151.

The daily routine of raising an egg... or rather, the daily routine of constantly keeping an eye on an egg to prevent her from rolling off somewhere unknown to cause trouble. Although Chen Sheng could accept it and thought it was quite nice, the urge to complain grew stronger by the day.

Because as the egg absorbed his divine power, the small face that stretched and protruded from the eggshell became increasingly clear. It was the exact image of Yu Youxin in her early childhood, looking seven or eight tenths similar to the little girl in Chen Sheng's memories.

In turn, the egg also began to grow gradually attached to him, as if past memories had awakened just a tiny bit, reminding her who Chen Sheng was.

Yet at the same time, Chen Sheng had thoroughly figured out this little girl's personality over this period—she was many times naughtier than Chen Xiaoyi (the little female ghost).

If compared using mythological legends, Nezha before he carved out his bones and sliced off his flesh to return to his parents still fell short of this egg by a solid thirty percent.

If Chen Sheng took his eyes off her for even a moment, she would run amok across the world carrying a full load of divine power, shuttling through the void, crossing dimensions, teleporting, and converting between the virtual and the real. Not a single person in this martial arts vital energy human world could match her.

Consequently, after forcing all the strange entities of this world into hiding, completely unwilling to show their faces ever again, a "Legend of the Martial Saint" emerged among the martial arts grandmasters.

The "Legend of the Martial Saint" stated that above the realm of martial arts grandmasters lay the realm of the Martial Saint. Once upon a time, an ancient person had stepped into this Martial Saint realm, and after that Martial Saint passed away and returned to the heavens, he left behind his essence and vital energy.

After thousands of years, this cluster of essence and vital energy originating from the Martial Saint had gained spiritual sentience and undergone transformations, capable of manifesting divine and miraculous phenomena. Any martial arts grandmaster who managed to obtain this cluster of the Martial Saint's essence and vital energy could use it to attempt breaking through the grandmaster realm and achieve the one-in-a-millennium Martial Saint realm!

If Chen Sheng had not known the truth, this "Legend of the Martial Saint" sounded so convincing that even he would have believed it.

Because even that little rascal Chen Xiaoyi had come running over excitedly, declaring to him that she intended to contend for the essence and vital energy left behind by the Martial Saint...

Of course, right after finishing her sentence, Chen Xiaoyi had been chased down and thoroughly beaten up by an egg.

Chen Sheng watched the show the whole time.

After all, the palms and backs of both hands are made of flesh, and he couldn't take sides, so he simply let the two of them settle it in a single combat.

Because this egg traveled around the world every other day, and the strange entities capable of sensing the aura of divine power were completely terrified out of their wits and had no heart left to come out and harm people, the universe's great will's punishment upon this martial arts vital energy human world came to an end exceptionally quickly.

On this day, Cthulhu's son—the octopus-man with a head full of pink, tentacle-like appendages—found Chen Sheng and informed him that he could return, as his shift as substitute guardian had come to an end.

Chen Sheng also saw other octopus-men who had come to this martial arts vital energy human world departing from it. However, seeing that Cthulhu's son showed no intention of leaving just yet, he asked with curiosity, "Do you still have something to do here since you are staying behind?"

"I still have a wife here," Cthulhu's son replied, swaying the tentacle-like appendages on his head.

"A human from this world?" Chen Sheng was surprised.

"Yes. She was the CEO at the place where I used to work, and we fell in love by accident. So I plan to stay here for another few decades. By that time, when she grows old, cares less about her appearance, and is willing to cast aside her human body to transform into my kin, I will take her back to meet my father. And if after a few more years she grows tired of this junior security guard and wants to transfer her affections elsewhere, I will slip away quietly. Presumably, she will only heave a sigh of relief and happily forget about me, rather than lingering over my memory."

Cthulhu's son voiced his plans. Because it concerned his own affairs, Cthulhu's son was uncharacteristically talkative this time.

"You really understand humans," Chen Sheng couldn't help saying. Cthulhu's son's two arrangements could be described as nothing short of perfect.

"My father once made a special study of this magical intelligent living species group because of Earth humans. Although humans from different worlds have many differences, their personalities share certain similarities."

Shortly after, Chen Sheng departed, taking the egg and Chen Xiaoyi with him.

"Are we leaving?" Chen Xiaoyi appeared somewhat reluctant to part with this sudden departure. "Weren't you going to let me finish ten years of compulsory education in martial arts vital energy? I was even planning to keep expanding the Dragon-Defying Gang!"

Chen Sheng glanced at the egg that had rolled onto the top of his head at that moment, and could only offer a helpless smile.

Originally, they weren't supposed to leave so suddenly, because this invasion punishment was meant to last for at least a century. But who could have predicted that a certain young girl's childhood self could be naughty to such an extent that she frightened those strange entities into not even daring to show their faces?

When Chen Xiaoyi learned that the root cause forcing her early departure was that egg, she immediately protested, "But aren't those Great Fiend-class strange entities that were manufactured still in this world? The existence of those things severely disrupts the original layout of this world. Shouldn't we wait until I seal all those strange entities away before leaving?"

"The departure of the Cthulhu clan has already cut off the energy source for those Great Fiend-class strange entities. It won't be long before these strange entities are forced into slumber. If they are unwilling to sleep, they can only lower their own tiers, reverting everything back to how it was in the very beginning," Chen Sheng said. The Cthulhu clan was also very meticulous when it came to handling such matters.

And this was written down on the procedural checklist.

Chen Xiaoyi had no choice but to follow Chen Sheng and leave.

Before departing, however, she spread the Dragon God Martial Arts Manual that Chen Sheng had conjured up. A martial arts manual capable of extending one's life by a thousand years directly stirred up a massive storm, resulting in a large number of martial arts grandmasters being born among ordinary people.

This action by Chen Xiaoyi instantly caused her to be deified in this world.

After all, no one dislikes someone so selfless. Coupled with the fact that this person was no longer in this world and would not come into conflict with their interests, what harm was there in showering her with the utmost, limitless flattery?

Weren't Yao, Shun, and Yu frantically beautified and touted as sagely and wise monarchs precisely because of this second point?

However, the martial arts grandmasters born from this Dragon God Martial Arts Manual were all sighing. They could practice the middle volume and cultivate dragon essence, but no matter how many more millennia they practiced, they could never master the upper volume to transform into a dragon body. At first, they thought their innate talent was lacking, but later they realized the truth: the deity was no longer here.

Consequently, Chen Xiaoyi transformed into the Dragon God...

After all, very few people knew of Chen Sheng, and those who did would never speak of it. The person who indirectly benefited the most from this was that mild-mannered martial arts teacher, who was hailed as the Teacher of the Gods, his reputation echoing through the millennia.

It was said that this matter made that mild-mannered martial arts teacher feel embarrassed for the greater half of his life, to the point where he would tell anyone he met that he truly was not the Teacher of the Gods.

...

All of this, naturally, had nothing to do with Chen Sheng.

That was because he had already arrived in a new human world. Cthulhu had helped him find this place because the tool for traversing the cosmos that Cthulhu had promised to build for him was not yet finished, so Cthulhu had asked Chen Sheng to wait for a while longer.

After inspecting the unfinished tool and finding it satisfactory, Chen Sheng had agreed.

This world was very close to the human world of Earth.

However, its overall background was set in ancient times, leaning heavily toward the Strange Tales of Liaozhai aesthetic in Chen Sheng's memories. There were all kinds of female spirits, female ghosts, scholars, and monks, playing out one fascinating romance after another.

Relatively speaking, however, this world lacked the ruined court orders, chaotic rituals and music, and the complete absence of benevolence, righteousness, and morality seen in A Chinese Ghost Story. At least, no monsters capable of devouring an entire imperial court's civil and military officials had appeared here.

Even so, this did not mean the power scaling of this world was low. According to Cthulhu, if it weren't for its civilization level not being high enough, this human world with its Liaozhai aesthetic would have been fully capable of squeezing into the Third Chain!

As for now, this Liaozhai-style human world was not yet part of the Second Chain, because it had not yet joined the cosmic civilization chain.

When the envoys from the ancient civilization capital arrived, they failed to obtain the consent of everyone, and no single person directly represented all of humanity. Because in this Liaozhai-style human world, there was not just a single realm; there were several dynasties, and the rulers of those dynasties naturally none of them submitted to the others. If one declared agreement, another would unconditionally oppose it, leading the envoys from the ancient civilization capital to simply leave once they perceived this dynamic.

"Has the punishment for this human world already passed?" Beside Chen Sheng, Chen Xiaoyi made a visor with her hand over her brow, curiously gazing into the distance at the scenery at the foot of the mountain.

"It was originally scheduled for punishment, but this world is far too chaotic. Demons and ghosts are countless, and every few days one pops up to devour half a county town of people, so the universe's great will simply canceled the invasion punishment here," Chen Sheng said, feeling slightly surprised himself when he learned of this from Cthulhu.

The universe's great will had many flaws, but the four words "the Great Dao is utterly impartial" were vividly and thoroughly manifested here.

"Then do I still have to go to school this time?" Chen Xiaoyi asked again.

"No." Chen Sheng shook his head slightly. With a single glance at the ancient background world of the Liaozhai aesthetic, he had already grasped its general structure: men are superior and women are inferior, just like history, to the point where not even female official positions existed.

"Then what are we going to do?" Chen Xiaoyi, who had grown accustomed to going to school, felt somewhat unaccustomed to this sudden idleness.

"Come with me to cultivate immortality." A trace of joy flashed in the depths of Chen Sheng's eyes. A world like this could indeed fulfill his dream of cultivating immortality.

Speaking of cultivating immortality, it inevitably reminded him of the strange exercise method he had once practiced within the illusory world.

That set of strange exercises was extraordinary.

After leaving the illusory world, he discovered that he could still practice this strange set of exercises, and most incredibly, this workout method actually involved divine power!

However, because Chen Sheng had already reached the civilizational race limit of Earth humans and could advance no further, remaining stuck at a standstill in the Fourth Chain, he hadn't delved deeply into that strange exercise method.

Right now, however, he could carve out a portion of it and adapt it to suit this world.

"Cultivate immortality?" Chen Xiaoyi froze instantly. She tilted her small face, looking at Chen Sheng in utter incomprehension. Wasn't this rebellious master a demigod? What was the point of cultivating immortality?

Besides, this world lacked the longevity substance essential for becoming an immortal!

Because Cthulhu had been talking about this world while she was standing right beside him, she had a very good understanding of the world—and incidentally, she had also learned that demigods could likewise be killed by ordinary creatures.

"Squish?"

That was simply the sound made by a certain egg rolling back and forth on Chen Sheng's body, which simultaneously expressed a certain young girl's utter confusion.

She still couldn't figure out why Chen Sheng wanted to cultivate immortality.

Wasn't going out to search for civilizational matter to elevate oneself and accumulating it far more fitting for a demigod than cultivating immortality or whatever?

Chen Sheng offered no explanation. With a single thought, divine power surged forth and impinged upon reality.

Instantly, the attire on Chen Sheng's body transformed.

He wore a flowing azure-green robe and a tall crown on his head. As he walked, clouds and mist gathered spontaneously around him, and the sound of a sword chiming echoed from time to time from within his wide sleeves—the very image of a successful immortal cultivator was vividly apparent.

This was entirely deliberate on Chen Sheng's part.

At the same time his appearance changed, Chen Xiaoyi underwent a drastic transformation as well. She directly turned into a soaring black dragon, her five claws spread wide and a pair of horns on her head radiating a cold light.

As she flew, baleful auras rolled and monstrous demonic energy billowed—she looked precisely like an epoch-striding, supreme grand demon!

"Why did I turn into this?" Chen Xiaoyi was immediately bewildered.

"This is the upper-upper volume of the Dragon God Martial Arts Manual."

"Aren't there only upper, middle, and lower volumes? Where did an upper-upper volume come from?" Chen Xiaoyi was even more baffled. In the martial arts vital energy human world, she had played around to her heart's content relying on that martial arts manual, so she was naturally crystal clear about it.

"I just added it," Chen Sheng said indifferently.

"A demigod is truly remarkable..." Chen Xiaoyi choked back her words for a long time, managing only to spit out this single sentence. After all, she didn't dare voice any other complaints.

Chen Sheng then raised a hand and pointed. Instantly, the crown that had manifested along with his divine power flattened slightly on top, while simultaneously, an indistinct, towering pavilion-style building appeared, half of its structure extending into the clouds like the legendary Heavenly Court.

Walking closer, Chen Sheng playfully conjured up a plaque reading "Southern Heavenly Gate" and hung it up.

"Will anyone actually come if we hang this up?" Chen Xiaoyi couldn't help asking.

"Whether they come or not doesn't matter. In any case, we are just here to wait for a while. Once Cthulhu finishes building that tool for traversing the cosmos, it will be time for us to leave," Chen Sheng said.

Stepping into the Heavenly Court materialized out of thin air through divine power, Chen Sheng raised his hand and grabbed, summoning two items into his grasp.

They were a guillotine and a black iron rod.

At this moment, Chen Sheng examined these two instruments of punishment and discovered that, just like before, they possessed a conceptual power. The difference, however, was that the guillotine's power had decreased significantly, and it heavily relied on an mortal imperial court in order to unleash its conceptual power.

"True enough. Without people, the law ceases to exist, so the conceptual power of this guillotine naturally fades away along with it."

Chen Sheng shifted his gaze to the black iron rod. Compared to the guillotine, the conceptual power of the black iron rod had actually been strengthened quite a bit. It could even cause the iron rod itself to expand infinitely in size instantly, smashing a planet to pieces with a single swing.

Its destructive power was immense, living up even more to the conceptual power of being an unfathomable might.

Yet, Chen Sheng had no use for it.

The golden lightning he released upon becoming a Fourth Chain demigod had far greater destructive power than this black iron rod—it was capable of injuring other demigods.

"Come to think of it, including the hangman's noose, the conceptual power of all three instruments of punishment across time and space was bestowed by me. So, can I bestow conceptual power upon myself?"

Chen Sheng couldn't help wondering, and then he actually tried it out.

"I bestow upon myself the conceptual power of Earth humanity's Ninth Civilization Chain."

However, the moment those words fell, nothing happened. Without a doubt, it had failed. But the reason for failure wasn't that Chen Sheng lacked the ability to bestow it; rather, he could feel a form of resistance.

A destructive force of resistance!