Immortality begins with meditation puppets

As is well known, the ancient underworld was established by the goddess Houtu. However, before the establishment of the underworld, her direct descendants, the various tribes of the Wu clan, had already been wiped out by the great calamity of the Wu and Yao. Whether there were powerful figures behind the scenes, countless cultivators throughout history have dared not investigate further.

In short, it was in the best interests of all parties that Houtu Niangniang, who was all alone, established the ancient underworld. Moreover, with no one to rely on, Houtu Niangniang, besides controlling the Six Paths of Reincarnation Disc, the fundamental object of the underworld, which she would not allow others to touch, naturally allowed various forces to interfere within the underworld.

Among them, the Buddhist sect, which is difficult to interfere with in the realms of Heaven and Man, is the most undisguised. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva could have become a Buddha but did not, and was willing to lower himself to fall into the underworld.

The Human Emperor also personally sought out the Earth Goddess Houtu, and in exchange for the human race's heroic souls entering the underworld more often and going to the Heavenly Court less often, he earned the human race many official positions from the underworld, including the Ten Yama Kings, the Six Duty Officers, and civil and military judges.

At that time, the powerful Heavenly Court naturally had many people planted in the Underworld.

Besides the Eastern Peak Emperor, the highest representative of the Heavenly Court stationed in the Underworld, there are also 3,600 stone god officials working part-time in the Underworld. Their main tasks, in addition to supervising the actions of the Underworld, are to intercept strong people and strong souls to prevent them from circulating in the human world after reincarnation and to win them over to work in the Heavenly Court.

Before them now stood the more than three thousand stone officials who had fallen from the Heavenly Court into the ancient underworld.

They are all strange and divine beings, with square heads, chopstick-like bodies, and large heads and thin bodies, making them look extremely comical.

However, the True Lords, including Su Qing, did not dare to underestimate these stone god officials in the slightest.

These stone figures and officials were all born from the first batch of Yin-Yang stones, which gave birth to intelligence and thus became innate spirits.

Because it is born with both Yin and Yang energies, it can move freely in the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, receiving the righteous and noble spiritual energy of Heaven, and fearless of the turbid and deadly energy of the Underworld.

Even now, with the Heavenly Court collapsing and the Underworld scattered, within the Abyss Secret Realm, demonic energy and death energy continue to dissipate, and evil and malevolent energy linger. Even the Bridge of Life and Death can be transformed into something evil.

These stone priests, however, have remained steadfast and loyal for countless years, never turning into evil spirits, and have always carried out their ancient duties with unwavering loyalty!
With a firm will, evil spirits cannot invade; with loyalty to one's duty, even wicked people cannot harm one!

Su Qing and the other True Lords did not consider them villains; they were actually very good people!
But these stone priests are stubborn and inflexible, insisting on pointing guns at them, these good people!

"The Netherworld is the underworld, where gods reign in the heavens and ghosts reside on earth, and yin and yang cycle in turn. Birds are born and beasts die, male and female are reborn in succession, and the cycle of birth and transformation continues, with females giving birth to males. This is the natural order and cannot be changed. Now, there are those who are like immortals or wandering Taoists, who have entered the underworld in human form, violating the principles of heaven and the laws of nature, defying the majesty of heaven, and rebelling against the underworld. We, the people, respectfully obey the orders of the Heavenly Emperor and the Lord of the Underworld, and shall suppress and kill them, restore order to yin and yang, and bring eternal peace to the underworld!"

A stone priest stepped forward, devoid of any emotion, and recited the commands that they had repeated countless times since ancient times.

As soon as he finished speaking, the 3,600 stone priests formed their battle formation.

A cold wind howled, and strange fog hung in the air. Banners fluttered on one side, while halberds gleamed on the other. Rolling armor gleamed layer upon layer. Great swords flew like lightning, silver spears pierced through the fog and clouds, halberds, tiger-eye whips, bronze swords, and shovels each possessed their own imposing presence. Bows, crossbows, and feathered arrows, short clubs and snake spears held souls within their grasp.

The three thousand six hundred stone god officials showed the True Lords the might of the ancient Heavenly Court. The well-armored and well-trained heavenly soldiers and generals, before their officers betrayed them and their soldiers lost their courage, could unleash a fighting force that was far superior to the demons and monsters they had encountered before.

Throughout history, regular armies have always been more effective in combat than irregular armies.

These 3,600 stone officials were entrusted with important tasks by the Heavenly Court and stationed in the Underworld in ancient times. In addition to being made of stone and having a stone heart, they are not easily corrupted by the bad influences of the outside world. Their combat strength is also the elite among the elite.

As soon as they set up their formation, the True Monarchs felt immense pressure. They felt that even if they used their trump cards and displayed the power of a sixth-level Void Refinement cultivator, they would still find it difficult to break through the blockade of these stone god officials.

Besides, what good is it to carve out a path without any trump cards? You have to know that there is still the Black Wukong behind them, who in ancient times didn't take 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals seriously. These stone gods and officials who terrified them and were helpless against them could be easily knocked down with a few blows in his eyes!

"Otherwise, let's reason with them and appeal to their conscience. Although I, Liu Gandang, haven't done many good deeds in the past, I've really been a great good person this time. Heaven and earth bear witness, these stone priests shouldn't be punishing us!"

"They are unreasonable. If they could be influenced by the outside world, they wouldn't have remained uncorrupted by evil spirits for so many years. In their eyes, there are only the commands passed down from ancient times!"

"They can't distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, how can they be priests!"

"Isn't this what officials are all about?"

"That's true. What should we do? Should we fight these corrupt officials?"

Whether or not to fight is not a choice for the True Lords.

When the stone priests formed a battle array and surrounded them, divine arrows whizzed towards them.

They were unwilling to fight, did not want to fight, but had no choice but to stand up and fight first.

Although Su Qing was also frowning and thinking of a countermeasure, he first dispatched the Heavy Knights, letting the patricide Fengxian lead the charge. Although they were elite troops and powerful puppets, it was a bit of a waste to use them to deal with these stone priests who could have been allies.

But at the moment, I haven't come up with a better solution.

His heavily armored knights were all dressed in custom-made armor from Jia Tianxia, ​​and their knightly weapons were all third- or fourth-tier divine weapons purchased at great expense from powerful weapon-forging sects such as Yuanshi Sect.

Based on his previous assessment, his heavily armored knight order should have no problem sweeping through a small world, and among the powerful armies of all races in the myriad worlds, they were considered one of the top-tier warriors and soldiers.

Comparing people is a recipe for disaster; comparing goods is a recipe for discarding them.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice, and modern people can't compare to the extravagance of the ancients. As powerful soldiers under the ancient Heavenly Emperor, the stone officials were originally innate spirits, something Su Qing couldn't even imagine. Their armor and weapons were all crafted by divine craftsmen and immortal masters of the ancient Heavenly Court, who specialized in this field. While their craftsmanship might not far surpass that of the modern world, it was at least in its own right. It was impossible for the ancient Heavenly Court's crafting skills to be inferior to those of a private armor shop in the modern world. The key was that the ancients possessed abundant resources of various kinds; they could obtain good materials and were willing to use them to craft armor and weapons!

Thus, their soldiers were inferior to the enemy's, and their armor was also inferior. Even though their leader, the general who killed his father, was relatively brave, he could not save the entire situation on his own.

Even with the amplification of his heavily armored knight order by the puppet immortals, he was still no match for these stone priests.

Su Qing was about to open his storage bag again and release the aerial fleet, the magic cannon array, the magic sword puppet group, and even the explosive puppet group. Except for the exorcism army, which was unnecessary to use, he would release all his own puppets to overwhelm them with numbers. With the help of the many sixth-tier trump cards held by the True Monarchs present, he should still have the strength to fight against these stone priests!
Only the True Lord pulled him back, telling him there was no need to confront the stone priests head-on!
“Lord Su, in our opinion, these stone officials may be one of the reasons why the evil people in the Yama Palace are unable to go out and cause trouble.”

It is precisely because of their presence in this hall that the demons and evil spirits within it are trapped here day after day.

"If we fight them to the death now, we'll fall into the trap set by those evil spirits in the Underworld. We must not do that!"

Su Qing turned around and saw that the speaker was none other than Guangxian Zhenjun of the Yuanshi Sect. As the representative of the Yuanshi Sect, most of the Zhenjun on this trip were willing to listen to him. Even Su Qing had to consider his opinion.

But what he said was all bullshit.

Su Qing wasn't some stubborn fool who insisted on using his painstakingly built puppet army to fight these stone men head-on.

There's no other way. With these stone men blocking our way, how can they move forward if we don't get rid of them?

If we don't move forward, how can we eliminate the hidden evil spirits and demons in the Yama Palace, and how can we seize the Six Paths Reincarnation Disc and the Reincarnation Dao Pattern?

"If there's no other way for now, let's think of something else!"

A Venerable Burial Master from the Burial Realm stepped forward and took out a divine coffin from his storage bag. As soon as the coffin appeared, it quickly enlarged, covering all the Venerable Masters inside.

But when they heard the divine arrow striking the coffin, producing a series of crisp clanging sounds, and the spiritual light inside and outside the coffin flickering, everyone knew that the coffin wouldn't last much longer, and they had to quickly rack their brains to find a solution.

“They are all officials of the ancient Heavenly Court. In theory, you, True Lord Su, still hold the position of acting as the Heavenly Emperor and possess the Taixu Sun and Moon Dao Patterns that only the Heavenly Emperor can control. If you just step forward and say a word, these stone god officials should be able to obey you!”

"I would like to intervene, but I have already revealed my identity as the Heavenly Emperor and demonstrated the power of the Tai Xu Sun and Moon Dao Patterns with the Golden Light of the Sun, but these stone officials just won't recognize me!"

"Don't rush. In my opinion, these stone priests have been guarding this abyss for years. Even if they have stone brains, they must want something. It's not that they don't recognize Su Zhenjun, the current Heavenly Emperor, but that Su Zhenjun, the current Heavenly Emperor, hasn't shown the ability to give these ancient priests any benefits!"

"Benefits? I'll give them high salaries? Make them work for me from now on, nine to five, with two hours of rest at noon, two months of vacation every year, and salaries following ancient precedents, three hundred top-grade spirit stones per month for each priest, plus rare treasures like immortal peaches and spirit fruits as welfare? I can't afford to give them that. If you want me, Su Qing, to do such a thing, I'd rather fight them to the death!"

Su Qing resolutely rejected Guangxian Zhenjun's proposal. Most of his puppets were unpaid laborers, working tirelessly 24/7 year-round. If he were to take in this batch of stone god officials, wouldn't the treatment of his brothers, friends, and puppet subordinates who had worked for him before also increase? Once the benefits and treatment increased, there was no possibility of them decreasing!

“Well, people work hard for others just for two things: promotion and salary increase. Since True Lord Su is unwilling to give up high salaries, then let’s promote them!” True Lord Guangxian suggested again.

"Promotion and promotion? I have no problem with that. It's just empty promises. The Heavenly Court hasn't even shown up yet. I can give them anything, like the Four Duty Officers, the Five Directions Protectors, the Six Ding and Six Jia, and the Twenty-Eight Constellations. But they have to believe empty words!"

Su Qing felt that although the stone officials were a bit dim-witted, they weren't necessarily stupid. Just look at how they clearly knew that the group of people had a righteous and noble aura and were not evil or wicked, yet they pretended not to know, holding the ancient command token and bluffing at them, as if they wanted to get something but would never speak up on their own. This showed that they were indeed spirits who had become gods and monsters, and had grasped some of the true essence of being a god and an official in ancient times. They couldn't be easily fooled!
Guangxian Zhenjun was also troubled. He thought and thought but couldn't come up with a solution. Then, he looked around and saw someone who could solve the problem!

He then bowed to Liu Gandang and said, "True Lord Liu, I have heard that when your sect established the artificial Heavenly Court, you used the Investiture of the Gods, an ancient Heavenly Court, to establish the ranks, positions, and divine powers of all the gods."

This list still holds immense binding power over the ancient divine officials. If Su Zhenjun, in his capacity as the Heavenly Emperor's attendant, were to make promises to these stone-figure officials while wielding this Investiture of the Gods list, they would surely accept them!

Guangxian Zhenjun's words left Liu Gandang completely bewildered. He couldn't understand why, in the course of the conversation, he was being asked to bring out the Investiture of the Gods, the most treasured item of their Penglai Sect. However, Su Qing suddenly understood. It was indeed the True Lord of the Yuanshi Sect who was quick-witted. Otherwise, how could they have been one of the top sects in the heavens from ancient times to the present? Their ability to coordinate resources and solve problems was truly remarkable.

If Liu Gandang were to hand over the Investiture of the Gods to me, I would not refuse it!

Liu Gandang lacked awareness and was incompetent; he stammered and gave conflicting answers, first saying he didn't have the Investiture of the Gods with him, then saying it was incomplete and not very useful, and finally just shrugged.

"This Investiture of the Gods is related to the foundation of the artificial Heavenly Court of my Penglai Immortal Kingdom. My Penglai Immortal Kingdom has devoted a great deal of manpower and resources to this and has been planning for countless years. To hand it over to outsiders so easily is a disservice to my ancestors!"

But his unwillingness was useless. The True Lords present saw that the protective divine coffin was about to break and would soon become the coffin to bury them, so they all wanted Liu Gandang to show his style and not let his personal interests cause everyone to suffer.

"Liu Zhenjun, just give in. What's the use of thinking about 'yours' and 'mine' now? Besides, who doesn't know that most of your Penglai Immortal Kingdom belongs to Su Zhenjun? With his personality and abilities, even if you don't give him the Investiture of the Gods now, he'll eventually trick you into giving it to him. It's better to suffer sooner rather than later. Give it to him now, and we'll all consider it a favor to you and the Liu family!"

The Tiger-Taming True Lord of the Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom patted Liu Gandang on the shoulder and spoke earnestly, which was echoed by the other True Lords present.

Even though Liu Gandang was unwilling, he knew that if he didn't take it out now, these True Lords would probably snatch it away. Helpless, he had no choice but to take out the Investiture of the Gods.

As soon as Su Qing got his hands on the Investiture of the Gods, he waved his hands around his body, and suddenly he was adorned with a purple-gold crown, a golden robe, a celestial emperor's robe with primordial stars, and a dragon and phoenix white jade gold belt. He was incredibly imposing.

Beside him, General Tiger, wielding the sword bestowed by the Heavenly Emperor, led the way. The moment the coffin of the Immortal Burial rose, Tiger's eyes glared at the group of stone officials, forcing them to open their eyes wide and see clearly who they were facing! (End of Chapter)