifespan increased further?"
Granny Sha replied,
"My lifespan has increased, but not by much.
My total lifespan limit is now five hundred forty-eight years."
Chen Shi pondered and said, "That means the same spirit herb has a limit for extending life. Once you hit that limit, eating more won't add any lifespan."
Granny Sha smiled and said, "Indeed, that's the case.
I've heard that the ancestors of great clans extend their lives by consuming all sorts of spirit pills and elixirs—they never stick to one kind, probably for this reason.
Little Ten, how did you make the ginseng fruit extend my lifespan?"
Chen Shi recounted Li Tianqing's discovery and said, "Tianqing said it's likely because the spirit medicine absorbed the sunlight of the ancestral land that it gained the life-extending effect.
So I planted the ginseng outside my little temple, watering it with righteous qi of heaven and earth, and the new fruits it bore have this life-extending power."
Granny Sha eyed the little temple behind his head and saw indeed over a dozen ginseng plants outside it.
But Chen Shi's temple was small, and the land outside even smaller—it probably couldn't grow
many spirit herbs.
"Little Ten, don't spread word about your little temple's spirit herbs extending life."
Granny Sha thought for a moment and said, "Your temple is small, but its value is immense. If word gets out, you won't keep it.
Even if a Great Vehicle Realm expert comes to seize it, Qingyang and I couldn't defend it.
Moreover, places with spirit herbs are often shrines of Huaxia deities.
Few such shrines have spirit herbs left. If this news spreads, the already scarce shrines might be destroyed entirely.
And these shrines, if anomalies appear, will be demolished by the outer-heaven true gods. Best not to invite unnecessary trouble."
Chen Shi nodded lightly.
He had no intention of spreading it anyway. The little temple's output of life-extending spirit herbs was pitifully low, and it would bring him immense danger.
"Little Ten, have you taken any yourself?"
Granny Sha smiled and said, "You should take some too—it'll extend your life!
Chen Shi shook his head and said, "I don't need to. My life is long enough."
Granny Sha laughed and said, "Longer than mine?"
Chen Shi had a clear view of his own lifespan and said, "I still have thirteen hundred years left."
Granny Sha fell silent for a long while before asking, "How did you cultivate that?"
Chen Shi repeated his and Li Tianqing's discovery. Granny Sha frowned deeply upon hearing it required crippling one's cultivation and restarting in an ancient Huaxia temple.
Li Tianqing had shattered his golden core and restarted to verify the theory, risking his life with immense resolve.
But Granny Sha was already at Refining God Realm, a top figure of the era. Crippling her cultivation to restart would be even more dangerous—she might perish in the process.
The higher one's cultivation, the greater the risk of crippling it.
"Even with five hundred extra years, if I can't reach Great Vehicle in that time, a thousand years of life won't get me there either."
She saw it clearly and smiled, "Five hundred or a thousand years—makes no difference. So no messing around.
I'm heading to the county seat to buy some new clothes."
Chen Shi needed to go to the county seat too, so they went together.
After reverting to youth, Granny Sha refused to ride in a carriage—she insisted on walking to let passersby see her graceful figure.
"Granny's temperament changed completely after youthening."
She used to hate walking.
Chen Shi thought to himself.
"Granny, did Uncle Qingyang and Uncle Hu have any effect from the ginseng fruit?"
Granny Sha shook her head and said,
"Qingyang won't work—he's already dead, his lifespan long erased. The ginseng fruit is useless on him.
Old Hu might. Before Old Hu's end, your grandpa built him a Ghost God Domain. I don't know if he died.
If he did, the ginseng fruit won't work either."
Chen Shi's face fell. If neither Qingyang nor the burly Qiang worked, then the ginseng fruit wouldn't work on Grandpa either.
"Your grandpa might extend his life."
Granny Sha said, "He faked death to escape, his soul never leaving his body.
Later, due to the moon's evil and demonic nature risking his demonization, he hid in the underworld.
His body is a corpse-dissolved immortal, descending to the underworld bodily. Hard to say it won't work—the ginseng fruit should be effective on him."
Chen Shi's eyes lit up, and he laughed,
"Where's Grandpa's Yuan Chen Oath? I'll send it to him!"
Granny Sha hurriedly said,
"Calm down! Your grandpa barely saved you from the underworld, and now you'd rush there yourself! Your strength is far too low—don't go stirring trouble in the underworld."
Chen Shi thought it over—Granny Sha was right, so he dropped the idea.
Seeing him no longer mention it, Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "If Little Ten went to the underworld and saw his grandpa standing on the cyan ghost hand, with the other end piercing his chest, who knows what would happen?"
She imagined the scene, her head aching, and simply stopped thinking about it.
They arrived at Xinduo County seat. Granny Sha went to buy new clothes, while Chen Shi headed to Juxian Tower. Upon hearing he was there, Shao Jing rushed to meet him, laughing, "It's been ages since we last met!
Mission accomplished—the Soul Revival Pills you consigned last time sold out."
He produced a small wooden box of banknotes and placed it on the table, saying, "Here's the remaining one hundred thousand taels of silver."
Chen Shi sought advice, saying,
"Brother Shao, I haven't spent the money from last time—still have a hundred thousand taels on me.
I'm from a poor family; with so much money, I'm afraid it'll corrupt me. Please advise, Brother Shao—how should I manage this fortune?"
Shao Jing laughed and said,
"Cultivators' practice devours silver endlessly. Two hundred thousand taels is a lot, but refining golden pills costs money, nascent souls cost money, soul transformation costs money! God descent rituals and true god sacrifices need heaps of cash! Void refining, body integration, severing three corpses—which doesn't cost money? These two hundred thousand taels will only get you to body integration before they're gone.
Severing three corpses costs even more—you'll find it too little then."
Chen Shi was unaware of this and said, "I've formed my nascent soul without spending a dime—in fact, I've earned plenty."
Shao Jing asked puzzledly,
"Before golden core, didn't you buy essence-nourishing and foundation-solidifying spirit pills? Before nascent soul, no major medicines? Just those two items cost thousands of taels.
Plus spirit beast meat for daily refinement—not much, but adds up monthly."
Chen Shi shook his head and said, "I never took those! Purely natural foundation, and I formed golden core and nascent soul."
"That's your talent being too high."
Great clans consume thousands of taels daily on essence pills, foundation pills, major medicines, spirit pills! Spirit beast meat by the cartload.
Shao Jing said, "If you don't know what to do with these two hundred thousand taels, buy good farmland and hire tenant farmers to work it.
The harvest's yield will match the interest from two hundred thousand taels, enough for your daily cultivation expenses.
Need cash? Sell the fields—prices fluctuate little."
Chen Shi looked around and said, "Did Brother Shao found Juxian Tower single-handedly?"
Shao Jing shook his head with a smile, saying,
"My father built it.
Father spent thirty years establishing a foothold in Xinduo Province."
Chen Shi took out a small wooden case, extracted another hundred thousand taels in banknotes,
and pushed it over with the earlier money box.
Shao Jing looked at him puzzled, quite baffled.
Chen Shi smiled and said, "To be honest, Brother Shao, I've got more people under me now—daily expenses need funding, and I don't know business, so I came to you.
Shao Jing glanced at the banknotes and said, "So you want me to manage this silver for you?"
Chen Shi nodded lightly and said, "Also Luban Sect and Red Mountain Hall Talisman Society—they get yearly silver inflows too, needing management."
Shao Jing had heard of Luban Sect and Red Mountain Hall Talisman Society and was moved, saying, "Who'd have thought those two sects are Little Brother's ventures! I do have a few accountants under me for managing silver.
Chen Shi smiled faintly, produced a homemade Heavenly Court token, and pushed it over, saying,
"Our organization is quite loose but also very secretive—we don't want outsiders knowing.
We're short an accountant right now. Hope Brother Shao can be our accountant.
Shao Jing examined the peculiar token, toying with it in hand, and asked, "May I ask what this organization is called?"
"Heavenly Court."
Shao Jing's hand trembled, the token dropping onto the table.
Chen Shi smiled at him silently.
Shao Jing shakily picked up the token, fumbling several times.
Heavenly Court!
What a grandiose name—clearly meant for rebellion!
Rebellion against the outer-heaven true gods, no less!
Chen Shi said, "Our Heavenly Court is very laid-back—only a dozen-plus members now, not rebelling.
No pressure if you decline—I'm no murderer."
Shao Jing shuddered, recalling all the rumors about Chen Shi, and the successive county magistrates and governors martyred in Xinduo.
Now Chen Shi in Xinduo was practically an earth emperor.
Even the Xinduo governor treated him with utmost respect.
Gongzhou, Yudu—news of Chen Shi everywhere. Ruthless? Brutal beyond measure!
Just days ago, merchant caravans from the capital reported Chen Shi killed over a thousand cultivators there, including droves of soul transformation experts.
Caravans said the old demon was likely refining a Myriad Souls Banner.
"I... I join!"
Shao Jing gritted his teeth.
Chen Shi was delighted and laughed, "From now on, we're family! Your code name is Accountant! Besides you, we have Celestial Artisan Jade Rabbit, Clerk, and such code names."
Shao Jing steadied himself and asked, "Yours is?"
"True King."
Shao Jing paled, thinking, "As expected, rebellion it is!"
Chen Shi briefly outlined Heavenly Court's structure and members' code names. The accountant's job was simple—manage funds. Heavenly Court members could draw funds from him for treasure refining, campaigns, temple-building, etc.
Chen Shi left Juxian Tower just as Granny Sha approached with her purchases. She looked no older than her early twenties—tall and shapely, lightly powdered, her hair in a loose falling ponytail to one side, jet-black strands adorned with a gold hairpin, the ponytail veiled in pearl and jade floral mesh, flanked by emerald tassels inset with rubies.
Her outfit was elegantly simple: a white stand-collar blouse, overlaid with a light veil of pale grass-green silver-thread fringe, beneath which a red floor-length skirt peeked out, her shoe tips just visible. As she walked, it was like gliding on red clouds.
"Granny looks stunning!"
Chen Shi admired inwardly, "The paper effigy for Grandpa should be like this."
The two returned to the village, Granny Sha still refusing the carriage, floating along the entire way.
Nearing Gangzi Village, another paper crane flapped in, landing on Chen Shi's arm.
Chen Shi unfolded the letter. It was from Li Tianqing—elegant wording, but urgent tone.
The letter said the ancient temple he occupied seemed to have a deity awakening, but incense wouldn't gather, unable to form a divine image.
Moreover, evils haunted the temple—flashes of blades and swords, terribly fearsome.
It was tolerable at first, but lately, bloodstains and blade marks often appeared on the walls, inching closer to Li Tianqing's neck—most perilous.
Li Tianqing worried for his life and feared the temple's hauntings would hinder divine image formation, asking if Chen Shi could come before year's end.
"This temple's plaque found by Qing: Wealth God Temple, deity therein Guan Sheng Dijun.
Come swiftly; Qing awaits eagerly."
Chen Shi flipped to the back—Li Tianqing's map of Guan Sheng Dijun Temple's location.
"Wealth God, Guan Sheng Dijun?"
Chen Shi folded the letter, delighted, "I just found our Accountant, and Tianqing sends a Wealth God. Heavenly Court must be rolling in fortune!"
End of chapter.