Chapter 82 Blasphemy 31. Shen Mingxin suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze…

Chenchou is still alive.

In his view, living like this was worse than being dead.

"Go check on the temple again. Has the Celestial Venerable finished his work yet?" Inside a magnificent building, a dense, swirling soul drifted to the edge of the Soul Gathering Lamp and urged the puppet waiting outside the lamp.

The puppet nodded blankly, turned and left, but returned a moment later, shaking his head at Chen Chou.

Upon seeing this, Shen Chou's face fell, and he kicked the Soul Gathering Lamp several times.

Several days ago, he awoke in a flash as he was dying, and cried out to Xu Ming's distracted mind for help, revealing his greatest secret. Upon hearing this, Xu Ming's distracted mind used its last remaining energy to envelop him, escaping with his soul and returning to Shenzhao.

Now, without a physical body, he can only reside within the treasure, the Soul Gathering Lamp, waiting for Xu Ming to find a suitable body to help him possess it.

Logically speaking, since Chen Chou has already experienced this situation once, there shouldn't be anything to be upset about.

But last time the wait was only a day or two, while this time it has been more than ten days. Without a physical body for a long time, only a soul remains. Although protected by the Soul Gathering Lamp, it still cannot avoid being tormented by the wind and fire of the earth. For about ten of the twelve hours of the day, it is like being slowly tortured, which is extremely painful.

The remaining two hours are when Xu Ming will come to see him, and He will use His divine power to alleviate his pain.

This was the moment Shen Chou looked forward to most each day. If it weren't for this relief and the hope of a new body, he truly couldn't bear this suffering and would have wanted to slit his own throat.

Moreover, it is unknown whether it is because he was too indulgent in the past, indulging in pleasure every day, and now that he has not had a physical body for too long and has nowhere to relieve his desires, his soul, which is trying to control his desires, is about to explode, and he is suffering terribly.

Shen Chou desperately longed for his own physical body. Yesterday, Xu Ming said he had found a body whose birth chart matched his, and coincidentally, it was also a yin-yang hybrid body, which would be brought to him tomorrow.

Shen Chou was overjoyed. He woke up early this morning and eagerly awaited Xu Ming's arrival, asking the puppeteer countless times. But each time, the answer he received was not what he wanted.

"How long are we going to keep working? It's almost dark!"

Chen Chou sat inside the Soul Gathering Lamp, his expression distorted by the sweeping golden wind and earth fire, sometimes sinister, sometimes resentful.

"It was my fault for keeping Chou'er waiting."

Xu Ming's voice suddenly rang out inside the house.

Startled, Shen Chou looked up and saw a phantom figure slowly coalescing outside the Soul Gathering Lamp. It wore a golden robe and had a fishtail, with a handsome and dignified face. However, when it looked down into the Soul Gathering Lamp, it revealed a clear hint of tenderness.

Shen Chou saw this and felt satisfied and smug, but she didn't show it on her face. She just glanced at him with her delicate eyes and said reproachfully, "You still know to come? I was going to think you had forgotten about me and let me suffer like this, deliberately torturing me!"

"How dare I?" Xu Ming's expression softened even more.

"Since you're here, hurry up! I'm in so much pain. I want the Heavenly Venerable's divine power. Please, Heavenly Venerable, come in quickly and bestow some upon me..." Shen Chou deliberately acted infatuated, speaking ambiguous and seductive words.

Although there's nothing he can do, Xu Ming usually falls for this approach.

However, things seem different today.

Xu Ming said, "Chou'er, have you forgotten what I said yesterday? Your new body has arrived, why do you still crave divine power to alleviate it? Come and see."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Ming waved his hand, and a handsome young man appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground.

Unable to contain his joy and anticipation any longer, Chen Chou rushed to the edge of the Soul-Gathering Lamp: "You actually brought it! Quickly, quickly send me in, Heavenly Venerable, Great God, Brother Xu Ming... please help Chou'er return to life!"

He desperately wanted to break through the Soul Gathering Lamp's protection and rush outside.

Xu Ming seemed to know what he was thinking, and without delay, he directly turned on the Soul Gathering Lamp, drew out his soul, and injected it into the body of the handsome young man.

To preserve his physical body, the boy was not killed, but merely fainted. Now, awakened by the excruciating pain of his soul shattering piece by piece, he struggled and screamed, staring at Xu Mingtian Venerable and weeping blood-red tears.

Xu Ming didn't even look up, continuing to inject the thick, viscous soul.

The screams stopped shortly afterward.

The boy's soul vanished into thin air, and his body collapsed into Xu Ming's arms.

A few breaths later, the body shuddered violently, as if waking from a nightmare, and suddenly opened its eyes. However, the pain of annihilated faith and the overwhelming resentment within them had disappeared, replaced by a tender and admiring gaze.

"Thank you, Heavenly Venerable. Chou'er finally has a physical body again and can serve you properly..."

When Shen Chou woke up, she reached out and hooked her arm around Xu Ming's neck.

He treated Xu Ming and Chunshan Gong in completely different ways.

Chunshan Gong himself is good at sweet talk and loves to coax people. Also, because he had a strong relationship with Xu Ming in the past, he is somewhat inclined to be tougher on him, and to slap him or step on his face.

But Xu Ming was different. Xu Ming was aloof and preferred those who were weak and dependent. Chen Chou changed his ways.

As it turned out, his change seemed to be correct, and Xu Ming benefited greatly from it.

"Do it yourself."

Xu Ming released the person and sat down in the large chair.

Having longed for it for so long, Chenchou, after getting used to his new body for a while, couldn't wait to climb up and used all his strength.

At the height of their passion, Xu Ming raised his hand and grabbed his neck. Shen Chou didn't care. Xu Ming always acted this way in bed; he knew his limits and wouldn't actually strangle him to death.

However, this time seems different.

Shen Chou felt the hand on his neck tightening, pressing down on his throat and making it impossible for him to breathe. In his dying hallucination, he even heard the sound of his throat bones cracking.

As death was about to strike, Shen Chou could no longer persuade himself to be restrained. He was gripped by extreme fear and began to struggle frantically.

Amidst this intense struggle, Shen Chou heard Xu Ming's voice: "Chou'er, I gave you one last chance last night."

“Wh…what…” Chen’s eyes widened, bloodshot.

Xu Ming calmly watched his struggling subordinates, his eyes devoid of emotion: "My avatar has been severed, leaving only one secret technique that can bring one person back to Shenzhao. Between you and Xu Yin, I can only choose one."

Tell me, why did I choose you?

"Of course it's because of the secret you revealed back then. But how can you be so coy and refuse to reveal even the slightest bit more after I saved you like this? I really want to know the whole 'story'."

“Last night, I asked you for the last time and promised to give you my body. If you had spoken, I would have kept my promise. But you still don’t trust me and won’t tell me. Are you really so sure that I have no other way to find out except by getting you to speak willingly?”

Shock and anger flashed in Shen Chou's eyes: "You..."

"What about me?" Xu Ming lowered his head and leaned closer. "Chou'er, it's your own fault for being disobedient. Don't blame me for being heartless. Now that you have a physical body and something to rely on, I'm not worried that you'll be scattered halfway through the soul search. If that happens, I won't be able to see the book clearly."

"You...you're delusional!" Shen Chou coughed up blood, which splattered onto Xu Ming's face.

Xu Ming sneered: "Mortals are delusional to curse gods... Chou'er, you've really been spoiled rotten, completely ignorant of your own limitations." After saying that, he ignored Shen Chou and raised his finger, directly piercing Shen Chou's brow.

Suddenly, countless aquatic worms appeared all around.

The worms shrieked, and strange tentacles exploded on Xu Ming's face. He suddenly pulled hard with his fingers, and the thick memories instantly dispersed into invisible ripples.

Xu Ming's eyes lit up, and he stared intently at it.

Shen Chou's first fourteen years were unremarkable; he was just a boy born into a relatively well-off family, whose fortunes later declined. At the age of fourteen, before Shen Zhuan encountered him and took him back to the Shen family, he suddenly found a book in a dilapidated temple.

This book is quite strange; the paper used is as white as snow. Even though the entire nation of Xumingxiang worships it, they have never seen such paper.

The words written on these papers are incomplete, making them difficult to read and many of them incomprehensible.

However, the book is not long and the story is simple. It is about a handsome young man named Wang Jiu who came from a place called "modern" and transmigrated here. Because he was of both yin and yang nature, he was delicate and weak. He encountered all kinds of erotic things from a young age. Later, he met Xu Yin Tianzun, who was reborn as Chunshan Gong. He slept with him, shared his divine power, became a god, and then slept with many other gods.

There wasn't much important stuff in the book; out of every hundred words, ninety-nine were about Wang Jiu's fanfiction or god-like encounters. Shen Chou had read books before, but never one with such explicit and erotic descriptions.

He spent a long time holed up in the dilapidated temple, and finally managed to finish reading the book, albeit with some difficulty.

To his surprise, the book vanished the moment he finished reading it and before he could put it down. Startled, Shen Chou tried to run away in a panic, but he tripped and fell after only a few steps.

Shenchou kowtowed and fainted in a corner of the dilapidated temple. When he woke up again, he heard some noises.

He glanced out and saw a delicate young boy kneeling before the half-broken statue in the dilapidated temple, sobbing softly about how he had been bullied by the servants the night before and how humiliating it was.

The more I listened to the thick, heavy sound, the more alarmed I became.

This boy was named Wang Jiu, and he referred to the statue as Lord Chunshan. Could it be...?

Shen Chou didn't know what he was thinking. In any case, when he came to his senses, he had already smashed Wang Jiu to death and knelt before the statue in his place. He remembered that when Xu Yintian was reborn as the Duke of Chunshan, it was a stormy night. It was clearly not that time yet, but he had plenty of time to wait.

However, some invisible force belonging to the story seems to have begun to activate.

The thick substance didn't take long to settle.

The second night was a stormy night. A bolt of lightning struck the dilapidated temple, cutting his palm as he pressed it against the statue. The next moment, he heard the statue speak.

It calls itself Lord Chunshan.

After that, everything seemed to fall into place naturally.

Shen Chou replaced Wang Jiu, the protagonist of that book, and became involved with Chunshan Gong, helping him to restore his power and expand his family's influence. To this end, he deliberately encountered Shen Zhuan, went to the Shen family, and used the Shen family's power to expand Chunshan Gong's family's influence under the guise of traveling as a merchant.

Just as the book describes how Chunshan Gong loved Wang Jiu's Yin-Yang body, he was unable to resist him and was even willing to share his divine power with him after he gradually recovered.

There is no loyalty between a human and a god. Shen Chou, believing he has taken Wang Jiu's place, follows Wang Jiu's example and accepts all comers. However, others are ultimately mortals, unlike Chunshan Gong.

"In the future, all the gods will sleep with me. Just wait, just wait..." Shen Chou comforted himself in this way, feeling empty and dissatisfied.

Later, Shen Chou unintentionally learned about the events between Shen Zhuan and his grandfather back then. He was just looking for an excuse to seize the Shen family's wealth, and upon hearing this, he immediately beamed with joy and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. However, Lord Chunshan was cautious and only agreed to Shen Chou's suggestion to first plant a seed in Shen Mingxin's heart as a test, and wait for the rest.

After confirming that Shen Xiangjun was unharmed, Shen Chou was about to take action, but before anything could happen, Shen Zhuan approached and told him about the birth hair. Shen Chou was terrified and dared not move.

As it turned out, it seemed that the heavens were on his side. In the blink of an eye, Xu Ming arrived. After Shen Chou lured Xu Ming into bed, he was no longer afraid. He used the little bit of divine power from Lord Chunshan to draw out the suicidal thoughts that had been buried deep in Shen Zhuan's heart when Princess Luzhu was entangled with him.

Everything seemed to be going really smoothly.

However, this smooth sailing changed on the morning when the hundred-foot-tall blue Dharma image appeared in Yu County.

Shen Chou was filled with anxiety. In Wang Jiu's book, Wang Jiu slept with all the gods in the world, but there was none of them named Shen Xiangjun. That's why he didn't regard her as a god. But what should he do now?

Things spiraled out of Shennong's control.

At the end of the war between the three gods, he revealed that this world was a book, a means to survive. Xu Ming brought him back and often asked him about it. He wanted to say something, but what could he possibly say? That the book was full of love stories?

What Xu Ming wanted to know—Shen Xiangjun's background, weaknesses, and the like—was not mentioned at all in the book!

It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's that I have nothing to say.

He longed for his physical body to recover quickly so that he could once again demonstrate his prowess in bed. He was confident that in this world, no one could resist him, who was superior to Wang Jiu.

In that book, Xu Ming was cold and unlikable, yet he was willing to kneel down and kiss Wang Jiu's toes just to get a glance from him. If Xu Ming could do that, what couldn't he do? Shen Chou, who had never suffered a defeat in the past, had never even considered the possibility of failure. Even if Xu Ming valued his secret, it certainly couldn't outweigh his love for him as a person.

However, this is not the case.

Tonight, his mind, which had been clouded by erotic novels for twelve years, seemed to finally wake up.

But he was already dead.

The memories displayed by the soul have come to an end.

Xu Ming stopped, his eyes vacant, the last trace of shock and resentment quickly dissipating, and he fell to the ground like a lump of rotten flesh, his soul shattered, and he was no more.

"Useless trash!"

Xu Ming never expected that the "heavenly book" he had been looking forward to was actually just an erotic novel.

In the past, this harvest wouldn't have been disappointing, since although it was all about bedroom descriptions, it also contained many of the gods' secrets. However, now His main concern was Shen Xiangjun, but the "heavenly book" that Chen Chou was talking about didn't contain any of it.

Even though Xu Ming was not prone to anger, a hint of rage flickered in his chest at this moment.

He rose, flicked his sleeve, and was about to leave to continue dealing with the turmoil in the incense and faith that had arisen from the Xiling incident, which was causing him considerable distress. But as soon as he took a step, Xu Ming suddenly stopped.

In the darkness, something seemed to descend from heaven and earth, like a giant mountain's restraint, striking His body.

"Hmm!"

Xu Ming let out a muffled groan and suddenly knelt down. If he had not been granted a divine mandate by heaven and earth, this single act of rejection from heaven and earth would have taken his life.

"How...could this be!"

Xu Ming was both shocked and furious, not knowing what had happened or why the Nine Provinces Heaven and Earth were suppressing and rejecting him. But subconsciously, he raised his hand and grabbed at the heavy corpse.

He just died; if he wanted to, he could still be saved...

However, just as Xu Ming was about to touch the dense corpse, a wisp of pure energy seemed to finally break free from some kind of restraint from heaven and earth, and exploded with a bang.

The thick corpse and the last remaining trace of its soul were instantly blasted into dust.

Xu Ming's hand froze, and with a "whoosh," he spat out a mouthful of golden blood.

The Tianzun Temple in Shenzhao Kingdom, the only nine-zhang-tall golden statue of a deity in the world, suddenly developed a crack.

It's barely noticeable, but it's right there between the eyebrows.

...

If Chu Shenxiang knew what had happened between Xu Ming and Shen Chou, perhaps she could use her experience as a modern person who had read countless works of literature and art to tell Xu Ming that this was probably the backlash He had to suffer for killing the Heavenly Dao's own son.

Compared to Wang Jiu, who could be easily killed by a stone, Chen Chou was clearly the protagonist favored by this world.

That so-called "heavenly book" guided Shen Chou to kill the original protagonist who had transmigrated and to seize Wang Jiu's future; it could be considered a cheat code.

Unfortunately, Chu Shenxiang is currently unaware of everything regarding Shenzhao.

The pure energy that was taken from Shen Zhuan by Princess Lu Zhu and then fell into Shen Chou's hands was merely a spontaneous eruption.

At present, Chu Shenxiang has many affairs in Yu County, but the only one he really needs to pay attention to is Shen Mingxin.

The difficulty in condensing the divine embryo has been resolved, and the method of refining the spirit has been perfected, so there is no need to worry about it anymore.

The transmission of the Dharma is currently only an experiment, and everything is being carried out in secret without much fanfare. To the outside world, it is only said that Shenxiangjun is recruiting believers. Although Xiling County finds his method of recruiting believers strange, it does not dare to say anything and only cooperates fully.

Those who can enter the temple have all passed the test of the causal array, and there is no need to worry about their character.

In this process, Chu Shenxiang only needed to open up a suitable Taoist temple on Wangqiu Mountain, transmit the Dharma with her divine sense, and then create a connection between heaven and earth, embedding talismans into the temple. It was not much trouble at all.

As for rituals such as invoking the gods, they can be handled with a single thought of the divine, and there's nothing to do about it.

Compared to Xu Ming's hectic schedule, Chu Shenxiang was quite relaxed.

However, Chu Shenxiang still felt he wasn't free enough. If he could, he wished he could keep a close eye on Shen Mingxin every single hour of the day.

Of course, this wasn't some twisted possessiveness, but rather, in Chu Shenxiang's view, Shen Mingxin had been acting strangely lately.

That night, after examining Shen Zhuan's body, Chu Shenxiang told Shen Mingxin about her suspicions. Shen Mingxin didn't say anything, just nodded, thanked her, and then immediately began to take care of Shen Zhuan's funeral arrangements without even going to sleep.

Shen Zhuan said to keep everything simple, so Shen Mingxin didn't hold a grand ceremony. He only kept vigil for Shen Zhuan for seven days, and after that, he scattered his ashes into the Yu River. After that, he acted as if nothing had happened, going about his business as usual—eating, sleeping, and cultivating—without shedding a single tear.

Chu Shenxiang stayed by his side, her worry growing with each passing moment.

He warned Shen Mingxin, who simply replied, "Brother, rest assured. Life is full of partings and reunions. I will not wallow in sorrow. I only hope to quickly achieve mastery of my cultivation and take revenge."

Chu Shenxiang looked into those eyes, her heart sinking. She could only keep her eyes on him with her divine sense at all times.

As the days went by, Shen Mingxin did indeed focus solely on cultivation, just as he had said, and there was nothing unusual about him.

But Chu Shenxiang still dared not relax.

Three months passed in this way, and then heavy snow fell, and the twelfth lunar month was approaching.

Shen Mingxin happily reported that he had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm and was about to break through.

As night fell, Chu Shenxiang personally protected him and watched him break through to the next level.

Shen Mingxin had a solid foundation, so breaking through to the next realm was not difficult for him.

Just as everything seemed to be falling into place, and he was about to pass the Foundation Establishment stage and achieve the next realm of Golden Embryo established by Chu Shenxiang, a muffled groan suddenly rang out.

Shen Mingxin suddenly opened her eyes, which were bloodshot.