On his knees, Ying Long put his palms together before his forehead and said respectfully, “Tian Cang, my lord, please resume the post of Nether King and lead Earth Prison to greatness again!”
Beside him knelt the other Prison Overlords, and they also put their palms before their foreheads. Jin Jiao, Yin Jiao, Luo Ji, You Ji, and Ying Long—all the five Prison Overlords of Earth Prison were here.
Er Ha bit his lip and looked expectantly at Tian Cang, his eyes gleaming. As he stared at his father’s handsome face and sensed his fearsome aura, an excited look came over his face.
If truth be told, he really hoped his father could resume the position because then he would be free, and that old man Ying Long could no longer urge him to cultivate and handle the affairs of Earth Prison every day. For him, those things were too annoying.
Er Ha’s dream was actually very simple. He just wanted to be able to eat spicy strips and bask in the sun in Bu Fang’s restaurant. This leisurely life was more suitable for him. He was not interested in becoming the Lord of Earth Prison. Therefore, he looked expectantly at Tian Cang and hoped that his father would agree to Ying Long’s request.
Tian Cang looked at the five Prison Overlords, then at Er Ha, who couldn’t wait to smile. The corners of his mouth twitched.
“Get up, Ying Long,” the previous Nether King said, his voice calm.
“No… I won’t get up unless my lord agrees.” Old as Ying Long was, he had a stubborn temper.
Tian Cang gave him a sideways glance. Having fought side by side for so many years, he knew the character of this old servant of his very well. He released his divine will.
Tian Cang’s divine will was very strong. As a Perfected Great Saint, he had already reached the peak of his divine will—just one step behind from transforming it to divine sense. However, it was not so simple to do that. In the whole Netherworld, only Di Ting and Earth Prison Dog had achieved that.
Once a cultivator possessed divine sense, it meant that he had become a Demigod. This was enough to show the importance of divine sense.
A Demigod was still in the Great Saint Realm. Although it was considered a minor transcendence, he was still confined to the prison that was a small world.
Neither Di Ting nor Earth Prison Dog triggered the terrible lightning punishment of the Laws when they broke through.
The stronger a person’s strength, the more likely he was to trigger heaven and earth tribulation once he broke through. If they wanted to become a God, they actually needed to detach themselves from the small world because the lightning punishment of the Great Path was no longer enough for them to break through. They needed a lightning punishment from higher Laws. Such a lightning punishment would be very horrible as it would even turn the whole starry sky into a sea of thunder.
However, when Di Ting and Lord Dog broke through and became Demigods, it was all quiet. They had not attracted any lightning punishment. It showed that although their strength had reached that of a Demigod, they remained in the Great Saint Realm. They had not yet achieved real transcendence, so they had not been able to attract the lightning punishment.
Of course, these were all digressions.
Tian Cang’s divine will drifted forward and lifted the five Prison Overlords to their feet. They looked at him, puzzled.
“Why do you insist that I resume the post of Nether King? Did Er Ha not perform well? Even if he did not, he is now the Nether King of Earth Prison, and I’m just a thing of the past,” Tian Cang said, his voice brimming with energy.
The few Prison Overlords’ faces flickered. There was no doubt that Tian Cang had rejected their proposal and refused to be the Nether King again. They did not expect this.
Ying Long’s cloudy eyes widened as he looked at Tian Cang in disbelief. He seemed surprised by the previous Nether King’s refusal.
Er Ha was struck dumb, too. It never occurred to him that his father would refuse the proposal. ‘He… He is pushing his son into the fire pit! What about my good times, my spicy strips, and my leisurely life? Are they going to stay as dreams forever?’ His heart suddenly jerked, and he felt a pang of sadness coming from within. It was not a good feeling.
“Young as he is, Er Ha is now the Lord of the Netherworld, and only he can represent the orthodoxy of the Nether King. I… I am already a dead man. This body is barely surviving in this world, and no one knows when I will be wiped out by the Transmigration… And, most importantly, I’ve promised Owner Bu,” Tian Cang said, taking a deep breath.
Owner Bu?
Er Ha and the few Prison Overlords turned their heads at the same time and looked at Bu Fang, who was eating a spirit fruit in a corner.
What did this have to do with Owner Bu? Did Tian Cang refuse to be the Nether King because of him?
“I promised to stay in the restaurant as a waiter. As the former Nether King, I can’t go back on my word… Besides, I need his Longevity Noodle to keep me alive. I work as a waiter in his restaurant, and he cooks the Longevity Noodle for me. This is a deal. Otherwise, why should he cook noodles for me?” Tian Cang said with a smile on his lips.
“Well… You can buy from me with Nether crystals. A bowl of Longevity Noodle is not expensive. It only costs one hundred thousand Nether crystals. If you don’t want to be a waiter, you can buy the noodles. I’m happy to accept that,” Bu Fang said, then nibbled on the fruit.
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He was serious. In fact, he preferred that Tian Cang buy his noodles with Nether Crystals because all that income would go into his pocket.
Just as Bu Fang took another bite of the spirit fruit, the System’s voice suddenly rang out in his head. It told him that if Tian Cang used Nether crystals to buy Longevity Noodles, those crystals would also be included in the revenue, not his personal money.
He immediately rolled his eyes. ‘What a stingy System… It doesn’t even let me have my own money…’
“No, no, no… If I buy the noodles with Nether crystals, how can I show my sincerity?” Tian Cang rejected Bu Fang’s suggestion without even thinking about it.
Longevity Noodles was the food that could keep him alive, and he must earn it with sincerity. His life could not be measured by money. Therefore, he didn’t give Er Ha, Ying Long, and the other Prison Overlords a chance to persuade him. He chose to be a waiter in Bu Fang’s little restaurant.
Bu Fang did not refuse because it was agreed. He was pleased with the addition of a formidable Tian Cang to help out in the restaurant since Whitey had fallen into a deep sleep after devouring the God’s Heart. No one knew how long it would take to wake up, so for the time being, someone like Tian Cang could help manage the order of the restaurant.
Why would Bu Fang turn down such a good helper? So he nodded silently. The main reason, of course, was that if Tian Cang bought the noodles, all the Nether crystals he made would be included in the revenue. In that case, it was better for the previous Nether King to be a waiter. Did Bu Fang look like a man short of a hundred thousand Nether crystals?
Ying Long and the other Prison Overlords tried to persuade Tian Cang, but they were still mercilessly rejected.
Er Ha sat on the ground with a sad face, hugging his father’s legs. Even so, he couldn’t change Tian Cang’s decision. At that moment, he felt as if something was broken inside him, and his spicy strips seemed to be leaving him.
Since they couldn’t convince Tian Cang, Ying Long and the others had no choice but to drag Er Ha out of the restaurant. They had to rush back to the Nether King Palace and let him handle many affairs. The battle between Di Ting and Lord Dog had shaken the world, and now the situation in Earth Prison was so unstable that Er Ha needed to be in charge.
The expression on Tian Cang’s face did not change as he watched Er Ha being dragged out of the restaurant. Sure enough, this father was relentless when it came to pushing his son into a fire pit.
The restaurant soon quieted down. Bu Fang closed the door and chose not to open for business. That caused a lot of grumbling among the group of diners queuing outside. They waited a long time, thinking the restaurant would open, but it didn’t. However, after Bu Fang told them that he would open the door for business the next day after a night’s rest, they all left sulkily.
Only Tian Cang, Bu Fang, and Nethery were left in the restaurant.
Nethery held Foxy in her arms and blinked as she looked at Tian Cang and Bu Fang.
The previous Nether King came to Bu Fang and began to talk with him about the terms. They talked for a long time, and when they were done, Nethery had already returned to her room with the little fox.
After that, Tian Cang walked happily out of the restaurant, turned into a beam of light, and flew toward God Vanishing Mountain.
Bu Fang put his hands behind him and sighed softly as Tian Cang vanished into the sky.
“Old people nowadays…”
…
Bu Fang called Nethery down from upstairs and cooked a bowl of Dragon Blood Rice for her. Although the divine power liquid drop had stabilized her condition, he still needed to cook some dishes to suppress the curse’s power in her.
Inside the restaurant, Nethery sat at the table and ate happily. Foxy was also very excited because she had something to eat. As for Bu Fang, he sat in a chair, closed his eyes, and took a nap.
After a while, he entered the Heaven and Earth Farmland.
The farmland was full of spiritual energy. Bu Fang strolled through it. The grass was swaying and rustling. Not far away, the leaves of the Nine Revolution Great Path Tea Tree were shining brightly. Beside it, the Senseless Lotus was in full bloom on the Immortal Tree, and its faint scent lingered in the whole farmland, lulling the mind of those who smelled it.
The Immortal Tree, the Senseless Lotus, and the Nine Revolution Great Path Tea Tree… Three spiritual things adorned the farmland, making it look like a fairyland.
Bu Fang sat down under the tea tree, closed his eyes, and began to consolidate his gains from the battle. The light sprinkling from the tea tree calmed his mind. His divine will was surging as if it was slowly growing stronger.
In front of the wooden hut, a chair was rocking, the river was gurgling, and the grass rustled in the wind as spirit beasts moved through it. The farmland, once empty, seemed to have become a real world now, filling Bu Fang’s heart with a sense of accomplishment.
Under the tea tree, Bu Fang’s body burst into a golden light, which moved slowly as if it were wrapping around him. Then, with him as the center, one golden ripple after another spread around.
Over his head, the divine will Phantom Spirit slowly emerged. Its golden eyes were closed, and its mouth was chanting a divine tune. At this moment, Bu Fang’s divine will, which had stopped in the first stage, was about to break through.