Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal?

Chapter 856.3: Immortal Stone Pine

Upon closer inspection, those with traces of incense offerings were all minor deities and lesser gods from the heavens above Lingxiao. For example, those clearly dressed as heavenly soldiers and generals, as well as immortal attendants and maidservants, Yellow Turban Warriors, and so on. However, the incense burners belonging to those obviously higher-ranking Immortals were completely empty.Furthermore, these incense burners also varied in size.

Take the incense burner of a Yellow Turban Warrior, for instance. It was only about the size of a bottle cap. Once a single stick of incense burned out, the ashes would be enough to fill that cap. Meanwhile, the incense burner for Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun on the upper level was as large as a water vat. It probably wouldn't be filled even if you burned a thousand or ten thousand sticks of incense in it.

Zhang Yibai pondered this.

Hiss—!

Was there a possibility...

That this incense was the fee for summoning gods and Immortals down?

And the few sticks of incense Hua Jin the True One gave him were, at best, only enough to summon a gate-guarding door god.

These celestial Immortals were pretty stingy too...

Zhang Yibai had originally been considering how to tamper with things, but now it seemed there was no need for trickery. He needed to make a first attempt to see what the situation was like.

He picked and chose, left and right, and finally settled on a minor deity with wrinkled, leathery skin who looked like a dwarf.

He didn't know what this minor deity was in charge of. It had half a green pine branch stuck in its head and was covered in stones all over its body, looking quite shabby. Most importantly, its bottle-cap-sized incense burner was also empty of anything. That is to say, even if its incense offering was cheap, no one had burned any for it.

As for why no one burned any...

Wasn't that obvious?

It must be weak!

Since he had to summon one down, he might as well summon the weakest one to test its substance.

Thinking this, Zhang Yibai took out a stick of incense made from Celestial Jade Marrow and inserted it.

The tip of the incense automatically ignited. A pale column of smoke rose straight and true, shooting directly up to the dome of Lingxiao Hall, transforming into a slender smoke pillar that soared into the sky.

Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng instinctively took half a step back, their eyes fixed intently on the stone statue of that dwarf-like minor deity with the pine branch stuck in its head and covered in stones.

They saw the originally dull, lusterless surface of the black stone slowly begin to shimmer with a faint layer of color:

The wrinkled skin took on a waxy yellow hue, the stones on its body were dyed a grayish-brown, and the half pine branch also revealed a touch of aged green. The stone statue's eyeballs gradually shifted from a stony turbidity to gaining a trace of liveliness, as if a soul was being poured into them.

*Crack, crack*—a few faint sounds of stone splitting rang out.

The minor deity stone statue slowly moved its neck.

Then it raised a hand and patted the dust off its body, actually stepping down from beside the altar table.

Both Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng were "inviting an Immortal" for the first time. At this moment, they were both a bit dumbfounded. They didn't know if the current situation was a proper "summoning of an Immortal to the mortal realm," but the process was somewhat lacking in grandeur.

They could clearly sense that the minor deity before them was fundamentally different from them mortals, a qualitative distinction within the power system. Perhaps a single casual spell from the other party would be enough to force them to prostrate on the ground in submission.

Yet, this minor deity didn't possess a shred of the ethereal, transcendent Immortal Qi that gods and Immortals should have. Instead, it was enveloped in a layer of grayish mist, like an un-washable layer of filth. Even its breath carried a stale, musty odor, vastly different from the image of gods and Immortals Zhang Yibai had imagined.

After landing, the minor deity first stretched its neck and sniffed at the smoke from the incense stick, a trace of greed flashing across its face. Then it raised its hand and grabbed, and a wisp of golden incense offering was pinched in its fingers.

It didn't inhale the incense offering completely. Instead, it fished out a palm-sized cloth pouch from its waist, carefully stuffed that wisp of incense offering inside, tightened the drawstring, and tucked it back into its embrace.

Zhang Yibai saw this clearly, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

This appearance was exactly like a starving ghost that hadn't eaten for hundreds of years, finally getting a bit of food, yet unable to bear to finish it all in one go, afraid that after this meal there would be no next, so it hurriedly saved it to savor slowly later.

After finishing all this, the minor deity then straightened its hunched back a little, trying its best to put on a majestic appearance. It squinted its small eyes, sizing up Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng, and asked in a shrill voice, "Mortals, why have you summoned This Deity to descend?"

As soon as it finished speaking, as if afraid the two didn't understand the rules, it hurriedly added, "This Deity is the assistant mountain god of Kunlun Mountain, the Great Immortal Stone Pine, in charge of the plants, trees, mountains, and stones of one corner of Kunlun!

If you have requests of This Deity, you must additionally present incense offerings as tribute—not a single word less! You lowly, base mortal cattle, don't even think about taking advantage of me!"

After saying this, it deliberately puffed out its chest a bit, attempting to display its "divine majesty." But its dusty, grimy appearance, paired with that shrill voice, only made it seem comical and sleazy.

Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng exchanged a glance.

The so-called assistant mountain god was probably similar to an Immortal attendant beside an Immortal, a minor functionary in a city god's temple, a ghost runner in the underworld, even inferior to Ox-Head and Horse-Face, let alone Black and White Impermanence. Probably... on the same level as the Jade Rabbit in Chang'e's arms.

But it was still an Immortal, no mistake about that.

It's just that its speech was truly arrogant, and its eating manners were also quite unsightly.

If all the Immortals in the heavens above Lingxiao were of this character, Zhang Yibai expressed that once he became an Immortal, he could go up there and kick each and every one of these so-called gods and Immortals.

"Dare I ask, Great Immortal, if we need you to take action, what else must we offer?"

Zhang Yibai piled on an obsequious smile on his face, putting on a fawning, flattering appearance.

The words "Great Immortal" pleased the Great Immortal Stone Pine immensely.

It rubbed its shriveled belly, a greedy smile appearing on its face. "If you want This Immortal to take action, you lot must offer spirit jade... let's say about a hundred pieces of mid-grade spirit jade..."

"Uh..." Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng were speechless.

A hundred mid-grade spirit jade pieces could sustain it?

This demand was really too low.

It seemed this Immortal was truly starving badly. Looking at how it kept taking deep breaths, it seemed the spiritual energy of Kunlun Immortal Palace was extremely enjoyable to it.

Zhang Yibai certainly wouldn't pay this cost himself.

He cupped his hands in salute and said, "Great Immortal, the one in need of help is the Leader of Kunlun Immortal Palace, Hua Jin the True One. We are merely following her command to return and summon an Immortal.

She said that Lingxiao Hall enshrines the ancestors of Kunlun, and had us burn incense to attract them. Seeing your mighty and imposing stature, we thus summoned you down.

Now, Hua Jin the True One is still in danger. How about you go help first? We can discuss the matter of incense offerings with Hua Jin the True One afterwards?"

Upon hearing this, the smile on the face of the 'Great Immortal' Stone Pine faded a few degrees.

The Leader of Kunlun Immortal Palace was the strongest existence within Kunlun Immortal Palace, the most powerful combatant beneath the Immortals.

An enemy that could trouble the Leader was, at minimum, a Quasi-Immortal, right?

A touch of caution appeared on its face. "Who is Hua Jin the True One's opponent? Also, one more thing to remind you: the more incense offerings you use to summon This Immortal, the stronger This Immortal's manifested power can be. You have only offered a single stick of incense now. If Hua Jin the True One's opponent is very strong, This Immortal is afraid..."

Zhang Yibai silently committed this piece of information to heart.

Then he said, "Hua Jin the True One's opponent is a Demon Immortal from the Great Thunder Temple side, named Wu E."

"Wu... Wu E?!" The Great Immortal Stone Pine's lips trembled, its pupils constricting to pinpricks.

It pointed at itself. "You want me to go deal with Wu E, one of the Four Great Demon Immortals under Divine Joy Emperor's command? Are you sick!"

It spat fiercely, then, right in front of Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng, transformed into a wisp of gray smoke and returned to its memorial tablet, solidifying back into the stone statue it was before.

Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng stood there dumbfounded. It took them a good while to react.

The 'Great Immortal' Stone Pine they had just summoned seemed to have... run away?