Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 18 If there are people who practice cultivation in the future, he will have three parts of cultivation, and I will have seven parts of induction

After returning to Chixin Temple, Lu Cheng was in a good mood.

This time, the monster was slain and the gains were quite rich. Moreover, Chen Qingyun, one of the Chen brothers and sisters, gave his knowledge of talismans to Lu Cheng privately out of guilt.

Although it does not involve fundamental Taoist principles, strictly speaking, this kind of thing also violates the rules of the sect.

However, the contents of the talismans that Chen Qingyun learned were almost all available in the Huoyun Mansion's library cave (but his predecessor Lu Cheng did not study and write them down). After Lu Cheng received them, no one else would know unless he and Chen Qingyun told them.

There are indeed some spells among them that are very useful.

In the early morning, inside the Chixin Temple, Chen Qingfeng was practicing internal energy to heal his injuries, Chen Qingyun was drawing talismans to cultivate his nature, and Lu Cheng was practicing breathing exercises and swordplay in the courtyard.

At this moment, there was a faint noise suddenly coming from the front yard.

Lu Cheng frowned slightly, put away his sword and held it upside down, raised his foot, and the young man in Taoist robes quickly came to the front yard of Chixin Temple as if he could shrink the distance into an inch.

Disciples of the Red God Son must practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies and develop their foundations in the innate realm. During this period of time, Lu Cheng has completely practiced these mundane martial arts, and even made some breakthroughs by combining what he saw and learned in his previous life.

Arriving at the front yard, Lu Cheng saw the maids standing there, surrounding a man covered in blood. It was the housekeeper He Lan.

She crawled here overnight, her body covered in wounds and blood.

When Lu Cheng just arrived, several strong maids seemed to be trying to drag He Lan away. They didn't look like they wanted to save her.

"Manager He, what's wrong with you?"

The young Taoist priest rushed over, drove away the people around him, and gently helped up He Lan, who was already seriously injured and nearly dead.

He Lan's family was the first family Lu Cheng came into contact with after coming to this world. In addition, He Lan was diligent and serious in his work, so Lu Cheng really cared about them.

"Master Lu..."

He Lan, who was already unconscious, slowly opened her eyes and saw Lu Cheng after hearing the voice.

Then, she didn't know where she got the strength from, but she actually pushed Lu Cheng away, knelt down, and kowtowed to Lu Cheng.

"Master Lu, our Xu family is sorry for you... We originally planned to never tell you about this matter even if we died."

"We are sorry for you..."

"Manager He, if there is anything, we can talk slowly. There is no need to do this."

"Master Lu, the people of the Gu God Cult have captured Gou Sheng and Er Yatou, and they want to use them as human sacrifices to the Gu God. My husband wanted to take us away yesterday, but he was beaten to death by them, and my mother is gone too... I'm sorry to cause you trouble, but I have no other choice but to come to you..."

While crying and talking, He Lan pulled out a pair of broken scissors from her sleeve and stabbed herself in the neck, quickly and fiercely with all her strength.

She didn't want to tell Master Lu about this matter in her heart. She felt that Master Lu alone could not deal with so many monks of the Gu Shen Sect.

But she couldn't help it.

The whole family died. Gousheng and Erya were captured and were about to be used as human sacrifices. When they returned home, their mother was already dead.

He Lan had no other choice, so she stumbled to the Chixin Temple and told Master Lu about it. Then she wanted to die and give her life to the master.

However, the half piece of scissors that He Lan stabbed into his neck was flicked away by the young Taoist in front of him.

Then Lu Cheng waved his hand and gently pressed on the center of He Lan's eyebrows, causing her to fall unconscious.

"Take Manager He to the side room in the temple to rest. You must take good care of him. If anything goes wrong, you will be held accountable."

Lu Cheng said this while pointing at the sturdy maids who just wanted to drag He Lan away.

"Also, can anyone tell me what the Gu God Cult and human sacrifice are all about? I've been here for a while, how come I've never heard of this?"

The maids around looked at each other and didn't dare to say anything. The smart ones rushed to work and gently dragged He Lan to a side room.

"If you don't tell me, get out of here today." Lu Cheng suddenly shouted angrily.

Seeing that the abbot was angry, the maids around could no longer bear the pressure and started talking one after another, telling everything.

The Gu God Cult is a sect developed by those Gu Masters, with influence spread throughout southern Xinjiang. They believe in offering Gu to gain the protection of the Gu God, and protect the place where they live from harm by evil spirits and monsters.

The branch under the Gu God is called the Gu King. Only the Gu King is qualified to protect an area. However, every five years, the protected area must provide young boys and girls as human sacrifices.

This year, it seems that the Xu family was drawn in the lottery.

Lu Cheng did know something about the Gu God Cult. It was a widely spread sect of monks in the Ten Thousand Mountains further south of Southern Xinjiang. It was said that the cultivation level of its leader was unfathomable and he could achieve immortality.

However, mortals' definition of immortality is different from that of monks. In their opinion, living for hundreds of years is immortality.

In this world, due to the widespread spread of Taoist Qigong, even ordinary people who have the good habit of practicing breathing can live to an average of sixty or seventy years old. Of course, this refers to wealthy areas, not places like Ishihara County where old people are thrown into Mangshan when they reach the age of fifty.

The Tang people worshipped Taoism, and the Gu Shen Cult was not allowed to preach openly in the Tang Dynasty. However, in private, in order to resist the invasion of evil spirits and ferocious beasts, people in southern Xinjiang practiced the art of nourishing Yin and raising Gu in private, which was difficult to stop.

The progress of these evil practices is extremely fast, and after they are mastered, they use strange methods. A cultivator who has practiced Taoism for ten years and comes to southern Xinjiang may be harmed by a Gu Master who has been raising Gu for one or two years. However, most of the Gu Masters have no future. Even the legendary Gu God, his real practice is the side door of Qi training, but he mixed the classics of various schools and found a new way to practice, so that he can achieve immortality. For him, Gu technique is just a means of protecting the Tao.

"When and where will the blood sacrifice take place?"

After getting a general understanding of what happened from the conversations of the servants around him, Lu Cheng pondered for a moment and asked this.

"Tomorrow at Shilipo, before nightfall." A maid who knew about this replied.

"Okay, you guys can step back and do what you need to do. This matter has nothing to do with you anymore."

Lu Cheng gave these instructions calmly, but when he turned around, he happened to come face to face with Chen Qingyun who had arrived at some point in time.

"...Brother Lu, no matter how bad a Gu Master is, he still protects the safety of a region. It is difficult to get a glimpse of the righteous path, but Gu techniques can improve by leaps and bounds. There is nothing we can do about it. We have to leave in the end."

Chen Qingyun's eyes flickered as he racked his brains to come up with a reason.

Lu Cheng was stunned when he heard this, but he smiled after a moment, knowing that the other party at least had good intentions towards him.

"Junior Sister Chen is right. I don't have any intention of doing anything. I just want to do what I can. I will do what I can."

"Huh, that's good."

Chen Qingyun heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this. At this moment, Lu Cheng had already passed by her:

"Then I will go practice swordplay. Junior Sister Chen, please do as you please."

The tone was gentle, but for some reason, Chen Qingyun heard a hint of distance from yesterday. She just hoped that she had heard it wrong.

Chen Qingyun stood there in a daze for a moment. At this time, footsteps were heard behind him. Chen Qingyun turned around and saw his brother Chen Qingfeng.

Chen Qingyun told his brother what had just happened.

Chen Qingfeng frowned slightly upon hearing this: "Although the poverty in Southern Xinjiang is far from as prosperous as that in the Central Plains, there are many cultivation resources. In places like Shiyuan County, which is close to Qianshan, there are at least several Qigong families entrenched. Even if we are a powerful dragon, we cannot overwhelm the local snake. Alas, I hope Brother Lu can understand the truth of what cannot be done."

While the Chen brothers and sisters were talking, Lu Cheng was practicing sword in the main hall of Chixin Temple.

But the more he practiced swordplay, the angrier he became. The scene of himself first arriving in Shiyuan County and interacting with Xu Erniu's family flashed through his mind:
The kind old lady who feeds chickens, Gousheng who always runs to the front of the table, Erya who is timid and likes to hide behind A Niang, He Lan who has her own little calculations but works hard for herself. Xu Erniu who wanted to hide his mother's age and support her for another two years, but is now dead.

He is a big and strong man, and he calls his wife Lanlan...

Woohoo...

Whirring whirring……

The sword moves lightly, avoiding the real and attacking the fake, finding a gap to enter, and killing the enemy with one sword! Avoid using turbid force.

Lu Cheng knew clearly the essence of the sword technique, but when he used the sword at this moment, he subconsciously used more and more strength. Gradually, the Chisong sword in his hand became like a big knife, and he began to focus on chopping and killing.

Sometimes he held the sword with one hand, sometimes with both hands, and his body moved swiftly. When he swung the sword, the wind from the sword whistled and made a whistling sound.

Rationally, I know that what Chen Qingyun said makes sense. Southern Xinjiang has its own rules. The four monks of the surnames Li, Tu, Zou, and You who are entrenched here, if you add the external aid of the Gu God Sect, there are more than a dozen left-handed monks in the late stage of Qi training.

If you are not careful and damage your body, your future path will be ten times more difficult. You still have a bright future and a path to immortality.

But Lu Cheng always felt that the sword in his hand was wailing.

Lu Cheng practiced sword skills for a whole day.

"Senior Brother Lu?"

The pretty and graceful young Taoist nun Chen Qingyun came outside the hall and called softly, but she could not stop calling the young Taoist who was concentrating on sword dancing.

Chen Qingyun was a little worried about Lu Cheng, afraid that he would fall into his inner demons, so seeing this, he hurried to find his elder brother Chen Qingfeng.

After hearing this, Chen Qingfeng came to the main hall of Chixin Temple and saw the scene inside. He frowned deeply, then paced back and forth outside the hall, and sighed for a long time:
"He has long been as hard as iron. Now he is just trying to resolve his distracting thoughts. As a disciple of True Man Chi Shen Zi, he is worthy of being the direct descendant of the ancient sword immortal's lineage." After another long pause, Chen Qingfeng gritted his teeth and said:
"Yun'er, go and ask Master to come over quickly. It would be fine if we didn't come, but since we've already gotten involved in this matter, if we just stand by and watch, even Master will lose face in front of Master Chi Shen Zi in the future."

"……Yes."

After hearing the first words, Chen Qingyun was about to say that his master was still in retreat and would not receive the sound transmission talisman, but when he heard his brother's latter words, he gradually realized the seriousness of the matter. After a moment, he raised his magic weapon, Hong Ling, and left Chixin Temple.

Chen Qingfeng's internal organs were shaken and he was seriously injured. He stood outside the main hall of Chixin Temple and looked inside for a while, then went back to his room and started taking pills to heal his injuries.

Beliefs, without reflection, are often shallow.

A little Taoist boy grew up in a Taoist temple since he was young. He naturally worships Taoism, but this belief, although pure, is not thought through, so it is superficial and difficult to enter his heart.

When the Taoist boy grew up, he saw the outside world and learned that besides Taoist temples, there were also Buddhist sects, demon sects, monsters, witchcraft, and countless other sects. Even within Taoism, there were different lineages.

At this time, thinking and choices begin. Buddhism has the means of vows, the way of magic is advancing by leaps and bounds, the demon clan has powerful bodies and extraordinary magical powers, the witchcraft is strange and unpredictable, and there is also a miraculous method of achieving longevity.

After knowing and understanding these, the Taoist boy, after careful consideration, still believes that the Taoist temple where he grew up is his best choice. This is the second level. Beliefs are firm after careful consideration.

This is exactly the state that Lucheng is in now.

The third level is that the little Taoist boy grew up in a Taoist temple. After he grew up, he entered and left Buddhism, entered and left the devil’s way, and could follow all kinds of heterodoxies in the world. He could even go a step further and call himself the ancestor of a sect. But in the end, he returned to his own Taoist temple and achieved great success in Taoism.

"The Chiji Heart Method is the fundamental method of our sect to cultivate Qi, and it leads directly to the great path of the Golden Elixir. But if you want to cultivate the Chiji Heart Method to a higher level, you need the overbearing and sharp energy in the sword energy to help you break through..."

"Master Chi Shenzi is from the ancient sword immortal lineage. Ordinary Qigong practitioners can hide, avoid, or ignore this situation, or flee thousands of miles away to avoid disaster, but sword cultivators cannot do that, because if sword cultivators lose their courage, they will never be able to cultivate to a higher level."

"Of course I did what I could. It's just one against ten. It's not like I haven't done it before, and it's not like I haven't won before..."

"I want to use the sword in my hand to cut down mountains, destroy temples and kill all the evil spirits."

That night, Lu Cheng's sword skills became more and more exciting and fierce as he practiced.

Therefore, he did not notice that his own thoughts were constantly being purified.

In the main hall of the Red Heart Temple, the statue of the Red Heart God gradually ignited, with a faint red glow: If there are people who practice cultivation in the future, he has three points of cultivation...

The next day, noon.

A loud neighing sounded from the main hall, and then, in front of the horrified gazes of the servants in the temple, a strong red warhorse was seen running out like a ball of fire.

After a day and night of sword practice, Lu Cheng's thoughts had become extremely pure, with only killing in his mind. As for why he had to wait until noon.

This is because it is noon now and all evil spirits and magic are suppressed.

"I'm afraid my trip was in vain this time. I simply can't make it in time. However, it's no big deal if it's in vain. At least Master Fan will have an excuse to True Man Chi Shen Zi in the future."

Chen Qingfeng, whose internal injuries had not yet healed, looked at the Taoist riding away on his horse and sighed in his heart.

The reason why he sent his sister out yesterday was actually due to this consideration. Chen Qingfeng knew that his sister admired this true disciple of Huoyun Mansion very much, so he sent his sister out for fear that his sister would experience danger with this person.

……

The wind rustled the sand and the treetops swayed.

At noon at Shilipu, Li Jiuyou, Tu Hong, You Pozi and Zou Shepo were drinking. There was a temple on the slope next to them.

This temple has no windows, and is also known as the Black Temple. It only has one door, which is tightly closed at the moment, and the cries of children can be heard from inside.

The time for the Black Sacrifice has not yet arrived. When the time for the Black Sacrifice arrives, the Gu King will crawl out of the mountains and forests and enter the temple to enjoy blood food.

Before that, the local Gushen Cult monks would also enjoy themselves here, and at the same time they would be on duty to ensure that the entire Black Sacrifice would not be disturbed.

Once the Gu King's enjoyment of blood is disturbed, his anger cannot be appeased by one or two times the sacrifices.

Moreover, this process is also a process for local monks to establish their own authority: even the children have been handed over, so naturally, if the local monks ask for money and land in the future, they will get what they want.

At this moment, there were dead cows, dead sheep, and dead pigs on Shilipu, not to mention chickens, ducks, fish, and geese. They were all slaughtered on the spot, and the blood soaked the loess.

The son of a local butcher, who was killed on the spot because he was afraid that his slow slaughter would anger a monk, was now hung up, and his flesh was cut into pieces and roasted on an iron plate, and then eaten by the monk.

His father was shaking all over and crying. Not knowing his son was dead, he first knelt down and begged for mercy, then picked up a knife and fought desperately, but was also killed.

There are many poisonous insect elves in the deep mountains and old forests of southern Xinjiang. The way many local monks practice is to make a contract with these poisonous insect elves and merge into one with them.

In this way, the magical power these poisonous insect elves have cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years can be lent to the contracted monks.

Therefore, practicing the Dharma for one or two years can be equivalent to ten or twenty years of practice by the orthodox Xuanmen sect.

But as the saying goes, it is easy to gain supernatural powers, but easy to fall into demonic obstacles.

According to the Buddhist theory of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the level of these poisonous insect elves is far higher than that of humans.

When people actively communicate with them and both parties reach a legal contract, in a sense, it is self-degradation. Although they can gain magical powers in a short period of time, the poisonous insect spirits obtain human bodies. If they practice normally, they may never obtain a human body.

Moreover, those who are close to monsters will be different, and those who are close to demons will be hindered.

Some monks have merged too deeply with these poisonous insect elves and gradually lost some of their normal humanity. They don’t think there is anything wrong with them, but instead think that it is you who can’t figure it out.

For example, normal people would not gather together to eat passionately, but these people think it is normal.

Li Jiuyou, Tu Hong, You Pozi and Zou Shepo were entrenched in Shiyuan County. Although they were also from a side sect, they had also been influenced by the orthodox teachings of the Xuanmen. Seeing that group of cultivators were eating humans enthusiastically, they felt a little disdainful.

"Practicing in this way will turn me from a human into a beast. Can it still be called cultivation?" Li Jiuyou said this after drinking a bowl of wine.

"For them, there is no pursuit of the great way, and what they practice is not some secret method of immortality, but just a skill passed down from their family. Now I understand a little bit that the orthodox Xuanmen monks look at us just like we look at them."

There were black snakes wrapped around Zou Shepo's body, and she said this with a smile.

“First survive, then make progress. It’s the same everywhere. As long as we accumulate from generation to generation, one day we will become the orthodox sect of Xuanmen.” Li Jiuyou sighed deeply, his eyes regained their firmness.

Just at this moment, Tu Hong suddenly tilted his ear, frowned slightly and asked: "Did you hear the sound of horse hooves?"

"Horse hooves?"

Just as the three were confused, there was a loud bang.

A blue-white flash of lightning crashed down from the sky in mid-air, like a bolt from the blue, cleansing the world.

The monk who was cutting flesh from a human body and eating it was struck by lightning before he could react. He was sent flying at an angle and his whole body was charred black and his life was gone in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, a Taoist riding a scarlet horse came with a sword in hand. The hammer and cone on the left and right of his body collided with each other, making a rumbling thunderous sound. At the same time, more than a dozen blue and white thunder balls appeared next to the hammers and cones, ready to merge into them at any time.

"This madman actually came!"

Li Jiuyou originally thought that the possibility of Lu Cheng from Chixin Temple coming was only a chance, and he really didn't expect him to come. However, he didn't expect that Lu Cheng not only came, but also rode a horse and wielded a sword to kill people on the spot, without showing any mercy and leaving no room for maneuver.

Come over here, bow your head, acknowledge your youth, and present a few volumes of superior Daoist teachings. We can return your child from the Red Heart Temple to you. At most, we can go to the county and capture a few children from other families. Are you willing to fight with more than a dozen of us?
"How dare you, thief?"

Before the monk could finish his words, Lu Cheng had already pulled the reins to drive the warhorse, passed by him, swung the sword, and the big head flew up.

"How is that possible? Why doesn't Du Ling cast a spell?"

A Gu cultivator who was far away took off the black bamboo basket he was carrying, opened it, and pointed it at Lu Cheng.

A swarm of black bees flew out from it and flew towards the Taoist.

However, there were three magical instruments above Lu Cheng's head and beside him that were supported by his own magic power. One of them was a pale golden folding fan. As the magic power was poured into it, flames first surged up, and then he fanned towards the swarm of black bees. Large patches of Six Desires Fire enveloped and burned the black bees to death. Even the remaining force was not dissipated, and the flames ignited the Gu cultivator, turning him into a fire man, howling and screaming, and rolling around.

Normally, the Six Desires Fire should be pink, and the temperature would not be so high. But at this moment, Lu Cheng's magic power was injected into the Six Desires Peach Blossom Fan. The Six Desires were gone, and only the Fire of Calamity remained. The temperature and lethality of the red flame were both astonishing.

"Tu Hong, go stop him. We can't let him kill people like this anymore. Ma Jiulang and the others didn't even have the chance to cast spells. Their deaths are too worthless." Li Jiuyou instructed Tu Hong while making hand gestures to summon corpse puppets.

"it is good."

Looking at the red fire, Tu Hong felt a little scared. But You Pozi cast a Yinling body protection spell on him, so Tu Hong gritted his teeth and had to fight.

Even if that Taoist priest was powerful, Tu Hong would never believe that he didn't even have the ability to protect himself.

Lu Cheng was focused on killing, riding his horse and swinging his sword. At this moment, the sword energy in his body was running at two or three times the speed of a normal operating state. If he wanted to increase the sword power and make it faster, more fierce and more ruthless, there were two ways.

One is to continuously increase the mana. The stronger the mana, the faster the sword light will be. The other is to speed up the operation of the mana. The faster the mana is, the more fierce the sword light will be.

Lu Cheng's magical power was already powerful and complex, and at this moment it was running wildly at two or three times the normal speed. Even through his opened and strengthened meridians, he could faintly feel a tearing sensation.

(End of this chapter)