148. This "He" Truly Knows How to Plant a Flag

The little female ghost was utterly confused as to why she had to be sent to school. Isn't school meant for beginners receiving enlightenment?

Yet, her social experience was already vast!

At most, the only things she couldn't figure out were addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division beyond her ten fingers... just that... just that... just that...

For some reason, the moment she thought of this, the word "just" kept echoing in her mind, making her increasingly guilty until she finally had no choice but to obediently accept this decision made by Chen Sheng.

Of course, the little female ghost would never admit that she actually wanted to go to school.

Instead...

"This unfilial disciple used to be troubled by the trivialities of daily life, acting like a complete lunatic of the mortal world. Now that he has become a demigod, an existence eternalized within the definition of time, he is bound to go even further and become even more unreasonable. I had better preserve my strength; this is what they call a wise person submitting to the circumstances, and a wise bird choosing a fine tree to nest in."

"Yes, exactly! It must be like this, and definitely not because I am cowardly!" The little female ghost finally managed to convince herself, making herself believe this piece of utter nonsense.

Of course, regarding the little female ghost's perspective on Chen Sheng, one could only say—truly, they are of the same bloodline.

Chen Sheng walked over to a villa located in the suburbs, cleared his way from the front gate all the way to the inner rooms, and finally looked down at the gang members sprawled all over the floor, saying calmly, "I think this house is rather nice, so I would like to rent it for a while."

These gang members belonged to a martial arts sect.

Those who graduated from ten years of compulsory education were only considered martial trainees, not yet true martial artists. This was because, apart from martial primeval energy, ten years of compulsory education did not teach combat techniques or fighting secret manuals; people had to find a sect to join and kowtow to a master to learn martial arts after graduation.

Of course, one could also choose not to continue learning martial arts and instead pursue other civil service jobs.

However, in this world where martial primeval energy reigned supreme, literature was inevitably devalued in favor of martial prowess. Choosing a civil service job, even if one attained a high-ranking official position, commanded far less awe than being a vice leader of a gang or a vice master of a sect.

Because the person in charge of any gang or sect was invariably at the level of a Martial Grandmaster!

Founding the world on martial arts, with everyone using martial arts for self-protection, naturally everyone revered martial arts above all else!

"We belong to the Seven Mysteries Gang!" A gang disciple stepped forward. Although fear was plastered across his face as he looked at Chen Sheng, he still forced out those words.

"Then you want another beating?" Chen Sheng looked at him, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument.

"No, no!" The Seven Mysteries Gang disciple instantly cowered. When Chen Sheng had made his move earlier, they hadn't even been able to see how he did it. Moreover, although they didn't look injured on the outside, the pain they had felt just moments ago was utterly agonizing.

"I mean to say, we don't usually rent this place out to outsiders, but if you like it, my family has another villa nearby—we can just give it to you!" the Seven Mysteries Gang disciple quickly corrected himself, speaking in a rush for fear that a slow response would earn him another beating.

"It doesn't matter. Since I said I am renting it, it naturally means it is available for rent to outsiders. Very well, this place is mine now. Pack up your things and take them all away! Consider this me owing you a favor." Chen Sheng maintained that same unquestionable attitude, leaving the Seven Mysteries Gang disciples too terrified to linger. They hurriedly packed their belongings and left just as Chen Sheng instructed.

Meanwhile, the little female ghost's small face was frozen in blank astonishment. She widened her pitch-black eyes and stared at Chen Sheng.

Is this what you call renting a house?

As expected, once someone becomes a demigod, they completely disregard all the rules and order of the mortal world.

If I think it is so, then it is a fact.

If I want it, then it naturally belongs to me from the start.

Ever since this mortal lunatic was upgraded to a mortal mad god, he has truly become more and more unreasonable!

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chen Sheng naturally noticed the little female ghost's gaze immediately.

The little female ghost composed her small face and remarked with a nonchalant expression, "Why did you take the initiative to say you owe them a favor?"

As the saying goes, staying with a ruler is like staying with a tiger. To avoid having the fate of her neck pinched, she had long since mastered the skill of quickly and calmly changing the subject.

"They didn't charge rent," Chen Sheng said calmly.

"Then what if they come to you for help because of those octopus-like creatures?" The little female ghost suddenly understood Chen Sheng's intention and asked directly.

"Since I owe a favor, I naturally have to repay it." Chen Sheng did not answer directly.

Yet this answer was no different from a direct reply.

"By doing this, won't it be a bit difficult for you to explain things to those octopus creatures?" the little female ghost asked again.

"Having Cthulhu come and hold down the fort is work. Work is work, and personal favors are personal favors. Human society is a society built on human favors, so naturally, human favors take precedence." At this, Chen Sheng smiled. "Given Cthulhu's understanding of the human world, I believe he will certainly understand. Of course, even if he doesn't understand, it doesn't matter; he doesn't actually care."

"Hehe, so how many people do you plan to save, disciple?" The little female ghost couldn't help leaning in to ask.

Hearing the little female ghost address him as "disciple" made Chen Sheng's brow twitch. His expression immediately stiffened, and he said coldly, "That is none of your concern. What you should be considering right now is something else entirely."

"What I should be considering? What kind of thing?"

"Your homework!"

"Homework? What homework? Haven't I not even gone to school yet? Where on earth did homework come from?" The little female ghost was completely bewildered.

"I say it exists, so it exists." Chen Sheng's gaze flickered, and suddenly a fragment of memory appeared out of thin air within the little female ghost's mind. It was a memory of her having already attended two years of elementary schooling, learning the most fundamental martial primeval energy, while also owing an entire year's worth of makeup homework due to skipping classes for a whole year.

The little female ghost in a state of utter shock: (￣△￣；)

The little female ghost coming to her senses a moment later: ∑(?Д?ノ)ノ

Then widening her eyes in sheer disbelief: (╯>д

"A whole year's worth of homework? Why don't you just tell me to go die first?" the little female ghost protested. "Besides, you just made this up on the spot; it definitely isn't real in reality!"

"Rest assured, as long as I live for a single day, you will never be able to die. Also, that phone call is from your martial arts teacher," Chen Sheng said calmly with a brilliant, radiant smile.

Naturally, that radiant smile looked thoroughly odious in the eyes of the little female ghost. The very instant Chen Sheng's voice fell, a phone really did begin to ring. Moreover, the phone floated into the air on its own, drifting right up in front of her. To top off the outrage, it answered itself and put the call on speaker, instantly broadcasting a roar akin to a lion's roar from the Eastern River: "Chen Xiaoyi! It has been a whole year! Do you know how I survived this past year? You had better bring a full year's worth of homework with you, or you'll be sorry!"

The thoroughly bewildered little female ghost: "..."

Is being a demigod all that great?

Fine, being a demigod really is that great. Such an absurd thing, conjured completely out of thin air, was actually accomplished with just a single thought.

A demigod is truly terrifying...

Feeling as though she might forever be shrouded in the shadow of a demigod, the little female ghost couldn't help but reminisce about the days when she used to lose her territory every few days.

Back then, even though it was only within an illusory world, and she was merely a little female ghost who was deeply reliant on her television, she was undeniably happy.

Back then, although she suffered for quite a few years, her hardships eventually came to an end, and she came to possess a street of her own.

Back then, even though her territory was constantly being lost, she could always summon—ah, scratch that, summon is crossed out—she could always through hard work fight her way back and reclaim her territory!

Just for that, please address her as Ghost Sister!

She was someone whose properties spanned tens of thousands of square acres (an exaggerated expression)!

Unfortunately, all those happy times came to a complete end the moment she taught this unfilial disciple how to become a god!

This unfilial disciple actually went and truly became the god of that illusory world!

And in the end, he had the sheer audacity to drag her out along with him just so he could continue bullying her!

Having such an unfilial disciple makes this master's heart so weary, ying ying ying!

Just as the little female ghost was reminiscing about her past glorious days, she snapped back to reality out of nowhere: "Chen Xiaoyi? Who is that? My name isn't Chen Xiaoyi!"

"That is you, a name I gave you," Chen Sheng said, taking the opportunity to force the little female ghost to face reality.

Thud!

The little female ghost dropped straight to her knees, slid across the floor, and hugged Chen Sheng's thigh: "Wuwuwuwu... A year is way too much! It's completely impossible to finish! Besides, this isn't scientific! Which student gets to skip school for a whole year? Wouldn't they be expelled for that? How about just one week?"

The little female ghost declared that for the sake of her future happiness, she could bend and stretch as needed.

Never mind kneeling and hugging this unfilial disciple's thigh; kowtowing to him wouldn't matter either. After all, this unfilial disciple was a demigod, one of the most powerful existences in this world.

Hearing the little female ghost say this, Chen Sheng thought about it carefully and realized it actually made a certain amount of sense. Of course, apart from that, it was also due to that damn bloodline connection, which made him soften just a fraction, so he nodded.

And as he nodded, the memories within the little female ghost's mind shifted accordingly, naturally dragging reality in this world along with them.

The little female ghost went directly from skipping school for a year to skipping school for a week. However, as a consequence, her punishment changed from writing a year's worth of homework to writing a self-criticism letter and reading it aloud tomorrow in front of the entire school.

"How do you write a self-criticism?" The little female ghost scratched her head and chose to seek help from Chen Sheng.

When in doubt, ask the demigod.

When stuck, ask Chen Sheng.

This was the little female ghost's current philosophy on life.

"Just write 'I was wrong,'" Chen Sheng said casually.

"Oh!"

Upon hearing this, the little female ghost immediately followed instructions, and at the end, she didn't forget to append Chen Sheng's name to indicate that this was done on Chen Sheng's orders.

Thus, by the afternoon of the next day, the little female ghost's martial arts teacher came for a home visit.

Despite shouting so fiercely over the phone the day before, the little female ghost's martial arts teacher turned out to be a genuine young woman. Furthermore, because she wore a pair of glasses, she looked quiet and gentle, exuding a scholarly aura.

Seeing this outwardly gentle martial arts teacher, Chen Sheng was momentarily stunned, but immediately understood what was going on. After all, if he so wished, a demigod was omniscient in a world like this that lay outside the cosmic civilization chain.

Along the way, Chen Sheng also caught a glimpse of the scene where the little female ghost read her self-criticism: *I was wrong, unfilial—scratch that, Chen Sheng said so.*

With a darkened face, Chen Sheng couldn't help glancing at the little female ghost, who was currently taking to her heels and running for her life.

Watching those two little short legs sprinting rapidly into the distance, the corners of Chen Sheng's eyes twitched. Then he turned around, put on a smile, and went to welcome the martial arts teacher who had come for a home visit.

Although he could use divine power to resolve this matter, or even erase some of the related reality, there was no need for that.

After all, he was here to experience life.

Besides, such experiences were probably rather rare for a demigod.

...

While Chen Sheng was experiencing the exasperating yet inexplicably entertaining daily routine of raising a daughter, in another place unknown to the world—or rather, a truly eternal, unknown realm—

A vehicle resembling a train was speeding along.

That train was extremely bizarre; it had only a single engine, but possessed countless carriages lined up and spreading outward in a dense, crisscrossing web that reached every possible direction without exception.

This was the true origin of the Nether-Returning Hunting Trains in the illusory world—the Unsolvable Eternal Train.

It was jointly forged by three Tenth-Chain Demigods who had mastered supreme statuses, and its purpose was to suppress another Tenth-Chain Demigod, keeping her in a state of eternal death.

And to forge this Unsolvable Eternal Train, the Stone People Clan had even withdrawn from the stage of the universe's powerful races. Although they remained a top-tier intelligent species of the Ninth Civilization Chain, they had by now retreated into their ancestral homelands, leaving only a few collateral branches and relatives active across worlds in various spatiotemporal dimensions.

The suppressed Tenth-Chain Demigod was naturally the daughter of the Stone People Progenitor who had once served as a demigod imperial lord of an ancient civilization—the Imperial Princess of Ancient Burial and Underworld!

At this moment, a brief message was transmitted to the resting place of the three Tenth-Chain Demigods.

Back then, although the three status-holding demigods had joined forces, the desperate final counterattack of the Imperial Princess of Ancient Burial and Underworld had been too terrifying, leaving all three status-holding demigods severely wounded.

To mend their injuries, they had no choice but to continuously extract divine power from the Imperial Princess of Ancient Burial and Underworld.

"It was sent by a demigod descendant of my clan," the Stone People Progenitor spoke first, making the message public. "A sliver of Ancient Burial's residual consciousness suddenly broke into reality during a dream, manifesting a true form and even participating in a rather entertaining little mini-game within an illusory world. Ultimately, it caused an consciousness from that mini-game to re-aggregate and escape. A demigod descendant of my clan has already sent word to that consciousness, telling it to go to some of our clan's minor worlds."

"What is Ancient Burial trying to do?" another status-holding demigod asked. "The things Ancient Burial mastered back then were terrifying enough to bestow entirely new definitions upon other objects. Her whereabouts after death remain unknown—could this be related to that object?"

"No, that consciousness was the result of a mistake made by Mo Yan-ke's subordinates; Mo Yan-ke was merely forced to make compensation," said the third status-holding demigod.

"Ancient Burial's divine body has shown activity recently, and her divine power is growing increasingly vibrant. Is she recovering from her injuries? Is she attempting resurrection?"

"Forget resurrection; she can't even manage to heal her injuries right now!" the Stone People Progenitor said with an inscrutable look in its eyes. Though that was its daughter, to "It," a dead daughter was a good daughter.