39: Monument of Merit! Su Chen: Su Qi, I'll fucking kill you!

Su Chen's sleep was so deep that the world seemed to lose all light, and time itself felt as if it had stopped.

He felt as if he had completely expelled all the exhaustion and fright he had accumulated over the past eighteen years through this hearty and thorough sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the sky outside had turned from day to night and back to day again; he had no idea how many days had passed.

"Ah—so refreshing!"

Su Chen sat up from his bed and let out an earth-shattering stretch.

The bones throughout his body let out a series of crisp pops like firecrackers, bringing an indescribable comfort.

He felt alive again.

"Sleep truly is the best medicine for everything."

Su Chen hopped off the bed with satisfaction, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

The morning breeze brushed against his face, carrying the unique fragrance of Spiritual Qi from Divine Son Peak, which instantly refreshed his spirit.

He gave a lazy yawn, preparing to begin another day of his simple and unadorned salted fish life.

First, he would have the maids prepare a breakfast cooked from Saint Realm Vicious Beast meat and ten-thousand-year Spirit Medicine.

Then, he would lie on the rocking chair in the courtyard, basking in the sun, humming a little tune, and contemplating life.

Perfect.

However, the moment he pushed open the window and cast his gaze toward the Shenzi Peak Mountain Gate...

The relaxed, silly smile on his face froze and shattered, inch by inch.

His entire body stiffened in place.

There, in front of the magnificent Shenzi Peak Mountain Gate, something new had appeared at some unknown point.

Something golden, glittering, and absolutely massive—something that almost blinded his eyes!

It was a stone stele.

A merit stele made entirely of the highest grade Ten-Thousand-Year Divine Gold, standing nine hundred and ninety feet tall, piercing straight into the clouds!

At this moment, hundreds of the Su Family's top Divine Craftsmen were hovering around the merit stele like industrious ants, clinking and clanking as they performed the final carvings and Formation engravings.

Three elderly Elders with snow-white hair and beards were personally overseeing the work, constantly striking out profound runes to reinforce the stele's Formation, ensuring it would remain immortal and live as long as heaven and earth.

And Seventh Elder Su Qi was hovering in mid-air with his hands behind his back like a head foreman, shouting with a face flushed with excitement.

"Quick! Everyone, perk up!"

"This is the merit stele being erected for our Su Family's eternal number one Qilin Son! It is a witness to His Highness the Divine Son's supreme style! It is the future spiritual totem of our Su Family!"

"Not a single detail can go wrong! If anyone dares to cut corners, I'll skin them alive!"

"That Formation over there, yes, that Light-gathering Formation! Increase its power by another tenfold! We must ensure that within a ten-mile radius, whether it's day or night, everyone can clearly see our Divine Son's merit stele and feel his supreme spirit of total devotion to the Dao!"

Under the sunlight, that massive golden stone stele reflected a light so blinding it was practically criminal.

Su Chen could even use his Saint Realm vision to clearly see the line of gold-leafed characters carved at the very top of the stele in the most flamboyant calligraphy—a line of text that made his blood flow backward—

[Divine Son Su Chen, heart set on the Dao, unmoved by beauty, secluded alone, truly the eternal number one Cultivation Madman!]

"BOOM—!!!"

Su Chen's mind instantly exploded into a complete blank.

An extreme fear known as 'social death' caused the blood throughout his body to turn cold in an instant.

His mouth opened unconsciously.

His pupils contracted into dangerous pinpricks due to the extreme horror.

He felt as if his Soul had been forcibly dragged out of his body by an invisible force, stripped naked, and tied tightly to that glittering golden merit stele for a brutal public execution!

"I... Holy shit..."

A phrase of the national quintessence, filled with endless despair and breakdown, was squeezed dryly from Su Chen's throat.

The color drained from his face in an instant, leaving him paler than a corpse.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

[Motherfucker!]

[He really built it!]

[Su Qi, that old bastard! He really put this thing up!!!]

At this moment, Su Chen's heart let out a shrill roar powerful enough to tear through the sky.

[Nine hundred and ninety feet high! Ten-Thousand-Year Divine Gold! And the Light-gathering Formation has to be increased by tenfold?!]

[Are you a devil?!]

[Are you just terrified that someone won't know I, Su Chen, am a 'Cultivation Lunatic'?!]

[I'm finished...]

[My life is completely over...]

Su Chen felt his head spin and his legs go weak. If he hadn't grabbed the window frame in time, he would have knelt down to that merit stele on the spot.

He could clearly imagine that from today onward, his reputation in the Su Family would be permanently fixed.

He was no longer the profligate Divine Son who could just eat and wait to die.

He had become a symbol, a benchmark, a... mental patient nailed to the pillar of shame as a 'Cultivation Madman' for all future generations of the Su Family to admire.

In the future, if he so much as basked in the sun in the courtyard for a bit too long, an Elder would probably come over and advise him earnestly: "Your Highness the Divine Son, you've already rested for fifteen minutes, it's time to go back into seclusion."

If he so much as glanced at a maid, that old matchmaker Su Qi would probably jump out immediately and accuse him with grief and indignation: "Chener! How can you be moved by beauty! Have you forgotten your Dao Heart!"

At the thought of that bleak, never-ending 'wonderful' future, Su Chen felt like he was about to suffocate.

No!

Absolutely not!

This was more painful than killing him!

This stele must be torn down today! No one can stop me! I said so!

An unprecedented rage, mixed with an endless sense of shame, instantly ignited his salted fish heart.

Su Chen's eyes turned blood-red in an instant!

He no longer cared about any salted fish style.

His figure blurred, and instead of turning into a streak of light, he charged straight out of the window with the madness and determination of a Mortal in a street fight. Carrying a heaven-shaking Killing Intent that screamed 'death before dishonor,' he headed straight for the merit stele that had caused him to mentally snap!