Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

City God Temple, deep within the main hall.

The Child’s question received no further answer. The City God’s illusory form seemed submerged in some kind of ethereal current. The water-like ripples quivered, and the City God was silent for a long, long time.

The Child dared not disturb him further. He even slapped his own mouth in slight panic, muttering to himself, ’You dolt. His Lordship’s actions are profound. Since when was it your place to question him? Get going, get going!’

Having struck himself, the Child bowed, and with his back to the door, he retreated from the deep and spacious hall.

The grand doors closed gently. What the Child couldn’t see was that deep within the hall, that expanse of ripples was, in fact, a link to another, far-flung world.

It was as if infinite starlight was scattered across the void. Against the deep, ink-black celestial canopy, one nebula stood out as exceptionally different.

It resembled an Abyss in the sky, a river of stars from a dream. Innumerable, invisible motes of light plunged into it like a fierce, driving rain.

The City God’s illusory form stood outside this river of stars. He attempted to approach several times, but it was as if an invisible barrier stood in his way. Even with his power as an Earth Immortal, he could not cross it.

Though he could not achieve his goal, the City God was not anxious. He floated in the void, standing outside the nebula, and from a distance, reached out and tapped the emptiness four times.

East, south, west, and north. The points of light in the east, south, and north directions were blazing and immense. If one looked closer, one could even see countless strange images writhing and struggling within those points of light.

It was difficult to say exactly what these images were. They looked like distorted human faces, savage Demons, crimson eyes, and wild, disheveled hair...

There were also distorted, warped scenes from the Mortal World, as if they had been reduced to mere lines.

There seemed to be silent cheers, fleeting fireworks, sticky blood... DRIP, DRIP.

And there were even more indescribable, chaotic emotions that could not be put into concrete words.

Greed, hatred, and delusion; love, aversion, and desire; joy, rage, sorrow, bliss, grief, terror, and shock; jealousy, obsession, bewilderment, and anguish...

Occasionally, a pure white mote of light would float through these chaotic and twisted emotions, but before long, the white would inevitably be dyed a turbid swirl of gray and yellow hues.

The City God gazed at this murkiness, forcing himself to watch for a few moments longer, but he soon felt an overwhelming surge he could not control.

He immediately averted his gaze, then reached out and pinched the long beard under his chin.

"Ouch!"

The City God cried out softly.

’Damn it. I’m already an Earth Immortal, but pulling my beard still hurts my chin.’

Although his chin hurt, the expression on the City God’s face began to change in a peculiar way—he was definitely not in pain, but rather, suppressing his delight.

This was because among the four points of light, although the other three were growing amidst the chaos, the remaining one—the western point—was, on the contrary, rapidly being extinguished.

That point of light had shrunk until it was extremely small. Any smaller, and all trace of it would be completely erased.

It was precisely the pull of this single point of light that caused an effect on the others. Although the other three points were constantly growing, whenever they reached a certain size, they would inevitably leak wisps of their essence. This essence would then flow toward the point of light on the verge of being extinguished.

The City God stroked his beard, gently smoothing it to soothe the pain while chuckling to himself. ’The world is in great upheaval, an age of demons. Even so, the Mortal World has always produced its Celestial Prides. One of the four great founts has now been uprooted. Illusory Nether City... you wish to overwhelm the Mortal World? Do you really think you can succeed?’

No voice in the void answered him.

There was only the violently spinning nebula, which suddenly erupted with countless chaotic whispers. Along with them, the falling rain of light grew even more fierce and swift.

An invisible shockwave surged forward, instantly materializing into a terrifying behemoth as if by Heaven and Earth Transformation. The behemoth let out a silent roar—ROAR!

The City God’s expression in the void changed abruptly. He cursed, "Damn it all! Transformation!"

As he spoke, the Jade Ruyi in his hand spun. In an instant, the Ruyi flew from his grasp toward the sky, growing with the wind, and in a flash, it was as large as the dome of the heavens!

The turmoil in the Void Realm was unknown to the outside world, but Song Ciwan, who was walking outside, clearly saw that the invisible energies drifting towards the void in the sky seemed to surge in an instant.

She passed by a house and heard the sound of a husband and wife cursing each other from within the courtyard walls.

The husband said, "It’s all your fault, you idiot! I told you I needed to wear this brocade robe tomorrow morning to make New Year’s visits to the neighbors. And what did you do? You didn’t even tell me there was a tear in the back, you just secretly stitched it up! Who wears patched clothes on the first day of the New Year? Are you trying to give me a year of bad luck?"

The wife shrieked angrily, "Chen the Second, you think I’m an easy target to curse, don’t you? Why don’t you mention how the robe got torn? Wasn’t it your precious sister? So clumsy, but she just had to touch the fine material of this robe, and she ended up snagging it on the back of the waist!"

"It’s the New Year! I didn’t want to cause an embarrassing scene for the family, so I forced myself to cover for her. I secretly mended the robe myself. Wasn’t I doing it for the good of your family? But you? You open your mouth and start cursing me! You’re not human!"

As she spoke, the wife started to cry.

She cried while pounding on her husband. The husband shouted, "Then you shouldn’t have stitched it secretly! And you didn’t even tell me after you did it! Was it so hard to say one word? Do you even see me as the head of this house? You bastard, you dare hit your own husband!"

"Speak! You were smiling at that young man who passed by during the day. Did you take a fancy to him because he’s young? Are you getting ideas?"

The wife immediately howled, "You’re not human, Chen Ernian, you’re a beast! You’ll sling any kind of mud at me! Who slings mud at their own wife like this?"

"I don’t want to live anymore! I married into your family to work like a horse, get tormented by my mother-in-law, bullied by my sister-in-law, and now I have to get this kind of mud slung at me by a scoundrel like you! What’s the point of me being alive?"

BANG!

The wife threw a heavy object, hurling it viciously at her husband.

The husband let out a wretched scream, swatted the object aside, and immediately lunged forward, unwilling to show weakness.

"Vicious hag, you even dare to hit your own husband! You’re looking for death!"

The couple’s anger flared into words, and their fighting sparked a fire. On New Year’s, in the middle of the night, it instantly became a back-and-forth of throwing things, swinging fists, biting, tearing, and grappling in a chaotic brawl.

Next came the crying of children, the shouting of the elderly, the crowing of roosters and barking of dogs. The neighbors to the left and right all joined in the commotion.

Song Ciwan stood outside the family’s gate, watching as neighbors opened their doors and craned their necks. Someone made a half-hearted attempt to mediate: "Hey now, what’s all this? Fighting like this on New Year’s? What kind of grudge could a husband and wife have that they can’t get over?"

But someone else fanned the flames instead: "Heh! Good, give her a good beating! Some wives just need a beating. If you don’t beat them for three days, they’ll tear the roof off the house... Ah!"

The man cried out in pain. His wife had clobbered him.

Wisps of invisible energy rose from the tops of their heads and flew swiftly up into the sky.