Chapter 786 Divine Grade
Chapter 786 Divine Grade
Swish!
The Black Fish Puppet retrieved its black banner, swaying its head and body as it patrolled downwards.
Before long, it arrived at an island in the middle of the lake.
This lake island wasn't large, but it boasted deep reed thickets.
Within an expanse of reeds, Fang Xi's figure, enveloped in a hazy glow, gracefully appeared.
He formed a hand seal with one hand, and the Black Fish Puppet spat out the black banner.
Within the black banner, a loach-like divine soul was suppressed, already muddled and dazed from a blast of demonic qi.
Had Fang Xi not intentionally held back his power, that divine soul would likely have dissipated with just a slight shake.
Fang Xi muttered, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes.
Streams of Demonic Secret Sense poured into the Well Dragon King's divine soul, revealing he had employed the Soul Search Technique!
Soon, numerous complete memories surfaced, mostly chronicling a fish demon's journey of cultivation and merit accumulation.
"This Well Dragon King had good fortune, fortuitously gaining sentience, relying on instinct to absorb the essence of the sun and moon, and refine its monster qi. . . Unfortunately, its progress was always poor. Even a monster that had cultivated for a hundred years could be exterminated by mortal hunters. . ."
"This Well Dragon King, however, was ambitious, consistently cultivating diligently and accumulating merit, eventually achieving the position of Well Dragon King. . ."
"Divine Dao ranks, huh. . ."
From the Well Dragon King's memories, Fang Xi finally gained some understanding of this world's Divine Dao.
It seemed that for deities, knowing these things was merely instinctive.
"Within the Dao Court, the Divine Dao is divided into nine grades. . . with the lowest being the ninth grade and the highest being the first grade. . . But above the first grade, there is the Transcendent Grade! For instance, the Emperor of the Dao Court holds Transcendent Grade status. Even if they ascend to the Heavenly Court, they still possess a noble title."
"What is Transcendent Grade? Above the first grade is Transcendent Grade!"
"In this realm, perhaps only the Son of Heaven is of Transcendent Grade, but in the Heavenly Court, there are many first-grade deities. Furthermore, there are three ranks: Earl, Marquis, and Duke, each rank being above the first grade. . . If a mortal emperor's merit in governing the world is ordinary, after ascending to the Heavenly Court, they would at most be granted the title of Earl. If they had merit in guiding the people of the lower realms, they could be granted the title of Marquis, or even Duke!"
"Above Duke and Marquis is 'Monarch'! A Monarch already carries the implication of a lord of men; within the Heavenly Court's Divine Dao system, they are a great deity of a region!"
"Above Monarch are Heavenly King, Heavenly Venerable. . ."
"And finally—the Heavenly Emperor! !"
"Such are the characteristics of the Divine Dao: clearly defined strata, with extreme emphasis on hierarchy and deference. A superior can wield absolute power over a subordinate, even over life and death. If within their jurisdiction, it's truly a case of 'if the ruler commands a subject to die, the subject must die'! There cannot even be the slightest complaint!"
"This Well Dragon King and the Earth God of White Sweet Village are both unranked petty gods, their status below the lowest ninth grade, equivalent to mere scribes. . . Even so, they are enough to make a whole host of unassigned deities, who hold no actual positions, immensely envious."
"The Dao Court's conferment of Daoist titles is essentially akin to being an official without portfolio, merely fixing one's grade. . . Only when combined with an actual divine position does one count as a true deity!"
For example, Daoist status and the conferment of Daoist titles are equivalent to scholarly honors!
For instance, once one passes the 'Jinshi' examination, they are granted the 'Supreme Dao Court Metropolitan Merit Record', which ranks among the ninth grade!
This also means that once one becomes a Jinshi, they can immediately assume a proper ninth-grade or junior ninth-grade divine position at most.
If measured by the standard of an Earth God, one would barely be worthy of serving as the Earth God of a town.
Of course, a greater possibility is that there would be no actual vacancy, and they would have to keep waiting, perhaps even until old age without being granted an actual position. However, with this Daoist title, their heroic spirit would remain lucid after death, allowing them to serve as staff or subordinate officials for various City Gods or local deities, such as civil and military judges, and then await opportunities for promotion.
And Zhang Youde didn't even possess the ninth-grade 'Supreme Dao Court Metropolitan Merit Record', meaning that even if there were a vacancy for the Earth God of a town, he couldn't be promoted. . . unless he gained the favor of a higher-up.
Specifically, the Daoist title determines a deity's potential! While the divine position determines a deity's current rank and authority!
Comparatively speaking, actual power is naturally more important.
Because deities' lifespans are quite long, similar to Ghost Cultivators, even with ascensions and various drains, the number of unassigned deities accumulating each year is innumerable.
Therefore, actual divine positions are truly highly sought after!
"This loach originally had a divine position, named—'Ox-Head Mountain Ancient Well Water Transport Envoy'. . ."
Fang Xi's Divine Consciousness entered the Well Dragon King's body inch by inch, but he didn't find the grey-white Divine Dao Edict from its memories.
This was naturally because the Well Dragon King had previously been judged guilty and had already been divested of its divine position. Who knew which divine official of the City God Temple would benefit from it.
Even if this 'Ox-Head Mountain Ancient Well Water Transport Envoy' position was terrible, unranked, not even a junior ninth-grade, it was still a divine position. It allowed one to preside over a region and enjoy the nourishment of a water vein's spiritual energy.
If one still had connections in the mortal realm, they could send dreams to people, urging them to rebuild their golden body, gather faith, and thereby further enjoy blessings in that region.
At this moment, within Fang Xi's Divine Consciousness, the Well Dragon King's divine soul, apart from some sparse monster qi, contained only one talisman!
This talisman was about a foot long and three fingers wide, bearing incredibly strange patterns.
These were Divine Dao script, rumored to have been obtained by the Heavenly Emperor through comprehending the Great Dao; they were 'Divine Script'!
Upon the grey-white talisman, numerous Divine Scripts glowed with splendor, forming a line of text—'Supreme Child Spirit Official Record'!
"Indeed. . . this Well Dragon King had also been conferred a Daoist title. Only by being granted a talisman can one enter the Dao Court system and truly become an immortal or deity. . . Otherwise, without official conferment, it would be considered heretical altars and illicit temples, a major target for the Dao Court's crackdown!"
"'Supreme Child Spirit Official Record'. . . It seems that anyone who passes the child's examination is granted this type of talisman. It appears the Well Dragon King's level of scholarly honor is equivalent to a child scholar or Daoist acolyte. . ."
Fang Xi couldn't help but feel contempt: "Not even a recommended talent, equivalent to an elementary school diploma. . . No wonder he couldn't be promoted no matter what, and was always the first to take the blame when something went wrong."
His Divine Consciousness scanned the grey-white 'Supreme Child Spirit Official Record' inch by inch, and he immediately detected several hidden backdoors.
As a Grandmaster Talisman Master, once he adapted, he realized that all talismans in this world were largely similar.
"The conferment of Daoist titles is a means for the Emperor of the Dao Court to control the world. . . Having hidden backdoors is understandable. The few I've already discovered have effects like tracking and restricting divine power. . . even an instant-death type backdoor isn't necessarily impossible!"
"Once one enters the Dao Court, their life and death are indeed controlled by those above."
"Therefore, the Divine Dao Edict that grants a divine position is a good thing, but this Daoist title. . . one might as well do without it. However, if one does, it becomes a heretical altar and illicit temple, and the Dao Court eradicates every one it finds. . ."
"No. . . that's not right. Are there truly no traps above the divine positions?"
Fang Xi looked up at the heavens, suddenly feeling a sense of dread.
"Within the Daoist titles, there are hidden moves by the Emperor of the Dao Court. . . Who can know if there aren't secret manipulations by the Heavenly Emperor within these divine positions?"
Although divine positions can be conferred by the imperial court, or formed from the incense and worship gathered from the common people, or even naturally generated by heaven and earth, claiming to be innate deities.
But what if 'Heaven and Earth' *is* the 'Heavenly Emperor'?
Who knows if the Divine Dao Edicts issued by the 'Heavenly Emperor' also contain hidden backdoors?
Or rather, they definitely do!
"This Divine Dao is truly full of traps. . ."
Fang Xi was at a loss for words: "Fortunately, I can first take it back to the Earthly Immortal World to study. . . No matter how powerful your hidden backdoors or secret moves are, can you really curse me to death across a Middle Thousand World?"
This Heavenly Court divine position, once brought to the Earthly Immortal World, certainly couldn't be used immediately; it would suffer from acclimatization issues.
Therefore, more samples are needed for analysis and research. . .
Conveniently, Trapped Sky Island is a large-scale Divine Dao experimentation base!
"This Well Dragon King is indeed useless!"
Fang Xi expressionlessly tossed the black banner, letting the Black Fish Puppet take charge of it again, lurking within the great river.
After all, the Well Dragon King had a Daoist title on him; whether it died or moved, there would be a reaction. Fang Xi currently didn't want to alert the enemy.
"If this Well Dragon King still had that Water Transport Envoy divine position, I could have taken it back to study it thoroughly."
"Now, should I go seize Zhang Youde's White Sweet Village Earth God position?"
"Forget it, it's just a mere unranked divine position. . . In the future, there will certainly be more choices and opportunities."
...
The County Town.
Dust-laden from his travels, Gan Yu finally arrived at the county town gate.
At the city gate, there were also patrolling soldiers, scanning those entering the city with hawk-like gazes.
Just making eye contact with them, Gan Yu felt a chill in his heart: "These are truly fierce and ruthless warriors. . ."
But soon, he felt something was off.
Did patrolling soldiers in an ordinary county town need to be so elite?
Even he, who had consumed spiritual items, felt a chill in his heart. These soldiers were likely ruthless individuals who had killed people, seen blood, and possessed formidable martial arts. Even on the battlefield, they would be first-rate elite troops!
"Is something about to happen?"
Gan Yu's thoughts raced, and he even felt an impulse to give up on this autumn examination.
Alas. . . the Well Dragon King's threat was right before him, so he could only dutifully queue up to enter the city.
At the city gate entrance.
Official notices, as well as wanted posters, were all plastered on the city gate tower.
"Sorceress Zhen Li. . . skilled in the art of 'Life Harvesting', worshiping evil gods. . . Whoever captures her will be rewarded ten gold, dead or alive. Informants will be rewarded five silver. . ."
Gan Yu glanced casually and saw an arrest warrant. With just a few strokes, it vividly depicted the face of a woman around thirty, past her prime, especially a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, which was quite memorable.
He scanned a few more times and saw several portraits, all of them notorious wanted criminals:
"Daoist Mei from Flying Star Temple. . . transgressing with martial might, attacking imperial officials, slaughtering many yamen runners and constables, now a fugitive. . . dead or alive, whoever kills him will be rewarded fifty gold."
"Fifty gold, surprisingly!"
Gan Yu was shocked; this converted to five thousand silver!
Enough to buy a mansion near the county town, complete with a hundred mu of fertile land, allowing one to live a peaceful life as a wealthy old man in the future.
"Daoist Mei. . ."
He glanced at the wanted poster, seemingly wanting to firmly commit the portrait to memory.
Daoist Mei merely appeared as a lean old man; it was truly difficult to associate this person with a peerless murderer who had assaulted and killed Daoist officials and committed countless slaughters. . .
The second update will be later.
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