Chapter 601: Keeping Up Appearances

Somewhere in the northern mountain range where land and water merged into one, beautiful scenery stretched out in all directions.

Spring was coming to an end in the third year of Shenyuan. The cold spring breeze blew, sending penetrating chills into everyone’s bones. Yet, it could not stop the enthusiastic hearts of the attendants.

For the experts in history, they might know the ancient name of the mountain—Wolf Mountain.

The “Great Wall” Summit would be here.

Unexpectedly, the venue was not located in China.

The organizer was also smack dab in the eastern wilderness—Cloud Fog City, whose influence radiated toward the multiple countries in its close vicinity. It was not China’s Truth Department as others expected.

At the lakes, the waters ambled on the verge of freezing.

A large crowd of cultivators gathered by the lake. Some of them wore Taoist robes; some of them were in monk’s robes; some wore western suits etcetera.

“Master Ma, it’s been a while since we’ve met. I’ve noticed that your overwhelming aura and darkening hair. You look as vibrant as the Wolf Lake here. Are you already…” Someone greeted an old Taoist priest, clearly in shock.

“Hehe, it is all God’s will. I was only lucky to breakthrough,” said an old Taoist priest humbly. His hair was streaked with a mixture of black and white.

“Of course, Elder Immortal Ma has expelled demons and slain devils for years. Among the cultivators, I’m afraid your status is second only to the Venerable Dragon God. You definitely deserved to be blessed by the Gods. Unquestionably.” When people heard the news, they gathered around him and congratulated him.

The Dragon God had very high standards and disliked socializing with humans. He preferred the company of beasts so not many could get close to him.

Many people tried to present him gifts but to no avail. Even though rumors had it that he was quite the avarice, he had never accepted any forms of gifts or favors due to his identity as a Hero…

On the contrary, the Taoist priest had more relations with the temples. He preferred interacting with people of his kind and therefore, it was easier to befriend him.

Among the multitudinous branches in the Chinese Taoist Alliance, everyone looked up at him as their leader as he had the highest level of cultivation among all of them.

Ma Futian enjoyed being the center of attention like this. While he spoke to all the top masters, he could preach some of his cultivation insights and incite praise from everyone.

All of his efforts spent in cultivation and slaying demons were only for him to promote the previously unknown Mount Indigo Monastery to the world.

Now, it seemed like he achieved his goal.

At least, among the association, the Taoist opinions that he inherited, no matter title or strength, had already greatly exceeded those branches from the famous mountains.

In the association, those purported lineages like Orthodox Unity Faction or Complete Perfection Faction were useless in spite of their various complex cultivation methods.

After recovering their spirit, they thought their factions could be glorious again. Yet, the attempts to pass on their inherited skills turned out futile when they realized that they were not even able to use their spirits and hence, unable to cultivate.

There were only a few cultivation techniques left that were interesting, at the very least. They could cultivate their spiritual sense to build a form of foundation.

Ma Futian was different as his method of cultivation was not inherited. It was obtained when he ventured out and defeated a man-eating devil from the Upper Realm using a myriad of techniques, gaining a secret Upper Realm Taoist Cultivation Ability manual.

The devil was not to be underestimated as well. Similar to the Heaven River God, it fell into the trap set up by Elder Ancestor Bai. Its powers were greatly reduced and gave Master Tao an advantage. After that, he started on his path of cultivation to be the greatest among the people of China.

Therefore, it was his actions that allowed Elder Ancestor Bai to gain Heavenly Merit Points. Despite his original intent to remove competition, he incidentally benefitted the world. Behind him, a young Taoist priest appeared disinterested at the scene where everyone was busy throwing compliments. He hid at the side and stared into space.

“Ping’er, snap out of it. You should interact more with your peers. You only cultivate on your own at home. Recently, you seem to lack motivation in cultivating recently, added with the fact that you’re unaware of your own improvement. All these problems can be solved if you hang out with them,” whispered Ma Futian secretively.

“Master, we’re Taoists. Shouldn’t we follow the Taoist doctrine of inaction?” As an internet junkie once, Ma Ping was never fond of socializing.

“What do you know? Don’t be fooled by those boring Taoist archives! Cultivation is all about pursuing improvement and dedicated diligence. If we follow the doctrine of inaction, then what’s the point of having motivation in cultivation? If we only deliberate on the Taoist theories the whole time and speak of the mystics aimlessly, how can we improve on our cultivation base?” said Ma Futian with the tone of a disappointed father.

“I get it. I’ll go and find someone to talk to,” said Ma Ping frankly.

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“Good. Remember, you should target those geniuses from the Azure Mountains and not the commoners. Don’t ever forget Gu Buwei’s lessons.” Old Master Ma reminded him, at last.

“Understood.” Ma Ping’s face fell, as though he returned to the horrible scene where he was caught defaming the Azure Mountains. He could only escape because a newbie junior sold himself out.

‘How is the junior faring in the Azure Mountains now?’ He wondered.

After not seeing each other for more than a year, he must be cuckolded plenty of times… After all, the techniques from the Azure Mountains required double cultivation, therefore rendering it impossible without a partner. In spite of that, once they found a partner, they had to bear the risk of being cheated on.

The thought filled Ma Ping with guilt. He was an honest man after all. The guilt of letting someone else take the blame for his own mistake gnawed at him.

“Very well, it seemed like you haven’t forgotten. You must remember, to appear dignified in front of people and to be placed on a pedestal of respect, one must go through hardship. Look at how everyone revered and *** the Dragon God, not daring to speak even one word behind his back. It’s all due to his unending cultivation that he reached his level today.”

Ma Ping nodded silently. Secretly, he gritted his teeth and thought, ‘Yes, I have to go through hardship.’

The Venerable Dragon God appeared revered by the public, yet no one knew the pain behind his fame.

Perhaps there were born prodigies or geniuses who aced everything with their eyes closed. However, which masters or experts who left a mark in history did not go through hardship?

…

“Rich guy, can’t you have some sense and wake up on your own? Today you’ve got a meeting to attend,” said the System gloomily to a snoring brute in the lounge.

“I get it. I get it. Can you stop nagging? I’m aware of it. It’s just a small event after all.” In spite of his own words, Fang Ning woke up swiftly.

“Are my clothes from the last sacrificial ceremony still here? Help me put it on.”

“Is it appropriate for you to wear that?”

“I don’t know whether it looks appropriate, I only know that it looks stylish.” Fang Ning walked out from the lounge.

…

Soon, Vigilante A glided leisurely from the sky onto Wolf Mountain, clad in a Chinese long robe.

“Look, the Venerable Dragon God has arrived!”

The crowd immediately abandoned Old Taoist Ma and surrounded Vigilante A instead.

What a joke. No commoners were able to get close to the revered God.

He constantly traveled in the skies between clouds and fog. The people who were able to catch up to him to start a conversation were those who had no need to.

Now, a rare opportunity presented itself. They used the chance to get chummy with him or asked for his Wechat ID. If they were targeted by evil cults in the future, there was still someone they could pay to save their lives.

Ma Futian observed the scene with mixed feelings. Shaking his head, he sighed and followed the crowd.

There was something he needed the reverend God’s help with.

“Venerable One, long time no see. Do you still remember me? I’m Liu Xiong… Last year, you’ve killed the malevolent spirit at my house and saved my whole family.” A chubby man with a greasy face started to curry favor.

“I remember. Your family’s into mining, right?” said Fang Ning with a nod.

“Yes, you’re right. Venerable One, you have such good memory. I’ve obtained some rare ores from the mines recently. I’ll present it to you later, Venerable One,” said Liu Xiong excitedly.

“No, no. You’ve already paid back the debt of saving your life that day. I sow nothing, and therefore, shall reap nothing. It’ll be better if you sell it at its market value later,” said Fang Ning while shaking his head.

“Uh, that’s fine too,” Liu Xiong understood his temperament, therefore, he did not persist.

“Venerable One, I’m Zhao Long. You’ve saved my life once too. At that time, I went into deviatory psychosis and attracted a bunch of demons targeting my essence. It was you who descended from the heavens…” Another came up to start a conversation.

“Hehe, don’t mention it. It’s my duty after all.” Fang Ning truly enjoyed being in the center of everyone’s praises and feigned humility until he forgot everything else.