Chapter 286 - Investitures of the Gods, The Expert Is Deep
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“Let me remind you all again, the story’s purely fictional. Come on, you guys. It’s entertaining to listen to stories but don’t spread it. Don’t tell anyone I said it,” Li Nianfan reminded them again for precaution. He was afraid something would go wrong.
Everyone sat up straight and quickly nodded. “Got it. We understand!”
Li Nianfan felt like it was not good enough. However, he slowly began, “In another universe, Immortals had job positions. Immortals with jobs were known as Gods! I’m going to tell a story about this universe.”
Li Nianfan roughly told them the synopsis, “When did Immortals have jobs? How did they get jobs? Who hired them? The story I’m telling is called… ‘Investiture of the Gods’!”
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Investiture of the Gods?!
Everyone held their breaths. They felt like they were electrocuted and had goosebumps all over.
The three questions from Li Nianfan sucked everyone into the story’s settings.
‘Immortals with jobs were like human emperors, right?’
How glorious!
Everyone was excited just from the synopsis.
Ziye and Taoist Xinghe widened their eyes. Their eyes were teary and they were breathing fast.
‘Immortals with jobs, Immortals as Gods. That’s describing the Heavenly Palace, right?’
‘Eldritch eras. It must be something from the eldritch eras!’
‘No! It’s something older than the Heavenly Palace.’
‘The expert’s going to talk about…something earlier than the Heavenly Palace?’
Yikes—
Ziye and Taoist Xinghe trembled. Their hairs stood on end. They held their breaths and quietly listened.
Li Nianfan was going to talk about the story because he realized that the Immortal Realm was unattended. There were no wind Gods, rain Gods, thunder Gods, or any sort of Gods. The Immortals had no contracts so they did not care about managing the realm. It felt slightly out of place, which was why he thought of the ‘Investiture of the Gods’.
“Next up, the story begins.”
Li Nianfan noticed that everyone was paying attention. He instantly felt happy. As expected, the Immortals loved stories. It was easy for a cultured individual to impress anyone.
He cleared his throat and recited.
He recited a poem that unveiled the beginning of the story.
It was not a long poem but every phrase was groundbreaking. Every word represented the changes of the realm.
There were endless Truths in between the phrases. However…it was way beyond Truth. A story like that was unacceptable by the realm!
Pangu, Suiren, Fuxi, Divine Farmer, and Xuanyuan…
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Li Nianfan kept saying names. He said it casually, but in the ears of the others, they were thunderstruck as their skins crawled. They could not think.
They had a feeling that those names were some sort of taboo. They should not be mentioned!
‘Who…were they?’
‘There’s no doubt about it. They must be bigshots amongst the bigshots! Bigshots that were so much more powerful than Wukong!’
They knew the names but they needed all their might and courage to say it!
Only the expert could say the names with ease.
Rumble!
Li Nianfan finished the opening poem. A huge wave of dark clouds rolled in and darkened the sky.
Everyone felt heavy and did not dare to breathe.
Taoist Xinghe’s beard and hair were flying around in the wind. He was petrified and did not dare to move.
Li Nianfan looked up at the sky and slightly frowned. “Why the sudden change of weather? I’m afraid it’s going to rain. Seems like the sky doesn’t want me to tell the story.”
Rumble…
Another rumble of thunder could be heard again. The thick layer of dark clouds slowly moved along with the roaring wind. It soon moved away from the four-part architecture. It was once again sunny.
Rumble…
The dark clouds moved further away…
“Woohoo. We’re quite lucky it was just passing storm clouds,” laughed Li Nianfan.
The others hurriedly stop looking stumped. They followed along and laughed, too. However, it was a fake laugh.
They knew why the storm was there. The clouds were chased away because the expert said a simple sentence. They had no words to describe the situation other than ‘cool’.
‘Is this the lifestyle of a bigshot?’
Li Nianfan thought it was just a small interlude. He continued.
Everyone paid attention. They did not want to miss a word.
The way King Zhou was introduced surprised everyone.
Everyone was increasingly shocked as the story unfolded. They were focused at the same time. It was as if a huge painting scroll was slowly unraveling in front of them.
Nuwa, a Goddess of the eldritch eras, mended the sky with Sky Stones. She saved hundreds of civilians from disaster.
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‘She can mend the sky. How powerful must she be?’
Moreover, they were familiar with the Sky Stone. They remembered that Wukong was a monkey that was born from a Sky Stone.
As expected, it was far older than the faraway eras!
‘It must be something that the expert experienced, too. No wonder the expert’s unimaginably powerful.’
‘Scary, invincible!’
Everyone was exhilarated. They were mesmerized by the universe of the story.
Everyone jumped when they got to the part where King Zhou disrespected Goddess Nuwa.
They were in awe of the audacity of King Zhou. They were also shocked by the status of the Human Sovereign in the story. The status of King Zhou seemed to be much higher than the emperor of ‘Journey to the West’.
He dared to anger Goddess Nuwa, yet, she did not dare to attack the Human Sovereign directly.
They all had questions but they did not dare to ask them. They continued to listen.
Li Nianfan suddenly realized that Daji’s name came from this story. Therefore, he quickly corrected ‘Daji’ into ‘Diao Chan’ since they were both tragic beauties anyway.
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‘Can’t be helped. I can do anything as I please since I’m the new author.’
Li Nianfan paused. Then, he laughed and slapped the table, “If you want to find out what happened next, stay tuned for the next session.”
Everyone finally snapped out of it. They all looked like they were dissatisfied.
Dragin immediately said, “Brother, don’t stop. I want to hear more! Please, continue.”
“Alright, we’re stopping here today.” Li Nianfan waved and slowly stood up.
Ziye and Taoist Xinghe looked at each other for a long while. They could see the shock in each other’s eyes.
The story was just a prelude but it showed everyone the settings of the story. It was the human realm but it was still glorious and majestic.
They wanted Li Nianfan to continue the story. They were willing to listen to it even if they do not sleep or rest. It was a shame the expert was not interested. They did not dare to tell him their wishes.
Ziye struggled for a long time before she finally found the courage to say, “Mr. Li, this story is too captivating. May I come over to listen to the rest of it next time?”
Her voice was trembling at the end of the sentence.
That story was related to the secrets of the eldritch eras. It was even related to how the Heavenly Palace was formed. When she was at the Heavenly Palace, she thought the Heavenly Palace just existed. She never thought of how the Heavenly Palace came into existence in the first place. The answer was right in front of her so she was utterly excited.
“Ha, of course. Our four-part architecture holds storytime sessions around this time. Goddess Ziye, you may come over if you’re interested.”
Li Nianfan smiled like it was nothing. It was fantastic that he could befriend a Goddess just because of a small story.
He suddenly had an idea. He pulled Nanan over and said, “Goddess Ziye, this is my little sister, Nanan. She recently became a cultivator. I’m just an ordinary man, I have no powers or Immortal Items so I can’t help her much. If it’s possible, please, teach her some life-saving moves.”
‘Sigh, it’s worrying being an elder brother and looking out for my little sister.’
He felt shameless since he already begged an Immortal.
He knew a lot of friendly cultivators. However, Li Nianfan saw the tip of the iceberg when it came to the dark side of the Immortal Realm. He knew that the Immortal Realm was dangerous. He was going to die if he purely depended on luck.
He felt like he should kiss up to more bigshots. Dignity was not worth a lot anyway, right?
Ziye slightly twitched.
‘You have a yard full of Spiritual Treasure and Spiritual Plants. You’re the rich guy who used Ultimate Spiritual Treasures as barbeque sticks. And you say you don’t have powers and items?
‘In comparison to you, I’m just a poor chick. How can you complain with such confidence?’
Of course, she scolded him internally. In reality, she was thrilled.
She was troubled because she was thinking of ways to please the expert. She worried that the expert would not appreciate her items. However, the expert asked her to do something. It meant that she left a good impression!
It was an excellent sign.
She immediately flicked her wrist and out came two items.
The first item was a small light-blue sword that was a Superior Ultimate Spiritual Treasure—the Heavenly Water Sword. The other was a golden bronze mirror that was also a Superior Ultimate Spiritual Treasure—the Reflective Mirror.
She pulled out her two best items.
Ziye placed the items on the table and said, “Mr. Li, these two items are useful. One can initiate attacks and the other one can be used as a defense. They aren’t luxurious but they should be enough for Nanan to use.”
“Thank you so much.” Li Nianfan immediately smiled. The two items must be Immortal Items since it was given by an Immortal. It must be quite helpful for Nanan.
“Nanan, hurry up and thank Sister Ziye.”
Nanan immediately said in a sweet tone, “Thank you, Sister Ziye.”
Li Nianfan reminded her at the same time, “Keep it safe. Don’t take them out just to show off. Got it?”
Nanan obediently nodded.
Ziye stood up and saluted. She said, “Mr. Li, we should stop bothering you. Goodbye.”
Li Nianfan also saluted, “Safe travels, Goddess Ziye.”
Ziye and Taoist Xinghe walked out of the four-part architecture with complex facial expressions. They were incredibly grateful.
Ziye said excitedly, “Xinghe, you were right. He’s an expert, an unimaginable expert!”
Taoist Xinghe said respectfully, “I didn’t expect it, too. He’s older than the Heavenly Palace and he knows all the terrifying secrets of the eldritch eras. He even randomly shared them through a story. It’s unbelievable.”
“As he should. Otherwise, who else would have the courage to go against Fate?”
Ziye looked joyful. Even her voice was trembling as she said, “Do you remember what the expert said before the story? He said that the Immortal Realm’s Godless and it feels out of place. Do you know what this means? It means that he’s going to rebuild the Heavenly Palace!”
That was the happiest moment of her life. Her deepest sorrow was relieved.
After everything, she saw hope.
“Indeed.” Taoist Xinghe smiled. Then, he looked at the sky and said in a low voice, “The eldritch eras can only be rebuilt if we follow in the expert’s footsteps! We’re not worthy to go against Fate. Look at the tribulation clouds…”
“Quiet!” Ziye hurriedly interrupted him.
The clouds that appeared above the four-part architecture were extremely horrifying. If they faced that alone, they would be turned to dust by Fate.
Only the expert was daring enough to ignore Fate. He lived in his own way, even Fate had to avoid him.
‘Such a bigshot in front of me, I have to cling on to him.’
Ziye inhaled hard then slowly exhaled. She looked like she was thinking. She said, “I think the expert knows I’m determined to rebuild the Heavenly Palace. Therefore, he purposely told ‘Investiture of the Gods’. He wanted to tell me how the Heavenly Palace was formed. That’s the equivalent of teaching me how to rebuild the Heavenly Palace, right?”
“Now that you say it, it’s indeed so!”
Taoist Xinghe was in awe. “The expert’s indeed deep!”
Ziye looked serious. She said, “The story’s too important to me. We can’t afford to lose any parts of it. I’m not going back to the Above Immortal Realm. Let’s stay near the Fallen Immortal Mountain.”