Xu Ling has time-traveled again.
Why add "again"? Clearly, this is her second time traveling through time.
In her previous life, Xu Ling was a miserable senior high school student. If working a regular job is like 886 (working long hours), then in order to get into university, she was comparable to 007 (a high-flying detective).
Finally, the college entrance exam was over. She refused to go out and have fun, choosing instead to sleep all day. Then, when she woke up, the world had changed.
She traveled through time.
Fortunately, she transmigrated into the body of a god. Unfortunately, she transmigrated into the body of the Goddess of Fertility.
It's like in TV dramas, where in ancient times, if someone couldn't have a child, they would go to the temple to pray to the gods for a child.
Well, at least the Goddess of Fertility is a goddess, and one with divine power at that. She comforted herself that at least she no longer needed to study hard and could just laze around.
And so, as a minor deity, unnoticed by anyone, Xu Ling lived happily for over a hundred years. At that time, she had no idea that even among immortals, competition was fierce.
As the spring breeze of reform swept across the land, human society flourished with vitality, changing rapidly. Even the corrupt Heavenly Court, unchanged for thousands of years, began to seek a change.
Yes, that's right. In order to build a modern new Heavenly Court, the Heavenly Emperor has begun to promulgate new regulations. The main point of the new regulations is: The Heavenly Court will not tolerate idle gods!
The promulgation of the new regulations was originally dispensable to Xu Ling. Although she was a low-ranking deity—the Goddess of Fertility—to be honest, granting children wasn't something that could be done immediately by simply praying to her. In modern terms, it was somewhat mystical, and sometimes even gods couldn't help. Therefore, she continued to maintain her lifestyle of the past hundred years, occasionally retreating to her own little corner to sleep.
The darkness before the college entrance exam left a deep shadow on her, causing her to become addicted to sleeping now.
That day, she was drifting off to sleep as usual when an uninvited guest arrived at her door.
"Fairy Xu Ling, Shui Xian, a maidservant of the Queen Mother of the West, requests an audience."
The Queen Mother of the West—her direct superior—cannot be offended. Similarly, one cannot offend those around their superior.
Xu Ling sighed, then waved her hand and arrived at the gate of the mansion. What made her happiest since becoming a god was possessing immortal arts; with a mere wave of her hand, she could teleport and instantly cleanse herself—it was fantastic for her!
Xu Ling's residence in the Heavenly Court was a small two-courtyard house. Although small, it had all the necessary facilities, and since she lived alone, it was more than enough for her.
Standing at the gate of the mansion, she waved her hand, and with a creak, the gate opened.
Three people stood at the doorway. The woman in the lead, dressed in a light pink ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), was holding a stack of items. The other two, dressed in pale yellow ruqun, stood on either side of her, clearly indicating that the woman in the middle was the leader.
As the gates opened, Shui Xian entered in single file with two other maids. She curtsied before Xu Ling and presented what she was carrying: "Now, this is what the Queen Mother of the West asked us to bring. Please take a look, Fairy."
In Narcissus's hands were stacks of blue-bound books, resembling ancient books from Xu Ling's previous life. Curious, she picked up the top document and opened it to read.
What comes into view is—the ranking of child delivery performance.
Xu Ling was completely bewildered. She had always thought that she was the only Goddess of Fertility, but it turned out that the Goddess of Fertility was just a title, and each region had a different one. She scrolled down to find her name, and only at the very end did she find the name Xu Ling, circled in red.
Xu Ling looked puzzled, pointed to her own name, and asked Shui Xian, "What does this mean?"
Narcissus subtly explained, "You may not know that I've been recuperating lately, but since the Heavenly Emperor issued the new regulations, everyone has been improving their work. Therefore, Your Highness learned from the human system and created this ranking to motivate everyone." The implication was that while other gods were competing fiercely, she was taking advantage of the situation and has now been caught.
"Fairy, there's one more."
Narcissus raised both hands, indicating that she should take another document.
Xu Ling then picked up the other document from Shui Xian's hand, and her eyes fell upon the words "Transfer Order." She looked at it carefully and understood that it meant that she, Xu Ling, had not repented or made any progress under the new regulations. In order to set a new example, she was now being sent to exchange ideas with the West for a period of two years, with the hope that she would achieve results as soon as possible.
Of course, the West here does not refer to the Buddha of the Western Paradise, but to the Western papal gods.
The transfer order concluded by telling her to study hard and strive to achieve something before returning.
"Damn it!" she couldn't help but curse inwardly. Was this some kind of exile? Why would a god need to be sent on an overseas mission?
However, no matter how unwilling she was, she was still packed up and sent there.
In order to return to Heaven as soon as possible, she has to perform well and work hard this time.
Zeus, the chief god of the West, didn't make things difficult for her. He allocated her a region and said that as long as the birth rate increased, he would immediately send her back. Actually, people quite disliked her!
In her first year, Xu Ling did nothing but diligently learn the local language. After all, she couldn't understand the language, and she figured she wouldn't understand if people prayed to her.
The following year, Xu Ling was finally able to understand, but another problem arose: no one was praying to her! Those Europeans and Americans in the West didn't believe in Chinese gods!
Who said that "foreign monks chant better sutras"? Nobody prays to her; how can she work properly?
She was heartbroken, then numb. This world is awful! Let's just keep giving up!
And so, after dragging on until the end of the second year, Zeus, expressionless, took her back to the heavens.
Faced with the Queen Mother of the West's disappointed gaze, Xu Ling silently lowered her head. She didn't want things to turn out this way either!
Finally, the Queen Mother of the West punished her, demoting her to the position of Earth Goddess for one hundred years. In addition, she retained the position of Goddess of Fertility. This is equivalent to someone now having to do two jobs, and if they don't do them well, they have to take on even more.
Okay, she accepted. But the most important thing now was for her to go back and get some rest; she missed her soft bed.
Lying in bed, covered by a soft, cloud-like blanket, Xu Ling sighed comfortably, then drifted off to sleep. When she groggily woke up, she found the world had changed again.
Simply put, she had time-traveled again. She couldn't help but think angrily: Are they just going to make things difficult for her by sleeping with her like this?
However, grief and indignation were useless; she still needed to see where she was now.
Xu Ling looked around. Within a radius of several hundred miles around her, the land was desolate, the ground was cracked, and there wasn't even a single weed. It was quiet all around, and she couldn't hear any sound, not even the wind.
That's a bit strange.
She looked at her hands and felt that her divine power was still there. Then she turned around and floated to a place a thousand miles away from where she had been. The surrounding land was as dry and cracked as before, and she still could not see any living creatures.
What kind of hellish place is this? This question kept swirling in Xu Ling's mind.
[Beep—Host binding in progress. Binding complete 20%...50%...99%, binding complete!]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com