Chapter 4: Inviting a Deity
Gazing at the change on his palm, Zhang Yu could not help but wonder, What in the world does this mean?
Will I die once this thing is filled?
Unfortunately, there was no one who could answer the unease in his heart.
After the morning’s physical education class ended, Zhang Yu dragged his exhausted body to lunch with Bai Zhenzhen and Zhou Tianyi, and then after a brief rest, the afternoon’s classes began.
The first class of the afternoon was history, and the lecturer was an old man with a head full of white hair.
After entering the classroom, the old man sat himself down behind the lectern and, flipping open a book, began to lecture nonchalantly.
He seemed completely unconcerned that the students below were using the time to rest, perform breathing exercises, cultivate, or even leave the classroom for body tempering.
Zhang Yu had no interest in listening to the history teacher’s lecture either. He just flipped rapidly through the textbook, recalling its contents and integrating them with his own memories.
Kunxu has no nations; everything is monopolized and controlled by the Ten Great Sects. Kunxu is comprised of thirty-six layers, with the first layer being roughly twice the size of China. It is formed from cities of varying sizes, each managed by a city government established by one of the great sects.
On the first layer, aside from things related to the Immortal Dao, the level of technology seems similar to my past life, but the lives of the common folk is much more arduous.
Kunxu’s first layer is also where Zhang Yu has always lived. As for the layers above… he had only ever seen them in movies and on television.
According to Zhang Yu’s memories, one could only enter the second layer of Kunxu by being accepted into a university, and only by graduating and joining a great sect could one ascend to the higher layers.
It could be said that within Kunxu, one could only climb higher step by step by mastering stronger Immortal Dao powers and gaining greater authority.
And the higher the layer, the more abundant the spiritual energy, the more advanced the Immortal Dao technology, and the more plentiful all manner of resources.
As he thought of this, Zhang Yu could not help but turn to look out the window, feeling the sunlight cascading down from the sky.
Such a realistic sky and sun… are we really inside some kind of colossal structure?
The first layer alone is twice the size of China, so how much space must the entirety of Kunxu take up? It surely can’t be on Earth anymore, can it?
And how exactly did I come to this world?
He unconsciously recalled the scene of his arrival in this world, remembered that bizarre ritual, and his head once again began to feel dizzy.
Zhang Yu quickly shook his head. For him, at this moment, compared to such grand questions, his high school grades, living expenses, earning money, PE class… these pressing matters demanded his attention.
And at the thought of his grades and cultivation, Zhang Yu felt another headache coming on.
Besides the morning PE class, his Immortal Dao grades were divided into four subjects: Dao heart, magic power, martial arts, and Daoist arts.
Dao heart was worth 150 points, magic power was worth 150 points, martial arts 100 points, and Daoist arts 100 points.
And according to Zhang Yu’s memories, his academic ranking had been slipping across the board; there wasn’t a single subject in which he wasn’t falling behind.
If this continued, it seemed that being expelled from Songyang High School was only a matter of time.
Another question then surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind.
From the looks of it, Zhang Yu’s family isn’t wealthy, he has no outstanding talent for the Immortal Dao, and his interview performance was terrible. How on earth did he get into Songyang High School?
Zhang Yu searched his memories repeatedly, only recalling that the body’s previous owner had entered Songyang High School despite a less-than-ideal interview.
And thinking of the previous owner’s family, his eyes flickered, and he pulled out his phone to open his contacts.
Right, should I contact Zhang Yu’s parents and sister after school?
Zhang Yu spent the afternoon classes reviewing his lessons while organizing the memories in his head. This process deepened his understanding of the knowledge in his mind, of this world, and of his identity as Zhang Yu.
In the blink of an eye, it was six o’clock, the end of the school day.
The day’s classes at the school were over, but for the vast majority of Songyang High School’s students, their school day was only half over. Next, they had to attend their various tutoring centers, after which they would study on their own late into the night before they could finally rest.
But unlike his classmates who were rushing off to their respective tutoring centers, Zhang Yu was currently sitting in a deserted cafeteria.
With his savings and credit depleted, he had stopped attending his tutoring center two weeks ago.
So after finishing dinner, he deliberated for a moment before taking out his phone again.
Let’s give it a try.
He first called Zhang Yu’s mother, then his father, but both calls went unanswered.
Recalling the memories of Zhang Yu’s parents and sister, he finally gave in and reluctantly called his sister.
“Zhang Yu?”
Hearing the slightly cold voice on the other end, Zhang Yu braced himself and said, “Sis, can you lend me some money?”
A silence fell, and just as Zhang Yu thought she was about to hang up, a voice came through the phone, “Back when you were in first grade, I told Mom and Dad that you have no talent for the Immortal Dao. Pursuing this path is a complete waste of time and money.”
“After the divorce, Mom actually believed your delusions. She resolved to support you through high school all on her own. Not long ago, she even came to us to borrow money, wanting to use my tuition funds.”
“Heh, and as a result, you, you overreaching fool, have resorted to taking out loans for cultivation. To pay for high school, you’ve already racked up a mountain of debt, haven’t you?”
Faced with her accusations, Zhang Yu was speechless, because based on the memories he had sorted through, she was not wrong.
After their parents separated, each taking one of the siblings, the original Zhang Yu, knowing full well his mother’s income was insufficient and that they had no money, had been far too ambitious. In the end, he had resorted to taking out payday loans to cultivate, paying off old loans with new ones right up to the present.
And his mother, after he repeatedly borrowed money, after she helped him pay it back time and again, and with each discovery that the financial hole was only getting deeper, she had finally left him too.
The voice from the phone continued.
“This is the last time we’ll speak. Pay back the debts you’ve accrued yourself.”
“Here’s one last piece of advice: drop out of school, get a job.”
“Out of consideration for the family we once were, I’ll send you 500. That should be enough for you to find a job before you starve.”
Hearing the click of the phone disconnecting, Zhang Yu sighed helplessly, “Well, at least I got 500.”
Counting the 500 from Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Yu’s savings finally broke 1,000.
But as he walked home, his sister’s advice kept replaying in his mind.
Drop out and get a job?
Lying back on the bed in his rented room, Zhang Yu stared blankly at the slightly moldy ceiling.
Declining grades, penniless, burdened with immense debt, his body on the verge of collapse… he had to admit, dropping out early to go to work seemed like a rational decision.
Just then, a sharp pain flared from his palm. The symbol that only he could see was, at that very moment, finally filled completely with black.
Simultaneously, a crisp female voice sounded from beside him, “Kid, the god-invoking ritual is complete. Time to grant three wishes.”
Zhang Yu whipped his head around to find a cloth doll sitting on the edge of his bed.
Looking at the doll—its fabric yellowed and faded, its stitches crooked, as if it could fall apart at any moment—he had a sudden realization. Wasn’t this the very same doll he had seen during that strange ritual on the rooftop the day he arrived in this world?
The cloth doll said, “Hey, did you hear me? Three wishes, not one less.”
Faced with this bizarre scene, Zhang Yu’s only thought was to leave.
He was no longer the novice who was completely ignorant of this world.
After organizing his memories, he knew that gods in this world were not some vague objects of faith, but administrators who presided over countless matters, large and small, throughout all of Kunxu.
But these were righteous gods, not beings that a failure on the Immortal Dao like Zhang Yu could summon casually. The deity that could be summoned by his so-called god-invoking ritual had to be one of the evil gods of legend—those who wreaked havoc, treated human life as worthless, and were mercilessly suppressed by the Ten Great Sects and the various factions of righteous gods.
The common folk of Kunxu’s first layer grew up hearing cautionary tales of mortals who made deals with evil gods, only to end with their bodies destroyed and Daos extinguished, their very souls scattered to the winds.
This Zhang Yu fellow was so desperate he turned to an evil god?
No wonder my head spins whenever I recall those memories. Is this also the evil god’s doing?
Zhang Yu’s first instinct was to flee the danger, but a second thought stopped his trembling body in its tracks.
The original Zhang Yu had sought out an evil god only because he had truly run out of options.
Should he spend a lifetime as a beast of burden at the lowest rung of society paying off his debt, or should he risk his life to gamble for a chance to continue his cultivation?
“Evil god! My first wish is for you to grant me 100 wishes!”
After speaking, Zhang Yu swallowed hard, looking at the doll nervously as he asked, “You can do that, right?”
“Hehe, of course I can do something so simple.”
Seeing the smile spread across Zhang Yu’s face, the cloth doll let out a sneer, “But my choice… is to refuse.”
“Because after the god-invoking ritual is complete, it is you who must grant my three wishes.”
“If you choose to refuse to grant my wishes, or if you intentionally delay or fail in the process of granting them, you will suffer the ritual’s backlash, your body exploding and your soul shattering.”
“Now then, my first wish is for you to grant me 1,000 wishes.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu froze for a moment, cursing internally.
What the… he performed this whole ritual just to grant wishes *for* you? Was the original Zhang Yu an idiot? Granting 1,000 wishes? Is that even allowed?
After stating her first wish, the cloth doll gave a slight smile, its hollow eyes made of black buttons continuing to stare straight at Zhang Yu.
“Are you ready? I am about to state my next wish.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s heart tightened.
What is this cursed thing going to wish for now?
If she really makes me grant a thousand wishes, won’t I become her slave?
Or… what if she makes a wish that I can’t possibly fulfill… won’t I be as good as dead?
The cloth doll said slowly, “I’ve decided. My next wish is… for you to help me collect a batch of antiques.”
Zhang Yu swallowed. “Antiques?”
The cloth doll giggled. “Don’t worry, I’ve already picked them out for you. All you have to do is buy everything in your shopping cart.”
Zhang Yu paused at her words, then took out his phone. Opening the shopping cart as he remembered, he found it was already full of various Buddha statues, altars, incense burners, and wooden swords… all of them were expensive, with any single item costing tens of thousands.
And if he could not afford these antiques, it seemed he could not fulfill the wish. If he could not fulfill the evil god’s wish, wouldn’t he die a violent death under the ritual’s power?
At this thought, Zhang Yu hurriedly asked, “Could you perhaps consider a different wish?”
“I’m afraid I can’t afford so many antiques.”
“Making excuses…” The cloth doll’s gaze hardened, endless malice seeming to pour from its pitch-black eyes.
“Are you trying to go back on your word? If you can’t afford it, borrow. If you can’t borrow, sell your heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, and lungs. There’s always a way for you to raise the money.”
Zhang Yu looked at the cloth doll seriously and said slowly, “If I do that, I’ll die just to fulfill this one wish, won’t I?”
The doll chuckled lightly. “So what?”
“You can either choose to immediately lose a person who will grant you a thousand wishes in the future. Or you can give me some time, allowing a future disciple of a great sect to purchase these antiques for you, and then, one by one… grant you those thousand wishes.”
“Hmm?” The cloth doll gave Zhang Yu a surprised look. “Continue.”
“I’ve done the math. To buy all these antiques, I probably couldn’t raise enough money even if I worked for decades on the first layer of Kunxu. But if I can join a great sect, it wouldn’t take more than a few years to save up enough.”
“So?”
“What I mean is… as long as I study hard, cultivate diligently, and continuously grow stronger, get into a prestigious university, and join a great sect after graduation, I can use the sect’s stipend to grant your wishes.”
The cloth doll fell silent for a moment before suddenly speaking, “You’re telling me you’re going to study hard, get a job, and earn a salary, all to grant my wish?”
“Are you kidding me?”
An infinite malice washed over him. The doll’s eyes were like two giant black holes, threatening to instantly devour all surrounding light.
Zhang Yu clenched his fists, doing his best to still his trembling legs as he stared at the doll and said, word by word, “Your first wish is for me to grant you one thousand wishes. Your second wish is to collect the antiques in the shopping cart.”
“If I die of poverty while collecting antiques for you, how can I grant the thousand wishes?”
“If I know this, yet still proceed in a way that ensures my death to fulfill the second wish, wouldn’t that be a deliberate attempt to not fulfill the first wish?”
“Deliberately making it impossible for me to fulfill the first wish would violate the ritual’s terms. I’d likely die from the backlash before I could even complete the second wish, right?”
“Therefore, studying hard, getting into a university, and working earnestly to make money is the only feasible plan I can currently think of that will allow me to fulfill both the first and second wishes.”
As Zhang Yu finished speaking, a deathly silence filled the room.
A moment later, the cloth doll’s voice sounded.
“Let me see your balance.”
After seeing the balance in Zhang Yu’s account and the various text messages about overdue loans, the cloth doll was silent for a long time.
This kid… The doll’s thoughts raced. This situation shouldn’t normally happen. The ritual’s targets are supposed to be wealthy; buying a pile of antiques should be a trivial matter for them.
But this kid… this kid is so poor, so poor he can’t even fulfill the first part of the wish, so poor that he’s created a loophole.
Damn it, didn’t I say to find someone rich! How did you find this one for me!
After a long silence, the cloth doll looked at Zhang Yu and said, “What you said… is not entirely without reason.”
“Fine. Go and study hard. I’ll be back when you’ve earned enough money.”
With that, the doll sneered again. “But you had better remember, all of this is for the sake of fulfilling my wishes.”
“From now on, should you show the slightest bit of laziness in the process of fulfilling my wishes, you will die under the ritual’s backlash.”
Watching the doll gradually fade away, Zhang Yu let out a sharp breath, his body going limp as he collapsed onto the bed.
Suddenly, he remembered something and yelled, “Wait, this ritual… what did I get out of this ritual?!”
Though he suspected his transmigration might be connected to the ritual, he did not dare voice this secret directly, opting for an indirect approach instead.
Unless it was a matter of life and death, he resolved to bury the secret of Earth deep within his heart, never to reveal it.
The cloth doll vanished completely, leaving only a voice lingering by Zhang Yu’s ear, “Your potential has been awakened. However, everyone’s potential is different. As for what it is… discover it for yourself.”
Outside the room, the cloth doll mused as it walked away, ‘This kid’s aptitude is terrible. Awakening his potential will at most enhance his magic power or physical strength a little, right? I doubt he can even get into a university, let alone join a great sect. How is he supposed to fulfill my wishes?’
But his quick thinking is rather interesting… Let’s see just how far you can struggle.
Inside the room, Zhang Yu watched as the black symbol in his palm gradually began to change.