Wandering Gods of Day and Night

"And then?"

"Then... among the Nine Great States, the one with the most abundant Buddha energy is the Snow Mountain Prefecture. I need to go borrow some Buddha energy from there."

"You want me to borrow it?" Zhao Wuya caught on and said, "I’m already part of the Twenty-one Zen. Can’t I just borrow it directly? Why go to all this trouble?"

"It’s worth the trouble."

Zhou Xuan said, "The Zen Master was captured by the Buddha Country Lord. He’s not around. Do you think the Reincarnation Zen Sect in Snow Mountain Prefecture will care about you at all?"

"Oh... you should have just said so. You want me to impersonate Master Wu Ya."

Zhao Wuya, always the fun-loving rich kid, got intrigued by Zhou Xuan’s plan and said, "This sounds quite interesting, pretending to be a monk to trick other monks."

"You’ll need to learn well from Li Yutang. If you slip up in Snow Mountain Prefecture, watch out, I’ll have someone come after you."

Zhou Xuan chuckled.

"Don’t worry, I’ll nail it."

Zhao Wuya’s gaze was determined.

...

Late into the night, Li Yutang had gathered seven or eight beggars, each more disheveled than the last. One of them, from afar, was visibly jumping with fleas all over his body.

Finding these beggars took considerable effort for Li Yutang. He wouldn’t accept old or female beggars, only young male ones.

It wasn’t enough for them to just be young; they had to resemble Zhao Wuya in build.

Choosing these beggars was like selecting concubines, leaving Li Yutang sweating, showing his seriousness and caution in doing things.

"Young Master, they’re here for you to inspect."

Li Yutang walked under the Ancestor Tree, speaking to Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan took a look, nodding with a sigh of satisfaction at Li Yutang’s conscientious and thoughtful approach.

Li Yutang then said to Zhao Wuya, "Mr. Zhao, for the next three days, you’ll live and eat with these beggars. Of course, your meals need to be slightly better — at least noodles or buns."

"That won’t work."

Zhao Wuya was adamant, "I’m finally getting a chance to experience the life of a poor person. I must do it thoroughly," he said. "I need to eat worse than they do."

"If you eat worse than the beggars, all that’s left is swill."

"Then I’ll eat the same as them."

Zhao Wuya stood up and followed Li Yutang into the courtyard to begin his training.

"Ya Zi, take this seriously. If you don’t learn well, you’ll get a beating."

"Don’t worry, don’t worry." Zhao Wuya waved his hand, walking with firm steps.

Zhou Xuan then closed his eyes and rested.

He wasn’t really resting, but using his "Dream Horn" to activate his Perception, creating a rhythm of rattle sounds.

This rhythm, at an extremely high frequency, was beyond the range of human ears. The whole troupe couldn’t hear it, only feeling inexplicably stuffy and dizzy.

Zhou Xuan didn’t intend for them to hear it.

This drumbeat was meant for the ears of the Eternal Life Sect Leader in the Heavenly Dome.

The sounding drum was a secret signal that Zhou Xuan had agreed upon with the Eternal Life Sect Leader to meet.

Soon, a figure appeared beside Zhou Xuan, wearing a brand-new sheepskin coat and holding a rattle.

"Little Changsheng, you’ve been quite prominent lately," Zhou Xuan greeted.

The Eternal Life Sect Leader quickly bowed, smiling and saying, "Master Zhou, it’s all thanks to your prestige and elixirs. Now, in the Heavenly Fire Clan, I hold some position."

"Weren’t you a God-level before? Didn’t you have any status?"

"Oh, the so-called God-level, it’s just a watchdog kept by the Heavenly Fire Clan."

The Eternal Life Sect Leader said bitterly.

Zhou Xuan was aware of the Sect Leader’s difficulties and said, "That’s why, what’s the point of cultivating godhood... Once achieved, aren’t you just someone else’s dog? You should practice alchemy. Once the elixirs are out, the Heavenly Fire Clan will have to gather around us, wagging their tails and begging."

This seemed rebellious to the Sect Leader’s ears, but he thought — Master Zhou was right.

In the past few days, walking in the Heavenly Dome, the path was paved with elixirs, making everything smooth. Just like Zhong Guan, after receiving his "Joyful Longevity Pill," he started to eagerly fawn over him.

Elixirs... it’s the elixirs that matter.

Having mentioned elixirs, the Sect Leader started reporting the results of the previous two furnaces of elixirs to Zhou Xuan.

"Master Zhou, congratulations, your batch of "Joyful Longevity Pills" has been rated Standard Eighth Rank Elixir. Now, just waiting for Bai Yujing’s approval. Once passed, the paperwork will be issued, and your elixirs can be sent to Longevity Pharmacy for sale."

"As for your ’Insect Ancestor Pill,’ its quality is too high for Changsheng Palace to grade. It has been sent to Bai Yujing, inviting the Dan Zheng to personally determine its grade."

"The process is expedited; in a few days, the rewards for your two furnaces of elixirs will be released."

The Eternal Life Sect Leader carefully explained to Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan remained unfazed. After listening, he simply nodded slightly to indicate he understood, then ceased the discussion about elixirs.

He said to the Sect Leader, "Little Changsheng, I recall that the Tiancan Monk is an Alien Ghost from the ’Broken Robe,’ right?"

"Yes, Master Zhou," the Sect Leader replied.

"The ’Broken Robe’ is the Ghost with the densest Buddha energy. Bring him to me. I need him to help with something."

Zhou Xuan said.

He had actually prepared two plans — gathering massive Buddha energy, with Snow Mountain Prefecture as one choice.

Apart from Snow Mountain Prefecture, the Heavenly Dome’s Tiancan Monk and Green Robed Buddha were also choices.

"Don’t say just one task. Even if you ask him to do ten or a hundred, he would be willing."

The Sect Leader said with a smile.