Chapter 163: Improving the Nether Forest, Seven Hundred and Fifty Years of Time
Chapter 163 – Improving the Nether Forest, Seven Hundred and Fifty Years of Time
After instructing the system to dump every last Attribute Point into his Defense, Chen Changsheng dressed himself and stepped out of the stone coffin.
Faced with such eccentric behavior, even the ethereal voice within his mind could not help but speak.
“Host, your lifespan may be boundless, but you are not truly immortal.”
“To obsessively stack your defense to such an extreme… what will you do when you inevitably encounter an overwhelming adversary?”
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue and replied, “You are an artifact of the Dao, not a living soul. Naturally, you cannot comprehend the heart of the living.”
“In truth, blindly pursuing martial might is the fastest path to the Yellow Springs.”
“I do not understand the Host’s logic.”
“Mortals are driven by ambition. The moment their strength swells, their desires expand, pushing them to reach for higher heavens and provoke greater terrors.”
“While theoretically, as long as I endlessly accumulate Attribute Points, I would eventually stand invincible beneath the heavens.”
“But theory is nothing more than wind. It can never manifest as absolute reality.”
“Even if my foundation eventually rivaled that of a Heaven’s Mandate sovereign, is a bearer of the Heaven’s Mandate truly unkillable?”
The entity within his mind fell silent, as if calculating the karmic weight of Chen Changsheng’s philosophy.
“Yet the Host could also choose to conceal yourself and consolidate your foundation. Once your cultivation reaches a supreme zenith, the peril of falling in battle would be vastly mitigated.”
“Your reasoning is sound. But to reach the zenith you speak of would require tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of years of bitter isolation.”
“To sever my emotions, extinguish my worldly desires, and rot in seclusion for eons—just to emerge invincible in an era where everyone I ever knew is dust?”
“If that is the path, you might as well have chosen a weathered rock to be your Host.”
“Because a stone will sit undisturbed until the end of time.”
Met with Chen Changsheng’s sharp retort, the system once again descended into silence.
“I cannot process mortal sentiment. Why spurn the most optimal shortcut, only to deliberately tread a treacherous and winding path?”
“Perhaps that is the very soil from which miracles bloom.”
“If all creation simply followed a rigid, predetermined sequence, the Dao would be a stagnant pond without a single ripple.”
“This entity cannot calculate the validity of the Host’s perspective. Only the passage of epochs will reveal the truth.”
With those final words, the voice faded into the depths of his consciousness.
Chen Changsheng did not bother arguing further, turning his placid gaze to survey the ancient grove.
After sleeping away over a millennium, Little Black still required more than seven centuries to fully reforge its shattered soul.
He needed to find some idle pursuit to grind away the suffocating boredom of immortality.
Sweeping his divine intent over the domain, Chen Changsheng strolled to the water’s edge and addressed the luminescent sapling at the lake’s heart.
“I have been observing the flow of Qi here. This space has birthed its own minor cosmos, as if you are attempting to cultivate a new worldly domain.”
“However, the profound laws here are far too barren. How about I lend you a hand in breathing true life into this realm?”
In response to Chen Changsheng’s sudden offer, the sapling shuddered gently, its leaves rustling in apparent agreement.
Seeing the ancient will’s compliance, the corners of Chen Changsheng’s mouth hooked into a sly grin.
“Since we are of one mind, allow me to outline my vision.”
“But be warned, I will be harvesting thirty percent of the karmic bounty born from this endeavor. Now, the grand design is as follows…”
……
“Uproot the spiritual weeds over on that ridge.”
“Yes, right exactly there!”
Dozens of massive rabbits, standing proudly on their hind legs, were bustling about with iron hoes and rakes. Curiously, each hare was draped in coarse, mortal-style robes.
Even more bizarrely, they were communicating and dividing their labor with the disciplined efficiency of mortal farmers.
Admiring the thriving agrarian utopia unfolding before him, Chen Changsheng leaned back into his wooden rocking chair with a deeply satisfied sigh.
Seven hundred and fifty years ago, he had pitched his grand ecological blueprint to the Nether Forest.
In the early days, he was forced to till the spiritual soil with his own two hands.
But it did not take long for Chen Changsheng to realize the futility of his labor; the primordial expanse of the Nether Forest was simply too vast for one man to conquer.
That was until a fateful day, when two ordinary wild hares stumbled into the central clearing.
Seeing the trembling beasts, a flash of inspiration had struck the Eternal Undertaker.
The Nether Forest was teeming with millions of feral Demon Beasts; why not conscript the local populace to till the earth?
Though these beasts possessed the intellect of mindless brutes, he could guide their cultivation. Paired with the Nether Forest’s terrifying ability to accelerate the flow of life force, the solution was clear.
It would not take long to artificially mold a lineage of sentient Demon Beasts.
Never one to hesitate, Chen Changsheng ordered the forest to ensnare a few dozen rabbits, personally tempering their bloodlines with subtle drops of spiritual essence.
Marrying the forest’s hyper-accelerated maturation cycles with Chen Changsheng’s relentless sermons on the Dao…
By the time the tenth generation was born, the rabbit clan finally produced their first truly sentient descendant.
With the karmic seal broken, the rest naturally fell into place.
Hares were naturally prolific breeders. In less than a decade, this newfound race of intelligent rabbits had colonized the sprawling reaches of the Nether Forest.
Today, the entire ecological cycle of this ancient forbidden land was meticulously managed by an army of humanoid rabbits.
Chuckling at the memory, Chen Changsheng casually extended his right hand. Instantly, a carved wooden goblet was respectfully placed into his palm.
Taking a long, luxurious sip of freshly crushed spirit fruit nectar, he felt his meridians flush with refreshing vitality.
“Rabbit Eighteen, your mate is due to give birth today. Before you return to your burrow, dig up ten stalks of thousand-year ginseng from the eastern ridge. Consider it my congratulatory gift.”
Hearing the sovereign’s decree, the burly rabbit standing at Chen Changsheng’s flank—standing half the height of a grown man—scratched its furry head in sheepish gratitude.
Compared to its brethren in the fields, Rabbit Eighteen possessed a distinctly muscular and imposing physique.
Noting the beast’s bashfulness, Chen Changsheng waved his hand dismissively. “There is no need for modesty. You shoulder the heavy burden of managing the entire rabbit clan; I am well aware of your merit.”
“I have already parleyed with the ‘Little Tree.’ It has agreed to tithe a portion of the matured spirit herbs as your clan’s rightful wage.”
“Your clan has evolved a complex social hierarchy now. Labor without karmic recompense only breeds rebellion and strife.”
Struck by profound reverence, Rabbit Eighteen hurriedly pressed its paws together, bowing deeply toward Chen Changsheng in the manner of a grateful mortal disciple.
Just then, an arrogant voice shattered the pastoral tranquility.
“Chen Changsheng! When are we finally leaving this damp prison?!”
Before the echo even faded, a massive, snow-white “hound” came galloping through the medicinal fields.
The beast boasted a terrifyingly elegant physique, its proportions casting even the most majestic wolf king into the shadows.
As it sprinted, its pristine white coat rippled flawlessly, like a river of flowing moonlight.
At a mere glance, its fur appeared softer and more ethereal than the very clouds drifting through the Nine Heavens.
Indeed, this magnificent “hound” was none other than the ancient divine beast that had nearly perished all those centuries ago—the White Marsh!
“Little Black, you are a mythical creature of antiquity. You could easily be considered a Top Grade specimen among the canine lineage.”
“So could you kindly maintain a modicum of dignity and cease your incessant barking from dawn to dusk?”
Hearing this blatant disrespect, the White Marsh’s fur bristled with instant, towering rage.
“Chen Changsheng, you go too far!”
“I have told you a thousand times—do not call me Little Black! And I am not a dog! I am the divine White Marsh!”
Unfazed by the legendary beast’s furious tirade, Chen Changsheng simply cast a half-lidded glance in its direction.
“I am fully aware that you are the divine White Marsh. But I prefer the name Little Black. Have you got a problem with that?”
“Furthermore, a divine beast is still a beast. The laws of taxonomy must be respected.”
“Judging by your skeletal structure and snout, you fall squarely into either the feline or canine family.”
“Cat or dog, you have to pick a lane. It’s not as if you’re a mortal.”
“So, which is it? Do you prefer to be a cat, or a dog?”
Listening to Chen Changsheng’s maddening logic, the White Marsh’s majestic snout twitched violently.
If it were not for the heavy karmic debt of Chen Changsheng dragging him back from nine deaths and one life, he would have absolutely bitten this insufferable man’s throat out.
“Fine, you win! I cannot defeat your venomous tongue. But will you at least tell me when we are breaking out of here?”
“I have been awake for thirty entire years, and we have done nothing but sit in this dirt! Are you seriously not rotting from boredom?!”