Lao Tzu is Ji Gong

It would definitely make him uncomfortable to be with his old enemy, but Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had no other choice. Since the current Grandmaster Hongjun was in seclusion, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva could only find Li Xiuyuan in the Three Thousand Worlds through various methods and finally speak his mind.

After Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva finished speaking, his left palm faced upwards, and a stream of light flashed by. Di Ting was enveloped in a hazy light and floated above Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's palm, his mind unclear.

Li Xiuyuan knew that the original form of Di Ting was a white dog with a strong and powerful physique, but now it had become like this, how could one not sigh.

"Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, please tell me why things have turned out this way? What unexpected event has occurred?"

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva looked at Li Xiuyuan, then at Fuxi standing to the side, and then said in a casual tone, "In the small world, I was helping Diting to save people. When we were resting, Diting, being playful, ran away. When I found him, he was on his deathbed, struggling with his last breath, and told me that the Human Emperor Fuxi would be in trouble and that he would encounter a great calamity when he was proving his Dao in Gongcheng."

After Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva finished speaking, a look of shame appeared on his face. "When I saw that Di Ting was on the verge of death, I hurriedly flew into the Ninety-Nine Heavens to find Hongjun Ancestor, hoping to beg him to save its life. Unfortunately, the Ancestor was in seclusion. So I had to inquire about your whereabouts everywhere and then traveled through the small world to find you. It just so happened that I learned that your disciple was Fuxi. I have to say, this is fate!"

"So that's how it is!" After learning about the matter, Li Xiuyuan frowned. He had once calculated for Fuxi that Fuxi's life was full of merit and virtue, and he would ascend to the Azure Emperor by proving the Dao with his merits and virtues. There would be no great calamity. It must be that someone wanted to tamper with Fuxi's Dao-proving time so that Fuxi's merits would vanish. What a despicable act.

Fuxi was utterly bewildered. He had worked diligently day and night for the development and growth of the human race, and now someone wanted to harm him. After thinking for a long time, Fuxi asked, "Who is it? Why would they want to harm me? What benefit would it bring them?"

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any clues. After all, it was Di Ting who told me about this. You know that Di Ting can understand people’s hearts, so it’s very likely that Di Ting overheard it by chance. But at that time, I only remembered Di Ting’s temporary instructions, and I don’t know anything else.” Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva looked at Fuxi with a guilty expression.

"It's alright. Whoever it is or what their purpose is, it doesn't matter now! I still appreciate you telling us this news so we can take precautions early." Then he turned to Fuxi and said, "Fuxi, no matter what, just do your thing. When you attain enlightenment, your master will take charge of things for you. I guarantee no one can ruin your great undertaking. You just need to continue to develop and strengthen the human race."

Upon hearing his master's strong support, Fuxi was filled with gratitude and immediately bowed to Li Xiuyuan, saying, "I am deeply grateful for your great virtue, Master. Thank you, Master. I will certainly work hard to develop and strengthen the human race, and I will not disregard your wishes or betray my own conscience."

Li Xiu knew that Fuxi was genuinely thanking him, and he was very happy. "Alright, alright, I'll stay here and watch over things. You go back and do your work. I'll contact you if there are any new developments."

Li Xiuyuan thought that if Fuxi's merit points were to vanish, then as Fuxi's mentor, Li Xiuyuan would lose a large amount of merit points due to Fuxi's failure to attain enlightenment. Thinking of this, Li Xiuyuan clenched his fists tightly. It wouldn't be so easy to snatch something from his hands. Li Xiuyuan decided that no matter who came, he would kill them without leaving a trace and punish them severely.

"Let me see." Li Xiuyuan gradually loosened his grip and took the motionless Di Ting from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. What a pitiful fellow. Just because he heard something he shouldn't have heard, he was made into this state by the other party, and he also encountered an unreliable ancestor.

Li Xiuyuan carefully examined the situation using his divine sense and discovered that Di Ting had lost half of its cultivation. Its weak aura indicated that it was on the verge of death. Li Xiuyuan also sensed a trace of Buddhist energy different from that of Di Ting itself, which he assumed was due to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva using his own cultivation to forcibly prolong Di Ting's life.

Chapter 1056 Shennong

Li Xiuyuan decided to use his merit points to exchange for a few pills to give to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, since the Bodhisattva had come from afar just to save his precious Di Ting. Who knew that the system shop would give him a pill exchange value of 5,500 points.

Although Li Xiuyuan felt a little reluctant, he still exchanged for it. Next, he would have to find a way to earn more merit points.

Li Xiuyuan calculated with his fingers and concluded that the next Human Emperor, Shennong, should be born soon.

After curing Di Ting, Li Xiuyuan left Fuxi's tribe to search for Shennong.

On this day, Li Xiuyuan, who had been in the Shennong clan for many years, was resting on the hillside when he was awakened by a groan.

Li Xiuyuan followed the sound and soon saw a person lying on the ground in pain. This person had a very strange appearance, with a bull's head and a human body. His abdomen seemed to be transparent, with all sorts of strange-looking herbs scattered around him.

Li Xiuyuan knew who this person was at a glance; the person lying on the ground was Shennong, one of the Three Sovereigns.

The story of Shennong's birth is quite legendary. One day, Shennong's mother, Youjiao Shi Andeng, went to Yichuan and saw a huge natural stone that looked very much like a dragon. She was so excited that she gave birth to Shennong.

Upon hearing this legend, Li Xiuyuan's lips twitched involuntarily. A natural boulder shaped like a divine dragon—could it be the manifestation of some philandering young master of the dragon clan, the seed sown after he and Andeng had a blissful, passionate affair?

Okay, the child was born, but because of racial differences, they couldn't take the child back, so they made up this amazing story.

Li Xiuyuan shook his head; this was a little bit of gossip. When Li Xiuyuan arrived at the Shennong clan, Shennong had already been born.

It is said that he was born in a stone cave in Lieshan, with the head of a bull and the body of a human, his body was transparent, and his internal organs were clearly visible.

Moreover, at the time of his birth, there were nine interconnected wells around him. People believed that a person with such extraordinary abilities must be a god descended to earth, and that the nine wells must have been brought by him. Therefore, they valued him highly.

After bidding farewell to the Suiren clan, Li Xiuyuan arrived at the Shennong clan's tribe early on and witnessed Shennong's growth. Shennong held Li Xiuyuan in high esteem.

Li Xiuyuan knew that relying solely on the luck and merit points of a single human emperor would result in a gradual decrease in the rate of increase after a certain point. Li Xiuyuan needed to continue searching for the next human emperor, and fortunately, he soon found Shennong.

Shennong grew up under the tutelage of Li Xiuyuan. He was exceptionally hardworking and brave, and because of the legend that he was a god descended from heaven, he was chosen as the leader of the tribe.

Shennong, who became the leader of the tribe, faced the biggest challenge of increasing the tribe's food production.

Once, after a hunt, Shennong was bored and lay on the ground looking at the sky. He happened to see a small bird trying to pick up a dark object in its beak. The bird then dropped the bean-sized object on the ground. Several months later, when Shennong passed by again, he found that food had grown on that piece of land.

Shennong, out of curiosity, tasted it and discovered that it was edible. He then spread the method, solving the food problem for many people. The tribe's grain production increased day by day.

Later, Shennong discovered that people were having difficulty growing food, and he was very worried, so he went to Li Xiuyuan for advice.

"Master, the land to the east is very difficult to cultivate. Many people have injured their hands from digging. What should we do?"

Li Xiuyuan picked up a piece of wood and stuck it in the ground. "See that?"

Shennong was always intelligent. After receiving guidance from Li Xiuyuan, he quickly developed agricultural tools, namely wooden plows and hoes. This greatly facilitated agricultural development, and the annual output increased year by year, earning praise from many tribes.

At this moment, the great sage praised by everyone was groaning in pain and rolling on the ground in front of him.

Li Xiuyuan was already very used to this, as he had seen this scene many times over the years.

Shennong observed that when people were searching for food, they often left in pain because they did not understand the properties of food and ate unknown foods.

Although Shennong had long been accustomed to life and death, he still felt very heartbroken. So he used himself as a test subject to distinguish when food was poisonous and which food was not. Shennong's practice greatly reduced the mortality rate of his tribe.

Meanwhile, Shennong's own body was suffering day after day. Sometimes Li Xiuyuan really didn't know what to say to Shennong. He ate such random things every day, putting grass, fruit and flowers into his mouth. It was no wonder that his body was ruined.

But Shennong, that stubborn man, would always smile kindly when Li Xiuyuan tried to persuade him, but after that, he would still do whatever he wanted.

"Does it hurt? Tell me, how many times has this happened in the last three days? Why are you so stubborn? You've been eating all the grass within a thousand miles for so many years, you must be feeling uncomfortable now!" Li Xiuyuan said as he twisted open the leather water bag and fed Shennong water.

Over the years, in order to prevent the human emperor Shennong from dying young, Li Xiuyuan often followed him around and helped relieve his pain when Shennong accidentally ingested poison.

Yes, it's relief, not elimination. Shennong's metabolic system was incredibly complex. Usually, after ingesting something poisonous, Shennong would experience abdominal pain for a while, and then the poison would be expelled from his body through various means.

"Master, Wang Erniu's child can be saved!" Shennong said with a beaming smile after waking up.

"You found out again?" Li Xiuyuan was already used to it.

"Yes!" Shennong nodded.

Li Xiuyuan knew that since Shennong said so, he must have found a way to detoxify.

That's why they say illness enters through the mouth. Wang Erniu's son, Xiaozhuang, was greedy and playful. He actually went to the hillside and picked a strange plant with white flowers and black leaves to eat. Soon after, he became dizzy, vomited, and had diarrhea.

Li Xiuyuan could naturally detoxify using his cultivation techniques, but what if the same situation occurred again in the future and Li Xiuyuan was no longer able to do so? Therefore, Shennong decided to find a way to detoxify.

As the saying goes, "Heaven helps those who help themselves," and he actually found it!

How did Shennong determine that it was the antidote?

Then we have to thank his unique body structure; Shennong was transparent except for his limbs and head.

Shennong could easily tell which herbs affected which part of the human body if they were poisonous.

Chapter 1057 Change of Ownership

Li Xiuyuan was practicing his Taoist arts as usual when he felt something strange in his body. He suddenly opened his eyes and thought to himself that what was coming was indeed coming.

It turns out that before Li Xiuyuan bid farewell to Fuxi, he had set up a magic array around Fuxi. Now the magic array is fluctuating, although the fluctuation is very small, Li Xiuyuan knows that Fuxi's tribulation is coming.

After Shennong summarized and organized the herbs he had picked that day, he returned to his cave and saw that Li Xiuyuan's expression was strange. He asked with great concern, "Master, what's wrong? Why do you look so serious?"

"It's alright! It's just that I foresaw that your senior brother is about to face a great calamity, and I must go and lend him a hand!"

Upon hearing this, Shennong quickly comforted him, saying, "Master, there's no need to worry. My senior brother is an outstanding individual. Is there anything I can do for you on your journey? If I can lend a hand, it will be a good thing to have such a brotherly bond with you."

Li Xiuyuan looked at Shennong and nodded in satisfaction. Shennong usually seemed taciturn, but he was a very kind-hearted person who valued loyalty and righteousness.

"Your senior brother is undergoing tribulation this time, so you should come with me!"

Shennong agreed without hesitation.

Li Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm teaching you?"

"Whatever Master asks me to do, I will do my best!" Shennong replied respectfully.

"Alright! Let's go, we're going to Chendu!" After saying that, Li Xiuyuan walked out of the cave. After Shennong gave some instructions to the tribe members, with Li Xiuyuan's help, they arrived in Chendu in no time.

Although the Shennong clan was also large in number, it was far less prosperous than Chendu. Shennong misjudged it for a time.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived in Chendu from the Shennong clan, which greatly surprised him. When he opened his eyes and saw the bustling scene of morning reading, he was even more astonished. He secretly vowed to work harder after returning to his clan and strive to catch up with the prosperity of Chendu.

In fact, Shennong also had many questions in his heart, but since his master didn't tell him, he kept these questions to himself. He knew that when the time was right, his master would tell him.

Li Xiuyuan led Shennong to a magnificent palace. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. It turned out that this palace was built by Fuxi based on the model of the castle he had previously built with mud. He couldn't help but sigh.

Upon hearing his subordinates report that Li Xiuyuan had arrived, Fuxi hurriedly abandoned the meeting he was holding with several tribal leaders and rushed outside. When the others saw their leader rushing out, they thought something terrible had happened, so they followed suit.

As a result, they saw their usually revered, powerful, stern, and aloof leader, Fuxi, bowing and paying respects to a young man with an unusually respectful attitude and a smile on his face, appearing very happy.

"Master, you're finally back!"

Li Xiuyuan looked around and praised his disciple, who was indeed a good man. He had transformed Chendu from a stingy place into a prosperous city. Li Xiuyuan looked at the wisps of purple aura floating in the air above Chendu and realized that Fuxi's fortune was extraordinary. He looked at Fuxi more closely and found that his merit points were gradually approaching perfection.

When Shennong heard that Fuxi, the ruler of the world, had actually become Li Xiuyuan's master, he was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth. He never expected that he would have the honor of becoming a fellow disciple with the ruler of the world. Li Xiuyuan's status in Shennong's heart became even more sacred.

"Master, who is this?" Fuxi knew at a glance that Shennong was no ordinary person. However, Shennong's crystal-like abdomen reminded Fuxi of someone else, who was also said to have a crystal-like abdomen. Thinking of this, Fuxi couldn't help but ask excitedly, "Master, could he be...?"

Li Xiuyuan nodded in agreement, "Yes, it's the person you're thinking of!"

Shennong, standing to the side, was completely baffled, not knowing what kind of riddle his master and senior brother were playing.

Seeing Shennong's bewildered expression, Fuxi laughed heartily and put his arm around Shennong's shoulder. "I have long heard that Shennong has a remarkable person with a belly like crystal. He teaches people how to plant and tastes hundreds of herbs to prevent people from accidentally ingesting poison. His merits are immeasurable. I have long wanted to meet him, but I have been too busy with affairs to do so. I never expected that my wish would come true! How fortunate I am!"

When Shennong heard Fuxi praise him so much, his cheeks flushed with joy and he didn't know what to say for a moment. In fact, in his heart, Fuxi was like his idol. Since Fuxi changed the marriage customs, created the calendar, and deduced the Eight Trigrams, the human race has developed at an extremely fast speed, and the number of deaths each year has decreased year by year.

Thinking of this, Shennong smiled shyly, "Oh, not at all, it is my honor to meet the ruler of all under heaven!"

"Alright! You two stop praising each other here!" Li Xiuyuan waved his hand, and his two disciples smiled at each other and stood obediently beside Li Xiuyuan.

Li Xiuyuan looked at Fuxi and said, "As I said before, some people prove the Dao with force, some prove the Dao with the Three Corpses to cut off all their distracting thoughts and wholeheartedly prove the Dao, and some prove the Dao with merit. You three brothers prove the Dao with merit. Suiren has already achieved great success in proving the Dao. I brought Shennong here today because I foresaw that you will also soon achieve the perfection of merit. I am worried about you, so you will eat and live with me for the next few days."

After hearing this, Shennong and Fuxi both knew the seriousness of the problem. If Fuxi achieved great success in attaining enlightenment, he would surely be able to ascend to heaven. However, if something unexpected happened in the process, Fuxi would likely end up with his soul scattered.

Fuxi was grateful for Li Xiuyuan's master-disciple relationship and said respectfully, "Thank you, Master. I believe that with Master and Junior Brother here to help me, there will definitely be no problem. Even if something unfortunate happens, it will only be because my merits are insufficient!"

Shennong became anxious upon hearing Fuxi's next words. "Senior brother, please don't say that. You are a person of great merit. Many human races have reported that it was thanks to your help that they were able to prolong their lives. It was also because of your help that the human race was able to become the fastest-growing of the three races after the war between the Lich King and the Demon King. Senior brother will surely be able to attain the Dao and achieve the Great Perfection."