Ning'an Village, located in a remote area, was designated a poverty-stricken village in the city of Jiangbei just a year ago. However, in merely one year, this place has witnessed a drastic transformation. From having a per capita annual income of less than 5000 Yuan, it has multiplied several times over. This transformation is attributed to the village leader - a young lady who graduated from a university, known as Xu Ru.
Xu Ru, the village head, is attractive. Before she left for her studies in the city, she was a known beauty within a radius of several miles, the captivating village belle. After finishing her university education, she became even more stunning, practically a goddess. Her attractive appearance shone through no matter what she wore. A beauty with both intellect and looks, she became the object of admiration for the bachelors and the young men in the village. Yet, none of them had the courage to confess.
However, all of this changed with the return of Li Xiaotian. He pursued Xu Ru with overwhelming fervor. Not just face-to-face expressions of love with flowers, but he would also serenade her with love songs and poems outside her house all through the night.
Xu Ru could tolerate all this, after all, she had no power to stop someone from admiring and pursuing her. Even though she went from initially refusing politely to explicitly expressing her disinterest, to finally losing her temper, even throwing water on him in the presence of others to bring him back to reality, to observe his actions - none of it seemed to deter him. His determination seemed to strengthen with each setback. He even used the village speakers, and there were rumors that he planned to place ads professing his love for Xu Ru to the whole world.
This was concerning to Xu Ru as she didn’t want to be implicated in a farce. So, she decided to have a serious talk with Li Xiaotian.
...
At one of the households in the village, the Li family, who were among the poorest in the village, it was Li Xiaotian's home!
"Xiaotian, it's already been half a month since you came back. Can we stop these antics and get to work? I understand your wish to find a wife, but don't you think pursuing Xu Ru, the village head, is a bit too ambitious?" Li Xiaotian's mother sighed and spoke to her son.
"Have you lost your mind? You have thoroughly embarrassed me. Do you think you are worthy of Xu Ru? You, once you left, you disappeared for seven years, and now that you are back, you don’t work and only pursue Xu Ru. Isn't this a case of a toad wishing to eat swan meat?" Li Xiaotian's father took a drag from his cigarette and angrily continued.
"Dad, Mom, can you not destroy my confidence and impose low self-esteem. Are you implying you are not proud of your own son?" The one responding was a young man in his 20's, dark-skinned with short hair. Even though he wasn't ugly, he was as ordinary as it gets.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaotian's mother couldn't say any more, after all, no mother would think less of her own son. However, Li Xiaotian's father was not convinced and continued, "I would be proud if you had accomplished something worthy. When you were supposed to study, you left home for seven years and came back with nothing noteworthy and refuse to work. Yet you dream of Xu Ru? Can't you see how impossible this is!"
Hearing his father's words, there was a hint of embarrassment in Li Xiaotian's expression, but it wasn't because he was unrealistic or fooled by his desires; he was simply at a loss. This story was rather complicated, to begin with...
It began seven years ago when he was 16. Fascinated by tomb-raiding novels, he desired to dig up ancient tombs for treasure. After running through more than half of Xia Country, he thought he found a perfect feng shui spot. Yet the moment he started digging, he accidentally hit a secret underground military research base.
Just like that, they suspected him of being a spy and detained him for seven years. The poor Li Xiaotian, try as he might, couldn't clear his name, because the story simply seemed too incredible. The spot he chose to dig, according to the authorities, was the weakest link in the entire base's defenses. Hence, the designation of a highly-skilled professional spy was thrust upon him.
Just after his incarceration, Li Xiaotian felt extreme injustice, feeling even more wronged than Dou E. Being a free-spirited person, being locked-up caused him to attempted to bash his head against the wall in protest, hoping to draw attention to his predicament and explain his innocence. But instead, he hit his head on the "Questioning Stone," the immortal relic which Qin Emperor had sought out with the resources of the entire nation!
After being doused in Li XiaoTian's fresh blood, the Immortal Stone instantly melted into Li XiaoTian's body, even healing his forehead wound immediately. Since Li XiaoTian had fainted at that moment, it wasn't until after he awoke that a divine-level system named "Celestial Earth God" surfaced in his mind.
From disbelief to ecstasy, then to utter dejection, Li XiaoTian has been through a gamut of emotional changes after receiving this divinity system. It was hard to believe that bumping his head yielded a chance encounter with immortality and resulted in the acquisition of the Celestial Earth God system. But after understanding the system and realizing its existence, one can only imagine the surprise and joy in Li XiaoTian's heart.
Since ancient times, who hasn't coveted immortality and endless longevity, to freely roam above the nine heavens? A simple gesture could disrupt the flow of water and move mountains. Through the system introduction, Li XiaoTian learnt that there indeed is an existence of a Heavenly Court in this world, in which the immortals were ranked hierarchically. The Earth God was only ranked at the ninth level but was nonetheless a bona fide deity of the Heavenly Court.
This divine position was bestowed by the Heavenly Court, in recognition of Emperor Qin's sincere and tireless pursuit of immortality. Sadly, even though Emperor Qin received this Earth God system, he was still one step away from immortality. Overwhelmed with excitement, he tragically died of a heart attack.
The first condition to activate the system was to have an acre of fertile land. Being locked up, Li XiaoTian naturally lacked such a field. So, although he possessed the precious system, he could not activate it. His frustration was understandable. Eventually, after research results were released without any leakage, and no evidence was found that Li XiaoTian had any contact with espionage in his lifetime, he was finally released.
Upon his release and return home, Li XiaoTian found he did indeed own fertile land. However, the Earth God system had a second requirement – to pursue a woman named Xu Ru. This almost brought Li XiaoTian to his knees. How was this related? Fertile land was one thing, as he was an Earth God, but what on earth did Xu Ru have to do with him being an Earth God?
Faced with such unreasonable and ridiculous activation conditions, Li XiaoTian was utterly frustrated. Yet, he had no choice but to bear up. He had been stuck in this predicament for seven years. While other families progressively improved their living conditions, his own family became increasingly poor. In the countryside, labor is paramount and, with the loss of a young and strong family member, income naturally falls behind others. After returning home and seeing others living in flat or multi-story houses while his own family still lived in a tiled house, Li XiaoTian couldn't help but feel guilty.
