Chapter 4

Sighing deeply, Qin Guangwang said, "This magic is truly wondrous; I've never heard of it before. It must be something you came up with on your own!"

His tone was filled with admiration, yet tinged with regret. There were many magical arts in the world, but they were all the unique skills of the great predecessors. Even he, Qin Guangwang, had learned a few magical arts, but to create an entirely new spell was extremely difficult.

And these human cultivators only knew how to inherit the techniques of their predecessors.

Even the slightest deviation could scare them half to death, let alone creating a spell purely for entertainment.

Xuan Kong suppressed a laugh in his belly. What was this?

In his previous life, he was an ordinary person, but the culture was flourishing, and novels were all the rage. Since he had crossed over, Xuan Kong would often recall some of the novels he had read in his past life during his idle moments.

Thanks to the cultivation techniques, his memories from his past life became increasingly vivid.

This led to an unstoppable process. After receiving the true teachings from the old Taoist, Xuan Kong continuously experimented with combining the strange and unusual ideas from the books he had read in his past life with the techniques of the Laoshan Sect. Over the years, he managed to develop quite a few mysterious spells.

These included sword control techniques, insights into teleportation, and some key points in cultivation.

From the countless novels he had memorized, Xuan Kong systematically organized and refined them, turning them into his unique secret techniques for surviving in this world of immortals and demons.

The drinking session lasted from midnight until dawn.

Although the wine in Xuan Kong's flask was excellent, it was quite potent. Qin Guangwang, after a few more cups, had a flushed face. In the end, Xuan Kong drank alone for half the night.

When he woke up the next day, Qin Guangwang's figure was nowhere to be seen. Xuan Kong rubbed his head, almost suspecting that he had dreamed it all because of the excessive drinking. But when he looked up, he saw that the statue of Yama, which should have been sitting upright, had changed its shape.

His right hand was under his head, and his left hand held the coarse porcelain cup that Xuan Kong had bought from the mountain. He looked completely at ease.

"Ah!" Xuan Kong sighed, pounding his head in frustration.

This was Qin Guangwang, the first famous deity he had encountered in this world. He had failed to gain any benefits from him, which was not his style.

Vaguely, he remembered that he had won a bet with Qin Guangwang using the wine flask.

Would a deity of the underworld cheat him?

With doubts in his mind, Xuan Kong cleaned up the wine cups and plates on the grass, stood in the thatched hut, and frowned as he surveyed the empty ground in front of the hut. Seeing the statue of Qin Guangwang lying half on the ground, Xuan Kong's eyes lit up, and he remembered something.

He hurriedly ran out of the hut and grumbled as he moved the statue back to the dark corner of the room.

A bound book, which had been under the statue, now appeared before him.

"Hehe, good stuff!" Wiping his mouth, Xuan Kong picked up the book and saw the title on the cover: "The Supreme Infinite Scripture for Delivering People to the Upper Realm," written in ancient divine script.

"Good stuff!" Xuan Kong praised again.

Fortunately, he had learned a lot of miscellaneous knowledge from his old Taoist master. Otherwise, even if the divine script were right in front of him, he wouldn't be able to understand it, which would be truly frustrating. Indeed, no matter in which world, learning a foreign language was always beneficial.

Full of anticipation, Xuan Kong flipped through "The Supreme Infinite Scripture for Delivering People to the Upper Realm" from cover to cover, frowning as he read.

By the time he finished, he lifted his head from the book, looking somewhat bewildered: "Is this a joke?"

Unbelieving, he turned the book around and read it again. This time, he didn't make a mistake. "The Supreme Infinite Scripture for Delivering People to the Upper Realm," also known as "The Lingbao Scripture for Delivering People," consisted of sixty-one volumes. Only the first volume contained some true incantations for the dead.

The other volumes, in Xuan Kong's view, were all perfunctory scriptures, divided into sections such as "The Preface of the Daojun," "The Profound Origin of the Primordial," "The Jade Calendar of the Primordial Cave," "The Middle Preface of the Daojun," "The Divine Book of the Primordial," "The Postscript of the Daojun," and "The Ode of the Taiji Immortal."

Apart from describing the anecdotes and secrets of the divine heavens, the mortal world, and the underworld, there was not a single word about any magical arts.

In short, it was an encyclopedia of the three realms.

A dictionary-like book.

Qin Guangwang had left a note under the book: "Little brother, you have extraordinary talent. I won't leave you any magical arts. This 'Lingbao Scripture for Delivering People' is a record of my many years of insights as one of the Ten Yamas. It contains the secrets and anecdotes of the three realms. I hope you will use it well."

He meant well. How many human cultivators in this world could learn the secrets of the upper realms? Even the disciples of Kunlun and Emei couldn't learn these secrets from their masters before ascending.

Not to mention the Laoshan Sect, which had received the legacy of an ancient deity. They were most in need of such knowledge, which could be considered the foundation of a sect.

Qin Guangwang knew that Xuan Kong was the top disciple of the Laoshan Sect and would eventually take charge of the sect's lineage in the mortal world. He left the "Lingbao Scripture for Delivering People" to prevent Xuan Kong from being completely ignorant of the three realms. However, Xuan Kong was inwardly filled with tears.

Still a joke!

After flipping through the "Lingbao Scripture for Delivering People," Xuan Kong found that it only confirmed that the deities, immortals, and demons in this world were not much different from the myths of his past life. It had no other practical use. If compared to this book, Xuan Kong actually found that the "Investiture of the Gods," "Journey to the West," and "Eastern Journey" recorded more detailed information.

"I'm a穿越者 (穿越者 means '穿越者' in Chinese, which translates to '穿越者' in English, but in this context, it means 'a person who has crossed over from another world')." Xuan Kong looked up at the sky silently.

He casually tucked the book into his chest. If it came to the anecdotes of various deities, any writer from the novel websites of his past life could talk for days. Getting this "Lingbao Scripture for Delivering People" only gave Xuan Kong an additional bedtime story.

In Xuan Kong's heart, it would have been better to leave some gold and silver, which would be useful when he went down the mountain to travel. This was completely contrary to Qin Guangwang's intentions.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, Great Senior Brother!" Xuan Kong was still lamenting Qin Guangwang's stinginess when he heard a voice from the mountain path.

"Second Junior Brother, stop shouting." Xuan Kong said irritably.

Wang Qi ran up to the front of the Yewei Cottage, panting: "Great Senior Brother, I'm Wang Qi."

Xuan Kong was speechless and nodded in confirmation: "I know you're not Zhu Ba."

Wang Qi was taken aback and asked, "Who is Zhu Ba?" Could it be a new disciple on the mountain? His mind raced with possibilities.

"Ahem, no, you heard wrong." Xuan Kong pounded his head. He had drunk too much last night, and his Daoist name was no longer "Wukong." Usually, his thatched hut in the back mountain was a place his junior brothers avoided. Now that Wang Qi had rushed up so urgently, something must have happened.

Without waiting for Wang Qi to finish his thoughts, Xuan Kong took his sword from the hut and slung it on his back, pulling Wang Qi down the mountain: "What happened? Did Master send you to find me?" This made sense. In Xuan Kong's mind, only the old Taoist had a higher seniority than him, but he had forgotten that he had just been appointed as Wang Qi's third-generation master yesterday.