Taoist Myth: I am the last true immortal in the world

Chapter 659: Lord Horse

The ninth year of Khitan Huihe was a very important historical turning point.

In the summer, famine broke out in the Beihe area of ​​the Later Jin Dynasty. Bandits arose in Yan, Yun, Cang, and Bei states, and the villagers built strongholds to protect themselves.

The civilian commander Sun Fangjian and others set up a camp on Wolf Mountain northwest of Dingzhou to fight against the Khitan and achieved great success.

The Jin court then recruited him as the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Recruiting Force to fight against the Khitan.

Sun Fangjian plundered the Khitan many times in order to seek credit from the Jin court.

When the Jin court's rewards were not satisfactory, Sun Fangjian surrendered his camp to the Khitan, invited the enemy to invade, and even captured the Jin general Liu Yanhan and handed him over to the Khitan.

In June, Liu Yanhan fled back to the capital of Jin and reported to the court the rebellion of Sun Fangjian and the invasion of Khitan. At the same time, news came from Dingzhou that the Khitan was approaching.

Shi Chonggui then ordered Li Shouzhen, the governor of Tianping and commander of the imperial guards' cavalry and infantry, to lead the governors of Yicheng, Zhangde and Yiwu to march towards Taizhou, and also sent ten battalions of the imperial guards' infantry to Xingzhou to strengthen the defense of Hebei.

At this time, two extremely distinguished guests arrived in the Khitan Imperial City.

In a side hall of the imperial palace, the Khitan leader Yelu Deguang was entertaining Chen Yun and Erlang Shen with great enthusiasm.

Yelu Deguang looked at the two men, tears in his eyes, and said: "I have suffered defeats for many years and have never been able to go south. Today, Mr. Chen and the King of Chicheng have returned. I, the Khitan, have a chance to rule the world."

Chen Yun and Erlang Shen exchanged a glance and said slowly, "I heard that Liu Yanhan has fled back to Jinting?"

When mentioning this, Yelu Deguang looked embarrassed, "That's right, I didn't guard him well enough and let him escape. I think the Jin court already knows that I want to send troops to the south."

Chen Yun smiled and said, "Good escape, Liu Yanhan escaped brilliantly."

Yelu Deguang was puzzled and asked, "Why do you say that, sir?"

Not to mention that the Khitan leader didn't understand, Erlang Shen was also puzzled and didn't understand what Chen Yun meant.

Chen Yun said: "I remember that the person guarding Liu Yanhan is Zhao Yanshou's man, right?"

Yelu Deguang nodded and said, "It's his man."

"Yes." Chen Yun said, "Your Majesty will issue an order later, saying that Zhao Yanshou failed to guard properly and will be severely punished."

Hearing this, Yelu Deguang was shocked and said, "How can this be possible? Zhao Yanshou is a talented general, and he used to be a member of the Jin court. If I punish him severely, what will happen if he defected back to the Jin court?"

Erlang Shen nodded in agreement. Zhao Yanshou knew too many secrets of the Khitan. If he really defected back to the Later Jin Dynasty, it would be a devastating blow to the Khitan.

Chen Yun smiled brightly and said, "It is precisely because Zhao Yanshou needs to 'rebel' that the Khitans have a chance to march south and destroy the Jin court."

He emphasized the word "rebellion".

Since Yelu Deguang could become the king of a country, he was certainly not a man of courage but no strategy.

When he heard what Chen Yun said, he suddenly came to his senses and asked, "Sir, do you mean to let Zhao Yanshou pretend to surrender?"

"That's right." Chen Yun nodded and said, "Zhao Yanshou was originally from Jin. Now he is not living well in Khitan. It is reasonable for him to want to return."

Erlang Shen suddenly realized and praised: "My dear brother, this is a brilliant plan. Once the Jin court believes Zhao Yanshou, Your Majesty can cooperate with him from inside and outside."

Yelu Deguang was overjoyed and said, "Yes, yes, yes, sir, this plan is indeed brilliant. As long as Zhao Yanshou shows the slightest intention of returning to the Jin court, I'm sure that Shi Chonggui will do everything he can to bring Zhao Yanshou back, even if he doesn't completely believe it. Okay, I'll do it right away."

Chen Yun said, "Don't worry. My false surrender is a series of tricks. I have only told you the beginning. Your Majesty, it won't be too late to make a decision after you have heard it."

Yelu Deguang said with great interest: "Any other plans? Please tell me, sir. I am all ears."

Erlang Shen was also very interested and listened with his ears perked up.

Chen Yun said: "When the Jin court learns that Zhao Yanshou wants to return to the Central Plains, they will certainly send people to meet him. In my opinion, the Jin court is very likely to send troops to the north of the Great Wall, the north of Dingzhou, etc. At that time, I hope that Your Majesty will allow defeat but not victory, and then let Yingzhou Governor Liu Yanzuo also pretend to surrender and write a letter to Wang Luan, the military supervisor of Le Shou of the Jin court, requesting to surrender the city to the Jin court, and saying that there are not many Khitan troops in the city, if the Jin army attacks the city, he can serve as an internal response."

Erlang Shen was puzzled and asked: "Why did you write to Wang Luan, the military supervisor of Le Shou, instead of the Later Jin court?"

Yelu Deguang was quite knowledgeable about military affairs. He smiled and said, "Prince Chicheng, you don't know this. If we followed Mr. Chen's plan, our army was at war with the Jin army at that time. It would be a problem whether the letter could be successfully delivered to the Jin court. This is the first reason. Secondly, Liu Yanzuo's status and position are not as high as Zhao Yanshou's. He is not qualified to directly surrender to the Jin court. Therefore, it is more appropriate to write to Wang Luan, the military supervisor of Le Shou. As long as Wang Luan believes it, the entire Jin court will believe it too."

Chen Yun smiled and said, "Your Majesty is right. If Wang Luan can believe it, he will definitely write to the Jin Lord and ask him to send troops to take over Ying and Mo states. Moreover, they will welcome Zhao Yanshou and Liu Yanzuo back to the south, so they will definitely invest a large number of troops. By then, the capital will be left defenseless, and we will have more options."

"Yes, yes, yes." Yelu Deguang said with a flushed face: "If we take a risk, we can directly attack the capital of Jin. If we are more conservative, we can also wipe out the Jin army that came to welcome Zhao Yanshou and Liu Yanzuo back to the south. Then, the army will march south and destroy the Jin court with an unstoppable force!"

At this point, Yelu Deguang looked at Chen Yun with emotion, bowed deeply and said: "Sir, your advice is better than that of my thousands of advisers."

Chen Yun was neither humble nor inviting, he just smiled and said: "In this case, Your Majesty can start to deal with this matter. Before the Jin army takes action, you don't have to come to Laojun Temple to disturb me and my brother. If the Jin court really falls into the trap, it won't be too late for you to come and find us."

Yelu Deguang hurriedly said, "I will follow your orders, sir."

Then Chen Yun said goodbye to Erlang Shen.

……

Return to the Laojun Temple in the imperial capital.

There's a new host here.

He is a middle-aged mortal Taoist priest with no cultivation at all. His name is Liu Xi.

As soon as he saw Chen Yun and Erlang Shen, he immediately performed the solemn ceremony of three bows and nine kowtows.

Seeing that the man was well-behaved, Erlang Shen casually taught him a technique to subdue the qi.

Then, the two were welcomed into the inner courtyard.

Chen Yun and Erlang Shen sat in front of the long desk by the window in the study.

Chen Yun took the initiative to ask: "Brother, I haven't seen you for more than half a year. I guess you have already broken through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm, right?"

Erlang Shen smiled and said, "My dear brother, you are as good as a god. I have taken the Xiantian Fire Spirit Grass and gained your insights and experience in becoming a Yang God. I have finally achieved the status of a celestial being by chance."

Chen Yun felt a little strange. "To prove the immortality, there must be some strange phenomena. Why didn't I know about it when Da Mian Peak is so close to Guanjiang Erlang Temple?"

Erlang Shen said with a smile: "Before the breakthrough, I specially set up a formation to prevent the anomaly from being leaked out."

Chen Yun was puzzled and asked, "Why?"

Erlang Shen sneered and said, "That Yu Qiang pretended to be a Qi Refiner and attacked San Lang, so I naturally had to reciprocate." At this point, he sighed, "In a head-on confrontation, even if I broke through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm, I might not be Yu Qiang's opponent, so I resorted to this last resort, wanting to wait until he shows up, then inflict a heavy blow, and then destroy him to avenge San Lang."

Chen Yun understood the deep friendship between Erlang Shen and Huashan Sanlang.

Now that Huashan Sanlang has died and reincarnated, no one can swallow this humiliation.

He heard another meaning from Erlang Shen's words, "Brother, according to what you said, if Yu Qiang doesn't come out in this battle, you basically won't take action?"

"Yes." Erlang Shen said, "Don't worry, my dear brother. I have invited a very powerful helper this time. His strength is no less than mine before the breakthrough. With him here, you don't have to worry about having no one to help you."

Chen Yun asked with interest: "Who did you invite to help this time?"

Erlang Shen said, "My Taoist friend is not well-known, so you may not have heard of him. However, he is very capable, not inferior to me before my breakthrough. I heard that he is also on the verge of the Heavenly Immortal Realm, just one step away."

Not famous?

Are you very capable?

Chen Yun became more interested, "Which Taoist friend is it?"

Erlang Shen said, "My fellow Taoist is one of the Four Heavenly Horse Star Lords, Mazu Tiansi. People who are familiar with him call him Lord Horse and Mr. Huaguang."

Chen Yun was quite surprised and asked, "The horse king with three eyes?"

Erlang Shen was surprised and asked, "Brother, you actually know Mr. Hua Guang?"

know!

How could I not know!
As far as Chen Yun knew, Lord Ma became famous only after the Ming Dynasty.

There are even rumors that Wang Lingguan is the incarnation of Lord Ma.

Of course, this does not mean that Lord Ma had no fame at all before the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, there are records of Lord Ma in books such as "Daofa Huiyuan" and "Sanjiao Soushen Daquan" in the Yuan Dynasty.

For example, Volume 36 of Daofa Huiyuan specifically records the names of the four guardian saints, namely Ma Huaguang (Lord Horse), Zhao Gongming, Guan Erye and Wen Qiong.

That’s right, during the Yuan Dynasty, Lord Ma was already one of the four great Taoist guardian marshals.

However, before the Yuan Dynasty, Lord Ma was not very famous. Only "The Book of Zhou" mentioned "Mazu Tiansi". Some people believe that this is the earliest record of Lord Ma.

Although "Zhou Li" is said to be a book from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, it is actually a pseudo-Confucian book written by Wang Mang's subordinates at the turn of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the relevant ideas of the Western Han Dynasty run through the book from time to time, and some distortions are made based on the original historical books.

Even so, it can also be indirectly shown that at least since the Western Han Dynasty, the ancients began to believe in Lord Horse and regarded him as a god.

When Dong Zhongshu proposed the concept of "the interaction between heaven and man", he mentioned the "Four Stars of Tianma".

Later, some people believed that Lord Ma corresponded to one of the four stars.

Because of this relationship, ancient emperors also needed to pay tribute to Lord Horse during the process of offering sacrifices to heaven.

However, this is an official sacrifice and ordinary people are not allowed to offer it.

Therefore, Erlang Shen thought that Chen Yun might not have heard of Lord Ma.

Chen Yun said with a moved expression: "If we can get Lord Ma's help, we won't have to fear the twenty-eight constellations this time."

Erlang Shen laughed and said, "I think so too. When Mr. Huaguang beat up the prince of the Emperor of Heaven and rebelled against the Heaven, he chased after the Dragon King Buddha to save his mother, pretended to be Guanyin, and seized the temple of Manjusri Bodhisattva. Manjusri and Samantabhadra could not do anything to him, so they went straight to the Thirty-three Heavens and complained to the Heaven. In order to help the prince, the Emperor of Heaven selected the gods of the Heaven to go down to the world to attack Mr. Huaguang. Wenquxingjun recommended Nezha to lead the battle. Later, Nezha fought against Mr. Huaguang and showed his big body, but he could not do anything. Do you know how powerful Mr. Huaguang is?"

When Nezha shows his big body, he can fight against ordinary celestial beings. Even he can't do anything to Lord Horse, which is enough to show how powerful Lord Horse is.

Chen Yun's heart was pounding, "When can I see Lord Ma?"

Erlang Shen said, "It should be in the next few days. Mr. Huaguang will come here with all the gods in my temple. Yes, the Golden Eyed Hundred Eyed Ghost will also come. When will your disciples come here?"

Chen Yun said: "My disciples and divine soldiers and generals should arrive in the next few days. The Nine-Headed Bull Demon King, General Guan Xiao and others will accompany them."

Erlang Shen thought carefully for a while, "It seems that our forces are still a little lacking. This time we have to face the Purple Star Emperor. When the decisive battle comes, it will definitely not only be the 28 constellations, but also more powerful gods. Brother, in my opinion, we need to ask for more help."

Chen Yun said: "I have sent a letter to Luoyang. General Guan should come with his ghost soldiers and generals on a chosen day. Nezha and Li Tianwang have also agreed to come over in the next few days. It is said that Jinzha and Muzha will also come this time."

Erlang Shen shook his head and said, "It's still not enough. We may have to face many gods from the Heavenly Immortal Realm next. You'd better invite your Senior Brother Lu to come over. Otherwise, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to defeat the gods from the Purple Star Emperor's side."

Chen Yun thought carefully for a while, "Among the Eight Immortals, there are three celestial beings, one is my mentor, another is my Senior Brother Lu, and the other is Medicine King Li Zhenren. As for the others, they are all in the immortal realm. If you feel that you don't have enough manpower, I will invite them all?"

Erlang Shen was overjoyed and said, "Medicine King Li Zhenren is the disciple of Taishang Laojun, and your Senior Brother Lu has great magical powers. If we can get their help, we won't have to be afraid of any number of celestial beings on the opposite side, as long as we don't encounter any Half-Step Daluo."

Chen Yun agreed with this point. He had seen Lu Dongbin causing chaos at Mount Lingshan, where many Buddhas besieged him but were unable to do anything. In the end, it was Sakyamuni who stepped in to put an end to the farce.

It can be said that Lu Dongbin is definitely the strongest among those below the Half-Step Daluo.

The reason why he is so powerful is largely related to his previous life.

It is said that Lü Dongbin was the previous King of the East in his previous life.

As for Li Tieguai, although he attained the celestial realm by taking the elixir from Taishang Laojun, as Laojun's disciple, he had inherited all the true teachings and his magical powers were extremely profound.

So even if Tieguai Li is not as "capable of fighting" as Lu Dongbin, he is definitely one of the most powerful fighters in the celestial realm.

It is even possible that his magical power is even greater than that of Lu Dongbin, otherwise Li Tieguai would not have become the leader of the Eight Immortals.

Of course, the reason why Tieguai Li became the leader of the Eight Immortals might also be because he was a disciple of Taishang Laojun and had a high status.

As for his mentor Zhongli Quan, to be honest, Chen Yun really didn't know how strong his fighting ability was, after all, he had never seen him take action.

However, the ranking of the Eight Immortals is Li Tieguai, Zhongli Quan, Lu Dongbin, Zhang Guolao and others, so Zhongli Quan's fighting ability is very likely to be higher than Lu Dongbin.

Chen Yun could tell this from the fact that hundreds of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals came to arrest him as if they were facing a great enemy.

No matter what, he felt that as long as he could invite Lu Dongbin, Tieguai Li and the other five immortals to come out of the mountains, his chances of winning would be greater.

Chen Yun decided that he would ask the Eight Immortals to come out and help, to increase his chances of winning and try to destroy the Later Jin Dynasty in one fell swoop!
(End of this chapter)