Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Whether in ancient times or in the present world, whether they are enlightened masters or ordinary people, most people still prefer wealth to poverty.

The God of Wealth is only one of the Six Departments of Gods, but from ancient times to the present, the struggle for the power of this position has been more intense than for many of the Five Elders positions. In the present world, countless people are eyeing this position. Whenever the God of Wealth's divine mark appears, countless sects and forces will inevitably get involved, and the fight will not end until everyone is bloodied and battered. Even Su Qing, who has never been interested in divine positions and has even voluntarily detached himself from some of the Five Elders' Dao marks, is eyeing the God of Wealth's divine mark. If it really appears, he and Xiong Er will definitely represent the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom and fight against the heroes of all the heavens.

The more popular the God of Wealth is, the more despised the God of Poverty is. The main reason why this deity is disliked is that he is destined to be poor all his life. Since he is a god, he doesn't have many expenses, so being poor is acceptable to many people.

The most troublesome thing is, if you become the god of poverty, who will believe in you?

Yes, there are indeed people in this world who don't love money, but their lack of love for money only means that they have other, better pursuits. For these pursuits, they can give up their desire for money, but it doesn't mean that they will actively pursue poverty. Why would someone choose to live a hard life instead of a good one? This is either a corrupt official covering up their misfortune or an old person reminiscing about past hardships. Neither of them is a normal person.

While gods can live without spirit stones, they cannot live without faith. Faith is the god's money, and believers are the god's foundation. Since it is so difficult for a poor god to develop faith, this divine position will naturally be swept into the sewers by everyone, thus becoming one of the few divine positions in the ancient Tianyuan Realm that were eliminated and relegated to the myriad worlds.

Take the current Supreme Elder of Hongquan Sect, for example. Back then, if he hadn't been nearing the end of his life and thought that it was better to live a miserable life than to die, and that being a poor god was better than being a dead man, he wouldn't have chosen to take up this divine position. He just didn't expect that after becoming a god, he would still have the problem of lifespan!

If gods cannot live forever, what kind of gods are they?
But this can happen to the god of poverty; if there is not enough faith and no incense offerings, the divine fire will dim and the god will die.

Like many previous deities, this Supreme Elder has been thinking about expanding the faith over the years and has made certain efforts within the sect.

Even his close brothers within the sect, who respected and revered him, did not worship him. They would drink and eat with him, and even kill and set fires, but to ask them to burn incense or kowtow to him was harder than killing them. This was true. He once had a disciple who raised him like a father and mother, guiding him onto the path and nurturing him. However, when he asked the disciple to become his believer, the disciple was torn between the fear of losing his master's kindness and the fear that believing in the God of Poverty would not only bring poverty upon himself but also his family. In his agony, he committed suicide in front of the God of Poverty. This incident made the God of Poverty completely give up on expanding his faith.

Without the offerings of believers, his path to becoming a god of poverty is nearing its end. Now is the perfect time for him to burn himself out and let the cultivators of the Ziwei Sect experience the power of a god of poverty!

"In times of turmoil and widespread discontent, a divine intervention was employed—to rob the rich and help the poor."

A divine spell landed on a sixth-tier demonic plant, the Money Tree. The plant's power lies in its ability to arouse a creature's desire for spirit stones and coins. When the desire becomes intense, spirit stones and coins will be released from its body, binding it tightly and preventing it from escaping. Dragging these spirit stones and coins, the creature's body becomes heavier and heavier, and its soul feels like it's sinking, until it can no longer bear it and becomes a slave to the spirit stones and coins, controlled by the Money Tree.

These demonic plants were specifically cultivated to exploit the weaknesses of cultivators, and they are extremely lethal to the disciples of the Hongquan Sect, but they are precisely what the God of Poverty can counter them.

With a single act of robbing the rich to help the poor, the gold coins and spirit stones hanging from the money tree were scattered to the hands of impoverished families throughout the Flying Goose Realm. Without the abundant gold coins and spirit stones, the bare trunk of the money tree immediately lost much of its allure to cultivators, greatly helping the disciples of the Hongquan Sect. Since they were involved in organized crime, they all loved money, and the money tree truly targeted their weakness. Many disciples had long since lost their moral compass and were turned into slaves of money, their minds blinded by greed. They turned around and stabbed their brothers in the back, causing more damage to their brotherhood than the bloodsucking thorns.

"Inflation, asset devaluation, a magical spell—the middle class falling back into poverty!"

The God of Poverty strikes again, this time targeting the Vampire Thorns.

At this shout, even more thorny tentacles suddenly sprouted from the main trunk of the vampire thorn, making it look even more terrifying than before, but its power was greatly reduced.

The energy of the Bloodsucking Thorn tentacles comes partly from its rooted trunk and partly from the flesh and blood of the creatures it devours. The tentacles that the Bloodsucking Thorn originally produced were designed with certain considerations in mind. They were designed to ensure a sufficient number of tentacles to deal with more disciples of the Hongquan Sect, while also allocating most of the energy to create the strongest and most powerful tentacles to deal with the fourth-tier Spirit Thorn Masters, fourth-tier Body Cultivators, and Nascent Soul cultivators of the Hongquan Sect.

Now, with the total energy remaining unchanged, the increased number of tentacles inevitably weakens the power of each individual tentacle. The infinitely multiplying tentacles have rendered the large tentacles, which were originally capable of dealing with Nascent Soul cultivators and fourth-tier cultivators, completely incapable of stopping them. Even the tentacles that were originally capable of dealing with ordinary disciples of the Hongquan Sect are now being killed one by one by the Hongquan Sect disciples, posing no threat to them whatsoever.

This divine technique greatly reduced the power of the sixth-tier magical plant. The two times the God of Poverty made the brothers of the Hongquan Sect on his side and the scoundrels of the Ziwei Sect on the opposing side look at him with new eyes. After all, everyone originally regarded him as just a decoration, or rather, an unlucky decoration. When they encountered him, they would avoid him. If they talked to him for too long, they would take a bath and change clothes and go to the God of Wealth Temple to get rid of bad luck. Who would have thought that his ability could have such an effect in battle? Just in terms of performance, he was far superior to Liu Sanpao, the leader of the Hongquan Sect, who was still playing the wooden dummy game with the Mourning Bell Banyan.

But that wasn't the end. Before dying, the God of Poverty burned everything, releasing his life and the final divine spell of his divine life.

"Poverty cannot sway one's will, and poverty cannot diminish one's ambition; the ultimate divine art—the poor are fearless!"

This divine technique is not targeted at any demonic plant, nor at any disciple of the Ziwei Sect; it is simply the path that this Supreme Elder, who dedicated his life to the Hongquan Sect, has persisted on throughout his entire life.

Hongquan Sect started from humble beginnings, a poor and small sect. Hongquan disciples were born into poverty, like ants and dust. But generation after generation of Hongquan disciples persevered and built Hongquan Sect into what it is today. Therefore, poverty is temporary. Do not feel inferior because of temporary poverty, nor lose heart because of temporary setbacks. As long as you have lofty ambitions and persevere, you will eventually succeed. It is true that one should be vigorous even in old age and never change one's ambition. One should be more determined in poverty and never lose one's lofty aspirations!
Since we have nothing, we have nothing to fear!

The disciples of Hongquan Sect indeed possessed little. The sect's development of various arts and crafts inevitably required investing most of its resources in new industries, inevitably neglecting the welfare and benefits of its disciples. For example, the recent introduction of automated puppet production lines from the Su Group of Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom meant that with each new line, the disciples' belts had to be tightened even further. Despite running gambling dens and spiritual pleasure clubs, seemingly lucrative businesses, their pockets were practically empty, living off the sect's basic monthly stipend of three hundred spirit stones. Compared to disciples of the same rank in other sects, their treatment was several times, even dozens of times, worse. However, the poorer they were, the greater the boost they received under this divine technique. With nothing to lose and nothing to fear, Hongquan Sect disciples were completely immune to the terrifying pressure of the numerous high-level demonic plants released by Ziwei Sect, allowing them free movement and fearless slaughter. In an instant, they had once again routed the Ziwei disciples.

"Three hundred spirit stones a month? Why are you risking your life like that?!"

A third-tier spirit farmer from the Ziwei Sect manipulated a Black Heart Vine to pierce the chest of a third-tier spirit assassin from the Hongquan Sect who charged at him. It's truly incomprehensible how these people, bearing the stigma and pressure of being black cultivators, only receive such a meager monthly salary. If it were him, he would have already packed his bucket and run away. Where does their motivation come from to fight so desperately?
As this Spirit Assassin lay dying, he clearly didn't intend to use his last precious moments to answer his opponent's questions. He used his last bit of strength to throw out his spirit blade, and then, from behind the Spirit Farmer, another Spirit Assassin suddenly appeared, caught the spirit blade, and slashed down diagonally.

With a hiss, the dying Lingcifu glanced at Lingnong, who had fallen before him, then forced a smile at his brother Lingcifu before closing his eyes and dying.

Because of the three divine arts of the God of Poverty, the Hongquan Sect, which had been humiliated and on the verge of collapse by the demonic plants, is now showing signs of turning the tide, fighting its way out, and escaping with the Fire Egg.

This trend was also incredibly shocking to the onlookers.

"Everyone says that the Hongquan Sect in the Flying Swallow Realm has gotten to where it is today by betraying its brothers, being disloyal, and cowardly. But today it seems that someone is deliberately smearing this sect. They are clearly relying on their brothers, being loyal, and incredibly brave. It's making my blood boil, and I wish I could go down and help them out!"

"Times have changed. Being loyal and brotherly won't get you far in this world. The courage of a reckless man and the passion of youth have been replaced by the trend of seeking immortality through cunning. The Hongquan Sect is admirable, and their style is indeed admirable, but compared to the insidious and vicious Ziwei Sect, they are still far inferior!"

"The God of Poverty's divine arts will not last long once he dies, and the demonic plants of the Ziwei Sect are still emerging one after another. Look, the Hongquan Sect has hidden a sixth-level spirit assassin, and no one knows how many years they have kept him hidden without ever making a move. This time, he suddenly appeared and went straight for the Ziwei Sect's leader, Li Jingze. It is clear that they know that in terms of raw strength, the Hongquan Sect is no match for the Ziwei Sect. If they want to end this battle, they must fight to the death, capture the leader first, and finish the job in one battle. Only by killing the Ziwei Sect's leader can the situation be reversed!"

"It's all or nothing for this sixth-tier Spirit Assassin. His thinking is quite good, and his methods are indeed formidable. Is that the Symbiotic Strike? The ultimate technique of the Spirit Assassin who perishes with the enemy? What a pity. It's a pity that the Ziwei Sect has hidden far more than they have. The red-haired grass growing on the body of the Ziwei Sect's leader is filled with ominous energy. It was able to taint the Spirit Assassin with this ominous energy in the short instant he approached, turning him into a corpse covered in red hair. In an instant, he extinguished the Hongquan Sect's greatest hope of reversing the situation, and it was also the strongest method that their sect had hidden for many years!"

All the cultivators watching the battle, regardless of their stance, were moved by the spirit of the Hongquan Sect.

Some say they are true brothers, vindicating the underworld cultivators of all realms. They may not be good at anything else in the underworld, but their loyalty is of paramount importance. Without loyalty, there are no brothers; without brothers, there is no underworld.

Some say they are incredibly foolish, knowingly doing the impossible, only to increase casualties. They lost the entire sect of cultivators for the sake of a dog and a fire egg; this is too foolish and not something a wise person would do.

Some people say that the Ziwei Sect is too terrifying. They have hidden so many fifth and sixth-tier demonic plants and have never shown their strength. They even refrained from participating in the Myriad Realms Battle Tournament, which determined the ranking of various forces in the myriad realms. They don't know what they are after. Surely they can't just be trying to deal with the Hongquan Sect!
The situation on the battlefield can be slightly altered by human will. In some evenly matched situations, the overall momentum and individual will are still the key factors in determining victory or defeat. However, when the gap between the two sides is too large and the disadvantage is too obvious, even the most imposing momentum and iron will cannot enable some third- or fourth-tier cultivators to have the ability to fight against sixth-tier demonic plants.

When Liu Sanpao saw the God of Poverty fall and the sixth-tier Spirit Assassin, on whom the sect had placed high hopes, turn into a corpse, his face darkened, and he felt that victory was hopeless.

"Hundreds of thousands of years of effort, thousands of generations of disciples' perseverance, and even now, our Hongquan Sect still cannot reverse its predetermined fate. Are we destined to end up like the Mang King of the past?"

Liu Sanpao muttered to himself, his gaze falling on the banyan tree opposite him. In that dilapidated ancient bell, he saw the former Mang Wang, the Qin Ding Sect, and all the forces that were hostile to the Ziwei Sect and unwilling to be dogs with others forever. He also saw himself and the disciples of the Hongquan Sect, each one covered in wounds.

Is this the limit? Is this the end?
Looking at Huodan, whom he had been taking in and recuperating in the spirit house, Liu Sanpao couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

He did not regret being hostile to the Ziwei Sect, because if he did not turn against the sect, the sect would eventually take his and the Hongquan Sect's lives anyway.

He only regretted choosing the wrong time and the wrong target; he never considered that the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom would not come to Huodan's rescue.

And just as he was thinking this...

Suddenly, the sky darkened, and he instinctively thought that the Ziwei Sect had pulled out some terrifying demonic plant that would hasten the demise of his Hongquan Sect. But when he looked up, he saw a colossal, immeasurably large ship. Even just the front corner of the ship was enough to blot out the sky. On the ship, the five dazzling golden characters "North Pole Ziwei" were clearly imprinted.

"The Arctic Purple Star? A domestically produced Kaiyuan Immortal!" (End of Chapter)