Thirty years was not a long time, yet it was not short either.
During these brief thirty years, many changes occurred throughout the Jambudvipa World.
First and foremost, the anomalies brought by the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth grew increasingly intense. The prelude became more violent, gradually spiraling toward an uncontrollable direction.
The frequency of spirit veins mutating also increased...
Although cases that could not be suppressed or handled remained in the minority, they were no longer as fundamentally under control as they had been during the first thirty years.
Over these past three decades, several cities had been annihilated in the mutations of spirit veins...
Not only did the cities vanish, but even those regions fell into a state of sluggish spiritual energy.
If not for spiritual energy from other regions drifting in, those places would have lacked Qi entirely, becoming a forbidden zone for divine immortals.
Of course, it wasn't that one couldn't enter; it was simply that being inside was extremely uncomfortable, and one could not recover their dharma power.
It was like a shrunken, weakened version of the Thirty-Sixth Heaven.
This was only the second thirty-year period, yet the situation had already begun to move toward an uncontrollable state.
No one knew what the world would become in the several thirty-year periods to follow, or how many unmanageable natural disasters would appear.
The changes between heaven and earth were only one part; there were many subtle shifts that Su Qing had not yet perceived.
Fortunately, however, the changes occurring around Su Qing herself over these thirty years were relatively few.
Everything was still proceeding smoothly at Changbai Mountain.
The vicinity of Changbai Mountain had not undergone any major changes, nor had it been affected by the prelude of the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth.
Although the spirit veins were gradually thinning, they remained relatively stable, with no signs of mutation.
As for the nearby cities, at most they suffered a few more man-made troubles...
Natural disasters remained extremely rare.
Additionally, with Su Qing's clone stationed there, the area around Changbai Mountain could be considered one of the better-off regions in the Jambudvipa World in recent years.
Precisely because this region was so stable, the preparations Su Qing had made decades ago had not yet been put to much use.
At most, they prevented some mortals from wandering in by mistake...
However, Su Qing did not feel that her efforts had been in vain.
She knew very well that this was merely the current tranquility. There was no telling if those troubles would appear in the future; having preparations was always better than having none.
This way, even if something truly went wrong one day, she wouldn't be caught off guard...
Therefore, instead of relaxing, Su Qing actually plugged some of the gaps in her original preparations to ensure they were even more foolproof.
Beyond that... other aspects of Changbai Mountain were also very smooth.
Incense Power had been growing steadily...
The Incense Power Su Qing collected was increasing, giving her a great deal of peace of mind.
Even so, she never stopped her movements, continuing to gather Incense Power relentlessly.
Ultimately, one could never have too much of this stuff.
On the other side, the clone traveling outside to collect Incense Power had also had a relatively smooth journey.
At least in terms of collecting Incense Power, things were going well.
As she traveled and experienced the local customs and cultures of various places in the Jambudvipa World, she also witnessed much of its squalor.
Along this path, she had killed countless people and saved countless others.
She had also established many temples...
Helping her original body collect vast amounts of Incense Power.
And similarly, she had been back-and-forth with Jin Xin for who knows how long...
Today, the sky was clear.
Inside a certain city, Su Qing decapitated a demon with a single sword strike.
She then flicked the sword in her hand, shaking off the blood.
"Sigh, just how rotten is this city? This is already the third demon today. Is the City God of this place dead?"
Su Qing sighed softly, then remembering something, she shook her head.
"Forget it, the City God here truly is dead..."
This was a city rotten to the core...
The reason was simple: the City God here had died somehow before she arrived.
Su Qing didn't even know how he had been taken out.
A while ago, when Su Qing first arrived here, she was stunned by the situation.
This city was a complete and utter mess...
Demons acted willfully within the city, emerging to snatch and eat people even in broad daylight.
Even the statue of the City God had been replaced with one of a demon.
It was clear that this city was truly rotten to the bone.
It was almost like the kingdom where she had first met Su Qingyu.
No, it was even more ridiculous than that kingdom.
The demons there at least practiced some deception.
The demons here were too lazy to even bother with disguises.
They simply snatched and ate people in their demonic forms.
One could see just how rampant they had become.
On the day she arrived, she had no idea how many demons she had killed...
Although they were all weaklings, killing so many was still annoying.
After all, no matter how many mosquitoes there were, you could slap them to death with one hand, but if you had to slap mosquitoes every single day, anyone would find it irritating.
"Honestly... it looks like there will be plenty to do over the next few years."
Su Qing shook her head helplessly and said, "But oh well, this makes it convenient for me to collect Incense Power. It's just a pity for these mortals..."
Beside her, Jin Xin poked her head out and said, "They are indeed pitiable, but since you've come, they won't be pitiable for much longer. Anyway, for the sake of Incense Power, you'll find a way to restore this place to its normal state..."
Jin Xin's words were quite accurate...
However, one thing she got wrong was that even without the Incense Power, Su Qing would still restore this place to normal.
After all, she was an orthodox deity; some things simply had to be done.
Moreover, she couldn't just watch those demons eat people as they pleased...
She felt a sense of kinship with demons and was willing to help good ones, but for those who committed evil, she showed absolutely no mercy.
"You're right about that... but..." Su Qing heard this and glanced at the flattering Jin Xin, saying, "When did you learn to suck up? This doesn't seem like your personality!"
Although Jin Xin occasionally gave compliments, it was actually quite rare.
And flattery like this was something she almost never did.
That was why Su Qing was so surprised...
Upon hearing this, Jin Xin smiled and said, "There's no special reason, really. I just learned a few things from books. The books say that if you praise the person you like more, they will like you more in return."
Even after all these years, Jin Xin remained the same.
She always liked to learn useless things from those books.
And no matter what useless thing she learned, she would always find Su Qing to experiment with it.
However, no matter how she experimented, those things continued to have no effect on Su Qing.
Yet she remained tireless in this endeavor.
Even knowing it would be useless against Su Qing, she would still give it a try.
It had practically become a part of her life.
As for the other parts of her life, they mostly consisted of working alongside Su Qing and sexually harassing her.
Listening to Jin Xin, Su Qing gave a helpless smile and said as she always did:
"You, oh you, you really should read fewer of those useless things~ Read something useful instead! You won't learn anything good from those books. Besides, instead of looking at those, you'd be better off training your courage! Think about that time three years ago? You ran away so fast!"
Su Qing's words made Jin Xin freeze, and she couldn't help but recall several past attempts at an intimate exchange...
Mhm, they had all ended in failure.
Although she made some progress each time, it wasn't much.
She didn't know why either...
She had clearly prepared herself mentally long ago.
She had even made preparations on her own body before taking action.
But when it came time to actually do it, she immediately lost her nerve.
This didn't just make her feel helpless; it made her feel incredibly embarrassed.
To be the one taking the initiative, only to be the one to run away.
Nothing was more humiliating than that.
It was a total disgrace!
Therefore, when Su Qing brought it up, Jin Xin immediately shut her mouth obediently.
After all, she didn't want to discuss that intimate exchange at all.
Since opening her mouth would definitely lead the conversation further in that direction, the best way was to stay silent.
Of course, her unwillingness to discuss it didn't mean she had given up on it.
After all these years, when had she ever given up?
She simply didn't want to mention her past failures.
Seeing her shut up, Su Qing was also slightly helpless. Whenever the topic turned to her past failures, this girl would start acting like a tortoise hiding in its shell.
Su Qing couldn't help but shake her head, then reached out to tap her head, saying:
"Alright, that's enough. Let's go back! Speaking of which, have I forgotten something lately?"
Jin Xin didn't answer upon hearing this, still pondering something else...
Seeing this, Su Qing merely shrugged and didn't continue questioning her.
Instead, she lowered her head and began to think for herself...
"Oh, right, it's about time to find Su Qingyu and the others. I promised to see them every few years. Three years have passed already; it's time to go find them." Su Qing stretched, finally remembering what it was.
In recent days, Su Qing had been quite busy.
She had forgotten about it for a moment.
However, Su Qing didn't plan to go right this second.
After all, there were still some matters here that hadn't been handled properly.
She had to deal with the final few things here before she could set off to see Su Qingyu and the others.
"Mhm, after I've beaten the demons here so badly they don't dare come out for a few days, I'll go find Su Qingyu and the rest!" Su Qing rubbed her chin, having made her decision.
With that, Su Qing turned and headed home.
As before, every time Su Qing arrived at a new place, she would first purchase a residence.
And her arrival in this city was no exception.
In this city, the place Su Qing lived was a quiet courtyard surrounded by bamboo. It was very elegant and could be considered an excellent residence.
Su Qing returned home.
Ao Yiyi was busy managing the household affairs and planning for the future construction of the temple.
Hu Lin'er was nearby helping, cleaning the house and preparing meals.
As for the black cat...
Little Coal Ball was, as always, lying in a comfortable spot basking in the sun.
This girl was always incredibly lazy.
Su Qing was too lazy to scold her for it.
"How is it?" Seeing Su Qing return, Ao Yiyi stepped forward to ask about the situation.
Su Qing answered casually, "More demons causing trouble, it's such a pain... There really are enough demons in this city. I've killed so many, yet they're still not all gone!"
"Is that so? Well, since the City God is dead and no new one has taken over, it's not surprising it turned out like this." Ao Yiyi nodded and said, "Have you told the Heavenly Court about the situation here?"
"I've told them, but they don't have any manpower either. They just told me to handle it myself for now. I suppose they've figured I'll be developing Incense Power here and will take the initiative to fix things?" Su Qing shrugged and said, "I just don't know what the Heavenly Court is so busy with lately that they can't even spare two people."
Thirty years had passed.
Although the Heavenly Court had mostly completed its preparations for the tribulation, they hadn't slowed down; instead, they had become even busier.
Not only were the high-ranking deities busy, but even the lesser deities were occupied beyond measure.
However, this was perfectly normal.
After all, the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth was approaching. Changes in the world were increasing, and disasters were becoming more frequent, while the Heavenly Court only had so many people. It would be strange if they weren't busy.
Of course, while the lesser deities were busy with these anomalies, most of the high-ranking deities were not...
They were busy with other matters.
After all, their presence was rarely seen when dealing with these disasters.
Only when the lesser deities couldn't handle something would their figures appear.
As for what they were busy with if not these things, Su Qing herself wasn't entirely clear on the specifics.
The only thing she knew was that it had become very difficult for her to contact these seniors lately.
And even Old Mother and Taishang Laojun were hard to reach.
It was clear they were all busy with something important.
Su Qing shook her head, feeling slightly helpless and a bit sentimental.
This was only the second thirty-year period...
As the disasters brought by the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth increased in the future, who knew what level of busyness the Heavenly Court would reach.
Presumably, that would be when they truly couldn't manage everything.
However, if the Heavenly Court didn't care about the matters here...
It wasn't that the Heavenly Court was completely out of manpower.
The main reason was simply that Su Qing was here.
Therefore, it could be left to Su Qing to handle for the time being.
Once more manpower was freed up later, they would naturally send someone over.
Ao Yiyi nodded slightly upon hearing this and said:
"They can't send anyone? That is indeed a bit troublesome... However, as long as Sister Su is here for the next few years, there's no need to worry about the City God position for now. But eventually, there must be one... I wonder if the Heavenly Court will be able to send someone in a few years."
Su Qing's mouth twitched as she looked at the sky and couldn't help but say, "They probably will!"
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