"My ancestors did this for your own good. You think replacing the Jade Emperor will fix the immortal realm? Immortals are people who've ascended, and as long as they're human, they can't escape their true nature, which is selfishness and desire. So, it's best you stay with me, chasing girls and making money. That's what's real. If you go fight the immortal realm and get yourself shattered, you'll regret it immensely," Ye Tiancheng said, picking his nose. He had seen through the stone's intentions, so he offered this advice.
"Hmph! One thing at a time. If you want my help, you'll at least have to fulfill my wishes..."
"We'll talk about the future later. I'm practically starving right now," Ye Tiancheng said to the stone, casually tossing away the core of the pear he had finished.
The stone chuckled. "These pear seeds will yield a harvest in a month. Sell them; they're excellent for treating illnesses."
"Really?"
"As the Nuwa Stone... if I didn't have this ability, what the hell kind of Nuwa Stone would I be? One of the Six Ancient Divine Artifacts!"
"Alright, alright, I'm not interested in your glorious history. If what you say is true, I'll be rich!" Ye Tiancheng's eyes were filled with visions of money.
Seeing Ye Tiancheng's expression, the stone was furious.
Unfortunately, it had been imbued with Ye Tiancheng's bloodline, forming a contract. As long as Ye Tiancheng lived, it was bound to endure with him.
"Don't get too excited yet. We need to conceal it. By autumn, the world will be bare. If this pear tree is laden with fruit, ordinary people will think it's a demonic tree, and your plan to get rich will fall through," the stone quickly advised.
Ye Tiancheng picked his nose again. "Right, how did I not think of that?"
"Because you're an idiot with no wisdom, no talent for cultivation, and no grand or magnificent ambitions!"
"Stop spouting nonsense. Follow me, and you'll eat well, chase girls, and have luxury cars and horses... how delightful. Rebelling against the Jade Emperor means losing your head. I'm a coward, damn it!"
"My life is truly bitter!" The stone was speechless. It had missed the chance to mend the sky and, upon gaining a bloodline, found itself bound to such a shortsighted brat.
"The Buddha says—Within the heart, a blessed land; pure and without action. The wondrous Dharma Lotus, three thousand worlds." Ye Tiancheng suddenly recalled a boss's line from a game he played while clearing the final secret realm, and it blurted out of his mouth.
"Pure and without action is Laozi's philosophy, not Buddhism! How did you mix it up?"
"Ask the game developers about that. I don't study this stuff," Ye Tiancheng said, already planning how to build a shelter for the pear tree.
The pear seed he had just discarded had already sprouted a tender new bud.
"Yo-ho! Stone Master, are you really a divine stone?"
"Of course. Why would I lie to you? Cough, cough, of course, I'm the Nuwa Stone. The three hundred and sixty-sixth one."
"Didn't they say the three hundred and sixty-sixth one was lost on Mount Da Huang, Cliff of Unfathomable?"
"Dahe Village is that place. After millions of years, seas have turned into mulberry fields, and mulberry fields have turned into seas... Humanity has also gone through three great ice ages. Your generation is the third generation of humans."
"Are you kidding me?" Ye Tiancheng felt the stone was driving him mad. He didn't want to be a scholar; he just wanted to get rich and marry.
"Rotten wood... cannot be carved!"
"Why carve rotten wood? Make it into braised pork strips; it can emit Yin fire. Stew it for an afternoon, and the pork will be as tender as glutinous rice, an absolute delicacy!" Thinking of this, Ye Tiancheng's mouth watered. He hadn't tasted pork in three years, not since he ate braised pork in the university canteen...
"Alas!" The stone felt defeated.
"What 'alas'? It's decided. As my attached body, you must obey the host's will. My will is to chase girls, make money, get rich, and become someone like Bi'ergai."
"Bi'ergai?"
"Yeah, he's the richest man in the world. I want that throne. When doing business, failure doesn't cost your head. Rebelling against the Jade Emperor is very risky and could lead to eternal damnation... I'm a pig of a person, so I'll live like a pig." Ye Tiancheng didn't want to deal with complicated matters. He preferred to live in the moment, with a beautiful girl in each arm. In Journey to the West, his favorite character was Brother Pigsy—practical, family-oriented, and focused on wealth. Monkey King was always fighting monsters, but he only killed monsters with no connections, essentially bullying the weak. Everyone thought Monkey King was a great hero, but he was just a violent, utterly despicable brute who bullied those without influence.
"A mediocre person! Forget it. Anyway, I, the stone, can live for a very long time, coexisting with heaven and earth. If you die, I'll find someone else with a bloodline, and then I'll be awesome."
"If I die, do whatever you want. Even if you break the sky, I won't see it. This life, I want to live as I please, and you have to accompany me. That's all," Ye Tiancheng said calmly. For him, everything had lost its meaning. Having experienced the fickleness of human nature, what else was there to be attached to? He just wanted to live a better life, to live with dignity. Human dignity comes from money.
Without money, one is worse than pigs and dogs.
"Deep sense of defeat!"
"Heh heh!" Ye Tiancheng felt that once he was stubborn, he wouldn't turn back even if he hit a brick wall. The most fundamental thing in this world is profit. With profit in hand, the world is mine.
Thus, Ye Tiancheng outlined his plans.
"Step one, get revenge on my wife who abandoned me. Step two, build my own commercial empire and make that woman beg me on her knees. Step three, I haven't figured it out yet."
"I can accomplish these things with my toes. For me, a stone, it's not a problem."
"Alright, I'll only use your power at crucial moments. If I rely on you for everything, it loses its flavor," Ye Tiancheng didn't want to be too dependent on the stone.
If he became too dependent, he would be led by the nose by the stone. If this guy tried to force him to do evil deeds, it would be terrible.
"Fine... do whatever you want. By the way, hurry up and cultivate. Once you reach the third level of Qi Condensation, you can pull me out. Then we can roam the mortal world and make a name for ourselves. Following you in this life, I feel like I'm accompanying a dead man..."
"Haha, everyone has their own fortune. A hobbit's fortune is not something intelligent people can understand or comprehend." Kuaishuge
"I..." The stone was furious enough to explode.
"Life is short, everything is like a dream. My life, to you who lives for eternity, is but a blink of an eye. That's why we humans pursue wealth and enjoy life. Such grand ideals are beyond our reach," Ye Tiancheng shook his head.
"Alright, you win!" The stone felt it had lost.
It even doubted whether teaming up with this utterly useless guy to dominate the mortal world would be successful. This kid only wanted to get rich and marry a beautiful woman, while I wanted to cultivate, wield a sword, reach the pinnacle of martial arts, and fight the Jade Emperor...
Who can truly understand fate?
Fate plays tricks on people, it plays tricks on people! There's no other way to explain this helplessness.
He, the stone, was that three hundred and sixty-sixth piece. It was refined by Nuwa back then but not used, and then discarded.
The stone had great spirituality. After millions of years, it had become one with heaven and earth, understanding all mysteries. Humanity had gone through three great ice ages. Three periods of peak glory were all fleeting clouds. Ancient civilizations had been annihilated and became myths. If humanity doesn't cherish the current environment this time and causes another great destruction, it will be the fourth ice age...
This kid is still lost in a daydream. Disaster is imminent. If he could cultivate with me and stay away from the ice age, he could survive.
Isn't surviving good?
Thinking about getting rich, about enjoying life... what's the meaning of such fleeting prosperity?
Humanity is a community. If everyone ceases to exist, what's the point of ascending to the immortal realm alone? That would be a desolate loneliness, like an ice age. What about fleeting prosperity? As long as one has experienced it, as long as one has existed so beautifully, that's enough.
How heaven wants humanity to exist is heaven's will.
Humanity exists like ants. Resistance can only be fierce and cruel, with the price being that only a small portion of people survive. What's the meaning of that? — A hundred flowers blooming in spring is the true beauty.
Going with the flow is not necessarily wrong. The mistake is to stray from one's original intention.
Ye Tiancheng's original intention?
Isn't it just to get rich and enjoy life?
Fleeting beauty, eternal epoch. The cycle of fate, the laws of heaven are clear. So-called cultivation is to remove the false and preserve the true.
"Even as the three hundred and sixty-sixth piece of stone, it seems he hasn't understood," said Ye Huantian from the immortal realm.
The Barefoot Immortal smiled. "You're quite the rascal. I think this stubborn stone will eventually understand."
"Let's hope so. It would also be the elimination of a menace," Ye Huantian said, stroking his sparse goatee.
"It's fine. People's hearts always change. That stone is also spiritual; it's just blinded itself and fallen into narrow thinking. Adversity will make it more adaptable." The Barefoot Immortal said.
"That's a truly beautiful future..."
"The world will not be destroyed. God is with them," the Barefoot Immortal smiled faintly. "The Western Lord God said so. It gave humanity immense faith. The current third generation of humans has a basic grasp of mysteries. Using what they call science, they can now travel to the heavens and the earth. When the great ice age arrives, they should be able to overcome the crisis."
"Yes, that's what I think too," Ye Huantian said.
"Then... shall we go for tea? But we still need to keep an eye on that stone; I'm still not entirely at ease about him," the Barefoot Immortal said.
"I think you're worrying too much. Life is about... if you abandon it, it will find its own path to vitality."
"Why does that sound familiar?"
"I think I saw that in some online novel..." Ye Huantian opened his phone and quickly started searching.
The immortal realm is also a technological era now. Which immortal doesn't have WeChat or QQ?
Although they cannot connect to the internet from the mortal realm, the immortal realm has its own independent network. However, with these advancements, many immortals have become unemployed. For example, Clairvoyance and Clairaudience. These two great immortals are complaining that humans are becoming increasingly powerful, capable of creating things with abilities similar to theirs.