Gu Qing Shan simply stood there on the lone pavilion.
Time slowly passed.
Still, no one paid any attention to him.
Every cultivator who passed by him was busy enjoying the scenic beauty of their surroundings, not caring a single bit about him.
This caused Gu Qing Shan to feel a lot more assured.
He stopped hesitating and quickly walked out of the pavilion.
As soon as he did, lotus flowers manifested beneath Gu Qing Shanâs feet to lift him up.
A total of sixteen beautiful heavenly girls appeared from the void of space and bowed to him.
âWelcome, Heavenly masterâ
It was at this point that the passing-by cultivators looked at him in surprise.
But they soon returned to enjoying themselves and left him be.
Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist in return: âThis humble one is Gu Qing Shan, is there a reason why you addressed me as Heavenly master?â
The heavenly girls giggled: âEach person who can arrive at this Yama Heavenly realm is a Yama Heavenly masterâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded with understanding.
The most beautiful girl among the heavenly girls stepped forward and looked straight at Gu Qing Shan: âHeavenly master Gu, from today onwards, us sixteen heavenly girls will be your servants; everything from your daily spending, food enjoyment, sight-seeing travels, and so forth will be dealt with by usâ
âNaturally, if one day you find yourself bored of us, you need only say so, for new sisters shall come to replace usâ
Gu Qing Shan replied: âMy apologies, but I donât have any moneyâ
The heavenly girl smiled and told him: âThe Yama Heavenly realm does not require any money, as everything here is the manifestation of the Heavenly masterâs previous karmic virtues, it is the enjoyment that you have earnedâ
Gu Qing Shan pondered: âIn other words, once my Merit is used up, I will be able to returnâ
The heavenly girl nodded: âThat is indeed the caseâ
Gu Qing Shan sighed in relief: âThen, where can I see my own Merit?â
The heavenly girl replied: âThere is a Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtues & Fire in this Heavenly realm, it can measure the good and bad karma of all Heavenly mastersâ
âIt can measure karma as well?â
âIndeed. If you please, Heavenly master, first follow us to the Heavenly Fragrance Divine Springâ
âWhat for?â
âWe shall aid the Heavenly master in changing his clothes, then guide the Heavenly master through the wonderful sights of the Yama Heavenly realm; tomorrow, we shall measure the Heavenly masterâs karmic virtuesâ
The sixteen heavenly girls walked two circles around Gu Qing Shan before kneeling at once, offering various items with their hands.
Gu Qing Shan looked at each one.
They were offering various types of clothing, gem ornaments, belts, and shoes, all of which gave off a faint gentle glow, naturally not ordinary items.
Gu Qing Shan glanced down at himself.
Since he had given his personal armor to Su Xue Er, the only thing he had on right now was normal cultivator garb.
He asked: âCan I not change clothes?â
âNaturally, all things in the Yama Heavenly realm will follow the Heavenly masterâs willâ the heavenly girl replied.
âThen how should we go to the Heavenly Fragrance Divine Spring?â
âHeavenly master Gu, you need only to chant its nameâ
Gu Qing Shan tried chanting it.
The scenery around him flashed by.
He found that he had arrived next to a hot spring.
Faint water vapor drifted above the water, flowers were blooming and birds were chirping.
With a gentle gust of wind, the sound of the hot spring sounded very pleasant to the ears.
The sixteen heavenly girls had followed him here.
âWhy canât I see any other person?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
The heavenly girl replied: âThis spring is split off into countless branches, each pond is a branch that only allows entry to a single Heavenly master and their servants.
Saying so, these girls began to undo the sashes of their clothing.
âWhat are you all doing?â Gu Qing Shan asked in surprise.
The heavenly girls giggled again.
One of them replied: âWe are preparing to serve the Heavenly master, as we shall fulfill all the desires in your heartâ
Gu Qing Shan sighed: âIâm not very used to bathing with so many peopleâ
Another heavenly girl spoke up: âPlease be assured, Heavenly master, all of us are maidens created from your karmic virtues, as such we are perfectly pure, but also have the perfect understanding of how to please youâ
After a while of staying silent, Gu Qing Shan replied: âLetâs us skip bathing, please take me to see the world of the Yama Heavenly realmâ
âYesâ the heavenly girls replied.
The hot spring suddenly disappeared.
Gu Qing Shan found himself now standing above a cluster of clouds.
The sky was endlessly vast, the closer one was to the sea of clouds, the clearer the sky appeared to be.
However, far above the sky was clouded in complete darkness.
As Gu Qing Shan looked up, he only saw a few brief flashes of fluctuation before they vanished.
Gu Qing Shan pointed at the sky and asked: âWhy is it dark above us? Whatâs up there?â
A heavenly girl replied: âHeavenly master, above us lies the Yama layer, our current position is known as the Cloud Sea layer; the two of them together comprise the Yama Heavenly realmâ
Another heavenly girl followed up: âAfter you measure your good and bad karma, you can choose to remain in the Heavenly realm to enjoy the wonders of your karmic virtues; or head into the Yama layer to receive the suffering fueled by your karmic fireâ
Gu Qing Shan smiled: âIf thatâs the case, who would be willing to enter the Yama layer?â
The heavenly girl slowly explained: âThis is how the Yama Heavenly realm was originally created, regardless if there are those willing to go or not, it is the sameââ just like the Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtues & Fire, which can measure both good and bad karmaâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded to express his understanding.
He gazed towards the sea of clouds.
Clusters of clouds were constantly drifting about, occasionally, getting closer, occasionally moving further away.
Each cloud housed a manor of some kind.
Some of these manors were small, some slightly bigger, the biggest was the size of a small city, while the smallest was a 4-roomed single floor house.
The heavenly girls saw how closely he was observing them, so one of them explained with her chiming, rousing voice: âThese are the manors of the other Heavenly masters, the size and shapes of which were all determined according to their karmic virtuesâ
âThe more karmic virtue they accrued, the bigger their manorâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded and muttered: âSo thatâs how it is, what an eye-opening experienceâ
He turned around, only to see that there was nothing on his cloud except himself and the sixteen heavenly girls.
One of them explained: âHeavenly master Gu, you need to chant [Mine Residence] for your living space to manifest itselfâ
Gu Qing Shan asked: âWill that be ok? I still havenât measured my Merit at the Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtues & Fireâ
A heavenly girl explained: âAlthough you havenât measured it, your karma is still yours, you can first stay here and measure it tomorrowâ
So Gu Qing Shan tried chanting.
The clouds around started surging, gathering towards him from all directions.
It was expanding so quickly that the other clouds had to move away in order to make space.
The clouds continued to expand for several dozen seconds before it stopped.
Gu Qing Shan scanned it with his inner sight to find that the cloud was over 1300 kilometers squared in size.
Before he could retract his inner sight, a castle town suddenly manifested on top of the cloud.
It was truly a castle town, the entire area was over 1200 kilometers squared, it was situated against a tall cliff with a river flowing in its vicinity, the inside of which were a series of golden glowing structures, magnificently decorated buildings and intricately carved pillars of wood and marble.
There was also a performance stage for recitals, jade-green bridges, gardens of hundred flowers, a martial arts field, a cultivation temple, and various other buildings.
As well as numerous treasures; spirit herbs and flowers; weapons and secret scriptures; armors and shields; all of which gave off blinding light.
Gu Qing Shan was stunned.
One of the heavenly girls spoke emotionally: âNo wonder the sixteen of us were summoned to serve the Heavenly master as soon as you arrived in this world, it turns out that Heavenly master Gu is the owner of untold karmic virtuesâ
At this point, a golden carriage approached them from inside the castle city.
The carriage stopped in front of them and opened up.
Twenty maids of decent appearance each carrying a food container arrived in front of Gu Qing Shan, bowing to greet him:
âHeavenly masterâ
They each knelt in front of Gu Qing Shan before unveiling the contents of their containers.
Inside the twenty food containers were eighty varieties of well-made snacks, together with 15 types each of tea and warm liquor.
One of the maids said: âHeavenly master, this is your afternoon tea, please enjoy it first, as your dinner would soon be prepared as wellâ
Gu Qing Shan looked through each one and exclaimed: âThis workmanship is even better than mineâ
Another maid told him: âHeavenly master, if you wish to learn cooking, we can teach you all 8 billion dishes of the Heavenly realmâ
Gu Qing Shan observed the castle town, then at the flock of beautiful ladies by his side, and remained temporarily silent.
A clever heavenly girl explained: âHeavenly master, if you feel awkward that we are all women, you can also get to know the other Heavenly masters and become their friendsâ
âIf you wish to befriend or enter an intimate relationship with female Heavenly masters, all of us can immediately disappear, or only remain as normal maids who do not share your bedââ everything shall be as you willâ
Gu Qing Shan said: âActually, I only have one questionâ
âPlease go aheadâ
âEarlier, you said that youâll take me to the Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtues & Fire tomorrow?â
âYesâ
âIs it closed today?â
âThat is not so, we simply wish to allow you to get used to the cloud layer firstâ
âVery well, then I want to measure my Merit right nowâ
...
A few moments later, Gu Qing Shan arrived where the Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtues & Fire was.
The so-called Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtues & Fire seemed to be a giant lotus head.
Gu Qing Shan stood on top of it and asked: âSo, I only need to stand here and wait?â
âYesâ a heavenly girl smiled and replied: âAfter a brief moment of waiting, the Heavenly master will be informed of your karmic virtueâ
âAlright, I understandâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
I received a very clear answer earlier, everything that can be done on this Cloud Sea layer requires karmic virtue â or Merit.
ââand Iâll be able to return as soon as I spend all of it.
This is simple.
Just like earning money and using money.
Itâs very hard to earn money, but using money is extremely easy.
However, it would be best to know how much Merit I have exactly before spending it.
Gu Qing Shan honestly stood on top of the lotus head.
After a moment of waiting.
A lotus seed popped out from the lotus head.
Poof!
The lotus seed broke open.
Followed by a dignified voice:
[This personâs karmic virtue is immeasurable; he may forever enjoy his blessings in the Cloud Sea layer]