Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 79 Without courage and perseverance, how can I face the Lord of Heaven?

In April of spring, at night in Ishihara Town, it should almost be called Ishihara Castle now. The entire town is under expansion and has almost turned into a large construction site.

A young man carrying a piece of pork knocked on a wooden door and said, "Mom, I'm back."

"A Tie, you're back?" An old woman wearing clean, starched clothes opened the door.

"What is this thing you bought?" The old man's eyesight was not very good in the night, and he lowered his head to look for a while.

Li Tie lowered his head as expected, and then he was hit on the head as expected.

"It's not a festival, why are you buying meat? You loser boy, get out of here!"

"Brother~Brother~Meat, meat!" Li Tong ran out of the house. Seeing the big piece of pork in his brother's hand, he couldn't take his eyes off it. He rushed over and hugged his brother's arm.

"You little brat, kiss me right now."

"Mom, you are wrong. The God Sacrifice will be held in a few days. I bought the meat in advance so that you can marinate it and eat it during the God Sacrifice to avoid the high price of meat in those days. Of course, I will stew a little bit today."

"You prodigal son, you work as a stonemason on a construction site, earning only a few coppers a day, why don't you save your money?"

Soon, the aroma of pork stew wafted through the house. The old mother cut the pork into small pieces with a knife, added some salt, and put it into the iron pot that was originally cooking. The aroma of pork wafted through the room. This piece of pork cost Li Tie four days' wages, but it was already a miracle for a family that almost starved to death four years ago.

The family is well fed and well clothed, and can even eat meat occasionally.

"Thank you to the Xiantian Chief General, the loyal guardian of the Three-Five Fire Train King, the mighty spirit of the Heavenly Lord, the guardian general of the Heavenly Lord! Thank you for bringing us peace. Thank you, we serve you wholeheartedly."

Despite the delicious food, Li Tie and his family of three still prayed before the meal. The more people have experienced hardships, the more they know how hard it is to have this day.

The Red-Hearted God is like the red sun in the sky, illuminating the darkness.

"Mom, I don't want to work on the construction site anymore. I want to be a divine guard at the Red Heart Temple!"

After dinner, Li Tie said this to his old mother.

"Being a divine guard? Will it be dangerous? Besides, aren't we protected by heavenly soldiers and generals?" She still remembered the divine general who saved her family and killed the evil spirit four years ago.

"The heavenly soldiers and generals only protect us from evil magic and sorcery. Mortal affairs should be managed by mortals. If Chijun's protection is needed for everything, it will consume Chijun's divine grace."

Li Tie repeated the words of the chief priest in the temple. He didn't really understand them, but he knew that if he became a divine guard, he could help Chi Jun.

“…then…then” the old woman hesitated. On the one hand, she was grateful to Chi Jun, and on the other hand, she faced the reality of life.

"As long as you are selected, your monthly salary will be twice as much as that of being a stonemason on a construction site. It is said that the salary will increase further in the future." Li Tie quickly realized what his mother wanted to ask and answered like this.

"Thank you, Chijun. A'Tie, our family was saved by Chijun. You must be brave when you become a divine guard."

"Well, mother, I understand."

Similar conversations were repeated throughout the entire Shiyuan County tonight. In the eyes of the Taoist practitioners, the wisps of the fire of willpower almost merged into one, converging on the Chixin Taoist temple.

As the nearby residents became more and more wealthy, their desire for cultural needs and the ritual of worshiping gods came into being.

Gradually, it became the biggest local festival together with the Tang people's Spring Festival. Even in the local area, the worship ceremony of the gods in Chixin Temple was more grand than the Spring Festival. Even the power of the government could not match the influence of Chijun in the local area.

Inside the Chixin Temple, between pavilions and towers.

Feng Yunwu, the local commander of the Black Armor Army, was originally drinking tea leisurely, but the expression of the young Taoist priest opposite him turned cold.

A thick layer of dense clouds gathered over the entire Chixin Temple at some point in time.

The clouds were like a canopy, tightly covering the top of the mountain, blocking all the light from the stars and the moon, and the air between heaven and earth seemed to have solidified.

There seemed to be some huge existence flying and shuttling among the clouds. Gradually, an ancient red dragon spread out in the clouds. It landed on the pavilion behind the Taoist, climbed down and looked at him.

"Roar!"

"what!"

As Canglong roared angrily, Feng Yunwu fell to the ground in fear, and the tea in his hand spilled all over his face and body. But at this moment he no longer cared about the pain and retreated using all four limbs.

"General Feng, what's wrong with you?"

As the young Taoist said these words, the red dragon that was choosing its prey, the sea of ​​clouds, and the canopy all disappeared.

Only the young Taoist priest pulled Feng Yunwu up.

However, Feng Yunwu was so frightened that he had forgotten the purpose of his trip and left in a panic.

Lu Cheng smiled gently and watched the man leave.

"Master, this man is just asking for some money and property, just give it to him. If you do this, you may end up in trouble with the local Xuanjia Army."

When Lu Cheng sat back down to drink tea, an old woman walked in and said this with a slightly worried look on her face.

"I don't hate his greed, but his incompetence. As an official, I don't know the background of the Red Heart Temple. As a cultivator, he can't even resist the pressure of half of the sword intent of this temple. Greed is fine, and incompetence and willingness to abide by the rules are fine. But if he is greedy, incompetent and doesn't abide by the rules, then we have to replace him with someone else."

Feng Yunwu, the local commander of the Black Armor Army, came to the Chixin Temple to extort money. In ancient times, it was common for local border troops stationed on the border to appropriately exploit local wealthy families.

It can even appropriately restrict local land annexation, so the government turns a blind eye to it.

Shiyuan County is becoming increasingly prosperous, and there is only one Chixin Temple. If not him, who else should we eat?

Lu Cheng didn't mind paying some resources in exchange for convenience, but he hated greedy but incompetent people.

This kind of person is happy to take money, but he is totally unreliable at other times.

"Isn't Feng Yunwu a commander? He is also a cultivator who has been practicing for many years in the Foundation Establishment stage. According to what you said, how could someone like him possibly reach the Foundation Establishment stage?"

He Lan was also practicing, but she was practicing the Heavenly Soldiers and Gods Method given to her by Lu Cheng, a Shinto method that was almost impossible to cultivate into a foundation, but even if one had a poor aptitude in a physical body, one could practice faster than evil spirits like Li Meng and Tu Nuhu. After death, one would be included in the ranks of the Heavenly Soldiers and Gods, accumulating good deeds to prepare for a better reincarnation.

Therefore, I often listen to Lu Cheng's lectures, and over the years I have also gained some understanding of Taoist practice.

"It is true that it is good to cultivate in the imperial court, but being an official in the imperial court is also the most destructive to cultivation. Many official positions in the Tang Dynasty are held by disciples of the eight major sects and some small and medium-sized sects. The Tang Dynasty has to provide these sects with many resources, and these sects also send some hopeless disciples to enjoy the power, glory and wealth of the world."

"If you have no hope for the path after building your foundation, and you are still rolling around in this world, can you still persist in practicing? After decades, your energy and spirit have been scattered and not improving, but regressing. Even if your magic power has increased a little, it has actually become weaker."

"So that's how it is. Thank you very much, sir. I am grateful for your advice." The old woman bowed.

"Don't treat Xuanmen as a market, and use less effort to serve the gods."

"He Lan, you have followed me for more than ten years. Normally, with your aptitude, it is impossible for you to make any progress in the Tao. But remember that Chi Jun has infinite magical powers. Since you have already believed in Chi Jun, you must keep this in mind!"

At this moment, Lu Cheng seemed to have some feelings. Considering their years of friendship, he advised He Lan that this was the only possible way out for her on the road of cultivation.

"Thank you, sir." After a moment's thought, He Lan bowed deeply again.

The man left, and Lu Cheng drank tea alone in the courtyard. At the same time, he also felt: the huge flame of the wishes of all living beings gathered and burned in his body:
Taoism's first guardian deity, he is responsible for supervision and punishment in heaven and on earth, controls natural forces such as thunder, fire, and wind, exorcises evil spirits and cures diseases, and protects the orthodoxy and peace of Taoism.

Chijun's duties include fighting, guarding, patrolling and punishing.

The stronger the wishes of all living beings, the more the power of the Red Heart God will envelop Lucheng, constantly trying to contaminate it.

However, Lu Cheng's own magic power remained pure and independent. The Great Five Elements Earthly Fire could dissolve all the laws in the world, including divine power, and Lu Cheng's sword intent was constantly contaminating and killing the stronger divine power. "So this is why the immortal and divine lineages cannot be cultivated together, or it could be that I am too weak now and cannot take advantage of them without suffering their disadvantages."

During the days of divine sacrifice every year, the will of all living beings increases, and Chijun's divine power will continue to grow stronger and stronger, and he wants to bring Lucheng into the Shinto lineage.

But Lu Cheng had a smooth path to longevity and the golden elixir before him. How could he give it all up and follow the path of divinity that he had inexplicably cultivated with some incomplete techniques?

Therefore, during these days every year, he can only continuously use his own five elements magic power to dissolve and use his own sword intent to kill in order to keep his own foundation pure.

In fact, Lu Cheng has tried it before. Physical distance can also greatly weaken the contamination of this divine power. However, because this kind of thing itself is also a good practice and tempering, Lu Cheng stays in the Red Heart Temple every year to refine his own mind and magic power and stay firm on the path:
The body is a bodhi tree, the mind is like a mirror. Wipe it frequently to avoid dust. Wiping it once a year is very helpful.

In this process, Lu Cheng also increasingly understood the secrets of the divine path:
"I originally thought that the more believers the better for gods, but that's not the case. The will of sentient beings is like rice to gods, which can increase their body and help them grow. But from the perspective of gods, they would rather have one million devout believers than 100 million or even 1 billion casual believers, or even non-casual believers."

"Because the faith of all living beings is like rice. The faith of devout believers is white rice, while the faith of casual believers or even those who are not casual believers is moldy rice or even sand."

The current Ishihara County is the best Shinto ritual site because the people have a pure and firm faith. If a few hundred years later, the belief in Chijun spreads to the entire Tang Dynasty, and the faith of all living beings is not firm, then it is time for Chijun to leave.

This is why, in Lu Cheng’s memory, many religions in history have experienced: the birth of faith, the frequent occurrence of miracles and the rise of faith, the combination with secular power, the split and decline or complete secularization, and the separation of man and God.

The gods come because of the calls of all living beings, and leave because they are no longer needed by all living beings.

The Chixinguan deity worship ceremony has developed into a major event in the local spiritual community in recent years.

Many nearby spiritual forces would send people to deliver gifts. Even if the gifts were not expensive, they represented an attitude.

"The Jiang family of Chenxi County presents a pair of black rhino horns as a gift to the gods."

"The Zhang family of Wudu County presents a pair of first-grade, top-quality green bamboo flying swords as a gift to the gods."

"The Wei family of Baocheng County offers two thousand spirit stones as a gift to the gods."

"The Hu family of Zhen'an County offers two thousand spirit stones as a sacrifice to the gods."...

In previous years, the price of the sacrificial offerings from each household in each county was about fifty spirit stones. After all, the sacrificial ceremony was held every year and was not presided over by the abbot of Lucheng Temple himself.

But this time was obviously different. The Jiang family of Chenxi County and the Zhang family of Wudu County were still the same as in previous years, while the sacrificial ceremonies offered by the Wei family of Baocheng County, the Hu family of Zhen'an County, and even many nearby practicing families were somewhat unusual.

The person presiding over the ceremony this time was the experienced He Lan, but Madam Yuzhen also came to participate, so she soon realized something was wrong and quickly went to find Lu Cheng who was still studying in the backyard of the temple.

Hand the obviously unusual gift list to Lu Cheng.

After Lu Cheng took the list and thought about it for a moment, he roughly understood what was going on.

This time, the nearby southern Xinjiang families probably pooled together gifts worth 30,000 spirit stones and came to buy "peace" from here.

Obviously, the continuous bleeding of Ishihara County over the past four years and the large number of farmers fleeing have brought these families together. Today's battle was both a show of weakness and a demonstration.

"Take them all. As for those families, don't worry about them. Just keep everything as usual."

If he wanted to show his unwillingness to accept the gift, he should return the spirit stones. However, Lu Cheng was not interested in returning the spirit stones, which would give the other party more capital to hire high-level monks to kill him. Therefore, he would not return the gift and would do as he pleased.

"Ok."

After understanding Lu Cheng's intention, Yun Yuzhen originally wanted to turn around and leave.

But before leaving the room, she suddenly turned around again:
"Master, I don't understand why you must attack those nearby cultivation forces? You want skills and techniques? You probably don't care about them. You want spiritual stones and spiritual objects? You don't seem to lack them. Even if you are an expert in swordsmanship, those cultivators in the southern border who raise Yin and feed Gu are also ruthless. Why do you have to fight them?"

Yun Yu really couldn't understand why Lu Cheng's actions seemed to be completely opposite to those of ordinary practitioners.

Unless one has calamity in his brain, or is a demonic cultivator with a bad temper, how could a decent cultivator actively invite disaster and calamity like this?
"…Maybe it's because it looks uncomfortable."

The young Taoist in the room flipped through the book, thinking and answering:
"I saw the bones of the children were outlined directly on their bodies because of hunger. Their arms and legs were as thin as reeds."

“If I see a family so poor that they only have one pair of pants to wear, whoever works should wear them.”

"I saw that we were all human beings, but those law-breakers were so high and mighty that they chained up the farmers who lived in the cowshed, gave them only enough food to keep them from starving, and forced them to work like cattle and horses."

"I saw those monks who practiced the art of Yin and Yang, skinning and extracting the bones of sick old people and children to practice the art of thangka."

"I know they can also find the foundation-building cultivators, and I also know that the Yin Gu technique is ruthless and difficult to defend against, but I think my sword is stronger than theirs, much stronger. I think that for us cultivators, we don't have to be good people, but there are some things we should do if we can."

…………

The southern border is desolate and Lu Cheng waited for four years before a third-level weapon refiner who was skilled in refining weapons came here.

This old Taoist helped several monks to refine weapons and also gave some pointers to local refiners. Soon, his reputation spread.

In a cave house connected to a fire vein, a skinny old Taoist priest looked at the young Taoist priest in front of him, who was taking out top-grade magic tools one by one, with a sad face:

I originally wanted to come to the south to travel and relax, but this guy looks like he'll have to work day and night for half a year.

A fire-burning boy with dark skin that looked like an iron tower could no longer hold back and said:

"Don't take it. Did my master agree to refine magic tools for you? And do you have enough spirit stones for so many magic tools? My master is from a famous family of weapon refiners in the Central Plains. Don't use the status of a third-level weapon refiner in Southern Xinjiang to calculate."

"Haha, as long as the Taoist master's craftsmanship is superb, I don't have any beside me. I have never lacked spiritual stones since I started practicing Taoism."

Lu Cheng smiled when he heard that, and then he waved his hand and released a row of high-quality spirit stones filled with spiritual light, which stunned the fire-burning boy and the old Taoist who were like an iron tower, and they were speechless for a long time.

One hundred low-grade spirit stones are equal to one medium-grade spirit stone, and one hundred medium-grade spirit stones are equal to one high-grade spirit stone.

"Thank you, Taoist Priest, for refining these three flying swords to the third level for me. As for these other items, Taoist Priest, please take a look at what you can refine for me?"

Lu Cheng took out the White Tiger Inner Elixir, the Tree Demon Inner Elixir, the Tianmu Crystal, the Purple Heart Warm Jade, and the Stalactite Stone, five spiritual objects that had absorbed a large amount of spiritual energy.

The Five Qi Foundation Building does not mean that one must completely drain the five third-level spiritual objects. If one does that, even the strongest Qi cultivators will definitely explode and die. Lu Cheng has absorbed most of the spiritual energy from the five third-level spiritual objects, and his Five Qis Converging to the Origin foundation is already very solid.

However, after Lu Cheng completed the ninth level of cultivation, he realized that there was a subtle connection between himself and these five spiritual objects, so he sealed them up and took them out today.

"You are practicing the Five Elements Taoism?"

The skinny old Taoist's eyes flashed when he saw these five spiritual objects, and then he looked Lu Cheng up and down.

"The five elements are mutually reinforcing and restraining. Their operation and changes are simple to say, but most cultivators in the world find it difficult to master even one of them, let alone being able to balance the five elements. I didn't expect that I would meet a cultivator with a deep foundation in the southern border. I'm afraid he will be another Yinshan Immortal in the future."

"Well, I'll take your job. There are four magic weapons in total. My magic weapons are three times more expensive than those made by local weapon refiners. But if one is damaged, I'll pay three times as much as compensation. If you're willing, go wait outside the cave."

"Thank you, senior."

After hearing this, Lu Cheng bowed and left the Fire Vein Cave.

"Master, didn't you say that we came to Southern Xinjiang this time to travel around, pick immortal herbs, seek immortal fate, and refine immortal pills? Why are you back to your old ways?"

The boy burning the fire, who was as tall as an iron tower, complained a little, and the smoke and fire would last for quite some time.

"Hurry up and light the fire. When that killer came in just now, I felt that he was full of evil spirit. God knows who he wants to kill. Master and disciple, let's act quickly, otherwise we will be killed by others if we are slow. That would be a case of misfortune coming from the sky while you are at home."

The old Taoist priest no longer had the same sage-like demeanor as before, and began to prepare to refine the weapon while cursing.

　My favorite novel website has stopped updating. Woohoo! The author fainted in the toilet from crying. I will start updating diligently tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)