Fields of Gold

Spiritual Space? The God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning looked at each other and saw a shocked expression on each other’s faces. There was actually someone who knew of the Spiritual Space in this broken space? Could it be... a patrolling envoy sent by the Goddess of Spirits?”

“You...may I ask who you…” The Goddess of Lightning pushed aside the God of Thunder and tried to squeeze out a smile on her face. She was afraid that her hope might become nothing.

[Humph! As deities of the Spiritual Space, you actually don’t know this Lord Divine Stone. To be so ignorant, it’s no wonder you were punished and exiled to this shabby, little space! How sad! What a pity!] The small golden cat shook its head softly and sighed.

With the God of Thunder’s fiery temper, how could he endure this mini cat’s mocking? He was about to flare up when the Goddess of Thunder quickly stopped her husband and gave him a look. She smiled, “It was us who were ignorant and didn’t recognize you. Were you sent by the Goddess of Spirits to check on us?”

 [Goddess of Spirits? Humph! Humph! She doesn’t have the power to order this Divine Stone around!] The little golden kitten lifted its head and snorted, [This Divine Stone serves under Goddess Nuwa and is the only one to be favored by her. Even the Goddess of Spirits have to give me some faces.]

The Great Pangu [1] split heaven and earth and created the world, Goddess Nuwa made humans with mud, and the Goddess of Spirits was leader of all spirits—these three gods of creation were known by all within the Primeval Realm. The Goddess of Spirits was the most famous one among the three gods of creation because not only did she create all spirits and living things besides humans, she also had an amazing ability—she was able to open up new spaces.

When the spiritual energy within the Primeval Realm was becoming sparse and the cultivation world became increasingly silent day by day, the Goddess of Spirits created the ‘Spiritual Space’ and set up new order for the cultivation world and the immortal world.

The Goddess of Spirit was generous, but she tended to shield those who were close to her. Had the fiery-tempered God of Thunder not offended the Goddess of Spirits, the God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning would still be living leisurely within the Spiritual Space, like a fish in water.

This worn-down space was created by the Goddess of Spirits when she was still young and learning, so it wasn’t very well made. As a result, the spiritual energy here was only one percent of the what the Spiritual Space held, which wasn’t conducive for cultivators to cultivate in. Most of the deities here were immortals from other spaces, who were sent here to cultivate and gain experience. Of course, there were also a few like the God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning, who had been sent down from the higher realms to reflect on their mistakes.

The God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning had stayed here for about seven or eight hundred years. It had been so long that they thought they had been abandoned forever. They thought that they would have to just continue living aimlessly while hitting the thunder hammer daily as the God of Thunder. However, they had finally discovered new hope today.

The God of Thunder’s eyes lit up after hearing the little divine stone’s words. He moved closer with his pointed face and he spoke flatteringly, “May I ask what the Lord Divine Stone is here for?”

[As you know, as a mystic stone, it takes much longer and is more difficult to cultivate compared to humans and spiritual beings. It has been hundreds of millions of years since this Divine Stone had been obtained enlightenment under the refinement of Goddess Nuwa. For a long time, this Divine Stone had been cultivating smoothly and without obstacles. But I encountered an obstacle when I was close to making a transformation!] As the little divine stone recalled its days around Goddess Nuwa’s side, a trace of nostalgia emerged within its golden eyes. 

It was precisely because it had been irritated that it was stuck at the transforming stage that it went to provoke Goddess of Spirits’ authority. As a result, it was banished to the mortal realm by the grudge-bearing Ling’er! The little divine stone was in an even worse situation than the God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning. It was sent to even more barren and shabby space, where there was barely any spiritual energy to speak of.

After much difficulty, it finally found a place with a tint of spiritual energy—it recuperated in the creek in front of the Potala Palace in Tibet for several hundred years before being picked up by Lin Xiaowan, who went there on vacation. It used all its spiritual power to transport Lin Xiaowan’s soul, who had died after falling down the stairs, to this realm and found a suitable body for her. However, it had accidentally acknowledged her as its master, forcing it to board the pirate ship.

Since the situation had already turned out like this, it decided to go with the flow and take things as they come. Although Yu Xiaocao was weak, she was kind in nature. Helping her was the same as helping itself. In order to successfully return to the higher realm as soon as possible, the little divine stone dropped its pride and dignity, and helped its weak master grow.

With its head lowered, the small golden kitten sighed and continued, [In order to overcome the obstacle, Goddess Nuwa let her sister—the Goddess of Spirits—send me to this space to cultivate experience. I inadvertently made a blood pact with a human and now I need to help her for a century. Once she dies, this Divine Stone can return.]

It turned out that it had come down from the Spiritual Space to gain experience! The God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning looked at each other. When they were in the Spiritual Space, they had heard that the celestial stone, which was leftover after Goddess Nuwa patched the heavens, beside Goddess Nuwa had gained wisdom. However, they never expected that a rock could also cultivate into an immortal!

Since the divine stone could return to the Spiritual Space after a century, they needed to be on good terms with this Lord Divine Stone. Hopefully, when it returns, it could put in a good word for them in front of the Goddess of Spirits, even if it was just one or two sentences. Based on the Goddess of Spirits’ benevolent and generous personality, she would definitely remember them and forgive their crimes.

“May I ask why Lord Divine Stone is looking for us, these little deities?” The Goddess of Lightning asked cautiously with a smile.

Seeing that the two were quite obedient, the little divine stone swayed its slender tail and ‘meowed,’ [This Divine Stone’s master is in a difficult situation with a malicious businessman. I hope the two of you can act according to my orders later.]

“But… if he wasn’t an extremely evil person and this little god punished him with the thunder penalty without permission, it would be hard to justify this to the Jade Emperor of this realm.” Although the God of Thunder had a terrible temper, he was considered a good god who had principles.

The small golden kitten gave him a contemptuous look, [Are you an idiot?! Who told you to kill him? You just need to create a little thunder and lightning to scare that wicked man. Can you do it?]

[Understood! This little god knows what to do!] The Goddess of Lightning pulled on the God of Thunder, who was about to say something, and secretly glared at him, fearing that he would offend the divine stone. If that happened, they might have to stay here forever and never be able to get out of this situation.

The little divine stone was very satisfied with how tactful the Goddess of Lightning was. It held its head high and chest out as it paced on the clouds and nodded, [Very good! After you guys accomplish this task, consider it as this Divine Stone owing you a favor. When this Divine Stone returns to to the Spiritual Space, I will definitely plea for the two of you in front of the Goddess of Spirits. You will just have to wait for the decree to be pardoned.]

“Thank you, Lord Divine Stone! Thank you, Lord Divine Stone.” The God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning thanked the little divine stone profusely after they heard its words. Right now, if someone else saw this scene, they would surely split their sides laughing. It was quite weird to see two dignified immortals bowing to a small golden kitten who was only the size of a child’s fist.

Under the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning’s escort, the mini golden cat transformed into a golden light and returned to the multicolored stone on Yu Xiaocao’s wrist. Had it not been afraid that it would attract too much attention, it would have chosen to appear on Xiaocao’s shoulder in its cat form.

At this time, Shopkeeper Zhang Dongming, who didn’t believe in heresy, pointed at the sky and vowed in a peculiar tone, “I, Zhang Dongming, swears to the heavens that if I wrongly accused the young lad whose surname is Yu, then let the Heavens strike me…”

Before he had finished speaking, the God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning had received the little divine stone’s order, and a loud sound of thunder rang out. The sound of thunder sounded as if there was a landslide and the ground splitting open. It felt as if the ground vibrating. Shopkeeper Zhang was so scared that his legs went limp and he fell onto the ground.

However, the Goddess of Lightning wasn’t finished. She aimed the mirror in her hands at the signboard with the name ‘Zhang Ji’s Carpentry Shop’. A glaring beam of light flashed by and a bolt of lightning struck the signboard, turning it into a pile of ashes that happened to fall on Shopkeeper Zhang’s head. 

Shopkeeper Zhang recalled of the oath he just made and thought that he couldn’t escape this calamity. He eyes went still with fear, and a feeling of wetness spread down his thighs.

After a few seconds of silence, the surrounding people began to talk amongst themselves.

“Heavens! Shopkeeper Zhang got struck by lightning! His oath has been fulfilled!”

“The Heavens has opened its eyes! It should just kill this black-hearted man! The grandson of Old Liu’s family from the neighboring village, who was sent over to be an apprentice, was beaten until his legs were broken. Now, the boy can never use his legs anymore.”

“He’s crippled but at least he’s still alive. Over the past decade or so, there had been two apprentices who disappeared from this woodworking shop. Shopkeeper Zhang told others that they stole some items and ran off. But I reckon that these two children had most likely met with a disaster.”

“What a sin! The Heavens should’ve taken him away already!”

“What a great strike! It would be even better if it hit more accurately and strike this vile and rotten man to death!”

“Thank goodness, I borrowed twenty taels from here and there, and got my Si’er back. Otherwise, he would’ve ended up like the child from the Yu Family.”

“Ay! I don’t know if the child from the Yu Family can be saved.”

...  

Yu Xiaocao looked coldly at Shopkeeper Zhang, who lay paralyzed on the ground and had wet himself in fright. She said with hatred, “Shopkeeper Zhang, I already told you that ‘the gods will always be looking over our actions’. It’s not that you’re not going to be punished but rather it wasn’t time yet! Now, do you still insist that my brother stole money from your store?”

Shopkeeper Zhang had already woken up after fainting briefly. However, he didn’t have any face to confront the wetness between his legs and the criticism of his neighbors. After hearing Xiaocao’s words, his heart was filled with respect and fear towards the gods, so he decided to fake death until the end.

Yu Xiaocao saw the slight movement of Shopkeeper Zhang’s eyelids, and knew that he was pretending to be unconscious. He had beaten the sensible and clever Yu Hang until his bones were fractured and left with internal injuries, so she obviously couldn't just let him go like that. She needed to give him a deep and unforgettable lesson!

Yu Xiaocao communicated with the divine stone in her mind, and then the little divine stone sent out its second command. Above the clouds, the God of Thunder picked up his thunder hammer once again, while the mirror within the Goddess of Lightning’s hands flickered repeatedly.

In front of Zhang Ji’s Carpentry Shop, the limestone slabs near where Shopkeeper Zhang lay prone on the ground were consecutively struck by thunderbolts. The broken pieces of limestones flew onto Shopkeeper Zhang’s face and body.

Zhang Dongming’s ears were about to be deafened by the sound of thunder. He felt as if the snow-white thunderbolt was almost about to land on him. How would he dare to continue to lay on the ground and pretend to be dead?

Disregarding how others would view him, he got up nimbly and tried to jump into the store to hide. But, as if they had eyes, the thunderbolts chased him the whole way and repeatedly struck at locations within one meter of him, cutting off the path into his store.

The onlookers were afraid of being implicated by the thunderbolts, and all backed away. Only the members of the Yu Family stood firmly in the midst of the lightning flashes and roaring thunder. With the fierce winds blowing behind them, they appeared somewhat solemn and tragic.   

Yu Xiaocao looked at him with a stern gaze, “Shopkeeper Zhang, aren’t you going to plead guilty? Or, are you only willing to repent sincerely after the Heavenly Thunder strikes you on the head and turn you into a pile of dispersing ashes?”

[1] Pan Gu (盘古) - creator of the universe in Chinese mythology