Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 261: Preaching, Discussing, and Proving the Dao
boom!
The momentum of the wind and clouds is like a soaring dragon; the red clouds and golden light are also dazzling.

A broad red-gold avenue extended from the distant sky, connecting the inside and outside of the sect, until it extended to the feet of Taoist Lu Cheng.

"Disciples of Huanyun Valley, pay homage to Grandmaster Tie!"

"Congratulations to the ancestor for his longevity, and to the sages of Huanyun Valley throughout the ages. Fairies are dancing, strong men are holding spears, cranes are holding mushrooms, and white turtles are offering auspiciousness. Together, we congratulate the ancestor for his endless longevity."

The congratulations from thousands and tens of thousands of people, word by word, merged into a solemn will and the power of the sect's thousand-year heritage, shaking the heavens, the earth, and the people's hearts.

"If you can understand the profound meaning with just a few words, why would you need thousands of books?

If people are not burdened by their physical bodies, the Daluo Heaven will be before their eyes!"

All I could hear was the Taoist priest speaking from afar in the sky.

He practiced the ancient Taoism and the art of transformation and ascension, and the principles contained therein also secretly conformed to this Taoism.

As time went by, everyone saw a handsome young Taoist walking down the rainbow bridge, seemingly slowly but actually quickly.

It seemed leisurely, but it quickly walked from the horizon into the valley.

Most people sighed inwardly because of this:

"What a handsome Taoist!"

There are poems:
"The piled stones are like jade, and the rows of pines are like emeralds. Lang Yan is unique and there is no other like him in the world."

Just the appearance of this Taoist priest was enough to make many of the female fairies present feel fascinated and yearn for him.

The good looks of male cultivators were sometimes more valuable than the stunning looks of female cultivators. Many female cultivators at a high level would sacrifice their lives for this without regrets, but male cultivators rarely did so.

The cultivators of lower realms present were focusing their attention on the Taoist's appearance.

However, the Jindan and Yuanying realm cultivators from the Xuanmo Sect and Haoran Academy who were present at the scene focused their attention on the Taoist's sleeves.

In their spiritual perception, there seemed to be a chaotic hole in the sleeves of the Taoist in front of them, greedily devouring the spiritual energy around it.

"Is this a method of creating an incarnation? The incarnation is outside, and the real body is inside. Isn't the Illusionary Cloud Valley's Illusionary Sun Method just likes to play this kind of trick of turning the world upside down? But they don't know that fake things will always be fake."

Near the Tongxuan World, there are seven major worlds: Dingzhang, Tongtian, Liehuo, Xuankong, Jumang, Yuqing, and Yinyang.

In the realm where the Dingzhang world is located, the art of puppetry is not well developed, and there are only a few sixth-order puppets in the entire world. Even if there are, they are all in the hands of Nascent Soul or even Primordial Spirit cultivators.

Coupled with the style of the Huanyun Valley, a sect of illusion, when the Jindan and Yuanying realm cultivators of the Xuanmo Sect and Haoran Academy saw Lu Cheng's "top-heavy" appearance, they conceded in their hearts that the handsome Taoist in front of them was just an incarnation or even an illusion.

Huanyun Valley is good at illusion, and Xuanmo Sect is good at the art of demonic incarnation. Both of them have influenced the thinking direction of the three sects of cultivators, leading them to a wrong guess.

"Junior Brother Tie, all those who came to watch the ceremony today are friends of our sect. Why don't you express your feelings and give a sermon?"

"It is better to obey orders than to be respectful!"

Lu Cheng responded with a smile, knowing that this was the ancient etiquette and rules that had to be followed in the Nascent Soul Ceremony.

Just when Lu Cheng and Senior Brother Huang Dao Zhong passed each other, a dark shadow sneakily slipped into Lu Cheng's sleeve.

At the same time, Huang Daozhong's spiritual consciousness was transmitted:

"Junior Brother Tie, please quickly refine this treasure. I see that the cultivator from Haoran Academy has a strange look on his face. I'm afraid he is here with ill intentions. Junior Brother Tie, please refine this flying sword in secret to protect yourself. Don't let it get you any loss."

Huang Daozhong is an old and wise man. When he saw Ouyang Yi and Zhong Muhan from Haoran Court, he thought to himself, "Not good!"

The Haoran Academy's Haoran Righteousness Art is upright and strong, and is immune to water and fire, and is not contaminated by external demons. Although Zhong Muhan has not yet mastered it, he has already reached some level.

If we attack Junior Brother Tie, it will be difficult for the Ghost Infant Technique to get any benefits.

That's why Huang Dao Zhong reluctantly gave up a sword treasure to Lu Cheng. Otherwise, the Yuanying Patriarch of his sect would lose face, and he would not look good either.

Without making a sound, he took over the shadow. He opened the altar, and wearing a purple robe, Lu Cheng began to preach in front of tens of thousands of monks.

He himself had not cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, and his accumulation was not very deep, but what Lu Cheng began to talk about was the legal principles in the Yuanshi Tianmo Strategy:
Value the Tao over the law, value the law over the technique.

Especially since Lu Cheng was in Huanyun Valley's position, after roughly understanding the inheritance of Xuanmo Sect in Cangyun Mountains, he chose to talk about some opposite methods in Tianmo Strategy in his hand.

"The universe is dark, and darkness occupies eight or nine out of ten of the universe... The Tao is there, and the Tao itself has no distinction between good and evil... The Tao is just an objective law."

Yuanshi Tianmo Strategy has never appeared in this world before. As long as one can understand the profound and mysterious principles contained in it, one will gain a lot.

Lu Cheng did not just recite what was written verbatim, but also mixed a lot of his own understanding into it. He was not afraid of others hearing it and benefiting from it, but instead hoped that someone could gain some insights so that he could see it and reflect on his own practice.

If the other party could surpass himself who possessed half of the Yuanshi Tianmo Strategy by just getting a few words, then Lu Cheng would have to admit that he was inferior to others.

One day, two days.

At first, Huang Dao Zhong and Liu He Xuan were quite happy. Junior Brother Tie gave a sermon and everyone present was fascinated by it.

But as time went on, the two gradually felt that something was wrong.

Many of the patriarchs and elders of the vassal sects and families present gradually began to exude some demonic aura, and the more devoted they were, the more so.

"What are you talking about, Junior Brother Tie? My Huanyun Valley is a Taoist sect!"

Liu Hexuan was a little anxious. Wasn't this leading his vassal sect to join the Xuanmo Sect?

However, the next moment Liu Hexuan was held down by his senior brother Huang Dao Zhong. He always obeyed his senior brother's orders, so he did not struggle at this moment.

"Wait, I always feel that the Taoism that Junior Brother Tie talked about has a deeper meaning."

"What's the deep meaning?"

"I can't figure it out for the moment, but even though we haven't been in contact for long, Junior Brother Tie doesn't seem to be a frivolous person. Let's just wait and see what happens."

The two Demon Lords Xuan Mei and Chi Kui from the Xuanmo Sect came to attend the Yuanying Ceremony in Huanyun Valley again.

At first, the two of them didn't care about Lu Cheng's preaching. The secret agents of Xuanmo Sect in Huanyun Valley were more powerful than those of Haoran Courtyard.

They were certain that this newly promoted True Lord Tiexiao was merely a person who had risen to fame overnight by taking advantage of the opportunity of the Ghost Infant Fruit.

Such a cultivator may be able to face a Jindan Zhenren, but he may not be able to defeat the Jindan Zhenren in discussing the Tao. What Tao can he talk about?
But as time went on, the more they listened, the more they felt something was wrong:

How come not only does the other party’s words make a lot of sense, but they also vaguely fit with my own practice?

Practicing the magic path and reaching the Nascent Soul stage is extremely difficult in itself. Even for the most orthodox Taoist practitioners, the improvement of their magic power is already very slow, let alone the magic practitioners. Xuan Mei and Chi Kui have been stuck in a bottleneck for many years and gradually could not endure it anymore. They practiced according to the principles of the magic as told by the purple-robed Taoist on the platform.

It seems that he has gained something from this? The bottleneck of his magical power that has been holding him back for many years seems to be loosening?

However, the two of them had no idea that Lu Cheng was telling them the Yuanshi Tianmo Strategy specifically. Although it was a canon of magic, it was completely different from the system practiced by the Xuanmo Sect. When they heard it suddenly, they would of course feel benefited, but they were also going against the Xuanmo Sect's orthodox method.

Even if one's magic power improves temporarily, it will be much more difficult to practice water and fire at the same time in the future than to focus on practicing the Xuanmo Zhengfa wholeheartedly.

“…Heaven’s ways are constant, they do not exist for the sake of the Way, nor do they perish for the sake of the Devil.”

"Nonsense, complete nonsense!"

Two days later, under the constant attack of the evil spirit, Zhong Muhan finally couldn't bear it anymore. He smashed the long table in front of him with a palm and stood up angrily.

He was practicing the Haoran Zhengqi Jue of the Haoran Academy. He had been listening to Lu Cheng's sermons over the past two days. Sometimes he felt that they made sense, and sometimes he felt that they were wrong. Gradually, he was suffering from the torture both physically and mentally.

Today, I finally couldn't bear it any longer.

"Hmm? Why do you think that what I'm saying is wrong? Who dares to think that what they say is right? After all, it's just everyone expressing their own opinions, like a blind man touching an elephant. If you think it's wrong, you can bring it up and we can discuss it with each other."

On the platform, the Taoist in purple robe was gentle and kind, without any trace of nameless anger in his body.

Zhong Muhan, the Jindan Zhenren of Haoran Academy, was about to open his mouth to refute something, but he couldn't say anything for a moment. He just felt that the legal principles spoken by the person in front of him were wrong in every way, and were inconsistent with the concepts he had learned since childhood, but at this time he didn't know how to refute.

At the same time, Zhong Muhan noticed that at this moment, there were countless pairs of eyes around him staring at him with extreme anger.

Because he interrupted them from listening to the sermon, although most of them were low-level cultivators and there were few high-level cultivators who lost their composure like this, he was still criticized by everyone for a while.

At this moment, a white, slender but powerful hand pressed on Zhong Muhan’s shoulder. It was Ouyang Yi, the Yuanying Zhenjun of Haoran Academy.

Although he is just one person, Ouyang Yi's Taoism practice has reached a very deep level, his Haoran Zhengqi Jue is also very proficient, and he is even better at swordsmanship.

If he were alone, even if Xuan Mei and Chi Kui from the Xuanmo Sect joined forces, they might not be able to get away with it in front of him.

"Please forgive me, Master. I, your junior nephew, have always admired Fairy Lin Qinghan of your sect for a long time. However, I recently heard that Fairy Lin Qinghan has been engaged to you, Master. Therefore, I couldn't restrain my emotions and did such an ugly thing. Please forgive me, Master, and fellow Taoists."

The middle-aged Confucian scholar Ouyang Yi looked around and bowed. Although many cultivators present were angry, who would dare not give face to this True Lord?
Young Mu Ai, although Zhong Muhan is hundreds of years old, he is still a junior in front of these Yuanying Zhenjun, so the matter was lightly revealed.

However, Lu Cheng was slightly stunned when he heard that he was already engaged to Lin Qinghan. The fairy Lin Qinghan beside him also turned pale, knowing that there was no turning back on this matter.

Originally, although Lin Qinghan was under strict orders from the two masters Huang Dao Zhong and Liu He Xuan, he considered that Master Tie Xiao was once his disciple after all. Even if he relied on chance to ascend to fame overnight, how could he dare to do something that was so rebellious and against the ethics of his master?
It may not be impossible to delay it for a few hundred years, and turn big things into small things and small things into nothing. Lin Qinghan has been devoted to practicing Taoism since he was young, and has always avoided the issue of practicing together. Taoist couple? Male and female cultivators who are brought together for the sake of practicing Taoism and taking the essence from each other, even if their magic power improves faster, I am afraid that they will be plagued by demons and obstacles, and the gain will not outweigh the loss.

After hundreds and thousands of years of facing each other day and night, you end up becoming a couple of resentment. Why must this happen?

However, in Ouyang Yi's eyes, the sect's reputation was above everything else, and he couldn't let his nephew Zhong Muhan be disrespectful. Moreover, he was not unwilling to give this nephew a chance.

"Preaching and discussing the Dao, in the end, one still has to verify the Dao in practice. The most taboo thing in my Confucianism is to sit back and talk about the nature of the mind, but to practice for a lifetime without getting down to the actual point. This young man has offended a Taoist friend today, so why not let the Taoist friend give him some pointers and let him know the truth of the vastness of the world.

Beat him to death, whatever."

A Jindan Zhenren challenges a Yuanying cultivator and will beat him to death.

If today's events were to spread, people would only say that Haoran Academy is indeed a Confucian school with strict etiquette and laws.

This is because Lu Cheng really beat Zhong Muhan to death on the spot. If Lu Cheng’s magic power was not enough, Zhong Muhan would escape unscathed. If Zhong Muhan fought with him, Zhong Muhan’s golden elixir would defeat his Nascent Soul.

Every step forward is a way for Haoran Academy to enhance its reputation by stepping on the face of Huanyun Valley.

If such a once-in-a-lifetime event as the Golden Core defeating the Nascent Soul really happened, then today's grand Nascent Soul Ceremony in Huanyun Valley would be the biggest joke in this world in a thousand years.

"Haoranyuan is indeed worthy of being a major Confucian sect with strict etiquette and laws. Then I will respectfully obey your command."

On the platform, the young Taoist in luxurious purple robe was overjoyed when he heard this.

He had never heard such a request: Since you ask me to beat him to death, then I will definitely beat him to death!

Once the murderous thought arises, the world will be completely different.

Between heaven and earth, practice the Dharma Realm:

There are seven levels of cultivation: innate, Qi training, foundation building, purple palace, golden elixir, primordial infant, and primordial spirit. Each level is progressive, and the barriers are clear and distinct, making it impossible to cross.

Monks in the innate realm lack magic power and have their energy contained within their bodies, making it impossible for them to cast spells or use magical talismans or tools.

There is no spiritual consciousness in the Qi training realm, and every move is within the thoughts of the foundation-building cultivator.

The magic power of the Foundation Establishment Realm is ten times inferior to that of the Purple Mansion Monk. The Purple Mansion Monk can even suppress all spells and magic tools with pure magic power.

The mind of a Jindan cultivator works as fast as lightning, and a Yuanying True Lord's initial understanding of the laws of heaven and earth can have a certain impact.

It is extremely difficult for a cultivator to advance to each realm, but the progress is huge, otherwise the predecessors would not have summarized these seven realms.

But nothing is absolute. There are always people with extraordinary talents who try to break through the chasm and reach a higher level.

This was the case with Taoist Shiqi in the Tongxuan Realm a thousand years ago. The Eighteen Golden Corpses and the Xuanyin Corpse Refining Technique were unrivaled in the world. Each golden corpse had magical powers that were not inferior to those of a Jindan True Person. The eighteen golden corpses formed a formation, and the Jindan realm was enough to compete with the early Yuanying realm without losing the upper hand. The outcome of a life-and-death battle was unknown.

The same is true for the Seven Sacred Secret Magic practiced by Taoist Deng Dongyuan. He sacrificed the blood of seven Jindan-stage cultivators of the same realm as himself, and conceived a dangerous fetus in the magic lamp. Once the magic was perfected, he could use this lamp to reach the peak of the Jindan realm and compete with the early Yuanying cultivators.

The same is true for Lu Cheng's Samadhi True Fire magical power. Although it only has the power of one strike, the Samadhi True Fire that he has nurtured for many years, once it is spit out, even a cultivator in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul can be burned to death. It is a truly sixth-level killing method.

Lu Cheng saw the sinister intentions of the middle-aged scholar and became slightly angry. His expression remained unchanged, but the world was inexplicably filled with a murderous aura.

Even the wind and clouds above the sect's valley began to surge, and a ferocious and vicious blue dragon appeared faintly, circling and roaring.

"If you can hold on, you will not be guilty. If you can defeat him in one move or two, I will ensure that you will marry Lin Qinghan, the real lady, and bring her home with you."

Seeing that the Taoist had a faint sense of heaven and man, Ouyang Yi felt bad. But he still sent his thoughts to Zhong Muhan, letting him use his potential.

Jindan Zhenren challenged Yuanying Zhenjun, so Lu Cheng certainly couldn't take the initiative.

Although the murderous intent between heaven and earth was condensed and terrifying, Zhong Muhan was practicing the Haoran Zhengqi Jue, and was the least likely to be suppressed by the general trend.

This Confucian master first offered up a lotus-shaped magic weapon. In an instant, a burning lotus slowly rotated, emitting a soft light.

Suddenly, a long whistle cut through the night sky, and the red flying sword of Zhong Muhan was already pointing directly at the purple-robed Taoist priest who was approaching the altar.

The unique kendo skill, sword energy and thundering sound.

To truly master this unique skill, it is not enough to just fly a sword at a speed that breaks the sound barrier. It is not difficult for a cultivator at the Xiantian Qi training stage to break the sound barrier by using a flying needle.

Instead, the sword cultivator moves with the sword, breaking the sound barrier in a state of near unity between man and sword. In other words, the cultivator's speed should break the sound barrier, which is difficult. And if it can be done, it is conceivable how fast and fierce the flying sword can reach.

Zhong Muhan swung his sword at such a short distance, and the sword light tore through the atmosphere in an instant. Lu Cheng knew at a glance that this person had truly mastered the unique skill of Sword Qi and Thunder Sound.

However, it is useless.

Behind Lu Cheng, there seemed to be a long banner rising slowly but quickly, and it also looked like a dark hole. The red flying sword pierced into it, and the brilliant sword light burst out, but it was all swallowed up by the hole.

A sixth-rank low-grade magical weapon, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Over the past six months, Huanyun Valley has been preparing to hold the Nascent Soul Ceremony, while Lu Cheng has been practicing alone in his cave, pondering Taoism.

He didn't do anything else. Most of his energy was spent on severely injuring the ghost baby tree demon and extracting the dark death energy from its body.

The Ghost Baby Tree Demon is similar to the Soul-Falling Vine. It eats ghosts and grows in places where yin energy gathers heavily. The souls of all living beings in the world also sink into the earth and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.

In the process of absorbing Yin energy, the ghost baby tree demon inevitably devours a large number of bound souls, which inspires its spirituality and makes it bloodthirsty and evil.

If it can cultivate for tens of thousands of years and reach the highest level, it may be able to cultivate into the "Humanity Blood Tree" recorded in Taoist books.

The way of the sky is more than damage but not enough to make up for.

The way of man is to take from what is not enough to serve the surplus. To be greedy and seize the world is to serve only oneself.

Lu Cheng put it into the Jiuli Cauldron with no intention of cultivating this monster. He just attacked it frequently to severely injure it, extracting its dark and deadly energy into the Wanhun Banner, and then used the "Tai Shang Miao Jing" to save it in the future and accumulate merits for the outside world.

But at this moment, the sixth-order Ten Thousand Souls Banner, combined with the Nascent Soul Puppet, is indeed extremely powerful, bringing Lu Cheng's Heaven-stealing Demonic Art to its limit.

The sixth-order Nascent Soul puppet is very powerful, but due to the limitations of the materials used to refine the puppet, its changes during a fight are not enough, and it is easy to be targeted and restrained. For example, Lu Cheng's Destruction Heavenly Lord, with the ghost infant as the core, can only cast Yinming Dark Death type magic spells.

The cultivators of Haoran Academy had predicted this point, but they did not expect that Lu Cheng's magical powers were far beyond their imagination.

The flying sword was controlled, Zhong Muhan's face changed slightly, and at the same time, he quickly formed seals with his hands. The red fairy sword suddenly burst out with red light, dispelling the continuous swallowing and restraint of the chaotic hole, and flew back in the opposite direction.

But at this moment, Lu Cheng waved his hand and two mysterious lights came out.

The two mysterious lights seemed to arrive in an instant and instantly cut the red fairy sword that was flying back. With a clang, they cut off the flying sword released by Zhong Muchan.

This ray of mysterious light is an extremely powerful spell that Lu Cheng has recently cultivated, named the Cold Evil Shura Blade, which is a Taoist method recorded in the Cold Yin Ice Evil Sutra. In the past six months, he has obtained a large amount of Yin and Ming death energy, which has also allowed Lu Cheng to cultivate it.

"what!"

After being cut by the flying sword that could take his life, Zhong Muhan let out a low cry and spat out blood.

However, the two sharp dark lights did not lose any force at all, and they hit the fire lotus magic weapon released by Zhong Muhan again.

When Ouyang Yi, who was standing by, saw this, he thought to himself that something was wrong.

He really didn't expect that a mere Ghost Infant Nascent Soul cultivator could be so ferocious. If Zhong Muhan was really killed on the spot so quickly, he would have been killed on the spot.

Then Haoran Academy would not only lose a Jindan Zhenren cultivator, but its reputation would also be greatly affected.

Therefore, Ouyang Yi had to use his profound skills secretly and transmit his power in an extremely obscure way to try to help Zhong Muhan.

Both of them practiced the Haoran Zhengqi Jue, which came from the same source and had mysterious techniques. When transmitted through the void, surprisingly no one could discover it.

However, while Ouyang Yi was secretly transferring his magic power, the connection between the two was suddenly eroded and blocked by a familiar demonic energy.

Ouyang Yi suddenly opened his eyes and asked angrily, "Chi Kui, what are you doing?"

The person who acted secretly was Chi Kui Zhenjun, one of the two Yuanying Zhenjuns of Xuanmo Sect.

“Hahahaha, don’t do anything. Although I can’t detect the secret transmission of the Haoran Zhengqi Jue, I know you and I know you will definitely do this.”

"Ah!"

With the obstruction of Master Chikui, Zhong Muhan would never be able to wait for any support.

The first blow of the Cold Evil Shura Sword Cultivator had already caused the Fire Lotus Magical Weapon to scream and crack. When the second mysterious light turned into a wisp of sword thread and moved in, Zhong Muhan was immediately frightened out of his wits, and his soul was trembling: "Refine the sword into thread, you are a sword cultivator!"

This was the last sentence Zhong Muhan could say in his life. The next moment, a flash of sword appeared and directly cut off his Six Yang Leader, terminating his life.

The cultivators in the Dingzhang world focus on practicing Taoism and accumulating their spiritual power. This is the right way, so there are quite a few Yuanshen cultivators in this world compared to the nearby worlds. However, when it comes to alchemy, swordsmanship, puppetry and other arts of cultivation, they are not as good as in many other worlds.

In the Dingzhang world, refining swords into threads is an extremely powerful supernatural power in the Nascent Soul realm. In the Tongtian world, even the Jindan sword cultivators can refine swords into threads. Only then can they be called outstanding people. Lu Cheng obtained the sixth-grade lower-grade sword treasure from Huang Dao Zhong, and after refining it for two and a half days, he used the skill of refining swords into threads and killed Zhong Muhan.

(End of this chapter)