Chen Xia had thought that his only trouble was Big Yellow Dog.
Until a certain day in his forties.
Big Yellow Dog was sitting in meditation on a white jade cushion, while Chen Xia was loafing around.
There was another knock on the door from outside the cave.
Chen Xia looked up in puzzlement, thinking it must be the old fisherman, but the old fisherman never knocked - he would flash in like a ghost.
He sent out his divine sense and saw who it was.
It was Chi Yu.
Chen Xia opened the door in confusion and saw Chi Yu. He asked in puzzlement, "What do you want?"
Chi Yu's expression was somewhat bewildered. His thick, red eyebrows were furrowed as he said sorrowfully to Chen Xia,
"Master, I have a guilty conscience."
Chen Xia was stunned for a moment.
What the hell does your guilty conscience have to do with me!
Out of politeness, Chen Xia did not reply like that. Instead, he asked,
"Why do you say that?"
Chi Yu's eyebrows drooped sadly, looking somewhat worried. He shook his head and said, "Because I feel like I can't even beat the Emperor's seedling. I feel like I don't even have the capacity to achieve the Emperor."
Chen Xia shook his head. "That's not how you should see it."
He led Chi Yu inside and pointed to the meditating Big Yellow Dog, asking,
"What's this?"
Chi Yu blankly replied, "A dog."
"What's it doing?"
"Meditating."
"Is that reasonable?"
"Um...not very reasonable."
Chen Xia nodded. "That's right. Even a dog can meditate and cultivate. Why can't you, Chi Yu, as the supreme being, take one step at a time to achieve the Emperor?"
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, a river is formed by the collection of tiny streams..."
"Without a beating, one cannot achieve the Emperor."
"Understand?"
Chi Yu had a bewildered expression, seeming to vaguely understand but also confused. He asked doubtfully, "But can you really become the Emperor just by getting beaten up?"
Chen Xia shook his head. "It was never about getting beaten up, but about your heart that desires to become the Emperor."
This was indeed the truth.
Chi Yu's expression became solemn, seeming to be lost in thought, as he was using his intelligence to comprehend.
Chen Xia just sat to the side with his arms crossed, waiting for him to finish comprehending.
In fact, Chen Xia had never told a lie.
Who determined that Chi Yu could not become the Emperor?
No one, right?
Chi Yu already had the potential and hope to become the Emperor, which was why he could be "fooled" by Chen Xia.
So what Chen Xia said was indeed the truth - as long as you are bold enough to dream, anything has a chance of becoming realized.
Of course, how big this chance is cannot be guaranteed.
Chi Yu's bewildered expression lifted up, his eyes flashed with divine light, his thick red eyebrows raised up, filled with confidence. He nodded heavily,
"I understand now."
Chen Xia didn't want to talk anymore, he just nodded. "Good, good."
As long as you're happy.
Big Yellow Dog, who was sitting in meditation on the white jade cushion, suddenly opened his eyes and slowly got up. Today he was wearing flowered pants, looking a bit flirtatious.
But definitely not slutty.
"Isn't this the stepping stone for the Emperor's seedling?" Big Yellow Dog recognized Chi Yu at a glance.
Chi Yu had a bewildered expression, not reacting.
Chen Xia coughed. "Be polite."
Big Yellow Dog immediately realized, and stretched out his paw in a handshake gesture, saying very politely to Chi Yu,
"Nice to meet you, stepping stone."
Chen Xia didn't want to say anything more. He slouched on the ground and let the two of them interact freely.
From today onward, it wasn't just one dog clinging to Chen Xia.
There was also a bird added.
Chen Xia was considering taking this opportunity to open up a zoo.
The main attractions would be a meditating dog and an iron-headed bird.
When people have free time, they will start to delve into some strange things to satisfy their curiosity.
This was how Chen Xia was.
He started concocting pills.
But Chen Xia's pill concocting method was different from ordinary people's.
He had no pill formulas, everything was based on feeling.
The pill furnace he used was a big pot for cooking food. The materials were all chosen based on feeling, with no regard for their medicinal properties. If he liked how it looked, he would throw it in.
He relied completely on luck.
Fortunately, his luck had always been good. Out of randomly concocting over a hundred times, more than ten pills were successfully formed.
He just didn't know what kinds of pills they were.
Chen Xia had Big Yellow Dog help him test the effects of the pills.
Big Yellow Dog patted his chest and readily agreed, "It would be my honor!"
Of course, he immediately shared the pills with his good buddy Chi Yu, under the name of giving them to a good friend.
Chen Xia's pill concocting frequency increased, and he recorded which materials could make which pills.
Moreover, his pill concocting speed was extremely fast - three minutes to gather materials, thirty seconds to put them in the pot, three seconds to form the pill.
The most prominent thing was the assembly line, industrialized process.
He didn't care whether they could be consumed or not, since he wasn't going to eat them anyway.
His current cultivation realm was Mountain Moving Realm. His avatar was being condensed, estimated to take a few more years before it could be fully formed.
The strand of soul in the small inner world was still frozen in time, but the speed of accumulating points had become slower and slower, almost catching up to the progress of the great outer world.
This was bad news, but also good news.
The bad news was that there were no more points. The good news was that this strand of soul had started comprehending and integrating into the Dao of Time.
Once it was fully comprehended, it should be able to enter the halls of the Dao of Time.
This strand of soul had accumulated power from the points, comparable to a lower Mountain Moving Realm by cultivation level.
Chen Xia was actually surpassed for a while by his own cultivation, he really didn't expect this.
His cultivation speed also surpassed all the reserve disciples, walking alone at the forefront, due to having comprehended for three years and reaching Mountain Moving Realm in one step.
Chen Xia figured it was also due to the effect of his fortune, which was why comprehending the Dao was so simple.
However, it was said that after Mountain Moving Realm, breaking through each layer of Inverse Oceans got harder and harder, requiring time accumulation and foundation consolidation.
Being able to break through one layer every hundred years was considered outstanding aptitude.
It sounded very difficult.
But Chen Xia didn't believe that.
He felt that it was just lacking in fortune. As long as he had sufficient fortune, even one step to becoming the Emperor might be possible.
This was a qualitative change brought about by a quantitative change.
After Big Yellow Dog got familiar with Chen Xia, his visiting frequency increased from three times a month to thirty times a month. It was as if his butt had grown roots on the white jade cushion and he didn't want to leave at all.
Chi Yu and Big Yellow Dog also became close, often chatting together.
Chi Yu said he wanted to achieve the Emperor, make his name resonate through the heavens, and revitalize his clan.
Big Yellow Dog said he wanted to borrow a reserve disciple's pants.
The topics of a bird and a dog, whether in depth or extent, could be said to be completely unrelated.
But they were curiously connected together.
Chi Yu even promised after achieving the Emperor, he would help Big Yellow Dog borrow pants from other Emperors to try on.
Big Yellow Dog was a bit happy.
He thought, the Emperor's pants could definitely be considered emperor-level treasures, right? If he wore them, wouldn't he be imbued with the Emperor's aura, making him horrifyingly powerful?
Within the cave,
an honest bird, a bootlicker dog, and a lazy bum.
It was quite an eccentric gathering.