Chapter 224 Gu Shaoxuan: I have prepared for the worst

Ji Ruo specifically asked Bai Mao whether it was necessary to kowtow when worshiping her.

After all, in Ji Ruo's memory, whether it was worshiping the dead or praying to gods and Buddhas, kowtow was required.

In most people's impressions, burning incense and kowtowing refer to the same behavior.

But the white cat said no. After integrating into the statue of the God of Land, she understood many things. She naturally knew that humans would kowtow when believers burned incense, worshiped and prayed.

But that's because some people think that kowtowing when burning incense and praying will make them appear more sincere.

It is said that sincerity is the key to success. Since we burn incense and pray, we naturally hope that our wishes can be fulfilled by the gods.

So over time, burning incense and kowtowing gradually became equated.

But in reality there is no special necessary connection between these two behaviors. People who kowtow are not necessarily more pious than those who do not kowtow, but those who kowtow, at least when they kowtow, have stronger faith in their hearts.

Therefore, kowtow actually only serves to assist worship. It is optional to kowtow or not. The so-called worship of God essentially follows the basic rule that if you believe, you will have it, and if you don’t believe, you won’t have it.

Ji Ruo also breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be good if he could not kowtow. After all, Dabai is his pet now. As the owner, why should he have to kowtow to the white cat every time he wants to ask for help?

It’s better not to kowtow…

…

Hu Yonglin had a strange look on his face. He was choked by Ji Ruo's seemingly unusually awkward way of changing the subject - yes, Hu Yonglin thought Ji Ruo was changing the subject.

Indeed, now is not the time to chat. The order from above is urgent. Before 8 o'clock in the morning, all the villagers of Babaozhai must evacuate. We cannot waste time on such meaningless things.

However, what he didn't expect was that after Ji Ruo mentioned the 'Landlord of Babao Village', some villagers actually looked thoughtful.

A villager suddenly said, "When I fell asleep just now, I seemed to have dreamed about the Landlord. In the dream, the Landlord seemed to have called us to a village meeting and told us that the damaged crops had been restored by Him and that we didn't have to worry... Before I had time to sleep for a while, my wife woke me up and came over after putting on some clothes..."

Hu Yonglin was a little surprised. What a coincidence?

When they went out to provide support earlier, they met Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian who had returned before they reached the farmland, so they didn't know that the crops in the fields had been restored.

Another villager who was injured but not seriously suddenly said, "Huh? You dreamed too? I thought it was just me. The land god told me not to worry about my injuries and that he could take care of them so I wouldn't feel so bad... After I woke up, my injuries didn't hurt that much anymore. I thought it was just a psychological effect."

"I had a dream too... I haven't been to the land temple for a long time. Does the land god of our village have a cat's head? It's pretty good-looking..."

Luo Xi nodded seriously: "Meow~ (Of course not, don't you see whose sister she is.)"

Everyone started talking at once, and soon the topic completely turned to "The Land God might really be effective" and "Why does the Land God have a cat's head".

Hu Yonglin was a little confused.

He subconsciously glanced at Ji Ruo. It might be a coincidence that one or two people dreamed about the Land God, but so many people dreamed about it, and it seemed that they really got help from the Land God... Could it be that the Land God really existed? !

However, Ji Ruo is not a native of Babao Village, so how did he know about this? And it seems that Ji Ruo didn't have a chance to sleep just now!

Aren’t mountain gods and land gods feudal superstitions?

Hu Yonglin looked confused.

"Ji Ruo, is there really a landowner?"

Ji Ruo smiled mysteriously: "It's hard for me to say, Brother Hu, if you believe it, it's there, if you don't believe it, it's not there."

Hu Yonglin seemed to be thinking about something, but before he could ask any more questions, Ji Ruo turned around and greeted the villagers.

"Everyone, let's talk about worshipping the land god later. Let's go back and pack our bags first."

"That's right, now is not the time to talk about this." The village chief nodded, waved to the villagers, and said, "Everyone, go home and pack your things quickly. We will leave in an hour at most. Don't cause trouble for Xiao Hu and the others."

Niu Li's mother had woken up and reluctantly accepted the fact. She pulled Niu Li and thanked Ji Ruo.

Niu Li tightly grasped the slingshot Ji Ruo gave him, feeling the inexplicable familiarity. He took one last look at Niu Dabao's coffin and said to Ji Ruo in all seriousness, "Teacher Ji, my mother and I are going back to pack our bags. Goodbye, Teacher!"

Ji Ruo smiled and said, "Well, do you need help?"

"No, I'm a man! I can do it!"

"Okay, bye then."

The villagers left one after another, and when they left, they were still discussing the matter about the landowner in a low voice.

Ji Ruo said: "Brother Hu, I will leave first~"

"Okay..." Hu Yonglin was still confused, and suddenly heard Ji Ruo say, "Luo Xi, why don't you say goodbye to Brother Hu? How rude."

Luo Xi squatted on Ji Ruo's shoulder and meowed. Then she turned her head and waved her paw at Hu Yonglin, and stuck out her tongue and made a face.

Hu Yonglin was stunned for a moment.

As if he suddenly realized something, he stepped forward and grabbed a villager who was about to leave, and asked, "Fellow villagers, does the landowner of our village really have a cat's head?"

"Yes." The villager nodded, and then tried to recall: "But it didn't seem to be like this before... I can't remember clearly. Although the current land god has a cat head, it feels quite good-looking, and seems to be very effective..."

Hu Yonglin pressed on: "What kind of cat is it? Although it may be a little abrupt, I want to ask, is that cat similar to the one Ji Ruo has been carrying around?"

"Ji Ruo's black cat?" The villager recalled carefully, then shook his head and said, "No, the landlord's cat has a pure white head and lush hair. Although Ji Ruo's black cat looks very smart, it is obviously just a kitten that has not grown up!"

"Is that so..." Hu Yonglin thought thoughtfully.

The villager thought for a moment and then said, "By the way, Brother Hu, can I ask you for a favor?"

"What is it? Tell me."

"That's right, after we leave, can you spare some time to help repair the land temple in the village? To be honest, even the people in our village rarely go there, but after this incident, the land god helped so much, if we don't do something, it would be a bit unreasonable...

It’s just that we are leaving now and may not be able to come back in a short time, so I would like to ask you...

Of course, I also roughly know that you are staying here to deal with something, which must be a very dangerous matter anyway, so I just casually said that you should repair the land temple. If you can, I will help you repair it. If not, it’s okay.”

Hu Yonglin was silent for a moment: "Lord Land, does it really exist? Is it an illusion or something?"

The villager was stunned for a moment and said, "I don't know whether it's an illusion or not, but it's not a big deal to believe it, right? We won't suffer any loss."

"That's true..."

…

Deep underground, Gu Shaoxuan sat cross-legged on the back of a fallen star-level ant, allowing it to carry him through the tunnel at a high speed.

Gu Shaoxuan closed his eyes slightly, and the energy and blood in his body circulated like a rushing river.

Not only that, its muscles and bones resonate, emitting a muffled sound like thunder, and its outer skin gradually becomes dry and hard, and then breaks and falls off, revealing the new pink and fair skin underneath.

"call!"

Gu Shaoxuan exhaled a long breath of foul air, the white air extended more than three feet, like a sword of air, condensed and not dispersing.

His injuries were completely healed, and his strength even temporarily surpassed his peak state, almost entering the fourth realm of martial arts - the Golden Body Realm!

This is a powerful technique hidden in the "Hell's Rebirth Sutra". Its name "Rebirth" means "reincarnation". It has extremely strong side effects and can only be used once in a lifetime. Moreover, it is impossible to make any progress afterwards. It is called "reincarnation", but in fact it is overdrawing future potential. At the cost of overdrawing all "future potential", a "present rebirth" is created.

Gu Shaoxuan certainly knew the price, but he did not hesitate too much.

He was running out of time. The dream he had been pursuing for half his life finally saw hope of coming true, and he couldn't wait any longer.

As a member of Da Xia, although he has not returned to the country for many years, he is very clear about how strong the collective sense of honor of the people of Da Xia is - once Ji Ruo and Liang Shixian report his plan to the garrison warriors, then this news, whether true or false, will be known to the top leaders of Da Xia at the fastest speed.

By then, the higher-ups will send warriors of the fourth or even fifth realm, and he will no longer have a chance.

"... Worst case scenario, reinforcements will arrive tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Now is the best time. I still have some time to act... I don't want to kill anyone..."

Gu Shaoxuan's eyes turned cold, 'Rebirth' was still squeezing his future potential. His strength level was rising rapidly, and he had already reached the critical point of the Xingxuan realm. He was only one step away from being able to use the Qi channels as muscles and bones, the Xingxuan as acupoints, and the martial arts essence as flesh and blood to build a martial arts golden body of his own!

Originally, he planned to slowly search for the place where the secret realm descended, and then force it to descend through a fantasy creation he obtained abroad. This method is the most reliable, and he does not have to overdraw his future.

But he had never expected that someone would be so bored as to run to an ant nest dozens of kilometers outside the border to play role-playing games!

What the hell!

It was impossible to say that Gu Shaoxuan was not angry, but there was no point in being angry now.

"It's alright, it doesn't matter. Sorry, fellow villagers of Babao Village, just be the sacrifices for the coming of the secret realm. After the underworld comes, I will find a way to make you reappear in the human world as ghosts..."

The construction of the martial arts golden body has reached the final stage, and Gu Shaoxuan's heart is becoming calmer.

There is no turning back.

The ant queen beneath him, which had already degenerated into a three-star ant, felt the increasingly strong martial arts pressure on his back. The fear in his heart became more and more intense, and his arthropod-like legs made a creaking sound as he could not bear the heavy burden.

But she didn't dare stop, for she was afraid that she would go to the eighteenth level of hell after her death.

suddenly--

The Queen Ant sensed the remaining white devil ant pheromones and quickly used her mental power to send a message to Gu Shaoxuan: "My Lord, we have arrived."

"Are we there? Great."

Gu Shaoxuan suddenly stood up, and a huge black-gold figure carrying a black coffin appeared from outside his body. He stepped on the Queen Ant, who could not bear the burden, and knocked her to the ground - the golden body of martial arts was completed!

Ignoring the wailing of the ant queen, he said coldly: "Let those lowly ants send the five elders away, and don't let them see blood."

"Okay, okay... Sir, please be gentle, I'm about to be stepped on to death..."

…

Inside the Babaozhai Land God Temple.

Ji Xiaoxiao leaned on the slightly shrunk broom, wiped the sweat off her face with the small towel around her neck, and said happily, "Finally, I've finished cleaning. Hi."

The white cat tugged at the linen robe that didn't quite fit him and said, "Thank you, little master. If it were just me cleaning, I don't know how long it would take."

"Oh, why are you being so polite?" Ji Xiaoxiao waved her hands. "You are my old man's pet, so you are my pet. You call me little master, so how can I not help you with such a small matter?"

"My little master is so kind."

"Hehe." Ji Xiaoxiao scratched his head and said, "I'll make you a set of furniture later - my old man is a great inventor now, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to make some furniture."

The white cat was about to continue thanking Ji Xiaoxiao, but suddenly his expression changed and he tilted his ear to listen.

"What's wrong?" Ji Xiaoxiao asked curiously.

The white cat said with some doubt: "It seems that something is coming from underground... Strange, my divine power can't fully sense it. My little master, please wait a moment, I will use the earth walking technique to go down and take a look."

As it spoke, the white cat stepped lightly on the ground with its hind legs, and its entire body merged into the ground and disappeared.

Ji Xiaoxiao smacked his lips and said, "Earth Walking Technique? This is a divine technique, right? It looks quite useful, but I don't know if I can learn it... Forget it, let my old friend learn it. This thing looks very complicated, so I'm too lazy to learn it. When my old friend learns it, I will be able to use it, hehe~"

…

Ji Ruo was helping the villagers pack their luggage in the village, when suddenly, a silver streak of light flashed across the sky in the direction of the territory. The [Sword and Blade] buff made Ji Ruo look up subconsciously - he felt an extremely astonishing sword intent, and even though he had the MAX understanding of swordsmanship, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

The five holy statues radiated golden light and rose into the sky, like signposts welcoming the flowing light.

The boy looked up subconsciously.

"Little Ji Ruo! Did you miss me?"

A voice that sounded very exciting exploded from the sky, and then a colorful stream of light emerged from the silver light, like thunder and lightning, constantly folding in the air and falling to the ground at a rapid speed.

That was Gu Xingzhou’s stunning escape!

The colorful light dissipated, and Gu Xingzhou, who had already returned to his youth, appeared in front of Ji Ruo, laughing heartily.

Ji Ruo asked curiously, "Uncle Gu, why are you here? You are no longer needed to guard the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain?"

"The guy you mentioned before, Gu Shaoxuan, seems to have some connection with my family. I thought it was a bit strange, so I came here... Not only did I come, but you see who I brought with me."

As Gu Xingzhou spoke, he suddenly took out a small diamond-shaped mirror, and poured the martial arts essence condensed from the warrior's spirit and energy into it. A huge blood-red teleportation portal appeared in Babao Village.

Countless branches and wood stick out from it, swaying constantly, as if they are very curious about the outside world.

Between the wood textures of the branches, there are lines of pink substance that resemble tiny blood vessels.

"Jiu~ (Old Tree, hurry up! If you don't want to go out, get out of the way and let me go!)"

"Don't rush me, don't rush me. Why are you in such a hurry?"

The iconic eagle cry and that old but kind voice sounded, and Ji was surprised.

The mountain god Grandpa Mu and Aunt Jinglan are here too?!

The surging evil spirit was released continuously, and the villagers were panicked.

…