Shi Feiyang had refined nine mother demons; next, he needed to nurture and feed them to grow them. At the right ti, they were to bear demon embryos and give birth to child demons. Only then would the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon be considered truly refined. However, to make them grow quickly, they would have to be fed a large amount of fresh flesh and blood. Since Shi Feiyang didn’t have any urgent matters to attend to after refining this set of demons, he decided to set them aside for the ti being and let them grow slowly.
He had spent over nine hundred days at Gupo Ridge, during which, apart from taking care of Shi Longgu, he also cultivated his Daoist Techniques. He practiced both the He Sha Book and the Chi You Three Disks Scripture, especially Guang Chengzi’s Heavenly Book, which he never neglected. Now, the yin residue in his Nascent Soul was diminishing while the yang energy was growing stronger.
During this short period, he danced with demons day and night, as if living in Hell. Just a mont of negligence could lead to being possessed by demons. If his Dao Level had been lower, he would have been influenced by the nine demon embryos inside Shi Longgu’s belly, affecting his mind. Even if he didn’t beco her puppet, he could have beco demonized, going mad and dying.
In the end, he even experienced a Heavenly Tribulation, repelling over a thousand otherworldly Heavenly Demons by himself. Although he was undergoing tribulation on behalf of soone else, making the effect sowhat diminished, the process truly helped to refine his Nascent Soul.
In two and a half years, his Daoist power had advanced by leaps and bounds, gaining more than ten tis what he would have achieved through constant and diligent cultivation at ho.
Leaving Gupo Ridge, he sent Flying Sword Transmissions to Ling Hun and Jiang Shu, then returned to Bitter Bamboo Temple.
The third swordfight was approaching. Each of the three swordfights grew in scale, originally a dispute between the Ei and Wutai Sects, but the third ti, it was defined by the Ei Sect as a battle between good and evil.
Both sides widely invited experts, involving more people, essentially becoming a grand battle among the immortals of the Shushan World. Accompanied by the collective tribulations of the South Sea Earth Immortals, the spiritual energy then began to deplete. Those who could ascend had already done so, leaving the rest to grow weaker. In a few years, the Seven Cultivation Swords would rely beco slightly sharper weapons of the Mortal World.
Now, due to the Taiyin Hunyuan Ancestor not being dead, the ti for the third swordfight had been greatly advanced. Since the preliminary preparations were lacking, the scale might be smaller, but the ti of great chaos in the world was drawing nearer.
He must support the Snow Mountain Sect and Qingcheng Sect before that happened!
Back at the temple, he summoned each of his disciples to check on their progress. When he had taken on disciples initially, he seed to be indiscriminate. In reality, he had already calculated everything beforehand. Disciples like Deng Bagu, Huo Wuhai, Lin Han, and Shi Sheng, with their spiritual roots, comprehension, and accumulated cultivation from the past, were all profoundly strong. Not only were they unlikely to "fall from the path," but they could also diligently work hard, requiring little supervision from him.
After reviewing their progress, he sent Long ng and Wu Longzi back to Outer Heaven Divine Mountain first, with a letter for the Heavenly Official, Jin Xunu, to start preparing so matters.
Ganoderma Immortal, Ling Xi, the Beauty Serpent, and the Single-Horned God Lin, as well as the elven pets and Immortal Grass Spiritual dicine collected from the Central Earth over the years, were all to be taken back and delivered to the West Coast, handed over to the three Mo Zhui brothers.
He also wrote a letter to Mo Zhui, assigning their respective destinations: Ganoderma Immortal and Ling Xi were to stay and live playfully with Mo Zhui, while the Immortal Grass Spiritual dicine was to be planted by them in a suitable place. The remaining demon beasts like the Beauty Serpent were to be released into the wild in the southern mountainous areas for them to find food and survive on their own.
With the letters in hand, the two Great Demons left. They couldn’t pass through the Aurora Fire either and had to head for the North Sea first to traverse the Earth Axis from Wuding Island at the North Pole.
Soon, Ling Hun and Cui Wugu arrived with two disciples, the True Master Bai Shui, Liu Quan, and Seven Stars True Master Zhao Guangdou.
Before Shi Feiyang could welco them into the house, Jiang Shu also arrived with his three disciples, Yang Xu, Chen Taizhen, and Hu Yanxian.
Shi Feiyang invited them into the great hall and said to Jiang Shu, "Last ti, I promised to help you find disciples and accumulate rit and virtue together. You want to establish the Qingcheng Sect, and Ling wants to establish the Snow Mountain Sect. It’s perfect for us to do this together."
Ling Hun asked, "In your letter, you ntioned you were going to lead us in a great act of rit that could make the Snow Mountain Sect thrive for at least a hundred years. What is it?"
Shi Feiyang’s expression turned solemn, "Based on my calculations, the rise and fall of yin and yang energies have reached a period where yin thrives and yang weakens. The world is beginning to cool. In a few years, regions south of the Yangtze River in Central Earth will see snow and ice. When that happens, crops in the north will fail completely, bringing a great disaster!"
Ling Hun and Cui Wugu exchanged a look, not expecting Shi Feiyang to speak of this.
Jiang Shu said, "Are we going to reverse yin and yang to warm the world again?"
Shi Feiyang laughed, "According to my calculations, during the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns period, yang was in excess and yin was deficient, making the climate warm and humid. The area around the Yellow River even had elephants and rhinoceros. During the Shun and Yu period, yin was in excess and yang was deficient, leading to a cooler climate and frequent disasters. During the Xia and Shang period, it ward up again. In the East Zhou period, it cooled down; in the Qin and Han period, it ward; during the Wei and Jin, it cooled,
during the Tang and Song, it ward; during the Five Dynasties and Yuan, it cooled; in the early Ming Dynasty, it ward again, and now it’s cooling once more. These fluctuations in yin and yang cannot be changed by human efforts. Although we can’t flip the heaven and earth, we can prevent disasters from happening on a smaller scale, and by doing so, save countless lives. This kind of rit trumps roaming Jianghu, fighting for justice and supporting the weak."
Ling Hun and Jiang Shu, being Taoists removed from worldly affairs, did not understand the managent of a state, "Matters of the state relate to fate and should not be ddled with lightly, because they involve too many people. If things go well, all is good, but if they go poorly, the karmic entanglent of all living beings could be disastrous. Even with good intentions, countless people could suffer, making it impossible to cultivate good deeds, only creating boundless evil karma."
This is the difference between the Dao of The Three Pure Ones and the Dao of the Three Emperors.
Shi Feiyang said, "Having cultivated for hundreds of years as Sword Immortals, how can you be so timid? Regardless, this is sothing I am going to do. You just decide whether you’re with or not."
Jiang Shu was the first to express his stance, utterly trusting Shi Feiyang. Even if there was a pitfall ahead, he was willing to jump in after Shi Feiyang.
Ling Hun and Cui Wugu looked at each other, then also agreed to join in. He, too, had pride, and couldn’t afford to be underestimated in this matter.
Together, the four of them discussed the upcoming famine. The root cause was the cooling climate, with the direct cause being insufficient food production due to reduced crops.
A colder climate would entail a series of natural disasters, including decreased rainfall, among others.
Shi Feiyang said, "I possess the True Water of Heaven, and my idea is to fill the region from the Heaven Mountains in the north to the Kunlun Mountains in the south, from Kashgar in the west to Yun Pass in the east with water, transforming this vast desert into a great lake. With a water source here, the temperature difference in the surrounding area will decrease, leading to warr winters and cooler sumrs, as well as increased humidity. The northwest will be free from drought for at least a century."
Ling Hun, Cui Wugu, and Jiang Shu were all stunned by his idea.
Ling Hun slamd the table, "You’re planning to subrge the ancient thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions?"
"Now, what thirty-six kingdoms? Those are tales from years gone by; it’s all desert there now, with only a handful of oases inhabited by people."
Jiang Shu hadn’t recovered from the shock, and Ling Hun kept shaking his head, "No, no, even within the Hanhai Desert there are countless creatures. If you pour vast amounts of water there... Not to ntion whether you have that much water or if we have the power, such a cataclysmic flood would lead to boundless killing karma."
"I never said I would fill the basin in a single day. I plan to complete it over sixty years, a full sexagenary cycle. The creatures will find their own suitable habitats."
A sexagenary cycle, which might be a lifeti for ordinary mortals, is neither long nor short for sword immortals, who live for hundreds of years.
Ling Hun still shook his head, finding the plan unreliable and truly unwilling to get involved.
"If you don’t want to do it, I’ll do it myself. Even if only one-third gets filled, it will permanently solve the drought problem in the northwest."
Then, Shi Feiyang produced a second proposal, "I have an abundance of True Sun Fire at my disposal, allowing to raise the temperature by scattering True Fire in the northern regions each year when solar energy wanes, and when water is scarce, I can use the True Water of Heaven to induce rainfall, blessing the land far and wide."
Ling Hun could accept this plan, and he nodded his agreent.
"Then there’s the food issue. Aside from natural disasters, there are man-made calamities. In the future, the human world may face food shortages. On Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, crops yield harvest five tis a year and a single grain can grow over three feet long. I’ll transport food to Central Earth to stabilize prices and alleviate famine."
Ling Hun said, "That could work, but to support the famine of millions, tens of millions, how much grain needs to be transported? Over a protracted period, how will it be moved?"
"I’ve thought about that too. I plan to build hundred-foot-long ships, at least two fleets, specifically to trade between Outer Heaven Divine Mountain and Central Earth, traversing the South Sea."
The three were speechless, and after a long silence, Ling Hun finally spoke with a pained expression, "Your thods sound... feasible, but there’s sothing so unsettling about them."
"Currently, I have these three strategies to alleviate the famine and save countless lives. If you really think they’re no good, you don’t have to participate."
"Our Qingcheng Sect will definitely devote all our efforts to make this happen!"
Ling Hun also said with a smile, "Since we’re here, we definitely won’t back out at this point."
Shi Feiyang outlined three tasks in total, with each household taking on one. He let them choose first between the two.
Both Ling Hun and Jiang Shu wanted to take on the second task of "Fire Rain."
Shi Feiyang didn’t compete with them for it, and handed a bottle of True Sun Fire to Ling Hun and a bottle of True Water of Heaven to Jiang Shu.
While these two matters sound simple, they are anything but.
True Sun Fire is an essence extracted and condensed from the sunlight, packed into a liquid form and sealed within a crystal bottle.
Just a drop unfolding could cause the temperature within a hundred-mile radius to shift from the bone-chilling cold to a blistering furnace, igniting vegetation and lting tals.
And given the vast expanse of the Central Earth Continent, with varying hot and cold areas and swiftly changing damp, cold weather, it requires a deep understanding of mathematics and Yin Yang, detailed and ticulous calculations prior to performing any technique.
Water is similar, as it flows on land, descending from high to low ground. While it may seem to rain evenly over an area, the higher ground could dry quickly while the valleys flood, rging hundreds of streams and inundating nurous fields.
Both require a profound knowledge of astronomy and geography, and years of experience from immortals highly skilled in the Dao. Acting on instinct alone without careful consideration, as Ling Hun said, would not only fail to be ritorious but would also result in catastrophic disasters.
Without waiting for the Heavenly Tribulation, those from the Orthodox Sects would intervene, and perhaps even kill them in order to accumulate rit.
With these tasks assigned to the other two families, the remaining two were left to Shi Feiyang to accomplish. Although both were enormous undertakings, with many hands to help, it wasn’t too difficult for him.
Once completed, his rit would be imasurable—far beyond what Ei and the Buddhist sects could imagine, and with the Secret Demon Divine Shuttle, no one would dare touch him.
However, there are many hardships along the way. A single misstep could lead to well-intentioned acts causing disaster, not to ntion the risk of sabotage by enemies, requiring well-thought-out planning.
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