Longzang

Chapter 1216 Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun
After Wei Yuan redefined the Qi Luck, all Qi Luck re-manifested according to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, each with its own imagery. At this moment, it would be an extraordinary event for even a sprout to emerge in a place of Qi Luck, let alone for it to bloom.

This flower possesses at least ten thousand units of fortune, and its location by the lake indicates that its fortune level is only slightly below that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Ten thousand units of Foundation Establishment fortune is a significant amount for Wei Yuan at present, its usefulness equivalent to severing two fingers of a Miscellaneous Immortal.

Wei Yuan put everything else aside and carefully examined the source of this fortune, preparing to show his new fathers his abilities.

Being able to trace the source of destiny, looking across the world, even with the help of Qingming, below the level of immortals, there is probably only Wei Yuan. Upon this investigation, Wei Yuan's expression became somewhat strange.

These three lineages currently have over thirty temples in more than a dozen cities in Qingming, which is simply too prosperous.

Take the most popular "Nanli Tian Baizhi Sacrifice Ritual" as an example. There are fifteen temples in nine cities. In the city where it first started, three temples were opened. The total number of believers is more than 500,000. If you include their families, the number has exceeded one million.

After tracing the source, one of Wei Yuan's avatars in Qingming was activated. It changed its attire and came to the sky above the city. Using the great formation to conceal its form, it carefully looked down.

Meanwhile, more than ten avatars flew to different cities, each with its own target.

At this moment, Wei Yuan deeply felt that he didn't have enough avatars. He was currently in Ganzhou, barely maintaining contact with Qingming by relying on the terrifying status of his Six Spirit Palace, but it was still quite difficult.

Even if Qingming is the foundation of his mental world, the divine thoughts that Wei Yuan can transmit are very limited. He can only have two or three Dharma incarnations. Using more than a dozen incarnations like this would only lower him to the Dao Foundation level.

Standing in the air, Wei Yuan looked down and saw an old Taoist priest with an air of otherworldly wisdom sitting in a courtyard behind the temple, enjoying tea.

Qingming enjoys a year-round summer climate. The courtyard is lush with flowers and trees, and beneath the shade lies a rustic little pond. The water is crystal clear, and numerous fish swim within, seemingly suspended in mid-air.

Upon seeing the old Taoist, Wei Yuan immediately retrieved all of his information from the myriad realms: True Man Xiaoyu, surnamed Gu, given name Xiao, late-stage Dharma Aspect cultivation, arrived in Qingming a year ago through the Outstanding Cultivator Program, accompanied by one hundred family members, twelve disciples, and seventy relatives of each disciple. Among the disciples, six are at the Foundation Establishment stage, with the highest cultivation level being the Perfect Foundation Establishment, Earth-rank Foundation Establishment.

This Master Xiaoyu is considered average among the Dharma forms recruited by Qingming, not particularly outstanding. The same applies to all other aspects.

Therefore, Wei Yuan didn't pay much attention, only knowing that this person liked to spread his teachings. This was a good thing for Qingming, as the city lords of each city encouraged high-level cultivators to leave their teachings in Qingming, thus opening the door wide for them.

This Master Xiaoyu was indeed quite capable. He mastered the ritual in one month and received responses and feedback in three months. The believers all experienced a significant increase in strength and improved physical condition. Most of them stepped into the threshold of body forging within these few months, which was truly miraculous.

Furthermore, since the object of their worship was the Lord of the Realm, even if officials came to see it, they couldn't say anything. The old Taoist priest was also handsome and dedicated to instructing his disciples, so everyone naturally flocked to him.

The only hurdle was that the old Taoist priest charged a fee for teaching, and the fee wasn't low. However, compared to the results achieved, the fee wasn't high. Who wouldn't want to pay two or three months' salary to secure their future?

By June, almost all of the initial worshippers had successfully forged their bodies, and those who had already forged their bodies had crossed the Muscle/Tendon Realm. In Qingming's initial tests, most of these people were deemed hopeless in their attempts to forge their bodies.

From that moment on, the Nanli Dojo became famous, and applicants poured in like fish crossing a river. The old Taoist opened two new dojos, both of which were instantly full. Hearing of this, people from other cities also sent people to invite the old Taoist to open dojos there. In the blink of an eye, there were more than a dozen dojos.

With the precedent set by the Nanli Dao Temple, many high-level cultivators opened their own temples, with more than thirty opening within a month. However, apart from the worship-type temples, the other cultivation-type temples were sparsely populated, mainly because they saw almost no results.

Several religious ceremonies were indeed effective, and thus gradually flourished. "Yuanhuai Ghost and God Shepherding Technique" and "Zhongjing Ascension Record" were two of the best, with more than 300,000 and 200,000 believers respectively, all of whom worshipped Wei Yuan.

There are various schools of worship rituals, and the objects of worship originally differed, ranging from sacred beasts, ancient immortals, and human emperors to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and the primordial energy—everything was included. However, several months have proven that none of them can compare to Wei Yuan, not even coming close.

The greatest advantage of worshipping Wei Yuan is the instant feedback, and the feedback is particularly abundant; it's practically a human-shaped automatic prayer response machine. Upon discovering this, each sect quietly removed its own statues and replaced them with those of Wei Yuan.

Although these later schools tried to catch up, they could never match the scale of the Nanli Dojo.

Now, the old Taoist priest makes a monthly tour, giving a lecture at each Taoist temple for a day. The rest of the time he spends enjoying tea and scenery, or wandering around in the blue sky, living a life like an immortal.

As Wei Yuan was reviewing the information, the old Taoist suddenly looked up, gazed at him across the great formation, then stood up and bowed, saying, "I am honored by the arrival of the Realm Lord. Please forgive my lack of proper welcome!"

Now that his whereabouts had been discovered, Wei Yuan slowly flew down into the courtyard and said, "Old Master, your eyesight is comparable to Yu Jing's."

Wei Yuan's words had a deeper meaning, but Master Xiaoyu seemed completely oblivious, stroking his beard and laughing, "All my life I've been currying favor with the powerful, just so I can live comfortably, my descendants can grow up safely, and have a decent background. To curry favor with the powerful, you need to have good eyesight, so all my supernatural abilities have been in my eyes."

The old Taoist then offered Wei Yuan a seat and poured him tea.

Wei Yuan sat down opposite him, looked the old Taoist up and down, and asked, "Where did you learn your master, Master? This 'Nan Li Tian Bai Zhi Sacrifice Method' doesn't seem to be from your master's lineage, does it?"

Master Xiaoyu smiled and said, "This method was originally taught by an immortal, but it fell into the hands of a mediocre cultivator who knew nothing of its uses. I couldn't bear to see such a gem go to waste, so I took it and studied it for ten years before achieving some success. Now I'm heading to Qingming. Not only will I serve the Realm Lord, but I can also try my luck at Yujing myself." Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan naturally understood what was going on. It was rare for the old Taoist to speak so casually and matter-of-factly. He secretly began to study it, and a sense of goodwill naturally arose in his heart.

A mere three-tenths of goodwill was not enough to suppress Wei Yuan's murderous intent.

Wei Yuan then said, "Since you know it's Qingming, why do you insist on carving a statue of the Realm Lord to worship?"

The old Taoist remained unmoved and calmly said, "This 'Southern Celestial Realm' is a method bestowed by immortals, and its wonders are beyond words. Ordinary worship arises from the power of incense and vows, which is filthy and crude, and receiving such things will only pollute the body and consciousness. If I were to use such a mundane method, I would not be unjustly beheaded."

However, this ritual generates fortune, and the higher the rank of the object of worship, the greater the fortune.

The Realm Lord is no longer merely a celestial being; worshipping him is far more effective than worshipping ordinary immortals. Even mortals can develop the fortune of a cultivator. Moreover, these disciples, who chant his name daily, also benefit from it. Their consciousness and physical bodies are refined by the power of their vows, allowing them to go from being unable to cultivate to forming a rudimentary foundation—a leap over the dragon gate, a meteoric rise! For this alone, the Realm Lord has accumulated great merit, while this old Daoist has only gained a small amount.

Wei Yuan asked again, "Then what is their upper limit?"

Master Xiaoyu chuckled and said, "It's just the foundation of the Dao, what else can it be?"

This is already quite remarkable. After all, most of those who worship at the Nanli Dojo are struggling to even forge their bodies, yet their bodies have been cleansed by the power of incense and vows, and their sea of ​​consciousness has also slowly opened up, giving them the ability to forge their foundation.

Although this is like building a house on sand, a small wooden house might be passable, but a two-story wooden house is bound to collapse. But aren't the vast majority of those with the Azure Netherworld template Dao Foundation also stuck at the initial stage?

Having observed the disciples in the temple and spoken with the old Taoist priest, Wei Yuan understood the basic principles of the Nanli Heaven worship without needing to consult any Taoist scriptures.

This method differs from traditional incense-based deities. The incense and prayers generated by mortals are not offered to the deity, but rather absorbed into themselves to refine their constitution. Naturally, the effects are miraculous, leaving worshippers astonished and deeply convinced of its power. In this state, not only does the power of incense and prayers increase significantly, but it also generates auspicious energy. This energy flows towards the object of worship, namely Wei Yuan.

The fortune received by the worshipped is not obtained out of thin air; it needs to give back some benefit, namely, Daoist power or immortal power. This Daoist power or immortal power is then sent back to the believer, which can accelerate their cultivation progress.

Wei Yuan, having absorbed the fortune, was naturally willing to pay a price, which was merely a matter of Dao power. Therefore, the entire process unfolded naturally, without attracting Wei Yuan's attention whatsoever. It was like a large bird shaking its feathers, casually dropping a feather or two, yet enough to feed countless mortals.

However, Wei Yuan currently possesses six spiritual palaces, and his Dao power naturally carries the aura of the six supernatural abilities, making him vastly different from ordinary Yu Jing. This extremely high level of Dao power, when applied to a mortal, is nothing short of a complete transformation.

This is precisely the power of this sacrificial ritual. Under normal circumstances, Wei Yuan's Dao power belongs to Wei Yuan. Even if it is sent into a mortal's body, the mortal cannot control it, and if it is too much, the body will explode and the person will die.

However, through the transformation of the ritual, the Dao power received was actually transformed into the Dao power of the mortal himself! It was as if a mortal who had not cultivated much suddenly gained a little bit of the Dao power that he naturally possessed the six great mysteries.

This method of stealing the sky and changing the sun is simply inconceivable. It is something that no mere Dharma form could come up with, and even ordinary immortals and miscellaneous immortals could not do.

After listening to the whole thing, Wei Yuan was certain that this was a Celestial-level Dao technique, and using it on Qingming, with Wei Yuan as the target, would be like adding wings to a tiger.

No other object of worship would have had such a good effect as Wei Yuan. Looking across the world, perhaps only Zhang Sheng's status could rival him. However, Zhang Sheng's path is singular, and he would never accept chaotic or disorderly fortune.

Wei Yuan simply didn't believe in such good fortune, and even if it did, it wouldn't fall into his lap, given the Heavenly Dao's deep-seated hatred for him. He knew without a second thought that something was amiss with the Nanli Dojo.

Wei Yuan swept his divine sense across the city and found that there were over eight thousand people cultivating and worshipping in the three Daoist temples, with several thousand more waiting outside. One group finished worshiping, and then another group went in, maintaining perfect order.

During the short time that Wei Yuan was talking with Master Xiaoyu, a stream of fortune was generated in each of the three Daoist temples, rose into the sky and disappeared. At the same time, three more streams of fortune appeared in Wei Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness, landing on the three-colored flower and adding a small thorn to one of its petals.

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "I misunderstood you earlier, senior. This is the orthodox method of the immortals. However, there are many lineages in Qingming. If you want to develop, you must work hard on your own. In addition, there is another matter. Now that you have paid homage to the realm lord, you cannot change the object of worship at will."

Master Xiaoyu stroked his beard and said, "That's for sure! Looking across the world, nothing can compare to the Realm Lord. At least that's true in this Azure Netherworld."

Wei Yuan nodded and turned to leave.

The old Taoist chuckled, drank his tea, then called in a trusted disciple. He took a book from his robes and said, "This is the latest issue of 'The Secret History of the Immortal Sect.' Take it. I have something for you to do. Set off immediately for Qingwu City and book a [Phoenix Perching Immortal Abode]. It needs to be on a high floor, with large rooms and a beautiful view!"

"Rest assured, Master, I will certainly take care of it." The disciple put away the book and hurriedly rode away on the wind.

The old Taoist picked up the latest issue of "The Secret History of the Immortal Sect," casually flipping through it to the fairy illustration on the middle page. He admired it carefully for a long time before saying, "The fabric is getting less and less, alas! Little do they know that too much of a good thing can be bad. Some things are better left hidden to reveal their charm..."

(End of this chapter)