Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 411 Ascension Ritual: Inner Alchemy Immortal Method, A Nation's Furnace
Ghost Face stood frozen in place, completely suppressed by the Faqi, unable to move on its own, and unable to transmit what it saw and heard to its sleeping body.

As the chaotic consciousness within the fruit gradually subsided, all that remained in Wang Cheng's ears were indistinct murmurs in his sleep.

However, even at this point, the restless life force continued to surge in at a rate that was slowed down by a thousand times, and the Ascension Immortal Technique was still operating autonomously.

Wang Cheng frowned slightly and immediately realized the problem.

The terms of the deal should be: only by fulfilling His desire for "harmony between yin and yang" can His human possession be taken away.

However, the actual transaction target was slightly different.

The [Yin Si Chao Tian Hu] proves that the connection between the two money eyes will continue to improve, and Wang Cheng will definitely be able to reconnect the Yin and Yang realms in the future.

However, it is impossible to do so now. The idea of ​​selling to the ghosts of the Nine Netherworlds is actually just an "expectation," or you could say a "futures contract."

The promise will be fulfilled on some future day.

Of course, how can you call something in the financial world a scam? These are just standard operating procedures.

However, this also meant that Wang Cheng could not achieve 100% control over the fruit.

"Right now, we can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. It's a way to postpone the explosion of this thunderbolt by a thousand times, so it won't explode on the spot like Yan Donglou did."

There are now many more options available.

He now has three strategies: superior, middle, and inferior.

The simplest, and worst, solution is to make a painful but necessary sacrifice.

Completely reclaim the spiritual power bestowed upon the Wealth-Bringing Boy using the technique of "Gathering Beasts and Taming Birds, Enlightening All Beings," and let Him revert to the treasured sorcerer of the state, the wooden puppet. The lingering energy of the six days will no longer entangle His original form.

However, once Wang Cheng's restraint is removed, the Tongmu people will inevitably grow into a powerful evil spirit that combines witchcraft and folklore with the essence of immortality.

They might rush out and start a massacre at any moment; it's completely uncontrollable.

The second middle strategy is to resell the Dao Fruit and collect a large sum of money for incense offerings and rituals, or even rare items that money can't usually buy.

But the concerns remain the same.

Who knows if someone else will eat the fruit, ascend to the status of a celestial being backed by the ancient energy of the Six Heavens, and in the end not say, "Foolish! If I kill you, all of this will be mine."

"Therefore, the best way is to use the [Dragon Tiger Yin Yang Elixir Method], which belongs to the path of dual cultivation of body and mind, to suppress the external elixir method and turn harm into treasure."

The first step is to reach the limit of the fourth rank [Five Temples Hidden Deeply], which meets the threshold for advancing to the third rank of living ghosts and gods.

Good things come in pairs today; I don't have to wait any longer for the fifth time to pretend to be dirty.

Having just tested both the underworld and the mortal realm, Wang Cheng now knows what he should choose for his fifth item to contain the filth.

His true form stood on the awning boat, his hands forming a hand seal, and he forcefully sucked into the coin eye where the [Four Seas Coin] and [Five Mountains Coin] were interlocked.

He drew a wisp of Daoist Qi into his abdomen through the crack opened by the Heavenly Tablet of the Underworld, which then entered the clay-sculpted divine embryo.

Only today did Wang Cheng realize that he was looking for something better while he was still using something else; the most powerful talisman in the world was right in his possession.

At this moment, inside the clay-sculpted divine embryo's belly, the first object containing the filth, the "Trinidad," transformed into two black kidneys.

The second item containing the filth, the "Heart-Stabilizing Golden Hoop," transformed into a red heart.
The third item containing the filth, the "treasure basin," transformed into two platinum-colored lungs.

The fourth item containing the filth, the compass, transformed into a green liver.

The final, fifth item containing the filth, the "Four Seas Coin" / "Five Sacred Mountains Coin," transformed into a yellowish-brown spleen.

Boom!

My internal organs were throbbing in my ears.

Within the clay sculpture of the divine embryo, the five elements circulated continuously, resonating with the internal organs and giving birth to five different deities, each bearing a distinct appearance, yet all bearing a striking resemblance to Wang Cheng!
The Yellow Court Inner Scripture states: "The heart spirit is named Dan Yuan, which is called Shou Ling; the lung spirit is named Hao Hua, which is called Xu Cheng; the liver spirit is named Long Zhi, which is called Han Ming; the spleen spirit is named Chang Zai, which is called Hun Ting; and the kidney spirit is named Xuan Ming, which is called Yu Ying."

Together they performed the Zi-Wu Mudra (a traditional Chinese hand gesture) and paid homage to Wang Cheng.

With one bow, the Daoist Qi descended, and the divine embryo, which originally seemed to be made of mud, completely transformed into a human form, exactly like the real Wang Cheng.

This marks the completion of the practice of the "Multiple Treasures Filling the Void Method".

Within the brilliant five-colored divine light, the authority belonging to the [Water Balance Commandant] was already about to be revealed.

However, Wang Cheng did not break through the barrier of being a living ghost or god in one go.

He now faces two choices:
"The first thing is to continue following the path of Bai Shuilang and Chao Fenglang, where all rivers flow into the sea, and to accumulate wealth and power like my master Shen Yuting and my father Wang Zeng, and break through in the orthodox way."

If he wanted, he could advance to the upper three ranks at any time by leveraging the vast resources of the entire Donghai Kingdom, known as "all rivers flow into the sea."

With his current accumulation of power, he doesn't need to do anything; he will naturally advance to the third rank of a living ghost or deity, and of superior quality at that.

However, the power of living spirits varies, as do their divine positions, which are all related to their own accumulation of power, the rituals they ultimately perform, and their influence on the world. In Wang Cheng's view, the essence of money lies in its flow and value exchange, not in hoarding; only by keeping money in constant circulation can its greatest value be realized.

This is the inherent principle behind the concept of wealth being like water.

If one is limited to the acquisition of wealth and power through the concept of "all rivers flowing into the sea," one can at best attain a superior status as a living deity.

It is not very meaningful to completely resolve the hidden dangers of the [Nine Netherworld Fruit].

Wang Cheng's ambitions, however, did not stop there:

"I will use the abundant resources in this fruit to attain the immortal status of cultivating both body and mind, and achieving longevity in one go!"

Just as the Nine-Headed Immortal said, I do indeed intend to become an immortal, but not a feathered immortal who achieves external alchemy, nor a human immortal who only cultivates life force, but a divine immortal who achieves internal alchemy!

No one had ever walked this road before.

Even Wu Cheng'en, one of the two patriarchs of alchemy, first ascended to the level of a living ghost god before preparing to go back and replenish his life cultivation foundation.

Therefore, as a true pioneer of the Dao, Wang Cheng needed to design the "Immortal Dao" advancement rituals according to his own understanding.

Not only must one perfectly align with the legal authority of the Water Balance Commandant and achieve a promotion, but one must also eliminate or transfer one's current crisis to others.

For example, the authority's "risk hedging" function can be upgraded to "risk transfer".

Through a series of financial operations, they transfer their own "risks"—investment failures, assassinations, and seditions—to designated substitutes or groups.

This allows them to avoid the risks inherent in a [Nine Netherworld Fruit] and reap all its benefits.

As soon as Wang Cheng had a thought, the Dao Qi in his five internal organs circulated and resonated with the external Qi of the Heavenly Toad that gives birth to water.

It even borrows money to connect the two realms: man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature.

Countless insights flowed through my heart:

“Master said from the beginning that what we, the ‘Chaofenglang,’ seek is not ‘wealth,’ but ‘faith.’”

Honesty is the foundation of all transactions!

The Taoist scriptures also say that the first covenant was established between humans and the three officials of Heaven, Earth and Water, who manifested the Taoist Qi, at Crane Cry Mountain, and the covenant-establishing and ordination ceremonies were held repeatedly thereafter.

The ethereal 'Tao' is given weight through the 'faith' that runs through the covenant, transcending isolated nations and becoming the 'law' that will forever be passed down among humankind!
This is the foundation of the Three Officials' Alliance and the entire divine realm in the human world.

Therefore, faith is the foundation of humanity and divinity, and it is the fundamental strength I should pursue.

This kind of power has clearly long transcended the simple concepts of "wealth" and "economy," focusing more on the underlying logic of capital operation.

— Discover patterns, formulate rules, utilize patterns, and make everything a valuable "commodity" under a contract, and all commodities can be bought and sold!
Once you do this, you can easily split the [Nine Netherworld Fruit], keeping only the good ones and selling the bad ones.

Wang Cheng spoke slowly, his voice harmonizing with something far more vast:

"My promotion ritual should be the [National Furnace Project]: Select targets, create prosperity, trigger crises, complete the bottom-fishing, and ultimately annex a country!"
When the value of this economic system is underestimated to the extreme, the huge profits obtained from short selling are used to acquire the country's core industries, such as land, mines, and national bonds, at extremely low prices.

To become the true master of this country.

Then, the "commercial deed" that had already been woven and represented their absolute will was imprinted on the country's economic laws.

From this moment on, the economic cycle of this country will no longer be regulated by the natural market, but will be dominated by my will, and I will completely take it over.

It's like using a nation as a 'furnace,' the boom and bust cycles of the economy as the simmering and vigorous fire, and the countless people's yearning for wealth as the elixir, to refine an immortal golden pill!

The candidate for this country has long been obvious.

——Yingzhou Japanese Kingdom!

Wang Cheng had long been intentionally or unintentionally stirring up trouble with Sihai Trading Company and United Fruit Company, holding a large number of "arms loan" contracts.

They provide arms to the most desperate and critical moments of the samurai daimyo and powerful clans, demanding the highest-value rewards: mining rights, trade monopolies, and even the mortgage of their territories.

They would use the future tax revenues and gold and silver mining rights of the daimyo's territory as collateral to provide them with arms "loans," and when the daimyo were unable to repay, they would take over their various economic lifelines.

Wang Cheng looked up at the north, his gaze distant.
"Next, I only need to slightly modify the action plan to meet my first-stage promotion requirements and perfectly absorb the benefits of the Nine Netherworld Fruit."

Then, they continued to upgrade their scientific instruments, starting from Yingzhou, sweeping across, acquiring, and merging with the entire world, advancing to the second rank and then the first rank.

The fundamental principles of deities in the human world, both in the East and the West, whether it be the "Three Officials' Covenant of Power" or the "Ten Commandments of Gods and Men," are essentially the same.

In the West: For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

In the East: The way of Heaven is to take from those who have more than enough and give to those who have less than enough; the way of man is to take from those who have less than enough and give to those who have more than enough.

By usurping all the "legal contracts" used for material exchange in the economic world, it is equivalent to usurping the most fundamental "trust"!
(End of this chapter)